gnocchi and more

Hey yall!!
Happy Happy monday!! Hope yall are havin a great monday.  This am I took my brother to do his volunteer work at a local food bank.  We had a good turn out of people stopping by, and everyone was super nice and thankful to all of us.  What a great group of caring people!!
Last week my mom and I made alot of goodies for markets.  We did up some potato gnocchi with chunky homemade red pepper/tomato sauce.  These are time consuming but fun to make and taste super yummy!!

I so love using fresh herbs in things well.....everything!!  They add so much flavor and really any combo of herbs is good. 

blueberry banana bread loaves

canned fresh peaches

Oh and look at the bottom shelf!!  My newest favo combo!!  pistachio red raspberry muffins with pieces of toasted pistachios on top  SUPER YUMMY AND good!!

another of my all time favo combos!! Peach n basil.   The basil just brings so much more peach flavor out it is amazing!!  I just made a simple brown sugar oat n butter crumb topping.

There they are all baked up!!

this was our spinach n eggplant parmesan.  Actually it became out supper that night!

LOL too tired to cook when I got home from the kitchen.  One word of advise.............peel eggplant!! I used very tender young eggplants, roasted them in olive oil and salt n pepper first then layered them in the pans with sauce and fresh spinach.  Well after being told you dont have to peel them I will always peel them! they were very bitter and tart... chickens liked it!

LOL

this was my zucchini parmesan sauce and herbs on bottom then layered sliced zucchinis and chopped tomatoes and sauteed onions n squash. 

and fresh basil on top!! with montery jack and cheddar and parmesan cheeses

finished peach basil for market.  Had to add just a touch of a "farmgirl bling" sliced toasted almonds and a large basil leaf. 

My mom goes in for kidney abdominal tests so hoping all things go well, we went out to lunch today and then had to go shopping for some groceries.    Spaghetti and fresh sauteed green/purple/yellow beans (fresh from our garden) for supper tonight. 

Tomorrow will be a full baking day, I have a little party to cater this week and then markets. 

Another busy week ahead of us, and another hot one for us.  it was back in the 90s and hot n humid!! 

Will be back soon to share more things!  I am anxious to work on fall prims especially my punkin head scarecrows and punkins!! 

Have a blessed evening!!

HUGS YALL!!

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

A new week

My goodness it's monday and the start of a new week!! the weeks sure go by and my gosh where did july go? I think I may have missed some days! it has been super busy with markets and time sure has gotten away from me!! 

tomato summer garden salad

hash brown cheese breakfast casserole

my egg bread soaking in the eggy milk custard

Nekked pizza crusts

Veggie pizza out of oven

Red Raspberry Peach muffins!  what an awesome combo!!

Blueberry peach muffins!@! YUMMY!

Peach Raspberry trifles I made for market sat.  YUMMY!!  I used some peach juice and pureed it with fresh raspberries and a bit of sugar and vanilla for the juice. 

Love the yellow flowers against the white fence!!

ahhhhhh the sweet smell of fresh lavender!!  so pretty and almost over bloomed

 I also did up some sweet bread that were filled with cooked thickened blueberries and cream cheese filling

ready to cut strips and braid

taking a sharp knife make slices on each side in a downward angle

fold over each slice and then brush with egg warsh

let rise and then brush again with egg and pop in oven

out of oven nice and golden brown. 

I was asked to do the brunch at a racetrack for an automotive tool company on sunday.  My mom and I worked all week preparing things and getting things together, we made veggie pizzas, cinnamon bun bread pudding with a creamy cinnamon sauce, hashbrown breakfast casserole with homemade peppered gravy, my pistachio bread, cookies, a cold pasta salad with fresh veggies, tomato summer garden salad, veggie rollups, dill dip with veggies and pretzles, blueberry buttermilk bread, cucumber salsa with chips, my blueberry jalapeno preserves ontop of cream cheese with crackers, chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies, and then I also made some homemade lemonade and sweet tea.  It was all gone in under an hour!!  The guys were really hungry and also very thankful and sweet!!  Had a great time!!  Thanks to Ramzi Vincent at Automotive Specialty Tool Inc for allowing me to do this again!! 

I am making  cornbread n veggie stuffed round zucchini, a breakfast bake, tater gnocchi with a homemade tomato pepper sauce and more for Texas Township Farmers Market tomorrow night.  4pm-7pm~  Hope yall have a wonderful evening I will be back to share more!!
HUGS
Darlene
DONT FORGET IF YALL ARE NEAR THE GLENN AREA STOP IN AT MY FRIENDS NEW PRIM/ANTIQUE SHOP  "Farmhouse Chic Prim Antique"  great selection of items and also some of my baked/canned goods and my primitives!  which I am working on more of my fall punkin jacks!!

Here's my punkin head dolls from 2 yrs ago.  LOVE THEM!!

and here's a pic of our Bubba dog, miss you baby!!  Mommy and Daddy love you!!

~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Still hot and no rain

Oh my word!! No rain and we are still in the upper 80s and 90s this week!!   This is just horrible and not just for MI but all over people are experiencing this terrible drought.  There is rain happening all around our area but north and east we havent gotten a drop of it!!  they are saying possibly later this afternoon!! HOPE and PRAY we get some!! 
We took our Buster Brown swimming in the lake and he was such a happy happy guy!!  My camera was full so I didnt get to take pics!! =( but we will go again soon.  The lake was so warm hard to believe that big body of water was sooooooooo warm!!

My mom and I have been busy busy making all kinds of canned goods at the kitchen.  Each week we are doing up a bushel of pickle cukes and this week we made some of our cold cucumber salad. 

Ready for the processor to slice em up quickly!!

Dont these look pretty!!  the red pepper pieces and red onions give such a nice addition of color to these jars.  Fresh dill, peppercorns and a sweet sour vinegar brine were added. 

Love love LOVE using mason jars for market items.  I have so many at home and use them  instead of plastic tupperware containers. 

Dilly beans out of the canner!! I so wish they would keep their pretty green color!  but they dont.  Wonder if I should do some refrigerator dilly beans!! they would look awesome! 

AND THIS IS MY FRIEND'S NEW SHOP!!! not sure why I only got 2 pics!>?  but we were busy talking and laughing so I must have gotten sidetracked!

So this is FARMHOUSE CHIC PRIM ANTIQUE!~ in downtown Glenn! 

Love the displays and she is doing an amazing job turning this old lovely historical firehouse into a shoppers delight!!  I am taking things there and also some baked goods each week.   She also has a facebook page for the shop and you can view offerings as they arrive at the shop  Chick it out!! 

I am off early this am have to go to a doctors appointment.  I have a party I am catering for this weekend so need to get things ready for that and also markets.

Hope yall have a blessed day and keep cool and hydrated out there!!

HUGS

Darlene 

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

almost weekend time~~

Yippee!  I cant wait for 3pm sat!! then I have the rest of sat and all of sunday to spend with my wonderful hubby and our "boys".   We just dont get enough time together anymore! both of us are busy and life is hectic so usually by the time he is getting home I am exhausted and am ready for bed! 
My mom and I had another busy week at the kitchen.  We did up lots of muffins, red raspberry butttermilk, blueberry buttermilk, lemon poppyseed, and some breads, my glazed pistachio, blueberry, raspberry, pine zucchini, and banana blueberry.  

I so love making muffins!!  And love BIG muffins!!  they rise up over the edge of pans making them so pretty!

These are the lemon poppyseed which were just lacking something.............yep yall know me!! added the "farmgirl bling" a fresh lemon glaze after they cooled off. 

here are some ready for packaging.

dilly beans

I so wish the beans would stay that pretty fresh green color!! and I did up some of our purple, green and yellow and of cource when u cook the purple ones they turn green!!  =( so pretty and would look beantastic in the 3 colors in a mason jar!! dangit!

My favo piece of kitchen equiptment!! the little hobart mixer making foccacia

here are a couple pans of garlic pepper foccacia cooling

My mom and I also made this yummy pasta casserole.  It has egg noodles, homemade tomato red pepper zucchini sauce, with sauteed onions, green peppers, zucchini, and then fresh pamesan cheese, and aged cheddar topped with fresh basil pieces.  YUMMY!

Ok so I am blessed to have awesome dear friends in this world thanks to my little farmstand!!  I have a couple of friends that let us walk thru their beautiful and I do mean BEAUTIFUL gardens.  While strolling around you are transformed into an enchanted peaceful place.  And it is just down the street from us.  So many gorgeous blooms and not just in one spot, they are all around their house. 

These bushes were so full and the flowers are so pretty! 

One of the many floral beds, yes as I was taking this pic the sprinklers came on and welllllllllllllll that cold water did feel pretty good!! LOL

This coleus is so pretty, looks like someone took a paintbrush and detailed each petal. 

I love these colors together.  What a relaxing place!!

Zinias are one of my favorite flowers and these were gorgeous. 

And look at the color of this rose of sharon.  My mom has one I bought her for mothers day and it is so pretty

And last is my absolutely favo pic!  they remind me of sunflowers! and I made sure to get the white rocker chairs in the pic!! LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!

So I have a busy day tomorrow.  More zucchini bread, more pistachio bread, graham crackers, cookies, and some fruit, oatmeal and yogurt parfaits, plus more!! 

Hope yall have a wonderful evening!!

THANKS MOM for all the help at the kitchen lately!!

LOVE YOU!!  YOUR"E THE BEST!!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~