Hey yall!! WOW it is almost 1/2 way thru August already!! where the heck do the days go??  wayyyyyyyyy to fast that is for sure!
So last week my mom and I were busy busy!! We had the annual blueberry festival in South Haven on saturday and then I had market thurs in Allegan plus we had lots of rain and storms again and more coming possibly tonight!!  Fingers crossed we dont loose power again!   We roasted some zucchini slices for the vegetable lasagna.  Oh my goodnes!! zucchini at it's finest here!! I will never never ever fry it again!! We sliced them lenghwise into thin strips, sprinkled with olive oil, salt and pepper then placed in a hot oven for 10 minutes.  These were better than any kind of fried veggies~~I think this week we are gonna make some zucchini chips.  Keep them in the oven a bit longer til crunchy!~~ cant wait!!~

tater gnocchi ready for sauce!

Gnocchi dressed and chillin

coconut macaroons  YUMMY!!

these are my zucchini lasagna pans

My mom decided to add a bit of bling to them and sliced up some fresh tomatoes and parm cheese

this was a squash casserole, we topped it with crumbled butter crackers, only Ritz will do for this job!! LOL and baked til golden!!

Our newest idea!! Cake cup parfaits!! We did my loaded carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and then red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting *oops forgot those pics* they looked so amazingly yummy!!

5 sheets of my cinnamon graham crackers baking

all done and baked to crunchy perfection!

red velvet cupcakes patiently waiting for their filling.  I take an apple corer, pull out the centers and add cream cheese frosting up over the top and then top with crumbled cake.  they looked wonderful!  Red velvet is probably my favo cake!!

homemade gazpacho, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, onions, herbs blended up.  I did leave it a bit on the chunky side and it was delish!!

Swiss chard, zuccchini, sweet red peppers, red onions and pork sausage sauteeed for the breakfast casseroles. 

dilly beans out of the canner

rustic round rosemary loaves  so yummy and super easy peasy to do! The recipe is in my album on pinterest  Darlene Stumpf-Westfahl

Farmers morning breakfast casserole 

my mom aka pretzel princess did 2 pans of these up.  First dipped in homemade caramel, then in our milk/dark chocolate and rolled in chopped peanuts.  

So that is about it for now to share!!  This is gonna be a full week too.  Tues night market in Kalamazoo, Thurs Allegan, Saturday South Haven, we have a full day baking tomorrow!! cookies, breads, cakes, muffins. 

Be back soon to share more!!

Hugs

Darlene

~~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~~

making quiche-n-more

Here's Barb making our tomato, spinach n zucchini quiches for markets this week.  I am so loving making them in the jumbo muffin tins for personal sized ones.  And they look so cute~~

It was a crazy busy week, my mom and Barb worked at the kitchen this week to help me get ready.  This weekend was the Harborfestival in South Haven so it was busier at market yesterday. 

lemon glazed blueberry buttermilk cakes 

bread dough rising 

My lavender shortbread cookies!! these are always a big hit and this week I did up some lavender infused lemonade!!  Oh what a delish treat!!  I forgot to take pics.  I put pint sized mason jars in an old white enamelware large basin filled with ice.  I sliced some lemons and added a couple to each jar and they looked awesome at market.  A few people took pics of my display this week and comented on how "country cute" my booth is!  LOL Just being me!!

Personal buttermilk cake trifles   After baking my lemon buttermilk cake in a sheet pan I cut it up into little bite sized pieces then pureed some fresh strawberries with a bit of sugar and lemon juice to make a syrup for the cake, added chopped fresh strawberries and some homemade whipped cream

This was absolutely the best!! Blueberry buttermilk cake with banana pudding, sliced bananas, fresh blueberries and topped with some homemade whipped cream and a fresh lemon slice.  Looked pretty too.

One of my favos to eat and make. lemon poppyseed muffins with a lemon glaze, couldnt forget that "farmgirl bling"

Here's the little cuties! personal quiches

Large quiches done

My mom and I also made some of our homemade tater cheese pierogies

My mom made some ham n veggie wraps for us for lunch.

Dont they look pretty with that fresh leaf lettuce poking out!  We did up a homemade mayo/spiced mustard sauce for them.  They hit that spot for a handheld quickie lunch at market.  So this week we have the Queens Cup sailboat races coming into town so saturday should be a busy day at market.  This week I am planning on making some grilling packets up with fresh local produce and also some pre made veggie kabobs to take along for markets.  My "picnic" lunch special will be a veggie wrap with a homemade coleslaw and maybe a little mini cake for desert, I bought some cute red & white gingham napkins to line the foam container and I think I will tie the label on with some red and white bakers twine.  Dressed up lunches look cute and make a nice display at market. 

In a couple of weeks I start my new market Texas Township Farmers Market in Kalamazoo on tues nights.  It looks like a nice market and I really like that the marekt manager is very active in market and sends out a nice email newsletter telling customers about what is fresh that week and also lists all the farms there.  It does seem hard to find market managers that play an active roll in a market these days.  I am off to plant more beans and corn in the gardens and I bought some plants to put around the farmstand. I need to take some new pics of things outside.  

Hope yall have a wonderful day!!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO ALL THE DADS OUT THERE!!!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~