TGIF

Good mornin yall!~    WELL IT IS FRIDAY!! YEAH!!  gotta love fridays!  well everyday is good!  When I worked monday was my very very least favo day of the week but now I love everyday!!  Ok so I am thinkin of goin to the kitchen and cannin some apple today, apple pie in a jar just sounds way too yummy!!  If only I could come up with a way to do the crust in chunks in with the apples and sauce and it stay a bit on the crisp side that would be wonderful!!  Last fall I did pumpkin cake and applesauce cake in jars and they stayed great and were really tasty!  Love tryin new things.  Oh and by the way hubby bought some apple pie ice cream and oh my goodness that was delish!!  I think maybe hudsonville made it and it is absolutely one of the best it rates right up there with raspberry chocolate chip to me!!

Susan and I decided to play with a new pizza crust recipe.  I just love this time of year since we have more time each week to experiment and play in the kitchen it is awesome to be little baking scientists!!  HEE HEE!!   So this particular recipe is from a favo bread book called the crust and crumb and has exceptional bread recipes in it as far as this crust recipe welllllllllll not likin it too much!!  we really didnt think it was worth all of  the effort and time put into makin it.  Not that it wasnt good just not what we were expecting.  it starts with makin a poolish one day, settin in the fridge overnight, then adding your ingredients on the second day, proofed it for 3 hours then scaled out and started shaping it.   The dough is very very sticky wet and we pretty much had a thick pancakey dough everywhere!! LOL but it was fun to try.

mixing in some additional flour, the dough is still very wet but manageable.

we did 20 crusts. 

one fresh out of the oven, these were a perfect size for a 9 in crust.  we prebaked for only 5 min on the stones and they actually came out pretty nice.

dusted with cornmeal they had a very nice texture.   I made one for us for supper that night topped with some homemade sauce, canadian bacon slices, mushrooms, fresh mozzarella chees, colby jack cheese and topped with a touch of parmesean and romano shreds. 

So this is our pizza hat!! LOL this one blew up in the center you cant really see it but it looked exactly like a little crusty hat!   I couldnt get Susan to put it on though,  LOL there were a few that went for chickie feed and they loved them!    The first batch was sure a learning experience, between shaping, dusting with cornmeal and using a pizza spatula to slide them in the oven on the stones is quite a sight.  needless to say we had a few mishapen globs land on the stones.  But such fun!!

I did make one of my favo cookbook authors recipes Carole Walters crumb cake.  This cake was so delish I will definetly post a recipe for yall. 

Finished but lackin the bling!!

There's my cake "farmgirl bling" just a good dustin of powdered sugar and then I added some pure maple syrup drizzeled ontop!!  Just the right amount of sweetness and flavor!!  There isnt much sugar in this cake and the flavor and texture is so pleasing on the palate it WILL be made again!! 

Also in the line up was some excellent tater bread, this is a really nice textured bread that I never had made before and will surely be added to the list for markets.

So with my craft shows right around the corner fastly approaching and I do mean fastly!!!!!!! I decided to work on some gifty items.  I have to tell ya I purchased some pre made templates from etsy from SusieQ's and they are adorable!!  Here is one I made up for my coffee creamers.  This is the gingerbread coffee mix with this set I got the lable, a tag and even the recipe included!!

I figured with them being more of a gift item and since they are coffee I wrapped them in the cone shaped brown coffee filters you buy, ( i have a huge stash of them for my altered filter scrapbooks I make) wrapped a holiday themed strip of scrapbook paper around then printed the tags out backed them with a bit of cardstock and tied a piece of wool thread to them. 

I think they turned out adorable and will make some mocha hot cocoa ones today. 

These will make perfect stocking stuffers or just little gifts for coworkers.  The package makes 3 cups of coffee so just the right amount. 

Oh and I made some red raspberry butter crumb topped muffins that I forgot to take a pic of but reserved some of the raspberry juice and made a pretty pink glaze for the top of them.  Red raspberries are just about my favo fruit!  and they are wonderful paired with buttermilk and lemon zest!  In fact I am gonna have one for breakfast this morning with my espresso!!

And by the way Sorry Sorry Sorry to everyone for me missing market yesterday!  IT was so windy and rainy in the mornin when I went out I decided to skip market as I sure dont want to get a cold now.  So my mom, Joey and I went out to breakfast then I took Joey to holland and browsed thru some thrift stores and Michaels!!  FUN and if yall are in or near Saugatuck you have to and I mean HAVE TO stop in a IDA RED'S resteraunt.  THEY have the best ABSOLUTE BEST breakfast!!  Joey had the whole wheat pancakes which were delish, my mom had the omlet special and I tried something new the breakfast tacos!! oh my gosh they were superb!! IDA RED's is our favo breakfast place and in the summer my mom and I love to go early in the am and eat outside on the porch!!  Stop by there you will not be disappointed at all I guarantee it!!  great service and great food in a vey quaint cozy cafe!!    With all that said it is about time Buster and I  head out to do chores now.  I hope yall have a blessed friday and I will share more tomorrow!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Happy happy harvest time!!

WOW~!~ the colors outside are just truly breathtaking!! LOVE IT!! As yall know Fall is my #1 favo time of the year!! well I love summer and spring is just absolutely stunning and the snow oh my the snow is gorgeous too!! LOL but fall is my cup of tea!!  So I decided to "farmgirl bling" up some of my shortbread cookies with orange and white colors and filled them with a chocolate ganache filling!!

And since my boys like fall to I did up some of their treats fallish for them!!  I am taking some to market so the boys will have some spending $$$$$ to buy stuff at petco!!  LOL they love goin in and pickin out new toys! 

My bluebery muffins werent exempt from my "bling:" either they recieved a nice drizzel of lemon glaze and the red raspberry muffins got the same treatment. 

Here are some pics on my way home one night last week.  The leaves have been blowin off the trees the last few days so they are leavin us quickly.  The weather though has been exceptional for october.  You know hubby and I got married in late october and I insisted on gettin hitched  outisde at my parents in the orchard that day was just perfect!! 82 degrees outside so noone had to wear jackets or mittens either!  We rented a big canopy, had cornstalks in bundles tied all around, fall leaves hangin with sunflowers and red gingham bows around (my favo red gingham and denim) the aisles were straw bales, fall colored mums everywhere, our unity candle sat on a bed of fall leaves ontop of an old rusty milk can we had on our porch, the alter was wood my hubby made an outline in the shape of a barn, complete with raffia and field corn bundles.  My mom and I saved old metal cans, from like veggies and tied a denim strip around the middle with a bow of red gingham and filled them with cut mums in them for the reception tables.  And i was able to buy red gingham fabric table cloths to go on each table.  In fact I use those table cloths now at market for my tables.  LOL just reminiscing bout that day as we are approaching our 10 year anniversary next week.  October 21!  Cant believe it already!! LOVE ya babe!!!

So another reason i Love fall!! 

Better run and get things packaged up for the last South Haven farmers market of the season is tomorrow!!  Well for most of the farmers Young Earth Farm and I are gonna be goin thurs afternoons november thru april in the hardware parking lot!! email me for more info if ya like!!

Have a blessed evening yall!!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

bUsTeR, CoOkIeS and a foodie gift

Above was Buster in 2006 when he took 2nd place in the petco costume contest!! MY CLOWN MR, BROWN!! Below was another clown costume I made him to greet all the kiddies at my inlaws house for halloween!! he was a big HIT!! He is just destined to be a clown every year!!

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Here are the t" bear cookies I told you bout! ARENT THEY TOO STINKIN CUTE!???

I was gonna put a little mouth on them but NAY! they are good to go this way and sold them all at market yesterday.

OH and now the foodie gift mug I made for the shop.

Found this darling ceramic coffee mug, added a little kitchen tea towel, 3 of my homemade chocolate dipped biscotti slices, a little tin green tea scented candle, and 2 of my single serve cappacino mixes. I think this would make a great gift for a coworker a friend or family member for any occasion!! I know i would love to recieve it!! Well gotta run and make a few more up.

Have a blessed afternoon!!

HUGS

Darlene and Buster Brown the halloween Clown