Buns and market day

I made an extra batch of bread dough and decided to play around and make some homemade sandwich or hamburger buns.  I found out you really use the palm of your hand to get a nice finished round edge on them. So after scaling them out at 3 oz each roll the dough around the counter then cup your hand over it pushing in with your thumb to form a perfect circle.  Easy peasy!! and they turn out fantastic!Using a pastry brush to apply a bit of egg warsh to each one then top with seeds.  LOL egg warsh is a perfect glue!!I am so so SO lovin babka!!  What a smell when that bread is baking! heavenly and the dough is so nice to work with and smooth!!   This week I made walnut struesel filled and also a few had some chopped dried apricots also.

This bread rises perfect and looks just delish!!

Sat was my first day back at South Haven Farmers Market and it was better than ever!! seein everyone again and some of my friends stopped by to say hi, which was an added bonus!! Great to see ya Mo, Donna, Gayle, Louise, Elaine and Lynn (miss you guys) Cathy and Deb and    Oh EVERYONE ELSE TOO!   I loved and enjoyed chattin with yall!!  And of cource all my farmer peeps!!!  If it wasnt for all of you my life wouldnt be the same!! and a HUGE GINORMOUS THANK YOU TO ALL THE CUSTOMERS!! we couldnt do a market without yall!!   Oh and whoever was the entertainment yesterday.......... YOU GUYS ROCK!! it was awesome music!!  IF you are near South Haven MI, stop on by on sats for a great time!!  Each week there is someone coming to play music and of cource we have something for everyone, local produce, jams/jellies, great granola, local honey, organic meats, jerkey, beautiful plants, herbs, perenials, handmade goods, soaps, wonderful frozen yogurts, salsas, and of cource AWESOME baked goods!!! LOL

Here are a few pics of market early on as we were all gettin set up.

This guy knows how to grow beautiful perenials!!  GORGEOUS! and he is a great neighbor at market too!!

Well hope yall have a blessed weekend and please take a moment out of your day to thank all the men and women in the military who fight for our freedom and who have graciously given their lives for what we are today....

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Asparagus ravioli pics

My friend and I made some asparagus and cheese stuffed spinach ravioli.  This is what we did to make this delicious dish!!! and it was very very tasty!!

We started out steaming some fresh asparagus then put it in the processor to puree.Made some spinach pasta then ran it thru the pasta machine til nice and thin.

Here is her ravioli maker which worked like a charm and gave the little pockets of filled pasta a very cute rippled edge.

The filling was put into a piping bag to make it easier to put it inside the ravioli which consisted of the pureed asparagus, a touch of salt and fresh ricotta cheese.

The spinach pasta ready for filling.

AND HERE THEY ARE!~ all filled and sealed!! We were thinking the next time we make em this week they will be a bit thicker so instead of putting the pasta thru to the thinnest setting we will cut it back by one and maybe not press the top part on the ravioli maker so hard, it makes a perfect indentation for the filling but a few split open, probably though because the filling is a bit on the wet side too.

Susan cooked them up and then added some butter, salt and pepper and a few chopped up chives.  Oh I am so sorry I forgot to take a pic of them before we ate!! Believe me though they were AWESOME!! and so so yummy!~ that asparagus and cheese was the best!!And on to something new that was delic!!  Homemade cinnamon honey graham crackers!! Oh my goodness now we are all gonna be spoiled by these and sorry Mr Keebler and your little elves!! no more store bought!! nope NEVER!! if you havent tried making them you should surely put this on a list of things to make soon!! LOL I made them a bit thicker than your average everyday graham so I would think these would make a most awesome tastin smore!!! ok gotta run and make a fire outside!! LOL just kiddin, and these would probably make a wonderful crust all finely ground up.  I can see making these regularly!! the texture was perfect and the taste from the fresh honey was incredible. 

Not meaning to put any elves out of work!! they will be a favo at markets I am sure!Just poke em with a fork here and there randomly and bake for only 9-11 min and enjoy!!  Well I hope yall have a Blessed Mothers Day !!  I will be with my mom at the shop, by the way we do deliver around the Fennville and surrounding towns so we can still get something nice made and out today!! Floral Touch Florist 269-543-4815

ENJOY your day and I will be back tomorrow!!

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

EsPrEsSO SaNdWIcH CoOkIeS

Here was another of my newest creations!!   An espresso cream filled sandwich cookie!!  There is espresso powder in the cookies and in the filling! so you have your coffee and more coffee in this cookie BUTTTTT  it really isnt coffee overpowering either, which is strange but I handed a few out as samples at the market to get opinions and even people who dont care for a good ol cup of joe! liked them.   GOOD!! cause as for me!! I LOVE THEM!! and I love my coffee!

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

As you can see I didnt leave them exempt from my "famrgirl bling" just had to they were way too plain!! LOL so drizzeled some melted choc bark over them for their bling~!

Well we have to haul some wood home today, need to bring a load of hay home, finish somewhat cleaning in the house and try to work on a few more things for the shop for  valentines day.  I am probably gonna toss a roast or some ribs in the crock pot this am and then we have supper figured out easily enough.   It is cold too 10 degrees and it feels every bit of that outside too.  Almost chore time for me so I gotta get all bundeled up and head outside soon, have yall noticed it is stayin a bit lighter outside in the evening?? YEAH!! YIPPEE~~last night I came in from chores and closing down my farmstand and it was just dark maybe around 7pm or so.  Seasons just move steadily along.  Usually round the end of feb early march I am so so sooooooo SOOOOOOOOOO ready to get the greenhouse goin and get in the dirt but will try to refrain since MI is known to have snow in march and april and even in may.  I do hope for an early spring though even though winter hasnt been all that terrible!!!

Oh and the OWOH drawing will be soon!! GOOD luck to everyone it has sure been fun and inspiring to visit everyone along the carpet ride!!  I just cant believe how many blogs are out there sharing the passion for creativity~~THANK YOU EVERYONE for leaving such warm and friendly comments too!!

Have a Blessed Sunday yall!!

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

Some baking pics for ya

WEll guess what!! I FOUND my dig camera!! Cant believe it was under some papers on the butcher block table in kitchen!! AND I searched everywhere and I mean everywhere. WEll apparently NOT!! LOL so here are pics that i took that day at the kitchen.

~~LIVE LIFE These were just really cute little candy corn shaped sugar cookies. JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~These are pumpkin bread with raisins

and they were really flavorful!~! LOVE punkin recipes!! too yummy

I did add some orange zest in with the pumpkin and it sure was a nice addition to the bread.

So today I am heading over to the kitchen to make up some mixes and do some chocolate pretzels for my show this weekend at West Shore Mall in Holland MI OH if you come you will not leave hungry i plan on having lots of samples out!

Samples will include my pumpkin spice dip, taffy apple dip, pistachio bread, fudge and maybe a bar cookie sample too. Will see what all i can get accomplished today with what i have at kitchen. Oh and definetly will have my pumpkin cake rolls for sale and a chocolate cake roll too!! COME ON OVER!!

Dark Tues!

dipped oreo cookies with fall sprinkles and white choc

Pics from market on sat!!

Ok so last night right when we sat down to eat supper BAM!! LIGHTS OUT!!our power was off!!~ see it has been very very windy and yesterday am I just kept praying we would not end up with a tree on our house!! We border woods and have lots of big ol trees around the house and these winds have been terrible.!! My poor scrarecrows are all a mess!! tipped or just blewn right down! poor things!!

here are a few pics from the market on sat. We had beautiful weather and there were alot of customers too!!

Oh by the way you know how i have mentioned a few times how I will rest up and play more and have the winter to regroup!! WELLLLLLLLLLLLL NOT!!**** I signed up to be in an indoor winter market in Kalamazoo MI!! can u believe it!! LOL well sounded good and I have not sold there before and I really think it is a super duper terrific idea! just what we need in the winter time!! so now yall can rest assured I wont be running a muck down these country streets this winter I will be busy baking! hopefully!! LOL So if yall are near Kalamazoo Expo center at the fairgrounds we start Oct 14th and go into april. It will be held on wed from 7 am to 1 pm and so far there are some good sounding booths coming!! organic fresh meats from our friendly meat man Dave, (who by the way has the most delicious brats I have ever tasted!! and super meaty good nitrate free bacon) someone that has winter greens and such, a granola booth, a few others I dont remember and of cource YOURS TRULY!! chicken scratch baked goods!! YEAH!

no rest down time for this chick!LOL

I did manage to get to the kitchen today and this is what I got done, made double batches of choc chip cookies, peanut peanut butter cookies, hazelnut butter cookies (that will have chocolate drizzeled ontop), cheesecake sugar cookies with jam center and drizzeled with white choc, pistachio bread, dipped pretzels and oreos, almond cheesecake bars, zucchini pineapple bread, pumpkin pineapple bread, and some salsa dip mixes whew! that was it!!

Hope you have a wonderful evening I am off to enjoy having lights and water again!! Ha Ha!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Wet Wed

lemon muffins with fresh red raspberries and raspberry "farm girl bling" LOL

These loaves are so big we cut them in 1/3s for our use.

Here is a loaf of the rustic crusty white bread we did yesterday. OH my goodness this bread is way too good! In fact we are havin triple cheese and bacon grilled sandwiches tonight with it.

Some lemon buttermilk pecan bread loaves!! this is a great recipe that I make into cakes and with a few minor alterations bread too.

Peach Basil crumble pie with sliced toasted almonds!! A really nice taste experience!! we had to try one asap once it came out of oven!! LOL

jam topped cheesecake sugar cookies with white chocolate drizzeled ontop.

Here is my CHICKEN SCRATCH PULL APART PEPPER ONION BREAD. It smells so yummy!!! I took my plain ol white bread dough, pulled it in pieces then dipped each piece in melted butter, then rolled them in asst colored chopped sweet peppers (which we grew) and some chopped sweet red onion. Placed them in these great round pans, baked and VOILA!!

SuPeR DuPeR YuMmY!!!
WE GOT ALOT OF RAIN last night and this am!! There was water covering the road in so many spots too. IT came down by the bucketful!

Here are a couple of bundt cakes for market tomorrow.. both are lemon buttermilk but have either fresh raspberries or fresh blueberries, and both are topped with my "farmgirl bling" of cource!! LOL

Also got done: chicken scratch cowboy cookies, sprinkle topped butter cookies, cranberry sour cream bars, glazed pistachio bread, cheddar jalapeno cornbread, peach praline pies, (a couple pictured below) raspberry filled lemon muffins, chocolate chip cookies and some
little tartlet shells that we will fill on friday maybe with a chocolate mousse or cream cheese filling topped with fresh raspberries.
I think that about raps up things for market tomorrow. Oh by the way did i mention I found and bought a glass display cabinet for at the flower shop so we are on our way to opening the bake shoppe really soon!! I ordered a couple of bakery banners and a big open flag and a lighted bakery sign so cant wait!!

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR OUR GRAND OPENING IN FENNVILLE MI!!

So have a blessed evening and will talk more soon!!

!!HUGS~~

Darlene

Peach praline pies, ~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Happy Happy fouth~

Some granola mix I made up called CHICKEN SCRATCH CRUNCH~chocolate granola mix!!

The cupcakes in backround were so darn cute! pineapple orange with buttercream frosting chocolate drops in center and orange zest on top.

Containers of my not too hot fresh tomato salsa, and my peach mango salsa! sold out!!

These are my lavander lemon cookies that went over really good at market!! Just a hint of lemon not to over power the sweet lavander taste.

Sold out!!Cardamom bread braids

Little cherry pies SOLD OUT you really cant see the cut out stars I put on top but they were so cute!

Peach dumplings!! these were sold out quickly!

CAN U BELIEVE IT IS ALMOST THE FOURTH OF JULY????????? I sure can't!! But I hope yall have a Happy and Safe Holiday Weekend!!

Well market was........ well THE BEST yesterday~~we were busy all day and sold out of almost everything we took!! This week I had my blueberry banana bread, straw banana bread, zucchini pineaple bread, cheddar bread rounds, cardamom bread braids and rounds, cinnamon swirl bread, banana butter crumb topped bread, and muffins, peach dumplings, cheery cherry pies (which i topped with stars cut from pie dough), lavander lemon shortbread cookies (yummo!~)chunky peanut peanut butter cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, orange pineapple cupcakes, orange marmalade pecan bread loaves, just to mention some of it! LOL Well today I have an order to deliver first thing this am to a nearby store so hope they can sell it all for this busy weekend!! I really decided this week NO SLEEP needed for me!! LOL i will probably sleep all day sunday to make up for all the baking hours this week!! But it sure is great!! I cant explain the feeling when someone who has bought from me comes back and says :that was the best pie or bread:

I just wish we could have an actual bakery but do however enjoy attending the local markets to get our name out there. It is great exposure for sure. Well better get my butt off here and get the morning things done so I can get to the kitchen and package and label everything that I made last nigth after market to take this am!! then it is back to kitchen to bake for tomorrows market!! WHEW!!!!!!!!!

Hope yall have a super duper safe and enjoyable weekend!

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

and happy baking yall!!

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~