Relish, babies, and bread

My friend gave me a new kitchen gadget and I am in love!! LE PRESSE!!  it is so easy and can do so many cuttings!! It is a hand cranked cutting machine that actually is very useful.   It is big and comes with a tower full of cutting dies that also will rice, grate, chop, dice, extract juice, and julienne veggies.   So I wanted to play and brought in some cucumbers from the garden and made my dixie relish.   It has candy sweet onions from VISSER FARMS, in Zeeland MI, our cucumbers and peppers, lots of apple cider vinegar, which by the way is made right here in sw michigan and the Heinz factory in Holland, celery seed, mustard seed and salt.  This is great on burgers, brats or I like to add it jack up a plain ol sandwich.  It also tastes great in tater salad or mac salad.

And we got our last load of babies in, we have had no luck hatchin out our guninnea eggs so I ordered 15 of them from our feed store and also got in some more Isa Brown hens and some plymouth white rock hens.  Miss Margaret and Miss Annamae did hatch out 3 more little babies and boy I can sure tell which rooster is doin the deed as these two ladies are white and brown and the babies are solid black. last time they hatched some eggs they came out white with black spots so it is always fun to see the surprises!! and my girls are such good mammas to these babies.  And we also got another pair of bronze turkeys.  My little guy "frankie" the bronze turk that we got in may is growing and doin great.  The 2 new ones are suppossed to be a pair but we will see how that goes you never know.Here are some lemon buttermilk cakes I made for markets last week some had fresh Mi blueberries some with our red raspberries and then a few with both berries mixed.  And my fabulous  BERRY BERRY BANANA BREAD which is always a big hit.  IT has both blueberries and strawberries cut into my banana bread.   This week I am thinkin of tryin a new banana bread maybe chocolate chip or chunky monkey with peanut butter and chocolate chips?? 

I am taking my mom out to breakfast this am to Saugatuck so we can eat on the deck at IDA REDS.  THEY have the BESTEST BREAKFASTS!! I love that place and the atmoshpere in town is charmin, by the deck outside there is a little waterfall and flowers and it is just awesome!!so is my mommy though!! SHE IS THE BEST EVER!!  I had Elijah make some spinach cheese ravioli last week and they were amazing!! HE did a wonderful job on them and they look perfect!!  This week is a new ravioli!!  I sauteed some red onions, yellow squash, zucchini and some patty pan squash in butter with a touch of fresh chopped garlic and some pepper and mixed it with some ricotta cheese and guyerre cheese and some fresh parmesean so cant wait to try that!! I thought it would be fun since we are picking alot of squash now and sauteed it tastes amazing!!These are my white chocolate thumbprints with red raspberry preserves ontop, and some of my rustic round cinnamon raisin bread.Before bakin they look have such a nice light tan color from all the cinnamon in them and after they are nice and golden and I add just a touch of melted butter mixed with some cinnamon sugar for the tops.

Ok well it is time for me to get ready to get my mom  so I will chat more with ya later.  Hope your july is going smoothly and it isnt too awful warm for ya!! I know they are talkin in the 90s this week here!! too hot for me but it doesnt last too long so I can handle it!!

The produce is just abundant right now so if yall are nearby stop on by for some fresh yellow squash,patty pan squash, 8 ball round italian zucchini, green and yellow zucchini, cucumbers, onions, beets, and soon I will have fresh beans out in the farmstand for ya!!  we are located just off Lakeshore Drive and 120th ave.  Someone is usually around and will help if you have any questions.  Peaches and Nectarines soon too!! 

we are 2 miles south of Glenn, and just 10 min south of Saugatuck.  OPEN 7 days a week!!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Back to it tues!!

My little Mr. Boopie Woopie Boo and a squeaky toy, he is such a mommys boy I love it!

Well hubby and I took the day off yesterday and just played around at home with the boys.   It was heavenly!! I havent had a day like that in quite awhile so it was good and now i feel refreshed and reenergized to get back to work at the kitchen today!!  Lots of things to make to make up for my slackin day yesterday LOL

My mom and I picked some black raspberrries that were ripe and put them in the freezer til we have enough to make a big batch of jam.   I just love these little hollyhocks they are so cute and fit nice along the garden fence.  I did plant another flat of them so we will have even more next year. 

I had several of these pretty stargazer lilies planted along fence but this is the only one that came up this year.  They smell divine! 

Pics of our black rasp bushes, we keep lettting them spread out so we have more and this year they are nice and big and tasty!  I might even have enough to also make a batch for some syrup or ice cream topping. 

Just a few celery bunches, and also some green table onions.  

We are making pierogies today and some spinach n cheeses stuffed ravioli and I want to make some blueberry orange bread since I got some fresh blueberries, strawberry coffee cakes and mabye some orange cream cookies.  I been putting together and testing a recipe for these cookies and cant wait to try them out.  They will be a orange flavored butter cookie with vanilla buttercream filling, maybe a root beer one would be next.  A root beer float cookie sounds too yummy!!

So I am off to pick up my mom and run to the store to get some ingredients then it is off to work for me!

Hope yall have a great tues and are enjoying this beautiful season!!   I already have my camera in the truck so I dont forget to take it to the kitchen today. last week i forgot it almost everyday.

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

HAPPY HAPPY 4th OF JULY YALL~~

WOW!! I have NEVER seen our market so busy as it was today!! And usually we have until about 9 am or so until folks start comin but today by 8 am there were tons of customers!! and what a positive atmosphere today!! AND thank you to everyone and all the wonderful comments today.  Not to brag but here are a few comments about our products!! "YOU ROCK", Your baked goods are just as I remember my grandmothers to be", (love that one) "THANKS for being here at market and giving your customers so much variety" and also "I am so glad you are here as  I dont bake and know I can come to this market and your delicious goodies will be here for me"~~ LOL THANK YOU EVERYONE!! I feel truly BLESSED and cant thank yall enough for buyin  from me and trusting me to make you a tasty quality product!!  I just am overwhelmed!~  My mom and brother came down to market to help and believe me I could not have done it without them.  We had line ups in the booth and it was so nice to talk to people and watch as folks even argued over the last package of the tater n cheeses pierogi!!  I will make more this week!! ELIJAH!! where oh where is my "pierogi pro"??   LOL he made several dozen of them on friday~   I will see u tues!!  What an asset he is too!!~  and fun to work with!

So here are a few of the items we offered this week:   these little cookies are actually my nekked glazed lemon tea cakes and are so dang yummy too!! a favo at markets, and with their "farmgirl bling' glaze they just pop off the plate!!

Blueberry banana muffins were a big hit and also my butter crum streusel topped blueberry muffins,  strawberry banana bread, zucchini pineapple bread, blueberry banana bread, lemon glazed muffins,  cherry crisp, my peach praline crisp, glazed pistachio bread,  rustic cheddar herb bread rounds, loaded carrot cakes, babka coffee cakes filled with frut jam and streusel and also a chocolate and streusel filled babka bread were the populars.   I did run out of my peanut peanut butter whoppie pies and cranberry lemon cream filled cookies and also the blueberry lemon muffins early but there still was plenty of goodies available.  There was a big demand for ravioli but we just didnt have enough time to get it done for todays market.  NEXT week!!  right Elijah"?? LOL

Anyway that was a few of the goodies we had and it was really fun not to have to pack up very much at the end of market.    Again thank you to all my wonderful customers/friends that come out to buy from us!!    Well I have to run and get chores done and it is off to bed time for me and the boys we are all beat!! I am gonna try my bestest to stay in bed tomorrow am at least until 6 am!!  sleepin in for sure!

I hope yall have a very blessed 4th of July weekend, with the cookouts, picnics, trips to the beach, or maybe just layin around in a hammock under shade trees, or in a lounge chair on a deck ENJOY! 

and sip on some sweet tea and RELAX!  people dont take time to just relax and breathe anymore!! we are all in fast forward mode and I say ENOUGH YALL!! time for me~

Have fun, be safe and please remember all of our men/women fighting for this beautiful great country of ours!!  AMERICA WE LOVE YA!!

HUGS!!

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Friday

Gosh it is a hot friday out there!!  We have yet MORE thunderstorms comin in tonight again!! URRGGGG gettin sick of all this rain,but it is better than the drought we had a few springs ago.  Today Elijah came in and we made some ooey gooey chocolatey rich and yummy brownies, some shortbread cookies, some orange chocolate chip cookies, lemon glazed tea cakes, lemon muffins with a butter crumb topping, some rustic herbed cheddar bread in round pans, more of my loaded carrot cakes with cream cheese frosting, some banana bread with and without nuts and some babka cakes.   I think that was about it.  Oh and some great cucumber salsa.  Which is good on pork, with chips or even on a brat or hotdog.   

I sure can tell my boys are missing their mommy being home so much as they go nuts when I walk in the door and play and run around.  LOL I sure miss them, wish I had a kitchen right on the property here so I wouldnt have to leave so much.    One day maybe!!    Well bettter get out and do some work in the gardens the weeds are takin over!!  

Hope yall have a super weekend!!  Talk to ya soon!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Muffins, cookies, egg bread and a cactus

I made some apple cinnamon muffins with a farmhouse buttercrumb topping today along with some chocolate chip cookies, which are super soft-n-chewy, some more peanut butter whoopie pies and some of my cranberry pecan cookies.This is the butter crumb topping.  Just butter, flour, organic oats, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter.  Great topping for my apple cinnamon mufins loaded with chopped apples.

Strawberry banana muffins, they smell absolutley yummo!!And an order for my braided egg bread. This is right before they went in the oven.  It was in the high 80s again and pretty humid today which is nice for yeast breads as they rise quicker and also are lighter.   I did up 3 batches of babka bread which I have an order for cinnamon raisin bread and babka is just perfect for that.

And here is one of my mom's bloomin cactus plants.  GORGEOUS!! She took clippings on these cactus plants a few weeks ago and put them in pots in the greenhouse, well they love all that humidity and heat in there as one is blooming now.  I wonder if they are all gonna be yellow.  She has like 10 of them in pots, and the herbs my brother grows are HUGE~ they are lovin this weather and growin like mad!!  I have alread clipped from the sweet basil, thyme and also oregano and cilantro and they are just doin great! 

I had a helper today at the kitchen!! ELIJAH thank you so much!! he did great and hopefully will be back tomorrow and friday so I can get everything done!! LOL hopefully!   There just arent enough hours in the day for me to get all I would like to done but I am tring really hard to be more efficient and to get more accomplished.

I did find a recipe for strawberry basil jam in an herb book my mom had so wanna make some of that too.  Sounds yummy!!  And lavander strawberry jam sounds heavenly!!  I have about 10 gallon bags of sliced strawberrries in the freezer now to make jams with so that will be in a couple of weeks. 

Once the produce starts comin in it is a race to use it up!! I do freeze alot and an alot to make the most of it, then I have lots of produce to use up for winter market and also in the late fall. Comes in handy!!

Hope yall have a great night!!  I am off to do chores and figure out what we can have for supper.  Actually not in the mood for breakfast tonight.  Although  strawberry crepes or pancakes  kind of sounds good!!Talk to ya soon again!!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Relaxing monday

Here are so pics from FSAM on sunday in Grand Rapids.  I think everyone's looked great!~

This gorgeous butterfly landed on the gals table next to me and it actually sat there for quite awhile.  Must have been takin a break in it's busy day.    It was just gorgeous against all the colors in the table cover. 

Ok well relaxing...................... NOT!!  LOL I did have some errands to run today took my mom and brother to stores to buy ingredients for the week.  3 markets last week was alot for me!!  I am tired!! really tired.    Yesterday's FSAM wasnt too bad, it was in the upper 80s and not too much traffic coming thru but we still had quite a few sales.  Pickeled asparagus was my most popular item then my blueberry jalapeno jelly.    This am I finally got to get all the laundry put away that was in baskets and stacked ontop of the dryer for wayyyyyyyyy too long, did dishes from supper last night, had to print off some labels for this weeks goodies, cleaned the fridge a bit and then tried to organize some of my little signs I take to markets.    Well it is time to make supper hubby is gettin hungry and let me tell ya lately he is such a dear sweet guy he has setteled for 2 over easy eggs and toast or an english muffin!! last night however we did have a nice steak dinner we shared with the boys and had a very nice quiet evening together.  Nothin better than be with my hubby and my boys at night!! or anytime of day actually.    I sure missed them yesterday being so dang far away...................well an hour but still I felt so far away, like hours not just 55 minutes LOL miss them every minute of the day when we are not all together. 

I also hope all the men out there had a very special FATHERS DAY yesterday sorrt it is late but I just didnt have the energy to get on puter last night, the bed was wayyyyyyyy to nice at 9pm.

Have a blessed evening!!
  ~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~