100 plus

Yepper nearby us SW MI was over 100 degrees today and tomorrow is predicted to be 104-110 in the inland cities!!  WOW!! we are breaking all kinds of weather records in 2012! But it could be much worse so this is bearable.  I just worry about our wildlife, we havent been this long without rain in several several years and all the ponds around are so low and even the rivers are way down, the corn in the fields is showing signs of drought and even our maple/oak tree leaves are curling and turning brownish.  YIKES!! I think we are gonna see a very very early fall! which wouldnt be so bad it would bring cooler weather!  I will so miss seeing and picking those beautiful big dark red apples this fall and even the pears and the late peaches.  Will have to drive south maybe? LOL

My mom and I made up some spinach n cheese filled lasagna rolls in a homemade tomato red pepper sauce.

We put 2 peppers in each pan.  Filled with rice, sauteed veggies, zucchini, onions, carrots, corn, tomatoes, yellow squash and my blend of herbs and seasonings. 

And we made stuffed cabbage rolls in a homemade sauce.

These are may lavender lemonade jars.  Forgot my cute sign at home =( but they sold well

This is looking down the row at my newest market.  Texas Township near Kalamazoo MI.  Tues nights from 4-7pm

Love the atmosphere here and the wood beams make this pavillion so rustic.  Perfect for a farmers market!

So tomorrow inbetween being overyly hot we are making some grilling packets, pickels, cucumber tomato salsa, pineapple black bean salsa ( which is awesome on chicken or beef or with chips)_ and to keep things on the lighter side this week since it is soooo hot I am gonna make some cool strawberry blueberry shortcakes, lemon poppyseed shortcakes with fresh blueberries n cream, lemon blueberry muffins, bluebery bread and maybe some of my graham crackers.  So hope yall had a wonderful Independence Day!!  I was at market in morning then late afternoon we had a party at hubby's mom's house, alot of the family is up here from all over and then we went nearby to watch fireworks last night.  It sure was nice to see everyone and we are getting together with them again saturday before the leave to go back home.  Time just flies doesnt it!!

BIG NEWS!!**  a friend of mine opened a handmade/antique shop in Glenn so I am gonna put some of my prims in there! good time to start back at making handmade creations!! LOL I may just have time before halloween to make up some of my primitive scarecrows!! WOO HOOO just the kick in the pants I needed to make some!!  I may just take some of the osnaburg with me on sat to start cutting out the pieces of the head and bodies.  If I have time that is! 

Hope yall have a great rest of the holiday week, I will take some pics tomorrow of our busy baking day.  Be back soon yall!!

HUGS!!

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Have a Happy Fourth!!

HEY YALL!!  My goodness what a crazy week again!!  
This coming week is really gone be nutso I think!!  I start Texas Township Farmers Market tues evenings.  I love the hours 4pm to 7pm!!  How nice that will be I have time to go to the kitchen in the am then get home and packed up and head out.  I am planning on making the following for this market: stuffed cabbage rolls, stuffed peppers, veggie kabobs, veggie burgers and some herbed foccacia slices.  I am trying to make more food items/options instead of all the baked goods since it has been so danged extrememly hot round here 90s plus and so humid!!  Plus I have been making infused lemonades.  The last 2 weeks I have made lavender infused and it is sooooooooo yummy!! It has been a very popular drink and I will make it again this week.  Last week I made pineapple mint infused lemnade and sold out of those too.  I need to take pics of them I put em in pint mason jars and in a big old round white basin on the table. 

It was pierogi making day, we did 10 dozen tater cheese and 5 dozen sauerkraut ones up for market.

Thsi is foccacia dough

In the sheet pan topped with an italian herbs

the first load in the oven

my mom stuffed the pepper 1/2s

lemon poppyseed muffins with lemon glaze

blueberry n cheese filled coffee cakes

So that is a bit of what we made last week.  I will take pics of this weeks offerings.

Hope yall have a happy and safe Independance day!

HUGS

Be back soon!!

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

It is hot!!

This week has been so hot here!!  WOW, this is usually july/aug weather~~ not june so not sure what to whill happen next month.  We are scared to be loosing alot of the crops, the corn fields are not looking too good, with this drought we are experiencing and the extreme heat this isnt good.  I am worried about feed prices, they have doubled already from 2 years ago and this week when I bought some it was up $1.49 a 50 pound bag.  Which doesnt seem like alot but we go thru alot and we are small!!  Cant imagine what this will do to our meat prices either!! 

So my mom is doing a bit better today, she has had one issue after another since her surgery.  She got food poisoning this past weekend and it took her by storm, she was so dehydrated the doctor called telling her to go to er asap, she needed fluids quickly.  So we spent the day playing word games on my laptop in the ER while she got bags of fluids.  Thank goodness for laptops!!  I have to say a huge THANK YOU to Holland Hosptial!! the er staff was friendly, prompt, very professional and so caring!! The doctor she had was amazing, he was so compassionate and also he came in at least 4 times while we were there checking on her and kept us updated on how what was going on!! THANK YOU!!

So this week I didnt get alot done, we had spent so many hours running back and forth to doctors appts and so on I only had a few hours at the kitchen. 

One of my menu options was stuffed zucchini.  I cut them in 1/2 then used my small cookie scoop to scoop the innerds out, put them in a shallow pan and just lightly steamed them in a hot water bath.   

Here's what they look like filled.

Susan made my italian herb foccacia which is really the best dough to work with.  A bit on the sticky side this recipe makes 6 pounds of dough and actually my favorite to make. 

Here's the filling for the zucchini.  I cooked some brown and jasmine rice up, meantime sauteed onions, orange red yellow and green peppers, tomatoes,  celery, carrots, and sweet corn plus the innerds of the zucchini, some chopped yellow squash and some dried herbs.  Thyme, oregano, a touch of chili powder,  basil, garlic powder, cracked pepper, and salt then topped each one with a sprinkling of parm cheese and cheddar cheese. 

fitting the foccacia into the sheet pans

my salad fixins  just add dressing and enjoy!!  I also made a cold pasta salad with fresh cut veggies and a delish fresh lemon herbed vinegrette, some black raspberry buttermilk and  blueberry buttermilk muffins, some veggie kabobs(which i forgot to take pics of )  some tater cheese pierogi, and my veggie burgers.  Tomorrow will be a busy day making alot and I will put my camera in my bag tonight so I dont forget to take it with and share more with ya!!

Have a wonderful evening and keep cool and hydrated!!

HUGS

~~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~~

Wonderful wed

Today is already just a wonderful wednesday!!! WHY???  well for one things we now have HI SPEED internet!! NO MORE SLOW DIAL UP!! oh my gosh now instead of waiting for 1/2 hour pics are loaded well super super fast!! I love it!  I can see more posting and sharing now that it doesnt take me all day to do one post! LOL And sipping on my second cup of coffee, on the puter and my "boys" on the couch next to me.  Well 2 of the boys Bruno decided to go back to bed by his daddy but Buster and Barney are laying next to me and the world is so peaceful.  I love early mornings!!  the sun is up by 6am here now and the birdies are outside singing so beautifully.  And it has been staying light out til after 10pm!! Love these long days!! 

Egg bread savory bread pudding, this was just amazing!!  cant wait to make it again and again and again!! 

These were my little strawberry shortcakes I cooked down some extra berries and added a bit of lemon juice to make a nice sauce that I drizzeled on top before taking to market

my tomato spinach n cheeses pasta dish

lemon strawberry buttermilk muffins.  And complete with my "farmgirl" bling!!  lemon glaze

This was a taste of home recipe for a tomato pie that I added some chives and sweet corn to.  Yummy!!  it has a tangy mayo lemon juice sauce on top and was great!!

I cut up some fresh veggies to make into a wrap for a lunch special this week. 

Filling for stuffed cabbage rolls, cut up cabbage, celery, zucchini, carrots, sweet peppers and a bit of onions

I bought some beautiful heads of cabbage to make these rolls.

And a roasted tomato red pepper sauce to cook them in 

steaming veggies

some of the jars of pickeled asparagus I did up on monday

strawberry buttermilk bread

red raspberry buttermilk muffins, hmmmmmmmmm kind of nekked huh???

I mashed up some red raspberries to get the nice deep color and mixed with powdered sugar and a touch of lemon juice. No muffin is complete without my "farmgirl bling"  LOL

We have a busy busy day today baking getting ready for market tomorrow.  Loaded carrot cakes, chocolate chip cookies, dog cookies, cinnamon swirl muffins, salad fixins, cardamom bread, veggie pizzas, broccoli tomato quiche and a few more things to make up!!  I have markets on thursdays and saturdays and starting in July I am proud to say I was accepted into another great market Texas Corners so lots of baking and cooking to do!!  Love it!!
Hope yall have a wonderful wed!! time to head out and do my chores!  My horses and goats let me know it is breakfast time out there!!  LOL
Enjoy!!
HUGS
DARLENE

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~