Harvest and Update on Jordan :)

 I'll bet you have a pumpkin patch around you somewhere. 

This one is just a few miles from our home.

See, we really can grow things here in the desert :) 

There is also a corn maze. I've never been successful

at growing corn myself, but it does grow around here, as you can see.

This is what the pumpkin sees :)

We're still harvesting. We have a late growing season here. 

I found a great "Any Kind of Squash" recipe this summer, 

and since I still have zucchini growing,

I've made it quite a few times. 

 You slice up your squash, and put a layer on the bottom of a baking dish.

Cover it with melted butter, 

salt and pepper to taste,

a little bit of cut up basil from the garden,

and then layer it with Parmesan cheese.

Repeat the steps with another layer (or two).

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

As you can see, different squashes work equally well.

I almost forgot to take a photo of the finished product. I got a corner of it, 

as the rest had already been gobbled up. It's delicious,

even my twins love it!

(I mean, with butter and Parmesan, how can you go wrong?)

I've also been harvesting my own seeds. 

These coriander seeds are about to be replanted. 

Last year I had cilantro growing late into the Fall,

and early in the Spring.

Our weather has finally cooled off a bit this week. 

It actually feels like Fall around here :)

We saw Jordan a few weeks ago too. 

He looks great, doesn't he? 

He had another surgery on Oct. 19th.

Here is and update from his Facebook Page :)

*So I wish to update all of you and let everybody know I am still very positive and motivated. I came in for surgery on wednesday the 19th to get a revision on my left leg. As the doctors cut me open they found that my femur was deteriorating. So they took a few tissue samples and closed it up. The doctors thought it was due to infection but after testing the tissue samples it was not infection. Yesterday the 22nd they cut me open again to take a small piece of bone for testing because their next theory is that the bone breakdown may be a type of osteoperosis. I will find out in the next few days what the source of the deterioration is and I will keep you all updated. Once again keep me in your thoughts and prayers.*

♥ Thank you everyone for your prayers for Jordan ♥

I know this post was a bit scattered. It's been a while since I've written anything,

so I just included a bit of this and that :) 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings,

Marcia 

Strawberry Pear Crumble Love

 I mentioned a few posts back that our strawberries were coming in like crazy.

I'd had my eye out for different ways to prepare them, when I noticed

one of those "You might also like" links at the bottom of Sarah's recent post.

 It said "The Beach Cottage Go To Strawberry Pear & Strawberry Crumble". 

It was from a post she did last Fall, because Sarah gets strawberries at a
different time of year than we do :-)
I made it about a week ago, and I only have one complaint...

 I took a bite when it was a little too hot, and decided to wait a bit and let it cool.
Big mistake my friends...
I waited too long. It was gone before I got a chance to eat anymore!

 I used canned pears, because I had them on hand.

Sarah's oven temp says 200 C., so I baked them at 375 F.
A conversion site said it should be about 400 degrees, but my stove runs a bit hot. 

I've made it a 2nd time, and I learned my lesson...

Make two...You might get a little bit that way :-)

It's absolutely delicious!!! Thanks Mrs. BC :-) I've included the link for the recipe
and visit A Beach Cottage and join the Good Life Wednesday Party,
along with Gooseberry Patch to join Recipe Round-Up. 
I hope you're all having a great week :-)
Blessings,
Marcia

Yummy Goodness :-)

Sometimes you just have to quit taking photos....

 and dig in!!

 Another temptation from our Betty Crocker calendar 

has added some weight gain around here, I'm sure :-)

Last month it was *cupcakes*,

and this month it is ♥Grasshopper Fudge Cake♥.

Yes, those are Andes Mints on top :-)

My daughter made this one, and it's delicious!

You can find the recipe *here*.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Blessings,

Marcia

Trisha Yearwood Cookbook Review

If you are looking for a great cookbook as a gift for your favorite cook this Christmas, here is another one of my favorites. Trisha Yearwood, her mama, and her sister can cook! The recipes are mostly Southern, not too complicated, and absolutely delicious. One example is her Meatloaf. I've never really liked meatloaf, but I decided to try hers, and that was enough to change my mind. It is wonderful!

She has a recipe in here called "Cooked to Death Green Beans". Now I know that may not sound like the most nutritious way to eat green beans, but oh, so good. These are my kind of green beans. Her "Daddy's Biscuits" are wonderful, and even her hubby Garth Brooks has a recipe in there called "Garth's Pasta Salad", which I haven't tried yet, but it looks so good.

She also shares some sweet family stories that make this wonderful cookbook very personal and welcoming. She cooks the way I love to eat, and she makes you want to go have Sunday Supper at her house, or, according to her, even better would be to go to her mama's house and eat to your hearts content. If you get the book, don't forget to try the "Banana Pudding". You'll love it!
Blessings,
Marcia

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies...Delicious!

My youngest daughter Micaela, enjoys baking. A couple of years ago she found this recipe in a Rachel Ray magazine and made them for us. They were absolutely delicious. We BEG her to make them for us now. If you like pumpkin or cream cheese, you will love these!

Here is Micaela taking them off of the cookie sheet. As you can see, we don't use the parchment paper, as advised in the recipe :-)

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

1 1/2 sticks butter, 1 stick melted, 1/2 stick softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temp, lightly beaten
1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
1 Tbs. pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. plus 2 pinches salt
1 2/3 cups flour
4 ounces cream cheese, chilled
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, if desired. In large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, 1 tsp. vanilla, baking powder, baking soda and 3/4 tsp. salt. With a rubber spatula, fold in flour.

Using an ice cream scoop or tablespoon drop 12 generous mounds of batter, spaced evenly, onto each baking sheet. Bake until springy to the touch, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, cream the softened butter with the cream cheese. Add the confectioners' sugar and the remaining 2 pinches salt and 1/2 tsp. vanilla; mix on low speed until blended, then beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 min.

Spread the flat side of 12 cakes with the cream cheese frosting. Top each with another cake.

Watch them disappear!
Blessings,
Marcia

Favorite Apple Crisp Recipe

I know there have been many versions of Apple Crisp floating around blogland and we have a favorite too. In fact I have a little story about mine. Years ago, when my oldest boys were little, I came across an Apple Crisp recipe that we all really loved. I made it alot, but as time went on and more children came along, somehow the recipe was misplaced. Well actually, I'd forgotten what cookbook it was in! I looked for it, and along the way, I made many versions of Apple Crisp trying to see if they were the one. They were all good, but still not the same as the original we'd come to love.

A few months ago, as apple season was coming upon us, I was thinking about it again, and just like that, I remembered where it was. After all those years! Silly me. It wasn't in an actual cookbook, but in a book called "Eat Well for $50 A Week" by Rhonda Barfield (okay, this book was written in 93, I know that it would be harder to do that now). It taught how to be more frugal in your grocery purchases and included recipes at the end of the book. I found my copy, and although the book was falling apart, there was the Apple Crisp recipe I remembered. It's a very simple recipe, but oh, so delicious!
If you don't have one of these, you really need to get one. I picked mine up at a yard sale.
It makes doing this so much easier. You can peel and core ten apples in a minute or two.You'll also need quite a few of these, the recipe calls for 5 lbs. I use about 9 or 10.

APPLE CRISP

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel and dice:
5 lbs. apples

Grease a large cake pan. Place apples in pan and sprinkle with:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

Set aside. In a bowl, combine:
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup melted margarine

Mix well, until crumbly. Spoon over apples. Bake for 35 minutes, or until apples are tender and bubbly. Serve hot or cold, with whipped topping or ice cream.


This is the apples with the sugar/cinnamon mixture on them. I think this is why we like this recipe so much!This is the final result... and it's also pictured at the top of the post with ice cream, delicious! Enjoy.
Blessings,
Marcia

Carrot Cake

I had my first garden this summer and it turned out better than I thought it would. I've grown tomatoes and peppers for a few years, but this year my husband and son put in a garden area in our backyard. Our soil is hard, so we had to add alot to it, and I wanted to grow carrots, so we had to dig deep and amend that part more than the rest. Well, it worked; I actually got quite a few carrots. So yesterday I was thinking I might make carrot cake with some of my carrots, and I started looking for recipes.

I'm not an originator of recipes. I don't create my own. So I collect cookbooks. I'll decide what I want to make, check out recipes for it in multiple cookbooks, figure out which ingredients I have, which I don't like, and choose the recipe that seems to fit us best. If it works, and most of us like it, then it becomes a keeper (unless I forget which cookbook I found it in...but that's another story).

Anyway, I found a carrot cake recipe in a little cookbook I use often. The lady who wrote this is the homeschooling mother of 14, and she has some wonderful (and not too complicated) recipes in this book. Everything I've made from it has been loved by my family, an important factor for all. Her name is Marilyn Boyer and her family also produces some wonderful homeschooling books and materials. They have a blog and website called The Learning Parent. You can access it here thelearningparent.blogspot.com



Here's the recipe. I omitted the nuts because I have a couple of kids that can't eat them, and it still turned out wonderful. Thanks Marilyn!



















Enjoy!
Blessings,
Marcia