In His Grip

Trying for a Healthy Lifestyle

Jeff and I have been on a health craze lately.  It all started earlier this year when our church challenged us to do a Daniel Fast for a week.  We found some great recipes that we really like and decided to just try and eat a bit more healthy.  Then in February my sister Janet introduced us to My Fitness Pal.  My Fitness Pal is an app for your phone that helps you keep track of your caloric intake as well as exercise. As my brother-in-law puts, it is all a mathematical equation.  If you want to loose weight you take in less calories and if you exercise, you get some free calories for the day.  Easy, peasy, right?  No food is off limits as long as you record it and the app automatically calculates how many calories you have left in order to reach your goal.  If you want more calories for the day, you had better get out there and get some exercise.  Here is one of the great recipes we have found:

Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Salsa Wraps

2 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon chopped fresh jalapeno peppers

1 tablespoon lime juice

8 slices turkey bacon

1/4 cup light mayonnaise

4 10” whole wheat tortillas

2 cups fresh baby spinach

1.  For salsa:  In a bowl, combine tomatoes, read onion, cilantro, and peppers.  Stir in lime juice and set aside.

2.  Cook the bacon according to the package.  Drain well and cut into large pieces

3.  To assemble wraps, spread tortillas with mayonnaise, top with spinach.  Using a slotted spoon, spoon salsa over spinch and top with bacon.  Roll up the tortillas and cut each in half. 

We added some avocado, and you can really add just about anything according to taste.  But if you keep with the recipe, you have a serving for only 227 calories.  It is fabulous, fresh and makes for great healthy meal.

Bridesmaid Cupcakes

This week Anna received this beautiful cupcake from a girlfriend of hers.  Ashley is getting married in May and she wants Anna to be in her wedding as a bridesmaid.  Wow, what a cute and fun way to ask your friends to accompany you on your big day.  The cupcake not only was cute but even came with its own little "diamond" ring and tasted good as well.  If this is what it looks like for Ashley to ask her bridesmaids, I cannot wait to see the wedding.

Linked up to:  Today's Creative Blog, One Tough Mother, Silly Little Sparrow, Skip to My Lou, Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday,Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick, 5 Minutes Just for Me

Candy Cane Stir Sticks

Once again, I am posting about a great idea that I found on Pinterest.  I know it is very simple, but the results are more than I expected.  Because I like to add a little something extra to my holiday parties and gatherings, I thought what a great idea to make these peppermint stir sticks that you can use in any hot holiday drink.  In my pursuit to make these fancy stir sticks, I came up with a couple of hints on how to go about this project.  First of all, I cut the hooks off of my candy canes with a sharp knife.  I did this at an angle which made for a great point to stick into the marshmallows.  

At this point my stir sticks would stand up but once I dipped them in the white chocolate and coated them with the sprinkles they kept tipping over.  Big problem, I wanted them to be even all the way around and not lopsided.  So I came up with the idea of poking a hole in the bottom of a styrofoam cup and turing the cup upside down to poke the candy cane through to help support the sticks while they dried. Wala! Perfect candy cane stir stick drying holder.  

One more little tip.  In the pictures on Pinterest where I saw these stir sticks, all of the sprinkles were white.  I looked everywhere for a jar of small white sprinkles but could not find any, so I went with the festive red, green and white.  Well, good reason for the all white.  When you put the stir sticks in a hot drink the colors melt off and your first couple of stirs are a mix of red and green, which if you ever mix red and green together you know they make a weird brownsih color.  That soon melts away and you are back to wonderful peppermint stir stick fun.

Come on over for a hot holiday drink at my house and you will get one of these candy cane stir sticks to help keep you drink all mixed up.  

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday,Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick, 5 Minutes Just for Me

Candy Cane Hearts

Pinterest has become one of the first places I search when I am in need of an idea to make something either as a craft, recipe, or home decor.  So when the opportunity came to make some treats for a ministry at church for the holidays, Pinterest was my "go to" place. When I spotted these cute little candy dane hearts I knew that they would be the treat that I would donate.  Jeff happened to be with me when I was in my search of the small, mini, candy canes and could not figure out why I needed five boxes of 60.  I had promised 60 treats, but I wanted two hearts in each little treat bag.  So four boxes right?  I knew that there would be some broken ones too so that's why I purchased the extra box.  Jeff was like, "what is it you are doing with all those candy canes?"  I patiently (because that's just the kind of gal that I am, wink, wink) explained to him the candy cane heart concept.  He was very sceptical that this little project was going to work out.  Being the engineer type, I suppose he wanted me to try a prototype before purchasing all of the supplies and then find out it just was not going to work out.  This engineery way of thinking is just not the way that I roll.

Truly the hardest part of the whole project is getting the candy canes out of their little cellophane wrappers.  I then laid them in the shape of hearts on a cookie sheet covered in foil.  

I melted chocolate almond bark in the microwave in a large mug and spooned the chocolate into each little heart.  I only melted a little bit at a time because it is very easy to over heat the chocolate in large quantities, don't ask why I know this, because the waste of supplies is not well taken by the process engineer that I know and love, Jeff.  So this is just knowledge that I acquired with no record of how, ha, ha.  

Using the broken candy canes, I chopped them up and sprinkled them on top.  This is super easy and the finished product is so cute.  

I love it when I find a project that turns out like I had it in my head.  Pinterest is just the place to get the inspiration for just about anything.

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday,Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick, 5 Minutes Just for Me

Chewy Chocolate Chip Snickers Cookies

These are the best cookies ever.  While I was looking at Pinterest the other day I found this great cookie recipe.  Beings as chocolate chip cookies are my all time favorite cookies and Snickers are my favorite candy bar, how could I go wrong.  What I like best about Pinterest is that it is all pictures until you want the info.  You just simply click on the picture and it takes you to the website responsible for the "pin".  My clicking took me to Bakers Royale where I found this scrumptious recipe as well as great pictures of step by step instructions.  One thing that was new to me in the recipe is browning butter.  Wow, I love butter anyway, but cook it a bit and it is simply heavenly and you really do taste the difference in the finished product.  Go on over and check out more of Bakers Royale recipes.  Naomi the author of the site rocks when in comes to baking let alone the photos she takes.  This is the picture of her cookies.  

Here is the picture of my cookies.  There is just something about style when it comes to taking food pictures that I just don't have.  Besides, I did not do the optional sprinkling crumbled up Snickers on top of my cookies either.  And who has a dishcloth that is that clean anyway, really?  This site has become a "go-to" when I get the itch to bake something up.  

Funfetti Sandwich Cookies

Funfetti cookies have become my family's favorite. Not only are they easy to make, all you do is use a Funfetti cake mix, add 1/3 cup of oil, and two eggs, but they are good, good, good.  At first all I did was frost the top and add sprinkles and then I got to thinking if one Funfetti cookie at a time is good, two at a time has got to be fabulous.  The idea of Funfetti sandwich cookies was born.  Since this new inspiration, I make two batches at a time in order to make sandwiches.  I frost the wrong side of one cookie and then place another on top, smooshing slightly so the frosting oozes out and lastly roll in sprinkles.  These are so good and there are Funfetti cakes mixes for every holiday. That means Funfetti cookies all year long, yeah!  

Here are couple of need to know tips.  If you use two cake mixes, you will use all of two cans of frosting.  I put the frosting in an icing bag and use a huge tip making for a much faster frosting process.  You will use a whole jar of sprinkles as well.  You may as well buy two jars because you would hate to run out, at least that what I always do and you can never have too many sprinkles, right?

See, don't these cookies just make you happy whatever the season.  I am already keeping my eyes out for the Christmas Funfetti cake mixes to come out in the grocery stores soon. Yes, I will buy several so if the store nearest you is out, I just may have been there before you :o)

Creme Brulee French Toast

On Monday mornings for years now I have attended a women's bible study.  I look forward to spending time with like minded women in order to grow in our faith together.  Women getting together in the morning would not be any fun unless we shared treats as well as some great coffee.  This week was my turn to bring something to share in the treat department so I decided to bring my Creme Brulee French Toast.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com some time ago and it has become one of our family favorites.  This is a great recipe that you prepare the night before and then just stick it in the oven in the morning.  Needless to say, this is a recipe that we often have on Christmas morning, or other holidays when little preparation in the morning is what a gal needs.  Several of the gals asked me to post the recipe on my blog so here it is:

Creme Burlee French Toast

1/2 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

French bread slices to fill the bottom of baking dish

5 eggs

1 1/2 cups half & half

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon brandy-based orange liqueur (Grand Marnier)

1/4 teaspoon salt

 

1.  Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Mix in brown sugar and corn syrup, stirring until sugar is dissolved.  Pour into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

2.  Arrange bread in the baking dis in a single layer.  In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, half & half, vanilla, orange brandy and salt.  Pour over the bread.  Cover and chill at least 8 hours or overnight.  

3.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Remove the dish from the refrigerator, and bring to room tempature. 

4.  Bake uncovered 35 to 40 minutes, until puffy and lightly browned.  

 

 

Autumn Nut Brittle

I found this great Autumn Brittle recipe on line and could not wait to try it out.  Beings as my Mom is a big peanut brittle fan I thought she would enjoy trying a new recipe with me when we were up at her house.  With all of the nuts in this recipe it is not cheap to make, but, oh, is it worth it.  I learned a couple of things while making this that I thought I would pass on to you.  When cooking the sugar mixture, the temperature goes from soft crack to hard crack fast so you need to be on your toes or it will burn.  I burnt the first batch and was not about to mess up all of my precious nuts for something that tastes burnt.  So I started all over again.

I love the look of all these nuts together. I think that they look so autumny.  I spread them out in a 9 x 13 inch pan, but when I do it again I think I will use a jelly roll pan that is bigger.  That way the pieces don't end up as thick and would be easier to bite into without some kind of dental work later.  

Before the brittle was totally hard, I scored the entire thing with a sharp knife so that it would break easier once it was cool.

I will be making this again real soon.  Not only is it wonderfully good, but it is so pretty.

Grillin' Group Night

Tonight we are headed to our summer small group "Grillin' Group".  This is where we meet for some grilled food and share a little bit of life together.  It has been a great way to meet new folks that you would not otherwise have a chance to get to know just in passing on a sunday morning.  I love this opportunity to try out new recipes.  Tonight we using our Grillin' Group as taste testers of a Garden Medley Salad recipe I came across recently at The Realistic Nutritionist.  The ingredients are all things that we eat a lot of but never together, so I just had to try this one out. I have already done a little testing myself and it is awesome!  You really need to give this one a try!

Farmers' Market Goodness

One of my favorite parts of Summer is going to the Farmers' Market.  There is nothing better than cooking with fresh picked vegys and because I am not growing anything other than herbs this year, the Farmers' Market is the place buy.  Normally I go and just buy what looks good and for me more often than not that is everything.  So this year, I have armed myself with the newest issue of Farmer's Market Cookbook magazine.

This is a special publication put out by Vegetarian Times. It is pack full of all kinds of recipes made with items you purchase at the Farmers' Market.  Just look at those stuffed tomatoes on the front cover, I am here to tell you they are absolutely fabulous.  Here is what mine turned out like.

Okay, so mine are not near as pretty as the the magazine's, but after all I am not a professional.

Here are all of the vegys I picked up.  Aren't they pretty?  As for the fennel, I did not even know what that was, let alone what it looked like.  But I had to find it for the Cold French Lentil Salad.  It is my new favorite ingredient.  I love the licorice smell that it has as well as the taste.  

Here is my salad.  The dressing really makes the whole thing.  My guess is you can't just use any olive oil, I picked up a fancy one from The Tasteful Olive.  I purchase one called Hojiblanca.  I have no idea how to pronounce that but it has a very robust flavor and made my dressing delicious.  Next time I go to the Farmers' Market I am looking for eggplant.  I have never prepared eggplant before but my magazine has a great recipe for a Walnut-Stuffed Eggplant, sounds good to me!

Peanut Marshmallow Bars

One of the things that I look forward to when visiting my Mom up North is attending her church on Sunday.  This is a small country church with forward thinking folks that want to attract the younger families in the area and minister to the seasonal people in the both Summer and Winter.  One of the ways that they get to know the visitors in the Summer is their hospitality tent where they serve coffee and treats after the service.  As I was checking out the treats, I spied these great looking peanut and marshmallow bars and just had to try one.  I am usually a chocolate kind of a gal but these have to be the best non-chocolate bars around.  Mom knew the gal that made them so of course we called her for the recipe.

It only takes these few ingredients.  I love recipes with  just a few things in them, they are easy to remember when you forgot you need to whip something up and are already at the grocery store.

Peanut Marshmallow Bars

16 oz. peanuts

3 tablespoons butter

1 bag peanut butter chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 cup mini marshmallows

Grease a 9 x 13 pan and then pour half of your peanuts in the bottom.  Melt butter and chips in the microwave, when smooth, add sweetened condensed milk and stir until well blended.  Add the marshmallow and stir (marshmallows do not melt).  Pour mixture over the peanuts in the bottom of your pan and pat down.  Put remaining peanuts on top and pat down.  Chill and cut into squares and serve.  Yummy!

Participating in the following link ups:  Its a Keeper

Teacher Appreciation Week

With this week being Teacher Appreciation, the folks at Indian Creek Community Church, Gardner wanted to bless the teachers and faculty at Wheatridge Middle school where we meet for church each Sunday.  One of our people came up with the idea of collecting teacher supplies.  You know, those supplies that teachers use but are not supplied by the school.  Things that they purchase out of their own pocket.  What a fabulous idea, Willie!  For the last month our peeps have been bring in all kinds of supplies, scissors, dry erase markers, page protectors, etc.  But there are others that serve at Wheatridge and we did not want them to get left out of the love.  So some gals and I made rice crispy treats for the entire staff.  Now these were no ordinary rice crispy treats, we made them the size of Texas.  Knowing that all of our children spend so much time at their schools, we depend on these folks to help shape the future of our nation and we at Indian Creek Community Church just wanted them to know that we support them in all that they do for the students they touch each day.

 
We placed each rice crispy treat in a cello bag with a card attached.  One side said "Thanks."

 
This is what went on the other side of the card.

 
We made 80 GIANT treats for the staff at Wheatridge Middle School.

 
Thanks so much to all the teachers that make our children into the adults of the future.

Easter Carmel Popcorn

Easter is just a couple of days away and I love to find new ways to make the day special.  Browsing around on The Pioneer Woman earlier this week, she featured this Easter Carmel Popcorn from Heather Christo Cooks and I knew that we would be serving this at our Easter dinner on Sunday.  Being the adventurous cook that I am, I took a few liberties with the recipe just to make it my own.  First of all, I used my own Microwave Carmel Corn recipe, which is way easier and faster than the traditional Carmel Corn recipe that Heather has on her site.

 
Microwave Carmel Corn

16 cups popped corn (a little more then two microwave bags)

1 cup brown sugar

1 stick butter (use real butter, it totally makes a difference in the taste, why cut fat now?)

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup cashews (I added this instead of peanuts, thought I would class it up a bit :o)

1 cup white chocolate chips

Sprinkles

1 large paper grocery bag (next time you are at the store remember to ask for "paper")

Microwave the popcorn and place in the large paper grocery bag. Microwave brown sugar, butter, and syrup for 2 minutes on high (until bubbly), remove and stir.  Return to microwave for 3 minutes, stopping to stir every minute.  Remove and add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon vanilla, stir, allow the mixture to rise a little bit.  Pour carmel mixture over the popcorn in the paper sack, close and shake well.

Place bag in the microwave (really, put the whole thing in) for 30 seconds, remove and shake.  Repeat this 2 more times.  After the last 30 seconds shake well and pour on a cookie sheet spreading it out.  Sprinkle M&Ms on and gently push them in.  Melt the white chocolate chips and drizzle them over the mixture and then immediately shake the top with sprinkles. 

 
Before adding any of the yummy goodness, be careful it is really hot.

 
You could stop here, but why not go for the whole shebang!

 

Panda Cake Pops

I have been seeing cakes pops all over the internet and have never given them a try.  For Christmas Lindsey received a cookbook all about cake pops with some great creative ideas.  So for Valentines day she and I decided to make some cake pops for our valentines.  They look kind of difficult but with the right ingredients and the help of the Cake Pop Cookbook it was a lot of fun.

 
Because some of the cake pops were going to Anna we picked a Funfetti cake mix, her favorite.

 
The process is a bit messing.  But really all you do is bake the cake as directed on the box and let it cool.  Once the cake has cooled you just crumble it up and mix in 3/4 of a can of ready  made frosting.  Believe me when I say not to add too much frosting as the cake pops will be too soft.  Then all you have to do is form the mixture into balls and place in the fridge to cool.

 
Once the cake pops have cooled for about an hour they are ready to dip into candy melt coating or almond bark.  This is where you need to have all of your decorating ingredients ready to go as you want to work while the coating is still wet.  One more tip from our little experience is that with cake pops, bigger is not better.  They will be too heavy for the sticks and as the coating starts to set up, it will crack.  We think this happen also because we used a little too much frosting in the cake mixture too.

 
We used pink candy melts to make hearts for Anna as well as pressed the cooled cake pops into a heart shaped cookie cutter.

 
Lindsey made hers into cute little pandas for her valentine and used one of the heart shaped cakes pops for her message.  You can see that a couple of them have cracks but that did not affect the taste or the message.

I am participating in the following link ups: The DIY Showoff, Dittle Dattle, Boggieboard Cottage, The Girl Creative, Between Naps on the Porch, Keeping It Smple, Skip to My Lou, Pinkapotamus, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Miss Crafty Pants, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog, Blue Cricket Design, All Things Heart & Home, Nikki's Nifty Knacks, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Its a Hodgepodge Life, It's Fun to Craft, Tidy Mom, The Shabby Nest, Simply Sweet Home

Frigid Weather Casualty

Are you freaking serious?  Who killed my herbs?  I have been growing these inside my back door since the first freeze and they have been doing so good.  I have basil, thyme, and sage growing in this pot and I use them all the time.  They are in a perfect spot where they get nice sun, I have fed them and have treated them, oh so, nice.  But yesterday afternoon I walked in the kitchen and this is what I found.  Really?  How did this happen?  It took me a while to figure it out.  But remember my Three Word Thrusday picture yesterday?  I took that cute heart picture right out side my back door, WITH THE DOOR OPEN.  Needless to say the tempature yesterday morning was 2 degrees with the wind chill well below zero.  I had no idea the damage that would do to my percious indoor herb garden.  The hybiscus tree that they sit under suffered no damage, so I am going to try to bring these guys back to life, but I will not be using fresh herbs in my cooking for awhile.  Dang, dang, dang, double dog dang.

 
 

Easy Peasy Christmas Treats

A couple of weeks ago I found this great recipe to make these fun, Christmasy treats.  I made a batch at Thanksgiving and have made a 2nd batch and sent to Anna and all her K-State Pi Phi sisters.  I found the how-to's over at My Computer is My Canvas .  I had never seen the peppermint kisses before, but found them at Target and have since seen them at Price Chopper as well.  Actually, the hardest part of the entire process is taking the candy kisses out of their little foil wraps. 

 

Colette at My Computer is My Canvas not only gives you a how-to but a free download of a great Christmas poem using the "M" on the M&M's.  She is a great graphic artist and has some wonderful Christmas downloads for sale at her etsy shop.  You really need to try these, the little salty with the little pepperminty sweet is like Christmas in your mouth.

My New Favorite Mug

I would like to introduce you to my new favorite coffee mug.  Isn't she pretty?  There are things that I just seem to have a weakness for and a great looking covered beverage container is one of them.  As I work in my studio, I made a rule 20 years ago that no uncovered drinks were allowed.  Needless to say, I always have an eye out for a great covered drink container and it seems to me that Starbucks is hands down the leader in not only functionality but they are totally the leader in the cute factor.  Because I use my cups everyday all day long they do eventually begin to look shabby and get that gross coffee stain look.  So when I saw this new ceramic design, I think the stain problem will be eliminated.  I feel so uptown with ceramic rather than plastic.  It doesn't take much for this midwest gal to feel a bit more sophisticated. 

Cheesy Acorn Squash

This morning at my regular coffee gathering on Saturdays we got to talking about a recipe for butternut squash.  I thought that I had a butternut squash at home in the fridge and wanted to do something different with it.  After getting home and realizing that the squash I had was an acorn squash, I had to go back and do a google search for an acorn squash recipe that would go with the steak that I already had out thawing for dinner.  I, or should I say Jeff, found this great reciep over at AllRecipes.com for a Cheesy Acorn Squash.  AllRecipes.com is a great recipe website that I have used many times.  We both loved it and will definitely be making this again, however, half a squash for each of us was way too much, next time we will only make half and share. 

Impromptu Blackberry Picking

Today I was out at Lindsey's house helping her finish up the finial details of moving into her own place.  I remembered that a couple of weeks ago we had gone out to the blackberry bushes that are behind her house and they were not quite ripe yet.  Today this is what I found. BIG ripe blackberries everywhere.  The bushes are huge, over 10 feet tall in some places.  I started picking only to be reminded of my friend Sheri telling me about the HUGE bugs that come out of the bushes when you start picking.  Sure enough, out comes one of the HUGE bugs right at me.  I was totally freaked out, but it did not take me long to be tempted by the berries once agian.The bugs move so fast I could not get a good look at what they are but I agree with Sheri they are HUGE!

The bummer thing about blackberry bushes is that there are so many berries just out of reach.  Because these bushes are so tall some are too high and some are just too far inside the throny branches to be reached.  

I was able to surprise Jeff with enough berries for a special treat with ice cream as well as more for tomorrow.  Not only will we have berries tomorrow, but the bushes are covered with berries that are not quite ripe.  We wouldn't want all those fresh berries to go to waste, dang, I guess we will just have to keep picking, yummy!
 

An Easy Pesto Recipe

I love the flavor and the smell of fresh basil.  I have planted sweet basil in my garden for the last several years and have enjoyed finding new ways to use it. I have put it on pizza, pasta dishes, salads, etc. The wet, hot summer has been perfect this season for my basil and it is going crazy.  I have eought basill to supply my neighbors. Tonight I decided to use a bunch of it by making this great, easy Pesto recipe that I got from my friend Debra.  To be really honest with you I did not even know what Pesto was until I attended one of Debra's cooking classes last summer.  Pesto has eaisly become one of my favorite things.  The flavor is awesome not only to mention the amount of garlic it requires.  I love garlic!  Jeff is not as big a fan of garlic as me and has to remind me often to go easy on the garlic.

 Pesto

4 cups bail leaves (not tightly packed, but "somewhat" packed)

1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil

1 cup parmesan cheesse

4 - 5 cloves garlic (I alwasy use 5 cloves! Yes!)

1/4 cup walunts (or pine nuts)

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor fitted with a metal blade and process until you reach the desired texture you like. 

See very easy and so tasty.  Try Pesto on a pizza crust topped with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella.  It is soooooo good.