Apple Pie

     I am a fall and winter enthusiast. I love spring, but there is just something special when the leaves start turning, and the weather turns. However, here in Florida there doesn't seem to be any relief from the 90 degree days. So in order to make it feel more like fall, and to fool myself into believing that I can pull out my boots and sweaters soon, I made an apple pie. At least it smells like fall.

      It took me three different grocery trips to find the right apple though. I guess living in Virginia has spoiled me for more than just beautiful crisp fall days. I am also used to beautiful crisp apples. Right around this time of year at home bags of hand picked apples magic start appearing at the house. I never even thought about buying store-bought apple in September. And store-bought apples just don't compare. But at 8 o'clock last night, the husbandman found me the nicest store-bought apples I had ever seen. Yes, they were rather over-priced, and no we probably shouldn't have splurged.

      But when the results are this nice, maybe buying splurging on organic apples isn't such a bad thing. I used The Farm Chicks' recipe for both the pie and the crust. I don't know why they are rated so poorly on Country Living, I have never had any problems with the recipes, or any of The Farm Chicks' recipes.

      I didn't let it cook quite long enough, and so it has a little more juice than I would like, but there still isn't anything like a fresh apple pie to start of the fall season right!

      What food do you associate with fall? Or is that just me?

Banana Nut Bread Mufffins and a Cookbook Cover

     One of my very favorite things abut visiting my grandparents is that my grammy always has a loaf of banana nut bread on hand. I love banana nut bread! So when I decided to try out the recipe book The Husbandman just bought for me, (I finally have my Betty Crocker Cookbook! I'm really a housewife/wife/cook/adult now!) I decided that using those slightly over-ripe bananas on the counter might be perfect!

     So here is my walk through of Betty Crocker's recipe. (Find the complete recipe here.) First mash your bananas. I always find this step oddly satisfying, and slightly gross all at the same time.

Strawberry Cake Recipe

     I got the recipe! And I will do a step-by-step tutorial soon, but I am battling with painting the downstairs bathroom (it's going on a full week now) so it will probably wait till next week. Tip- don't paint when it is this humid. It's just not worth it, especially if you are painting in a basement room with almost no ventilation.

     Sorry for rambling, back to the topic at hand, the recipe!

STRAWBERRY CAKE

1 Duncan Hines Butter Cake Mix
1/4 c sugar
1 c sour cream
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup oil
4 eggs

Blend on low and then beat at high speed at least 4 min. Pour batter into 3 (9-in greased and floured pans. Bake at 350 for 20-22 min. Cool on wire racks, then return to pans to add strawberry juice.


STRAWBERRY CAKE FILLING:

2 pt. fresh strawberries - sugar to taste

Slice and sugar your strawberries overnight (or if you are in a hurry, or just impatient like me, just for a couple of hours)


FROSTING:

1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 (12 oz) cool whip

Blend together sugar and sour cream and allow to sit 15-20 min. or until sugar has dissolved. Fold in cool whip. Poke holes in cake layers. Spread on first strawberry juice, second frosting and third a layer of strawberries. Repeat- Refrigerate. I put the Cool Whip mixture over the whole cake and decorate with berries. (Note ~ it makes a very tall cake, you may have to move things round in your fridge to get it to fit.)

Strawberry Cake

     

     My mother-in-law makes one of the world's best cake. It is almost always requested for birthdays and coming home dinners. The boys have an on going contest to see who can get away with the biggest piece. I would love to join them but that wouldn't be lady-like, so I stick to pieces smaller than my head.

     This is what that huge cake looks like after about five servings. It's tall, it's so fluffy! Truly the perfect warm weather dessert choice, it is served cold and mounded with strawberries. I'm going to see if I can get the recipe to so I can share it with you rather than torturing everyone.

Today I Feasted Upon...

     Strawberries! Lovely, red, deciduous, sun-warmed, perfectly-ripened, strawberries.

     This is my absolute favorite way to eat strawberries. I know I'm taking most of the healthiness away by pouring on the cream and sprinkling it all with sugar, but it is so worth it. And if you use a small condiment bowl, it's not really all that bad!

 

     Wanna know the best part? This is only the first picking, there are hundreds more! Sooo, I’m asking for your favorite strawberry recipes. I usually just make strawberry jam, but I’d like to try something new this year.

Silver Polishing - The Easy Way

     No really. There really is an easy way to make silver shine! I didn't believe it, when I was about 10 I insisted on polishing my tea set, it took me forever and I finally believed my mom that it just wasn't worth it.  So when I read this method in my house keeping books, I didn't fall for it, not even for a moment. But this morning my curiosity got the better of me.  I had the baking soda out already (it cleans everything), and the water was just about boiling and I decided why not, I'll give it a go.  My mind was blown in about three seconds flat. I immediately ran to get my camera and find all the my mom's silver.  I had to show this to you. (Yes I was geeking out, yes my inner dork was taking over, but heck, this was just plain cool!)

     Do you see the difference here?? That was almost instantaneous! No polishing, no scrubbing, no special creams or cloths. How is this possible? I'm really not sure, but I would be the last one in the word to question it!  How did I do it? Easy peasy! Take a pan (I used a loaf pan the first time, and it wasn't big enough so the ladle handle stuck out (but that turned out to be an awesome thing, because it lets everyone see the amazing change!) and a cake pan the second time) and line it with crumpled tin foil. Then add your silver pieces, and cover them with a generous amount of baking soda. 

     Then just pour boiling water over everything.  I found that actually pouring the water over each spoon produced the best results. The baking soda will fizz and bubble. I think this is the chemical reaction that is actually removing the tarnish, but don't quote me on that.

See how much better everything looks already? And this is less than 30 seconds later!

     Then just wait until the water has cooled enough that you can pour it off.  Rinse the silver pieces and admire your upsidedown-self reflected in the reflection.

Note: I'm not sure how this would work with larger pieces like cups or bowls, but I'm sure there is a way to make it work. If you figure it out, please let me know!

                                                                                                                                  I'm Linking to:

Une Salade

      Our church had a supper on Thursday, and we were asked to bring a salad. I was less than thrilled.  I was a little happy because I didn't have to cook and as I was frantically sewing to try to get my Easter Dress and the husbandman's shirt done before he got home and I didn't really have time to spend obsessing over dessert in the kitchen. (I did get my dress done, but the husbandman's shirt still looks more like an unhemmed vest)  But on the other hand, I've never been good about eating my vegetables, and salads are pretty boring, and you can't really put a spin on it.  Unless you're my mom.  She had a way to shoot the normal pot luck salad clear out of the water.  What was it? Quite simple really, she brought home one of the prettiest flowers I had even seen and declared that it was not only pretty, but edible, and rather yummy!  It's called a Nastrutium. Here is an article from herbalgardens.com about how to grow and cook them. The Nasturtium Lemon Butter sounds very good. My mom says the blossoms taste a little like radishes. I have somehow gotten away with never eating radishes before (don't tell) and think they taste like lettuce with a little bit of a bite.  And using them in a salad could not be easier.

      First gather your regular ingredients, anything you like in a salad really. We used lettuce, celery, red bell pepper, cucumbers, croutons (old fashioned cut butter and garlic style). Chop them to bite size (or bigger than bite size if you want to watch everyone try to figure out how to politely eat salad that doesn't fit easily onto a fork. Not really, please don't do that, it's not very nice.) Hint I learned: if you have large sticks of celery and you are worried that they might be a little bitter, chop them very thinly, and then they will just add crunch and not overwhelm the salad.

      Then I ran out to the greenhouse to pick some of these. They will wilt very quickly, so pick them as late into the game as possible.

      Then boil some eggs.  I tend to boil a lot of eggs at once, since everyone seems to like to eat them, but no one else will bother boiling them.  Then, this is the key step, forget about them entirely.  Our carrots from the greenhouse were still to small to use and we had to leave early to go by the grocery store to buy some, and with one thing and another, we all forgot about the eggs.

      Lastly, toss everything, add a little dressing, place the blossoms on top, and serve. Doesn't that look better than the average salad?