Oh My Sweet Potato

So I never tried it to make sweet potato pie..so guess what I did? Anyway, I grabbed a recipe on line the that three title sounded good. Ok they all sounded good I just picked one.

Southern Sweet Potato Pie

4 Oz. butter softened
2 cups sweet potato mashed
2 cups sugar
1 small can evaporated milk (5 Oz = 1/2 cup plus 2 tbls.)
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 prepared pie shells

Mix butter, potatoes, sugar and evaporated milk until well blended. Add vanilla, eggs, and cinnamon; mix well. Pour into the prepared pie shells. Bake in a 350° oven for about an hour, until set.
Makes 2 pies.

**Recommendations: cut the sugar to 1 cup to lessen the sweet and taste more potato

To know me is to....?

So earlier this week Gregg comes home and says he would like to do something nice for his Co-workers and asked if I could help. Of course I can....I think he was expecting a boxed cake or something. Ha! Can't do it! So at 2-something this morning it dawns on me and I headed to the kitchen.
So to those of you who know me and love me but mostly love my chili and cornbread, I am sorry, cause that's what the guys are getting for lunch today.
To my Knife River Crew: I hope you enjoy :)

I think they liked it!

Look what we picked at the patch

We are so excited out first pumpkins from out very own patch! I hope they taste as good as they look.

Ok and a pic of them all cleaned up. So Proud!

Start Thinking Gift Ideas

I have made a few table runners that someone out there may fall in love with or be interested in as a gift idea. Sweet, Simple and Reasonable. They are 100% cotton and washable, measure 41x14, and are adorned with novelty or vintage buttons. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. I will be making more "higher" end runners for year round, coasters, mug rugs and may even come up with a few surprises. Thank you for supporting the "Patch".

 "Trees and Stripes"   $20 plus s&h

 

"Peace & Trees" $20 plus s&h

 

"Peppermint Snowmen" $20 plus s&h

"Leaves and Acorns" $20 plus s&h

 

"Poinsettas" $20 plus s&h

 

 



Meet Tina

This is one of our babies, Miss Tina Quaver, she is named this because of her interesting tail. It's not long and normal, nor is it bobbed, it's more like a musical eigth note - a "Quaver". She rather socialize with us than the other kittens. Probably cause they wouldn't let her play kitten games.
We definitely belong to her now as does Zoe.

    

 I hope to introduce them all one by one so you get to know the family :o)

Oh the Hollandaise are coming

I love this quick and easy breakfast.
Poached eggs on toast with quick pseudo hollandaise sauce.

Not ever going to cooking school or cooking classes most of what do has been passed down, mentioned along the way, read about or trial and error. Poached eggs have been a challenge for me as i am not one of those microwave gadget junkies, so through trial and error i finally mastered it. A sauce pan full of boiling water just would never work for me. Not only am I impatient waiting for the water to boil but I have found that I have no control of the egg.

I use a large frying pan, one that will be deep enough that the water will cover an egg. I bring the water to a soft boil and add vinegar to water, I just pour it in so I am guessing at about a 1/4 cup. I crack the egg and gently place it in the water and let cook until the white is about done. I gently roll it if I still see the yolk so that all you see on the outside is the white. Then remove with a slotted spoon.

This morning I did not have english muffins so I simply used toast.

As for the hollandaise.... normally to make the real version which btw is quite tasty but very time consuming this is the quick and dirty version I learned from my mom. Grab a tablespoon from the drawer and a small bowl. A heaping spoon of mayonnaise, a squirt or two of yellow mustard a about and a teaspoon of lemon juice. Mix generously and spoon onto the eggs.... it wouldn't hurt to taste it before incase you may like it a bit more sour or with a more mustardy taste.

I believe the entire process took less than 10 minutes and you have a healthy breakfast to start the day with.

Enjoy!

FOOD......FOOD....and Marsala Food

It was strongly suggested that I have not been posting enough about the foods I have been making. While I did not take a picture Saturday night I made chicken Marsala. This is a simple easy recipe I was asked to share.

4-5 chicken boneless skinless breasts (if they are thick pound them flat
1 - 8oz. Package sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup Marsala wine
1/4 cup dry cooking sherry
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
Dash paprika

Mix together all dry ingredients (flour, salt,pepper,oregano,thyme and paprika). Pat the chicken dry. Pour oil in a large pan and heat. Dredge the chicken in the flour and into heated pan until browned on both sides. Pour in wine and sherry, add mushrooms and butter. Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes. * I like parmesan cheese and makes the pasta yum as well.

What I have going on in the background is a large saucepan with water in a light boil and a medium saucepan about a third full of boiling water. At the time I get the simmer going I put pasta in the large pot and then choose a veggie for the medium one. One uncooked meal in approximately 30 minutes.

**Note: do not fear if you do not have Marsala wine you can substitute a red wine you may have in the house also, if you do not have sherry use 3/4 cup wine to substitute.

Enjoy!!!!!

FALL DANGERS!

Good evenin. I hope everyone has had a great weekend. I had a country reality check this evenin. Livin in the country is great and wonderful but it can also be a bit breath takin and heart throbbin. I was movin some wood around under the house this evenin and uncovered 2 Copperheads only a foot or so away from me. Gave me quite a start to see them. It has been several years since I have seen any type of snakes on this property.

 

*These are NOT the two that I found but I added pictures for ya'll to recognize them*

I would like for everyone livin in the country OR not. There are dangers everywhere. This time of year those slithery creatures are on the move to find warm places for the winter and to feed on as much as they can get so that they can hibernate. Everyone please be careful in your everyday adventures and watch the grounds closely for things that move.

The Southern Holy Culinary Trinity

I read this and had to share.... The Southern Holy Culinary Trinity as I never heard it called but found it to be a great description for the way us "Southerners" stock our kitchen and cook.

This Trinity includes.........: Butter, Sugar, and Salt. No surprise! I know my kitchen is Very WELL stocked with these items! I don't understand how some people deal with the artificial sweetners and "I can't believe I it's not butter". I always believed it!

Let's face it if you grew up tasting the real stuff no matter what you do to try to hide those lab created science experiments us Southerner's will always know. And I must add EWWW!

At some point in my life I may need to cut back but I will NEVER give up the real goods and while I am at it hand me a side of bacon.

So just curious how many pounds odd butter do you have stashed? We have 6.

Sad Night

It's a sad night tonight. We had our first loss here at the Patch. Our Little Mini, one of the black kittens never developed or grew in the last 2 weeks; she was already much smaller than the others of that litter. I watch her eat but something more must have been wrong. She started getting lethargic this afternoon and passed this evening. We were very blessed to have known her. Mini is the little one on top of her brother napping this morning.

Newest Guests have arrived

More guests have arrived. These are four adorable spotted tabbies of beige and black. Ohhh and so feisty! Mom is not happy right now. I can here her crying outside but we nee to get control of this feral population.

The Mastermind

This my friends is the face of an evil mastermind. He's pretending to be all innocent reading my copy of Cook's Illustrated but, what he is really doing is plotting a plan to steal my bag of tasty corn chips!

Our most recent guests

These adorables are a our most recent guests. After the dog's found them under the porch their mother thought it would be safer for them on the roof! I don't think so! Rains were coming and their safety was a concern so I cat-napped them. Please  meet; Tina, a silver bob-tail, Stubbs, he has a collar and bob-tail, we needed to tell him apart from Mini, who is also bob-tailed but we are finding to be much smaller than the others and finally Shelby, he has a tail and a little white star on his chest. Too Cute!

We are glad we found these guys so we can get them fixed. Apparently there are quite a few ferals here. More pics to come!

Re-Purposing Feed Bag - Hay Bag

It seems that everyone these days are interested in re-purposing things. I just happened to need a hay bag for Prince so this is what I did:

Supplies Needed:
Feed Bag
Pie Plate
Marker
Scissors and/or Rotary Cutter
Ruler
Straight Pins
3 1/2 Yards of Webbing, binding, or 1/4 yard of fabric (3" strips) - something to seal hay opening & to make straps
2 Buckles
Thread
Sewing Machine

First Prince needed to empty out a feed bag, absolutely not a problem :o)
Next I brought it in to my cutting table and laid a plate on it toward the front bottom (approx. 3inches from the bottom) and cut out a hole.

I measured and cut the strappings to hang the bag. 2 - 10 inch lengths and 2- 18 inch lengths

 

I then took about 16 inches of webbing and folded it over the hole and sewed around the circle. This is easiest if you have a free arm on your machine.

 

Now measure out approximately 5 inches from each side of the bag on both front and back. Pin down placement of the straps. Dont forget to put the buckles on the straps at this point as well.

With the remainder of the webbing you fold it over the top of the bag and stitch it down this will give it a clean finish and complete the straps.

 



Voila!! There you have it. Instant hay bag.

 

 

 

if you are interested in learning more about Safe Choice feed visit: http://www.nutrenaworld.com/nutrena/products/horses/safe-choice/index.jsp





Mixed Pepper Jelly

It's been awhile since I have blogged please forgive me. I hope to get better, just been a bit busy making fun things. Today we will start with Yums! So recently friends of ours Jon & Judi gave us a large bag of peppers that they received from friends of theirs. (Don't Judge! There is nothing wrong with re-gifting plus they put them in very capable hands.)

Back to these peppers...a good mix of jalapeno, Guindilla Verde, and hot banana. I mixed them with some good old fashioned bells and made some fantastic jelly. This may sound crazy but I can just taste this stuff on some of my home smoked brisket on a tortilla with a delicious side of my Spanish rice and refried beans. OK now I am drooling!

The basic recipe for pepper jelly ( don't forget to add your twist):
2 large green bell peppers
2 large red bell peppers
10 large jalapenos
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 pkg. SURE-JELL fruit pectin
1/2 tsp butter
5 cups sugar

For more details visit www.m.kraftrecipes.com