Billyhomesteader
SOS = Save our SalsaI am sending out an SOS for help with my salsa. Our garden is suffering from the heat these days but it is still producing many many tomatoes. With so many on hand I tired making salsa for the first time. The recipe, which I got off the internet, called for a 1/2 cup of fresh cilantro, which I find a little over powering, but still added it in. Now here is my question. The recipe directions called for it to just be mixed well then bottled and serve as is. I did see a few recipes that called for cooking the mixture. So what method is best? Like I said the cilantro is kinda over powering the whole salsa experience, to me. Would cooking the mixture take it down a notch? I know that adding less is probably the way to go with it, but I still would like to know if ya'll prefer cooking or not cooking it. Let me know, I am a newbie at the salsa making game. Please Save our Salsa! LOLSunday evening....It's been a wonderful weekend, but like all weekends, they must come to a close.... We had a great time yesterday at a friends' cookout for Independence Day. Even met a new family...who is seriously considering home education for their five children! It was nice to be able to answer their questions about homeschooling in our fine state. I hope I was able to calm their fears and help them make their decision. We had a very pleasant hay ride too. Love living in the country where things like that are even possible! Like shooting off bottle rockets and other such booming things in the road! Not one car passed by while we were having fun! On the way home, we saw some fireworks going off. Thinking there would be just a few, we slowed down to watch a bit. They kept going...so we drove down a back road and found a place to park. The children and I got out to watch. It turned out to be a 45 minute show! We so enjoyed it!! This week is shaping up to be a busy one. Honey goes to the dentist to have the pins removed from his former crown. One of the pins is bent over and causing him to scrape his tongue with each bite of food. Not cool. I hate that this crown didn't work out..but it has been re-applied three times...there's just no keeping it in place. Moms' night out is this week too! I missed last month, so I'm really looking forward to this month's outing! The new Mom I met may be joining us, so I look forward to seeing her....as well as my long time friends! We have another creek day planned this week. Should be quite the crowd! The new family is joining us with some other friends. Looking forward to that! After that, life should calm down a bit. I had a cooking bug bite me today. So....simmering away on the stove is spaghetti sauce with meatballs. In the crock pot is BBQ pulled pork for sandwiches. We had a very filling supper of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, collard greens (for Honey) and peas & carrots. I totally forgot to make gravy until I was serving plates and realized I had nothing to put on the mashed potatoes! Oh well....they are yummy even without gravy....love potatoes!!! Think I'll go do a bit of cleaning so I'm ahead of the game tomorrow. The kitchen needs to be swept and mopped, as do the living room, piano room and office. The vacuum needs to be run in our bedroom. Okay...that might be more than I want to tackle here at 6:45pm.... Guess I'll go see what I actually accomplish and what I leave for Monday morning...to go along with the normal Monday wash day....
Dealing with Moles in the Garden Moles are such a huge nuisance in my garden. They dig tunnels all through and wreak havoc with my veggies, uprooting them and such. The watering we do sometimes ends up down the mole hole instead of the plant roots. I was getting very tired of fighting them for another year. So I started doing a little research on how to get them out of my garden. Poison was my first thought.. but I didn’t want that stuff in my garden. Traps are effective but expensive. So I looked for more affordable remedies. I came up with one that is easy to do. You make a mixture of castor oil and Joy dish soap (2:1 ratio). You add a few tablespoons of this mixture to a gallon of water and pour it down their holes. I have been doing this with some success. The reason it can work is that moles have a heightened sense of smell and can’t stand the smell of castor oil. They also don’t like the feel of it on them. After a couple of applications some of the holes were not bothered any more but I still had some. So the next time I put in more of the castor oil mix into my gallon of water and made the applications a little stronger. I had been using 2 to 3T tablespoons per gallon.. so I doubled that. Well I am happy to say that yesterday while in the garden I saw that all my mole holes had not been disturbed again.. so success maybe? If my pesky mole just makes holes in other areas of the garden I will try another solution I read the other day and that is bubble gum. You drop pieces of bubble gum (or Juicy Fruit I also read they like) into their holes. The reviews I read said this was effective and will end the problem permanently! I guess their digestive systems can’t handle gum.. they are eaters not chewers.. haa.. haa. So if castor oil does not solve the problem.. I will try bubble gum. Just thought I would share this bit of mole info for anyone else battling them in their gardens this summer.. Swallows NestingFor today's post, click back to the Tropical Montana post to see some additional pictures of the Swallows nesting in my garden. You can also just scroll down to the July 2 posting.The Original Comb-over This is Elizabeth, one of our 3 year old Blue Andulusian hens. Happy Birthday America!
Happy Birthday America! Today I am especially grateful for the wonderful freedoms we enjoy. The freedom to worship, the freedom to praise God, the freedom to own our own property and live and work as we wish. For all these freedoms and more I very thankful for! I pray each one of you enjoys a blessed & wonderful day! Gloria Three Cheers For The Red White & Blue!
Did you know our first American Flag was made of wool? If you know anything about spinning and weaving, you can appreciate the effort that went into making our first American Flag. That's just part of the process. To learn more about it and the woman who created it, this is an awesome site. http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/#faq You can take a virtual tour of Betsy Ross's home, learn facts you might not know about the flag and even learn how to cut a 5 point star with one snip! Betsy Ross did!
Did you know she outlived 3 husbands and had 7 daughters, all while maintaining her own business? Her pew at Christ's Church was right next to George Washington's. Think about the grit it took back then just to survive.
Independence Day! Think about it. July 4thI do hope each and every one of you out there have a safe and happy 4th of July. Remember to thank God for the freedom that we share and the ability to do what we like, go where we'd like, and to live and love like we want. Sometimes we take these things for granted, I know I tend to. Have a great day!Patriotic Fruit Pizza Patriotic Fruit Pizza1 (16 1/2 oz.) pkg. refrigerated sugar cookie dough 1 C of sugar, divided 2 T of cornstarch 1/2 C of orange juice 1/4 C of lemon juice 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, room temperature 1 T of milk 1 t orange peel, grated 2/3 C of heavy whipping cream 1 apple, peeled and sliced thin 1 1/2 C of fresh strawberries, halved 1 C seedless dark purple grapes, halved 1 banana, sliced thin 1 C of fresh raspberries 1/2 C of fresh blueberries Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the cookie dough and let it stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. Carefully spread the dough onto an ungreased pizza pan. Bake the dough 15 minutes or until a golden brown. Remove and allow the dough to cool on the pan. Dump half of the sugar into a small saucepan. Add the cornstarch and toss slightly to combine. Pour the orange and lemon juice into the mixture. Place the pan over medium heat bringing the mixture to a steady boil. Continue boiling for 2 minutes stirring constantly then remove the pan from the heat, setting aside to cool. Cube the cream cheese and place in a large mixing bowl. Pour the milk over the cream cheese. Add the orange peel and the remaining sugar. Beat the mixture until blended together well and smooth. Place the whipping cream into a small mixing bowl. Beat the whipping cream until soft peaks begin to form. Fold the whipping cream into the cream cheese mixture until blended in well. Spread the mixture over the cooled crust. Place the apple slices around the outside edge of the crust. Next layer the strawberry halves around the crust. Circle the halved grapes on next. Add the bananas to the ring. Place the raspberries onto the crust next. Finish the ring with the blueberries. Spread the reserved glaze evenly over the all the fruit. Place covered in the refrigerator for about 1 hour or until chilled. Makes 12 servings Preparation Time: approximately 30 minutes Firecracker Cupcakes Firecracker Cupcakes1 (18 oz. ) box of devils food cake mix 1 1/4 C of sour cream 3 eggs 1/3 C of canola oil 2 T instant coffee crystals 1/2 t ground chipotle chili pepper 1 (11.5 oz.) pkg. semisweet chocolate chunks 2 t flour 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, room temperature 1/2 C butter, room temperature 1/2 t vanilla 2 1/2 C of powdered sugar Red and blue food coloring 2 oz. semi sweet chocolate, chopped 1/4 C of whipping cream Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. Dump the devils food cake mix into a large mixing bowl. Add in the sour cream, eggs, and oil. Sprinkle in the coffee crystals and pepper. With an electric mixer on low speed beat the ingredients for 45 seconds. Adjust the speed to medium and continue beating 2 minutes making the batter thick. Place the flour in a small bowl. Add the chocolate chunks and toss to coat. Fold the chocolate into the cupcake batter. Fill the prepared muffin cups 3/4 full of the batter. Bake 20 minutes or until the tops bounce back when lightly touched. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then remove to wire racks to continue cooling. Place the cream cheese and the butter into a mixing bowl and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and beat until combined. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar until the mixture reaches a frosting consistency. Separate the frosting into 3 small bowls and tint one bowl with the red food coloring and 1 bowl with the blue food coloring. Frost the cupcakes dividing between the 3 different colors. Place the chopped chocolate into a small mixing bowl. Heat the whipping cream in a saucepan over low heat to just boiling. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes then whisk until smooth. Place the mixture into a sealable baggie. Snip one corner of the baggie and drizzle the chocolate over the frosted cupcakes. Makes 24 cupcakes { Last Page } { Page 1 of 5 } { Next Page } |
