I have never made orange marmalade - cherry, elderberry and strawberry jam, sure. Crab apple jelly since I was young and we had an old fashioned crab apple tree in the front year. But never a marmalade. I am encouraged to try this because I watched an Ina Garten episode on Food Channel recently where … Continue reading Trying my Hand at Orange Marmalade
I saw a flash of orange, and something orange on the clothesline - a Baltimore Oriole! Most of my spring birds have arrived - the Red breasted grosbeaks, Carolina Wren and Catbirds are all settling in. Hummingbirds flit around. I put out orange halves and have tried an oriole feeder, but the orioles never seem … Continue reading Attracting, and Keeping Orioles in Your Yard
Summer brings lots of salads - more potato salad, macaroni salad, waldorf salad, and the like. They all have mayonnaise in common, and I have adapted a recipe from The Joy of Cooking that (so far) works every time, to make food processor mayonnaise. Commonly called Blender Mayonnaise, I find it much easier and fool-proof … Continue reading How to Make Homemade Mayonnaise & Potato Salad
Along with the Incredibly Quick Chicken a few night ago, I also cooked up some crunchy -soft potatoes in another cast iron pan at the same time. My cast iron pans live on top of the stove, and they are what I use most often. For these potatoes, as well as the chicken, cast iron … Continue reading Crunchy Rosemary Potatoes in Cast Iron
I needed a really quick dinner, and in the fridge I had some boneless chicken thighs and breast meat, thawed and ready to go. So I grabbed my house seasoned salt mix and a bit of flour, dredged the chicken, and dropped into my cast iron pan. A mix of olive oil and butter (and … Continue reading Incredibly Quick Chicken Dinner
Recently my two old male Ragdoll cats are showing their age. They are brothers, about 15 years old now, the two kittens I kept from my last litter years ago. Call them seniors, geriatrics, or just old, but as elderly cats they have special needs now. What changes as a cat ages, and what are those … Continue reading What to do When You Have an Elderly Cat
It's April - and we are still getting snow. More is even predicted for this coming week. However, many of my flowers are coming up, the wild Goldfinches are getting yellow, maple syrup season arrived, and my mind is nudging me to neaten up and spring clean. I am not a super neat house cleaner. … Continue reading Almost Spring…And Time for Spring Cleaning
I can't say we ate any crab cakes on the farm. Back then, grocery stores were a bit limited in the seafood department and even frozen seafood was pretty much limited to fish sticks (we did eat those). I don't remember ever having crab cakes or clam strips and certainly never lobster. Deep fried clam … Continue reading How to make Crab Cakes
I decided to use up some apples today before they turned toward spoiling. Pie sounded good. In a spelt crust - I mean spelt is whole grain and apples are healthy, so maybe it's a "good for you" dessert? LOL, I convinced myself. And I didn't want to do my Caramel apple pie. While I … Continue reading Apple Pie with Almond butter sauce
Growing up, one of the first things I learned to bake, and baked a lot of, was white bread. I know, bread is not usually one of the things a child bakes at age 11 or 12, but I did, along with other things like cookies. But I had this bread recipe my family really … Continue reading Farmhouse White Bread, with a Cinnamon Twist