Fresh Peach and Blueberry Bread - Delicioso!

 Here we are in the first week of June already.  This year is flying by.  Today, we got to attend our 6 year old grandson's "bridge" ceremony which is a Waldorf education celebration of moving from kindergarden to the halls of higher learning, better known as first grade.  As I watched him cross the bridge from the land of childhood, play, and imagination, into the land of higher learning where the road to maturity begins, my heart was filled with joy.  The teacher told a beautiful story about the land of the littles and what it was like before they chose their families and came to earth - the beautiful blue and green world of plants, animals, and minerals.  As they crossed the bridge, the teacher gave them a key to wear around their necks (the key to higher learning) and a small bag containing a gift from the animal, plant, and mineral world.  Then they received a yellow rose and joined their families.  There were tears (just in case  you wondered).  It was a wonderful way to start the week.

We had a busy weekend.  My sister, Sara, and our longtime friend, Linda, came to visit for the weekend.  We toured the city, ate a lot of good food, and even did some honky tonkin' on Broadway here in Nashville.  There is so much good music going on in this town.  Talk about a fun way to spend Saturday afternoon.  If you ever come to the city, do NOT miss all the music.  Nashville is Music City, USA, after all.

Knowing they were coming to visit, I baked some goodies to have on hand.  First, I made two fresh strawberry pies which I will write about tomorrow.  Since fresh peaches are coming in from Georgia, I had some on hand that I had purchased at the Nashville Farmer's Market.  Now, there is always that conundrum of what to do with peaches after you make a cobbler, or slice some up to enjoy on cake or with ice cream.  You can always eat one whole (peeled I hope, peach skin makes me shiver), but there has to be many more things you can make with sweet, ripe, juicy peaches.

I found this recipe for peach/carrot bread on All Recipes.com.  The recipe sounded so good, but I didn't know how I felt about peaches and carrots and I really didn't want to stand and grate carrots.  Personally, I prefer peaches and blueberries.  I often add blueberries to my peach cobbler because they complement each other so beautifully.  I had blueberries on hand, so I substituted blueberries for the carrots.  Guess what?  It works!  It works superbly!!  This bread is awesome!!!!  Here is what you need.

3/4 cups chopped pecans
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups peeled, chopped fresh peaches
3/4 cup fresh blueberries
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
2 large eggs lightly beaten

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl using a spoon.  Pour the batter into a 9 x 5 loaf pan that has been lightly greased and floured.  Place in a 350 degree preheated oven and bake for 1 hour and 5 to 10 minutes.  Test the center of the loaf with a skewer in the center until it comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and let cool before removing from the pan.

This recipe makes a very large loaf.  It fills the loaf pan to the top when baked, so be sure and bake it until very done in the center.  I took mine out at 1 hr 5 minutes and tested it with a toothpick.  The toothpick showed clean, but the bread was a little underdone in the center when we ate it.  (I would recommend a skewer instead of a toothpick so it goes down into the loaf further.) No one seemed to mind one bit though.  Everyone had several pieces in fact.  This is DELICIOUS!

You can see the peaches and the blueberries, and the pecans add a nice texture to the bread with that lovely hint of cinnamon.  Mmm.  Mmm.  Mmm.  It's sort of like baked peach cobbler without having to make a crust.

There will be fresh peaches from now until the first part of September.  Here is a recipe  you can use that is something different, easy, and soooooo good.  Makes some loaves and freeze them.  It is awesome for breakfast or brunch.  Fabulous with coffee.  If you want to try the carrots, just use 3/4 cups grated carrots in place of the blueberries.  If you make it that way, let me know how it turns out.  We will stick with the blueberries.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

It's nice to have some home baked goods for company.  It let's them know you thought of them and wished to honor them with something from your hands and heart.  donna

Spiced Pecan Cake

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Has it seemed like Monday all day to you?  It sure has to me!  Those Monday holidays mess up my week, especially since I don't go to work everyday.  Sometimes I have to look at my phone to see what day it actually is.

Hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend.  We celebrated with family and friends with a cookout enjoying the first of the summer bounty from the Farmer's Market.  Fresh strawberries, corn, green beans, and peaches are in.  Yum.  One of the most enjoyable things about summer is the bounteous fare of fresh fruits and vegetables we get to enjoy.  And, then, there is the beautiful sunshine, warm weather, and summer evenings to top it all off.

Fresh local strawberries are the absolute best don't you think?  It's nice to have access to strawberries all year round, but they just don't taste like the smaller, juicier, sweeter, local berries.  They are just a little taste of heaven as far as I am concerned.

I made this beautiful pecan cake with some of the fabulous pecans my new friend Dianna sent me from Texas.  They pick them up off the ground by the pounds.  There are pecan trees everywhere in the Dallas area.  Yes, I said pounds. Wouldn't that be wonderful?  My daughter told me there is a company you can take them to and they shell them for you.  Amazing!  Who knew?  It's sure better than cracking hundreds of shells and trying to get the nuts to come out in something other than little tiny pieces.  Look at these beauties!

We have bags of them to enjoy.  Lucky us!  So, I decided to make this fabulous pecan cake I found on Food Network.com.  The recipe was posted by Pat and Gina Neeley and is really, really good.  Makes a super "shortcake" for fresh fruit.  Here is what you need:

Filling

1 1/4 cups chopped pecans
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Stir everything together in a bowl until all the nuts are coated.  Set aside.

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp milk

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Cake

1 package golden yellow cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, grease and flour a 9x13 pan

Beat all cake ingredients together for 4 minutes.  Pour half the batter into the prepared cake pan.  Spread the pecan filling on top of the batter.  Pour remaining batter over pecans, spreading batter to cover the filling.

Bake about 30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool 30 minutes.  Drizzle with glaze.

This cake is as good by itself as it is with some beautiful strawberries!  Makes a perfect "coffee type cake" that could be served for brunch.   Or, it's absolutely delicious eaten just as it is.  Give it a try.  It's delicious.

 Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

 A special thank you to my dad and his two brothers who all served in World War II.  As a mother, I can't imagine seeing three of your sons go off to war.  What a sacrifice.  Fortunately, they all returned.  Others were not so fortunate.   Thank you will never be enough for their service and sacrifice for our freedom.

Restaurant Style Salsa Roja Made At Home

 Do you love Tex-Mex food as much as we do?  Especially the chips and salsa?  Oh, we always eat too many chips and way too much salsa and then are so full we can't eat our food.  Guess that's okay really, because then we have some leftovers for the next day.

Did you know that salsa is now the number one condiment in the United States?  We eat more salsa in this country than ketchup.  Hard to believe, but it's true.  Salsa is the spanish word for sauce and there are many, many kinds of salsa.  When we refer to salsa, we mean the red kind served at most Tex-Mex restaurants with chips.

Eating salsa at home is a different story.  The biggest problem for me is we don't like jarred salsa.   It always has green peppers in it and Dan can't eat green peppers.  It also doesn't taste like fresh salsa.  You can get some fresh salsa's that are pretty good in the fresh food aisle at the grocery store IF your grocery sells it.  If you can't get it, I have a solution for you!

I have been messing around trying to find a good home made recipe for salsa and I have finally hit upon it.  Dan LOVES this salsa (and he's kind of picky).  It's made with canned tomatoes which means the tomatoes have been cooked and that actually makes them better for you!  Did you know that?  Yes, there is more lycopene in cooked tomatoes.  Lycopene inhibits cancer and cardiovascular disease in humans.

This recipe is really quite easy to make, but you need a blender or food processor to make it.  It is not chopped like pico de gallo which is called salsa fresca and is made from fresh tomatoes, onions, chilies, and lime juice.  Good pico depends on good tomatoes which only happen in the summer around here.  It also takes a lot of chopping.  Salsa roja can be made year round because you can always get canned tomatoes and you can use a blender or food processor.  Guess which one I prefer?

Here is what you need for this salsa.

1 large can whole tomatoes, drained
1 can Ro-Tel original, undrained (unless you like it really spicy, then get the hot kind)
1 small onion, cut in half, chop 1/2 only
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 or 3 limes (depending on size)
1 bunch fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar

To make the salsa, drain the can of large tomatoes and put them in the blender or food processor.  Add the Ro-Tel liquid and all.  Cut the onion in half and chop only one half of the onion and toss in the blender.  If your garlic cloves are large, start with 1, use 2 if small.  Peel, chop and toss in blender.  Now for the fun.  I use the "grate" setting on our blender.  Whir it around just until the ingredients are mixed.  You do not want ketchup consistency, but want some tomato pieces in the salsa.  Next, add the salt, sugar, and juice of two limes, and a large handful of cilantro rough chopped.  Whir one more time.   Now taste.  If it needs more salt, add just a pinch.  The sugar is important because it helps cut the acidity of the tomatoes, but don't make it too sweet.  Adjust lime and garlic to your tastes.

We had a big old bowl of this salsa with dinner tonight.  It's delicious.  Also, a serving of salsa counts as a serving of vegetables, so if you have children who are picky eaters but will eat salsa, let them eat away!!

This recipe makes about 4 cups of salsa.  I keep it in the fridge most of the time.  You never know when you might have some unexpected company, want a snack, or something to serve as an appetizer before dinner.  Salsa roja = perfect!  Give it a try.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

A world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins.  Laurie Colwin

Donna's Barbecue Cheeseburgers

Memorial Day weekend is upon us folks and that means the official summer grilling season is about to begin for real.  What is better than summer grilling season?   I can't think of too many things actually.  There's nothing better than warm days and evenings when it stays light late into the evening and you can fire up the grill and toss on something quick and easy.    That's what I'm talking about.  Quick AND easy.  Outdoor grilling and eating can be casual, no muss, no fuss,  using paper plates to eat on  and that is Okay!!  It's important to enjoy every moment of the summer, sharing time with family and friends.

A while back we were going to grill some good old fashioned American burgers for dinner, but I had a bit of inspiration and decided to doctor them up just a bit before they went on the grill.  This is my pepper jack barbecue burger and are they ever tasty!  Wow.  We all loved them, so I have been making our burgers this way since.  I'm not sure Dan would want to go back to just a plain older burger and he is a real connoisseur when it comes to hamburgers.  He may hold a world record for the number of hamburgers eaten in a lifetime.  As for the kind of "cheese"burger you make, you can use any cheese that you like as long as you can buy an 8 ounce block and grate it because the cheese in these burgers is mixed in the cheeseburger, not melted on top.  We have also made these with cheddar cheese which are just as good, especially if you don't like spicy foods.  Next, we are going to try them with mozzarella and some marinara sauce.  How good would that be?

Here is what you need and how you made Donna's barbecue cheeseburgers.

2 pounds 80/20 ground beef
1/2 medium onion, minced
1 8 ounce block cheese, grated
1 large egg
1/2 cup barbecue sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's original)
1.5 tsp salt
fresh cracked black pepper

Thoroughly mix all the ingredients in a bowl using your hands.  You don't want to add too much salt because the cheese and the barbecue sauce contain salt.

To make the patties, I scooped out about a tennis ball sized section of the ground beef mixture, rolled it between my hands to make a ball, and pressed it into a burger patty with a bit of a well in the middle.  This helps make sure the middle of the burger cooks at the same time as the edges of the burgers.  I got 10 good sized burgers from this mixture.

See all of that delicious cheese in the burgers?  After they are cooked, the cheese oozes out of the burger and you enjoy that delicious flavor with ever bite.  Yum.  Yum.

Cook the burgers to your liking -  rare, medium, well done.  Dress them up anyway you like.  We had ours with lettuce, tomato, pickle, sliced onion, and just a little more barbecue sauce.  Yessirree Bob they are fine.  Cheesey, barbecuey, slightly oniony, deliciousness.

You might want to make the patties ahead and let them sit in the fridge for an hour or two because they are softer than burgers made with plain ground beef.  This will help keep them from falling apart on the grill when you flip them.  Even if they do split, it doesn't matter.  Just scoop up all the pieces because you won't want to waste one bite.

Hope this gives you an idea for a different version of the All American favorite - the hamburger.  I think you're gonna like them a lot!  Happy summer grilling season!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Grilling takes the formality out of entertaining.  Bobby Flay

Americana Banner

 Hello everyone!  It's Monday once again and I am happy to be here after a few day's absence.  I was down with the creepy crud for the second time this spring.  Guess that's what school aged grandson's give you when you are not looking.  Whew.   Glad it's over and I'm more than ready to move on with life.

The day before said "crud" set in, I spent the entire day outside working on a project for our mantel to celebrate Memorial Day.  I was "in the zone" as they say, working away while enjoying the beautiful weather.  I had my paints, brushes, glue gun, and huge box of craft sticks (better known as popsicle sticks) and I was on a creative bent.

I started making stars and flags galore and had absolutely NO idea what I would do with them, but I liked them and they were fun to make.  That was enough reason to continue, so I did.  I simply hot glued sticks together in a pentagram shape for the stars.  For the flags, I put two sticks parallel to each other vertically with about 1.5 inches between.  Next, I glued 9 sticks across them horizontally.  I decided on 9 because it made the best looking "flag."  It took a bit to put them all together, then it was time to paint.

Since I was going for patriotic Americana, red, ivory, and blue were my colors of choice, with brown paint used to "antique" everything.   First, it's necessary to paint everything in the color and design you want before "antiquing."  Americana is about simplicity.

After letting the paint dry, I dipped a paper towel in some water just to dampen it, dipped the same towel in some brown paint and rubbed the entire flag or star with the brown paint.  While still wet, I then used a dry paper towel to rub the entire surface, actually removing some of the paint to get a really vintage look.

Makes quite a difference.  If you like the true colors, stick with them.  As for me, I like the rugged, worn, vintage look.  The bottoms of the parallel sticks were clipped off with cutters after everything dried.  This is how the stars and flags looked when finished.

 All painting was done just as it was time to prepare dinner, so everything was left to dry overnight.  Then, the - dun, dun, dunnnnnnn,  creepy crud laid me low for a couple of days.  Gave me some time to contemplate what to do with said stars and flags.

The banner on the mantle is what I came up with.  Glad I had time to contemplate, because I really, really love the way it turned out.  All I used was a length of burlap ribbon that you can buy at craft stores.  I laid out the pattern of flags and stars I wanted to use and hot glued them to the burlap.  Easy. Then, I stenciled USA in red, white, and blue between the flags and stars.  The banner is hung with some clear push pins.  Done.

As a major lover of all things Americana, this banner is one of my favorite projects I have done in a good while.  This banner will hang on the mantel until after July 4 and maybe longer.

You can get a big box of craft sticks very reasonably at any craft store or Wal-Mart.  They come in the popsicle stick width or tongue depressor width, it just depends on which size you prefer.  There are lots of things you can do with them and they are great fun for kids to use.  It's almost summer vacation time, so they can be a great way to keep kids occupied when you need a craft project.

This weekend, we will remember all those who have served our country or given their lives for our freedom.  We can never thank them enough.   Happy Memorial Day everyone.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

My father lied about his age to join the Army Air Corps during World War II.  He was only 17 when he enlisted to serve our country and served for 5 years in Italy and Northern Africa.  He didn't talk about it much, but he was proud to have served.  We will honor his memory this weekend.  Thanks Dad.  

Grilled Honey Garlic Pork Chops With Grilled Pineapple

It's Monday once again and I am hoping you had a wonderful weekend celebrating Mother's Day.  My day was fabulous, spending time with Dan, our children, grandsons, and sons in love who live in Nashville.  We certainly missed our son, daughter in love, and grandson who live in New York City.  I did get to talk with John and Roman.  Hopefully, we will get to spend some time together soon.   We enjoyed a lovely brunch on the porch of the West End Cafe.  The weather was spectacular.

Both of our daughter's were promised some "me" time by their husbands which they got to enjoy together.  They both have busy, busy lives and those of us who are past the years of young children, school, teams, jobs, and so many activities it can make your head spin, know how much a little "me" time is appreciated.  I know I'm prejudiced, but our daughters and daughter in love are all wonderful, caring mothers and certainly deserve every second of peace and quiet they can eek out of their hectic schedules.

My Mother's Day was spent doing nothing but enjoying time with family and whatever else I chose to do for the rest of the day which was a whole lot of nothing.  If you know me, you know I don't do a whole lot of nothing well.  I am really working on staying present, not being busy, busy all the time.  I spent most of the afternoon on the deck enjoying the weather (which was amazing) and putting together some craft projects I have been working on.  Creating is the best way I know to spend a day.  It was an absolutely wonderful afternoon.  We should all do more of a "whole lot of nothing" whenever we can.  Adding beauty to our lives and the world by creating is so good for the soul.

Then, of course, it's the reality of Monday once again.  Time for routine and all the things that need to be done to keep life flowing.  Our 2.5 year old grandson came and spent time with us this morning while his mother went to write.  It was very cool this morning, so we played some games indoors until it was warm enough to go outside.  It was another fantastically gorgeous day.  Look at this picture of me leaning on the deck rail watching Adrian and Pawpaw playing baseball.  The sky looks photoshopped, but it isn't.  That is how the sky looked today.  Simply beautiful!

After Holly picked Adrian up, we had lunch on the deck and then I spent the afternoon working on my projects.  It was cool enough that I had to wear a light sweater, but that was okay.  These are the days we live for.  Dan mowed the grass, I crafted.  Fair enough don't you think?

Before I knew it, it was 4:30.  Then the proverbial question arises, what's for dinner?  Ugh.  No idea.  Time to stand and stare in the refrigerator.  My first thought was chicken, but there were pork chops.  Yes, pork chops!  Quick.  Easy.  Perfect.   Grilled pork chops - even better.  No turning the stove on and we can stay outside some more.  This is a simple recipe from Allrecipes.com with an easy marinade that is delicious.  The chops sort of have the flavor of Asian barbecue.  Yum.  Here is what you need:

6 pork chops
1/4 + 1/8 cup honey
3 Tbsp soy sauce
4-6 garlic cloves, minced (depends on how big they are)

Mix the honey, soy sauce, and minced garlic in a small bowl.  Lay the pork chops in a shallow pan.  Pour the marinade over all the chops and turn to make sure both sides are coated.  Let sit for 15-30 minutes.  Grill until the juices run clear and the centers are no longer pink.  Look how beautiful they are  ( and tasted even better).

For the grilled pineapple, cut a fresh pineapple into quarters, remove the core and the fruit of the pineapple by running a knife between the outside skin and the fruit.  Rub a little olive oil on the pineapple so it won't stick to the grill.  Grill on each side until the pineapple begins to caramelize.  Remove and drizzle with just a little honey.  BEST PINEAPPLE EVER!

I cut the pineapple into small wedges and put 3 or 4 pieces on a pork chop when serving.  Deeee-licious.  Tomorrow, I will make a mango, pineapple salsa with the left over pineapple (if there is any).
Mm mm mmm.  Wish you could taste it.

Everything we had for dinner was cooked on the grill.  One of the things I love best about warm weather - cooking and eating out of doors.  The weather is perfect right now and it is so relaxing.  Makes it easy to just "be" and breathe in, breathe out.   No hurry, no worry.  Tomorrow is supposed to be much warmer, so hopefully we will spend as much time out of doors as we can.  There are more flowers to plant before it rains again.

If you don't have an outdoor grill, you could make these pork chops and the pineapple on a stove top grill.  Quick.  Easy.  Delicious.  As for the grilled pineapple - if you've never had it, it's a must try!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Where the pineapple got it's name:

Christopher Columbus discovered this fruit in 1493 during his second voyage when he landed on the island of Guadaloupe and brought it back to Europe.  He called it "pina de Indes."  (pine of the Indians)
 When European explorers discovered this tropical fruit in the Americas, they called them "pineapples" (first so referenced in 1664 due to resemblance to what is now known as the pine cone).  Wikipedia

The Gift Of Friendship And A Doily

 When the Texas Troupe came to visit last weekend, my friend Linda brought me the most beautiful gift.  Her son owns a construction company in Dallas and one of the things he does is tear down old houses and buildings for the city.  Recently, he tore down a house and found an old trunk inside that had treasures in it.  Real live bonafide treasures.   At least Linda and I agree that they are treasures.  There were old handmade crocheted doilies in the trunk.  He brought them to Linda.  She saved the ones she could and she brought me one of the  beautiful white doilies as a gift.  

You see, we both crochet and have since we were quite young.  My grandmother lived with us when I was growing up and she would sit down with a ball of cotton string and a tiny little crochet hook and start making her own pattern as she went.  Her nimble hands seemed to fly as they created stitch after stitch.  In no time, she would have a beautiful doily with all kinds of intricate patterns in it.  No book.  No pattern.  Only her hands and her head created these beautiful pieces.  What a gift.

Linda said her mother taught her to crochet when she was about 7.  That is quite an accomplishment for a 7 year old.  I was starting to embroider at that age, not crochet.  But, I did watch grandma working away with her needle and thread creating, always fascinated with her skill.  I wanted to create too!  Always have, always will.

I started to crochet when I was in high school.  I used yarn and made scarves and hats mostly.  Then when I was expecting our first child, I crocheted a rippled afghan and made a white hair pin lace afghan that was so beautiful.  I made things for our children, for gifts, lots of afghans, and on and on through the years.  I truly admire and appreciate the skill it takes to make something as lovely as the doily in the picture above.  That is something I have never made.

I was so excited to receive this beautiful gift and told Linda I knew exactly what I would do with it.  It would be framed under glass and hung in my bedroom where I could admire it often.  That is what I did today.

My daughter Annie had given me an old frame she did not want any longer when they moved recently.  You see, I am kind of like that old commercial with Mikey - the kid who would eat anything.  I take anything and will turn it into something at some point.  I used that frame for my beautiful doily.

The frame was old and brown with kind of goldish highlights and that is not my style, but it is really lovely otherwise.   It has lots of detail and I knew I would paint it white.  Here it's laying on the ground ready to be painted.

Here is a closeup of the detail.  It's very intricate.

All I used was a can of white spray paint and gave it one light coat.  I didn't want it to be too finished or slick.  After it dried, I waxed it with Annie Sloan dark wax.  LOVE how it turned out.

I pressed the doily nice and flat, then cut a piece of acrylic I already had for the backing for the frame.  Using a piece of white burlap, I cut it a bit bigger than the acrylic and folded it over and taped it down to the acrylic.  Then, I laid the doily on the burlap, centered it, and placed it in the frame under the glass.  That's all it took.

I put in on the wall with my "dahlia" book page wreath and an old candelabra Annie had also given me that came from Anthropologie many moons ago.  It is what I have been needing to finish the vignette.  It's perfect and beautiful.

Thank  you  Linda for this wonderful gift.  I will cherish it always.

Life has such a funny way of bringing you full circle sometimes.  Linda and I were friends from high school long ago.  We reconnected when my daughter moved to Dallas where she lives.  She and her friends came to visit over the weekend.  We may have gray hair and grandchildren, but in our hearts we are still those same high school girls laughing and talking and having a great time together.  Thanks so much for coming to visit and introducing your long time friends to me who are now new found friends. Thanks for the beautiful gift.  I will look at it every day and be grateful for your visit and your gift.  Hopefully, we will see each other again soon.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.  Anais Nin