Rosemary Garlic Buttermilk Scalloped Potatoes

I was going to make baked potatoes tonight but then I decided to add a little bit more flavor to our meal.

I did not use a recipe for this dish, but I can say that making a white sauce is pretty easy, and once learned will become your instant solution for pot pies, chicken and rice dishes and so on.

I stumbled upon this side dish tonight by accident. I looked in my fridge and noticed I did not have enough half and half or milk for tomorrows breakfast and then noticed I had buttermilk.

I browsed my fridge over and noticed half a package of bacon left over from Saturday and some fresh Rosemary waiting to be used.

Then I thought, how would bacon, garlic, rosemary, and buttermilk taste together in a white sauce? To my surprise really really good!

The buttermilk offers a tang, while the smoky saltiness of the bacon compliments it, then you have the earthy flavor of the rosemary all kind of having a party together with the subtle hint of garlic.

Basic Recipe for White Sauce:

1 to 2 TBS butter

1 TBS flour

1/8 tsp salt

dash pepper

3/4 c milk

This recipe is in my head and I really do not measure, but this is the basic foundation of how I made my sauce. You can flavor this sauce any way you like, add cheese for cheesy scalloped potatoes if you want.

Melt the butter in the sauce pan, add your garlic and onions or just onions if you wish, saute until translucent. Add your flour and stir it with a wire whisk. You will have a thick kind of paste called a rue. Stir for a few minutes until lightly brown.

Add your liquid of choice.

Stir over medium heat until you have a thick sauce, add your bacon or cheese if you like.

For this recipe I added my minced fresh rosemary to my garlic and butter before adding my flour.

I probably doubled this recipe, I had a big casserole to fill with potatoes.

I have learned to just train your eye and taste.

I used the basic recipe but never measured anything..... I just know if the sauce seems to thick add more liquid, do not add to much salt until after you put the cooked bacon inside the sauce.

Anyhow I hope this inspires some one to think outside the box and try something new! You could be surprised.

Lavender Honey Ice Cream

I made this Ice Cream last year. It is from Williams-Sonoma Dessert Cook Book.

My honey bought me this ice cream maker last year and during the spring/summer months I like using it.

Although home-made ice -

cream can be quite expensive it is really good! Ben and Jerry's has nothing on this stuff!

Maybe I'm full of my self, but I thought I would share this recipe. For the sake of showing what some of the steps look like in the directions I have taken some pictures.

Glace au Miel de Lavande Provence, France

Ingredients:
3 C heavy cream
1C milk ( I use whole milk)
1/2 C lavender, orange blossom, or clover honey, plus honey for serving
1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp dried lavender blossoms ( I found some by McCormick) Stumbled upon it at Safeway in the spice area
1 piece of vanilla bean, 2 inches long ( when I do not have the bean I use pure vanilla)
1/4 tsp salt
4 egg yolks (room temperature is best so take them out before you do the rest of the ingredients)
1/4 tsp ground cloves ( I prefer to use to taste on this part)



Steps:
1. In a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the cream, milk, 1/2 c of honey, brown sugar, lavender blossoms, vanilla bean, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring often until the sugar dissolves completely.

2. In a bowl, whisk the yolks until they are lemon -colored. Slowly whisk 1 c of the hot cream mixture into the yolks. ( you do no want scrambled eggs, do it very slowly)

Continue to cook, stirring

constantly, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, 5-6 minutes approx.

Do not allow to boil. ( I turned my heat down a bit while stirring) Remove from the heat and let cool to lukewarm.

Pour through a fine-mesh sieve placed over a bowl, discarding the lavender and vanilla bean.




(If you did not use the bean this is the time you want to add your pure vanilla extract)

Stir in the cloves.

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions, then allow to cool completely.

Scoop into bowls and drizzle with honey.

I am also adding that you have to let the mixture cool completely before you add it to your ice cream maker. Also, the ice cream comes out looking like soft serve ice-cream. You have to freeze it for a few hours if not over night before you will have ice-cream that is hard.

I also want to note something else they do not tell you in the directions of ice cream making.

You have to let the ice cream mixture cool all the way, it should be 35 to 40 degrees in temperature.

This is the reason why I use a stainless steel bowl. I pour the warm mixture into the bowl, and then I make an ice bath in a larger bowl.

I have a picture but am having trouble with this website right now.

Put a bunch of ice in a larger bowl add a little bit of water then put your ice cream mixture bowl inside the bigger bowl.

This helps the mixture cool down more quickly. Also your ice cream mixture should thicken a lot. It should resemble a custard.

Which is basically any ice cream mixture you make that calls for eggs.

It has been an hour or so since I have started cooling mine in the ice bath and it looks like pudding.

It should be cold and look like this before you add it to your ice cream maker.

Pottery Barn Inspired Outdoor Lighting

I found this picture in the April issue of Pottery Barn and have been wanting to make these "mason jar votives" ever sense.

I wen't to the store and found a whole box of new ones for around $12.00 dollars, but I decided I did not wan't new ones.

I much prefer something more vintage looking.



Here is the clipping for the votives.

The "mason jars are $7.50 each, and then you have to purchase the votives seperately for $24.00 dollars, and we did not even mention the sand, or the wrope to hang them with.


Well today I hit the jackpot!

I wen't to a local thrift shop with my girlfriend this afternoon and stumbled upon these jars.

I like the mason jar with the star shape on the fron't, and the Kerr and Ball brand ones look a little bit older then the ones in the store.

I purchased these for .40 cents



each. So a total of $2.40 cents for all six.

Then I ran into these Vintage blue Ball jars!

Some one should blind fold me, in the vintage section!

These were 20% off $6.50 each.

Still a good deal I think considering they are vintage, and still cheaper then the ones in Pottery Barn! What do you think?

So on with my blog....... the blue vintage jars I think are going to look very pretty when filled with cut flowers from my garden this summer. I still need to clean them up and take off the ugly price tag's..... but can you imagine roses, sunflowers, sweet pea's, lavender, or fresh hollyhock's from the garden in these big jar's?

Now back to the clear ones for the outdoor, I have to go find some wire to make handles, black sand, and some cheap votives to finish the purpose of them.

All that said, I'm on a mission to do it much cheaper then the pottery barn version.

I will post pictures when I'm done!

Happy Cinco De Mayo btw!

Spring Garden

We are not quite out of the wood's yet as far as chance of frost go's, but this is what I have going on in my garden beds for spring gardening.... and my tomato's are doing well.

I planted them on March 15, and now they look like photo to the left. I am hardening them off right now. I purchased some "Wall-O-Water's", wich claim you can use to protect your tomato's, peppers, and eggplant's up to one month before your last date of frost, so I am looking forward to planting nine of them in my beds on Sunday.



This picture is of something I have never tried until going to the nursery a few weeks ago. It is mustard greens.

The nice lady at the nursery had me taste a little piece of it while shopping and it had a nice tang to it that I really enjoyed and thought would be a nice compliment to my salads.


Some lettuce's that I planted in fron't of all three of my beds.

Romaine, bibb, and the mustard. Also I am trying something new this year.

The purple looking plants in the fron't corners are red cabbage.





Here is a closer look. I noticed today that the purple hue of these plants seemed to look deeper in color today.

"Please excuse the weeds!", I have been too lazy, and busy to mow my lawn, or do a whole lot of weeding as of yet.

Here is a photo of the tomato seeds that I planted. A mix of heirlooms.

I planted one heirloom tomato plant last year and decided I wanted to try all of them this year!

So the list of tomato plants are;

Omars Lebanese, Dutchman, Golden Sunburst, Black Russian, Aunt Ruby's German Green, and Djena Lee's Golden Girl.

I also planted two other tomato plants....."Mortgage Lifter", a big beefsteak, and Black Krim, a dark purplish brown tomato with a rich flavor.

Can't wait to plant my tomato's!

I made Lace!

So, I did get my pattern book about a week or so ago.....The cover picture was something I had been wanting to make for some time.

I ordered a cone of blue lace weight yarn from http://www.webs.com/, and then I decided to go to my L.Y.S., and found this lovely alpaca lace yarn in verigaited color of purple, by Misti Alpaca Hand Paints. I am not really a "pink" kind of girl, so I decided to use differnt colors, and I could not afford the Tahki Stacy Charles "Superior" lace weight yarn.

I have learned, that basicly any pattern can be fit to your liking just by making sure you use the correct weight of yarn called for in the pattern, and that you try your best to have the correct gauge.

I have to say I am very proud of me to get this done.

I have struggled with being to lazy to change colors, and frankly I have never acomplished a lace weight pattern other then a scarf.

All those stitches! I must be a very impatient crocheter! So all else said..... once I finished and after all the effort to get this project right, I had my honey buy me a peice of wood board from Home Depot to wet block the garment.

I have never wet blocked before. (yes I have cheated with a damp towel and my iron on the lowest setting over my garments) So of course after all my effort I had to buy some nice "soap" from the L.Y.S., and ran into this yummy stuff called "soak", smells so good I can not wait to put it on.

The funniest thing about the whole blocking process was that I must find something differnt to block my projects on for one, but also I ran out of pins, and found they were not working so well on the wood so I got out my hammer and nails! I was looking for any nail I could get my hands on to be sure to nail every single edge piece down, as called for to do in the pattern.

Not that I should mention but wine and stitches are a beautiful thing!

Also, the number one thing I have learned with crocheting is .... count your stitches! Do not get full of your self just because you got the first row or two correct. Count every stitch on every row! ( I know it is a pain).

Doris Chan's All Shawl

I am a big fan of Doris Chan. I just purchased a pattern book from Filatura Di Crosa Superior Crochet, and I can not wait to get it in the mail.

The book came out last year with stunning designs, and the cover is beautiful. I love lace and am going to be challenging my self to some new patterns.

Back to Doris Chan, I found this pattern on Ravelry for free. She seems to be a really nice lady, and a great designer. I also just started following her blog @ Everday Crochet.

To make the shawl a little more dressy I decided to make a pretty bow, with some nice ribbon, and I added in a pearl (that I had purchased a long time ago @ my local bead shop.) The green "pearls" on the outside I am sure are fake.... but who has to know? I think it gives the shawl a little bit of "vintage" and it is fun to put your own signature "stamp" on crochet patterns.

Happy 9th Birthday Savannah!

My spring baby girl is getting too big!

Treasure every moment, they grow up too fast!

What a sweet girl I was blessed with!

Happy Birthday Savannah!

Kitchen Garden

Yesterday I wen't to the local Nursery and decided to plant a minature hanging garden in my kitchen window.

What a cool thing! I would post a picture but my camera is low on batteries, so it is charging right now.

How cool would it be to pick your self some fresh herbs while you are cooking dinner?

I put an eye hook in the ceiling in fron't of my kitchen window so it would have plenty of light.

Next was a trip to the Nursery to buy some Lavender, Thyme, and Rosemary.

I know it sounds a bit odd to put Lavender in my culinary garden, but after purchasing and using Herbs de Provence (with lavender) in many recipes I decided it would be not only beautiful but useful.

I would like to add Basil, Marjoram, and Savory...., but I think I will wait until it gets warmer as I am out of room in my little "grow light" room in the basement.

Those Tomato's take up a lot of room! I am starting to wonder if maybe I am a bit insane for growing 30 something tomato plants in the first place!

Guess I will have to give some to my friends!

Rack of Lamb with Basil Mint Pesto

This recipe originated with me oohing, and drooling for that matter, with Food Networks Giada De Laurentiis' "Every Day Italian" show.

I have followed her recipe, and have never failed.

I make it about three times a year or more, and find it especially good for Easter.

For an extra special presentation you could garnish with lemon wedges and fresh mint and basil.

My kids love this recipe! I do not know if it is because they have tried it before or that they are used to me making differn't kinds of food and recipe's for them to try..... or maybe they just like the big dollop of pesto on top?

Either way I would encourage any one to go to foodnetwork.com and try this!

Seedling's

I started my tomato's and Hollyhocks, mid March, and this is what I have so far! Little Babies. The orange tray has herbs for the garden. Rosemary, Lavender, Boxwood Basil, and Fennel. The tomato's in the back are doing well. I am really excited to be able to get these started.

Growing indoors how to: I went to the Home Depot, and fortunately ran into a lady from the garden center who helped me pick out the lights. I first grabbed a shop light fixture. Then about 20 feet on chain, and four eye hooks.

The bulbs are one fluorescent, and one warm for each fixture. Find your spot were you would like to hang your fixture, and mount the eye hooks on the ceiling. Next put your lights in the shop light fixture's and hang them from the chain.

You need to keep the light fixture's two to four inches from your seedlings. As your seedling's grow you raise the lights by moving the chain link up on the eye hooks.

Happy Gardening!