We have moved!!!

We're moving!! The jars are packed and ready to go.

Join me over at TwoBGardening.com for all your favorite gardening tip, recipes and "how to's". I'm still in the beginning stages of learning the new program. Hang in there with me. I'm trying to work out some kinks. Please let me know how you like the new site.

Hope to see ya soon!!

Sincerely, Amy :) 

Pesto Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

Mushrooms are one of my favorite veggies to cook with. These creamy, cheesy mushrooms will have you coming back for more. Clean the mushrooms if need be and pop out steams. Spoon out some of the insides. Stuff with cream cheese mixture, sprinkle with cheese, bake and enjoy. Makes approx. 13 stuffed mushrooms.

 

 Pesto Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms:

16oz. whole white button mushrooms

4oz. cream cheese, softened

2 Tbsp. pesto

1 tsp. butter

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 8 X 8 baking dish, set aside. In a medium bowl stir cream cheese, pesto, salt and pepper together until smooth and well blended. Spoon cream cheese mixture into hollowed out mushrooms, filling all the way to the top. Place mushroom in baking dish. Repeat until all cream cheese mixture is used. You will probably have left over mushrooms. Toss them in with stuffed mushrooms or save for later enjoyment. Sprinkle cheese on top of mushrooms and bake for 15-18 minutes.

Be careful, they are delicate!

Grateful for a Stocked Pantry

Grateful! Grateful! Grateful! Grateful pretty much says it all.

 I've been very blessed with loads of fruits and veggies this summer. Can't waste them, preserve them.  Fall is approaching, which means canning season is here. I've been working really hard to try and pack away as much food as I can. The joy of reaching in the cabinet and grabbing your home grown, home canned tomatoes. Is there anything better? A little crazy you say? Maybe, but I think it's a good crazy.

Don't get me wrong, canning food is hot, time consuming and aching hands. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you Lord for giving me these aching hands to work with.

 Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Sun Tea

 

Summer + Sun = Sun Tea! 

On those warm sunny summer days grab a glass jar, drop in 5 tea bags and fill with water. Screw on cap and place in the sun.  A few hours later add a cup of sugar, shake and done.

Yes, it's that easy!

Staying busy while my daughter is away

Are you hungry? There is a lot of food on this page so bring a plate and fill up. 

It's been pretty quiet around the house the last 10 days. My daughter is gone to Ohio with her boyfriend to visit his mommy and sister. So while she was gone I thought I would stay busy cooking. I love to cook anyhow but this would be a great time to stock the pantry. Here's a few things I've been making.

Martha Stewart's Apple-honey-Challah bread. This makes a huge loaf, share and enjoy!

Zucchini Fritters

The tomatoes are starting to come in so why not make some garden fresh salsa. This wonder salsa won me a blue ribbon at the Albemarle county fair a few years back. It's delicious! I also canned some applesauce, pickles, relish and apple butter. The pantry is starting to fill up.

Applesauce

Have you ever made fruit roll-ups?  It is easy as applesauce. I made a batch and took them to work. I blinked my eyes and they were gone. 

Ahh, the wonderful site of fresh beans. Beans are one of my favorite vegetables. They are so easy to grow and produce so much. So far we've harvested 7lbs of beans and we only started picking the first week of July. Many more pounds to come. For beans, I usually freeze them instead of canning. Had a bad experience with my beans not selling one time and every since I've just froze them. 

Are you full yet? What have you made this week from the kitchen? 

Mommy misses you baby girl. Love ya :)

Preserving Apple Juice

Don't waste those apple peels after your done making the apple sauce. Make apple juice. It's apple season once again and time to stock the pantry with apple sauce and apple juice.

Jonagold apples from Fruit Hill Orchard!

Recently when I was cutting up peaches I decided to use the skins to make a peach juice and add to my tea. So I thought, why not do the same with the apple peelings.

 The jar on top is the juice!

After your done with peeling and coring your apples, throw all the scraps into a large sauce pot on low heat. Add about 3 cups of water. Put lid on top and cook unto peelings are mussy, about 30-40 mins. You can add sugar if you want a sweeter apple juice, but I think it's just right. Seal in your canning pot the same you would your applesauce. This apple juice is a little weaker than the store bought juice.

 I'm excited to use it in cakes. Substitute most of the water for your apple juice. I'd love to try your favorite apple recipe. Please do share!

I WON!! I WON!! Whole Foods Smoothie Contest

My smoothie, Strawberry Chocolate Mint Lemonade cooler won the Whole Foods Contest. Never in my wildest dreams would I think I would win a Whole Foods Contest. Woot! Woot!

Thanks to all who voted. Check out the Q&A blog from Whole Foods. Hope you'll enjoy the smoothie recipe. It's very refreshing and light. Thanks again to all my loyal readers!

"Live Alyssa Live" Local Fundraiser

 
Come out and help little Alyssa fight her way through this horrible disease, cancer. If you live near Fluvanna county join us today from 5:30 - 8:30 at Pleasant Grove for the "Live Alyssa Live" Fundraiser.  There is going to be a cake walk, face painting, food, silent auctions, bake sale and lots of fun. If you don't live near us, PRAY. Alyssa needs all her prayer buddies blessing her. I'll be donating a basket of fresh produce from my garden for the silent auction, come and bid. Hope to see you there.

Live Alyssa Live

Go God Go

Dill Shrimp Stir Fry

Do you ever find that you have one potato or two carrots or half of a pepper and don't know what to do with them? Try making this yummy dill shrimp stir fry. You can add your favorite veggies or what ever is lingering around the counters or refrigerator.

Dill Shrimp Stir Fry:

3 cups of your favorite veggies (diced to bite size)
1/2 pound raw shrimp
2 Tbsp. dill-licious-ness
olive oil or butter, enough to cover bottom of frying pan
grated cheese (smoked cheddar is my favorite)

Heat skillet with oil or butter over low heat. If using potatoes, cook them for approx. 3-5 mins before adding remaining ingredients. Add veggies, cover with lid and stir occasionally. Cook for 5-8 mins until veggies are tender. Meanwhile steam raw shrimp until they turn pink. This only takes a few minutes. Peel off their shells and toss in with veggies. Add the dill-licious-ness and cover for 2-4 more minutes. Add your favorite grated cheese to the top and enjoy.

Just remember that the harder the veggie, potato or carrots, take a little longer to cook so start them first. Mushrooms will cook fast, use them last. I used potatoes, mushrooms, green pepper and onions. Delicious!

What do you add to your stir fry's?

Free Starbucks Refreshers Beverage July 13

Starbucks is offering a FREE refreshers beverages this Friday, July 13 from noon to 3pm at participating stores.

Whole Foods Finalist in Smoothie Contest: Please Vote

Do you like smoothies? You gotta try my Strawberry Chocolate Mint Lemonade Cooler. My recipe has been chosen as one of the two finalist in Whole Foods Best Smoothie contest. If I win they want to do a Q&A of me on their blog and I'll also win a great prize. Please try the smoothie for yourself and vote for me. (Amy4)

Thank you to all my loyal readers.  This wouldn't be possible without your support. God bless!

Construction Zone

If you can see this post, please bear with me. I'm trying to move everything to Wordpress. I will update as soon as possible. Thank you!!

Par-bake Blackberry Cobbler

With all the blackberries mom and I picked this week, I had to get in the kitchen and start baking. I made 9 half pints of blackberry jam. Super easy, only took about an hour. Thanks to my Grandma for showing me and easier way. Once you fill the jars with your jam, put on lids and tighten the rings, just flip them over on their tops and let sit for 10 -15 minutes upside down. This heats the lids and makes them seal. I still have a problem though, what to do with all these jams and preserves?

Of course I had to make some blackberry cobbler. This time I par-baked them. Cooking them for only 20 minutes, letting them cool and then freezing for later consumption. Make sure to label with directions, you think your going to remember but if your brain is anything like mine, you'll forget.

Happy Independence Day!!!

Thank you to all the service men and women whom have fought for our freedom. May God bless you and your families.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful 4th of July. The cookouts are going, getting ready for fireworks and those yummy desserts.

Since I have to work the night shift tonight and am going to miss the fireworks my mom and I decided to go pick blackberries today. A local farm, Grelen Nursery, had a great special running for pick your own. I couldn't pass up a special on fresh picked berries. 20 pints later and what to do with all these berries?

Tomorrow I think I'll make some blackberry preserves and maybe a blackberry cobbler. I'm sure we'll be making plenty of blackberry smoothies. What are your favorite ways to use blackberries?

Gma's words: "Put some dirt on those beans"

My grandmother always said, "those beans need some dirt". Over the years of gardening I've come to learn that grandma knows best. She explains things in layman's terms not technical terms, which I like. She doesn't always give you the reason for it but you know she knows what she's talking about. So if your growing green beans, put some dirt on those beans. Just take your hoe and pile up the dirt around the base of the plant. You'll be amazed how fast they will grow. Grandma knows best!

Organic Gardening Magazine (2-years) Only $5 from Amazon

Amazon is offering a magazine sale. For only $5.00 you can get  2 years worth of Organic Gardening magazines. 12 issues for 24 months. Hurry offer ends tomorrow,  June 17.

Plum Preserves and Memories Preserved

Our little plum tree was very good to us this year. We have picked 50lbs of plums in the past 2 weeks. The plums are not very big, because I did not thin them like I was suppose to. It's so hard to choose the "right" one and destroy the "other" ones. I'll try my hardest next year to thin them so we'll have big plums. They were still delicious and sweet.

We had lots of fun with my mom and grandma this weekend making plum preserves. Our first batch turned out really nice, but our second batch was a little thick. The only difference, we added the sugar first then the pectin to the first batch. The directions call for the pectin first then the sugar. Maybe they should change the directions, just a suggestion.

Homemade preserves, jams and jellies are so much fun and so easy to make. Plus it saves lots of money at the grocery store.  I use my homemade jams for Christmas gifts. Pair a jar up with some homemade bread and Christmas gifts are ready and yummy.

We made 29 half pint jars of plum preserves. Total spent $17.84, not including jars. Jars are pricy but once you buy them their yours and the cost of making and preserving goes down. Final cost = $1.55 a jar. Memories preserved = Priceless!

Thank you Jesus for blessing my family!!

Happy Memorial Day!!

Just wanted to say "Thank You" to all the men and women who have fought for our country. To keep our freedom FREE. Thank you for all your sacrifices, thank you to your families for supporting you. Thank You! God Bless America!

Strawberry Chocolate Mint Lemonade Cooler

 Yes, this is a very long name for a simple drink. Once you try it you'll understand the name. Any one of the names left out won't do it justice.

Strawberry Chocolate Mint Lemonade Cooler:

2 cups frozen whole strawberries

1 1/2 cups lemonade

1 tbsp honey

1/2 fresh squeezed lemon

6-8 chocolate mint leaves (1 tsp dice mint)

Blend all ingredients in blender, pour and enjoy!

(forgot to take a pic with mint leaf, they're in there)

Rosemary Garlic Butter

Fresh herbs and butter = a perfect pair. This yummy rosemary garlic butter is excellent on grilled cheese sandwiches. Next time going to try it melted on top of roasted veggies.

Take one stick of butter at room temp,1 tsp. chopped rosemary and 1/2 tsp. garlic powder. Mix well. Place on a piece of plastic wrap and roll up. Place in refrigerator until hardened. Slice and enjoy on your favorite foods.  Well, maybe not your favorite food, not sure how plum blueberry peach cake will taste with rosemary garlic butter. But you know what I mean :)

How about adding some Parmesan cheese with basil? Or chives and cheddar? The possibilities are endless.

Tropical Traditions Special Deals

Tropical Traditions is one of my favorite sites to order my organic food. I love their Gold label virgin coconut oil. Recently I experimented with homemade deodorant and love it.

Get the pint jars on sale now- Buy One Get One Free  Retails for $50, sale price $19.95. There are hundreds of ways to use coconut oil. My favorites are using it in smoothies and fry my potato's in coconut oil.



Virgin Coconut Oil, Gold Label - 1 quart Another of my favorite items from Tropical Traditions is their Organic Raw Honey. My niece would get off the bus at my house and run to the cabinet to make herself a honey sandwich. Great birthday present for her :)
The 17.6 oz jar is on Sale for $12.99, retails for $19.99
 

First time customers receive a FREE book on Virgin Coconut Oil!! Free is always good.


Organic Raw Honey - 17.6 oz. glass jar

Graduation Party a Success & Under Budget

Graduation day has come and gone. My baby is done with high school and getting ready for college. I can't believe how time flies. I remember trying to put her on the bus for kindergarten. I say "trying" because when the bus pulled up and opened the doors, she looked up and took off running. We could not catch her and the bus could not wait. We had to drive her to school. Now she is driving her self around. Time flies!

Any hoot! Graduation was great. The ceremony started at 10am and lasted about two hours. Back to my house everyone came for a cook out. All together we had 72 people come. Friends, families, neighbors and co-workers. The weather was sunny and about 80 degrees. Just a light breeze and not humid. Wonderful!! Thank you Lord for a beautiful day :)

 I started planning the graduation party back in January. My budget was $500 for decorations, food, tables, etc.. Everything but the gifts. I went to Kroger back in April when they had corn on the cob for $0.19 cents and ear and purchased 40 ears, cut them in half and frozen them for the party. Kroger also had hot dogs on sale 10/ $10. Bought 10 packs of hot dogs and frozen them. We used coupons from Party City to get the decorations and picked up things along the way that were on sale. The cake was probably the biggest splurge. $48 from Walmart. Delicious cake! After all was done the party came in around $450. Not bad!

I defiantly have to thank my mom (in the blue) and my nana (beside mom) for all their hard work in helping make this party a success. Love you ladies :)

 

We even had people pitch tents and spend the night.

 

(my nephew, Jamie)

Will this night ever end?