Cherry Pie!

       Last Thursday we went strawberry picking and cherry picking at my favorite "pick your own" farm, Homestead Farm.  I just love their farm. They have the sweetest golden retrievers.  They have such a family friendly set-up and are so nice.  And the produce has always been divine.  I went with my neighbor and her girls (seen here before) and I can not believe how beautiful the weather was.  It was in the low 80's and overcast with no humidity and a slight breeze,  Ahhhhh  what a wonderful day!  

     I didn't get to making the cherry pie before  my "fun Thursday."  So I finally made one today.   Keener and Elizabeth pitted all the cherries, Elizabeth measured and mixed the cherries with sugar and flour, while I made the pie crust and assembled the pie and made dinner.   There is nothing like a fresh pie to make you feel better. Yum! Yum! Yum!  

      I generally use the pie recipes in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (As my taped, but still falling apart copy can surely attest to!! )  The nice thing about their fruit pie page is that is only calls for the fruit and some flour and sugar to make the filling.  I prefer pies this way because they depend on the fruit for flavor and not a lot of spices or other fillings.  I find that simplicity is best where pie is concerned.  Go make yourself some fresh pie and enjoy that it is summer with a lots of fresh produce to eat.
*****I decided to update this page and add the recipe:

Simple simple Cherry Pie recipe.

• For filling; Mix 4 cups pitted cherries, 1 cup sugar, & 1/4 cup flour. Pour into favorite uncooked pie shell- in this case I made one with lard (below) so it would be flakey. Cover with top pie shell and decorate if you want. Cook @375 for 30 minutes covered with foil, then 30 more to brown the pie top and voila' yummy pie.  (I of course forgot to cover it for the 1st thirty minutes; so in my case I covered it for the 2nd half of cooking. It still turns out the same.
• For Double Pie crust - (I use an electric mixer) Mix 2 cups flour & 1/2 tsp salt, add 2/3 cup lard, beat until it looks like peas, add 6 TBS COLD water. Mix 30 seconds or so until mixed. Divide in 2. Roll out one for the bottom crust, put into pie pan. Roll out second crust and cover pie.

  

Olympics, Family style.

We have been studying ancient Greece (using SOTW) and I decided to let the kids have their own "Olympics" and Greek Feast. The kids planned the contests and made the medals.  The hardest for them was planning the obstacle course, but they persevered and planned a fun path through the backyard.  It included swinging, jumping jacks, trampoline bouncing, jumping over obstacles and running up the  ramp, across the bridge and down.   I am very proud of their planning.  They learned to negotiate what events would be included.  Christopher only wanted events that he could win (Don't we all).  He REALLY protested against the Limbo contest, but he lost that negotiation.  Keener had such a huge advantage, but couldn't figure out how to do it.  Very funny.

I discussed the food feast menu with them, but Elizabeth and I made most of it.  As usual there was too much food, but it was so yummy.  Most of the ideas came from this web site http://greekfood.about.com/od/discovergreekfood/u/classic_traditional.htm.

Here is the menu:
3 different types of olives-green, brine (kalamata), gaeta (olive link here) ,
dried figs, apricots, dates and golden raisins;
almonds
hummus and pita
Tyropita-3 cheese stuffed flakey pastry
Spanakopita- spinach and cheese stuffed flakey pastry
Camomile Tea
Tzatziki (Yogurt Cucumber Garlic dip)-SUPER EASY to make!!!
Froutosalata-Fruit Salad with honey dressing- yummy!
We also had two different types of fresh bread-thanks to the store bakery!

They had so much fun practicing the past couple of days and  then participating today.  It was such a great way to start off a week.  We had perfect weather and everyone had fun.

So here are the results:

Crabwalk
1st     Christopher
2nd    Elizabeth
3rd     I---- (Our neighbor)

4th     Rolo     

5th     Keener

Bear crawl

1st     Christopher

2nd    Elizabeth

3rd     Rolo

4th     I---- (Our neighbor)     

5th     Keener

Hopping

1st     Christopher

2nd    I---- (Our neighbor)

3rd     Rolo

4th     Keener    

5th     Elizabeth

Frisbee Toss

1st      I---- (Our neighbor)

2nd   Rolo

3rd     Elizabeth

4th     Christopher     

5th     Keener

Wheelbarrow Race (Teams)

1st      I---- (Our neighbor)/Christopher

2nd   Rolo/Elizabeth

3rd     Keener

Long Jump

1st     Christopher

2nd    Elizabeth

3rd     Rolo 

4th     I---- (Our neighbor)     

5th     Keener

Limbo

1st     Elizabeth

2nd     I---- (Our neighbor)

3rd     Rolo

4th     Keener

5th     Christopher

 

Obstacle Course (Time)

1st     Elizabeth (1 min 12.2 seconds)

2nd     Christopher(1 min 18.7 seconds) 

3rd     I---- (Our neighbor) (1 min 47.4 seconds)

4th     Rolo (1 min 49.9 seconds)

5th     Keener (2 min 35.0 seconds)  

     Keener was adorable doing the obstacle course. The other children helped her.  It was so wonderful to see them cheering her on and helping her not get sidetracked.  She did however tend to stop to fix her socks.  If she wasn't looking like a European tourist with her socks up to her knees, she just wasn't happy!  Made me laugh just to see her stopping to do that.  

Awards Ceremony Picture 

Doing things in reverse order

So apparently we needed the flu to run it's course through the house prior to us getting the flu shot this year.

"Oh, bother!" said Pooh. *

"Yes, Pooh I agree! What a bother".

I got zonked with it first and then one by one we were all tagged "it". So now I am wondering, should I bother to get the flu shot since we already had the flu? I am so tired of being in my house and being sick and tired. I am looking forward to having a nice healthy family again. (A woman can wish can't she!!!)

I even found the gumption to cook today! I cooked up some lamb chops. We bought a lamb last winter and still have a few cuts left in the deep freezer. There is nothing more tasty than fresh meat from the farm. I don't know what the grocery store does to remove all the flavor from meat, but there is such a big difference. I hope that I can buy another one this year. It was a wonderful treat. If I ever followed a recipe I might share it with you, but alas I am the type of gal to open up the fridge, pantry, and spice cabinet, throw in what I feel like tasting. Then I mix, cook, and serve. Take that Martha and Julia!!!!

* Can you tell I have a 2 year old who is obsessed by Pooh at the moment?

Spanish Food Recipe included.

Had a great lazy day at the pool and home. Perfect weather. N♡- and I made a Spanish Omelette for dinner. Her uncle sent us the recipe that she uses at home, all translated for me to use. Thank you Uncle. Here is the recipe.

SPANISH OMELETTE
Ingredients:
9 spoons of oil (olive)
5-6 eggs
Salt (.5-1 tsp)
Onions if wanted (200 Gr.), diced
4 big potatoes.

Wash and peel potatoes. Cut them into cubes about 1-1,5 centimeters.
Put the oil in a large frying pan or skillet and heat, medium-high, add the potatoes with salt.
When the poatatoes began to be cooked, nearly to be golden brown and crisp, include the onions thinly sliced into the oil.
Meanwhile, beat heavily the eggs with salt (at least 1 minute).

(Add onions Tomatoes, green or red peppers, cod, or any vegetable) if you choose.

Drain oil if needed into a glass. Remove Potatoes and onions into bowl with beaten eggs for easier draining.

Now, Put the skillet back on the heat, and make a little thin line of oil (from the oil we have in the glass) when the oil is hot, Pour the potatoes (and onions, tomatoes etc.) and the eggs mixture onto the skillet.
After 2 minutes, more or less, invert a large plate over the pan or skillet, and carefully turn the omelett onto the plate and make another thick line of oil, and slide the omelet into the skillet with the uncokked side down. Add cheese if desired.
Cook about 2 minutes more and test with a knive if the eggs are set. serve Warm.

In this Kind of omelete you can add for example: Tomatoes, green or red peppers, cod, any vegetable, cheese, etc.

Cooking

The finished product.

Yes, this is a picture of me. I don't have anyone to take pictures of me normally (unless you would like some knee shots, some up the nose shots, or the REALLY, REALLY close-up shots that the kids take.

Don't tell the kids that they ate potatoes because the loved the omelette. It was a fun quick tastey meal. We ate outside and enjoyed the nice evening. It has been a lot of fun having N♡- with us. I know we will miss her when she goes home.

Well Done

I tend to consider myself a fairly good cook. Things don't always turn out right, but most of the time I do pretty well. My fatal flaw seems to be the grill. I just don't have the patience to stand by and turn things, and watch the fire and all that stuff. I think men must like grilling so much because they have to stand around drinking beer, waiting for the meat to cook. They have to stay with it so that it does not burn.

So today I decided to use the grill for the first time since Honey left, I was trying to avoid heating up the house, (Still no A/C on .. AMAZING!.. YEAH!). I took the meat and wrapped it in foil to cook, followed the directions and set the grill on low, and put the meat on to cook for the time the recipe called for. I even checked the temperature, everything was going according to the recipe, until I opened up my chargrilled mess. The choices were well done or blackened. Hmmm, not exactly what I wanted to serve Father H-- or our new friend the Seminarian L---who came for dinner. Luckily, there was enough meat inside the blackened mess that was actually moist and tasty. It just involved a lot more effort to get at it. Luckily enough for me, I had enough other food to fill everyone's bellies. Father H-- kindly said that is was good. Hmmm, Good thing he was going to confession after his visit with us......

Here's a picture of the kids turning our New York Priest into a Orioles "fan"

Let it Snow!

 Home Sweet Home

Yeah! Finally the kids got snow this winter.  We were visiting with Daddy in South Carolina during the last snowstorm, so the kids have not had the chance to play in the snow.  7 Inches!   Boy were they thrilled.  I, of course, had a Chiropractor appointment,  so I had to go shovel the 7 inches of snow to get out!   

     Elizabeth stayed outside forever!  The boys on the other hand thought 10 minutes was fine.   Oddly enough our Hawaiian born dog LOVES the snow.  She frolicks and jumps in the snow like a kid herself.   The snow did give us the opportunity to make Laura Ingalls Snow Candy (Little House Cookbook) .   I remember making this when I was little.   It is sooooo easy, so here's the recipe.

1 cup Dark Molasses

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

 

4 nine inch cake pans filled with snow

1  two quart pan

1 spouted ladle or small heatproof pitcher

1 cup with cold water (To test for hard ball stage of candy

or you city folk can use a candy thermometer if you must!)

Combine Molasses and Sugar.  Heat on Medium heat on the stove.  Stir to prevent burning.    When it reaches hard ball stage, pour on snow in patterns.  Eat when cooled.  

The kids loved making the candy, but don't like the flavor of the molasses.  Oh well, sometimes the adventure is the journey not the destination.

   The kids do love eating the icicles