A FIRESIDE CHAT WITH NO FIRE IN THE FIREPLACE

 

We have so enjoyed  watching the hummingbirds come and go all summer

long.  We also have had our share of bees on our feeder lately.

 

Several months ago I had a little fireside chat with myself.  I am a gal who loves to get things done and I felt like I was needing to really look at my time and see how I was managing it! It is important to me to walk 30-60 minutes a day.  I also take this time to pray.  I pray for America, family, friends, the list is long and very important.  I pray for people I know and many I never met.  I believe God answers prayer. 

Between sewing, baking, cooking, gardening,

church activities and crafting I stay busy but

I never like to go to bed at night without feeling like "I got things done".  That's just always been part of my composition.  I love that in retirement I finally have time for the things I love.

Do you like to cook and/or bake?  I try to make a nice meal for my husband and I everyday.  Actually, I make a big meal every other day and we eat good leftovers in between.  When people tell me it's no fun to cook for one or two I can't understand because I put some of the food that I cook or bake (for 2) in plastic containers and then we just pull it out of the freezer.  It is wonderful to have beef stew tonight that I made last week and that work is all done. We also have fresh corn on the cob tonight from the Farmers Market.

 I enjoy taking baked items to the seniors meeting each week at church.  I try to always be learning some new recipe I haven't tried before so this is my chance.  I also enjoy surprising my son and his family with occasional meals.

After dinner last night I spent about about 4 hours working on the recipes for a fall themed tea at our church.  By that I mean, narrowing down the choices and making final decisions about 3 fall type savories, which 2 types of scones to choose and 3 fall sweets.  I also organized the recipes typing and printing them out for the lady in charge of the event.  I was so glad to hand her the folder today and know at least that part is done. Next Tuesday I am having a pre-event tasting here as we have an Afternoon Tea with all the yummy foods that we will serve at church in October.  I also plan to be a hostess at one of the tables and so I am figuring out just what my table setting will be and I am leaning toward using 

the above dishes..

In retirement I am trying to keep learning things.  I have been sewing some clothes for the first time in many years.  Of course I am

needing to continue sewing my tea cozies.

Today I am on to other

 things. I am drying some

 big huge hydrangeas

 in the garage. Hopefully

my husband won't need

to mow the grass....

  Yesterday it took me 3 hours in the morning but I made it across about 1/4 of my backyard as there are so many weeds and perennials that  need cutting back.  I am glad to at least get part of it done which looks so much nicer now.  We need rain so badly as things look very sad. 

I hope you enjoyed our fireside chat with no fire in the fireplace.  What sort of things are you getting done?

EASY AND DELICIOUS BUTTER TART SHELLS for Tea In The Garden

We have had a lot of very hot weather and during August and rain was scarce so our lawn went from green to brown. I am working my way around the garden hoeing and digging out the weeds that seem to love the drought!  I did want to dash out and do a "Tea In The Garden" photo shoot.

If you have every purchased the prebaked

tart shells you know how convenient they are to use and fill with any pie filling to make a lovely finger sized dessert.

  We sold so many of the boxed shells "back in the day" at Bernideen's.

You can certainly save a lot of money by baking your own so today for "TEA IN THE GARDEN" we are doing just that!

I love this red transferware 

for tea time.  Are you

ready to make some simple tart

shells and by the way - freeze a bunch

for another day!  This recipe made 100 shells.

If you have butter, flour and confectioners sugar in your kitchen now you are ready to bake this wonderful and simple tart shells.

I just filled these with cherry pie filling and put whip cream on top:

Ingredients:    3 sticks which is 1 ½ cups soft butter, 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 3 cups regular flour – mix all

 Roll a large marble sized piece of dough in the palm of your hand and press it into the tin….try not to go to the very top of the round opening. After baking and cooling,  remove them with a thin sharp knife 325 degrees for 13-15 minutes in a regular oven or 10 min convection oven.  USING the teflon coated mini muffins tins,  this made 100 tart shells so I am freezing quite a few of mine:

I broke a few learning to use

 a thin, narrow knife

to get them out.

ZUCCHINI AND WALNUT BARS

These Zucchini Walnut Bars are delicious:

This is an old post brought forward 

because

you are going to love the taste of

these bars and would never guess

they are made with Zucchinis which

seem to be in abundance right now.

I made these recently and took them

to the seniors group at church and we

will be serving them again at our fall

tea I am helping with.

Do you have zucchinis still from this summer?

This recipe is from "Scones, Muffins , Tea Cakes" originally printed in 1996 by Collins Publishers.

 (I think Out Of Print)

Zucchini and Walnut Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 1/2 cups loosely packed, coarsely grated zucchini
2 large eggs,1 cup sugar, 3/4 cup corn oil, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground allspice, 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg, 1 cup walnuts chopped plus 1/4 cup for topping

Frosting: 3 oz cream cheese softened, 2 cups softened confectioner's sugar, 2 Tb milk, dash of salt, 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees- butter and flour a 9 x 13 baking dish- set aside.
In a large bowl beat together eggs, sugar and oil until well blended. Beat in vanilla.


In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg. Stir in flour mix into the egg mix blending well. Add the zucchini and walnuts and mix. Spread into baking dish. Bake about 28-30 minutes in a regular oven or 22 minutes in a convection oven.  Do not burn but bake till top springs back when touched. Let cool


To make frosting in a bowl: beat cream cheese till smooth, add sugar and milk, then salt and vanilla- If too thick - add more milk until spreadable. Ice cool cake and sprinkle with more walnuts. Slice with very sharp knife.

 

 3 different Cutting suggestions and I

suggest putting the small or tiny ones in

little paper holders (like for candy or muffins) 

1.  SMALL bars which can go into paper cups: cut them 5 x 6= 30 bars 2 bite size

2.  Afternoon Tea Tiny 1 bite bars: cut them 6 x 8 = 48 bars

3.  Larger dessert size: cut them 4 x 8

CLARK, MISSOURI AMISH GOODIES

 Today it was great fun to return to

Clark, Missouri which is an Amish

community in rural Missouri.

These photos were from 2016 as

I did not take my camera today:

We went today with others from Columbia First Assembly of God on this day trip and my husband and I are already wanting to go back as we got some delicious food goodies.  We took our son and his family a box of things and then this was our stash at home on the kitchen table:

I hope you have a lovely weekend!

WALNUT COCONUT CREAM CHEESE CAKE As Fall Approaches

 I first posted this cake (and photo) back in

2009 but I have some issues here with some of my old blog posts.  I changed my blog address a couple times over the years and some of my posts fell through the cracks.  I thought 

this cake was wonderful for fall:

Ingredients:  1/2 cup soft butter, 1/2 cup shortening, 2 cups sugar, 5 eggs separated, 1 cup buttermilk, 1 Tsp baking soda, 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts, 2/3 cup coconut, 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Cream the butter and shortening:  gradually add the sugar, beat till fluffy.  Add egg yolks beating well.  Combine buttermilk and baking soda and stir together.  Add flour to creamed mix alternately with the buttermilk mix.  Stir in vanilla and add walnuts and coconut stirring well.  Beat the egg whites with clean beater blades and cream of tartar until stiff.  Fold these egg whites into the batter.

Now pour batter into 3 cakes pans which you have greased and floured.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes but  check at 25 minutes.  Cool completely before icing.

Here is the icing:

3/4 cup soft butter, 1 8oz and 1 4 oz cream cheese, 4 cups sifted confectioners sugar and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla.  Blend all till smooth and ice the cake between each layer and on the outside.  Sprinkle with more walnuts.

Isn't it fun too BAKE!  I love it!