When we put our skunks* out to pasture.
*Aren’t you glad that you aren’t camping out in my yard this next week?
It’s that time of year
Posted in life out in the country, photos
10 Comments
Greek Yogurt with Cherries
Ok – this is not real Greek Yogurt. It is my own fake version. But it is a lot cheaper and so easy that there is no reason to pay 3 times as much for one of the name brands. I eat non-fat yogurt and with this method, even non-fat will have a rich, creamy taste and texture. I start with a large container of plain yogurt – low fat or full fat will, of course, work just as well.
I use coffee filters to line my mesh strainer. I usually keep a package of basket type filters around for this, but I am out of those, so I tore a cone filter in half and overlapped it.
There is a bit of liquid on top of the yogurt when I open it, so we may as well carefully pour that off.
Empty the yogurt into the strainer.
Cover with plastic wrap. Put in the fridge for a few hours or up to overnight, depending on how thick you want it to be. I confess that I don’t even put it in the fridge. It drains faster at room temperature, and for just a few hours it is safe. If I am leaving it overnight, I do refrigerate it.
After 2 or 3 hours, it will reduced in volume by about 1/3 – just right for eating with fruit, which is what we are going to do with this batch. For frozen yogurt or maybe a salad dressing, I let it go longer so that it gets even thicker. Those recipes are coming in the next few weeks.
It will come right out of the filter easily and can then be stored in a covered bowl, for as long as the original “sell-by” date on the yogurt.
Then, for breakfast, pit some cherries, give them a rough chop and mix with the yogurt, along with honey to taste.
Mmmmmmmm. So creamy and delicious. Yum!
These recipes use summer fruit too:
Blueberry Crisp
Strawberry Rhubarb Sherbet
Sun Through Rain
“Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion.” Do I even have to say “name that movie”? Anyway – sun through the rain is one of the prettiest things ever. A rain shower blew up late yesterday, causing me to throw aside my dinner preparations and run out to the porch with my camera. This caused great consternation on the part of Riley, who saw a break in the routine that leads to him getting dinner. Riley doesn’t like breaks in his routine, so he ended up back in the house where I didn’t have to watch him pace back and forth. Larry endured the break in his routine that leads to dinner with bettter grace, so he got to stay.
Anyway. It just poured down rain, despite the sunny sky – creating this lovely scene.
It made the little runoff creek by the house start up suddenly.
And, can you see it? That’s the end of the rainbow down in our field. I tried to get Larry to go find the pot of gold, but he wasn’t falling for that one again.
This is my first post with my new laptop – my first laptop ever. I feel like I don’t know how to type anymore – or do anything else with a computer for that matter. This is going to be my blogging computer though, so I will just have to learn to deal with the differences. This is also my last day of relative [ha- an ironic choice of word – relative!] calm. Lauren and Steve are on their way back, and more people will be arriving every day this week. There will be no calm after that – especially not with these relatives! I can always lock myself in my bathroom with my new toy and Tweet about the wierdness. Or I would, if I weren’t in charge of and/or responsible for most of it. Oh well – I do have some stuff to blog for most of the week, but there is no telling what time of day I will get around to it. Can you tell I’m excited about the next couple weeks? I’ll tell you one thing though – I am really going to be wishing for that pot of gold by the time I get done feeding this crowd!
Hope you are having a sun-through-the-rain day wherever you are!
The Calm
The calm comes right before the storm, right? It won’t be a storm exactly, but by this time next week, there will be nearly a dozen extra people staying at my little house. And then another 8 who will be here a lot, but want to stay in a more comfy spot than a tent in my side yard, which is all the room left around here. Those folks will be stopping by frequently – most likely at cocktail hour and definitely at dinner time, if I know this crowd. It will be completely crazy and fun and I am really looking forward to it.
But this morning, there is no one here. Lauren and Steve have been here all week, but they have gone up to Ellyn and Jason’s for the weekend. It’s just me and the garden. This is the first year this Ville de Lyon clematis has bloomed. I didn’t even notice the little visitor there in the middle until I looked at these on the computer.
This mini rose bush is on the front porch. I am not sure why, but no matter how many plants I have on the porch, I’m not satisfied until I find one of these little yellow/orange roses to put out there.
Some of the first blooms on one of my favorite daylilies – “Quilt Patch”. I love the deep incursion of the yellow throat on the petals. And it makes me think of my grandmother and her sisters, who could sit together for hours, quilting.
A bloom on the “Magnus” coneflower, still wet with morning dew.
Another post you may like: one year ago today, I was scared.
Blueberry Crisp
As I mentioned the other day, my mother in law has a large collection of blueberry bushes in her side yard. We actually gave her some of them for birthday and Mother’s Day gifts about 30 years ago, as did Larry’s siblings, and now we all get to reap the bounty from those gifts. 30 year old blueberry bushes put out a LOT of blueberries and in a rainy year like this, they really out-do themselves. That same cooler, rainy weather means I can be baking in July, something I would not dream of doing in an ordinary year when it is 85 to 90 every day. Usually in July, we expend considerable effort in keeping the house as cool as possible, and turning on the oven is step in the wrong direction. But this year? Not a problem – bring on those luscious little orbs and I will throw together a Blueberry Crisp.
This is 5 cups of washed blueberries, in a 3 quart flat baking dish. No need to prepare the dish by greasing it – just lay the berries right in there.
Mix in 1/2 cup granulated sugar, a pinch of salt and the juice and zest from 1 lemon.
Then make the topping
1/2 cup soft butter
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
You could use a mixer to combine it all, but I use a pastry cutter, because it only takes a bit of effort. It should be nicely combined, with some nice big crumbs.
Spread the topping evenly over the berries
Bake at 350º for 30 to 35 minutes. The berries should be all bubbly and the topping well browned and fragrant.
Cool for a bit, because that filling is like volcanically hot magma when it first comes out of the oven. Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream, or vanilla icream.
It is so good – lemon and blueberries are wonderful together and the filling keeps a nice freshness, because it is isn’t thickened like pie filling. And, if it is too hot to turn on the oven where you live, freeze up some blueberries while they are fresh and use them when the weather is cooler – they will work just as well as fresh ones.
Another post you may like: Fresh Blueberry Coffee Cake
