The Next Best Thing...

If you are like me and cant wait for this seasons bounty of juicy, ripe, red, summer tomatoes than give this a try.
Go to the store pick out those barely red, hardly sweet supermarket plum tomatoes and throw them in the oven for a couple of hours. What you will pull out just might surprise you.

Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad

from Barefoot Contessa Bact To Basics

By Ina Garten

12 plum tomatoes, cut in half long way and seeds removed

1/4 cup olive oil

1 1/2 Tbs balsamic vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp sugar

salt and pepper

16 oz fresh mozzarella

12 fresh basil leaves

preheat oven to 275 degrees.

Arrange tomatoes on rimmed baking sheet, cut side up in a single layer. Pour olive oil and vinegar over tomatoes. Sprinkle with garlic, sugar, salt and pepper. Roast for about two hours and let cool to room temp.

Slice mozzarella and layer with tomatoes and basil leaves. Drizzle with more olive oil and salt and pepper. Serve with grilled bread that has been drizzled with Olive oil, salt and pepper.

This should tide you over until August when the real thing comes along.

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The Perfect "One Cow" Burger

In our house we love burgers! Not the frozen preformed patties some people call hamburgers. I would much assume take the bun with all the fixins and hold the "Patty" if that were my option.

But rather the plump, juicy, fresh burgers that actually have amazing flavor.

It wasn't until I read the cookbook Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes (love this cookbook by the way) that I came across a recipe for the "One Cow" Burger. I know it doesn't sound very appetizing, but when you think about that preground stuff (or preformed patties) exactly how many cows do you think went in to make up that pound of meat? 25? 50? Possibly 100! And set aside taste for a minute, what about the chance of one of those cows having some sort of disease? Hard to think about- huh?

So here's the solution. Go to your local grocery store, pick out a fresh piece of chuck, go find the butcher and ask him to grind it up for you. They have always been more that happy to do it for me! And now go home and make the most amazing burger you have ever had and never, I mean never buy those preformed patties again!

The One Cow Burger

adapted from Blue Eggs and Yellow tomatoes, by Jeanne Kelley

2lbs ground chuck (premium beef if you don't mind paying a little more)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

Unsalted butter

5-6 hamburger buns

preheat outdoor grill.

Combine first 5 ingredients, ground chuck through ground pepper. Form mixture into 5-6 patties, about 5-6 oz. each. Cook patties on grill about 4 minutes per side for medium rare.

Lightly butter hamburger rolls and grill them butter side down for a minute or two.

As for the toppings, go crazy if you would like. But mostly we like to keep it simple: shredded lettuce, chopped red onion, and chopped dill pickle, a little mayo on the bun and a squirt of Dijon mustard on the burger. And you now have (in my opinion) the perfect burger!

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Simply The Perfect Summer Spot

Hot lobster, warm butter, a squeeze of lemon on a toasted roll. Need I say more?
OK- how about a nice breeze and an amazing view?

Your not going to find anything fancy here. No sides, other than a bag of chips . Nothing that even requires a fork and a knife. Just simply put, the freshest lobster roll you will ever taste.
And no mayo either!!

So if your ever in the area and are looking for a treat check out Lobster landing- you wont be disappointed!

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Love

We forgot what it was like to have a puppy. And actually we never knew what it was like to have a puppy with two small children, but now we know. Life has certainly gotten more interesting around here. Yes, the kids are now chew toys and nothing seems to be safe from destruction. Who knew a 14 lb. puppy could steal a 5 lb. bag of rabbit treats, a small vacuum, a bag of art supplies, and drag a chair across the room all within the time it takes me to whip up my morning Mimosa (kidding about the Mimosa, but Oliver actually did do those things this morning).

His feet are the size of a polar bears and the sweetest moments of the day are when he is asleep.

But we love him already , so welcome to our family Oliver!

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In The Garden

Peonies waiting to bloom.

Our beautiful tree whose flowers are gone way to soon.

Jack loves the garden too!

my strawberry pot that needs more strawberry plants. You can see the plastic bottle I stuck in there. I cut holes in the bottom of the bottle and when I water the plants I put the water in the bottle and it helps the water get down deep to all the plants.

Here come the poppies...one of the first perennials to make an appearance in my garden. And I love the look of my beautiful willow fence.

Old man in the garden...this and the next two pics are from my lovely neighbor, Loretta's garden.

mmmm...mint for mojitos

waiting for the birds...

lonely daffodil

The last time Abraham (my four year old) and I were out in the yard looking at all the flowers he said to me "Mama, they make my heart bigger".

Sunlight fades, stars appear, garden fairy's gather here!

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How Does Your Garden Grow?

Just a quick note to say that life seems to be balancing itself out a bit, I am really going to start blogging again soon.

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Magical...

Whoever said Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits just had to be biscuits?

Give these a try on a snowy day and serve them with hot cocoa. Your kids will think you are a magician.

Ordinary biscuits go from this:

to this:

And you can even make these:

Buttermilk Biscuit Donuts
from Paula Deen

Ingredients

Peanut oil, for frying (Canola is good too)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar

Icings:

2 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
5 tablespoons milk, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup cocoa powder

Colored sprinkles
Chocolate sprinkles

2 cans buttermilk biscuits (I use the ones that come 10 to a can because they make mini donuts and mini donut holes. But you can also use the larger biscuits if you want bigger donuts.)

Directions:

Heat 2 inches of oil in a large pot or Dutch oven to 350 degrees F.

In a shallow bowl, stir together the ground cinnamon and sugar and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup of confectioners' sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, set aside. This is the vanilla icing. In another bowl, whisk together 1 cup of confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup of cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons of milk and set aside. This is the chocolate icing.

Lay out the biscuits on a cutting board and with a 1/4 to 1/2-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter (or any small circle you can find), cut out a hole from the middle of each biscuit. Fry them in the oil until just golden and then flip with tongs to fry the other side. Be careful not to cook them to long. You can even fry the donut holes. Drain on paper towels and then toss in the cinnamon-sugar or ice and decorate with sprinkles, as desired.

So make them for someone you love and watch the magic happen!

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