Canning & Peach Icecream

I love this time of year when the garden starts producing more and the canning starts.  I enjoy seeing the shelves starting to fill up in the canning room for winter.  It is a big savings on the grocery bills.  The peaches and blueberry's are from the Amish store.

Blueberry pie filling and  peaches

Dill Pickles

Basil Pesto

This is a first for me, now I need to find some recipes.

I have just a few bean plants this year, canned enough last year.  Was given a package of purple bean seeds, this is the first picking along with some yellow beans.  Cooked them last night for supper, it would be fun if they would stay purple, they were very good.

Saved out a few peaches and made some Peach Ice cream.

Farmer's Market Peach Ice Cream

4 large ripe peaches peeled, pitted and finely chopped

1 tablespoon  freshly squeezed lemon juice ( I used bottled lemon juice)

1/2 cup sugar

3 cups half-and-half

4 large egg yolks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

pinch of salt

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine half the peaches with 1/2 tablespoon of the lemon juice and 1/4 cups of the sugar.  Cook stirring, until the sugar dissolves and the peaches are just heated through, about 3 minutes.  Do not let the peaches disintegrate.  Put the peaches into a bowl.

Put the remaining peaches in a bowl and sprinkle with the remaining lemon juice, toss to coat.  Cover and put in the refrigerator until ready to use.

In the same saucepan over medium-high heat, bring 2 1/2 cups of the half-and-half to a simmer and remove from the heat.  In a metal or glass bowl, whisk the egg yolks, salt and remaining 1/4 cup of sugar until blended.  Gradually pour the hot half-and-half into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly.

Return the mixture to the sauce pan and decrease the heat to medium-low.  Cook stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, about 5 minutes.  It should leave a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it.  Do not let the custard boil.

Pour the custard into the reserved cooked peach mixture.  Working in batches, puree the mixture into a food processor or blender until smooth.  Add the vanilla and the remaining 1/2 cup half-and-half and whisk to blend.  Refrigerate for about 1 hour.

Put the custard into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacture's instructions.  When nearly frozen and the consistency of thick whipped cream, add the remaining uncooked peaches.  Stir just until mixed.  Transfer the ice cream to a freezer safe container, cover and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours before serving.  

She is not afraid of the snow for her household:

Proverbs 31:21a

Firecamp...

Our camp fires became fire camps when the grandsons were little, not sure why they ever started calling them that.  When they were little they wanted to come to grandpa and grandma's for a fire camp, sleepover, and chocolate cake:-)   As teenage boys they still come for the same things:-)  

After getting the yard work done up north and a few other things this past weekend, We had a chance to enjoy a camp fire. We didn't put a lot of wood on the fire, wanted to keep it a little smaller so it wouldn't put off quite so much heat, it had been a hot day upper 90's.  Even with it being so hot it is still nice sitting around the fire.

I love to sit and look up into the trees by our camp fire.

We sat and watch the moon rise through the trees, there are no street lights or yard lights from neighbors to give off light.

Looking up through the trees as the night grows darker.

It was a fun relaxing time with my DH, I always enjoy getting a way and being able to spend time together.  When this house sells I will miss our times spent here.  This house holds many wonderful memories that will always be with me.

To show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning,

and thy faithfulness every night.

Psalm 92:2

Showers

 After a refreshing rain tonight  there was the prettiest rainbow in the sky.

Then we had two rainbows, they were so beautiful.

I do set my bow in the cloud,

and it shall be for a token of a covenant

between me and the earth.

And it shall come to pass when I

bring a cloud over the earth, that the

bow shall be seen in the cloud:

And I will remember my covenant,

which is between me and you

and every living creature of all flesh;

and the waters shall no more become a 

flood to destroy all flesh.

Genesis 9:13-15

Can She Make A Cherry Pie....

This past weekend we had to go up north to the house we are still trying to sell to mow the lawn and do a little work.  A couple of years before we moved I had planted a cherry tree.  The tree has grown over the years...we moved seven years ago.

But we never saw any cherries on the little tree.  When we planted the tree I couldn't wait until it would have cherries and I would be able to pick them and make a cherry pie.  I was out in the yard and my DH was mowing the lawn when he came by me and pointed to the cherry tree...this is what I saw to my delight!

 

Little red cherries!  It was so much fun picking the cherries...

I picked every cherry on the tree and had two cups of berries, just enough for my pie recipe. I was very thankful that the Lord allowed me to get cherries from the little tree at least once...then my thought was ok Lord I got my cherries now could the house please sell.

My cherry pie recipe comes from this little book that my mom gave me years ago, I was in high school at the time.  Decorating ideas for my first kitchen when we were married came from the cover of this book.

The little book has only twelve pages...there is a picture on one page and a recipe and poem across the page. Over the years I have made the different recipes and still enjoy reading the poems.  The little book brings back memories of my sweet mom when I am reading or baking from it.

This morning I pitted the cherries and made a pie.

Ready for the oven...today when my DH asks whats to snack...we will have a slice of pie.

Through the Kitchen Door

The lights of home...they bring us

A sense of warmth and peace.

They promise untold loveliness,

Rest, laughter and release.

They are like hands that beckon us,

Like arms that draw us near...

The lights of home! They whisper words

Of comfort and good cheer. 

                                      Author unknown

Blueberry Bulk Foods

This week I got a call from the Amish Bulk Food store that my peaches were in.  I have always enjoyed reading about the Amish, so when we moved to this area I was very excited to find out we have a lot of Amish community's around here.  It has been so fun getting to know some of the families. I have taken a couple of ladies to rummage sales and strawberry picking, one mom and her daughters quilted one of my quilts for me.  So I headed to the Blueberry Bulk Food Store to get my peaches.  The store is only about five miles from our house. Meeting a buggy is something that happens quit a bit on certain roads around here, this is just down the road from the store.

A customer

 The store isn't very big but they have a nice variety of things.

I love all of the hats!

I like to get my spices and other bulk foods from here.  We also have a couple of Amish Green Houses in the area and a big Mennonite bulk food store about twenty miles from us.  It is so nice having access to fresh produce and foods in bulk.  It is a young couple that run this store, when I picked up the peaches she showed me her garden behind the house.  It was beautiful, three little boys were playing in the yard and a little one was sitting on the ground playing by the garden.  Would love to have taken a picture of the garden but a friend was helping her weed and the little boys were in and out of the garden, so no pictures.

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Prov. 31:27

~Cheryl~

A Little Warm

 A little warm here in central Wisconsin today and humid.  Turned the air on this afternoon to get the house down to 79 and bring the humidity down.  Garden will be needing some watering in the morning if no rain moves in to our area.  Yesterday they got a nice rain just ten miles from us, maybe it will be our turn today.

I had been wanting a trellis for between the garage door and the service door into the garage in front of the house.  We looked but couldn't find a tall one so my sweet husband bought some cedar and made the type of trellis I was looking for.

He also made me a Baltimore Oriole feeder yesterday (holds grape jelly) that was a surprise for me.  I love it when he makes things, so much more special than buying it. Hoping some of the Orioles from the neighbor two houses down come to our yard, he has up to 20 at a time.

I have always loved window boxes and this year the one in the front of the house is doing very well. I have finally found the flowers that do the best on this side of our house.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green...   Jeremiah 17:8a

~Cheryl

Sweet Peas Are In Bloom!

This is my first year of growing Sweet Pea Flowers.  They are now one of my new favorite flowers.  I planted them in a barrel on our patio around some geraniums my thought was that they would cascade over the sides of the barrel.  I think they would like to take over the barrel and I have to keep pushing them over the edge.  But I still love them.

I just love all of the different colors.  Next year I will find somewhere else to plant them so they can climb!

When I was a freshman in High School my parents moved to a new farm that had some Wild Rose Bushes, they were so pretty.  When we moved up north the house had a spot with Wild Roses was so happy.  When we moved to this house I transplanted a piece of one of the bushes, this year it is really blooming.  The little buds open up very fast and fall, but the smell is so good.  The bush takes me back to my childhood.

The Scarlet Runner Beans are in blossom, very excited to see how they do.  The red blooms are so pretty.

Has anyone tried to use one of the upside down tomato growers.  Fleet Farm had them on sale this spring for $1.00 so thought I would give it a try.  The one I got you could grow the tomato on the bottom and herbs out the sides.  Mine is not doing well at all, I have been keeping it watered and have even used fertilizer which I normally don't do for my vegetables.  The picture shows the outcome!

We are still enjoying lettuce from the garden, with our cool spring was able to plant later.  Just transplanted some starts in between some tomatoes and peppers where they get a little shade.  This time of year is so fun with the garden starting to produce, so nice having fresh items from the garden.  So far we have had lettuce, radishes, onions, zucchini, and herbs (parsley, basil, dill, thyme, sage)  for cooking with.

We are having some hot and humid weather this week, hoping for a little rain.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork

Psalm 19:1

Enjoy your evening. ~Cheryl~