Well… we finally made our cheese. And believe it or not, it was really easy. A bit time-consuming, but easy.  We made a very basic Farmer’s Cheese. Tasted like ricotta.

We used 1% milk and it was delicious :0)  I think we will make again using a higher fat milk and maybe some flavors.

Well it has been awhile and we got so caught up in life,  we haven’t done such a great job at keeping our blog up to date…

Well, remember those beautiful grapes at my dads? No, not the small non producing vine (or stick I should say) at our house..

Guess what we are getting ready to do?

That’s a lot of grapes!

Well we had a grape stomping session this summer. Sorry, a little late posting :0)  But it was SO MUCH FUN!!

So pretty!

Would have liked to make some wine, but after seeing the girl’s feet in there…I was thinking we will just stick with J. Lohr :0)

The girls having a blast!!

How many of you celebrated this wonderful day?!  The weather was perfect..Just hot enough to enjoy an icy cold root beer float.  Join us next year!! August 6th.

Don’t forget, August 31st is National Dine Outside day!  My favorite…Al Fresco :0)

Soul Food….Good for the soul, not so good for the hips.  Another amazing meal!  Nothing better than getting together with friends and family and sharing in comfort food just cuz…..

We are so fortunate to have so many wonderful friends that also enjoy food as much as we do. Thanks J for the meal, M/T for the desert, libations and hosting.  We all had a blast!

Look at these amazing dishes.  Starting with the delicious chicken and ending with the amazing fresh fruit crostata that I gained 3 lbs from over the holidays!

And it just keeps getting better!

:

Going to mix it up a bit and throw in some tomatoes…but they are technically a fruit, right?! Panini we made with these was eaten before we could take a picture but it was beautiful and delicious…

And one of my all time favorites!  Pomegranates. I am so glad they are back in season!  10/2/12

Cherries…don’t these look refreshing?! One of the best things of summer…FRUIT!

 7/30/12

Nothing prettier than a bowl of fresh fruit.  The fruit this season has been so sugary sweet and wonderful it is hard not to overindulge!

Have you ever had a black apricot?  Never have till this year.  Looks like a plum but tastes like an apricot. It seemed sweeter than a regular apricot. 

We had great plans for the peaches, but we ate them all before we could create with them :0)

Update 7/23/12

Ok, took the plunge and actually planted the grapes. Hopefully they will take to the fence and produce oodles of grapes :0)  Dad’s are moving right along…they are turning a beautiful deep purple and are very sweet. Stomping soon…

July 18, 2012

We have a new addition to our garden. Finally broke down and bought some grape vines.  My dad has had such good luck with his, we thought we should finally give it a try…

Here is ours:

Here are a few of his… This is our goal :0)

I can not seem to get enough marinara sauce or spinach these days…here is a dinner variation of my eggs over spinach with marinara…Swapped the eggs with cod. Oh yea, and added some capers. It was delicious!

And look, one left over for lunch tomorrow.

Too hot to cook anything so we made individual grilled pizza in the backyard. What a beautiful evening.  It was one of those nights where everything was perfect. The weather, the light in the sky, the flavors and the company. Again, did I mention how blessed I am?!

To start, a blueberry apple smoothy.  My Sweetpeas came up with this one and I have to admit…it was the best smoothy we have made so far.

And the pizzas…

One was standard cheese and pepperoni.

One was chicken, garlic, onions, feta and evoo.

And the last was spinach, feta, garlic and onion.

All were delicious.

And we finished it off with the cheesecakes in a jar we made earlier.

What a great day!

I guess I was wrong…just a little more water and voila!  I think the figs will make it.  However, I think they need a few more seasons to sweeten up…

 7/17/12

Well I have to admit, I am a bit surprised. I didn’t think we would get this far…but look how cool?! We have our very own zucchini blossom.  Tempted to stuff it with some wonderful goat cheese and garlic. I think we will wait for a few more.

And look, we actually have basil!

  July 17, 2012

Ok, so it isn’t enough for a salad. However, we do have a pretty good start on our squash and basil. I can think of plenty of yummy things to make with those two ingredients.  The lettuce and rosemary are a little slower, but I am sure they will be tasty.  Don’t think our fig or avocado tree will produce any decent fruit this season. The avocado has no fruit and the fig tree has so many beautiful figs but they are all dropping before maturing.  I will keep trying!  I love figs!