Summer Projects and Summer Fun!

One of my heirloom roses in full bloom. I love how the petals look like velvet.

Another busy week flew by! Progress is being made in both gardens and many other projects are under way. The weather is still very lackluster here. It seems like summer is like an airplane that flutters in fits and starts rather than flying full speed ahead. We have had a couple of sunny days in the 70's but today was rainy and in the mid 60's. It seems it bit cold for summer!

However, we are plugging along and enjoying what sun comes our way!

A close up shot of the boysenberries forming. There is going to be a good crop this year!

Country Garden Report:

Last Friday Adam and I headed out to my parent's house to see how the garden was coming along since my Mom planted the rest of the seeds and also to help plant some annuals in the deck planters. As you can see in the photo above the boysenberries are very healthy. They are growing quite well and we'll enjoy a lot of berries from their vines this summer!

Some blueberries on one of the bushes in the country garden.

Also, the blueberries are looking quite healthy. It is exciting to see that there will be a variety of berries to enjoy later on in the season. All of the seeds that my Mom planted including the corn, beans, and melons are coming up nicely. It will be exciting to see at the end of this week how much they have grown. Below you can see photos of some of the other plants progressing well in the garden. We are certainly off to a better start this year than last, despite the colder weather.

The vigorous grape vines in the country garden.

A pepper plant that is growing quite nicely.

One of the purple cabbages that we planted.

Some pea plants growing tall.

Lastly, we also observed the pretty wild flowers that my Mom has been cultivating in pots near the house. Here are two photos of them. They are quite lovely and unique.

A sweet little bloom on one of the wild plants my mom has been growing.

One of the other wild flowers about to bloom!

To close this section on the country garden I would like to mention that Seed Savers Exchange of which we are members was featured in an article by National Geographic recently. They point out in the article how important it is to save seeds and grow heirloom varieties of vegetables and fruits. It may be what saves us all! Here is a link to the article:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/07/food-ark/siebert-text

Enjoy!

Suburban Garden Report:

Our garden is coming along quite well this week. I was able to spot a few red strawberries on the plants a day or two ago which I will take pictures of for the next post. I finally planted my basil and cherry tomato seedlings into the garden as I felt they were ready and big enough to hold their own. The raspberry plants and the rhubarb grow ever bigger! We have also started to replace a lot of the boards in our deck to get ready for some barbecues we are having. I also hope to finish the gravel "moat" around the garden in the next couple of weeks. There are always projects to do in the yard, but it is fun!

Below are some photos of some of the plants that are coming along nicely in the yard.

A fern that I moved to a shadier spot a while back. It sure seems to thrive here!

Some of the huckleberries forming on the bush! I am excited to eat these later on!

One of the perennials that my Aunt Janet gave me. It is in full bloom and so pretty!

Also, I have started to harvest some of my rhubarb and thus made a delicious rhubarb bread out of some of it. I will be looking for lots of ideas on how to use more rhubarb soon as I have a bumper crop this year!

Some of the thick stalks on my rhubarb plant.

Below you will find the recipe for the rhubarb bread. Also, I have included a recipe for a brine for barbecued chicken. It is a great recipe and very versatile. I used it to barbecue some chicken this past weekend and it was delicious!


Rhubarb Cinnamon Streusel Bread:

I found this recipe on the website for Taste of Home magazine. I added some cinnamon to the bread and also added more butter and cinnamon to the topping. Yum!

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar



• 1/2 cup canola oil



• 1 egg



• 1 cup buttermilk



• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract



• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour



• 1 teaspoon baking soda



• 1 teaspoon salt



• 1 tablespooon cinnamon
  



• 1-1/2 cups chopped fresh or sliced frozen rhubarb



• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans ( I usually skip the nuts)
  



• 
  TOPPING:



• 1/2 cup sugar



• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon



• 2 tablespoons cold butter

Directions:

• In a large bowl, combine brown sugar and oil. Beat in egg. Beat in buttermilk and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into brown sugar mixture just until combined. Fold in rhubarb and nuts. Pour into two greased 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pans.



• For topping, in a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon and butter until crumbly; sprinkle over batter.



• Bake at 350° for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.



• Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Cut with a serrated knife. Yield: 2 loaves (16 slices each)

Brine for Barbecued Chicken:

This recipe is from Cook's Illustrated Magazine.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup kosher salt
1 quart water
4 chicken leg quarters or 8 chicken thighs

(this recipe also works for boneles, skinless chicken breasts- about 4-6 large ones which can be cut up into smaller pieces if needed)

Instructions:

1. In a gallon size zipper lock plastic bag, dissolve sugar and salt in 1 quart water. Add chicken, pressing out as much air as possible; seal and refrigerate until fully seasoned, about 1 1/2 hours.

2. Heat your gas grill on high or light the charcoal on your charcoal grill in a chimney starter. Allow the charcoal to burn until the flames have died down and all charcoal is covered with a layer of fine gray ash. Make a two layer fire by placing half of the coals on one side of the grill to within 3 inches or so of grill rack for medium hot fire. Arrange remaining coals in single layer on other side of grill for medium low fire. Return grill rack to position; cover grill and let rack heat 5 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, remove chicken from brine, dry thoroughly with paper towels, and season with pepper.

4. Cook chicken, uncovered over medium hot fire, extinguishing any flames with a squirt bottle, until seared, about 1-2 minutes on each side. Move chicken to medium low fire; continue to grill uncovered, turning occasionally, until chicken is dark and fully cooked, 12 to 16 minutes for thighs, 16-20 minutes for whole legs.

For a gas grill as I have- put the chicken on an oiled grill. Turn heat down to medium high. Grill 5-8 minutes on each side with the grill covered between turning the chicken. Check for doneness with a thermometer. It should read 180 degrees.

Enjoy!

Enjoy!

A beautiful rose in my backyard in mid-June, 2011.

As I write this post it is the first official day of summer and it is sunny and 82 degrees outside! It is a bit difficult to be inside writing this, but Adam and I have been outside almost all day enjoying the weather. Summer is my very favorite time of year here in Oregon because it brings so much beauty and so much to enjoy! This week I am focusing on the things we have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy as the summer goes on.


Country Garden Report:

Some pretty wildflowers we found along a trail in the woods.

On Tuesday of last week Adam and I went to my parent's house to visit and do some work in the garden. Our day out there started as many do, with a walk through the woods with Adam. This time we went on the trail that leads to the pond. We had a fun time exploring there and saw many pretty plants along the way as we carefully avoided touching the stinging nettles.

Some lovely little blue wildflowers along the woodland trail.

A pretty view of the wetland grasses by the pond.

Later on, as Adam napped my Mom and I were able to work around 2 hours in the garden together. We got a lot of work done then. While my Mom planted all of the corn seeds in rows and covered them with newspaper to keep the crows from eating the seeds I worked on weeding along the fence area so that beans could be planted along that edge. We were each able to complete our tasks! Hooray!

Our corn seeds are covered with newspapers to keep the crows from eating them before they are able to sprout.

A very healthy bok choy plant that came up from last year's seed. There are many "volunteers" scattered about the garden.

Later on in the week my Mom was able to finish planting all of the seeds for our warmer weather crops! She wanted to finish it up quickly as all of us (my parents, my brother and his wife, my husband, Adam and I) were headed up to Seattle for the weekend to visit family and sight-see a bit. Here is her report on the plantings:

Seed Planting Report:

"Last night Dad spaded up the area next to the fence that you had weeded on Tuesday.

1. This morning I planted pole beans there.

2. Along the edge of the corn facing the shop, I planted winter squash, cantaloupe, and watermelon as there is a nice space there for them to grow towards the fence; and they can even ramble into the corn.

3. I planted a row of pickling cucumbers between the blueberries and the grapes.

4. On the opposite side of the corn, facing the orchard, I planted bush beans.

5. Basil seed is planted between the lettuce and rutabagas.

6. Tomatillos are planted at both ends of the lettuce/rutabaga/turnip/beet/basil block.

7. Zucchini and pumpkins are at the south end of the corn planting.

8. Dill is in the concord grape row, over by the rhubarb.

9. Swiss chard had only a couple plants show up, so I replanted some seeds in the same spot.

We have got a serious infestation of some kind of bug that is eating the leaves of vegetable plants, even the rhubarb leaves are riddled with holes. I noticed some spider webs in the area, so perhaps they are helping to reduce the bug population, but I don't see enough webs to take care of all of them, so we may have to do something. I have some red pepper flakes that I may add to some water to then spray on the plants to see if that will help. I doubt, however, that I would get to it before next Monday evening. Some of the smaller tomato plants look like the leaves are made of lace. Yikes."- Serena Johnston- June 16, 2011. Luckily- later on this week my Mom reported that the tomato plants had a lot of new growth and looked a lot better. So, hopefully the bugs will not keep bothering the plants this season!
Here is my Mom's report on progress in the garden this week. It includes a few items that need to be worked on this week and next in the garden. Adam and I will be headed out there later on this week to take a look and take some pictures, but here is the news as of today:


Country Garden Progress:

"I spent a little time in the garden and came in just moments ago. The garden is still damp, so no need for watering. I went along the area where the cabbages are, and weeded a bit around them; and I hope to spend some time tomorrow using the hoe to get the bulk of the weeds in that area. Dad dug up quite a bit of the soil around the gooseberries, but we haven't gotten all the way to that corner yet. The blueberries need weeding, too. The weeds are still small enough that it should be fairly easy to get some hoeing done all around the garden. The biggest need is getting the thistles out before they go to seed.

The tomatoes have actually grown some and are a nice dark green, so even though the bugs have eaten some holes in them, they are looking better than last week, and the holes are fewer and farther between. I'd still like to spray them with the pepper spray, though, as I know the bugs keep the plants from being as healthy as they would otherwise be.

We also need to put some more soil around the potato plants. They are nearly ready to bloom and are looking really good, but we can get a better yield if we hill them up. As I recall, after they are done blooming we could dig up a few new potatoes from around each plant.

We also need to put some fertilizer around the root crops and once I finish weeding the cabbages, we need to fertilize those as well. Dad has got another 1 1/2 garbage cans full of aged chicken manure/wood chips so we have plenty of material. Our carrots and parsnips are showing nicely, so we should have good yields there if we keep them weeded and fed.

Dad has mowed the orchard again - the grasses grow so fast. Amazingly enough, we have better fruit set this year than last. I guess the blossoms and the insects that pollinated them just managed to dodge the raindrops. The cherries appear to be pretty slim pickings except for the pie cherries. I did notice that the Stella cherries, although not bearing yet as we just planted them this year, are the healthiest looking, with large, deep green leaves. Those are reportedly the best for west of the Cascade mountains, and I think it is right."- Serena Johnston June 21, 2011.

Suburban Garden Report:

One of my heirloom roses in bloom.

This week my roses have really started to bloom. It makes me so happy to see the bright blooms and it is even fun to pick off ones that are past their prime in anticipation of more blooms later on. Also, my little dogwood tree is blooming as you can see in the photo below. Many plants are in bloom and my garden is growing so well too!

A large bloom on my dogwood tree.

One of my tomato plants growing quite well.

My vegetable and fruit garden is doing so well! I am very happy with it. It seemed like every thing grew a lot during the three days that we were gone during the weekend. My tomato plants are already getting so big! I am sure I will need to tie them to their posts soon. Also, my row of lettuce is looking very lush! There are still no ripe strawberries but I am hoping with the sun and warmth this week that they will ripen.

A row of lettuce in my raised bed garden.

A view of the back yard from my raised bed garden.

This week I have gotten out into the yard to weed a couple of times. Yesterday I weeded some of the flower beds and the raised bed gardens for a bit and today I was able to completely weed the side yard as Adam played outside. Later on I finished weeding the garden and most of the flower beds as Adam played with the hose and sprayer. He had such fun! It is nice to work outside in the sun and see all of the pretty plants. I love the view! We even were able to enjoy lunch outside today. I love summer!

Two pies, a party and Seattle:

One of my pie shells formed and ready to be baked.

This past weekend we went up to Seattle to go to my Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Maureen's annual pie party! It was held at their home on Saturday, June 18th. It was so nice to visit with them and sample all of the delicious pies. My uncle baked many kinds of pie including apple, cherry, blueberry and pumpkin. I brought two pies to the event- a French Silk Chocolate Pie and a Shoo Fly Pie. I enjoyed making these pies and both recipes were new to me. I decided to make the Shoo Fly pie because Paul surprised me with a gift of an Amish pie basket to carry the pies in to the party in Seattle and the basket came with the recipe. Here are the photos and recipes for the pies:

The French Silk Chocolate Pie I made for the party.

French Silk Chocolate Pie:

This recipe is from the magazine Cook's Country. It took a bit of work but it was well worth it!

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (I used 2 bars of Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and softened.
1 9- inch pie shell, baked and cooled.

1. Whip Cream: With electric mixer on medium high speed, whip cream to stiff peaks, 2-3 minutes. Transfer whipped cream to small bowl and refrigerate.

2. Beat Eggs: Combine eggs, sugar, and water in large heatproof bowl set over medium saucepan filled with 1/2 inch barely simmering water (don't let bowl touch water). With electric hand mixer on medium speed, beat until egg mixture is thickened and registers 160 degrees, 7-10 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and continue to beat egg mixture until fluffy and cooled to room temperature, about 8 minutes.

3. Beat, Fold, Cool: Add chocolate and vanilla to cool egg mixture and beat until incorporated. Beat in butter, a few pieces at a time, until well combined. Using a spatula, fold in whipped cream until no streaks of white remain. Scrape filling into pie shell and refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours and up to 24 hours.

Note: I only had time to refrigerate the pie for 1 hour. Then, I put it in the pie basket with blue ice packs. After that, at the hotel I kept it iced down using a zip lock bag full of ice. It worked very well because the pie was nice and set for the party on Saturday!

The Shoo Fly Pie I made for the party.

Shoo Fly Pie:

This recipe is from Sarah Miller who included it in the Amish pie basket I received. It is a delicious pie that reminds me of molasses cookies or gingerbread.

Note: I actually doubled the recipe (below is the single version) because I had a 10 inch pie shell. I wanted to be able to really fill up the pie shell. Also, I used 1/2 molasses and 1/2 dark corn syrup for my pie.

Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup molasses
1 large egg yolk
Pastry for 9 inch single crust pie
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons shortening

Preheat oven to 450F

1. In a small bowl dissolve the baking soda in boiling water.

2. In a separate bowl, combine molasses and egg yolk. Stir in baking soda mixture and mix well. Pour into pie shell. Set aside.

3. Stir together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle evenly over pie.

5. Bake for 15 minutes; reduce the heat to 350F and bake 20 minutes longer. Cool before serving.

Enjoy your pie!!

Seattle Trip Highlights:

It was such an unexpected treat to be able to visit with my cousin Dan (pictured below) at the party. I think that the last time I saw him he might have been 10 or 11 years old! How time flies! It is so nice to see him happy, successful and all grown up!

My brother Stuart, Me and my cousin Dan at my Aunt and Uncle's house in Seattle.

My Aunt Maureen and Uncle Lloyd- such sweet people- were lovely hosts. It was fun to see all 0f the remodeling that they had done to their home and meet many of their neighbors at the party. We got to see their new furniture and decor. My Uncle even made a really neat balsa wood plane for Adam to play with. He thought that was pretty fun!

My cousin Dan, Aunt Maureen and Uncle Lloyd.

My husband Paul, son Adam and my Mom helping Adam with some delicious cherry pie! It was my favorite pie of the afternoon! My Uncle does a great job of baking pies!

A lovely bunch of pies including- apple made with fuji apples, blueberry, cherry, pumpkin, rhubarb custard, French silk and shoo fly.

A very unique and lovely sign that my parents made for my Aunt and Uncle to label the pies.

Besides the pie party we had a great time sight seeing in Seattle as a family. We went up to Seattle on Friday and arrived in the late afternoon. From our hotel we were able to walk down to Pike's Place Market and enjoy the sunny day. First, we went to an arcade area that had a carousel. Adam was thrilled to ride it and had such fun picking out the horse he wanted to ride!

Me with Adam on the carousel.

After the arcade we headed down the hallway to the Crab Pot restaurant. We had seen the fun dinners that they served on TV so we wanted to try it for ourselves. It was a very delicious and memorable meal. Adam had fun pointing to what he wanted to eat on the table and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Paul and Adam enjoying a bounty of seafood at the Crab Pot.

The next day, as we promised Adam we took the monorail to the Space Needle. Adam loved looking out the window of the elevator on our ride up to the observation deck! I, however stood at the back of the elevator!

Me with Adam on the 0bservation deck level of the Space Needle.

Paul with Adam. He is pretending to look out of the binoculars to see the view. He wanted to try out each and every pair of binoculars there!

To close, as I am finishing up this post on June 22, 2011 I cannot believe that yesterday it was above 80 degrees! Today it started out very sunny but it got colder and only ended up being around 67 degrees. I ended up putting on a sweatshirt later in the day! However, Adam and I still had some summer fun in the back yard making water balloons as you can see in the photo below. The key is to enjoy every day!

Adam with two water balloons. He loves having fun in the back yard!

Something to Show for It

The spectacular rhododendron at my parent's house.

This week's post is centered around the idea that at the end of the day we all want to have "something to show" for our hard work. For all of our work at our jobs, in our homes and in our gardens we all want to be able to say "Look at what I did!" This has always been something that has been my motto. For example, I would spend a lot of time thinking of what to spend my vacation money on. I wanted to make sure it wasn't candy, gum or some other expendable item- I wanted to make sure I had something to show for my money- like a doll or a necklace.

Now, I am the same way with my time and my money. If I have free time I have a hard time sitting down just reading a book or watching TV or a movie. I almost feel like I would rather "get something done." It just leaves me with a better feeling. Even when I watch TV many times I try to fold laundry or get ironing done at the same time. That doesn't mean I don't like to relax in the evenings and just watch a movie without doing something, but most of the time I want to get something accomplished. And with my money I like to be able to get as much as I can for it or have "something to show for it." For example, if I get a spa treatment (every once and a while) I prefer to have a pedicure or manicure because I can see the pretty colors on my toes or hands and enjoy it for a while!

With this blog I feel that I am creating not only a record of the work my mom and I do in our gardens and in our homes but it will be "something to show" for all of the meals prepared and all of the care taken in our homes and gardens for all to enjoy.

Weather:

A lovely, bright bloom on the rose bush in the garden that produces large rose hips for tea.

We had just a bit of sunny weather this week- not very much compared to the fabulous weekend that we had last weekend, but we did enjoy it all we could!

Here's the weather report according to NOAA (I am featuring mainly the parts about the northwest) that my mom looked up:

U.S. Climate Highlights – May

"Average May temperatures across the western third of the country were below normal. Oregon and Washington (tied with a previous record) experienced their sixth coolest May on record with average temperatures more than 3.6 degrees F below the 20th century normal. Wyoming and Utah had their seventh and eighth coolest May on record, respectively. "

U.S. Climate Highlights – Spring (March-May)

"A persistent pattern during the spring brought frequent storms and cold air to the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies. Drought intensified in the south, while much of the Northeast, Ohio Valley and Northwest were subjected to historic or near-historic precipitation.

Snow pack in the Northwest and Northern Rockies was much above normal during the late spring, raising concerns about potential flooding once the melt season began. The Northwest had its wettest spring on record with a regional precipitation average that exceeded 10 inches (3.76 inches above normal) for the first time on record. The previous record, 9.39 inches, was set in 1993.
Average temperatures were much cooler-than-normal in the Northwest, which had its seventh coolest spring. Within the region, Washington had its third coolest spring and Oregon its fifth coolest."

Indeed our spring has been quite cool. At least this week most days were above 65 degrees at least out here in the suburbs. It is a slight improvement on last year's very low temperatures during spring and summer. I hope that the weather really does start to warm up a bit more and we need more sun to grow our tomato and pepper plants as well as all of the others!

Some grapes forming on a grapevine in the country garden.

Country Garden Report:

The country garden with a row of potatoes and two long rows of tomato plants.

Last week we had the good fortune to visit the country garden twice! We went out there on Wednesday and then later on Saturday for a short visit. It was such a nice treat since I am on a short break from teaching classes I had more time to go out and do some gardening. We surely will have "something to show" for all of our hard work in the garden this year as long as the weather cooperates! I am hoping for loads of tomatoes to use in sauces and many other dishes this year!

A very healthy potato plant in the country garden.

We had a bit of time in between going on walks with Adam to get a long row ready for planting tomato plants and do a bit of weeding in the garden. My parents finished planting the tomatoes and peppers later on in the week. Everything is looking great! The potato plants look very robust and many of the seeds we planted are coming up.

The boysenberries are blooming!

We will have to go in and do a lot more weeding now that the tomato and pepper plants are planted. We still need to plant corn, beans and a few other warmer weather crops very soon.

One of the healthy tomato plants that my parents planted last week.

On our walk through the woods with Adam and through the "tunnel" as he likes to call it we found many native plants in bloom:

Some sweet little twin flowers in bloom in the woods.

Some lovely salal with many blooms on it.


A plant we have always called "thimble berry" in bloom. Later on it has raspberry-like berries on it that you can eat.

A baby fig on the fig tree in the back yard at my parent's house.

Adam marching along in the woods on his walk.

Suburban Garden Report:

A lavender iris in bloom in my back yard.

I love that every week in my yard I can discover new blooms and enjoy new flowers and new growth on the plants there. A yard or garden is an ever changing and never ending project but it is such a joy to have! I am learning to love each and every plant in it and it is fun to see what will happen next!

A volunteer snapdragon blooming in a pot on the deck!

Unfortunately last week Adam got a bit sick. It all started on Wednesday afternoon when we came home from my parent's house. Adam had a fever and was very tired. Also, all day that day he hadn't eaten very much. Poor little guy!

A bit of a serious Adam outside with his sunglasses on. He was slowly recovering from a bit of a "bug" he caught.

The next day in the early afternoon he seemed to be doing better and his fever seemed to have disappeared so I decided it was okay for him to venture outside since it was our one and only sunny day so far that week. He had fun outside but soon became tired again and took an early nap. I am glad we got out in the sun just for a bit that day. He recovered over the weekend and is now feeling so much better! Thank goodness!

Some raspberries forming on our raspberry bushes!

Our raised bed garden is doing quite well. The rhubarb is positively gigantic! I am going to have to start harvesting some to make pies, bread, preserves, etc. I will have a big crop this year! Also, it is very exciting to see that even in their first year we will have a few raspberries off of our raspberry bushes. Delicious! My lettuce continues to grow and prosper as well. My onions are still too tiny to even take a picture of, but I am hoping for the best.

My little lettuce plants keep growing.

I will finish up my garden report with this lovely photo of the first rose of the year! I love it! It was just in time for the Rose Festival here in Portland, Oregon! What timing! I am really beginning to love my rose bushes. I have two traditional ones and three heirloom roses. It is very special to me to be growing these roses because I have very fond memories of my Grandma Pedersen's large rose garden and also my Grandma Johnston's rose bushes in her front yard. It gives me great joy and peace to take care of these roses and to watch them grow and thrive. I truly have many things to "show" for all of my work in the garden this year and I hope to have many barbecues throughout the summer to share the beauty with others and enjoy the surroundings.

My first rose of the season!

Barbecue Sauce Recipe:

I'll finish up this post with a favorite recipe as I often like to do. I really love to barbecue in the summer and although the weather hasn't been the greatest for barbecuing very much yet this season I decided to make this sauce to coax the sun out! I ended up roasting a chicken in the oven, making some rice and sauteing some asparagus to go with the barbecue sauce because it was raining outside this Sunday, but there is plenty left over to use with some barbecuing I plan on doing soon.

I am not sure where this recipe came from but I have had it a long time. It was so good it caused me to type it up and put it in my recipe notebook and it has been my favorite ever since. I like how it is tangy and sweet at the same time. Since I don't know where it came from I shall claim it as my own! This recipe is actually half of the original because it makes so much. However, it does freeze well so if you are planning a party later on in the summer you could double this recipe and save some for later.

The barbecue sauce simmering in the saucepan.

Trista's Favorite Barbecue Sauce:

1 1/4 cups ketchup
1 1/4 ounces Worcestershire sauce
1/8 cup oil
1 cup cider vinegar (when I last made this I had to use red wine vinegar because I had run out of cider vinegar but it was still very good)
1/8 cup salt
1/2 ounce black pepper
1/4 ounce hot sauce of your choice
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cube or 1/4 cup butter
1/2 ounce liquid smoke flavoring
1 clove garlic- minced

Combine all of these ingredients into a medium saucepan and simmer on low heat for 15-20 minutes making sure to melt the butter thoroughly.

Enjoy this sauce on chicken, ribs, steaks, hamburgers, etc.

Happy gardening, cooking, living and making the most of it this week!