Adam having a blast in his pool in the back yard!
This was a very busy week! Summer seems to be holding strong with no rain in sight- it is glorious! I love it! There were a few cold mornings where the sun finally peeked out later in the afternoon, but all in all it has been fairly warm. It was nice to finally visit the country garden as well as work in our suburban garden and continue to enjoy the produce from it! We also had celebrations this weekend and it was a lot of fun!
Some blossoms on our lingonberry bush.
Suburban Garden Report:
We made some new discoveries this week in our suburban garden. Adam found out that every day there are a few ripe huckleberries to eat. He is always checking the bushes and he was the one that found a few berries ready to eat! What fun! Also, for the first time ever our lingonberry bush is blooming! So, we might have a few lingonberries as well. Also, I noticed that there were a few "baby" lingonberry bushes spreading around the area. Very exciting indeed! Below you can see a few photos of garden discoveries this week as well as two recipes to enjoy this summer.
Some of our huckleberries are starting to ripen!
Brown Rice and Chicken Salad with Tarragon Mayonnaise:
A lovely cold salad for a hot summer day!
Make a paste out of minced garlic and salt before adding it to the other ingredients.
The finished fresh tarragon mayonnaise.
Country Garden Report:
It was so wonderful to visit the country garden last Friday! The garden is really full and lush as you can see in the picture below. It is so great to see it flourishing and really producing quite a bit this year despite the slow start to the summer. There are many vegetables coming on and everything is doing very well as you can see by the photos below. The orchard is really brimming with fruit too! It's going to be a busy harvest season for us! We are so thankful! It was also great to see how well the boysenberries are doing and my mom has been able to make several batches of jam with the berries so far!
The country garden is lush and full of wonderful vegetables!
These volunteer tomatillo plants are very healthy!
Adam with Grandpa Dale just after he enjoyed some berries!
There will be lots of delicious pears this year.
There is a huge crop of Graventstein apples this year! They are my favorite!
There will be many red delicious apples too.
The plum trees are also loaded!
It looks like we will also have our own hazelnuts!
A Wedding:
This past Saturday I was in my friend Katie's wedding. She and Robin had a lovely wedding at a local church. It all turned out wonderfully and we had a great time!
My friend Katie and her new husband Robin at their wedding.
An Engagement Party:
This past Sunday my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mark hosted a lovely engagement party in honor of their daughter Rachel who is engaged to marry her fiancee Rein in March of next year. It was a perfect day for the party- it was nice and sunny but not too hot and fun was had by all. One of the best parts was that my Aunt Echo was there to join in on the festivities! It was so amazing to see her after such a long time. She drove across country by herself all the way from Maryland to be there for the party and to visit all of us. How wonderful! We had such fun visiting together!
My cousin Rachel and her fiancee Rein at their engagement party.
Me with my mom, Aunt Echo and cousin Lauren.
Cousin Heather with Aunt Echo, mom Rachel and Lauren.
A lovely bouquet of lilies at the engagement party.
We made some new discoveries this week in our suburban garden. Adam found out that every day there are a few ripe huckleberries to eat. He is always checking the bushes and he was the one that found a few berries ready to eat! What fun! Also, for the first time ever our lingonberry bush is blooming! So, we might have a few lingonberries as well. Also, I noticed that there were a few "baby" lingonberry bushes spreading around the area. Very exciting indeed! Below you can see a few photos of garden discoveries this week as well as two recipes to enjoy this summer.
Adam, a little farmer, in our garden!
Some of our huckleberries are starting to ripen!
Adam was the one who discovered the ripe huckleberries!
A blossom on my hollyhock plant.
Brown Rice and Chicken Salad with Tarragon Mayonnaise:
A lovely cold salad for a hot summer day!
Ingredients:
2-3 cups cooked and cooled peas
3-4 cups cooked brown rice
1/2 recipe tarragon mayonnaise (recipe to follow)
1 pound diced cooked chicken
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl, chill and serve. Enjoy!
Tarragon Mayonnaise:
Now that I have found out how easy it is to make homemade mayonnaise I may never buy it again. I love the fresh, rich taste of this mayonnaise!
2-3 cups cooked and cooled peas
3-4 cups cooked brown rice
1/2 recipe tarragon mayonnaise (recipe to follow)
1 pound diced cooked chicken
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl, chill and serve. Enjoy!
Tarragon Mayonnaise:
Now that I have found out how easy it is to make homemade mayonnaise I may never buy it again. I love the fresh, rich taste of this mayonnaise!
Make a paste out of minced garlic and salt before adding it to the other ingredients.
The finished fresh tarragon mayonnaise.
Fresh Tarragon Mayonnaise:
Ingredients
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 1/4 cups olive oil
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
Directions
- Crush the garlic cloves with the salt into a paste using a mortar and pestle; transfer to a bowl. Stir the egg yolks and vinegar into the mashed garlic. Add the mustard and the lemon juice. Gradually whisk the olive oil into the mixture in small amounts until the mayonnaise is thick and glossy.
Nectarine Strawberry-Raspberry Pie:
Last Friday, the night before my friend Katie's wedding there was a rehearsal potluck picnic. So, I decided to bring this pie and in the spirit of the wedding I topped the pie with heart shaped pie crust cut-outs as well as putting the hearts around the edge. This is a delicious, slightly tart pie that I just love. It was very popular at our farmer's market stand.
The nectarine strawberry-raspberry pie I made for the rehearsal dinner picnic.
Last Friday, the night before my friend Katie's wedding there was a rehearsal potluck picnic. So, I decided to bring this pie and in the spirit of the wedding I topped the pie with heart shaped pie crust cut-outs as well as putting the hearts around the edge. This is a delicious, slightly tart pie that I just love. It was very popular at our farmer's market stand.
The nectarine strawberry-raspberry pie I made for the rehearsal dinner picnic.
Nectarine-Strawberry-Raspberry Pie:
1 pie shell for a 9 inch pie + pie dough cut outs for the top and edges.
1 pound nectarines, cut into wedges
6-8 large strawberries cut into slices
1/2 cup raspberries
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons quick cooking tapioca (ground to a powder) or use tapioca flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Gently toss fruit with lemon juice.
3. Then, add quick cooking tapioca, cornstarch, salt and sugar. Mix to coat the fruit.
4. Put the fruit into the pie shell. Top with pie dough cut outs.
5. Brush the cut outs and the edge of the pie with milk. Then, sprinkle the cut outs and the edges with sugar.
6. Bake pie for 20 minutes. Then, cover the pie edges with foil if they are starting to brown quickly. Bake for another 40 minutes. Make sure the pie filling is bubbling on the sides as well as in the middle before you take the pie out of the oven.
7. Cool the pie to room temperature on a rack.
Note: I didn't have tapioca flour or quick cooking tapioca so I used rice flour. The pie did not set up as well with this ingredient. However, it was still delicious!
1 pie shell for a 9 inch pie + pie dough cut outs for the top and edges.
1 pound nectarines, cut into wedges
6-8 large strawberries cut into slices
1/2 cup raspberries
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons quick cooking tapioca (ground to a powder) or use tapioca flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Gently toss fruit with lemon juice.
3. Then, add quick cooking tapioca, cornstarch, salt and sugar. Mix to coat the fruit.
4. Put the fruit into the pie shell. Top with pie dough cut outs.
5. Brush the cut outs and the edge of the pie with milk. Then, sprinkle the cut outs and the edges with sugar.
6. Bake pie for 20 minutes. Then, cover the pie edges with foil if they are starting to brown quickly. Bake for another 40 minutes. Make sure the pie filling is bubbling on the sides as well as in the middle before you take the pie out of the oven.
7. Cool the pie to room temperature on a rack.
Note: I didn't have tapioca flour or quick cooking tapioca so I used rice flour. The pie did not set up as well with this ingredient. However, it was still delicious!
Country Garden Report:
It was so wonderful to visit the country garden last Friday! The garden is really full and lush as you can see in the picture below. It is so great to see it flourishing and really producing quite a bit this year despite the slow start to the summer. There are many vegetables coming on and everything is doing very well as you can see by the photos below. The orchard is really brimming with fruit too! It's going to be a busy harvest season for us! We are so thankful! It was also great to see how well the boysenberries are doing and my mom has been able to make several batches of jam with the berries so far!
The country garden is lush and full of wonderful vegetables!
These volunteer tomatillo plants are very healthy!
The turnips are so big already!
The beets are also doing very well!
Hooray! We will have more zucchini this year!
A beautiful zucchini blossom!
The tomatoes are really coming along.
A beautiful zucchini blossom!
The tomatoes are really coming along.
Broccoli is emerging now.
There is going to be a huge crop of grapes!
Adam headed straight for the boysenberry vines. He even likes the sour berries!
There is a huge crop of boysenberries this year.
Adam headed straight for the boysenberry vines. He even likes the sour berries!
There is a huge crop of boysenberries this year.
A big bowl of boysenberries we picked in just a few minutes. They are so good!
Adam with Grandpa Dale just after he enjoyed some berries!
There will be lots of delicious pears this year.
There is a huge crop of Graventstein apples this year! They are my favorite!
There will be many red delicious apples too.
The plum trees are also loaded!
It looks like we will also have our own hazelnuts!
A Wedding:
This past Saturday I was in my friend Katie's wedding. She and Robin had a lovely wedding at a local church. It all turned out wonderfully and we had a great time!
My friend Katie and her new husband Robin at their wedding.
Me with my friend Katie on her wedding day- August 6 2011.
An Engagement Party:
This past Sunday my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mark hosted a lovely engagement party in honor of their daughter Rachel who is engaged to marry her fiancee Rein in March of next year. It was a perfect day for the party- it was nice and sunny but not too hot and fun was had by all. One of the best parts was that my Aunt Echo was there to join in on the festivities! It was so amazing to see her after such a long time. She drove across country by herself all the way from Maryland to be there for the party and to visit all of us. How wonderful! We had such fun visiting together!
My cousin Rachel and her fiancee Rein at their engagement party.
Me with my mom, Aunt Echo and cousin Lauren.
Cousin Heather with Aunt Echo, mom Rachel and Lauren.
A lovely bouquet of lilies at the engagement party.
Until next week- enjoy your summer!!
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