Strawberry Rhubarb Cookie Bars Early summer, the magical time when strawberries and rhubarb are ready to be picked at the same time. It’s a short window here on the homestead. Rhubarb pops up as soon as the ground thaws but strawberries are much later in breaking dormancy. Rhubarb starts to go to seed when the strawberries are starting to show a faint blush of red. Garden tip: Cut the seed stem off to keep the rhubarb going a while longer….
Lemon Custard Recipe Custard is one of those foods most people could give or take. I love a flavorful custard. Bland? ehh…I’ll pass. It’s easy to add flavor, especially something as simple as lemon custard. You need the zest of two lemons. That’s all. I’ll add variations to the end of this post. You can add more flavor with the lemon or omit the lemon and change it up completely. If you want more lemon flavor you can add a…
French Onion Soup Use an eight quart pan. I like an enameled Dutch oven.
Cranberry Nut Bread When I walked into the grocery store and saw big, beautiful fresh oranges on display my first thought was “Time to get out my favorite cranberry nut bread recipe.” That’s what everyone thinks of when they see oranges, right? Cranberry nut bread without orange zest and juice lacks flavor. Fresh squeezed orange juice and zest make all the difference. I double this recipe so I can share a loaf or keep one in the freezer for later….
Dutch Apple Pie Dutch Apple Pie was known as Sour Cream Apple Pie in my house when I was growing up. It was a once-a-year treat, always at Thanksgiving. Pies in general, unless it was pumpkin pie, were a holiday treat. This might have made Dutch Apple Pie special in one way but the decadent, somewhat old fashioned, filling, deliciousness of this pie would have kept it special if we’d had it every week. It’s hearty, not overly sweet (cut…
Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies I think Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies are a tad bit fussy at the baking stage but they are worth it! Preheat your oven to 325°, lower than usual for cookies. And, lay a sheet of parchment paper on your cookie sheet. That’s it, the fussy part. The rest is “normal.” Pumpkin Snickerdoodles are an awesome autumn treat with a cup of hot tea, coffee or chocolate! They pack up well to take on the road because they’re soft…
Creamy Tomato Soup Recipe After a long day of housework, bakery work, gardening and hunting, one of my favorite things to eat is a mug of Creamy Tomato Soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. This time of year there are ripe tomatoes to use up – they need to be eaten fresh, cooked into a recipe, canned or frozen. This soup recipe is simple and doesn’t require a lot of attention. You man use fresh or canned paste tomatoes (or…
Blueberry Muffins Recipe Faaaaavorite blueberry muffins recipe! I made a batch before going to our camp for a few days this week. I went out to the dock to watch the sunrise at 4:25 am with a cup of steaming coffee (it was 45°!) and a gigantic blueberry muffin. Washington County, Maine produces something like 95% of the world’s wild blueberries, though these days they’re a highly cultivated but still wild in nature plant. The plants are low bush, growing…
Coleslaw Recipe What’s a picnic without coleslaw! I think of this coleslaw recipe in the spring and summer, and then again in the fall and winter. This really is an all-season side dish that suits a lot of meals. This spring we’re packing this in the cooler to take with us when we’re picnicking on the bank of a stream we’ve been fly fishing, and while we’re scouting for turkeys as the season is about to open. It’s always a…
Maple Walnut Pound Cake It’s maple season again. Our friends at Chandler’s Sugar Shack in Kossuth are tapping 4,000+ trees this year. It wasn’t that long ago that they started out with less than 200 and now here they are with a sugar “shack” the square footage (or more) of our house and thousands of thousands…and thousands of taps. I decided to use some of our syrup to make Maple Walnut Pound Cake. Oh my gosh. It’s just enough maple…