Bless My Heart I Married A Yankee

Last summer I came across an easy recipe to make cranberry juice.  You do not need a lot of ingredients but you do have to have cranberries.  Here in NC we only have them available fresh and that is around Thanksgiving time and Christmas.   I was fortunate to buy some at a good price but after Christmas, they were so cheap that I stocked up.  You can not go wrong with a quarter a bag, right?  We did not have a lot of room in our freezers but I still had about 20 bags.  If I had more room I would have bought a lot more and froze them.   First I made them with fresh berries but I also had run out of room on my canning shelves so I froze the other bags.  My first batch was in November.  The second was in February and I made more on Friday.   I had to make more because someone drank a lot of my quart jars a week ago Sunday.  Had to replenish my stash.   As you guys know I prefer simple recipes....

Friday I decided to make some of the wine frozen icicles pops.  My friend Anna graduate from college on Saturday so I wanted to give her something a bit special.  Since Sophie and I were talking about them the weekend before I decided to take the leap and just make some.   Congratulations Anna!!!   Making wine frozen popsicles are pretty easy.  You just split the wine half and half with a non-alcoholic drink.  Here is my  post  with a few other recipes and the link for doing the math to make other pops. I made 4 different flavors on Friday.  I allowed them to sit in the freezer overnight so I knew they were good and solid.   For the red wine and berry ones, I used cheap box red wine and my leftover berries from last weeks sangria.   Red Wine and Berry   Ingredients 1 cup red wine 1 cup sprite mixed berries Directions Mix red wine and sprite together Get out sm...

Late last summer when football was really just getting started we went up the street to Lisa and Brac's house to watch some football.  L isa is a Steelers fan like we are.  Brac, well he just needs some mental help because he is not a Steelers fan.  If you read this Brac, sorry but you  are really nice to always allow us to invade your home and watch the Steelers play. Since it was late summer, September, it was still hot outside. Lisa made me a drink called Moscow Mule.  I think she had just been turned on to them by some friends and she fixed me one up.  I have always enjoyed vodka and I had been hearing about these drinks.  What I did not realize is how well the drink blends together and how truly refreshing one is on a hot summer day.  I think it has a lot to do with the copper cup.  Well, the drink it's self is wonderful but the copper cup keeps your drink nice and cold.  I have to say she had me hooked pretty quick. It is al...

I know this sounds silly but I always get excited when I get to pick my first zucchini and squash. I mean a garden is hard work.  Scott works hard at tilling it up and prepare the soil.  Besides that, we normally keep seeds from year to year and in January start out peppers and tomatoes seedlings.  That is time-consuming.  You have to re-pot your plants and harden them off.  That is all before you even get your hands in the garden dirt.  Once you plant you have to tend them.  You can not just throw in a few plants and watch them grow.  You have to weed, stalk, water and watch for bugs and bunnies and squirrels!!  Those little varmits drives me nuts. OH and I forgot the birds.  It is a never-ending story when you have a garden.  I have some friends that ask me why I do it?  Well, I do it because I get a thrill out of watching something I grew produce food for our table.  I love to can my goodies for another...

Last weekend for Father's Day, Scott wanted blueberry pancakes but our blueberries were not quite ready to pick, not even pick enough for him a pancake or two.   Now for me, pancakes are serious business.  They are a work of art.  Yep, you heard me right, they are a work of art.  I know they are an average piece of flat fried bread you put syrup on but if you know how to make them, and I stress if you know how to make them, you have beautiful light and fluffy delicious pancakes.  Not those flat greasy looking pieces of round junk. I have read that you have to sift your flour once or two to achieve the fluffy texture but that is not true.  You just have to know the trick.  Yes, there is a simple easy trick to making your pancakes fluff.  It really is rather simple.  All you do is mix your dry ingredients together. Yes, mix them.  I add my flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar and then use a fork and mix it all ...

I have never been a big breakfast eater.  Something about eggs has always messed up my stomach.  BUT if I am going to eat breakfast it will normally be either on vacation or during the weekend.  Weekends are when I cooking Scott a nice breakfast.  During the week the poor guy normally gets  Greek yogurt , oatmeal or a breakfast English muffin.  So, weekends I try to spoil him a bit with a nice home cooked breakfast.  With all that said, if I am gonna eat something for breakfast it would be bacon.  I love bacon but I hate cooking bacon.  It is messy and the grease splatters everywhere.  The clean up is horrible.  Then I learned about cooking bacon in the oven.  I forget who told me but I thought, OK I will give it a try.  To be honest it took me a few attempts to get it perfect.  Do not get me wrong the bacon in the oven came out well but I had a hard time dialing in the temp to use and the timeframe.   ...

It is summer and everyone is trying to figure out how to stay cool, whether it is by playing in the pool, going to the lake, dipping in the ocean, having water gun fights, jumping throw a sprinkler or having frozen cocktail concoctions. You know those drinks in fancy cups with fruit and a straw? I have heard that Costco is now selling some type of boozy ice pop similar to the liquid things you buy then freeze at home.  The internet is pinging with all types of these popsicles.  Heck, some are really expensive. I am pretty sure I said last weekend to someone that I was going to learn how to make them.  Well, guess what I have!!!  Why spend tons of money on an adult freezer popsicle when you can make them at home pretty cheap? To make them inexpensive, go to the dollar store and buy paper cups, plastic wrap, and popsicle sticks.  Yeah, they sell them because I have a sleeve of the cups in my cabinet. These are the staples for the pops. The rest ...