It's Raining and Pouring

It's been raining it's patooty off today. We've had a tornado watch all morning which has left me both anxious and wanting to watch Twister. But, since I'm anxious, I'm thinking that watching Twister is not a good idea. At least not until the tornado watch expires.

I wish I could explain the intense sound of rain pounding down on our roof. The barn has a tin roof and it sounds like the apocalypse is happening outside.


Dear barn,
Please don't fly away in the storm.

Pesto Presto

It's really nice having big, lovely basil plants on the farm. When I'm lacking creativity in planning dinner, I can just run down the hill and grab some basil to make pesto with. I always have a sleeve of garlic, pecorino romano or parmesan cheese, olive oil, and whole wheat spaghetti pasta on hand- so it's nice and easy to whip up. Sometimes I add pancetta or chicken to it as well.

This is my favorite recipe for pesto, but it can be done so many ways. You can use parsley and basil, as this recipe suggests, or you can use just one or the other or make a mint pesto. I know a lot of people add pine nuts to their pesto as well.

I make my pesto with a food processor. I've seen some people make it with a mortar and pestle which is pretty neat.

Parsley and Basil Pesto Recipe
Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup parsley sprigs
• 8 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup parmesan or pecorino romano cheese (like parmesan but a little sweeter)
• 2/3 cup olive oil

Directions:

1. Place basil, parsley, and garlic in food processor
2. Add salt, pepper, and cheese
3. Blend until fully incorporated (about 1 minute)
4. Stop and scrape the bowl (the ingredients usually need to be scraped down a few times until the oil is added)
5. Turn processor on as you gradually add the olive oil in a slow and steady stream
6. Mix until fully incorporated

This recipe makes about 2 cups of pesto

I Scream

I really love ice cream. Like, REALLY love it.

Right now in our tiny freezer we have chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate peanut butter cup, and caramel delight ice cream. We're always stocked up on ice cream so that we can have a little ice cream night cap each night as we cuddle up on the couch before bed.

When it came time for last night's ice cream, I got really excited as I remembered that I bought some ice cream cones a few months ago. I dug them out of the pantry and made the perfect little serving size of caramel delight. Yumm.

 

It just makes it feel so much more special than eating it out of a bowl.

Cornbread

Remember that chicken corn chili I posted about a few weeks ago? I've been daydreaming about the cornbread that accompanied it. Sweet, soft, yummy cornbread.

So I decided to feed my craving and make some more for dinner this week. Since today is a gross, gloomy, rainy sort of day we decided to have chili again as well.

I love the color too; all bright and yellow. They're really cute when you make them into muffins.



Buttermilk Cornbread Recipe
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. Spray baking pan (I use a 7x11; you could use an 8 in square pan or a cupcake pan)
3. Melt butter and allow to cool slightly (if you leave the butter hot it can scramble your eggs)
4. Mix together melted butter and sugar
5. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each
6. Combine buttermilk and baking soda then mix into butter/sugar/egg mixture.
7. Mix in flour, cornmeal, and salt until well blended without any lumps
8. Pour batter into prepared pan
9. Bake for 30-40 minutes

Sloppy Joes

I've been feeling a little under the weather the last couple of days, which always seems to bring on cravings for comfort food. Oddly enough, today I started craving something I never thought I would- Sloppy Joes. The name is enough to make me think that I wouldn't like this dish. But I saw a recipe earlier today posted on Design Sponge about Sloppy Joes and it hit me instantly. This warm, messy dish just seemed so appetizing all of a sudden. I followed the recipe just as they explained, except I added some chili powder. Next time I'd add a little less brown sugar. It was really sweet.

But, it was just the comfort I needed.

Chicken Pot Pie

I love meals that are homemade, but easy to make. It's always nice to have a few easy to throw together meals aside from boxed macaroni and cheese and hot dogs.

A few months ago I decided that I wanted to make chicken pot pie from scratch. I searched around online and found a Paula Deen recipe called "Hurry Up Chicken Pot Pie". I changed just a few things, based on personal taste, and it was awesome and easy to make. We always have all of the ingredients, except for the chicken, in the house so I can make this recipe without having to make a big shopping trip. The first time I made it, I used two small dishes so that Lucas and I could have individual servings, which was nice. But a single casserole means less dishes and more sharing :]

Hurry Up Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 1/2 cup instant biscuit mix
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter (half a stick), melted
• 1 can of cream of chicken soup
• Salt and pepper, if desired
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots (I used a vegetable peeler to make slices)
• 1 cup chicken broth

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Cook pre-cut chicken
3. Layer chicken, peas, and carrots in the bottom of either a 2 quart casserole or two 1 quart casserole dishes
4. Mix together broth, cream of chicken soup, and salt and pepper (if desired) in a medium mixing bowl
5. Pour broth and soup mixture over the layers of chicken, peas, and carrots
6. Stir together biscuit mix and milk in a small mixing bowl
7. Pour biscuit mix over top of casserole
8. Pour melted butter over top of biscuit mix
9. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown

This dish would be really good with other veggies too like broccoli or diced potatoes. You could also add herbs or garlic to it for a little more oomph.

Sunflowers

Here in Maryland, there are many farmers that plant entire fields full of beautiful sunflowers which pop up in the beginning of September. They're a pleasant surprise and are oh so nice to drive by each day. It's a nice little "good bye" to summer and "hello" to fall.

We live out in the sticks where there are many sunflower fields surrounding us. We see them when we travel north and when we travel south. For most of the month there are cars all along the road belonging to photographers and other people who are simply there to admire the flowers.

We went to visit the sunflowers and take pictures on Saturday as the beginning of our "half-year anniversary" celebration. Unfortunately, most of the sunflowers were sad and droopy. We did get plenty pictures of these little guys though:

 

 

They look like they really want to be big sunflowers like the rest. I think they're sweet.


This is my handsome husband being Mr. Photographer:

And this is my Mr. Photographer's handy work: