Hurricane Granola Bars

During the storm yesterday we were stuck in the house for quite a while so I did a bit of cooking.  I've made these before and they don't last long.  But this time I added extra chocolate chips as a treat during the hurricane.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees:

Ingredients:
3 c. quick cook oats
3-3.5 cups of yummy bits
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Preparation:  select your yummy bits.  Mine included craisins, dried apricots, dried apples, dried plums, sunflower seeds and dark Ghiradelli 60% cocoa chocolate chips.  Chop the yummy bits into tiny pieces.

Add all ingredients to a large bowl:

Mix with sweetened condensed milk:

Press into 9x13 pan:

Bake 25-30 minutes:

Enjoy and share.....or not!

I with you enough!

Grow Your Own Edamame

Edamame has grown in popularity by leaps and bounds in the last couple of years.  The yummy green pods encase little beans that have a nutty flavor when steamed to perfection.

If you like to garden you can grow your own edamame with ease.  The plants are hardy and grow well in many gardening zones.

This year we planted Schillinger Edamame in a 10 ft. row and yielded 15 quarts of steamed in-the-pod edamame.  With a little weeding and watering to get the row started they did great.  The plants can get the usual pests like japanese beetles but do pretty well with just mechanical removal of the bugs.

Once harvested we washed the pods in a sink of cold water:

Blanched them for 1 minute:

Rinsed them in cold water:

Placed in quart size Glad freezer bags to freeze for the winter.

Growing edamame:

Planting Depth: 1"

Plant 3" apart

Row Spacing: 20-36"

Once sprouted thin plants to 6" apart and provide nitrogen fertilizer if needed.

Harvest in late summer when pods are 80-90% full and/or when leaves start to yellow.

Follow instructions above to freeze or just steam and enjoy right away.

I wish you enough!

Shrimp Boil

My friends and I hosted a party today for our Mom's group and it was WONDERFUL!  The plan was to be outside with white tables and wildflowers but the weather had a different plan.  We made the best of it and moved the tables indoors to accommodate 20 adults and 10 kids under 2 years old.

The menu:
The Mothership Tomato Salad
Grilled Veggie Salad with Lemon Dressing
Tomato Pies
Shrimp Boil
Pulled Pork
Cole Slaw
Peach Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream

The main part of the meal was this Shrimp Boil.  You can cook pretty much whatever you want, but the most important part is that you have a super yummy broth to begin with so the food will be infused with the flavor.  The seafood will add even more to the broth once it's added.

Our broth: lemons, onions, garlic, herbs, old bay, jalapenos.

The boil: potatoes, corn, shrimp, mussels, sausage

The dessert: peach crisp

The friends:

I wish you enough!

Peach Crisp

One of my favorite things in the summer is fresh juicy cold peaches.  I have been buying boxes and boxes this year and have eaten about 3 peaches a day for the last couple weeks, I'm smelling sweeter every day :)
Since we can't eat them all I have also canned many jars of peach salsa and peach jam so we can enjoy them all year long.

For a change of pace I made this wonderful peach crisp last night.

Topping:
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. oats or plain granola
1/4 c. butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground coriander

5-8 peaches, sliced
1/4 c. orange juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees:

Slice peaches and place in 9x13 pan, drizzle with orange juice:

Combine topping ingredients in food processor fitted with dough blade and process until a coarse meal is formed.  Sprinkle over top of the peaches:

Bake for 30-40 minutes in middle of oven:

Let cool on wire rack 15-30 minutes before eating, ENJOY:

The only thing that would have made this better would have been some coconut milk vanilla ice cream!

I wish you enough!

The Booty

Isn't it great when this:

Turns into this:

Or even better just this:

I wish you enough booty!