The fruits (and vegetables) of our labors.

My parents have a pretty amazing garden. And they were kind enough to plant potatos, peas, carrots and beans even though they would be out of the country to partake of the bountiful harvest.
Or help with the weeding or harvesting... hmmm.
how convenient. too convenient.


I spent an hour in the hot sun, battling bugs and thorns and weeds to get these beauties-

Pretty sure it is all going to be worth it when I have a yummy
baked potato and green beans for dinner.
And some raspberries and ice cream for dessert.

Thanks Mom and Dad! I love you!

For my favorite Mom.

FYI: This may look like the real deal, but it isn't. I made it. So please don't judge them by my lack of abilities. The real bouquets are fabulous and delicious. And much more professional looking.

Did you eat pancakes today?

I sure hope so! I wanted to try something new in addition to the traditional pancake. So I made

German Apple Pancakes from Martha Stewart

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter (plus more for tin)
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter-melted
5 Tablespoons granulated sugar (plus more for tin)
2 Granny Smith apples (about 1 pound)
1/4 cup light-brown sugar
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 450◦.
Butter inside each muffin cup of a 6-cup jumbo muffin tin; coat with granulated sugar.
Peel, core, and slice apples into 12 wedges, then cut wedges into 3 pieces.
In a medium bowl, toss apples with brown sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add apples and saute, turning occasionally, until caramelized (10 - 12 minutes). Remove pan from stove; let cool 5 minutes. Divide caramelized apples among prepared muffin cups. Set aside.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, sugar, melted butter, eggs, and milk; process for 3 minutes.
Pour batter over apples.

Transfer tin to oven; reduce heat to 400◦.
Bake until pancakes puff up, about 15 minutes.

Remove tin from oven; invert onto a flat work surface.
Dust with confectioners' sugar; serve immediately.

Oh my. They are tasty. I highly recommend this recipe. They aren't too healthy though. You could maybe do whole wheat flour and less sugar. 5 Tablespoons seemed like a LOT of sugar. So I only put in 4. Try them. Today. mmmmm.

The other day I was in the grocery store with no real purpose (I had some time to kill during my lunch break). As I roamed the aisles I found some fun products that I had never seen before. One of which was-

Caramel spread*?!?! It says it is great on toast & hot rolls. Pancakes were not mentioned but I gave it a try.

All I can say is Be still my soul. I don't think I will put syrup on my pancakes again. So yummy. I don't know how different it is from the caramel you put on ice cream or dip apples in. But it is gooey. And delicious. And can be drizzled on the German Apple Pancakes. Hello!

*There are so many products out there that I have never discovered before. My goal is to try 2 new-fangled foods a month. And share my thoughts with you. Stay tuned to see what I try next!

Strawberries.

I went to the grocery store last week and they had strawberries on sale for $1.25. I really like strawberries. So I put a couple in my cart. There was a limit of 8. So as I thought about it, I decided why not just buy 8. So I did.

I washed and cut up 5 of them and froze them for future use. But the others I needed to use right away to make something delicious! My friend invited me over for dinner so I told her I would only come if I could bring dessert. So I made this:Double Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake
I forgot to sprinkle it with Icing (Powdered) sugar. But it was still tasty.

Then I decided to make a special treat for FHE and made this:
Strawberry Freeze
Unfortunately I didn't have time to let it set as long as it was supposed to so it was more like Strawberry Freeze Soup. But a tasty soup. And I forgot to put strawberries on top. Oops.

My roommate is visit taught by the 2 girls that I visit teach so we decided to have a little visiting teaching dinner with the four of us and my companion. This is what I made for dessert:
Strawberry Cheesecake Cups
These were probably my favorite. I learned from the last recipe and made them at school so they would have time to set. (there are benefits to having access to 6 kitchens & equipment).

Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of any of them... so thanks to Kraft for making them look so pretty. And delicious. So go buy some strawberries. Mmmm. I actually went to the store again for something else and couldn't walk past the cheap strawberries without putting 3 more in my cart! I have a problem.