Science Explorers
Saturday we went to http://www.sciworks.org It was a lot of fun. We have visited several science centers this summer and for me this was the best. So much hands on activities for everyone. I did remember to take my camera, however, I didn’t think about batteries. Therefore no pictures of all the fun stuff inside. You can tell though how excited Daniel was to be there by the picture I did get.
Yesterday we went to the http://www.greensboroscience.org.
We have been there once this summer but not since they put in the aquarium. It was awesome!
So much to see and do!
The highlight of the visit was touching a stingray!
You can’t really see him but Sam is in there too and Katie even got in on the action. First time for us to “pet” one. Another first for me yesterday was touching a snake. Not sure if I want to touch another one or not but it was not near as bad as I imagined.
We are canning rhubarb today so I better get off and get busy. I hope you have a wonderful day and God bless.
Beautiful Corn
The girls and I have been busy working up corn. At first, we didn’t think it would do very well because of all the rain we had but it seems to have not hurt it any. We put up 104 ears in the freezer. That should do us nicely through the winter.
I wanted to share the view with you all from my back porch. It was a beautiful morning here in Floyd. Our temperature this morning was 48 degrees. Amazing! Grace and I wore jeans to the garden this morning to pull the corn.
This is a picture of some flowers we planted at the edge of the garden. They sure do add color to the space and look very cheerful.
I have shown you all this flower before. We researched it and found some people call them “naked ladies”. Well, this year, we found out more about them. They are also called “resurrection lily”. I like that name so much better. In early spring, they will come out as foliage, then they die back and in late July or early August these beautiful flowers come up. Amazing how God works! All the years we have lived here, the green foliage has come up and I just thought it didn’t have bloom on it. I never made the connection between the foliage and the flower. Remember last week when I helped Hubby texture a ceiling, the lady who owned the house gave me all this information. She had them growing in her yard as well.
Well, that’s about it. Time for us to eat lunch. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.
Apple Pie Enchiladas
I got this recipe from facebook
1 (21 ounce) can apple pie filling
6 (8 inch) flour tortillas
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Spoon about one heaping quarter cup of pie filling evenly down the center of each tortilla. Sprinkle with cinnamon (I have my cinnamon in a shaker bottle, so I just sprinkle some on each as I am rolling them) roll up, tucking in edges; and place seam side down in prepared dish.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, white sugar, brown sugar and water. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes, remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Pour sauce over enchiladas and let stand 45 minutes ..
Don’t rush the 45 minute resting time for the sauce on the enchiladas before baking, this step helps to magically transforms the flour tortillas into a faux pasty dough
Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes, or until golden
Monday
Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a good day. We have been busy here-wait, don’t I always say that? Well, its true but sometimes I think you all probably get tired of hearing it. Today we gathered the last of the early corn. It had gotten too hard to just eat so I cut it off the cob and put it into a crock to pickle. I love pickled corn! Also, we worked up a bushel of apples. We got them as cull apples and they were only $6.00. Not too bad and they really were pretty. Just a few spots and bruises, not many at all. We got 9 qts of applesauce and 4 half gal. of apple juice from them. On top of all of that, I have been dealing with some type of head cold or allergies or something. All I know is that I feel yucky , my nose is congested and my throat is sore. I do not, repeat-DO NOT- like being sick. I would not have been able to accomplish any of this today, if not for the help of my girls. They are such helpers. Thanks girls!
Well, the last canner is done. Time to start cooking supper. Enjoy your day and God bless.
UPDATE: My wonderful Hubby is bringing home subway for supper!! If I felt like it, I would do a happy dance.
Pizza Crust
I got this recipe from Vicki. It is a great pizza crust, easy to make.
2 1/4 tsp. yeast, 1 cup water, 2 1/2 cups flour, 2 tsp. olive oil, 1 tsp. sugar, 1 tsp. salt
Combine yeast and warm water. Stir until dissolved. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Let rest 5 min. Spread out to size and shape you need. This recipe is the perfect amount of crust for one reg. size cookie sheet or one regular size pizza pan. Add pizza sauce and whatever toppings you choose. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 min or until golden brown.
Chuck’s Bed
I thought I would show you all Hubby’s latest project. He has been working on making a bed for Chuck. It is almost finished. The headboard and footboard used to be our dining table benches. When we first made our dining table we made benches to go with it. Years later I decided I was tired of the benches and wanted chairs. So he made me chairs. (He’s so good about things like that!) Anyway the benches moved up to the building for a while and now they are being remade into a bed. I like that.
We have been busy with our garden here. Canning is in full swing. I love it!!! Lots of good food being saved for winter time. Our cucumbers are just about gone. I thought about planting some more seeds but I don’t think they would have time to do anything. We have been blessed with lots of cucumbers this year so we have made several batches of pickles. I put the recipe for the Christmas pickles over into my recipe file under canning if any of you are interested. We had our first taste of fresh corn this past week. YUM! I love fresh garden corn. When I was younger and it was time to put up the corn, my mom would always cook corn on the cob for breakfast. She said it put us in the right frame of mind.
We had our annual Sunday School Breakfast this morning. We usually have it at SmartView Park here on the Blue Ridge Parkway. For some reason (that I will never understand) the Parkway has decided not to open many of the picnic areas this year. So we couldn’t have our breakfast there. The road is still washed out going down to the river so we had our breakfast at the Coon Hunters Club. Yes, ladies, coon hunting IS a sport here. We have never participated in it but many people do. Anyway, we had tons of good food!! It was a really nice way to start off the service.
Tomorrow, I will be helping Hubby texture a ceiling. After that we have some tomatoes to can. I think we will make spaghetti sauce with them. In the meantime, I have a new book from the library, a cup of tea and a green swing that is calling my name. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.
Christmas Pickles
I have made these pickles for about 30 years. They are definitely a favorite at our house. These are made from the large overgrown cucumbers. We intentionally let these get large for the purposes of making these pickles. The fat, yellow ones are the best but the large green ones will work as well.
7 lb cucumbers (after cutting), 1 cup lime, 1 cup vinegar, 1 sm. bottle red food coloring, 1 tbsp. alum, 2 cups vinegar, 2 cups water, 8 cinnamon sticks, 10 cups sugar, 2 packages cinnamon red hot candy or 8-10 drops cinnamon extract.
Peel cucumbers. Cut in half long ways. Using a spoon remove seeds. Slice into thick slices. Soak in one cup lime and enough water to cover cucumbers for 24 hours. Remove from lime water and wash well. Soak in ice water 3 hrs or overnight in the fridge. Drain. Mix one cup vinegar, food coloring and alum in enough water to cover cucumbers. Simmer 2 hrs. Drain. Put back into ice water. In another kettle bring to boil 2 cups vinegar, 2 cups water, sugar, cinnamon sticks and cinnamon red hots. After boiling, pour over drained cucumbers. Let stand 24 hrs. Drain reserving juice. Pack cucumbers into jars. Bring juice to boil. Pour hot juice over cucumbers. Process in a water bath canner 5 min. for pts, 10 min. for qts. Makes approx. 14 pts.
These taste like spiced apple rings. Very delicious!
Yeast Rolls
Easy Yeast Rolls
I’ve had lots of compliments on these over the years, and many people now have this recipe and it’s the only one they use!
Ingredients
1 cup warm water
1 pkg active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbls softend butter
1 egg, beaten
3 1/2-4 cups flour
Method
Put water and yeast in large mixing bowl and add next 4 ingredients. Beat with dough hook until well blended. Add 3 1/2 to 4 cups flour and mix until soft dough forms (should not be sticky). Put out onto floured board and knead a few times until smooth. Place in greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place approx. 45 minutes. Punch down and turn out onto floured board. Shape into 12 rolls and place in greased 13×9 in. baking pan. Let rise again about 30 minutes. Bake 350 for 20 minutes. Brush tops of rolls with butter. Recipe is easily doubled.
Merry Heart Crafts 