Hummingbirds

We have quite the crew of hummingbirds this summer. 

They have consumed 5 pounds of sugar in their homemade nectar.

This feeder has nectar in it still. 

The hummers have been draining our four feeders rapidly because of our intense summer heat. Basically the plants, grass, and we ourselves are wilting.

Hummingbird Nectar

1 Cup white sugar

4 Cups water

Boil for two minutes then cool completely.

 It is important not to skip this step as it helps 

prevent bacterial growth in a high sugar solution.

Keep unused solution in the refrigerator.

Our hummers will fly to South America soon. 

They will return on April 1st next year.

In Olive Out news Joe is humming along too after his hip replacement. 

He is walking without a cane and now driving.

I cannot say how much blogging I will be doing in the future. 

I have gotten many things accomplished whilst disconnected

 from the web BUT I have missed all of you terribly.

I made jewelry from vintage pieces of jewelry, thrifted here and there, painted two doors, cooked up a storm, cleaned a horrible storage room, played with a fat cat, played with my dog, sent CC off to school, and cared for my sweet man.

That is merely the tip of my enormous list. 

peace and joy

Olive

Lemon Curd Again

Lemon Curd again my darlings. Once you make lemon curd you are forever in love with it and will make it again and again.
 I use Southern Living's recipe except I do not cook it in a microwave. Stirring that luscious mixture on the stove is soothing to me. I do not own a microwave. Another freaky thing about me.

In Olive Out news my first product review will post tomorrow with a BlogHer sponsored giveaway. The producers at BlogHer are wonderful. I ask many many questions and they never tire of answering them. Please visit tomorrow and enter the giveaway. 

Linking@Be Inspired

I wish you all could come over 

and have lemon curd and breakfast cookies with me.

Olive

Lemon Yogurt Crumb Cake

That my darlings is homemade lemon curd on top of the crumb cake.

 I had a nearly overly ambitious baking moment and made this cake from a Southern Living recipe. I have never made lemon curd before but I will again. It is like lemon meringue pie filling only more luscious. I felt proud and accomplished after making the lemon curd.  We are having lemon curd on biscuits for breakfast tomorrow.

Pride comes before a fall.

 The cake recipe almost exhausted me. For what amounts to a coffee cake there is an extraordinary amount of fiddling with eggs and such. But it is all worth it for the end result. The lemon curd is dolloped on the batter and you swirl it through with a knife. Then a crumb topping is applied. 

The folded egg whites make it rise beautifully. 

Next time I will cut it while it is hot. I had remarkable restraint and did not cut it until our Bible study on Friday night. It is delicious and full of citrus flavor. The cake tastes like a sour cream pound cake recipe that I have been baking for over thirty years.

 You can click on the cake and lemon curd recipe here. 

I made the lemon curd one day and the cake the next day. 

Lemon curd last for two weeks refrigerated.

You can make the cake without the lemon curd if you wish. 

The lemon curd also can be added to cheese cake, 

biscuits, scones, and many other desserts.

What is your favorite lemon dessert?

joy and peace

Olive

Mimosas

Ingredients

1 Cup orange juice

1 (750 ml) bottle champagne

1/2 Cup grenadine 

Directions

Fill 8 flutes 1/4 full with orange juice. Top 3/4 full with champagne. Slide two tablespoons grenadine down the side of each flute. This allows the syrup to go to the bottom of the drink and makes it pretty. Joe laughs at me because it has to be pretty.  I add a cherry*

We serve these for breakfast or brunch Christmas morning
 but they are good any time.

joy and peace

Olive

Vanilla

Slit three vanilla beans length wise with a sharp knife. 

Place in a clean bottle. 

Add Vodka (unflavored) to cover the beans.

♦♦♦

In about three to four months you will have vanilla for baking. 

These vanilla beans have been in the Vodka for two weeks

 and are giving off that beautiful brown color already.

I am starting late but I think it this would make a lovely gift.
 This is my first attempt at making vanilla.
I have friends who make delicious baked goods.
Their cookies and bars are a step up from mine
and it is because of the homemade vanilla.
 If you make vanilla please give tips in the comments.

Amazon.com sells Madagascar Vanilla Beans 10 for $12.99 here.
I have also seen them at the Williams Sonoma store.
The medium glass bottle came from TJ Maxx.

happy baking

Olive

White Pimento Cheese

White Pimento Cheese

Shred two 8 oz bars of white Vermont Sharp Cheddar Cheese. 

Add 4 oz of drained chopped diced pimentos. 

Add one to two teaspoons of sugar. 

Add black pepper as desired. 

Stir in enough mayonnaise to bring it all together (I use less than 1/2 cup).

♦♦♦ 

I do not add salt as the cheddar is already salty.

Serve with crackers or on bread. 

You can also top your grilled hamburger with this pimento cheese.

Enjoy

Olive

Fruited Rice

 We like the many varieties of rice we can find now. 

 Many are organic and combined with quinoa. 

We do not eat white rice often but when we do we prefer jasmine for it's fruity notes. 

Yesterday I showed you my rice station in our small kitchen (scroll down to last post).

 Today let's make fruited rice.

♣♣♣

 Do not fret if you cannot find puffed organic rice and quinoa (found at Costco).

 Any favorite rice of yours can be substituted. 

We like jasmine rice with dried fruit, citrus juice and zest.

This is the Fruited Rice above, it also has quinoa in it.

 Quinoa gives the dish added protein.

Step 1: Prepare whatever rice that is to your liking. (I use a rice cooker which I cannot do without)

Step 2: Chop whatever dried fruit that is to your liking while your rice is cooking. 

Step 3: Add dried cranberries and nuts if you so desire to your assembled dried fruit.

Step 4: Zest a citrus fruit and juice it. (I often use the juice and zest of a navel orange or a lemon)

Step 5: Add chopped dried fruit, zest, and citrus juice to cooked rice and stir lightly and fluff

Note: To make a curried fruited rice add the best curry powder you can find about two to three teaspoons to the finished rice. We love a curried fruited rice.

Note a: Dried fruit is expensive and sweet but a little goes a long way in rice

If you do a lot of zesting a microplane is the tool for that task. It is sharp and does the task quickly. I found mine at a garage sale but they are at Williams Sonoma and at Amazon.com.

Linking with Yvonne for On The Menu Monday for the first time because y'all know I post recipes every third full moon on a blue Monday (recipes cause me great anxiety). Yvonne is eight kinds of awesome do visit Stone Gables as her blog is lovely and she is as well inside and out.

happy cooking

Olive

Correction and Goat Soap

An astute reader notified me that I had left an ingredient 

off the list of the strata recipe I posted last week. 

See, that is why I cannot be trusted with posting recipes. 

Anyway add 3 cups milk. 
 I corrected the original.

Thanks Teri you are wonderful for telling me and for actually trying a recipe of mine. 

So much responsibility, scary.

Here's that  recipe post.

Now onto the pretty, pretty goat's milk soap. 

If you have never used goat soap do not let the price inhibit you as it is worth every dollar. 

Joe likes it too.

I think a bar or two would make a fine gift.

Some of these are scented and some are not.

I did not mean to snap this image above but I like it none the less.

I could not help but put an antique filter on that ironstone platter.

How about that cute goat on the soap above?

After fiddling with all these soaps I piled them into a cloche for Marty's next cloche party. 

Cloches are terribly difficult to photograph. 

If someone has figured out how to do it better please tell me.


Now I am off to my ironing board to iron vintage linens.
I consider that fun by the way.
I am a freak and know it.

Linking with:

Table Top Tuesday

Wow Us Wednesday




joy and peace
Olive 

Strata

I have been testing breakfast recipes in anticipation of the arrival of TEN TEENAGERS on the weekend of March 2-4. Joe is the taste tester. He suffers through it if he must. The strata above was adapted from a Country Living magazine recipe in the January issue this year.

Tomato-Cheddar Strata with Broccoli

• 4 1/2 cups 1-inch bread cubes (about three quarters of a French loaf)
• Butter, for greasing dish
• 6 ounces shredded Cheddar (about 1 1/2cups)
• 1 cup halved grape tomatoes
• 1 cup frozen broccoli florets
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 8 large eggs
• 3 cups milk ( I left this out of the original post edited on 2/26/12 see why I should not do this?)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 4 ounces ricotta cheese (about 1/2 cup

• 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence

1. Place bread in a buttered 9x13 baking dish. Top with 1 cup cheese, broccoli, tomatoes, and 1 tablespoon parsley.
2. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Pour mixture over bread and gently press to soak every cube. Add dollops of ricotta over top. Sprinkle strata with herbs de Provence and remaining Cheddar. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or up to overnight.

Remove strata from refrigerator and bring to room temperature, about one hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake until strata is puffed and lightly golden brown, about 1 hour. Set aside to cool 10 minutes. Garnish with remaining parsley. Serve warm or at room temperature.

My Notes:

I used mozzarella because I had a lot and it is lower in fat. 
I had no ricotta cheese or parsley so I left them out. 
 It tasted light and delicious and Joe loved it.
It was quick and easy to make.
I cook all the time but sharing recipes makes me anxious for some reason.
Must work on this.

♥♥♥

Thank you for your comments yesterday about the camellias 

and yes they came from our flower garden.  

Our red ones are just about to bloom.

joy and peace

Olive

Coffee and Chocolate What's Not to Love?

Toffee Bars

1 Cup Soft Butter
1Cup Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Almond extract (I use vanilla)
1 tablespoon Instant Coffee (up to 2 tablespoons for more flavor)
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
2 1/2  Cups Flour (approximate)
1 Cup Chocolate Chips (up to 2 cups)

Cream together the butter and brown sugar.

Blend in the extract, instant coffee, baking powder, and salt.

Add enough flour to make a stiff dough.

Press into a well greased 9x13 pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top.

Bake at 350F for 20 to 25 min.

♣My notes♣

I like vanilla extract better. I use 2 tablespoons of instant coffee.

This is a very stiff dough and I usually end up using 2 cups of flour.

I make the dough in my food processor but any hand mixer would work fine.

Karen at Brayton Homestead Interiors asked for cookie recipes and for once I actually did a post in a timely manner. I took these photos in October however! CC and I make these bars often and she just took a batch back to her dorm to share with her suite mates.

Pour a cup of coffee and eat one of these...go on just do it.

Bliss

grace surrounds us

Olive