Maple Pumpkin Pie with Salted Pecan Brittle

Pumpkin pie is a holiday favorite.  I love traditional pumpkin pie, but I'm always happy to find a new twist to it.  The filling of this pumpkin pie has a touch of maple flavor and is a lighter filling, more like a chiffon.  I've already made it twice for two different parties, and everyone was asking for the recipe.  It's a winner!!!  (The bonus . . . you'll also love the recipe for the Salted Pecan Brittle.  Yum, yum!)

Old Fashioned Peanut Brittle - a Fall Favorite

Peanut brittle is an old fashioned candy that is irresistible and unforgettable. I started making it  years ago, and it has become a fall favorite in our home.

You'll be surprised how easy it is to make!  Your family will love it, your friends will rave about it, and you'll want to start a new tradition of making it every year. 

Here's the recipe and tips learned along the way. 

The Sweetest Applesauce!

We eagerly look forward to canning applesauce as soon as we turn the page of the calendar to the month of September.  Our main motivation for canning is so that we can have those wonderful tastes of summer and autumn deep into the winter.  We also want to save money by growing fruits and vegetables or by looking for the best value.

We have an old apple tree in our back yard that does not produce well, and the apples aren't so great for applesauce. So we do our legwork each year looking for the best tasting apples at the best price. It's fun, especially when we find it!  We strive to make the sweetest applesauce .... without adding sugar!

Harvesting June Strawberries

A Journal During the Coronovirus Pandemic
Reflections and Inspiration from Maple Grove
June 21, 2020

We are enjoying a bumper crop of strawberries this season. . . another of God's blessings to brighten the mood for all that our nation has been going through.  Strawberry varieties fall into three classes. June-bearing plants produce one monster crop of large berries once a year, usually in June.  Ever-bearing plants produce smaller crops of smaller berries, but bear throughout the summer.  Day-neutral plants have three peak periods of bearing. Strawberry plants have a short life span (3-4 years), and we just replanted our patches last year with June-bearing strawberries.

Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Salad

I love fresh fruits and vegetables, and I love summer because they are plentiful. Combining them in a salad makes a perfect lunch or light dinner.  You can select those that are your favorites or use what you have on hand.  Serve it with a light lime dressing and your choice of herbs and cheeses to make it your own. For this salad, I used strawberries, grapes, cucumbers, red bell peppers, fresh basil, feta cheese and a light lime dressing. Other options may include tomato, avocado, mango, kiwi, Romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese.

Swedish and Easter Egg Braid Bread

My Grandmother passed down a tradition in our family of making Swedish Braid Bread, a delicious sweet bread flavored with mildly spicy cardamom and braided into a glistening golden loaf of goodness.  It's a tradition I like to continue to this day, and I've recently learned how to combine this Swedish tradition with the Italian tradition of tucking eggs into the bread for a really special treat.

Two things to note:  1) You can follow this tutorial to braid any kind of bread recipe, and 2) there are various ways you can shape and size the loaves of braided bread.

Irish Soda Bread in time for St. Patrick's Day

Irish Soda Bread isn't just for the Irish.  In fact, Native Americans were making soda bread before the European settlers arrived. It became known as Irish Soda Bread because it was considered a poor man's bread; it was the easiest and least expensive bread to put on the table during the great potato famine in Ireland.  It has become a common tradition to buy or make soda bread for St. Patrick's Day.

How to Brine and Roast a Turkey and Make Perfect Gravy

It's November--turkey month!  Turkey has become the traditional main course for Thanksgiving dinner in America. We all have our favorite must-have side dishes, but there's a good chance you'll be serving turkey to your family and guests.  Whether you're making it for a few people or a large gathering, you want your turkey to turn out perfect, both in appearance and in taste. If you'd like your turkey to turn out juicy and flavorful, you may want to consider brining it. I've been eating turkey for Thanksgiving all my life.  I always thought it's ok, a little dry and not real flavorful.  I never knew how really delectable turkey could be until I started brining.  I began brining my turkeys a few years ago, and now it's the only way I'll roast one.

Easy-Make Gourmet Cupcakes for Valentine's Day

For delicious gourmet cupcakes, through and through, try these easy steps to delight your family and guests!

Cheese Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers! Amazing!

Peppers are easy to grow and plentiful at the end of summer. In my garden, I planted sweet bell peppers, bull horn peppers, and jalapeno peppers. There are plenty of recipes for using peppers. One of my favorites is Cheese-Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers.

Home Canning for Beginners

2013 Canning Season: Applesauce, Apple Pie Filling, Peaches, Pickles,
Tomatoes, Spaghetti Sauce, Salsa, Red Pepper Relish, Pumpkin Cake

If you've never done any canning before but you've been thinking about giving it a try, I'm here to tell you that it's easier than you might think.  I always wanted to try canning, but for one reason or another, I never did. I had never even watched anyone can before, so it was a bit of a mystery for me.  I felt a little intimated by it, thinking that I wouldn't do it right, that the jars wouldn't seal, that it wouldn't turn out good, or worst of all that I'd give my family and friends food poisoning.  Finally, last year, I canned for the first time. Last year I was a beginner, but this year I am an experienced canner. (That's how it is.  If you've never done it, you're a beginner.  If you have, you're experienced.)

Lasagna with Meatballs - Original Recipe

Lasagna happens to be my favorite meal.  It has been for as long as I can remember.  There are so many different ways to make it. I've been experimenting for years and have landed on my favorite original recipe . . . all from scratch! I make homemade egg noodles (of course . . . the Chickie-Babes provide the eggs, so why wouldn't I!?). I make homemade pasta sauce (this year using heirloom veggies and herbs that I grew from seed in my Kitchen Garden). And I make homemade meatballs.  Yes, I put meatballs in my lasagna!  I like the texture of them better than browned ground meat.  

Meatballs with Fresh Herbs

It's no secret that I love pasta and all that goes with it . . . the sauces, the vegetables, the meats, and the herbs!  A big favorite at our house is the meatballs.  I like to make them with fresh herbs so much better than dried herbs.  So, in the summer while the garden is producing, I make up batches of meatballs and put them in the freezer.  Then in the winter, we can still have meatballs with fresh herbs! Of course, you can make this recipe with dried herbs, but it's just not quite the same.

Canning Spaghetti Sauce

I love homemade spaghetti sauce made with fresh vegetables and herbs from my garden.  I really believe using fresh herbs makes a big difference in the sauce compared to using dried or frozen herbs. I  like to can some of this goodness at the end of summer, and then we can enjoy it during the winter months too. I use my own spaghetti sauce recipe, taking a short-cut on the tomato sauce. I've made my own tomato sauce before; it is very time consuming for a small yield, so I buy the canned tomato sauce and add my fresh ingredients to it.

Homemade Egg Noodles

Since I keep chickens, what a great use for those nutritional, farm-fresh eggs.  I love egg noodles!  And I love using my KitchenAid stand mixer to make them.  How much easier we have it today!  You can make fresh egg noodles by hand; it's just so much easier this way.  The pasta roller attachment rolls out the dough as thick or thin as you want it.  Then the noodle cutter attachment cuts them quickly.

Bacon Bark

Bacon . . . caramel . . . chocolate . . . sea salt!  If you are skeptical about making this treat, don't be!  It is knock-your-socks-off delicious!  Get the recipe from my friends at Farmhouse 38.

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Banana Nut Bread in a Blender

You don't have to be a genius or a gourmet chef to figure out that the key to the best Banana Nut Bread is the bananas!  They have to be ripened to perfection . . . just on the verge of too ripe.  We buy and eat bananas often because they are so rich in Vitamin A, iron, phosphorus and potassium. They're a good source of energy.  Because we buy a lot of bananas, it's not unusual for us to have a couple of overly ripe ones sitting around.

Bananas that are overly ripe have just the right level of sweetness and texture to make  delicious banana bread. Throw in a handful of roughly chopped nuts, and you've got Banana Nut Bread!  I usually keep some walnuts in the freezer so I have them on hand for snacking or when a recipe calls for them. (Walnuts are rich in fiber, Vitamins B and E, magnesium, and protein.  They're a great anti-oxidant!)  Wow . . . add a couple of farm fresh eggs from my free-ranging chickens, and this is sounding like a healthy treat.  Well, not so fast.  It does have refined sugar and flour and vegetable oil in it, so it's not a low-calorie food, but it's still a more nutritional dessert than most cakes.

Banana Nut Bread is quick and easy to make.  Did you ever make it in a blender?

My Best Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

Cut-out sugar cookies is something I have wrestled with for many years.  I don't know why, but something always seems to go awry.  Either they are too dry and crack, or they spread out too much and lose their shapes, or they crumble easily.  It always seems to be something.  I've tried many different sugar cookie recipes, and I've experimented with adapting them.  I've tried shortening or butter, powdered sugar or granulated sugar; baking powder or baking soda.  I've just never been extremely pleased, but I always make them because, well, cut-out sugar cookies are a Christmas tradition and (should) look nice on the cookie tray.

I think this year I finally got it right, and I wrote down what I did so I wouldn't forget!  This dough was so easy to handle, and the finished cookies are just right. I think the winning combination is to use butter (not shortening or margarine), granulated sugar, and baking powder.  And, you know, I think, just maybe, the fresh eggs from my free-range chickens might have something to do with it too!

Hearty Rustic Bread

Serve this hearty, chewy bread with steamy bowls of homemade soup for a meal that will warm you up and fill you up!

Hearty Rustic Bread

2/3 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 ounce fresh active yeast
5 cups flour
Coarse sea salt



In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat 1 cup water, milk and sugar until just warm (90 degrees F.). Remove from heat and stir in yeast until dissolved. In a large bowl, combine flour and 1 1/2 tablespoons course sea salt.  Pour in yeast mixture and mix with hands until a soft dough forms.  (If dough is dry, add more water.  If dough is sticky, add more flour.) On a lightly floured surface, knead dough for about 5 minutes.  Place dough in a large lightly floured bowl, cover with a clean towel, and let rise in a warm, draft-free area until doubled in size, 50 to 60 minutes. (The oven is a good place to rise dough.)

On a clean surface, punch down dough and form into a 10 by 7 inch rectangle about 2 inches thick.  Place loaf  on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover with a towel and let rise again in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, 50 to 60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Using your finger, press indentations into the top of the loaf.  Drizzle surface with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon coarse seat salt.  You can sprinkle with herbs if you like, such as rosemary or basil.  Bake until loaf is golden and sounds hollow when tapped, about 30 minutes.  Transfer loaf to a wire rack and let cool.  Slice to serve.

If you would like to print out this recipe, click on the print button below. When the window opens, you can click on a box at the top to remove images.
  

Quick and Easy Recipes for a Ladies Tea

You have set a beautiful table for your Ladies Tea and you want to serve food that is beautiful to look at too.  Beautiful doesn't have to be difficult.  These recipes are quick and EASY to make but are delicious and look wonderful!

Menu

Scones with Raspberry Jam and Clotted Cream

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Cucumber Sandwiches

Bacon and Broccoli Quiche

Coconut Macaroons

Petit Fours

Cream Wafer Cookies

Chocolate Dipped Apricots