Picture Perfect Day

This has been another beautiful day here in the country. The sun was warm, breezes soft, birds singing and mimosas in bloom - who could have asked for a more lovely day?

You see, there is a Mennonite family that has had the tradition of having there wedding photos taken here at my folks place. I do believe that the first couple that had their pictures taken here was in 1998, that couple now has 6 kids. Other brothers & sisters of both bride & groom have come here the day before their weddings. They have all seemed so young.

Did we look that young when we got married?
Were we so starry eyed?
So anxious??? :o}

It has been such a blessing to see these families grow. The young lady getting married tomorrow first came here to pick strawberries as a toddler. I even think that this family was here the day the farm house caught on fire (the first time). What a blessing they were, praying for the fire fighters and us. Now, she is all grown up and starting a life with her very soon to be husband. How excited they must be.

The bridesmaids dresses were all in the same blue hue as the type of this post. Each dress a different print, yet they all coordinated beautifully. The groom and groomsmen wore black suits and crisp white shirts. The candid shots of the guys are always the most fun. There is a sense of elegance with the candid shots of the young ladies. I do believe that my DD snagged a few ideas for when she will plan her own special day -- many, many years from now!!!

Frequently, I will give either a kitchen item or Christmas items as a gift, ie: cast iron frying pan and have it seasoned already and include recipes that can be made in the pan or some homemade ornaments for their first Christmas tree or Christmas cookie cutters.

What do you gift to happy couples just starting out?

Chocolate Oatmeal Cake Recipe

Please read through the recipe all the way, so as to understand all of the steps completely.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cake Recipe

1 cup Oatmeal
1 1/2 cup Boiling Water
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour*
1/2 cup Cocoa
1 Tbs Vanilla**
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 cup Sugar ***
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter - softened
2 Eggs (1/2 cup)

Line 16 muffin cups with paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir oatmeal into boiling water - but do not cook - set aside to cool and use as liquid in cake. Sift dry ingredients together, set aside. Cream together - butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Combine dry and creamed ingredients together ---Do not over mix. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and bake for 12 minutes. Rotate half way through for even baking.

Cream Cheese Frosting
2 8oz. packages of Cream Cheese - softened
2 sticks of butter - softened
Powdered sugar
Vanilla (Pure Please)
Pinch of salt

In large bowl (preferably a stand mixer) cream the cheese & butter together. Add however much sugar you wish - I think usually 3 cups is right - but each persons tastes are different - I do not like it too sweet (I'm sweet enough - Amy - stop laughing!!!!!!!) Add the sugar slowly & carefully - you do not want to wear this stuff. Add in the pinch of salt and vanilla. If your icing is a bit stiff just add a little water or milk (water is cheaper).

*I use a mixture of freshly milled Soft Wheat, Pearled Barley & Oat Groats with a ratio of 2/3 Soft wheat & 1/3 combined PB &OG. I have not tried this recipe with white flour or store bought wheat flour.
**I make my own vanilla and I have to use more--you may not need to use this much.
***I use Demerara Sugar - this is the juice of the sugar cane that has been extracted and steamed. Have not used white sugar or Sucanat in this recipe.

OOPS!!! I Forgot the Dessert -- The Dinner Party Revisited

Where is my brain????? I forgot all about the desserts we had. Miss Jeanne made an INCREDIBLE blueberry cheese cake & Gail made something called "Sin", which my 17 yr old nephew had 2 helpings of. Knowing we had a group of gourmands on hand, I thought that it would be prudent to have a little something on hand for the younger kids, whose taste buds have not had time to develop to the gourmand standing. We made a double batch of Chocolate Oatmeal Cupcakes (yes, they were 100% whole wheat). These were made from a cake recipe. I will post it later - the recipe is down at the shop. But, let's just say that the cupcakes were "The Icing on the Cake". I made a quick cream cheese frosting for the cupcakes and put the icing in little freezer bags for the "littles" in our group to be able to participate in the meal. Of course, DD (aka Nanna) helped them along as they decorated the cupcakes. At one point after one of the littles finished, she leaned her head back, opened her mouth and just started squirting the icing in her mouth. Gotta love these kids. They had such a good time and were so proud that they had made some part of Grandma June's birthday cake. I firmly believe in everyone participating in meal prep, especially when you have a crowd. That way everyone has a sense of pride in the meal (and I do not have to work so hard). Delegate & Instruct - a great way to cook!!! It tests my control freak fortitude. But, that is part of the fun!!!

The Dinner Party

WOW!!!! What a party. Last night was a BLAST!!!!! Everyone was so much fun. One of the couples that came brought their son & his family (wife & 2 kids) - he and hubby got along great. They knew some of the same people, shared some of the same life experiences and even agreed on some political issues. We always have fun with Dan & Miss Jeanne, John & Gail are our tailgating buddies, for football season ***Go Hokies***, never a dull moment and what fun we have with them, and the guests of honor Andy & June (June's birthday is coming up, she is such a neat lady) always add flare to any event.

Miss Jeanne brought an antipasti for an appetizer. She presented it on a HUGE round platter. It included: goat cheese with sun dried tomatoes, arugula pesto (the best), Mediterranean dip, olives, pepperoni, dates and her fresh whole wheat focaccia with rosemary and one with black olives (the good ones ). YUMMO!!

The main course was our contribution, but could not have been executed with out the help of many hands. The kids (Sam, Rachel, Daniel and John) helped out by folding and cutting the paper for the Pappeotte. Miss Jeanne, June & Gail all came down to our house to help with the assembly line. Haley passed out aprons to each lady as they came in and having my DD along made the whole process an event to remember, more than just fixing dinner.

Here is the recipe for the Salmon en Pappeotte
For 4 servings
2 cups cooked rice pilaf (recipe to follow)
4 Tbs butter (No substitute)
4 tsp fresh herbs - chopped - we used rosemary, salat burnet, sage (just a little), nasturtium blossoms, borage and blossoms, parsley, chives, garlic chives
4 lemon slices
4 Salmon Fillets
1 large vidallia onion - sliced and sauteed in olive oil until just soft and a little color to them
1 Orange pepper - sliced and sauteed in olive oil until just soft and a little color to them
3 cloves of garlic - smashed and then sauteed in olive oil until soft and toasty - this makes them sweet - but be warned - do not let them burn --- then chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
4 pieces of parchment paper 18"x18" Ours ended up being rectangular pieces of paper so whatever works for you.

Take your paper fold it in half and draw out a large half of a heart (Yes, just like you did in grade school - only bigger)
I usually like to do this production style: lay out all of the papers and proceed thusly
In the center of one of the lobes of your heart place in the following order
1/2 cup of the cooked rice
1 Tbs. butter (you could use a little less, but why?)
lemon slice
fresh herbs
fish - skin side up
onion slices
pepper slices
chopped sauteed garlic
Then you fold over the other lobe and begin to fold and crimp starting at the center of the heart. Keep folding and crimping until you get to the bottom of the package and then you give it a good twist. Your goal during the folding and crimping is to make a leak proof package. After you have completed each package, place them on a cookie sheet and bake in a 350 preheated oven for 30 minutes - in my oven I have to rotate halfway through - I would suggest that to anyone.

Oh, I forgot. The recipe called for snow peas - Well, my dad tilled up our pea patch the morning of the party and I did not have enough snow peas for the recipe (I increased this recipe by 6 for the party) and so we just put one obligatory snow pea on top :o}

Multi Grain Rice Pilaf
I mix up a dry batch of this in large quantity so that I have it on hand. It is used for so many different recipes. I use it to stretch ground beef recipes, spaghetti sauce, sloppy joe, we put it in quessadillas, rice salad and we serve it just plain on salad, too. So, here is the large batch - dry.

It is best to use 1 part rice 2 parts water, and I add some kosher salt or sea salt after I have added the water- about 1 tsp per cup of dry rice mix.
1 cup brown basmatti rice
3/4 cup wild rice
3/4 cup oat groats
3/4 cup buckwheat groats
1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup golden flax seed
1/3 cup sesame seeds
Mix all together. This makes about 5 cups of rice mixture. For our dinner party we used the whole batch, but for just us at home, I use 2 cups dry and 4 cups of water.
Heat an oven proof pan until screaming hot. Pour in 1 Tbs Olive oil - be sure to have your rice measured out before pouring in the olive oil. Then saute your rice mixture in the olive oil until it begins to smell like popping corn. Stir constantly. DO NOT LET IT BROWN!!!!! If you do your rice will taste burned. (Trust me on this one ;o})
Carefully pour in your water. Steam will come up so be careful not to let the steam burn your arm (Again, trust me on this one ;o}) Bring to the boil on top of stove, cover and then bake rice in the oven for about 45 min for a 2 cup batch to 1 1/2 hours for a huge batch. The oven is preheated to 375 degrees. Fluff with a fork and if it is still a bit wet cook it for a few more minutes and then let is sit uncovered off the heat, fluff it again and let it sit a while longer. ( I usually make the rice ahead of time just to make sure that it is cooked right. Although this only happens when I put too much water in the pot. Frequently I forget to measusre and then have to make adjustments. So far most things work out OK).

Camp Life

Well, this week is our week for camp. This is when my sister's kids (all 5 of them) are here for the week. Yes, that means that we have 7 kids in our care. Now for some of you that is no big deal, for us who are underachievers with only 2 kids, our world is turned upside down. It is not all bad, once we lay down the ground rules and the kids work out their fleshlyness (is that a word?). We established the JOY rule: Jesus first, others second and yourself last. This works as long as we remind them. This works for me too, in that, I tend to loose my cool and forget that these other kids are not my own. I have a hard time with that.




We have had so much fun. You would not think that kids that are working could actually have fun, neither did they. We have cleaned out the chicken coop, swam in the pool, cleaned out 2 freezers, swam in the pool, picked snow peas, sweet peas and snap peas (for 2 hours), swam in the pool. During the freezers the "big kids" started repeating everything that Gaggy said and as each item went down the assembly line to the cooler, the message got funnier and funnier. Gaggy was laughing, the kids were laughing and a good time was had by all. We all were so glad to be inside and cool on that day.




We have had a few mishaps. One incident of scratching, one incident of biting, one bloody nose, a few bumps and scratches, one step on a rusty nail which lead to one trip to the Dr's office for a tetanus shot (We called for an appointment they gave us one at 4:30 we did not see the Dr until 5:45 :o{ ), lots of tattling, and loads of opportunities to practice grace and forgiveness - to EVERYONE!!! (Thanks kids for still loving me!!!)



Now, we are preparing for guests tonight. Some very close friends of my folks will be stopping by for dinner. Some times I feel as though I am intruding on my parents party when they have folks over, but they have some of the best people as friends. Tonight's guests are especially fun and we are so looking forward to being with them. It's funny though, how now as I am an adult, can share friendships with people that I admired and looked up to as a kid. I hope that our kids think that our friends are as cool as we think of my parents friends.


We will be feeding about 20 people - half of them are just us. We will be serving Salmon en Pappeotte with onions, peppers, garlic, lemon and herbs. Sides will be my whole grain & brown basmatti rice pilaf, fresh peas from the garden, fresh Swiss chard from the garden, tossed salad. The others will be bringing the appetizers and desserts. We are so looking forward to tonight.