Spring Time

 I can't believe that it's the first day of Spring already!!!  Here in Michigan today is a freakish 80 degrees out side.  I'm not really complaining but I am wondering if the other shoe is going to drop. 

 A while ago I bought some Florida strawberries from the farmer's market.   They were a use it or loose it type of deal so I wanted to see what would happen if they got put into the dehydrator.  I thought that ... well actually I didn't have a clue what to expect.

This is what they looked like after several hours in the dehydrator (and my house smelled like strawberry cake for some reason).  The taste was outstanding!  Almost like a slice of candy, so sweet and delicious.  I can't wait til strawberry season and try to make more of these.

Homemade Lemonade

Last weekend we had a family BBQ.  It was wonderful :)  I had very much wanted to be over the top and do everything from scratch but the heat and time made me step back and only do a few of my intended projects.  One thing I did get to do was make fresh from scratch Strawberry Lemonade.  I followed the recipe from the Ball Canning book.  It was delicious!  On the tart side instead of the too sweet side and we found out that it was extra delicious when mixed 50/50 with unsweetened sun tea.  The recipe for this lemonade is on page 192 in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. 

Change of Plans

 This is what Photo Dude brought me home last night.  I took a look at it and said "what the heck is that"?!  Really like we don't have enough weeds?  He explained that one of the guys he works with brought him some strawberry plants that he had asked about back when it was still snowing out (ya' know like three weeks ago).  Photo Dude had completely forgotten about the request and we didn't have a spot planned for these babies so we had to make a change of plans for the big tubs.  The potatoes got pulled out and more dirt got added.  We picked out the six plants that looked the most likely to survive and put them into the tubs.  Some of the plants already have berries on them.  They were taken from a mature strawberry patch so we have hopes that these are going to be good growers. 

      We were gifted 12 plants total so the six that didn't make it into the tubs were placed where there box wood bushes when we moved in.  The soils isn't so good and has a bit more clay but the strawberries looked like they had been planted in clay before we got them so who knows maybe they will grow well enough that next year we can move them to a better plot. 
     Ugh.....  I just don't know what to say.  This year has been so bizarre we go from cold to hot then back again.  The rain has just not stopped for weeks on end at times, several times the lawn has gone for two weeks without being cut.  The low spot in our back yard is wet enough that we should have just planted rice.  Hopefully the next little bit will keep us dry enough to actually get the yard tilled up for the boxes. 

Summer Ice

This is the best summer dessert I remember from growing up! We didn't actually have a name for it except watermelon stuff but that isn't very catchy is it? This was a recipe that my grandmother found in a magazine from 1955 and then when it was handed to my mother she changed it (it originally had raw egg whites in it! eeewww!) and when I received this I changed it further. I think the only things the same are that it has watermelon and lemonade in it. I have entered this into the contest on MixingBowl.com if you would be so kind please go and vote for my recipe, you do have to be a member but the site has loads of great recipes that you'll be glad you signed up anyway :) Oh and try the recipe too! It is super yummy, cheap to make and unbelievably easy.


Thanks Photo Dude for the lovely shot and putting up with me being picky.

Fun Food Friday: 4th of July

Sorry! I am a little late getting to this week's Fun Food Friday. It has been a hectic week that went by waaay to fast!! And now a holiday weekend is upon us! So for this wonderful week I decided to make my flag cake. I make one every year! This years' turned out a bit different, but then again I never seem to do the same thing twice, even when I try to!

This cake is super simple and I usually make it one of two ways.

Sarah Lee's ready made frozen pound cake, or from a box. I have yet to learn how to make pound cake from scratch, but if you know how, go for it! Pound cake is one of my fave cakes, It is so dense and rich and...wel....yummy! And always goes great with tea. To make this cake you will need pound cake, whip cream(fresh or frozen...not from a can) strawberries, blueberries, and any other red and blue berries. I have just strawberries and blueberries.

When I make this cake using ready made pound cake, I get two of them and cut them into slices, like bread. Lay out one layer on the bottom of a cake pan, put a layer of whipped cream, mix of berries, and then another layer of cake , frost with whipped cream and use your red and blue berries to make a flag. Usually I halve the strawberries but my sue-chef (dunno how it's spelled) cut them this way. It still works hehe. This one I made from a box mix so it doesn't have the berries in the middle, which is how I prefer it. This is the lazy man's way. haha. So to compensate, I made a syrup with mashed strawberries and stevia, over heat with water to pour over the cake later.

Hope everyone enjoy's their fourth of July! I for one shall!

Fun Food Friday: Vegetarian

Welcome to the very first ever Fun Food Friday!!! Hosted by Alisha G.
My goal is to every Friday post at least one recipe from the week. I may post more than one or link to my flickr account with extra food goodies and recipes. Especially for ones that I don't come up with on my own. So for the first ever Fun Food Friday, I will be posting a super easy veggie salad, and vegetarian chili with cornbread and strawberry shortcake for dessert. This is sort of an entire meal. But these recipes are so simple and easy that I can post them all at once. I will keep the amount of photos to a minimum and keep the recipe with the photo for ease. SO! On with the food!

First up is my super simple easy, veggie salad.

Recipe:
Mine here has
1can drained and rinsed Black Beans
2c frozen(thawed) corn
1 whole seeded and chopped Green Bell Pepper
1c shredded carrot (from a bag because I am that lazy)
2c halved cherry tomatoes
and enough Fat Free Zesty Italian dressing to coat.

You could easily add more or less of  veggies take out what you don't like or add in things like diced red onion a bit of garlic, celery, black olives, etc etc. This salad is only limited to you imagination.


For my next recipe I give you my all in the pot Vegetarian Chili.

Recipe:
This chili has just about everything but the kitchen sink!
Using baby portabello mushrooms as the base you can build on this and add anything you like.
Mine has onion, carrot, green pepper, corn, 1can diced tomatoes and chillies,1 jar chunky salsa, chili powder mix(from the seasoning packet aisle), black beans, zucchini, lima beans, and tomato paste.

Add a little cheese and sour cream and you have a super filling meal! You can add any kind of veggie you like or don't like.











No chili is complete without cornbread! This is super simple!
Recipe:
I used Jiffy Mix and replaced the milk (I think it was) with vanilla rice milk. You could also use soy milk. This turned out amazing!

No dinner is totally complete without a delicious dessert! So how bout classic strawberry shortcake but lighter and with less calories? Simple easy angelfood cake from a mix to replace that shortcake or the biscuit.

And strawberries mashed with stevia! you can add as little or as much as you like to make this sweet. You could even use honey or agave. Or nothing at all!

Top it all off with some delicious light whipped cream (or you could make your own) for a delectable light dessert!




That's it for today's Vegetarian Fun Food Friday! Hope you enjoy your day!

Strawberry Break

We are going to take a quick break from gardening to do a little cooking. Here in Michigan our strawberries have finally come in! Whoo hoo! I purchased a flat of strawberries for $25 at the farmer's market. A flat is eight quarts, that is a lot of strawberries. I spent one evening cleaning and hulling half the flat to freeze so that we can thaw them when we get extra time to make jam. And since I was working I thought that we all deserved a little treat here at Four Rocks Homestead. After cleaning and hulling the strawberries I chopped them up for strawberry short cake. Look at their gorgeous ruby red color and they smelled so amazing. You could walk into our house and smell fresh strawberries it was incredible. After the chopping came the sugar just a quarter cup because these babies were already super sweet. Isn't my Pyrex bowl pretty? My mom gave me that but that is a story for another day. After the sugar the bowl gets some wrapping and then into the fridge over night. Really that is the hard part, knowing you have something so very yummy in the house that you can't eat right away. Then the filling for the short cakes. Normally I would just throw the strawberries on some biscuits but I really wanted to make an extra special treat for us. So I took one brick of softened cream cheese and one half cup of powdered sugar along with one tablespoon of orange extract and creamed them together. This is also set aside to rest overnight. The filling is a bit like cheese cake it just tastes better the next day (you know if there is any left over that long). The next day I cheated an bought biscuits because it was hot, humid and icky and I did not want to turn the oven on. A little of the yummy cheese spread, lots of the sweet strawberries and of course some whip cream that I had left in the fridge. Voila! A delicious summer treat for all!Recipe for filling

1 brick softened cream cheese
1/2 C. powdered sugar
1 TBSP orange extract
cream these ingredients together and let sit overnight. You can then smather some on biscuits or you could get all fancy and use a pastry bag and star tip to make your creation look gorjous! we're down and dirty at our house so smathering is right up our alley!
Happy cooking!