Corn fritters

After a recent chat with Missy about grilling corn on the cob, I said that I would be making corn fritters with my fresh corn. Missy wasn't familiar with corn fritters so I offered the recipe and thought I would share it here on my blog...

I'm not sure where I got this version of the recipe but we also have an 18th century "receipt" for corn oysters that is quite similar.

1 cup corn
2 eggs
6 T flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
fresh ground nutmeg

The recipe will tolerate more corn and I rarely measure the other ingredients, just eye ball it.

Fry in 3T butter about 3 minutes per side.

I like to pat off the extra butter with a paper towel. Yummy warm or cold!

Waffles

Well, it seems that I'm not being very diligent in taking pictures at the fair this week. I think it's a combo of the high heat and humidity after a cool summer. Yes, I lived in Miami for 14 years but no, the heat doesn't agree with me in any way, shape or form.

Sunday/Monday/Tuesday were excessively warm. Of course on Sunday/Monday I demoed open hearth cooking and last night we marched in the fireman's parade (with polyester uniforms!). Tonight and tomorrow there might be scattered thunderstorms with flash floods possible tomorrow and then some kind of cold front is moving in. I guess we are going to cover both extremes this week! It wouldn't be the fair if we didn't have either hot or cold weather - it's never middle of the road weather.

The only picture of the food that I demoed is going to give a few certain people the giggles.

On Sunday I cooked with my SIL for 8 hours and we are both overachievers since it's a once a year gig. I made sea pie(1), herb bread, blackberry cake, ham hock soup, tyler tarts(2) and started corn fritters (too hot to finish). Kristie and her boys made butter, sea pie, herb bread, blueberry coffee cake, peach pie and cherry pie.

On Monday I only cooked for 4 hours and start by making a 1234 (cup) cake(3) and wild blackberry sauce for gingerbread waffles. I had intended to finish the corn fritters but, again, it was too hot to finish. When it came time to choose one of Mom's 3 antique waffle irons, there was no debating which one I was going to use!!!

(1) Sea Pie is the last fresh meal the men would have as they went out to sea. It has a layer of veggies, a layer of 2 kinds of meat, a wine cream sauce and a pastry topped by the same again. I used potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms, rotissery chicken and venison sausage but it's really a kitchen sink kind of meal where any meat or veggie would work as long as you can fit it in the dutch oven used to cook it.
(2) Tyler Tarts are a coconut custard named after President Tyler. Funny thing is, my nephew is named Tyler and he thinks they are named after him!
(3) Cup Cake or 1234 Cake is 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups flour and 4 eggs. A very basic "receipt" and since a lot of people couldn't read in the 1800s a very easy recipe to memorize.

Mystery Monday Link Up!

Thankfully last Friday's clue #5 was a super simple one - other than 45 minutes of hexies it was a go-go-go weekend. I was lucky to finish what I did and that was because I stopped working on town taxes long enough for the first hour of Quilt Cam. It was nice to take that break amongst the chaos.

Yipper - my little Quality Control Officer was checking my work and blocking my light =^..^=

Did you ever think your food is laughing at you??
Well, today, I finally caught it on "film". LOL

Me thinks he looks a little worried now that he's on "film" !

Have a great week!!

Fair Thursday

I've been a lazy photographer at the Fair this year...partly cuz I haven't yet had time to wander and partly cuz I'm having fun doing what I'm doing and not thinking about taking pictures. Yesterday I did my hexies at the LQS booth and then The Boys wanted me to ride the rides with them. It's good to be loved!

Ryan and Tyler

As far as my Home Arts entries, I got a red on my chickadee quilt. The judges comments read along the line of great fabric, nicely quilted and good binding but wavy edges. I think the real issue is the outer border has less quilting (feather) than the inner border (~ribbon candy) and when I washed the quilt it became a little wavy. Of course that is just my translation of the vague comment.

I also got a blue on my hexified jean jacket, doll quilt, table runner and beaded soap dispenser.

As for my Antique entries, I got a blue on everything: salt dips, cheese knife, tea cup, iron bank, tatted hankies and tatting shuttles.

I always help Mom with the antique judging (we run the department) and this year we had a new judge. She was very knowledgeable and willing to answer questions. Awesome, since I know little to nothing about glass/china. She told me that one of my salt dips can be placed in a sunny window for the next 2 or 3 years and depending on what is in the glass, it will change colors and stay that way forever. If there is cobalt it will turn purple. If there is cyanide it will turn yellow. I think I am going to put them all in the window and see what happens.

And my new fav fair food?

Fried Ravioli!!!! Not overly greasy or crunchy but crisp and warm in the center. Yummo!!!

Not Quite Wordless Wednesday

I missed their prime but this neighbors lawn is often wall to wall crocuses in the spring.
It doesn't look like they all came up this year.

My DARLING family for Easter Dinner:
brother Tom, unimpressed SIL Kristie, more interested in his choco rabbit Tyler, Ryan with a prize winning smile, Dad  playing the ham and Mom who moved out of camera range while I was taking the pano.

Sorry for the glare from the gorgeous sun!

Well I'll be Deviled!

Do you have a signature dish? You know, the one *everyone* asks you to bring for potluck?!

Mine is deviled eggs - and they aren't just your run of the mill eggs either. It started when I bought Deviled Eggs: 50 Recipes from Simple to Sassy. Some of these recipes call for shrimp or avocado or pineapple or even choco!!

When I moved back to NYS I joined the Castile Historical Society which has a quarterly pot luck meeting - I can barely get in the door now and people already want to know which recipe I've made. It's fun to look for a different recipe each time, some with new ingredients and some with old standards.

Providing the snow doesn't cancel, we have our Guild Christmas Party tonight and I made eggs, of course! I never seem to measure anymore, basically using the recipe as a guideline for proportions. Today's eggs have Miracle Whip/salad dressing, stone ground mustard, cider vinegar, brown sugar, garlic powder, minced onion and Nature's Seasoning. YUMMO!!! They are sweet and tangy all at once.

I have yet to get thru the entire book yet but I am always on the look out for more recipes and I even started a board on Pinterest (aka the evil site).  What's your favorite deviled egg recipe?

My parents went to ...

Remember those t-shirts that say "My parents went to (fill in the city) and all I got was this t-shirt" ??

Well...my parents went to Australia and Hawaii and "all" I got was a boatload of gifts!!!! And since their luggage was delayed coming home I still haven't seen the books and things they bought themselves.

They also took lots of pictures for me (Australian lighthouses and Hawaiian quilts and such) which I have yet to see.

On the left is an iridescent purple bracelet of freshwater pearls and a foam plumeria hair clip from Waikiki. I mistakenly clipped the plumeria to my left side before Dad told me that meant I was married. You can bet I moved that sucker lickety-split! The cookie cutter includes a recipe for Kahlua spice cookies and Kahlua frosting - Yum!

I love the feel of tea towels and use them almost exclusively now a days. This black and white version of Aussie animals is very graphic and endearing. I hate to get it dirty from daily use...but don't want to "save" it in a drawer either.

I bet you are saying that this doesn't look very appetizing. OK the eggs and ham do but what is that purple thing??!! Trust me it WAS yummy. Mom & Dad went to a luau where they were served these rolls made with poi.  Not only was it purple, one of my fav colors, but it tastes like the Hawaiian bread sold in grocery stores. I tried nibbling but it didn't last long...

This bone chine tea cup/infuser is from Sydney. Mom said she had a hard time picking which design to get me but the lavender was a perfect choice and it's very delicate given it's size. I just picked some of mom's lavender flowers to make lemon/lavender tea cookies - both the plant and the cookies are a favorite of mine. Maybe it's time to start my own lavendar garden.

And if you have a new tea cup, you need some new tea!!!  The kiwi tea was from the New Zealand Airport (Just one of their many stop overs - why they needed 11 flight segments is beyond me!) and the rest are from Australia, altho a few say made in New Zealand. I've tried the kiwi twice and it's just divine. Today I am trying the Mi-Chai. The irish breakfast and Lan-choo are loose teas, the rest are bags. Mom sealed the boxes in a plastic bag for the flight home, opening the bag smelled like candy!

Thanks Mom & Dad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feline Friday - 4/20/12

I don’t know about you but when I want to make sure to take something with me, it’s either clipped to my keys or dropped in front of the door.

Wednesday I dropped my folder for class and the garbage-bound pizza box at the door. Not 10 minutes later I found this:

LOL!

There are sew many quilty linky parties around lately...would anyone be interested in having a kitty party here every Friday? Leave me a comment if you want to participate or even just read and after I get back from my trip I'll see what the consensus is...

Granola Bars

I had hoped to make those fruit hand pies to show off today but you know that when it rains, it pours and I didn't get any made...I did however get these granola bars made. This is a recipe I have modified from something I saw on the internet and they are one of my favorite breakfasts. No two batches come out alike because you can customize them so much. Shall we?!

Ohh - I just had a thought - Mom has a food dehydrator...I could make my own dried fruit this summer! Can't wait for the farmer's market to open.

In a medium to large sized bowl, mix the dry ingredients.

Add in dried fruit and nuts. I generally use about 2 cups total making sure to *always* include chocolate chips. This time I used mangos, raisins, choc chips and walnuts.

In a microwavable dish, melt the butter. Whisk in the water and the honey. Gotta love local honey!
I like to use this Pyrex measuring cup because the honey sinks to the bottom and it's easy to measure.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. Adding peanut butter is optional but without the pb, I have found the bars very dry. I don't even measure the pb anymore, just adding a couple spatula fulls.
 

The original recipe called for lining the 9" Pyrex with parchment paper, not having any, I just spray it with the Pam spray that has flour in it. Press your moist mix into the Pyrex. It doesn't tend to spread at all so make sure the mix is even in the Pyrex. Bake at 350F for 30 to 40 minutes until the edges brown. The center will appear soft but it will firm up when it cools.

1 2/3 cup quick rolled oats
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar ( I tend to use about 2/3 cup, only because I keep a 1/3 cup in the sugar container)
1/3 cup oat flour (I just use all purpose)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (I always add more!)
2 to 3 cups dried fruits & nuts

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup honey (maple syrup and corn syrup also work)
1 Tablespoon water

Add wet ingredients plus 1/3 cup peanut butter (I use crunchy)

Prehet oven to 350F.
Line square Pyrex with parchment paper in one direction
Spray paper and exposed Pyrex with Pam
Press mix into Pyrex
Bake 30-40 minutes until edges brown and there is a little color on top. It's soft but will firm when cool.
Cool completely and remove with parchment sling. Cut into 9 servings.

Freezes quite well.
Enjoy!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Spurred by great weather, I pulled out my favorite grilling book ...

...and grilled Mediterranean chicken breasts. And what is grilled chicken without macaroni salad? We Ballinger's like our salad with green grapes, tuna fish, onions and hard boiled eggs.

This was followed by hand pies (pastry filled with boysenberry jam). I would be happy to share this easy recipe in another post if anyone is interested.

Yes - I used every bit of my "new" counter space but I did *not* take any pictures of the mess I had fun making :)

Spring !!

I don't think the town where I work got over 65F yesterday altho Rochester was 68F and beat a 120+ year old record. So what's a girl to do when it's that warm?

Dust off the cobwebs and fire up the barby of course!!!
Looks like I'm going to need some new bricks along with a new grill cover...

I also walked around the yard looking for spring plants. There was lots of *little* bits of green popping up (day lillies, sedum, phlox, weeds, etc) but all were too small except these little snow drops. Haven't found the crocuses yet.

Today will "only" be 57 but I did see my first robin of the year so Spring is on it's way!

Speaking of spring - Don't forget to Spring Forward an hour this Sunday and change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. I'll finally be installing my new smoke detectors.

Design Wall Monday

Can't say that this was my most productive (re quilts anyways) weekend so far this year and that's because I (a) was social and (b) took a long/deserved nap!!

Saturday morning I made blueberry ginger scones based on the latest Tea Time magazine. I would love to show you a photo but I didn't think of it until they were devoured :)  I hope to make another batch this coming weekend... I made the scones to take with my new Sevenberry Sangria Tea to Noel's house for a sew day! Amongst the chatter, I think we both got a lot done. And then...Noel served homemade Minestrone soup - perfect for a chilly day and I got to bring the leftovers home!

I knew we would have a middle-of-the-night rescue call because we had ice water rescue training Sunday morning - and we did have the call! Training went smoothly and my brother commented it was probably the best training he had ever had based on the poor condition of the ice. I would  have to guess there was only 2 to 3" of ice where we were training (and the firemen were falling thru the ice) but there were guys out ice fishing on the other side of the lake. No pictures of ice training this year - it was too cold and the whole training exercise kind a stopped when the Silver Springs VFD we were training with left for a structure fire.

After getting home and eating a yummy brunch of grits and sausage I was trying to do some computer work and just felt whooped so I decided to take a little nap on the couch. You know where this is going! I woke up almost 4 hours later. Guess I really needed that nap!!

I worked just a few more hours before another rescue call and then the weekend was practically over! Phew!

Remember the half square tri's I started working on last week? Well that project is coming along quite nicely. I had planned to make this a smallish quilt based on what I thought was half of the HSTs that I had paired up. I should never have assumed because now I think I'll be able to finagle a couch sized quilt out of these "leftovers!" I need to cut out some more sashing strips and cornerstones but I should know by this weekend exactly how big I can make it.

Comfort Food!

There's nothing better on a rainy gray (warm!) day in mid-December than comfort food!!

Grilled cheese and hexies!

Cooking School

Yup - you read that right - I went to Cooking School ... and I would go again!

Taste of Home Cooking School to be exact. TOHCS is held twice a year at my alma mater high school. Apparently it's the only location (in the state or was it the US?) to have 2 shows a year. I had never been to a TOHCS so I had no idea what to expect. Can you believe there were people who drove 2+ hours from Ohio, Pennsylvania and Canada for this?

We got there a couple hours early to peruse the vendor area. I think there were 40 vendors with food and gift items or home repair type items to sell. We did a little shopping and a lot of tasting.

The actual cooking class was 2.5 hours. Our goodie bags included several magazines so we could follow along with the recipes and make notes on suggested substitutions, etc. At the end of the show they raffle off all the food items in the fancy dishes they were plated in. You can also see along the front of the stage the numerous door prizes that were also raffled. And lets not forget all the prizes from the sponsors. I won a TOH cookbook but haven't even had a chance to look at it yet :( I was so into watching the demo that I never took another picture but trust me it was all yummy looking and I can't wait to make some of those recipes - first will be the soup!

If you ever have a chance to go to Cooking School, I highly suggest you do!

World's Bestest BLT

Ok, so I'm a little biased on this sandwhich but I think it's the bomb and after eating them all weekend, thought I should share!

Start by frying 3 strips of maple bacon. I found mine pretty greasy so I spooned off most of the grease when it was just over half cooked and then it crisped perfectly. Don't forget to dab off more grease with a paper towel.

Meanwhile, lightly toast 2 slices of herb bread baked in a beehive bake oven, prefereably at the Wyoming County Fair (ok, it's the only BBO I have access to and it's almost gone. boohoo.). Slather one side with Guacamole dip. Lay down 2 thick slices of fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes and the maple bacon.

Cover the whole sandwhich with romaine lettuce and slather the other slice of bread with good-old-fashioned-mayo. Complete assembly and enjoy your sandwhich while watching Six Feet Under Season One on DVD.

Funky fish-shaped sushi plate is optional   :)
Enjoy!

Fresh fruits and veggie season

Now that we are officially one week into summer there are lots of fruits and veggies coming into Casa Grande. The local Farmers' Market opened on 6/18/11 and it's fun to meet up with friends and see what's finally in season.

This past weekend I found CHERRIES for the first time this year. I was never fond of cherries growing up - I think it was the over-sweetness of the marichino cherries we had at home. I've eaten most of this week's batch so far and never even had a chance to "make" something with them - maybe after I get more in 4 days! I was thinking cherry ice cream but what else could I make?

I forgot to get the year's first ZUCCHINI - so dissapointed in myself when I remembered on Sunday.

I did buy SCAPES tho - do you know what they are? It's essentially the curly flower stalk on a certain kind of garlic. Remove the stalk and more energy goes into the bulb. Hmm...shouldn't they pay me to take the scapes since it improves their garlic harvest? Anyway...last week I made grilled pizza with scapes that had been coated in olive oil and sea salt and grilled on my new grill wok, fresh mozza and left over doctored pasta sauce. I didn't care for the dough recipe I found so I'm open to suggestions. I've also cut them up onto a salad and pesto pasta. This week I hope to make pickled scapes and/or scape pesto.

Can you tell I like to collect old or handmade wooden spoons? This is just part of the collection in an old milk bottle basket. I can provide my address to anyone who needs me to adopt their wayward spoons !!!


I've got RHUBARB in the fridge waiting to be made into Rhubarb Crisp - can't wait.

The veggie garden is in full swing. It's time to put the TOMATO cages up and I need to put up a fence for the SNOW PEAS to grow on. I had planned to plant the GLAD bulbs on a "schedule" so the flowers would last longer into the season - can you guess how that's going?

And last but not least, Mom and I made STRAWBERRY freezer jam on Saturday. It's a staple in both houses. Last year I only made 4 jars for lack of freezer space and that only lasted 6 months. I made 8 jars this year and leased freezer space elsewhere! Jam is a particular process at our house(s) making for lots of dishes and timers but we've got it down to a science and the end result is soooooo worth it. Leftover strawberries are destined for sorbet.

What fresh fruit and veggies do you have?

Almost Wordless Wednesday - Mother's Day

On Sunday, the family went to the Glen Iris for breakfast. The Glen Iris used to be the home of William Pryor Letchworth who later donated the land for Letchworth State Park. It is now a gift shop, fancy restaurant and B&B. The building is located near the second of 3 falls in the park and there is also a fish pond with humongous gold fish. After breakfast we drove thru the ~26 mile park to see how high the river was after many weeks of rainrainrainrainrain.

The water was still considerably high. The pic on the right shows part of the Genesee River Valley. You can see tree tops but supposedly they were covered a week ago. The dam on the left is pretty high but it has been higher in my lifetime.

Library Tea Party

This past Saturday was the annual tea party fundraiser for the Cordelia A Greene Library. This year's theme was a Hawiian party based on the American Girl doll of the year. I wore my big flowered hat and Hawaiian shirt with the other workers and attendees dressed similarly.

I didn't get many pictures during the event since I was serving tea - it was so fun to see little girls all excited about a cup of peach tea. Almost 60 girls and their moms/grandmas/aunts/etc attended the tea and each place setting had a different tea cup. The tea cup collection had been donated to the library several years ago and I think their individuality just made the table setting perfect.

Every person who bought a ticket (adult or child) goes home with a door prize. Just look at all these doll dresses. Left overs were sold for $10 apiece and they didn't last long. You can see my donated wall hanging at the bottom of the photo. There was also a table with doll quilts/afghans, candles, purses and other goodies.

This photo shows the AG doll that was the grand prize to one lucky young lady. Ray is also practicing his snow cones which were a real treat. Check out the flip flop cake in the middle - we forgot to cut into it!

There was a photo booth set up for everyone. Photos were printed immediately and mounted onto cardstock and decorated with flip flop cutouts and information on the tea party. What a great memento!

Oh and lets not forget the treats - this was just a small sampling. The painted cookies and (stacked) bonnets on the left were some of the prettiest. There were enough cookies for everyone to take several home.

Can't wait to hear what the theme is for next year's tea and hopefully I won't forget until the last minute to make my doll quilt...

You might be a redneck if...

...the highlight of the week (month?) is going to the Wiscoy-Rossburg Fishfry!!

W-R is a volunteer fire department in the neighboring county that has been having a monthly fish fry for as many years as I can remember.

Below is one of the two rooms for eating (this room is actually a 2-truck bay in the firehall) and you can see the kitchen in the way back and the cake cutting station on the far right. There was a large amish family eating in the other room. It's clearly served family style and it's all you can eat fish, coleslaw, cottage cheese, rolls and french fries. We got there later than normal so only had a short wait but I can remember waits of over 30 minutes, outside, in the cold. And it's always soooo worth the wait too!

 #1 Pops is a real prankster and posed for this entertaining photo.

Mom wanted a normal pose for posterity so I retook the shot.



Mom doesn't do funny faces but I really like this one. Wish the eyes were more in focus.

We were sitting very close to the kitchen and I had spent the night trying to get the chefs from afar but someone always walked in front of me. Finally mom dared me to walk over and ask to take a close up. What's a redneck to do but comply?! Thanks for a great dinner guys!