Extra Eggs Recipes - Chile Rellano Casserole

As many of you know, I have chickens. LOTS of chickens. One of the bonuses and sometimes quandaries, that goes along with this is LOTS of eggs! I have been developing quite the collection of egg-heavy recipes to help use up these lovely little presents I'm gifted with daily. This is one of my (and Mr MoonCat's) favorites. We pretty much eat this once a week when the girls are laying in abundance. Enjoy.

Chile Rellano Casserole

1/2 pound hamburger

1/2 pound ground sausage

1 cup chopped onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cans (40z) whole green chilies, drained, seeded and divided

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

6-8 large eggs

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

½ tsp Salt

½ tsp Pepper

½ tsp Cumin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a large skillet cook the sausage & hamburger together. Once browned, add the onion and garlic in with the meat. Once onion is soft, drain the fat from the skillet and mix in salt, pepper and cumin. 

Line a deep 13″x9″ baking dish with chilies split in half, save the remaining chiles for later; top with 2 cups cheese. Layer in the meat and top with remaining chilies, chopped up; set aside. 

Beat eggs with flour until smooth. Blend in milk. Pour mixture over meat in the casserole dish. 

Bake uncovered for about 45 minutes until center is done. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup cheese on top. 

Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Makes 6-8 servings.

Guacamole - It's What's For Dinner

This time of year Mr. Mooncat and I don't really like to eat a heavy dinner. (This also translates to "I" don't like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen when we're dealing with temperatures in the high 90s, low 100s!) We tend to either snack or just have an appetizer instead of an actual main course. 

My favorite guacamole recipe is a bit of a hodgepodge of several I've come across over the years. I play around with it quite a bit, but this one seems to be the hubby's favorite, so we stick to it - the fact that it's easy helps.

image courtesy of Knorr, Inc. 

Makes 4-6 servings.

4 Large Avocados

3 Roma Tomatoes, diced

1 Red Onion, medium - diced

1 Fresh Lime, juiced (lemon can be substituted if desired)

2 TBsp chopped Cilantro, fresh preferred

2-3 large cloves finely chopped fresh garlic
1 pinch sea salt (optional)
1 pinch coarse black pepper (optional)
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil (optional)

In a large bowl, mash avocados and lime juice (& optional salt). Add in the tomatoes, onion, garlic and cilantro. Finally stir in the pepper and (optional olive oil.)

I like to cover this and chill in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours before serving, but it can be served right away if desired. I think the flavors tend to be better blended if you wait though.

Recipe - Basil Beer Bread

While I do grow most of my basil from seed, I sometimes can't help myself and MUST buy a beautiful plant when I see it.  I recently snagged two gorgeous basil plants while out shopping.  I was pleasantly surprised when one of them had the following recipe included on the plant marker.  Because I had all of the ingredients on hand and just reading the recipe made my mouth water, I tried it.  And I loved it....So here it is...

Basil Beer Bread

3 cups self-rising flour
3 tbsp granulated sugar
12 oz warm beer
1/2 cup chopped basil

In large bowl, mix all ingredients together.  Pour mixture into a well-greased loaf pan or dish.  Put loaf pan into an unheated oven.  Turn the oven on and set at 350 degrees.  Bake for 50 minutes or until lightly browned on top.  Remove from pan and place on a wire rack to cool. 

***I think I would leave it in the oven for a few minutes longer and just keep a close eye on it.  This first loaf didn't get quite as brown as I would have liked.

The basil smell alone was enough to get the hubby wandering into the kitchen to find out what I was up to.  I  sliced it up while still warm and used some of this overly delicious herbal butter that I had made up the day before.  I followed the recipe I found at my idol Nancy aka The Lemon Verbena Lady's blog.  (Be sure to visit her site for great recipes and herbal wisdom.)

It was a huge success as we skipped dessert and opted for another piece of bread instead.  Needless to say, this will be a recipe that we'll use quite a bit in the coming months.  Many thanks to the lovely Nancy for the awesome herb butter recipe :)

Saturday Sweetness - Crummy Fruit Crumble

I haven't posted a recipe in just about forever.  So I thought I'd share a super-yummy one that I made last week for the hubby and Dad.  It got rave reviews and I apologize for no photos, they ate it rather quickly!

This is based loosely upon a recipe I found in a book I'm reviewing this week over at One Book Shy.  The book is a cozy mystery by Anne Canadeo called "A Stitch Before Dying". 

 

It's a part of her Black Sheep Knitting Mystery series.  Since many of you are avid knitters and readers, you may be familiar with it ~ if not, check it out.  (I'm not getting anything by telling you about this, I just enjoyed the book.)  Like I'm hoping you'll enjoy this:

Crummy Fruit Crumble

Ingredients

• 6 cups thinly sliced apples (I used Fuji, Macintosh, and Delicious varieties)
• 2 TBsp lemon juice
• 1 TBsp orange juice
• 2 TBsp lemon zest
• 1 TBsp orange zest
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 sticks unsalted butter, cut into tiny pieces - keep cold
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup uncooked oatmeal
• 1/4 cup granola
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 3 TBsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a mixing bowl toss the sliced apples with the lemon & orange juices and zests.  Add 3 TBsp white sugar, 5 TBsp brown sugar, 2 TBsp flour, 2 TBsp cinnamon and 1 tsp nutmeg.  If the mixture is still too juicy, add a bit more flour.  Set this bowl aside. 

Lightly butter the inside of a 9x12 baking dish or pan.  Be sure it's deep enough to hold the mixture or you can go with a slightly larger size.  Pour the apples into the pan.

In a large mixing bowl put the chopped up butter, the rest of the flour and both sugars, plus the oatmeal, granola, walnuts.  Add 1 TBsp cinnamon and 1 tsp nutmeg.

I then used my clean, damp hands to knead this mixture until it was completely combined and had started to form into crumbles.  (Since my beloved sister-in-law Cindy gifted me with a stand mixer for Christmas - I can now use that with the paddle attachment instead of my hands!) Sprinkle over the top of the apples and then bake for about 30 minutes.  The crumbs should crisp up and the apple mixture will start to bubble. 

It is wonderful served warm with vanilla ice cream or whip cream.  YUMMMMMMM - I'm making myself hungry :)

*You can substitute other fruits for the apples - I'm thinking raspberries or peaches - or maybe combined!!  yummmm again..

Let me know if you try this and tell me what you think!

Saturday Sweetness - Rum Balls

Yummy treat for the upcoming holidays..

This is a recipe from the ultra-amazing Emeril Lagasse for Food Network.  I've had it for several years and it is always a big hit.  Check it out..

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 
  2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 cup dark rum
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 1/2 cups finely crushed vanilla wafers
• 1 cup finely chopped, toasted walnuts

Directions

In large bowl, sift 1 cup of the confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder and allspice. Stir in rum and corn syrup. Stir in vanilla wafers and walnuts, mix well. Place in refrigerator to firm up slightly, about 30 minutes. (The mixture may appear crumbly and dry; this is O.K.)


Place remaining 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar in a shallow bowl.

Using a tablespoon, scoop out portions of the chocolate mixture and press into 1-inch balls. Using your hands, roll the balls in the confectioners' sugar, coating evenly.

Place on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, placing waxed paper between the layers to prevent sticking.

Saturday Sweetness - Hot Pepper Jelly

Many people have never even heard of pepper jellies!  I discovered them many moons ago when I was a night manager for a local Hickory Farms.  Pepper jelly is one of my ultimate favorites and I made my own for the first time this year.  Yummmm, a little dab of jelly on top of a cracker with cream cheese is fantabulous.

Hot Pepper Wine Jelly

• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, minced & seeded
• 2 tbsp jalapeno pepper, minced & seeded
• 3 hot chili peppers, dried & chopped
• 1 1/2 cup sweet white wine (I used Moscato)
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 oz liquid pectin (1 pouch)

Have canner, jars and lids clean and prepared.  In a large stainless steel pan, mix peppers, wine and lemon juice.  Add sugar.  Bring to a full boil over high heat.  When the boil can't be stirred down, add the pectin.  Boil hard again, constantly for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and skim off foam if necessary. 

Quickly pour the hot jelly into the hot jars allowing for about 1/4" headspace.  Be sure to wipe any residue off the rims before placing the lids on the jar.  Adjust the band until finger tight.

Place jars in the canner, be sure they're covered completely by water.  Process at a boil for 10 minutes.  Turn off heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes with the lid off of the canner.  Remove and allow jars to cool.

Makes about 7 4-oz jars of jelly.

Enjoy!!!

Friday the 13th Woes and A Recipe

Friday the 13th has not usually been a day of bad happenings for me.  Or if it was, I  just didn't put my troubles and the date together..

This one was completely different.  I was in the middle of my shower, head full of shampoo..when the water quit.  As in, there was no more.  AT ALL!  I was so ticked.  I was already running late to get Dad to a doctor's appointment but I managed to get most of the suds out of my hair, not all.  The Scottish-Irish temper overflowed in a hurry that morning..To make an extremely long story short, we had no water ALL DAY as the pump company had to come out to drop the pump another 100 feet.  Lovely!

Since I had been dealing all week with the fact that the well WENT DRY at the ranch last week, I was not in the mood to mess with it here as well.  Mr MoonCat dealt with them quite nicely so we did have water by Friday night. 

~~They're starting to drill a new well at the ranch tomorrow to the tune of about $10,000 that we don't have laying around BTW!  Thank goodness for wonderful neighbors and friends.  My dad's closest neighbor Adolph had his well go out about 6 years ago.  Dad had him hook up to our well until they could get his new well drilled (took them 2 months due to the rainy season).  So when Adolph found out what happened, he immediately grabbed Dad and told him he WOULD be hooking up to his well until it was taken care of.  We are so grateful to him.  If he hadn't have stepped up, we have been hauling water in several times a day for all of the horses and cattle, etc.  Good neighbors are more precious than gold!

The absolute worst part of Friday was that when hubby went out that afternoon to help the pump guys, he found one of our little Barred Rock babies dead.  She was laying outside of the chicken run area near the garden.  We never have figured out how she got out as the entire area is fenced and covered.  Personally, I think she may have squeezed through the ONE section that has chain link with no chicken wire and couldn't find her way back in.  We are remedying that now, but I was so sad and upset.  I have grown way too attached to the little feathered fiends.

About the only good thing we DID have on Friday was this for dinner:

Can we all say YUMMMM?

This was so easy and quick. Did I also say DELICIOUS??? I pigged out. The tomatoes, basil, and chives are from my garden. It took me about 5 minutes to prepare (the cheese was already sliced). I don't recall what it is called as I had it scribbled down on an old receipt. But here goes:

• 1 lb fresh mozzarella cheese
• 4 large ripe tomatoes
• 2 cups fresh basil leaves
• 2 tbsp fresh chopped chives
• Sea salt to taste
• White pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup virgin olive oil

Slice the mozzarella and tomatoes into 1/4" slices. Alternate the cheese, tomato, and basil in a circular pattern around the side of a serving platter (or a quiche dish works very well!). Sprinkle the chives, salt and pepper over the top. Just before you are ready to serve, drizzle the olive oil over the top of the dish. Serves 8.

While not required, I served this with fresh French bread - still warm. It was outstanding. Try it!

Don't forget the CSN Stores $50 GC drawing ends today!

Saturday Sweetness - Strawberry Soup

photo by Krassy/Flickr

I know, you're going into shock - I've gone from posting sporadically to TWO in ONE day!  What is the world coming to.  Well, there's a story here.  After getting my Anjan review on the way to blogworld, I decided to clean out my files.  I found my long-lost recipe for this luscious, yummy dish - Strawberry Soup.  I haven't made it in a loooooong time because after trying and experimenting on several different variations of this wonderful treat before hitting on THE ONE, I misplaced/filed it away for safe-keeping :)  None of the others I've come across really did it for me so I've pined until today for this little gem. (I'm practicing being dramatic.) 

Anyhoo, since Father's Day is tomorrow and it IS strawberry season, I thought you might want a little extra something special to prepare for Dad or hubby or yourself/ME.  This is a dish best prepared the day before serving so without further ado....the not-so-secret recipe:

Strawberry Soup

5 1/2 cups ripe strawberries
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup Port wine
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cardamom
Strawberries and/or mint for garnishing
(dollop of sour cream for garnish if desired as well)

Puree strawberries, sour cream, and sugar together.  Mix wine and water in a saucepan, add pureed mixture.  Heat on low and allow to simmer for 1 or 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and add the cardamom and vanilla.  It's not crucial, but it is best if you allow it to chill overnight so all of the flavors can mingle and set.  When ready to serve, pour into individual bowls and garnish with the extra strawberries, mint, and/or a dollop of sour cream.  Yummy.

So I hope you all enjoy Father's Day with your loved ones and let me know what you think if you get a chance to try this recipe.

photo by Snapzdc/Flickr

Saturday Sweetness - Scottish Shortbread

We've been on a bit of a Scottish kick lately (and I'm sure you can tell that I've been going through our wedding photos again). Hubby is wanting some haggis (ugh, not my thing thank you very much). My thing is Scottish Shortbread.

Shortbread is pretty much the sweetened version of a Scottish medieval biscuit or bread roll. When we went to the Scottish Games a few weeks ago I snagged some toffee shortbread that was quite tasty! It was good, but I still prefer the basic recipe and I use the one below often, with some variations depending upon what I feel like. I have added walnuts, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, etc. It's pretty much up to your imagination.

Scottish Shortbread Cookies

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/4 cup BUTTER (don't use margarine - 100% butter is the key to the taste)

2 1/2 cups flour

Heat oven to 275 degrees F. (I use a food processor to speed this next part up.) Combine the two sugars and process until they are very fine. Cut butter up into about 10 pieces and add to the sugars, pulsing until the sugar granules disappear. Add flour and pulse until the entire mixture is moist and crumbly.

Place entire mixture in a plastic bag and press it together to form a dough (mixture will be sticky). Knead lightly until dough holds together well. Remove from bag and shape the dough into little balls, about 1" in diameter. Place on ungreased cookie sheets about 1 1/2 - 2" apart. Use a fork or glass bottom to flatten each ball.

Bake from 45 minutes to an hour or until the cookies are a pale golden color. When you remove them from the oven, take the cookies off the sheets and place them on wire racks to cool. Will make about 50 cookies.

Saturday Sweetness - Nutty Spice Cake

If I've never mentioned it before, we had cupcakes at our wedding reception. 300 cupcakes to be exact. 300 cupcakes that I personally baked two days before the big event.

To top it off, we ended up having a "Frost Your Own Cupcake" dessert table due to the fact that everything fell apart the night before the wedding. My friend brought up all sorts of sprinkles and fun decorations the morning of. Between a forest fire, blown tire, cancelled rehearsal, unfinished dress, no flowers delivered, etc. etc. etc., it is a miracle that the ceremony took place at all. But it was perfect, it was us, and we're happily married! (And everyone says they had a blast..)

My point is that one third of those 300 cupcakes mentioned above were from my favorite cake recipe of my grandmother's. She made this wonderful spice cake for me all the time growing up and I couldn't imagine not having it at my wedding. The directions below are exactly as she wrote them for me over 20 years ago and are how I make mine still today.

Note: One of these days, really really soon I hope, we will unearth the camera from the moving boxes and I can provide you with real photos again. My cell phone camera just won't cut it..

Gramma's Nutty Spice Cake

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup shortening

3 eggs

1 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour baking pan, 13x9x2" or 2 round layer pans (8 or 9x1 1/2"). Measure all ingredients into large mixing bowl. Beat 30 seconds on low speed, scraping sides constantly. Beat 3 minutes on high, scraping occasionally. Pour mixture into pan(s). Bake 40-45 minutes or until wooden toothpick comes out of center clean. Cool on rack. Use choice of frosting and sprinkle finely chopped walnuts on top.

While you can use any frosting you want, in my humble honest opinion - the one below is the absolute best frosting, ever. I can eat this simple buttercream frosting on graham crackers, out of the bowl, off my fingers, etc. I highly recommend it for this great cake. (You can find it and other variations from C and H Sugar Company . They also have it printed on the boxes.)

Simple Buttercream Frosting

3-3/4 cup (l lb. box) C&H Pure Cane Powdered Sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup butter or margarine (2/3 stick), softened

Combine all ingredients in bowl. Beat until smooth and creamy; scrape bowl often. If too stiff to spread easily, beat in a few drops of milk.

You can vary this recipe by adding chocolate syrup, peanut butter, orange peel, etc. Lots of ways to customize and really experiment with changing the taste to suit you.

Enjoy your Saturday!

Saturday Sweetness - Cherry Delight

This recipe is one that Mom uses when she needs a yummy dessert in a hurry. Pretty much all of the ingredients are usually on the pantry shelf. I'm planning on making this for the weekend to celebrate our moving (and the fact that I have a great, usuable kitchen!) I hope you will enjoy this quick treat as much as we do!

Cherry Delight

1 can cherry pie mix

1 sm can crushed pineapple, drained

1/2 box white or yellow cake mix

1 cup water

1/2 cup melted butter

1/4 cup chopped nuts (I usually end up using closer to 1/2 cup - I like it crunchy)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread cherry pie mix into a 9x13" pan. Layer the pineapple over the top of the cherry mix. Sprinkle the cake mix over the top of the fruit. Pour water over the entire pan and sprinkle the nuts on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Mom notes that you can add whip cream or a scoop of ice cream on top for an extra jolt of yummy. Voila! A super easy, super fast-disappearing dessert treat! (Only one pan to clean up too - my kind of recipe Mom!!)

PS> I've made this with blueberry pie mix too, it's pretty tasty as well!

Saturday Sweetness - Candied Ginger

I have developed quite the fondness/addiction to ginger. I've always loved ginger ale, gingerbread cookies and other gingery goodies, but this new-found craving is for the candied or crystallized ginger. We go to a great sushi place (I'm not really that adventurous - I mostly eat the crab rolls and the GINGER) where the waitress recognizes me and always brings out an extra serving or two of their own ginger. Yum..

I have been anxiously waiting for my ginger roots to be ready to harvest & I think they are there! While waiting I've been gathering ideas on how I'm going to prepare them. I'm not too sure I want to boil the root as it seems like it would leech some of the properties from it that I'm trying to preserve. Sooo... in digging around in my recipe/note box, I came across this little recipe that I'm going to try this week. It has the promise of actually giving me two very usable ginger products - crystallized ginger & ginger honey. (I'm sorry that I didn't note where I obtained the recipe so I can give the credit due.)

Raw Candied Ginger

· Peel washed ginger root and cut into slices about 1/8 inch thick

· Place the slices in a large canning jar & cover with honey

· The honey will start to become very thin & watery after about 30-45 minutes, drain the watery honey off & pour it into another jar (be sure to save it)

· Pour more honey into the original jar with the ginger slices & cover them again, repeat the above procedures another 4-5 times until you no longer get the watery honey

· When the honey is no longer pulling the water from the ginger, remove the slices from the jar and lay them on a sheet of waxed paper in the fridge.

When dry, the slices can be placed in a jar or other contained and kept in the fridge. They should keep for a few months as long as kept cold. The ginger-honey can be used as a syrup or to sweeten other goodies.

I will let you know what my experiment brings! Hopefully lots of sweet gingery yumminess..

Saturday Sweetness - Lemon Ginger Cookies

Lemon-Glazed Candied-Ginger Cookies
This recipe is from Martha Stewart. I really, really LOVE ginger so I was very happy to find this yummy treat.. I wish I would have had this recipe when my Grandma was still alive. Lemon and gingerbread cookies were two of her favorite treats. I used to make her some flaky little lemon cookies and we always had gingerbread cookies on hand. To have them combined into one delicious cookie would have been a definite staple for her 4 o'clock teatime!

I altered the recipe to fit my lazier approach to cookie baking (slicing from a log vs. rolling out the dough & cutting circles) and because the dough will soften very quickly once removed from the fridge, but the original recipe can be found here. makes 4-6 dozen

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Salt
6 ounces (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped candied ginger (crystallized will work too)
1 large egg
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup water

Directions

Sift flour, baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon salt into a bowl.
Cream butter and brown sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add ginger, and beat for 2 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla until well combined.
Add flour mixture, and then beat on medium-low speed until dough just comes together.
Shape dough into two "logs" about 2" diameter. Wrap tightly in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or up to 3 days).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove 1st log from fridge & slice it into 1/4" thick rounds. Place the rounds 1/2 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are set and edges are light gold, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer parchment with cookies to wire racks. Let cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough. (Cookies can be stored for up to 3 days.)

Whisk confectioners' sugar, lemon zest and juice, honey, water, and a pinch of salt in a bowl until smooth. Drizzle glaze over the cooled cookies. Let stand until glaze is set, at least 20 minutes. (Glazed cookies can be stored overnight.)

~ I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as I do and that they can become a part of your tea time as well!

Refreshing....

I can't believe it's been a month since I wrote something. I really do have a lot to say... We have been extremely busy here in our own wee (and we) little world. It seems that we are outside until after dark most days just trying to keep up with all of the tasks here at home. Lots of herbs, veggies, and fruits needing tending to. Not to mention the critters and their needs/demands/wants.. Then when I am inside, it's time on the sewing machine (which I must confess I love) and all of the other little chores before bedtime.

Today we're going to my mom's to have a bbq. I'm in the experimenting mood (sometimes good, sometimes sorta scary) so I am going to take some of my herbs that I harvested this morning and try to create something yummy. I'm thinking my theme is going to be "Refreshing". One of things I'm trying is the following recipe for Lavender Lemonade. I've had something similar at a bridal shower & have wanted to try my hand at it for a while:

Lavender Lemonade

• 1/3 cup dried lavender ( be sure it's food grade)
• 1/13 cup sugar
• 14 lemons
• 4 cups boiling water
• 2 trays of ice cubes
• 10 cups cold water or to taste

Put ice cubes into a large pitcher. Place dried lavender in a bowl and add the boiling water over the top of it. After about 10-15 minutes, strain the lavender out (with a strainer or a coffee filter will work). Discard the lavender. Add the sugar into the hot lavender water. When the sugar is dissolved, pour over the ice cubes in the pitcher. Squeeze as much juice as possible from the lemons into the pitcher. Add the cold water to the pitcher. Taste and adjust lemon juice or sugar as desired.

To continue along the "Refreshing" theme, I am going to make an Avocado-Cilantro soup. I love chilled soups and this one just sounds wonderful. (I am sorry that I don't know where these recipes originally came from so I can give credit. I have a habit of copying great ones down & not always getting their origins documented.)

Avocado-Cilantro Soup

• 4 avocados, diced
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 1/2 cups chicken broth, cold
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 1 tsp hot pepper sauce
• 1 tablespoon tequila (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste
  
  Combine avocado, shallot, chicken broth, tomato paste, hot pepper sauce, lime juice and tequila in a large food processor. Add about 1/2 of the cilantro, saving some for garnishing. Process until mixture is smooth. Add salt and pepper. Pour mixture into a large bowl and refrigerate at least 2 hours, covered.
  When ready to serve, place the mixture into four chilled soup bowls. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and the remaining cilantro.

And lastly, on my creative front, I will make this lovely Pesto Butter/Dip. YUMMY! It doesn't necessarily go along with the Refreshing bit, but it's awesome and I picked the herbs specifically for this so here it goes.. (Now I just need to con Mom into making her Rosemary Bread..)

Pesto Butter/Dip

• 2 tbsp ground black pepper
• 2tbsp fresh oregano
• 2 tbsp fresh rosemary
• 2 tbsp fresh basil
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley
• 2 tbsp dried garlic powder
• 2 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  
  Grind together all ingredients except for the olive oil. Place the herb mixture onto a small plate and cover with a very thin layer of olive oil. Serve with warm bread or breadsticks.

Mom just called to tell me that she did make fresh bread so great minds are definitely on the same wavelength!!! Now just to fill in the rest of the meal. I'm thinking some grilled chicken breasts and strawberries for dessert......I'm hungry!

Lovely Lavender!

These beauties are living the good life. I had originally planted them (temporarily) in a gladiola bed just until we had finished the larger herb garden where I had planned to do a hedge of lavender as an outline for my working garden. BUT, they decided on their own that they wanted to stay put and take over the glads' home. I can't argue with them since they are so extremely happy and prolific.

Even though I am very allergic to bees (and any other bugs for that matter), I am really happy to see so many more out and about this year than over the last few. The crisis with the honeybees and the Colony Collapse Syndrome hit our area in a big way. The almond growers were really hurting as they depend on these tireless little workers to pollinate thousands of acres of almonds in our valley. On a much smaller front, our little gardens benefit greatly from the attention and wouldn't be able to survive without them. Somehow it seems that all is starting to right itself in our corner of the world when Spring finally arrives and you hear the unmistakable buzzing from your posies!
I will be harvesting some of the lavender this weekend, especially the English variety which is a little behind these beauties. I am playing with some different recipes and concotions based on the use of both fresh and dried lavender. By the end of the weekend, I will have projects strung all over the house in various stages of drying and curing. I am getting the feeling that Michael thinks I'm a mad scientist sometimes..poor guy really didn't know what he was getting into!