Garden Goodies

I love my garden cucumbers but couldn't keep up with the growing collection that piles up in our kitchen each day, so I decided to make some Bread & Butter pickles to go along with one of my favorite things to eat....grilled hamburgers!

Here is the recipe... now you can make some too!

16 cups sliced cucumbers

8 small pearl onions

1 green & red pepper cut into strips 

Place in 9x 13 pan and sprinkle with pickling salt

Let stand for 3 hours (stir occasionally)

Rinse & drain

In large pot add 5 cups sugar 

5 cups cider vinegar 

1 & 1/2 tsp tumeric 

1 & 1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 Tablespoon mustard seed 

2 Tablespoon celery seed

Add cucumber mixture and bring to a medium boil. Boil for 2 - 3 minutes and pour into glass jars that have been sterilized. Sterilize the lids in boiling water and screw them on while they are still hot. (I cut the recipe in half since I only had eight cups of sliced cucumbers.) This filled 7 half pint jars.

Enjoy!

Friendship Cruise

 FRIENDSHIP!

Friendship Cruise was the theme for our Relief Society Summer Social this year. It was held in Jan England's gorgeous backyard and the weather couldn't have been nicer!

Cute ladies in my ward

Dan grilling hamburgers for our delicious dinner

Ladies in red

The new mommies

Dinner at the Captains tables

After dinner Paula read a cute poem about friends and then we played a fun game. She had everyone write down something that only their best friend would know, then called some of the ladies to come up and read what they had written. We all tried to guess who's was who's. It was fun to learn some interesting things that we didn't already know like.... Susan's worst date was one of the Osmond brothers....glad to know it wasn't Donny (I have a little crush:) Allison out ran a police officer....what? Golda Lenord shined John Wayne's boots...pretty cool!

Dessert was sorbet in the actual scooped out shell of each fruit that we decorated by sticking a cute little drink umbrella in them. If you look close in this picture you can see Paula's pineapple sorbet, and in the background Eileen's coconut sorbet with the turquoise blue umbrella sticking out of it. The flavors were pineapple, coconut, lemon & orange mango...mmmm delicious! 

After dinner Libby Hargrove's group came up and performed a medley of songs about friendship. As usual it was darling and added so much to our night on the friendship cruise.

I tried to record it but my battery was going dead. I thought I only missed a few seconds of it, but it only recorded the last little bit! arrrgh! 

Here are the lyrics instead....

First verse was to the tune "On the Good Ship Lollipop." Second verse was to the tune "Getting to know you" from Oliver. Third verse was to the tune "I'd do anything for you" from The King and I.

1. On the Good Ship Friendship where the sisters meet, they're so cool and hip no matter the stage, Relief Society is all the rage. Newly married, student or single, young family or empty nest, where ever you are, you are simply the very best!  This is your night on the Frienship Cruise, kick your shoes off....it's time to schmooze don't worry a titch- we'll be sail'in without a hitch.

2. And we're.... Getting to know you, getting to know all about you, when life's topsy turvey we will be there to see you through. Getting to know you, only a cell phone away, chat-text or email- can chase the blues away!

3. And.... We'd do anything for you sisters - anything for you sister's any thing at all. Would you tend my kids? Anything! Would you sew for me? Anything! Laugh or cry with me Anything! Bake a pie for me? Anything! Any Any Anything at all!

The evening ended with entertainment by Cole Barnson and Ryan Darton from the band Kid Theodore. These guys rocked! First they performed a couple of familiar tunes, then a few from their albums, and ended by each taking a turn performing a love song. They did such a great job and it was fun watching them perform! (especially since they are from our very own ward:)

Happy Birthday Patrick!

                       August 21, 1980

Random thoughts....

*Pat looks young

*I look younger

*Cool Hawaiian shirt

*Wish I still had it

*Pat hates opening presents

*Loved my gold charm necklace

*Wonder what was in the box

*Miss my "real" blonde hair

*It was long

*Classic 80's wrapping paper

*Matches my first couch

*Pat's mustache

*He thought it looked good

*I thought it was ugly

*He was wrong

*I was right

*We were young

*We were poor

*We were tan

*We were thin

*You know you're getting old when you can use the phrase.....  "The good old days!"

Happy Birthday Justin!

Date: August 14 1981

Weight: 8lbs 3 0z 

Height: 21 inches

Brown skin, brown hair, black eyes!

Smiley guy

Nice tan!

One year old

First trip to the Zoo 

Two year old on a Four Wheeler

Kindergarten

First Grade

Second Grade

Third Grade

Fourth Grade

Fifth Grade

Sixth Grade

Seventh Grade

Eighth Grade

Ninth Grade

I couldn't find the 10-12th grade pictures, and I really wanted you to see blonde streaked hair/puka shell Justin:)

Happy Birthday Justin! 

Thanks for being such a great example to your younger siblings! You have always been nice and treated them so good, they are lucky to have a big brother like you! 

Early clue of your awesomeness.....

 

 

April 1991

Note written by Ashley....found and saved by Mom

Justin... Nine years old, Ashley... Seven

Justin & Ashley

Justin & Karli

Justin & Jake

Presto Pesto!

I don't know about you but I love Summer, it is my favorite season and I never want it end! 

One thing I love about this time of year is the fresh garden vegetables you can grow in your very own yard. We got a load of top soil recently and made a spot for a nice garden, but we were a little late planting it so we missed out on a few of my favorites like string beans and pea's. I plan on making up for it next Spring by planting rows and rows of them!

I did however plant some basil with the intention of making some homemade Pesto, so when I came across Marilyn's Pesto recipe that she posted on her blog I got very excited, then waited patiently for the day my little basil plant would be big enough to harvest. Last Wednesday was that day! 

Below is the result of the fruits of my labor along with Marilyn's recipe for homemade Pesto.

3 cups basil  

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

2/3 cup grated fresh Parmesan Cheese

1/2 cup pine nuts

2 tablespoons minced garlic

Blend all together in blender

presto.....Pesto!

Toss with any kind of Pasta (I used wheat penne pasta) add grilled chicken, sprinkle on a little parmesan cheese, and top it off with some toasted pine nuts! 

If you like your pesto creamy like Ashley, just add a little of the pesto mixture to some fresh cream and stir over low heat until it slightly thickens. 

Yummy!

I also have Butternut Squash growing in my garden and can't wait to try some new culinary creations like....

Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut Squash & Goat Cheese Pizza

and the one I'm most excited to try....

Butternut Squash Ravioli!

Ok so I guess I would be sad if Summer never ended because just thinking about these tasty autumn dishes stirs up wonderful images of Pumpkins, Autumn leaves, warm sunny days and cool crisp nights, which I have to admit makes me a little excited for my second favorite season of the year.......Fall!