The Spoils of the Day

Have you ever been blackberry picking? It's a sport that calls for long pants, long sleeves, and gloves, but none of those things are viable during our 99 degree June days.

Here are the spoils of our blackberry picking.

I'll spare you the photo of my arm with all the scratches from the blackberry briers. And my son's mosquito bites in <very unfortunate> places.

Half of these went into a blackberry cobbler topped with vanilla bean ice cream the same night.

Many others were added to a bowl of cottage cheese with cantaloupe for a light lunch.

It was also a day of picking a few ripe vegetables from my organic raised vegetable beds. I have been very pleased with the vegetables' quick growth in the homemade soil made using the Square Foot Gardening book as the instructional guide.

I'm happy to get a chance to eat the vegetables I can and not forfeit them to the deer that seem to love them as much as we do!

Happy gardening, and of course, happy eating-

Love,
TCB

What are You Thankful For?

What am I  thankful for this week?

The bald eagle my son and I spotted flying over and over the river yesterday afternoon.

The very first vegetables to come out of my organic garden. They only needed a sprinkling of extra virgin olive oil, some cracked pepper, and sea salt to taste great straight from the grill.

That my son doesn't mind watching Little House on the Prairie while I work on writing assignments for five straight hours.

That we have plenty of good food.

That my doggie is cozy enough in her home to sleep the afternoon away, knowing we will take care of her.

That's a sampling of what I'm thankful for, but don't be fooled. There are 1,001 other things on the list this week. I just need to go watch my shows on the DVR.

"I have learned to be satisfied with the things I have...I know how to live when I am poor, and I know how to live when I have plenty." Philippians 4:11-12.
The apostle Paul had it right.

What are you thankful for today?

Love,
TCB

Why "No TV" is Good for Kids

In our homeschool world, it's already summer vacation. For my son and many other kids, that means days by the pool but also afternoons in front of the TV. Recently, my son got into a little trouble at home and had his TV privileges revoked for three days. The first day was pure torture for him (and torturous whining for my ears). But by the second day, he had substituted his afternoon viewing habit with some other activities. The activities were much better for him than pure TV viewing could provide. So much so that I have implemented new TV viewing rules - including a blank screen - for many hours of the summertime.

First, I saw him wander outside with his BB Gun.

When the squirrels were elusive, his sights were moved to a more manageable target.

Next, he planted basil and lavender. Basil is great paired with sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella slices, and a drizzle of olive oil for a caprese salad. Dried lavender is good mixed with Epsom salts for a relaxing bath soak.

Then he read the comics. (At least he was reading SOMETHING.)

And there were even a few crafts.

NO TV is a good thing. One day down. Another to go.

Happy Summer,
TCB

Southern Iced Green Tea

Southern Iced Green Tea

You know I’m Southern and that must mean I’m a sweet tea drinker, right? Well, sort of. I used to be addicted to my sweet tea, which is made from black tea leaves. But with the help of an alternative physician, I found the tannins in black tea were making my heartburn situation worse. It was a daily affair for me and one that I didn’t want to give up, but I did give it up cold turkey when I was told it would make me feel better. And it did.

OK, so back to being a Southerner. I MUST have my sweet tea, so I found a substitute. It only took me about a week to get used to the switcheroo, and now that I have, I won’t be going back. Here’s my recipe for iced green tea.

Southern Iced Green Tea

5 family size green tea bags (I have found it important to use green tea bags especially for making iced tea, as the other tea bags don’t seem to taste as good. I use Luzianne because it tastes the best to me.

About 2 quarts of water (a little more or less is OK; it just depends on how strong you want your tea. I like it strong.)

½ cup turbinado sugar (that’s brown, unrefined “raw” sugar)

1 tablespoon Stevia

Pinch of baking soda

Remove the paper tags and tie the tea bags together. Place them in a 2 quart pot and add cold water to the top. Place on the stove on high and remove from the heat just as the water begins to boil. Add a pinch of baking soda and let the tea bags steep for 5 minutes.

Remove the tea bags and discard (or add them to your compost bin – they’re great for garden plants). Add the sugar and Stevia and stir to dissolve. Pour into a gallon pitcher and top off the rest of the pitcher with cold water. Stir and refrigerate. I find the tea tastes best when it can sit in the refrigerator overnight or at least 8 hours.

This version is a little healthier than traditional Southern sweet tea because of the sweeteners used and the health benefits of green tea.

Hope you enjoy!

TCB

What I'm Reading in May

As I write this on a beautiful (non-humid!!) Sunday afternoon on the banks of the Broad River, I am enjoying the sounds of birds singing, the flap of Canadian geese’s wings flying over the water, and a just-what-the-doctor-ordered breeze. What a perfect day to be outside with a good book.

Just as I’ve never been one of the earliest adopters of technology, I am not one of the earliest readers of the latest books. I find to be the first is pricey at the book store and downright impossible at the library. I put myself on the waiting list at my local library when The Weird Sisters came out, and I was 60^th in line!

So in May, I have been reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat.Pray.Love. And no, I haven’t seen the movie. I would never do that before reading the book. I’m not sure that I have ever liked a movie better than the book on which it’s based.

For those of you who haven’t read it, I would recommend it as a fun read. Elizabeth’s true story of self-exploration and self-realization is divided into three parts: her travels post-divorce over the course of a year to Italy (Eat), India (Pray), and Indonesia (Love). I have made my way through Italy and India so far and have been entertained by Elizabeth’s clever use of words. I will say from my viewpoint, her descriptions of her life in Italy left me feeling a little sad. And as a Christian, some of her religious insights seem a little hocus-pocus to me. However, all in all, she is an entertaining writer, and this is her partial autobiography, so she is free to tell her story how she sees it.

You won’t have to wait in a long line to pick this one up at the library, although it is still new enough to be in the Popular Reading section. Try it. I think you’ll like it.

Happy reading. Now it’s time for the nap portion of my day by the river.

Love,

TCB

Delicious Chicken Casserole

Every good Southern woman has a chicken casserole recipe she relies on when she needs to cook supper without hassle or needs a dish to take to a sick friend from church. My chicken casserole is a combination of my mother's recipe, my mother-in-law's recipe, and my additions and tweaks to satisfy my family.

The first step is to lure the chicken out of the hen house.

Just kidding. I would never eat our Henny Penny.

But you'll have to bear with me a little on this recipe. I've made it so many times (it's my son's favorite meal) that I don't much measure anything and can make it in my sleep.

First, decide how much time you have to prepare the chicken. If I'm in a big rush, I will buy a fully cooked rotisserie chicken from the local grocery store and cut it up into bite size pieces. I usually only need about 1/2 to 2/3 of the chicken. If I plan ahead a little, I put three organic boneless chicken breasts in the crock pot that morning with a little water to cover them 2/3 of the way and salt and pepper. Cook them on low for about 5-6 hours.

An hour before you want to serve supper, remove the chicken from the crock pot, reserving the broth, and use two forks to shred it.  Boil a pot of water and cook whole grain egg noodles until done, about 8 minutes. Mix the chicken and egg noodles with:

about 8 ounces of light sour cream
one can of cream of chicken soup
a splash of chicken broth from the crock pot (just enough so the casserole isn't dry)
poppy seeds (I use lots).

Pour everything into a lightly greased two-quart casserole dish. It will look like this.

If you use enough chicken broth, it will be a little juicy which is important to keep it moist during the oven time coming next.

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, crush a sleeve of crackers into fine crumbs. Melt one stick of butter in the microwave and stir in the cracker crumbs. Top the chicken casserole and pop into the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until it is hot and bubbly and the crackers have browned.

There won't be any leftovers.

Happy cooking. Happy eating.
TCB

What's Blooming in my Garden Now

If you're a gardener, this is the best time of year and the worst time of year. Let's get the bad over first - the weeds. I can weed one area of my flower beds, and *pop* as soon as I turn my back, I swear another one sprouts and grows 6 inches. Thank goodness for my son (who, as you may remember, is in the process of becoming a junior master gardener). Without his help every week, the weeds would be taller than me. Hopefully, I am slowly outsmarting them, planting perennials in bare areas to shade out the weeds' preference for sun.

I don't have the weed trouble at all with my new raised vegetable beds this year. Thank heavens. I am loving the Square Foot Gardening method.

Here's a look at what's newly sprouting and blooming in the garden in early May:

Japanese Maple

Hosta (I have two varieties in my back garden). They are a lovely addition if you can keep the deer away. Deer love them.

In the shade, there are many things blooming:

Creeping Jenny. I find it cascades beautifully if you place it in one of those half-turned-over-looking pots. You've got to keep an eye on it if you live in the country like me - deer like it, too.

Autumn fern, a beautiful perennial. It has really added some new leaves in the last week.

Mountain laurel, which is surprising in our Lower South location, but this is in a very cool, shady spot.

And...

Salmon-colored impatiens, which every shady Southern garden needs. They are also known as deer candy :)
That's why they only get planted in my deck planter that hovers out over the ridge. Deer lips cannot reach them there or they would be goners. (The impatiens, not the deer. Not yet anyway. It's not deer season until the end of the summer).

I just read an excerpt from a Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology study that said gardening was more relaxing than more sedentary activities like reading. I know exactly why after busting my rear end all day planting and pulling weeds. I crash my showered body onto the couch to read a good book, knowing that my hard work for the day is going to make my house look like a million bucks (and my stomach happy as soon as those tomatoes ripen).

Happy gardening.
Love,
TCB