Blog Surfing

From How Sweet It Is: Whole Wheat Chicken and Parmesan Lasagna,  One Bowl Vanilla Cupcakes for Two and Crispy Shrimp Pasta with Arugula Pesto Cream Sauce

From Joy the Baker: Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread and Lemon Meringue Cookies

From Franish Nonspeaker: Rhubarb Tart with Orange Glaze

From One Perfect Bite: Molten Butterscotch Lava Cakes

From Cookin' Canuck: Asparagus with Hazelnuts and Dried Cherries and Heath Bar Chocolate and Toffee Cinnamon Rolls

From Home Cooking in Montana: Flourless Bread with NO Sugar

From Tracey's Culinary Adventures: Swiss Chard, Sweet Potato and Feta Tart and Mini Orange Creamsicle Tarts

From Our Krazy Kitchen: Smokey Caramelized Balsamic Chicken

From Stylish Cuisine: White Chicken Chili

From Une-deux-senses: Pear Creme Fraiche Pancakes

From Mel's Kitchen Cafe: Chicken Tortilla Bake

From My Sister's Kitchen: Farmhouse Chicken Chowder

From Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness: Ham Hocks and Red Beans

From Love and Homemade Recipes: Sweet Spring Breads

From Petit Elefant: Make Your Own Face Toner

From Recipe Girl: 100 Chocolate Chip Recipes

From Your Home Based Mom: Angel Biscuits

From Real Sustenance: 16 Layer Cacao Peanut Butter Raw Cake

The Lambs

I enjoyed going out to the farm this week to check on the lambs. I only made it to this particular field where there were 15 lambs and 5 ewes, and that is because these lambs are all sets of triplets. The ewes with twin lambs are in another field and the single lambs are also in their own field. All of the ewes have different nutritional needs depending on the number of lambs they birthed. Keeping them separated insures that both the ewes and lambs are getting enough nutrition and allows Doug the shepherd to monitor them. They are really growing fast! The ewes and their lambs were very relaxed and didn't seem to mind me hanging out in their space. Next time I visit the farm, I hope I will be able to get pictures of the other groups.

 

Birthday Dinner: Salad Course -- Arugula, Beet and Goat Cheese Salad with Lemon Citronnette and Pine Nuts

We recently had a birthday dinner for my good friend, Lori. It was nice to celebrate in person this year, rather than over the phone. I will be posting all of the recipes I made for the dinner, but it will be one at a time. I am starting with the salad.

We enjoyed this very tasty salad and all the ingredients are listed in the title of this post. I am a huge fan of arugula and I like it served with fresh squeezed lemon, but for company, I decided to make an actual dressing.

I used Trader Joe's steamed and peeled baby beets. You can make your own but these are very good and very handy to have on hand in the refrigerator.

You can find them in the refrigerated area

I plated the salads shortly before our guests arrived and held them in the refrigerator until needed. Right before I served the salads, I spooned on the lemon citronnette and I had the pine nuts in a bowl on the table for self service. The next time I make this salad, I plan to serve it with fresh spiced nuts which are easy to make on the stove top. It could use a little spicy/sweet crunch to counter the lemon and make it even better. 

Here is my recipe for the dressing.



Enjoy!

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

If I need a batch of cookies in a hurry, these Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies are my favorite go-to recipe because they can be made in minutes. Literally! The best part is that the add-ins make them different every time. For this particular batch, I added 1/4 cup chocolate chips, 1/4 cup peanut butter chips and 1/3 cup dry roasted unsalted peanuts. Believe me, I have added any chip available and anything that can be chopped into small pieces and they always turn out different. In case you doubt my word, I have proof!

Yes, I have a chip drawer!

If you entertain often, like me, this is a great recipe to keep on hand for a quick treat to send home with someone, anyone, or a very special someone.

I'm sorry, but I can't fit all 6'5" inches of him in one picture!

Like my son who dropped by to have lunch with me recently. He wears many hats, and works in several different fields, and just happened to be working at one of them that is near us. After being so far away from him for 15+ years, it is just amazingly wonderful to have him "drop by" for lunch. I sent all the cookies I had in the house with him when he left to go back to work. I wished I had more available that day for him to take and share with his people. I did send him away with some apples, oranges and anything else I could find in my kitchen to help sustain him until 10:30 that night, when his rehearsal would end.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips, Peanut Butter Chips and Unsalted Dry Roasted Peanuts

I have been making this recipe for so long, I forgot that it is actually adapted from a recipe from Everyday Food, which dates back to 2005. Yes, it is a long time favorite! Here is my recipe:

Enjoy!

Family

An afternoon at blamma and papa's house

Lunch and Dad's Melty Smoochie Experience

I recently enjoyed having my mom, dad and my sister, Cheryl, over for lunch. It was just a regular Monday, but very special because they were all at my house!! Yes, we had a good time at lunch. I made sandwiches with fresh baked Ciabatta, fresh roasted pork tenderloin, Havarti cheese, caramelized onions, Old Farm chutney and fresh arugula, which collectively, is one of my favorite  combinations. The food was good and we had a great time together, but that's not what this post is about. This post is about my dad and his first experience with a "Smoochie." To be exact,  Chocolate Melty Smoochies.

I never thought of my dad as a chocolate lover, but that opinion has changed. I now consider him a real lover of chocolate! I think the following pictures prove that opinion.

I happened to notice that dad was holding a "small" piece of smoochie in his palm

Mom getting a kick out of dad's humor

Dad hamming it up

It's getting smaller

Cheryl is also enjoying his humor

Now it is the size of a chocolate chip

We all encouraged him to please, take the last one

He took us up on our offer

Happy Daddy with empty hands!