Delicious Days at Home

I spent several good hours canning our lovely strawberries into yummy jam this past week.  Mom came over to join in the fun.  We made 3 batches, plan strawberry and jalapeno strawberry.  I think I ate about 1/3 of a jar by myself yesterday with cream cheese and crackers. So yum! 

There is just something about a mason jar that brings a smile to my face. 

We have enough jam for ourselves and to give away freely.  I think we processed over 20 jars.

Another yummy strawberry treat worthy of note: strawberry lemonade! 

Here's the recipe I've been using, apparently it's from the Anne of Green Gables Cookbook.  I like this recipe because it just makes the concentrate so you can make yourself a glass whenever you feel like it and use sparkling or still water depending on your mood. 

 

1 ½ cups sugar

1 ½ cups water

Zest from one lemon

1 ½ cups fresh lemon juice

Ice cubes

Cold water or sparkling  (I think sparkling water is extra yummy!)

Lemons slices

2 Tbs strawberry puree 

 

Measure the sugar and water into a sauce pan. While stirring with a wooden spoon, bring the mixture to a boil for 5 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Let cool slightly.

Add fresh squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest to the sugar syrup. Cool completely. Pour the lemonade syrup into a quart jar. Cover tightly with the lid. The syrup can be kept in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 weeks.

When you’re read to serve the lemonade, put some ice cubes in the bottom of a glass. Our ¼ cup of the lemon syrup over the ice cubes. Add ¾ cup cold water or sparkling water and stir.  Add strawberry puree if desired.

The recipe makes enough syrup for 14 glasses of lemonade.

We spent a lovely day doing nothing yesterday.  I offered Evangeline several options for possible outings including the Strawberry Festival, the Children's Museum, lunch at Clabber Girl... she was just satisfied to stay home.  Sometimes you just need a day to do nothing but stay at home.  We have had pretty full days the past few weeks, so I admit I was happy to oblige her.  We ate our lunch outside by the waterfall, which is one of our favorite things to do when we have a relax at home kind of day.   

Since I'm in the recipe sharing kind of mood I thought it would be wrong to keep the best salad in the world all to myself.  

Adrienne's Favorite Summer Salad:

Salad 

Half of an avocado

1/2 of a red onion

diced tomatoes (all I had were cherry tomatoes)

Cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed 

2 cans of tuna packed in olive oil

2 Tbs of fresh basil

2 Tbs red wine vinegar

1 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste if you would like

Mix red onion, beans, tuna, vinegar, olive oil, basil, salt and pepper, tomatoes together.  Place an avocado half on top of a bed of salad and cover with the delicious tuna mixture.

So this was the kind of day we had.  It was nice to stay home, however, after Evangeline woke up she decided that she had a hankering for a cookie from Rick's Smokehouse in Terre Haute.  She begged me to take her.  We didn't go, but it was so funny that she was insistent about getting a cookie from Rick's of all places.  She told me, "Rick's has the richest cookies".  She also told me that "Rick's has the sweetest cookies".  Hmmm, I need to try on of these next time we are there.

We finished out our nice, relaxing day walking Evangeline's toy dog, Teresa (a.k.a. Twinkleberry and a.k.a. Woo Woo), to the park.

Here she is after she recharged her batteries on the couch for an hour or two.