The Birthday Girl and the Luau

Welcome friends and family! Glad you stopped by! Today is a special day, Shay the baby of the family is turning 12! We celebrated last night with a low key Luau style dinner.

This is where the Birthday Girl will be seated. In pink of course. Her friend Sally the flamingo is sitting in for her.

Even the hula girls were invited. They don't eat much or take up any space.

It's so hard to believe she is 12!

For her dinner she chose Pan seared Parmasean Talapia with Oven Roasted Potatoes and Parmesean Grilled Asparagus.

More Hula-ing going on! Hula-ing? I guess its a word?

The Birthday Girl blowing out her candles....Saying goodbye to 11! (BOOO HOOO!) Slow down child, you only were in diapers yesterday it seems!

I  am linking up with Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for TT. Make sure you stop by and see as many of the tablescapes as you can. They work so hard. The talent and photography blows me away every week! Have a wonderful weekend. School is starting Monday, We will be having our first Freshman in a while and the Birthday Girl will be in 6th.....SIGH!

Garden Update and Other Chit Chat

Hello there bloggy friends. In usual fashion I have been MIA around here. Lots of things have been going on good and bad in the garden around here. First the good, tomatoes are coming in finally and after 3 attempts this season my cantaloupes are full of softball sized melons, my peppers jalapenos and salsa peppers are in high gear. The bad? Yes there is a bad side, over fertilizing on my part caused blossom drop, Late blight came to visit and as soon as that was under control the ugly horn worm went on his eating frenzy.

But things are turning around and the tomatoes plants are again setting blooms and ripening some beautiful fruits. It will probably be a low yield season but with 30 assorted plants I'm sure I will have enough for our use at least.

I have been making tons of jam. My recent batch was Raspberry Strawberry. It turned out SO GOOD! I didn't have enough raspberries to make the batch so I added some strawberries, about a 70:30 ratio. It is perfect, we ate way too much of it last night. I have also made Strawberry Lemon Marmalade, Strawberry Blueberry, Peach and Strawberry Rhubarb.

This is my first Cherokee Purple tomato. They are so beautiful in there own way and the taste is out of this world!

Last but certainly not least the hubby had his birthday this week! We had a super yummy Buttermilk Chocolate cake with White Chocolate Icing. Can you guess how old he was? HeHeHeHeHe.... I'm just being jealous cause I'm four years older.

I am looking forward to catching up on all the blogs I follow I really have missed everyone. So I will stop the chattering and head off to blog stalk everyone! Have a great week friends!!!!!

Independence Day Tablescape Featuring Liberty Hall by Staffordshire

Happy Fourth of July friends! Thanks for stopping by. Thursday has arrived again and brought with it Tablescape Thursday hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. Make sure you stop by and see all the wonderful tablescapes.

These are my new dishes, Independence Hall by Staffordshire. I just love them so much. They are the first blue in my collection. What a great way to start!

I layered them with my white Gibson Claremont plates and gold chargers from my Christmas stash. I think a bit of gold sets the red white and blue off perfectly. It represents the gold stars.

The blue wine goblets are from the Dollar Tree. They are so pretty a perfect match to the Independence Hall. I love mixing it all.

I used my tried and true red place mats and Oneida's Brooch flatware.

Here are a few candlelit shots. Please for give me for scrambling the order of the pictures. Not sure how that happened. It's been a while, I guess I'm rusty.

Here is a shot peeking through the wine glass that I am using as a water goblet. Is that breaking any rules? Never quite acquired the taste for wine, but I love the glasses.

A close up of these new treasures. I just love the blue and the detail. It's so great to be back with a tablescape post. I have really missed it.

Have a safe and wonderful 4th! A special thanks to all of our soldiers and their families past and present. As we all know, their sacrifices have built the wonderful country!

Zucchini Brownies with Chocolate Buttermilk Drizzle

Good afternoon everyone! Hope everyone is having great gardening and tablescaping adventures this week. I have been in the garden and taking my baked goods to the farmer's market each Saturday. I have been so busy that I have been neglecting my dishes and blogging. Whats been keeping you busy? I can't wait to get caught up on all my blog reading. I have missed everyone.

It has been so long since I posted a recipe. After all I did start this as a blog for my baking. So I better get to posting about all the baking that goes on around here. My zucchini's are not producing yet, as a matter of fact I just found the first of the blooms today. But I have found some wonderful zucchini's from other gardeners.

I thought this would be a perfect recipe to share with you all.

Zucchini Brownies


Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 baking dish

11/2 cups sugar
3/4 cups canola oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini
2 cups flour
1/3 cup of cocoa
11/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt

Whisk sugar,oil,vanilla and zucchini till blended. Stir in remaining ingredients and spread into a greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool brownies.

Glaze
3 Tablespoons melted butter
3 Tablespoons cocoa
2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons of buttermilk
pinch of salt
Stir together cocoa and butter. Add powdered sugar beat till smooth while adding buttermilk then add pinch of salt. Drizzle over brownies. Enjoy the amazingness!

These are so super easy to make and if you are not a zucchini lover you will be surprised how chewy and cakey these are with out a taste of the zucchini. The kids can not get enough of these. They still don't believe I put zucchini in them. They are very popular at the market also.

I hope you will give them a try, you will not be sorry!

Have a wonderful week and I can't wait to stop in and see what all you bloggers have been up to!

Harvest Monday With Peas

Happy Monday! Today I am going to link up with one of the most amazing gardeners and bloggers, Daphne over at Daphne's Dandelions. Make sure you hop on over there and see what all the gardening bloggers are harvesting this week. Thank you again Daphne for hosting, I look forward to every Monday!

My Asian snow peas have finally pulled out of their dilemma and are producing. These guys were left a bit to long before harvest, got a bit busy and almost forgot them. Never the less they are crunchy and sweet, I cant wait to get them in a stir fry. They are a bit curled, not sure why. This is the first time I have had this happen. It was very hot, dry and windy. If anyone know what's up with them I would appreciate any feedback. They were suffering some ailment. I treated them with a solution of milk and water and baking soda. It seemed to work.

I have finally harvested all my greens. I am sad to see them go but we will have salads for another week or two. I will  just support my other local gardeners and buy my greens at the market. How's things going in your garden?

Have a wonderful week! See you all next Monday!

Harvest Monday Again!

Happy Monday All! We are finally out of the 4 days of rain and cold! Thank Goodness! I hope everyone is enjoying time in their garden today. Especially those of you who were sidelined all weekend.

Make sure you hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions and see what all the wonderful gardeners who participate are harvesting. Leave them a comment. Bloggers love comments!

This is my harvest for this week. Two heads of butter crunch lettuce. I should have took the picture before I hacked them to bits but I was so excited for my first head lettuce harvest. Next time I will try to compose myself .(snicker!) Don't worry, I won't quit my day job.

Thank you again for stopping by! Also a super big THANKS to Daphne for hosting! Tell her how FAB her gardening is too!!!! See everyone next week. Happy Gardening!

Garden Update and My First Harvest Monday.

Good Morning All. Thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Mother's Day. I sure did!

It's Monday again and that means it's Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions. Make sure you stop by to see this wonderful blog! I'm so excited to be able to participate for the first time. There are a wonderful bunch of gardeners who drop in each week to show their harvests! You don't want to miss this I assure you!

This my first harvest from my little 20x 30 garden plot. I have just recently got back into gardening and it has been so much fun. These radishes are called Cherry Belle. They are doubly yummy cause I grew them myself. My kids are not radish lovers but are eating them and liking them. All because they helped mom grow them. Truly amazing what gardening can do!

To my followers, I hope you haven't given up on me. I am getting back to my regular postings of tablescapes and recipes soon too. I got very busy with the farmer's market season kicking off early and having way too much fun outside in the garden. Hopefully I will gain some wonderful gardening bloggers as well!

Have a wonderful week. Can't wait to see what's "growin' on" in everyones garden!