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Happy Sunday to everyone!

I have planted my container garden. It consists of two beefsteak tomato plants and two romaine lettuce plants. Since I have never had a container garden before I started small.  I got excited when we had some really nice weather and planted. Ugh! Apparently I forgot this is Western New York and way too early. Therefore my mini container garden is flourishing on my dining room table. (The picture below is before they were moved to the table.) Why there? It happens to be situated by the best window for sun. I could actually pick some lettuce right now for a mini-salad.

It seems there is quite a bit to share with this post so let’s get right to it!

I have discovered a new knife that is super! The knife is one of those often seen in ads copper items. It is actually a cheese knife. I know this due to the holes in the blade which keep it from dragging the cheese with it as it cuts. However, I have used it for so many things. The knife cuts tomatoes as if they are made of butter. What a wonderful addition to my kitchen! Do you want to know the best part? I bought it at TJ Maxx for only $3.99.

This item is one of those, you can make decor for you home out of just about anything you have around. Several years ago, I bought some Land’s End, used, children’s, yellow, rubber boots. I spotted them in a little shop in town for not a lot of money and thought that I could find something to do with those cute boots. Over the years they have held tiny garden tools by my front step and other things but always on the porch floor. This year they are hung on my porch wall and I love this change. String was used to link the boots together and to use for hanging them. Then I just stuck some silk daffodils in them and there you go!

 Cute? Right?

Along with the coming of Spring and the cheerier outside decor, came garter snakes who had taken residence under my front porch. They had taken to sunning themselves on the rocks by the front steps. Now, I know they won’t hurt you but I have a thing about snakes (and mice, yuck!) and didn’t care for them being there. Also, my dog, Rudy, seemed to think that they were his new playmates and was always sniffing and doing that doggy “I want to play” pose with them. EWWWW. Anyway, I did some research online but eventually went to Walmart and bought some snake repellent. After all, I just want to keep them away from me and mine and not kill them (although in a fit of fear I won’t be held responsible for my actions). As a retired teacher I am ashamed to say that I didn’t read too well or even examine the product I bought too well visually. Once I got home I discovered that it was not just your regular spray bottle. It was designed to connect to your hose. My hose is behind my house and not accessible for this job. Needless to say, I returned it and then went back online. The one tip I discovered there for any snake was to use ammonia to keep them away. For $1.79 I thought I would give it a whirl. I should have gone straight to the ammonia idea right away. I splattered some on the ground where those cute little things were sunning themselves and “viola”! No more snakes. Now, I’m happy but Rudy is missing his little slithering buddies. He will get over it! My apologies for no pictures for this little tip. I was too freaked out to snap any of Snakey when he was sunning. He was big though! Huge! LOL

Since my last post I tried a new recipe I had seen and it turned out better than I could have hoped for. It is for a cornbread baked in an iron skillet and formed like an upside down onion cake! Confused? Hopefully, the recipe and illustrations will help with that.

UPSIDE DOWN SWEET ONION CORNBREAD

(from 12tomatoes.com)

Ingredients

• 2 (8.5 oz.) boxes of corn muffin mix
• 2 Vidalia onions
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1 cup corn
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1//3 cup green onions, finely chopped
• 4 Tablespoons butter
• Chive cream cheese to garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Carefully slice your onions into rings, making sure to leave them intact. Melt 4 Tablespoons of butter in a large cast iron skillet (I used my 10″) over medium heat. Arrange the onion ring sections in the center and around the edge of your pan. Fill in open spots with smaller pieces of onion. Saute the onions, in place, for 5 to 8 minutes, or until softened (I needed the whole 8 minutes). While onions cook beat eggs into corn muffin mix, then stir in cottage cheese ( I used low-fat because that was what I had on hand) and then add the melted 3/4 cup butter. Once it is all incorporated fold in your cheddar cheese, bacon and green onions. ( I used more bacon than was called for because, well, I love bacon.) Pour your batter, which will be very thick, into the iron skillet. (Do your best to keep sauted onion rings in place for a nice visual presentation when you flip the baked cornbread out onto a plate.) Bake for 30-35 minutes (mine took the whole 35 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. Carefully invert pan over serving platter. Slice into wedges, and serve with cream cheese, if desired.

As you see, I put my notes in parenthesis but I have one more. I am a long time cake baker and I never invert anything onto the serving plate or cake board. I take the plate or cake board and invert it over the thing I am plating and then flip the entire thing over. It is easier, less messy and less risky.

In my last post I mentioned my trip with a friend to Connecticut to visit her sister (now my friend also). Special shout out to Linda and Gina! We had a lot of fun and laughs. With the exception of a stop at a TJ Maxx our shopping was in thrift stores which I love! In a Goodwill store I found a vintage wooden magazine rack. I have been looking for one since I saw on Pinterest that they make a great storage place for pot and pan lids. Eureka! Now, I couldn’t leave it like it was even though it was in decent shape. Everything is a project with me.

After removing 3 price tags (everything I bought had no less than 3 tags each) I used my DeWalt circular sander and took the finish and designs off the rack. I used a fine sand paper since the finish was thin and the designs not very deep.  I wiped the rack off  with a tack cloth to make sure no loose bits were clinging to it. I used Waverly chalk paint in Crimson ($5.99 for a 8 oz. jar at JoAnn Fabric) to paint the rack. It took two coats which hardly made a dent in my jar of paint. Once that had thoroughly dried I used painter’s tape to mark off a rectangle on what I decided would be the front of the rack. I then used Waverly chalk paint in Plaster (an off-white) to paint the rectangle I had marked off. Again, I let that dry thoroughly after 2 coats. Using my oil based Sharpie markers in black and red I wrote a “pithy” little saying in the white rectangle.  Now to dig in my cupboards for all the pot and pan lids!

   

 

See you next time my friends and be sure to turn your friends onto this blog. Oh, and leave your comments! I love comments!