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Blackberry Sauce

September 3, 2011 by pictureperfectcooking

My nanny has some thorn-less blackberry vines growing on her farm and I have been diligently picking some every time that I am up there.  These berries are big and plump, and, yep, full of tiny annoying seeds.  I wanted a sauce to go with the dairy free vanilla ice cream that I posted about last week, and I found this recipe at delish.com. 

I tweaked it just a little and it was so good!  The color was out of this world, and the flavor went perfectly with the ice cream.  I bet this would also be great with angel food cake.  I might have to try that, too!  Angel food cake, homemade vanilla ice cream, and homemade blackberry sauce sounds pretty good to me.

2 cups fresh blackberries (You can also use frozen.  Just let them soften up a little.)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/8 cup water

1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

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Bring the blackberries, sugar and water to a simmer over low-medium heat in a saucepan, stirring occasionally.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  While this was simmering, I mashed the berries with a potato masher.

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Strain the sauce through a fine sieve into a bowl.  Add the lemon juice.  Chill until ready to use.  I made mine the night before and the color really developed over night.

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Posted in Cooking | Tagged , , | 8 Comments »

Thoughtful Thursday-Garden Edition

September 1, 2011 by pictureperfectcooking

Looking back over this summer’s blog posts, I realized that there were very few garden updates and I know why.  The HEAT!!!  I started out with grand plan for my little raised bed this year and most of them worked out to some extent.  Early on, my lettuce and carrots did great, and the cucumber plants were taking off.  That was before The HEAT, though, and, yes, I believe it deserves all caps!

The first generation of cucumber plants produced a few veggies, but not nearly as many as I would have liked.  You can see that second generation in the first photo below.  Again, there have been a few harvested but not many.  The third generation is coming along nicely, and there should be enough time before frost to get a few cucumbers.  I don’t know if I just don’t have enough plants or if I am doing something wrong.  I thought I would have so many that I could share them with family, but there are barely enough for C & I.  I think I need another bed so I can plant more.  Or maybe 2 beds?!!??

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One veggie that has produced like gangbusters is the sweet peppers.  I only planted 3 little plants, but they have done great and are still hanging full!  That means lots of diced frozen sweet pepper for soups, chili, and sloppy Joes this fall and winter.  Yay!

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I hope to add at least one more raised bed before next spring because I want to can my own tomato sauce and juice, so therefore I need room for tomato plants!  And maybe some herbs and cabbage and…well, you get the picture.  Heirloom seeds are something that interests me, too so I have started a pinboard over on Pinterest to save seed ideas for next year.  If you like what I have pinned, please follow me!!

I hope to have better luck next year. There are a few things that I should have done differently this summer and maybe I can correct those then.  I should have added fresh compost to the bed to enrich it and I should have mulched with straw so the ground would not dry out so bad.  Live and learn, people, live and learn!!

Posted in Gardening, My Thoughts | Tagged , , | 2 Comments »

Wordless Wednesday

August 31, 2011 by pictureperfectcooking

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Posted in Home, Photography | Tagged , , |

Menu Plan Monday

August 29, 2011 by pictureperfectcooking

Good Monday morning, folks!  I am so glad you could join me today for our little menu planning adventure.  This is a short work week for me because I am taking off Thursday and Friday to have a little extra holiday break before Labor Day.  My co-worker, A, is scheduled for a c-section at the end of next week so I decided to have a little “staycation” before she goes on maternity leave.  Good luck and God bless to A and baby B for a safe delivery and a healthy baby and mama!

On Thursday, I plan on going to Bowling Green, KY with my aunt and nanny to visit Jackson’s Orchard again.  I am so looking forward to some fresh apples!  On Friday, it is all about garage clean-out.  I have a few organization ideas to implement out there, but first there is a bunch of stuff that needs sorting and cleaning.  Wish me luck!!!  Hopefully, there will be before and after photos of the success.

Cheesy steak sandwiches with oven baked fries

Taco ring (2 nights)

Burgers and fries

Pizza night

Shredded Pork BBQ with basic Cole slaw

Apple Butterscotch Brownies (new)

Posted in Menu Planning | Tagged |

Dairy Free Vanilla Ice Cream

August 27, 2011 by pictureperfectcooking

I tried to warn you last week that the dairy free ice cream recipes were going to come hot and heavy here for a few weeks.  It is my new favorite thing!  I asked my nanny and dad what ice cream flavor they would like to try and they chose good ol’ vanilla.  This makes a great base for a decadent sauce, like, maybe a homemade blackberry sauce from freshly picked blackberries perhaps? Yes, that is a tease.  Check back next week for some berry goodness.

1 14oz. can full-fat coconut milk

1 1/4 cups soymilk or other nondairy milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar (or agave syrup-I just bought some and will try this, too.  The agave syrup lowers the glycemic index which makes it better for diabetics.)

1.5 tbsp. real vanilla extract (The fake stuff would probably work, but I am a real vanilla snob.  Sorry!)

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Place all of the ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk until well combined.  Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. 

Turn on the ice cream maker and pour the vanilla base into it.  Process for 20 minutes and you will have amazing soft serve vanilla ice cream.  Pour this into a lidded freezer-safe container and let it harden for 2 to 3 hours. 

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Please join me and many other great bloggers at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday.

Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Beanilla.

Posted in Cooking | Tagged , , | 10 Comments »

Almost Wordless Wednesday

August 24, 2011 by pictureperfectcooking

August in Kentucky…

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Posted in Home, Photography | Tagged , , |

Menu Plan Monday

August 22, 2011 by pictureperfectcooking

It is Monday again?  The calendar says it is so I guess I had better work out my menu for the week.  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  We sure did!  C and I took my dad to a Bowling Green Hot Rods baseball game on Friday night and then we stayed home on Saturday to catch up on a few chores.  Even though we have had some extreme heat. the grass sure doesn’t seem to be affected.  It has grown like crazy all summer long.  I got out early Saturday morning and trimmed back the Knockout roses and Compacta holly shrubs that are in our front yard for the last time this year.  Did you know that you weren’t supposed to trim roses or shrubs any later than this in Kentucky? 

If you cut them now, the ends have time to heal over before cold weather.  If you wait too late, the moisture in the air (rain or dew) will settle down in the open cuts, then when it frosts or freezes, that liquid expands and bursts the stems.  Not good!  So if you live in South Central Kentucky, get out there in August and trim those shrubs.  It is safe to cut them back hard during March to encourage new spring growth.  Just a little gardening lesson for you!

This week’s menu is pretty straightforward.  There will probably be only one new thing this week, but that’s ok.  I might change my mind and whip up something new and unexpected!  C’s cousin is getting married in a couple of months and we are going to their wedding shower this weekend.  Congrats to them!

Southern Plate’s Deep Dish Pizza

Grilled Hot Dogs & oven baked fries

Country ham & biscuits with butter roasted potatoes

Pizza night

Homemade sloppy Joes with oven baked fries

Hot Fudge Pie (new) with dairy free vanilla ice cream

Posted in Menu Planning | Tagged |

Dairy Free Rocky Road Ice Cream

August 20, 2011 by pictureperfectcooking

Here is the first of what I am sure is to be many dairy free ice cream recipes.  If you read my Thoughtful Thursday post a couple of days ago (And if you didn’t, go back and read it right now.  I can wait.  Hmm, hmm.  Done? Good.), you will know that I have found a new passion…dairy free ice creams.  Ooohh!  They are so good!

One of my and C’s favorite ice cream treats is rocky road at a certain national ice cream chain, so that is one flavor that I wanted to try to duplicate. This recipe is in the “lick it!” vegan ice cream cookbook.  In my humble opinion, this is just as good if not better since the nuts and marshmallows taste fresher in this homemade version.  Try this now!!! (If you want this recipe to be truly vegan, you will need vegan chocolate and marshmallows.)

1 1/4 cups soymilk or other non-dairy milk

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

6 oz. milk chocolate chips

1 14 oz. can full-fat coconut milk

2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup mini marshmallows

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Combine the soymilk, sugar and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan and whisk until smooth.  Warm on medium heat until the soymilk begins to simmer.  Remove from heat. 

Put the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl.  Pour the hot soymilk mixture over the chocolate and stir until smooth.  Whisk in the coconut milk and vanilla extract.  Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. 

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Then freeze in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  (The instructions for mine say: Turn on the machine.  Pour the ice cream base into the machine and process for 20 minutes.  Add the almonds and marshmallows for the last 5 minutes.)

At this point you will have soft-serve ice cream which is awesome in itself.  If you want hard ice cream, pour the soft-serve into a lidded freezer-safe container and freeze for 2-3 hours if you can wait that long!

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Please join me at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday.

Posted in Cooking | Tagged , , | 15 Comments »

Thoughtful Thursday

August 18, 2011 by pictureperfectcooking

Up until now, you would not have found many, if any, ice cream recipes on this little blog o’ mine.  Why?  Well, I am extremely lactose-intolerant.  So bad that one little bite of regular ice cream will send my stomach into fits for hours, and that is so NOT FUN!  I can take the medicine that helps, and it does just that, helps, but it does not go away completely. 

All of that is about to change.  You may see a dozen ice cream or frozen treat recipes on here all in a row because of a birthday gift that I received.  My in-laws (God bless ‘em, they are wonderful!) gave me a tabletop ice cream maker along with a recipe book titled “lick it!”, which is full of vegan ice cream recipes.  Now, I am not a vegan, and probably will never be a vegan, but one thing that vegans and I share is a need for food without dairy in them.  This book rocks!

The ice cream maker is a Cuisinart model ICE-21 and it is awesome!  Check it out here for all of the info.  It makes 1.5 gallons at a time in about 20 minutes.  At that point the ice cream is like soft serve which is the way I like it.  If you want it firmer, just put the deliciousness into a freezer-safe lidded container and let it harden for a couple of hours.  That is if you can wait that long!!

So far I have made the chocolate rocky road, vanilla, and orange sherbet recipes from the “lick it!” book, and they are great!  I couldn’t tell that they weren’t the real thing.

If you are lactose-intolerant or vegan or just want to try something a little different, get yourself an ice cream maker and this book.   A little word to the wise, you might want to invest in coconut milk and soymilk stocks.  Just wait, you will understand!

Posted in Books, Cooking, My Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , |

Menu Plan Monday

August 15, 2011 by pictureperfectcooking

Well, well, well…here we are at the start of another week.  Where does time go? I know where some of my time has gone, to my new online addiction of pinterest.com.  I am sure many of you have already become hooked to this website, and if you haven’t tried it, check it out!  Pinterest is an online virtual bulletin board where you can “pin” pages from the web to your own board for safekeeping until you are ready to use these ideas, but the best thing is that you can look at other people’s boards as well to see what interests them. Then, if you really like their stuff, you can follow them and see what they add everyday.  Let me tell you, this can be a huge time-suck.  I can easily kill and hour or two just browsing!

Back to our menu…this week will be a little short.  One night I HAVE to go to the grocery.  I have cleaned out the freezer and pantry so much that there is very little left, which is good so all of the food can be refreshed but that means a big grocery bill this week and that is not good. We also are attending a baseball game with my dad one night so we will probably nosh on ballpark food then.  It’s free t-shirt night so we can’t miss it!!  I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful week!

Famous Pork Chops and butter roasted potatoes

Cheesy steak sandwiches with oven baked fries (2 nights)

Basic Meatloaf

Grocery Night

Ballgame Night

Dairy Free Marshmallow Ice Cream with Hot Fudge Sauce (2 new recipes)

Posted in Menu Planning | Tagged |

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