Making Butter and Lemonade

Hello friends how was your week and weekend? Last week I went with my sister to Knoxville and we picked up little Sadie’s ashes. It was a very small box. She had lost so much weight. A sad time for sure. It makes me so paranoid about all the other fur babies.

The weekend was good. My sister, nephew and I went to the Mennonite farm market for the first time this season. They have just opened and they still haven’t got a lot of veggies in yet. They did have some beautiful strawberries. I have never been a big strawberry fan so I didn’t buy any. I started to get some for freezer jam but I knew I probably wouldn’t get around to it before the strawberries went bad.

We also visited a couple of local antique stores while we were in the town of Tellico Plains. Whew!! a little too rich for my budget in several of the shops. We did stop in at a little shop where the owner also does interior decorating. It was just a lovely shop. I bought these little butterflies to hang. I started to put them on a curtain but hung them on this sign instead.

Sunday was a bit of a lazy day for me. Weekends are really hard for me because they were always so special to me and my husband. Last week was my birthday and our 36th wedding anniversary. I got through it but it was pretty hard.

I have been crocheting a cardigan. I am making the panels and will put them all together. Hopefully soon. I spent most of the morning yesterday working on that while I listened to an audio book. The babies sleep all day. It is their favorite sleeping time. They occasionally look up at me with sleepy eyes and go right back to their napping.

***I love these colors. I can’t wait to put all of them together for the cardigan***

Along with cheating on my knitting with crochet I have also been watching a lot of needle point videos. Needle point is really hot right now. I still prefer cross stitch and embroidery. I ordered these stamped embroidery kits from Amazon and was really pleased with them. I got all four stamped patterns and thread and a hoop for $20.00.

***I can’t wait to work on these but I’m trying to finish my sweater first.***

***The kit comes with everything you need. It would be easy to put this in a bag and take it with me to work on while I am out.***

***I may even learn a few stitches I am not familiar with.***

Of course Kitty Kitty is enjoying the box from Amazon.

Have you seen the videos of people making butter from heavy whipping cream? I decided yesterday to give it a try. This is the brand I used from Walmart but any heavy whipping cream will do.

Put the cream in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Start the mixer on medium speed. This entire process will take about 15 minutes. You can also use a hand mixer if you don’t mind holding the mixer the entire time. I think it’s interesting that this is the way people churned butter many years ago. They would collect the heavy cream from the milk from their cows and put it in a butter churn. It took much longer than 15 minutes.

This is the stage where you could stop and add powdered sugar and have some yummy whipped cream.

Soon liquid will appear, this is buttermilk and you need to drain it off. You then scoop the butter and put it in a bowl of ice water. This will rinse the butter of any remaining cream that could cause the butter to become rancid.

You can use this buttermilk for making biscuits or pancakes.

I patted the butter out and added some sea salt. You can add any herbs or flavoring you like. It fit perfectly in my butter bell. I was very happy with it. It is so creamy and delicious. But I will say it it a bit of a messy process.

I also made some lemonade on Sunday. I had a bag of lemons that needed to be used. It was great with some toast and fresh butter.

I leave you with a picture of Millie my porch goose sporting her Easter outfit that I crocheted for her a couple of weeks ago.

Have a great week and always remember:

Love your day your way!!!!!

Making Lavender & Lemon Ice Cream

Last year I tasted lavender and lemon ice cream from a local ice cream shop. The shop is in downtown Sweetwater and happens to be owned by a very dear friend of mine, Emily. It was the first time, I could ever remember, having lavender and lemon ice cream. It was so refreshing so delicate so creamy and so yummy. I have traveled back to the creamery a few times to get a half pint or two of this deliciousness. But I thought to myself, what if I could make it?

For my Birthday in April I told my husband I would love to have an ice cream maker. I bought one for my nephew for Christmas but I’m not sure he has ever used it. Another nephew told me he absolutely loved his and used it all the time. I had to have one. I love ice cream.

Well I got the ice cream maker for my birthday back in April and I have made a couple of different flavors of ice cream. I was finally ready to try making the lavender and lemon ice cream. I searched for a few recipes and found several and decided to combine a few that I liked. Here is what I got.

***This is the ice cream maker that I got from Amazon. I love it!!!***

I searched for lavender flavoring and finally just settled for a lavender syrup that you can use for many things, such as tea, ice cream and lots of things. You can buy it just about anywhere. I did receive a tip from my friend from the creamery she said you have to use a lot of this flavoring to get a lavender flavor. That is okay with me, until I find the perfect lavender flavoring.

So here is the recipe I used:

1&1/2 cups of whole milk divided

1 cup of sugar

5 egg yolks

Pinch of salt

1&1/2 cups of heavy cream

Juice of 2 lemons, (I may only use 1&1/2 lemons next time)

1/4 cup of lavender flavoring

Heat one cup of milk, salt and sugar in a saucepan to steaming, stirring to dissolve the sugar. In a mixing bowl whisk the egg yolks. Pour 1/4 of the milk mixture into the egg yolks whisking constantly until they are smooth. Pour the tempered egg yolks into the saucepan over medium/high heat until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl. Whisk in the remaining 1/2 cup of milk, heavy cream, lavender syrup and lemon juice. Refrigerate until fully chilled.

When the mixture is fully chilled pour it into your ice cream maker according to the instructions. it’s usually about 20-25 minutes of churn time. It will be sort of like soft serve ice cream after this time. I could still eat an entire container of it.

After churning let your ice cream freeze for up to 6 hours and then enjoy. I have found it best to let your container of ice cream set out at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before serving. It’s delicious!!!!

Not everyone will appreciate the flavor of lavender and lemon. My husband is not a big fan but that just means more for me. I love it!! It’s a perfect spring or summer treat.

***I use quart containers for my ice cream. I got these from Amazon.***

***I will let you in on a secret I did add a little purple food coloring to give it a pretty color.***

I will keep you posted on my next concoction.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!

Dogwood Winter, Orchids and Sourdough Bread

Hello friends, How was your weekend? Easter is always a special family time for us. We went to my sister’s house for a cook-out. I made baked beans and some cookie bars. How did you spend your Easter Sunday?

***My cookie bars just before baking them.***

I have been sitting in the early mornings listening to the whippoorwills while I drink my coffee. Whippoorwill winter will be here soon. All last week we were experiencing Dogwood winter. The Dogwood trees are now fully bloomed out and the temps have turned quite warm again. Dogwood winter was very nice while it lasted. Cool mornings and warm afternoons.

***I think the Dogwood is one of the most beautiful trees.***

I mentioned last week that I had visited Harmony Lane Farms in Smithville Tennessee. If you missed that post check it out Here. I took a sample of their sour doughbread starter. I didn’t have time to make the sourdough bread when I brought the starter home. I kept the starter in the refrigerator and took it out last Friday to feed it and get it to room temperature to get it ready to make bread. Just like my yeast bread it is a two day process. If you are unsure of making sourdough bread check out some of the YouTube or Instagram videos out there. There’s so many good ones. I think I’ve watched about a million trying to get different ideas of how people do theirs.

I fed the bread on Friday morning around 5:00 AM and marked my jar to be able to see if the starter was active and rising. I came home Friday night and ran to the kitchen to check the starter and it was rising. It had almost doubled in size. I fed it again that night and the next morning I started the bread.

There is a lot of stretching and folding when you are dealing with sourdough bread. It took most of the day, off and on. I finished it in the afternoon and decided to let the dough sit in the refrigerator overnight. I had read that this makes for a more flavorful bread. On a side note I made more bread a couple of days later and didn’t do all of the stretching and folding and I didn’t leave it in the fridge as long. I couldn’t tell a bit of difference. I did stretch and fold a few times and let it rest and rise for a few hours.

***This is the proofing basket. I used to put the dough in after I had folded it and seamed the bottom.***

I baked the bread on Sunday morning. I was very happy with the way it turned out. It is very different from my yeast bread and the artisan bread that I make.

***I love the color and the texture of this bread.***

I celebrated my birthday this week and my 35th wedding anniversary. I don’t know if I told you but I got married on my Birthday. So we have a double celebration. I asked for an ice cream maker for my Birthday. The electric kind not the one you churn by hand. No thank you on the hand crank job I remember those from my childhood. Hubs and I took the day and did a little shopping and went out to eat. Very low key.

***My morning view a couple of times last week.***

I had read that if your cat has a box to play and sleep in it makes them more sociably comfortable and happy. I fixed a box for the kitties. They were very interested. Gus was the first one in it.

And then Kitty Kitty got in after Gus had finished inspecting it.

As soon as Gus saw Kitty Kitty in “his” box he ran straight into it and pushed Kitty Kitty out. The fight was on. I went down to the basement and got a second box and fixed it up for them. And wouldn’t you know it, neither one would have anything to do with the second box. Now they have lost interest in both boxes. Oh well it was an experiment.

***Several of my orchids are blooming and I am just loving all the different colors.***

That is what has been going on around here how is your week going?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Hello Monday: A Birthday and An Estate Sale

How was your weekend?

Mine started Friday night we had a birthday celebration for my nephew Tyler. I made a four layer dessert for his birthday. We also call it Mud Slide Pie. It has four yummy layers made up of: A pecan crust, cream cheese and powdered sugar and whipped topping, chocolate pudding and more whipped topping on top with added pecans. Very easy and quick and it disappeared quickly.

On Saturday I went to an estate sale in town. I love going to these, not only because of the treasures but seeing the homes too. I always like to imagine the way I would decorate each room. I am always interested in the person that lived there. The woman of this house liked sewing and painting portraits and flowers. She also loved baskets and some miniatures. I was hoping to find some sock darner eggs among the sewing treasures but I did not.

Here is what I bought. I know I know!!! I have been talking constantly about cleaning out the clutter from my home but some of these lovelies just had to come home with me. I don’t think you have to try and put out every item that you have at once. I like to switch things up. I keep these treasures stored until I do. Yes that is my story and I am sticking to it. Oh, and I forgot to mention, everything was 50% off on Saturday!!!!!

I kept going back to this candelabra. Whenever I do this at a sale it is a sure sign that I need to go back for it. What will I do with it? I’m not sure. I can just imagine it full of small or large candles and it will be beautiful.

***I’m not sure yet where I will put this lamp. I am definitely replacing the shade. I just loved the design of the flowers.***

I think this planter is beautiful. I seem to have an obsession with this type of planter. I have several that are animals and have the opening on the side or on the back. But I thought this one was especially nice for Christmas.

***I love these vases. They are old and very delicate.***

I was fighting off a cold or sinus thing on Sunday so I stayed in all day and knitted and crocheted, the day away. A good day!!!! Have a wonderful week!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!!!