You know I’ve got a freezer full of Peeps. I buy them the Monday after Easter; that’s National Peep Day, dontcha know? Peeps freeze beautifully and thaw out fresh tasting.
Throughout the year, I use them in recipes or pop a few in a hot cup of coffee.
Today, stuck in the house because of the rainy weather, I got busy in the kitchen, and yes, Peeps jumped out of the freezer and into the mixing bowl. Peeps Granola bars for a quick breakfast, lunches and afternoon coffee are ready for the coming week.
Ingredients:
2 cups quick oats
1 cup chopped nuts (I used a combination of pecans and walnuts)
1/2 cup Allergen Free Chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash salt
1/4 cup Smucker’s Peanut Butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup corn oil
One whole pack of Peeps ( any flavor, cut into smallish pieces)
What to do:
Preheat oven to 300°. Line a 9×9 baking dish with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, combine first five ingredients in the list.
Next, in a small microwavable bowl zap the peanut butter, honey and oil for one minute in the microwave. Yes. Stir together and then pour over the oatmeal mixture. And the cut up Peeps? Fold them in.
Pour the granola into the parchment lined baking dish, pressing all the way to the sides and corners. Bake for 45 minutes, till the oats are browned. Cool and cut into bars or squares. Place into an air tight container.
Tilly needs new tires. She’s parked until I can afford them. My oldest son let us borrow his rotor tiller. Thank you, son.
Some of the seeds I bought and planted earlier in April have not come up. Country Roads and Lance-leaf coreopsis have let me down. I replanted two rows of flowers this Saturday. The time in the garden is my therapy. Starting over is how we live, right? A new beginning every morning.
Swamp rabbits have envaded my raised beds. The little kitchen garden has become their nighttime dining spot. They’ve devoured hot peppers and English peas. And they have made their way to the big, rowed up garden and left their teeth marks on the young, Contender green bean plants.
The raised beds holding English peas, yellow squash and hot peppers were each wrapped with garden mesh this morning. I did the same with the blueberry plants that are loaded with fruit. Fingers crossed.
Because Tilly is out of commission, no work in the big field can happen. Tilly is used for bushhogging as well a gardening/tilling. The bikes look forlorn out in the field all by themselves with no flowers framing them. I’m trying to think of a way to get something planted out there, though.
Even with these setbacks -all in the space of a few weeks- I managed to gather fresh flowers for the house. Asiatic lily bulbs bought in March and put in pots are blooming now. Volunteer coreopsis in the big garden are also showing out. How they got there, shoulder shrug, I don’t know. Serendipity! And two tiny rose bushes bought at a local grocery store have come out for spring: one pale pink, one yellow.
Placed in front of the fireplace mantel mirror, the little bouquets multiply. One of the tiny bud vases was my great grandmother’s and one was found at a local junk shop. They’re fun to use and echo the shape of the bigger green vase that was my mother’s.
These little bouquets remind me to keep moving forward. Setbacks; don’t let them get you down. Adjust, pivot, bob and weave. Just keep trying.
Are you wanting onion rings, but there’s no milk in the frig? This recipe uses plain Greek yogurt instead of milk for the batter. Easy, light, slightly crunchy and baked in the oven these will be a family favorite.
Ingredients:
1 medium sweet onion (Vidalia or yellow) cut into rings and separated
1 single serve container of plain Greek yogurt
1 egg
1 cup Pioneer Biscuit mix, seasoned to taste (salt, pepper, garlic powder, Cajun seasoning)
Vegetable spray
What to do;
Preheat oven to 375°.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
In a small bowl combine the yogurt and the egg, mixing well.
In another bowl season the biscuit mix.
Coated onion rings ready to bake
Next, coat the onion slices in the yogurt egg mixture. Shake off any excess and then gently toss in the seasoned biscuit mix. Place each battered onion ring on the parchment lined baking sheet; leave room between each one. Spritz each prepared onion ring with vegetable spray. Place in heated oven. Bake for ten minutes and then with a fork flip them and continue baking for another eight to ten minutes. A nice golden color is what you’re looking for.
Baked (oven-fried) to a golden brown
Serve with your favorite sauce. Mine is hot honey mayo. This a great side for practically any entre`: chicken tenders, fried fish, etc.
It’s still a little early to put plants in the ground. The seedlings bought yesterday need a few more weeks before going into raised beds. The sunny bench in the potting shed is now loaded with hope for a full potager garden.
The mayhaw is blooming now. Lots of sweet banana peppers.Three kinds of mint including variegated pineapple mint. Tiny, tiny Creole tomatoes.
Three kinds of mint, two kinds of peppers, Creole tomatoes and cilantro were potted up. I’ll add sweet basil and more chives to the collection.
And the faithful mayhaw is blooming, as are the Methley plums planted a year ago and the blueberries. (I’m hoping the rabbits will leave the berries alone this year…) Two more plum trees, one more blueberry bush, two new pears and a loquat will be added to the orchard. I’m excited!
It’s almost time for Ecclesiasties 3: 2; the part about planting.
In continuing to try to do a little bit better this year, breakfast on-the-go is a must for me. My money is tight starting out the new year with Miss Marigold needing to go to the vet’s office because she had a bellyache (yucky, yucky). And car maintenance, including a tow to the shop, came up this month. I realized that I need to be much better at saving for unexpected expenses. So, cooking a quick breakfast sandwich at home will save me money and time.
Here’s my typical breakfast:
2 pieces of Dave’s Killer Thin sliced bread- a drizzle of honey on each slice, along with a shake of cinnamon. Toasted for 5 minutes on 400°.
In a small microwavable bowl place a super thin- sliced piece of ham. I had Land o Frost in the frig. Next drop in an egg. Salt and pepper the egg and scramble around. (Ooo. I just thought that a little Dijon mustard would have been a nice kick to the simple egg. Hmm. I need to try it!)
Place in the microwave, cover, and zap it for one minute.
When your toast is toasted and your ham and egg are cooked, well, assemble your sandwich. The sweet of the honey and savory of the ham/egg is a nice combo.
I wrap my breakfast sandwich in a paper towel and put in my purse or work bag.
Now, it takes all of 5 minutes to make. Calories are:
Honey drizzle- 21
Bread- 200
Egg- 72
Ham- 18
Cinnamon- 0
A total of 311 calories. Comparable to a Micky D’s Egg McMuffin at 310 calories which costs between $4 to $7. A Chick-fil-a Egg White Grill at 300 calories which costs $5 to $6. This homemade breakfast sandwich costs pennies, or rather rounded up nickles, to make with no time spent in the drive-through line.
Sticking to resolutions Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.
They say to state your New Year resolutions in more specific terms. Not, I’m going to lose weight, but I’m going to lose 10 pounds this year. Not, I’m going to save more money, but I will put $50 in my savings account each payday or I’m going to save an emergency fund of $2000. Express your desire to do better in certain terms. Get the idea?
A Little bit better.
Tiny plate, tiny spoon.
I know better than to say I’m giving up sweets for the new year. So, I’ll just have smaller portions. We should be realistic in our goals as well.
Happy New Year Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.
A late breakfast of bread pudding and sausage was more like brunch. I wasn’t really hungry so, I prepared a little Christmas tea for my mid-day meal.
The electric tea kettle is a Chefman and works great.
I love the electric tea kettle. And the plain white tea pot. And the Snoopy tea cup and saucer. The oblong dish filled with goodies is vintage Avon, along with a 1970’s Christmas a napkin. I love them, too.
Christmas tea for one.
In the tea pot is Biscotti tea from Red Stick Spice Company. It is so good! They are in Baton Rouge, LA. Shop on-line, if you can’t get to Baton Rouge. Here’s a link:
It would be easy to jump into the bustle of the holiday, but I decided to stay in this Saturday and practice the pause. I could have just grabbed a cold drink and a snack, not bothering with a plate, but chose to have something elegant.
Tea time is a deliberate practice: Choosing the size of tea pot, selecting the tea cup and saucer, deciding on what to nibble on with your tea and finding a tray to hold it all. It makes you slow down. You hone the skill of patience, as the water boils and the tea steeps.
Christmas carols are in my head. How the Grinch Stole Christmas is on the television. I’m surrounded by my Nativity Scenes, tucked here and there on book shelves and the mantle. A quiet Saturday before the rush of the next two weeks of the Christmas season.
I’m telling my age by writing this, but a memory of a cardboard “fireplace” came to my mind the other week. I asked some people I know around my own age, ahem, and they all remembered the fake red brick fireplace, brought out at Christmas time. It had fake flames, a fan and a light to simulate a fire.
Now, I don’t know if we actually had one of these cardboard Christmas time wonders. I should ask my older brothers… Any way, I may have seen one somewhere. A cousin’s house, maybe? Or a neighbor’s?
Nostalgia got the better of me. I googled, I searched Pinterest and found lots of pics of what I remembered.
Not wanting to drop any money on either a vintage faux fireplace or a new version, I decided to collect boxes from work and make my own.
I found Charlie and Snoopy at a big box store and thought they could flank either side of my homemade version of the cardboard fireplace. Charlie and Snoopy are full of Nostalgia of their own. All will go out onto the blue porch, along with a collection of snowmen and a Nativity scene.
Christmas is coming Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.
I’ve been under the weather for over a week. Excuse this sentence if you are easily grossed out, but if snot were a commodity, I could have cornered the market last week. Tests for covid and flu were negative; I’ve never had covid, but I have had the flu many times. And whatever I had, it felt a whole bunch like the latter. Steroids and a broad spectrum antibiotic, oh my! I figured I’d add some comfort food along with the prescribed meds now that I’m no longer prone. Self-care 101.
Slow-cooker Chicken Noodle Soup simmered midmorning to early evening. A boneless, skinless chicken breast was nestled down in the middle of onion, potatoes, carrots, frozen corn, and broccoli. Seasoned liberally with salt, pepper, Tony’s seasoning, garlic, and basil. One can of chicken broth with two cans of water. Egg noodles were added the last 15 minutes of simmering. Simple cheese toast was served alongside a hearty bowl of goodness.
Friday night’s supper hit the spot.
In recent weeks, cider recipes have been flashing through social media. I’ve never made cider and can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had a mug of it. Thinking that the concentration of fresh fruit and spices may benefit my recovery from the gunk, I decided to tweak the many recipes I looked up. Here’s what I did for
Small Batch Spiced Cider:
In an 8 quart pot, I simmered 2 Gala apples and 2 Honeycrisp apples, cored and cut into chunks. I added 3 each of navel oranges and little mandarin oranges, peeled and chunked as well. Five cinnamon sticks, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves, and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. To sweeten it, I added a scant 1/3 cup of white sugar and a 1/ 3 cup of MaBell cane syrup. If you cannot get MaBell cane syrup, try Brer Rabbit.
All of this was covered with 6 cups of water. It cooked down for two hours over medium heat with the pot lid vented. After the fruit was cooked down and the cinnamon sticks removed, it was carefully put through a strainer, packing and squeezing the solids to extract the juice. I then strained it a second time through a couple of layers of cheese cloth.
Now, I do not have any designated cider mugs. I’m not sure what it’s served in, although the term ‘a mug of cider’ rings in the back of my mind somewhere. So, shopping around in my cupboards and hutches, I found my pretty Flora Gold Louisa pattern. They’re a pretty autumnal color and hold heat well.
I heated the cider back up with just a tiny bit of salt to cut the sweetness and brighten the orange and apple flavors. The heated cider was poured into a warmed tea pot and placed on a pretty tray. And yes, that’s candy corn and dry roasted peanuts mixed together. Tastes like a Payday candy bar.
theexileskitchen 