Candied Lemon Peel

Have you ever eaten candied lemon peel? I had not until last year. I was at my dear friend Kay's house and she had just finished a batch. She let me try some of her candied citrus and let me tell you it was DELICIOUS!! She graciously shared the recipe with me. After listening to her tell me all the steps involved I thought I probably would never give it a try. However, another precious friend, Nicki (actually she is pretty close to being a daughter to me) allowed me to pick all the lemons on the tree in her yard last week. Thank you, Nicki!!



I knew I wanted to freeze the lemon juice for later use. I decided to give the candied peel a try as well. I grabbed two of my boys to help in the process and we got started.



I wanted to share the steps with you so you can give this a try sometime. It really is worth the effort. The nice thing about it is you can make a small batch or big batch. I used a lot but then I had some help.



First of all lightly scrub the fruit. If it is not organic, I would use Veggiewash.

Next, peel the fruit getting as little of the white pith as possible. This is very important when the peel begins to dry. I was still able to juice my lemons because there was so much of the white pith left on the fruit. (Sorry about the poor color of these pictures. I have a new camera and I am still learning all the settings). Next, take some kitchen scissors and cut the peel into thin strips. I cut the pieces you see in the picture below into half the width shown.

Maybe you can see how I cut the thin strips in the pot below. After cutting, cover the peel with water and bring to a gentle, rolling boil. Boil for 20 minutes. Then pour off the water. Repeat this process two more times.

After the third boiling step, drain and gently dry the peel. I used a towel to dry mine.

Next, lay wax paper out on the counter top or surface you have chosen. Sprinkle the wax paper with sugar and lay the peel out in a thin layer. Sprinkle more sugar on top. That is all there is to it! A couple of times each day use your fingers and gently stir the strips so they are evenly coated with the sugar. Then sprinkle another layer of fresh sugar on top. This is the drying process and it will take up to 4 days. After the first day, you will begin to see moisture on the peel and the sugar will begin to clump. That is why it is important to keep stirring and sugaring each day.

When the drying is done the peel will look shriveled and it will be slightly crispy in texture. That is how you will know it is finished. Store your candied peel in a jar or airtight container. I am not sure of the shelf life because around my house this delicacy will not last long enough to spoil!!

Wouldn't this make a nice Christmas gift for that hard-to-buy for person on your list? I wonder if you could add this to breads or muffins? It is wonderful to nibble on with a cup of hot tea! The possibilities are endless! C'mon give it a try!

The "Fire Camp"

Our grandsons, Parker and Luke, are growing up so fast. One of their very favorite things to do is to come over to Nonna and Poppa's house. Brooke says the boys get so excited when they find out they are coming for a visit. She will not even stop by to drop something off to me if she can not stay because they will cry all the way home. Of course this just makes Nonna and Poppa over-joyed!
Lately we have been enjoying the cold (not freezing!) nights outdoors by having a cookout/campfire. Parker and Luke unintentionally have named this outing a firecamp! They absolutely love to have their firecamp in the evenings whenever they possibly can.

Even little Reese gets in on the fun. This is the rare occasion that she is not dressed in something girly! Don't tell her mother but she kinda likes getting dirty too (tee...heee...heee!)

Monroe and the boys have built an open fire stove pit for us to cook on. We have tried stew and chili and both were delicious. Love that cast iron!! Why is it that food tastes so much better when it is cooked outdoors?

Tonight as Poppa and Parker were putting out the "fire camp" with the water hose Parker told Poppa he wanted to make a wish before they put it out. After they finished dousing the fire Parker told Poppa what he wished for. Would you like to know his wish? Because I was dying to know what my four year old grandson would make a wish for. This is so cute. He wished that Parker, Poppa and Daddy could all go hunting and get a deer. Ain't that just precious!

A Trip To The Farmer's Market

Every Wednesday our city has a Farmer's Market downtown where I love to go and purchase fresh produce. This week I asked my dear hubby if he would like to come along with me. He has been pretty much home bound since his back surgery the end of October and I knew he was ready to get out of the house. It is very painful for him if he has to sit or stand for very long so this quick trip seemed like the perfect opportunity.

While visiting one of the farmer's booths we found the most beautiful green tomatoes! Now my boys-everyone of them-LOVE fried green tomatoes. Monroe and I had to have a basket of these beauties. We could taste fried tomatoes just looking at them! Happy with our purchase, we went on to the other produce stands and finished our shopping.

On our way to the truck we both realized that just one basket (4 tomatoes) would not be enough to feed our family. But at $3.50 per basket I was not ready to buy any more. However, my husband was not going to leave without another basket of tomatoes. Now you must understand how our grocery budget works. Basically, Monroe has NO idea how to stretch our money when it comes to food. I have always bought the groceries and he never. ever. goes with me to the grocery store. I didn't argue with him though and we went right back over to the booth with the green tomatoes and bought yet another basket. $7.00 for a side dish people!! I would never pay that much for a vegetable for one meal. I glanced over at my business partner. Humpf-he wasn't worried about it one bit. "Do you realize we just paid $7.00 for one meal of tomatoes?" I asked. "Oh well, they(our boys) are worth it." was his reply. And that was the end of it.

We went home and had fried green tomatoes for lunch and they were just as delicious as we thought they would be!!

I decided to show how I make mine in case this blog has inspired someone out there to give fried green tomatoes a try. First of all, start with very hard and green tomatoes otherwise they get all soft and mushy when frying. Wash and slice them. Then salt and pepper.


Next I mix one part cornmeal and one part flour. Then coat each tomato in this mixture.

Get your grease, I use peanut oil or homemade lard, nice and hot and gently lay the slices into the grease. If you get your oil too hot the flour that settles in the bottom of the pan tends to burn and that causes the tomatoes to taste burnt. Lightly brown on each side and that's all there is to it! Oh, if you have cast iron ware this is one of the foods you just have to cook in cast iron! There is no comparison to the end result.....really!

And here they are crispy, hot and oh so delicious!
How do you cook your fried green tomatoes?

Hmmm....it is almost time to make a trip to the grocery store. Note to self: Do not ask hubby to come along ;-)

I'm Back....Again :-)

I apologize for not being more faithful to blog but I thought my days would get back to normal and slow down a bit. That has not been the case.
Unfortunately my hard working husband has been having terrible back pain. He has been seeing a doctor in Tampa and going through numerous tests. We knew that the doc would suggest surgery after all other attempts had been made. That is the point that Monroe was at. He had taken the epidural shots in his back, he had taken physical therapy....nothing seemed to help. So, last Friday he underwent back surgery to repair a disc and fuse two vertabrae together. The surgery went very well and the doctor was pleased with the results. Now it is recovery time.

The problem is my hubby has a hard time sitting still or in this case lying still. He gets cabin fever very easily. Let's just say that he is keeping me hopping around off and on all day! He will rest for a little bit but then I hear the walker dragging across the floor! He must use a walker when he is up walking. I am having trouble keeping my eyes on him!

I put a chair with cushions and pillows in it on the front porch for him to enjoy the outdoors. Was that good enough? Nooo sir. I looked out to find him in the BARN! He got himself stranded out there though. By the time he made it that far he was too tuckered out and couldn't make it back to the house. So, now we have a chair in the front yard halfway to the barn. He goes to the chair, rests a bit, then heads on to the barn. He is determined. Once at the barn, he has this padded chair on wheels to sit on. He likes to go out and sit in the barn while I work in the garden. He isn't able to stay out long though.

Speaking of the garden, the mustard greens are coming along nicely. I love thinning out the young greens and cooking them. They are so tender and tasty! Have you ever had fried greens? You know, everything we cook in the south is fried!! Actually a more accurate description would be wilted greens. To cook them you take the young and tender greens and pour hot bacon grease over them with a little salt. They only cook for a couple of minutes. That's it, they are done! Of course you must have a slice of southern cornbread to go along with the greens!

This is the row of kale. I haven't thinned this row yet nor have I had time to weed.

My late crop of purple eyed peas is in need of picking as well. See the dark pods? They will probably be too dry tasting, more like a dry bean, if I cook them. So I will not cook them with the yonger pods.

And my poor broccoli is about to get choked out with the grass and weeds. I plan to work on this row tomorrow. I may need to hire a husband-sitter while I work!!!

And this is what happened tonight. The rain started while Monroe was out in the barn and he had to call for help. Brent came to the rescue with a huge beach umbrella that belongs to Brooke (thanks Brooke for not taking it home yet!).

This was a slow walk back to the house because he has to take tiny steps due to the pain and he couldn't stop to rest halfway in his chair this time. He did stop for a small standing break, however. That outing did him in for today! But tomorrow.......

Date Night

Lately every evening just before dusk, when it cools off outside a little, my hubby and I have been slipping off to a blackberry patch in the pasture behind our house. It has been a nice and quiet time together as we pick and talk. Sometimes, okay most of the time, it is NOT nice and quiet around our home. I love the noise and busyness in our home but if Monroe and I want to have a private conversation it must be planned. I think that is what we found so enjoyable about the blackberry picking. Of course, the extra reward was all the delicious blackberries we got to take home! It wasn't long before our secret getaway was discovered, however. Each evening we would be gone about 30 minutes and then in the distance we could hear a motor getting closer and closer. We would just laugh. It was usually Bryce coming out on the four-wheeler to "help pick".

Notice the beekeeper's gloves. A dear friend told me to use them when blackberry picking and they work perfectly for keeping your arms and hands from being scratched. So, even if you don't keep bees but you go blackberry picking, get yourself a pair of these gloves!

On this particular evening we looked up to find the boys coming out to us on the swamp buggy. This is about how far they got when they bogged down in the mud. It had been raining every day which caused it to get really mucky out back.

Dad to the rescue! They can't fool me though. I know every one of those males love getting stuck and having to get pulled out. I hear them talk of it later. Oh, the excitement in their voices as they relate the story to some other male. It must be a guy-thing! In my opinion, as my boys would say,...."whatev....!" And this is what they got stuck in.

We were also being watched by a small gator. Can you see his head? It is the little dot right in the middle of the picture. We estimated him to be approximately 4 or 5 feet long.

Back to business! Monroe found a clever way to get the berries that were too high to reach. He let down the tailgate of the jeep and backed up into the bushes. This was a great idea and I got a lot of nice, big berries. However, the next evening we went back to the same spot and just before he backed the jeep up into the bushes he spotted a black snake...a big black snake!!...curled around some branches way up high....right where we had been picking!! I thought I was safe being up in the back of a vehicle but noooo! I always watched for snakes down on the ground but never up high until now!!

We have been enjoying blackberry buckle. It is so good with a cup of coffee!

And this blackberry cobbler didn't last long. I almost didn't get a picture of it in time.

I was able to put several bags of berries in the freezer as well. Last summer I made blackberry jam. We still had a few jars left so I decided to just freeze this year's picking. My boys don't like the seeds in the jam so next time I will make jelly with them.

I have had such a busy summer! I have so much more to blog but I always run out of hours in my day. I will try to be more diligent.

If At First You Don't Succeed.....

Okay, this may not look like much to ya'll but my kids thought I had lost it when they heard me hollering in the kitchen recently. After running in the kitchen to check on me they soon realized what all the commotion was about. Finally, I made a loaf of whole wheat bread that I could slice for sandwich making!! I just had to get a picture of it and show it off.

Trust me, my poor family has had to eat many unrecognizable loaves of my whole wheat bread. They didn't mind too much because the taste was good but the texture and shape just wasn't right. But now I think I have got this figured out...




except for this pitiful loaf. It went through exactly the same process as the above loaf. In fact, it is the other half of the bread recipe. I let them both rise in the same place and baked them at the same time. I can't figure out why it is so bumpy and one end actually caved in a bit. Can any bread makers out there give me some advice? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Then I made the most wonderful recipe of strawberry butter. This is probably one of the most delicious things I have ever put in my mouth! I got the recipe from a dear friend. If you would like to try strawberry butter go here.
You will find the recipe on the right side of the blog page under "Farm Kitchen". Be fore-warned though, ALL of Julie's recipes are delicious!

This delicacy is so easy to make! Brandon smeared it on his slice of bread and devoured it. After he was done he told me how good it was and asked where I got that strawberry cream cheese! It is that light. He couldn't believe it was butter. Hey that sounds familiar. Isn't that a jingle?

I'm thinking this may not be such a good thing for ME however- strawberry butter and fresh homemade bread-hmmm...anybody heard of fat free, low calorie butter :-)

Fall Gardening Has Begun

Can you guess what we are having for supper? I have a pot of mustard greens cooking. My house smells of greens and that gives my family the feeling of fall...even if it is 90+ degrees outside. No matter the weather, our mustard greens are faithful to grow so beautiful and tasty! So, tonight we will dine on greens, chicken and rice casserole and cornbread.

I have rutabagas (left row), mustard greens, collards, beets, spinach and turnips planted so far. The only vegetable ready to eat, however, is the mustard. I can't wait for the cool weather. It always "sweetens" all of the greens. The mustard greens have been so plentiful we have been able to share with many friends and family members. I will be putting some in the freezer as well.

I don't really know what happened to my row of broccoli. These two lonely little plants are the only ones to survive. Oh well, I will put in another row tonight. I will be planting a variety of lettuces, onions, carrots cabbage and another row of mustard soon. Collards will last all winter but the other greens will not so I must plant more mustard to be able to eat it all winter.

I just had to include this cute picture of our farm cat, Sparkle! Doesn't she look so sweet and cuddly? She really is too. I walked into the kitchen and found her in one of her favorite places but she has never chosen to nap in my seed box before. She usually just sleeps on the shelf.

By the way, would you folks up north kindly send some of your cool weather our way? I want to open my windows and let the fresh air in so badly!!!

Dativus/Comarada BBQ

My two college boys are in a club at their school called Dativus. It has been a great experience for them! The girls' club is called Comrada. These clubs are service clubs. They volunteer many hours each year to the Care Center in town. They have helped out with building houses for those in need through Habitat for Humanity. They also work in the community helping the needy or elderly with yard work or other chores around their homes that they can not do.

Last Thursday night we hosted the 2nd annual BBQ for these guys and gals. Below is a picture of the first arrival of club members. They slowly came in groups of 3 or 4 until we had about 40 kids in our home. Of course we loved every minute of it!

After the chaplain of the club Blessed the food the line quickly formed. Everyone LOVED the food but then we all know how starving college kids are! We were told time and again how delicious everything was. I laughed and told them they were just happy to not be eating cafeteria food as the majority of them live on campus ;-)

The menu consisted of Monroe's smoked chicken, smoked pulled pork, baked macaroni and cheese, cole slaw, baked beans, corn casserole and cherry delight for dessert. Monroe and I watched as the guys kept going back for thirds and fourths! As for the girls, well... we ladies would never divulge information like that on each other. My lips are sealed! However, when all was said and done the only thing left was a few pieces of chicken and a little bit of beans. As you can see, we had to squeeze everyone in the house. It was in the high 90's outside!

After supper, the original plan was to roast marshmallows outside over an open fire. However, the mosquitoes were horrible not to mention the heat wave we are currently experiencing in Florida! (Hurry up Fall!) So, on to plan B. Pull out the board games! This great group of kids didn't appear to mind at all. They were such good sports. They seemed to enjoy just fellow shipping with each other.

If you look closely in the circle below you can see Brandon and Bryce. How sweet they were to even include the two younger brothers in a game of Apples to Apples!

Bryce even got to watch a game of chess. Pay attention Bryce, watch and learn! Later on in the evening a game of Spades was started. Four guys remained playing this game until 11:30 or so. As they gathered their belongings to leave, one of the four commented that next time he would have to teach Monroe and me to play. He went on to explain that when he was growing up his Mother didn't think there was anything worth watching on tv so they didn't have one. I told him she was my kind of woman!

I must say we were very impressed by this group of young people! The entire night we heard no bad language and no negative or bad comments. I felt very comfortable letting my younger boys mingle with the older guys. We received many, many "thank-yous" and hugs. What a pleasure it was to be able to have them in our home. I am already looking forward to the 3rd annual BBQ!! As a matter of fact, I think I overheard Monroe making plans with them for some kind of get together in a couple of months when it cools off and we can actually enjoy a bonfire. Sounds great to me!

Wanted: Kitchen Help!

Hunting season will be here before I realize it. That means taking an inventory of the meat freezer. Yikes! Lots of venison still to be eaten. This is a "good" problem to have, however. I just need to get my creative juices flowing for some venison recipes.

We have a stir-fry recipe that the entire family loves (except Brooke) using venison. I thought I would share this dish with anyone interested (Brooke, I know that IS NOT you!) because it is so simple and delicious (that's right Brooke, delicious!).

I called on my two trusty kitchen helpers to pitch in with all the chopping and slicing. Boys love to do that sort of thing. I think it has something to do with using a knife...hee..hee! Hey, it works for me! Bryce was in charge of chopping the veggies. I use peppers, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, cabbage (anykind) carrots, etc. You can really use just about anything you want for the vegetables.
Brandon was the meat slicer. Keep the meat sliced very thin.

Then, I pour soy sauce or tamari sauce in the bottom of my pan. Pour enough to cover the bottom. Next, add about 3 TBS of sugar. Heat the sauce and sugar until sugar melts. Add the meat and cook it on medium heat for a couple of minutes. Then add the vegetables. Cover and cook until the veggies are the desired texture you prefer.

Serve over rice and enjoy! Oh, and a side note for Brooke: Parker and Luke loved this venison! I was watching my little sweeties on this night and they seemed to enjoy it as much as everyone else. Well, for Luke he ate some meat and rice. That is pretty good for him.

By the way, my children really do own shirts. It seems during the summer they never wear one unless we are going somewhere. I just wanted to clarify that incase someone was thinking of starting a clothing fund for them ;-)

A New Recipe

We were fortunate to have an established fig tree on our property when we bought our place a few years ago. Monroe also transplanted a few small trees that he got from his parents' house right after we moved in. The picture below are the trees he started and as you can see, they are doing great. We have a total of 6 trees and this year they are all producing figs! I am not sure what variety they are but they don't get very big and they are oh so sweet and delicious! Because the fruit is not big the seeds are very small which is a good thing for my kids. They like to munch on them while they are out playing in the backyard. They like to pretend they are the guy from the tv show, Survivor Man. You know, live off of the land kind of thing. I like it cause it keeps them outdoors for a long stretch of time ;-)


This is a bowl of fresh picked figs. I have learned that the amount of rainfall has to be just right in order to get edible figs. If it rains too much they get swollen and burst at the bottom. The fruit is so tender and soft it can't take too much water. Then the bugs like to get in through the hole in the bottom of the fig. A lesson Kay and I will never forget....right Kay??? That is a funny story I will have to share sometime, tee-hee-hee!

Well, I had to come up with some way to use up these figs. I decided to try a fresh fig cake. It turned out to be a not so pretty cake but that is okay because it was so moist and delicious. This is definitely a recipe I will use again.

I will be making preserves with some of the harvest. However, it will be a while yet as we have been blessed with lots of rain lately and the fruit is rotting on the tree right now. I thought about going out and shaking the tree to get the bad fruit to fall off. I can see lots of green figs that will be ready soon. Hopefully, it won't be too rainy when they are ready to pick. After all, my" survivor men" need something to keep them going!!