Love those seed catalogs

Favorite thing to do during cold weather--look at seed catalogs and dream of spring.

I received one every day for the last few single digit days.

I have found a number of places to look at these catalogs. First on my treadmill, trying to walk off some of the extra pounds I gained at Christmas.

Next is to avoid watching reruns on TV at night.

And there is waiting at the doctors office or at any other place if I take my bag of catalogs, I can pull them out and dream of warm sunny days in the garden.

It is very helpful for planning and also for passing the time while stuck inside during cool winter days. There is still time to call and order your favorite or sign up online.

Pruning for All Seasons

If you are like me, you can't get outside and work in the yard and the first chore at my house will definitely be pruning. I can't say that I love it but I can say that it helps keep my shrubs and bushes looking neat and tidy and doesn't let things get away from me.

On Tuesday evening, January 14 at 7:00 pm, the Coweta County Master Gardener Extension Volunteers (MGEVs) will be presenting “Pruning for All Seasons” at the Backyard Association (BYA) meeting at the Coweta County Extension Office.  

This meeting will provide an overview of pruning to include why you should or should not prune, when to prune specific plants and how to prune them.  

The Backyard Association is an educational program sponsored by the Coweta County Master Gardener Extension Volunteers (MGEVs). The presentations are free to the public and are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at the Coweta County Extension Office, 255 Pine Road, Newnan.  

Call the Extension Office at (770) 254-2620 for reservations and to register for door prizes--and they have some really great door prizes, too.

I plan to be there but I just can't decide to let them know I am a "crepe murderer." I probably will just remain silent and hope they don't drive by my house.

Leftovers from New Year's Day? Try this.

I usually have leftovers after New Year's Day and I throw them out a few days later. Every year I think I should do something with the leftovers so they don't go to waste. I really didn't make this a resolution, but I am taking action.

I decided I would come up with my version of New Year's Day Leftover Soup. I hated to use the word leftover in the title because I know that it would immediately turn some of you off, but really, don't you think leftovers deserve a special place in the history of cookery? Maybe even an honored place. There are so many recipes that start out with leftovers. Think croutons, bread pudding and vegetable soup. That is why I have decided to embrace the word and think of it as a good, or even great thing.

Here is my first recipe of the year, using leftovers and I dedicate this to all the cooks who used leftovers to make something new and tasty. My husband really liked it, too.

New Year's Day (Leftover) Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 to 2 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
5 cups water
1 tablespoon vegetarian better than bouillon (or 2 to 3 bouillon cubes)
5 cups leftover collards
4 cups leftover black-eyed peas
1 pound ham, cut into cubes
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot sauce (Like Texas Pete or Tabasco) to taste

In a large pot add 1 tablespoon and sauté the onion, garlic, celery and carrots until they are soft and the onions are clear. Add water and bouillon mix and stir. Heat through and add the collards, peas and ham. Salt and pepper and add hot sauce until it is perfect.

I actually didn't have to add any salt at all to mine since the leftovers were already salted.

Serve this with leftover cornbread and you will have a very nice and healthy soup for the new year. You can easily make this from scratch but it will take longer and fresh collards are an exceptional dish!

Catching up

I have been so busy lately with a number of projects that I haven't had time to update you on what is happening.

This year my daughter and I will be publishing a new gluten-free cookbook. We are so excited that it is almost completed--more than excited, really. It has been very work intensive and we have been cooking and testing for a number of months. Frankly, I am exhausted!

The holidays gave us some new opportunities to bake gluten-free goodies and above are the mostly gluten-free desserts we made for Thanksgiving and we made even more for Christmas and I have taken so many photos for the cookbook.

Above, the fruit and the pecan pies weren't gluten free but the rest--chocolate, pumpkin, sweet potato and carrot cakes were gluten-free. Best of all, no one complained and asked me why I would do such a thing. I had mostly good reviews, smiles and full tummies from my family and guests.

I did decide to decorate using green plants from my landscape. Above, a magnolia, pine, camellia and ivy centerpiece.

I even scavenged from family member's yards!

 I did love the Christmas centerpiece made from green plants. My new favorite plant to use in fresh arrangements: Variegated Japanese Acuba, Acuba japonica. I know I will be using more and more fresh green plants from my yard in other arrangements. It is great and SO cheap!

I trimmed my mother's plants and used it in everything. It was great because it stayed fresh a very long time and it is quite showy in arrangements.

I also tried to cook a crockpot gluten-free green bean casserole. I bought Progresso gluten-free soup and fried my own onion rings. It was SO terrible. I tried another recipe, making my own mushroom soup mix and it was better but I am still going to have to work on this recipe. It won't even be in the new cookbook. But, I will guarantee that I will eventually have a recipe that is good.

That's about all. I hope your holidays were wonderful and you have a very blessed New Year!!

Thanksgiving ideas

I downloaded some Thanksgiving ideas and I must say, I like everything. All are from Pinterest which is easy than browsing the entire Internet for ideas. I love cute turkeys, especially those made with candy corn--my favorite candy.

I always pick up some take out boxes for my guest since I want to share and not have so many leftovers. I usually get mine at the dollar store. I would really love some of those pie containers.

Evergreens, leaves, eucalyptus and a pretty candle make a great centerpiece.

This looks like a nice wreath made from sparkly paper and tied with a bow. Simple and perfect.

I like the ideas for a kids table above. The ships are a perfect idea because the kids can help with them.

A welcoming basket of fall flowers and little pumpkins. Very sweet.

Candles make a festive tabletop. The twine and newsprint is perfect. It doesn't have to be fancy to be nice.

Above is kind of sweet and a little old-fashioned. I can deal with old-fashioned. New is so old.

The photo above made me excited to try a new recipe for green bean casserole. A gluten-free version, of course. I will just have to make my own onion rings, too. I hope mine will be really good.

A silly turkey tie. I'm game.

How many times have I posted a food sculpture. This cheese ball won't make you cry fowl! 

Vintage . . . Ah-h-h-h-h-h. I think it is so cute.

This is a great idea. This is what the day is all about.

I have seen gift jars filled with candies for other holidays. Why not Thanksgiving?

Burlap is still in this year and why not. It is organic and looks great with sunflowers and daisies.

I have one of these tall, thin vases. It would also be perfect filled with pumpkins and/or squashes.

I love candles and cinnamon together because hot candles will make the cinnamon fragrance drift throughout the house.

Little pumpkins with candles and fresh greenery. These little suckers are hard to cut but they do look good.

Pine cones and place cards pair up rather nicely. I am planning to do this one this year.

Kids really love google eyes. I think this would make a cute craft for the kids' table.

I know I won't make these this year but I love toasted marshmallows and pumpkin anything.

Pumpkin cinnamon rolls. That is just too luscious.

This is a sweet potato cake with toasted marshmallow filling, candied nuts and cream cheese frosting. I saved the best for last. I really want to make this at some point. My sister was wondering if we could make a sweet potato cake and this looks unbelievably good. I really did save the best for last.

I hope your Thanksgiving planning is great. I have my turkey, now I need to decorate.

Scufffle or action hoe

It is widely known that I like to go to yard sales. Sometimes, to my husband's dismay, I come home with things he thinks are (in his opinion) real duds. Other times, like this past weekend, I come home with something I have been searching for--and I mean retail in stores.

This past weekend, I found my scuffle hoe, stirrup hoe or action hoe.

It is a tool my friend Charlotte Nelson recommended as a great garden weeder and her favorite tool. I have looked at all the local hardware and big box hardware stores around and they just don't carry this tool in our area. I also looked online and found them, but with shipping they were just way too expensive.

My barely-used scuffle hoe was $5 and I just can't wait to use it in my garden. One of my best buys. I have recently been searching for useful garden tools at yard sales and I hadn't had too much luck, but Friday I walked up on a bunch of yard tools. Lying in the middle of them on a piece of plastic, was my scuffle hoe. The weather was terrible with a drizzling cold rain. I was not so sure I had picked the right day to shop but I was so happy I did venture out since I found this long-sought-after tool.

I am in hopes that I will like my new, old-fashioned tool as well as my friend Charlotte does. Now I can't wait till it stops raining so I can try it out!

What would I do without Hershey's?

I know that people the world over have a love affair with chocolate, but especially every year in October, I don't see how I could make it through the month without Hershey's--especially Hershey's cocoa.

October is when I have to make at least two and sometimes three birthday cakes for people in my family.

Below is the cake I made for last Saturday's birthday party. It was a large two layer sheet cake with pink butter cream/whipping cream frosting. (Really it was one cake recipe per layer.) Everyone really seemed to love this one and I received more than one hug for making such a great tasting cake. I think they should really have been thanking Hershey's because their cocoa is a staple in my home all year round. Also, the recipe I used for the layers is the one that is always listed on the can. (The only difference is that I substitute buttermilk for the milk.)

Saturday's cake was just perfect. Moist and tasty but I will tell you, frosting a dark chocolate cake with a lighter color, in this case pink frosting is challenging. It takes a heavy crumb coat and then a heavier coating of frosting--but people really love it. (It's kind of like painting a lighter color on your walls after red or purple!)

I have often made this recipe with decorators chocolate frosting and it is rich and yummy. The "Perfectly chocolate" cake is so good. It is kind of surprising when you have to add a cup of hot water to the batter but it makes a really, really great cake.

I don't even remember what kind of cake we had below but the frosting was made with Hershey's cocoa. (Too bad I was in too big of a hurry to dot the i or cross the t.)

The gluten-free birthday cake above is a yellow cake with a cocoa frosting and the GF pumpkin below is made with cocoa for Halloween.

I also use Hershey's cocoa in my baked chocolate pie. It's a family favorite.

I was on a diet once where a recommended snack was mixing cocoa with ricotta cheese and sweetener for a pudding-like snack. It could have been better but it helped stop the craving.

My cousin mixes cocoa with honey and she says it is one of the best snacks in the world and my daughter makes chocolate oatmeal for her family. I have never been able to try that one. I like oatmeal but there is something wrong about adding cocoa.

Another thing I like about Hershey's cocoa--the box is basically the same, even though it is plastic now, rather than metal as it was in my childhood days. I love it because it is the same wonderfully chocolaty, always the same product you can always count on. May it never change and I will continue to cook the perfectly chocolate recipes for my family and friends.

Even with the crazy world we live in, we can always count on Hershey's.