March Means Maple

We are finally experiencing some signs of spring around us-daylight savings, warmer sun & even a few birds have been chirping. One sure sign of spring in New England is when the farmers start talking about tapping trees to make maple syrup. Warm spring days and cold nights make for good maple sap weather. 

My husband is from Vermont & loves maple everything. He even has been known to pour syrup over his vanilla ice cream. This morning I decided to celebrate maple season by making pancakes & serving it with syrup from a local farm (pictured below).

Pancakes are one of the foods I follow a recipe for. I've tried a number of recipes but came across this one on-line a couple of years ago & stopped experimenting. These are by far the best tasting pancakes I've ever made. 

Pancakes

Ingredients 
1 1/2 cups flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions
1. Mix together flour, baking powder, salt & sugar in a large bowl
2. Make a well in the center & pour in the milk, egg & melted butter
3. Mix until smooth
4. Cook!

 (Source allrecipes.com)

 Enjoy!

St. Patrick's Day & Recipes

Today is actually the day before St. Patrick's Day, but since I'm working tomorrow I'll be cooking my boiled dinner today. I like to cook things I remember eating growing up. I often times ask Mum for recipes & often times the responses are "add about this much flour", "a little bit of butter", then check it- if it needs more of something, then add it. A corned beef dinner for St. Patrick's Day recipe was probably something like "boil it until it's done". Sounds confusing, but once I'm in the kitchen I see, smell & understand exactly what she means. If someone asks me for one of my recipes, I find myself explaining it the same way.

Sometimes my mom & I get together & try to replicate the recipes she learned this way while growing up. I'm sure there will be future entries about our raised biscuit adventures- we haven't gotten that one quite right yet, but I have no doubt we eventually will.

I recently asked Mum how she learned to make her corned beef & her response was that she watched her mother. She also added that she didn't like boiled potatoes when she was young, so she would skip those & make a sandwich with the rest of the ingredients (sounds delish!).

So here is my corned beef, boiling until it's done.

Screw It, I'm Gardening!

Okay, so the photo below isn't really me, but it very well could be, and might be if we don't get some warm spring days to melt the snow away soon. 

I take no credit for this photo-found it online

I love planting seeds & checking back every day to see who is going to pop out of the dirt first. I used to always start seedlings inside next to a sunny window. Now there is a killer of plants in my house and her name is Moose. We have 2 cats, Moose who is just about to turn 5 and Casper, who is almost 4. Moose gets into EVERYTHING, but that's another blog entry- the point right now is that she destroys plants. 

On a typical summer morning I jump out of bed, grab some coffee & run to the garden to check what is happening out there. One of my favorite things to do is pick green beans, eating as I collect.  I'll usually start inside my fenced garden gathering veggies- then convince my husband to walk around our property picking miscellaneous thimbleberries, blueberries & blackberries. 

 This weekend consists of Spring Cleaning projects inside the house, so I better get started. But be sure to check back tomorrow as I talk about celebrating St. Patrick's Day & how I learned from my Mom (known as Mum, to me & my sister) how to cook a boiled corned beef dinner. 

Welcome

I'm new to blogging and I'm not sure what I'm doing. What I do know, is that I live in an amazing location where we get to enjoy the changing weather of the four seasons here in New England-and this excites me. 

I'm an amateur gardener & baker who enjoys harvesting what each season has to offer. I have a small garden at my home where I grow cucumbers to pickle & tomatoes to freeze for winter sauces. The fall brings some of my favorite activities- apple & pumpkin picking. My family has spent many cool afternoons circling the pumpkin patch waiting while I try to find the perfect pumpkin, every year. I spend a lot of time baking in the winter- my Christmas presents usually involve cookies, homemade fall applesauce or fudge. Spring is when I look forward go planting, pruning & gathering flower ideas. 

So I guess that is what this blog will be about-oh, and my cats, because I love them as though they are my children. 

I hope you check back often & enjoy this work in progress!