Cucumber Appetizer...

Great picnic finger food!
Mix 1 block of cream cheese with a few "shakes" of M. Dash Table Blend. Spread onto Brenton crackers (or another sturdy, large round cracker) Top with a slice of cucumber & sprinkle with dill weed. Will not keep in the refrigerator...as the cracker will become soft.
This one is quick, simple & ALWAYS a hit!
Enjoy!

Vintage Milk....

Yesterday afternoon we took my mom for a country drive to Sodus Point Lighthouse. Perfect August day; crisp air, sunny, soft breeze off Lake Ontario. We didn't photograph the lighthouse this time, they were cleaning up from a lawn wedding. Next trip! The bay was filled with sailboats heading out to the lake waters...the water was deep blue reflecting the aqua colored sky. Picture perfect~
We stopped at an antique co-op in Alton. Great buys! A few treasures found their way home with us. A bag of milk caps, bag of wooden nickels...old tally cards...vintage & antique papers. The milk caps were a neat way to finish a few more tags that have been waiting for just the right accessories! The wooden nickels will work on a tag or two as well~
Hope you have a wonderful Sunday...
Michelle

Feathered Treasures...

Gifts from our feathered friends!
They know how cute their feathers are on these homemade tags!
These were collected today from our lawn...all around the feeders & bird baths. We're extra kind to our gold finch...no feathers to share. Black sunflower seeds for the cardinals....no feathers to share. Perhaps tomorrow~
Our black lab loves to walk about our yard sniffing out chipmunks...today she poked her head up from her hunt with a feather stuck to her nose...even the soggy ones add character!
Wishing you happy moments...
Michelle

Crimson Morning...

Good Morning~
I've been to the veggie garden already...managed to fight off the saber tooth mosquitoes long enough to gather some zinnias. We have had more rain than usual this summer. More tomatoes than usual! Our grape tomato plants look like cucumber vines rolling through the zinnias, around the sunflowers, over the chives & other herbs. I'm not one to shape and prune the veggies...love to plant and let things be. The Roma plants kept their shape until the 3rd or 4th hail storm...they are still delicious! A favorite~ simple dish we first had in NYC:

New York Pasta!
6-8 Roma Tomatoes peeled & diced (or) 1 can of diced tomatoes
1 tsp. Garlic
1 tbsp. Pesto Genovese (Italian Basil Sauce by Flora) It's a paste~
2-3 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 can Artichoke Hearts cut in half (add a touch of the brine if the sauce seems dry)

Saute ingredients (covered, on low) until tomatoes are tender.
Serve over your favorite pasta. (we LOVE the new Ronzoni SmartTaste thin spaghetti)
SmartTaste has 3x the fiber and has a very firm texture.

Enjoy!

Milkweeds mixed in...

I love to garden. I keep most of the weeds out~ except the milkweeds! They must stay so that we can enjoy every moment from tiny baby eggs, to the beautiful stripped teen...and then the black and orange dancing parades...of the mature adult monarchs!
As a child, country roads were my playground! We would walk the edges of dirt roads in early summer cutting down milkweeds for grandma to cook up for dinner. We ate milkweeds, burdock, dandelions, puffballs and a few other non-FDA approved veggies. I didn't tell my school mates...and my family kept it to meat, potatoes and corn when friends came for a visit. They didn't taste horrible, (I will only admit as an adult) but looking back~ I would have skinned my knee or come up with some other false emergency to save a monarch house.
Good Night~
Michelle

Good Morning

I'm finally ready to blog!