Olive Garden eat your heart out - it's Slow Cooker Zuppa Toscana Soup for supper!Winter seems like a soup fest! If I have a fire burning in the kitchen wood stove, I will leave pot of soup simmering on it. But even in the winter, I don't always have the time to babysit the kitchen woodstove so I rely on my slow cooker. Crock pot cookin' is a favorite of mine year-round. And I love it for soups - soups are so good when they have been slow cooking all day. It gives the flavors a chance … [Read More...]
Twice Baked Potatoes
Twice Baked Potatoes Recipe - A step by step tutorialTwice baked potatoes are definitely worth the extra effort. This is a potato recipe that you can easily change up with different flavors and toppings so after you get the basics down, get creative. Food should not only be good, it should be fun! Here in Aroostook County, Maine, potatoes are big business and a way of life. We have enormous commercial potato farms so the availability of the "spud" is plentiful to say the … [Read More...]
Easy Moist Pistachio Muffin Recipe
Green is Good - especially when it's a moist Pistachio Muffin!I love the pistachio flavor, be it in ice cream, pudding, or in the yummy results of this Pistachio Muffin Recipe. The first time I ever had pistachio ice cream, as a kid, I thought it was maraschino cherry ice cream and they had got the color wrong. To this day, pistachio "anything" reminds me of that wonderful ice cream sundae topping treat - the maraschino cherry!Pistachios are good for … [Read More...]
Wilderness Camping in the North Maine Woods
This post is a sponsored post in collaboration with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Although I was compensated for this post all thoughts and opinions are mine.Wilderness Camping in the North Maine Woods can be the ultimate family vacation - AllinfortheMaineOutdoorsDo want to give your family the ultimate outdoor vacation? Then pack up the family vehicle with camping essentials and take a trip to the North Maine Woods for a wilderness camping adventure. Camping … [Read More...]
Cider Vinegar Pickled Beets
A Tale of Two Beets - A Pickled Beet AlternativeThis pickled beet recipe is a little different than the usual. Traditional pickled beet recipes usually are all about cinnamon, cloves, and sugar but this one has a more savory twist.Safety first when canning your Pickles BeetsAs with all water bath canning recipes, cleanliness and detail to directions is important. Sterilize your jars and lids and any tools you use. Always check for tight seals on your lids 24 hours later which … [Read More...]
Best Homemade Blueberry Jam Recipe
Blueberry Jam is on my mind. I love preserving whatever produce is in season and abundant whether it is from my garden or the farmers market. The more news reports I hear about food recalls like the lettuce scare pf last year, the more I like to grow my own food or buy from local farmers. Here in northern Maine we have a couple of good sized Amish communities so finding good locally grown farm produce is very easy. Growing your own blueberries is very easy. For more info check out this article … [Read More...]
Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffin Recipe
New England's Best Blueberry Muffins from Jordan Marsh.The best blueberry muffins I have ever had were the one's we would get from the bakery at the Jordan Marsh Department Store in downtown Boston. They were a treat because they were so good and we didn't have them very often. I grew up in Hudson, New Hampshire so a trip to Boston in those days was a big event, usually coupled with annual back-to-school shopping. Those muffins were big (I mean really big), loaded with juicy blueberries, … [Read More...]
Best Blackberry Jam Recipe
How to Make Delicious Blackberry Jam - going old school!I found this recipe for Blackberry Jam years ago in an old Maine cookbook called "Good Maine Food". It was book published in 1949 and it has a lot of good old fashioned recipes in it. This Blackberry Jam Recipe didn't call for any pectin so I was a little nervous the first time I used it as I had become a "pectin-reliant" canner over the years. This recipe was going "old school" but it worked out fine and I have used it ever since. Only … [Read More...]
KitchenAid Basic White Bread Recipe
A Great Basic White Bread Recipe from KitchenAidMy KitchenAid Stand Mixer, my best friend when I'm baking Bread, deserves a Gold Watch or least a decent burial......Update- June 2021 - she's still working, bless her little KitchenAid motor!Please note that this is not a paid sponsored post but just a case of giving credit where credit is due!27 34 years of loyal service in the working world used to get you gold watch or an embellished citation suitable for framing. Not so … [Read More...]
Basic Easy Coleslaw Recipe
Coleslaw - what can be said about it?Numerous clichés lend themselves to describing coleslaw - "always a bridesmaid, never the bride" or "best supporting actor in a cast of thousands". It is always cast in a supporting role but coleslaw fills a need in so many meal plans. Coleslaw is there to cleanse and awake the palate in a meal heavily laden with greasy fried foods. Can you imagine a seafood platter without it? As a condiment in a pulled pork sandwich, it lends the perfect … [Read More...]
Sister Jo’s Zucchini Relish- a recipe to use large zucchini
Zucchini relish is the perfect canning recipe to use up Monster Zucchini!This recipe for Zucchini Relish is the perfect way to use up extra zucchini. Zucchini are without a doubt the most prolific vegetable in the garden. Think about it! The vegetable everybody wants to give you from their garden is ZUCCHINI SQUASH. And they almost never give you the nice small ones that are perfect for slicing and sautéing. Instead they give you bags of monster squash that are the size of a … [Read More...]