irish stew.

this past week i finally made something i have been wanting to make for quite a while now, but have been putting off. every year, my mom & i go to the pittsburgh irish festival. i almost always get the same thing to eat there. it's called dublin coddle, or irish stew. it seemed like it would be simple to make, so i figured i could just wing it. it turned out pretty good. it's quick & easy to make, and perfect for the cool fall weather. 

INGREDIENTS
potatoes (4-6 medium sized)
ham (about 1/2 lb)
irish sausages (2-4 links)
thick cut bacon (2-4 slices)
1 medium sized onion
1 small head of cabbage
broth or beer (i used a mixture of ham broth & beer)
salt, pepper, garlic, dill

DIRECTIONS i started by cooking my bacon in a skillet until crispy, then set it aside, but kept the grease. cut onion into bite size pieces. add onions and seasonings to the pan with the bacon grease & saute. transfer the onions to a larger pot. cut potatoes into bite sized pieces & add them to the pot with onions. cut cabbage leaves into bite sized pieces & add to pot. add about 1 cup of broth to the potato mixture & let simmer. while the potatoes cook, begin to cook your sausages & ham if they aren't pre-cooked. once everything is cooked, you could just chop up the sausage & ham and add them in with the potatoes, but i chose to finish mine off in a crock pot. i added the potatoes, onions, cabbage, sausage (cut into pieces), and chunks of ham to my crock pot. i added enough broth & beer to cover everything and let it cook on low for a few hours. 

that's it! i think i will probably tweak it a little next time, but it tastes pretty similar to what i was trying to duplicate, so i'm happy about it : ).

the beach!

stormy morning on assateague.

wild ponies! they're wayyy out there.

sikka deer.

my favorite vacation meal. yummmm.

stone crab's aren't killed - only 1 claw is taken, and it grows back!

sam takes on the oceanic pier...

he catches monster fish!

the ferris wheel @ ocean city.

managed to get some junkin' in ; ).

just some photos from a much needed vacation sam & i took this past weekend. we stayed with my sister, shannon, in annapolis the first night & got some really good crab cakes & expensive beers. next, we drove down to assateague island & ocean city. although the weather was very windy (that hurricane was making it's way up the coast), we managed to get some beach time in, see lots of wildlife, eat some really good seafood, and meet some hilarious surfer dudes. we drove up the coast to rehobeth for a day. we ended up seeing one of the craziest, longest lasting storms of all time. luckily, the bar we ducked into ended up having awesome food, good drinks, and a couple of interesting people that we ended up drinking all night with. after leaving the beach : ( we headed back to stay with my sister the last few days. we spent some time in washington d.c., and visited the national zoo, where we saw lots of animals, including the lil guys above. A RED PANDA!!!! we had a really great time. can't wait for another adventure!

peach bake.

i saw a recipe a while back for something similar to this, and i've been wanting to try it for a while now. it's really simple, and doesn't take much time to prepare at all. all you really need is a fruit (peaches are all i've tried so far), and a pie crust. you can make your own, or use a store bought one. i am a pretty big advocate of home made crusts only, but i tried trader joe's frozen pie crusts this time, and they're pretty good, and pretty cheap. i also found an ingredient i had never tried before - creamed honey.

as soon as i saw it, i knew exactly what i wanted to do with it; mix it wish some mascarpone cheese (also super cheap at trader joes). i thought instead of just a peach pie, i would try to do a peaches & cream pie. so here's the recipe.







INGREDIENTS

4 small peaches, halved & pitted.
1 pie crust, quartered & rolled into circles.
peach filling (optional) - whatever you want! some honey would be good. i mixed 8 ounces of mascaropone cheese with about a 1/4 cup of creamed honey.

preheat oven to 350 degrees. cut peaches in half and remove pits. be sure to keep the peach halves matched up. fill the spot where the pits used to be with whatever you'd like. put the peaches halves back together & place them in the center of the mini pie crusts. be sure your dough isn't super thin on the bottom (something i will do a better job of next time!), and then fold the sides up over top of the peach, making sure it's all covered. place the peach inside the dough into a greased muffin pan. cut slits into top to allow venting. i brushed mine with some egg yolk then sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar. bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown. once cooled, remove & enjoy! 
 
i think they turned out pretty yummy. however, i always taste everything as i'm making it, and the best part - the honey cream filling - sort of melted away in the cooking process. i always hope it won't, and it always does. the good news is that now i have a big batch of honey cream to use some other way. i am thinking it would be delicious with grilled figs. hopefully i can come up with a new recipe to share using it soon.

forest county junk.

this weekend i took a very much needed trip up to sam's camp in marienville. we did lots of hiking, exploring, eating & drinking. i've been there a few times now, and each time i see new things - flowers, mushrooms, birds, bugs (i got a tick this time! ewwwwww!) and animals. there are so many different spots to visit and things to see. 

the last few times we were up there, i noticed some lil junk stores. i had a feeling they would be really cheap & loaded with treasures. so, this time we made sure we stopped at them on our way back. our first stop was one i had visited before. it's a pretty unusual set up. there's a woman who owns 2 houses in row. one she lives in, and the other she stores her "compulsively bought" junk in. the lawn, first floor, second floor, and basement are all full of things for sale. she has some pretty cool stuff, but is pretty aware of what everything is worth, so it's not the kind of place where you'll find anything super old & cheap. i did manage to find a few pretty good finds. i got the two matching jars on the left, both for $1.50. they'll be perfect for terrariums (of course i got another bag & jar full of awesome moss from sam's camp) or smaller tropical plants. 

i also got this little old leather polish tin for $4.00, which is a little expensive, but i really liked it. i think my dad's can collecting is starting to rub off on me. i always keep my eyes open for cans for him, but i'm starting to really like old tobacco tins & other interesting little ones. i did some research on this one, and it seems to be a pretty common one, but i really like it. 

after this stop, we moved along down there road. there were 2 kind of crappy looking junk/thrift stores i had noticed on trips up before. they seemed like the kind of places that would be dirt cheap. the next one we stopped at was probably the cheapest store i've ever been in.

the sign outside advertised "10 cent clothing." unfortunately, the store was probably about 80% clothing, which i'm not too interested in. it wasn't vintage clothes either. everything was donated, so the lady running it didn't seem to care much about making any profit. at one point i dropped one of my glass containers right on top of a glass bowl & she said "if you break it, it doesn't matter, i don't care, it's all donated." so, i got the 2 glass containers in the right side of the photo above, and this cute little cardinal wall plaque for 80 cents! so cheap. i will definitely stop back there again next time i'm around.

our next stop was a store we had heard was pretty expensive - and it was. they had a lot of bigger items, and everything seemed very over priced. i did find one thing though. they had a room full of old linens & things, and i found this old cloth calendar, which i will probably hang or use as a tea towel. it was only $2.50. i had to resist the urge to buy about 4 other similar ones with birds on them. 

our last stop was a pretty large building. it had a lot of reasonably priced items, but it was kind of strange. it was really dark & dreary inside. i overheard the woman who owned it talking about most of the stuff inside being her grandma's, who loved to sew. there was tons and tons of old fabrics, which i would have liked to picked through, but didn't want to keep sam waiting. there was nothing of interest to him in this one, it was all old lady looking stuff. lot's of clothes, kitchen things, and knick knacks. the only thing i got here was this little teal creamer for 50 cents, because i liked the color. 

another blue jay feather!

overall, some pretty good, cheap junk finds. but i have to say the things i saw/found in the woods are much better. i'm sure i'll be posting tons of photos from my trip soon. here's a few of the things sam and i found in the woods that i brought back with me.
 

lots and lots of moss!

i took one with no snail, of course!

berry cake.

this past week sam & i went fishing at the dam in harmar. after about an hour of no bites (sam did catch a big dirty catfish ; )), i decided to explore the banks along the river. i quickly noticed a little patch of black berries right behind our fishing spot. i pulled them off & ate the small handful i found. they were delicious! i decided to keep walking in hopes i could find more, and i did. the entire hill side was loaded with black berry bushes. so, i ran back up to my car, grabbed my berry bucket, and got to picking. i got a pretty decent amount. i wasn't sure what to make with them. then i remembered a cake my mom always makes with fresh blueberries, and thought i could do something similar. it's a simple yellow cake with berries scattered through it, with a crispy, cinnamon sugar top. as soon as i got home i asked my mom for the recipe. this morning, i thawed out my berries & gave it a go.

i did a few things a little different than my mom's recipe calls for this time. i substituted maple sugar for about 1/2 of the sugar in the batter, which gave it a slightly less sweet taste. also, my mom has only ever made this with blueberries. i found the black berries didn't sink down into the batter the way the blueberries do. they mostly stayed on top, which is fine, but i think i would have added more berries after seeing how it turned out. still tasty! i think most any berry would work. it is really nice for more fragile berries such as black berries, because you don't have to do any mixing with them, which tends to smash & break them apart. laying them on top keeps them whole & looking nice.  

INGREDIENTS
2 cups flour.
1 1/2 cups sugar.
2 tsp. baking powder.
1 tsp. salt.
2/3 cups softened butter.
1 cup milk.
2 eggs.
1 cup (or more) blueberries (or any other berry!)

topping
1/4 cup sugar.
1/2 tsp. cinnamon. 

DIRECTIONS
in a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, butter, milk & eggs. blend at low speed until dry ingredients are moistened, then beat at medium speed for about 3 minutes. 

pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan. arrange berries on top. combine sugar & cinnamon. sprinkle over top. bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. let cool & enjoy!

a new fruit!

i always keep my eyes open for something i've never seen or tried before at the weekly farmers market in south side. so far this year, gooseberries have been the only thing i have never tried, but i still knew what they were. but yesterday, i found something i have never seen before...and it love it!

they're called ground cherries. they come in little paper-like pods, which you peal away to reveal a tiny yellow fruit center. they taste somewhat like a peach & strawberry mixed together, but there is another vanilla-like flavor there too. delicious! i'm hoping they are still available next week, because i'd really like to bake something with them, or make a jelly or jam out of them. 


sam did a little research & they are actually very easy to grow, and come in a lot of different varieties.
 
if you spot any of these lil fruits, give them a try!

happy plants!

i was pretty relieved to get some rain these past few weeks, but i'm sure my plants were even happier. my flower & vegetable gardens were looking a little weak, but now they seem to be much happier. i'm sure soon i'll have more tomatoes and peppers than i know what to do with, and that's fine with me. here's a little peak at some of my favorite outdoor plants from this year.