Strawberry Shortcake in May!

This is my all time favorite shortcake recipe. It is from the King Arthur Flour site, which also has some scrumptious other recipes. These are pretty easy to make and the powdered buttermilk gives them an added zip! Check out the recipe, http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/strawberry-shortcake-recipe


Our strawberry delight was due to the early local berries coming into season. Wow! What a treat. My own plants have a few more days before they have anything for me, but Kruse Farms already has some starting. I hope it will be a good season. I have plans already to can some strawberry lemonade concentrate and a good deal of strawberry jam concoctions... not to mention a diner style strawberry pie recipe from Cooks Country last month.

...and the finished product, well... at least for the picture! I tend to make it a bit messier and devour it quickly!

Our Garden!

I am so excited that everything is now in place for our little backyard garden. My herbs are all planted, tomatoes in their pots and cages (2 Russian Black Heirlooms, 2 Cabernet Grapes and 1 Mountain Spring), and the strawberries are even starting to turn red! Above the tomato cages is our "gutter garden" for mesclun greens and salad mix. We found this idea online (sorry, I don't have the blog name...) and it looked perfect for our small space. Salad greens don't require a lot of soil, and you can't beat the price for set-up! I think the whole thing, plus less than 1 bag of soil, cost around $10. Sweet! This year I went wild with the basil (photo #2) and one little corner has some more mixed salad greens. So, I will have everything for salads... and with some fresh home-made mozzarella we will eat like Kings!

Pasta on the horizon

Is there anything better than fresh pasta? I made fettuccine a week ago, but can't wait until my tomatoes and basil are ready to be tossed in with the lovely noodles. My husband prefers the ease of the Kitchen Aid pasta attachment, but I love the simplicity of my pasta press. The more I use it the better I get at a quick batch of pasta. Really makes it hard to buy the boxed stuff.

Just as a seed must start out small and insignificant, this food blog has to start somewhere. I love cooking and baking from scratch and hope to share my adventures... and mishaps with the greater community of food lovers. Enjoy!