making fresh mozzarella cheese

My daughter and I completed our first attempt at making fresh mozzarella cheese over the weekend.  I read a post from Kevin over at A Garden for the House blog about making cheese.  http://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2011/03/homemade-mozzarella-in-30-minutes.html
I ordered the cheese making kit he suggested ($32.50 w/shipping) It arrived in 2 days. We were very excited to undertake this new adventure.  It took us much longer than the 30 minutes it should have, but that was due to us not being sure if we were doing it right. We kept looking at the pictures and comparing to what we had on the stove. We finally just poured everything into a colandar and were surprised to find more curds than we thought we had.  We kneaded and stretched the cheese and ended up with almost a pound of fresh cheese. The only problem with making this with another person is that you have to share it wtih them!! Looking forward to making our next batch.  The kit comes with enough citric acid and rennet to make 40 batches of cheese. It also came with cheesecloth and a thermometer.  Give it a try and have fun! I only wish it was fresh tomato and basil season!!

Spring is here, I think. Do I rake or shovel?

I was going to post about the glories of Spring finally arriving, but as I look out my window, I see snow falling.  We've had 2 days of decent weather that I was able to start my garden clean-ups.  Where to start!
Remember that sapsicle picture I posted? It was on a very large maple tree in my back yard. I love that leaf-covered maple tree on hot summer days.  I don't love those same leaves in the Spring.  Especially when it snows so early in the Fall that I don't get them all raked up.  This is the mess I am faced with.  These leaves literally can be rolled up like a mat.  I think I have all my spring bulbs uncovered, some of their leaves were pretty spindly and yellow as they struggled to find some sunlight under the maple leaves.
 

This was taken last week, on one of those nice days. It was pretty chilly out, but the sun was shining bright and the bees and flies were happy and busy. I didn't get my camera in time to capture the 5 bees that were covering these flowers.

This was a pleasant surprise 2 weeks ago. I forgot I planted these little iris last fall.

Peanut butter cup cheesecake

I'm still waiting for spring to reach us, hopefully we'll see it this weekend. In the meantime, I thought I'd post this recipe that I created for my daughter's birthday. I always make her a different kind of cheesecake.  Recently, Hershey's came out with bite-size Reese's peanut butter cups. In case you are reading this from a country that doesn't have peanut butter cups - my sympathies.  I learned last year from a foreign exchange student that England does not have them. They are one thing she was going to miss about America.  They truly are the best food in the world!!  So, back to the cake.  I took my chocolate chip cheesecake recipe and used the bite size peanut butter cups instead of the chips.  Oh, so delicious!!!!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake
Crust - I used a package of Girl Scout peanut butter sandwich cookies (Do-Si-Dos). I crushed them and patted them in the bottom of a cheesecake pan.  You can also do the traditional graham cracker crust.
Filling -
3 8oz packages of cream cheese
1 can condensed milk
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 bag Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - or use regular size and cut them in bite size pieces
1 tsp. flour
In large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add condensed milk; beat until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. In small bowl, toss together peanut butter cups with flour to coat (this keeps them from sinking in the batter), stir into cheese mixture. Pour over crust in pan. Bake 1 hour at 300 degrees or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool to room temperature. Chill. Remove side of pan, refrigerate leftovers.

Note - mini chocolate chips can be substituted - toss together 1 cup of chips with flour. Sprinkle 1 cup of chips, not mixed with flour,  on top of cake before baking.

Maple syrup and sapsicles

The sap is running! Do you see the maple sapsicle on my tree? I've enjoyed watching my squirrels pick off the sapsicles and munch on them. They've been scampering all over the tree licking up the sap. When the sapsicles melt, they create quite a sticky mess underneath.  I have made syrup from this tree when my kids were younger and I was home all day to watch it cook outside. Nothing can beat homemade maple syrup. My son & daughter-in-law went to a maple festival this past weekend and brought back a jar of maple cream for me. HMMMM!! Yummy on toast.

My sign of spring

First, a disclaimer - these are not my pictures, I took them off the internet.
I have been reading a lot of blogs lately about the first signs of spring, accompanied by beautiful pictures of crocus and daffodils. I admit, I am jealous. Especially since we received an inch of snow yesterday. It could be worse, other areas received more. Considering that one week ago it was 60 degrees and I was cleaning my gardens and now I can't see them, it's a bit depressing.

But here's the thing - my community has another sign of spring apart from the new growth outdoors.  Our true sign of spring is when Rudy's Lakeside Drive-in opens for the season, which it did on March 16th. I usually get out there for lunch on opening day, but it was a pretty raw, cold day so I didn't go.  My husband and I ate dinner there on Monday night - yup - spring is here. My first Texas hot of the season.  A mouth-watering Hoffman hotdog topped with onions and spicey Texas hot sauce!  Okay, so we had to sit in the car to eat so we wouldn't freeze to death, but we could still watch the waves of Lake Ontario come ashore and see the seagulls flying overhead, hoping for a bit of food.  We have a whole summer ahead of us to sit outside and enjoy many more meals from Rudys.
The food isn't the healthiest - mostly deep fried, but the taste can't be beat. We wait patiently through the winter storms anticipating opening day and then we breath a sigh of relief - spring has arrived in Oswego.

Happy 1st blog anniversary to me!

Today marks my 1 year anniversary of blogging. When I began last year, I wasn't sure how long I would keep at it or if I would like blogging. I just knew I wanted to learn more about it and see where it took me.  There is so much to learn from other bloggers and so many new "cyber-space" friends to make.  I plan to continue this enjoyable hobby. I sometimes wish I had more time to spend on it but I have far too many other interests and have to try and fit everything in.

Recycled garden art or gaden junk?

I am a believer in recycling.  Some may call me a junk-picker. I suppose I inherited the disease from my grandfather and father.  I hate to throw something away if I can think of some other use for it, and I love old stuff.  So, while I'm waiting for my spring flowers to bloom (most of the snow has finally disappeared) I thought I would share my "found objects." I enjoy finding unexpected things in gardens. Do you like a well trimmed, organized, everything matches garden or do you like an eccentric garden as I do?

Some of you might be gasping - how could you put this treasure outside?  Yes, I suppose we could have tried to get a little money for it, but how neat does it look in my garden? My green peppers love their home. My brother bought a house in the country, one of those places where past owners threw their junk out back on a junk pile, and this was one of the pieces of junk.

Decorating a bowling ball to use in the garden might be considered kitschy, but I enjoy gluing stuff on old bowling balls and setting them in my garden.  This one is covered in colored stones.

The bowl portion of this birdbath broke, so I planted a fuchsia in it. That was about 5 years ago and this is the same plant. I bring it in every winter.

Some might consider this junk.  Another treasure from my brother's junk pile. He dragged this broken, old washing machine out and placed it in my garden as my Christmas present one year. He knew I would love this more than any store bought gift.

Here's the lady of my garden. My husband used to clean out unpaid storage units and was able to keep anything he found.  This was a keeper. My niece used to be a bit frightened of her, as many small children would, but she pays her no mind now.

A pot belly stove with a crack in the belly. No longer able to hold a fire, but great at  holding my mini-rose in a rescued, rusty, hole-filled bucket.

What do you do with a gas grill that doesn't work anymore? Turn it into a potting bench! I took out the gas burner, put in a plastic dish pan to hold my potting soil and there you have it! The cover keeps my soil nice and dry.

I'm a sucker for these old stools. I have 2 of them in my garden.

Got this for $5 at a yard sale last year. I couldn't pass it up.

Another yard sale find. An old radio flyer - perfect for my impatiens.

Another wood burning stove - right out of my grandfather's workshop. Victim of another crack.

My granparent's pump - it was no longer needed when city water came out their way. It sits up so high because there is a very long pipe attached to it. I couldn't dig down deep enough to bury it all.