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What's in Season?

While many fruits and vegetables are available year-round, most are at their peak during specific seasons. You'll find the tastiest nectarines in the summer for example, while fiddlehead ferns are generally sold during the spring. With so much delicious produce to choose from, it's hard to figure out what to eat when. Luckily, this helpful produce guide lists the season's best options, so you'll never be unsure again!

Spring Fruit and Veggies

• Apricots
• Artichoke
• Asparagus
• Avacados
• Carrots
• Chives
• Collard greens
• Fennel
• Fiddlehead Ferns
• Mango
• Mustard greens
• New potatoes
• Pineapple
• Rhubarb
• Spinach
• Spring Baby Lettuce Mixes
• Strawberries
• Sugar Snap and Snow Peas
• Vidalia Onions
• Water Crest

Summer Fruits and Veggies

• Beets
• Blackberries
• Blueberries
• Broccoli
• Chinese Cabbage
• Corn
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant
• Nectarines
• Green Beans
• Peaches
• Plums
• Raspberries
• Summer Squash
• Tomatoes
• Watermelon
• Zucchini

Now head on over to your nearest Farmer's Market and stock up on some delicious, fresh fruits and vegetables!

Posted in: farmer's market, fruits, vegetables, veggies on Friday, June 6, 2008 at at 12:39 PM 20 comments    

Caramel Cream Cheese Apple Pie

This pie is absolutely to die for, even better with ice cream!


INGREDIENTS

• 2 pastry crusts (I used one frozen pie crust for the bottom (the ones already in the tin) and one Pillsbury pastry for the top.)
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1.5 cups cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 or more thinly sliced apples
• 1 (2.5 ounce) package caramel apple circle (like what you'd use to bake on caramel apples.)
• 1 tablespoon sugar

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, blend cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and flour. Mix well. Add apples to cream cheese mixture and stir until apples are evenly coated. Add brown sugar mixture to apple mixture gradually, stirring after each addition.
4. Pour half of apple mixture into pastry-lined pie plate. Place caramel circle over top, then pour in remaining apple mixture. Cover with second pastry. Seal edges and cut steam vent in top. Sprinkle with coarse sugar and cinnamon. Place pie on baking sheet covered with aluminum foil.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes. Cover edges with foil after 15 minutes.

- I used granny smith apples - not usually my pie favorite but they turned out fantastic.
- I cut 5 vents in a diamond pattern on the top and had no boil out/over.

After you cook the pie, let it sit for an hour, then put in the fridge for an hour. If you cut it while its warm, it will collapse, the inside is liquid and needs to firm up. But you want to serve it warm, so cut a piece and warm it in toaster oven or 15 secs in microwave

Posted in: apple pie, easy, recipes on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at at 8:36 PM 12 comments    

We left for our yearly family vacation to Surfside Beach, SC on August 17, 2007. However, right from the start we hit a road bump. The night before, as I was dropping the dogs off to the kennel, packing for myself, packing for 3 kids, and trying to get laundry and dishes done before we left, Sean offers to pick up a friend at the airport, at 10pm. I asked him not to do it, we were leaving the next day and he still needed to pack for himself and pack the car. But nope, he said he’d go pick up his buddy and come right home. Whatever, I finished as much as I could and went to bed around 11pm. Around 4am Sean comes in the bedroom and says, “Turn on the light, wake up. It’s important.” Groggily I look at the clock and turn on the light. He’s standing at the foot of the bed and tells me, “I wrecked the car. I was arrested for DUI, reckless driving, driving an uninsured vehicle, and open container. They put me in hand cuffs, I’ve spent the last 2 hours at the hospital. I’m sorry.”

Shocked I went to sleep. I don’t think I realized what he really had said until the morning. That morning was spent with Sean on the phone to his boss and his mom and the State Police and the tow place, etc. We got off to a late start and the whole drive down was miserable. Sean on the phone to his mom all day, 10 hours in a car w/3 kids. We spent the night in Richmond, VA. The next morning we got up early and got to the beach around 3pm. Sean took the kids to the beach and the pool while I went to Wal-mart to get groceries. We enjoyed the beach and the pool together when I got back. We made some dinner and relaxed in the condo. Around 9pm our best friends from Georgia arrived and the kids played for a while as us grown ups caught up (we hadn’t seen them since they moved in May). We all were in bed by midnight or so.

The next morning we got up early and fed all 5 kids and headed out to the beach. We swapped watching the kids between the pool and the beach and getting things ready for lunch, dinner, etc. A great day was had by all! We took a walk on the beach after dinner down to the pier. We got the kids some ice cream and hung out. We went back to the condo and the kids played and we had some beers. The next day our friends hung out for the morning and headed back to Georgia in the early afternoon.

We spent the rest of the day at the beach and pool, etc. I took Rachel and Grace for a walk while the boys slept. We headed about a mile down the road to where Sean’s Aunt and Uncle own a beach house. They were there with their 2 married adult children and their 4 grandchildren. We don’t see this side of his family much because they live in OH and SC. His Aunt asked us to come back tomorrow afternoon to hang out and eat dinner. We stayed for a while so Rachel could visit with her cousin and the others could meet Gracie. We got back to the condo and ate dinner and relaxed.

Read the next installment here.

Posted in: disaster, vacation on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at at 8:05 PM 12 comments    

So I told about going to see DMB over the weekend, but I forgot one very odd event that took place right before we left.

We had eaten breakfast and were getting into the car when the people who had been in the dining room with us struck up a conversation. They asked where we were from then the woman shoved a $20 in my hand. I tried to give it back to her and she said, "Are you working people?" We answered, Yes, and she said, "Then you need money." She got in her car and left!

We have no idea who these people were, only that they were from Alabama, based on their license plate.

Posted in: random act of kindness on Monday, June 2, 2008 at at 6:53 PM 10 comments    

Last night hubby and I went to Pittsburgh to see the Dave Matthews Band concert at the Post Gazette Pavilion at Starlake in Burgettstown, PA. It was night two of their Summer 2008 tour. It was anything but ordinary, with the band playing cover songs for their encore both nights. Check out the setlist.

My mom came down to watch our kids for us for the night, arriving around noon on Saturday. We hit the road about 30-45 minutes later, making our estimated time of arrival at the Bed and Breakfast around 4pm. We stay at this great place just a few miles from the show called, Timber Crest Inn. We made decent time and got there right when we had planned.

I had eaten a sandwich before we left home, but I am always hungry and wanted to have dinner before we headed to the show. We decided to have dinner at the B&B. Let me just say that it was one of the best dinners I have ever eaten. I had Lobster Bisque, striped sea bass with lemon pepper seasoning over roasted red pepper fettucine with hearts of palm, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, and sundried tomatoes. On the side I had fresh garden asparagus. To wash it down I had my favorite beer, Yuengling.

After dinner we headed to the show, arriving around 6:30pm or so. We had heard that DMB went on at 8:20pm the night before, so decided to hang out in the lot for a while, then head in around 8pm to our seats. We timed it perfectly because right as we got to our seats, the band came on!



The show was great and hubby and I enjoyed a couple of $8 beers while there. We got out about 10:30pm and decided to head back to the B&B right away. If you've ever been to a DMB concert, you know that leaving the parking lot can be quite a feat! We finally managed to get out around11:30pm, notbad at all considering other times we've sat in the lot until 2am or later!



We hung out for a bit when we got back, then went to bed. Got up around 9am today and headed downstairs to the restaurant for the included breakfast. Yum, yum, yum! I had coffee, a cup of fruit, a homemade blueberry muffin, and the main course was eggs, potatoes, and sausage gravy over biscuits. We headed home right afterwards and got back around 2pm. A successful weekend was had by all!

Posted in: Burgettstown, concert, dave matthews band, DMB, Pittsburgh, Post-Gazette Pavilion, Starlake on Sunday, June 1, 2008 at at 2:55 PM 10 comments