ricotta stuffed roma tomatoes

so yesterday was my first day back to work after having a seven year break! i wouldn't really call it a break since two children, hundreds of loads of laundry, hundreds of meals and so on were involved. anyway, i was pooped. i was also later than i thought, so i quickly made a pot of pasta, sauteed some chicken and made these little ruby gems. we are getting fresh roma tomatoes from the garden everyday, now, so what a delicious use of them. i had seen the original recipe on the pioneer woman long time ago, but this is my quickie version with what i had on hand.

beth's ricotta stuffed roma tomatoes

you need: roma tomatoes, ricotta cheese, salt, pepper, parsley, basil, garlic(fresh or dried), bread/cracker crumbs and olive oil

wash, split lengthwise the number of tomatoes you want. now clean the seeds out completely, i used a spoon. sprinkle a little kosher salt on the halves and lay cut side down on a paper towel to dry a bit. meanwhile heat your oven to 400F.

in a bowl, add approx one tablespoon of ricotta for every tomato half you have. to this add some kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. the following all ingredients would be even better if fresh: basil, italian parsley and garlic. i happened to have the parsley, so i chopped roughly a teaspoon fine, a hefty shake of both garlic powder and dried basil. if using fresh, i would say depending on the amount of filling, half to a whole garlic clove minced, but same amount of basil as to parsley. it really depends how much filling and tomatoes. taste it and decide what you need.

 now fill you halves, nice and packed. smooth off the tops.

now get some bread crumbs or in my case, ritz crackers. smash fine. dip each cheese packed side into the crumbs. place on a cookie sheet, hit with a smidge of olive oil and roast for 30 minutes.

yum, yum, yum.

oh, you could easily add some parmesan cheese to the filling or on top. yehaw.

enjoy.

goodbye to good friends

my fluffy cheeked rosie chicken, the little green egg layer and.....

my lovable little mildred chicken(closest to the door) the newest welsummer......

killed by this man!


despite extra water and shelter the chickens just could not take it. chickens body temperatures run in the low one hundred's, so you can imagine what the heat wave does to them. i have now hooked up a fan blowing into the coop, so i can only hope that it won't scare them and they will go inside. silly birds.



freecycling baby!

oh my gosh i have become a freecycling junkie!

what is freecycling you ask? well, according to the net it is "also known as free recycling, is the act of giving away usable unwanted items to others instead of disposing of them in landfills." it is so much fun! it has allowed me to give away items i don't use or need any longer and in return find things i do need or just plain want. i love it.  for example, just today i was freecycled this fantastic comforter set for travis.

it is made by olive's kids and included sheets, shams, valances, comforter and even a matching room sized rug! he loves it and i am so appreciative. other things i have picked up included shoes for travis, tops for caroline, decorative knick knacks and even this lovely antique sofa.

it has not been all take on my part, i have also been freecycling back quite a bit, giving bags and bags of kids clothes, pairs of shoes, pictures, seasonal decorations and more. i just gave away a huge bag of crafting goodies yesterday. the old saying "one man's junk is another man's treasure" is so freaking true!

if you think you might be interested in freecycling check it out here. you enter where you live and join that particular yahoo group. you will get emails with offers, wanteds, founds, etc...

remember to reuse, reduce and recycle. enjoy.

meet ada and mildred....

they are my two new adopted welsummer hen sisters and they seem right at home, already. i named these girls ada and mildred in honor of two old sisters that i knew as a kid. you see, both of my folks were from lynchburg, virginia and on our many trips to see family we would stop at ada and mildred's rambling old farmhouse. i have no idea how my parents came to know these two women, one widowed and one a spinster, but i remember their house was green, old, smelled of body odor, bacon grease and full of beautiful antiques. they also produced the most tasty sweet and butter milks, as well as the most adorable boston terrier pups ever. my parents bought it all, the antiques, milks and puppies. what characters these two wonderfully large bosomed, shift wearing ladies were. they were the most eclectic coupla of old hens i have ever met. we loved exploring their old farm as kids on our visits. heck, my brother kevin even manage to rack up a few foot stitches courtesy of one of their rusty pitchforks on one trip! ow! can you say tetanus shot?

sadly, they both passed sometime in the 1980's. here are my ada and mildred....

this is ada, right in the front, next to rosie. i think both of the welsummers look very similar to my rhode island reds.

mildred and rosie hanging with dottie.

the two new sister wives making themselves at home in the coop. they figured it all out immediately. this was the easiest chicken integration i have ever done. wanna see what their eggs might look like? look here and scroll down. oh baby, come on ada and mildred. i have faith in you. hmmmm...faith...that would make a nice chicken name. hey jamie....

another interesting link. enjoy.

it's been awhile....

i know. how are you? there is so much going on in my life lately that i have not had the time or motivation to post. some things i can talk about, some i will talk about later. i guess right now i am dealing with school ending and jamie's surgery. he had carpal surgery four days ago and all i can say is thank goodness he didn't get both hands done at the same time! they offered. he said no thanks. thank ya lord. he is actually making good progress and already sees signs of improvement, actually, almost immediately. it was a good decision and incision.

school is ending. oh....now the constant entertaining begins. i don't want to think about it. moving on....

then there is something else going on, but i can't talk right now, but it is a good thing, so don't worry. although for me it is a scary, hair pulling, nail biting, skin breaking out.....good thing. hang tight. announcement soon.....or not.

okay, just because you know you want to see it, here is jamie's six stitches of relief. enjoy.

four minutes to chocolate pudding!

i know this is a horrible picture, but i assure you the chocolate pudding is not. i was craving chocolate today, jumped on the web and found this recipe for microwave chocolate pudding! it is delicious. it only took four minutes total to something yummy, sweet, smooth and decadent. this is tonight's treat. travis will love me forever. enjoy.

pancake syrup for pennies

well, after i came home from the grocery store, with my list, i still manage to forget a few things and pancake syrup was one. oh well. i still had the old bottle, so looking at the ingredients i just figured i could make it. i quickly found a recipe online, changed it up a smidge and i got the easiest and tastiest pancake syrup for practically pennies. now, i have only made one batch, but you would definitely need to double or triple to fill your typical ain't yo'mama bottle. this is thick, sweet and downright yummy.
here is what you do...

bring to a boil the following:

one cup of packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup of water
1/2 cup light corn syrup

boil seven minutes. it should be nice and thick. now, let it cool a few minutes, add a teaspoon of real vanilla extract and a splash of butter extract. taste the elixir to see if need to add more. also, you could  add maple flavoring if you want. i didn't want. 

cool and enjoy. viola! you have just made your very own pancake syrup. i  poured mine into my empty bottle and popped into the cupboard. i am off thrifting today in hopes of finding a new, cool syrup dispenser of some sorts. yeehaw.

enjoy.