Saturday, August 10, 2013

A Few Firsts

Take a look at our Rainer Cherry tree.  See anything?

How about now? Hint:  it's not very big!

Our first cherry!  Unfortunately about two days after I took this photo the cherry disappeared along with a few of the lower branches. Those dratted dear!


Today marked another first. Our first chicken egg from our new batch of chickens.  It came from the Speckled Sussex coop. 

The egg on the left (white) is a normal "large" from the grocery store and I put it next to the brown egg so you can get an idea of the size.  It's typical for first eggs to be very small like this. This hens' next egg could very well be "large".

I plan on having my first egg for breakfast tomorrow.  :-)

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Facebook Recipe: No Bake Blueberry Cheesecake

I've been seeing a lot of good looking/sounding recipes on Facebook lately.  So today I'm sharing this one with you.  It's a No Bake Blueberry Cheesecake.  Actually, unless you buy a premade crust there will be just that to bake, but it's easy.


Well, my pie didn't look as pretty as the original but it did taste very yummy!

The crust is a nice flavorful graham cracker crust and the filling uses fresh blueberries. To top it all off is a whipped cream topping topped again with more fresh blueberries.


Here's the recipe directly copied from my Facebook page!


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"No Bake Blueberry Cheesecake with Graham Cracker Crust"


Ingredients: Crust
9 whole graham crackers
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
3 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin (measured from 2 envelopes)
12 ounces Philadelphia-brand cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3 cups fresh blueberries

Topping:
1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar
4 1/2-pint baskets blueberries
2/3 cup blueberry jam

Preparation: Crust
Preheat oven to 350°F. Blend first 4 ingredients in processor until graham crackers are finely ground. Add butter and vanilla; process until moist crumbs form. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Bake crust until deep golden brown, about 12 minutes. Cool.

Filling:
Pour 1/4 cup water into small saucepan; sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand 10 minutes. Stir over very low heat just until gelatin dissolves. Set aside.

Blend cream cheese, cream, sugar, and lemon juice in processor until smooth. Add berries; puree until smooth (some blueberry bits will remain). With machine running, add warm gelatin mixture through feed tube and blend well. Pour filling into crust. Cover; chill overnight. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.

Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake. Release pan sides. Transfer to platter.

Topping:
Beat cream and sugar in medium bowl until firm peaks form. Spread cream mixture thickly over top of cheesecake. Place berries in bowl. Heat jam in small saucepan over low heat until just melted. Pour jam over berries; toss to coat. Mound coated berries in center of cream, leaving 1-inch plain border. Chill cake at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Fresh!

Hubby went to the coast yesterday and came home early this morning.  This is what he brought home.

Fresh dungeness that he caught himself!

Yum!!