~Fresh Salsa & Peach Cobbler~

Happy Thursday!  And Happy 1st day of September!  It's hard to believe that August is now past, it seemed to go so fast.

It is beginning to feel like fall just a little bit, here in Manitoba.

When I go out on my porch in the mornings I have to wrap up in the little quilt that my sis-in-law sent me recently.  And it is dark by 9:00 pm now, sadly our summer weather is receding.   It has rained twice recently, after an almost rainless summer, it's not so bad.


Probably the best thing that I did this summer was grow nine tomato plants.  I have had to baby them along, I had to water them every day and fertilize them faithfully, but they are giving back in abundance!

I showed you the delicious tomatoes that I have grown in my garden earlier this week and Ann from On Sutton Place asked for my recipe.  She is hosting the Open House Party, and I am going to join her there.
Be sure to check out Ann's blog, this is a very fun party with some great inspiration!!  I was simply blown away by all of it last week!

Here's the recipe.  I found it over at Simply Recipes, but I changed it up just a little bit, so this is my version.

 Fresh Tomato Salsa

2 - 3 medium sized fresh tomatoes, stems removed, finely diced

1/2 sweet onion, finely diced

1 jalapeno chili pepper, (the flesh of the ones that I had were not hot so I diced the whole thing up, and threw it all in, including the seeds and it is very nice, but not too hot.)

1 garlic clove, crushed

juice of one lime (2 tbsp.)

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 tsp. cumin

Put chopped up vegetables together in a medium sized bowl and mix well.  Taste.  If the chilies make the salsa too hot, add more chopped tomato.  If not hot enough, add more jalapeno pepper.

This is so delicious when you use fresh from the garden tomatoes!

I purchased some peaches that were not real good, so I made a cobbler out of them.  This turned out to be SO delicious!  I would recommend this recipe to anyone who asked, it is so good.

I found this recipe at Amish Stories. 

OUR MOM'S COBBLER

1/2 stick butter or margarine
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cup sugar*
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 cups sliced fruit  (your choice) 

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Melt butter in an 8x8x2 inch baking dish. Put sliced fruit in dish. Combine other ingredients and pour over sliced fruit. Bake at 325 degrees for one hour.

In place of sugar you can use Splenda  or other reduced calorie sugar just check with Splenda box to see how much goes in. Also you can use this recipe with raspberry's, blue berries, peaches and more. IF using canned fruit reduce sugar to 3/4 cup.

Next time I will use my 8x8 cake pan, it was in use today so I used the casserole dish instead.  And I will use half sugar and half Splenda.

These are two recipes that uses the fruit that is in season at the moment.  If you try them let me know what you thought of them, I appreciate the feedback.

I am also joining A Musing Potpourri for her End of the Summer Celebration.   

Two great parties to check out!

Have a lovely day!

~Wishing You Much Love In Your Heart...Sweet Peace In Your Soul...And  Joy In Your Life ~ 

~Always~ 

(Now I'm off to enjoy more of the salsa and chips!)



~Canisters and Tomatoes~

Happy Monday, all, I hope you are well.  

My heart goes out to you who were affected by Hurricane Irene.  I watched a slide show of the devastation, it's enough to break your heart.  My prayers are with you people.

My tomatoes were slowly ripening, one here, another one there.  We ate them up as they ripened.  I have not tasted good tomatoes for so long, I just can't get enough of them.  I have been eating at least two every day.  I have given several to my neighbors who bless me with the vintage goodies.

But now they are ripening much more quickly, so I am going to make salsa tomorrow.  I will can it so we can enjoy our wonderfully tasty tomatoes this winter.

Behind them sit my new canisters.  They were only $5.99 at a local thrift store.  They are like new except that two of them have no words, they washed off when I washed them.  That's okay, though, I will leave them like this until I decide what to do about it.

Any suggestions?

That's all for today, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

~Wishing You Much Love In Your Heart...Sweet Peace In Your Soul...And  Joy In Your Life ~ 

~Always~ 

Before and After: Pretty Home Exteriors

Way back when I first started searching the internet for decorating inspiration, the only place I knew about was the BHG website.

My house is in bad need of curb appeal, so I was searching their website today.  I found a few before and afters that I thought were interesting.  They are all small homes, a little like mine or about the size of mine.

I love this little cottage, isn't it sweet now?

Mine is a Craftsman Bungalow, but it doesn't have a porch, but I'm thinking that it really needs one.

I absolutely adore this one!

I kind of like the before better, do you?  I love the way the porch looked before and the color of the house was nice for the style of it.  I guess it looks like a much more prestigious home now, though.

If you need anymore Home exterior inspiration there is more

here. 

I'm joining Ann over at On Sutton Place, there is lots of fabulous inspiration there today!

Have a lovely day my friends!!!

~Wishing You Much Love In Your Heart...Sweet Peace In Your Soul...And  Joy In Your Life ~ 

Always~ 

Sewing

I have been wanting to blog about what I have been working on, but I have lost the desire to blog...have you ever hit that wall?  You have something to blog about you just don't feel like doing it.

Anyways, I am forcing myself to do it tonight.

Last week I made two aprons and fixed a little jean skirt for a friend's daughter.

Here is one of the aprons:

The other one is the same except that the ruffle on the bottom is made out of the polka-dot fabric.  I loved this one, it's probably the nicest apron I have made to date.

It is for a giveaway here at Woman to Woman.

Here is the jean skirt before:

And this is how it looked when I was finished with it:

It ended up a little long, so I will cut off the hem and do another rolled up hem.  I think it turned out really cute.

Well, that's all for today.

It was very hot here today, we broke another record.

I am loving this weather, it's been a hotter and drier than usual summer and it has not hurt my feelings in the least.
The first two summers that we lived here were wetter than usual, so we have really needed this.  The breeze blows all of the time and there is lots of shade here in my lovely neighborhood.

Enjoy the rest of your week, my friends.

~Wishing You Lots of Love In Your Heart...Peace In Your Soul...And  Joy In Your Life ~ Always~ 

Silence Is Golden

On Tuesday evening my electricity went out due to a big windstorm that went through our city.  It was out for about three hours, so I decided I would sit out in the backyard and read.  I was struck by how very quiet it was.  None of the Central Air units were humming and no music blared, it was silent except for the birds singing and squirrels screeching.  I just sitting under the crab-apple tree watching the limbs sway.

Then I checked out my tomato plants they were doing well ...

I turned around and a little bird was at the bird feeder...

The bird flew away and when I looked down, a squirrel was getting ready to take it's place...

I sat down again and began to read,  I felt something looking at me and sure enough, one of the wild rabbits was sitting amongst the flowers watching me...

Well, that was my exciting night!

Tonight the thunder is rumbling nearly non-stop and the lightning is flashing.  It is pouring down rain, too!  The first real rain of the summer here at our house, I told you we were having a wonderful summer.  It was 95* F out today, too!!  I am rushing this trying to finish it before the electricity goes out again.

The storm has passed over and everything is dark and quiet, and I still have my electricity.  The rain has stopped and I can see clear dark sky out with a few light clouds.  I think it's time for me to turn in.
Good night.

~Wishing You Love In Your Heart...Peace In Your Soul...And  Joy In Your Life Always~ 

How to Make a Paper Banner

Or, some call it a bunting.  

I decided to do a tutorial on it because I have not been able to find one and so I made one for you, let me know what you think.

I started with 12' x 12' Scrapbooking sheets of patterned paper.

I turned it over and made a line with a yardstick from one corner to the other.

Then I cut it in half.

I then measured 12" up the long side and marked it, then a made a straight line from that mark to the corner.  Then I made another line 3/4 of an inch up higher.  Cut on the line closest to the tip of the paper... 

...like this.  Then fold...

...over like this.  You are left with a perfect banner shape.

Next, I decided that I wanted to put my initials on these three banners, so I found a piece of coordinating paper, put a letter on it and drew around it.

Then I cut around it and laid it on the banner.  I felt it was going to work alright, so I glued it on with paper stick glue.

Then I turned it over to the plain side again and put a piece of long ribbon butting up against the first line that I had 

drawn and glued it down.  Then I glued the little 3/4 of an inch flap down over the ribbon.

I hope that makes sense.

I didn't cut the ribbon until I knew that I would have enough to use when I hung it up.

I was working on this last night when a wind storm took out our electricity.  But, I was able to finish it today.

After the electricity went out last night, I was struck by how quiet my house was.  I loved it!  Then I went outside to sit and read and I was suddenly aware of the quiet night around me.  All I could hear were the birds, the squirrels, the wind and the neighbors laughter, it was lovely!  I awoke this morning to another beautiful, sunny but windy day. 


I hope your day is going well my friends.  Be sure to leave me a comment to let me know what you think of my tutorial.

~Wishing You Love In Your Heart...Peace In Your Soul...And  Joy In Your Life Always~