okay, NEW new address

I don't know what happened. The last try didn't work, so it's at www.cooking-with-m.blogspot.com this time. :)

I'm moving the blog!

I have been keeping two blogs with separate logins and stuff, and consequently never get on to post on this one.... even though I am doing exciting kitchen things! To make my life easier, I am moving this blog to www.mellacooks.blogspot.com so come on over and see what's up! :)

hello again

Well, Jack was born on Sept 18th, and then Caiden (my nephew) arrived on November 7th, and all in all, I've been kind of busy. :) However, this week I had a particular success making peach-mangosteen jelly!

A mangosteen, for anyone who's wondering (everyone, in short) is a fruit that looks like a garlic bulb encased in a small eggplant, and tastes like peaches and strawberries with some light tartness thrown in. I had some peach-mangosteen hippie juice from Starbucks (where I work) that had just reached its expiration date. I threw 4 cups of the juice and 4 cups of water into a pot and did the whole jelly-making thing.

What do you know, it jelled! I can't believe it! And it tastes really good! I'm beginning to think that the secret of great jellies and jams is to include peaches in some form. :D

apple pie a la mode

....without the boring "pie" part. :)

I just chopped up apples and made the spiced sugary filling out of them, then baked them in a covered dish instead of bothering with a pie crust. It produced a REALLY delicious, syrupy apple-pie-insides kind of thing. I took one taste and realized it has to be dumped over vanilla ice cream for best effect, so I am getting some of that later tonight. :D

a quick catch-up

I did trick almost all the family into going "apple picking" at the farm near us. (Amy couldn't come because her parents in law were up for a visit that weekend.) We ended up picking raspberries and blueberries, and buying apples, peaches and corn from the farm stand because I was a bit too tired to keep going on with the pick-your-own. We also got some ridiculously yummy feta, tomato and basil dip which is just perfect on veggie crackers!

Since starting maternity leave, I have made soda bread, strawberry-peach jam, quiche, beef stew, apple pie, many pancakes, and a bunch of more regular meal stuff. The jam came out especially tasty. A bit thin, since I didn't put a lot of sugar in, but who doesn't want low sugar, seedless strawberry peach jam? I usually share my jams with the rest of the family, but Alex has pretty much forbidden me to do that this time!

farmer's market

I know I've written about the farmer's market before, but I just went yesterday and got inspired all over again.

I got two ears of fresh corn (picked that day) and two of the tastiest white peaches I can recall eating, for a heaping total of $1.50. All these goodies were from a farm about 10 minutes down the road from us called Applecrest Orchards. I am right in the middle of planning an apple-picking trip there with the rest of my family--and of course, I will be visiting their farm stand while we're there. :D

delicious dish

Ripped off from my beloved Mommie, of course--who better to steal tasty recipes from???

1 link (1 lb) of turkey kielbasa (just as yummy as the pork stuff but MUCH less fatty)
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 cup rice
about 1 tomato can's worth of added water (at least for my rice, which is proving to be somewhat incorrigible about water quantities and cook times)

Throw it all in a skillet and simmer it until the rice is tender.

DONE!

And it's ridiculously good. You wouldn't even believe it. Bo was feasting delightedly on the grains of rice I gave him, because they were so tasty he thought they must be meat.