If life gives you sunshine..make sun tea!

We're scheduled to have four 90 degree days in a row here in Western New York. Though I'll be working through most of it, I still need to take advantage of at least a little bit of the sunshine. Sun tea is one of those things that really screams of summer and tends to bring about warm summer evenings of sitting, sipping and chatting on the back porch. This is such a staple in my household that I've often amazed by how many of my friends have never heard of, much less made sun tea. It doesn't get much easier than this!

This method makes one of my husband's favorite beverages. He loves it so much that even though he's usually not a big kitchen helper, he is always offering to help with this one.

Though you can certainly make the tea in just about any clear container, I've found the best method for us is to use Quart sized mason jars. They're easy to prep and store. 

Start with a few clean jars or a large pictcher. I typically make 6 mason jars at a time. Add tea bags of your choice to the jars. I use 2 bags per quart jar of tea. 

As you may know, I recently started my own mint garden and am growing 5 different varieties of mint.

Chocolate mint and sweet mint seem to go the best with my sun tea. A friend recommended Lemon Balm as well which I hadn't though of previously. I have such an abundance of this in my garden this year, I'll have to try it in another batch.

If you happen to have fresh mint or another herb you'd like to try, add a few sprigs to each jar prior to setting them out to "brew".

Add enough water to fill each jar. Place the lids on the tops of the jars and tighten to close.

Once you have filled and covered each jar (or your pitcher), move outside to a sunny spot. I like to use the railing of the upper section of our back porch as it gets sunlight nearly all day.

At this point, the sun will do all the work. The length of time it will take to "brew" your tea, will depend on your personal preference of how strong you like it. I've found however, that 6-8 hours on a sunny day is usually sufficient.

Once the desired strengthened is reached, remove the tea bags and mint. At this point, I usually add about a 1/4 cup of sugar per jar to sweeten as well. Refrigerate to chill until ready to serve.

Spoils of Summer

Check in time for the garden. Here's a few shots of what the month of July is bringing to the garden.

Typically I have to wait until late August for fresh tomatoes, but this year, thanks to starting them in pots early and bringing them off the patio and in the house and night through May, I have my first cherry tomato of the year!

My husband's lillies.

More lilies. My husband claims picking out most of them, but these beautiful pale pink ones are all mine.

Peas on a trellis in the flower garden - an experiment to bring some more texture to the garden this year.

Delphiniums - one of my favorite flowers. I carried blue ones similar to this in my wedding bouquet. These were also some of the first flowers we put in the original garden.

I bought these awesome bluish purple flowers last year to plant in our rock path, but I can't remember what they are called - can anyone trigger my memory on these?

An early daylily in the garden  - not one of the more interesting ones in the garden, but I have several ones I purchases last year from a friend that I can't wait for to bloom.

Two Simple Strawberry Ideas and Beat the Heat Tex-Mex Alfredo

It's nearing 90 here today and turning on an oven is the last thing on my mind. I also have a quart of strawberries calling my name. Here's a quick and easy summer menu - pasta, drink and dessert - all without ever turning on the stove.

Tex Mex Alfredo

1 lb pasta

1 can black beans

1 jar Alfredo sauce

1 package taco seasoning

Shredded Cheddar (for topping).

Prepare the pasta per package instructions. Toss with black beans, alfredo sauce and taco seasoning. Top with cheese. It doesn't get an simpler than this!

For desert, I can't resist strawberry shortcake. This is so easy that you don't even need a recipe.

Simply slice your strawberries and add sugar (I use about 1/4 cup of sugar per quart of berries). Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Serve over frozen pound cake with a dollop of whipped topping! Summer perfection at it's best.

The strawberries also inspired this summer lemonade cooler. This is perfect for sitting on the back porch and cooling off after a long hot day.

Strawberry Lemonade Cooler

In a hurricane glass mix 3 parts lemonade with 1 part pineapple or pineapple coconut rum. Add strawberries (as prepared for the shortcake above). Serve over ice if desired!

Berry Berry Small Batch Jam

As I shared earlier, with the help of my neighbor and mother nature, I ended up with fresh picked raspberries ready and waiting to be put to good use. Jams are one of my favorite ways to preserve summer harvests all year long (and a favorite of the neighbor who helped me pick) so I knew a jam was the way to go. I combined the raspberries with some blueberries I had left over from the 4th of July kabobs to create this berry berry good small batch jam! Feel free to use a combination of any kind of berries to create your own twist!

Berry Berry Jam (Small Batch)

2 1/2 cups Fresh Raspberries

1 1/2 cups Fresh Blueberries

1 Tb lemon Juice

6 Tb Pectin*

4 cups sugar

*Note - I used Ball Real Fruit Pectin for my jam and followed the guidance on their packing for ingredient proportions - if you use other pectin, refer to the packaging for best results.

In a large canner pot, sterilize your jars and lids in boiling water - this should make about 3 pints or 5-6 half pints of jam. 

In another pot or large saucepan, combine fruit and lemon juice. Smash fruit down into an even layer. Stir in pectin. Turning on medium heat, bring the fruit to a strong boil. Add sugar and stir in until dissolved. Bring once again to a rolling boil and maintain full boil for 1 minute while stirring constantly. Remove jam from heat.

Pour hot jam into canning jars. Refrigerate.

Optional - canning instructions. If you are looking to preserve, process for 10 minutes in boiling water canner. Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes in water before removing. Allow to cool and ensure that all seals take.

This recipe has optional canning instructions. If you are new to canning, I think this is a great starter recipe, however, I would highly recommend taking a look at the USDA's canning guide to learn more about safe canning practices. You can find the guide online here: http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.htm

I enjoyed my jam on hot buttered toast and slices of frozen pound cake. How will you enjoy yours?

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

One of my favorite parts of summer is berry picking behind our home. Our neighbor is always an incredibly good sport - humoring my love for berry picking and always willing to go with me. The raspberries are finally ready, and though not as easy to gather as my all time favorite blackberries, we were able to come away with enough of a stash yesterday for some fresh baked goods.

I decided to start with these Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins which I made by tweaking a basic blueberry muffing recipe. You could also make with store bought or frozen raspberries.

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

1/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup fresh raspberries
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Wisk together melted butter, milk, and egg. Add baking soda, flour, and sugar. Combine all ingredients but do not over-mix. Add raspberries and chocolate chips. Fold in gently.

Spray muffin tin with cooking spray. Scoop batter into muffin tins (I use an ice cream scoop to minimize messes). Bake in 350 oven for 12-15 minutes or until done.

Enjoy these muffins with a smear of butter and fresh cup of coffee (I did!).

More Patriotic Ideas

So a little delayed for 4th of July, but as I mentioned previously, we always have a big 4th party the Saturday after the 4th. Here's a few of my favorites to share with you. Unfortunately I didn't get as many pictures as I'd like, but I hope you still enjoy!

First - my favorite for the forth was these great flag fruit kabobs. I used traditional BBQ skewers and strung them with blueberries, strawberries and chunks of pound cake - I used frozen pound cake to make it easier to cut. I placed the skewers on a cookie sheet to form the flag pattern.

I was having so much fun with the flag skewers that I broke out the star cookie cutter and did up a few more with pound cake stars. 

The kabobs were a huge hit - especially with the kids. It was amazing to see them reach for the fruit over chips and brownies!

For drinks, I purchased 2 large glass drink dispensers and mixed up a batch of ice tea as well as a batch of lemonade. For the lemonade I used a star ice cube tray I found at the dollar store and made red, white and blue star ice cubes out of lemonade and food coloring in the week leading up to the party to jazz up the lemonade. In addition I made a great adults only "Star Spangled Sangria".

Star Spangled Sangria

1 Gallon White or Blush Wine

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup watermelon

1/4 cup blueberries

1/2 cup strawberries - halved or quartered

Pour wine into a large picture or drink dispenser. Add sugar and stir to dissolve. Add fruit to wine. Place in the fridge and allow to soak at least 2 hours prior to serving. Serve chilled.

Finally, since our gardens are the center of our party area, I wanted to add some patriotic touches. I found several medium and small sized rocks that my husband helped me spray paint red, white and blue. I dispersed these throughout the garden for a patriotic touch.

Happy belated 4th of July to you all! I hope you and your families all had a safe and fun holiday!

Bee in the Bee Balm

I love this photo to much not to share. Great capture of a bee on the bee balm in the garden. I love the vibrant pink flowers - and apparently so does the bee!

Pinwheel Centerpiece - Great for Any Holiday!

While the 4th of July ended for most folks yesterday. The Saturday after the 4th is always a time for a big family & friends BBQ at our home. While it's certainly a casual event, this year I wanted to get a little crafty with the decor and came up with this great centerpiece idea. The greatest part was I was able to assemble with things I already had laying around my house. This would be extremely easy to adapt to any holiday by using different colors and papers.

First we'll start with the pinwheels. To make these, you'll need the following.

- Square of colored or patterned paper (I used 4x4)

- Pencil

- Thumbtack

- Glue (a hot glue gun works best)

- Spray Paint *optional* 

To start, because I was using plain yellow pencils I had laying around the house, I started by having my husband spray paint them red and blue.

Next comes the pinwheel. Start with a square of paper. I find that 4x4 paper is the best size to be proportionate with traditional pencils. As a tip, if you start with 12x12 scrapbook paper, you can just divide into quarters.

Next fold the paper diagonally to make a triangle. Unfold and fold to opposite corners diagonally. Unfold again.

Now cut halfway up each fold. as shown below.

Once you finish cutting each fold, you should be left with 4 "flaps" of paper.

Place a dob of glue in the center. I use a hot glue gun for quick drying and hold. Fold the left hand corner of each flap into the center of the paper - the corner should stick in the glue.

Continue around the square, folding in each corner until your pinwheel is formed.

When you're all done, you'll be left with your pinwheel top.  

Take a thumbtack and push through the center of the pinwheel. Push the tack into the center of the pencil's eraser. 

Viloa! Your pinwheel is done! This is extremely easy to replicate with all different colors and patterns of paper to jazz up any holiday. I have also strung the pinwheel tops on ribbon to make ornaments or garland.

In this case however, I wanted to make a table centerpice. Since we're having a picnic BBQ, I selected simple mason jars. I also wanted to get my nephew, visiting from Florida and his friend involved, so we made one of our other favorite crafts to dress up the jars - colored salt.

Remember the color sand jar crafts at the fair? This is my low cost replica. This is an excellent and cheap way to keep the kids entertained year round. 

Start with plain white table salt. Pour into ziploc bags - one bag for each color you want to make. In this case, I wanted red, white and blue "sand" so I started with 2 bags (no need to color the white salt!) To each bag add a few drops of your desired color of food coloring. A little goes a long way - I promise - so don't add too much or you'll end up with chunks of coloring. Now is a great time to get the kids involved - work the food coloring throughout the salt in the bag until your color is mixed in. If the salt isn't as dark as you'd like, add another drop or 2 of coloring and work into the salt.

Once complete, pour into bowls (for ease of handling) and have the kids scoop layers of "sand" into   the jars to make a "sand art" effect. My nephew and his friend loved this part! 

Once you're all done, place pinwheels in the "sand' jar. 

These should be a big hit at our 4th of July party. Not only will we use for a centerpiece, but each kid at the party will get to take home their own pinwheel.

Happy Crafting!