Critters in the Garden

As a gardener you start to notice and enjoy all the little critters that your plants attract. Here's a few of my favorite shots from this summer.

I found this guy relaxing on a daylily leaf.

This bug on the sunflowers had such an awesome bright green color to it!

The bees absolutely love this neon pink bee balm.

Snail on the beans:)

I let some of my oregano go to flower this year and attracted swarms of these black and orange butterflies. They love oregano - who knew!?!

How Ina Garten Ruined Powder Sugar Frosting for me Forever

I've always been one to make my own homemade frosting, but until recently I thought the good old powdered sugar, butter and milk method was the way to go. If I was really feeling decadent, I'd jazz it up with some peanut butter or cocoa powered (or both!)

Then, Ina Garten ruined me for frosting forever. I happened to be catching some rainy day tv while cutting coupons and watch as she made an amazing chocolate wedding cake with chocolate butter cream frosting. I had never before tried a recipe using egg whites to add volume and texture to frosting. I could not wait to try this frosting out!

While Ina's orignal receipe is not overly complicated, I was looking to simplify the concept just a bit. I ended up with a 4 ingredient variation that was sweet, light, airy and absolutely delicious. Now, while I certainly could (and did) eat this frosting right out of the bowl, I do recommend using it to actually...well you know...frost something. This recipe does make quite a bit batch of frosting. Chocolate cake was my frosting vehicle of choice for this round - I was able to stack and frost 2 nine inch rounds with plenty of frosting to spare.This frosting would look divine piled on chocolate cupcakes using a decorators tip and a frosting bag.

No Powder Sugar Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

4 room temperature egg whites

12oz Semisweet or Dark Chocolate Chips

1lb (4 sticks) room temperature butter

1 cup granulated sugar

Before you start - trust me on this one - make sure your egg whites and butter are REALLY room temperature. I know you want frosting now, but not doing this will leave you with egg whites that won't whip up correctly or chunks of butter in your frosting.

Start by separating out your egg whites and mix on medium until you have soft peaks - a "whisk" attachment uses bet for this if you have it. While your egg whites are processing, melt chocolate chips in the microwave (or double boiler). I always had bad luck with chocolate in the microwave, until I realized that patience is the only way to get it done. Microwave for 30 seconds to start and then keep microwaving, checking and stirring every 5-7 seconds until fully melted. Perhaps it's my microwave, but even 10 seconds at a time for me leads to burned chocolate. You may need to repeat the 5 second cycle for another minute or so, but it's better than ending up with gross chunky chocolate.

Once melted, set the chocolate aside while you finish the egg whites. At the soft peak stage, add you sugar to the whites gradually. Continue beating on medium speed until still peaks forms when you lift your beater out of the mixer. Now add in butter 1 tablespoon at a time - again trust me on this. Beat in between each add to smooth in the butter. Pour in chocolate and continue mixing until totally combined.

Now, just try to not eat all your frosting before you can get it onto it's destination. You will also be a powder sugar frosting convert. Thanks Ina...

Apricot Jam

Thanks to a week off of work, I was finally able to make it to the Wednesday morning auction and market held in our neighborhood town. As soon as I saw these gorgeous apricots, I knew that some jam was in my near future. Many of my friends who don't can regularly, are intimidated by jam making. I've found though that this basic jam receipe is extremely easy to make, can be used with almost any fruit and sets up nicely every time. While you could also make apricot jelly or preserves, jam has always been my personal no fuss favorite.

Apricot Jam (makes about 12 half pints)

4 quarts fresh apricots (makes about 7 cups prepared fruit)

5 tb lemon juice

8 tb pectin (I use Ball RealFruit Classic Pectin)

6 cups sugar

 

Start by preparing your canning jars and fruit. I start by boiling 2 large pots of water on the stove. In one, boil your canning jars (I reccomend prepping a few extra just in case - you'll appreciate this later when you need them!) to sterlize them. Invert on a clean towel until ready to use.

 

 

In the second pot, place 5 or 6 pieces of fruit in the boiling water for 30-60 seconds. Run a sink full of cold water. Transfer the apricots from the boiling water into the cold water. The fruit skin should peel off easily - I find with apricots I barely even need a knife using this method. If the skin does not remove easily, place back in the boiling water for another 30 seconds. Once peeled, cut the fruit into halves. Remove the pits and stem pieces. Repeat until all fruit has been peeled and prepared.

Place the prepared fruit in a large, thick bottomed pot. I use an enameled cast iron soup pot. Add the lemon juice to the fruit. Stir in the pectin. Over medium heat, bring the fruit to a strong rolling boil. Stir in the sugar and bring back to a rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute.



Working quickly, transfer the jam to the prepared canning jars. Process the jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes at boiling. Turn off the heat, and allow to sit in the water for another 5 minutes before removing.


 All homemade jams make excellent Christmas presents for friends, neighbors and co-workers. I like to gift mine with a few recipe cards with ideas for using the jam. He's a great receipe for a slow cooker apricot chicken:

In a slow cooker add 4-6 frozen chicken breasts, thighs, quarters or even a whole chicken. Over the chicken, pour 1 small jar of apricot jam or preserves and 1 packet of onion soup mix, 1/2 cup chicken stock, 2 tb apple cider vinegar. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Serve with rice.