Contributors

Rach

I'm daughter to Lissie, sister to Jess, wife to Brien, mom to Hannah, Lily and Eleanor. I am a stay at home mom to my girls, and my free time is dedicated to gardening (I confess I'm still a novice and look to Lissie and Jess for advice), baking and cooking, and card making. I'm doing my part to make the earth a bit greener, trying hard to avoid processed foods and HFCS, and find the "slow food" movement intriguing and inspiring. I love visits to my local farmers' market, fresh produce, reading, getting out in nature, and spending time with my family.

Jess

Catholic, homeschooler, lover of books and great wine and an amateur gardening addict.

Lissie

I'm Melissa aka "Lissie", mother of Rachael and Jessica, and grandmother to a passel of the sweetest children on the planet. I'm a semi-retired public educator and professor who works from home for a small publisher. I am a lover of all things beautiful ... flowers, the mountains, nature scenes, the innocent faces of children, and my rock and fossil collection, to name a few. I enjoy shopping at the farmers' market for fresh foods and then experimenting with new recipes. Good food and good wine delight me. I love to travel so my suitcase is always packed. Like my daughters, I take pleasure in simple things ... clothes drying on the line, tomatoes so fresh they are still hot from the sun, good books, and interesting movies. I'd like to know everything before I die.
Bananas Soft Serve With a Twist

Awhile ago I wrote about discovering frozen bananas blended in a food processor being an excellent dessert and the best replacement for ice cream that I've ever found. Bob has been tweaking the recipe a bit and tonight discovered a great variation (that is for adults only!) that we both thought was delicious:

2 frozen bananas
2 Tbs. chocolate chips
1 Tbs. heavy cream
1 shot of coffee Tequila

Blend in a food processor and voila, heaven in a bowl. YUM!

-Jess

Butter



I've begun making my own butter and it couldn't be easier. You literally dump heavy cream into your Kitchen Aid stand mixer, cover the bowl with a cloth napkin, turn it on and gradually increase the speed over 10 minutes or so and when you hear it going bump, bump, bump you switch it off and voila, BUTTER. You scoop up all the butter bits, squish them together and run the ball of butter under fresh, cold water for about 30 seconds, pack it into a butter bell and it lasts for a couple weeks.

No commercial butter can even compete in taste in texture. Aside from being simple as can be it is less expensive than butter in a tub or in stick form. Enjoy!

-Jess

Green Smoothie

A recipe that I made up that I love. It is so fresh, light and tasty.

1/2 cucumber, peeled
8 mint leaves
1 head romaine lettuce, washed and cut into chunks
1 apple cored
1 cup of grapes
2 cups of ice
1/4 cup of water
2 tsps. of honey

Throw it all in the Vitamix for 1 minute until blended. Yum!

-Jess





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