National Maple Syrup Festival

What happens the first two weekends in March in the tiny town of Medora, IN? The National Maple Syrup Festival! Last year, we didn't go due to the cold, rainy weather. This year, the second weekend was perfect weather. We spent the day taking in the beautiful scenery during the 2 hour drive and learning about all things Maple.
The festival starts out with a bus ride to the farm. They played a tape of the history of Indiana, the settlers, and the Burtons along with a brief introduction to syrup and sugar.

We pulled up to the farm and were surrounded by maple trees with buckets hanging all around. You see, not much has changed since the native americans processed the deliciously sweet sap hundreds of years ago. Now obviously they didn't have the metal buckets, but same principle.

Our first stop on the walking tour was the settler reenactment.

It was so neat to see how everything was prepared from sap to sugar. It was truly amazing to see how the clear sap turned into a product that was used for not only a sweetener, but also as a means of preservation in the days before refrigeration. We even got to sample the sugar they had worked so hard for the day before.

After the tour, we had certainly worked up an appetite. Off to the food tent!

Pancakes with lots of ooey gooey syrup and sausage, yum! Didn't want breakfast? No problem! They also have a pork chop dinner consisting of 2 barbecue/maple syrup chops, potatoes, maple ham and beans, and a roll. Amazing!!
There were tons of kids activities as well. If you haven't made it down before, be sure to check it out next year. It's always the first two weekends of March. A great time for the whole family to learn about a great Indiana product and see history in action.

Make sure to visit the fantastic blog parties on my sidebar, and of course, link up all your made from scratch recipes on my Tuesday linky-Made From Scratch Tuesday!



Going Local Week: Eggs

So here in Indiana, it's Going Local Week. It actually started yesterday, but I was out and about picking up some local foods, so we didn't cook. One of my stops yesterday was at one of my family member's small farm. We almost exclusivley get our eggs from them. I have nothing against large scale operations. But if I can save a buck or two each week by having these lovely ladies provide me with a dozen or so eggs, then the husband and I can treat ourselves to a nice dinner out somewhere with the money saved.

Here's the dozen we picked up yesterday. Most of these gals lay brown eggs, but we do get the occasional green, and yes, blue. That's not photoshop my friend. That is actually a blue egg.

I love boiled eggs. The problem we have in our house is the dog. A couple of years ago, gypsy ate a snake. Yes, I know. Completely disgusting. She got incredibly sick. As it turns out, snakes are loaded with bacteria, many of which are very dangerous to dogs. She ended up with THREE bacterial infections and was off dog food for almost a month. The special diet was boiled eggs, cottage cheese, rice and Sprite cubes. She ate two tablespoons of the eggs/cottage cheese/rice mixture and one to two Sprite cubes every 2 hours, day and night. Let me tell you, that was a whole mess of boiled eggs...all of which were graciously provided by the chickens above. Anyway, now any time I make boiled eggs, she thinks they are for her and will maul you to get to one.

Egg Salad

What you'll need:

• 8 hard-boiled eggs, diced (plus one for the dog)
•  3/4 cup mayo 
• 1 tablespoon ranch dressing
• 1/4 cup minced onion (We love onion so you may want to decrease this)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon mustard 
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dill weed (or one dill pickle spear, chopped finely)

 As the link above illustrates, there are many opinions on how long to boil eggs. For me, I lay out my eggs on the counter and put a large pot of water on to boil. That will let the eggs slightly warm up while you're waiting for the water. When the water starts boiling, I gently put the eggs in and let it boil for 15 minutes. Then I turn the burner off and let them sit for about 5 minutes. Next, I take the pan of hot water and eggs and put it in the sink and turn on the cold water. I let the cold water run over the eggs for about 5 minutes, then put them in the fridge for about 30 minutes, or until I'm ready to peel them.

In a large bowl, put in the eggs (peeled and diced) and the rest of the ingredients. Mix well with a fork. To me, egg salad is better when it's had a chance to set and really soak up the flavors. It can also be eaten right away.

Don't forget to put your egg shells in your compost bin!

Do you have a great recipe you'd like to share? Link it up on my blog! No rules, just a fun way to share recipes.

This post was linked to some of the parties listed here. 
Make sure you take a peek. I don't just do this to satisfy the hostesses; blog hopping is how you meet all kinds of wonderful bloggers and make new friends!

Canning Creations

One more BIG thank you to all who participated in Canning Week! I hope you had a blast.

So now that you have all those wonderful jars sitting around, what are you going to do with them? Ott, A and I are going to start posting recipes using those great things we canned. If you would like to be a guest blogger on one of our blogs, please contact me or Ott,A and we will work out arrangements.

While I was canning my Peach Marmalade and Peach Honey, I also canned peaches. Just plain peaches. Have I told you how much I LOVE peaches? I don't discriminate against peaches of any origin, but I do have a favorite! I recently started getting peaches from Anderson Orchards. They are just amazing! They look, smell and most importantly taste wonderful! If taste is your only concern, they also have peach seconds. I used those while making peach butter. But that's another blog for another day!

Back to the topic....

Almost Unbelievable Peach Cobbler

What you'll need:
1 pint of canned peaches, drained
1 box cake mix-yellow or butter cake (gasp! Yes, I DID say cake mix)
1 stick butter

Preheat oven to 350

Pour drained peaches in the bottom of an 8 x 8 glass pan. Evenly sprinkle cake mix on top of peaches. You won't need the whole box, just about 2/3 of it. It really depends on how much cobbler you want with your peaches. If you like a thick upper "crust", then go ahead and use the whole box. Cut your stick of butter into several small pats and lay them evenly on top of the cake mix. Bake at 350 until the top begins to brown, 35-45 minutes, depending on how much cake mix you used. Let cool, slightly. The husband will throw a scoop of ice cream on top of his, but I prefer it just the way it is!

Even if you didn't join in on Canning Week, the best part about this recipe is you can just use fresh peaches! Just peel, pit, and slice them up in the bottom. This recipe will work with just about any fruit. We're right in apple season in Indiana. Cortland apples are my favorite to use in this recipe, but just about any apple will work.

What local products are you using? If you blog about your local foods, leave a comment with your blog address so we can all check it out.

Going Local Week (Indiana) is September 5-11. Celebrate by eating at least one meal a day featuring an Indiana product!