I Have a Confession

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Canning Week is coming! August 23-27 is canning week here and over at my blogger buddy's page here. We'll be having a linky party, recipes, tips, tricks, and GIVEAWAYS!!! See the button on the right? Go ahead and slap that on your blog and let me know so you can get your entries in early. We're also on Facebook! Join up to our group for an additional entry!

There are some things I just refuse to eat because I know how bad they are for me. That's mostly fried foods. I don't eat a whole lot of fried foods. In fact, I have no idea how to make fried chicken. Really. But one of the things I really enjoy is fried biscuits. I've never made them before. I usually reserve that for fair time. Because let's face it; there are things you ONLY eat at the fair. But since I was sick during the county fair, I can justify making fried biscuits, right?

Anyway, here goes with one of my (secret) favorite foods.

What you'll need:
1 can refrigerated biscuits
4-5 cups oil
Cinnamon Sugar


In small pot, put about 4 cups of oil on high heat. Heat up oil to between 360 and 375.



Drop biscuits in and fry for 2-3 minutes each side.




















Immediately roll in cinnamon sugar and lay on paper towel lined plate to blot excess oil.


Now can you have fried biscuits without Apple Butter? I don't think so. Lucky for me, I just canned some applebutter.


And lucky for all of you, "Canning Week" is coming up August 23-27!!! Don't forget to come back to my blog, and also to Ott,A for recipes, tips, a linky party and GIVEAWAYS!!!

What's for Dinner? #5

This post was linked to the parties listed here

Canning Week is coming! August 23-27 is canning week here and over at my blogger buddy's page here. We'll be having a linky party, recipes, tips, tricks, and GIVEAWAYS!!! See the button on the right? Go ahead and slap that on your blog and let me know so you can get your entries in early. We're also on Facebook! Join up to our group for an additional entry!


Teriyaki Chicken

Here's a yummy recipe for one of our household favorites! This one can be a bit time consuming, but totally worth it!

What you'll need:

For the chicken:

4 parts Soy Sauce
3 parts Worcestershire Sauce
1 part Lemon Juice
1/8 teaspoon Ground Ginger per chicken breast
1/4 teaspoon Garlic per chicken breast
1 dash salt per chicken breast

Combine all in glass baking dish and stir with fork. You'll want about 1/2" of sauce in the pan. Lay chicken breasts in pan. You can also make this up the night before and let it sit in the refrigerator, covered, to marinate. Cover with foil and bake at 375 until chicken is cooked throughout.

For the rice:

1/2 c cooked rice per person (works best with rice at least one day old)
Chopped onions, broccoli, zuchinni, and green peppers
Soy Sauce (or teriyaki sauce above)
2 eggs

In small pan, cook scrambled eggs and remove from pan when almost done. Put in bowl and set aside.

In pan, put a little bit of soy sauce (or teriyaki sauce) in the bottom and heat on medium until it starts to boil.
Add chopped veggies

Cook until tender. Turn heat up to medium high and bring to full boil.

For the rice, it's best to use rice that's at least one day old. To get the best fried rice, use rice that is 3-5 days old. If you're like me and don't plan that far in advance, cook rice before you start everything else and set out on a plate. Every few minutes, flip it around with a fork to let all the steam/moisture get out as possible. While cooking everything else, grab that plate of rice and microwave it about 15 seconds at a time every 10 minutes, stirring before nuking again.

Stir in rice, along with a little more more soy/teriyaki sauce. When sauce has been fully soaked up, reduce heat to low and stir in eggs.

Serve with chicken and enjoy!

For the Weekend Wind Down...

This week's question:
How old were you when you first learned to swim?

My answer:
I don't really remember how old I was when I learned to swim, but I do have a really strange fear of water that I cannot see the bottom of. Pools are fine, no matter how deep. But I won't go near a pond, lake, river, etc if I can't see the bottom, even if it's only 6 inches deep.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

This post was linked to these Linky Parties! Please visit them for more awesome blogs!

So, it's about a bajillion degrees in Indiana today...Here's how we cool off!

And finally....

Canning Week!!

We are just three weeks away from Canning Week! Aren't you excited??? If you haven't already, hop on over to my co-host's site here and follow Ott,A.

I'll give you a minute.

Did you check out her site? Hopefully, you did because you don't want to miss any of her great recipes!

So what is Canning Week? Well, Ott, A and I both love canning. There are many great reasons why we do, but we'll go into that during canning week. Here's what to look forward to:

Canning tips
Recipes
Instructions for pressure canners and water bath methods
Linky Party
Giveaways
Contest with a Guest Judge -- and get this...the prize will be her cookbook!!!

Aren't you excited??!! To get your entries in, you can put our button on your page somewhere. Or you can connect with us on Facebook. Stay tuned for more details!

If you've already put our button on your page, comment somewhere on my site and let me know so I can get your entry in.

Hawaiian Punch With a Punch

Did you see the button on the right? Don't forget our upcoming "Canning Week" August 23-27! We're going to have giveaways, a linky party, recipes and tips! Just put our button on your site and comment on one of my posts to get your entries in. Stay tuned for more details and more ways to get entries!!


To my faithful followers, I've been quite lax lately with my posting. I've had strep throat since Wednesday. Who gets strep throat in the middle of summer?? The poor kids have been dining on dinners of hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and whatever the husband can put together on his own. Unfortunately, the girls' birthday party doesn't wait for me to get feeling better. Thankfully, my mom made the cakes. So all I was charged with was decorations and drinks. Thing #3 wanted a luau theme, and Thing #4 wanted pink and purple. Thankfully, those were quite easy to merge. With a luau theme, the obvious drink was Hawaiian Punch. Well, sick or not, I can't sit aside and do nothing! So we made Hawaiian Punch with a Punch!

What you'll need:

Hawaiian Punch
Polar Punch
2-3 Oranges
1 Lemon
2 liter lemon/lime soda

The day before, fill a few ice trays with the Polar Punch and freeze.





To make the punch, slice up one orange and one lemon and place it bottom of pitcher. Fill up half way to three quarters with Hawaiian Punch. Let this sit in the refrigerator for 2 hours. To really infuse the citrus flavors, lightly press on the fruits with a wooden spoon before adding punch.



Fill the rest of the pitcher with soda. Garnish pitcher with a slice of fruit or two.

To serve, put a couple of the Polar Punch cubes into the cup and fill with Hawaiian Punch.

And if you're curious, here's how the cakes looked:






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Blackberry Pie

My awesome neighbor surprised me today with a bowl full of blackberries! Oh, so many choices! What should I make??? Well, I have plenty of jams that I've already canned, and several pounds of berries in the freezer, so pie it is!!



I'm not a big fan of fruit pies. Mostly because I'm not a fan of pie crust. Weird, right? I know. I've never been accused of having normal tastes! That being said, I decided to try a lattice top. Please excuse how poorly it turned out! It was my first try, and I let Thing 4 help me with it. Yeah, we'll blame it on the kid. Sounds good to me! And since I don't really make fruit pies very often, I don't have a good recipe...just some guidance from my gut.

You'll need:
2 pie crusts (I cheat...Pillsbury does a great job making refrigerated pie crusts)
Berries to fill the pie
A few tablespoons of sugar
A little bit of flour
A few pats of butter
1 egg, or a bit of milk to brush on top of the pie

Place first pie crust on bottom of pie plate and push all the way down...but don't smash it into the pan!
In large bowl, carefully mix berries with a few tablespoons of sugar and a little bit of flour or cornstarch to thicken it up. Fill pie.
Add a few pats of butter to the top.
Either place second pie crust on top, or cut into strips and weave onto top.
Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the top shell with either an egg well beaten, or a bit of milk.

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then at 375 for 40 minutes.




Allow to cool completely. Cut and serve!

Find Other Great Recipes At These Places Where I Linked Up This Post!
Tempt my Tummy Tuesday
Tasty Tuesday
Tuesday at the Table

Watermelon Basket

Did you know July is National Watermelon Month? And August is Watermelon Month in Indiana? In observance of those, I made a watermelon basket filled with other local fruits. Making a watermelon basket is super easy. Similar to carving a pumpkin, but easier!

To begin, find a large watermelon with a semi-flat bottom. Then mark where your "handle" will be on the top, and the edges around the middle. I used a jagged pattern, but the possibilities are endless.


Cut along the edges and remove cutouts.


Scrape out melon and set aside.


Trim and necessary areas and fill with various fruits. Don't forget to put your watermelon pieces back in!!!



If you're making it for later, set filled watermelon in freezer until about 2 hours before you use it.