Homemade Cookie Flavors

Besides sugar sprinkles, I also regularly check my supply of food flavoring and food colors. Well, not really but I should, I noticed I'm almost out of my favorite flavoring, lemon. 

Making a basic cookie dough and changing the flavoring is a quick way to develop different-tasting cookies.

Once you have the dough almost made, divide the dough and add different flavorings to easily make different cookies. For the basic cookie use pure vanilla. It does make a difference in the final cookie flavor.

You can also add food coloring to cookie dough to easily make different-colored sugar cookies. When I separate the cookie dough and add different flavors, I tend to add food coloring to easily know which cookies are what flavors.

Charlotte

Sugar Cookie Sprinkles

There are few things more frustrating than starting to make decorated sugar cookies and not having what you need to finish them. That's why I keep some basics around just in case there's a cookie "emergency."

Sugar sprinkles are a basic. Over the years, my most used colors have been red and green sugar sprinkles, followed by yellow. If you don't have any sprinkles and know what sugar cookie cutters you're going to use, you can better decide what sugar sprinkles to get. I also make sure to keep tiny milk chocolate chips, dark raisins, chopped walnuts and almond slices on hand. These come in handy for eyes, buttons and wings.

If you are short on time,  use sugar sprinkles. They're fast, easily add some color variety, and are a holiday favorite.

I also make sugar cookies with sprinkles for special occasions throughout the year with non-holiday cookie cutters. When using sugar sprinkles, add lemon as flavoring to the cookie dough, or divide between vanilla and lemon. Lemon flavoring will make the cookies less sweet and help balance the extra sugar on top.

Charlotte

Ode to Chives

Not really but I do love chives.

These milder-flavored cousins of the onion are a personal favorite herb  - love them cut up fresh in salads, sprinkled on mashed or baked potatoes, as a garnish on creamed soups, baked chicken and fish.

Chives are very easy to grow either in a corner of the garden or in pots. They also make a great pest deterrent in the garden.

Although I don't usually let most plants bolt, or form flowers because it reduces their flavor, I let some of my chives go to flower - the flowers make a charming garnish!

Charlotte

Brown or White?

One of the advantages of living in a small town is that I can get fabric, my knives sharpened and pick up fresh eggs all from the same business. The most recent debate was over whether brown eggs, or white eggs, are better. Besides egg color, if you buy them commercially there's little difference. According to the website the "Straight Dope:"

According to the Egg Nutrition Board, White shelled eggs are produced by hens with white feathers and ear lobes. Brown shelled eggs are produced by hens with red feathers and red ear lobes. There is no difference in taste or nutrition between white and brown eggs.

The people at Crisco (who may know even more than the egg nutritionists) go further to say, They simply come from two different breeds of chickens. Brown eggs, however, are more expensive because the chickens that lay them eat more than those that lay white eggs.'

Among the breeds that lay brown eggs are the Rhode Island Red, the New Hampshire and the Plymouth Rock--all larger birds that require more food. But Bill Finch of the Mobile Register suggests that brown eggs may have tasted better at one time. He says, For years, chickens preferred by commercial growers happened to lay white eggs. A few smart cooks sought out brown eggs because most of the home-reared American flocks, which had access to flavor-enhancing weeds and bugs, happened to lay brown eggs. Commercial egg producers eventually got wise to this. They started raising chickens that laid brown eggs, and charged a premium for them at the store.' So basically if they are free ranging and home-raised, the chickens may be eating a different diet than commercial chicken producers and that difference in menu may affect the egg flavor.

Can you tell which ones I favor?

Charlotte

The Beauty of Fresh Blueberries

Blueberries are one of the top 10 super foods, full of antioxidants and vitamins and fun to eat just as they are.

Add a sprig of fresh spearmint to add a little color. Quick dish to add to holiday scrambled eggs or as a quick desert.

Someday I hope to be picking blueberries from my own garden!

Charlotte

Cantaloupes, A Taste of Spring

Cantaloupes are like tomatoes in my book. I don't buy them out of season because they have little flavor and are often too green to even be salvaged in a fruit salad.

Mid-spring in Missouri, we start to get Arkansas-grown cantaloupes - they're bigger than the winter ones, with a lighter peel, sometimes with blemishes - but they're juicy and delicious.

To fix a cantaloupe, cut it in half and remove seeds. Keep dish towels handy to sop up the juice. Cut into quarters, then remove peel down to orange. I then cut them into smaller quarters and cut the quarters into bite-size pieces.

My Mom used to add salt to her cantaloupe but I eat mine without salt.

Delicious for breakfast or a fruit treat at any meal. Store covered in refrigerator.

Charlotte

Always Plant Radishes

There's a good reason why gardeners make good cooks and vice versa. Having fresh produce is one of the secrets to a good meal, and one of the must haves in any spring garden is radishes.

These red tuberous vegetables are almost impossible not to grow. They row quickly, and add such a dash of color and peppery flavor to any salad or special dish, even if they are not included in the recipe. 

The whole radish is edible; use green tops in salads or steamed as a side dish, and if they happen to flower before you can pick them, the flowers are pretty garnish and edible, too!

Do you grow radishes in your garden?

Charlotte

Plant Celery Stalk Ends

Have you ever wondered what happens to that celery stalk that's starting to sprout in your vegetable bin?

I decided to plant one of mine since celery is one of my go-to vegetables. I also like to use celery for garnish but I don't always have it handy.

The celery I planted already had teeny tiny celery plants growing from the bottom. To make sure I was tracking the right plant, I used a popsicle stick to mark it. After a couple of weeks, it was off to a good start. I would like to tell you it's still growing but I can't.

A deer ate it.

Have you tried to grow celery from your crisper?

Charlotte

Grow Spicy Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums are a wonderfully versatile, and delicious, annual to plant.

I love to add the peppery-tasting flowers to salads so I keep a couple of pots full of these charming annuals right outside my kitchen door.

The challenge to growing nasturtiums is giving them a good start. I start by cutting a small nick in the side of each seed. I then soak the seeds at least overnight to soften the seed shells so sprouts have an easier way to start.

When potting, I also keep potting soil inside at room temperature before adding seeds. You can eat everything from the leaves to the flowers. The leaves are fun in a salad or as a base for a vegetable dish. Not only do they add a peppery taste but nasturtium flowers are a lovely garnish, too.

How do you like to use nasturtiums in your cooking?

Charlotte

How to Steam Broccoli

Broccoli is one of my favorite vegetables so I keep it around steamed so I can easily use it in a variety of dishes.

To easily steam broccoli, wash and pat dry with clean dish towels or paper towels.

Cut off the thick stem until the top florets look like trees.

Add to a steamer and steam until starting to get tender.

Quickly remove from pot so cooking doesn't continue.

Store in covered containers in refrigerator until you need to use it.

Do you have a favorite way to steam broccoli?

Charlotte

Freeze Extra Peppers

Since I love peppers so much, I always save extras to freeze.

After washing and cutting them into slices, pat dry with a clean dish towel. I cut them again into pieces and place in a pan to freeze.

Once frozen, I toss them into a bag and freeze. That way I'm never without peppers to add to a dish and they are already cut to size.

Charlotte

Lettuce Butterflies

Lettuce butterflies are a great fun, and easy, treat.

Using Romaine lettuce, cut 3 to 4 inch pieces, then trim wings. Add reduced fat peanut butter, almond butter or a favorite butter spread; spoon 1/2 tsp and roll in your hand.

Place in lettuce center; shape the head at the end with toothpick.

Break toothpick in half; add to head so the butterfly can easily be picked up with fingers.

Charlotte

Homegrown Pears

I had my last homegrown pear for dessert earlier tonight.

It's quite a feat when I think about it. I don't use any sprays, chemicals or insecticides.

Squirrels help themselves to some earlier mid-summer but there still seems to be enough to go around.

Some of the fruit has blemishes but they don't take away from the deliciousness of picking a pear and cutting it open, right there and then.

I store the extra fruit in baskets in my cool garage; the cool temperature helps extend my pear season into Missouri's mid-winter.

Good inspiration and reminder to plant fruit trees in spring!

Do you grow pears n your garden?

Charlotte

Refurbishing Mom's Cookbook

I grew up learning to cook from one of Betty Crocker's red and white checkered "picture" cookbooks, which explains why I am attracted to red and white cookbooks in general.

One day, when the spine started to break, I decided I needed to salvage the book full of memories and called C. Dickens, an old rare book store in Atlanta that had salvaged another family heirloom.

Through the Book Dispensary in Columbia, South Carolina, they rebuilt the well-loved book - even added a book-marking ribbon so I don't need to stuff it full of cards.

Two months later, the book was back, good as new!

Hello, old friend!

Charlotte

Pansies Salad Garnish

Pansies are more than just something pretty to enjoy in a pot.

Late winter, when grocery store tomatoes have little flavor, be creative with salad garnish. Miniature or regular pansies, high in vitamin C, are not only beautiful but delicious.

After picking, wash thoroughly with a vegetable wash to remove any chemicals. Pat dry gently with a clean dish towel.

If you can, use only pansies you've raised yourself so you know the flowers haven't been treated with chemicals. In most growing zones, pansies are perennials and should come back every year with the proper growing conditions.

Charlotte

Picking the Right Trivet

There are a wide range of trivets on the market. Trivets are designed to keep a surface from being damaged when you need a spot to put a hot pot or dish, although I have been known to fold up a dish towel when I was in a pinch.

Over the years, I've tried a number of them and found my favorites have about an inch of clearance from the bottom of the trivet and the bottom surface.

It also helps if the trivet itself has an open weave pattern so it can quickly dissipate heat. When not in use, you can also use trivets to add a little decorate charm to a flower pot!

Charlotte

Grow green!

Next time you have green onions, don't throw away the white ends. After cutting off the dark green tops, submerge the white part with roots in a glass of water and place them in a sunny window. Your onions will begin to grow almost immediately and keep you in a nice supply.

Use kitchen scissors to cut what you need; wash and pat dry with a dish towel.

I periodically empty out the water, rinse roots off and give them fresh water. It's like magic!

Charlotte

Cool Refreshing Treat

If you're looking for a healthy, and easy, treat, don't look any farther than watermelons. Although we often associate watermelons with light summer deserts, watermelons also make healthy, and delicious, juice any time of the year.

Watermelons come close to being a perfect fruit, high in vitamins and antioxidants.

I usually use a melon baler to remove watermelon pieces so they can easily be tossed into desert dishes. Keep  a dish towel handy because it can get a little messy. During that process, a good 16 oz of juice, along with left over smaller watermelon pieces, gets generated.

Remembering the wonderful watermelon juice stands in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I decided to make my own. I pour watermelon juice, and some left over pieces, into a container and give it a spin in my blender. You can add a touch of lemon and ice to give it an extra cold texture. Not only will you be getting a lot of nutrients, but watermelon juice will quench your thirst, too!

Charlotte

Peter Piper's Peppers

I like to grow bell peppers.

For sure the green ones, but I've also developed a taste for red and yellow ones. Last week, I found an orange one!

I don't know if their color makes a difference but I think it does.

I also like the way they jazz up my lunch plates.

I tend to toss them in with sauteed onions and herbs, and I never use the same combination.

Besides growing well on my deck in pots, green peppers winter over well inside in my room windows, keeping a pot of sage, rosemary and catnip herbs company.

Peter Piper was right. Everyone should pick a bunch!

Charlotte