Peach and Blueberry Galette Yumminess

Doesn't a peach and blueberry galette scream summertime! I think it does. On a recent trip to our local Farmers Market, I got some juicy, sweet peaches. There were rows and rows of peaches. I strolled through the market, sampled each farmers peaches and picked the sweetest ones. I told the farmer I was baking it that day and she picked the perfect peaches for me for baking. I also bought my blueberries at the Farmers Market, but didn't taste all of them like I did the peaches. Not really sure why not, just figured the peaches were the most important ingredient.

I searched Pinterest for a recipe. I was looking for something that was easy, and not too many crazy ingredients. I found the perfect one here. I read several food blogs, Cake 'N Knife being one of them. This was the first recipe I've tried of hers and loved it. The crust was simple, straightforward and oh so good. The galette was perfect and just what I wanted. I will definitely be making it again this summer.

Summertime!

Happy 1st day of Summer!

I love summer with all it's green, and pretty flowers.I get so excited each year when my gladiolus come up. They are the only perennials I have planted as of right now. Each year, I plant sunflowers and last year, I planted daisies, and a few pumpkin seeds. The daisies and pumpkins never came up, but my sunflowers were gorgeous as always. I think I planted the pumpkins too early last year, so I'm trying again this year. One of my flower beds was empty on one side, since my daisies didn't come up so I cleaned up that area and planted a few pumpkin seeds a couple weeks ago. I wasn't really expecting anything to come up since last year they didn't, but you see those little green sprouts?? Those are pumpkin sprouts!! I wasn't sure if they were pumpkin sprouts at first, so I did a search online and they are!! I didn't plant huge pumpkins, just little sugar ones, but I'm so excited! I will be content if I get just one pumpkin.

Every evening, I've been going out and watering my flowers and fern in the front on the porch. I haven't killed the fern yet! Yay me! Everything is thriving! This weekend on a morning flower checkin, I had a visitor. He let me take several pictures, while he enjoyed the sunshine and flower nectar. I seem to get little visitors every summer. Here are some from last year.

ZigZag Afghan - all weekend!

If you are looking for me this weekend, I'll be right here....sipping coffee...knitting away on my ZigZag afghan.

Elijah

Elijah is heading off to sleep-away basketball camp today. He's excited, but I'm sure a little nervous. Or maybe that's just me. He's never been to sleep-away camp, and even though it's about 20 minutes away, he won't be home with us.

This week has been a such a sad, heartbreaking week. With the mass shooting in Orlando, and the toddler being killed by an alligator in the happiest place on earth, it's just too much. You just want to gather up your loved ones and lock them safely away. But of course we can't. Having lost one son to gun violence, I worry constantly whenever my boys aren't in sight. I know that's not a way to live, but I can't help it. Fonzy says I'm negative and always think the worst. And honestly, I try not too, but the worst HAS happened and in my worry, and warnings to the boys I'm just trying to feel better myself. To let go just a little and pray with all my might they return safely home.

Elijah has been working so hard. Even though it's summer break, he's up at 5:45am every morning for football training, along with basketball practice in the evening. He and Fonzy don't get home until around 8pm each night, having left at 6:30am! It's long, tiring days and he hasn't complained about it once. He's striving to be the best he can be in both sports. I can't believe he will be in high school this Fall! Our last baby is growing up.

These pictures are from his 8th grade graduation. The graduation started out a little rocky, but by the end, it was all good. He even was awarded Athlete of the Year! Good things are in store for him, including camp!

So......I'm going to pray, let go just a little, and think the best, not the worst! He's going to have the time of his life at camp and return to us safely Sunday afternoon, having grown up a little bit more.

Spiralize Summer

So, I think I'm late to the game, but I got a Spiralizer or Spiraletti, or Zoodler or whatever you want to call it gadget. And I LOVE it!

I normally dread cooking on a Monday. After a long day at work, it's the last thing I want to do, but this Monday I couldn't wait to get home and try my new toy. I pinned a bunch of recipes on Pinterest, but went with simple garlic parmesan zoodles (zucchini noodles). Saute a little butter and garlic, add your zoodles, (I used zucchini and yellow squash), sprinkle with black pepper and saute for about 4 or 5 mins. Not too long. Mine still had a little crunch to them. Once heated, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and Viola! So easy, and delicious!

Here's the sprializer I bought, but for way less at Ross. Mine was $14.99! Can't beat that. With all the fresh veggies and fruits this time of year, I plan on spiraling all I can!

I was on a roll Monday night! I even made a peach and blueberry galette from the peaches and berries I got at the Farmers Market Saturday. I'll share that later in another post. It was so good! This past Monday wasn't too bad!

Happy Bright ZigZag Afghan

I started this afghan in April of 2012. We are now in June of 2016! Yeah....that's a long time to have a work in progress. I was so excited when I first started my zigzag. I thought for sure I was going to have it done by Fall. But I got bored with it and put it aside. I've done that several times. Excited to have it finished, bored when I had been knitting on it for days! We have a beach trip coming up in early July and  I'm DETERMINED to get this done before then. I would love to take finished pictures of it on the beach. I just think these bright colors would look awesome on a sandy beach.

Hmmmm...just had a case of deja vu. I think we had a beach trip before when I said the exact same thing. This time I'm going to make it happen!

I will not get bored. I will not get bored. I will not get bored.
I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.

Previous zigzag afghan posts here.

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Joining in on the Yarn Along and Frontier Dreams. 

Weekending

This past week was chock-full of goodness. That's the type of weekend I like.

My gladiolus are starting to bloom. I love grabbing a cup of coffee and heading to the backyard to check out my flower beds. I'm normally joined by Titus, bees hard at work and birds chirping away. Great way to spend a Saturday morning.

It was HOT this weekend. So ice coffee was on the agenda with a little knitting. I think that was the only time I knit this weekend. Too much other stuff going on. Like the State Farmers Market. I love the Farmers Market. So much goodness in one place. I bought some things new to me. Patty Pan Squash was one of them. That's the little yellow flower looking squash. I've never had it. The farmer said it was kind of sweet and told me how to cook it. so I bought a few. I have yet to taste them.

Another purchase, and my favorite of the day - local honey. I LOVE using honey in recipes, but hate to admit I've always bought honey in the store. I've never tried local raw honey. Oh my gosh! I may never use store bought again. Bee Blessed Pure Honey has a booth at the Farmers Market. So many different variety's and just the sweetest couple. I was able to sample all the different variety's and decided on the Alfalfa. I also got some fresh eggs from them. If you've never had pure, raw unfiltered honey, you must try it! I would love to visit their bee farm and do a post about them. I think on my next trip to the Farmers Market I will ask them about it.

Another place I always visit at the Farmers Market is D'Vine Foods. They have jelly, jams, preserves, and butters. Along with salsa's, relishes and other delights. I've gotten the banana and pumpkin butters and really like them. This visit I decided to try something different. I got the Chunky Monkey Butter. It has banana, pineapple and coconut in it. I slathered some on a leftover biscuit from breakfast when I got home and loved it. I was told it would be good with peanut butter on a sandwich. We'll see. I'm thinking the maple bacon jam might be on my list next to try! All in all it was a good trip. Even better that I had my sister along.

After the Farmers Market we hit the pool! And it was much needed. Saturday was well into the 90's, hot and sticky!

Hubby and I did some furniture shopping this weekend too, and bought new living room furniture. We've had our furniture for forever! I'm so excited, but not excited we have to wait until next week for delivery. I'm not a very patient person.

Sunday, we attended Ezekiel's girlfriend's graduation and that about wrapped up our weekend. See...chock-full of goodness.

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!

Don't you just love Fridays? They are my favorite! Plans this weekend include my first visit to the community pool of the season, my son's girlfriend graduation from high school, some grilling, a trip to the farmers market and I'm thinking of making a strawberry and rhubarb galette. I've never made one, and have never had rhubarb, but I heard it's good. I have a couple recipes saved on Pinterest on my Strawberry Season board and have plans to make a couple of the recipes before summer is over.

Our yard is looking pretty good right now. It's so green and bursting with life, Sunflowers and gladiolus are growing, bees are buzzing and Titus is enjoying the shade trees.

I have a fern on our little porch and hoping I can keep it alive. Nothing screams Southern charm quite like a full, lush fern hanging on the porch. I've been watering and spritzing it every day. I've even feed it miracle grow. I'm determined to keep this fern alive and well.

So what do you have planned this weekend? I hope it's a great one!