Our New Kitten!!

Well, for the last 5 weeks Brad and I have raised a kitten that we found October 11th. We estimated that it was about a day old based on weight and the fact that it still had its umbilical cord attached. We basically knew nothing about raising a kitten from this age but decided to take it in despite the fact that we already have 2 adult cats because there was no chance that that the little thing could make it through the freezing weather of Kirksville outside. At first, we were just going to raise it until we could find a new home, but now we just love the little critter too much to even think about parting with it. (we still dont know if it is a boy or girl, but guess a girl for the time being).

Here are some pictures of our new addition! From 4 ounces and bottle fed to 1 pound and eating on her own and using the litter box!


























Dont worry, she just fell to the first step, she now goes up and down them with no problem.... She is just too adorable!!

So... I have been really bad about posting recently, so I figured the only way I was going to catch up was to make an abbreviated post with many different pictures. So here they are, hopefully it wont be so long until my next post :)


Classic Cherry Pie made with bing (tart)cherries, one of my favorite pies!





So this is a mixed fruit pie with a vanilla custard cream inside, sweet and simple with GREAT presentation






This is supposed to be an apple "Pandowdy" Pie... hadn't actually heard of this one until I made it. I am actually not much of an apple pie lover but could definentaly eat seconds on this one. The filling was more like caramel apple then regular apple pie...






This is an Apple Crumb Pie, I think I got a little lazy with the "crumb" part and just mixed it up in my food processor and got more of Apple "mush like crumble" on top. Still tasted decent, but like I said, would rather have a tart pie like cherry or key lime... :)




This is all for the catch up portion of pies... Thanksgiving is almost here and therefore will probably move on to sweet potato, pumpkin, and pecan pies next....

Blueberry Pie

Blueberries are all over the place right now and they taste GREAT! Well, that must mean its time to to some blueberry pies/tarts...

So, I started with the individual pie pockets with blueberry filling, but they were too small, therefore too much crust and not enough filling to be a satisfying treat... I was so sad in fact that I couldnt bring myself to take a picture. I will probably make another version of them at a later date and post it then when it is hopefully a more successful venture...

However, today I made a full blueberry pie and YUM! The only variation I made was adding 1 tsp lemon extract instead of the tbsp lemon juice and tsp lemon rind... Has anyone ever tasted lemon extract before? Well, I hadn't and so thought it was a good time to try it... boy was that a mistake... VERY bitter, not so much sour and it kind of burned your tongue for 5 minutes afterwards... oh well, wont be doing that again.

The final result was very good, I will be making it again (with the lemon extract, without the sampling)

Ginger Apricot Pie

Well, having never made anything with fresh apricots before I wasnt prepared for the fact that they taste like nothing and have a kind of mushy texture... YUCK! But then I may have gotten bad apricots, but the best our local grocery store had to offer. However, they tasted really good in this pie once everything was said and done, not my favorite but my husband sure liked it :)

It was the prettiest crust however...

Curry and Friends!

I can't seem to express enough the inavailability of many cooking products, therefore I was so excited when the local walmart started to carry two curry products from McCormick.



Well, I bought both (LOVE Indian food and the nearest restaurant is over 3 hours away) and opened "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman and marked almost every recipie that had curry as an ingredient.

Last night, my husband and I had over some good friends for dinner for Grilled Pork Tenderlian with Mustard Curry and Fresh Fruit Chutney



It was really yummy, but I think I overcooked the chutney... doesnt really matter though, still tasted great! :)

Grilled Pork Tenderlin with Mustard Curry

2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp Curry
Salt and Pepper
1 pork tenderloin

Just mix first two ingredients to a paste, spread on pork with salt and pepper, grill until internal temperature is 145 degrees. Top with Chutney

Fresh Fruit Chutney with Mustard and Curry

8 pieces of stone fruit (peaches, nectarines, plums)
1/4 cup raisins (I used golden)
1/2 cup orange or pineapple juice
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup sugar or honey
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 cup minced red bell pepper
1 small dried hot red chile (I used 1 tsp red pepper flakes)
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp curry powder

Peel fruit by dropping in boiling water until skin loosens, pit and chop.
Combine the rest of the ingredients and boil until liquid all but cooks off and has the appearance of jam.


Our friends brought over a wonderful salad and a CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN! Yea!!



Make this scruptious item by dressing a heart of romaine leaf with feta cheese, chopped calamata olives, chopped pepperochini peppers, minced red onion, and a feta vinegarette (So good!!)



However, the best part of the evening was the dessert... no words are necessary...

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Well, the only previous experience I have had with this pie has been at Marie Calendar's restaurant. Surely I couldnt hope to make a pie as good as they do... well, it was right up there.

The rhubarb was very hard to find in the small rural area I live in, but luckily it was at this weeks farmer's market. I had never tried baking with rhubarb before, it looks just like red celery and tastes kind of like lemon... very interesting. But the final product is pretty darn good!

Adventures in Pot Roast

Well, alot of people have probably heard me complain about how badly I always ruin dishes made in the crockpot.. The meat always seems to turn out dry and hard, how this happens? Not really sure...

However, I have found a recipie from a friend I work with (actually got a few promising recipies from a people, this just happened to be the first I tried) and it actually turned out good!!



Just add new potatoes, baby carrots, and an onion to a slab of pot roast, fill with water, add seasoned and garlic salt to your hearts content and cook all day!








Add homemade rolls and this is the final product... YUM!