Tag: Turkish

What A Nice Surprise

The Versatile Blogger Award

What a nice surprise to be handed the Versatile Blogger Award by Ryan at www.ryanbakes.com. I’ve enjoyed her delightful blog for a while now and am honored that she crowned me with this award. Check out her blog – I look forward to trying her recipe for Mexican Chocolate Pound Cake – it has all the good stuff like chocolate, cinnamon and powdered sugar. I’m sure you’ll find something you want to try too.

Now, for a little lesson about bees. Recently my adoring husband had a conversation with a neighbor who asked if we’d heard about the demise of bees as a consequence of cell phone use. Neither of us had heard about this theory. The neighbor said that a study done in Switzerland determined that placing cell phones inside hives affected the bees in a negative way. I had to google this and see what all the buzz is about after I made the mistake of carrying my cell phone with me when I went to watch the girls late yesterday afternoon. I wander out to the bee yard almost every day, late in the afternoon to see what’s going on around the hives. My bees have never been aggressive to me while I’m on my stroll around the outside of the yard. I was expecting an important call yesterday and put the phone in my pocket, not remembering the conversation with the neighbor. As I stood several feet away from the yard, enjoying the girls coming and going, one very angry bee came right towards my face and as I turned to walk away my phone rang in my pocket. Realizing that an angry bee was on the loose I continued to walk away from the bee yard and answered the phone. She stung me, and another came and tried to sting me and yet another got tangled in my hair as I walked, more like scurried away from the area near the bee yard. Anyone watching from afar surely got a good laugh out of it. I escaped with only one sting on my cheek, which I will say is minimal and not too bad to look at. OH!, then I remembered the conversation about the Swiss study and I had to do a little research.

The researcher, Daniel Favre, determined that the bees recognize a ring about to take place, and are greatly affected while the ringing occurs as well as while the conversation takes place. He determined that the bees make louder than usual buzzing noises during the call, which is a signal to the hive that danger is near. The study found that the bees’ buzzing increases ten times when a cell phone is ringing or making a call. I don’t know if I can buy the idea that cell phone transmission is causing the demise of our lovely honey bees but after yesterday’s experience I certainly believe that the cell phone is not a useful tool near or in the bee yard! I haven’t carried my phone out to watch the girls previously and I certainly will not carry it with me in the future. I conclude a better choice is a nice chilled glass of wine. Cheers!

The bees are having a field day in the wildflower pasture surrounding their bee yard. The entire pasture is a profusion of wildflowers. There are masses of wildflowers in red, orange, yellow and many hues of purple. Enjoy these bee photos and check back soon for a recipe that is sure to leave your mouth-watering.

May 18, 2011
Laughter=Good

I hope you will laugh with me over this one! I was clearly perplexed with the semi-failure of the ginger snaps in my post It’s A Snap. After posting the recipe, my mind kept going over the amount of flour I had listed and the amount I had used. I just kept going back over it in my head until I finally deduced that the amount called for and the amount I added to the bowl were not the same! Hahahahaha!! The amount called for is 2 1/2 cups and I am 95% certain that I only added 1 1/2 cups of flour. This would solve the mess of the runny dough and oh so flat cookies. I may try my hand at these again with the proper amount of flour and see if they don’t turn out more like a snap instead of a wafer. Adoring hubby and Miss T ate them anyway, as I said they tasted great, so not a complete failure, but laughable nonetheless. Here is a quote from Anna Fellows Johnston (1863-1931) that sums up my dilemma with the ginger snaps, “Remember, men need laughter sometimes more than food”. The ginger snap snafu is a perfect fit for Ms. Fellows Johnston’s quirky quote. If you wanted to learn something new today, Anna Fellows Johnston was an American author of children’s fiction, who wrote the popular “Little Colonel” series, which was the basis for the 1935 film starring Shirley Temple, The Little Colonel.

Now that you are thoroughly educated, let’s move on to chocolate cake. If I had a choice of laughter or this chocolate cake I might develop frown lines rather quickly. This chocolate cake was a request by Miss T for eating at breakfast on her actual birthday – today.

She didn’t care what kind of cake, as long as it was chocolate and had cream cheese frosting. We went to the grocery yesterday to get a few ingredients I was out of and she headed off in the wrong direction. I questioned where she was headed and nearly died when she said she was going to look for a cake mix and a can of icing. I don’t know this kid, willing to eat a cake mix for her birthday! I won’t say I’ve never made cake from a box but on a birthday it is always made from scratch. A special day deserves a special cake. She wandered off anyway and came back with a can of cream cheese icing! “What in the world?”, I asked. “I want cream cheese icing Mom”, she replied. I straightened that idea out quickly and we headed for the dairy isle of the store. Things have been a touch crazy around here the past couple of weeks, I suppose she was trying to make it easy on me. But really, cream cheese frosting in a can? EEEE-gads, not happening! I told her I thought I was capable of making chocolate cream cheese frosting and a big smile spread across her face.

The cake is moist, flavorful and possibly the simplest cake I’ve ever made, not in a box! Making the cream cheese frosting was, well, a piece of cake. The incredible part of making this cake is that you dump all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. No beating, and adding, and beating more. The frosting chocolatey with a touch of cream cheese tang! Perfection, that I could sit and eat with a spoon – who needs a cake? Simple and delicious, and it brought a beautiful smile to my daughters beautiful seventeen year old face this morning as she gulped down the first piece on her way out the door. She did stop to blow out candles and enjoy a serenade by her dad and me before heading off into her teenage world. Ahhhhh, what a life!

Plan to keep this recipe in your recipe file as it is a winner. Speaking of recipes and files, how do you store recipes that you just can’t live without? In a box, a file, a pile, a book, how? Just curious…

Enjoy!

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs (farm fresh)
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 300* – yes 300*. Lightly grease your pans of choice. 2- 9″ round cake pans, 9×13″ layer pan, or cupcake pans. Put all the ingredients into the mixing bowl and mix on medium to medium high with an electric mixer, until all ingredients are well combined. Pour into greased pans and bake for 40 minutes- 2 pans, 1 hour- layer pan, or 20 minutes-cupcakes . When a knife inserted in the center comes out clean the cake is done. Allow cake to cool for about 10 minutes then remove to racks for complete cooling before frosting.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup unsalted butter
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder

Mix cream cheese and butter until creamy.
Add sugar one cup at a time and blend well after each addition.
Mix in cocoa powder.

This makes plenty of icing for a 2 layer cake!

May 16, 2011
Road Food

New photo under Austin, Texas. Check it out!

May 15, 2011
It’s A Snap

Yikes, since we finished off that luscious cheesecake so quickly I needed, yes I said, “needed”, to bake something sweet! I decided on gingersnaps. As I write, the first batch is in the oven and I’m going to tell you they don’t look too promising. The recipe said form a dough, no dough formed. It said to roll small balls and place them on the cookie sheets, then flatten with your fingers. Not exactly how it worked. I scooped spoons half-full of dough and scraped them onto the cookie sheets, no need to flatten, they did that on their own. I’m a little baffled at the moment as this is not what I’d envisioned. If, however, they come out golden brown and delicious then I’ll be a happy camper.

While I wait for the first batch of gingersnaps to come out of the oven I wanted to write some thoughts about the blogging world. I’ve noticed that more people whom I’ve never met are reading my blog and I in turn am reading theirs. It is time-consuming to read blogs, so limiting the number of them I read regularly is imperative. I question how much of a bloggers post is read when it tells a story as opposed to simply posting a recipe? I’ve noticed that I enjoy reading a story, a life lesson, a journey, a funny saga, or another’s take on our world as much as I like to read the accompanying recipe. It would be impossible to recreate the many delicious recipes that come across the screen and keep up with my blog at the same time. So, if there isn’t time to produce all the many wonderful recipes floating in the foodie blog world, why else do we read them? I suspect it may be for entertainment, plain and simple.

Of course, some blogs don’t appeal to me, as I know The Orange Bee doesn’t appeal to every person who stumbles upon it. What I find interesting is, in the literally hundreds of thousands of blogs, gazillions to be exact, that are out there it’s so easy to bypass one or another but be completely drawn to others. Interaction between people, albeit most strangers, with the same interests, sense of humor, lifestyle, etc. have become a valued slice of my existence. I was slow in learning about blogs, as a matter of fact before I started mine I truly, didn’t know exactly what they were. Now that I do, I will say the amount of reading material out there in the blog world is mind-boggling and only a small percentage of it appeals to me. I’m curious to know your thoughts or ideas on blogs, reading or keeping up with them. To what extent do you read blogs, do you feel drawn to check in on certain bloggers, do you simply write your own blog, or only read them? Just curious…oblige me if you will and give me your thoughts.

The verdict is in on the gingersnaps. Failure, to a certain extent. They look absolutely nothing like the cookies in the cookbook I used and didn’t make the dough as I expected. They should be called “Gingersnap Wafers”. I’ve read and re-read the recipe to be sure I didn’t overlook or leave something out. Oven temp-check, amounts correct-check, baking time-check, fresh ingredients-check. I now have the third batch in the oven. I decided to chill the dough to see if it would stiffen up a bit. This is not called for in the recipe. It seems to have firmed up to the extent I could scoop a little dough with a spoon and shape it into balls with my hands. 9 minutes until this batch is baked and I can’t wait to see how they fare.

The flavor is delicious, gingery with a hint of orange, a delightful combo, chewey in the center and lightly crisp on the edges. I’m contemplating taking the entire first batch which are very thin and wafery and turning them into gingersnap crust or topping for something with peaches as the main ingredient. It is a rainy, dark, gray, afternoon and I can’t think of anything better to have spent my time on than baking a batch of cookies, even if they are a flop. Next I’ll move on to finding a solution for the snaps and some peaches. You’ll have to check back for how that works out. 5 minutes and counting…….how will this last batch make out?

I’ve decided to go ahead and post the recipe for these cookies as they taste great. Miss T even gave them a thumbs up. You can see from my photo that they are flat as pancakes, well actually some pancakes are much thicker than these cookies. I can’t put my finger on what went awry but for the sake of taste I’ll post the recipe. Thunder roars and lightning flashes, rain pours and spatters my windows now, so I’ll go. Try this recipe if you don’t mind flat cookies, that taste fine. I doubt that I will make them again, but hey isn’t that what experimenting with new recipes is all about? Oh and by the way, I am a happy camper, they are after all delightfully edible.

Enjoy!

Gingersnaps

2 1/2 cups self rising flour
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. baking soda
9 tbsp. butter
1/4 cup dark corn syrup ( I used light)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp. grated orange rind

Preheat the oven to 325*. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, ginger and baking soda into a large bowl. Heat the butter and corn syrup together in a saucepan over very low heat until the butter has melted. Let cool slightly, then pour it onto the dry ingredients. Add the egg and orange rind and mix thoroughly to form dough. (this is where it gets tricky). Chill the dough for about 30 minutes and then shape small pieces of dough into balls. Place the balls on the cookie sheet and flatten them with your fingers (if the dough has been chilled this step is doable). Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

May 11, 2011
Honey Drop

Today was a successful day in the bee yard. I inspected all 4 hives and I was satisfied with my observations. In hive #4 I caught sight of Queen April but didn’t get a photo today. The wind was up and I am concerned that it will catch a queen unguarded and blow her away. If due to my carelessness this happened I’d be devastated. She is however, beautiful and productive.

While examining one of the frames in hive #4 a few drops of uncapped honey fell to the top of a frame still in place in the super. I noticed that quite rapidly two girls came to the drops of honey and began to clean it up. I shot a few photos of this bee task as I am engaged by their house cleaning methods. A few clear, golden drops of honey that a human would wipe off the counter, but the bees know how valuable it is to their existence and they don’t waste a drop. I am amazed by the efficiency with which they run their hive, how each bee has a particular job and at how quickly they are multiplying. Oh, what we could learn from these tiny creatures!

Stay tuned……..

In this first photo you can see a good-sized drop of honey and two bees cleaning it up. You will also notice a couple of other girls barely peeking over the edge watching and waiting. They are there to take the honey from the two cleaning it up and carry it back into the hive.

In the second picture you will see the maid bees still lapping up the honey while the carriers are coming up a little closer in preparation for exchange of the honey. The bee on the bottom right already has her tongue out and ready. It’s reddish-brown in color.

In the third shot you can even see the proboscis (tongue) making the exchange from one bee to the other, while the other bee’s proboscis stands ready to take any left overs. You’ll also notice that other bees are making their way up to the top of the frame to see if their help is needed, while a couple of other maids are standing by to help with the cleanup.

In the fourth shot see the carrier bees heading back down into the hive ready to place the honey in a cell. The last maid bee makes certain she has sucked up all the precious nectar.

May 9, 2011
Cheese Please

Cheesecake, that is! If you’ve followed my blog you already know this past weekend was a big time at The Orange Bee. Miss T was celebrating her 17th birthday – a little early. I am tickled that she requested cheesecake for her birthday dinner dessert. It disappeared quickly, meaning no calorie laden cake staring me in the face all week-long. It was creamy, tangy and sweet all at the same time with a crunchy, buttery graham cracker crust and brought “ooohhh’s and ahhhh’s from everyone who ate a slice.

Miss T enjoys her cheesecake plain. No fruit, no toppings, no extra flavors or textures to mask that luscious creaminess. My older daughter LuLu said she thought some cherry pie filling was in order as she had been “craving that stuff”. Not sure why because I’ve never served that pie filling on cheesecakes nor filled a pie with it. I mean, who opens a can of pie filling, pours it in a crust and calls it a pie? No offense if that’s your thing but it’s not my style. I contemplated making fresh strawberry sauce for the cake but decided since time was running short, to buy a can of cherry pie filling, if only to satisfy LuLu. Turns out all the folks except the birthday girl herself, wanted cherry topping. The entire meal was a great success but the cheesecake was the star on the menu.

I’ve owned a Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese Cookbook by Kraft for a very long time. I pulled it out knowing that a plain, delicious cheesecake awaited me on page 150. It’s called Northwest Cheesecake Supreme. I like any kind of cheesecake and have tried my hand at a few in this book but this is the one I always come back to when I’m short on time and want a plain, basic cake. I would have liked to prepare the cake the day before our gathering, let it chill overnight for a melding of flavors, but time didn’t allow, so I threw it together on the morning of, chilled it for about 8 hours and it was perfect.

To any mothers reading my blog today I am hopeful your Mother’s Day was celebrated in just your fashion. Mine was exceptional, both of my girls here for hugs and kisses, my Mother came for lunch, the guys did all the clean up after lunch, and to complete the afternoon, the Mavericks swept the L.A. Lakers. Sadly all the cheesecake had disappeared and adoring hubby and I savored bowls of Blue Bell Vanilla Bean ice cream while we cheered at the amazing game being played out before our very eyes!

The weather is getting hotter again this week, the winds are back, blowing like there is no tomorrow. I took advantage of today being promised as the nicest day this week and checked on all my bees. I’m happy to announce that all four hives are looking healthy, full of bees working hard on honey production, while my queens stay busy laying eggs. I shot some captivating photos of bees engaged in removing some drops of honey from a frame. I’ll put them up shortly under the Bees & Honey page, Bee School 101, Honey Drop.

Enjoy!

Northwest Cheesecake Supreme

Ingredients:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted
4-8oz packages Philadelphia Brand cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 can cherry pie filling
Combine crumbs, sugar and butter and press into the bottom of a 9″ spring-form pan. Bake at 325* for 10 minutes.

Combine cream cheese, sugar and flour, mixing at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in sour cream and vanilla; pour over crust. Bake at 450* for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 250*; continue baking 1 hour. Loosen cake from rim of pan;cool before removing rim of pan. Chill. Top with pie filling just before serving; or enjoy it plain as Miss T does, you won’t be sorry.
Cheese Cake

May 9, 2011
It’s World Famous

It has been a busy, busy week around The Orange Bee. This weekend will also be a whirlwind, beginning with tonight’s early birthday celebration for Miss T. Seventeen, 17, oh my gosh she will be turning 17 in a few days. How does this happen? She’s pleased as punch to be gaining years but for a mother it is total bewilderment. How do these precious little ones so quickly become near adults? I am certain I do not have the answer – if you do please share it.

Miss T was a handful when she was a little girl. She was fearless, active, adorable, ran most everywhere her feet could go and some places they had no business going, and she woke up everyday with her own agenda to be followed. Now, I grant you her agenda often was not easily accommodated. It generally consisted of playing outside with horses, dinosaurs, kitties or animals of some sort in the dirt or mud. Usually with as few clothes covering her body as possible and always barefoot! Invariably water was involved as animals needs pools and ponds. This resulted in oodles of picnics at lunch and countless baths. Sometimes we just hosed her down on the back porch, wrapped her up in a big, fluffy towel and carried her inside. When outdoor play wasn’t possible she would turn our living room or the master bedroom into horse corrals, dinosaur digs or kitty rodeos.

I miss those days……but time goes by and tonight we’ll celebrate. It’s strictly a family affair. Her choices for dinner are steak, mashed potatoes and cheesecake. I’m tossing a caesar salad for those of us who actually like green stuff. For the appetizer I made World Famous Corn Dip. It is always enjoyed with a cocktail, glass of wine, or ice-cold beer. You can whip it up in a matter of 5 minutes or less, place it in the frig to chill and take it out a few minutes before serving. I really like appetizers that can be made early on the day of festivities, it gives the hostess time to relax and not be a slave in the kitchen as guests arrive.

Enjoy!

World Famous Corn Dip

1 lb. shredded cheddar cheese or mexican blend
1 can mexicorn, drained
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream

Combine ingredients, chill. Remove from refrigerator a few minutes before serving for best results.

I had a helper today – Miss T’s cat Marley wanted to have a taste test to check for accuracy of ingredients. I shooed him away and assured him his mistress would not be eating any corn dip, only steak, mashed potatoes and cheesecake.

May 6, 2011
At It Again

It is May – right? I thought so, however our warm, spring like weather has turned unseasonably cold and wet. Temperatures the last two days have been in the 40’s and that is just not like May in Texas. We desperately needed the rain, the water companies have already mailed out their water rationing dates, leading into summer. All this miserable, wet, grey weather compels me to do, is bake. Yep, put on my sweats, my fuzzy slippers, preheat the oven and bake something.

Ever since I made the, ummmm..excuse me, chocolate chip cookies with Crisco, I’ve wanted to try yet another chocolate chip recipe. After my first post about those cookies, I received the recipe my mother-in-law used. Holy moly, it calls for the unspeakable again! Crisco! I tell you it’s not food. I cannot conceive how I still had one slab of that butter tasting stuff in my cupboard but I did. Best to use it up and clear that space for something that actually resembles food. My sister-in-law told me that her mom said the recipe she used was the one on the back of the Nestle Toll House bag of chips. Not true, the recipe on the bag calls for 2 sticks of butter – no Crisco! No disrespect to anyone involved but the recipes are different in this aspect as well as a couple of others.

There is only one way to get to the bottom of this cookie recipe dilemma, bake a batch. I smiled the entire time I was baking, in my sweats and fuzzy slippers. Earlier in the day I was faking my smiles as we ran around taking care of errands in the cold, windy, rotten weather. I found myself consumed with trying this recipe and if I was going to be chilly I wanted to be chillin’ in the kitchen. It is relaxing to measure, stir and drop blobs of dough on cookie sheets. It’s darn near impossible to turn out a batch of chocolate chips cookies that won’t get devoured around here so no matter what, it wouldn’t be a waste.

I decided to make half a batch in case they weren’t totally delicious. They went together quickly, when Crisco is used there is no need to wait for the butter to soften. In went the first sheet and out it came, all golden and yummy smelling. After a few minutes of cooling, Miss T, adoring hubby and I all tried one, still warm and melty. Drum roll please …………………….GOOD not GREAT. Not the best chocolate chip cookies ever, not like my mother-in-laws, certainly good enough to eat the entire jar full, but still not exactly what I’m looking for. I’ll continue my quest for the best ever chocolate chip cookie. If you have a recipe that you regard as that cookie, set me up so I can move on to other food adventures in my kitchen. Meantime, half of the cookies I made have been eaten and time was not wasted, especially since I smiled!

This weather is not conducive to bee keeping tasks so I have no new reports. I’m certain my girls are busy in the hives the last couple of days, turning pollen into honey, feeding brood, cleaning house, eerrrr, hive and catering to the queen’s every need. Poor darlings are likely clustered together in the hive taking turns staying warm when they aren’t busy at the tasks I mentioned. Bees are not safe out and about when rain and hail are present. Think about that for a minute, the size of a bee and the size of large rain drops and hail, the poor things would get hammered and they are too smart to subject themselves to that.

Enjoy!

Virginia’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Crisco
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
6 oz. chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped nuts, if you wish ( I used almonds)

Mix together sugars, beat in Crisco until mixture is creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In separate bowl stir dry ingredients together. Gradually add to sugar mixture and beat until well blended; stir in chips and nuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 375* for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.

May 2, 2011
Queen Rita

As a new beekeeper I’m keeping a close watch on my hives as this is the busy season in the apiary. Constant monitoring to be sure the hives are healthy, the queens are laying eggs, larva is visible, and that pollen and honey are evident, is necessary about once a week. I’ve been nervous that a queen will accidentally blow away with the gusty, strong winds we’ve had in Texas, and there have plenty of those days. It seems once a week and only once we are blessed with a calm day. This week that was on Thursday. I suited up and fired up my smoker as I had a mission to carry out on this one perfect day.

Mr. Floyd, ever striving to turn me into a “respectable” beekeeper made me some special frames filled with pure beeswax foundation to give me an opportunity to make cut comb honey. These needed to be placed in the newest supers on my hives. Not only am I excited about the prospect of bottling honey but now I can try my hand at cut comb honey. I’ve heard it is the most delicious way to enjoy honey. Never having had the chance to try cut comb honey and knowing that I’ll first try it our of my own hives is a thrill. Yeah, I know, it doesn’t take much to get me adrenalized.

Wanting to take full advantage of this glorious day I removed the top super from all four hives to investigate what was going on down inside. I started with the Heidi Hive and was pleased to see everything going just as it should. Heidi didn’t receive her name just because – no, she is shy and hides often. On this day she earned her name by remaining invisible to me. Satisfied with the Heidi hive I moved on to Hive Miracle. Upon examination of the first two frames I saw brood, larva, honey and Queen Miracle herself poked her head out to say, “hi”. Feeling pretty happy I proceeded to hive Rita. The first frame I removed had beautiful packed pollen along with brood, honey and larva. I snapped a couple of photos, which you can view below and removed the next frame. Taking a look for more of the same I was rewarded with a visit by Queen Rita. I snapped a couple of photos of her, being careful to keep the frame lowered down into the hive so as not to lose her. Check out her photo below. You can imagine that by now I was beaming from ear to ear with pleasure at the success my exams were proving. On to hive #4, Queen April, named so as she came to me in the month of April. Upon removal of the first frame I spotted her. Ahhhh….welcome to bee keeping! As I turned the frame to get a closer look a few drips of honey spotted the wooden frame tops in her hive. I replaced the frame she was on and ran my finger over the fresh honey. I had to take a taste by licking my finger through the netting of my hood, but I can not begin to tell you how fabulous it was. I scraped the rest onto my hive tool and handed it to my adoring hubby for a taste. Speechless – it tasted so fresh and delicious.

Thursday was a great day in the bee yard. All four hives look healthy and are producing everything just as they should. Seeing three out of four queens – priceless!! I can only hope and pray that it will always be like this. Mr. Floyd warns me it won’t. Meantime, I’ll languish in the satisfaction of Thursdays greatness and continue on with my responsibility of beekeeper. It’s a delightful and educational hobby and I am so honored to be among the bees.

Stay tuned….

If you have the ability to zoom in on the photos you too will be able to see the uncapped brood, they look like shiny white little worms in the bottoms of the cells. Queen Rita is the bigger, brownish-orange bee in the last two photos.

Queen Rita – meter maidShe is the bigger, brownish-orange bee in the center

April 30, 2011

A Zillion and One

This week I had some fresh asparagus staring out at me every time I opened the refrigerator door. I totally wanted to eat that asparagus but I also wanted to do something different with it. All week-long I was pondering those lovely green stalks. This weeks meals never lent themselves to the addition of asparagus so it continued to stare. I finally elected to make an asparagus fritatta and serve it for dinner. I vaguely remember making a fritatta in my past, but have no recollection of what ingredients I used, how it turned out, or if I even liked it. That must have been ages ago. I decided it was high time I tried one again, one I would remember making and eating. I also had more than a dozen farm fresh eggs staring at me so the fritatta idea was looking pretty good.

Not having any recipes for a fritatta I decided to google some, check out a few cookbooks and get my mind stirred up about what I’d like to include with the asparagus. It became clear that I could use assorted ingredients, in fact a fritatta could be made in a zillion different ways. Now a zillion and one!

I headed for the grocery store and decided right away that I would use Gruyère and Fontina cheeses for their creaminess. Thinking it would be possible to urge Miss T to try a taste could be accomplished by adding mushrooms, I settled on baby bellas. Initially, I thought leeks would be a tasty addition until I noticed that they were rather pricey at the grocery so I selected a plump shallot to sauté with the butter and other veggies. Choosing a wedge of Asagio for grating on top completed my shopping, and I headed home.

Below is my recipe for Asparagus & Mushroom Fritatta. I basically eyed the ingredient amounts but took note so that you would also be able to make this awesome fritatta. Next time I think I’ll include some fresh herbs as they would have only enhanced the delicious blend of flavors. It was easy, quick and remarkably tasty. Adoring hubby asked for seconds and requested the leftovers for breakfast. Miss T did take her obligatory bite and turned her nose up. I thought the mushrooms and cheeses would pull her in but not last night. UGH! Picky teenager. Hubby and I found it to be light, fluffy, and moist, with delicious cheese flavors and we loved the sharp crispness added by the Asagio topping. It did prove to be appetizing for breakfast this morning with sourdough toast on the side. That is the best reason to make this fritatta – it served us two complete meals and was the perfect fit for a light dinner and a filling breakfast.

One day this past week was the most glorious, calm and sunny day. I went out to the bee yard to add some frames into the hives from which I will be able to make “cut comb honey”. Mr. F was so kind to make these special frames with pure wax foundations so that I can try my hand at making a few jars of cut comb honey. I have posted a few new photos under Bees & Honey-My Bees Have Arrived-Queen Rita.

Enjoy!

Asparagus & Mushroom Fritatta

Ingredients:
1 bunch fresh asparagus, snapped and cleaned and sliced in 1″ pieces
1 cup chopped mushrooms – I used baby bellas
3 tbsp. minced shallot
8 eggs – beaten
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup half and half
1 cup shredded Gruyère and Fontina cheese ( I used 1/2 a cup of each)
1/2 cup shredded Asagio cheese
2 tbsp. butter

Preheat oven to 350*. In a cast iron skillet or non-stick skillet melt the butter. Add the shallots, asparagus and mushrooms and sauté until slightly softened. Don’t over cook the veggies as they will continue to cook when the fritatta is placed in the oven. Stir the half and half, Fontina and Gruyere mix and salt and pepper into the beaten eggs. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet over the vegetables. Stir the mixture continually until it begins to set up. When the eggs have started to set, remove from heat and sprinkle with the Asagio cheese. Place the entire skillet into the oven and bake for about 25-35 minutes until completely set and cheese starts to brown. Remove from oven and allow to sit for about 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

April 30, 2011