Pioneer Woman at Heart

Saturday was a very productive day.  House was partially (finishing up today) power washed, we picked up my new treadmill and put the old one by the road (which was picked up within 10 minutes by someone driving by thankfully), more zinnias planted, a few more flowers planted, and a meal was baked for our friends (just had a heart attack) and made a cold strawberry pie for them too. Peas are starting to roll in.  I have enough to saute with some asparagus, and many more on the plants.

My older brother ("aka the fisherman") gifted us with some Michigan Salmon and more bluegill.  We are already enjoying the delicious fish.  I made us some salmon patties using ground organic oats, a bit of mustard, a tiny bit of water, and some green onion from the garden.  Mmmm!   But that's not all.  I picked more peas.  I made a pan of buttered snap peas.  I didn't have a shallot on hand, and my shallot powder is gone too.  I used an onion, and it was still delicious. Our daughter who turned 18 yesterday requested Alton Brown's Macaroni and cheese (baked) for her birthday dinner.  I had cheese in the freezer, so I made it.  However, you won't see a photo of it here.  Zuri-raptor got her paws (and jaws) on it, and well that was to be today's lunch.  Somehow the girls, even though I reminded them, forgot it was on the counter.  The veggies of course were all saved at high altitudes which left no space to h...

My mother wants to know why she hasn't heard from me.  You probably laughed at that, right? And here is why.  Grab a cup of your favorite beverage....it's sort of, kind of, a long post.  Or come back when you need an excuse to just sit for a spell. Aside from that mess of a barn we have to clean up (felled tree #2 is still on the ground too)... We picked up 4 quarts of fresh strawberries.  We used to pick up 12, but we are well stocked with strawberry jam right now. Thankful for that too.  Even if I have miss-counted, we have more than enough of the other fruit jams.  And we are needing to stock up less with the shrinking household. Three quarts went into the freezer, and 1 quart went into a fresh strawberry pie for Father's Day.

Now that the kids have associated summer gatherings and cookouts with baked beans, I think I have come up with a nice homemade version.  In fact, I think I'll take pre-soaked beans to our next camp-out.  I would love to try cooking these over the campfire all day long. (They were steaming in the photo.  I had just taken some out of the crock pot)

I was searching the internet one day, and found this recipe at