35 weeks until Christmas

Not much going on in the way of Christmas countdown, other than trying new recipes lately.  I am borrowing books from the library to do this fun research too (other than one recipe).

I picked up one more advent gift, and it was a very good price.  A hand towel and hot pad set.  Yes, it's store made and not handmade, but it was perfect for an advent gift (useful and inexpensive).  I'm working on the next gift, and it will be handmade.

I am still trying to locate stores that offer paper bags.  I have plans to use them to wrap the advent gifts, but it's hard to find paper bags anymore.  I even visited one Wal-mart to find that brown craft paper on a roll.  Nope. Nothing.  I'll keep looking when I am out and about.  

New Recipes Tried and my very first fruit cake!

Butterscotch Shortbread.  I was very much intrigued to try this recipe, simply for the "butterscotch" in the title.  I made the recipe.  It sliced very nicely too.

The recipe for the short bread was in this borrowed library book.  The recipe was very easy to make, but when I pressed it down into the pan, the mixture started to stick to my utensil (I even tried the back of the measuring cup, parchment paper, and even slightly wet hands and they all stuck), and started to lift the mixture back up.  I got it all pressed down (or so I thought), and in the end it was delicious.  However, the dough makes a very, very brittle short bread, and after one bite, the piece falls to pieces in your hands.  Delicious flavor, but the dough is missing something to bind it better.  That was a bummer.  It could just be it needed pressed down more, but again, that was an issue.  We both said not worth keeping the recipe.

On to the next recipe . . .

My first fruit cake!

It has been on my try-it list since Christmas of last year, and it was about time to get it off the list.  The only reason I wanted to try it, is because the recipe was hand written by one of my Aunts, and the note on it states the recipe came from a friend of my Grandmother.

You'd be surprised at what ingredients you can buy in Amish bulk stores, so thanks to finding ingredients, I got to work.

I'm freezing half of it, but everything I am reading says it will only last up to 3 months in the freezer.  Any thoughts?  Am I the only nut baking fruit cake, ha ha!?  I don't know how people mailed this stuff.  It's like a brick with all those dates and pecans in it.  It is very good.  Once I have the recipe shared with all of my family members, I'll be back to write it out to share here as well.  My Aunt wrote, that if you were going to make a fruit cake, that this is the one to make.  One of my cousins also let me know that my Aunt used to make this very bread every Christmas.

35 Weeks until Christmas ©  April 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Cucumber and Cottage Cheese Toast ~ Support your library ~ More Spring Blooms

Nothing is tastier and more satisfying, than picking freshly grown cucumbers from the garden.  In anticipation of summer garden goodies (trying to pump myself up, because I'm lacking garden mojo this year), I'm trying a new recipe.  More so, I wanted to taste this combination, because it would be great for a hot summer day when eating a full meal seems too much work.

 The credit goes to the cook book "Come Hungry" by Melissa Ben-Ishay. I borrowed the book from the library.  It has a lot of good recipes, and some repeat instructions I already know, but one caught my eye for a high protein snack.  It's nice to have a hearty snack available when we come in tired and worn out from garden work.

If you have dill growing in your herb garden, that is a plus to make this.  Along with a few pieces of homemade sourdough bread.

In the making of this, cottage cheese was one cheese I never got around to making when we had dairy goats here at the homestead.  Do you make your own cottage cheese?  Any recipes to share?  Until then, I'll be buying it, unless I can locate fresh goat milk (most unavailable in our neck of the woods).

Try-it results:  Fantastic!!  We both loved it, and it's the most simple meal/snack you can make.  I hand diced the cucumber and used an entire English cucumber (recipe called for another type, but good luck finding them in stores, and organic). Anyway, this recipe is a keeper for us.  I'm going to borrow the book from the library again.

I told my husband, that if I wasn't already writing a blog, I would be writing one just solely based on recipes tried from borrowing free library books (could still happen so don't go stealing my idea).  I'll admit, when it's a good recipe to keep, it's a happy moment.

More Spring blooms to share:

Blooms from another variety . . .

Red roses gifted to me (and delivered on surprise).  Yes, I was all giddy and all, considering I was feeling pretty low at the moment.  He's working the worst hours a human can possibly work right now (or so it appears that way anyway).  The words "this too, shall pass" are roaming about my brain.

Until next, time, I hope you borrow the book from your library and give the recipe a try.

Cucumber and Cottage Cheese Toast ~ Support your library ~ More Spring Blooms  ©  April 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart