Asparagus/sausage breakfast bake ~ Wild Violet Jelly

 

Wednesday's sunrise started out pretty nice, although they said clouds would move in.  I was slow to start the day, but put on some dance music and got to work.

Breakfast ended up a sage sausage/asparagus bake with some home grown basil, garlic, and kale.  I added a bit of freshly grated parmesan cheese too.

I canned  jars of wild violet jelly.  I am so glad I picked the violets when I did.  Snow showers are expected today.  Wild violets are medicinal as well as making a delicious jelly.  I have a yard full of the white/purple ones too, but haven't picked any.

Wild violet jelly is a very fun process.

Violets are picked and steeped.  The color turns to a beautiful blue color.  Once the liquid is strained, and lemon juice added, it turns into a beautiful pink.  It smells wonderful and tastes even better.  A once a year jelly.

Spontaneous as it gets!

Just to warn you, there are a lot of pictures in this post.  I guess I'm making up for lack of posts, but we had a very fun, amazing, spontaneous three state, 3 night vacation.  It was perfect and took our minds off anything we didn't need to be thinking about.  

However, everywhere we went, they either lacked employees, were closed on Monday due to lack of help, or the employees were telling us that they can't get anyone to work due to the status of unemployment in these states.  Anyway, we still found things to do and see.

First, we rented a lake house for a few nights with a hot tub.

Driving around trying to figure out what to do on day two, my husband found an adventure park.  We rented this and our guide was in his in front of us.  We had walkie-talkies to talk back and forth on.  My husband has driving experience with these, and it was an hour and a half of full blown fun.  We left covered in mud, but it was so worth it.

After that we drove to another lake lodge where the food was said to be very good.  The windy roads were so beautifully dotted with redbud trees.  

The view over the mountain where the restaurant was, had an amazing view.

Out of the blue, we decided to drive to West Virginia and try the well known Hillbilly Hotdogs.  Did you know Guy  was here and did a review?  His picture is inside.  The seating area inside was closed, but when it's open it is all inside old buses.

They are known for their deep fried hot dogs and one that they serve with slaw on top.

Our spontaneous route to Portsmouth, Ohio took us through Kentucky.  In Portsmouth, you can view a flood wall mural that is very stunning.  These are not all the murals, but you can see the art work is amazing.

Back home, my husband wanted to mow before taking off on a bike ride in the evening, so I quickly went out to one area of the property.

I picked wild violets.  Although our vacation was coming to an end last night, it felt great to be back too.

We'll be eating some home grown asparagus soon too.  Tip:  I pick it and put the stems in a jar of water in the fridge until I have enough for a meal.  It will stay crisp that way.

Our weather was perfect for our getaway, but we are back to the 50's and the news this morning (via radio) said watch for a mix of snow.  I'll be watching that evening low, in case I need to cover the asparagus.

Today, I have lots of cleaning to do, and laundry.  I need to check the pantry and freezer to bake us a healthy breakfast and write a dinner menu plan.  After eating out most days, I need to get back to some healthy food.