Berries, berries berries!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 8:26AM The dogs woke me up at 3:30 this morning wanting to go out… they were barking at something, probably the darn deer eating more of our fruit trees!
I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I got up, had a cup of coffee, and decided to run to Walmart (it’s open 24 hours) and get the ingredients to make Karen’s cheesecake. It sounded like a much lighter version of my white chocolate raspberry cheesecake, perfect for summer! I had everything on hand except for the cool whip, that isn’t something I use very often. Honestly, I think the stuff tastes like whipped bacon grease! But mixed in, it tastes fine.
;)
I opted to leave off the toffee chips, and make a blackberry sauce for it instead… why not? I have blackberries in abundance!
By 5 o’clock I was back from the store, and by 5:30, the cheesecake was made,;)
the sauce cooking down, and I’d chopped up and marinated some veggies I plan on grilling for lunch, along with Chorizo and steamed rice.
Anyone else love grilled veggies? I honestly could live on them and bread, but Jim is not the veggie lover I am. He’d eat the asparagus and yellow squash, but not the red pepper, onions, or portobella mushrooms.
;)
And then… miracles of miracles, it started to rain! Only a light rain, but it lasted for two hours! And that’s just about how long it took me to pick these blackberries for my folks, (in the rain!) who are coming down for a visit today.
That’s a huge stockpot, it holds five gallons. I have two of these, I used to use them to make cheese in back when we had the farm. I’ll probably have this many berries again day after tomorrow, so I guess I’ll be making some jam.
Created by CJ
I have the most generous hubby in the world! Not just to me (always!) but to complete strangers as well. He just emailed me to let me know there was going to be a large charge on his credit card. He’s down in New Orleans working again, and three army guys were at the front desk of his hotel, and were going to share a room for the night to save costs. Jim got them each a room… isn’t he the best?
Anytime we eat out and see men or women in uniform eating, he alway picks up their tab. Just one of the many reasons why I adore him! I mostly love him to death though, because he makes me giggle… a LOT!
Reader Comments (11)
you sure get done with a lot of things so early in the morning! best time to go to Wal-Mart I bet LOL. Hope you like the cheesecake as much as we did. Those veggies look wonderful - what kind of marinade do you use, Mike wouldn't eat the veggies either - (in is case very little of them!) It looks great and I am going to try the veggies and some sausage on the grill this summer camping - wrap in aluminum and hopefully cook them the right amount of time.
Karen
http://karensquilting.com/blog/
Hold on, I have my uniform in the closet.
OOPS - darn it - it shrunk.
LOL
My husband does the same thing! He is so generous and kind. I am so glad he is my husband.
I wish we had berries here. We had then on our property in Alabama, but not here in Florida. Store bought is fine, but not as sweet, IMHO.
CJ,
How nice of your husband! I'm sure the guys loved it.
While I first started reading your blog because of sewing and sewing machines, I find I am loving the food related posts. I have been trying to shift my focus lately to "whole foods" and less processed items. However, this is tough for a woman that never learned to really cook. I would love any posts or tutorials on easy to prepare items. I'm sure you can prepare these foods in your sleep (um, or lack of sleep!) and I would love to have just a 1/10th of your knowledge on the subject.
Oh, what a wonderfully thoughtful guy he is! A keeper!! :-)
Dear CJ,
There are good men in this world and then there are the men that are selfserving and evil. Each newscast exposes the unbelivable and terrible things that mankind can inflict. Can we help our ever growing discouragement?
It is the acts of kindness and "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" of compasionate men, with which Jim and men of similiar moral give hope and sunshine to these dismal days. This is a glimmer of hope for all that worry for the world.
A sincere thank you to Jim
from B in SC
CJ,
Would you like to trade Backberries for Blueberries????
Being over loaded with blueberries as we have a bumpercrop here in South Carolina, my hands now have totally refused their original color. Your thought about dying cloth was an excellent idea. My own trial cheesecloth took on an interesting color. How about handyed from CJ's Studio?
Best of Luck with conserving all those Blackberries.
Barbara in SC
Oh, gosh, those vegetables are calling to me! Great summertime eating--all we ever want is veggies and bread! I would have to make twice as much since my husband would gobble those up in no time!
What's your marinade? And how do you grill those--in aluminum foil or a grill pan?
I just bought lots of veggies and our garden is starting to produce from all the rain we had this spring.
Jim is great--I love that way of showing support to our military. And married to a man who grew up in a military family, I appreciate Jim's thoughtfulness!
Karen in GA
Hugs to Jim!!
Don't you get the warm fuzzies all over whenever you're reminded what an excellent man you have for your own. Me too.
Have fun.
CJ,
As the mother of two sons in the Army please give a big thank you to your husband for me! To hear of acts like his always make me tear up. One of my boys is in LA for training, almost neighbors with your husband.
Ann