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Did I Mention I Love Mango?

August 21, 2011 By 15 Comments

I promised mango sherbet and so I was forced to make and consume more mango sherbet!  How terrible!  And of course my husband suffered too.  Very sad.  🙂  What we both won’t do for Handmade Monday!  And of course that means you all really should go over and have a look at all of the wonderful things everyone is doing over there.  Since we both suffered.  🙂

I love my ice cream machine, but mostly all I ever make in it is vanilla ice cream.  We both love that, and so it’s our old standby.  Not that it’s not wonderful.  There is not much better than homemade ice cream.  And if I’m going to make it, I make it with cream and real vanilla.  My memories of home made ice cream are of my Grandfather and a hand crank machine and rock salt and peaches.  He always made peach ice cream.  It was stunningly delicious.  It was as good as my Grandfather was funny.  I miss them both.

But, anyway, I ran across a recipe for lime sherbet, but I’m not crazy about lime, and so I thought, I’ll try mango, which I love, and I thought, why not honey?  And then I thought, why not try coconut milk?  Well, if you follow my blog at all, you know that I just like to experiment.  Of course, you don’t know about all the ones that don’t work because,  I don’t post most of those!  🙂  However, this one is good.

Try it.  You can find it here by clicking on Mango Honey Sherbet.  There’s still some summer left!

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Morikami at Night

August 20, 2011 By 1 Comment
Morikami at Night by sundero
Morikami at Night, a photo by sundero on Flickr.

We went to the Morikami last night. It’s a Japanese garden and museum here in South Florida. We love to go there and enjoy the natural setting and take photos. Because I lived in Japan as a child is has that feel of being “home” to me and it’s also just beautiful.

They normally close at 5 pm, but once a month from May through September they have Sushi & Stroll and you can enjoy the gardens until 8:30. They also have various other things going on including a buffet dinner.

We had sushi (of course!) and mochi ice cream (I promise I’m going to try my hand at that later this year and blog it!). I took over 200 photos, but this was my favorite. It was a rare opportunity to get an image of the lights on the water. I just had to share.

If you live in the area, do go check out the Morikami. It’s a real jewel here in Delray Beach. And if you’re trying to think of a place to see on vacation, do check it out. Just remember, it’s closed on Mondays!

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Jewel in the Grass

August 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Jewel in the Grass by sundero
Jewel in the Grass, a photo by sundero on Flickr.

The Dragonflies are out in force, and my camera is back from the shop. I have been a little lax about taking photos but in the space of about 15 minutes I got a White Lined Sphinx Moth, a juvenile Black Racer (snake) a blue Damselfly eating a bug (not for the squeamish) and this beauty!
I don’t know what this one is, but I managed to click off 3 or 4 shots before she decided I was too close and headed for another spot. Just thought I would share!

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Cookies Again?!

August 14, 2011 By 15 Comments

I have to stop baking cookies like this or everyone in my house will have to start jogging!  Actually, sadly, I made up a wonderful sherbet recipe this weekend that I am going to have to make again (no photos!) and plan to put on the blog soon since it’s been so hot and everyone needs a good cool food recipe, so maybe that’s not good either.  🙂  Oh, maybe it’s a little healthier than cookies since it had fruit (real fruit!) and no sugar (really, no sugar).  Well, I won’t spoil the recipe here, I’ll try to work on it this week so it won’t be winter by the time I post it.  🙂

However, this blog is about Oatmeal Cookies anyway, so I’m not sure why I’m talking about sherbet anyway.  This is my old tried and true recipe that I used to make for the kids (and my husband and especially my Dad who loves them).  But, this time I decided to try something a little different, and WOW my husband said they were better than good, they were…  I can’t remember his exact words, but they disappeared.

So, go try this recipe.  I think they could easily become your favorite Oatmeal Cookies! You’ll find it by clicking right here on Date Oatmeal Cookies.

And don’t forget, it’s Handmade Monday again!  It’s wonderful to go check out what everyone else is doing.  I haven’t been working on many craft projects lately, it’s been so hot and I’ve been cleaning out the craft room in the back, so I haven’t wanted to start anything messy.  I will probably not start anything until the end of September.  But go see what everyone else is doing because they make the most beautiful and creative things!  🙂

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New Take on an Old Favorite

August 7, 2011 By 6 Comments

It’s Handmade Monday! I hope you will hop over there when you’re done here and check out all of the cool stuff everyone else is doing.  It’s what I always do on Mondays, but even if you’ve found this on Tuesday or another day, go check it out, it’s fun!

I have been in a cookie baking mood lately.  I did make some of my old standby Oatmeal Cookies (which I will blog maybe next week) BUT I also decided to experiment and make them in a form I could eat, since obviously they had wheat in them.  So, I tried them with rice flour.  I have to admit, I like the rice flour version BETTER!  They are crispy and the taste is excellent.  Even my wheat eating husband was impressed.  I intend to make more and freeze some (I had better be careful or I will fatten us both right up!)

The only thing I want to remind you is that if you have a gluten problem these may or may not be gluten free.  Please do check with your doctor and see if rice and oat are ok.  And apparently some rice and oats are cross contaminated, so even if they are ok for you, obviously you would need to be sure they are made in a place that does not also make products containing gluten.  BUT otherwise, these are good.  And even if wheat is not a problem for you, but you just want something different, try them!  They are no more difficult to make than regular oatmeal cookies.

Head over to Cook It and try my Rice Flour Oatmeal Cookies.

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Indoor Sun Tea

August 2, 2011 By 2 Comments

Ice Tea
I was going to post my recipe for Sun Tea (made on the counter, not in the sun), since I’be been making this for years, but I ran across something that discouraged sun tea on the basis of bacteria and food borne illness caused by it, so I’m not going to.  Instead I’m going to post the link to that.

In all of the years I have been making it, we have never gotten sick from it, but I sure don’t want anyone to get ill from it. Do check out the link here on Is Sun Tea Safe? . They suggest you make it in the refrigerator as a safe alternative, or go with the old method of heating your water.

At any rate, tea is still a healthy alternative to soda!

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