First, tomorrow is a VERY BIG day here at NotQuiteJuneCleaver.com! Please, please don’t miss it!
Hints: Aprons, Books, Vintage, Linens, Friend. Can you hear me squealing??? And an AMAZING AUTUMN Giveaway ~ You are going to love it!
Second, the NotQuiteJuneCleaver 2010 Kitchen Calendar is available NOW! Including twelve of my favorite culinary photos from this past year. You can get yours by clicking on the “Shoppe” tab at the top.
So please stop by by tomorrow and read all about it!!
I told you I’d be back this morning! I am going to try to be a little more organized this weekend and moving into next week. The holidays are upon us. I have lots of irons in the fire. The at home baking thing is taking off. Rachel filled an order last night for some amazingly cute cupcakes.
Geez…where has this week gone? I worked all day yesterday on the final draft of the recipe portion on the pie book. And made two pies and got started on proofing the resources pages and recipe index. I will finish those tonight and them zip and send! I really will put up recipes tomorrow so look for them! A quick peek at the greenhouse…
And one of the pies I made yesterday…a VERY BERRY pie – before…
and after:
Later gators! Remember, recipes in the morning!
So, we are on schedule for the big surprise interview and giveaway this coming Sunday, the 15th. I wanted to whet your appetites a bit this morning and say I am still here, just incredibly busy. Its that time of the year, you know. The holidays are here. We are baking. And opening my shoppe again. And finishing the pie book. And this was one of the busiest times home Husband has had in a while and the next one won’t be less busy that’s for sure. OH…yeah, the hint I promised. Um…let’s see….
If you know aprons at all, you will know my guest. But not as well as you will AFTER the interview! Also this is the most amazing giveaway I have ever done! The time for entering to win will be a whopping 10 days long. With reminders along the way and plenty of reasons and ways to get more than one entry in the VERY famous mason jar. One more hint, there will be a vintage apron included in this amazing giveaway package…but with more strings than just apron strings attached!
So there you have it. A couple of hints. I hope you are as excited as I am. Well, you can’t be because you don’t know all I know about it! But you do NOT want to miss this!
I wanted also to invite any of you interested to join me on facebook. Just type in NotQuiteJuneCleaver in the search bar and that should take you there.
You might have noticed no recipes Friday. Or maybe you didn’t ;) Simply put, I was too busy. You might find that hard to believe but it was true. These past few weeks have been full. Fun but full. I will have recipes for you Friday. I announced some changes to Friday Baking with NotQuiteJuneCleaver but the lack of recipes wasnt one of them. You will have recipes this coming Friday.
Let’s see what else. Guess that is it for this morning. I’ll be back. Real soon. Have a great day.
It has been one heck of a busy time while Husband was home this time. So much to do! The greenhouse is up and BEAUTIFUL. The Christmas lights are on the house, and we are getting into full holiday mode. I wanted to let you know the post I did a few days ago about jumping in with both feet…well, how about both feet up to my chin! I am re-vamping my shoppe to be a confectionery/bakery/coffee & tea shoppe. Yep, go big or go home. I am really excited and am getting things ready to post in the shop on the 15th. And yes, the 15th is a big ol’ day around here. I told you it would be worth the wait and I wasn’t kidding. So check back soon. I may even have time to drop a few hints here and there…though that is just a few days away.
The pie book is in the final stage of proofing and then it will be up as well. SOOO excited. If you want to see what I will have coming up in the shoppe area just follow the banner below. Talk to you all soon. Rachel will be snapping some pictures of the greenhouse as soon as the sun comes out. So cloudy and dreary here. I am assuming it is the hurricane in the gulf sending clouds and rain this way. Yes. Hurricane. The 9th of November. Geez.
See you all real, real soon!
This is all I can give you right now…but stay tuned. The AWESOME AUTUMN GIVEAWAY will be worth your wait!
Can you hear me squealing?!!! :)
Happy Hallowe’en and a Blessed Samhain to all! Be safe and have a lovely evening!
Here are some cookies Rachel made for our little party tonight
I will have lots more pictures tomorrow I am sure… but until here are some of Hallowe’ens Past.
And these are cookies we made for an order today…pretty cute I think!
First let me say Happy Hallowe’en Eve! I will have a busy couple of days so I might not post for another few days. If not have a safe and Happy Hallowe’en!
I have a couple of announcements I need to get out of the way. First the drawings/giveaways associated with Friday Baking will suspended until further notice. We still don’t have enough people participating and I think a couple of folks have already won twice! I am just hard headed enough not to give up yet, so I will continue with the recipes as long as I feel like someone is enjoying them. Also, the amazing interview and giveaway will be up on the 15th. I have just been up to my eyeballs around here and haven’t finished the details. Is that it???? I think so. If not I will correct it later.
Now for the recipes for this week. I am going to hit you with a pie recipe for your sweet treat. I do love pie!
Buttermilk Sky Raisin Pie
I have no idea where my BonDon got the name for this pie. I happen to be a big fan of raisins so I think this is one yummy pie! The original copy is in her handwriting and that makes is even more special.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Blend together cornstarch, sugar, spices and salt. Add the remaining ingredients, blend well, carefully pour into unbaked pie crust. Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes or until set in the center. Top with whipped cream if desired.
BonDon’s Note: To chop the raisins, generously butter a heavy knife and cut thru the raisins. This prevents sticking and chopped raisins improve the flavor and make for easier cutting of the pie.
Now for your savory recipe and a way to use pumpkin in a new way!
Savory Roasted Pumpkin Pie
Use your favorite crust recipe sans the sugar if it calls for it. I think a good half butter/half lard crust is what I will use to make this.
Make your crust per instructions. Press the dough into a disc, wrap it in plastic wrap, and keep in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Peel the pumpkins, discard the seeds and stringy innards, and cut the flesh into 1-inch cubes. Put the pumpkin on a baking sheet or in a Pyrex pan and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake at 450 degrees for 45 minutes, or until the pumpkin is tender and slightly browned.
Meanwhile, melt the butter (2 tablespoons) with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Slice the onions and cook in the butter and olive oil, stirring frequently, for 45 minutes or until deep brown and fragrant.
Remove the pie dough from the refrigerator and, on a floured surface, roll the dough into as thin a circle as possible. Fold the dough in half and then into quarters, transfer it to a 9-inch pie plate, and carefully unfold it. Press the dough into the pie plate and trim away excess dough from the edges. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and reduce the temperature to 375 degrees. Mix together the cooked pumpkin and onions, and carefully transfer this vegetable mixture into the pie crust. (You may find your pie crust overflowing with vegetables. In this case, remove some of the pumpkin-onion mixture and set it aside — it makes a great snack or omelet filling.) Sprinkle the grated cheese on top of the vegetables.
In a small bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, and salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. Pour this mixture over the vegetables and cheese in the pie crust. Sprinkle the pumpkin seeds on top of the pie.
Bake the pie at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted, the eggs are firm, and the top of the pie is golden brown.
A very dear (and wise) friend of mine wrote these words this morning:
If I set my mind on it, my dream, my reality, my authenticity, I will become it. It worked in my young motherhood, why not now?
Those few words surely got the wheels inside my head turning this morning. I think (and what do I know ;) ) it is because we found it more satisfying and worthwhile to do what we believed/what we knew to be right for our families than we do when we are just doing what we believe is right for us. So many obstacles stared us down and we quickly and easily adapted to whatever we had to. And there were so few choices. Real choices. It was always so easy to see what we shouldn’t do. We were in defense mode more often than not. Protecting, raising, nurturing.
Now that we have more time to pursue OUR dreams it’s so different. We are playing offense now! Able to aggressively pursue things, if we so choose. Sometimes there are too many choices!
Are we afraid of failure? Am I afraid of failure? Possibly. Though most people that know me in real life, would argue that I really have few fears. This is true but only because for the most part my life mapped itself out. There was so much that HAD to be done, that the few things I had time to choose to do were so inconsequential that it mattered little if they were successful or not. Oh I did little things like owning my own business but that was work…not my dream. I am not even sure I have a dream ;)
Personally I find it very difficult to let myself realize how much my life has changed. How so few people actually depend on me these days. Many times I have said to myself (and out loud) “I just want to live to get my children grown”. Why would that be “enough”? I never really had any reason to believe I wouldn’t. But at times it seemed like a lofty goal. Now I want to live until I am done! Done with what? I don’t know yet, but I feel like there is so much I still want/need to do!
I don’t *think* it is a matter of self-worth, but as much as I am trying to enjoy this season, if I act too quickly on my own behalf, I feel a sense of guilt. Then I have to tell myself it’s okay. That is what this season is for. While I am still young enough to start something new and actually finish it!
To find your purpose or purposes makes your life rich and multi-layered. I don’t enjoy too many irons in the fire at once. Yet I am not content most of the time to just be. There are days I feel like it but rarely two days in a row. Now to figure out as my purposes wax and wane, what to do that is meaningful and worthwhile. And to distinguish between work and purpose…that’s a whole other back of tricks.
Speaking of tricks…and treats…a couple of pictures from Hallowe’en Past.
my little witches and their familiar
Hallowe’en cookies
As you all know by now I used to own and operate a very successful soapmaking business. I sold the internet portion and closed the rest (what I thought would be temporarily) when my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer in May of 2007. Not knowing how long she would be with us, I certainly didn’t want to be distracted during her illness. And honestly, it was beginning to be more than I could handle on my own. And soapmaking is something you have to love to do because frankly, it is a lot of work. After her passing I just didn’t have it in me to stir the soap pot for what has ended up being forever I suppose. Oh I will still make it for my immediate family when needed but never for a business. Oh yeah, never say never. But you know, I have no plans to ever do it again.
What I don’t know is if you know what I did before soap. My mom, my oldest daughter and I baked for people. We sort of inherited the business from Husband’s mother when she retired. We started on a whim, and many times the fun things are started this way. We wanted to make a little extra money and before long from October to January, our ovens were never turned off. One year we made something close to 1200 dozen cookies from October to January. I am not kidding. that is 14,400 cookies or approximately 4 cookies for each man, woman and child that live in our town. Whew.
Well, through the years, we have had many a phone call asking if we still bake. I always had to tell them “not while I am making soap. If I ever quit making soap maybe, just maybe, we will get back into that.” Well, here we go again! Rachel and I are throwing our spatulas into the ring! Rachel has a natural talent for food art. There isn’t much else to call it when it turns out so beautiful and tastes so good. I have had to work a little harder to be a good cook/baker. But we are quite a team. Just as Jessica and I were “back in the day”. We would buzz around our little kitchen and practically use telepathy to communicate. We each had a job to do in order to get the baked goods to the right person and we performed like a well oiled machine. I am much older now, so we will see how well I hold up! Rachel is like a circle saw so she should be able to make up whatever I lack.
Without putting out the word or brochure, we have orders for next week. This is a good sign, don’t you think? This will be a seasonal thing. October – January, just like old times. Maybe an occasional order thru the rest of the year, but this is when people need the help with their baking needs. They need holiday sweets and food gifts, candy, cookies, pies, cakes…
So, Rachel has designed the brochure we will give people that want to know what we make and I am working on the contents and pricing. I found some of my mother in law’s notes and order books from back in the 70’s. SEVENTY CENTS for a dozen cookies???? Well…the price has gone up a bit! I never thought she charged enough. She was just so talented. There wasn’t anything she couldn’t cook. And her pastry was just to die for. I have her hand-written recipes – what a treasure.
So this is what is running through my head today. Plus we have a baby shower to attend and a wedding if time permits. And tomorrow evening we are having company for supper. Husband is making pulled pork sandwiches and I am supposed to make homemade buns and potato salad. I better get up and rolling!
And just so you all know, I really am working to get all the recipes up on the recipe page. Soon…soon. Oh…and THE PIE BOOK…so close to being finished it makes me giddy! We will have a proof copy shortly!
To whet your appetite here is a photo (credit goes to Rachel) from NotQuiteJuneCleaver Bakes a Pie!
Have a great weekend! And stay tuned…Awesome Autumn Apron Giveaway next week!
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