Fish prints at the museum

While my daughter and her husband were on their retreat, my husband and I were entertaining our grandsons, ages 7 and 5. One of the fun things we decided to do was to take the boys to the Children's Museum of the Upstate in Greenville, South Carolina. One of the exhibits was a "make and take" art project. The photos above and below are the "fish prints," the current  project. It was surprisingly easy to do and not as messy as I would have thought.

The museum is interactive where the children "drive" race cars and space ships, shop in a play grocery store and scan their own products, slide through a giant stomach that makes appropriately rude noises, and climb in a giant kaleidoscope.

We finished with our art project and I know the boys had fun. How do I know? When it was time to leave the five year old BEGGED to stay.

I will frame the fish prints in a nice frame as a memento for the boys and I hope to go back again in the future.

Highland Lake Inn: Photos of their gardens

This past weekend, my daughter sent me the above photo in a text and underneath she wrote, "Not so many problems with THEIR squash."

My daughter was on a retreat sponsored by her husband's job at Highland Lake Inn, in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Of course this was a dig, because she knows how hard we have been fighting bugs this year, especially the bugs that have been attacking our squash.

She started taking photos of the organic gardens during a walk and the photos kept coming. They do have a beautiful garden close to the lake. It looks like they have a nice irrigation system and also use companion planting to help keep insects at bay.

Her comment on the photo above, was, "They sure need to pick their butternut squash!"
 

I really loved the photo of their greenhouse. It would be nice to have a greenhouse to grow things year-round. The Inn has a great restaurant with much of their food provided by these gardens.

It would be perfect to be able to grow lettuce and things that won't grow in the hot part of the summer.

I didn't expect this photo of a turkey, but it was obviously was a large one and my daughter was impressed.

She finished with photos of the lake and grounds.

She had a wonderful time and said the Inn was a mix between rustic and trendy. The food was really delicious and the rural setting was relaxing. She had a great time and I appreciate these photos of their gardens, even though their squash looks better than ours.

An apple addendum

One more thing about apples. I tried drying some apple rings and they were wonderful. I didn't even cut off the peeling, just washed them, cut them in thick slices and put them in the dryer.

After about 24 hours the apples were dried. I thought since the slices were thick, they might not dry well but they were really good. I know I will dry more apples for snacks and for cooking. I just need to get the apples.

I would love to show you a photo of the finished apples, but I can't. I am sorry, but we ate them.

What I did with a bushel of apples

I didn't know before today, but a bushel of apples will make around a dozen quarts of applesauce and a dozen pints of jelly. I know because that is roughly what I just canned. I had the container pictured below and a large mixing bowl full of applesauce and a gallon of apple juice.

It took several hours, but I was proud to preserve all of the apples. I was even more proud that my sister and daughter-in-law came over the night before to help me peel apples. That was the hardest job and I am so thankful for the help. I could not have gotten so much done without their help. The canning wasn't that hard compared to the peeling.

The juice was easy to turn into jelly. I added 3 cups of sugar to 4 cups of apple juice. After it came to a rolling boil for 1 minute, I poured in fruit pectin and cooked it for another few minutes, then poured it into my jars, cleaned off the tops, put on the lids and waited for them to seal and the jelly to harden.

The jelly on the left is regular apple jelly. On the right, I tried something new. I found some packages of low or no sugar fruit pectin. I was able to make jelly using about half the amount of brown sugar. You can use Splenda or honey, but I like the taste of brown sugar with apples so I decided to try it.

I am hoping to try making some jam with the no sugar pectin. I think it is very interesting. I usually buy the all fruit version of jams in the grocery store and I am hoping to make some all fruit jam of my own -- but not today. I think I have done all I can today.

Getting ready for school

Last weekend, while visiting Pell City, Alabama, we were honored to be given a tour of our cousin, Kelly's first grade classroom. As I looked around at the freshly waxed floors and the classroom that was quickly being readied for fifteen or more, bright-eyed, six-year-olds, I was exhausted by all the work she had done. I was also thinking how proud I was of her and how blessed these children were to take advantage of all of her careful planning and hard work.

Each classroom in the school had a "theme" with artwork everywhere -- bright colors to attract the attention of so many inquisitive little minds. Things have changed so much, since my children were in school. I don't believe they ever had a classroom quite this wonderful.

There were two computers, a TV and video equipment in this one classroom. It was amazing and wonderful. Everywhere I looked, there was something to make a child feel welcome.

Colorful name tags for each child.

And even a wall, painted in bright colors to help youngsters learn.

I also thought about all of the parents running around picking out school supplies and trying to find the perfect outfit for their child to wear that first day. I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but just think of teachers like my cousin Kelly at Eden Elementary. They are anxiously preparing for your child and 14, or more, of their new classmates -- cleaning, painting walls, sewing curtains, making name tags and literally hundreds of other tasks to get your child's school year off to a good start.

When you take your child into their new classroom, don't begin by telling the teacher how hard it was to get all the supplies on the list at the store. Please take a few minutes to look around at the classroom displays, take a deep breath and say, "Thank you for all you have done."

Applesauce from horse apples

Over the weekend, my sister and I picked horse apples -- a multipurpose apple, very popular in the south, that is good for applesauce, pies, jelly and for drying. I don't know why it is called a horse apple. I always thought it was because people would feed them to their horses.

I can also tell you that deer really, really love these apples. The deer were raiding them on a daily basis. That is one reason we had to pick them this weekend.

These apples are kind of a mix between a Yellow Delicious and a Granny Smith. They are very tart when green, become a little sweeter when ripe and tend to remain firm when other apples fall apart. My mother always used them for her canning and baking, so I am very fond of the flavor.

Horse apples don't have to be peeled, they can be washed, cored and cooked, then pushed through a sieve and the peelings can be separated from the the apple this way. But these seemed pretty knotty and had too many spots so I peeled them and boiled them, drained off all the juice and made applesauce.

It is a little tart and I could add some sugar, but I prefer to leave it unsweetened -- maybe with a little cinnamon. It will go in the refrigerator until I have time to can it. I will then heat it up before putting it into jars for hot water bath canning.

The juice I put aside will be used to make jelly, but I will give more information on that later.

Layered Greek Dip

Over the weekend, I received an email from my friend Janice Hammock with a new recipe. It looks like one I will use often and I think most of you would like it, too.

Janice is one of the best cooks I know and I am pleased to share one of her recipes.

LAYERED GREEK DIP

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened (low fat is fine)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp dried Italian seasoning

3 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 cups prepared hummus (I like roasted red pepper)

1 cup chopped cucumber

1 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup chopped pitted Kalamata olives

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (reduced fat is fine)

1/3 cup sliced green onions 

pita chips

1. In medium mixing bowl, cream together cream cheese, lemon juice, Italian seasoning, and garlic with rubber spatula until smooth and well-combined.
2. Spread cream cheese mixture into deep 9-inch pie plate or oval platter. Spread hummus on top of cream cheese layer. Sprinkle on cucumber, then tomato, olives, feta, and green onions.
3. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours. Serve with pita chips.
Servings: 16

Yield: About 2 1/2 cups of dip