Taste Of Home cookbook winner

Congratulations Guntons. You won the cookbook!

Send your snail mail address to me at deberah@newnan.com and I will get the book to you in a few days. Thanks for entering!

My thirteen-cent ring holder

The other day I was browsing in a local "gently-used" thrift store and I saw something I really needed. I have been losing my rings in my jewelry box for some time. Every night I take them off and put them in with the rest of my (mostly) costume jewelry and the next morning, I spend way too much time digging through my jewelry just to find my rings. I don't even want to think about how long it takes to find a matching pair of earrings. It is amazing I hadn't already come up with a solution because it was a big problem -- a mess, really.

When I saw this little covered china dish that measures about 4 inches in diameter, I thought it was the perfect size to hold my rings and maybe a small set of earrings or two. I could envision this little ring keeper siting on top of my jewelry box so that my rings would always be accessible -- no digging for gold.

I liked it even better when I realized it was on the 75 percent off rack. It was priced at 50 cents so the grand total was just thirteen cents. The color wasn't perfect, but the price was right. I couldn't wait to get it to the counter. All I can say is that organization doesn't always have to be expensive.

Our September garden

I just wanted to give an update on our garden. We are slowly turning our garden into a fall garden with plants that like cooler weather. The only problem I can see is there hasn't been very much cooler weather. It has been awfully hot. We planted collards and they are looking good -- they may be growing a little too fast. I don't know.

Our eggplants were almost dead but my sister cut them back and they responded by growing into really beautiful plants. They were really attacked by bugs but it is obvious they do well in warm weather. We now need to make sure the bugs don't attack the new growth. I think the bloom is beautiful.

I am excited about our gourds. We have quite a few and they are very small. I am hopeful we will have some larger gourds by frost. It's a shame I didn't get the photo above in focus. The gourd is also dirty from the water splashed on while watering the day before.

Here's another small one. It is in focus.

We found an old large wire cage that is about 12 feet high. We will soon have a gourd tower. It was the only way to get the gourds off the collards.

It's a little hard to see because the soil was wet but we have kale -- my favorite green -- so healthy.

Our okra is still growing and looking good.

Some of these pods are a little too big but we have plenty of okra for even our Mother. Okra is her favorite. When we ask her what she needs, the answer is usually okra.

We have peppers. Our bells look especially good.

And a small pumpkin. I sure hope we have some for Halloween. They look promising.

And we have more pumpkin blooms.

Our squash are still undercover. We are just waiting for blooms to give the bees a chance to pollinate.

We almost have some sunflower blooms. The stalks are between eight and ten feet tall.

Our older tomatoes are blooming again. The heat was almost too much for them.

And we also have some new tomatoes. Will they produce? It depends on the weather.

Pear and Apple Rollups

A couple of weeks ago, I volunteered to make refreshments for a meeting at our church. The meeting was for an English as a Second Language class and most of the participants are from Korea. I decided I would make brownies and some cookies but I really wanted to give them something they might enjoy a little more -- a treat that says we tried to give them something that would say "Welcome," and something for those who don't really like sweet desserts.

From what I have read, this describes many people of Korean descent. They eat some pastries and some sweetened dessert drinks but from all accounts, they don't like really sweet foods -- that is, at least until the next generation American who has gotten used to our sweet goodies.

It occurred to me, after the pastries turned out to be pretty good and not overly sweet that there are many who don't really like really sweet foods. I am not talking about myself. I like things that are sickeningly sweet with everything except tea. That is why I think these would be good served with tea.

I did like them and I think I would make this treat again. They are similar to cinnamon rolls but with fruit and less sweetness. I am not sure if our Korean friends will like them, but I hope so. I don't know how to say, "Welcome," in Korean.

Pear and Apple Rollups

Dough:
2 cups self-rising flour
1 tablespoon butter, softened
(Bisquick baking mix or gluten-free Bisquick can be used for the first two ingredients)
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Filling:
1/2 Granny Smith apple, core removed, peeled and grated
2 pears, core removed, peeled and cut into thin slices
Approximately 2 teaspoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon white sugar
Cinnamon

Glaze:
1/2 cup Confectioners sugar
Enough unsweetened vanilla almond milk for glaze

Cut butter into flour until it is well blended. Mix in milk and form into a dough ball. Knead a few times and roll out on waxed paper until it is approximately 13" x 9". Spread on butter, sprinkle on brown sugar. Top with apple. The apple will not cover the dough entirely. Layer the pear on top, then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Roll it up and cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices. Recipe makes between 12 and 15 pastries. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until pastries are browned. Drizzle glaze over the rolls. (I didn't use all the glaze on my rolls because I didn't want them to be very sweet. If you prefer sweeter pastries, just use more glaze.)

A cookbook giveaway

This week, I am starting with a giveaway. It is the Taste of Home Guilt Free Cooking, and includes 356 recipes that are mostly lower in fat than normal recipes. Almost half of the recipes can be completed in under 30 minutes.

Taste of Home is known for good, down home recipes that are crowd pleasers. This cookbook credits a large staff of contributors that includes a registered dietitian. The book begins with some healthy eating tips and each recipe has a listing of nutritional information that includes calories, fat, cholesterol, carbohydrates, sodium, fiber and protein. There is even a diabetic exchange.

One of the things I like about the book are the pretty photos throughout. Each recipe is pictured in color and is easy to read with helpful tips on almost every page.

There are recipes for every meal or occasion and it really does look like the recipes are meant to cut out some of the most unhealthy ingredients while keeping the taste and quality. I think this cookbook is a good start towards healthier cooking.

My only problem with the cookbook is that the recipes are mostly for meats and carbohydrates, but as I said earlier, it is a good start. An improvement for me would be more vegetarian recipes.

Leave a comment and tell me why you think this cookbook would be good for you and I will include you in the drawing on Thursday. The winner will be announced Friday morning.

Vegetable Gardener's Bible

The other day I ordered a book for myself from Amazon. I have been looking for a book that was similar to "Joy of Gardening," -- but for organic gardeners. I am hoping I have found it in this book.

It begins by giving a general guide for gardening. All of the tips and advice are from an organic gardener's perspective. At first I thought it might not be such a great buy because the author is from a northern part of the U.S. and we have a very different growing season in the south, but upon further reading I saw that even though some of his advice is geared toward colder climates, he does also include southern regions.

I think some of the information and sections are similar to other gardening books but the profile of individual vegetables make this book a worthwhile buy. I especially liked the quick facts listed after each vegetable and the individual recommendations for care and fertilizing. I think the more I read it, the more useful information I will discover.

Some of the techniques I liked were, wide row gardening, raised bed gardening and his tip to help keep weeds out of rows by putting down newspaper topped with straw. I will be trying that very soon.

Overall. Thumbs up.

The winner is ...

Congratulations Joanie. You are the winner of Tuesday's giveaway! Thank you for entering.

Next week I will be giving away a cookbook.