Two tasty asparagus recipes

With asparagus available now in grocery stores and gardens, I thought I would share a couple of our favorites.

First, this recipe for Peas and Asparagus. I first made this for Easter dinner a few years back. It is delicious, and the peas help to make the more expensive asparagus go farther.

(Photo from Taste of Home)

And second, this recipe for Caesar Asparagus, which is also delicious, quick and easy. You will need French or Italian bread for the croutons.

(Photo from Home Joys)

Enjoy these flavors of springtime!

A few spring wildflowers

The weather continues to be dreary and drizzly here, but the wildflowers in the garden and all around our yard make some bright spots of spring color. Here are a few of them:

Wild cherry blossoms (now all off the branches due to rain)

Apple blossoms

Wood anenomes in the wildflower garden

Clintonia (clearing out some of our woods made way for several new large patches of these)

Violets ~ we have way more of these that I can possibly show you; this is just one little clump

Painted trilliums

Closeup of painted trillium
And violets and dandelions together (as they are on our back lawn) make a particularly bright contrast.

God is so good to give us these lovely wildflowers year after year!

Pork Chops Monterey

(Photo from Taste of Home)

Here is another fabulous pork recipe: Pork Chops Monterey.

This can be prepared very quickly in the microwave and is absolutely delicious. I made this last Sunday after church -- had it all ready to cook and just put it in the microwave after we returned from church. There was just the right amount of time to fix some instant mashed potatoes and roast some asparagus --- lunch was on the table 20 minutes after coming in the door. I will usually do a crock pot meal on Sundays, but this was a nice change. I've made this recipe several times when I find a good deal on boneless pork chops, and we really enjoy it. It's good with rice (as specified in the recipe) but we also like it with mashed potatoes instead.

Colors of early spring

See how the various green crayons are so much the shades of the early spring trees?

Spring never seems to hurry in coming to northern New England. Right now the leaves are coming out on the trees, wildflowers and other spring bushes and bulbs are blooming, and the pollen is afflicting allergy sufferers. But just a week or two ago, we began to see what I think of as our "spring foliage". Its colors -- the emerging leaves of the hardwoods -- are pale and subdued when compared with the brilliant fall foliage. But it has a rare beauty all its own.

I must admit that I didn't notice this spring color for many years. But one year, in a cookbook, of all places, I read a description of it that made me look at spring quite differently. The cookbook was Country Flavor Cookbook, by Haydn S. Pearson. Mr. Pearson was an author and newspaper columnist who often wrote about New England and its food. This particular book contains some wonderful recipes as well as some evocative essays about New England life. While I don't agree with all that he wrote, I have enjoyed many of the essays -- including one called Beauty on the Ridges, where I first learned about this spring foliage.

Here is an excerpt from the essay:

"Each of us has his particular sign of spring that he cherishes. The countryman feels true spring has arrived when the hardwood trees on the ridges begin to start their leaves. Brooks are laughing down the slopes; there is color in the wings of warblers and vireos searching for nesting sites. Lady's-slippers blossom in the woods and creek banks are starred with marsh marigolds. Apple buds are plump to bursting and peonies' red-brown heads are lifting above moist brown soil. But the countryman waits -- waits for the beauty on the ridges.

"Then one day it happens. The birches and beeches, poplars and oaks, maples and hickories unfold their tiny leaves from tightly packed capsules. The hillside is painted with shades of purple and violet, soft reds and browns, tans, and yellow. Look closely in the dawn and sunset hours when the sun's rays are slanting, and you can see a dozen shades of loveliness that blend into one harmonious whole. There is a soft, glowing mistiness. For a few days only does the colorful beauty stay on the hillsides. Then the leaves lengthen and one knows a new season is underway. But for a brief period, he who wishes can lift his eyes to the hills and in the quiet beauty find reassurance in a troubled world."

~ from Beauty on the Ridges, by Haydn S. Pearson

I love that description, and to me the last sentence says more than the author may have meant it to. To me it speaks of the quiet assurance I find in Genesis 8:22: "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

But it was Mr. Pearson's description of the spring beauty on the ridges that opened my eyes to this subdued, yet lovely spring foliage. Now I never fail to notice it. This year, the pastel greens of certain trees seemed even more beautiful than usual. I took a few photos just in our yard but really failed to capture the loveliness. To me, some of the trees look just the color of a yellow-green crayon. Even more of them look exactly like a spring green crayon.

Yellow green

Spring green

More spring green. Over toward the left, you can see a pinkish tree.

Spring green -- this is a maple tree with what I can only describe as flowers cascading from the opening leaves. I'm not sure what they are technically called.

Maple flowers close up:
And here is a little bouquet of the maple flowers.

I know the pictures are not of the best quality -- I would love to have taken some better ones showing a hillside as described in the essay -- but they give the idea, anyway. Maybe next year I can get some better photos of this early spring loveliness.

Cranberry Dijon Pork Roast

(Photo by Taste of Home)

I made this Cranberry Dijon Pork Roast in the slow cooker yesterday for lunch. It cooked while we were at church. Oh, what an amazingly delicious recipe. The only change I made was that I didn't brown the pork first -- it was just fine without doing so -- and I used my own homemade onion soup mix rather than the golden onion mix called for.

4 adults and 2 little girls ate every scrap of this roast. I will definitely be stocking up on pork loin for the freezer, next time it's on a good sale!

A superhero caper

The dynamic duo!

I have been wanting to share this post for awhile. I know there are a lot of pictures, but they are such fun pictures I don't want to leave any of them out!

This project got its start a few months ago when I needed an idea for Emily's birthday. When I asked her mom for ideas, she mentioned that Emily (about to turn 3) and big brother Darrin (4) loved to play super heroes. They had invented their own superheroes -- Emily is Super Emily-Cat, and Darrin is Super Gromit. So Joanna suggested I might make superhero capes. What a fun idea!

I decided to make one for Darrin even though his birthday is not until September. It just seemed to me it would make Emily's gift much more fun if she and Darrin could both have capes to play super heroes together.

I did a lot of research before settling on a pattern that suited me. Who knew there were so many superhero cape patterns floating around in blogland? This is the one I finally ended up using: Clever Little Cape . I liked the idea of a collar and also the fact that the cape is lined. It really helps it to swirl nicely. I did end up enlarging the pattern by quite a bit to ensure that it would fit my grandchildren for some time to come.

Here is Emily's cape:

And here is the emblem on the back. I designed these myself after looking at some ideas online. I drew the shield emblem in a drawing document and then added the lettering using a font in a very large size to fit inside the shield. The emblems are made from felt, so they won't be completely washable, but hopefully the capes won't need washing too often. I did find out that simply fusing the letters to the shield (and the shield to the cape) with Heat'n'Bond® wasn't good enough. They came loose very quickly. So I blanket-stitched them in place and they should hold up well.

I also put a hidden cat in the lining of Emily's cape. The lining of hers is made from an old pale green sheet.

And now, for the cape in action. Joanna took these wonderful pictures.

Revealing the hidden cat:

And here is Darrin's cape:

You probably can't tell, but the design on the fabric is colorful shooting stars.

Here is his Super Gromit emblem.

And a hidden Gromit in the lining.

His cape in action. I love the pics his mommy took!

Revealing the hidden Gromit:

And here are both super heroes together, ready for action and another adventure!

Pretty cookies for spring!

I made these pretty cookies back a couple weeks before Easter, to take to a church potluck. I found the idea here: white fudge-dipped springtime cookies and I must say, theirs came out a lot prettier than mine. They used plain white nonpareils on each color, and they are daintier and sort of dotted-Swiss looking.

I just used store-brand chocolate sandwich cookies, though no doubt real Oreos® would be much better. To dip mine, I just used white candy coating ("Almond Bark"), melted, rather than melting real white chocolate. I only made three colors of coating -- pink, yellow, and green -- and I used colorful sprinkles in spring-like colors rather than the white ones, which I could not find locally. I think another time, I would try and find the white nonpareils, as I really liked their delicate look!

I also had leftover coating in each color, so I swirled them together, stirred in some coconut, and made little macaroons out of them.


These pretty cookies went over well with friends and family alike!