Tag: summer

Tasty Tuesday: Summer Favorites

JULIE KOHL: Coconut Watermelon Margarita

One of my favorite parts of summer and summer vacation is TROPICAL DRINKS! I love a good frozen drink with pineapple, coconut, strawberry, lime, and all the flavors of summer. To me, no dessert is better in the summer than an icy cold flavored beverage. I love to get out my blender and mix up all kinds of concoctions. Some have alcohol and some don’t. Some act more as a cocktail while others are more of a dessert and yet others are just a fancied up beverage you would drink with a meal. READ MORE

LYNDI FULTZ: Picnics Are Meant for Slowing Down

It started off a bit on the chilly side and as I woke up to meet the day I slipped on comfy sweats and a tee shirt. As the day ebbed on and we ran errands, I quickly released it was time for shorts and flip-flops. Summer is coming and she is ready to make residency.

Whenever I encounter perfect days such as today, when the slight breezes and half-sunshiney and half-shady days beg me to put up a hammock, I am reminded that life is meant for slowing down whenever we can. To really LIVE. Pick a flower, enjoy a long conversation, and just get your feet wet. READ MORE

PAT DOWNS: Lunch on a Budget: Great Summer Lunch Ideas {Turkey Spinach Wraps}

Like many of us I was making the quick dash out at lunch to find something fresh and quick to eat. However, fresh and quick in most sandwich shops is not cheap! I decided to eat the local Supermarket on my way in to work. I purchased tortilla’s, two fresh Roma tomatoes, a bag of fresh baby spinach, Boars Head Smoked Turkey (from the deli section) and Kraft Cheddar Cheese for $10.50. I had previously purchased some fresh salsa (made fresh at the Deli) and a small bag Parmesan cheese for $5.00. Take the time to check out your local market in the deli area, most of them make fresh salsa in quart containers in mild, spicy and hot. I always purchase mild because after it sits it can get a little kick in it. READ MORE

DEBBIE ARNOLD: Savory Tomato-Basil Jam

This Savory Tomato-Basil Jam is just one way I extend the incredible flavor of summer tomatoes. It’s sweet. It’s savory. It’s just plain delicious. We especially like it on grilled turkey-cheese sandwiches. Put some on a biscuit with a slice of ham or bacon—oh my goodness y’all! READ MORE

Cool Off in the Crick {Wordless Wednesday}

By Ashley of The Ederington Family and Maniac Mom

Cool off in the crick

AshleyHeadshot Ashley Ederington lives on a 125 acre hobby farm with her husband and two sons in Bismarck. When Ashley is not teaching high school biology or running marathons, the entire family loves to explore the beautiful outdoors in Arkansas by hiking, hunting, and fishing. You can follow the family’s adventures on their blog: The Ederington Family or Ashley’s fitness blog: Maniac Mom.

Georgiaberry Mobley: Easiest Ever Berry Cobbler

By Georgiaberry Mobley of Sunshine for Dinner

You know, this time of year, when it is so hot you don’t go out to pick berries till 7:00 pm so you don’t fall down from heat exhaustion, and come dragging in with your berries at dark, then crave a cobbler but wild horses couldn’t drag you toward turning on the oven and releasing one more Btu of heat into the house? And so you make the easiest cobbler ever – so easy you can prepare and cook it outside in an old toaster oven you use for summer baking so you don’t heat up the house? No? Just me?

Well, even if you don’t resort to setting up outlandish outdoor cooking areas to keep the house cool, this super quick cobbler will still simplify your summer. It has only four ingredients – flour, sugar, butter, and berries – and is yummy enough to satisfy this berry-snob family.

My sister and I grew up working at my grandparents’ pick-your-own strawberry, blackberry, and blueberry farm in Fouke, Arkansas. My grandmother had a variety of cobbler making techniques, and my grandfather’s favorite was a very complicated “berry roll.” Make a pie crust and roll it out, not too thin, into a long rectangle on a clean dishtowel. Then sprinkle with sugar and dot with butter, and top with a layer of fresh blackberries. Then, oh so carefully, use the towel to help you roll it up – wincing when the lumpy blackberries poked through the crust. Gingerly roll the whole thing off into a pan. Brush with cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden and bubbly. He loved this cobbler because it had lots of crust. The crust was his favorite part. Can you tell I miss my grandparents? I start to cry just thinking about the lunches we used to have…

Anyway – although I do love that blackberry roll and have made it from time to time, I don’t have the mile long sparkling white tile countertop for rolling out pie crust, nor the talent for putting out a hot cooked lunch with dessert every single day at noon sharp, like my grandmother had. I have a hot and very busy day to come, followed by about 150 more in succession, and if I wait till a cool day to bake a cobbler, then I will be waiting till the berries are long gone. So I will take my four ingredients and my toaster oven and run with it. Truth is, I made this cobbler many times for my grandparents and they thought it was fantastic.

Easiest Ever Berry Cobbler

2014-06-19 06:53:14

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Topping

1 cup flour of your choice
½ cup sugar
1 stick salted butter, softened

Filling

4 cups berries, fresh or frozen
½ cup sugar

Instructions

This is a good proportion for a square baking pan. Butter the pan and pour in the berries.
Sprinkle ½ cup sugar over the berries - feel free to use more or less sugar according to your preference and the ripeness of the fruit.
In a bowl, mix flour, ½ c sugar, and one stick of softened salted butter with a fork or pastry cutter until crumbly.
Sprinkle this topping evenly over the fruit in the pan. Shake the pan a bit to encourage the topping to settle amongst the fruit.
Pop it in the oven at 375F and bake 30-40 minutes until browned and bubbly. I

Notes

If you start with frozen fruit, it might take a bit longer.
This topping works with all kinds of fruit - with peaches it is wonderful! Youcan use any kind of flour - I used whole wheat pastry flour with these cobblers and it is delicious. Gluten-free, whole grain, nut flours, plain old white flour - any of it should work.

By Georgiaberry Mobley of Sunshine for Dinner

Arkansas Women Bloggers https://arkansaswomenbloggers.com/

Enjoy!

Georgiaberry Mobley grows veggies in her hometown, Fouke, Arkansas. Since 2007, she and her husband, Kandan, have been selling their locally grown food in the Texarkana area through their Sunshine for Dinner subscription veggie delivery service. It’s the farmer’s market that comes to you! In her spare time, she teaches their two kids at home, is an active La Leche League leader, and helps out with their landscape design/maintenance firm. Find out more about her market garden and farm life, and how to sign up for Sunshine for Dinner at http://www.SunshineForDinner.com. Join the conversation on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SunshineforDinner. You can also find Georgiaberry on pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/georgiaberry/ and Instagram at http://instagram.com/georgiaberrym.

Top Ten Books on My Summer TBR List

The likelihood of finishing 10 books this summer is highly improbable (considering I will have three children expecting me to be Julie The Cruise Director for 10 weeks) – however, I do like to give the impression of being an overachiever!

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel – I loved Mantel’s Wolf Hall – can’t wait to find out who is beheaded next!
Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielsen – a popular blogger who nearly lost her life in a plane crash, this is a book that should remind me that I need to count my blessings daily.
The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani — I’ve never read any of this author’s fiction work (best known for her Big Stone Gap series), thought I would start with her most recent book.
Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick – because when you complain about the lines at WalMart – author Demick is there to remind you that in North Korea, there is no WalMart. Or food for that matter.
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trent Stewart – this is our Mother/Daughter book club reading choice for the summer. If I don’t read it, my daughter will ban me from our meetings.
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard – because this is leftover from last year’s reading list.
A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd – I’m not much of a mystery reader, but this mother/son writing team has created a mystery series that has been on many “if you liked Downton Abbey…then you will like this” lists. That’s enough for me.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte – because I need to read at least one classic.
The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey – about the strife of an Irish family prior to WWI – this was recommended to me by a friend. And because it has a pretty cover.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – July book club choice – not sure I would have picked it otherwise.
BONUS BOOK — Anything by Jen Lancaster –by summer’s end, I will need something that makes me laugh out loud, because by then, my kids will have taken over the house, my sanity called into question, and I will be running up the white flag of surrender.

What are you reading this summer?

Melissa McCurdy is a mother of 3; wife of 1; daughter, sister, friend, aunt; lover of football, politics, food, travel, walking, theatre and all things literary. She shelves books for a living and could spend hours staring at book spines. She survived two years as PTA fundraising chair and PTA president and doubts she will ever volunteer again. Her youngest was born with a congenital heart defect and had open heart surgery at 5 weeks. She knows more about Children’s Hospitals than she ever wanted too. And when she grows up, she wants to be the first female commissioner of the NFL. She blogs at Gerbera Daisy Diaries.