Creative Kitchen Time

It was a gorgeous summer weekend here in Montana, the cats sure enjoyed it.

It was a perfect weekend for cool, light treats.  I made the coffee jelly from the Tasha Tudor Cookbook.  I’m not a huge fan of gelatin, usually, but when I saw a recipe for one that included coffee, well I had to give it a go.  This was yummy, to really put it over the top some whipped cream would have been excellent, but I didn’t have any

There was a lot of kitchen time, canning, cooking, and baking.  I haven’t really done much creatively in the kitchen since we bought the house.  There simply wasn’t time for much beyond the most basic of meals.  That changed over the last weekend, I played with three new recipes, baked bread (with the new sourdough starter), made the coffee gelatin, and planned great meals to fill this week’s lunch bags that includes a roasted local chicken. 

We cleaned and picked at the yard.  We raked about 10 million piles of pine needles from underneath those trees Jeff pruned last week and Jeff split more wood for winter heating.  We even squeezed in a few yard sales, though we didn’t find much worth bragging about.  I need to find a new throw rug or two for the kitchen and laundry area.  I just can’t seem to find something I like, but I’m sure I will and for now its a great excuse to hit the yard sales and thrift stores.