Spring Forward

As I was driving home the other day from the office, I couldn’t help but notice how gorgeous the days have become, with my windows and sunroof rolled all the way down I couldn’t tell you how good it felt to feel the sunshine soaking in my skin.  The annoying guy behind me riding my tail didn’t even seem to bother me as much.   

With spring break rounding the corner I am getting very excited about all the outside activities my family and I are going to be able to participate in together.  We all have been cooped up way for way to long with all this cold and rainy weather.  No more fussing at one another with the constant battle between changing the thermostat because one of us is always cold and the other not.  Now we can put down all the windows and let the fresh air in, not to mention save ourselves a pretty good penny too.

One thing I certainly can’t wait for is the farmer’s markets all around Louisville and Southern Indiana to open back up.  What better way to help your community than purchasing fresh produce, meat, crafts and more from the local market.  Aside from yard sales, I have to say the farmers market is one of my favorite Saturday activities. There are so many farmers markets out there to visit; however here are a handful of my favorite locations:  

Bardstown Road Farmers’ Market
Bardstown Road Presbyterian Church, 1722 Bardstown Rd, 40205
Saturdays, 8 am -12 pm
April – December

Whole Foods Farmers’ Market
4944 Shelbyville Rd, 40207
Wednesdays, 3 – 7 pm
April – October

 Rainbow Blossom Farmers’ Market
3738 Lexington Rd, 40207
Sundays, 12 – 4 pm
May 15 – October
Accepts EBT/Debit/Credit

 Jeffersonville Farmers Market
Saturdays AND Tuesdays (June -mid Oct)
Saturday Hours: 9am-Noon
Tuesday Hours: 3pm-6pm

The New Albany Farmers Market, New Albany, Indiana
Wednesday, 4:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Saturday, 8:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

SEASONAL May-October

Pin On

Tick… Tick… Tick… that is the only sound I hear at the moment which happens to be coming from the wall clock hung above me.  It is 3:18 AM in the morning and I am wide awake, which is very unusual for me; this coming from an individual who adores her shut eye more than anyone should.  Its pitch black in the house and the only light illuminating the room is the bright colorful screen in front of me.

Here I sit stuck in front of the laptop looking for my next weekend project all because I am to restless to climb in bed and call it a night.  Where do I find myself this early in the morning you ask?  I only have one addiction these days that I find myself consumed by, lurking for hours; searching for something to spark a jolt of creativity from me, and its evil name is Pinterest.

For those of you out there who are unaware of pinterest, I caution you, before leaving this page to perform a Google search; might I share a small warning, lol.  This site has literally taken hours away from me since its discovery months ago, I have actually lost track of time.  I call myself a pretty crafty person, and have always thought that I was a natural at it.  Let me just say, my mind was blown. I couldn’t believe all the simple ideas and imaginative creations that were flooding the empty file cabinets inside my head that others out in the World Wide Web had created.

For those of you who are followers, of mine, or those who I am following now, you will I’m sure completely understand my addiction and agree that you to might even have a small one.  I will in fact bank on it that you also have lost time over this site as well.  Chocolate, diet cherry coke, the food network; all addictions I have come to personally own up too, I can go days without, but not my pinterest.  Every single day of the week I sign in and add this or that to my boards.  If I want a recipe, a quote, a picture, or even to get ideas on planning a party; anything really!  It’s there.  From the Christmas ornaments I made in December, the wine bottle crafts I continue to perfect myself on periodically, to the apron I made this past weekend.  All these projects were inspired from this site, and I have only a ton more I want to try.

So next time, you find yourself with a little extra time on your hands, and you are next to a laptop like me.  Go and pin yourself a couple of ideas you can do with the family to your board and create a plethora of ideas to keep those creative juices inside yourself flowing.  With Valentine’s day only being a couple of weeks away, get inspired from this site, I just know you will come up with something different this year to surprise your loved one.

Fall is upon us

I enjoy immensely the beautiful fall weather and all it brings; in fact it is my favorite season. So with fall as my backdrop, for my first Y blog entry, I must share with you one of my favorite fall dishes to make.  A vegetable dish so good, it even makes it to our Thanksgiving table spread by requests from all adults on both sides of my family.

Turnips to me are bold like cabbage, so you either really love them or can’t stand them.  I think that is a fair assessment for turnips, being that anyone I know that has tried them feels that way.  If you have had them cooked incorrectly, you might be hesitant to try them again, but I just know if you love to eat, you will enjoy this recipe.

About 11 years ago, I mastered the art of cooking turnips, in my grandma’s kitchen, the same kitchen might I add where I tried them for the first time as a young child.    Since then, I have had to furnish the following dish every year, and will continue until I can convince the next person to.

So from my table to yours, try this vegetable dish in addition to your families side dishes…I hope you enjoy!

FRIED TURNIPS

Ingredients:

5 Medium Turnips, 1 Purple Onion, 8 Slices of bacon (do not discard bacon grease)

Prep:

• Peel turnips with a peeler like you would peel a potato, and wash them thoroughly.  You can either slice them into rings or chop them in to chunks it doesn’t matter; however you want them to be thick rings, or medium sized chunks.
• Chop red onion into small bite size pieces.
• Fry 8 slices of bacon, and save bacon grease

Take a large pot and boil the turnips on high heat until they are semi-soft and slightly translucent in texture and color, usually around 5-7 minutes pending the size you cut them.  Drain and rinse in cold water when finished.  Take out the bacon from your frying pan and set aside for garnish later.  Place into bacon grease on medium heat the chopped purple onion and toss for one minute.  Add turnips and continue to fry on medium heat, until purple onions and turnips are soft and consistent in texture.   Your turnips and onions will caramelize in the bacon grease.  Remove and place in serving dish.  Coarsely chop remaining bacon, and garnish top of dish.  This recipe serves 6 to 8 people pending portion size.

*I could imagine if you wanted to stretch this side dish you could add some collard greens or turnip greens and it would taste just as good.   Let me know how they turn out if you try this  I haven’t ventured out and done this yet.