Recipe ~ Tart

 

 

Hello Friends,  

Throughout the summer I have been sharing photos of the tart I have been making. It is a  quick and easy way to enjoy your fresh vegetables from your garden. I will share the recipe with you today.

The above photo I used radish and chive as our toppings.

In the below photo I used fresh green beans and mushrooms.

 

 

In the below photo I used fresh green beans, dill and made a mustard sauce to drizzle on top.

 

 

The below photo is the first tart I made using asparagus. 

Tart

1 sheet frozen puff pastry - thawed

8 oz of mascarpone cheese 

sea salt

pepper

olive oil

fresh vegetables of your choice as a topping

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Prep your vegetables.

Place a piece of parchment paper onto a sheet pan. Unfold the puff pastry and lay it flat onto the parchment. Spread the mascarpone cheese in an even layer onto the dough, leaving about a 1" border. Season with salt and pepper.

Arrange your vegetables over the top of the mascarpone cheese. Season with salt, pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Fold the edges of dough up and over the vegetables. Lightly press the creases together so that the pastry is secure.

Drizzle the edges with olive oil. Bake 30-35 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the vegetables are tender.

Enjoy!

This magical, marvelous food on our plate, this sustenance we absorb, has a story to tell. It has a journey. It leaves a footprint. It leaves a legacy."

Joel Salatin

 

 

This and That

 Hello Friends,

A little of this and that for the month of August.

August is my second favorite month of the year.

I love my August calendar page. That garden girl is me. 

 

My dog Ernie was listening to a podcast with me while I was doing dishes. I had to laugh at how it seemed to be he was soaking in the information right along with me. His "dolly" is close by too.

 

 

 

A summer bouquet for you, from me.

And now for a stroll in the garden.

 

Happy August my friends!

 ♥

Carla

 

Good Eats and The Hodgepodge

 

Hello Friends, it is Wednesday and that means it is time for the Hodgepodge.

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun! 

 

 1. What's worth standing in line for? 

Good eats are worth standing in line for. 

I did not have to stand in line for the good eats below, all that goodness you see with that salad came from our garden. Half the green bean - mushroom tart came from the garden, the green beans.

 

 

 2. Tell us about a favorite food related memory.

I love my mom's Thanksgiving dressing/stuffing. Watching her make it as a young girl is a memory that will fill my mind and heart on Thanksgiving day when we all gather for Thanksgiving and my parents still host the special meal.

 3. What are some things you find particularly peaceful or calming? 

My garden.

 Can you see the HUGE butterfly?

We are enjoying our best butterfly year yet in our garden. We have so many different kinds of butterfly and moths. It has been a real joy to work in the garden and be surrounded by butterfly, hummingbirds, bees and moths.

4. Is there something you do now that gets you just as excited as it did when you were a child? 

Spending time with family. I would get excited to ride my bike to grandma and grandpa's house. I would get excited when extended family would come for a week long visit to the farm. I am the same today. I get excited when my kids come to visit. And other family.

 5. To what degree are you in touch with friends from grade school? high school? college if you attended college? 

I am still in touch with a friend I attended high school with and college. 

No one from grade school.  

 6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I am waiting for something ... this is a good reminder.

 

Back to School Hodgepodge

 

It is Wednesday! 

It is Back to School!

 And soon it will be Christmas.. Gosh, that calendar will not slow down. 

It is time for the Hodgepodge.

Joyce asks the questions. 

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun! 

1. August is National Golf month...do you play? Do you enjoy following golf? Have you ever been to a professional tournament? 

I played golf once with my friend A. Her mom let me use her golf clubs. It was a hoot of a time. We played golf and drove around in the golf cart just having a good old time. It was a carefree golf day.

My husband works for a company that makes turf equipment for golf courses all over the world. It is fun to learn what courses use the machines that he helps design and create. 

No, I have not been to a professional tournament.

 2. Astronaut Jim Lovell of Apollo 13 fame passed away this past Thursday. Are you interested in outer space and what's happening today in terms of space exploration? I am not all that interested, but I keep up with a bit of it because our oldest son is interested in it and I like to be able to chat with him on topics he likes. If space travel became common in your lifetime would you go? Only if I had to go visit a family member who might be living on Mars. How do you personally relate to the idea of exploring something vast and mysterious...does the idea excite you, intimidate you, or something else? I do not mind going off to explore, but I DO NOT want to have to wear a special suit to keep me alive. I like earth.

 3. Describe your communication style in three words. 

Listen

Share

Digest

 4. Do you have a favorite cookbook? A favorite celebrity chef? Do you watch any cooking shows on TV? 

My favorite cookbooks change through out the year, right now I am enjoying many recipes from  ...

 The Prairie Homestead Cookbook

A favorite celebrity chef? Do you watch any cooking shows on TV?

Julia Child

I enjoy watching Julia Child cooking shows, I have learned a lot from Julia.

 

 5. As a child did you have any back to school traditions? If so, did you carry on those same traditions with your own children? Do you have any back to school traditions you've started on your own? 

 We would go back to school shopping. It was fun to pick out a new trapper keeper, folders, notebooks, pens, pencils and more. My mom took a photo of our first day of school. I carried on with that tradition.

 Do you have any back to school traditions you've started on your own?

We had our boys write out .. what are your goals for this school year. And then at the end of the school year, we would have our boys write out... what goals shifted during the school year, what goals did you accomplish and what are you looking forward to for the next school year.

  6. Insert your own random thought here. 

School seems to start earlier and earlier.. actually I do not think it ever ends in my neck of the woods. I walk past the Middle and High School of our local district and kids have been at the school all summer. 

 

Dog Days

 

Ernie, chilling on my mom's chair.

 

Hello Friends, do I have a story for you. Two weeks ago our neighbor stopped me to have me meet their new puppy, Lucy. I noticed Lucy had band-aids  on her sweet puppy face.

Lucy was attacked the day before by a pit-bull that lives down the street from us. I did not even know a pit-bull lived at that house.  The pit-bull got out of his fenced backyard and traveled down Arlington Avenue. Lucy the puppy was out with her 7 year old owner, when all heck broke loose. The pit-bull attacked Lucy the puppy, threw her up in the air. In the meantime, Stella our other neighbors dog sensed trouble, she got in between the pit-bull and the little girl. All the commotion brought all the adults out. They were able to get the pit-bull and called the police. 

The pit-bull was taken back to the home that it belongs and told to keep that dog in its fenced yard. 

YIKES!

This week I was out for my evening walk with Ernie. A white dog started to follow us from behind down the sidewalk as we did our usual walk around our neighborhood. A father out playing with his three children saw the dog and tried to catch it. This gave me time to get a move on and hightail it home.

YIKES!!

And for my final dog days story. The evening of Thursday of last week,  my husband and I set out for our evening walk. We see a women with a dog ahead, she does not have the dog on a leash. As we get closer, we are walking faster than she is, she says, "No worries, my dog is friendly." As the dog proceeds to run full speed, barking and  foaming at the mouth towards us. It happens all so fast!! That dog is after our Ernie, who is on a leash. I cannot pick Ernie up because the foaming at the mouth dog is pushing into me. My husband is trying to grab the dog. The women yells at us, "I will handle this." She turns on her shocker that she has in her hand to full blast, the dog begins to yelp in pain and is paralyzed.

We once again, hightail it home.

YIKES!!! 

We look over Ernie, he is fine. We look at each other and shake our heads. 

"What in the blue moon is going on with people!"

Summer Days and it is the Hodgepodge

 

Our favorite Northern Wisconsin lake to paddle and fish.

 

Hello Friends, Happy August and let us soak in the last days of summer.

It is Wednesday and it is time for the Hodgepodge.

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun! 

 

 1. The midpoint of summer (believe it or not) is August 7th. Describe a perfect summer day. Have you had one this year? 

Yes, I have a few perfect summer days. 

In June, I went to a baseball game with my family. It was a beautiful summer afternoon for a baseball game.

The first weekend of August I spent with my family.

We fished on our favorite Northern Wisconsin lake. It was a bottle up summer day.

My dad commented, "it was perfect out on the lake." 

And it was. 

2. What's one thing you wish you knew before starting high school? 

When I was a freshman in high school, the senior class had some MEAN girls. I was lucky that my neighbor girl and friend,  was a junior and she was a tough cookie. As long as I had Paulette as my friend, those senior girls left me along. Not so for my friend Tracy. Those girls got her one day after class. 

I wish I would have known how mean some girls could be... this group was down right nasty, pull your hair, dump your books out of your arms and more. 

Me with my fishing gear. The only nasty thing while fishing was the mean old flies. Do you spy the big one on my pant leg.

 

3. What's something that bothers you if it's not done perfectly? 

The way I make our bed. I like it just so. 

4. What's the most overrated food you're convinced people are just pretending to enjoy? What's a trendy food you actually do enjoy and would say is definitely not overrated? 

I do not know what food is overrated right now. All my blog friends will have to fill me in on this question. If we are talking about cottage cheese, I do enjoy cottage cheese. My husband and I love a bowl of cottage cheese with fruit, peaches are one of our favorites to mix in our cottage cheese. 

 

5. Wrapping it up this week with five fun this or thats...

personal stylist or personal chef? personal stylist
dance like nobody's watching or sing like nobody's listening? sing like nobody's listening
unlimited tacos or free pizza? pizza

bookshelf organization-by size or by genre? genre
ten minutes late or ten minutes early? ten minutes early

 6. Insert your own random thought here. 

A few more photos of a perfect summer's day... 

Joy List Monday

 

Joy List Monday

♥ a weekly ritual  ♥

a reminder to stop and pay attention to the little beauties and graces that make life magical and to set aside time for gratitude each day

 ♥ sun-tea ... and a flower petal landing on the lid of the jar

 ♥ late summer bug song

 ♥ fresh tomatoes from the garden

 ♥ sunsets

 ♥ watching the moon rise

Wishing you a beautiful week full of little things that make you smile.

 ♥

Carla