Is she a TRUE "Mainer"???

The two most common things thought of when you mention "Maine" to tourists is blueberries and lobster. Well, everybody knows I married a man from Maine, but have I really become a true Maine resident yet? I was put to the test yesterday, and I'm not sure how well I did.
On Wednesday, a "Darlings customer" gave Matt four lobster. (Side note: My man LOVES lobster!) Accidentally, my man left them in the fridge at work Wednesday night, when they actually should have been brought home and cooked. Worried that they would die before he got them home Thursday night, he asked me to come in Thursday morning, pick up the lobster, and take them home and cook them. He would pick them out that night, since I haven't the foggiest how to pick out lobster. I arrived in to work, around 11:00 in the morning, with a bowl in hand to put the bag of lobster in. All was fine till I got part way home and heard them moving in the bag in the bowl over in the passenger seat of the truck. Nothing was wrong with them moving, it was just my thoughts of " I am driving in this truck by myself... being kept company by these creepy crustaceans wiggling their feet and tails around in the passenger seat beside me. (The way lobsters move CREEPS ME OUT!!!!!) I pushed all disgusting thoughts from my mind and made it home without further ado. I immediately put a huge pot of water on the stove to boil, determined that these lobsters were not going to die on my man. He was going to get the meat from all four lobsters to enjoy. The pot of water finally boiled and it was time to reach my hand in that bag and pull each lobster out with my hand and put it in the pot. Just thinking about it made a shiver run down my spine! Matt, as well as some of the other guys from the dealership had schooled me to make sure each lobster was moving before I cooked it... DO NOT COOK DEAD LOBSTER!! How was I going to make sure they were all alive? I decided that I would get out a pair of salad tongs and poke each lobster with them to see if it would move, then I would use the tongs to pick them up and put them in the pot. To my relief dismay, none of the lobster moved after much poking and prodding. I called my man, feeling bad for him, that his delicious lobster were dead, but also a bit relieved to think that I didn't have to touch these disgusting things. "Honey none of your lobster are moving" I said when Matt picked up the phone, " I don't think they survived the ride home." "Okay," he replied, "Did you pick them up and hold them upside down and kind of turn them to their side to see if any of them would move?" "No," I faintly answered, just shuddering at the thought, " but I poked and prodded them and didn't get a single movement from them." "Well, they don't really respond if you are just poking their shells. They don't care two hoots about being poked on their shells, they don't even feel it," my poor man patiently replied. "Do you know how to pick them up?" Another squeemish "No" escaped my lips. "Pick them up by the tops of their bodies..it's all shell there and they won't be able to do anything to you. Hold them upside down and kinda turn them to their side. They probably are half gone and don't have much energy, so you kind of need to wake them up by jostling them a little to see if they are still alive. If they even so much as twitch their tail or their legs, throw them in the pot of water. I will stay on the phone with you while you are doing it," were the instructions from my man. "Okay....." I started, and then stopped. " I'm sorry, Honey, you don't have to cook the lobster, I will do it when I get home," Matt sweetly and sympathetically tried to help. Determined that I could do this for my sweetheart, and not wanting the lobster to die on him, I mustered up enough courage to say " No, I'm just being silly...I can do this, I'll be fine!" "Okay, let me know how it goes. I love you!" I walked back out to the kitchen, took a look at the lobster and immediately headed to the laundry room to retrieve two plastic bags. NO WAY was I touching these things with my bare hands. I wrapped the bags around my hands and dove in for the first lobster. With a terrible face I clasped onto it's shell and pulled it from the bag hanging it upside down. It's tail and legs moved!! Quickly I dropped the lobster into the boiling pot of lobster and banged the lid onto the pot...no way was this thing getting back out on me!!! First lobster down, three more to go. By this time, the second one was already wiggling it's legs in the bag (shudder), so I dove in with my bagged hands and immediately threw that one in the pot as well. Third lobster up next. After having trouble getting hold of it because my bags were getting wet and slippery, I held it upside down, and its tail began moving. Not waiting to see if its legs were moving, I threw it in the pot to join the others. Only one more to go...this one was not moving in the bag. I picked it up, shook it poked it, everything. Alas, this one had not made it home. He met his final resting place in the woods when Matt came home from work, in the meantime I set it outside so it wouldn't stink up the house. Next conundrum: how long do I cook these things? I had been talking to some of the people at the dealership while waiting for Matt to get the lobsters from the fridge out back, and they said 12-15 minutes. However, one guy there had advised between 17-20 minutes. "I want these things to really be dead and cooked well," were my thoughts so I took the highest bid and put the kitchen timer on for 20 minutes. PHEW.... lobsters were taken care of!!!!!! Sitting down for a break, I started to think about what I must have looked like with plastic bags wrapped around my hands, and a look of sheer horror on my face; and what I must have sounded like to Matt, shuddering and whining on the phone, and I started to laugh!! "You definitely haven't become a full-fledged Mainer yet," I thought to myself, "or at least not in the lobster aspect of Maine life." The lobsters were definitely cooked after 20 minutes and my man picked them out and ate some last night, declaring them delicious. It definitely was worth it all, to see his delight when he tasted it! :-) However, I think I have some more work to do before I can claim the name of a true Mainer!!
In other news, my kitchen wasn't only busy with lobster yesterday. I harvested our peppers and pickled them, peeled and froze apples, and made some cookies for my man and the guys at work. Here are some of the fruits of my afternoons labor.

Our pepper crop I picked yesterday.

 

 

I had this jar half full from peppers I have been picking through the summer, but the harvest yesterday filled up the bottle! :-)

 

 

Cookies for Matt and the guys.

 

Recipes

The Internet and I are great friends when it comes to cooking. I love finding and trying new recipes to add a variety to our meals. I thought I would share a couple that have been hits at our house recently.
Homemade Shake and Bake Mixture
4 cups dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon celery salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon minced onion
1 pinch dried basil leaves
1 pinch dried parsley
1 pinch dried oregano
In a large resealable plastic bag combine all ingredients. Seal bag and shake until all ingredients are mixed well.
*This recipe makes a LOT of shake'n bake. I would halve or even third the recipe next time. I also omitted the tablespoon of salt and it was still plenty salty.
We had this on boneless skinless chicken breasts, and it was DELICIOUS!!

BAKED SAUCY PORK CHOPS
2 bone-in pork loin chops (3/4 inch thick) *
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
In a skillet brown pork chops on both sides in butter. Transfer to a small greased baking dish; sprinkle with onion. In a bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Pour over chops. Cover and bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.
* I used boneless pork chops about 1 inch thick each and they turned out great.
I also substituted the chili powder (since I didn't have any) with a teaspoon of taco seasoning. Just another taste if your are feeling adventuresome! :-)

Blackberry Delight
Blackberry Layer:
6 cups fresh blackberries ( I'm sure frozen could be used just as well)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Cream Cheese Layer:
1 block (8 oz) cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
8 tablespoons solid butter-flavored shortening ( I used butter)
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350 F
Blackberry Layer:
Place berries into a stove-top pot with lid. Cook on medium low for 15 minutes until juice renders. Mix sugar and cornstarch together, add to blackberries. Cook until mixture thickens, 5-10 minutes. Set aside.
Cream Cheese Layer:
Mix cream cheese with sugar and vanilla in mixer. Set aside.
Dough:
Mix flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon; mix well. Add shortening one tablespoon at a time; incorporate with fork. Mix sugar and milk into mixture.
Spray oval (12 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch) baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Place 1/2 of dough mixture into bottom of dish. Pour 1/2 of blackberry mixture on top. Pour cream cheese onto blackberries. Pour remaining blackberries onto cream cheese mixture, followed by remaining dough mixture. Place in oven. Bake 35-40 minutes or until bubbly in the middle. Serve warm with or without ice cream.
Note: The top dough mixture is going to be tough to spread. I spread it out onto a greased piece of tinfoil ( you could use wax paper as well) the same size as my dish, and then slid the dough off the tin foil onto the top of the blackberries. It just rolled off in one big sheet of dough perfectly fit to the size of the pan. ( To get the perfect shape of your pan, trace around it onto the wax paper/ tin foil before putting anything in the baking dish.)
I had trouble with the cream cheese part as well. It does not spread. I ended up just putting spoonfuls of the mixture all over the blackberries. I would try chilling it for a while and then trying to spread it onto wax paper the same way I did the dough. ( Not sure if this would work or not, since I haven't tried it.)

This and That

It's been over a week since I've been on here because most of my time was taken preparing and teaching lessons at Vacation Bible School last week. My husband was a COMPLETE sweetheart and helped me out with ideas and drawings for my lessons. Overall, the lessons were a success and everybody had a good week! :-)
Here are a few things that have been catching my attention lately!

I made this cake over the weekend and it is YUMMY!! The recipe was in one of the many emails I get from Betty Crocker, and it just looked so good that I had to try it! Here is the recipe if anyone is interested.

CHERRY LIMEADE POKE CAKE
1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist white cake mix
1 1/4 cups lemon- lime soda
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 egg whites
1 tablespoon grated lime peel
1 box (4 serving size)cherry-flavored gelatin
1 cup boiling water
FROSTING :
1 container Betty Crocker Whipped fluffy white frosting
1 teaspoon grated lime peel
Maraschino cherries (optional)
Lime peel twists (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
Heat oven to 350F. Spray bottom of 9x13inch pan with baking spray and flour it.
In large bowl, beat cake mix, soda, oil, egg whites, and grated lime peel with electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, then on medium speed for 2 minutes scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.
Bake as directed on box for 9x13inch pan. Cool 20 minutes.
Meanwhile stir gelatin into boiling water, stirring for 2 minutes to completely dissolve gelatin. Poke cake every inch with tines of meat fork or table knife. Pour cherry mixture slowly over cake, allowing mixture to fill holes in cake. Cool completely, about 1 hour longer.
In small bowl, mix frosting and 1 teaspoon grated lime peel. Spread evenly over cake. Top each serving with a cherry and a lime twist. Store loosely covered.
I adapted the recipe because I think using cake mixes is cheating.I just mixed up the batter for a white cake, and then added the soda and grated lime peel to the batter. It turned out absolutely fine. I also made my own frosting, and added some lime juice to it as well as the grated lime peel!

The day lilies in my garden are starting to bloom. It's a surprise every morning to see what color of lily I have that day, since the garden was already planted when I got here. These flowers give me incentive to take a stab at round two of weeding out the fern and brambles from this garden. :-)

It has been really hot and dry here the last week or so, which means I need to keep watering my gardens. I went out yesterday to give some Miracle Grow and water to the vegetable and flower gardens, and found this growing under one of the cucumber leaves! I was SO excited!!! I had just been telling Matt that I could see tiny cucumbers starting on some of the plants, when I came across this one. "Honey, we have a really BIG cucumber, come see!!" was the first thing out of my mouth when I saw it! :-) (Since we only planted pickling cucumbers, this is about the size they will grow). Our tomatoes and peppers have blooms on them as well, so it will soon be time to start making pickles, salsa, etc. :-)

This is just because Matt and I both got a kick out of this! We found it on Facebook and thought it was so neat! I just wish I knew somebody having a baby so that I could host a baby shower and make this for it! Haha

It is such a beautiful day and the gardens need watering and weeding, and I need to finish mowing the lawn, so I best get to it!
Enjoy your Monday! :-)

"little touches"

Matt and I both love adding "little touches" to our house to make it look better and feel more "homey". We have a TON of schemes and plans that we would someday like to do to the house. We are taking one project at a time as we are able to, and this was our Tuesday project!! :)

Before

After

Our kitchen had four recessed lights in the ceiling when we bought the house. They were fine, but sometimes we found it a little dark, especially in the evenings. So we bought these really easy conversion kits to make the kitchen brighter, and add some style to the kitchen! :) All you have to do is screw the fixture into the recessed light pocket, adjust it to your desired length, screw in a lightbulb, and enjoy your new fixtures!! ;) We were surprised at how much extra light we get and we love the little touch of style it added over our kitchen table!

*Cozy*

Snowflakes falling outside my window...

A cozy fireplace burning in the living room...

Foster and Allan songs playing on my iPad...

My man wondering if we had any soup to eat on a chilly day...

No dessert for supper tonight...

Equals a cozy afternoon in my kitchen!!

AND an onion/vegetable soup with peanut butter picnic cake for dessert!!