Farm Fresh Dinner

I know that these days it is very cool to have your own garden. Even in big cities like Louisville there are tons of people that grown their own produce. Dan and I have not arrived at that level I guess. I tried to start small last year and grew my own basil....and eventually killed my own basil. Hopefully in the future we can take after Dan's parents and have a good sized garden. But before that we have to have land. And before that we have to buy a house. Hmmm. So until that day, fresh food markets and farmer's markets will have to suffice.

Early this summer Dan and I were walking a walk around Old Louisville when we discovered that a fresh food market had opened up just a block from our apartment. We stopped in, met the owner, and surveyed what he had to offer. I was very excited that The Root Cellar had opened and had a very large variety of Kentucky Proud fruits, vegetables, dairy, and meat products.

Last week I made a visit and picked up some items so we could have a Root Cellar meal. Everything we ate came from the market and made a very tasty meal! I look foward to visiting the Root Cellar year round and experimenting with the seasonal foods it has to offer!



carmen red pepper, squash, and cucumber




Sweet corn on the cob



Ground bison for bison burgers





A stove full of fresh eats




Our market fresh meal of bison burgers, sauteed peppers and squash, sweet corn on the cob, and cantaloupe (for me). As Rachel Ray would say, "Yum-O!"



Brother-Sister Weekend

This weekend while Dan was California dreamin, Mallory, Micah, and Morgan came to Louisville for a visit. We had been planning this weekend all summer and it finally arrived! We had made plans to go to Holiday World and do anything else that sounded fun. Although the forecast was calling for a scorcher of a weekend, we weren't intimidated and didn't let the heat keep us from having good times for a few days.

They all arrived Thursday night from the respective ends of the state. After getting food and a quick trip to Target, we hung out at our apartment and rested from the long days we all had from either shopping, driving or working.

Our plan was to leave Louisville at 9:30 am Friday for Holiday World, and we surprisingly got "up and at em" pretty easily. Morgan was the only one of us that had been to Holiday World before, and we were all excited to get to Santa Clause, IN and get inside the park.

We thought that going on a Friday might make for smaller crowds and shorter lines, but the park was crowded! The heat index wasn't keeping anyone away! (Can you believe we saw people in jeans??? long sleeves??? sweat pants of all things???) We rode a couple of rides in the amusement park before heading to Splashin Safari water park, which is where we spent the majority of our day. We never got extremely overheated; I guess the water slides and shaded staircases were enough to keep us oblivious of the temperature. Each water slide was really fun and we all had a blast.



Gotta get a photo with Santa!





Morg is enjoying some ice cream before we left the park.



We got back into Louisville around 8:00 and ordered pizza from The Sicilian and picked it up on our way back to my apartment. We were all exhausted and enjoyed relaxing for the rest of the evening.

Saturday morning we had waffles and bacon for breakfast, after sleeping in of course! We didn't have much of an agenda for the day except to go to the Bats game at 6:00 pm. Again, we were aware of the forecast, but were determined to have a good time anway. After a short trip to the mall we arrived at Louisville Slugger Field around 5:30. I'm sure we each secretly thought "Oh my gosh, am I really about to sit out in this heat....on purpose?"

We bought our tickets when we got to the stadium, and bought the best remaining seats that just happened to be right in the sun. We made our way to our section and settled into the hot seats.



View from our section





Gotta get some Cracker Jacks!





I know this picture is dark, but I had to capture the best part of the day: the sun going down!



Althought the Bats lost and it was miserably hot, I think we all ended up having a good time. After the game we drove just across the river to Rocky's, an Italian restaurant with a great view of the Louisville skyline. When the hostess asked if we would like to sit inside or on the patio, we all said "inside please!" We needed some air conditioning! Dinner was great: Morgan got a serious Caesar salad fix, Micah enjoyed pasta, which she loves, and Mal and I got our sweet tooth satisfied with a quick trip to The Widow's Walk Creamery, a walk-up ice cream parlor in Indiana with an incredible view of Louisville.

We slept in again and soon the out-of-towners were on their way home. It was a really fun weekend that was the last big summer event for those of us starting back to school soon. Morgan and Micah kept us entertained, Mal kept us organized and clean, and I kept us fed. It was a good brother-sister weekend.

Random Quote from Morgan:

"Getting your driver's license is a lot like shaving. It's really fun at first but gets old after like three months."



Mocha Chip Icebox Pie

Most people that know me know that I love to cook and bake! Food Network is on our TV the majority of the day and I just love watching to get recipe ideas and kitchen tips. I saw this recipe while watching Barefoot Contessa one afternoon and thought to myself, "This would be a perfect summer dessert." It is seriously one of the easiest desserts I've ever made! I tried it for the first time while I was in Fulton visiting, and I think everyone approved...it was gone within 2 days! If you are entertaining one summer weekend, or need a simple dessert to take to a gathering, give this a try! (Note: It needs to sit in the freezer at least six hours before serving.)

I always see Giada de Laurentis using mascarpone cheese in her recipes. I've searched and searched for this Italian ingredient before, and finally found it at Whole Foods. It is kind of like an Italian cream cheese. The recipe called for this unique item and I wanted it to turn out as authentic as possible.

Mascarpone cheese wasn't the only rare ingredient required for this frozen dessert. Ina Garten said that she used Tate's cookies in her recipe; they are made locally in the Hamptons. I didn't want to make my own and she said that thin and crispy cookies would work best. While I was at Whole Foods I browsed the cookie aisle to see what it offered. And low and behold, there were Tate's cookies! I bought two bags and left the store very excited about my finds.

The dessert takes chocolate chip cookies and layers them with a cream mixture. I did four layers of cookies and four layers of the cream, starting with cookies on the bottom of a 9 in. springform pan.

See all the layers! After freezing for several hours, the cream mixture really softens the cookies and you are able to slice this just like a cake.

Mocha Chip Icebox Pie (adapted from Ina Garten's recipe)

2 Cups heavy cream
1/2 Cup of sugar
12 oz. mascarpone cheese
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
36 chocolate chip cookies

Pour cream into a bowl and whip just until it's fluffy. Add the sugar, mascarpone cheese, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and vanilla. Whip together until combined and stiff peaks form.

Start with a bottom layer of chocolate chip cookies. Place cookies on the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan until the bottom is covered. You may want to break cookies into smaller pieces to fill in any gaps. Place 1/4 of the cream mixture on top of the cookies. Continue this process, creating four layers. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the freezer for at least six hours before serving.

This recipe didn't completely fill my springform pan. You could easily double the recipe to get a much thicker dessert. Enjoy!

The Fourth in the Flip

Last Friday I left Louisville to head down south to spend a week in Flip and enjoy some much needed time relaxing by the pool and hanging out with family. And this year I was super thankful to celebrate freedom....freedom from summer class that is! I now have about one month remaining of my summer before school starts and am excited that grad school will not be back on the radar until almost September. So this post is being written to you directly from the thriving metropolis of Fulton, Ky, while I sit at my parents' computer and drink coffee that Milton made before he left for work and the only issue I have to think about for the rest of the day is whether I should wear SPF 30 or 70 when I lay out today. :-)

We just enjoyed a great holiday weekend! Matthew came in from Cali, the grill was working all weekend, and we all spent too much time by the pool. And yes that includes Duke, our mini Dachshund lifeguard.

Friday soon after I arrived, we had a great dinner of steak, grilled squash, TWO kinds of potatos (Micah had both, by the way), mushrooms, and rolls. Dessert was brought by yours truly, a very special and hyped up red, white, and blue velvet cake. (The cake is soooo special that it will be getting its own blog post, which includes professional pictures taken by cousin Lauren!) We hung out on the patio after dinner and layed out all day on Saturday.

Saturday night we drove to Pilot Oak to eat dinner at Southern Red's BBQ. We ate outside, enjoyed the sweetest tea you've ever tasted, and had more fried food than we should ever admit to eating. Here are Morgan and Micah during dinner.

The gang at Southern Red's. The Worley-Dean's, Bell's, and Jones's.

Lauren and Mal agreed to pose with the sign!

Sunday morning we went to church and spent the afternoon poolside. With an endless supply of Diet Coke and bottled water we were prepared to beat that hot afternoon sun! Everyone was set to arrive at 6:00 for a dinner full of cook-out must haves: grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, potato salad, watermelon, and baked beans.

Micah, Matthew, and Mallory enjoying our delicious dinner. I didn't tell them I was taking this picture, so hopefully none of them hate me for posting it to the web.



Our little cousin Allie! She'll always take time to pose for a picture. She and the other little ones kept us entertained all night!

After dinner on the patio, we headed to the other side of the house to enjoy the Fourth of July tradition of FAMILY BASEBALL! This event has been the source of patriotic entertainment for many years, as well as a source of some embarrassing moments. Micah and Morgan have always served as team captains. And Morgan may not run inside after being tagged out anymore, but he still is competitive, which makes it all the more fun.

Setting up the bases

About to pick teams and trying to recruit all family members!

These are the fans that decided to enjoy the game from the driveway.

A shot from the outfield, where I hid out trying to avoid any activity whatsoever. I've never really been good at what is referred to as "defense," but I did hit a double! I believe Micah's team won, but not without some minor injuries to our older veteran players and some good laughs along the way.

This is the family after the game! We missed everyone who wasn't there!!

After the game we went back to the patio for Karen's Fourth of July trivia game, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? Because mom teaches 5th grade social studies, she coordinated a trivia game for everyone that tested our knowledge of the history of Independence Day, the Revolutionary War, etc etc. I won't mention who actually won. ;-)

After trivia, Morgan helped the little ones have fun with some sparklers.



Isabella, Gabriella, and Allie had their time in the spotlight of course! Choreography included!



Aunt Sandra's traditional Fourth of July flag cake! We also enjoyed Barbara's Heath Bar Cake and Wanda's homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert!

Monday morning we had a delicious breakfast of sausage breakfast casserole, cinnamon streusel muffins, and fruit. We were greeted by a couple of hours of stormy weather, but it soon cleared out in time for some of us to catch a few hours of sun by the pool. Unfortunately Mal had to go back to Lex on Monday, but the rest of us were planning to spend the evening at Pontotoc Park in downtown Fulton. We took a picnic dinner to eat, including Mom's favorite apple dessert, and watched the fireworks with a few hundred other local residents. Believe me when I say that this show rivals both Thunder over Louisville and Cincy's WBN fireworks show. Be jealous that you weren't there!!


Pontotoc Park in downtown Fulton. There aren't many people in this picture, but by the time the fireworks had started the lawn was completely full!



Here is our picnic set-up downtown. Of course mom brought the patriotic tablecloth and the American flag to ensure that we had a very festive locale.

Happy Fourth of July!!!!