Heirloom Tomato Pie

  The spring-like weather had me in a garden state of mind yesterday, so  I made an Heirloom Tomato pie recipe for dinner, along with Dad’s swedish meatballs   The men in the house would not be satisfied with Tomato pie alone.  This recipe is an adaption from a recipe posted on the Food Network, but I think I found it last year on someone elses blog.  Let me know in the comments if you are the someone.

Ingredients:

Pie crust, either store bought or home made (I used stored bought – the shame of it! )
3/4 cup  shredded manchego cheese
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
extra-virgin olive oil 1/4 cup sour cream
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 1/4 pounds mixed heirloom tomatoes ( I bought what the store had since it’s not garden season yet)
salt & pepper
3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, divided
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme ( I left that out, not a fan)

Directions:
Line the crust with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until the edges are golden, about 20 minutes. Remove the foil and weights and continue baking until golden all over, 10 to 15 more minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.

To make the filling: in a large skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until golden, about 15 minutes. Let cool.

Thinly slice the tomatoes and toss with 1 teaspoon  salt in a colander. Let drain, gently tossing occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Combine the manchego, mozzarella, sour cream, breadcrumbs,  2 tablespoons parsley, thyme, 1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper and the sauteed onion in a bowl. Spread into the crust. Arrange the tomatoes on top. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with pepper. Bake until the tomatoes are browned, about 50 minutes. Top with the remaining 1 tablespoon parsley.   YUM~ try it! you will not be disappointed.

I can smell it

  Do you see what I see this morning?  the GROUND!!… and the scent as I stepped outside to take this picture was of wet earth, and  the promise of SPRING!….. do I hear a Hallelujah!  The birds are chirping, the chickens are roaming, the horses are muddy and I don’t care. 

 It’s a new day, folks – make it a good one! 
and thank you to all who are donating a book to This Old House’s
Little Free Library.  I’ll let you know what we all put together 🙂

Just a thought here….

  Now, first understand that I don’t need donations to start up my Little Free Library.  I’ve got plenty to stock it.   However,  if you love the idea too… and are an avid reader and  book collector as I am… you can help me stock the library by sending a book you have already read and don’t mind never seeing again.  It can be a childrens book or a gardening how to book or a romance or mystery, best seller or new author, whatever!   I think it would be really fun to see the diversity of what we can throw together.  If this is something that you’d like to join in on, I also recommend writing your blog address on the inside cover  indicating to new readers that  you donated the book.   Send me an e-mail if you want to donate, and I’ll give you my mailing address.   karenthisoldhouse@hotmail.com

Below are a few more…
 cute window box! 

This one is located in Ghana….

And this one is in Memphis!…

alittle imagination goes a long way!

Little Free Library

    I saw this on FB the other day, and I loved the idea so much I asked if this could be my b-day present. The Mr. said yes. Soooo… I’ve ordered one, and it will soon be out in front of This Old House, next to the vegetable cart we are apparently resurrecting this summer.  If you’re a local and you know where I live, feel free to borrow, keep or donate a book any time. I’ve been such an avid reader over the years, I have hundreds of books.  What a great way to share!… and even though there is a library here in town, encouraging the practice of reading, unplugging from our gadgets,…. it can’t be a bad thing.   My Little Free Library will be located  on the road at the second driveway  (brown barn entrance). Help yourself!

“Little Free Library was started in 2009 by Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, who decided that giving away books from his private collection would serve as a fitting tribute to his mother, a teacher. With the help of a community outreach expert, Bol was able to spread the concept. Now there are almost 18,000 library stewards as Bol calls them, who have registered their own Little Free Libraries in 45 states and dozens of countries. Each owner pays a $25 to the nonprofit organization to get a sign and a number, and to be on the locator map at    http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/

It’s a beautiful thing

Southern Comfort

 I think my southern blog friends Andy and Mandy  have taken pity on us northerners with all the snow that’s been dumped on us lately.  Yesterday, much to my surprise, the mail lady came trudging up to the side gate with a package in hand…they really do deliver in sleet and snow!

 It was a much welcomed  package full of southern comfort – 
 My birthday is around the corner,  so they added this note…
It all started with Andy’s rave about these B & G handmade pies..
I went looking, and discovered they are only found in the South.
He thought that was a travesty and decided to send some my way.
Let me tell ya, the lemon pies are a bite full of southern sunshine.
Gone in 60 seconds.
But they didn’t stop with the pies.
Nooo.. we’ve got corn muffin and biscuit mixes…
Biscuit cut ham… now that’s something I have never seen around here….
….and Apple Butter from the Dutch Kettle.
I happen to love apple butter.  
Andy and Mandy put the gold star on the term Southern Hospitality.
 A & M – Thanks so much for warming up this chilly New England house yesterday.
Andy blogs about home improvement projects and family,
hailing from North Carolina. He stumbled upon my blog when we
were in the midst of ressurecting This Old House and began following along. 
You can find his blog HERE.

Snow and Cheesy Corn muffins. It’s what’s for dinner.

We’ve got more snow and wind today.
lovely.
Do you see the drift in the left hand corner still hanging on for dear life?
It’s getting replenished as I type.
Thank you all for the lovely comments on yesterdays post.
My daughter sooo appreciated the lift.
This is one of the things I love about blogging, we all feel connected
at one time or another, we share similar experiences, worries, good fortune and bad. 
 More snow and rain in the forecast – It’s a good day for a hearty recipe….
I’m sharing Jane’s recipe below,
going to make them with turkey soup tonight for dinner.   ï»¿
Cheese Centered Corn Muffins

1 1/2 c. cornmeal
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 T. baking powder
1 1/2 t. salt
2 T. sugar
2 t.. chopped rosemary or 1 t. dried
2 eggs
1 3/4 c. buttermilk
6 T.butter, melted
5 1/2 oz. cheese (I used cheddar) cut in 12 cubes

Preheat oven to 400. Spray muffin tin wells. In large bowl mix all dry ingredients. In another, mix the remaining ingredients except cheese. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add your egg mixture. Fold until blended and no lumps remain. Spoon about 2 T. of batter in muffin well, pop in a cube of cheese and add batter until well is 2/3 filled. Bake for 15 minutes or until edges of muffins are golden. Cool pan on rack. Serves 12.

You Go, Girl

Feels like I’m being a bit of a braggart here,
I hope it’s not coming across that way,
just want you to know it’s not my intention.
I’m particularly proud of my girl right here,
because she’s had some real hard knocks in life..
the kind that hit you broadside and change life as you knew it
 in an instant.  She works hard every day to overcome them.
So, forgive me the bragging, won’t you?
I am so proud of the dedication she shows to this horse she
took on, how she cares for him better than some folks care for their kids..
and how she works with her horse almost every day after putting in time at her day job
  to accomplish their goals.
I’m just giving her a shout out in this little space of mine,
because I want her to truly believe that she’s doing more than  OK. 
Can I brag just once more?
I told you about the cost of showing in a previous post,
and how some of the show clothes cost more than a downpayment on a car.
In outfitting K and Max for the show season, we’ve been trying to find deals
with used tack and even gently used show clothes.
This shirt was made for the designers daughter, but she wanted
something different. She and K are about the same size!
  Sooo… we got a great deal.
I love when that happens.

Hair Club for Horses

  Now this is a concept I used to think was just ridiculous.  Really silly.   I mean, no way in a frozen hell with three blue moons would I ever buy a fake tail for my horse.  Come on, are ya serious?

 I bet you didn’t know ( unless you are already a horse show person) that many of the horses you see going ’round and ’round the arena are sporting a fake tail.   A WEIGHTED fake tail, even.   All the better to present the horse, you see.

These horses have tail extensions.
(I did take these from the internet, no offense intended to the actual horse owners)
This horse is having a really bad tail day…
 This is K with Beemer last summer…  tail or no tail?… you be the judge.
This is what tails look like unattached to a horse…
These are a feathered cut, and there are also blunt cuts
This is what Max looks like without a tail extension.
 –K will be mad about this posted pic  “Mom!! Weird face!!-
This is what came in the mail all the way from Florida the other day…
Just hush.

Romaine Tenney

    I visited the site of my sister’s soon-to-be homestead recently… a lovely six acre plot where she and her husband will build a house and barn for her horses and I’m guessing, his chickens and a cow or two if he can get away with it.  It’s a farmstead they’ve both dreamed of for some time now, located in a lovely town full of big old homes from the 1800’s and farm land that stretches across the landscape very comfortably, as it has for hundreds of years. Scattered here and there  are  dilapidated old dairy barns no longer in use, which  always saddens me.  It’s clear that a rich agricultural way of life has all but vanished in this beautiful place.  Development is imminent.  The lot my sister will build on is in fact part of a development that divides up an old dairy farm .. the barn still standing, although empty.

   Inevitable?  I suppose.   Progress! … after all.  And Hey… my husband is a home builder…we are able to own this farm because he builds houses for a living.  What a hypocrite!    But is it always  truly progress? Are we losing more than we’re gaining in some of these instances?  I, for one, believe this to be true.

  I read a piece the other night that will not leave me, the man and his story I will never forget.  Writer Howard Mansfield wrote a heart wrenching article in Yankee Magazine about Romaine Tenney.  If you’ve got the time, I urge you to read this article,  click HERE.    I wish I knew the man.  I wish I could have helped.  This should not have been allowed to happen.   And yet it’s happening again, all these years later in a project called  Northern Pass …. you can read more about that HERE or in the current Yankee Magazine.

Picture taken just a week before the end of Romaine’s story.. 

 In the telling of the story of old man Tenney, there is always present that ominous word… Eminent Domain.  What gives any one for any reason the right to take away the life and livelihood, the roots, the history… the love of THEIR land, land their family has worked and cherished and lived on and by…   all in the name of progress?   When we treat people in this way, we regress substantially. 
I’ve traveled I-91 into Vermont.   Several times we’ve tread just inches over the ghost of Romaine Tenney and his farm… unknowing.  Next time, I will stop the car and step off the highway at Exit 8 and pay silent tribute to the man who loved that land… and tell him how very sorry I was to hear of his demise …. how much  his life mattered, how his way of life is not forgotten, and how maybe, just maybe someone important will read his story and finally HEAR him…. and  LEARN from it.