Seasonal Saturday & Fresh, Clean, and Pure Friday!

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Taking a break from grading final exams, I'm posting this weekend's get-together for Fresh, Clean and Pure Fridays.  I normally have this up and running by Friday mornings, but I had an evening final exam to administer and was pretty tied up with my students.  Of course, I'm watching the beautiful Royal Wedding replays while typing this up!  Princess Catherine is simply beautiful!  Her wedding gown is absolutely perfect for her and the times, just perfect!  It's simplicity allows us to focus on her extraordinary beauty!  What a handsome Prince William too!

This week there are three featured food posts, and one featured each for garden, lifestyle, and hand-made/craft posts.  All are delightful!

Thanks to Gnee at Singing With The Birds for this beautifully decorated and edible  Easter cake that is over the top and perfect all the way down to the lovely gold bow!  Now you'd think that this is very time-consuming, but she says it is really pretty simple!

As strawberries are in season, I fell in love with these luscious cupcakes from Lisa at Flour Me With Love.  Just look at the cream cheese filling tucked into these pink babies.  Mmmmm!

These salmon pancakes are simply irresistible from Mary at Food Floozie!   With a bit of cream dolloped on top, these must be a real treat to nibble on.

J.C. @ From Captain's Daughter to Army Mom has recently moved from California to the Carolina's and shares glimpses of her stunning gardens in full spring bloom.  J.C. says that she had read and heard about the beauty of spring in the South, but with this being her first spring experience she 'wows' us with her floral surroundings!

Judee over at Gluten-Free A to Z Blog provides the names of indoor plants that help clean up our lifestyles in terms of removing toxins in the air that we breath inside our homes.  I can't imagine a home without live plants for freshness, beauty, and the added benefit of cleaning the air.

Last, but not least, Claudia from What's Cookin' Italian Style Cuisine has some of the most interesting crackle-decorated Easter eggs that I have ever seen in my life.  What fun these are!  I just love the vivid color of blue in the interior of the cracked eggs!


So go ahead and link up one or two of your favorite food, garden, or lifestyle posts!  Please show blog etiquette and post the button and/or link back to this link-up for others to find and join.  And also, please no posts for coupons and sales, giveaways, or trying to sell stuff.

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Almost Wordless Wednesday on The Acreage

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David Austen old-fashioned, antique roses.

The same rose climbing up the arbor that my husband built.

Loaded with buds yet to bloom!

Underneath the arbor.

and a final close up of this climbing rose (don't remember the name!)

Nelly Moser Clematis increasing in size by the day.

Renee Michelle Azalea in full bloom (it's a late-season bloomer).

Renee close up and popping with color!

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Easter Eggs and Bunnies!

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I have this thing for decorating with seasonal themes, and Easter is one of my favorites since it is so much fun with eggs, bunnies, baby chicks and flowers!  The colors of this holy day truly do brighten our homes.  So with my Easter wishes to you, here are few photos of a little bit of color that I splash around the house to share with you.

(Above) The Easter tree and decorations are from Pier 1.

The pastel colored eggs above are from Pier 1; the painted Easter eggs, bunnies, & covered bowl are from Lenox.

Above, this cute Easter collection is from Fitz and Floyd and the silver tray is Arthur Court.

More fun bunny and floral decorative serveware from Fitz and Floyd.

This beautiful rose-colored cut-glass bowl of glass eggs is from Williamsburg Marketplace.

We have a personalized Lenox egg for everyone in the family.

And lastly, just some fun colorful bunnies to greet you by the front door (from Hobby Lobby).

Buona Pasqua!!

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Seasonal Saturday & Fresh, Clean, and Pure Friday!

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It's the last week of my university's Spring Semester and I have not been able to respond to each of your comments and to the new followers for the last few weeks.  I'm going to try to catch up this weekend.  Last week so many awesome, and I really mean awesome posts were shared on this blog get-together.  Who to choose to feature was a huge delimma.  So I decided to feature 3 food blog posts instead of one.  Hope that's OK!

Nancy from "Nancy Creative" kindly shared a mouthwatering recipe for fresh Blackberry Crumble that sounds outstanding.  I'm ready for berries aren't you?  And my family is always in the mood for a fresh dessert like this.  Isn't it colorful and pretty?  What a beautiful plate too!

Michelle's post from "Ms. Enplace" compelled me to think of the Easter bunny with her recipe for Roasted Carrots in Thyme (just cuz we associate bunnies with eating carrots)!  Since it's Easter, I thought this would make an excellent veggie side dish!

Jessica from "Kitchen Belleicious" shared a unique recipe for Sun-dried Tomato, Spinach and Artichoke Wonton Lasagna that sounds and looks wonderful, especially made for her husband who doesn't eat meat on Fridays during Lent, which part of my family also observes.  This recipe is full of delicious spring ingredients too!

April joins in from "The Life and Times of a 21st Century Housewife" with not only a post about her spring garden in How Does My Garden Grow?, but she also speaks about a British garden initiative, The 'One Pot Pledge' which is to "get everyone growing something to help feed themselves, even if it is just some salad on the windowsill. It’s good for your health, the environment and your soul". Cool stuff!

You really should look at what Anna did to her kitchen in this kitchen makeover over on "Ask Anna". What an amazing difference!  And yes, Anna, I completely agree with you:  It looks totally Fresh!  I bet she just loves being in her bright new kitchen!

I love how Jill over on "Real Food Forager" dyed Easter eggs in a completely natural way.  This woman is totally serious about doing things as clean as possible.  I wonder how the robins' eggs are so naturally blue . . . is there a natural way that we can achieve that color too, Jill?  Well done!

A big welcome to J.T. sharing a post from "Bubbling With Elegance and Grace" in which she openly discusses her lifestyle approach to achieving a life of self-esteem, inner beauty, fashion and gratitude.  What a beautiful soul!


I'd like to wish all of you a Happy and Blessed Easter, BUONA PASQUA or Passover and a wonderful weekend with your families, friends, and loved ones.  I cannot wait to see some of your posts next week on what you served for your celebration, how you decorated, and maybe some tablescapes . . . and more!

Now go ahead and link up another great post or two.  Please copy and paste the button with a link on your post or at least just a link back here so other's can join in.  For those who are new, I ask that you do not link up posts related to giveaways, coupons or sales, or trying to sell stuff.  Thanks for your blog kindness!

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Creamy Cucumber Salad with Fresh Dill

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As the weather begins to warm up, I like to serve cold salads in numerous ways.  One of my favorites is Cucumber Salad in a Creamy Dill Sauce.  This week I was flipping through a cookbook given to me from my God-Daughter for a Christmas gift . . . "Barefoot Contessa Back To Basics" by Ina Garten, and found her version of this chilled salad.  Ms. Garten, just like me, says that she loves cucumbers.

Her recipe is different than most traditional recipes in that she uses hothouse cucumbers and yogurt to create a "lighter and sweeter" flavor, rather than mayonnaise and/or buttermilk.  There is also no sugar in this, which you might want to add if you like.  One of the noticeable differences unique to her recipe that really makes a huge difference is that she drains the excess liquid from both the cucumbers and the yogurt.  This produces a more silky, creamy sauce that is far less runny!

I also used some fresh dill from my garden instead of the jarred variety.  Ina states that this cucumber salad is perfect to pair with grilled chicken and guess what we had for dinner?  Grilled chicken!  So I had to try her recipe!  This recipe makes quite a lot, so I recommend cutting it in half if you don't have many people to serve.

Creamy Cucumber Salad
very slightly adapted from Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa Back To Basics"

4 - 5 hothouse cucumbers, seeds removed and thinly sliced with peel left on
1 - 2 small red onions, thinly sliced and then cut into half rounds
1-1/2 Tbsp. Kosher salt (I used sea salt)
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt (reduced from 4 cups in the original recipe)
1 cup sour cream
(or 2 cups of sour cream with no yogurt)
2 Tbsp. champagne vinegar (or red wine vinegar is fine too)
1/2 cup minced fresh dill
1 tsp. sugar (optional)
1-1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper (I used 2 - 3 tsp.)
2 tsp. sea salt (my addition, since it's in desperate need of it)


In a LARGE bowl, mix the cucumbers, red onions, and 1-1/2 Tbsp. of salt.
Pour them into a large colander and suspend over another large bowl.
Wrap the bowl and colander with plastic wrap.
Place this in the refrigerator to DRAIN for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Discard the liquid that collects in the bowl.
Pour the yogurt into a sieve/fine mesh strainer that is lined with a paper towel and suspend over another medium sized bowl.
Wrap the bowl and sieve in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Discard the liquid that collects in this bowl too.
When the cucumbers are ready, roll them up in paper towels or a clean kitchen towel.
Press the paper towels/kitchen towel lightly to remove most of the liquid from the cucumbers.
Place the cucumbers and yogurt in a large bowl.
Add the sour cream, vinegar, dill, 2 tsp. sea salt and the pepper.
Toss well.
Refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend (this is a very important step not to ignore!).
Sprinkle again with salt and freshly ground black pepper if you prefer.
Garnish with snips of fresh dill for color!
Serve chilled.

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Almost Wordless Wednesday on The Acreage

Whenever I need to feel more joy in my life, I just go outside and enjoy whatever may be in bloom or season.  Here is what brought me some smiles this week when I needed it so much.  I hope you enjoy too.  I want to thank all of you for your kind thoughts and support the last two days.  It means so much to me to have 'met' all of you and have you as my friends, even though we are miles apart (but close in heart and spirit)!
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Purple Iris from my father-in-law's garden in Ohio that we transplanted here.

Blue and white Iris that I can't remember the name, sorry!   :-(

"Nelly Moser" Clematis climbing on our lamp post.

One of the harmless little critters (a chameleon) that visits regularly.  

He/she is so cute, huh?

Have a beautiful day everyone!

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Farfalle Carbonara with Spring Peas

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April showers bring May flowers!  And thank God for the rain that we've received before things dry out in the summer!  I really appreciate gentle rain showers and thought it was such a delightful theme for this week in the I Heart Cooking Club with Jamie Oliver group.  "April Showers" . . . what foods come to mind?  Well, spring peas seemed to be popping up on my brain, so I searched Jamie's web-site for "spring" and numerous recipes appeared.  Since I've got a pantry full of pasta that I need to use, and some cream and peas already in the frig, all I needed for this recipe was some pancetta.  Not a problem, I easily picked that up on the way home from the office.

I made a few changes to increase the smiles on our faces over this recipe:  First I increased the amount of pancetta.  I've got a husband who prefers meat over pasta, so I have to meet him half way by adding more pancetta.  It was wonderful!  I added one more ounce of cream, because I figured, "why not?".  Next, we're not big fans of mint in pasta, so I replaced it with the classic Carbonara herb:  Italian Parsley.  Finally, I needed to really shake on some extra salt and pepper at the end when I tasted the final results, even though I don't need salt for my health.  The recipe certainly required it for enhanced flavor!

I also recommend that the next time I make this, I'll saute' 2 or 3 cloves of garlic in the pancetta fat after the pancetta is cooked.  This time I drained the fat, since I certainly don't need it in my nutrition.  But it would be nice to complete this recipe with some golden garlic blended in.  I think I would also use half Pecorina-Romano and half Parmigiano cheeses instead of all Parmigiano cheese alone, just for a flavor that I prefer.

Farfalle Carbonara with Spring Peas
adapted from Jamie's Dinners

1 lb. farfalle pasta (bow ties)
1 jumbo egg
4 oz. heavy cream (changed from 3.5 oz - I mean what's an extra ounce?)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 rashers of pancetta, roughly sliced (I used 1/2 lb. chopped into chunks)
3 handfuls of fresh or frozen peas
2 sprigs of fresh mint leaves (I eliminated this since we're not crazy about mint with pasta)
2 handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. fresh Italian parsley, chopped (I added this, since it is classic in Carbonara)
more salt and pepper to taste (it needs it!)

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add the farfalle, and cook for 10 minutes or until al dente (farfalle noodles take a little bit longer than spaghetti noodles).
Whisk the egg in a bowl with the cream, salt and pepper.
Place the pancetta into a another large frying pan and cook until crispy and caramel brown.
When the farfalle is nearly cooked, add the peas to the pasta and water for the last minute and a half.
When cooked, drain in a colander, saving a little of the cooking water.
Add the pasta and peas to the pancetta.
Add the egg and cream mix to the pasta, peas and pancetta mixture. What's important here is that you add it while the pasta is still hot. This way, the heat of the pasta cooks the eggs and creates a silky smooth sauce.
Add the Parmesan cheese and gently blend everything together.
Add the Italian Parsley and once again blend gently (original recipe calls for mint).
Toss together and loosen with a little of the reserved cooking water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper . . . just a note:  it really needs this!
Serve as soon as possible while hot.

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Seasonal Saturday & Fresh, Clean, and Pure Friday!

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April is almost half over as time flies by!  And what a gorgeous month it has been outside.  I've enjoyed it so much since we've got our veggie gardens all planted and growing nicely.  We even planted sweet corn this year . . . we'll see how that goes!  In about a week, we'll be past our official 'freeze' date in this region of the U.S., so I'm crossing my fingers that all my newly planted babies will be fine.  But I ramble!  It's time again to share your posts on how you've freshened up your recipes, homes, gardens, lifestyles, etc.  Are you doing something more seasonal-oriented that you'd like to share?  This is the place to share those posts.

Here are the featured blogs from last week . . . but really ALL of the posts were so incredible!
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Sonia from My Creative Flavors shared one of the BEST posts on how to prepare artichokes as well as a yummy recipe for Stuffed Artichokes.  This post is one of the best that I've ever read on cooking fresh artichokes.  I hope you check it out!
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Glenda over at Tootsie Time is the busiest garden blogger, I tell you!  In her post she takes us on a tour of her green house and chats about her first blooms of spring.
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Once again for the second week in a row, there were no posts for decor, so once again there is a second featured food blog post.  Jessica from Kitchen Belleicious shared a beautiful step-by-step post on Brown Sugar Shortcakes with Strawberries and Lemon Cream.  Just the title alone makes me drool!
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Denise from Creative Kitchen shares very honestly about her lifestyle changes and efforts to eat more "clean" for her health in her post The Plight of a Food Blogger and Clean Eating.  Actually, blogging and reading other's food blogs have helped me eat better and more healthfully, and I'm so grateful for that.
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To help us celebrate Easter in a precious way, Katherine from Katherine's Corner shared her post on how to create ribbon Easter eggs.  These eggs are so beautiful.  I've always loved them and yet have never made them myself.  Just darling!

Yes, you can share more than one post.  Just remember that I gently remove any post related to giveaways, coupons and sales, and any attempt to try to sell stuff.  Please be blogger polite and either include a link or place the Fresh, Clean, and Pure Friday or Seasonal Saturday button with a link to this blog in your post for others to find this get-together.  Thanks so much!


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Frittata with Mushrooms, Thyme, and Parmigiano Cheese

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Eggs!  Glorious, miraculous eggs!  One of the perennial food symbols of springtime.  I could eat eggs every day, I love them that much.  Whether scrambled, fried, as an omelette, or even better yet, for Italian frittatas, I just love eggs.  I had some fresh mushrooms in the frig that needed to be used so I immediately thought that preparing this egg dish would be perfect for a light lunch this week and to take a slice in a packed lunch for the office.  Actually, this is quite customary for Italians to do with frittatas.  I snipped the thyme straight out of my herb garden just outside of my kitchen.  I also lightened this up a bit by replacing half of the egg amount with egg replacements and by using half and half instead of whole cream.    

Did you know the main reasons why an Italian frittata differs from a French omelette?   

• First, there's always at least one ingredient included, which is always added to the beaten raw eggs; whereas with an omelette any ingredient is laid over the mostly-cooked egg mixture before it is folded.
• Frittata egg mixtures are often beaten longer and more vigorously which results in a deeper, fluffier egg dish.
• Frittatas are cooked more slowly over a lower heat than omelettes, until the bottom is cooked, but the top is still runny, unlike omelettes that are cooked through on both sides.  Which leads to the next difference:
• Frittatas are not folded, but simply turned over in it's entirety or once cooked on the stove, they are finished off by baking and grilling/broiling in a hot oven.  
• Frittatas are sliced and shared among several people, and omelettes are served whole to one person.  And lastly,
• Frittatas are also served hot or cold, whereas omelettes are always served hot.

If you're giving up meat for personal health reasons or for this season of Lent, then let me tell you that you'll not feel any sense of deprivation when enjoying frittatas.  They are incredibly healthy, full of flavor, and so comforting!  Plus, they are simply beautiful to look at!  If you have never made a frittata before, please give them a try because they are so easy and versatile with numerous ingredients that you can include in them.

And now, here's a great recipe for a very delicious frittata!

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Come Come on and take a bite!

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Garnish with fresh sprigs of thyme. 

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Sprinkle a bit of black pepper all over each individual slice.

Frittata with Mushrooms, Thyme, and Parmigiano Cheese
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3 Tbsp. butter or cooking spray
16 oz. fresh mushrooms (of your choice), wiped clean, stems trimmed, sliced
6 green onions, sliced
3/4 cups egg replacement
3 jumbo eggs
1/4 cup half and half (or you can use whole milk)
1/2 cup Parmigiano cheese, fresh and finely grated
1 1/2 Tbsp. chopped, fresh thyme leaves
(optional:  chopped, fresh chives and/or Italian parsley)
salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven on to 350 degrees (later you'll change it to "Broil").
Heat an 8-inch ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat.
Coat pan with cooking spray or butter.
Add mushrooms and green onions to pan; sauté 12 minutes or until mushrooms are nicely browned.
In a medium bowl, add the eggs and egg replacement.
Add the half and half.
Add the Parmesan cheese.
Add the thyme and any additional herbs that you like.
Add salt and pepper and whisk everything together.
Pour the egg/cheese mixture into the same pan with the sauteed mushrooms and green onions.
Heat pan over medium heat.
Cook, covered, for about 6 minutes or when it is just a little bit liquid-y/runny on the top.
At that point, place the pan into the oven and cook on 350 for another 5 - 10 minutes.
Once the frittata is completely set and cooked (not runny on top) change the oven temperature to "Broil".
Place the pan on the lowest rack of the oven and broil for about 2 minutes or until a golden brown color forms on the top.

Approximately 185 calories per slice (this fritatta can be cut into 6 slices).

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