Making Herb Butter

 I love herbs - both growing and cooking with them. After attending a recent Medicinal Herb class, I'm exploring using herbs as tonics and for cleaning, so I've been adding a few more plants to my yard that can be beneficial to us.

 I've had this bird cage hanging in a tree and decided to add small pots of oregano and some aloe in it. As the plants get larger, I'll transplant to bigger containers or somewhere in the ground.

One of my favorite ways to use herbs is "Herb Butter."

It's so easy to make and there's no exact recipe.

I let two sticks of (real) butter soften at room temperature, so that you can stir in the herbs. For this batch, I added chopped chives, oregano, basil, salt, and garlic powder. Stir it in good and then refrigerate to let it get firm again. That's all! 

Use whatever herbs you like and to your taste. Now that I think about it, at times I've even added dried cayenne pepper to the butter.  

Grilled corn on cob is so good with herb butter. At Memorial Day, we bought 10 ears of corn and grilled them. Everyone was going crazy over the corn. Later that night, I found out Jeff didn't get any corn. We had 11 in attendance and everyone ate the corn . Ooops! So for 4th of July, I made sure there was plenty of corn for everyone and that he got a piece.

 For grilled corn, I remove the silks, but leave on the husk. Soak corn for 30 minutes in water, liberally apply butter to ears of corn, pull the husk back up over the corn, wrap in tin foil and grill 20-30 minutes. It holds it heat really well, so its the first thing to go on the grill and it'll still be warm after grilling the meat. Remove foil just prior to setting on the table and then watch it disappear! Oh and pass the herb butter around the table!

We also used a pat of butter on the steaks, right before they came off the grill and it's good on bread as well.

Do you cook with herbs? If so, what's your favorites? 

Stars and Stripes Strawberry Peach Pie

I got up this morning, planning to make a peach cobbler to go along with the Homemade Ice Cream Jeff is planning to make this evening. We have two peach trees here at home and we've been anxiously awaiting them to ripen and today was finally the day and it just happens to be 4th of July and we have a family cookout tonight! I mean, whats Independence Day without peaches and ice cream???

I shared a picture from my last years red, white, and blue stars and stripes pie and I really wanted to make something prettier than just a cobbler. I usually cook pretty simple stuff, but when I decide to really cook, I go all out. (We have chicken marinating for Jerk Chicken on the grill tonight, I've made herb butter for corn on the cob, baked a pie, and prepared corn to take to our 4th of July get together already today plus started a batch of homemade herb and citrus cleaner.)

So I got to thinking - Last years pie was strawberries and blueberries... Could I do strawberries and peaches? I looked on pinterest and saw a few recipes for a Strawberry and Peach Pie, so I decided I was going to make my own version. I must confess, I've never had this combination of fruit pie, but its worth a shot, right? Jeff picked fresh peaches and we bought strawberries on sale yesterday, but I didn't have a crust on hand.

I can make homemade pie crust, I've just got lazy about doing it and have been buying store bought crust. Want to know my secret to pie crust? It's a pastry mat! Grandmama could make the perfect pie crust and roll it out just right and never measure. This girl needs some help and the pastry mat keeps me from rolling out the crust to far (and making it too thin) and then I can cut the size I need and it fits right in my pie plate. Also great for homemade pizza crust!

I also double my pie crust recipe almost anytime I make it, more especially since this one was going to have a top on it.  I rolled out the one for the bottom, then took cookie cutters to cut out stars and used a knife to make stripes. I had plenty of extra crust, so I outlined the entire pie with stars. 

I brushed the crust with some buttermilk (we don't have any regular milk on hand,) then sprinkled some sugar on top and into the oven it went!

 Oh my Stars and Stripes!!! Can't wait to cut into the pie tonight, with a dollop of homemade ice cream on top!

Janice's Pie Crust Recipe:

2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
6-7 tablespoons cold water

Mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening with pastry cutter. Add water till ball forms (the less water, the better.) Roll out on pastry mat and cut to exact dimensions of pie plate.

Recipe can be doubled to make 3 small crust. I used a double recipe for this pie and then had a few scraps leftover and baked them with sugar and cinnamon. I loved it when Grandmama baked the extra scraps of crust and let me have them!

Stars and Stripes Strawberry Peach Pie Recipe:

2 cups fresh strawberries
4 cups fresh peaches
1/3 cup flour
1 cup sugar plus some for sprinkling on top.
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (or a big dash if you like a lot, like we do)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
dash salt
2 teaspoons lemon juice
tablespoon cornstarch
milk for brushing on crust

Cut up fresh fruit, toss with lemon juice, then mix with all dry ingredients. I added a little bit of cornstarch to thicken up the juice.

Pour mixture into prepared pie crust. Now the fun part - decorating the top! I had prepared my stars and stripes ahead of time, so my fruit wouldn't be sitting on the pie crust, while I made the decorations. I layered the cutouts, then brushed with buttermilk. (Could also use egg or regular milk, I chose to use buttermilk, since that's what we had on hand.) Sprinkle with additional sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 40-50 minutes. After 30 minutes, I covered the edges of the crust with foil, to keep them from burning. Remove from oven and let cool.

You could cut any shapes or decorations out for the top of the pie and serve it anytime you wish or simply make a lattice top. 

Mineola Nature Preserve

Earlier, I shared about our trip to the Quitman Arboretum, the tour of the Historic Stinson House, and the Medicinal Herb 101 class that was held at the Arboretum in June. After a morning in Quitman with my sister-in-law and niece, we decided to go to Mineola for lunch and they wanted to take me to the Mineola Nature Preserve.

 Now, I've seen the signs when going to Mineola or occasionally an event advertised on facebook that was being held there, although I had never been or realized what an awesome place this was. Wowee, y'all! The Mineola Nature Preserve is nearly 3,000 acres and free to the public (although I believe camping and horseback activities do require a fee).

 A pavilion sits high on the hill overlooking the area. The breeze is blowing and it was very comfortable to sit at the picnic tables and the swing, even though it was in the mid 90's. A amphitheater is located by the pavilion and star gazing events are held there - Jeff would love to go to that one night!

We started down a walking trail and past through the Master Gardener's area. I can only imagine what it would have looked like just a few weeks ago with everything in full bloom! I appreciated that their were markers to identify the plants.

 They showed me the sun dial, then we continued down the path to one of the ponds were families were fishing (catch and release) and saw a few ducks. It was all so peaceful.

 Next we headed down the hill on the Johnnie Bendy Trail. Paths were all very well maintained. The open fields were recently mowed and the walking path wove down the hill towards towards a more wooded area. The preserve goes all the way to the Sabine River, but we didn't walk that far. I believe they said about 2 1/2 miles to the river and we weren't prepared to be gone that long.

 We past a few more ponds and sloughs, with "watch for alligator'' signs!

 Down the trails, different trees were identified and observation decks were created at different points.

Then we came upon a bridge crossing and it was one of the most visually stimulating areas! An abandoned railroad trestle can be seen in the water. There were so many layers of foliage and textures galore. For an artist, photographer, and nature enthusiast, I was in love!  From the bridge we saw 2 snakes in the water below, turtles everywhere, and the white crane crisscrossed the area several times, along with several birds and butterflies. No, we didn't see any alligators, but that would have been awesome to photograph in the swamp! The clouds and sky were just perfect for the day! Brenna is involved with the 4-H photography program and together the two of us took lots of pictures!

It was a great relaxing afternoon! I can't wait to go back and take Jeff with me while wearing appropriate shoes, taking both my camera lenses, and plenty of drinks and snacks for a long hike through the preserve! On our way out, we were able to see the herd of Longhorn Cattle and the Buffalo that reside on the property (although we didn't stop to get a picture of them.)

All day, I was amazed at the Quitman Arboretum and the Mineola Nature Preserve. Until just recently, I didn't know either existed and they are both within 30 miles of our home! The three of us decided that we needed to start making more outings together and exploring little day trips and events around East Texas more often.

(We were a little sweaty from our hike back up the hill to the truck! Next time I'll have my hair up and water to take with me!)

Here's a Facebook post from the Mineola Nature Preserve showing their newly updated maps.