Sum, Sum, Summertime….

Join me as I fill up this post with some lovely summertime recipes that are my favorites.

Not only recipes but memories of sitting on my great-grandmother’s porch swing in Georgia, fanning ourselves, sipping iced tea and counting the cars as they would drive by.

I promise this isn’t ‘Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.’

This is me showcasing my Summer Shortcakes.

HEY y’all!

This Entire Photo Shoot idea is all Because of This Tin Cup.

(That, and two Elvis Presley bags of coffee.

One peanut butter/banana, and one Hawaiian. Looks like Elvis and I had a lot in common. Both southerner’s and fell in love with Hawaii.)

I saw that tin cup at Tuesday Morning and fell in love with it. I am from the south after all. Y’all is what I grew up saying, and still do sometimes.

Iced Tea, Strawberry’s and Purslane

There was originally ice in the iced tea but it’s so hot outside that it melted quicker than anything.

In the south we take our tea, sweetened, or unsweetened. I always took mine, unsweetened. To me iced tea was wonderful just the way that it was. I never needed any sugar or sweetener, just tea over ice.

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Homemade Ice Cream

When I was growing up in Georgia, every summer consisted of homemade ice cream churned by hand out in the backyard, at early evening/dusk.

Usually I was the one that was doing the churning but I would make my little brother Johnny sit on it so that it was easier for me to churn. He would complain that his butt was cold and I would usually get him another rag to sit on so that the ice didn’t seep through to his shorts.

Fruits and Berries for the Ice Cream

My favorite was VANILLA, but when we picnicked with the Witt-Smyth’s, they always made PEACH. I hated peach! Not because there was anything wrong with peaches, but in my opinion peaches were something to be eaten in a pie or a cobbler. NOT in my precious homemade ice cream!

Here I am recreating my childhood homemade Vanilla Ice Cream.

That picnic basket belonged to my Great-Grandmother Honnie. The plastic plate and cup was also hers as well.

Me with My Parents Vintage Ice Cream Churn

Some Nice Fruit Toppings

Because we always made the ice cream in the early evening/dusk, the lightening bugs were always out and shinning their lights off and on all around us. When I was a little girl there were so many every night it was like a light show. Now there are fewer and fewer. But I remember them! I appreciated them! I adored them! And I feel so privileged that I knew of them when they were at their height.

Lightning Bugs

Lightning Bugs at Night

This is what our backyard/front yard would always look like. Little lights flickering off and on, over, and over again.

Many a summer night I would catch as many as I could and place them into a jar. I would poke holes in the lid of the jar so that they could breath. I would place them in my bedroom on my nightstand. They made me feel safe in my bedroom at night because they would light the way so that I could see in my dark room.

Some nights my cousin Jackie and I would catch them and squoosh them on our hands with all their fluorescent goo, and we would spread it onto our faces so that we would glow in the night.

I will always adore the Lightening Bugs!

Oh, and um, I’m sorry for killing so many of you. 🙁

(Which reminds me of the Daddy Long Legs. I’m sorry for that as well. No one should have all their legs pulled off. I’m from the south, I have no excuse.)

But uh, the ice cream is really good!

Happy Summer!

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The Peach Tree

Gordon and I bought a peach tree but now it’s time to get it home in my car. 🙂

We have a nice big pot for it here on our lanai.

Can’t wait for those peaches to come in. I am from Georgia, the Peach State, and I’m very excited to finally have my own Peach Tree. This tree however, has been engineered for Florida’s climate and it doesn’t need another tree to germinate. So very excited about this!

Taking Photos w/ The Monkee

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Also Our Peach and Berry Cobbler

(Recipe Down Below)

With or Without the Oats

Great with Ice Cream too!

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Making Iced Tea

I suppose that ice tea originated in the south because it’s so hot we pour everything over ice. We also eat ice as if it were a delicacy. When Gordon and I started dating, he being a Yankee from up north, would finish his drink and then go to throw out the ice in his glass, usually to gasps from us southerner’s with someone exclaiming, ‘You aren’t going to throw out that ICE are you?’

We in the south are such aficionado’s where ice is concerned that I can tell you where I ate the best ice of my entire life. It was at the Cherokee Reservation, Oconaluftee, in Cherokee, North Carolina at a vendor’s.

My grandmother taught me to place a knife in the glass pitcher when I pour in the hot boiling water when making the tea, to prevent the pitcher from breaking. That’s what she said, and I do it to this day.

Of course, when the tea has cooled down then place it in the refrigerator until ready to drink. Then add your ice cubes, some lemons, limes, and some fresh mint. No sweetener needed.

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My Backyard Roses

Julie’s Summer Shortcakes

Strawberry, Pineapple, Mangosteen, Purlane Shortcakes

I seem to be gravitating back toward my roots where food is concerned, and even in other areas as well.

I look around at all the overweight American’s with all of our chemicals and hormones in our food, and then I look back at old movies that I love so much, and I see such a difference. All these actresses have such small waists and slim figures. I also remember back to my youth where overweight people were rare. When I was in high school we had one girl in the entire school with big boobs. I was shocked to be picking up my children from junior high school and the girls exiting the school all had at least a B cup, with so many other girls bouncing out of the school with a C!

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When I grew up we ate plain food. Plain food was tasty, healthy, and non-fattening. Now we eat food that is loaded with everything because for some reason we have to outdo the ‘other guy.’ We have to create something special, and different and loaded with this and that. So I just want to gravitate back to the simple, yet tasty foods that I grew up with. They weren’t anything fancy. Yet they were perfect just how they were.

So, I wanted to create my own little summer shortcakes, but with some simple added ingredients as well.

Purslane, an Edible Flowering Weed

Look how beautiful!

We may be trying to keep our food a bit simple but we also want to update it so that it can be healthy, as well.

Purslane

The Health Benefits of Purslane are Extensive

I have been using it on many of our foods, my summer shortcakes, included.

They are not only beautiful, they are healthy as well.

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I do love my herb garden and it’s companions.

Some of our herbs in our herb garden.

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Mangosteen

The Fruit Looks Like Garlic

Mangosteen is probably my newest super food. We originally heard of it as a home remedy for our dog Sugar’s arthritis. We discovered that it had tons of health benefits.

We decided to start incorporating it into many of our food and drinks. Although neither one of us has arthritis YET, we know we probably will soon so if this can help naturally, then why not?

I also think living here in Florida in such a warm climate keeps us all loose and not stiff as we age.

My Strawberry, Pineapple, Mangosteen, Purslane Shortcake, Fruits

So Simple, yet So Good!

Just chop all the fruits and add a bit of honey and a sweetener. I used some powdered Splenda.

I just used store bought angel food cake here, added the fruit, then some lemon balm herb and the purslane flowering weed.

Pretty and Tasty!

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My Red Roses

Just something pretty to add to the photo shoot that makes me happy.

Happy Summertime!

Julie

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Watermelon Mojitos

Perfect for this very HOT Florida evening.

Havana, Cuba is the birthplace of the Mojito.

Seeing as how Florida is only 90 miles away, Cuban immigrants brought the drink ingredients with them.

The beautiful edible flowering weed is Purslane.

Baskets Full of Purslane

Very pretty and healthy, we add it to some of our foods and drinks this time of year.

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Our Watermelon Mojito Ingredients

We Kinda Cheated here with our Watermelon Mojito Mix, as in it’s Ready Made. 🙂

Watermelon

Not only for the Garnish, but for the Drink as well.

Cut some into Chunks, also add some Pineapple Chunks to the glass.

Now for the Drink…..

Add some crushed ice to a cocktail shaker, then a few shots of Bacardi Pineapple Rum, and then the Watermelon Mojito Mix.

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Shake Together

Then Pour Into Festive Glasses

I love how the Watermelon Floats and the Pineapple Sinks.

Cocktails and Watermelon on our Lanai

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This just reminds me of summertime.

Nothing fancy but very pretty and colorful.

Just a sample of Gordon’s bottle collection. He used to work of Coca-Cola in Rome, GA. when we were dating. He moved down to Rome to be near me. He used to bring home lots of bottles and of course, he kept them. The Pepsi crate? It just showed up at Coke one day and no one wanted it so Gordon got it.

Just an FYI: Rome, Georgia drinks more Coke than any other place in America.

Monk always sniffin’ around.

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Tomato Sandwiches

My Grandmother loved nothing more than a tomato sandwich.

Pretty Green and Red Tomatoes

Coca-Cola

Growing up in the south in the summer, we ate cool things. Usually light because you aren’t hungry when it’s so hot.

A Tomato Sandwich and a Coke, Perfect!

Don’t forget all the ice!

Happy Summer!

Julie

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Our Peach and Berry Cobbler

Quick Cobbler Recipe from my Mother, Mary Keith

I grew up eating lots of cobblers. Mostly blackberry as we always seemed to have blackberry bushes growing wild in our many backyards of places that we lived. Currently In the pasture in front of my mother’s house in Rome, Georgia, grows a massive amount of blackberries. When I would mow the pasture with the tractor I would always make sure not to plow through them and just mow around them. After all, they were very prized. Blackberry Cobblers were something of a regular dessert in the summer’s after dinner. Nothing fancy at all, just very delicious.

Many years ago I asked my mother for her cobbler recipe and she gave me this one. I don’t think it is anything particularly fancy, just very plain and simple, much like the south. So, when I got the idea to make a peach cobbler I dug out my mother’s old recipe and presented it to Gordon. I told him to help me take this cobbler further than my parents did and let’s just “Whann it up.” And, we did!

But, I did want to write my mother’s recipe as she wrote it down for me as this was the inspiration for our Peach and Berry Cobbler.

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Quick Cobbler

1/4 lb. Margarine

1 C. Flour

3/4 C. Sweet Milk

2 C. Sugar

1 t. Baking Powder

1 Pt. Fruit

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Melt margarine in a baking dish. Mix 1 Cup Sugar w/ Flour and Baking Powder. Add Milk and stir until smooth. Pour in buttered dish. Mix fruit w/ remaining Sugar and pour over batter. Bake in medium hot oven until done.

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Our Peach and Berry Cobbler

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Margarine

1 Cup Flour

1 Cup Sugar

1 tsp. Baking Powder

3/4 Cup Milk

5 Peaches – sliced

1 Cup Blackberries

1 Cup Strawberries – sliced

1/2 tsp. Nutmeg

1/2 tsp. Allspice

1 Tbsp. Cinnamon

3 Tbsp. Honey

1 tsp. Lemon Juice

1/4 Cup Peach Liquor

1 1/2 Cups Bear Naked Cereal

All of our Ingredients

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Preheat your oven to 350’F.

While it comes up to temperature, melt your butter in a large 12″ x 9″ casserole dish.

There are enough ingredients in this recipe to also fill a 9″ x 9″ casserole dish, as well.

Into the Oven the Butter/Margarine Goes

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Place your dry ingredients (Flour, Sugar, Baking Powder) into a medium sized bowl.

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Along with your spices (Nutmeg, Allspice, Cinnamon)

Remove your butter from the oven when melted. You also want to add about a half of a stick of butter/margarine to your smaller casserole dish to melt as well.