No. 5 to Win!

Have you ever been to a Thoroughbred Horse Race?

What an amazing experience!

Keeneland - Lexington, Kentucky

We went to the last race day of the season

at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky

with our adventurous travel mates, Dave and Jan

and our dear Kentucky friends, Debi and Larry

Jan and Debi chose their horse.

No. 5 "Shun" a gorgeous 4 year old Bay gelding

based on his beauty,

the sparkle in his eyes and his tiny female jockey,

all perfectly good reasons - right?

With great confidence the

wager was made to win - not just to show or even place!

Much to our surprise No. 5 WON...... 

Who knew that a $2 bet could be such fun.

I had the good fortune of a few wins myself.

My strategy - pick horse #3 to place

it was fairly successful - what fun!

The winner -

Kentucky bred

"Shun"

riden by Jockey

Rosie Napravnik

Look at those happy smiles!

Debi showing her love of these beautiful creatures!

Oh, we had so much fun.

Kentucky is so beautiful and

our hosts were generous and welcoming!

We experienced Creole food, Tally Ho breakfasts,

Bread pudding with bourbon sauce,

Flourless Chocolate Cake, Pumpkin Panna Cotta,

Homemade Spinach Quiche, and much more!!!

(is that too many explanation marks?)

Jambalaya at Gumbo Ya Ya - so delicious

Beautiful Horse Farms!

Our table being prepared at Holly Hill Inn - what a treat!

If you ever get the chance to visit

Lexington, Kentucky

go for the win!!!

You won't regret it.......

Till next time ......... may your wins be blessings!

October's Surprise!

What's wrong with these pictures???

Here's a clue ..... it's October 24/13

Yep - I said October - eeeek!!

The neighbour's Pumpkin Wagon

As much as some love the early snow

The Farmer is very worried....

Soy Beans and Corn still in the field,

bent low and soggy.

Hoping for some nicer weather still to come,
Just saying!

Till next time - cocooning and dreaming of sunny autumn days!

Beet Chips

This is what happens when you have

way too many beets and have a whole day

to experiment!

Yesterday at our Thanksgiving Dinner Gathering

my sister-in-law Gloria mentioned 

Beet Chips ..... what a great idea!

Here is the recipe method I used.

Thinly and evenly slice beets (a mandolin really works well here).  Toss with a couple of Tbsp. Olive Oil and seasoning (salt and pepper).

Spread slices on parchment line baking 

trays and pop into the oven at 300F or 275F convection for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Watch closely and remove when slices look dry and slightly curled.

I took mine out a bit too soon so I placed them on paper towels and left them in the warm oven for another 1/2 hour.  That seemed to do the trick!

Life truly is good and now

we have some tasty and healthy snacks!

Taste Notes - these beet chips taste intense and sweet. Just two or three of them are enough to make a satisfying snack!  Next time I would slice them even thinner so that they are more crunchy rather than chewy! This only used about 6 of my many beets - sigh!

Till next time ............ hope you had a wonderful weekend and had many things to be thankful for! I sure did.

Beets Galore

What a beautiful day!

The sun shone warm,

the breezes were soft and cool,

and the garden yielded an incredible

harvest of beets and parsnips today.

What to do with them all?

I think I'll take some to the family gathering

tomorrow to see if I can get rid of share some.

Supper tonight was inspired by

Jamie Oliver's Pork Chops with Roasted Parsnips,

Pears and Potatoes recipe.

I took the liberty of changing up the recipe

a bit by adding beets, sweet potato and squash as well.

The chops were put into the marinade,

popped into the fridge, and

off to the garden we went!

It's been a while since I've tended to things

out there!

The tomato cages needed to be removed,

dead plants pulled and piled,

the last of the lettuce cut,

dill gathered for next year's seeds,

and beets, beets and more beets

along with the last few parsnips pulled.

Striped beets, Yellow beets, and the traditional Red Beets - Yikes!

All in all, the weather could not have been 

nicer and I was so thankful for the farmer's help today.

It was dark and late by the time supper 

went into the oven.

Veggies ready for roasting

Success - the roasted parsnips and beets were especially tasty.

Dinner was yummy but alas, 

it only took 2 large beets ..... hmmm,

I'll definitely have to come up with some more beet recipes!

Happy Thanksgiving All!!!!

and to all my American friends - have a wonderful weekend - your

Thanksgiving Weekend is yet to come.

Till next time ......... looking forward to our family gathering tomorrow to celebrate yet another year of bounty and blessings.

Hunting for the Perfect Butter Tart

Over the past few months

the farmer and I have been

taking some little road trips,

turning our wheels North,

onto the "Butter Tart Trail".

Yes, that's right, there is an official

Butter Tart Trail!
click on the above line to find out more.

This day

the weather was typical Fall with

heavy rain, gusty winds, dark skies with brief peeks of blue,

and even a few rays of sunshine.

Our "good sports" friends Barry and Margo

agreed to join us for the hunt.

Wet but pretty country roads in the beautiful Belfountain area

First stop,

a sweet little coffee shop

called Higher Ground

in Belfountain.

This was off the trail but they

had delicious butter tarts,

great coffee and wild turkey

sandwiches so we couldn't 
resist having lunch here!

Tarts = $2.25 each

1/2 = $1.13

eek!

We wound our way through

the country roads in the Township of Wellington North

and, between rain drops, dashed into an old order Mennonite owned

country store called Misty Meadows in Conn

where fresh baked butter tarts 

came in 1/2 dozen packages.

Yep, we bought some to take home.

Tarts - $5.50 for 1/2 doz. - a bargain
compared to the other stop?

After a lovely Thai meal at one of our

friend's favourite restaurants 

we headed back to their

condo for tea and tarts.

1/2 a tart was all I could

eat by this point and
it was really delicious.

1/2 tart = .46
now that's better.

Our fun loving friends!

While I fiddled with the camera

on my new phone and snapped

a few more pictures.....

the tarts almost disappeared.

There are many more 

butter tarts on this trail

and more road trips needed to find them....
After all we have to find the perfect one half - right?
What is your favourite butter tart - plain, raisin, pecan, etc.
and how much are you willing to pay for one?
I love them just plain and not too expensive.

Till next time ..... the hunt is on!

Parsnip, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Bread

My garden has a whole row of parsnips!

They are beautiful and oh so muddy right now

following the recent heavy rains.

We love them roasted, boiled,

and now baked into bread. 

I was intrigued to try this bread

recipe after being inspired by Liz,
one of my favourite foodie bloggers,

That Skinny Chick Can Bake's 
"Twelve Loaves"

challenge to use Root Vegetables

in some sort of bread recipe.

So - here goes .....

Parsnip, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Bread
Almost sounds like that Simon and Garfunkel song? Parsley could be added as an option I suppose.
2-3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
2 tsp. instant yeast
1 tsp. salt
1 large parsnip - finely grated (measuring approx. 1 cup grated)
2-3 leaves fresh Sage - finely chopped
2-3 sprigs fresh Rosemary - plucked from stems and finely chopped
2-3 sprigs fresh Thyme - slid from stems and finely chopped
1/4 Cup grated Parmesan Cheese
2 Tbsp. lemon juice plus enough boiling water to make 2/3 Cup liquid
4 Fresh Sage leaves dipped in oil

Combine the dry ingredients and add in the parsnip, cheese and herbs - stirring with a fork to separate any clumps of parsnip.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in 3/4 of the hot liquid.  Mix to form a sticky dough adding the rest of the liquid if needed.  Knead for 8-10 minutes or until you get a smooth, slightly sticky dough.  Form into a ball, place into a lightly oiled bowl and let rise for 1/2 an hour or until doubled in bulk.  Punch down to squeeze out any air bubbles and form into a nice loaf. Place into a lightly greased loaf pan and let rise for another 1/2 - 3/4 hour.  When nicely rounded, preheat the oven to 360, score the top of the loaf lightly and garnish with oiled sage leaves (if desired).  Bake until golden and crispy on top.  Loaf should sound hollow on the bottom when tapped. Let cool slightly before serving.

Notes - the recipe didn't call for salt and the bread tasted bland.  I've added a tsp. salt to the recipe for next time.

The surprise was the lovely taste of the crispy sage leaves that were baked on top of the bread. Maybe sage "chips" would be worth making too?









Till next time ........ honing my root veggie bread recipes. Liz, I might link up once I perfect one!

Do You Yoga Dot Com

It's the first day

of a new Month

and the beginning

of a New Season ...

It's time to "turn a new leaf"

About a month ago,

my daughter mentioned on fb that

she is doing a 30 day yoga challenge.

I decided to check it out

and see if I could do this.

Tonight was the first lesson

So I tuned in to Erin Motz's first lesson
on doyouyoga.com

She's so young and cute - sigh!

I have to say - it felt really good,

that is,

once I found my yoga mat,

figured out how to keep my laptop from

fading out every 3 minutes,

and adjusted the lighting in the room

so the pot lights didn't blind me while

doing the "reverse table top"!

It only took approx. 20 minutes.
Surely I can give 20 minutes a day for the next 30?

Why don't you join me???
It's free and you can start anytime.

Now if only I could lose a few pounds in the process.....who knows?

Till next time .......... Namaste