Author Archives: cathyboettner

We haven’t done anything to the strawberry patch since 2021, and the strawberries had gotten SO thick that you could barely walk through the patch to pick strawberries. Fortunately, the soil is really good in the strawberry patch, and strawberry plants are EASY to separate. We dug up 95% of the strawberries. But believe itContinue reading “Thinning the Strawberries”

It’s been really rainy here for the past several days, so I went thrifting, and found the CUTEST pair of green children’s rain boots, which inspired this table. I started out to get little flowers to put in this bowl for a centerpiece. And I found these little plants (which bloom for a long time)Continue reading “Spring Showers Table”

I had tremendous success with my sweet potatoes last year and so I plan to grow them again this year–we even added another bed along that same fence to grow them. So, I want to start my own sweet potato slips myself. This is definitely going to be a multi-part blog post over time. When I dugContinue reading “Sweet Potato Slips”

Valentine’s Day is in the middle of the week, and on Ash Wednesday. We rarely go out for Valentine’s Day, but we try to do a special meal and hang out together. I found these brass chargers and vintage rose pattern china (Rosenthal Petal Lane) and thought they’d be great for a tablescape. I found most of theContinue reading “Valentine’s Day Table”

This is one of my favorite treats–spicy and creamy and delicious. I used to buy Tazo Tea’s chai latte concentrate, but it’s expensive ($5/container) and transporting that much liquid cross country wastes a lot of fuel. SO, I found some recipes on the internet for how to make it yourself. You’ll need to assemble a bunch ofContinue reading “Iced Chai Latte”

King Cake 1/4 cup butter or margarine 16 oz sour cream 1/3 cup sugar 1 tsp salt 2 envelopes yeast 1 tbsp sugar 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees) 2 large eggs 6 to 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (Penzey’s Spices has the best around) 1/3 cupContinue reading “Mardi Gras–Laissez les bontemps rouler!”

It’s going to be coolish this week, so this spicy, hearty, comforting dish sounded especially good. Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive oil 2-12 oz packages andouille sausage (pork or chicken) 1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken 2 bell peppers cut in a 1/2″ dice 2 onions cut in a 1/2″ dice 1 quart canned tomatoes, orContinue reading “Chicken and Andouille Jambalaya”