Graduation, Strawberries and Church Pews

Good evening. Ya'll come on in and have a seat and let me share our great news. Now my grandson is going to kill me but I am the GRANDMOTHER and I have to brag. Jimmy graduated the past Saturday from the University of Georgia and it was a big day for us. He has done really well and graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice. We enjoyed the beautiful day with the sunshine and great breeze to keep us cool. So, if you don't mind I will share a little bit about the day.


I found out that UGA is the oldest state supported college in the United States and has a great and proud history. It was chartered in 1784 and was established on 40,000 acres of land. Rather than take up too much of your time I have added a link to it and let you read it. I was most impressed with the buildings and grounds and of course watching Jimmy graduate was an awesome experience even if we couldn't see him.

These are the graduates which marched and we all know there were many who didn't. It took about an hour for them to march from the stadium seats to the field where they were seated. The fun part was looking at the tops of some of the caps. One had a green balloon taped to the top, a pine tree decorated another, and of course there was glitter and many "Thanks to Mom" adorning others. Often wondered why daddy is not thanked for I bet you a dollar he came with a lot of that money. We saw many, many, extremely happy dads celebrating the fact that now their paychecks could stay at home.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/alton-brown/bio/index.html

We thoroughly enjoyed the speaker for as you can see above it was Alton Brown who is a chef on Food TV. He is a graduate of UGA, author and chef and gave a good speech. It was interesting, funny and certainly not boring like many of the speakers can be. Jimmy didn't even know who he was before he Googled him for he is not a food network junkie like the rest of us are. He did comment that winter graduation had the Sec. of Defense and they had a chef but I know I had rather have Alton Brown any day. I know a politician would have been booooring as heck and we wanted to celebrate not be bored to death.

It was great to have 4 generations present. This is Jimmy, his parents and nephew and we grandparents were taking the pictures. Noah, his nephew, had to come without his mom for little sister Josie could come at any minute now and we really didn't want her to take the chance. This energetic 2 year old was such a good "little man." Not sure he knew what was going on but he sure enjoyed all the attention he got. I think it was fantastic to have the 4 generations for lots of families are not this blessed.

It was a great day and now he can get on with the life he wants after a few obligations to the Army National guard like summer camp and some additional training. Jimmy, we are very proud of you.

Well I hope you enjoyed a little family chat but I did want to share the pictures of the strawberries we froze today. Roy went up to Rutlands, just below Tifton, GA, to the strawberry farm and bought a flat. They are so sweet and we just washed, stemmed, sliced and put them in freezer bags or at least the ones I didn't eat. I had to sample them along and along to see if they were sweet, didn't I?

Now I will use them for strawberry compotes, bread, quick toast spreads and thawed and put on pound cake. I have a recipe I posted last year and I changed it a little and thought ya'll might enjoy it.

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Strawberry Yogurt Pie

2 (8 oz.) containers strawberry yogurt
1 container low fat, sugar free, Cool Whip
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Mix yogurt, lemon juice and Cool Whip together and fold in strawberries. Spoon into the chocolate Teddy Graham pie crust and smooth out. Place in freezer for at least an hour. Before serving, place some sliced strawberries on top and sprinkle with chocolate cookie crumbs. Slice and serve. You can keep it in the freezer for a frozen pie or refrigerate for a softer pie. We like it frozen.

Chocolate Teddy Graham Crust

2 c. Chocolate Teddy Graham crumbs (you can use any chocolate cookies for this or the plain graham crackers).
1/2 stick butter

Mix graham cracker crumbs and melted butter in food processor. Cover bottom of 9 inch pie plate with mixture and press against sides. Put in refrigerator while making pie. Notice I do not add sugar for the chocolate crumbs are sweet.

You can also buy graham cracker plain and chocolate pie crusts, but they have sugar.

It is light and refreshing and you can make it the same way and use sliced peaches or blueberries.

We plan to get a couple of more flats of the fresh strawberries for I use lots of them during winter. I much rather get them from a local farmer than the grocery store any day for not only does it support our farmers but it tastes much better.

We are removing the pews from and old sanctuary at our church and after reading these 2 articles I thought why not use one for a bench at the foot of our bed. We don't have a foot board and we needed somewhere to sit and put on shoes or for the cat to sleep and this is what we did. We had it cut to fit at the foot of the bed but left some room on each end so we wouldn't bump it as we passed by. I put the baskets underneath to store Roy's shoes which have been housed under the chest of drawers. Look much better. I placed a long pillow across the back but may remove it. Have to think about it.

We are going to get another one to put in the entrance hall for seating or to put coats on. I think they are really pretty.
http://www.homesweetbyhand.com/2009/05/awesome-old-thing-church-pew/, http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/entryway/church-pews-at-home-085827

Well that's about it for today and ya'll come back to see me. Hopefully it won't be too long between posts next time. Be careful stepping off the "Net Porch" and come back soon.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

Hi, ya'll. Come on in for a cup of coffee on a beautiful, spring evening in South Georgia. It has been a wonderfully beautiful day down here and I am loving it. Strawberries are in season and we plan to go up to Rutland's farm up close to Tifton in the next day or two and buy fresh strawberries picked that day from their fields.

It is a great place to buy strawberries for they are fresh that day and have not been refrigerated. This makes them sweet and juicy for they only pick the ripe ones and those left and are in danger of spoiling are made into jams and jellies which you can buy. When they are picked they are packed in the green, plastic baskets but are carefully packed in alternating rows so that you get the maximum number of strawberries per basket. You surely get your money's worth there and the staff is friendly and helpful.

You can also pick your own but at my age and with my aching back, I now let the younger ones pick them for me. It would cancel out the savings of going to the farm if I have to pay the chiropractor to snap, crackle and pop my back so that I can stand erect. I will be sure and take some pictures of the fields and the farm to share with you for it is a beautifully managed farm.

If you like to fish, they have several ponds you can pay to go fishing and I have seen them catch some right nice ones up there. There are docks you can sit on or put in your boat and the children love it. School field trips to this farm are very popular.

I was in too much of a hurry to have some fresh strawberries this weekend so I bought some at a fresh produce market. They were only about five dollars a flat but had been shipped in from Louisiana and were not sweet. When you have to pick them right before they are ripe the sweetness is just not there. I did make a dessert from them and froze several packages to use in smoothies or to cook but they will have to have sugar to be sweet enough to eat.

To store strawberries, there a couple of tricks to use so that they will last longer. First, don't wash or stem them until you get ready to eat them for if you store them washed they will spoil very quickly. Secondly, store them in an airtight container in the fridge and they will last for several days. I like to use big-mouthed glass jars which I have saved. Plastic will work also but I prefer the glass peanut butter jars I save. They are easy to fill and to get out a few strawberries at the time.

This weekend I tried 2 new ways of using fresh strawberries and I wanted to share them with you for they are quick, easy and deeeelicious.

Quick and Easy Strawberry Dessert

1 pt. fresh strawberries, washed, stemmed and sliced (always wash before stemming)
1 carton strawberry yogurt (I used the low-fat Yoplait)
1/2 carton frozen whipped topping - thawed
Cinnamon

Mix the yogurt and whipped topping using a folding method until well mixed. Fold in the sliced strawberries and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. Chill and serve with a light dusting of cinnamon on top. You want to enhance the flavors with the cinnamon not overpower so sprinkle lightly.

Garden Salad with Strawberries and Bacon

I make these as individual salads not a big bowlful

Spring salad mix
Broccoli slaw mix
Sliced strawberries
Cooked bacon slices - crumbled
Red onion thinly sliced
Feta cheese

Fill your salad bowl with salad mix. Sprinkle on some broccoli slaw mix, onion slices, bacon crumbles, and top with sliced strawberries. Sprinkle with feta cheese and serve with raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing of dressing of choice. Adding some fresh spinach would also be good.

When I cook bacon, I bake it on a rack placed over a baking sheet and bake a whole package. I store part of it in plastic bags in the fridge to use as crumbled bacon over salads or other recipes which use bacon bits. It can also be heated it in the microwave for bacon ,tomato sandwiches.

I was about to forget the other way I used them today and it was also good.

Strawberry Breakfast Smoothie

2 cups milk - slim, 2 percent or whole
1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
1 cup clean strawberries
(I add 4 scoops of chocolate, protein powder)
Optional - a couple of tablespoons of chocolate syrup
Blend until smooth.


I hope you enjoy these suggestions and get out and find a local farm selling strawberries for they are so much better than those you buy in the markets. If you go to this website you can locate farms close to you for they list farms all over the US and Canada. http://www.pickyourown.org/index.htm This a website I have used several times and have not been disappointed in the results. It is also useful for all fruits and vegetables not just strawberries. This site also give great instructions for preserving your fresh fruits and vegetables and has good recipes. I had much rather have fresh than store bought even if I have to pay a little more but most of the time it is cheaper.

Get out and find farms close to you and pick your own or let them do the work but enjoy freshly picked.

That's about it for tonight and I am going to go watch the Braves get beat. They are not playing well tonight but I stick by them through win or lose. Go Braves!

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach