Welcome dear friends!!! I’m so glad you stopped by to see what I’ve been up to in the kitchen! This week I took time to set the table all pretty and prepared a nice, sit down meal for our family. The irony is it was SO easy and fast, I don’t know why I don’t do it more often. So let’s start with the table setting, shall we? Very informal tonight.

I used my “everyday dishes”, placing them on straw woven placemats. I really wish I had some red placemats to put under those plates though. These dishes have served many a family dinner, as evidenced by a few nicks on the bottom of the plates. It was the first set of dishes I bought 12 place settings of as our family had grown large enough to need that many.

The centerpiece is also quite simple, a dark brown basket filled with sunflowers. Glassware is el cheapo $1 glasses from Old Word Pottery…family friendly while still looking pretty, don’t you think?

What is that I smell coming from the kitchen? Mmmmm, apple smoked pork loin. The pork loin was on sale at the grocery and the apple smoke rub is something I picked up at the Farmer’s Market. So easy to make and so delicious to eat. Placed the loin in a baking pan, sprinkled and pressed in the “rub” all over it, baked at 350 for one hour. That’s it! And we ate every last piece of it.

Hmmm, what can I fix to go with the loin. Hash browns O’Brien sounds good and would use up some vegetables that need to be cooked before spoiling. 5 medium red potatoes, 1 stalk celery, 1 red bell pepper, 1 onion, 1 bunch of green onions and 1 clove garlic … stir fried in a skillet with olive oil and it’s ready to serve. Doesn’t it look and smell so yummy?

But wait, I have blueberries in the refrigerator that desperately need to be used. I need something quick and easy. Bisquick to the rescue. Semi-homemade blueberry muffins, and enough for breakfast the next morning too!

What a wonderful meal we had. The boys noticed right away how pretty the table was set and Christina ooohd and aughhhd over the delicious pork loin. If only all of you could have joined us for dinner too! But of course that would have meant no leftover muffins for me I’m so glad you stopped by to share in our family dinner! Please stop by again soon.

Oh, I almost forgot. Here is the recipe I used for the muffins. I love Bisquick! Just click on the recipe card for a full sized recipe card.Be sure to check out other fabulous tablescapes posted at Between Naps on the Porch, hosted by the lovely Susan.

We took a vacation in 2001 to Bar Harbor, Maine. During part of our trip we biked Acadia National Park’s 45 miles of scenic carriage roads, built by John D. Rockefeller Jr.

The kids really did pretty good, not much complaining, but with tired legs, a sore behind, and a growling tummy even I was ready for a rest and food!

Perfect for stopping at Jordon’s Pond, the only place to eat in the large park. (Photo below courtesy of National Park Service). Exquisite views, a place to rest your legs and get a bite to eat. That was the first time we had Jordon’s Pond Blueberry Crisp.

I’ve been trying to perfect the recipe ever since. Not sure I’ve quite got it right yet, but it is close. So I decided to use all of those leftover blueberries I had the other day from making jam and make my own batch of Jordon’s Pond Blueberry Crisp, or at least my rendition of it.

Give it a try, and if by some miracle you have the ORIGINAL recipe, please pass it on to me! Click on the recipe card below to get a larger sized recipe or to print.

I’ve never made jam before, but my Aunt Louise told me it would be easy for me to do. So I took her up on the challenge. It helped that Price Chopper had local farm fresh blueberries at a $3.79 for 2 lbs. I guess I could have gone and picked them myself but this was much easier!

Next I searched the internet for a recipe that looked simple and fool proof. Found at Blueberry-Recipe.com was this super easy recipe that even I couldn’t mess up. The only suggestion I’d make is definitely use a bigger pan than you think you’ll need. When I got to the part where I was to let the ingredients come to a full rolling boil, I was a tad bit concerned it was going to boil right over onto my cook top. I do believe I now have a years supply of jam for my breakfast toast. Check out other wonderful picture mosaics at Little Red House hosted by Mary.

This is one of those no fail recipes that is super easy and always a crowd pleaser.  Pull out the Tostito chips, pour a few margaritas on the rocks and you are set for an evening with friends. If you can’t find any jalapeno jam in your area, check San Man Gardens for their huge variety of jams.

Hey Monday! A new week is here and along with it a new recipe for your collection using some of those fresh summer fruits and vegetables. This one is super easy and super delicious and one I served just last night to our guests. No leftovers

We also had the best pork loins from the grill, tender and juicy which to me is like a small miracle when cooking pork. My secret? The marinade!

Pork Loin Marinade

• Marinade for 12 – 15 pork loin slices
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/8 cup bourbon
• fresh squeezed juice from one orange
• orange zest from that same orange
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons steak seasoning
• 1/4 cup water

Stir all ingredients together until mixed together. Place pork loin slices in large ziploc bag. Pour in marinade and zip close. Squish bag around until all meat has been covered. Lay ziploc bag flat in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours before cooking. Place pork on hot grill. Drizzle marinade on meat while cooking.

Tell me if you use this marinade and how it turned out for you!

A Fourth of July tradition for our family is homemade potato salad and of course homemade ice cream with hot fudge topping.  Well we’re doing both.

The recipe for the potato salad is not something I have in writing.  This year I used about 4 lbs of potatoes,  1/3 of a sweet Vidalia onion, 4 medium sized sweet pickles and 5 boiled eggs. 
The dressing is 1 ¾ cups of salad dressing (think Miracle Whip, never mayo), 1 large tablespoon of sugar, 1 Tbsp of salt, 1 tsp of coarse ground black pepper, 2 teaspoons of celery seed, 1 teaspoon of mustard.  The dressing ingredients were all thrown into a pickle jar. (I found the jar in the refrigerator with one Vlasic kosher sweet pickle left so I ate it for lunch so I could use the jar!)   I did leave about 1/8 cup of the kosher pickle juice in the bottom of the jar to thin out the salad dressing as I shook it to the creamy stage and  poured and stirred.  Touch off with paprika and my kids will love me for it.

A couple of my kids come with their plastic take home dishes because they always expect more than we can eat.    : )  Hope your holiday is safe and filled with the love of family.

If you’ve never tried Mango Salsa, you seriously do not know what you are missing. A mix of sweet and spicey, this wonderful side dish is great on fish, pork, and chicken. And for those who’d just rather go for the chips and salsa with your margaritas, well that works fabulous too! (To print the recipe, click on the photo and it will show up enlarged for printing.)

If you’re too lazy to make your own, Price Chopper and Costco sells Chachie’s Mango Peach Salsa that is just darn hard to beat too.