In my last blog post, I commented I started a new book that had coffee recipes. It was a murder mystery by Emmeline Duncan called, "Fresh Brewed Murder." The main character, Sage, runs a coffee cart with her business partner Harley. 

One fellow blogger asked that I share some of the recipes. 

Simple Sage Syrup

2 cups water

2 cups sugar (can be white, brown, etc.)

20 fresh sage leaves

Bring water to a boil in saucepan and add sugar until it melts. Add the sage leaves and let it simmer about a minute, then turn off the heat. Let mixture seep for 45 minutes. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a closeable, airtight contaner. Sage syrup will last up to two weeks in the fridge.

Mason Jar Cold Brew Coffee

4 cups of water

3/4 cup of course coffee grounds 

Mix four cups of water and the 3/4 cup of coffee grounds in an appropriately sized jar and screw on the lid. Place in the refrigerator for 12 - 24 hours. When the coffee has brewed to your liking, strain it into a clean pitcher or jar. Service over ice and wilute with water or milk at a 1:1 ratio or to taste. To sweeten, add in simple syrup.

Sage Coffee Soda

3/4 cup of cold bre concentrate

1 tablespoon of sage simple syrup (or to taste)

Ice

3/4 cup of club soda

Mix the cold brew concentrate and simple syrup in a wide mouth, pint sized Mason jar or glass of our choosing. Add ice to the top of the glass, then slowly pour in the club soda. Light mix.

Sage Tea Soda

Tea of your choice(black, green, white)

1 tablespoon of sage simple syrup

ice

3/4 cup of club soda

Make your tea concentrate. You'll want to dramatically up your ratio of tea leaves to water. Or tea bags. Don't steep longer, just make the tea stronger, not bitter. Brew the tea for the usual amount of time. 

Mix the syrup, ice and club soda and enjoy!

It's been a great summer of eating well. Between DH's garden and our CSA share box, we've had some marvelous eats! Hopefully I will get enough canned and preseved for a good winter as well. Today, at church, one of our pew buddies said his dad picked two large zucchini and did I want them? Of course I wanted them! If nothing else, I will shred them and freeze it. I bought the share box to force myself to try new things as well as enjoy some of our favorites. I never thought DH would go along with it, but sometimes we don't have a starch for supper -- just some protein and some vegetables and fruit for dessert. That makes me happy because I think we probably eating far better.

I accidently sent a photo of one of our suppers to a friend in an email. I meant to send it to another one and autofill got me. As I hit "send" I realized it was the wrong person. So, I had to send a follow up "oops" email, but then we started talking about what we both had for supper that night. He then mentioned something to do with genealogy, which got me to thinking, and I discovered he is distantly related to my husband after doing a bunch of research. That's kind of interesting. At least to me. 

I found a new author of a mystery series. It's about someone who runs a coffee cart. It has some interesting coffee recipes in the back that I think I might want to try. I've getting a little more adventuresome when it comes to cooking, probably because I did so much of it when stuff what shut down. I fear it's going to come to that as Covid cases continue to rise. 

I did some closet cleaning yesterday and have a bunch of things to donate to a thrift store. I need to do some more decluttering too around the house. I was proud of myself yesterday. We went to an antique mall and although there was a blue willow tea pot that I did not own, I did not get it. I didn't need it and honestly, don't have room to display it. I admired it and walked on. 

DH just went to go water the garden, so I may need to get myself into the kitchen in case there are some tomatoes that need to be processed and canned. At least I hope so!

Hope your summer is going well!

Recently I mentioned that we bought a half share in a CSA this summer. It has been great -- all those fresh vegetables and I'm being challenged to use things I normally would not have purchased. I was delighted to get a zucchini. I know there are those jokes about people giving people zucchini in secret to get rid of them, but sadly, I don't know anyone who grows zucchini. Anyway. I ran across this recipe and decided to try it for a change. DH had a piece last night and declared it delicious. I did not make the cream cheese icing, instead just made the glaze with the orange juice, powdered sugar and butter. But felt it was a good use of vegetables and a nice treat too. Just thought I'd share in case any of you have some garden vegetables you'd like to utilize.

Carrot Apple Zucchini Bread:

https://www.momontimeout.com/carrot-apple-zucchini-bread-recipe/?fbclid=IwAR2z050D681jYJCYqAnR8C9ZDEGSnUNYueGITaQ2iO-xOtOuwb2KJcg7f7A

I know I'm usually out of step with whatever is the current trend. I'm OK with that.

Let me briefly explain. For a time in my life, I wanted silence. Being a music lover, that was strange, but I didn't want music or talk or television or anything while I did things around the house or while I was in the car. 

Recently everything has become more pronounced in my life. Music seems sweeter. My enjoyment is immense.

DH has quite a collection of CDs, and one of them was the greatest hits of ABBA - very upbeat and fun. Except DH isn't always the most careful and the middle of the CD is damaged. Very discouraging when I wanted to listen to one of my favorites: "Money, money, money!" (OK, imagine that, eh?)

I decided I would splurge and go to Target and buy a new one. Imagine my chagrin to discover Target no longer carries them. We have no music stores in our town so that is out. I refuse to go to what I term the evil empire aka Walmart. So, I figured I would just have to do without. 

On our weekly thrift shop foray one place was selling CDs for a quarter each. And you guessed it, ABBA was in the group of them. Of course I snatched that up! What a delight. What a joy! What a bargain! How fortuitous!

So, apparently CDs are passe. All the better for me -- a quarter for some great tunes!

The last couple of weeks have kept me busy dealing with stuff from our garden. I'm not complaining by any means. I'm glad we have the fresh food and have either prepared it or figured out a way to preserve it. DH just pulled up all our garlic and I spent most of yesterday afternoon working with about 2/3 of it. I plan, once I finish this, to go finish up. I peel it, wash it, mince it, and then pack into jars with olive oil, and then store it in the fridge. Yesterday I had about 4 pints, so I think I'll get another pint or so. I share some of it. I also hold back some of the garlic bulbs so DH can plant it again for next year's crop.

His tomatoes started coming on early and once we got enough, I started canning. I can regular tomatoes, make tomato juice, and also make what I call spaghetti sauce with tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, garlic, mushrooms, basil, and oregano. I will need to start drying herbs for the winter as well, but right now, the tomatoes are keeping me busy. 

We bought a half share in a local CSA so I have been using what has come every week. One reason I did that was I wanted the challenge of never knowing what would show up and then being forced to use it. We've tried things I never would have tried before so that is good.

A friend gave me some bunch of cucumbers so I made sweet pickles and sweet relish. 

I did a count on stuff I've canned so far. Some of it is from finding things on sale like fruits to make jelly. The green beans weren't on sale, but I prefer canning my own. But these are the totals of what I have on hand. I have actually canned more, but we've used it.

4 pints and 1 half pint of sweet relish

2 half pints of sweet pickles

6 quarts, one half pint of tomatoes

5 quarts, 8 pints of tomato juice

6 quarts, 16 pints of spaghetti sauce

12 quarts, 4 pints of green beans

9 quarts 2 pints, and 1 half pint of applesauce

12 quarts of apple juice

6 half pints of apple jelly

5 half pints of grape jelly

1 pint 2 half pints of lavender jelly

6 half pints of blueberry jelly.

I'm looking forward to when DH gets bigger bell peppers because I plan to wash and chop,and freeze them to use over the winter. I was in sticker shock earlier this summer when I had to buy a couple since I had run out!