Our lawn is beginning to show signs of the gorgeous, lush green glow that spring and summer bring to us. As much as I love winter and the magical beauty of snow in a mostly monochromatic world, the anticipation of color returning to the world is very awesome. I am sitting in an old fashioned, high-back chair by the window in our sitting area that faces the barn. I hear birds calling, and see that glow from the lawn that promises much green to come, thinking of things I look forward to.
I look forward to green, orange, pink, purple, yellow, blue, and many other colors as they open up and paint themselves all over the countryside. Wild flowers growing along the roadsides, the our farm fields waking up and coming to life, the Sincere Pumpkin Patch we will grow this year, the sunflowers I intend to plant all around the perimeter of our yard, between the yard and the crop acerage.
I look forward to Easter Sunday and an egg hunt out by the between the barn and the willow. I look forward to opening up the cottage and bringing it back into service for the warmer seasons. I look forward to my son and parents being here at the farm at various times during the coming colorful months. I look forward to knitting by open windows, with a gentle breeze rustling through and the beautiful voices of the birds calling, singing, squealing, honking, tweeting ... all of their various sounds.
I am looking forward to that first moment in this year when I step outside and feel actual warmth from the sun touching me lightly on the shoulder.
Trips on the river in the canoe, camping out in the backyard, picnicking there too. Painting inside late into the day because of abundant light, painting outside because of the nice warm air, rain showers, thunderstorms, mud puddles, and blue skies. I am looking forward to it all.
I am a couple of days late in sharing two recipes with you all, and several days late on issuing the next set of instructions for the
Summer in the Country cotton blanket knit along. My flu went away, and then it came back and felt a bit worse the second time around. Makes me want to talk like a pirate, but it isn't September 19th yet so I might restrain myself. Today I am feeling 98% well again but it has been a bit rough getting here.
For the recipes, they will follow below. For the knit along,
click here for that update.
Just a quick note about my son's
Etsy store before we get on to the recipes. He has some new releases recently that you might enjoy checking. First off, he has this new collection of three
Los Angeles Subway Sign Prints, and of course I love the vintage look
Keep Calm and Carry On signs (great story of the history behind that sign). You can also follow his business now on
Twitter and
Facebook -- I know he would really appreciate the support.
As I said last week, my son and I would like to share two recipes with you this week. Both are for Pimento Cheese spread for sandwiches. When I was a little girl and my family was still living in North Carolina, my mother used to make a pimento cheese spread from time to time and we would have delicious, refreshing pimento cheese sandwiches. She continued making that treat for us at times when we were in California, and it was a special treat.
What I didn't know at the time was that pimento cheese spread is -- or was -- a southern thing. I found that out from an article in the Food section of the Los Angeles times where several pimento cheese recipes were shared.
Recently I mentioned pimento cheese to my son and found out he has been making it too, but his take on it is completely different from my mother's. We thought it would be a good idea to share the two recipes, side-by-side. My mother has graciously given me her permission to tell you her recipe, one she invented to come up with a more economical way of providing pimento cheese sandwiches to a large family of seven (Mom, you rock).
First up ...
Mom's Downhome Pimento Cheese Spread
1 8-oz loaf Velveta cheese
1 5-oz can evaporated milk
1/2 cup Miracle Whip or other sandwich spread
1 small jar chopped pimentos
Gently heat Velveta cheese and evaporated milk in a medium sized saucepan on low to medium heat until cheese is melted. Remove from heat. Stir in Miracle Whip until thoroughly mixed. Drain pimentos and fold into the cheese mixture. While warm and soft, place in a glass container to cool.
Make sandwiches with this spread by, well ... spreading it on your bread and then you're done.
And now ...
Flying Junction's Favorite Pimento Cheese Spread
8-oz grated cheddar cheese
4-oz grated Ppepper jack cheese
1/3-cup mayonnaise
2 ounces canned diced pimentos
1/4-tsp granulated garlic
1/4-tsp granulated onion
1/4-tsp black pepper
pinch of cayenne (optional)
two drops green pepper sauce (optional)
Combine all ingredients in a bowl until well blended. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before spreading on sandwich bread. Our favorite thing is to use this to make a grilled cheese sandwich on a couple of slabs of hand-cut sourdough bread.
We hope you will give pimento cheese spread a try, if you haven't ever had it before. Personally, I think it makes a wonderful springtime sandwich -- so refreshing and bright!
Here is another bright thought for you ... need a unique idea for a Mother's Day gift? Our top three suggestions for unique gift ideas for Mom:
1) Send your Mom to Paris with a collection of three Paris Metro Line 1 signs from
Flying Junction
2) Knit her a biscuit blanket using our beautiful
Deluxe Biscuit Blanket Kit (includes fine art gift card and beautiful gift box) -- not many left in stock
3) Give her a
Knitter's or
Crocheter's Eye Chart art print
Off to enjoy a pretty spring day ... hope you have a great one!
~firefly
