Twas the Night Before County Fair ...

You know the feeling??? Most 4-H parents have the experience.  Last minute preperations, paperwork, loose ends.  Projects that are only half done, some people work better under pressure.  Here's what dd finished up last night-

Both my son and daughter love making sock creations- I think this one is going to be a gift.

Pillows-

This one is my favorite.  It came as a kit, but it has so many little pieces.

So now it's time to finish paperwork.  No hurry, we have two hours before we have to leave. :)

French Breakfast Puffs-

This recipe is from my old Betty Crocker cookbook.  These are delicious, and my family loves them (especially the kids).  Warning-They aren't health food!  :o)

1/3 cup shortening (lard)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted

Heat oven to 350.  Grease 12 muffin cups.  Mix thoroughly shortening, 1/2 cup sugar and egg.  Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg alternately with milk.
Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.  Bake 20-25 minutes.  Mix 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon.  Immediately after baking, roll puffs in milted butter, then in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Serve hot.

The Lowly Scape

My garlic scapes are ready once more.  I love everything garlic and the scapes are like an appetizer while you await the main course.  They can be used like regular garlic, but my new, favorite way is to pickle them.  I wrote about it here.  I made my first batch last year and discovered that I LOVE them.

Here are the scapes.  You cut off the seed head and use the rest.
The  recipe that I used --
3 1/2 lbs. garlic scapes cut into 3-4 inch pieces
5 cups water
5 cups vinegar
1/2 cup pickling salt
7 hot chili peppers
1/2 teaspoon dill seed per jar
7 wide mouth canning jars, lids and rings

Combine the vinegar, water, and salt in a pot and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat. Place one hot pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of dill seed in the bottom of each of the hot sterilized jars. Pack the scapes into the hot jars. Ladle the hot vinegar/water/salt mixture into the sterilized jars, using a wide mouth plastic funnel leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rims with a clean white cotton cloth or paper towel. Apply prepared lids and rings; tighten gently. Process in a boiling water bath canner, following manufacturer’s instructions, for 10 minutes. Remove jars to a wire rack to cool completely. Wait 2 weeks before enjoying the pickles to give them time to develop their full flavor. You can store the pickles in a cool dry place for up to one year.

Makes about

7 pints of pickled garlic scapes.

    

I ended up with 22 pints of pickles.  These must be good for you, ya think?  They are delicious.

More on Natural Disasters

I know that just about the whole country is experiencing wild weather and fires right now.  The floods that we had a couple of weeks ago are just about history.  Most of the roads are now open again, though the upper Mississippi is still over flood stage.
Here's a couple of pictures of neighbors' roads and fields-

Then we had the high winds and thunderstorms on Monday.  The power was out for a couple of days.  My parents place has about 15 trees down in the yard and garden.  We didn't get any down in our yard, but just down the road is the reason for no power-

It's hard to see, but that tree is across the power lines. Trees snapped power lines all over this area. 
Our power is up and we are back to normal.  I hope everyone on the east coast is back on grid.