I'm back! You may have read last weeks blog post where I mentioned that I would be going on vacation and that this post may be a little late. I took a trip with my family back to my hometown in Illinois last week where I visited my friends and family! It was a long flight but it was well worth it!
If you don't already know Illinois is 90% farmland, which means a large portion of the people that live there are farmers! I look up to my grandpa, who loves to garden, and wish that my corn in my garden would be as good as his! My grandpa shares a garden in his sister's backyard full of lots of fresh fruits and veggies. While I was there I made sure to visit the garden multiple times. The picture on the left is from the corn at the garden and the picture on the right is from great grandpas farm where my dad's cousin now lives with his family.
Another one of my grandpa's delicious vegetables are his tomatoes. He always has so many tomatoes that he puts some out on the side of the road to share with others for free! The best way to eat them are to slice them and add a little bit of salt. Of course they also taste good on sandwiches, too!
He also grows acorn squash out at his garden! I have never really experimented with squash, but I am sure you can create lots of healthy and delicious recipes with them! My dad likes it with garlic salt and butter and grandpa likes it with butter and brown sugar. Fresh cucumbers are my sister's favorite of grandpa's veggies. My dad and I love when my grandma creates her special cucumbers! For her special cucumbers she adds mayonnaise, sour cream, dill seasoning, and garlic salt. They are delicious!
Here is my grandpa's fabulous sweet corn! He was not sure if he would have some when we came but he was able to put together a pile full of fresh corn!
While we were in Illinois we also decided to visit a few of our favorite restaurants and Lou's Drive-In was on the top of our list. My mom used to go to Lou's when she was a kid so it is very special to us. They are well known for their onion rings and hotdogs, so of course that is what we got: onion rings and hotdogs. I can't wait to go back again!
Since I did not get a lot of time to cook with my grandma, which we had hoped to do, I made it my goal to try and cook some of her recipes. So as soon as I got home I cooked her noodle recipe, also known as "Nonni Noodles". It is thin spaghetti boiled in chicken broth. It was good, but not as good as hers!
Another recipe I cooked of hers was her peach pie. She cooked it twice for us while we were there, but the first time I did not get a piece so she cooked it for me again and I made sure to get a piece. This recipe called for 5 yellow peaches but I accidentally bought white peaches! Lucky mistake though because it tasted just as good as the yellow peaches! My grandma's recipe for her peach pie is:
Ingredients: 1 cup of Sugar
1 cup of Water
3 T. Cornstarch
Baked Pie Shell
1 package of Peach Jell-O
5 sliced (white or yellow) Peaches
1 package of Cool Whip or Whipped Cream
Directions: Cook water, sugar, and cornstarch till thick, stirring well. Remove from heat and add Jell-O. Cool. Pour over sliced peaches. Mix well and place into baked pie shell. Refrigerate. Top with cream.
Finally, the last recipe I will share this week is a National Day recipe. August 6 was National Root Beer Float Day...how could we not celebrate? We bought regular vanilla bean ice cream and Jones Soda Root beer and BABAM! A root beer Float. My family really enjoyed them!
That is it for this week! I really enjoyed going back to Illinois to visit so many people, but eventually I had to come home! I especially enjoyed the time I got to spend with my grandparents. I always love to cook with my grandma and love seeing everything my grandpa has grown in his garden. Hopefully, next time they will come visit me and we can cook up something else! ;) But now that I am home, I am back in school so I am hoping to feature some of my back to school recipes in the upcoming weeks! So come back next week to see what is cooking! See you later!
Don't forget to check out my Etsy business for headbands and puppy tutus! Here is the link: https://www.etsy.com/shop/IzzabelesCreations. Also my Little Izzy is entered in a local contest called the "Dog Days of Summer". I would love if you would vote for her in the Best Dressed Category. Feel free to vote as many times as you want! ;) Here is the link to the contest: http://www.arizonafoothillsmagazine.com/dog-days-of-summer-2014/voting/176.
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