Yesterday (Saturday, August 7, 2021) David, Soapy and I traveled to Flushing, MI to enjoy a take-out meal from Homeboy Barbeque. This was our second visit to date. Our first visit was on David’s birthday…May 28, 2021. That day was unseasonably cold and blustery…both of us needing our winter jacket and hooded sweatshirt. Saturday was just the opposite…beautiful with warm temperatures in the mid-80’s and sunny skies.
The roadside sign of Homeboy Barbeque in Flushing, MI
We decided to have a tailgate picnic at Homeboy so we loaded the van with table and chairs, along with tablecloth, plates, napkins and utensils. We had ordered in advance our selections and all was ready when we arrived at 2:30pm.
Our table full of good eats!
We ordered the “Family Special” which included two BBQ Half-Chickens, a full Rack of BBQ Ribs, three large sides…Southern Slaw, Redskin Potato Salad, and their competition winning BBQ Baked Beans, Cornbread and Chocolate Brownies. We ate only a portion of all this food knowing we would be bringing most home to enjoy for more meals. I brought cold packs to preserve the food.
Soapy and I enjoying our tailgate picnic! My picnic plate full of delicious eats…I could not eat it all so it got packed up and brought home.
The food is absolutely delicious! The chicken is the most tender chicken I have ever tasted. The ribs meaty. All the sides very good. David particularly enjoyed the BBQ Baked Beans…definitely a winner!
Soapy teased for his “fair share” of chicken. David giving him pieces with no BBQ sauce on them.
After we finished our tailgate picnic at Homeboy Barbeque, we drove west to St. John’s, MI to the Phillips Cider Mill for fresh Michigan peaches. First week of August is the first week of peach season!
The outside entrance to Phillips Cider Mill just off of I-127 north of St. John’s, MIRacks of freshly picked peaches from their orchardsDavid and I shared a tall refreshing cup of Apple Cider Slushy. Brain -freeze alert…sip slowly!!We brought home a quart package each of the three currently available free-stone peach varieties… Red Star, Lucky 13, and Red Haven.
With Valentine’s falling on a Sunday, there was time to prepare a nice Valentine supper for David and I. When I did my grocery shopping at Kroger’s earlier in the week, they were offering a special two-for-one sale on their pork rib slabs. So I picked up two. Over the years I have felt intimidated to cook ribs thinking it to be quite a process. After looking up some recipes, I learned the secret is slow baking at a low temperature.
I wrapped up each slab individually in foil after giving them a rub of spices – season salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika, followed by a generous sprinkling of brown sugar. After baking for at least two hours at 300-degrees, the meat was tender. I opened up the foil wrap and dabbed a BBQ mixture of catsup and A-1 sauce, closed the foil and baked for another 1/2 hour. Once again I opened up the foil, this time putting the ribs under the broiler to crisp up the BBQ sauce on the ribs.
I also made a pot of “Roasted French Chestnut” Soup. I sautéed chopped onion, celery and garlic in butter, then added flour to make the roux. To this I added chicken broth and chopped roasted chestnuts. The roasted chestnuts come from France, are packaged in a jar, and can be ordered through Amazon. Seasonings consisted of roasted chicken bouillon, season salt, white pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, sugar, and most importantly…ground nutmeg. Once the soup was cooked and the flavors marinated together, the soup was pureed in our Nutra-Ninja to make it smooth and velvety.
To round out our meal, I baked two whole sweet potatoes in the oven along with the ribs. I made a tasty side salad of leafy greens, blue cheese sprinkles, dried cranberries, and chopped pecans. A strawberry-balsamic dressing was drizzled on top. Additional items were Sweet Hawaiian rolls with butter, and a side bowl of the BBQ sauce. Very pink raspberry and strawberry macarons ordered on Etsy were our sweet treats. Heart shaped mugs of hot Earl Grey tea complimented our Valentine supper.
Dining room table set for our Valentine supper.
Red hearts, white lace and ceramic cherubs decorate the table.
A duo of cloth napkins held together with a cherub napkin ring.
Red tulips spill out of a Valentine vase.
Centerpiece grouping of tulips in vase, cherub holding a heart, pillar candle and checked hearts.
Plates laden with our Valentine supper food.
Leafy lettuce salad with bleu cheese sprinkles, dried cranberries, chopped pecans and a strawberry-balsamic dressing.
Roasted French Chestnut Soup, Baked BBQ Ribs with extra BBQ Sauce, halved Sweet Potato, and heart shaped mugs of hot Earl Grey Tea.
Sweet Raspberry and Strawberry Macarons on antique silver tray completed our special Valentine supper.
The September-October 2020 issue of TEA TIME MAGAZINE inspired me to create my own Autumn Tea on my front porch. The ivory pumpkin shaped teapot from Grace’s Teaware and pictured on their front cover, is one that I have too, along with the matching cups and saucers.
I had great delight in creating this autumn tea vignette and hope you will enjoy seeing the results. This post is a tad longer than usual but I wanted to include all the lovely parts of the ensemble. And yes, David and I did sit down to the table and enjoyed this special afternoon treat together. 🙂
The porch table is set for two starting with a vintage linen tablecloth cross-stitched in fall colors of rust orange and burnished brown. The creamware pumpkin cups and saucers, soft faux-suede maple leaf place mats, textured orange pumpkin ceramic plates, and embroidered vintage cloth napkins with pumpkin napkin rings (a recent find at Hobby Lobby) complete the place settings.
The bouquet of flowers on the table include the last of my Limelight Hydrangeas and Dahlias, with some Zebra grass tassels tucked in for added texture. The mini yellow-orange Boo Pumpkins were harvested from the four seed plants I grew over my compost area during the summer. There were a lot of flowers of potential pumpkins but only six little pumpkins showed up (I gave one to my neighbor). I am glad to have at least these to show off after waiting all summer for them!
I baked an Orange Marmalade Walnut Tea Bread (recipe at end of this post) in my Nordic Ware pumpkin loaf pan (I wrote about this pan in an earlier post) and served it on an ivory china plate decorated with a rustic orange ribbon woven in between the openings of the plate’s outer edge.
The hot tea was brewed from Kroger’s Private Collection “Orange Spice Black Tea”, a lovely compliment to the tea bread.
The weather was still warm enough to sit and enjoy this lovely outdoor tea on the front porch. Thank You TEA TIME MAGAZINE for the inspiration!
Recipe for the OrangeMarmalade Walnut Tea Bread(printed source unknown)
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1-1/4 cups sweet orange marmalade
1 large egg
3/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Prepare baking pan(s) with baking spray. (I use Professional Bak-klene All-Purpose No-Stick Bakery Spray available at Amazon.)
Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt) in a large bowl and mix thoroughly together with a whisk.
Combine wet ingredients (marmalade, egg, orange juice, oil) in another bowl and mix together until well blended. Add chopped walnuts and stir together.
Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and stir only until mixture is moistened.
Batter yields slightly more than four cups. Distribute evenly into four 5-3/4″ x 3″ loaf pans and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes. If using a 9″ x 5 loaf pan (like the Nordic Ware pumpkin pan), bake approximately 45-50 minutes. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. Cool on wire rack for at least 15 minutes; remove from pan(s) to finish cooling.
We brought home three “Mashed Potato” Squash from our outing to the pumpkin roadside stand. After looking up on the Internet how to prepare the squash, we baked one to see if it really tastes like mashed potatoes.
The taste test…we are surprised by how yummy this squash is…mild, slightly sweet…and important to me…doesn’t taste like “squash”! Does it taste liked mashed potatoes…yes…and even looks like mashed potatoes in color and texture after baking…amazing!
Here are the steps to prepare the Mashed Potato Squash:
Preheat oven to 350-degrees.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Wash squash thoroughly to remove all dirt.
Using a strong knife that cuts straight, slice in half.
Scoop out pulp and seeds.
Lightly brush inside flesh with olive oil.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Place flesh side down on parchment paper.
Place in oven and bake for one hour.
Remove and cool in pan on parchment paper.
Scoop out cooked insides and serve in bowl like mashed potatoes!
David had taken Friday afternoon off for an appointment and afterwards with some time on our hands we drove to a pumpkin roadside stand in the country located on Holt Road between Meridian and Zimmer Roads (Okemos and Williamston).
I wanted some ornamental pumpkins to make a pumpkin totem for my outside autumn decorating. I was not disappointed! All sorts of ornamental pumpkins, along with many varieties of squash and gourds were on display for the choosing. David picked out several kinds of squash. I had fun stacking different ornamental pumpkins in various colors until I found just the right combination to take home.
While we were busy deciding on our pumpkin and squash choices, a couple drove up on their motorcycle. They had stopped at this pumpkin roadside stand the day before and picked up some “mashed potato” squash. The couple said this squash tastes just like mashed potatoes when cooked and they wanted more! David decided we had to have some too!
This pumpkin, squash and gourd roadside stand is situated on a country property with an old house being renovated. Parking is on the side of the road. Payment is the honor system with cash or using a phone app. It turned out to be a fun early autumn outing!
A stop in the country for some fall produce
Wagon and baskets of assorted pumpkins, squash and gourds
In a recent catalog I saw Nordic Ware bread pans that have a 3-D pumpkin design. I decided to look for them on Amazon, found them and ordered two pans.
My sister recently shared some of their garden tomatoes and zucchini…Thank You! The tomatoes we enjoyed sliced for dinner…yum! I have a recipe for Pumpkin-Zucchini Bread that makes enough for two 9″x5″ loaf pans so I made a batch using the garden zucchini in the new Nordic Ware pumpkin pans. Another yum!
After thoroughly washing and drying the new pans, I lightly coated the interior of the pans with a flour-oil baking spray then added the prepared pumpkin-zucchini bread batter. After baking the bread and cooling a bit in the pans, the baked bread literally dropped out of the pans…so no problem with sticking especially with all the intricate 3-D detail! The two loaves are perfect in detail!
I have a folder of quick (batter) loaf bread recipes and there are quite a few with pumpkin bread variations. While I like my Pumpkin-Zucchini Bread recipe, I plan to try some others during this fall season with my new 3-D pumpkin pans to see which one wins out in taste, texture and presentation!
David and I, Soapy too, had a little road trip last Friday to Phillips Orchard and Cider Mill located north of St. John’s, MI (about 1/2-mile further north of Uncle John’s Cider Mill) on the southbound side I-127. Our mission was for some sweet Michigan peaches which I learned at their Facebook page are in season now.
We like going to their apple orchard in the fall to pick apples and enjoy a cool apple cider slushy on a warm autumn day…yum! And we enjoy their donuts…we think they are better than Uncle John’s! So in addition to the peaches we bought, we also brought home 1/2 dozen donuts to enjoy an early taste of fall!
We are enjoying the peaches sliced in a bowl every day…twice a day actually…they are soooo good and juicy…nothing better than a fresh Michigan peach!
Phillips Orchard Cider Mill north of St. John’s, MI
Entrance sign requiring masks to be worn
Display of fresh picked peaches inside the building
A variety of Red Haven peaches are ready for purchase in different size containers
David with our haul of peaches…each box is a 1/2 peck. One box is going to my sister’s house. David’s mask is hanging off his left ear.
Soapy and me taking a look at our peaches in the back of the van. I am wearing my newer mask I ordered online that has a hand embroidered design. I think it is a little big for my face…but it is comfortable.
