Fall is in the Air

It is hard to believe but Fall here and Halloween is upon us and the holidays are right around the corner. This last week I have been working on Mincemeat for pies, ordering products for Fruit Cakes and baking cookies for the Farmer's Market this Wednesday.

I am so excited about the Indoor Winter Market that we are putting together. The members of the Farmer's Market are getting together and going to have an Indoor Winter Market this year after the Summer Market closes on the 29th of October. The Indoor Winter Market opens on November 1 and will be open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 7 am to 1 pm. We are all excited about it.

I am also going to add another new line of products from my bakery. I'm adding pet treats.

I have now made my first sugar free fruit and pumpkin pies for the Market. My mother gave me the Family recipe for Mincemeat and I made a couple of Mincemeat Pies for the Market. I'm thinking of putting enough Mincemeat in a jar and sealing it like my jams and jellies and selling Grandma's Mincemeat for Pies.

Check out my website at http://www.anniesaccentsbakery.net

New Jam and Jelly Jars

Above you will see the new taller jars for our Jam, Jellies and Fruit Butters. We also have some Sugar Free, Made with Splenda. Each jar is 8 oz. just like the flatter ones but instead of being the wide mouth jars, they are the regular size. These make much nicer looking jars. The jams, jellies and fruit butters can be seen much better. Annie's Accents Bakery has been switching to these taller jars since late last fall. Please check out my Ryze Page and my websites at http://anniesaccentsbakery.vstore.ca or go to http://www.anniesaccentsbakery.net and click on the link that takes you to my vstore catalog.

Spring is finally here. Yesterday was Easter and we had sunshine, clouds, rain, sleet, and snow. I know that in Missouri they say if you don't like the weather just wait a little while and it will change. Today is a beautiful Spring day. We have sunshine and of course we have the March winds that we get each year at this time.

I hope that Everyone had a wonderful Easter.

St. Patrick's Day

It seems like spring today. The sun is shining and the temperature is supposed to get above 50 degrees. I think that the grass is beginning to start turning green but then St. Patrick's is right around the corner. Annie's Accents Bakery is getting in gear for it by making Shamrock cookies and also offering Green Jalapeno Pepper Jam. My great great grandparents on my great grandmother's side of the family came from County Cork in Ireland. We of course have Corned Beef on St. Patrick's Day. I have a Reuben Casserole just for St. Patrick's Day. Here it is

Reuben Casserole

16 oz. Sour Kraut

1 c. Sour Cream

1/2 c. Chopped Onion

1/2 c. Margarine

12 oz. can of Corned Beef

3/4 grated Swiss Cheese

1/2 lb loaf of Rye Bread

Thousand Island Dressing or Sandwich Spread (Optional)

Combine Kraut, sour cream and onion. Place in 8 X 8 X 2 pan. Crumble corn beef over mixture. Top with cheese and put bread crumbed up on top of cheese. Pour margarine over all and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. After the casserole has baked, I then add a layer of thousand Island Dressing or Sandwich Spread.

I hope that you enjoy St. Patrick's Day.

Sandra Justice

Annie's Accents Bakery

It's Now 2008!

Today is the first day of the New Year. For some reason I am excited about it. I always enjoy the holidays but today seems extra special for some reason. Call it a feeling. I have a feeling that this year is going to be special for my family and for my business. My granddaughter, Bri spent the night with me so I didn't go out to celebrate. My son and his girlfriend, Felicia came by this morning for breakfast. My parents were here too and everyone stayed for lunch.

Here is a new recipe to try out if you need an appetizer:

Ham Rolls

Take a slice of deli ham sliced thin but not shaved and lay flat. Spread soft cream cheese on the ham. Roll the ham and cream chees like a jelly roll. Cut into 3/4" to 1 " rolls. Put a stuffed olive on top and run a decorative toothpick into olive and ham roll for decoration. These are good and not sweet. I usually make them a day ahead.

Here's Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas

Well, the bustle of gift shopping is almost over. Do you have all of your presents wrapped? I think that I am ready for our family Christmas. I stayed up late last night wrapping gifts until I was done. I watch all year long for Christmas presents and when I find one that I think would be nice, I go ahead and buy it. I then put it away until it is time to wrap it. I start making a list of things that different ones wanted this year and didn't get so I can use that as a start for the next year. Sometimes I am done with my shopping before Thanksgiving. This year I was very lax because I didn't start shopping until last Friday but I knew exactly what I wanted for each person so it didn't take long. This year I made a lot of gift baskets for my brother, nieces and friends which had some of my new jams and jellies in them. My mother started making nylon net scrubbies this fall so I used them for the bows and then they can be used to scrub dishes. They are really neat because they scrub burned on food off so easily and won't damage teflon at all. We are going to put them on my website.

Merry Christmas to Everyone!!

It's Almost Christmas!

Well as I look out the window I can see the sunshine. It feels so good after the ice storm and the snow storm we had last week. We lost electricity, heat and telephones on Tuesday morning about 2 a.m. and then lost water about 5 p.m. on Wednesday. We spent Wednesday night thru Friday morning with my brother. We got home to a warm house and even had cable TV but no phones. We were under a boil order for the water until yesterday evening. We got telephones on Saturday and they finished up repairing the telephones today. I can receive faxes now and use my own phone line to get on the internet. We have a lot of trees and limbs down but they will be cleaned up in time. Things are beginning to look up again.

I am finally getting in the Christmas Spirit. Even with it almost 45 degrees outside we still have some snow.You can hear the Christmas Carols being sung over the loud speaker up town. The sound drifts down to us and is so peaceful. That is one of the things I like about Christmas here in town. I am just about done with all of my Christmas Orders. I have several to get shipped out but they will go tomorrow.

Saturday we will be getting together with my son, Jason, Brianna, and Felicia. They will come that morning for presents and breakfast. At noon my brother and sister-in-law and maybe part of their family will be here for presents and dinner. It will be so nice to have everyone here again. There have been several years go by that they haven't come up. We went to my brother's house instead. Well I better go and get busy wrapping presents.

Here is a new recipe for a breakfast dish. I am going to make it along with cinnamon rolls for our breakfast on Saturday.

Unbeatable Christmas Brunch Frittata

Allow about 20-30 minutes for this tasty, 6-serving holiday treat

8 eggs

1/2 c. shredded cheese

2 Tbs. butter

2 c. chopped red and green peppers

1/4 c. chopped green onions

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

Beat together eggs, salt and pepper. Fold in shredded cheese and set aside. Melt butter over medium heat in a 10 inch skillet that's both ovenproof and nonstick. Add green onions (setting aside a pinch for garnish) and peppers. Saute' until tender. Pour eggs over peppers and onions. Cover and cook it over a medium-low heat for about 9 minutes. Make sure the eggs are set(look for a lightly brown bottom). Turn oven on to broil. Move the frittata from stovetop to oven and broil top about 5 inches from the heat until lightly browned.

I am going to add some cooked bacon and maybe a little chopped up ham. It is also suggested to serve with sausage patties.

Here's hoping that you have a Very Merry Christmas and also a safe Christmas!!

The Ice Storm

I won't take long tonight. We were hit with a bad ice storm on Monday night. We have been without electricity, heat, water, telephones except cell phones when we can keep them charged. They said to begin with that we'd have electricity in a day or two but then we heard that it could be a week or more. My parents, my son and I are in St. Joseph at my brother and sister-in-law's house for the duration. We went back to Oregon to feed the horses this morning and check the houses. We had electricity for about 10 minutes but nothing since. They say that Holt County is a total disaster. I will write more later, on the storm. I'm using my brother's computer.