Pretty Good Pie, Fresh Salsa Recipe and Unique Necklace!

Pie is one of my favorite foods.  Some people love the filling but I love a good crust and lots of it.  I don't happen to make good crust so I rely on Pillsbury to roll it out and put it in a box for me so I can unroll it and put it in the pie pan!

In our garden we have old raspberry bushes and each year we plan to cut them back and compost them so that the next year the berries will be big and juicy and wonderful.  So far we haven't gotten that far...so every year we pick a bizillion little raspberries and eat some and freeze the rest.  I have a couple of years of raspberries in the freezer right now.  At this point I guess I can make raspberry jam.  We only picked two times this year.  Hmmm...

One night about 8 p.m., I decided to make a pie using blueberries from the store and my home grown raspberries.  I found a recipe online at Pillsbury from whence my crust came and made the best blueberry-raspberry pie.  It looked pretty good too - don't you think?  As you can see - I was so anxious to taste it that I forgot to take a picture until it was 1/3 gone.  So we were eating pie right before bed...warm with real whipped cream!  So good!

As long as I'm on the subject of food, I thought I would share my fresh salsa recipe.  The tomatoes have been ripening at record pace.  There are two colanders filled with ripe and almost ripe tomatoes on the counter. 

I'm not much of a canning person...so each year I make fresh salsa and oven/freezer tomato sauce.  Usually most of the ingredients in my salsa are grown in my garden...this year the tomatoes, onions and green pepper were home grown.  Here's part of my first batch:

This recipe makes about 1 1/2 quarts.  I cut about 12 tomatoes in slices and then cut up pretty small, followed by 3/4 of a green pepper, 1/2 large onion or a bizillion small ones, 2 small cloves garlic, about 3/4 inch of jalapeno pepper chopped tiny, and a generous squirt of olive oil.  Then I sprinkle with salt, pepper, and celery salt.  It keeps a week or so in a jar in the refrigerator but usually doesn't last that long.  Any of the ingredients can be more or less depending on what you and your family enjoy.  I will be making my tomato sauce and will share how I do it in the oven and then freeze.  So easy!

I love jewelry because usually it fits!  I saw this idea in one of the great Somerset books and decided I needed to make a few.  I made three and sold two at our last sale.  On her crown it reads - "Be Bold".  And that's who and what I am - usually.

As you can see its made on a brass hinge, jewelry pieces are attached, and cording is threaded through small decorative beads along the cord and secured with cords running through a bead at the top.  It's a unique piece so it gets attention when I wear it!  It would look better if I had taken a picture of it on black velvet but the mosquitoes are so bad tonight I didn't want to go back out!!!  Yikes!!!  Too much rain and now too many 'squitoes!

Take care and talk to you soon!!!

Bonnie