Sunday, December 21, 2014

An Old Friend With New Ideas!




Just When You Thought Nothing 
Better Could Come Along, It Does! 


I've been using Reynolds Wrap products since I can remember. Mainly to "wrap" things up like potatoes going in the oven, leftover BBQ meats, and in a pinch Christmas gifts.The Reynolds folks have been on top of re-inventing their own product line by re-imagining how to keep consumers loyal. With all the new fang-dangled appliances of the 21st century, I'm sure their marketing meetings have been interesting and intense! But, alas... they've come up with so many wonderful new ways for me, one consumer, to continue using their products and yes, remain loyal. Take for instance the Slow Cooker Liners. They're wonderful. You've seen the blogs. No muss, no fuss. Just line your slow cooker and cleanup is almost done for you. 

Recently I was introduced to a product I really LOVE! Reynolds Cookie Baking Sheets Parchment Paper. A long winded name for a very useful product. These babies aren't just for baking cookies. Oh No! I first used them to line loaf pans when I made our own Mike Harvey's Fruit & Nut Holiday Cake. YES! YES! YES! My household is in the LOVE Fruitcake Camp!

Click on the link below for Mike's Fruit & Nut Holiday Cake recipe & blog


We love Mike's recipe because the ingredient list calls for tons of nuts and the directions are to rinse the sugary fruit to within an inch of it's life keeping the cake from being sickeningly sweet. Maybe more folks would like Fruitcake if it wasn't so sweet.Or, maybe not! I used OJ as the liquid to brush on the finished loaf and it is Oh! My! Garsh! DELICIOUS!!! This recipe makes 4 loaves.... we only have 2 left! 





Line Loaf Pans with Baking Sheets for Easy Extraction



Fresh Out Of The Oven


Ready For Their Baptism By OJ

When I made Chocolate-Dipped Pistachio Biscotti from this site, I pulled the Baking Sheets out again. It made life easy. I lined 2 Cookie Sheets with the perfectly sized-to-fit parchment liners and kept the opened box at the ready on my counter to conveniently pull out additional sheets as needed. This worked great, because making Biscotti is a multi-stepped process. I was moving the Biscotti from one sheet to another and just grabbed one when needed. 

Pretty Huh? 

Next up was Double Chocolate Sandwich Cookies also from this site.... an actual cookie for the Cookie Baking Sheets. Well, it's more like a Macaroon Cookie. Again, the liners are perfectly sized for my Cookie Sheets. Before Reynolds Baking Sheets became a part of my life, I would pull a hank of Parchment Paper from the roll, never getting it exactly the right size and then need to cut it to fit my Baking Sheet Pan. Probably why I mostly bake Cupcakes. Who knows, maybe I'll start making Cookies now. Nah! 




These are really good, even though I forgot to add the mini semi-sweet Chocolate Chips!

Another use for the Baking Sheets is to cut them in half and place under your measuring cups to capture flour, cocoa, sugar or ??? to pour back in the container. A money saving tip I've done for years using parchment paper from the roll.

Overall, the Baking Sheets are easy and useful. And this is one product that keeps me a loyal Reynolds Wrap Customer! 


Saturday, August 30, 2014

PNW Round Up Day Three

On Sunday, the last day of the Round Up in Oregon, everyone returned to our home for Brunch, which was "left overs" from Saturday, plus Blueberry Parfaits, coffee and Juice. After fueling up we headed down the road to visit the many wonderful Farm Stands along the lush Willamette Valley Countryside! Some of us hopped in our cars and headed out while others had planes to catch or long drives to make... 

Below is the Group Photo we took after Breakfast

From left to right front row
Akis, Bikerfamily, Bdweld, OrangeZest, Mr. Mauigirl, Mis7up

From left to right back row
gammaray, Magnolia Blossom, Christine NICU RN, 
Mrs. Bdweld, me, Mauigirl, AVON & Cookin' Cyn




Hey! Where's Moonkid? Oh! That's right! 
She's below & took the group picture. 
Good Job Jade! 


Missing from the group photo is Randy & Cathy Myers 
who we later hooked up with for dinner and 
a wonderful evening of visiting & gabbing. 

Apparently ours was NOT the 1st PNW Round Up
While we were touring Farm Stands, Randy & Cathy 
went Antiquing in our quaint little town and 
found this to give us Sunday night! 


Are we now a part of the Albany Round-Up Association, Inc?


Back to the Farm Stand Tour...
The drive through the countryside was beautiful. 
These corn fields were nearing harvest! 
The sky above was ever so blue! 


Along the way, we passed by many Filbert (Hazelnut) Orchards. 
Did you know that Oregon grows 99% of the country's Filberts?
A whooping $121 Million Crop each year! 


We just had to stop to go inside the orchards. 

Filbert Orchards are like no other fruit or nut Orchards on earth! 

They are mystical with the dappled sunlight piercing its way down through the trees, 
making the orchard appear somewhat other-worldly & just a tad bit eerie. 
See the spotlessly clean ground beneath the trees! 

The orchard floor is kept clear of weeds, tree suckers and 
debris because they let the nuts drop to harvest. 

Just prior to harvest they drag old tires through 
the orchard for one last NON-chemical cleanup! 
So Interesting! 


Simply Breathtaking! 


When I moved to Oregon in 1972 we 
lived in a small house on a Filbert Farm.
I could never get enough of walking among those trees!


Everyone thought the Orchard so mesmerizing 
that we just had to take our pictures from within! 

First Up...

Brian & Debi
Are they not the most handsome couple ever! 
Such beautiful Smiles! 


Love these two!


And, gammaray taking a picture of all of
US taking a picture of Brian & Debi.
We didn't know she was doing that! Akis was in on it! Cute!


Next Up the very gorgeous
Cookin' Cyn, Christine NICU RN, 
Debi & Magnolia Blossom
What Lovelies!


Then our so sweet and so pretty gammaray &
her sweetie Akis. A match made in heaven! 


And, finally DD Christine & her proud mama!


Below - Farm Stand #1

The smallest one we visited.
BTW, every Farm Stand we visited is 
part of a working Farm.  




Barn at the Farm Stand


Left to right: Garage, Farm Equipment Shed and House


Better view of the Farm House 


Below - Farm Stand #2


It's PEACH season! 
"And these, says Magnolia Blossom, are... PEACHES"


YUM! Everyone takes a bite
In the background is the Peach Orchard. 


Beautiful, Ripe Peaches


But wait, there's more than just Peaches

 Blackberries
The Marion Berry variety


Apples, Nectarines, and more Apples


Corn 


Green Beans


Plums


Artichokes

Wow! I love this pic. It would look nice in 
a frame and hung on the wall in my kitchen! 


On the way to our next FS, 
we drove by a Sugar Beet Seed Farm.
Plants having been cut down and ready for seed harvest,
the seeds are shipped directly to farmers for Sugar Beet Production. 



Below - Farm Stand #3
This is one of my personal favorite FS's

In addition to superb produce of every kind, 
there was also an Umpqua Valley Ice Cream Stand,
Kettle Corn, and an area for picnic-ing. 

But, the STAR attraction are the Goats in their unusual habitat. 
We all couldn't help feeding them. 
I'm sure the .25 cents it costs to watch these cute little goats
retrieve food from a bucket helps keep them a 
major draw to this Farm Stand!  


Akis puts his Quarter in and fills the bucket


Then, hand over hand he hoists the bucket up top


Trust Me! Those goats know there's food in the buckets.
It was fun watching them run to the feeder when 
they heard a bucket coming up! 


So many, many things to see and BUY!
Oh look! A chicken Apron! 


On the produce side of the building ..... so much fruit & vegtables! 


At the far end of the building were so many things for the garden. 
Here they are again! The couple of the day! 

I think Debi wants this "love" bench.


Farm Stand #4
Our last stop...

By Far, the biggest Farm Stand on the tour.
They have everything imaginable here! 
And, again... this is also a working Farm! 


Inside, there's wine, a bakery with so many
 baked goods, produce and so much more! 


Pears


Taters


Watermelon


Outside are the pretty gardens, barn and outbuildings


Even a Koi Pond


Gardens to stroll through


Our Farm Stand tour had come to an end. 
AND, with that the PNW Round Up too! 

We had the best time ever.

Our extreme thanks to those who came! 

Our wish for you is that you enjoyed 
yourselves half as much we did! 

THANK YOU!!!!

To those of you reading this, it is our wish that
you have enjoyed reading The PNW Round Up Blogs
and looking at the beautiful photos taken by the attendees 
as mush as I have enjoyed putting it together. 

Many Blessings to you all! 
Orange & Candice 



Note: Photos courtesy of: gammaray, bdweld, and Christine NICU RN