Mexico Beach and Apalachicola

  A long weekend to the Florida panhandle was part of our summer vaca this year. This beach is approximately 1 hour east of Panama City Beach. There is no shopping and very few restaurants. We were glad we planned ahead and brought a supply of spaghetti, steaks and salmon for grilling. The VRBO condo was nice enough and had a complete kitchen.

We had beautiful weather on Thursday and Friday....followed by rain the rest of the weekend.....

Above: the beach is reflecting the setting sun. The multicolored umbrella lights up!

We drove east to view the town of Apalachicola, a small town where oysters were king.....I remember my dad going fishing there in the 1960's.

I am not sure if this boat is functioning or just for photos....

 We celebrated our 40th year anniversary on July 12.

We haven't changed much......haha!

Enjoy your summer! I have THREE weeks left before reporting for duty!

~Lynda~

Buttermilk Biscuits

Bonjour peeps! I trust you are enjoying your summer. After an afternoon of watching Junk Gypsies.....I decided to try making biscuits from scratch.

Recipe: Preheat oven to 425*

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
7 TBSP unsalted butter chilled in freezer,cut into thin slices
3/4 cup cold buttermilk
2 TBSP buttermilk for brushing on top of biscuits before baking.

Whisk flour,baking powder,salt and soda in mixing bowl. Cut in butter. Make a well and pour in buttermilk.  Stir turning dough onto floured work surface. Pat into rectangle, fold into thirds, flatten out into rectangle X 3. Roll 1/2" thick and cut out 12-14 biscuits. Brush with buttermilk and bake 425*'for 15 minutes.

I baked mine on a seasoned Pampered Chef stone.

Notice I did not brush the middle heart biscuit.

It made a difference.... you can see in the bottom photo. The buttermilk blends all the stray flour and browns the tops nicely.

They tasted great.....even my husband approved!

I think I have plenty to share with the neighbors!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a splendid summer!

~Lynda~

Dessert Party Pizza

Happy July 5th! I made this yesterday for a get-together we had with a couple of families. It turned out great so I thought I would share the experiment. I had seen several versions on All Recipes.com but combined several and added vanilla because everything taste better with vanilla! I think they are hard to mess up really.

Ingredients:     1 tube of sugar cookie dough

1 8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

6 oz Cool Whip

2 cups of strawberries and 2 cups of blueberries

1. Slice one tube of sugar cookie dough and spread evenly onto a stone or parchment paper. Bake according to the directions on the package. COOL completely.

2. Wash and slice about 25 berries. Try to slice the berries about the same width. For extra large berries you can get four slices. Dry on paper towel.

3. Wash and drain 2 cups fresh blueberries. Dry on paper towel.

4. Beat 1 pkg. cream cheese until soft. Add 1/2 cup of brown sugar + 1 tsp. vanilla and mix together. Add 1/2 tub (about 6 oz. )of Cool Whip still blending with mixer.

5. Spread mixture on baked and cooled cookie dough. Arrange berries beginning with a star. Wrap with plastic saran wrap and cool in refrigerator until ready to slice and serve. I used a pizza cutter.

The flavor has that "WOW" factor. Summer is a great time to enjoy fresh fruit. Even my husband liked it.

This gal made it to a different party. She was printed from the Country Living Magazine website on July 4th crafts. I added the angel wings, made a Brave rosette and placed both in a peat pot with a July 4th sign. What I wanted to make was a banner with burlap.....ran completely out of time for that! Perhaps next year.....

~Lynda~