Enriching the Community * Harvesting Home Ownership

National Blueberry Cheesecake Day

May 26th, 2023

Blueberry cheesecake. Loaded with antioxidants, blueberries provide a slightly tart sweetness to this rich, creamy dessert. Let today be your chance to indulge. I know of four iconic ladies who always had a cheesecake on hand for deep conversations.

Evidence of the first ‘cheese cake’ dates back to around 2000 B.C. with some cheese molds found on the Samos island of Greece. It was seen as a good source of energy with evidence it was served to athletes at the first Olympic Games around the 700s B.C. Over the years, cheese cake spread across the globe with regional variations popping up along the way. Cheeses were substituted depending on the region.

Arnold Reuben is credited with creating the New York style cheesecake in the 1920s. German born, Reuben moved to the United States when he was young. The story goes he was at a party where the hostess served a cheese pie, and he was fascinated.

There are many ways to enjoy cheesecake. I usually think of gooey, gelled fruit topping from a can. Fresh is always going to be better. If you choose to celebrate today, I recommend making these Blueberry Cheesecake Cookie Bars. The original recipe can be found linked below.

Make your cream cheese filling: beat two blocks of cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, salt, eggs, and a little lemon zest together until smooth.

Make your sugar cookie batter: get grandma to help mix, it makes it taste better. Beat a stick of butter, sugar, large egg, juice of a lemon, flour, baking soda, and salt together until well combined.

Sugar cookie layer: in a greased, parchment-lined pan, use about three-fourths of the sugar cookie, making a smoothish layer, and saving a quarter of the batter for the top.

Cream cheese: top the sugar cookie with your cream cheese mixture.

Blueberries: top the cream cheese layer with two cups of fresh blueberries.

Sugar cookie topper: break up the remaining sugar cookie batter and spread it over the top of your creation.

Bake: bake for what feels like forever, or about an hour and a half.

Glaze it: when it has cooled, cut the Blueberry Cheesecake Cookie into bars. Cover it with a glaze powdered sugar, cream cheese, and whole milk.

These things are amazing and oh so rich!! I highly recommend them. I have a bit of sweet tooth, but you do not want a big slice. Keep your cuts small. These will definitely be the star of your next get together. You can find the original recipe at https://www.bonappetit.com/sponsored/recipe/blueberry-cheesecake-cookie-bars. Philadelphia definitely hit the mark with this recipe. Enjoy!
World Bee Day

May 20th, 2023

Bees! After your initial fear of getting stung subsides, your mind will probably go to honey: the honey bee. These little fuzzy black and yellow pollen goblins are not native to North America. Honey bees are a species originally from Eurasia. Over the years they have been shipped to farmers and honey enthusiasts around the world.

Beyond the honey bee there are over 20,000 species of bees with about 4,000 species native to North America. I had always thought the honey bee was the miracle worker behind our food chain. It would seem the unsung, solitary hero of our agricultural ability is the native blue orchard bee.

Honey bees tend to stick to lemons, almonds, and wild flowers. Blue orchard bees pollinate tomatoes, squash, and most stone fruit trees. Peaches, plums, cherries, nectarines, apricots, mangoes, raspberries, and olives are a few of my favorite stone fruits.

Blue orchard bees are a type of mason (or masonry) bee. Mason bees, rather than living large hives are more solitary, burrowing smaller tunnels or holes for their brood. They seal the entrance with clay or mud.

One of the easiest ways to help them is to get a house like this. This is a house created for mason bees. While they do not live in large hives, mason bees do like to be neighbors. The tunnels in the house provides a ready to move in commune, then the bees seal the entrance with mud.
International Hummus Day

May 13th, 2023

Hummus. The magical blend of chick peas, tahini, garlic, and lemon juice has been enjoyed by millions over the years. While the true origin of hummus remains unclear, it is loved far and wide. On this 10th year of International Hummus Day, why not make your own. It is super easy and leaves room for interpretation. Come on, let’s get started.

Gather your ingredients: I have some dried garbanzo beans, tahini, a couple lemons, and a bulb of garlic.

Soak your beans: soak one cup of beans overnight. One cup of dried garbanzo beans will yield three cups of soaked beans.

Cook your beans: drain the beans and cook them for about two hours. Over cooking them will only make them softer, making a creamier hummus.

Peel your beans: soak them in hot water and baking soda. The baking soda helps loosen the hull. Peeling the beans will make a creamier hummus.

Dry and process: pat the beans dry and process them for about five minutes.

Add everything else: add in tahini, minced garlic, and lemon juice then process another five ish minutes.

Garnish and enjoy: you just made a super easy snack with five ingredients.

When you feel good w your base recipe you can play around. You can vary what you put on top. I went for a little crunchy chili onion oil. I have seen recipes where you can add beets, avocado, and vary your spices, really the sky is the limit.

I loosely followed Suzy Karadsheh’s recipe Easy Hummus Recipe over on https://www.themediterraneandish.com/how-to-make-hummus/ . I highly recommend checking it. She has a lot of great recipes. Thank you Suzy!