Chicken With Salsa and Rice

This dinner is so quick, easy, inexpensive and good--all the best reasons in the world to try it. I'm telling ya, it does not get any better than this.

Chicken with Salsa and Rice:

6 pieces of chicken, skin removed
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
1 jar of your favorite salsa
1 jar of water
1 cup of uncooked rice

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Salt and pepper the chicken pieces and brown them in the olive oil. Pour in the jar of salsa, the water, and the rice. Stir to distribute the rice in the pan. Cover and simmer until the rice is done, about 22 minutes.

I made this tonight with an Apple Salsa from a farm market in Pennsylvania. Side dishes were black beans and pear salad. How simple is that?

The Wheels Are Rolling Tomorrow

The wheels will be rolling tomorrow morning on our travel trailer. We finished our commitment to our job at Granite Hill Camping Resort yesterday. There were times when it seemed like this day would never come. It has been a long, long season.

We spent most of today getting ready to go. We are taking a good bit of Pennsylvania with us, literally. Jim got two cases of Yuengling beer. I got three huge bags of Utz Tortilla Chips, they are the best! I also went back to Hacienda Shiloh and got some garlic and some of that good Autumn Rub that they sell there, and some other things. A trip to the Rose Garden Natural Foods store to stock up on buckwheat flour, rice flour, and rice pastas since I don’t know when I will find another source. What else? Hmmm…

I have a half dozen pints of green beans, some frozen cooked turnip greens,three bags of cooked mashed pumpkin, a gallon bag of chopped sweet red italian peppers, and some apple sausage in the freezer. Some acorn squashes, and a few apples, all came from Harbaugh’s Farm. There is a large jar of sweet pickled cauliflower, two jars of apple salsa, a jar of cherry butter, and several small packages of dried cranberries, dried pineapple, and roasted pumpkin seeds from the farm market across the road from the campground. It will take us a long time to clear Pennsylvania out of the pantry.

I would say that if any of you gets a chance to visit or workamp in the Gettysburg area, it will be a real treat. It is a rural area, with lots of agriculture, so there is an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, with farm stands down almost every road during the summer and fall. We have certainly enjoyed our stay here.

But, as the song says, I can’t wait to get on the road again…

Fall In Pennsylvania

By now you all probably think that all Jim and I do is drive around on our day off. Well, you could be right! Last week we were out for our drive, as usual, looking for a farm stand to buy some veggies for dinner. But, Karen, it is mid-October, you may be thinking. Yes, but the harvest goes on until the first frost, which has not happened yet, so I knew there would still be some goodies out there for the finding.

We drove down Jack's Mountain Road, out of Fairfield, Pennsylvania, and when we got to Pennsylvania 16, we turned right towards Waynesboro. A couple miles down 16 we saw this sign:
So, we decided to follow the arrow, and boy are we glad we did. We turned onto Sunshine Trail, and it took us to the next sign, pointing to Harbaugh's Farm on Harbaugh Road, in Harbaugh Valley. Charlie Harbaugh was working at the produce stand on his farm when we arrived. He told us the farm has been in his family for "generations".

The veggtables for sale were a little bit old, because they had been picked on Saturday morning and we were there on Wednesday afternoon. We bought a peck of sweet red Italian peppers. There were about 20 or so peppers in the basket for only $4.00.

We got a head of broccoli, a huge bag of green beans, a butternut squash, a small pumpkin, some apples, a large onion for making some onion rings, and some turnips. I asked Charlie if he had any turnip greens, and he said they usually cut them off and throw them out because nobody around there eats them. But, he said, if you want some you are welcome to go out to the field and pull some yourself! I was overjoyed, because being a girl from the south, I grew up eating turnip greens and can not imagine anyone just throwing them out! He even gave us a bag to put them in.

Off we went down to the field, and guess what else we found there? We wound up picking another big bag of green beans, a fresh head of broccoli, and one of cauliflower, in addition to the huge bag of turnip greens to go with my turnips.

(Here I am with my treasure of turnip greens)

I felt like I had hit the vegetable jackpot. When all was said and done, I got all that stuff for $13.00. I put four pints of green beans and a gallon of chopped Italian peppers in the freezer. I cooked the turnip greens and put half of them in the freezer, too. We still have some green beans to be cooked in the refrigerator. I am thinking about going over there again this week to get some more green beans and broccoli because my little freezer is not full yet.

Here is one more picture for you from this trip, a barn right at the edge of the road.

Oh Say Can You See...

(click on the pictures to see them larger)

When we got up this morning we had two items on our plan for the day. We had to go to Hagerstown for Jim’s lab appointment at the VA Clinic, to test his TSH level; and I had to go to the bank. You would think that going to the bank would be a simple thing, but Bank of America, my bank of choice, does not have any branches in Pennsylvania. There is also not a branch in Hagerstown, Maryland, a town with a total urban population of more than 120,000 people. Hell, they have a VA Clinic but no Bank of America.

So, after Jim was done at the VA, we took a leisurely drive over to Thurmont, MD, where they do have a Bank of America, even though the population is less than 6,000. We took Maryland 64 north to 77, which goes east over Catoctin Mountain. The bank, in downtown Thurmont, was in one of those old bank buildings that you often see in downtowns around the country that have been converted to beauty shops or thrift stores, but this one was still serving as a bank. And it was beautiful. I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture of it.

Then, after I got my banking business accomplished, we looked at our map of Maryland to find a route home that we have not taken before, just to see what we could see. And right there on the map, right off of Maryland 77, were the words, “Keysville, The birthplace of Francis Scott Key.” Off we went to find the home of that famous American.

On our way, we passed through a tiny town called Detour, Maryland. It was just a blink, but who could resist taking a detour through Detour?

(looking back to see Detour)

And so, we drove on. We found the little place called Keysville, but there was no sign, no placard, no monument, no nothing. I felt a little let down that even though the great state of Maryland was proud enough of Mr. Key to put a little blurb about Keysville being his place of birth on their map, that they were not proud enough to put at least a little marker to show us where he took his first breath, in preparation of singing that great national anthem. You know, the one that starts out “Oh say can you see?” Apparently not his birthplace…

However, if you ever get to this area, it is worth the drive because it is so scenic. The pictures I have here don’t really show how beautiful it is.

Mums In Maryland

Another week, another day off, and Jim and I were driving through the countryside again looking for scenic wonderment. I am here to tell you we found it, just a few miles down the road in Maryland. Before we came up here to work, we never knew Pennsylvania and Maryland could be so beautiful. Everywhere you go around here your eyes are rewarded with beautiful sights, and today was no exception.
The first place we went was to a little restaurant on Hwy 16 in Fairfield, Pennsylvania called Our Place Cafe. They have not been open long. Today was the second time we ate there, but we both had the same thing that we had the last time. Jim got a cheesesteak sandwich and I got Crab Fries. Crab Fries are french fried potatoes with crab meat, bacon, and cheeses on top. They serve it with a yummy scrummy sauce that has Old Bay seasoning and horseradish in it. OMG! I am going to be making these at home sometime soon!

After we left there, we took the first left turn off of Hwy 16, just because we had never been down that road. It turned out to be a dead end road, but here is a picture I took along that road:After we got back to the main hwy, we took another left turn where there was a sign pointing to a roadside market. The market we found at the direction of that sign was fabulous. The farmer guy was out in the front watering a trailer loaded with fall mums for sale:Inside the market we found so many choices it was hard to choose, but we wound up buying eggplant, green beans, two ears of silver king corn, a tiny little cantaloupe that was about the size of a large softball, but it smelled soooo good.Back at home, I made eggplant parmesean, steamed green beans, and fresh corn on the cobb in the microwave. I cut up the little cantaloupe, and that was dinner.

Here is the recipe I used for the Eggplant Parm:

2 medium eggplants
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup corn flour
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
1/2 a 26 oz jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (I used Classico Sweet Tomato Basil)
1 1/2 cups shredded mixed italian cheese

Peel the eggplants and slice 3/4 inch thick. Salt generously and let set for about 20 minutes, then rinse well. Put the egg and milk into a bowl and mix well. Put the flours, salt and pepper into another bowl and mix well. Dip the eggplant slices into the egg mixture, then into the flour mixture, coating well. Fry in olive oil in a skillet until browned. Place the fried eggplant slices in a casserole dish in one layer. Pour the spaghetti sauce over, then sprinkle the cheese over. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes. Let sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

This is sooo good served with steamed green beans and corn on the cob. It is gluten free. If you are allergic to eggs, you can leave them out and just use the milk. Sorry, we were too hungry to take pictures of it before we ate it all up!

Hacienda Shiloh

Have you ever been to a wine tasting? I have too. But, have you ever been to a garlic tasting? I had not until today.

One of the girls I work with at Granite Hill Camping Resort told me about a place nearby called Hacienda Shiloh. It is an herb farm near Gettysburg. They have 23 different kinds of garlic there. Jim and I drove over there today after breakfast. The short drive to get there was a treat in itself, a twisty mountain road through the forest, where we had to slow down to keep from hitting a huge deer that lept across the road in front of us.

At Hacienda Shiloh, there is a gift shop, the garlic barn, a greenhouse, and of course, the gardens. They have flowers and herbs growing everywhere. Of course it wasn’t as beautiful as it could be because we have been in a drought here, but still, it was fabulous.

Our first stop was the gift shop. They have tons of dried herbs for both medicinal and culinary uses. Garlic jelly, garlic powder, minced garlic, garlic pesto, garlic granules, garlic cookbooks, and garlic utensils. If is has to do with garlic, you can get it there. After we looked around in the gift shop, we walked down past the vegetable garden to the garlic barn, where they had all the different kinds of garlic hanging up to dry. The nice lady (I can not remember her name, dang it) broke off cloves of several different kinds for us to taste. We both liked the Italian garlic best, so we bought a bunch of it.

We also got some garlic scapes, which are the tiny little bulblets from the flower that grows out the top of a garlic plant. I had never even seen anything like them before. She said you take them home and pinch them off of the flower heads, and store them in a zip lock bag in the refrigerator. Sprinkle a few in a salad for a burst of garlic flavor. Yum!

As we were walking back to the gift shop to pay for our purchases, I happened to see some chard growing in her vegetable garden. I asked her if she would sell me some of it, and of course she did. She got our her scissors and cut me a handful of it, both red and green. As she was cutting it she told me she has fresh herbs, too. So, I got her to cut me some fresh basil, my favorite herb.

Back in the gift shop, I rounded out my purchase with a Autumn Cranberry Rub and some Mushroom Sea Salt. The Autumn Cranberry Rub has cranberries, orange zest, rosemary and sea salt. She recommended rubbing it on chicken or fish. The Mushroom Sea Salt has powdered oyster, boletes, porcini, shitake, and woodear mushrooms. I can not wait to try it. The last thing I picked out was four sample sizes of herbal teas. All of the things I bought came to $16.10. What a deal! Oh, I forgot about the little bag of shallots, too.

When I got home with all this stuff, here is what I made for dinner:

1 chicken breast, skinned, deboned, and cut into bite size pieces
20-25 cloves of garlic (I sliced some and left some whole)
2 shallots, diced
1 bunch of chard, washed, and cut up (I cut up some of the more tender stems, too)
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and shallots, and sautee until tender. Add the chicken and stir fry until the chicken is done. Meantime, steam the chard in the microwave for about three minutes. When the chicken is done, add in the chard and sautee about 2 minutes. Serve over gluten free spaghetti or angel hair pasta.

I usually make this with broccoli, but since I had the chard, I used it instead. Oh MY God! Delish!

The lady at Hacienda Shiloh said she will ship anywhere in the country. She is working on getting a website. If you would like to have her product and price list, write to her at:

Hacienda Shiloh
327 Knox Road
Gettysburg, PA 17325-7243

Or send her an email at casagarlic @ superpa.net.

Bean Soup Weather, Again

The weather here in Pennsylvania has been cool for almost a week now. Today is supposed to be 85, but it is already after one o’clock and it is still only 72 degrees out there. I am loving it, but hope it does warm back up as I really don’t want to have COLD weather yet.

Yesterday I did another version of bean soup, so here it is for you all to enjoy:

1 lb dried white beans (I used cannellini beans)
1 good-sized hunk of salt pork, preferably with some lean in it
3 celery ribs, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the beans for a couple of hours, until they are soft. Add:

1 pkg Bird’s Eye Sugar Snap Stir Fry (sugar snap peas, carrots, onions, mushrooms)
1 large yellow squash, cut up
2 large fresh tomatoes, cut up (peel and seed if you want to, I didn’t)
1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon dried basil ( I really like basil)
1 tsp dried oregano

Cook for about an hour longer. This was really good, although I can’t take full credit for the recipe, as there was a recipe for minestrone on the bean package, which I followed very loosely. I just happened to have that package of frozen vegetables in the freezer, and since it had most of the vegetables called for in the original recipe, I dumped them in. My husband, Jim, really like it, too, but he asked for cornbread to go with it. I just doesn’t seem like a cornbread kind of soup to me.

Bean Soup Weather

When we got up yesterday morning it was rather chilly for August--62 degrees. The high for the day was only 68, and the weather forecast was for rain all day. Perfect weather for a pot of bean soup!

Here is the recipe I used, or rather what I threw together:

1 lb dried red beans
a ham bone from the freezer
3 carrots peeled and chopped
3 celery ribs chopped
1 medium onion chopped
2 heaping tablespoons of chopped jalapeno peppers
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and black pepper to taste

Put the beans in a pan, cover with water, bring to a boil and cook on high heat for five minutes. Meanwhile, put everything else in the crockpot. Pour in the hot beans, and cook for several hours on high. I did not have anything else to serve with it, but cornbread would have been nice.

Pennsylvania Fruit Quest

Jim and I go on a weekly "Fruit Quest", that is, we take a drive to somewhere we have never been before, looking for local fruit and vegetable stands where we can buy direct from the local farmers. Since we got here, there has been a huge variety of fruits and veggies available to us. So far, we have been through strawberries, cherries, apricots, sweet peas, asparagus, and blueberries. I was sad when the cherries were all gone, but now there are the most delicious blackberries I have ever tasted.

This week, we drove up to Carlisle, Pennsylvania just because we have never been there before. We took a very scenic route to get there. It took about three hours round trip, through some beautiful countryside. This part of Pennsylvania has been experiencing a severe drought this summer, and the orchards are showing the effects of it. Many of the trees have lots of fruit on the ground where it has fallen due to not getting enough water. Leaves are turning brown and falling as well. Corn is not as tall as it should be this time of year, and flowers are hanging their heads down towards the ground, as if they are praying for rain. Even with the lack of rain, there is still an abundance of fruits and vegetables available, and we took advantage of that fact yesterday, stopping at at least three stands to purchase our produce for this week. We got some squash, eggplants, tomatoes, and onions at one stop where barefooted Amish women where tending the store under a tent at the side of the road. At another place we got nectarines, yellow plums, and blackberries. I have never seen so many blackberries for sale as I have this summer, and they are just now coming into season. I used some of them to make a blackberry vinaigrette salad dressing. It turned out YUM! Here is the recipe:
1 cup fresh ripe blackberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 of a red onion, chopped
3 or 4 sprigs of fresh basil
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients except olive oil in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, mashing the berries with the back of the spoon. Cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Strain out the solid ingredients and pour the liquid into a cruet. Add the olive oil and shake well. Store in the refrigerator. MMMMMMM.

Also, while we were in Carlisle, we stopped at a natural food store called The English Garden. While the proprietor was very helpful and nice, I was not impressed. When he asked what I was looking for, I told him I am gluten free. He took me to an aisle where he has all types of pasta, including regular wheat pastas, all stacked in the shelf together. He told me all of his pastas were gluten free, and they obviously were not. I thought about informing him of his error, but I just didn't want to get into a debate with him right then. I just hope that his gluten free customers are label readers.

The Land Of Little Grandchildren...

Sarah and Michael at the playground at Granite Hill Campground

A few days ago I promised more about my visit with the FabGrandchildren. I know you all have been chomping at the bit to hear all about it, and I apologize for the delay. I have been either working, sleeping, or goofing off since they left, so I haven’t had time to write.

One of the things I have been doing is playing games at Fandango. My diligence and persistence at these games paid off the day before yesterday because I won two tickets to the movie of my choice for having the all time high score on a word game called Suds (but that is another story).

Ok, where was I? Oh yes, the visit with FabGranddaughther, Sarah and the FabGrandson, Michael. They are the children of my son, Seth, who is in the Air Force. Sarah lives with her mother and stepfather in Seattle, Washington. Michael lives with his dad and stepmother in Washington, D.C.

Sarah flew from Seattle to Washington with a stopover in Cincinnati, Ohio. She said the flight attendants took very good care of her. She got to visit with the pilot in the cockpit before the plane took off. She said she made friends with two grownups who were sitting in the same row with her. This I believe because I do not think she has ever met a stranger!

After a day or two visiting with her dad and brother at their house at Andrews Air Force Base, they all came up to Gettysburg to spend a few days with us.

Michael roasting weiners at the campfire.

Seth brought his tent and other camping gear, but Sarah decided she wanted to sleep inside with me. We folded down the dining table to make it into a bed for her. She was delighted to have her very own “bable” to sleep on. We did all the regular camping things, like making s’mores, roasting marshmallows and wieners on a stick, fishing, and walking around the campground.

On our days off while they were here, we took them all to The Land of Little Horses.

Seth and at The Land of Little Horses

We have seen the signs for it since we got here in March, and every time I mentioned taking the grandchildren there, FabGrandpa harumphed and said, “That is so hokey! No way are they going to like doing something like that.” It costs $12 per person to get in the gate, another $2 for a pony ride, and another $1 for a cup of food to feed to the animals. What you get for your $12-$15 is wonderful! Even FabGrandpa had a good time. They have about 50 miniature horses, regular horses, a camel, llamas, an alpaca, some other exotic mammals, a full grown turkey, goats, peacocks, and I don’t know what all else. They have a show where the animals do tricks. Three horses danced, and another one could add, subtract, and multiply. A dog even played basketball. And Sarah got chosen from the audience to play basketball with him. If you ever go to Gettysburg, you really need to go there. What fun! Ever since we went there, every place we go is "The Land of Little..." whatevers.

We went to a farmers market and let the kids pick out their favorite berries. That night, Sarah helped me make strawberry shortcake for everyone. She put the little sponge cake things in the bowls, spooned on the berries, and tried to squirt the whipped cream out of the can but her little fingers just wouldn’t reach.

Another place we went was called The Round Barn. It is exactly what the name implies, a barn that is round. I have never seen a round barn before. It was a beautiful building in the heart of orchard country in southwestern Pennsylvania.

My daughter in law, Sarah, at the Round Barn

They had animals there too, which was a big hit with the kids. They got to pet a donkey, and saw a baby goat. Oh, and that bump is the mystery boy, Owen, the newest Fab Grandbaby, who will arrive sometime around the end of September.

They stayed with us for three nights and then had to go home. We had arranged to have four days off the next week, so we went down to Washington to spend that time at my son’s house. My daughter, Rebecca, was there, too. She came up from Norfolk for two days.

FabGrandpa, Michael, Sarah, and Aunt Rebecca at Seth's house.

That Monday, we had told the children we were going to take them to the National Zoo, but it was 97 dgrees outside, and they had already seen a ton of animals, so we decided to take the Metro into Washington D.C. and go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. You know, the one with the dinosaur bones. Both kids loved that display. So did I. I have been to DC twice but had never been to that museum. They also loved the gem and mineral display. Michael collects crystals. There were some on display there that were bigger than he is. Oh, one of the things I did not realize is that all of the Smithsonian buildings and the National Zoo are free.

But out of all these things we did, the thing the kids enjoyed the most and talked about the most was riding on the Metro. It was like magic—both kids sitting perfectly still, silently looking out the window as the train rolled down the track. Every mother, and every FabGrandmother, should have a train!!

The last day I was at my son’s house, the Fabgranddaughter and I spent the afternoon making a scrapbook of all the things we did while she was here. I went to Wal-Mart and had them print out a lot of pictures, and bought some colored paper, sheet protectors, and a glue stick. I glued on tickets, brochures, and pictures, and she wrote about them on each page. It turned out to be a very nice memory book for her to treasure and remember her trip. As if she could forget ME!

p.s. I have a few more pictures I want to post, but my connection is very slow. I will add them tomorrow, I promise!

The Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival

The Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival was held this weekend at the campground where I work. The music didn’t start until Thursday, but the diehard fans started arriving last weekend. They lined up at 3:00 p.m. last Sunday to put their chairs out in front of the stage, and the motorhomes, fifth wheels, travel trailer, pop-ups, tents, and whatever else they could find to camp in kept rolling in to the park until late on Friday night. I am the one in the window in the picture above.

There were lots of bluegrass acts, with music from 11:00 a.m til well after 11:00 p.m on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. As I am not really a bluegrass fan, I had not heard of any of the bands before this weekend. But, I heard two tonight while I was working in the “Festival Money Booth” that I thought were really good. The first one was Cherryholmes, a family band that has won Entertainer of the Year. The second was was called Seldom Scene.

While I don’t see myself becoming a bluegrass fan on the same level as those folks who turned out for our festival, I would probably buy a CD recorded by these two bands. The Cherryholmes family was very talented. Their act included singing, dancing, and yodeling as well as picking those instruments. The guys from Seldom Scene were good performers as well, and made it worth watching as well as listening to.

I’ll be glad when the last act has performed, and the show is over, as I am tired and ready for a day off, but it has been fun working here while it is going on. The next one is August 23-26, 2007. I will be here for that one, too. So, if you decide to come to it, look me up. I’ll be here then, too.

For those of you who are like me, gluten intolerant, don’t expect much in the way of food that you can eat. Like most other festivals, there are several food vendors and a snack bar on the property. A couple of things I found that I was able to eat were stuffed cabbage rolls from The Polish Guy, some french fries from Bricker’s Frys (without the vinegar), and a BLT salad from the snack bar. The BLT salad is not on the menu, but a BLT sandwich is. I asked them to put the guts from a BLT sandwich in a bowl for me, and they were happy to help me in that way. It was quite good as a salad. Oh, and those golumpkis were delish!

Some Photos of Granite Hill Campground

Now that spring is here, this place is getting really beautiful. The photo to the right is the spring house near the trout pond. They stock the trout pond for a trout tournament each year. We saw the fish truck here last week.





This is looking across the trout pond to the center of the campground. The leaves are not out yet on the trees, but it is still very pretty.







Here are some tulips blooming near the office. There are flowers everywhere.








These tuplips are beside the driveway coming into the park.

This is part of the barn. It pre-dates the Civil War and was used as a field hospital during the war. It is a very interesting design, called a "bank barn", introduced by German immigrants.