The Sweetest Time of Year!!

It's one of my favorite times of the year in Vermont. Driving around this past week, I saw sugar shack after sugar shack with steam billowing out. . .the sign that they are boiling sap, and fresh pure Vermont maple syrup is being made! Makes me wish I had some on hand right now – but I'll have to wait until this season's is for sale! There's signs up for Sugar on Snow weekends too! For my readers that are not lucky enough to live in Vermont – Sugar on Snow is when boiling syrup is poured on top of fresh snow or crushed ice – and forms a chewy, taffy like treat. It's delicious!! My personal favorite maple treat is maple cotton candy. Yes, just like the cotton candy you get at the fair, but made with maple sugar. It's amazing!

It takes a lot of time and effort to make maple syrup. Forty gallons of sap must be boiled down in order to make one gallon of syrup. The sap flows when the temperatures are below freezing at night and above during the day.

The sap from maple trees is also used for making beverages – watch for more about that in a future Rhinestone Kitchen post.

Support your local sugar makers and enjoy some of Vermont's signature product!

Creemee Review!

I'm determined to review as many Vermont creemee stands as possible this summer, so here's the first one. We went to The Village Scoop in Colchester this past Sunday. It was quite busy, but the staff handled the crowd like pros. The shop is adorable and very clean. Everything is laid out for you on the menu so its easy to make your choices before you get to the counter which helps the flow of things a lot. The one thing I didn't see on the menu and was a little surprised by when we finished paying was that there was a fifty-cent charge for having the Maple creemee instead of vanilla or chocolate. Not a big deal though as it was totally worth it since they use real maple syrup and not artificial flavoring. The creemee was delicious!!! I added rainbow sprinkles and they are very generous with the sprinkles too which I love. Everyone working at Village Scoop is really polite, and even though they are very busy, they don't make you feel like they are just trying to shuffle you through.

I highly recommend The Village Scoop and we'll definitely be going back again!!

Curried chicken & rice

It came time to fix dinner the other night, and I knew we had leftover Rotisserie chicken. If you shop at Costco – this can be a great, inexpensive, convenient way to get chicken. Their chickens tend to be much larger than the ones you can get at the grocery store.

I also had a couple bags of frozen rice. It was time to visit the spice cabinet and see what I was going to do. Curry powder was the answer! My family loves curried chicken. This meal is super simple and very tasty.

Warm the chicken in the pan. Then add a little bit of water and some curry powder – amount depends on the level of spice and heat you want. Remember that curry gains strength and heat as it cooks, so don’t add too much. While this was heating, I cooked the two bags of frozen rice in the microwave. Once the chicken was hot, I stirred in the rice and let it all simmer for a few minutes.

The dish was very tasty, filling and inexpensive! It’s also a great way to use up leftovers! Leftover rice could have been used in place of the frozen. You could also add a vegetable like corn or sweet peas to this. Carrots would be good too.

~Jenny~

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog, The Rhinestone Kitchen, and thanks for joining me on this adventure. I have always loved to cook, and look for bargains on groceries, so now I will combine the two and share that journey with you. I almost never follow a recipe to the word – I like to change it up based on what I happen to have on hand.

Cooking to me is relaxing and enjoyable. Its a chance to create and then share that creation with my family and sometimes my friends.

Yesterday everyone was in the mood for chili, but I didn’t have all the normal ingredients, so it was time for some serious improvising. Low sodium taco seasoning filled in for some of the spices, as did seasoned chili beans. Being a New Orleans girl, I had to include some cajun seasoning, and plenty of garlic. It was a busy day, so instead of baking cornbread separately, I did a casserole style dish in the electric frying pan. It’s one of my favorite appliances to use so you will see me use it often!

I am most certainly open to suggestions and questions. If you have a recipe that you’d like me to consider, please send it to me!

~Jenny~