What do farm girls do

....when they're all done outside?

Why, they bake of course.

Among the many things my blogging friend and visitor-for-the-week, Marcee-frugalmom, and I have accomplished over the last six days, we have also managed to get in some cooking and kitchen time, too.

Here's a sampling of a few of our joint kitchen events:

Using a recipe Marcee found on Farmgirl Fare, we adapted it to make fresh raspberry bars (with an oat crust and streusel topping).

Of course, first, we had to go out and pick a heap of berries off the vines:

And then we mixed a bunch of stuff together:

And, voila, raspberry bars! Simply excellent with french vanilla ice cream:

We harvested basil from the garden and made 6 batches of fresh pesto:

and pesto pasta (especially for Jim)...Mmmmm, it's best when it's still warm....

Using the pickling cucumbers obtained at a local farm the day before, we tried out Sugarcreekstuff's recipe for fresh pickles:


Here's Marcee-frugalmom going crazy because some of my spices were not alphabetized appropriately:

The end product turned out really well, despite my inability to know whether to put sweet basil under "S" or "B":

And those eight cups of blackberries we picked on Wednesday? Blackberry pie, of course! Using Angie's (Children of the Corn) "perfect pie crust" recipe, we made two amazing pies. One was needed for a big family dinner happening this evening and I stuck the other one in the freezer.

I had sworn never to make pie crust from scratch again because of some nasty experiences, but with Angie's recipe (and the food processor):

...it was a breeze. It was simple, went fast...:

...and turned out beautifully!:

I wish I had more pictures to show you of the pie preparation, but I think those middle steps wound up on Marcee's camera. :-)

We've kept busy and eaten well, she and I. It will be sad when my farm buddy and kitchen pal heads back home.