Great weather to work outside

It was probably 60 degrees outside today and sunny.  Really a great day for working out in the yard. And that is exactly what I did. I managed to weed the strawberry bed that has not been touched since last fall. The plants are still green and growing. We really have not had winter so far to kill them back. I still need to find energy to clean up the onion and asparagus beds, but thas for later. I pulled the few weeds that were in the herbs in the old pyramid bed and pulled about half the weeds in the big herb bed in front of the house. My back cant do it all at once. I have a deer netting little fence around the herb bed to keep cats out and did some repair on the fence. It has been bumped into with car doors and had some tears in it. Its all fixed back and looks a lil better. Still got a good bit of work and cleaning to do in that bed tho. If we don't get rain tomorrow I may try to dig up a small space and sow some lettuce. It would be nice to have fresh lettuce to use along. Beats all to heck buying the stuff in the stores. If I grow my own at least I can choose varieties that have some nutritional value. Not long till it will be time to plant peas, carrots , onions, beets and those kind of cool weather crops.

After supper I made some cookie bars that were easy and quick to make for a snack. The fellows like them pretty well. So I will share the recipe with you.

Toffee Bars

 * 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
    * 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
    * 1 egg yolk
    * 2 cups all-purpose flour
    * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    * 6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
    * 2/3 cup finely chopped nuts

Cream butter and brown sugar. Add egg yolk. Add flour and vanilla, and stir until well blended. Spread dough into a greased 15x10x1-inch jelly-roll pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips on top of crust. Allow chocolate to soften, and spread evenly. Sprinkle with chopped nuts and press nuts lightly into chocolate, using the bottom of a glass. Cool, then cut into squares.

I usually line the pan with parchment paper for easy of removal. The crust will be somewhat soft when they are done. No worries. Just put the chips on top and let em melt and spread em. Once the nuts are on and pressed into the chocolate I drag the parchment out of the pan onto the cutting board and let the chocolate set. Then use a pizza cutter to cut the cookies into bars. Simple and tasty.
Not much else happening here so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella