Morgan Farms in Ruskin

Morgan Farms

2003 Morgan Farm Road

Ruskin, FL 33570

Located on Hwy. 41 South, 1 mile south of the Little Manatee River

(813) 645-5208

Celebrate Customer Appreciation week at Little Habana Cafe

Looking for something different to do on date night while saving a few bucks?

Starting today to thank its customers for their loyalty, Little Habana Cafe in Riverview is hosting Customer Appreciation Week through Jan. 26 from 4 to 7 p.m. Buy one authentic, old-style Cuban entree, and get the second one of equal or lesser value at 1/2 off!

What goes better with a hearty plate of Cuban Picadillo than sweet, minty mojitos? Pretty much nothing.

Little Habana Cafe

13352 Lincoln Road

(813) 672-5111

Leftover candied cherries?

It's the time of year when I go through the contents of my pantry, refrigerator and freezer to use up all those holiday odds and ends still lurking here and there.

I've got a couple of containers of candied cherries, for instance, and I'm ready to kill them, even though they do seem to last FOREVER in the freezer.

These bonbon cookies came to the rescue by helping me get rid of some of the cherries, and three half-used bags of Wilton candy melts.

BONBON COOKIES

1/2 cup butter or margarine

3/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

Fillings: candied cherries or maraschino cherries, pitted dates, nuts, or chocolate pieces

Toppings: chopped nuts, coconut, colored sugar

Mix butter, sugar and vanilla. Sift flour and then measure. Blend salt in flour thoroughly by hand. If dough is dry, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of cream.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. For each cookie, wrap 1 level tablespoon of dough around a filling suggested above. Bake 1" apart on an ungreased baking sheet 12 to 15 minutes, or until set but not brown, then cool.

Dip the tops of the cookies in icing, and then decorate them with any of the suggested toppings.

Bonbon icing: Mix 1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar, 2 1/2 tablespoons of cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla and any desired food coloring. Or use Wilton candy melts following directions on the bag.

Strawberry season in full swing at Goodson Farms

We're certainly in the thick of strawberry season here in Florida.

You can read more about strawberries and my visit to Goodson Farms, including a simple recipe for Minted Balsamic Strawberries, in this week's Table Scraps column.

Here are a few photos I took during my recent visit to Goodson Farms:

GOODSON FARMS

WHERE: 12405 County Road 672, Balm

HOURS: 8:30a.m - 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday

INFORMATION: (813) 634-7790

STRAWBERRY FREEZER JAM

4 pints strawberries

3 cups sugar

3/4 cup water

1 box Sure-Jell Fruit Pectin

Hull and throughly crush strawberries, one cup at a time. Do not puree; jam should have bits of fruit. Measure into a large bowl; you should have 4 cups.

Combine fruit pectin with sugar into a large saucepan. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Stir in water, and bring mixture to a boil on medium-high heat; stir constantly. Boil and stir one minute. Remove from heat.

Stir fruit mixture quickly into hot pectin-sugar mixture. Ladle quickly into freezer containers or jars, leaving 1/2-inch of space at the top for expansion during freezing.

Cover at once with tight lids. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours, and then refrigerate up to three weeks. Otherwise, store in freezer for up to a year.

Thaw in refrigerator.

It's time to get your pirate on.

Arrg, mateys! Did ye know the Gasparilla Fest is just around the corner? How about bringing the celebration to your kitchen?

The Junior League of Tampa, creators of "The Gasparilla Cookbook," released a special 23rd printing of the book to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

The cookbook features 712 recipes, sure to please the Captain Jack Sparrow in us all.

The league uses proceeds from sales of the cookbook and other fundraising efforts to benefit the Tampa community.

The cookbook is available for purchase at the Rolling Pin Kitchen Emporium in Brandon for $14.95 per copy.

Rolling Pin Kitchen Emporium

2080 Badlands Drive

Brandon, FL 33511

813-653-2418