Smoked Garlic Salt with Garden Herbs and Smoked Tomatoes

I learned to make herbed salt 

when I was at our pizza oven 

cooking class all the way back 

in 2005.  I was surprised that 

they used sage so much in Italian 

cooking, but then when I looked 

at an Italian herb blend, sage 

was listed as the number one 

ingredient. 

I had lots of fresh herbs from 

the garden this year, so I decided 

to make herbed salt with my 

garden herbs.  I made a batch 

and then I decided I wanted to 

add garlic to it.  Then the next 

batch I decided to try smoking it.  

I ended up making ten pounds 

of this for our garden share 

that we had for Relief Society - 

our women's church group. 

Smoked Garlic Salt with Garden Herbs Recipe

1 lb Iodized Sea Salt

(I preferred fine grain salt 

so I could sprinkle it.)

1/3 C. chopped herbs total of

Basil

Sage

Rosemary

Thyme

2 tsp. granulated garlic

(You can omit the garlic 

if you don't want 

garlic salt.)

Mix the above and spread 

it on a sheet pan.  If you don't 

have a smoker, or you prefer 

not to smoke the salt, just leave 

it out on the pan on the counter

and the salt will dry the herbs.  

If you want to smoke the salt, 

prepare your smoker and then 

smoke on low for 2 hours.  

Let it cool. 

Enjoy it on everything. 

The tomato harvest is on!  I 

have a new much bigger garden 

at our new place and it has been 

so fun to have so many flowers 

and herbs and vegetables.

We decided to smoke some 

tri tip for Sunday dinner and 

I thought I would try smoking 

some tomatoes too.  

I just sprinkled olive oil and 

my homemade garden herb 

salt and smoked them for 

about 40 minutes.  They were 

so amazing. 

I have to admit they were best 

hot off the smoker.  But I feel like 

that about most foods.  

Beaulah loves tomatoes too!

Look at that huge heart shaped 

tomato.  It is called 

LOVE GOURMANSUN! 

These are astounding and 

a real producer!

I found it at Cook's this year, 

one of our local nurseries.  

It is so fun because I live 

next to my daughter and 

two houses away is my 

DIL and we all are gardening 

and sharing.

Here is my Love tomato 

and my salt on a 

caprese board.  

I love these tomatoes.  

They are heart shaped 

and then there is a 

streak of red going down 

the middle. 

Happy gardening!

Dipped Chocolate Raspberry

It's raspberry season and a friend 

of mine brought me home a bag 

of chocolate dipped raspberries.  

What a burst of incredible flavor - 

the tartness of the fresh berry 

with the sweetness of the milk 

chocolate!  

I have been dipping chocolates 

for over 40 years and I had 

never had ones like this.  When 

I had made chocolate 

raspberries in the past I had 

spooned chocolate into a cup 

and put the raspberries on 

top of the chocolate, then 

drizzled a little more on top.  

I had been too worried that 

I would crush the raspberries 

if I dipped them.

If it worked for them, 

I decided it could work for me.

I used Guittard wafers.  These 

are great couverture chocolate 

discs, not fake chocolate. 

I do a lot of dipping so I 

buy a lot of chocolate.  

I melt my chocolate in the 

microwave at 30 second 

intervals, stirring between. 

after 45 seconds the chocolate 

was melted.  To get it down to 

about 90 degrees, you can stir 

to cool, or add more wafers 

and stir those in.  I like to 

use a thermometer gun to 

check my temperature.

I have little mini spoons 

that were perfect for turning 

the raspberry over in the 

chocolate and then scooping 

it up.  Tap the spoon on the 

edge of your bowl and then 

let the chocolate covered 

raspberry fall off the spoon 

onto a parchment paper 

covered pan.  

A double flat of raspberries 

will yield about 65!  

Now pop these into the fridge 

to harden the chocolate.  

These have become the family's

favorite treat.  The grandkids take 

3-4 at a time and are looking for 

more when we run out!

These are truly the easiest dipped 

chocolates I have ever made and 

wow what a punch of flavor!  

Thanks for visiting and make 

these yummy treats.

Beaulah Welcomes Halloween Month

Welcome Halloween!!

Beaulah is so excited to 

come out and celebrate 

with us!  To tell the truth, 

she has been out flying 

around and decorating for 

a month now!  Can you 

tell we love Halloween? 

She is perched right where she 

can see all of our comings and 

goings - 

on our Pizza oven. 

Yes, we put another pizza 

oven in our new house.  

It has a custom built cabinet 

where we can place our 

pizza peels and other 

supplies.  It is another 

wood-burning pizza oven. 

I don't store my wood 

inside the house.  It is 

too messy and might 

bring in little creatures, 

but firestarters, matches, 

pizza peels and other large 

containers fit in here.

The pizza oven is again made 

by Mugnaini and our contractor 

installed it.  One of my husband's 

employees made this custom 

pizza oven door for us.  

It is one of the family's 

favorite dinners - always. 

Here is a crustless pizza 

my niece made the other day. 

The best part is everyone 

gets to make their own! 

I wonder what Beaulah 

would make.  Of course, 

she has to step aside when 

we are cooking!  

But then she flies right back 

to her favorite spot.

Beaulah has been flying in for 

Halloween posts since 

October 4, 2010! 

 

You may remember her from back then with her twin sister Zoulah, from Red Couch Recipes.

She and I love to be nice witches for Halloween!
Thanks for stopping by to enjoy our fun.

Cookbook Club Woodland Dream Dinner

It is time for another 

Cookbook Club post.

I have a lot to catch up on, 

but this is our latest.  

We figured it out that we 

have been gathering for 

two and a half years now, 

almost monthly.

The group was started by 

my niece and includes another 

niece, my daugher-in-law and 

my daughter's niece.  We 

all love to cook and we love 

to try new dishes.  I have to 

add that the husbands are 

always jealous and sometimes 

we let them join. 

Tonight we had my daugher 

in law's sister join us - the 

one with the floral headpiece.

L-R, my niece that started all 

of the fun, my DIL's sister, my 

DIL, my daughter's niece, 

another niece and me. 

We have had a few drop out 

and once in a while my 

daughter will join us.

The table was set up down 

in our wooded area, called 

The Hollow.  We brought 

our gazebo from our old 

house and this is the first 

dinner party we have had 

down here. 

For our Cookbook Club 

the hostess picks a theme.  

It ranges from any theme 

to a blog or cookbook, 

really anything we are 

inspired by. 

My niece and I worked on 

this one together.  She lives 

right by us.  She is a 

graphic designer so she 

creates our invitations.

Right away we start sharing 

what we think we might want 

to make, so that we have a 

complete dinner.  I chose to 

make this Fairy Pavlova. 

I started to scour through 

everything I owned to create 

the mood.  I have lots of 

flowers in the garden so 

I arranged those.  

The fall fairies came out 

to play too.  

White plates with gold leaves 

were perfect for the theme. 

The napkin has gold touches 

along with the napkin ring 

and I tucked in some fresh 

herbs.  The herbs really made 

the table smell nice. 

We used wood rounds and 

moss rounds and threw in 

a few mini pumpkins. 

My one niece made this 

Crispy Rice Chicken Salad. 

Another niece made this pesto 

pasta topped with Burrata.  

The pesto was so unique as 

it had peas blended into it. 

My daughter in law made 

sourdough focaccia sandwiches.

I made some passion fruit 

sauce to serve on the pavlova.

We also had these beautiful 

and delicious nectarine 

capreses.

Everything was amazingly 

delicious and beautiful.

And of course, knowing us, 

we had an additional 

dessert.  These blackberry 

mousses were so gorgeous and 

they tasted just as great.  She 

ordered the dried edible 

pansies off the internet.  

I will look forward to sharing 

some of my earlier Cookbook 

Club posts.  We decided we 

need to put together a book 

to remember them by.  That 

also makes us more aware 

of the fact that we need to 

take pictures of everything, 

including ourselves!!

Thanks for visiting.  

I will share this on 

Tablescapes Thursday

and 

Love Your Creativity

Tales of the Traveling Tote 44 and a Giveaway

Miss Madi K and I 

want to welcome you 

to our September 2025 

edition of 

Tales of The Traveling Tote.

We do get around and it is 

fun to see where everyone 

has traveled to, whether 

near or far.

Just last week we took 

a little car trip down to 

Bryce Canyon, one of 

the five National Parks 

in southern Utah.  

The pictures just don't do 

it justice.  It is so awe inspiring 

and so easy to access even 

if you aren't a big hiker.

I can blame this one on 

social media advertising!

I saw a Facebook reel that 

advertised 

Clear Sky Resorts.  

We had tried Under Canvas 

glamping a few years ago.  

It was fun, but the canvas 

kept blowing in the breeze 

and knocking into our bed.  

The indoor bathroom was 

extra and kind of primitive, 

and it was more of a one 

and done experience. 

I don't even know if you 

can call this glamping! 

You walk into the dome 

and it literally takes your 

breath away.  It was a 

definite "pinch me" experience.  

The views were so expansive 

with this over 20 foot high 

ceiling with curtains that 

can cover all of the windows 

or only the lower windows 

for privacy.

And then, walk into the 

bathroom and you know 

that you are going to 

be comfortable.

It also included a small 

kitchenette, which was 

so convenient.  

The domes extend up 

the valley a few miles 

outside of Tropic, Utah, 

and very close to Bryce.  

It looks rather otherworldly, 

and Clear Sky plays off of this 

feeling with their resort. 

It had a real modern feel, 

yet you felt like you were not 

on your own planet!

The big draw is that you can keep 

the curtains open during the 

night to see the sky.  We were 

a little nervous that with the 

cloud cover that afternoon 

we would miss out on that.  

The cloud cover began to 

disappear as the sun set.  

So before we went to bed 

we had clear skies!!! 

It was just magical to see 

all of these domes lit up 

as the sun went down, yet 

they are situated in such 

a way that you felt really 

private. 

We stood outside for a few 

minutes and saw the 

Milky Way and a shooting 

star.  

We chose to keep the upper 

windows uncovered during 

the night and both woke 

up about 4:00 in the morning 

and had such spectacular 

views.  

The lobby dome was so huge

and impressive and attached to it 

was their restaurant 

Sky Nova.

We had peaked into it on 

arrival and although we 

had reservations somewhere 

else for dinner, we decided 

we needed to try it out 

the next day for breakfast. 

Again, that futuristic, 

otherworldly theme that 

was such a cool vibe and 

the food didn't disappoint.

Look at these custom glasses 

with a faceted dome at the 

bottom of them.  So cool, wish 

they had some for sale!  

The flatware was irridescent 

and had their telescope logo 

on them.  They offer star gazing 

at night and free S'mores that 

you can toast in open fires all 

around.  

I chose the French Toast 

and it was so delicious 

we said we were definitely 

going to come back and 

have dinner here.  

This was such a thrill 

for a totally fun and unique 

stay only a little over 

three hours from home 

and next to gorgeous Bryce.  

We will be back!

Put this on your bucket list!!!

Now on to the giveaway - 

I always get excited for 

the really fun giveaways 

that Patti picks out for 

you guys.  This is such a 

fun tote that I would use 

all of the time.  

Visit Sarah and leave 

a comment to have a 

chance to win one. 

Then hop on over and visit 

all of the other MacKenzie-Childs 

loving women to see where 

they have been off to this 

quarter.  You will love it.

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home (you are here)

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

Patti with Miss Kenzie and Miss Taylor @ Pandora's Box

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Ricki Jill and Countess de Monet @The Bookish Dilettante

Thanks for visiting and 

I hope to see you again 

in December!