Shelby

Today's pick Along with what previous picks Lock your car doors I'm in trouble already.

UPS man came by the other day with this! From my mom and step dad It's tucked away in the freezer. Nice to have something fun in there to look forward to.

It's hot. There are a lot of salads happening around here. But we have AC and the washing machine has decided to work (fingers crossed it keeps going). We're getting up at dawn to get outside stuff done before it gets too hot. The good thing is I can have a nap in the afternoon @C. sapidusI'm glad you guys are getting a good visit with your boys! And that seafood salad up there looks incredible. Salad with eggplant lasagna Big salad night with a shrimp salad Ronnie smoked some ribs. I made a green bean salad along with cheesy cauliflower The first tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden. I could just eat this all day and be happy. For now lol. Along with creamed peas and new potatoes --taters from the garden. and wings My mom and step dad gave us some trout so I seasoned them and stuffed with lemon and Ronnie smoked them. Really good. Another big salad With a cherry cream cheese danish type thing for dessert. I had some fresh cherries that I didn't want to go bad so I pitted them and made this

First pick of the summer...seems a bit early for this much, but maybe not. Potato plants are still flowering which means they aren't done growing but these guys were bursting out of the ground. Cukes, tomatoes, zukes, potatoes and yellow squash. Found some squash bugs yesterday morning but I think we got them early enough before any damage. I hate those bugs.

You guys bring your spargel and the extra bedroom is yours. But the sheets haven't been washed because my machine is broken. So bring your washing machine as well. 😬

We've done summer sausage a few times but it's been a while. I'd like to make bologna, too. Maybe I'll get myself motivated and do that soon.

A fishing buddy of Ronnie's gave it to us. He makes it.

Too hot already around here. If it weren't for the garden, I'd really really hate summer lol. And the mosquitos are the size of small birds. I think I need to get some Rose and make wine slushes with the Ninja like I did last summer. Salad and pepperoni/mushroom jalapeno pizza Big salad night. Starting to do this more and more. \\ Lemon posset for dessert Venison meatloaf, cauliflower "mashed potatoes"--these were actually pretty good. Steamed the cauliflower in the IP then whizzed it up in the food processor with butter salt and pepper. Also some stewed eggplant and tomatoes Ronnie caught a few more walleye. Roasted half a chicken with deviled eggs and asparagus from the garden Ronnie smoked some pork ribs--really good. Have cabbage in the fridge forever so made a light slaw Venison bologna sandwiches Last night I SV'd some steaks. My Anova broke so I got another one....it's very quiet. Bruss. sprouts in mustard sauce and stewed tomatoes to go with.

O M G The cheeses....the stone work....the mussels FRESH mussels and.....THE CRAB ROLLS THE CRAB ROLLS. I can almost taste the sweetness of those shreds. And your dad is so...dadly and cute .

Me too!!! I love going on vacation with my Duvel family

Thank you so much. It was so so good to have her here, but I for sure hated that this happened. It was scary and I don't wish that for her ever.

I don't really care for winter squash......once in a great while I'll buy some and roast it.

The sweet ones are sweeter than any I've ever purchased besides real Vidalia onions. We use a lot of onions....ease of not having to buy them.....habit....lol. I had so many awesome onions last year. I bagged them and kept them in the garage fridge. I JUST last week had to purchase onions from the store.

Ronnie started all the tomatoes and peppers from seed in the greenhouse. He really does a good job at that. No....I didn't do any shishitos this year. I don't know why ....I guess I forgot to buy any seeds.

We've been doing a ton of gardening. Life has been so crazy that I haven't posted until now. I like writing in this thread so I can go back and see what I planted each year. Easier than a diary lol. This pic is before the storm hit. I was shocked that we didn't have more damage than we did. A few tomato plants were ripped out. The green beans took a beating but really everything looks a lot better this morning. The tall bushy stuff is a huge patch of volunteer cilantro. I wish it would keep going like that all summer, but it always seeds and then dies when it gets super hot. We have about 50 tomato plants. Several varieties including some cherry sized. 200+ onions--yellow red and white asparagus zucchini yellow squash okra nirvana corn lettuce Yukon gold and russet potatoes radishes green beans cucumbers watermelon cantaloupe jalapenos bell peppers banana peppers First pick of the season of radishes. The onions were picked for us by the storm 🙄. Blew them out of the dirt.

It's been a heck of a week here. My mom came on Sunday for a visit! She got here around 3 in the afternoon then, a few hours later, a really really bad storm hit. 100 mph winds. Tornado headed right for us. It lulled and then turned into a derecho. Scary stuff. House is ok. Major amount of trees are not. Farmers had to replant about 25 acres worth of corn yesterday due to it all breaking off and/or just plain being blown out of the ground. Lots of work to do but we're ok and house is ok and furry babies are ok. That's all that matters. A few meals from last week. Big salad night SV'd lamb chops Bass piccata Another salad night Made a board so mom would have something to snack on when she got here. I made salami roses 😁. Yes, I was proud of myself. 🤣 These napkins cracked me up Then the storm hit. No power, no water. Very late dinner --after calling/receiving many calls/texts checking on us. Very lucky to have a gas stove so I lit the burner and fried up some chicken wings, steamed some asparagus and had cold cheesy cauliflower that I had already made in the IP. And wine. A LOT of wine. Got up at dawn and worked until it became to brutally hot and humid. Then came inside to the hot humid house lol. Needed something that I could again just use the burners of my stove. Thawed out a bucket of cioppino, made some pasta and a salad. Grateful to have had that in the freezer. And grateful to have a generator that kept said freezer (s) running. Power came on late Tuesday afternoon. Thank you to all the hard workers that worked day and night to make that happen. Power poles were snapped in half like twigs for miles. I could use the CSO! And turn on the water and wash dishes! And the air conditioner was running! Heavenly. So, eggplant lasagna and more garden asparagus. Next night I did Larb and made more drunken noodles using those Konjac noodles. That was supposed to be moms last night here, but because everything was so crazy and stressful, she decided to stay one more day so we could just hang out and have a "normal" visit. Luckily we had plenty of champagne and wine to get us through lol. I'm so glad she was here....she helped a ton. For her last night I brined a chicken the day before and Ronnie smoked it. Deviled eggs, broccoli salad and more cheesy cauliflower (this time it was heated) to go with.

If I can do it anyone can lol

Me toooooo. Thanks for this, Kim! Loved seeing all the food and fun!

Really enjoying this!

Really good to see you!!!

Ronnie's been fishing. A lot. Thus, we've been eating fish. A lot. Green beans mixed with Salsa Macha, bass and cheesy cauliflower Zoodles, venison meatballs, stuffed mushrooms and deviled eggs SV'd steak, fries, asparagus from the garden Walleye, broccoli/cauliflower, stuffed jalapenos Salad and venison cheeseburger pizza Walleye ceviche Roasted chicken and broccoli cheese casserole Larb and drunken noodles. Tried konjac noodles for the first time. Didn't care for them with spaghetti sauce but they are pretty good as a sub for rice noodles. Strawberries from my friend's patch for dessert. Traded some fish for them lol.

Been busy around here. Huge Hackberry tree next to the house cracked and fell on the roof of the porch after major winds out of the east. Sigh. Neighbors that own the tree trimming service are out of town (just my luck) so after major concern and throwing a chain and tow strap over and hooking to the truck, tractor and winch and pulling it off the roof as best we could, we've been trimming, cutting, loading a zillion loads of limbs/logs onto the trailer and unloading ugh. Praying it's stable enough to last and not take the porch and the kitchen out until our neighbors can help. Never dull around here. On to the food: Sausage, cheese and spinach calzones Shrimp salads Roasted chicken and bruss sprouts SV'd pork and green beans Venison meatloaf, asparagus, cheesy cauliflower Another big salad Oysters, steak, broccoli salad and deviled eggs Ham and cheese on rye Cilantro is growing like crazy so salad with a cilantro dressing and steak quesadillas Salad and eggplant/italian sausage lasagna

I've never been to Hawaii. Looking forward to this!

When we sold our lumber business Ronnie had to sign a 5 year no compete to work for/at/with anyone in the lumber industry anywhere.

Sooooo glad you're home safe. I bet it feels GOOD to be back.