Shelby

Even though the guys didn't get up super early, I still decided to go ahead and make them their breakfast last night. Toasted bagels, thinly sliced ham, eggs from the chickens down the road and pepper jack cheese. I broke one of the yolks so someone got two eggs. For appetizers I made some queso using some Rotel tomatoes--I did add some real cheese to the fake Velveeta.....does that count for anything? And I opened up a jar of this salsa. If you don't have good tomatoes to make your own, this stuff is the next best thing, IMO. I decided to make taco salads--I needed something easy. A couple of packages of venison burger were excavated from the freezer and thawed. I added the usual taco meat seasonings and fried it up. I used flour tortilla shells and baked them in the CSO at 350F for about 10 minutes. The toppings were the usual--lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, olives, cheese. To go with I roasted some poblano peppers on the stove (I got my new stove dirty ) These got peeled and sliced open after they cooled. Then I put them in a pie plate and stuffed them with sharp cheddar. I doctored up some canned enchilada sauce and poured it over the top. Baked until bubbly. Easy peasy, but super good. OH and I also did some RG beans in the Instant Pot. Love me some Rancho Gordo. So that's yesterday. I'm now looking at the clock and realizing I better get a move on so I can start lunch in a bit. See you after while

Then, I texted the guys and asked them if they wanted Italian or Mexican for dinner. I didn't get a response so I opted for Italian. I was just starting to make the sauce when I I got a text back. They wanted Mexican. Of course lol. So, I decided to continue and get the sauce done. We'll have it tonight. It's better the next day anyway. Last summer I dehydrated a bunch of zucchini. I opened a package of that and threw the "chips" into some hot water to hydrate them. I'm not sure if that step was needed because the sauce might have done the job on it's own. Anyway, here they are in some butter with some onion. I like to roast an eggplant over the flames of my stove burner and add it. Gives the sauce a bit more depth (that sounded super chefy). Also, I keep those little bottles of red and white wine for cooking with. Italians and others who make their sauce the traditional way may not want to read further lol. After cooking the squash and onions down, I added the wine, cooked it down and then added the eggplant. And two beef bouillon cubes. Gives it a little something. Garlic, oregano, basil, black pepper were the spices used. Next the tomatoes were added and the heat was turned down to let it merrily simmer away. It needs to cook down more which I will do here in a bit.

I think this poison ivy has infected my brain. I had the hardest time remembering to take pictures yesterday. But, I did get some The guys have ripped off my old porch and are starting to rebuild it. It will be nice to be able to use the railing without fear of it falling off. I haven't planned very well--but I guess that will make it a more interesting week lol. Because the guys are working around here so much, I needed to have sandwich fixings for lunches. If it was winter time, I'd do chili or a soup, but no one wants a big steaming bowl of soup after working in 90 degree weather. Anyway, I had Ronnie brine and cold smoke a couple of domestic turkey breasts and then I sous vide them. He smoked them at 170F for about 4 hours and then I sous vide them at 142.5F for six hours. Perfect for slicing thin for lunch meat. Then of course I needed some bread, so yesterday around noon I made some white bread dough and let it rise for a couple of hours. This is before the rise. Then divided into the pans to rise again I baked them in the CSO.

Yeah.....more healthy....yeah..... . I used something that would probably make a lot of EG people run screaming--it's called Cheesy Melt (it's an off-brand of a Velveeta like substance). I just didn't have the energy to make a "real" cheese sauce. I know your husband would love a sous vide steak. I like mine very rare. Ronnie likes his on the rare side of medium rare so I do 125F for 2 1/2 hours. If I had made these when our friend is here, I would have had them fire up the grill and sear them on that, but because it's just us, I used a cast iron skillet and got it super hot. I barely sear mine....I'm always afraid I'll over do it. Ronnie gets a good sear on his.

I guess this isn't such a smallish blog anymore . Our hunter/fisher friend will be here in a few hours. The boat is hooked up to the truck just waiting to be taken to a lake . Along with fishing I think there will be some bigger type chores that he's going to help Ronnie with around here. Poison ivy absolutely loves me--I don't absolutely love it--and I found myself immersed in it while trying to cut a tree out of the front by the porch. I usually have a few patches on me, but this is an epic bout. So, that will add to the fun lol. I even have it in-between my fingers. Anyway, that's my poor me story for the week lol. We went to Sam's yesterday to stock up on some food items and then did some stuff around the house. Ronnie spotted these steaks in the meat section and I had thought to save them for sometime later this week, but they looked so good and it's so easy to toss them in the water and then have dinner in a couple hours. So, steaks with baked taters last night. I'm off to do some weeding in the garden...it never ends. I'll be back in a bit

I was trying to be seductive.......

Scallops that I didn't get a good sear on And quail from the Asian market

Planted more yesterday. 2 eggplant 2 basil 5 more cucumbers 35 or so tomatoes Then I weeded. Have I mentioned how much I hate weeding lol. The corn, okra and beans are all poking through the ground.....they germinated very quickly this year. The soil must have been at optimal temps.

Asparagus salad and pizza (to break in the new oven )

I know...I know.... you enabler lol. Thank you! I hope it stays working.

Good idea. It came with three--which kind of surprised me. I have been baking cookies in the CSO--I won't know what to do with myself with a whole big oven and three racks lol.

Thank you! I didn't realize how relieved I'd be to get this all done.

Well. After a lot of research...and soul search lol...I did not get the range of my dreams (blue star), but I did get one delivered today that I like and hopefully it will last a few years. It's a GE. The oven even works! (I'm super easy to please) I suppose I'm going to have to find another place to store my cast iron skillets....... I'm excited that it has a steam clean option since I fell in love with that in my CSO. I'm also excited about the middle burner option. It comes with a griddle for the middle...I also ordered the grate. Oh and the oven light works. I think I'm in heaven.

The big one on top is a drum (some consider it a "trash fish" but they are very good in our opinion), the one that has a rainbow look is a crappie (my favorite besides walleye) and the rest are striped bass.

Needed something very easy and fast after working in the garden all day--so venison meatballs from the freezer Yesterday Ronnie and Chum went to the lake for a while. Caught a nice mess of fish.

Nah, you have done a TON of work! I have a twinge going on, too. I am hoping this glass of wine calms it down. I guarantee you could smell me up there. I was RIPE. Oh how I wish I could call in a pizza. That sounds SO good.

I've been in the garden since 8:45 this morning. It's now 1:30. Like @kayb I am one tired, sore person. I weeded the potato patch and the onions. That took forever. Planted: 33 tomato plants (about that many more in the greenhouse that will be ready at the end of the week--so around 60 total this year) 100 seeds of corn (new variety this year called Nirvana--with a name like that, how could it be bad?) 3 rows of lettuce 7 rows of beans 4 yellow squash (probably do 4 zucchini later this week) 4 rows of okra 3 hills of watermelon 2 cucumber plants (will get more from the nursery this week) 6 jalapeno plants 3 bell plants (sorry @rotuts just scroll on by this part) 3 banana pepper plants 3 poblano pepper plants Will get a couple eggplant plants this week. I need a shower.

Wow! Birthday, Cinco, AND Derby Day Happy Birthday! Good to see the Woodford Reserve And now you know lol. That looks good--and much fancier than what I do with Rice A Roni Venison tacos for Derby Day/Cinco de Mayo/ Mike's Birthday

Hot wings last night

I'll take half an english muffin please. But where is your Kentucky Derby glass?????

This looks lovely. I really like the dish that the duck is in.

I love it! I've never had the Spanish rice version. My Grammy used make a really good salad using the chicken kind on the left. It had artichoke hearts and curry powder in it. I'll have to look that up. I had forgotten about it.

It does look great. Those shrimp. I would have a panic attack in that crowd I think I've never seen such a busy place!

Venison meatloaf

Ann T's honey garlic chicken--this time I cracked open a jar of Cowboy Candy (candied jalapeños ) that I canned and added some. I should have done that a long time ago. Edited to say---not that Ann's recipe isn't fabulous the way it is. The jalapeños just added some extra heat