Shelby

We planted this tree like 13 years ago--maybe more--and I forgot what it was. I see now that it's an apple tree . It's never made fruit before. Well, they look like apples and they taste like apples, anyway. Very exciting. In other news, my artichoke plants have not advanced any further than this: First and last time experimenting with this. I guess there is a reason why you don't see fresh artichokes at the farmer's market in Kansas lol.

LOL I tried that....it didn't work.

Me neither Here is my review

I am here to retract my above statement regarding canning tomatoes in the pressure canner. I wish this wasn't the case....it's so much cooler in the kitchen using this method, but my failure rate has skyrocketed. I've done several different batches and I've had a jar not seal each time. Yesterday I did 6 quarts and 2 did not seal. Using the water bath method I rarely ever had a fail--like years without a fail. The pressure canner forces the tomatoes under the seal...I'm not talking just a seed, I'm talking a wad of tomatoes. I'm following the instructions to a "T"...leaving the correct amount of head space etc. My green beans did perfect in the pressure c....I guess tomatoes, for me, do not.

This looks awesome. Somewhere, sometime in my life I had pasta 3 ways--it was a bolognese, a pesto and a clam sauce--3 different piles of pasta, 3 different sauces all on the same plate. I loved it. I replicated it on my birthday a few years ago--it wasn't as good but that may have been because it was a lot of work and a lot of dishes to do on ones birthday lol. Last night -Cocktail Tomatoes with Brown Butter Scallops from Deep Run Roots Mine is over grits Ronnie's is over both rice and grits --he doesn't care for grits, but wanted to try them --he didn't hate it.

I made the Cocktail Tomatoes with Brown-Butter Scallops that is located on page 280 last night. The cocktail tomatoes have to rest for a week in the fridge, so plan ahead if you want to make this. Here is a picture of the cut up tomatoes that I used. As I said above, I chose some smaller 4th of July tomatoes and I left the skin on--which was difficult for me lol. And, the finished tomatoes just after the brine was poured over. Like @blue_dolphin said, there are a lot of ingredients that go into this mix. In the interest of full disclosure, I didn't grind up my coriander seeds because I was lazy. I left them whole and I don't think it made a difference. It's certainly a very pretty sauce. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I didn't use Vivian's recipe for grits. I did mine in the IP . Her recipe uses all milk for the liquid, the one I used calls for chicken broth and a bit of half and half. I felt like that was ok and went the easier route for me using the IP. I'm sad to report that this dish did not trip our trigger. Someone else may love it, it just wasn't for us. The cocktail sauce is, well, cocktail sauce--like the kind you dip shrimp in. The tomatoes do not retain their flavor at all, if that makes sense. So, it tasted like cocktail sauce over grits with scallops on top. I have some of the sauce left over (I only did half of the recipe and I'm glad) so I think I'll whizz it up in the food processor and use it maybe in bloody mary's or even just as cocktail sauce. My plate Ronnie's plate--he doesn't care for grits, so I thought a bit and decided that rice might be a good sub. He decided to try a bit of both (he did kind of like the grits by themselves so maybe there is hope for him after all lol). I actually liked the dish better with the rice--and I love grits. By the time the sauce was done heating, a lot of the skins had fallen off, so I picked them out #teamnoskin lol. I think @blue_dolphin was smart to peel hers. Anyway, I'll be interested to know what others think. I hope I didn't discourage anyone from trying this out--like I said, others might love it.

Ok, so I made the recipe I was talking about above last night. I decided to make my life easier (after a long day of canning tomatoes) and do the grits in the IP. This recipe was perfect. No sticking to the bottom or anything. It makes a lot, but that's what I wanted. Ronnie doesn't care for grits, so I never make them and this way I have leftovers to eat Here is the recipe

Sigh. Summer vacation is over. Thanks for the trip, as always

Steak night

Zucchini crisps using the filling from Deep Run Roots Tastes just like apple

Canned some of the zucchini filling from Deep Run Roots. The recipe uses 6 cups of zucchini so I did about 1 1/2 times that and used 16 cups (I had two HUGE ones that must have matched @HungryChris 's rafts). This filled up a huge pot and I figured I had at least 4 quarts to can. But, by the time it cooked down, I only had enough for 2 quarts, with a smidge left over that I used to make a couple of crisps.

I hate waiting lol. I had a hard time being patient for the cocktail tomatoes to be done (which was Friday). But then, I had an onslaught of things that needed to be eaten (lettuce etc.) I think I'll do the dish tonight ( unless the canning of the tomatoes totally exhausts me, then it will be tomorrow night). As for the tomatoes, I don't care for Roma's either, and I never plant them. I used tomatoes off of the 4th Of July tomato plants which are smaller...not as small as like a cherry tomato, but not big like a Big Boy. Here is a picture of them: And, since I strayed from the recipe and didn't use Roma...I decided I better stick to it and not peel them. I hope I like them. The skin is a texture thing for me. I hate eating a delicious, home grown tomato and having a wad of skin all mixed up in there. Ugh. I will report back.

Had @rotuts specifically in mind last night as I cut up a bell pepper from the garden...... BLT

Nah, only 5. KIDDING Only 2.

Just for that, I'll pick them early and subject you to stuffed green peppers done in the IP.

They still aren't big enough to pick but don't worry, you'll be seeing them soon

I like that! I've been calling it polka-dot corn.

Been wanting fried shrimp for a while. I didn't want a beer batter and I forgot, again, that I'm out of panko. So, I crunched up some Rice Chex (which I would normally never have, but had leftover from making Chex mix for Christmas). Very crisp and good. Even still crisp this morning. Tuna pasta salad Fried up some zucchini, too Don't make fun of my corn lol. It tasted good.

AWESOME! Thank you so much. I will write all of this in my book. Sorry. I should have specified. The recipe is from Deep Run Roots. The cocktail tomatoes have to marinate for at least a week. Tomorrow will be a week. I will post further about it on the cooking from the cookbook thread in a couple of days.

I should have said your polenta method--I figure it will work the same for grits maybe? I'm making the scallops with cocktail tomatoes in the next couple days and thought I'd do the grits in the IP.....

YES. Thank you SO much. I've been looking through the IP threads for 30 mins.

@blue_dolphin I am lacking skill and patience so I finally just decided to ask you. Could you please re-post how you do your grits in the IP? I've searched and I can't find your method that I know you've probably typed out more than once. Thank you in advance.

You can't go home yet, you just got there

****DROOOOOOOOOL*** Thank you so much, Duvel. What a great time I've had.

Thank you so much for doing this! I can't wait to see more