Shelby

Oh yeah, that looks good. Faux dressing? Tell me more?

Using pre-cut stuff isn't cheating, it's SMART!

Have the temps been into the 100's over there? High temps make them stop ripening. They like heat....but not too hot for long periods of time. It makes them stop producing the chemical that helps them ripen--I forget what they are called.

I am in awe of you!

I thought the same thing about the rougher/finer...but it just isn't very clear to me. The crumble was good. I didn't think it needed more nuts.

Going to haul the dehydrator up today. Just came in from the garden .....yes, boys, there are those GREEN BEAN things in there.....

So many good meals above me. Venison taco salads and salsa from our garden.

Yesterday I made the Squash and Pistachio Crumble located on page 351. I used my mandolin to slice the zucchini (it calls for either that or yellow squash). The recipe says to cook the squash in a dutch oven or a cast iron pan so I chose cast iron. You are supposed to cook the squash along with lemon juice, sugar, water and salt. I was kind of nervous about adding the 1/2 cup water.....it seemed like too much liquid, but I did what she said. You cook it until the squash is tender and the liquid is reduced by half. Then you add the cinnamon etc. It took quite a while to reduce...I think you could get away with using less water...but then again, my squash are very juicy. Then you set this aside to cool while you make the crumble. Here is where I had some trouble. It says to use a food processor so I drug that out. I only have the kind of blade that you use for chopping--I don't have the plastic one that you would use for dough. She doesn't specify what kind of blade, though, so it might not have mattered. Anyway, you combine the flour, cornmeal, etc. and then add 3 sticks of cold butter (that have been cut into cubes) "a few at a time".....this was vague to me (I am crust-challenged as some of you know). I added like 5-6 cubes at a time....I was only half way through adding the butter when the mixture looked like she said it was supposed to look: crumbly. I knew then I was in trouble because I had a lot more pulsing to do to incorporate the rest. Sigh. Anyway, by the time I was done it looked like sugar cookie dough, not a crumbly dough. Here is where I REALLY had trouble and I would love for someone who has this book to look at the recipe for me because I think there is a mistake in the book. This is what it says...which I would take to mean that you use 1 cup of nuts at one point and then 2 cups at another point, but the instructions only say "at the last second throw in the pistachios and pulse once or twice more just to combine." So, I didn't know whether to use 3 cups total or what???? So I split the difference and used a cup and a half. She also doesn't specify what kind of pistachios...I only had roasted, salted ones so that's what I used. Here is the 1/2 of the dough in my 9x13 pan (she says to use that, or 6 ramekins and by this time I did not feel like fooling with ramekins). By the way, this dough is super good just eaten right out of the bowl lol. Anyway, here is for sure where you want to read ahead. She tells you to bake it for 15 mins. at 350F. Then "remove the blind-baked crust from the oven"...ACK...I hadn't read that yet so I quickly removed it from the oven and panicked LOL. I don't have pie weights and I didn't want to bake any of my good Rancho Gordo beans....sooooo....I did this: It was the best that I could come up with ...don't judge me lol. Here it is after the 15 min. blind-bake : Spoon the filling on Put the remaining "crumble" on top (I forgot to take a picture of this which is probably good because it looked terrible LOL) and she says to bake for another 30 mins. I had to bake mine for far longer....closer to an hour. Just out of the oven It kinda looks like the picture in the book! Yay!!! She says to serve it with vanilla ice cream and I just so happened to have made some so...I did Verdict: This is good stuff. Ronnie was amazed. It tastes JUST like apples. I am going to make a triple batch and pressure can some...it would be great just plain...or over ice cream...or in a regular apple pie. Also, the "crust" is really good. It's nice to have a crisp/crumble recipe that doesn't call for oats. I'm dying to know about the pistachio measurement though.....

@ChocoMom Have you recovered enough to tell us how it went?

BTW, the jelly is always on the top slice.

No nerve touched here.....there are just certain ways to do things.

Yep, the jelly squirts out if there is PB on both side. And, yes, there are rules. Squishy white bread. PB on one side. Grape jelly on the other. Period.

I do enjoy that too! Honestly, it takes longer to prep the beans than it does to actually can them.....

For me it's that I don't have a ton of freezer space. Our venison takes up a lot of room.

Homemade vanilla ice cream and fudge sauce after working in the hot garden this morning. Being a grown up is fun sometimes.

Todays haul: I've got to buy a lot more pint and quart jars. Most of mine are at least 20 years old--and a lot are even older because I got them from my grammy and my great gramma. A lot of them are cracking just from sterilizing them in the dishwasher. I didn't think I'd have this many beans to can

Take your time and get a nap I'm sure your many plants need to be talked to a bit, also We will be patiently waiting, I promise

Ronnie caught some beautiful bass yesterday. I can never resist having fresh fish for dinner. I also fried some zucchini in honor of @HungryChris

NICE!!!! Did you salt them and let them rest for a bit first? What temp did you dry at? Approximately how long did it take?

Phew. I feel better knowing you guys had your daily cocktail. I am intrigued by the wine in a can!

ACK! No cocktail today???? Maybe an aftertail.........

Ooooooh those are the BEST. I used to find those way up in the mountains when I lived in Colorado.

Thank you!!! I'd love to see pictures of yours. Ronnie started mine in the green house --probably in February? I'm dying to see them make some chokes. I have no idea what I'm doing....I haven't even googled about them lol. Todays pick: The squash are here