Shelby

I only pound when I need to get out some built up aggression.

Turkey sandwiches and fries

I see some marbling and they look delicious!

Gorgeous! This might put me over the edge on being brave and getting a pressure canner.

A friend of ours gave us this electric smoker. It's pretty handy Inside pic My folks gave us these wonderful Colorado trout....seriously the best eating. Ronnie thawed them out and did a salt brine..not a long time, just a few hours. Into the smoker they go.... All done Salads Alfredo sauce of sorts with hatch chile, onion, tomato and smoked trout. Very good. Dessert....peach cobbler with ice cream...Ronnie loved it. My dessert Baileys on ice I can't thank you all enough for your comments and for reading. This is our life. I'm gonna drink my Baileys and hit the sack....another day of canning tomorrow

Oh I would LOVE to have Matilda in my window. You are not alone, that would entertain me all day long.....put us together and we'd be the cheapest dates ever. Something bad happened today. I got a case of the lazies. I didn't can.....I will do it tomorrow for sure. I did dry some cherry 'maters--or rather grape 'maters Before the oven. About 3 1/2 hours at 225 degrees. Sprinkled with sea salt, pepper and drizzled olive oil. After We snack heavily on them while they are cooling off. Super good. I froze a bag of peaches for a pie later.....put some in a container for us over ice cream and saved the juice for a batch of jelly (GOD help me on that) Also made a peach "cobbler". It's more like peach cake to me. It's good. One of the only recipes I use from a popular blogger who I shall not name except for the initials of PW. I have not had good luck with a lot of her stuff. Especially a Thanksgiving turkey recipe.....I won't say more except to tell you that it ended in a word that rhymes with zizaster.

I think they should make the Thermapens read-out flip around like a smart phone does so that no matter which way you're holding it the numbers are right-side up.

They left me alone this morning. Guess I wasn't sweet enough.

Farmers are here. Corn harvest has begun! When they are finished I take my big baskets out and collect the corn that doesn't make it in the hopper. I can usually find a lot of corn still on the cob that I put out for the birds to eat all winter. Plus it makes good fall decor. I also go an cut some of the dried corn stalks that I use for decor on the porches.

Awesome. Thank you so much for taking time to do this. I will be making these.

He does. If we have a whole lot to clean, I help. I like cleaning fish. I like cutting up venison. I've long said that I was a butcher in some past life lol. I'll try to remember next time we catch some to take pics of the cleaning process. I keep "used" oil for quite some time. If I've fried 'taters , I'll save that and use it for eggplant and then save it again. Fish oil....I don't keep, although I wouldn't fault those that did. I would if I fried a lot of fish. You're a smart woman. Well, it's Monday. Not the most favorite day of the week for some of you I'm sure. Hang in there...it'll be Tuesday soon It's a nice, cool, cloudy morning so after we picked the garden we decided to go down to our river and fish for a bit. No luck, but it was nice sitting there watching the grass frogs, squirrels, ducks and other assorted critters run around. Flower for today....not a garden flower, but I love these. I think they are Morning Glory?? They wind around my back porch. Gardenage : What's better than cold pizza for breakfast Dishes to be done.....cherry 'maters to dry.....'maters to can.....I'll be back in a bit

I hope ya'll are having a good evening Ronnie's catch today at the lake: Four catfish on the left, two drum on the right. Lots of people don't keep Drum and consider it a "trash fish" but it's good. Nice white meat. I can't pass up fresh fish so I'll fry some up for dinner on Tuesday. We decided on pizza for tonight so I made dough and let it rise for about an hour. I always make at least a double batch and freeze some so that it's easy next time. We like a 3 cheese pizza....shredded cheddar, parmesan and mozz. I roasted a couple of Hatch chiles, diced some onion, sliced some black olives and threw some pepperoni on. I turn the oven on with my pizza stone in like 3 hours before I do pizza at 550 degrees. That's as high as it gets, but it does get hotter with the stone in there. All done I wanted some eggplant so I do a "light" version of eggplant parm. Fry them briefly in oil and layer them with sauce and a bit of cheese. Bake in the Breville oven for about 30 mins at 350 degrees. I neglected to take a pic of the pizza on the plate with the eggplant parm..sorry. It sure was good I'm off to bed. Last day tomorrow, I hope you guys will hang in with me Sweet dreams, ya'll

If I lived close to you I'd buy every last one. Can't you sell them to someone around there? Around here if someone puts a sign in their yard that says "EGGS $2.00/Dozen" people come from far and wide to buy them.

COOL! Thank you!

Ok, sounds good. I'll try I'll miss Matilda when she's gone. I still haven't forgotten about that tomato skin salt....I just was too busy to mess with it yesterday, but it will happen. Ronnie has wanted me to make pickled eggs for a looooooong time. I've had one that was store bought. I really didn't like it. Strong vinegar taste and....rubbery. Maybe I'll like these better? I've been saving some eggs from my girl down the road so that they wouldn't be so fresh and hard to peel. They were still hard to peel I find shelling peas relaxing. I find shelling eggs to be an activity that makes me want to hurl the eggs out the window. I hard boiled them a couple of days ago. One part cider vinegar to four parts water, salt, fresh dill, Thai peppers, chopped onion and garlic and two teaspoons of pickling spice. I guess we'll wait a few weeks before tasting....should be ready just in time for teal and dove hunting. God help whoever hunts with Ronnie after he eats those

Elaina, your garden is beautiful. I loved looking at everything. I could hang pictures of your garden on my wall it's so pretty! I love the hanging garlic. Do you bring it inside after it's dried more? How do you store it? I mistook that runner bean flower for an Iris at first. That is one gorgeous blossom. I love the Morning Glories. I have a few of those. Must plant more. I'm not good at flowers, though. Cardoons. I had to google them. I love artichokes so I can't wait to see what you do with them Cyalexa, small is good! I hear you on the heat. I love all of your spices. You've inspired me to try to grow some inside over the winter. And the FIGS OH THE FIGS!!! I'm jealous.

I'll eat them, but Romas aren't my favorite. Not juicy enough. Thank you so much. I just had a nap

My lunch today was super fancy

I like all of the usual kinds...I think this year I have Beefsteak, Big Boy (or is it Better Boy?), Early Girl and Brandywine. I'm not picky....I'm not big into the latest kinds. I like the tried and true. I don't make relishes. I love looking at the ones people make here, they are always so pretty. I'm glad you have access to good tomatoes. Summer=tomatoes in my book

What a great idea to put some stems in water. I'm copying you

The farmers came down and started the irrigation last night. Since they did that, I figure I better water the garden so I'm doing that this morning. View from the front porch. I think you can see the water spraying over the soybeans. Lots of little baby pumpkins coming on. I snapped a picture of one of the sprinklers. Matilda had a HUGE grasshopper for breakfast. Here is our greenhouse. Ronnie built it on to the back of the garage. It's not fancy and I know I could spiff it up more, but it works for us. He did a great job using salvaged windows and other materials we had laying around. We set the plants out here to harden once they've gotten going in the greenhouse. Doorway into the greenhouse Skylight These windows push open so that we can cool it off in there if we need to. Shelving Today's pick: Ok, I'm off to do a mountain of dishes. I'll be back in a bit

Aaaaaand, dinner last night. I'm still obsessed with AnnT's lemon, sea salt and pepper wings. Along with I stuffed a Hatch chile with cheese and some salsa, baked beans and 'maters. I could have done the wings a bit longer to get the skin more done, but I was starving and needed food

Maybe she did say plugged All I know is I wasn't worth anything LOL. Thank you so much! I'm honored that I wore out your like button The carp are fun to catch and we've talked for years about cooking them, but those were for bait. Ronnie cuts them up and mixes them with chicken livers and I don't know what else. I'd ask, but he's at the lake. I'll find out his "recipe". I DO know that it smells reallllly bad, but the fish reallllly like it lol. Good morning! I've got an iced coffee with tons of sugar and milk (I'm out of cream) and I'm ready to type. Ronnie and his brother went to the lake to fish for a while today. I got him up at five, got him out the door and then Chum and I went back to bed. I made him a breakfast sandwich last night to heat up and eat this morning before he went. Ham, egg and cheese. I had a LOT of tomatoes to can. I really try to can frequently because I like to do just one batch (6 quarts) at a time. I stress out when I have to keep the jars hot for 45 mins. for the second batch. But, I had a lot so two batches happened without any issues (yay). I got out my biggest pot so that I didn't have to mess with two. Nine quarts of 'maters and three juices canned up One and a half quarts that I didn't can so Ronnie can drink them. Now for the pickles. This crock has been in the works for three weeks. I love this cookbook. Tons of great pickling recipes. As you can see, it's been well used. When you take the lid off the pickle smell wafts up. I usually grab one, rinse it off and split it with Ronnie so we can munch on one. Dump the pickles into a strainer with a bowl underneath to catch all of the brine. Throw away all of the old garlic, grape leaves and spices. Put the brine in a pot and bring it to a boil. Boil for about 5 minutes and then set it aside to cool to room temp. Wash all the pickles off in nice clean water. Then, either slice them (I had some super big cukes) or leave them whole and pack them tightly into sterilized mason jars. You don't have to, but I like to put some fresh dill, garlic and a couple of those Thai pepper in there too. Then when your brine is cool, pour it over, put a lid on and you're done! I don't can these, I just keep them in the fridge outside. They keep just fine for year. They stay nice and crunchy. Then, I wash my pickle crock up really well and start all over. Wash your cukes and your grape leaves. Your ingredients: Fresh dill, garlic, pickling salt, cider vinegar, pickling spice and water. Make your brine-6 quarts of water, 1 cup cider vinegar and 1 1/4 cups pickling salt. Stir until salt dissolves. Put a layer of grape leaves in the bottom of the crock. Grape leaves help them stay crunchy. Then a layer of cukes, dill, some garlic and a tablespoon of pickling spice. Then more cukes, dill, garlic and another tablespoon. Use only 2 total tablespoons of spice--if you use more it's way too strong. Trust me lol. Pour brine over everything and put another layer of grape leaves on top. I take a ziplock bag and fill it up with leftover brine and put it on top to weigh everything down. Put the lid on and you're done! After 3-4 days I check to see how everyone is. Sometimes a white "scum" forms. That's perfectly ok. Just use a spoon and get it out. If the "scum" is on the grape leaves I simply rinse them off really quick. I make a note on the calendar to check them after 2 weeks and another marking 3 weeks when they will be done. So, on September 5th you'll know what I'm doing .

Good evening! Ok so, I just got done with everything and I'm just not worth a plug nickel (as my Grammy used to say). I will be here bright and early to post todays adventures. Sweet dreams, everyone

Oh I bet your greenhouse will be wonderful! No blight problems ....knock on wood. We had a drip system for many years, but this year it's just sprinklers set up on stakes for height. My husband does all that. We have 4 of them in order to reach everything. Honestly, I've only had to water a few times this year. The rain has been perfectly timed. I'm still canning tomatoes. I'm waiting for my jars to be sterilized too After I'll do pickles. I can't believe it's already 3 p.m.! Take a pickle picture and show us