Shelby

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

Sure! I'll take pictures in the morning. It's definitely NOT fancy.

Good question. I've never noticed them falling off, but I'm not saying they don't. I know one of the plants I bought from the greenhouse already had a little tomato on.

Aw, thank you. My husband does a lot, too. Trust me, I'm tired. I'd love to have a little nap about now. The garden is definitely the boss. I just remind myself how much we enjoy what we've saved during the winter months. If I had to give everything up except for one, the tomatoes would win hands down. I can't not have Kansas tomatoes every summer. I just draw a straight, long line with my hoe in our tilled up garden area and with a little spade I dig holes about 5-6" deep about a foot apart. I think I have mostly 10 per row this year. I planted 57 tomatoes, 10 of which were cherry or grape. A couple of plants didn't make it. Then I planted a few more from the our greenhouse that were ready a bit later. I think we have around 60 total? I used to plant right around May 10th to make sure a late frost wouldn't kill everything (I don't have enough buckets etc. to try to cover everything) but the past few years it's been so warm. I think I planted at the end of April. The ground was 60 degrees or so according to my Thermapen The nights warm up by the end of May/first of June.

I'm sticking around until Monday evening if you guys will have me. And thank YOU for being here. Wouldn't be any fun to sit here and talk to myself.

Thank you! Yes, I have gotten lost in the corn. Years ago (I think I documented it here) I went through a phase where I pickled and canned baby field corn. I've since recovered from that madness. Anyway, I got lost picking baby corn and went clear to the west end. My house is at the east end. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't really lost since I was on my property but I did have a bit of a panicky feeling. It's hot. Not as hot as past summers, but hot. Highs are 95-100. I try to get in the garden before 8 a.m. but sometimes that doesn't work because I like sleeping. I'm always sorry if I sleep late. I keep the cukes in the fridge. Nothing fancy That made me laugh out loud. You sound just like my mom. She harvested two tomatoes the other day. I know she savored each bite. Thank you for coming along with me I had to google Tecnu. Thank you for telling me about it. I'm going to get some. I'm always looking for poison ivy treatments. Poison ivy loves me.

Thank you so much, everyone! Uh, Dcarch, I HATE posting pictures of my meals after you've posted. I'm not even in your same stratosphere! But thank you for the compliment. It's Saturday!!! I have so much to do it's not even funny. I have to can tomatoes. And, I have a crock of of pickles to put up. Also going to make some pickled eggs. And....much more if I can fit it in. By the way, if it's ok with upper management Monday night will be the end here. We went out to the field to take a few pictures this morning. Field corn. The deer have been gorging on this stuff. Today's blossom is the soybean. These were planted like the end of June/first of July so they are just now forming. They are a very delicate purple color then later they look white. Beans juuuuuuust starting. (are you bored yet?) I also needed some grape leaves to put in my crock for a new batch of pickles. Ronnie usually does this for me because there is poison ivy everywhere, but I braved it to take pictures this morning. Here is the huge grape vine. You probably can't see from the pictures but it climbs clear in to the trees. Weren't some of us talking about this plant some time ago? Or is this a different one? Ronnie says the berries are poisonous. I didn't test one out..... Breakfast this morning. Breakfast of champions. Leftover fried fish and a grape pop. I LOVE grape pop. My Grandpa used to work at a large newspaper here in Kansas (he used to own a smaller one here, too) and when he would take me to work with him he would always let me stop at the pop machine and get a pop. And it was the BEST pop machine. The kind where all the pop is in glass bottles. Then you insert the bottle in the opener on the machine, pop off the top and take a long drink of icy, cold grapey goodness. Ronnie got me that can yesterday. He says to tell you that although it says that it was 50 cents on the can, he actually got it for 10 cents. The man loves a bargain. Pickage today: Ronnie made the handle of that basket out of some of the grapevine pictured above. He's a handy guy.

The "jelly" tastes good, just dunno yet if it's jelly The towel holder was my hand and it's sturdy sometimes lol...more often not. No, I'm a righty...I had the pen in my left and the camera in my right. **needed a helper at times today and didn't have one. I need to look for something smaller for canning...my basement is full of treasures sometimes. Chum weighs about 88 lbs and goes everywhere with us--if we are inside she's with us, if we are outside she's with us and and she sleeps in bed right between us along with two cats. The pecking order here is: Me Dr. Lecter, Newman, Chum, Pickle (all on even terms) Ronnie So, I'm again enjoying my last drink of wine and posting dinner pictures. Fish all filleted out. They were super tender. OH and this might explain and it might not. Here is me dragging the back of the knife down the tomato to loosen the skin. I keep cukes and onions with vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar at all times in the fridge right now. Great side dish. The batter I use is equal parts cornstarch and self rising flour. Tonight I used a cup of each along with just over 2/3 of a cup of cornmeal. Stir that all together and get a light beer of some sort and pour it in. The mixture tonight took the whole beer. Put enough beer in so it leaves a "trail" behind when you dip it out. Along side we had my usual mac and cheese. Nothing ya'll haven't seen before. The requisite tomatoes I had to cut up a few okra to go with the fish. Here is everything all fried up. I also sautéed some squash and tomatoes to go along with. Here is my plate I'm FULL Have a great Friday evening you guys and I'll see you in the morning!

I know, right? That was Ronnie's purchase (sorry to throw you under the bus)....but honestly with the peach juice it was just fine. Well, I hope it's awesome. (thank you for the support)

No problem, one of the powers-that-be will fix it I've eaten there...been a few years, but the food was decent. I can't remember if I got egg rolls, but if these frozen ones are good I might look for them.

It's been a jelly afternoon. (Just found out the box I mailed STILL hasn't been received. Who knew it took over 5 days to get from Kansas to Western Colorado. ) This is where I tell you I have absolutely no idea what the "F" I'm doing when it comes to jelly or jam or anything like that. I know so little that it probably makes me brave lol. So, you remember I had leftover sugar water from canning peaches and I dumped the skins and pits in there. Boiled for about 30 mins, cooled over night and then threw it in the fridge. So, I strained all the skin and stuff through a tea towel And got this. Two quarts worth. I had no idea how much sugar was in there because I didn't really keep track the other night. I know I put in around 6 cups or so ....so I figured maybe I'd be ok. I had pectin at the ready, but frankly I didn't want to use it and the directions confused me because I had already went out on my own regarding the sugar. I poured it in a pot to boil. Now, I do know that this pot is too tall...but it's what I grabbed. Here it's at 212 degrees where it stayed FOREVER. Finally after like 10 hours (ok like 40 minutes) we hit 220, actually 221. That's the magic number you're looking for at my sea level for jelly to make. I put a plate in the freezer and dabbed a bit on to test it real quick. It was dang thick so I went with my gut and deemed it good. I mean the worst that could happen is we get peach syrup and that wouldn't be such a bad thing. So here it is in these cute little jars. I was going to can them but I realized that they would slip right out of my jar holder and I didn't have the energy to be MacGyver and figure out another solution. I did sterilize them in the dishwasher and I had my lids in the warm water. As I'm sitting here typing, three of them have gone "POP", so they are sealed. I'll keep 'em all in the fridge. I had a little dab left that I put in the fridge and just took a sample. It's good enough. I don't know if it's jelly yet but it's definitely way thicker than syrup. I definitely recommend doing a better job at measuring than I did but maybe I got lucky this time.

She actually eats the hell out of grasshoppers. She's very gourmet LOL. I make this pie a lot. I love them on vanilla ice cream. We like 'em just plain out of the jar. Oh, and after the peaches are gone I save the juice and have this I've never made a kuchen....I don't think I've ever eaten a kuchen.....might have to rectify that. Oh gosh, when she was a baby her feet were huge and she was just kind of slow and clumsy (no offense meant to Chumly on the show lol) so, that became her nickname. Her real name is Addison. So when she's in trouble it's "ADDISON CHUMLY!" I humbly feel like she's far cuter than the human one. Here's our dinner tonight. The catfish (the two on the right), not the carp.

I'd love to have the method of shaping and the recipe when you have time.

She assured me she would be ok. She had another tangled in her web, actually. I just talked to the fisherman. We will be having fish for dinner

Those buns look perfect!

I'm a pasta freak who could eat pasta morning, noon and night. When I spiralize I use the bigger zukes. I salt the "noodles" and let them sit for a while. They really do soften and take on a pasta-like mouthfeel. I don't cook them, I just toss them in a hot/warm sauce. Now I'm not saying that I would never go back to real pasta, because I couldn't do it. BUT, if you're cutting the carbs, it's a pretty good sub. Oh and another thing I do is mix pasta with the zukes. I figure every little less carb helps right? So, after that ramble my answer is yes, they are worthy.

My breakfast:

Happy Friday! My husband made himself some breakfast this morning. A potato cake from left over mashers, toast, 'maters and an egg. Oh and a fresh glass of 'mater juice. Today's garden blossom is the cucumber Such a cheerful yellow. I've been wondering why I'm not getting many picklers lately. I guess this is why (ahem, I'm looking at you my furry baby dogs...they LOVE cucumbers sigh.) Can you spot the grasshopper in there? While we were in the garden we also hunted for those suckers. When we would catch one we put it in this old coffee can with a slit cut in the lid. A view into the can I think we caught about 8. So now, Ronnie and Chum (our Lab) have loaded up and trundled down to our river to fish for catfish. He'll use the grasshoppers for bait. The catfish love a big fat 'hopper. Today's gardenage:

That grill does look cool. The tray I used was more closed. Might roast faster on the one you showed. I can just imagine that smell. The house still smells of roasted peppers this morning and I don't mind a bit I hope you have a great trip! Enjoy a Georgia peach for me. Those are like a bite of heaven. We'll see how the peach skin jelly works out. I'll be attacking that in a couple of hours. I think you're right about the vodka and the wine idea. We tried to make wine years ago. I still have some bottled up downstairs for if an apocalypse comes and we're desperate. It tastes like Nyquil. Our freezers get full of venison, geese, pheasants, quail etc. so I try to can as much as possible. I really prefer my tomatoes canned but I do cook some down and freeze bags or containers of plain tomato "sauce". I know a lot of people freeze them whole with the skins on and I've done that before too but those take a ton of room. I have Silver Queen frozen. In years past I've grated up zukes and frozen them. I'd rather make breads or meatballs to use that up and freeze those. Oh and I like to freeze pesto. Need to work some of that up soon. My plants are bolting.

So you liked the polenta? Maybe I can convert Ronnie!

The Hatch chiles are just super good. We had to have them for dinner...no question. Chicken enchiladas with Hatch chile sauce and Hatch chiles inside and Hatch chile salsa.....I think a theme has happened here.... Oh and canned refried beans. I did these on the stove over the gas burner on a tray with slots in it. Worked well. Marinated a chicken breast with cumin, cilantro, salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic, liquid smoke, tomato juice and lime juice. Made some salsa Cooked and diced the chicken breast Made a sauce out of the chiles, onion, garlic, tomatoes, cumin, salt, pepper, cilantro....and probably more lol. We like flour tortillas All rolled up in sauce and cheese Two that I froze for later And dinner is served Dishes are still in the sink and I'm NOT doing them until tomorrow morning. I have a splash of wine left and then I'm off to bed. Since I kinda relaxed today tomorrow will be busy....jelly...peaches... See you in the morning!

OH! That could be it! I did order from Burpee. Maybe my husband knows what he's saying after all.