Shelby

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.

Food looks really good. LOL they could use a few tips on presentation for that corn though......even a bowl would be better

LOL, trust me, those cats and dogs are never far out of any picture. They are not camera shy . Newman is in a pic I'm getting ready to post, in fact. If there is a box around, the cats are in it. I do have a favorite cherry 'mater variety, but I don't know the name of it. I stupidly didn't keep track of what I bought. They are round and they get big--not so big that you can't eat them in one bite, but not small. They look like a mini tomato and they taste very very tomato-y and they are juicy like a tomato. Ronnie has been calling them Boomers...but I don't think that's right. They actually might be the variety that Rotuts talked about earlier? The pantry is very handy. In fact the basement could be a LOT more storage if I'd get off my ass and organize and throw some crap away. I am a HUGE fall decorator. Halloween is my favorite holiday so the more pumpkins around the house and on the porches the better The Hatch Chiles are here! The Hatch Chiles are here! When I opened the box the most wonderful chile smell filled the whole kitchen. Makes me want an enchilada STAT.

No breakfast today. Right now for lunch I'm eating a chicken, lettuce and tomato wrap that promptly fell apart when I took a bite.

You're right about the little 'maters. I have both kinds planted. At first I got a lot of the cherry kind, now the grapes are prolific. I just call them all cherries lol. I'm searching my brain....your mom is out west? I think? Dang, it is weird that I can get good ones here and she can't I remember what you said about the walnuts and no, I haven't done anything with them. They just fall of the tree and plop on the ground lol. I'll try to get ambitious this fall . I promise.

Well, I can't wait for you to tell us your book is finished and for you to post a link so I can buy it! I understand your feeling a bit down about not having a publisher, but I think that you'll be happier in the end knowing you did it all YOUR way.

GORGEOUS Elaine! I especially like the mustard pickles. And such beautiful carrots.

Oh gosh, maybe 45 minutes? It's like a game of Twister in the tomatoes. You gotta duck and shimmy and slide around. I peruse and pull a few weeds, take a few pictures... My husband came with me this morning. We could both probably have been done in 30 mins if we tried. (Good deal. I am glad you took care of the wordage for me )

First of all, Hummingbird, I GREATLY enjoyed reading this. You have GOT to post pictures. I'm dying to see all of this!!! Seriously, you should either post here or do a blog. I would hang on every word and picture. I've never grown tomatillos. I don't know how they would do around here, but you've inspired me to at least look them up and see. I know you are enjoying your tomatoes a ton! I think you should also start a honeybee topic. I find that FASCINATING. I'd LOVE to see pictures of all of that, too. For the first time in many years, I've seen honey bees here. I'm sure they have a wonderful hive somewhere that I'd like to find. I, too, would blame my honey stealing on bears . I'm no help on sunchokes or ground nuts. In fact, I'm going to have to google to see what a ground nut is. I've never eaten a sunchoke either. I'm feeling deprived.

Oh yeah, Verjuice! She wouldn't know me but I loved reading her blog. And Lior...I think about her and wonder how she's doing over there. Darienne, you have attempted and cooked so many foreign things (to me) YOU are a mentor too!

We're caught up to this morning. I got up at sunrise and had to take a picture from my front porch. In the foreground is the garden. The middle is the field corn. Out where you see the "white" are the soybeans. You can see my irrigation system poking through. The white was a low-laying fog that was just on top of the beans. It was pretty and peaceful. The quail were singing "bob-white, bob-white". I did the dishes and a few other chores around here and then went to the garden. Had to stop and tell Matilda good morning. I've never seen such a fat spider. Right below her she had a big 'ole grasshopper in her web. She had a hearty breakfast. Today's garden flower is from the pumpkins. And today's gardenage. That should be a word, too. I keep thinking I'm making a dent in the cherries, but they just keep comin'. I'm not complaining! I'm not sure what this afternoon will bring. I may attempt the jelly....I've never made it before except for the batch of sandhill plum that I did a couple weeks ago. I need to figure out whether I want to can or freeze the rest of the peaches.... Or, I may just kind of take it easy and cook something fun for dinner.... I'm undecided.

On to the peaches! Ronnie got these for me at the used food store (our nickname for it). It's a Mennonite run store that sells dented cans....stuff that other grocers want to get rid of etc. The past two summers they have been getting cases of peaches from a farm in Palisade, CO. They are super good. There was a line a mile long of people waiting to get some. The set up for canning peaches is almost like the 'maters except you: 1. Make a sugar/water "syrup" first and keep it just barely simmering. I put syrup in quotes because you can make it thicker like that but I prefer it to be light with less sugar. You can see a bit of peach in there...I was using the spoon to stir the peaches too. 2. You want to get your jars going in the dishwasher or boiling right away. 3. You either need a bowl full of water and lemon juice to put the peaches in or a can of Fruit Fresh. I use Fruit Fresh. This step keeps the peaches from turning brown. You want to have all of this stuff ready because you don't really want your peaches to be in the hot sugar water for too awful long because they break down a bit faster than tomatoes do. So, I got my pan of water boiling in order to blanch the peaches real quick so I could slide the skins right off. After blanching: The skins come off easily. Then I just hold the peach over the bowl and segment it off the pit. As I went I sprinkled the Fruit Fresh over each layer and after what seemed like a decade of peeling and segmenting I ended up with this: ****A bit of a side note here***** You also end up with another bowl full of pits and skins which I also sprinkled with a bit of Fruit Fresh. After I was done canning I had a bit of the sugar water left so I dumped the skins and pits in and boiled for about 30 mins. I left it on the stove to cool over night and it's now in the fridge. Tomorrow we'll make some jelly out of it. I lifted the lid and smelled it this morning. SO good and peachy. Back to the canning.... Dump your peaches in the sugar water: Let 'em swim around in there for about 10 minutes or so to get them all happy and warm and cooking a bit. Then, fill your jars just like we did on the tomatoes making sure that you get enough syrup in there to cover the peaches. They don't have to be completely submerged. Carefully lower them into the canner I processed them for 30 mins. All sealed up! Edited to add: Once again I found three jars when I took them out of the dishwasher that were unusable. I still have more peaches to can...probably about those three jars worth. It was so late last night that there was no way I was going to sterilize more. So either this afternoon, or tomorrow I'll do the rest. OR, I might just freeze them......yeah...that sounds a lot easier....

Good morning, ya'll! It's almost Friday! So, a bit of catch up from yesterday. My plan was to be done with the peaches around seven at the latest and then do an Asian themed meal of some sorts. My husband had a dinner meeting so I knew I was on my own and could make something that maybe he wouldn't particularly care for like an all veggie/tofu thing. But, we know how that turned out. He got home about the time I was slicing into my six minute egg. His meal wasn't very good so I shared my egg with him. The noodles I ate are these . I can't remember where I read about them. It was either here or on The Ramen Rater. There are two little packets that come with them. A dry one and one that has an oil/paste flavoring. I highly recommend them. You can probably find them cheaper at a market if you live in a big city. Early in the afternoon yesterday I made the recipe that Okanagan posted from Elaina. I used a lot more cherry 'maters than the recipe called for, so I eyeballed and added more oil etc. Before going into the oven It smelled SO good after a while. After about 4-5 hours in the oven. Wow, you guys were right. Great flavor. I was nervous about the skins and if I would like them...they are very soft and everything just melts in your mouth. I am going to freeze it in containers this afternoon. OH and I gave Ronnie a bite when he got home. He really liked it too.

I was surprised too. I love watching the eggplants grow and yeah, they are such a beautiful shade of purple. Ooooh , you knit! I tried that a few times....not my forte lol. A raccoon! I don't want to imagine what that poor woman's basement looked like. How awful. I hope they will be full. The last few years haven't been good tomato years so they have been a bit sad and bare. Thanks for coming along!

Hi Hi Hi! I thank you for all comments and hanging in here with me. I will talk to you guys much more about what you've posted while I was gone tomorrow morning. Really quick I will post my very late and very fast dinner. I did a 6 minute egg--damn those things are good. With a ramen type of noodle that I will tell you more about tomorrow. I LOVE this brand. They aren't fried first and are just SO good. I put a chopped 'mater and some shredded nori in too....I'm sure not traditional but it hit my very empty spot since I haven't had a thing since my sandwich this morning. I promise more interesting stuff tomorrow. The peaches about kicked my ass today lol. See you soon!

Trust me, I'm borrrrrrring. I think I should come there and we should visit the ponies in person Kay lives in the cool state near Oaklawn Race Track...girl, we'd have fun there Awwwww.....noooooooooo, as Heidi reminded me today, just think of Charlotte's Web. Ohhhhhhhhhh man, I gotta get with you and find out your horse names so I can cheer! So sorry for the blank afternoon. I had an unexpected visitor that took forever and it's just been one of those days. Still up to my elbows in canning peaches. I'll be back as soon as I can with pictures.

Thank you! Those spiders are so huge and beautiful--and I'm not a spider lover. But I do love these girls (I don't know why I think they're female lol). AND every grasshopper they catch and eat is one less that is munching on my garden. I'm having fun with my big camera getting some good pictures of blossoms and the garden in general. I got lazy and started using my iPhone for everything. Just not the same quality. Do you slice your cherries in half when you do that or keep them whole? Thought I had a contender...foiled again.... Took a picture of my storage area in the basement for all that I've canned. Can't remember if I took one in the last blog.

Count me as another who has this one . $33. I use it a lot during the summer. I don't think I used it at all last winter. I do like zuke noodles with pesto. YUM.

THAT is a gorgeous tomato!!! I gotta pick up the pace. I'm slow this morning. Planning on canning peaches later.....unless they can wait a few more days, if so, maybe a peach dessert could be in the works. A few garden pictures..... A tiny part of the pumpkin patch Eggplant flower--pretty purple. A new garden spider has moved in across the garden from Matilda. I think the webs are SO cool. That zig-zag design...I love it. Haul from this morning. I picked some of the Thai peppers that are green. Breakfast was a tomato and pimento cheese sandwich

I bought those from the neatest online pottery shop way before I got married so probably 18 years ago? They are hand thrown and I LOVE them. I love all hand thrown pottery. I search all the time for pottery wine goblets. I learned that they are terribly hard to make. Over the years I've broken a lot of them and I'm down to just three. I emailed the store to ask if they would consider making them again, but I never got a response. I guess that meant no. I'm a little late this morning. I slept in a bit. I'm off to the garden and then I'll be back with your morning okra picture.