I have to work the evening shift at the store tonight so Hubby is having vegetable soup and cornbread for supper. I've already baked his cornbread so all he'll have to do is heat it up along with the soup, either in the microwave or on the stove. I also made him some 3T Bars which he will absolutely go ga-ga over! The 3T stands for Turtle/Toffee/Terrific. Need I say more? LOL!!
This morning is a cool Fall morning - perhaps a light shirt needed but not quite sweat shirt weather yet. I made Hubby's lunch and sent him off to work and was busy making a dessert for him when I glanced outside and there on the deck lay one of my young hummingbirds. Now, I know this is silliness on my part but I have a soft spot for hummingbirds. To me, they are the most delicate, sweet, adorable and loving, little flying creatures God ever made. I love to watch them fly, sip the nectar from the flowers and bicker with each other. I absolutely adore them, so obviously when I saw one on the floor of the deck I went into orbit. I have seen hummingbirds literally knock themselves out while bickering with another by running into the house and running into a window because they didn't realize it was glass or know that it had been opened but I always fret and worry that one of them is hurt really badly. It happens every time - I want to rescue them. I try to leave them alone and let them rest instead of bothering them, thereby scaring and stressing them out . . . but today the wind was blowing and it was kind of cool so I put a dishtowel in the microwave and warmed it up. I then laid the towel in a circle around the hummingbird so it would radiate some warmth. I could see his heart was still beating but at first his eyes were closed. The next time I went out to check on him his eyes were at least open but he still wasn't moving. I went back in the house and waited another 15 minutes - still nothing - so I got another dishtowel, heated it up and exchanged the towels around him. About 10 minutes later I saw another hummingbird down with him. I honestly don't know whether he was trying to urge him to fly or was picking on him but I was panicked. I ran outside to check on the little guy and he fluttered - and flew away. Hey, I'm happy!!!
I have to work the evening shift at the store tonight so Hubby is having vegetable soup and cornbread for supper. I've already baked his cornbread so all he'll have to do is heat it up along with the soup, either in the microwave or on the stove. I also made him some 3T Bars which he will absolutely go ga-ga over! The 3T stands for Turtle/Toffee/Terrific. Need I say more? LOL!!
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It's raining! Hooray!! We needed this rain badly. Of course, with the rain will come a change in the temperatures I'm sure - but it IS Fall. Tis the season!
Today I'm scrubbing and mopping the bathrooms and trying to get a little housework accomplished. This is not my favorite thing in the world to do so when I get to dreading it too much I just make a mental note to self, "Self, at least you're not ironing!" and suddenly the day gets brighter automatically! LOL!! The one nice thing about mopping and cleaning the mirrors and showers is the empowerment I get in return. I make my own cleaners, and when I smell the wonderful scents coming from the rooms I clean and realize it's because of something I did instead of something I bought, well, like I said, it's empowering. Even better - they're a healthy alternative to all the chemicals in a lot of the store-bought cleaners, they're easy to make and ever-so-much cheaper. Have you tried homemade cleaners? If you have a particular recipe for one, come on and share, let us all know. I'm sure everyone would be quite interested. Since our neighbor brought us tomatoes and Hubby saw bacon in the refrigerator drawer, he has been hinting big time about how much he'd love to have BLT's one more time this year, so I have relented and he'll get his BLT's for supper. He's only had them twice this summer so three times is not bad. Three is the limit though. Hubby had his bloodwork done this past week and it all came back with flying colors. He kind of deserves a little something extra. His cholesterol was down, triglycerides, blood pressure - everything was way more than perfect. Mine? Well, we have yet to see about that. I get all my bloodwork done the end of next month. I'm the one that usually has the high blood pressure and the high everything else! Yeh, go figure - the health nut has the worst bloodwork. Oh well, I keep trying. -------------------- It finally stopped raining this afternoon. It's muggy outside which makes me believe there's more rain to come! Whatever!! It's supposed to be nice the rest of this week and by nice I mean about 70 degrees. That's okay by me. See ya all. Good morning to you on this bright, early Monday morning. To catch you all up - I promised to let you know how the Bacon Wrapped Pork Chops came out. They were okay, not exactly my favorite. Both Hubby and I were disappointed in the flavor and that may just be our own taste preferences but on top of that, fixing it the way the recipe calls and wrapping the pork in bacon, seems a little wasteful. We couldn't even taste the bacon and there seemed to be way too much soy sauce. We've decided it was okay but I don't think I'm going to waste my ingredients on this recipe. It was a thumbs down for me and I'll not put it on the Recipes page. Of course, if any of you are curious, let me know and I'll get the recipe to you, no problem! The Au Gratin Potatoes I paired with the chops have been eaten numerous times since I fixed a big casserole dish of them. They were really handy to have in the frig. We're down to a serving or two and our dog loves them too!! LOL! Also, as another catch-up, I made the Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Figs Sunday evening and oh my, what sensational flavors compacted into such a tiny piece of, well, yumminess! I will say this, the following pics have me starting out with the figs on parchment paper and the only bacon I had was thick bacon. I actually had to take them off the parchment paper because, and I laugh when I say this, I figured it was going to ignite any minute! Also, next time I will use thin sliced bacon. The thick bacon I already had open in the frig was just too thick, yet I think prosciutto would not have enough fat in it to work properly either, though I haven't tried it yet. Probably just thin-sliced bacon would work the best. Don't let my mistakes stop you from trying this delectable appetizer though. Hubby and I have decided that we WILL have this special Fall appetizer at least once every year - it's just that good!!! Sunday afternoon I tried another new recipe. I've been looking for sort of a brownie-type snack bar that's gluten free. This recipe also happens to be dairy free and vegan as well. I tried the Chocolate Chip Breakfast Rug and was not disappointed. If any of you are interested in the recipe head on over to my Recipes page. It's just as good, and I think better, than a lot of the breakfast bars out there on the market, only this is good for you.
It's Saturday!! Typical day off, right? Not for me. I go in and work 5 hours today and believe this one or not - I'm excited. I worked last night and am going back today which means I'll be on an upward learning curve. I flourish by doing, and having 2 days in a row at the store will make me a better sales associate. Last night was a really good night. I'm learning and I do love to learn though admittedly I'm a little slower at remembering - I'm finally beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I really do love the work and the interaction with customers is simply wonderful!!
-------------------------------------- Home again-home again. It's been overcast here most of the day. The people that were coming in the store just seemed happy and kept commenting on how nice the weather was for this time of year. I guess being overcast didn't hurt a thing. Mother Nature can be such a swell gal . . . . . . then again. When I got home Hubby told me that our neighbor has tomatoes out her ears and came by to deliver us a couple bags. What an angel!!! As you all well know, I LOVE TOMATOES!!! She also brought a couple jelly jars of her homemade pear preserves. I'm in heaven. Tonight I'm going to take the ripest tomatoes and make spaghetti sauce. So, that being said, we're having spaghetti with meat sauce for supper. Once I put those fresh tomatoes, some chives, basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, salt, pepper, lots of garlic, onions, green peppers, hot pepper flakes and olive oil into the pan all I need is some olive oil and I'll be truly "cookin' baby". Ooooh,oooh, I know!!!! I'll use some of my Italian Flavor Bombs. Yay!!! Zing!!!! My eyes opened at 5:00 a.m. this morning and no amount of tossing and turning and trying not to think would allow me to go back to sleep, so at about 5:45 I gave it up. I figured I might as well get up because the mental lists were beginning to form of all the things I needed to do and especially all the new things at work that I had learned and needed to remember. Drat it!!! Then quite out of the blue, while I was still lying in bed, it hit me - how blessed I was that indeed, I woke up. I'm awake and truly glad of it!!
I wasn't able to get to the Lemon Flavor Bombs until this morning because I only had 3 ice cube trays and had to empty the Italian Flavor Bombs into a baggie and wash and dry the set before moving on. First, I stripped some thyme leaves, lemon balm leaves, lemon basil, cinnamon basil and lemon verbena leaves off the stems. Then I took the lemon grass and chopped it up and added it to the other herbs. To this I added some salt and am honestly impressed with the flavor. I've never made "just" lemon herbed Flavor Bombs - but there's definitely nothing wrong with these!! The little kick the thyme and cinnamon basil gives the lemon herbs is perfect!! Right now I can think of two dishes that would be excellent with these particular Flavor Bombs: 1) Stir-Fried Rice, 2) Baked Chicken and I'll bet they would be good with Fish as well, whether baked or put in a coating for fried fish. Ooooh, this is so exciting!! I love trying new stuff. I have to work this evening so I'm preparing Bacon Wrapped Pork Chops in the slow cooker. These sound lip-smackin' good and since there are some leftover Potatoes Au Gratin from our meat loaf meal last night, Hubby will have an excellent supper. I don't have a huge assortment of recipes for the crockpot so this is a new one for me. If he likes it I'll put it on the Recipes page. Well, I've got to get going. Off to the salt mines!! I got up early this morning and as usual drank my coffee and set out on a new adventure - it is true you know. Each day is a brand new adventure! Chickens have been fed and watered and . . . . . . . . . . . . . oh my gosh, we caught a mouse last night. Yikes!!! I hate mice. As soon as Fall begins to show itself we start setting traps. Living out in the country and around Indiana cornfields, it is necessary!! When they start harvesting corn, here come the pesky little boogers into the house and I don't like them! What kind of got me this time is it was in the trap in our bedroom and I didn't even hear it! I must have been deep in sleep. I had gotten in from work at 8:30 p.m. last night, ate a roast beef sandwich, checked my e-mail, watched some news and headed straight to bed. It was a rough evening at work. The work itself was not difficult but it was one of those nights. If it could have happened - it DID and oh, I had no idea what I was doing. I got worked over pretty good last night, so I suppose when I closed my eyes I went out quite literally, like a light!! I had a good night's sleep though and have a much more positive perspective this morning. Tomorrow will be better. Meanwhile, today I filled the hummer feeders. I still have 4-6 hummingbirds and they are ravenously sipping away so I'm keeping the feeders full, for sure! I decided to make a bunch of flavor bombs today. I've got quite a bit of basil left in the herb garden and I have plenty basil dried and stored so I'm trying to think of ways I can use it. What to do-what to do!! I really do not need any more pesto so after I make the flavor bombs I will probably still have to dry it because I do not dare to let it go to waste. I've always found that when you have excess there's always a reason. The reason may not be evident now but sooner or later you'll have that ah-ha moment. So, I'm off to the herb garden. Talk to you later. --------------------------- This first picture is Italian Sweet Basil and folks, this is just the flowering tops of it!! I've got 4 times that amount left in the herb garden. I simply do not know what I'm going to do with it all. The next pic is a conglomerate of herbs. Way to the back are lemon balm and lemon verbena then rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage and directly behind that is chives, then cinnamon basil behind the chives, and lemon grass behind the chives. Lastly you see the tops of lemon basil that I topped and I've got about double that left in the herb garden and a little parsley. I'm turning all these herbs into flavor bombs but it's still up in the air what I'll do with the rest!!
What an absolutely beautiful morning! I had a couple cups of coffee with Hubby and sent him off to work.
Today I begin work just about the time Hubby is getting off work so we are "like ships passing in the night." Check out the Did You Know Page to find out where this saying originated. While we may be like ships passing in the night Hubby still has to eat and this old gal has got to come up with something he'll enjoy. I put a round steak in the crockpot with Garlic and Onion Blend, Herbes de Provence, with salt and pepper sprinkled over the top. That is going to be one tasty, tender piece of beef. I also made him some fresh deviled eggs, and opened a jar of pear sauce to go with his meal. He has the option of having Persimmon Cookies or Grandmother's Pound Cake with fruit for dessert. I don't think he's exactly going to starve!! I went out to the garden today and notice that the 3 stevia plants are just now beginning to go to seed. It's really too cold at night for them to grow much more so I decided not to pinch back the plants and just pull them up, wash the dirt and grime off of them and hang them to dry. This will be all the stevia we will ever need. Actually, 1 plant properly taken care of is all we would actually use but I always plant in threes. I believe plants thrive better planted with other like species. It's kind of like people. We thrive being around other people even though some of us oft times consider ourselves loners. I then went over to the fig tree and only one fig had ripened. I'm beginning to get the drift that this is not going to be one of my poor fig tree's better years. I now have 4 lonely figs in the frig, and that doesn't come close to being enough to make fig jam or fig filling for the fig newton recipe; so I've decided to use the ones already picked as appetizers for Hubby and me. I've never taken figs and filled them with goat cheese and then wrapped them with bacon but hey, I think it's time. I've put the recipe on my Recipes page and I'll let you know how they turn out. Time to stop and get ready for work. Talk to you more tomorrow. Got up this morning and went right to work, sorting laundry and working up the persimmons. Sunday night I left the persimmons in the garage, covered of course, because it was going to be nice and cool here overnight. Monday morning I put them in a huge bowl and put them in the frig. I was going to work them up yesterday evening but got sidetracked so this morning into water they went for a quick wash and their little caps were removed. I put them into a pan and heated them up, mashed them with a potato masher and then ran them through a food mill. I ended up with 5 cups persimmon pulp. I put 2 cups into each freezer bag, labeled and froze them. The other cup was used for persimmon cookies and oh my --- good, good, good!! They would have been better had I gone ahead and put the raisins in the cookie dough but Hubby doesn't like raisins so I had to forego those little delicacies. He's happy - I'm happy! Recipe is on my Recipes page.
When I went out to collect the chicken eggs I dropped by the mailbox and pulled out a bunch of store circulars. One of our new markets had Fryer Leg Quarters on sale. You could get a 10-pound bag of chicken for $2.90. I had to look twice. Hey, 29 cents a pound is almost never seen around here, especially for meat. Geez, I pay $1.79 for a loaf of good bread!!! So I hopped in my little red van and off to the market I went and came home with 20 pounds of meat for $5.80. I couldn't pass that up! I love mornings, don't you? Well, I take that back. After I wake up, I love mornings. If you get in my way before I totally wake up and have not had my coffee you don't even meet a human being. I'm bigger, more boorish and my teeth are much longer and sharper than a bear's when I first wake up. The whole world around me knows to stay out of my way - but after my coffee, I'm new kitten. I always have so much energy. My thought processes are clearer and I am ready to unwind the first ball of string I come across!! Today I have to go into work at 10:00 a.m. so I wanted to get stuff accomplished early and I was ready to take it "all" on this morning.
I've decided we're having breakfast for supper tonight and we're having pancakes and sausage. Hubby likes pancakes but let's be very clear here. He likes pancakes because he likes pancake syrup because syrup has what in it? Yep, SUGAR!!! When I checked my cabinets I realized I had just a little maple syrup and absolutely no pancake syrup. I grew up on sugar water but he turns his nose up at that so . . . I've found a recipe for homemade pancake syrup that tastes perfect!! It's not necessarily what I would call good for you but it is frugal. Hubby is going to love it!! I put the recipe on my Recipes page. -------------------------------------- Last night we went over to our friends' house for supper and they grilled some cheeseburgers, made fried potatoes, green beans and an apple crisp. I brought deviled eggs, some sliced red and green peppers, open-jar pickles and a fruit salad. Oh my, it was all pretty tasty. On a Fall evening it was just shy of perfect!! After we ate we took a walk down over their hill and picked up persimmons. I got several but their trees are still absolutely loaded. There most certainly are bushels of persimmons still hanging on the trees and should be ripe within the week. I was giddy!! I am always so impressed with what the natural world provides in the way of food. People would be amazed if they would just stop and look around them. And the beauty, well, she said she would try to get me a pic of the tree so I could let you all see just how beautiful. I hope she does. If will gratify your very being. I've had a great day at work and am beginning to get the hang of things. I still have a lot to learn but I want to learn it so that makes it come a lot easier. I've fed the chickens and horses and fixed supper so I'm getting ready now to get out to the herb garden and check on the fig tree. Have a great evening!! It rained early this morning and I don't know about you, where you live, but we needed it! It wasn't like an emergency or anything but things were getting pretty dry around here. We can always scale our need for water by how high or low the level of our lake is and it's down more than we would like for it to be.
On my walk last night I went out to the herb garden and there were 3 figs that are almost ripe!! This is a really good sign. When they start ripening in multiples that usually means they are going to all begin to ripen. I am so-o-o excited!! The chia plants, on the other hand, are still growing . . . taller. My persimmon tree is being watched closely by some animal and I'm not exactly sure whether it's squirrels or racoons but as soon as a persimmon gets ripe - it's gone. I have a very small tree but my girlfriend has a really, really huge tree of persimmons. Actually, she has 2 or 3 of them and they give her bushels of persimmons so she readily accepted my offer to take some of them off her hands. This too gets me excited because I'm looking forward to making some persimmon butter, something I've never tried. Tonight will be my second day working. I have to be into work at 3:00 p.m. and work until 8:30 p.m. I'm nervous as a cat. While the job is not difficult, there is so much to learn and you learn this job while waiting on customers and oh gosh, I hate to make them wait while I stumble through it all - but there's no other way!! I put 2 huge chicken breasts in the crockpot with barbecue sauce poured over them and put the crockpot on low, put a quart of pearsauce in the frig and some sliced tomatoes too. I'll probably make some deviled eggs for Hubby as well. That will be his supper since I will be gone tonight. He's a treasure. He's totally fine with my working. If I'm contented and okay, he's okay. My man has definitely mellowed. I'm so glad he's mine!! --------------------------------- Oh lookie here what I was able to pick!! |
AuthorMy name is Nina. Southern Indiana has been my home since 1952. I've been a legal secretary most of my adult life and for my leisure time I enjoy everything connected to the world of herbs and cooking is almost like a "fever". I am also quite opinionated but try not to push my opinions on others. My family is grown and I'm left with a wonderful hubby sharing life with me. I'd guess you'd say my passion is living that life to the fullest. Archives
May 2016
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