Thanks, Ruthanna, for the update on the eggplant dip. Your "vegetable brain" made me smile, but those German Chocolate cupcakes really called to me, and Grandma always made creamed new potatoes with peas with the first garden produce, I loved that.

Shirl, my brother won't eat "brown eggs", only white ones. No matter how many times he gets told that the eggs are all the same, it's only the breed/variety of chicken that determines the color of the shell, he still won't eat them. He'll eat farm eggs if they're white, but not brown. And I know a couple of young men who would eat meatballs but not meatloaf made from the same mixture because they didn't like "the shape". That still makes me smile.

OK, so what's for dinner? Last night we had chili, Elery made it while I finished packaging the last of the chickens we "processed" on Thursday. I'll do a separate thread on that, some will never eat chicken again. (grin)

I baked Maple Oatmeal bread, I've been trying to stock my freezer with homemade goodies because we've got so many of Elery's family coming over the 4th of July holiday that I think we'll have to just stack them up, I'll never have room for everyone.

I made some sesame chicken with brown rice, it was fine but still nothing like the stuff I get at the Asian restaurants:

And, finally, the above mentioned pork chop, with glazed rutabaga and homemade bread:

I hoed most of the 1/2 acre garden today with help from Elery, and we had that mile of fence that needed to be walked because it was grounded out somewhere. It's the blasted deer, and one jumped right into the garden and ate the tops off an entire row of Royal Burgundy Beans. I'm definitely going to eat THAT one, ugh.

Anyway, supper tonight was a bowl of oatmeal for me and a bowl of leftover chili for Elery, we were both too tired to cook!

Annie

"Baked vegetable brains!" LOL

My Gosh Annie. You're entertaining a boat-load of people in amongst the work you do everyday on the farm? I don't know how you do it. Hmmmm put them to work! LOL

I love, the look of your pork chop. Perfect.

I bought flour on sale for a great price. Had never tried it. Called Golden Temple. Made with durum and atta wheat. Has anyone tried it? It's golden in colour (threw me off-balance when I spooned it in the bowl to make bread.

I made 3 loaves of bread and 8 dinner rolls. The rolls turned out great, but the bread are all flops. They either didn't rise enough, or they rose and fell. They look like bricks but hubby wants to try them before I turn them into croutons. :)

I made vegetable paninis out of eggplant, red peppers and onions. Grilled on the little indoor grill that we use on the balcony. Sliced swiss cheese, and flattened with a cast iron skillet. Never made them before and it's our new summer sandwich! Delicious. Our first time having eggplant, and we'll have it again.

I made a side salad with wild rice and brown rice, peppers, celery, onions, red currants, sliced water chestnuts, chopped lovage, I forget what all. Dinner was great. Sorry for the blurry pic.

Annie, I would love a bowl of Elery's chili. Mine is so boring, I call it school cafeteria chili. LOL

Jasdip, I'm glad you finally tried eggplant and liked it. Prices are low in summer but not too bad the rest of the year. Your sandwiches look like a great way to use it.

Sunday dinner looked a bit strange because we had pork chip steak skewers. Pork loin is sliced so thin than you can just about see through it so I folded the slices and wove them onto skewers (removed in the pic) and grilled with sauce. We also had glazed local hakurei turnips, Swiss chard and apple-carrot confetti with an orange, lime and chopped mint dressing.

Last night's dinner was Mulligatawny soup, spinach, cranberry and almond salad and sourdough rolls. Teatime treat was a slice of angel food cake with sour cherry preserves.

Strawberries are ready! We picked 2 3-litre baskets and can't stop eating them. We'll get more on Friday, and I want to get enough to make freezer jam.

Ruthanna, those teeny white things are turnips?? I love your grilled pork skewer. Your carrot salad is similar to my carrot, pineapple and roasted peanut with lime dressing. Mine calls for cilantro (ptewey!) so I use chopped lovage instead.

Hubby grilled chicken breasts and asparagus on Sunday so we could have it through the week. We had it tonite (heated in the cast iron skillet). Fried potatoes and more of the rice salad. The red is some tomato slices.

jasdip, those strawberries look perfect and delicious. They're ready here too, we've been eating them, but I have no freezer room at all, so I'm not freezing any this year, I guess. I should at least make a batch of jam. I also like the sound of that rice salad.

Ruthanna, I like LOTS of vegetables in my chili. It's always different, but starts with a quart of home canned tomatoes, a pound of grass fed beef, some beans. This batch had kidney beans and garbanzos, as well as onion, carrot, celery, some leftover cabbage, red pepper and I don't remember what else. Those pork skewers look interesting, I've not seen that kind of cut here, I'm thinking it would be great for a quick breakfast meat with eggs.

It was good though, and I had the last of it tonight for supper over a baked potato. Elery's two grandkids went home today, Bud and Makayla went home yesterday. We were supposed to visit a local amusement park but got rained out, so ended up at the movies watching "Maleficent" and swimming in the pool in the rain. What the heck, they were wet anyway.

Since I had 4 kids, aged 6, 7, 8 and 9, we had pizza, chocolate chip pancakes, hot dogs and fries, popcorn, ice cream, oreos, bacon......well, you get my drift. (grin)

They all had fun and only one got sick and threw up from all the junk, so it was a good time.

Annie

LOL I guess that was a sign that they had a good time, Annie!!

Jasdip, those berries are beautiful. We've been enjoying the small local ones for about two weeks and ready to move on to raspberries and huckleberries. I did remember your salad when I had an apple to use up so went for savory instead of sweet. Those are a miniature variety of turnips about as big as red radishes. The tops were too bug-eaten to cook though. The flavor is just like the white purple-topped ones, which I think I'll stick with because they're easier to handle.

Thanks, Annie. Next time I will add more vegetables to my chili as I usually have lots of them around.

I had an eggplant on hand and was going to make eggplant sandwiches similar to Jasdip's but no bread or rolls in the house. Instead, it ended up as grilled eggplant stacks with spinach, tomatoes, sautéed mushrooms, onions and peppers between the slices. Buttermilk redskin potato salad and baked beans with bacon were sides with watermelon cubes lurking off-camera.

Ruthanna, I love the look of your eggplant stack! How innovative, and it looks delicious! I have a fairly large eggplant that's 1 lb ($1/lb and it was $1.16). It would be good to stack like that.

I made a new recipe in the slow cooker today. The weather has been so hot and humid I didn't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Roast beef with roasted red peppers, tomatoes, pancetta (I bought a chunk of bacon to cut into cubes), beef broth and sherry (I used vermouth). It was good, but made a lot of sauce!

Mashed potatoes, corn sauteed in butter and olive oil, with red pepper flakes and my seasoning blend.

I also made our favourite watermelon salad.....quinoa, watermelon, red onion slices (I used a cooking onion( and used basil instead of mint. Balsamic and olive oil dressing. I also didn't have feta, but I do use it when I have it.

A few days ago I simmered garlic in olive oil to use as a quick flavouring. I marinated chicken breasts and thighs in it, as well as fresh rosemary and chopped lovage.

I also sauteed some rice in the flavoured oil then cooked it, with some red pepper flakes.

I bought another eggplant for grilling. So we had that, and grilled halved tomatoes to go with the grilled chicken and garlic oil infused rice.

jasdip, you're keeping the thread going all by yourself! Everything looks delicious, and I like eggplant, I'm hoping mine in the garden produce this year.

I made the Basque Chicken and Rice dish that Peppi posted, originally from Teresa_nc, and liked it a lot. Tonight we had black bean soup and cornbread. I took pictures of the chicken, I'll post those another time.

Annie

It seems that Annie, Ruthanna and I are the only ones eating! I I'm sure others eat, but we're posting.

Today we picked 3 more baskets of strawberries. Wonderfully sweet. We need rain to make them grow though.

Tonite was a grilled pork chop, potatoes in foil on the grill and our favourite summer coleslaw.....the Asian one made from Napa cabbage, ramen noodles, almonds and sesame seeds. I adore that salad.

Jasdip, we've been eating. That's for sure. But I've gotten incredibly lazy about taking pictures and going through all the rigamarole involved in uploading them. I forgot about the new forum feature. So I'm going to give it a try.

I made a recipe that the Unorthodox Epicure posted here a while ago -- Szechuan Garlic Eggplant. It was really good. Even with no salt, super low sodium soy sauce, and 1 T. less of the soy sauce, to boot.

Here is a link that might be useful: Szechuan Garlic Eggplant

Jasdip, some delicious looking meals. I liked your plating of the grilled chicken breast with potatoes and asparagus.

Sue, I love Szechuan Garlic Eggplant. Been a while since I've made it. Now you have given me a craving.

A few of our recent meals.

Spicy Pork and Bean Sprouts.

Filet Mignon

Spaghetti and clams

Grilled Butterfiled Chicken (Brick Chicken)

Chicken Pot Pie

Me again.

Glad to see you posting again Ann!

As I was taking tonight's dinner, I was thinking that you must think we eat these kinds of dinners a lot. Not really, because I don't post every meal we eat :)

I sauteed kale in olive oil and garlic, and added fresh tomatoes, thawed corn, and thawed black beans. (I cook a batch of black beans then freeze).

Hubby grilled some zucchini rounds and thickly sliced onions and I added them to the veggies. I cooked quinoa and added that to it all. Seasonings and lemon juice flavoured it. Grilled chicken tenders with it.

This post was edited by jasdip on Sat, Jul 12, 14 at 18:33

The last few times I've made lobster I've stretched them into two meals. Day one is 'Lobster Mac & Cheese' which is largely based on a Thomas Keller recipe. It's a butter poached tail (in my case sous vide) on orzo in a very concentrated stock (much better use of the bodies than throwing them out!) with far less cream than the recipe calls for (tablespoons vs cups) and Mascarpone. One of the lobsters was a female so this is the first time I was able to make the coral oil, which turned out to be a worthwhile addition.

Here is a link that might be useful: Recipe

While my wife loves that meal, I really look forward to day two which is a traditional lobster roll. Just enough mayo to bring it together, a squeeze of lemon, and a tiny bit of celery. On a buttered, toasted hot dog roll. Top split.

Deutschland!

Folks, all of your dinners look wonderful!

Ruthanna, your vegetable brains put a smile on my face. My son has blurted out similar comments in the past, regarding food, which I'll share sometime.

FOAS, it's been well over a year since your last visit. And I thought I'd been absent a long time. In any case, your delicious-looking lobster mac & cheese reminds me of a local Irish pub, of all places, which made a fine rendition of this creamy, comforting favorite. And wouldn't you know it, shortly after my discovery of this hole-in-the-wall's lobster mac, the pub pulled the dish off their menu.

I was not happy. And I would've held a grudge, except I gave up that practice in third grade. Plus, as Oscar Wilde once said, "Forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them so much." :)

In any case, much to my relief (as well as a deluge of complaints from the locals), the lobster mac & cheese was brought back. And the town rejoiced.

All this to say, thank you. I had forgotten the recipe was in Thomas Keller's cookbook. This will probably save me a trip to the Irish pub.

Tonight's dinner will be a simple Mediterranean dish inspired by Claudia Roden.

Sol

FOAS, love lobster. Not a fan of mac and cheese, but I would make an exception for your dinner.

Would be very happy with your sausage, red cabbage and potato pancake dinner as well.

Nice to see you posting again Sol.

Baked a rhubarb tart yesterday. Freehand. To hold the shape of the tart, I took a slender stalk of rhubarb and cut it lengthwise, laid it just inside the edge of the pastry and folded the pastry over the rhubarb to make a rim.

Last night's dinner -

Pork with eggplant and tofu.

Ann, your eggplant dish looks wonderful. Do you have the recipe posted on your blog? I'm a sucker for Asian style eggplant dishes.

FOAS, I'm happy to see you again, welcome back!

I'm not a fan of mac and cheese either, but that lobster roll is drool-worthy, I love 'em. The sausage looks good too.

Sol, I'd happily give you ALL my mac and cheese, but I might have to pick out a bite or two of lobster first. I'm sure you wouldn't mind....(grin)

Ann T, I planted eggplant, but they aren't doing so hot. I guess I'll have to break down and buy some, that looks really good.

OK, time to catch up. The garden is just starting, so I made a vegetable stew of everything I could get my hands on plus lentils. Elery had his over polenta.

We've had a lot of company and so now are playing catch up at the farm. A few nights ago we came home tired and just had home canned vegetable soup:

One night we had zucchini slices from the garden, dusted with parmesan, some of our home grown pork, garden beans and new potatoes from the local farmer's market as mine aren't quite ready yet, and a cucumber salad:

Elery's grandsons were visiting from California and they both had birthdays this month, so they requested chocolate cake. I made this triple layer chocolate cake with Colleen's recipe and a sour cream chocolate fudge frosting:

Bud made some of his "famous" hummus, to be eaten with pita chips, he staged this photo, LOL.

The kids made their own pizzas, which Elery cooked in his pizza oven out on the grill:

We took the kids to the fair and bought this "fair food" concoction. Does it look familiar?

Yup, it's:

Makayla made peach-raspberry hand pies for the fair, and this was the "leftover" filling and crust.

This was the fair version, she got second place:

Finally, we had Teresa's Basque Chicken, thanks to Peppi's posting of that recipe. It was good, and made with our own homegrown chicken:

Makayla also made doughnuts for the fair competition and got a first place on those. Since we had a vat full of hot oil, I made French fries.

OK, whew, I think I'm caught up. Now I have to go wash and chop 16 pounds of rhubarb!

Annie

Ann I've never had tofu, but if I was served it looking like that, for sure I would eat it. Looks delicious!

Annie, your fries are making my mouth water. Your stew looks delectable as well.

Tonite we had broccoli sauteed and steamed in thick-cut bacon (instead of the pancetta called for), garlic and red pepper flakes, pork tenderloin with a dijon mustard and coriander rub and mashed potatoes.

"Sol, I'd happily give you ALL my mac and cheese... "

Let me get this straight AnnieB. You hate Mac & Cheese and you hate Pizza.
Yet, you'll (voluntarily) eat Gefilte? I'll have to reconsider this 'BFF' thing.

Congratulations to Makayla! That princess can certainly bake.

Well, summer arrived, as my desire to cook went right out the window.
That said, I spent all day yesterday cooking for two of my favorite people, Jim's adorable aunt Annie and uncle Elmer, who were visiting from Mo.
I was too tired to take photos though, but it was just good, homey fare.

Some nights ago, I made Siu Mai, filled with a mixture of Shrimp/Ginger/Pork.
I had Eight Ball Zucchini begging to be used up. So, I filled globe zucchini instead of won ton wrappers. Turning an appetizer into a meal.
The guys loved it, although, I still prefer the traditional dumpling.

After yesterday's cooking marathon, we'll be eating out tonight.

I'll meet you all back here in the fall. Be well.

Sol

Sol, I wouldn't say that I HATE macaroni and cheese, but I'm very apathetic about it. I'm not crazy for cheese or white pasta, but the lobster takes that to a whole 'nother level.

Zucchini, eh? I picked 7 two days ago, 11 today, I'm going to make some Cinnamon Red Hot pickles. After that it's Zucchini Candy in the dehydrator, maybe zucchini frittata, zucchini fritters and zucchini bread!

Annie

I'm not a frequent poster, but I read the thread daily and can occasionally post something!

I tried Ina Garten's Baked Shrimp Scampi this evening. Everyone was making nom-nom noises, hahaha! My kids were over the moon for it. I thought the salt could be decreased by half, I decreased the butter a bit, and I think I'll sauté the shallots and garlic to mellow. Their spiciness was a bit much for my youngest.

Served over home-made pasta along with AnnT's artisan bread recipe, that had aged in the fridge for a couple of days. This is company food!

Alex, What a spectacular photo. I'm making nom nom noises just over the photo. Wish that was my dinner tonight.

~Ann

I'm so grateful for your blog and recipes, Ann! Your photos are what convinced me to even attempt bread, let alone baguettes. Your tip of letting it hang out in the fridge for a couple of days has changed my whole idea of the flavor bread can have. My family is eternally grateful for your inspiration and this forum. We've been eating quite well since I've started reading here.

Alex9179 - beautifully photographed shrimp scamp!

Sol - What can I say? Your picture says poetry.

Jasdip - Is it true that Canadians are born good cooks?

Annie - Makayla should try out for Masterchef Junior.

Ann_t - Spectacular rhubarb tart!

FOAS - WOW! WOW! And WOW!

Shambo - the eggplant looks delicious, why would you need salt?

Ruthanna - Complexity of your meals are always impressive.

Sleevendog - very professional cedar planked smoked salmon and shrimp..

A couple of eatable stuff from my kitchen:

dcarch

Roasted pork and bok choy

Sous vide salmon on beet greens

Gorgeous photos Sol!!!

Alex, wow, does that ever look delicious. I've never had a fail, with Ina's recipes. Love her. Your photo is very professional. I'm hesitant to post any more pics, there are so many superb photographers here.

DC, did you think hard, to find something to say about me? LOL. Yes, we Canadians are born cooks, some were born 'better' than others, think AnnT!

I love your roasted pork, it looks so very well-flavoured, with a spicy coating.

Um, my photo taking was a fortuitous accident! My little digital camera is on "Auto" because the manual functions are beyond my meager understanding and I just got close to the plate. I guess my fluorescent lighting is not as bad as I thought! Or it's the butter that makes it look so good...I bet it's the butter ;)

Dinner tonight! We grilled some pizza dough and the kids make pepperoni while I had arugula, prosciutto, and melon. DH did half and half of each!

The first time I ever had this version was at Via Napoli in EPCOT at Disney World. Their version is FANTASTIC! Mine was pretty good, a great summer pizza :)

For dessert, Ina Garten's French Apple Tart that my daughter wanted to make. We both worked on it, but all night it's been "I'm excited to eat the dessert I made."

I don't make desserts very often as I'm not much for sweets, and this is SWEET, but the flavors were so lovely. I can't believe the crust turned out. I was sure that I over-processed it!

Stunning photos, everyone!!! I could easily fall into the monitor!

Ann T--stunning as always!

Alex, Ina's Baked Scampi is one of my go-to recipes.

Archie, I continue to enjoy your food art :O)

Sol, always lovely to see your food!

Annie--yummy yum!

Jasdip--I can almost taste the crisp deliciousness of the broccoli on that plate!

Yesterday, I made Ruthanna's Caponata. So good!!!!

Sooz

OH! I forgot all about Ruthanna's Caponata, and yours looks delicous Sooz!!!

I have a couple of small eggplants, that I believe goes in caponata. I'll have to look up the recipe.

Thank you Alex, what a nice thing to say.

I love the idea of a pizza with prosciutto. And another beautiful picture.

Your apple tart looks delicious. Really like how you angled the apple slices. Makes for a beautiful presentation.

Sooz, like Jasdip, I'd forgotten about Ruthanna's Caponata too. I might have to go back and pick up eggplant from the market this week.

We have had pizza twice this week.

I used Ken Forkisk's pizza dough and method for baking.

First pizza was topped with fresh mozzarella with pepperoni and oven roasted Roma tomatoes.

And the second one a couple of days later a

Margherita Pizza.

And from the same dough a Focaccia with oven roasted Roma tomatoes with fresh herbs.

Baked it early before leaving for work so Moe had some for breakfast.

We also had

Filet Mignon

In a green peppercorn sauce.

And

Veal PIccata with a side of pasta.

Refrigerator velcro dinner.

Beef shank that I picked up on whim a couple days ago. Pressure cooked in sake and red miso. The base of the sauce is the left over sauce from last night's oxtail, freshened with the braising liquid from the shank and a little more miso.

Salad was whatever we had. Assorted greens, vinegared thin-sliced red onions, vinegared carrots, blueberries, sugared peaches, fried tofu, bacon bits, and leftover roast pork juice vinaigrette.

Last night we had oxtail, cauliflower gratin, and our friend brought over a corn salad. I forgot to take pictures.

On Sunday we went to a barbeque. I was supposed to bring a salad. I made a salad with roast pork belly and grilled peaches, and the pork vinaigrette that we finished off tonight.

This is the most cooking I've done in a few weeks. Before this week, there were a couple weeks of pretty insipid eating!

Ann I came across a Canadian food site today. Appehtite. Have you seen it?

Jasdip, No, I was not familiar with that site.

Must be owned by Maple Leaf as every recipe seems to highlight one of their products.

~Ann

Last night's dinner.

Roasted Quail with Spaghetti Aglio E Olio.

Alex, that tart looks perfect, I don't have the patience to place those apple slices, yours is beautiful!

John, I could just dive right into that beef, yum.

Sooz, that caponata is just calling Elery's name. I have to go talk to the eggplant in the garden and tell them to hurry up already, sheesh. (grin)

Ann T, as always that steak looks perfect and Elery is envious of your quail, he loves quail.

Here it's been so busy I don't know which way I'm going some days, but we've still been eating. I made a teriyaki flavored pork burger one day, and topped it with coleslaw, eating with marinated 3 bean salad on the side:

The Monkey Princess and her brother came to spend the night and so, of course, we had crepes, compliments of the Princess:

Hers had Nutella, of course:

Brother had his with peanut butter and bananas...

We also had bacon and mandarin oranges, so it wasn't SO unhealthy. Really.

The Princess also made some no bake chocolate chip cookie dough balls. She loved them, I thought they were completely disgusting. That made her happy, she got to take them all home with my blessings, LOL.

Yes, she's always got wet hair. I can't get her out of the pool long enough to get dry!

Elery bought a new condiment and he can have it all, I won't even ask him to share...

He used it with the zucchini frittata I made for supper one night with cornbread and fresh beets from the garden.

Another night we had the last of the October beans left from last year, some fried green tomatoes since nothing is ripe in the garden yet, and Nathan's Famous hotdogs. I love fried green tomatoes, I should make some more. No ripe tomatoes yet, just lots and lots of green ones!

I also marinated chicken chunks in a Sriracha and Honey/Lime marinade and skewed them, I liked them a lot.

Served with an Asian slaw and the greens from those beets a couple of nights ago, it was a nice change.

I made some double chocolate zucchini bread, I seem to have plenty of zucchini....

Yes, those are orange chips. The grandkids wanted to add all the parts of bags of chips and one was left from Halloween. Yeah......so I gilded the lily with some Nutella!

Other than that, I've been canning. Cinnamon Red Hot Zucchini Spears and Marinated Three Bean Salad. Sweet pickles are next.

OK, I'm caught up, who's next?

Annie

I'm not usually hungry in the morning, but looking at all the scrumptious pictures are quickly changing that!

It's so hot here, that my tomatoes are pretty much done. I have some little green ones hanging in there. Maybe I'll get a few before the weather ruins them. It's nice to have garden tomatoes before everyone else I know, but it's a mournful experience when they're done and you see everyone else's bounty!

Maybe I'll try planting for a fall harvest and then take on canning. I might be able to handle that when it's cooler, hahaha! Your jars of lusciousness are tempting me, Annie!

Looks like everyone's been busy cooking up some great dishes. I haven't cooked a single dinner in about three weeks.

Spouse and I loaded up the remainder of DD#2's artifacts stored in our house into an old van and meandered across the country from PA to her house in CO. After a nice long visit, we sold the emptied van and flew home.

Dinners were a combination of DD's healthy and tasty creations and visits to local non-chain restaurants. Highlight of the trip was toasted marshmallow flavor frozen yogurt topped with fresh strawberries and dark chocolate bits.

Our refrigerator is empty, the gardens are full, and I'm ready to get back to cooking this weekend.

Srirachi and honey lime marinade on your chicken skewers Annie? Sounds wonderful.

We bought some rib-eyes on sale for $5.97. A rare treat, and we had one each. It decided to thunderstorm at dinner so I cooked them in 2 cast iron skillets. Mine got too well-done, but they tasted good. Potatoes and cherry tomatoes in the oven and sauteed green beans and onions.

sooz, I made the Mulligatawny Soup. Mine was a mixture of all 3 recipes posted, but so good that Alfred asked for it over spaghetti. Leftovers will be over zucchini "spaghetti" tonight. Thanks for sharing

Annie, can you share your recipe for tomato jam & double chocolate zucchini bread? Both look so good! Thanks

Alfred loves it when I hang out here!

Betty

Betty, I'm happy to. Here is the Tomato Marmalade recipe from Farm Journal, it's one of Elery's favorites. I'm saving some of Beachlily's Meyer lemons she gifted me with, they're sliced and frozen, waiting for ripe tomatoes to make this marmalade.

Tomato Marmalade Recipe

Makes about 9 half-pint jars

3 qt. ripe tomatoes (about 5 1/2 pounds)
3 oranges
2 lemons
4 sticks cinnamon
6 whole allspice
1 tbsp. whole cloves
6 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt

Peel tomatoes and cut in small pieces. Drain. Slice oranges and lemons very thin, then quarter slices. Tie cinnamon, allspice, and cloves in a cheesecloth bag. Place tomatoes in large kettle. Add sugar and salt; stir until dissolved. Add oranges, lemons, and spice bag. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Continue to boil rapidly, stirring constantly, until thick and clear (about 50 minutes). Remove from heat; skim off foam. Fill hot marmalade into hot, sterilized half-pint jars, leaving . inch of head space. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened, clean paper towel; adjust two-piece metal canning lids. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

This recipe I just found on a blog called "Once Upon A Chef", the author says she adapted it from a King Arthur Flour recipe.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Servings: One 8-1/2 x 4-1/2-inch loaf

Ingredients

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2/3 cups all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off with a knife
1/3 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (ok to substitute natural cocoa powder)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder or instant coffee (optional)
2 cups shredded zucchini (from 1-2 zucchini), gently packed
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8-1/2" x 4-1/2" loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Place the butter in a large microwave-safe mixing bowl and microwave for one minute, or until just melted. Stir in the brown sugar until completely smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and stir until incorporated. (Be sure to add the eggs after the brown sugar is mixed in, as the hot butter alone could cook the eggs.)

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, baking soda and instant coffee (if using) in a medium bowl. Add to the butter mixture and stir until well combined. It will be very thick.

Stir in the shredded zucchini and chocolate chips. (It will still be thick -- that's okay.) Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan and spread evenly. Bake for 60-65 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean (save for perhaps a smear from the melted chocolate chips). Let the loaf cool on a rack for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.

This was good and I'd definitely make it again, maybe in mini-muffin form next time, it's rich and sweet and just a couple of bites might be enough. If not, well then, people would just have to eat a couple of the mini muffins!

Annie

Annie, you know I'm not big on sweet with meat, but I really like the sound of the Sriracha and honey/lime marinade.

Ruthanna, glad you are back. I always look forward to your meals.

Grilled homemade bread topped with roasted garlic, sheep feta, oven roasted cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and olive oil.

Lettuce cups with pork.

Burgers and local corn.

Thanks Annie.

Betty

Yesterday was my birthday and we spent most of the day at a nearby town wandering the stores, the river, had lunch etc. It was delightful. Hubby did a fantastic job with my gifts. I got kitcheny stuff.....always welcome! And a beautiful multi-strand chain necklace.

My kitchen goodies were a Danish dough hook, a mini-scale, that is small but mighty. It's good to 11 lb. And check out the potato masher. One stationary masher and the top one is on a spring to double-mash. We got that on our trip yesterday

{{gwi:1512604}}

Today was a normal day of cooking, and dinner was boiled bone-in ham with potatoes and green beans. I also made chicken enchiladas for dinner thru the week, and a potato and cherry tomato dish. This is before it was baked.

This is a black ruffled swan, the only black swan on the river, where we were yesterday. I feel sorry for her, the other swans pick on him, because she's different.

Tonite I made breaded pork cutlets with the potatoes and cherry tomatoes, posted above. We've been eating a lot of pole beans from our landlord's garden. They are nice and sweet.

Where is everybody??