Really lovely until the last picture, is dinner in the cage? I'm a little lost on that one.

lol! yea, sorry... he was turned into tamales, actually. Wild hogs are a HUGE issue, so we have traps set up to catch them. This particular one was a really mean one that we saw carrying off a baby deer once.

So, was nice to see him being turned into tamales.

R

Oooh, last night we had quasi-Mexican quisine, but no wild hogs. We (son-in-law provided the muscle) spent yesterday afternoon putting up a zipline dismount from the tree house, for grandson, so supper was simple--cheddar omelet, rolled in flour tortillas with refried beans, and fresh yellow salsa (yellow pepper, yellow tomato, and onions, with a shot of tabasco for SIL and basil for the rest of us). I cheated and used store-bought tortillas and beans.

On Monday I baked 6 batches of peanut butter blondies to thank my BIL for helping machine the zipline trolley--gave him 2 batches, and there is 1 batch left, which means we ate 3 batches of blondies in 2 days. : / We had the leftover rice from Sunday, with baked fish.

Sunday was bacon fried rice with zucchini (the last one, thanks to the SV borers), yellow squash, mushrooms, peppers, egg ribbons, and chickpeas. My younger DD keeps chickens, so she brings me lovely brown and blue eggs.

We've had zucchini and/or yellow squash, in some form, almost every day for weeks--zucchini lasagna, Mexican casserole (like the lasagna, but cut in chunks with chili powder, cumin, and black beans), sauteed with peppers, onions, and elephant garlic, zucchini bread baked by SIL, and fresh, in salads.

I picked the first pumpkins of the season this morning--itty bitty Baby Pams, about the size of a large grapefruit. They would be lovely cut in half, drizzled with honey, molasses, or maple syrup, and baked--I don't care for baked pumpkin, but my kids like it.

Russ, the cabin is great--I imagine the kids love it, especially the loft!

Canned peaches yesterday - what a mess! Peach juice and sugar syrup everywhere, on the floors, the doors of my beautiful new cabinets (but they are white, so I could see it), on the walls, and on the floor.

Oasis...pictures or it did not happen! lol

I do not deal with peaches anymore.. too messy.. EXCEPT.. grilling them ;)

They do love the loft, but they love the ranger more:P

Can't do without homemade peach preserves, peach cobbler, peach pie, and half-frozen peaches when fresh ones have been gone for months.

Today is my elder DD's 30th birthday, so I made two batches of her favorite caramels, and made caramel-filled cupcakes with cooked buttercream frosting. OMG, triple whammy.

Man! I'm hungry! I'm not cooking much of anything. Working a million days in a row and ended up staying late the last two days. Lucky I made a bunch of mason jar salads for my lunches. Last night was a fried egg, mushroom and cheese sandwich with hashbrowns and and a tomato.

I made some creamy avocado and basil pesto tonight and combined it with zoodles (zucchini noodles). It was awesome. I'll definitely make it again. The wings are just leftovers from takeout.

I did not do any cooking today.. heh.. well, heated up some clam chowder ;)

I am gearing up for the weekend!

R

Everything from the garden: peas, green beans, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, peppers. I love this time of year!

RUSS !!! we have very similar weekend cooking plans. 18 hour brisket on the smoker, along with some chickens, sausage, and ribs. We are also planning to can some peach salsa and watch a movie.

Ann - I so want my garden back.. lol. When that happens, I will have my peppers :P

Night, I have been without my smokers/grills for a year, except when I go to the ranch and I usually do not go long enough to do this big a cook except in December. So, I am going to cook all I can and freeze the rest when I get back ;)

Good luck with your cooking and pictures or it never happened ;)

R

Russ, you have just made me so incredibly hungry for fried catfish! All manner of Texan barbecue as well is mouth watering. Deelish! As for your wild hog, one of my sons thinks what the world needs is a chain of restaurants serving nothing but boar- Boar Galore is his catchy little name for it. I don't have anything exciting planned for the menu over here- though fried catfish and hushpuppies with a dollop of chow-chow might be in offing.

PS Wowzers, that ranch house is one impressive DIY! Plus your children must have the BEST time ever there.

Lol.. well, I will send this link to my phone and update it this weekend with pictures ;)

I take my gardening very seriously. I took 3 years to cultivate the right soil mixture and I had bell pepper plants almost 8ft tall. Killed me the following year when I let a guy talk me into adding some dirt he said was good and it ruined it.. heh.. but we sold that house and I plan to dig out the soil at the new place and have my soil delivered and mixed by the truckload :P

Till then, HEB has what I need and I just pulled the brisket out to thaw for Saturday ;)

I am not going to do homemade hushpuppies this time, I have more than enough on my plate, but onion rings and jalapeno hush puppies will be in the mix!

Stay tuned for pictures of bbq from Rocksprings, TX! ;)

Thanks.. took us a while to build as we did it almost all on weekends.. and in a LOT of heat.

Hrm.. is there an easy way to access just these forums from an iphone? The Houzz app does not make it easy to locate. NM.. found the website ability!

Russ

I'm from Canada, I don't speak Texan. LOL I thought Hushpuppies were shoes and chow chow is a dog breed! LOL Please explain! :)

Now that is funny.. well, not sure what chow chow is.. heh.. but hushpuppies are deep fried cornbread 'balls' and I usually add some jalapenos to them etc. Here is a link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hushpuppy

Those go great with any fried fish ;)

Chowchow is a kind of pickled relish, with cabbage, onion, green tomato, and peppers. I think my grandma also put corn in as well.

My apologies, I was unable to get anything posted this weekend, but here are a few photos from this weekend AND.. a cam photo or two of the animals that came by lately.

Those don't look like our local deer (whitetails) -- the fawns will be spotted like that but definitely not have antlers like that

Russ .. wow. Unfortunately, I have a horrible cold/cough "thing" and feel like crappola. So - I cancelled our plans. pity..

Last night, a cheese omelet and sliced tomatoes and avocados and a toasted english muffin. Tonight, half an orange flesh melon filled with chicken salad with cranberry raisins. And an english muffin. Dessert both nights? Fresh PA peaches!

Those are Axis deer and Red Stags. We have a lot of exotics roaming the ranch.

Sorry night...:( Hope you are feeling better.

Some nights an omlet hits the spot!:)

Missed this, but good to know that those wild pigs are good for something...eating. :-)

I just made a simple chicken stir fry with what veggies I had on hand. Nothing too time consuming with a split work schedule.

A local farm just had the best crop of peaches in 80 years. I went there and bought enough to have several to eat fresh and sliced and froze the rest for later. I saw something online about scoring the skin, dropping them in boiling water for 20 seconds and the skin peels right off. You then plunge them in ice water to stop the cooking process. Worked like a charm! Made the process go much quicker.

It's interesting seeing what people eat from different areas of the country (countries). Sometimes I get tired of the same ole thing.

I spent a bunch of time last week picking, blanching, cutting, and freezing peaches from one of our trees. I use the method designsavvy mentioned above and it works perfectly. The other tree isn't ready yet but I'm trying to decide if I want to learn to can before then. We also have 3 kinds of plums, pears, and apples.

Sunday I made shredded Italian beef for sandwiches in the crockpot and yesterday was sour cream noodle bake. DH is working late tonight so the kids and I had the leftovers tonight.