Next spring? But.....but.....but.....what about Thanksgiving turkey? Christmas cookies? Hoppin' John for New Year's? That does it, you DEFINITELY have to come here. I'll bake a fresh pie.....

Annie

Annie ....

with frosting? ^_^

Bragu, yeah. The Princess wanted frosting. I told her that pies were not traditionally frosted. She told me to think outside the box, not be constrained by other people's traditions or restrictive rules. Now how can I argue with that? (grin) We settled on a light glaze rather than traditional buttercream.....

Annie

it looked exquisite, really.

would you like a little pie with your sugar?

Annie I like the way you and the Princess roll. I've poured caramel sauce over the top of an apple pie. Why not frosting or glaze.

I think you’ve started something there Annie with glazed pie... sounds good. Also you asked if the noodles in my salad were egg or rice... they were rice noodle about as wide as tagliatelle.

Love hearing about your eating adventures 2many but looking forward to when you are cooking them. Understatement from your point of view of course.

Annie set me off wanting Shakshuka and as I had some tomato sauce I added cumin, peppers and chilli. I think I’ve worked out that to be called huevos rancheros this dished would be served with a tortilla and perhaps no cumin.

I made a little dish for myself of chicken tenders wrapped in lettuce leaves served with a dollop of red sauce and some avocado sauce for dipping. Healthy? Anyway tasted OK

Tabbouleh.

I was informed that Oct 17th, or at least that night, we'd have a massive killing frost.

So I harvested my parsley, which all came from ONE plant, but had been prolific.

Okay, tabbouleh. It was (and is) awesome. Got plenty, and may well make more. Had a serving last night.

Enjoyed, and will continue to enjoy. Tonight will be tabbouleh and steelhead trout.

Neely: awesome... as are so many other dishes here. I've been busy so can't categorize all, but the deliciousness hereabouts is worthy of a GardenWebCookingForum cookbook?

Neely your heuveros ranchos (sp) looks fantastic! It makes me want to make it. Your tenders turned out perfectly as well even without a tortilla etc.

Artemis, I like making tabbouleh with quinoa. I don't like barley.

Forgive any typos, driving and typing is hard… Annie, I’ll be at y9ur door in about 30 minutes! Then it’s on to Neely’s, followed by Jasdip’s, then Cookebook’s, Cathy in PA, if you’re reading this, prepare y9urseself, I’m coming there to0! Dcarch, Plllog and CindyMac of course, Bragu, Martha, Lars and Kevin’s, Ci_lantr9, Louise, Agmss, Ricky, Susan, Chloebud, Sleevendog (ha, y9u th0ught for a moment y90u’d escaped my visit, didn’t ya?!), DandyRandyLou, PartyM, a=Artemis_ma and then on to Canada t9 dine with Ann and Jasdip (actuallpy, may I co0k at y90ur place Jas, give yu0 some time with y0ur DH?) and also… t00 many names to list! Then I’m turning aru9nd and making the r9unds again! I can’t wait to try all the amazin g meals I’ve seen here 0n GW Cooking! I’ll be eating fine when DH has the house finished ; )

Just kidding friends : ) Typos are due t9 a cpuple of badly burnt fingers bandaged u[p like marshmallows! Heck, and I’m nt even c900king! Heat gun accident. Goes nicely with the broken toe (I tried typing “t9e” 5 times to getr it right!).

Neely, figures, if someo0ne could make chicken fingers look delic0us and elegant, it’d be you! And seri0usly, next person to p9st eggs on anything, I’m coming over! Gosh that looks g99d!

A_ma, tab9ula is my favorite salad, and exactly the way I prepare mine but use lem0n rather than lime… yum yum!

S0, Krystal cheeseburgers (I know, gr0ss!) with a strawberry shake that tasted like tasteless strawberries and t9opped with strange f9oamy stuff that tasted like… air? more Zaxby’s salads, and a KFC p0t pie or 2 due to co0lder weather, and a Pizza Hut sausage pizza with very limp crust and had way t00 much anise seed. Ceilings are being remudded after scraping popcorn off s0 everthing tastes like drywall dust anyway! Bought another prepared veggie tray, a fruit tray (wr0ng time of year, but desperate times call f0r desperate measures!), and deli sandwiches – enough for a couple days. Gosh I miss g0od food.

Again, s9rry f0r the typ90s. I dislike misspelling. I heal fast at least!

2Many, how can you even think of writing a mini-novel with your injuries!? But I loved reading it nevertheless.

Do tell how you burned your fingers. Ohhhhh you poor dear. I'm not sure what a heat gun is, but it sounds dangerous, and obviously can be. Hugs coming your way!

Jasdip, really, It’s n0t bad at all (she says, as her ring finger and middle finger on the right hand throbs! LOL!). It was a stupid accident. I was trying to bend s0me stiff plastic using an industrial grade heat gun (looks and w0rks like a hair dryer, just not nearly as much air, and quite a bit h0tter, clearly!), and got distracted and in a hurry, pushing my limits t00o much. Broke my to0e the same say, rushing. I have one speed:T00 fast! 3rd degree burns, but again, I heal fast! My toe looks almo0st normal after o0nly a week : ) I slammed my face into a d99r frame the first month, broke my n0se and c0ncussed myself. You’d think I’d slp0 d9wn, huh?! I’m fine, I pr9mise : ) Thankfully, I’ve neve rcut my finger with a knife while cooking though. Knock on w99d. I hate these big gauzy bandages m0st!

Oh, ouch, 2Many. I hope you heal quickly!

2many, I think you're stressed out. That's the only time I hurt myself, when I get too many things in the air at once. Then things don't get done while I'm healing up! I had a doctor tell me that I only had one speed, that was full speed, straight ahead, get the he!! out of my way. (grin) Sounds familiar? Yeah. Slow down.

Come on up, I'll leave the lights on. You can sit in the recliner with your foot up, I'll give you fresh aloe for your burned hand as well as an ice pack and I'll cook dinner. All you'll have to do is convince the cat to let you have the chair.

Neely, the shakshuka looks perfect, and Elery had huevos rancheros today, he loves the eggs in sauce kind of breakfast. The chicken tenders even look good, but the avocado sauce intrigues me, what is in that besides avocado? It looks nice and creamy....

Artemis, we had a freeze here too, I should have made tabbouleh, yours looks really good. I actually have everything except mint, I managed to kill the mint plant. Go figure, I can grow everything else but kill the mint...

So, what's for dinner? I made a black bean and squash enchilada concoction on low fat/low carb tortillas. It needed something else, though, and since rice is forbidden, I used scrambled eggs. Surprisingly, it wasn't awful and Elery actually had a second serving!

I also made a big batch of venison meatballs, and took some to Dave's shop for the guys, served with spaghetti. Elery has just been eating them with no sauce at all, so I didn't bother to make any kind of sauce.

Tonight I'm working on 4 dozen sugar cookies, shaped like crosses and frosted. Elery's youngest granddaughter, Valerie, is being baptized on Sunday and there will be coffee and "snacks" after the church service. Since a cake has been ordered, cookies were the natural choice.

No clue what I'm making for dinner tomorrow, though.

Annie

I do not visit these threads often because I generally forget to take photos of food at dinner. However, I did remember to photograph the injera I made yesterday.

No more random 9’s and 0’s! Got the big gauze off, down to smaller dressings : ) Fingers’ are already feeling better!

Annie, you hit the nail on the head “I think you're stressed out. That's the only time I hurt myself, when I get too many things in the air at once.” But, but, but… slow down? Ah, would that be the pot ‘telling the kettle not to be so black’? Ha! Yes, very stressed here, but it’s by our/my own choosing : ) I keep telling myself to slow my roll, be more careful, but apparently I don’t listen to myself! We are just so behind and so much to do! I can see why Elery went back for more enchiladas – sounds and looks so delicious. I’m counting 63 meatballs, that I can see… and then 4 dozen cookies the next day? How do you do it?

Lars, I watched the videos on making injera (which is new to me) and looks like yours came out perfectly! Ethiopian is another flavor profile I’ve yet to try, but would like to (looked up berbere spice, sounds like a tasty blend). Delicious looking and very nice plating! I truly admire you for being so creative and sticking so well to your diet.

Our neighbors have asked us to join their family for Thanksgiving… I am so grateful : ) As for the other holidays, next year we’ll enjoy them : )

Saturday was our 2nd anniversary (after 3+ decades together) and DH and I were so rushed we just popped into the nearest restaurant while errand shopping (the ¼ piece of gum all day did not put a dent in my appetite). They mixed up our orders and DH got my med-rare. I ordered prime rib which was still tender but too done, the shrimp was rubbery, the grits were cold and old. Frankly I'd rather pay high prices for fast food than ridiculously higher prices for so-called upper-scale bad food. Ha! Sunday night after a lovely day of working outside (my next favorite thing after cooking) we decided to give it another go at our local under-new-management Mexican place – skirt steak quesadilla with ranchero sauce – so very good, and such a pleasure to finally have a good meal! Sorry, I did take some bites, mauling my plate, before remembering to snap the photo!

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It’s back to fast food now. Leftover pizza for lunch today. Ordinarily I wouldn’t consider that a bad lunch-in-a-hurry, but alas, we are just so tired of fast-food.

Last night was clean out the fridge night. This has chicken, pasta, red bell pepper, butternut squash, thyme, garlic and green onion. Oh and a little veggie-flavored cream cheese to bring it all together. It was pretty good.

mmmmm ...comfort food at my house

Yummy looking dinner there cookebook. That looks like a bowl full of goodness Lars. I’ve never had injera but when I get an opportunity I will try it.

Annie, you never fail to influence me. This time it was the black beans calling.

Chorizo, beans including black, chilli and various vegetables found lurking in the fridge.

Above was a small pork roast with potatoes (meant to smash them but forgot) broccoli, golden beetroots and apple sauce.

Neely, fortunately I really like beans, so I can use them in many things and it adds the "starchy" component that I want. Yours looks really good, and I'll remember that for those bits and pieces of vegetables I always seem to have left in the refrigerator.

Cookbooke, that does look like the perfect use for everything that gets cleaned from the refrigerator. I'd not have thought to add the butternut squash, but it's a really good idea, I often have some left over when I roast a butternut. Somehow I never have small ones...

2many, I'm with you. I'm not a fan of fast food at all, but I'd still rather do that than pay an exorbitant amount for sub-par "fancy" food. What a disappointment, I'm sorry. I thought that "lump" of stuff was potatoes, I never saw grits that would mound up like that! As for the meatballs, I was planning to freeze some, but Elery ate them ALL. Yeah, I blinked kind of hard at that too. The cookies were all left at the baptism, I was just not going to bring them home. They turned out OK, though...

As usual, it's been crazy busy here. We had cattle to slaughter and the garden to finish up. I still have a LOT of collards in the garden, they seem to just shrug off the cold and keep on standing, so that's good. Some kale next to them still seems perfectly happy too. The celeriac didn't seem to even blink at our below freezing temperatures, but I had to dig it so I can get the garlic planted in that space.

We'll be eating a lot of squash, I put this in our back storage room:

Along with a couple of crates of potatoes. Red Norland on top, Kennebec in the bottom:

I still have squash in the pole barn and I have to figure out how to insulate it, there's so much I can't put it all in the storage area, although I have found that milk crates stack well, are sturdy and can even hold my overflow canned goods! Somehow I managed to use all 15 that I bought at the auction, and would like some more for the freezer, so I'll have to keep watching...

I made some cornbread from a Weight Watchers recipe, but I won't use it again. We each ate a piece and threw the rest to the chickens. I knew better, the recipe called for twice as much flour as it did cornmeal, and it just wasn't "right". No fat, so it was dry, too much flour so it didn't taste like cornbread and definitely a waste of ingredients. I knew better but I did it anyway, so it's my own fault. You know how you can read a recipe and think that's it's just not going to work? Well, it didn't. The stir fry I served it with wasn't bad, though, all made out of those "clean the fridge" vegetables that seem to be a theme right now, LOL.

Elery decided to smoke some chicken and a duck half, and I made a mash with half potatoes and half celeriac root from the garden, so it was a passable mashed potato. Elery's beloved pink half runner beans on the side and I topped the chicken with some of my home canned peach/pineapple salsa:

It was good enough that the next day we made lettuce wraps from the remainder of the duck, along with more of that salsa:

Yesterday we had bean soup, no pictures and tonight we had an elderly neighbor over for dinner so I made some carrots/parsnips/turnips in the crock pot with a piece of sirloin steak, some homemade honey wheat rolls, and a low sugar apple crisp for dessert because he's diabetic. I forgot to take pictures, we were too busy talking!

Annie

Cookebook, all the flavors sound like a great comfort food dish – and don’t you love it when you clean out the fridge and make something tasty?!

Neely, your chorizo bowl with all the various beans makes my mouth water – om-goodness it looks tasty! Cold again today, and I’d love that right now!

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up a moment. Annie. You did not kill a mint plant. Impossible. Tell me not! How can someone who grows everything under the sun kill mint?? LOL! Elery ate ALL those meatballs?! He is cut from the same cloth as my husband! Those TN boys know a good thing when they taste it, and once tasted, they can’t seem to stop! I think your cross cookies turned out perfect for a baptism : ) I can’t tell you how much I enjoy the harvest and farm photos you share! Gosh you’ve been busy again – do you slaughter your own cows or have it done? I keep reading about smoked this and smoked that, and honestly, I’m terribly envious! Can’t wait to get back to the grill and smoking. Smoked duck – now that’s something I’d love to try! Your photo of the duck and peach salsa in lettuce wraps looks amazing. My stomach is growling now…

Still have only a tiny patch to plant garlic for now. When I got my giant hard-neck out from the garage… it didn’t survive the heat. Note to self, do not keep garlic in the garage! The house garlic was planted, but we’d eaten all but the soft neck, so that got put in the ground (so no scapes next summer). My rosemary is huge and reminds me of Sleevendog’s when she bought that huge one last spring. Cleaned the herb garden last weekend, but still have a bit more work to do after everything dies down. I feel it will be another 2 years before we have our veggie garden : (

DH and I finally finished most our work on the little pond but will have more to do next summer. We got a fake rock to cover the skimmer but it was too big and didn’t match, so DH decided to chop it up and put it back together with more fiberglass… I call it “frankenstone” at this juncture! I’ll paint it to match the other rocks next spring. ETA: the clecos will be removed as more fiberglass is added of course!

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DH is currently jackhammering tile from the foyer, while I’m working on finalizing kitchen plans for our cabinet maker. I’ll paint tomorrow. Meals? More of the same fast food, but I finally set out the toaster oven on a small table and we’re having 'poofed' beef tips on mashed potatoes tonight… we are beyond thrilled to eat something other than fast food tonight!

Nice pond, 2many! Are you going to put fish in it? I know Peppi loves her koi and is very knowledgeable about them. I only know about bluegill and bass, you know, the fish we can eat. This is my pond, the kids love it. I love the geothermal heating system that cycles through it, keeping my heating bills way, way down...

And yes, I killed mint. Twice. I also killed horseradish. Twice. Go figure, I can grow things that shouldn't even grow in Michigan but I kill the two things that I'm told are invasive and no one can kill. LOL And I finally got my garlic planted today, about 2 weeks after I should have had it in the ground.

We have a man, Dallas, who comes to the farm to do the slaughter if I have cattle to process. It's easier on the animals, they are never put into a trailer, trucked off to be held in pens at a slaughterhouse, or have food and water withheld to keep their digestive systems empty. They are born on this farm, spend their entire lives here standing in the grass eating and doing cow-like things, and when it's time they die here. Their whole lives are spent just wandering about, eating grass or hay and being fed donuts by the Grandkids, they are not hurt, hungry, afraid, crowded, pumped full of antibiotics. They live the best lives I can possibly provide for them in return for eventually becoming dinner. Then Dallas comes, he kills, skins and quarters them and hauls them off to his brother Carl, who hangs them for about 10 days, then cuts and packages pursuant to my instructions. I usually sell one and the other one becomes family beef. Between my two girls and Elery's two sons that live here in Michigan we use it all. His son in California and daughter in Ohio just have to buy their own beef. (grin) I'll process chickens, even a deer if the weather is cold enough, but a 1,000 pound bull is just a bit beyond what I want to take on.

So, with all that beef, what's for dinner? Pork! (grin) I roasted a small bone in pork roast with some onions and apples from our trees, cooked a rutabaga and decided that was enough. I love, love, love rutabaga, so I had extra.

I'm glad to hear that you actually got a home cooked meal, finally, even if you did have to use the toaster oven.

Annie

We have a very 'tired' kitchen in the beach house that needs renovation but fortunately a small side room was a mini kitchen for the previous owners grandparents we use as a study/studio. It has a sink and small countertop and cupboards. We could never eat junk food so I'll have that room for cooking. But no fast food available anyway. A Chick-a-Lick and a TimHorton about an hour away. Ick.

Good grief, lobster again ?, lol. Yup, they had probably one last sale. Price will double+ from now on. I bought a couple extra and made stock for a bisque or two and froze in the stock.

Made a corn succotash and our most favorite dessert, canales. Mint and yogurt creme.

Last of the garden.

More lobster? Oh, geez, sleevendog. I had eggs and leftover vegetables!

Annie

Annie, I love your clean out the fridge stir fry. Looks great! Also love your and 2Many's ponds lol Went out to eat on Saturday and ordered this Seafood Cobb Salad. It was delicious!

Oh Annie, what a gorgeous pond! I call that a pond-lake : ) Look at the pretty green (not brown) water! Geothermal heating? You have quit the set-up on your farm : ) The kids sure are enjoying the pond-lake! I’d love to watch and learn how to process beef. I’m not squeamish and was taught healthy curiosity in all things as I grew up. I am quite sure I could not slaughter and process a 1,000 lb bull either! I thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie based on Temple Grandin, who from my understanding helped improve more humane slaughter. Sounds like you’ve improved your methods even beyond that : ) … and then you had pork! Looks tender, juicy, and delicious!

Our ‘suburban’ pond is 9’ x 6’ at the water (surrounding rocks make it larger) and though I’ve had koi in the past, we’ll go with goldfish (shubunkin) which are heartier and a bit smaller. This one’s not mine but like the one I had years ago:

shubunkin - Google Search · More Info

The koi were such a pleasure, came when I gently tapped the water, one sucked on my finger. Very smart and friendly. But they pooped too much, ate all my submerged plants and water lilies, overturned pots – basically a mess. I’m told the shubunkin are easier and less messy re: pond management. I’ll plant and stock next spring – very excited about that!

Sleevendog, I feel so terrible for you two. Having to suffer through all that awful lobster. Ick. Yuck. Looks horrible. Hahahaha! Love the pics of the last of your summer veg – you’ve still got some good-looking veggies! Just last night I thought to myself: Sleevendog will soon post her microgreens and I might have to scroll quickly past them… and now it’s happened. Didn’t scroll fast, just couldn’t! (Sigh). Someday. I know you’ll be grateful for that mini-kitchen when you start renovating.

Cookebook… is that avocado, spinach, bacon, shrimp, crab, tomatoes, and blue cheese I see? Ahg! Torture! I want your salad this instant! Thank you for sharing – that salad looks so good, with a capital G!

The beef tips were a disaster (thus no photo). I had to run outside in the rain for a spare brick as I had no hot pad and only the plastic bins to set the container on. I used the few paper towels I had to pull it out of the oven - semi-frozen in the middle still, but we were so tired we just wanted to eat, shower, and go to sleep. Last night I ate only half my Reuben sandwich from Arby’s and barely touched the neon orange things they call curly fries, some of which were freakishly long. Woke up later and ate the rest of the sandwich. Tonight’s meal? Not sure, but I’ve got to eat more as I’m losing too much weight from not taking time to eat.

OT but wanted to share some nice news (feel like I complain a lot lately): Saw 2 doe in our back yard yesterday morning. Saw 2 bald eagles above us day before yesterday – then got hit in the side of the head by a freaked-out robin (wait, that’s good news?!). Yes, I gave out a little shriek. Then I laughed!

Neely, I keep scrolling back to stare at your chorizo and beans soup : )

2Many, yes plus there are thinly slicked carrots and red onion in there too. And a garlicy vinaigrette. So yummy! Friday and Saturday we got some cooler weather in Houston and I decided to make chicken soup yesterday. So NATURALLY the temperature went back up to 85 degrees and we had to turn the AC back on. Having leftovers for lunch today. Thankfully it is always cold in my office lol

Oh for crying out loud, you torture me again! : ) Cookebook, that soup would be good in any weather! Cold weather (again) here today, and that tender chicken, those veggies, that broth... can you hear me salivating? : )

Cookebook, I'm not even a fan of salads and that looks really, really good. Your soup looks even better. Here it almost got to 40F today, so hot soup is a very good thing!

sleevendog, an extra kitchen? Now that's a bonus, and your vegetables look beautiful. We also got cold here really suddenly, and the garden has been frozen since October 17, that's when we got the killing freeze. The collards and kale just keep on going, though, they didn't even flinch. I don't have any microgreens, and I need to "winterize" my little figs, prune the raspberries and cut the asparagus ferns.

2many, I've read some of Temple Grandin's work, and if more of the commercial operations would follow her suggestions, it would be a much more humane industry. As for the process, I've grown up helping to process pigs, chickens, deer, rabbits, squirrels, whatever my brother could shoot or we could raise. But a pig raised for meat will be about 300 pounds and deer are actually pretty small, less than half that size, so manageable. Not 1,000 pounds though. I guess I could do it if I had to, but thank goodness I don't have to! And my steaks wouldn't be anywhere near as "pretty", LOL.

So, goldfish? Sure you don't want a couple of bluegill in there? You know me, it's the farmer mentality. Elery teased me when we planted the fish, he said no inch of the place didn't have something "planted" there.

So, what's for dinner? Hamburgers and lentil soup. It was cold, windy and damp, and soup just seemed like a good idea. I forgot to take pictures, I was hungry. Oh, and all that squash? I experimented with some, trying to make a dessert that was "acceptable". This is my squash based take on pumpkin custard. No crust, skim milk, half the sugar. It wasn't bad, but next time I'd put the squash through the ricer, I just used a masher on this and it had some lumps. I had a piece and Elery had half a piece, the rest is in the refrigerator. I hope it's a bit sturdier when it's cold...

Annie

Surprised my chard still looks good. Weather man says 70 next weekend. Messed up and my garlic is not in but have one last chance. I've heard a bit of frost before planting is perfect. I may have dodged that one. The fast cold has been nerve racking and so unprepared. We will plant and top with leaves.

We had pizza Sunday. I'm testing an 'appliance' , a pizza 'toaster' oven I bought for the millennials at work. A gift for their hard work. Works great and DH made a travel box for all the pans, cutter, stuff.

I made six, we ate two, DH has a couple for work snacks...and a couple in the freezer.

It spins and toasts high heat. Much better than expected. Pesto under the potato edge, olives, artichoke, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, homemade sauce...mushroom and caramelized onion. Any veg I could find and needed to use up.

I do have a challenge to make a gluten-free and a dairy/gluten-free and a just dairy-free. No dairy is easy but my pesto has cheese, (help!). I made a fresh rosemary garlic, olive oil.

I like a challenge. Should be fun.

The veggie people are getting macro-greens on their pizza. This is just ten days. I sped up the growing by putting them under lights 24hours. Pea shoots and radish greens. If you like peas and radish these are intensely just like them but a ten day grow. Not a garden grow of 6-10 weeks.

Same small grow posted past weekend. Now salad.

Hi. Yummy Pizzas Sleevendog, and I am so envious of all your lobster eating. Must put some more pizza dough on the freezer, it was so handy being able to poof. Cookebook... that salad and soup Yum. Love the squash squares Annie... would be nice with a dollop of cream...did I say that—-naughty.

2many... your pond is coming along well. I love keeping fish and you are so right about going for gold fish over koi. Too much poo and destruction. That shubunkin looks great and I also love the pale yellow gold fish we can get here. Funnily we are also building a fish pond at the moment but smaller than yours, more like a wall fountain. DH and I just made the little concrete slab for it.

A couple of dinners.

Chicken schnitzel, asparagus and salad.

Neely, your chicken looks better than my chicken, mine was just broiled, and served with mashed squash and some broccoli. No pictures. Your burger looks pretty darned good too. And you're right, some whipped cream would top those squash things off nicely, but, well, you know. (grin)

Sleevendog, that looks like a pretty nifty pizza maker for your millennials. I've found that the gluten free portion is actually easier than the dairy free portion when it comes to pizza. Anything that is remotely cheese-like doesn't seem to melt or gets odd when it's heated. Good luck.

Now, I'm off to figure out how to make sloppy joes look spooky for tomorrow night...

Annie

Annie , I was thinking about what you said about your whole place given over to food growing, which I totally admire.

I have a dilemma at the moment. At the front of our country place an apple tree has died. Yes nuisance. My problem is do I replace with another apple.... we live in an apple growing area and apples are very cheap to buy. Do I replace with some other fruit tree or do I go for a brightly coloured in fall - maple.

I think I know what you would do. But I would also love one of those show off bright fall leafed tree. 1st world decisions. I am grateful.

Neely, even I don't know what I would really do. (grin) I probably would not replace it with another apple, to have really nice, usable apples requires a lot of spraying of pesticides and most need a pollinator, so you'd need TWO apple trees. I'd either get something that is self pollinating, like plum or peach, or maybe a nut tree, they have lovely blossoms.

I have to admit, though, that I just like trees. We have a giant maple by the driveway and it's just so......friendly. It makes you want to just go sit in the shade under those huge branches. And, at the farm I have not one, not two, but three of those Japanese maples that are red year round, they are very attractive and one does the double duty of shading the chicken coop.

Annie

Annie, I was telling DH about your pond last night and he now wants catfish – I’d prefer rainbow trout! Ha, not happening, far too small! I’m not surprised you’ve got every inch dedicated to growing food : ) I love lentil and spinach soup, and it’d be so perfect and comforting this fall day. How clever to make a squash custard, and since pumpkin is so good, I bet that was a nice sweet treat for you!

What a fantastic and generous gift Sleevendog – those pizzas look good! But it’s your macro-greens again… I’d thought I could ask you to help me set something up during the renovation, but clearly that can’t happen. We are squeezed enough as is. No room. I’m sure hoping you’ll help me next year. You’ve no idea how good those have always looked to me : )

Neely, how neat you and your DH are also building a water feature!!! We put a very small one in our front yard too, but too small for fish. Strange thing, I walk up to the front and hear water tinkling, go through the destruction that is our home now and out the back door and hear water tinkling… then I have to. LOL! Your burger looks good but it’s your entire schnitzel plate that makes me hungry… lovely crust on your chicken. So perfect. Speaking of tree dilemmas (aw, if only everyone had just these problems!), I wanted plum or peach, but decided we have too many pesty birds, so we planted a couple baby October Glory maples this spring for shade in later years – already turning a beautiful red : )

What was for dinner? Grocery store deli fried chicken – actually good! Corn, potato salad, and some deviled eggs – all from the deli. And why I shy away from pre-made… the salad and eggs tasted only of prepared mustard. What is for dinner? I found some bacon-bean soup in the freezer, made last winter and it still looks fine, so with thick toast (not homemade) it’ll make a good meal for a cold night. No photos – we are dining either in the bedroom (please don’t judge) or in the small tv room which smells of plaster and has not a single light. We can barely squeeze in with everything else packed in. With the toaster oven out for a brief stint, hoping the freezer will help with our meals…

Probably will go with the bright leaf maple, thanks for your input Annie and 2 many.

A couple of dinners we’ve been having.

Pork medallions with red pepper, mushrooms and kale.

2many, I like bean soup and it's definitely soup weather here. As for judging, well, breakfast in bed is supposed to be a big treat, so why not other meals, at least in close proximity to the aforesaid bed? (grin) As for deli chicken, well, rotisserie chicken was often a quick meal here, Elery used to call it the best deal in the poultry section, and already cooked too!

Neely, that plate makes me miss our zucchini and that pork with the red pepper and kale looks so colorful.

Fish and kale must be the theme here, because that's what I had too. Two days in a row.

First day I baked a couple of steaks from that lovely Lake Michigan salmon I bought at the farmers market, and served them topped with my home canned peach and pineapple salsa, with kale and beets:

Tonight we had the remainder of the salmon steaks, flaked and made into cakes, served with the last of that kale and some Hokkaido squash. That's "I can't believe it's not butter" spray on the vegetables. Trust me, I can certainly believe it's not butter, LOL.

Halloween was the first night we had the kale, Elery picked a LOT. (grin) We also had sloppy joes topped with cheese slices, deviled eggs with black olive "spiders" and cookies. Well, I didn't have cookies, but the kids did!

I also made gluten free lemon bars, recipe courtesy of NancyinNC, for Amanda's birthday, which was today. It's her birthday treat of choice, she loves them.

We pressed cider from all the apples remaining after I canned apple sauce, apple slices and dehydrated apples, plus all the family could eat fresh.

Then, because I had 8 gallons of cider (which we pass out to all the kids), I decided to make some cider syrup, it's Bud's favorite pancake topping, so I canned 10 half pints of that and now I'm really tired of looking at apples, I'm feeding the rest to the cows. Even the neighbor with 5 kids won't take any more, LOL.

Annie

These photos make me hungry! You know who you are!!!

Lobster Salad with a little bit of kale, red bell peppers, cucumber, avocado, Maui onions, pepitas, and poppy seeds. Yum!

Mmmmmmm that lobster salad looks good! I made a healthier version of jambalaya on Saturday with shrimp, turkey sausage, a smoked turkey leg and brown rice. I have my one year checkup with my cardiologist on Wednesday. Had a mild heart attack the night the Astros won the world series. I still blame them lol

I don’t believe I’ve ever had a proper jambalaya but yours looks very inviting cookebook.

Lobster salad sooz Yum.

Good array of Halloween goodies there Annie.

Lamb curry and spinach for us. I’ve taken to making these unleavened roti breads as they are so easy. Basically just a good flour, salt and water.

Lobster and more lobster, how could it be bad? Yum, sooz, it looks delicious.

Cookebook, that jambalaya looks amazing, and I actually like brown rice better than I do white rice, the texture is just.....better, somehow. If you get tired of blaming the Astros, you could always just blame Detroit, any sports team in Detroit. Everyone here does, LOL.

Neely, Elery would love lamb curry. You reminded me that we still have sliced lamb in the freezer I need to thaw so Elery can have something. Can you make curry with leftover lamb, I wonder?

Here Elery put pork chops in the smoker, and we had them with some of my homemade sauerkraut, Elery's beloved pink half runner beans and some apples, just cooked in the microwave.

I also made an Oreo cheesecake for The Princess, her birthday was Sunday, she's now 15. (sigh)

Tomorrow we pick up beef, so we'll probably have beans, because I can let those cook in the crockpot all day while I deal with everything else.

Annie

Yes, please with the cheese cake! Made whole wheat penne with hot Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions and bell peppers. Leftovers for lunch.

More mouthwatering meals here! All the kale lately! Neely, I’ve never eaten barramundi, but any fish with crispy skin works for me! Your lamb curry looks fantastic – the whole plate looks delicious (I’m very envious of your lamb!) I think you'll be happy with a colorful maple, they are such nice trees. Then there’s Annie’s salmon with her salsa I so want to try, and salmon cakes – those look tasty. It’s your smoked chops and apples I really want… : ) Annie, I think 8 gallons of cider is too much for your family to try to drink… my address is… : ) Gosh I love homemade cider! I made it one year and we left a pitcher out – 6 hours later we were pretty happy! Had no idea it could go hard that fast! But cider syrup? That’s new to me. I’ll take some of that too please! Happy belated Birthday to Princess : ) Lucky young lady to have that orea cheesecake! I think I can almost taste it… Sooz, kale and lobster? That’s too decadent… no, wait, not too. Just right! What is it about lobster and avocado that just seems luxurious?! Yum! Cookebook, Great looking jambalaya! DH once said he couldn’t stand shrimp… until I made jambalaya : ) Good friend is from “Lawziana” and taught me jumbo, but I dumb it down to reduce the throat burn : ) Your penne and sausage looks so, so good too – must be cold where you are? Fantastic cold weather dishes!

Thanks all for letting me continue to post here, though I don’t contribute. We did have the bean soup – with thick cut bacon and some tomato based stock, that I poofed. Also some raw carrots, broccoli, and celery. Store bought Texas toast, and I found some Colby/Jack cheese that I’d cold-smoked earlier, in the fridge! Not a bad night’s meal : ) But that’s been a while ago, and it’s been fast food salads mostly.

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If someone makes a veggie soup you might find DH and I on your doorstep : ) If you make it with any kind of beef, we’ll be spending the night : )

Cookebook, I'll swap you a piece of cheesecake for some of that pasta. I'm not a big fan of white pasta, but I like the whole wheat stuff much better. That lunch container looks familiar, LOL, much like the ones I always used!

2many, you can always contribute. SharonCB ate out often, but she posted beautiful pictures and told about where she had gone and what she had seen, it was lovely and I always looked forward to it.

Beef vegetable soup? Do you have spies? I have this simmering on the stove right now, I cleaned out the vegetable drawer so it has onion, celery, turnip, parsnip, carrot, corn, green beans, a big beef bone because we picked up beef today and got it in the freezer. No tomato, although I usually add it, because my heartburn has kicked up lately and I'm trying to avoid things that set it off.

Yes, an entire steer, and all I cooked was a soup bone, LOL, and my two pole barn freezers look like this:

By the time we had driven to the processor, loaded up the beef, stopped and delivered the half we sell yearly to an elderly neighbor, and another quarter to a different neighbor, and then packed the remainder into freezers we were cold, tired and hungry.

Elery had chicken legs in the smoker a couple of days ago, along with those pork chops, and we just had leftover apples, corn and some beans that were cooking in the crockpot. The soup was not ready, so that'll be tomorrow, maybe.

Annie

made cauliflower fried rice tonight, added crab and shrimp to it, sauteed leeks and egg sheet.

Amy's canned Spilt Pea soup and some sweet potato fries for me tonight! It's been a long day....

Holy Cow Annie! And yes, pun intended : ) All. That. Wonderful. Grass-fed. Beef. Color me green with envy! I know raising your own beef is work... I just don't know firsthand how much work! But what an extraordinary reward! Love these photos you post! What is it Charlie Brown says? Aaaaaarrgh! Beef and veg soup... I don't ever put tomatoes in mine, just doesn't seem right somehow, though I know most do. That is perfect. Gosh, Michigan seems like a world away now, but if TN were closer, you'd find me, bowl in hand, smile on my face, beggin' at your door! Ah that looks perfect. Perfect. Cold, tired, and hungry. Sounds like DH and I lately, but I'd add filthy to that! How lovely to have those smoked chicken legs to eat!

Susan, I've never fried cauliflower rice, sounds almost like a stir fry! Crab and shrimp? Mmmmm!

Hi Anglophillia! Split pea soup with sweet potato fries would suit me just fine tonight also : ) Along with a warm fire... Sadly, it's another take out night. As per usual.

Last night was a foot long from Sonic. Wanted an Arby's but the line was to the highway. DH made a U-turn after a few choice words. No big loss, truthfully. Wait, did I actually type 'wanted an Arby's"? Meant, as opposed to other takeout's we've eaten of late. Ha! Ok, now I gotta scroll back up again to Annie's soup and daydream some more : )

Tasty Cookery spammer at it again. Wish they'd give up.

Annie, when do you sleep? Or is it over rated?

^_^