Recipes, Yes. Zucchini’s, No.

Aug 022012
 

*Disclaimer:  This is NOT turning into a food blog, it just so happens that it is harvest time in the Northwoods so I can’t help myself.*

:::

When Rick & I went to the farm on Sunday to check on the Popcorn and Sunflowers (both doing fab, BTW), the young man that was working for the CSA asked us if we wanted a couple of zucchini’s.

Rick looked to me for the answer.  After 21 years of marriage, I had never made the man zucchini.  Don’t ask me why, but the veggie just never presented itself to me.  And, to my surprise, Rick has never had zucchini before.  In. His. Life.  GASP !

Myself, growing up in the country with a HUGE garden, naturally this veggie crept it’s way into the crop.  So not wanting to scare the hubby away with this lovely food, I immediately thought of the one recipe that Mom made with it:  Zucchini Bars.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have her recipe.  Big bummer.  So I turned to the interwebs in search of one that came close to the “taste” of hers. Then I had to find another recipe for the piece de resistance:  Cream Cheese Frosting.  You simply can not have Zucchini Bars without Cream Cheese Frosting.  Mom made the best, but alas, I didn’t have that recipe either.

Damnit!!

After much searching, I found what I wanted.  The batter for the bars looked more like bread dough when I finished mixing it, but puffed up nice and moist in the oven.  The frosting was a little on the thin side, but the flavor was… good.  Not like Mama used to make, but delightful none-the-less.

And Rick’s reaction?

If I don’t take some of it to work, I’m afraid he’s going to eat the whole pan.

:::

PS.  What is your favorite food to make with Zucchini?

PPS.  Do you have a go-to Cream Cheese Frosting that you can share?  Pretty please??

PPPS.  Please do not drop off your overabundance of Zucchini on my deck.  But I will take tomatoes.  LOTS of tomatoes.

 

Berry, Berry Happy

Aug 012012
 

It’s berry picking season in the Northwoods.

This year Rick & I discovered a ton of wild Blackberry bushes growing all around the homestead, and we’re going to take full advantage of it (until the bears discover it, of course).

So if you guessed Blackberry Jam in my last post, you win a cookie!

I have never, in all my years of canning, made jams or jellies.  Don’t ask me why, but I’ve never really had the hankering to try something “new” like that.  I figured it would be all hard with hours of prep work, sweating over the stove (blah, blah, whine, snivel), but actually it was quite simple.  I only needed 2 things:  berries and sugar (OK, more than 2 things if you count the jars, lids, and canner, but I already had those things so they don’t count), and I had plenty of both.

On Sunday Rick set out to see what the ripening level of the biggest patch was, and in no time flat we had enough berries for a batch of jam.  Just to be on the safe side, I did one more go-through on Monday and added another full tin to the party.

A quick internet search for the perfect recipe (perfect = easy) that didn’t require Pectin.  Why didn’t I want Pectin?  Because a) I didn’t have any; b) I didn’t want to buy any; and c) I wanted this to be all organic.

My party, my rules.

The recipe?  50-50 fruit and sugar.  Boil to 220 degrees, skim the foam, fill the jars and hot water bath process for 10 minutes.

Out of 3-1/2 cups of mashed berries, I got six 1/2 pints of jam.

Color me ecstatic.

And the way that the berries are ripening, I’m going to be making quite a bit of jam in the next 2 weeks.

And that makes me berry, berry happy.

 

Garlicky Love

Jul 302012
 

It feels like I have been canning all summer.

Oh wait… I have.  Due to the early Spring (I AM a broken record) that stayed around until the actual Spring and quickly turned into summer, the plants in the garden that are doing fabulous (cucumbers) are keeping me on my toes, and I’ve been making dill pickles since late June.

*Quickie update on the 30 tomato plants:  Blight .  Big time.  As of today, I have 16 tomatoes struggling to mature.  I am one sad gardener.  BUT, as all good gardeners do when they are having an off season, we shake off the losses and plan on what we will do better for the next year (I’m a Viking’s fan, so I have lots of practice in disappointment).  For me, that is fertilizer.  Organic, of course.*

Anywho, there are many other things to can up this time of year, and today I did 2 different things that I’ve never done before.

The first is garlic.  A customer of Rick’s thanked him for all the hard work he put into working on her computer by giving him a ginormous bag of garlic that she grew.  When I saw it the first things I thought was “WTF am I gonna do with 2 million heads of garlic?!?”  I mean, I love the stuff, but I couldn’t possibly use it all before it would start to spoil.  So I mentioned this conundrum to Nichole and she suggested canning it.

*Insert head slap here.*

So I did the research, and sure enough if you do it right, it can be done.

I spent a glorious afternoon on the deck peeling 368 bazillion garlic bulbs.  By the time I was done, my fingers were on fire.  It felt like I had burned through the outer layers of my skin and exposed every nerve ending there was.

But was was worth it.  DUHHH!!!

Isn’t that a glorious group of garlic?  (Say that 3 times fast!)

Following the brief guidelines from the National Onion Association and Rural Revolution, I crushed, boiled and pressured cooked those suckers into wonderful gifts of garlicky love.

These little jars are going to get me through the whole winter, by golly, with a few heading down to Nichole for her wonderful suggestion and of course Christine because she’s got garlic in her veins too.

Now the whole house reeks of garlic.  I really wish someone would come up with a smelling app for times like this.

*sniff*… Ahhhhhhhhhhhh

Since this has run kinda long, I’ll regale you with the second thing in my next post.

Here’s a hint:  it’s wild.

Any guesses??

 

I’ll Stick With My Cheetos

Jul 262012
 

Monday was my last day of vacation *sniffle* and I had a ton of crap I wanted to do in the morning so I could have the afternoon to relax before reality came crashing down.

In a span of 4 hours I:

  • Ran to 3 stores for groceries, cat litter and misc other crap we needed
  • Grabbed a bite from McDonalds (which I didn’t get to eat for another 2 hours)
  • Stopped at Rick’s shop (twice)
  • Canned pickles
  • Created and posted a blog post
  • Cleaned the litter boxes
  • Swept the floor from cleaning the litter boxes
  • Started a roast in the slow cooker for supper
  • Loaded and ran the dishwasher

And when I finally got done with all that I sat down and realized I was hungry again. Not HUNGRY  hungry, just in need of a little snack.  But what?  I wasn’t in the mood for fruit, and the Cheetos that have been my “go to” snack for the past week just wasn’t what I was looking for.

AHA!  I remembered that I had bought just the ticket at the grocery store that morning.  Something that I had never had before.

Am I the only one on the planet that has not had this stuff before?  I’ve always been a yogurt lover, and as a youngin’ I’d have to beg my Mom to buy me just one !

Occasionally I’ll find the notsoexpensive stuff on sale and stock up, but that’s kinda like a yearly thing, and then I’m good for a while.

So when I saw this stuff on the shelf it just called out to me.  (Maybe it was because they’ve been showing ads on TV 24/7 for another brand.  Who knows.)  It was a little on the spendy side, so indulging in just one wasn’t going to break the bank.

I’ve got to tell ya, I was a little apprehensive when I opened the stuff.  It was as thick as paste!  For a second there I thought maybe they had mislabeled a container of spackle.

Being the adventurer that I am (HA!) I took my first bite and… it wasn’t half bad.  Granted, I probably could have used it to plaster the walls if I didn’t like it, but I figured that I dished out $1.29 for that little cup I might as well eat it.

Will I buy it again?  Maybe, but only if it goes on sale.  Until then, I’ll just stick with my Cheetos.

 

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I WANT!! I WANT!!

Jul 252012
 

I have GOT to get one of these!


 

The music makes the video extra special.

Actually, I could see the yard dotted with them.  It would bring me smiles all winter long.

So Rick, will you build me one or six?  Please?  Pretty please??

 

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