Healthy Vegetable (not) & My Creative Side

I love vegetables, I really do. In raw form, steamed, stir fried, baked, etc. Broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, squash, zucchini ... you get the picture. But sometimes you see a recipe & think to yourself, wow that sounds good.

I had a resolution for this year to only cook recipes that had been tried & true from friends, books or magazines. It seemed in 2016 that I tried too many Pinterest recipes that failed. Most times an ingredient was missing or the wrong amount was specified. The pictures looked beautiful but somehow it didn't taste even 1/2 as good as it looked. However, I saw this recipe for cauliflower patties that I really wanted to try.

Like with mashed potatoes, I usually always have leftover cauliflower. With potatoes I make a twice baked potato casserole or patties. So I decided to try the cauliflower patty recipe but didn't follow the instructions exactly. For instance, the recipe called for 2 eggs but when I broke my eggs they were both double yolks. I said ehh, I'll just add a few more bread crumbs & a little extra cheese. See, that's where the healthy vegetable becomes not so. I patted them out & fried (so not healthy again) them in a little oil. They were delicious! We had extra so I've frozen a couple to see how they stand up.

As a homage to Mama Pea committing to being creative this year I wanted to share a wreath I made just before Christmas.

It's made with a pool noodle & canning rings! I wanted it a little bigger than the instructions called for so I enlarged & used more rings. It is quite heavy. Also, the extra weight caused it to sag a little & become more oval but I still like it. I have great plans to get some more quilting done this year & to finish a few of my UFOs that are in my drawer. I'll post as I get around to them, hopefully.

Merry Christmas!

Tree from many years past (I think it was the tallest we ever had).... but still one of our favorites. May everyone be blessed to be with the ones they love & still have in their lives this year.

Wish I still had that Pena up on the wall....

Christmas Cactus

Just thought it was pretty ....

Tiny Houses, Big Tree / Little Tree & Stock/Broth

Wow, time does indeed fly by. Can't believe it's the end of the year already! Just a quick documentation of what we've been up to the past few weeks.

Went to a Tiny House Festival a few miles south of us. One of the most disorganized festivals we've ever attended. When we go to these things we usually go very early, get through & get out. We got to this one a bit late & the crowds were horrendous. Parking wasn't so bad but there was no rhyme or reason to it. The price of admission was ridiculous but we found out that the $$ were to go to various charities. So, in we went. We first encountered converted school buses & vintage cars & campers which were very cool.

However it soon became obvious that this was, as Greg called it ... a festival for the gathering of young & old hippies alike.

 By the time we made it over to the new tiny houses the lines were 30 & 40 people long!

Photo courtesy of FL Tiny House Festival.

We said, no thank you, walked around a bit more & then left to meet some friends for lunch.

The next weekend was Thanksgiving. We went to the country house & invited my In-laws over for dinner. We were supposed to eat around 2:00 but the turkey would not cook! The oven there has been slowly going on the blink & it decided to nearly stop working that day. We kept turning it up. It was on almost 400 degrees before everything finally got done. Well, the turkey never fully cooked by the bones but we got enough breast meat sliced to finally eat around 4:30.

We don't get much fall color in this part of the country but the sycamore trees usually come through with some. I planted one last year, I think. The big old sycamore in the branch was showing color & my little new one was as well. They matched, how sweet.

See the little one in the oh so brown field?

When we got back to the city I decided to go ahead & make poultry stock. I added a frozen chicken carcass to the turkey carcass. While I was at it I decided to go ahead & make some beef stock from some steak bones that were in the freezer. AND, while searching for the steak bones I found some raw pork, beef & lamb bones, so I decided to go ahead & make bone broth. I used the stove top for the poultry & beef stock & cooked/simmered it for about 24 hours. Since the bone broth needed to cook for about 48 hours, I used my trusty 18 qt. electric roaster for that (after roasting the bones in the oven for about an hour).

It took almost 4 days to cook, strain, sieve & can it all. The poultry stock came out the creamiest that I've ever made. The beef broth is ok. But, the bone broth is wonderful. I only had 2 jars of meat stock left in my pantry so this makes me happy to get this done. Here's a pic of the finished product(s) 52 pints total!

Poultry stock, bone broth & beef stock.

I think that catches me up for now. I'm in the process of shopping around for health insurance so got to get back on the web & phone to get that done, ugh. Next up is baking Christmas goodies.

Another Expo under my belt & Preparing for Thanksgiving - testing recipes

Not much happening around here since I last posted after Hurricane Matthew. After cleanup I packed & headed to the country. I had volunteered to work the Ag Expo again this year. Not much different than last year (2015 Expo) except for a few new veggies to display, plus they had a few white fly problems on several beds. Oh, & I had Nelly this year. The Expo is about 8 miles from our house so I left each day to go home to let her out & to change into cooler clothes each day. It got hot in the afternoons. It was a lot of work 7:00a - 5:00p each day, standing outside talking to strangers (w/1 hour break for lunch). Much like the job I used to have ...

Our refrigerator in the Country House died a few weeks back & when they brought out a new one they damaged the doors in the process. So, another new fridge was to be delivered while I was there. They got that one in on Friday & I finally found some time to rest over the weekend.

Came back to the city & haven't been doing much of anything except trying a few new recipes.

My friend Debbie gave me a recipe for broccoli casserole a few years ago. Instead of the one I used to make (w/Velveeta & water chestnuts), it is now my go to broccoli casserole recipe.

I made mustard chicken Monday night. Had some broccoli & cauliflower that I decided to roast with a red bell pepper (toss in olive oil, sprinkled w/s & p & bake on 375 for about 30 - 45 minutes). Served with some Quinoa cooked in meat broth & it was all very good.

We got a 1/2 cow recently, yes that's right a 1/2 a cow!!!! Of course that comes with brisket which I had never cooked before. I had the processor cut me 3 small briskets so that if the 1st or 2nd didn't turn out, then I wouldn't have ruined all of them. Yesterday I took out the smallest of the briskets & searched the Internet for a recipe. I settled on a braised recipe. Seasoned the brisket w/salt & pepper & seared all sides.. Removed from pan, added carrots & onion to the pan & then 2 T. of tomato paste. Then added 3 c. of meat broth, about 1 c. of red wine & a splash or 2 of red wine vinegar. Put brisket back in pan & put lid on to braise at 325 degrees for 1 hour in the oven. Then turned the oven down to 225 to let it finish cooking for about 2.5 additional hours. Very good.

I had the left over roasted broccoli & cauliflower & decided to make the famous Burgess Broccoli Casserole to go w/the brisket. I adjusted the recipe just a bit & here's my version:

1 small head broccoli & 1 small head cauliflower - roasted in S & P & olive oil
1/4 c. chopped onion (I used about 1 T. freeze dried shallots this time)
1 c. sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 c. mayo
1/4 c. sour cream
1 egg
Buttered bread crumbs (I prefer Panko) Plus, I added a bout 1/4 c. of freshly grated parmesan.

Roughly chop broccoli & cauliflower, add onion & cheese & mix until combined.

Mix soup, mayo, sour cream & egg.

Add to broccoli mixture, stir well & put in buttered casserole dish.

Top with buttered bread crumbs & bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Served brisket & casserole with real life mashed potatoes & it was another fine meal! Gotta stop cooking like this during the week. My waistline doesn't need to grow any more before the holidays, or maybe it does ....

Safe & Sound from Matthew (updated w/pics)

Wow what a storm! We got lucky this time. It was predicted to be off shore by only a couple of miles by Friday afternoon. However on Friday morning as it was moving up the east coast it started a slight turn east away from the coast. By the time it got parallel to us it was about 25 or 30 miles off shore. Enough to still have very high winds of 70+ mph but not the 100+ we were anticipating. By around 3:00p the winds started shifting & coming in from the Northwest which actually caused higher gusts.

LOTS of debris. 

Driveway, back patio & porches alone took around 3.5 hours to clear. We did those on Saturday & then tackled the yard on Sunday. 

Only one very large tree down, no damage done but it's got electrical wires tangled in it so we are going to let the power company take care of that.

Our power went out around 2:30p Friday & still hasn't come back on for us (72 hours & counting). There were over 250,000 w/o power from our utility Co. alone, not counting surrounding counties. They are telling us we'll be back online by midnight tonight but they haven't even driven down our road to assess the damage. 

We have generators going. They run our pump so we have running water & both refrigerators & freezer are powered along with a few light & receptacles. We are/were prepared but so many weren't. Of course, those are the ones complaining the loudest.

We have a gas grill as well as a gas cooktop so no problem preparing meals. We've had breakfast casserole (made ahead of time), grilled sausages, steaks & twice baked potatoes (taken from freezer & put in cast iron covered w/tin foil). Plus other casseroles taken from freezer & easily heated by putting in a pan on the cooktop, getting the pan hot then turning to low & covering. Only problem is that I had to move my coffee pot to a different plug, oh the horror ... lol.

We went to check on Greg's business Saturday morning & the lines for all the fast food places was ridiculous! Plus, many street lights were out & should have been treated as 4 way stops but it seems that no one knows how to do that. People can be so stupid.

Greg's business is fine but he doesn't have power either. He opened today & is running registers off of a generator. 

It could have been so much worse so we are thankful for our safety & the fact that we have provisions so we don't have to run around town trying to find gas & supplies.

Hurricane Matthew

This one is huge & is expected to skirt right by us Friday afternoon & evening. To add insult to injury we have had a Nor'easter sitting over us for the past 2 days. It is windy & raining as I type this but has nothing to do with the hurricane. It is just making the ground saturated which loosens up the soil and makes trees fall & limbs break easier than normal.

All of the coastal areas around here are being evacuated & even some inland areas near rivers & streams. We are just outside of the evacuation area & so will be staying put here in the city.

I do need to go by a few more plastic tarps, just in case, but we are well set for food & water, just need to move a few things into the garage.

It's a good thing too because all the store shelves are pretty much empty & the gas stations are running out of fuel. Grocery stores are supposed to get re-stocked today but I'm sure will be wiped out as soon as things are put on the shelves. This pic of the bread aisle was taken by a friend at 2am this morning.

And just about the only thing left for pre-prepared meat products.

Our generator is ready to be cranked up if need be & will run fridges & freezer as well as a few plugs inside the house so we can have lamps & fans running. Our biggest worry are the trees but can't do anything about those so we will hunker down until it is over.

Hope anyone in the path stays safe & dry.

Storm Damage & the Pineapple

Storm just flew past us here in the city. Quite a few high gusts of wind but very little rain. We were expecting it to be much worse & very thankful that it wasn't. I waited until the wind died down to leave for the country.

We had heard from relatives that it was pretty bad in that area. The eye passed very close. They had wind gusts of 65 - 70 mph & most got at least 4" of rain in about 4 hours.

It had calmed down by the time I got up there (around 3:00p). I opened our driveway gate & started down the long drive up to the house. When I got to the branch area I noticed that a couple of small bushes were blocking the drive but then I notice that I couldn't see past the downed bushes through the branch up to the house. Turned around & went in my Dad's gate & across the pond damn.

A couple of hours later Greg arrived & he had the good sense to have brought a chain saw with him. He cut past the bushes & came across a few downed trees. There was 1 large pine that hit a couple of small oaks when it fell. He got enough cut to be able to go around, albeit in 4 wheel drive because the ground was very soft. Here's a pic after the 1st cut:

We got up the next morning & cut the rest of it up. Put most of the branches on the 'pile' but was able to salvage a small load for firewood.

A few of my small trees were bent over but I was able to stand them back up. The bird house down by the pond was bent & couldn't be straightened in place. We will have to dig it up & hopefully get it straightened the next time we are up there.

Cutting & hauling wood wasn't what we had in mind for the weekend. But we were fortunate there wasn't more damage.

In other news, my pineapple finally ripened! It was very small & I let it ripen completely on the plant. I got about 1 1/2 c. of pineapple & boy was it sweet!

I stayed in the country for a couple of extra days to have repair people come fix a couple of things & I got to meet the new baby. She is a cutie pie!

We are back in the city & have a few projects to work on before heading back to the country in a couple of weeks. Until next time ....

Ridin the Storm Out

Well, it's not technically here yet but is expected to increase to a Category 1 hurricane - Hermine. It's will come ashore then pass over the country house some time late tonight/early tomorrow morning & be just west of the city house a bit earlier. With the city house being on the East side, we are expecting heavy rain, high winds & a possible risk of flare up tornadoes. The kind that hop, skip & jump. Most schools in the area (far & wide, as this is a big storm) are closed on Friday.

I can't remember a time when there wasn't a storm on the horizon on or around Labor Day. It's the peak of the season. We are planning on leaving for the country tomorrow, for the weekend. Not sure what time we will be able to leave, all depends on the bands & when they will leave the area.

While waiting on the storms arrival I decided to finish the siblings quilts that I started a couple of weeks ago. Here's big sister's:

And you may remember the top that I made at the last quilt retreat:

I decided that the blocks didn't stand out enough & took it apart to create this for big brother:

I was please with both of them but especially the blue & yellow one. I'm still not great at binding (I get in a hurry) but I'm getting better.

Oh well, gotta go finish packing my car while it's not raining. Please keep those that are in the storms path safe.

Misc Update

Not a whole lot happening these days. My cousins wife had their baby. I think this is the sweetest pic. Big sister has been waiting patiently for little sister to arrive. She came a day early.

Here's the quilt top I made for the baby:

Before quilting & binding

Was headed to the country a few weeks ago & as I was leaving our city house something caught my eye in the front yard.

Yes, this was a turkey in the city. He was still hanging around when I got back but Nelly chased him/her any chance she got & I haven't seen him/her again.

Been busy tying up legal stuff for my mother. My sister & I sat at the SS office for over 2 hours only to be told (by an unhelpful agent) that the paperwork we had received didn't contain the right information & we needed to supply different documentation. Got that taken care of the next week, with an agent that was very knowledgeable & had us in & out within an hour. Part of her estate will go into probate so we'll have to deal with that soon enough. It's a huge run around with government agencies & banks & patience isn't my best feature.

Unfortunately, some of my country friends lost their Dad a few weeks ago. I had the baby shower to attend later in the week so I went up early for the funeral & was able to spend some restful reflective time in the country.

While there, I made arrangements for the counter tops for the barn kitchen to be delivered & installed.

Detail shot.

It's a quartz material which we love. You can set hot pots directly on it & it doesn't require any maintenance. Unfortunately the island measurements were wrong. The guy that measured only measured the width, not the length & presumed it was square instead of rectangular. There is supposed to be a 10" overhang by the sink side (to hide trash can) & 18" on the dining room side to be able to have counter seating. Hope to get replacement in a few weeks. It's aways something!

28" too short & needs trim out done, along w/stove vent.

I mowed grass & then relaxed the next few days while watching birds in & around the pond.

And fought off wasps.

Why do they always build their nests at door entrances?

My peach tree.

The other one, had 1/2 as many as this one & the wasps & birds had bitten into most of the fruit. I harvested about 10 or so over the course of a few days. They were very sweet & juicy. Had one for breakfast each day & brought back a couple to have w/my yogurt & granola for breakfast.

On the last day, Nelly & I were sitting on the back porch when I noticed this pack of dogs down by the pond.

There were actually 5 of them. They splashed around in the water & tried to see if they could get the fish feeder to give them some food. They didn't stay long.

Love the look of a mowed lawn.

Overall it was a nice visit & love the sunsets this time of year.

I'm staying indoors as much as possible these days. The heat is hard enough to deal with but this humidity is overwhelming! I'm going to work on a two separate lap quilts for the baby's brother & sister. One top is done but still cutting fabric for the other one. Will post pics when done.