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I'm slowly accumulating blueberries from our two little bushes. One had only a few, while the other has a reasonable amount. I might get enough for six blueberry muffins from it.
I picked the first two cherry tomatoes yesterday from the red plant. The yellow and purple plants have green ones. Out in the main garden (cherry tomato plants are in grow bags), the regular tomato plants have some green ones. My husband picked a few beans two days ago, but so far, it is not looking as if we will have the plenteous harvest of past years. One of the pickling cucumber plants is finally developing fruit. The bell peppers are so far disappointing. The potato plants have great tops, so we hope for a good harvest there.
The blackberries on the terrace are showing the lack of rain. We did have a good storm a couple of days ago, so I hope the ones on the woodland property are doing well. I have bought the bug repellent, Picaridin, that Wire Cutter recommended in the article that CWCdesign gifted from NYT. Apparently, it is not just ticks and mosquitoes that attack; there is, according to Scott's cousin's wife, a blackberry mite, which is the early stage of chiggers, and the mites are what bite us. Supposedly, this spray will repel them as well. I've also ordered a pair of used Patagonia workwear pants to help deal with the brambles. Once I start picking, I will report back on the success of my proactive defenses.
Ah, Joan is going all in at tonight's poker game! 🙂
Last night's thunderstorm helped cool us down a bit, so on Thursday morning, I baked a new recipe, "Deli Rye Rolls," from the King Arthur site. I used measuring cups for the flour and wrote down my own weights. My AP flour, at 302 g was close to their measurement of 300 g, but my pumpernickel weight was 174 g, compared to their weight of 135 g, a significant difference. I replaced the tablespoon of vital wheat gluten with 1 Tbs. first clear flour. I replaced 1 cup of the water with a cup of buttermilk. I deleted the 3 Tbs. of dried onions but included ¼ tsp. of Penzey's toasted dried onion powder. I reduced the salt by a third. In place of their Deli Rye flavoring, I used 2 tsp. caraway, 1 ¼ tsp. mustard seed and 1 1/4 tsp. dill seed. The first and second rises were just 45 minutes each, but the temperature in the house was 79 F. I made twelve buns, but they are a little small, so next time I will make just ten. I did not do the egg white, water, and molasses topping or sprinkle them with Everything Bagel or poppy seeds out of deference to my husband. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to report on the taste of the rolls, because I had one with a salmon patty with a slice of onion, which covered up most of the roll's flavor. Worth it.
That is a lovely cold plate dinner, Joan! I like those meals that are a little of this and a little of that.
Good move, CWCdesign to pick up the rotisserie chicken. We often do that when ending a trip.
I made salmon patties for dinner on Thursday. We had them on some of the Deli Rye Rolls I baked this morning, along with more coleslaw.
I made stir-fry for dinner on Wednesday using soba noodles and last night's leftover pork and deglazing from the pan. I used a mix of vegetables: carrots, celery, green onion, red and yellow bell pepper, mushrooms, a small zucchini, broccoli, and some bok choy. We had some rain in the early evening, which we very much needed, so it has cooled off a bit. We might be able to open windows tonight.
It was hot and muggy on Tuesday, so much so that we are leaving the air conditioner on tonight and the windows closed. For dinner, we had leftover coleslaw and warmed up the remaining roasted purple potatoes. Scott pan-cooked pork for dinner. Dessert was a small loaf of pumpkin bread from the freezer. We have not had such a long period of summer heat with no rain that I can recall since we lived here.
On Monday, I baked Big Lake Judy's Best Ever Molasses Cookies. I also made dough for Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers.
That is really hot, Joan.
I found some purple potatoes at the farmers market last Saturday and roasted them as chunks tossed in olive oil for dinner tonight. We also had the last two roasted chicken thighs, more of the coleslaw, and some applesauce. The purple potatoes have a slightly sweet taste.
For a late Sunday breakfast, I made Cornmeal Pumpernickel Waffles, much to Annie's delight, as well as our own. I froze eight Belgium waffle squares for some quick future breakfasts.
I'm glad to hear that you are doing ok, Mike.
I made coleslaw on Sunday, using an organic green cabbage from Kroger, a red cabbage from yesterday's farmers market, and some grated carrots. It's a big coleslaw, so we will be eating it most of this week, which is fine, as it only gets better. We will have some for dinner tonight, along with leftover roasted chicken thighs and the remaining bit of the stir-fry.
That is so sad, Chocomouse. We have been going to this place for nearly twenty years. It was sold to new owners five years ago, but the owners were careful about the couple to whom they sold it, and so far, they are committed to keeping it and are doing booming business. Is the place only a U-pick, or does it also do commercial blueberries? I ask because I read that the blueberry business is highly dependent on Canada, in that the blueberries are grown in the U.S. but processed in Canada before coming back. (I think this was in a Marketplace email. I wish that I could recall the details more clearly. With the tariff-stuff, a lot of integrated industries will have problems.
Our dinner tonight was leftover stir-fry. I did not cook at all today, but I did bag and freeze thirteen 4-cup bags of blueberries.
Good one, Mike!
We went blueberry picking on Friday, which meant leaving here around 7:30 a.m., so I had a very light breakfast of granola with milk. When we came home, I decided that brunch was in order for me, so I made Cornmeal pancakes to go with my coffee. Annie is also fond of cornmeal pancakes, although she prefers waffles.
In the afternoon, I made Rye Blueberry Chia Jam Bars for dessert tonight, using the blueberry chia jam that I made yesterday. I adapted the recipe to use avocado oil instead of butter to reduce saturated fat. I realized that it is another accidentally vegan recipe in my baking repertoire, so I'm ready if any vegan family members visit.
I'm not impressed with the commercial frozen blueberries I used. They seem rather bland compared to the ones we pick.
I hope all went well with your dental surgery, Mike.
Scott and I went to our local blueberry farm on Friday. We arrived before 8 a.m. and left with twenty pounds of blueberries at 10:30. Tonight, I will wash them and spread them on paper-towel lined trays to dry overnight before I freeze most of them.
I made my last batch of black raspberry jam and got five half-pint jars. I heard at least four pings, so I know that most sealed.
I roasted six chicken thighs for dinner. We each had one with the remainder of the potato salad. Chicken has been more expensive lately, but Kroger had a package of ten on sale for $1.29 per pound when we shopped yesterday. I froze four for later.
I also made yogurt.
Joan, when you bake cookies for the poker game, I always imagine someone saying, "I see your cookie, and I'll raise you two cookies!" 🙂
We had a busy day, so we re-ran last night's stir-fry.
I want to get back to trying new recipes, and on Wednesday, I pulled out one that I had on my list, "Rory's Irish Scones," in The Baking Sheet, Vol. XII, no. 2 (Early Spring 2011). Amy MacDonald Persons sent them the recipe, which she got from Simon Pearce's A Way of Living. These are simple, butter-less scones that use buttermilk and come together fast. I made a half recipe and whipped them up quickly for breakfast. Although the recipe says that it makes 54 scones for a full one, those must be exceptionally small scones. I had hoped to make 27, but I ended up with 14, and those were small. I used the option of making them with half whole wheat flour. I will definitely bake these again--a full recipe next time--especially as it gives Scott something on which to put jam when having tea, thus taking the pressure off of the regular loaves of bread.
After breakfast, I baked Maple Granola, as we were completely out of it.
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