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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.
I cooked a lot on Wednesday. I began by making chicken broth, using the bones from chicken breasts that were in the freezer. I later used that broth to cook farro for a stir-fry with ground turkey and lots of vegetables (carrots, celery, green onion, red and yellow bell pepper, mushrooms, and bok choy). We have enough for two more meals.
Earlier in the afternoon, I made Refrigerator Blueberry Chia Seed Jam. The elder bonus son left behind a 3 lb. bag of blueberries in the freezer in the Annex. He apparently bought the frozen blueberries on his way here and did not realize that they would thaw, so the blueberries are in large frozen clumps. He did not even open the bag. Sigh. My idea is to make rye bars with blueberry jam filling (my vast improvement of a King Arthur recipe with a hideous filling). If that goes well, I will use the rest of those blueberries for more chia seed refrigerator jam and freeze it to use later. I need to make room in the freezer because we plan to go pick blueberries on Friday.
Len and Navlys--your dinners sound delicious!
We had the rest of the pecan encrusted pork chop and more potato salad for dinner on Tuesday. I also pulled some apple sauce out of the freezer, which goes very well with the pork.
On Tuesday, I baked three loaves of Whole Wheat Oat Bran Bread. Two will be frozen, and we will begin slicing the third one tomorrow at lunch. We are currently having cooler weather, so baking does not overheat the house.
For dinner on Monday night, I made potato salad. It really does make a difference to steam rather than boil the potatoes. The texture is much better and there is no waterlogging. I also made pecan encrusted pork chops, which I baked. We have leftovers for tomorrow.
We returned on Sunday from spending two nights at Spring Mill State Park (founded 1927, with the Inn and park structures built as part of the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s during the Great Depression) near Mitchell, Indiana. The inn has been closed for three years for renovations and re-opened this spring. We were escaping the fireworks so that Annie would not be terrified into catatonia, otherwise, heat and humidity make it a less than desirable time to go to a state park. We were fortunate in that yesterday morning, as well as this morning, were cool enough for a hike with Annie (with a bit of creek wading to cool her down), although today was warmer. Scott and I also hiked around 8 p.m. on Saturday for a half hour. We met up with one of Scott's cousins and his wife at the inn and had lunch at the buffet, which featured fried chicken and brisket, which we don't usually eat. Once in a blue moon is probably fine, and they are famous for that fried chicken. We were also pleased that the park's water mill is back in operation, although we did not have a chance to get over to Pioneer Village where it is located to check it out, as dogs are not allowed in the village area. They had to replace the mill wheel, as well as other parts. However, Spring Mill now has its stoneground cornmeal again, which is simply the best cornmeal I have ever used for baking. Naturally, I bought two bags, put them in the cooler for the trip home, and now they are in our freezer.
Dinner tonight was simple: the remaining turkey zucchini loaf, and I cooked 1/4 cup bulgur in Penzey's chicken base, which I mixed with the remaining vegetable and rice stir-fry to make enough for dinner. Tomorrow, I go back to proper cooking and baking.
Mike--I hope the surgery goes well and that you have some soft food prepared in advance.
Our blueberries are beginning to turn. I ordered bird netting from Gardeners' Supply a week ago, but when nothing seemed to be happening with the order, I called them today and learned that it would ship in NOVEMBER, which was not mentioned when I ordered it. I canceled the order. We will have to see if we can rig something else to deter birds and other animals.
Aurgh! Store-bought bread! Of course, I was out of cookies and ended up buying a package of Newtons earlier this week, so we do what we have to do. Sigh.
I had a cup of zucchini left over from the meatloaf I made last night, so on Thursday morning, I baked Zucchini Muffins, using my adaptation of the Shipyard Galley recipe that King Arthur sent out long ago in an email (back when they communicated with customers on a more personal level.) I had one for breakfast, saved one for tomorrow's breakfast, set aside one for Scott to have with his tea today, and froze the other three.
I also baked my adaptation of Ellen's buns, but I made them as sixteen rolls.
I made yogurt on Thursday, a day earlier than usual, as I will not have time to make it tomorrow. For dinner, we had leftover Turkey Zucchini Loaf and leftover stir-fried rice with mushrooms and peas.
I baked Soft Oatmeal Cookies on Wednesday morning. These will be for our 4th of July trip. It was hotter today than expected.
How exciting to get the first tomato, Mike! I bought two packages of turkey bacon on our big out-of-town shopping trip on Tuesday and stuck them in the freezer, so I can be ready for tomato sandwiches or broccoli salad, whichever comes first!
I found the first zucchini of the season at the farmers market last Saturday, so dinner on Wednesday was Turkey-Zucchini Loaf with Peach-Dijon glaze using jam I made last year. I hope that peaches will show up at the farmers market again this year. I also needed to use up a pound of mushrooms, so I sauteed them in avocado oil, then added some frozen peas, then mixed in brown and wild rice cooked in chicken broth from the freezer, along with half a cup of cooked rice I had frozen.
For the rice, I used my new Green Pan rice cooker. I bought it online at their factory sale. I have been pleased with their pans. I chose the traditional style (push the tab down and wait for it to pop up when the rice is done). The liner is ceramic, and it washes up nicely. It is supposed to be a 6-cup model, but it seems a bit small. However, I rarely cook that much rice, and it is nice to have a rice cooker that gives me the option of cooking just a small amount. I can always use the old one if I need to make a lot of rice for some reason, but the old one will likely become our travel pot for heating up soup in motel rooms when we travel or making rice if we go for another stay in Florida.
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