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We see lots of blackberries developing in our woodlands and on our terrace. If we keep getting periodic rain, that will make for a wonderful crop, which means more jam and more of that great blackberry brownie recipe I found last year.
No blooms yet for the Early Girl Bush, one or two of the Better Boy, and the volunteer cherry tomatoes. One Better Boy and the cherry tomato plant my husband started has bloomed, as has the Goliath Bush and the Dester. The last two I bought already started at the farmers market.
The beans are starting to bloom, and my husband has replanted what the chipmunk got. The honey nut squash plants have emerged
The fairy tale pumpkin plants have emerged. My husband was worried when the three were taking a while, so he planted two more. Now there are five plants.
We have grown snow peas in the past, then they stopped doing well. Maybe we should try the hanging pot idea.
I got up early on Friday morning and made another batch of black raspberry jam. Once again, the yield was four 8 oz. and one 4 oz. jars. The lid of one of the 8 oz. jars from the previous batch did not seal, so I put it in the refrigerator for us to enjoy now. When I made that first batch, I forgot to wipe the rim of the first jar before putting the lid in place, so that is probably the jar that did not seal. We are in for another hot day today and tomorrow. We were fortunate to have a slight front come in last night to cool us down a bit. I still have plenty of black raspberries, but I need to buy another package of canning jars.
I also made chicken broth using the bones from the rotisserie chicken and bones in the freezer from when I roasted bone-in chicken breasts.
I needed to bake bread on Wednesday, as we used up the rest of it. My husband was trying to be conservative with it, but I pointed out that with the heat and humidity, it was starting to mold. As it is still very hot, I decided to make a 9 x 9-inch pan of rolls in the convection oven. I baked the Honey Oatmeal Rolls, a King Arthur recipe, but with changes. I replaced 2 cups of the AP flour with white whole wheat and the AP flour with bread flour. I replaced the milk with buttermilk and increased it from 1/3 to ½ cup. I added 2 Tbs. each of flax meal and special dry milk. I reduced the salt by a third and reduced the yeast from 2 ¼ to 2 tsp. The rolls were done in 28 minutes.
Hugs, Joan.
We re-ran the rotisserie chicken and quinoa salad. We will do the same tomorrow. It's not clear when the heat will break.
We are familiar with mud puppies and occasionally see them in the lake.
We spent a little less than two and a half hours at the woodlands early on Wednesday morning, where I picked over 2 quarts of black raspberries, which then came to 3 quarts with my husband helping out at the end after he finished his other tasks. We were fortunate that the clouds kept the heat down a bit. However, the clouds dissipated as we returned home, so it is in the low 90s.
I decided to make an easy dinner that would not require the oven, so I made quinoa salad (Penzey's recipe) with lima beans, corn, lime juice from our limes that I froze last year, and faux feta, so called because it clearly uses cow's milk not goat's milk. However, it is what the store had available. I picked up a rotisserie chicken to go with the salad. The rotisserie chickens now sell at the local store for $8.99; when we moved here seven years ago, they were $5.99, and occasionally there would be leftover ones marked down the next day. That no longer occurs.
Great stories, Joan!
On Tuesday, we had a break from the heat with morning rain that gave us 1/10th of an inch. I took advantage of the slight break to make and can four (8 oz.) and one (4 oz.) jars of Black Raspberry Jan, which is our absolute favorite. I used the black raspberries from our terrace (about 3 pints), along with the nearly 2-quarts that I picked at one of our woodlands on Sunday. I had hoped to have enough to make a second batch, but I only had 3 cups of mashed fruit, even after scavenging the bushes on the terrace for today's ripe ones, and I needed another cup. I will go back to the woodlands in the early morning tomorrow and pick more so that I can finish the second batch. I will pick as many additional ones as I can. We have not had a good black raspberry season for several years.
I made a farro stir-fry for Tuesday's dinner by sauteing chopped celery, sliced mushrooms, and grated carrot, then adding the diced leftover maple glazed pork tenderloin, and using half a cup of boiling water to clean out the storage dish in order to incorporate the rest of the glaze. I added just a bit more maple syrup. I would have added red bell pepper if I had had it.
As we still have a lot of frozen blueberries from last year's picking, I made blueberry cobbler on Monday for dessert. I baked it in the countertop oven so as not to heat up the house. I have now cut the sugar from 1 ½ to 1 cup in this King Arthur recipe. Perhaps the developer did not have as sweet blueberries as we are able to pick locally. The topping was a bit runny this time. Next time I will cut back the water a bit, especially when using frozen blueberries.
posted in wrong section so moved to correct one
I made a pasta salad on Monday for lunch, using one of the jars of relish that I canned last autumn. I added green onion, chopped carrot, and cherry tomatoes. I had it over a mixture of lettuce and spinach from the farmers market. I'll repeat this lunch for the next several days.
I also made yogurt.
Dinner was more of the maple glazed pork tenderloin and the rest of the mashed potatoes. We also had microwaved fresh broccoli.
We had to turn on the air conditioner today for the first time this year.
Jack reminds me of the greenhouse cat that my husband's department had. He was brought in to handle the mouse problem, which he did admirably, but what's a conquering hero to do when there are no mice left to catch? The answer was to try to escape at every opportunity, and to attack professors and greenhouse workers. Then he went for a student, so he needed to be relocated. As he is a registered official animal with the university, he was moved to an outdoor university facility, which suited him very well. He just preferred the great outdoors.
He may return if he gets hungry.
Sorry that you do not have black raspberries this year, Mike.
Today, I went to one of our woodland properties with my husband and picked a scant 2-quarts of black raspberries. More will be ripening in the coming days, so I will be going back for more. I have picked not quite three pints from our terrace, and there will be more there as well. It would help to get a bit of rain, especially with temperatures predicted in the 90s all week. Otherwise, the bushes will begin to dry up.
I plan to make at least two batches of jam this week, in spite of the weather. It helps that I am able to make the jam and do the canning in the Annex kitchen, thus keeping the house cool.
I saw this recipe for zucchini mini-pizzas (low carb), Mike, and thought that I would pass it on to you and Diane.
I made an early Father's Day dinner for my husband on Saturday. We had maple glazed pork tenderloin, muddled mashed potatoes, and microwaved fresh broccoli. We will be having a Zoom call tomorrow with all three of the children, and when setting up a time with people on Pacific and Mountain time, 6 p.m. was the time that worked, so we will zoom tomorrow, then warm up leftovers.
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