[chocomouse]

Tacos at our house tonight.

[chocomouse]

So sorry you are having to deal with this Mike. Take all the time you need. I think you should also plan to take short breaks from preparing the quizzes every once in a while too (but stone-free breaks!). Maybe the rest of us could plan in advance and have some quiz items ready to post.

[chocomouse]

Today I baked a new KAF recipe for Fresh Apple Cinnamon Scones. They are delicious! I used a whole apple instead of a half, and added 3 tablespoons of boiled cider. The texture is a little more like a muffin than a dry scone - and I like that. I used up half a bag of Hershey's precious cinnamon chips, soon I will be forced to try one of the DIY chips recipes I've found online. Has anyone tried making their own chips?

[chocomouse]

Tonight we had BLTs. Tomorrow my husband will pick one last pail of tomatoes, all the peppers, cabbage, raspberries, and anything else except the brussels sprouts, as we have a predicted freeze of 30* here tomorrow night. I will be camping (brrrr) at the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend, where the temp is predicted to be as low as 25*.

[chocomouse]

Tuesday I made maple cinnamon buns. I won't be using this recipe again, although the consistency of the baked dough was excellent - very light and soft. But the dough was so soft it was very difficult to work with, and there was almost no maple flavor.

[chocomouse]

Today I baked a double batch of zucchini-raspberry-lemon muffins. I also made Chex Mix for my husband's football watching season.

[chocomouse]

I really enjoyed reading the article she linked to about the grocery stores stocking foods connected to the history of the region they are located in, and not putting ethnic foods into aisles marked "ethnic" but shelving them among foods from similar categories. As for tuna noodle casserole -- if I'm going to make that, I'm not going to bother to saute mushrooms or anything else, just throw in a can of mushroom soup and be done with it! Actually, I preferred cream of celery over cream of mushroom!

[chocomouse]

Today I processed another 5-gallon pail of tomatoes from the garden, now ready for the freezer. I used some of that to make a sauce with ground beef, and served that on penne. It's probably the best tasting sauce I've every made, and I've been making it for 34 years!

[chocomouse]

I am back in the kitchen! We cancelled our trip last week - my sister's husband had a medical emergency and spent some time n the hospital, and I had an allergic reaction to a post-op med for my cataract surgery. It's been a month that I have not been able to see much at all (I'm mostly blind in my other eye, due to a stroke) and I am so relieved to finally, yesterday, be seeing much better.

So, I got busy and made two 5-gallon pails of tomatoes into marinara and pizza sauce. I agree with Len - process the ripe tomatoes into sauce asap, but if you are too busy, just put them in zip-lock bags in the freezer until you have time or need more sauce. I've learned a new trick! I no longer dip in boiling water and peel -- just core, squeeze out a lot of the seeds and juice, cut into chunks, and whiz with a stick blender. The skins just disappear, but they add so much flavor and, I believe, nutrients. I prefer chunky sauce, so then I add onions, peppers, and celery (handy, since they are ripe at the same time in the garden), simmer a couple of hours, and package for the freezer.

[chocomouse]

Baker Aunt, I wonder about using a low-fat cream cheese frosting on these? Even if it is only a thin layer, not the thick, rich, delicious frosting that is more typical?

I made zucchini-raspberry-lemon muffins. It may be the last zucchini from the garden, but we'll keep picking raspberries for another month, as long as we cover some with a tarp if/when we get a freeze warning. They are good only for pies or sauce for ice cream when thawed from the freezer, so I try to use everything I can when they are fresh. My husband has them on his cereal every day now, too.

[chocomouse]

I haven't heard from Paddy, or anything about her, for a couple of years. I do miss her participation. I'll ask on Around Our Kitchen Table.

[chocomouse]

Nothing going on in my kitchen for a while! I had eye surgery (cataract) two weeks ago and then had a reaction to one of the post-op meds. Finally, tonight I can see enough to use the computer, although It's still very painful. And I'm going out of town, I hope, on Thursday, So all my cooking and baking plans have been put on the back burner -- with the burners turned off!

[chocomouse]

Dinner tonight was grilled chicken breasts, roasted potatoes, steamed summer squash and zucchini, and tomatoes and onions in Greek dressing. Baker Aunt, I"ll trade you some of my zucchini and summer squash for some of your green beans! I didn't plant any beans this year too cold and rainy and I was away several times when the weather was good for planting.

[chocomouse]

I made another Berries N Cream Cake, this time raspberry (last week I made blueberry). It is so easy and quick, but different. It's made in a spring-form pan with a dough base, then a quart of berries spread on top of the dough, and a sort of custard poured over that and baked for an hour. I'll post the recipe later.
I also made a batch of raspberry muffins, for the freezer stash.

[chocomouse]

I do "lazy composting", having tried all possible methods over 35 years. I have 3 open bins: 1. building this year's pile 2. sitting for a year 3. ready to use. I don't turn then, use a thermometer or worry about the brown-green ratio, just let them sit knowing it will take a year (they don't breakdown over the winter in Vermont). I collect garbage in a special small composting bucket on the kitchen counter, and transfer it when full to a 5-gallon pail on the deck, and then to the garden pile. We rarely have a problem with critters scavenging in it, not since the first few years (and after we stopped growing corn!). I do not put meat scraps in it, but do compost egg shells. Vermont has a new law in effect that we must compost all food scraps, including meat, we cannot toss them out with the trash, so I am searching for a commercial composter who will take my meat scraps.

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