[chocomouse]

In addition to using dried banana peels, I dry and crush egg shells throughout the spring, and scratch them into the soil around certain plants. We compost year round, and before I retired, I took a mason jar to work everyday and collected food scraps from colleagues.

[chocomouse]

Nice tomato plants! Do you have other plants in there too? or just one tomato plant in each?

Yesterday I discovered something had eaten 4 of my 6 broccoli plants and all 6 of my cauliflowers. I broke off one of the remaining broccoli heads, but could not get the last one because I didn't have a knife with me. This morning, I found that last one mostly eaten. Woodchuck. So now I have a critter camera hooked up to both my computer and my iPhone. It rings an alarm when it detects motion, and sends me a one minute video. We keep a rifle on the back porch.

And, we've had only one rain storm since June 23, although we do water veggies.

On a brighter note - the blueberries are ripening. They're blue, but still very tart and little flavor. I hope to be picking in another week or so. And severe thunderstorms with heavy rain is forecast for all day and into the night on Tuesday. Farmers are really hurting. All the storms have been going just south or north of us, and the farmers do not use irrigation around here like we see in the mid- west.

[chocomouse]

Today I made egg salad sandwiches, on mixed grains bread, for dinner. And for snacking, I made Puddingwiches. Does anyone remember them from the early 80s? I made them often for my two children - a nice cold snack on a hot afternoon. Today I used chocolate graham crackers, which I never heard of in the 80s, so I think they made only the "original" grahams back then. For the filling, I beat peanut butter with the milk and added instant, sugar-free chocolate pudding mix. I put them in the freezer for a couple of hours. My grand-daughter came to mow the lawn, and was happy to be a taste-tester! They are delicious!

[chocomouse]

We had a ham steak cooked on the grill, with leftover potato salad, leftover baked beans, and a salad of tomato, cucumber, and onion with Italian dressing.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by chocomouse.

[chocomouse]

My favorite blueberry dessert came from the local newspaper about thirty years ago, but is now posted on KAF as "Berries and Cream Cake". It is different - not really a cake, not really a cheesecake - and quick to make. It's not very sweet, has a generous amount of blueberries, and is very fattening. Do plan on cooking it a little longer than the recipe states, maybe 10 minutes or so.

[chocomouse]

My all-time favorite dressing for potato salad (which I made yesterday) uses Penzey's Italian dressing base (NOT Italian seasoning) - it's wonderful. I sprinkle it (a generous tablespoon for 4-5 medium size potatoes) on the cut up still warm potato and egg pieces, toss it gently, and put it in the refrigerator for an hour more or less. Meanwhile I mix mayo, Dijon, with chopped onion, celery, and bell pepper (any color works). When the potato is cool, I add the dressing. I know you use Penzey's, so maybe you have some of that Italian base on hand!

[chocomouse]

I checked my blueberries today, and found they are just starting to turn blue, so it will be a while yet. My first project (after eating a bowl full of just plain berries!) will be a blueberry cream cheese braid. It is based on KAF's Braided Lemon Bread - with variation. I make a layer of a thickened sort of blueberry pie filling and a slightly sweetened cream cheese layer before braiding. Sometimes I use lemon curd and thickened blueberries. Baker Aunt, my husband prefers our blackberries on his Frosted Flakes 365 days a year!

[chocomouse]

Len, I just checked on-line, and found this: "FDA approved flavor ingredients, water, propylene glycol, and caramel color." I don't know anything about FDA regulations and labels, but that does not sound "natural" or "pure" to me.

Skeptic, Route 7 is a beautiful drive- I hope you were here in early October! I live on the eastern side of the state, along the Connecticut River which separates Vt and NH. Are you able to buy Cabot cheese in your area? Once when I was traveling and in Chicago, we came out of our hotel one morning and saw one of the plaid Cabot Cheese cars in the parking lot! That was exciting!

[chocomouse]

I live in Vermont and we have been making maple syrup for 32 years, and my husband's family has been making it "forever." There is a relatively new grading system for syrup. I would use "Grade A: Dark (color) and Robust (flavor), which used to be called Grade B. It is recommended for baking and recipes that call for a heavy maple flavor. Maple syrup also is not as sweet as honey or sugar, so you might need more syrup than honey, depending on your sweetness preference. I do not like very sweet scones, and when I make maple walnut scones, I use 1/3 cup of maple syrup. But I also brush more maple syrup on top of the warm scones immediately when they come out of the oven. You could also try using maple sugar, which I think is a bit sweeter, or add some maple flavoring as Len suggested. We use only the Dark, Robust syrup in our house, as most Vermonters do, even for pancakes or over ice cream.

[chocomouse]

What a crazy gardening season! I have had blossoms on the bell peppers for a month, but they are not setting fruit, because of the heat. I must have, on my 6 Celebrities, about 40 tomatoes, each over 2" in diameter, some 4", but green of course. And plenty more coming. I have several heads of broccoli almost big enough to eat. Yet, we ate our first lettuces tonight. None of the spinach, kale, scallions germinated, and almost none of the beets.

[chocomouse]

I tried a new recipe, with several changes, for dinner tonight, penne with leftover thin sliced pork, broccoli, bacon, and a sauce made of half and half with parmesan. The flavor was excellent, but the texture of the sauce was off, I suspect because I used a pre-shredded parmesan instead of fresh.

[chocomouse]

I baked two loaves of our daily bread, but used a cup of First Clear instead of a cup of AP. I see no difference in flavor, texture, rise. I think I'll save my expensive First Clear for rye breads! I also made peanut butter cookies and added chocolate chips to the mix; one of my husband's favorites.

[chocomouse]

That's interesting. What proportions of first clear to whole wheat did you use? I'm going to try it in my buttermilk-maple-oatmeal-wheat next week. That recipe calls for 4 cups of AP or bread flour, and I usually sub for 1-2 cups of the AP either 2 cups of whole wheat, or 1 cup of rye or assorted whole grains and seeds. I think I'll start by subbing in just 1 cup of first clear for 1 cup of AP. I hate to waste my expensive first clear if it isn't going to make a difference!!

[chocomouse]

Dinner last night was grilled salmon, potatoes roasted on the grill, and leftover cole slaw. We're hosting a large family gathering today, so I'm doing a lot of cooking. I made a chicken-grape salad, and pickled cauliflower. I'm about to start a ham and cheese macaroni salad and baked beans. The temp for today is forecast to be 97, so I don't know if we'll have a fire to cook hot dogs and s'mores or skip that. Farm-fresh corn is available here now, but we don't eat it. It is advertised as "local" but that means three hours away, probably in MA; we'll wait for real local, 20-30 minutes away or less, from one of the many farm stands. Baker Aunt, it sounds like you make good use of your farmers' market!

[chocomouse]

Thanks, SWirth. I didn't have this thread in my files! Do you still have a big garden, or have you cut back in recent years? Since I retired, two years ago today, I've had six major surgeries -- but finally, this summer, I'm doing well. And so is my garden! I hope are well.

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