[chocomouse]

I've never been able to figure out how to put the cabbage into my Cuisinart to make nice shreds or slices. I've had that Cuisinart for 41 years now, and every once in a while I try again, but I always end up with mangled pieces of cabbage. I just use a big knife. I have 6 cabbages in my garden, medium size now - it looks like we'll be eating a lot of cole slaw!

[chocomouse]

Mike, the insert is 1 13/16". The opening that it covers is probably about 1". The actual opening is a little less than the diameter of the base.

BakerAunt, I've read most people saying you should not freeze cheesecake, but I do it a lot, and they are fine. Of course, they don't stay in the freezer for eons! You could sub Neufchatel cheese, etc. And I think there are any number of goodies that could be made in this pan. I'm thinking of a little brownie batter, and after it is baked, top it with ice cream and stash in the freezer.

[chocomouse]

I made mini-cheesecakes. They are vanilla, but I swirled some home-made raspberry jam into the centers. I see that KABC is no longer selling this mini pan, with the pop-out bottoms. I love that pan, and have made several different kinds of mini-cakes in them. I was thinking about buying another one since it makes only 12. I think I will search on Google. I now have another batch of crust and filling waiting to be assembled and baked. Does anyone else have this pan and use it for other goodies?

[chocomouse]

For dinner tonight, I have made a rotini-veggie salad with home-made Italian dressing using fresh herbs from my deck, and also a crabmeat salad. Savory rolls from the freezer will be a nice side.

[chocomouse]

BakerAunt, do you remove the skin from chicken before cooking? There's a lot of fat in the skin, but I find that sometimes removing the skin changes the flavor profile and texture of the meat significantly.

[chocomouse]

Tonight we had rigatoni with tomato sauce, hot Italian sausage, green peppers, onions, and parmesan.

[chocomouse]

Nice looking hubbard, Jamie! It'll be a real project to cut it up.

[chocomouse]

We ate grilled chicken breasts, steamed beets, and smashed potatoes.

[chocomouse]

Thanks for suggesting that, Mike; it's interesting to see all the choices available now. Back in the early 2000's, the use of greenhouse shade cloth by home gardeners was a new concept.

[chocomouse]

BakerAunt, a word of caution about bird netting for the blueberries. For about 25 years, we used tobacco netting; until it wasn't big enough to cover the row (10 plants, 50 ft row) and we couldn't find more to buy. So we tried bird netting (and also used it on our cherry trees). The holes in the netting are big enough to allow the netting to slip down over the berries - so the berries and some leaves get tangled/caught in the netting, with the berries on the outside, easy to be reached by the birds! We ended up getting greenhouse shade cloth through a local nursery. It was cut to our specifications (it comes 18 feet wide, and we bought 70ft), the edges were bound with heavy tape, and grommets put in every 10 feet so we could stake it to the ground. Then my husband built a simple structure, using metal fence posts topped with slats to drape the netting over. The bushes are now 6 ft tall, so is the supporting structure, and I can stand up under it to pick. The shade cloth we chose lets 70% of the sunlight through it, and is what nurseries commonly use over their greenhouses in summer to limit the sunshine. We put the shadecloth up just before the berries ripen (will do it this week) and take it down to store in the garden shed as soon as we have finished picking. It was expensive, but has been an excellent investment. If you don't have so many bushes, maybe you could look at a craft or fabric shop for some kind of netting, or tulle, or ?? If your only option is bird netting, I highly recommend some kind of structure to keep the netting off the bushes. I'll try to post a picture of ours this week.

[chocomouse]

Gardening is very discouraging this year. We are/were in a drought, for months. This past week, we had 3 days with temps of 89, followed by 4 days with temps of 90, followed by, so far, 2 days of constant rain, over 2 inches, and more predicted for tomorrow. I had lettuce, now beaten down by the rain, but think I can still harvest some. The beans are growing, 10-12 inches high, so should flower soon. The flowers we had on the tomatoes and peppers fell off with the heat, but more will grow. The weeds? Oh, yeah! they love it. But the gardener doesn't pull weeds in the heat or the rain. I'll try to get some photos next week.

[chocomouse]

Dinner was egg salad sandwiches, on the last loaf of bread in the house! Now I'll have to bake tomorrow, heat wave or not.

I've never heard of a jam maker, but will look that up. I rarely make jam, because my husband doesn't eat it and I don't need it. If I'm really wanting some jam or need it for a special recipe (like those Apricot Oatmeal Bars, made with any kind of jam), I'll make a batch of refrigerator jam, which is almost as good.

[chocomouse]

We had a wild thunderstorm with torrential rains pass through here about 4:00, but I was able to dry off the deck chairs so we could sit on the deck to enjoy the flowers and birds while grilling. We had boneless pork chops, roasted potatoes with Greek seasoning, and winter squash from the freezer.

[chocomouse]

Joan, I'm curious about "white acre peas". I lived in Savannah for two years, and don't recall seeing or eating or hearing of them. After looking it up on Google, I guess I've decided they are what I would call "green beans". They are not at all like our northern green peas, but they look more like green beans. How do you cook them?

[chocomouse]

Today I made a peach cobbler, after reading posts and sites by Joan, Swirth, Pioneer Woman, Tastes Better From Scratch, etc. I finally chose the "Quick and Easy Peach Cobbler submitted by Sheryle and posted here by BakerAunt. I selected this recipe because the intro states "It has more of a cake type crust instead of the more traditional biscuit." I did make a few changes. I cut the 1 stick of butter to 3/4 of a stick (and next time will try 1/2 a stick). I cut the 1 cup of sugar mixed with the peaches to 3/4 a cup, and it is plenty. I also baked it another 10 minutes because it just didn't seem to be cooked, and a knife inserted came out with wet crumbs on it. I figured it would absorb some of the apparently excess moisture (which it did!) but I'm trying to avoid a runny cobbler. This came out exactly the way we like it! It will be my go-to basic cobbler recipe from now on, just in time for blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

Joan's recipe is very similar, mostly just different proportions, but I decided against her recipe because I knew once my husband saw it, there would be none left for me!

[Author]

Posts