Wed. Sep 23rd, 2026

Mike Nolan

Forum Replies Created

Viewing 15 posts - 3,046 through 3,060 (of 8,089 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • in reply to: 2022 Garden Plans #33733
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      The Aerogardens I set up late last year had some spinach, I got 3 or 4 small pickings of it, then it pretty much stopped. The 'trim and return' process doesn't seem to work well on spinach, it works much better on leafy lettuce. With my parsley, I'd whack it down and 3-4 days later I'd have plenty more coming up.

      I didn't put any spinach in the new gardens. One garden has some parsley and 3 varieties of leaf lettuce, one of them a sample from Reimer seeds that hasn't germinated yet, and it's been two weeks. I'll give it a few more days then replant with a different variety. I'm trying some iceberg lettuce in the other garden, in 4 slots spaced about as far apart as they go, I started one the other day, I'll start the next one on day 6, then day 11 and then 16. I also put in a little more parsley, if the iceberg lettuce crowds it out that won't be a problem.

      My tomatoes, eggplants and melons under the grow lights are doing very well, I started around 65 seed starter pots, I think about 60 of them germinated. I have cages for 24 tomato plants; last year I wound up planting a few that weren't in the best shape, but I only started 35 tomato plants last year, and not all germinated/survived. This year I started 42 tomatoes, 7 varieties, I think there were 3 that didn't germinate, but I could still get some late starters. I think all my melons germinated and all but one or two of the eggplants. I'm going to start the other half of the melons in another week or two.

      I've already moved about a dozen seedlings into larger pots under a separate set of grow lights, I'll probably do some more later today.

      This year it seems to be a late spring, but I generally don't plant in the garden until late May anyway, because I've been burned by mid-May cold snaps too many times. I may put in one set of melons ahead of then, just to see what happens.

      in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of April 10, 2022? #33730
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        I had takeout Chinese, my wife had a grilled cheese sandwich.

        in reply to: War in Ukraine may impact food prices #33726
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          Sweet pepper prices vary a lot, I've seen them at $2 or more each lately, or 3 for $5, but I've also seen them at well under $1 each.

          I don't know what an avocado costs, we never buy them.

          Celery prices seem to be pretty high right now and iceberg lettuce was nearly $3 a head lately. I planted some iceberg lettuce in my Aerogarden, just to see how well it grows there.

          The last time we bought chicken at Popeyes, the legs were so small they were more like wings for size and amount of meat on them.

          I hear Costco, Sams and other places that do rotisserie chickens have told their growers to make them smaller so they cost less. (less time to feed means lower costs to raise.)

          in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of April 10, 2022? #33717
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            Thanks. I have tried several recipes, but for the last 10 years or so I've been using the recipe in the King Arthur Whole Grains book, using freshly ground whole wheat flour. I find I need to add quite a bit more flour to get a good dough, possibly because freshly ground flour has a higher moisture content than bagged flour, and it takes a really long time during bulk rise, up to 3 hours. It is a little cool here today, so I wound up putting it in the small oven using the proofer cycle (which really only turns on the oven light.) I also increase the cinnamon to 1 teaspoon.

            I make the rolls 1.5 ounces each, so I get 32 rolls from each batch, using up any excess on the center roll in each pan, because it needs to fill in the gaps.

            We had some with some chili, they're enough like cinnamon rolls that they pair well with it.

            in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of April 10, 2022? #33712
            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              I made two batches of Hot Cross Buns today, 6 plates of 8 rolls and 1 of 16 for our next door neighbors and their 4 kids. We'll deliver most of them tomorrow, but I took the big one over to the neighbors this evening.

              For icing I made a milk/powdered sugar icing but added a spoonful of softened cream cheese and a tablespoon of butter, just to give it a hint of cream cheese frosting taste. I left out the vanilla.

              It pipes easily and seems to be solidifying nicely on the rolls, I'm happy with it.

              hot-cross-buns

              Attachments:
              You must be logged in to view attached files.
              in reply to: War in Ukraine may impact food prices #33709
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                I'll be interested to see what the farmers market prices are like when they open up in two weeks. They're generally higher priced than store produce prices. Whether they're better quality or not is something not everyone agrees on.

                in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of April 10, 2022? #33706
                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  My wife heated up some soup and I had a large tossed salad with tuna fish.

                  in reply to: Bird flu outbreak affecting chicken and turkey operations #33704
                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    Another egg-laying operation in NE Nebraska has been quarantined due to bird flu, and 1.7 million layers will need to be destroyed.

                    The story on it in the Lincoln paper says that according to the USDA, chicken breasts are up $1 a pound in the past year and egg prices have tripled.

                    Until this bird flu epidemic subsides, those prices are likely to go even higher.

                    in reply to: War in Ukraine may impact food prices #33702
                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      If you think the 8.5% annual retail inflation rate that came out the other day was bad, the latest producer price index was up 11.2% from a year ago. That means more retail inflation is coming.

                      The talk of 'transient' inflation seems so outdated, now the 'experts' are just saying that inflation has peaked.

                      Somehow, I doubt that will be the case.

                      in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of April 10, 2022? #33701
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        Weather update: It was snowing heavily in Lincoln by 4AM, but the ground was still warm from Tuesday's hot weather, so it didn't stick.

                        My father-in-law, trained as a meteorologist by the Army during WWII, always used to say if you didn't like the weather in Nebraska, just wait a day. I think even he would have been amazed by the 12 hours from 5PM yesterday to 5AM today. We had hot weather, high winds, thunderstorms, heavy rain, hail, tornado warnings and snow.

                        in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of April 10, 2022? #33700
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          We had leftovers from yesterday's spaghetti with more cheese toast.

                          Then we had thunderstorms and a brief tornado warning as a narrow but pretty strong storm blew through, the temperature dropped from 91 to 61 in less than 4 hours.

                          in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of April 10, 2022? #33694
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            We had spaghetti with meat sauce and cheese toast.

                            in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of April 10, 2022? #33688
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              We had leftovers again tonight, but now we're pretty much out of leftovers so I need to figure out what I'm making next.

                              in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of April 10, 2022? #33687
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                I've already got Thursday blocked out for making several batches of Hot Cross Buns.

                                in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of April 3, 2022? #33677
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  Leftovers tonight

                                Viewing 15 posts - 3,046 through 3,060 (of 8,089 total)