In Season Recipes

Sherryc

Teka and mandy you are so right.  Since I have cleaned up my eating I feel so much better.  And the homegrown fresh veggies taste so much better.

Teka

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Sherryc

Well I got my potaoes, onion and brussel sprouts planted.  Hopefully I'll have everything else planted this weekend.

Wonder where Bludin is, I always love hearing about her cooking.  I had baked chicken tonight.  DH had a late meeting and waiting for him to get home.

Blundin2005

Sherryc--I'm here...been lurking. Thanks for thinking to me. We've had too much on our plates lately. But your gardening plans are keeping me enthused and educated. I grately appreciate this. I'll be on the look out a mushroom compost. I'm scalling down my ambitions for the raised bed...maybe a few pots on the shelves against the sunny wall instead. We'll see.

ciao for now,

M 

Teka

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Sherryc

bludin so glad you checked in.

Anonymous

Here is a pic of some of the food we had at my friend's Mardi Gras party.  She had muffuleta(sp) sandwiches, shrimp Jambalaya, red beans and rice, gumbo, and some other not quite theme foods....hurricane punch, and I took bourbon slush and pralines......have seen much better looking pralines, but mine tasted good.       The other pic is me having high tea at the Ritz in Chicago......I went for a dental meeting, but one day my friend and I decided to skip classes  and went to tea and shopping.   I am wearing my new wig as I am now 7/8 of the way bald.   

apple

SherryC.. you have me jealous and drooling. We actually bought a 2.2 acre parcel.. the land is pretty Kansas, not too lush and fruitful but full of potential.. We do have deer which we need to keep out.  My energy level is low these days and my husband and boys are too busy to put in some beds for me (altho i do have asparagus, rhubarb, and easy place to grown greens and spices) my deer totally ate the hot garden of tomatoes, peppers, okra and eggplant.   totally.  And yes, they are my deer.. they are soooo cute.

Fortunately I have a new awesome job in a cluster of small towns as a Sunday organist.. I'm thinking that if I look gaunt, people will bring me some tomatoes, or will at least point my in the direction of great produce stands.

I'm really jealous, altho where I live, there is great shopping potential and I am on the edge of farmland.  I planted 6 fruit trees last year.. but we had such a drought.  I'm hoping they made it.

... and Marybe - I am 7/8ths of the way bald too!  high five!

 I need to visit this thread more often.

Sherryc

apple your place sounds wonderful.  Deer can really wreck havock on a garden.  You really have to put some fencing up to keep them out.  Be sure and tell people you just don't have the energy for gadening but love fresh veggies and i'm sure you will have more than you can eat.

Marybe the Mardi gras party sounded fun.  I love visiting New Orleans and love cajun food.  the high tea sounded fun as well.  sometimes you just have to skip out of those meetings.

Mandy1313

MaryBe your party looks fabulous and gave me an idea of what to make for my husband's birthday today!! great ideas for me there!!  And tea is always such great fun.  You look lovely either way...new wig is great.

Hugs to all.

mandy

Teka

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Anonymous

   Mandy,   Are you going to do NO fare for the party?  I had a Mardi Gras party once for Halloween and there were some great costumes, but of course for b'day you could skip that part. Mexican is an easy one too.....margarita punch a must!!     I am going to have a 90th birthday party for my Dad in May.....he's expecting it, talked about it before I ever thought of doing one again since I never know what sort of shape I will be in.   We did a huge one on his 80th, but this will be smaller, family from out of town and also maybe the friends he has left and also some of mine to help me get it all together....30 at most.    We are going to do German fare since that is where it all started for the Brunners.....a lot can be made ahead and we will grill brats and mets and of course have Bier auf dem fass.    Last time we did a This is your life thing and I had his former newscaster friend who was the commentator for his Rotary meetings and I wrote this little script that my cousin and I stayed up until 4 :00 AM putting background music to the script  which as it turned out no one could hear anyway, but it was fun.  It is sad, but I was looking at pics from that party and half the people who were there are deceased now, but not everyone makes it to 90.

I wore a dirndl last time and a few of the cousins and friends wore flowers wreaths in their hair. It was fun.   Our German relatives were planning a trip to the States this year and I was hoping they could come around the time of the party, but they wrote back and said they are having to put the trip off til next year so that is out. 

Mandy1313

Marybe: YOu are just amazing!!! I think I'll have to arrange for you to do my daughters' weddings.  This is just for dinner for hubby and me. Your New Orleans party made me think about his roots half of which are from the South.  So it will be part New Orleans (shrmp creole, rice) and part southern (biscuits, mint julip for a before dinner drink).  I bought bananas and I am thinking of bananas foster for dessert.  But I'd bettter get going..the birthday is today!!!

Hugs.

apple

Teka.. I am hoping the fruit trees are planted far enough back on the property that the deer won't make it up there.. They didn't find the trees this last year and we have them somewhat protected.. not that chicken wire will stop a deer from eating tasty buds and twigs.  I heard that hanging Irish Spring from the branches would help. - it certainly is fragrant.

Teka

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Blundin2005

Marybe--what a spread! We could have much fun together.

Apple--beautiful new avatar...Irish Spring is a turn off to me...it should work on deer:-))

Today's lunch was ravioli filled with speck and cheese. The sauce was leftover from last night's dinner of wild chicken cooked in red peppers and tomato sauce. 

"

 I made some black bean soup with carrots, onion and prosciutto ends. 

The vines came down...became too heavy. We replaced with bamboo and I'll keep the top free of vines. Now I need to get creative with plants. 

A little visitor...6 week old St. Bernard puppy visited while the work was being done on the vines. 

We're busy putting humpty dumpty back together again after the unusual past months of weather. I'm also planning a trip to US to visit family...needed to renew my passport first...ooops.

Also, refreshed the dog garden...spread lime and mixed it with earth, spread some seeds for clover then watered.  Hope something takes. Moved a rack from the terrace to the lower garden full of sun. Bought som lettuce and daffodils.

My sister told me that if you let the lettuce go to seed (water less) that the stalks that grow this will attract finch birds.  Now that's a nice mix. I'll buy more lettuce and mix it with flowers. 

Best wishes to all as always, 

Marilyn

apple

Marilyn - you are lucky to have access to speck.. (the ham?)

i had some once it is so.. absolutely delish.  We have a dry cured ham or two made in America.. I haven't tried them but intend to.

Teka

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Blundin2005

Apple & Teka: Yes indeedy, the speck was delicious. 

Last week I had my yearly onco check up. All in all, not bad. The doc (who I respect very much) and me negotiated a few items. I see him again in a year. And as this is one of my least favorite appointments, my DH prepared one of our favorite dishes for lunch...fresh cheese from the Sardegna sheep herder. Juncata and Ricotta that we ate with crisp bread and, yes, wine. (The wine is one of the negotiating items I had with the onco doc...he said it was non-negotiable.) 

Yesterday DH made veggie soup, while I was working putting the garden back together again after the men removed the vines and the strange weather we'd had destroyed some plants. The dogs work along with me canvasing every corner until they need to stop and lay in the sun for awhile to build energy...they know where to get their vitamin D. My labs revealed I'm down a quart and need to boost it. Time to get the hammock out.

I want to share one more story. It may seem religious and taboo to discuss, but in fact I think of it as human interest and I know you all enjoy that.

I have a statue of the Blessed Mother on the marble ledge near the front door. She's been there for six years, from the time of my bc diagnosis. I bought her at a roadside truck for 10 euro. My mother has one in front of her house in PA...been there since I was a very young girl. Now I confess that I've strayed from the dogma that surrounds her history as I educated myself to the other religions that exist in the world...what I found was the similarities. So this Lady came to represent all of the women in the world, their strength and weakness, their compassion, their contribution to all of life. Last Thursday someone took her from my ledge. Coincidently it was the same day celebrated here as the Day of the Women...more widely known as International Women's Day. I was heartbroken. DH said that someone probably needed her protection. I accepted that, but I also thought more to what she represented to me...unconditional love. That love that I came to know as Agape can't be bought or sold, only given and received, and never stolen. So the incident gave me the opportunity to ponder on that. 

Today, as mysteriously as she left, she's back! Someone returned her to the ledge during the night. As deeply as I was hurt three days ago, I felt the joy of this good news...and good news is hard to find these days. I woke my husband to tell him...and now I'm telling you.

I have more work to do in the garden today.  My son called yesterday to say they booked their flight to come visit us. My sister is on her last week of radiation therapy. DH is cooking in the kitchen. Life is good.

Best wishes to all as always,

Marilyn 

Anonymous

Marilyn,   Maybe someone really did need her for awhile and that was why they took her....either that or some kid took her and when his mother found out made him bring her back....but either way, she is back where she belongs and I am happy for you. 

I always get so jealous looking at your fabulous meals (they make me salivate) ......even when it is something simple, it just looks so appetizing and perfect......even your prep area is appealing to the eye.  Ah, to be in Italia.

Ditto on the Irish Spring, although I did used to like the guy in the commercial.  St. Paddy's Day is right around the corner and I am going to be making my cookies in the shape of Shamrocks. 

I hope all your fruit trees make it, Apple.  

Teka

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Blundin2005

Marybe, Teka--The conversations with friends and family about the missing statue have been similar. I told a friend this morning that maybe we don't need to know where she went...the privacy of that is something to treasure. I'm glad she's home too. I potted some pansies for her...maybe the flowers will speak to the person who took her in ways they'll understand.

Teka...you are a card! I have some friends who study physics and swear that translocation is possible.  Maybe it's the activity at the Cern these days...who knows. Afterall, did you ever imagine the Internet! 

Thanks Marybe for the comments about the photos. If you're ever in the neighborhood, there's a place at our table.

They don't celebrate St. Pat's day here...I miss that. My mother's roots are 100% old bog sod. My father's roots were English and French. Mom's meal for the day was ham, cabbage and potatoes cooked together in one pot. She made my grandmother's Irish bread (I still have that recipe). It was so good right out of the oven with butter on it. I'll look for the recipe and post it.

Buon fini settimane,

Marilyn 

Anonymous

I love corned beef and cabbage and cook that as a one pot meal.....corned beef, potatoes, carrots and cabbage.   I was expecting to eat a lot of corned beef and stews when we went to Ireland, but was amazed at how good the food was.....lots of good fish and sauces on the meat and a big variety of dishes.   I think that was where I had my lst goat cheese salad....not a salad with goat cheese, but this big slab of goat cheese which I think was encrusted with nuts as I recall.  

Teka

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Blundin2005

Teka--the puppy was adorable. She came with the man who had the truck to remove the roof and debris of vines from the terrace. She was 100% adorable...6 weeks old and her first day away from her mother...she weighed as much as my dogs already! My dogs are very jealous and made that precious package to feel very unwelcomed.

Here is my great grandmother Rogan's (Antrim County) Irish Sweet Bread: 

Begin my mother's note typed on an index card: 

GRANDMOM ROGAN'S SWEET BREAD (FAMILY RECIPE)  

1/2 lb. butter & 1/2 lb lard

(Measure 2 quarts of water, set aside and add as needed) 

 dissolve 2 yeast cakes in 1/2 cup  in lukewarm water 

6 eggs

2 pkgs, raisins--finger shake through flour

half handful salt

2 lb. sugar

About 5 lb. of flour--add until elastic in consistency.

Mix ingredients alternately (dry & liquid) and mix until elastic in quality. Let rise twice in size, punch down and let rise second time.

Put into loaf tins and bake 300 degrees, 2-4 hours in electric oven.  Bread should sound hollow when tapped, if baked properly!

Butter top before baking for soft crust.

Makes approximately 10 loaves. Enjoy! 

End my mother's notes. 

My notes: I've made this bread many times. It took some practice. There is a Christmas Cake too. Also, I used to save coffee tins and cook the bread in those..baking tins were expensive. I don't think coffee tins exist any more do they? They made perfect bread tins. 

As my mother said...enjoy!

Sherryc

Made turkey parmesean last night with fried cabbage.  It was so tasty.  Now lot's of leftovers so I took some to my mom.  she was glad to not have to cook

Mandy1313

Marilyn:  Thanks for sharing the recipe.  It seems great though I will try to make somewhat fewer loaves....I will let you know how it comes out..  

They still do have coffee tins though they are probably smaller than they used to be--you used to buy 16 oz of coffee and the new tins are only for 12 oz.....I have several loaf pans so I am ok with that.  I always make sweet breads as gifts for Christmas so I have lots of loaf pans.

Hope everyone has a nice day!

Mandy

Teka

*Sweet Biscuits Recipe*

2 c. all-purpose flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

1/2 c. granulated sugar

8 Tbsp. butter

3/4 c. whole milk

1 egg

Sift first 4 ingredients. Blend in the butter. Add whole milk and egg. Do not knead or roll out dough. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 400* for 10 minutes.

Mandy1313

Teka, I've already added your recipe to my file. Hubby will love them!!! He grew up on homemade biscuits.

Teka

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