Garden Clean-up

With our horribly dry and hot summer in 2011, I was all to happy to neglect the garden.  It seemed that the only things producing were the squash and the grasses and weeds.  I was not about to pull weeds in 100 degree heat.  I'm just not that young anymore.  (Although I am sure I still look it!)  When it did finally rain and cool off the veggies went nuts.  Of course this was right before the frost killed them and most tings went to ruin.  Now all those seeds are out there as well.  I look for a lot of volunteer plants next summer.  If there are any plants next summer. The weatherman says the jet stream pattern looks to stay the same.  Great!  Maybe I'll just manure and mulch it this year.

e

Tomato plants needed to come down.

Raked leaves and hay, too many weed and grass seeds to let it stay.  We will burn it later.

Still had some Swiss chard that was good.  Picked it for dinner!

Nice and clean

New Things

I took the girl to Crest for groceries tonight and found some fresh herbs grown hydroponically. I am hoping to keep them alive until spring. I had rosemary make it through the horrible summer and so far it seems to be doing well in the house. I guess we'll see. Hopefully I can set them and my pineapple plants out on nicer days.

I also like to buy mangoes on occasion but rarely do because they are such a pain to cut. Not any more! I found a mango splitter at Williams-Sonoma. I didn't get it there, but this was the first time I had seen one. Later in Target I saw they had them (and for less) soI picked one up. It is awesome and I will be buying more mangoes from now on!!

Honey Marshmallows

Someone asked for my recipe, so here is my foavorite.  I like it because it doesn't require you to keep an eye on a candy thremometer (But you do have to wattch to make sure it doesn't boil over) or an extra step of whipping egg whites.  It is a firm marshmallow, so it is good for roasting.  You also don't have to use as much corn syrup because much of it is replaced with honey.  But let's face it, we aren't makiing these for health reasons anyway ;-)

Enjoy!  It's the bonfire time of year!

Honey Marshmallows

2 ½ tablespoons unflavored beef gelatin

½ cup+ 3 tablespoons water (divided)

½ cup light corn syrup

¾ cup honey

1/8 tsp salt

3 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

Powdered sugar

Line a 9 x 13 baking dish with aluminum foil, slightly overlapping edges.  Spray foil with nonstick coating or use shortening, butter, or coconut oil.  Coat evenly.

In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water.  Stir and let stand.

In a heavy 3-4 quart saucepan over med-high heat, stir together sugar, corn syrup, water and salt until well blended.  When the sugar dissolves, raise the heat and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring.  Boil for 30 seconds then stir in the gelatin mixture and extracts.  The mixture will boil up a bit when the alcohol evaporates from the extract.  Cook and stir for another 30 seconds.  Remove from heat and stir until gelatin is completely dissolved.

Pour mixture into a large bowl being very careful, this is HOT.  Preferably with a wire whisk attachment on your mixer, begin beating mixture on low, slowly raising to high speed.  Beat mixture until stiff, white and very fluffy.  With a hand mixer this can take up to 10 minutes.

With an oiled silicone spatula, scrape mixture into baking dish.  Allow to stand uncovered for at least 6 hour or overnight if possible.  I put it in my microwave to keep the pests away or you could cover it with a dishtowel, but you want it to be able to get some air to it.

To cut the marshmallows, grease a pair of kitchen shears (or any scissors).  Turn marshmallow onto a cutting board covered with powdered sugar.  Sift more powdered sugar on the top of the marshmallow.  Cut to desired size and roll in more powdered sugar.  I like to have a zippered bag with some powdered sugar in it and just drop them in and shake them to coat.  Then take them and shake off excess sugar.  Store in air tight containers.  These freeze very well and are great for roasting.

Fall is Here!

I know it has been here for a while now, but the trees are really in rare form this year in Oklahoma.  I don't know if it just my imagination, but the leaves seem to be so much more vivid this year.  Maybe it's because of the drought, or maybe it really is just me.

Just a test picture, but it is a weird looking pumpkin!

Since it had gotten below freezing a few times, I have had to bring in my pineapple and rosemary. I  trimmed the pieapple up a little both for looks and convienence.  It was a little big to walk around in the laundry room.  I'm glad I remembered to bring them in.  Last year I managed to kill all my pineapples and rosemary.  Hopefully this year I can keep them happy in the house.  They'll appreciate it next spring.



Habanero Jelly

Well,I finally have a moment to post something, and here it is. I got my first batch of habanero jelly made! I will make another this evening with apple cider vinegar. I made several batches of jalapeño jelly last week and I will get pics of that posted later.

I have not (and will not) try the habanero. Jeff says it's hot and sweet, like me! What a suck up! Anyway, the jalapeño strawberry jam is awesome, like him! Ugh, enough of that.

Hiatus Over

Well, it's been awhile, and I have several things to post. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get some pics up while I get some work done.

In the past couple of weeks I have picked over 50 pounds of peppers. They have been frozen, smoked, and turned into jelly and jam. More to be made tomorrow along with some bison stock. I don't really need more bison stock, but I do need the freezer space!

Waiting All Summer for This!!

What have I been awaiting?  Why my first decent cantaloupe of the summer(only the third overall) of course!.  Here is the picture and the cantaloupe is now sliced and chilling.  There are about 20 more out there that will ripen over the next week.  When it rains it pours.  Unless it really is rain and the year is 2011 in Oklahoma.  So, there is not a lot new to post today, but here is some of what I have done in the past week'

We mowed!  It rained last week and so what little grass there is left decided to shoot up.  I will say, there was a silver lining to the drought/heat wave.  No grass burrs.  They need water just like everything else.  The problem now is that they are sprouting up in a fury.  For two hours Monday night, Elijah and I dug up grass burrs.  I saw them in my sleep.

I am usually so sick of harvesting by this time of year that I just start pulling plants.  Instead, we have made it through the heatwave (probably not the drought, thanks for the encouragement local weathermen) and I am just now starting to get production from the garden.  My peppers are still going crazy, but the tomatoes are just driving me crazy.  I am going to go out and trim them up today and see what they do before the feast.  After that, they will probably be pulled.  i did make some salsa the other day.  I had to use canned tomatoes from the store.  Tastes fine and is a much richer color, but it is still just not the same.

Jalapenos, garlic and onions

Same thing after grilling

Sam's contribution to my salsa

Easy way to chop

Just need jars now

Something else I waited all summer for, my morning glories to bloom.  I was a little surprised when they finally did  I was expecting a purple and white striped flower instead they are solid white.  That is at least the third thing I planted this year that is not what the labeling said it was.  Just a little annoying.  Well, they are still pretty.

I should have rotated this shot, but too late!  Okay, really just too lazy.