Rain Barrels ~ End of the Garden ~ Salmon Romanoff

I've lacked the motivation to do much of anything for winter prep, and slacking horribly.   I finally went out and drained all the rain barrels and flipped one upside down.  That was the extent of my "winter prep."  One barrel has poison ivy growing in front.  Wonderful.  I'm flipping the rest today.

It's a winter without beets as well.  I did my first dig and they are the size of the carrots - pathetic.  All that weeding for nothing.  Can't even save the greens - tops dying off.

I took some time to dig up more carrots, but if you saw my post about it, they are getting tossed.  No carrot seeds saved this year either.

I saved some of the carrot tops.  I'll have another post for that project.

More tomatoes were picked - 7#.  Last picking.  Plants are coming out.  I would have started it yesterday, but I left my knife in the house, and walking back and forth to get it was not on the agenda - too hot anyway.

Global warming has me concerned we won't be able to survive without a green house now.  This tough garden year really has be thinking about food shortages and with all the store food contaminations and recalls, I really don't want to be buying it.

I got some homemade condensed cream of celery made, and in the freezer for winter.

Salmon Romanoff was for dinner, with salmon caught by my oldest brother and gifted to us.  Yum!

Salmon Romanoff
1/2 finely chopped organic shallots
1 clove home grown garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. organic butter
1 cup organic cottage cheese
2 cups organic sour cream
5 dashes home canned hot sauce*
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lb. cooked salmon, flaked
12 oz. medium homemade noodles*
1 cup shredded organic shredded cheddar cheese*

Saute the shallots in the butter until they are clear, then add the garlic and cook about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and toss them into a large mixing bowl and add the cottage cheese, sour cream, hot sauce, and salt. Flake the salmon and mix.

Preheat ove to 325°F and lightly oil (or spray) 9 x 13 in baking dish.

Cook noodles and drain.  Stir into mixture and pour into baking dish.  Top with shredded cheese.  Bake approximately 30 minutes.

*5 dashes of Tabasco sauce can be substituted.
*I some times any non-gmo/organic store brand noodle too.  Amount of noodles can be changed as well.
*I like to put an additional 1 cup of organic shredded cheddar cheese in the mix too.  

I apologize for no photo of the dish, we took off right after to deliver some of it to two places.  I'll try to get a photo next time and add it to this post.

Another Recipe from Pile to File ~ Saucy Salmon ~ Winter Woes

I tried yet another recipe from my hoarded pile.  I did adjust it a teensy bit, and although green onion gives a dish color, I opted for shallots.

It's not really called "Saucy" but it did make a lot of sauce, so I think I could cut back on the sour cream next time.  I am lucky to be able to find organic butter, sour cream and cottage cheese at our local grocer.  I also had organic whole wheat rotini noodles on hand for this recipe.  The family fought over leftovers, they liked it that much.