Pioneer Woman at Heart

  We are still waiting on our paste tomatoes to turn red, but in the meantime, we are getting ripe beef tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers etc.  We have only gotten about 3 jalapenos so far.  We are getting more Anaheim peppers (jokes on us).  We'll take it, ha ha!  These were planted in another garden area (they were marked as bell peppers at the green house). If you read about our hot pepper devastation, something ate the tops off all 80-some plants (possibly very small baby rabbits got into the fence).  We located a few more plants, but definitely not enough to can cowboy candy, nor can pickled jalapenos, nor have enough for many other recipes we can, but a few is better than none. We are getting some kale, collards and swiss chard, but not in the amounts I had hoped for.  I will plant them much earlier next year, but we plan to get busy with a fall planting too. Creamy Cucumber Salad.  The recipe is from Real Food Dietitians (on...

  I posted this photo a few days ago, and asked if anyone knew what it was.  Well, with the help of my sister-in-law, and an app on her cell phone, it's been identified as Wineberry. In the early spring, I thought it was my red raspberry bush spreading into my asparagus patch.  I never got the chance to dig the sprouts out due to fracturing my foot. I did some research on this plant, and of course the birds planted it (they seem to be good at this).  However, it's an invasive plant, because it grows quickly and can over take the area.  Lovely.  It's actually illegal in some states to sell etc. I'm not sure I'll be able to dig them out until spring, as my asparagus has gone to seed and is very tall.  I'm going to do my best to remove it this year though. Apparantly, those spiky looking pods open up, and produce an edible raspberry.  Other than that pod, the plant itself, literally appears the same as our red raspberry plants. Oh, and the stems are ...

  Here is a photo of the other crochet tension ring.  It's hard to get a close up photo.  Each one is different.  There are actually YouTube videos online, and other videos, to view how to use them.   The rain is back.  Again.  I have a few new recipes to try.  No surprise there.  I seem to collect them again, but it's not all me ha ha!  My husband keeps finding a few for me to make.  One is a wrapped date recipe, but I am out of medjool dates right now. We seriously need to hire someone to get up on the roof.  We need a net or whatever they call it installed on the chimney of the woodstove.  We had another bird fall into the woodstove.  Just another job added to the to-do list around here. I used up a few more bags of our garden green beans in the freezer.  I have many more to use, so that is a good thing.   I actually doubled the most recent green bean dinner, so we have some to freeze for go-to ...

  Winner recipe!  New recipe tried! I had just enough cashews to use up, and the oven was already on, so..... Of course I used my homemade garlic powder in this recipe. Perfect for a chacturie board for any occasion. Delicious  as a snack. The recipe is free online with The Southern Lady Cooks. A bit sticky for a travel snack, but pack it up and enjoy it at your accommodations with cheese/crackers and a bottle of wine. It would make a nice gift too, along with some other creatively made food items, a bottle of wine, or specialty cheese/crackers.  The ideas are pretty endless. I've been experimenting with our frozen garden green beans.  I recently just tossed a bag full (maybe 3 cups) into an 8 x 8 baking dish, added 1/2 tsp. homemade garlic powder, and drizzled it with some organic olive oil.  Gave them a toss with some tongs, and baked them at 400° for 30 minutes.  I then sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top of them.  Oh my gosh!  Deli...