Pioneer Woman at Heart

I've been looking for a complete book on herbs, medicinal and culinary for a long time now.  I am pret ty sure there is n't a "compl ete" book prin ted, but this comes closer than some others I've read through.  It's pret ty thick too. Our library only has a 1996 edition of this book, but it's pretty close (but not yet complete) to a good resource.

I lied.  We have red tomatoes already.  I was hoping for a small break in between what is harvested, but God has another plan, ha ha!   I've been so tired, and worn out, and have not even had "tea time" on the porch lately.  Today, I'm making time.  I need the energy restored. I was walking from the coffee pot to the computer with a cup of coffee, and said to myself, "beam me up Scotty."  My 19 year-old was shocked, her eyes went wide, and she asked, "what did you just say?"  Ha ha!  She was surprised I knew a Star Trek catchphrase.     If you are wondering, I made two batches of homemade flour tortillas.  I made these with 8 tortillas per batch, so it was a bit time consuming, but delicious. 

It's been pretty humid here.  As you can see I can't get great photos due to the lens fogging up.  My zinnias did not do well this year, and I planted almost all my seeds.  These should be double the height.  Only three more areas came up, and all have stunted growth due to lack of rain.  I'll have to see if I still have the person's name who gifted me her Michigan seeds.  I had been saving them year after year, but this year I won't have much to save.  I have zero zinnia color in the very front of the house.  Kind of depressing, but it's been too hot to sit out there anyway.   I do love the color in my garden. Maybe next year it'll be nice and bright. I went to check on the laundry status yesterday, and found Tiger sleeping peacefully in the hamper.  Ha ha!  I didn't have the heart to wake him up, so I did the laundry later.

In order to make bread pudding the other day, which is what the whiskey butterscotch sauce was for, I had to bake the bread. This is apple pie bread pudding.  I bake it in a pie pan.  I've only made this twice, and each time tweeking the recipe a bit.  It's a bit dry on top, and not like the ooey gooey apple pie filling.  It's simply apples, brown sugar and corn starch.  However, when we top this with whipped cream and whiskey butterscotch sauce.....oh my!  It was my special surprise for Hubby.  He's back on days now, but struggling to adjust to sleeping at night.

I had a date with Swiss Chard.  It's growing well, despite heat and drought.  The next day it was kale.   Bread is still getting baked, despite turning the hot oven on, on a hot day.  Yesterday I think it got up to 95 °.   Dinner is PB & J on homemade bread.  I have little time to cook, and there are typi cally no free burne rs or space at t he stove for a dinner.  I w as canning again at 6pm.

We finally got another rain shower last night.  I haven't checked the weather forecast yet today, but it's wet out.  I'm running behind today.  I'm just plumb worn out, and needed the rest.  Don't we all? The humidity yesterday morning was thick.  My camera continued to fog up.  Here is Timmy resting in the heat.  See that pot?  It was one that was ravaged by a raccoon (or two or three), and there are green starts in it.  In fact, all but one (horehound) are showing signs of life, despite them getting turned over so many times.

The title should be "what's not happening" ha ha!  Hubby is still working 12 hour shifts.  I see him for about 2 hours from when he wakes up to when he returns to work.  Yesterday, I woke up early (surprisingly) and noticed he wasn't home. I texted that I was a bit worried.  He texted back "working till 10."  I texted, "can they do that?!"  That would be a 16 hour shift, and he has a one hour drive home.  Let's just say I was wide awake at that point. In the meantime. I have put 6 cups of shredded zucchini in the freezer.  It's not a lot sadly.  We need rain.  I can water with well water and some with rain barrels, but a good soaking is so very badly needed.  I put up about 2 more pounds of green beans too.