Island Escape

Well, I'm here to say, Hubby whisked me away again.  It was all spontaneous.  Very spontaneous.

It all started with taking the Harley in for a tire change.  Pretty soon, we were picking it up and going out for a ride, only for him to tell me we were leaving the next day - our first overnight motorcycle ride. Panic set it since I had 36 hot banana peppers to deal with.  However, you can see I got that done before we picked up the newly tuned up Harley on Thursday.

We literally went to bed Thursday night without reservations on our favorite island.  The next morning, he pulled his typical magic, and we had a room.  

Off we went.  

Hot Banana Pepper Mustard Sauce

My restocking mode is really kicking into full drive here.  I got one kiddo to cut up my hot peppers, so I could zip up to the "big city" and drop off a motorcycle tire.  We wore it out already and we needed a "tune up" and new back tire.
When I got back home, the peppers were ready for me.

 I actually weighed my 36 peppers and they weighed bout 2 1/2 pounds.  

Since I gave you all too long of a blog post yesterday, today's is super short, ha ha!  The first batch of mustard sauce has been made.  Whew! I took the photo when it was still bubbly hot, and right out of the canner pot.  8 pints of goodness.

Recipe is posted here:  Pepper Mustard Sauce 

If you give a Mom a dip to make.....

You know that poem about "if you give a Mom a muffin" and how she gets side tracked?  Well, after I did my morning routine exercise, I headed out to see what needed harvested.  The zucchini looks pretty bad, and I have ants chewing away on them now.  Cucumbers look oh-so, not good either (sad about that), and only one yellow squash to bring in.  

One daughter reminded me upon entering the kitchen, that I bought organic cream cheese to make a cracker dip we like.  So, I returned to the herb garden, where I could not even see the green onion I needed. 

I'm not sure if passing cars saw me throw my hands in the air and started talking to myself...."where do I start?"

Everything was a muddy mess from the rain, and it was hot and humid.  Very humid.

 

I ended up pulling all the "tall" stuff out.  Then I couldn't stand it, and went around and got more weeds pulled, but had to fight off an onslaught of sweat bees.  Even my homemade bug spray did not help.  I went inside about noon, and had mud all up and down my arms from swatting bees, and never even cut the green onions.  It will take a few more days to tidy up the herb garden.

Alfredo Sauce the Healthy Way

I have been in my kitchen for 3-4 days straight now, and well, that's normal for this time of year.  Pretty much all summer and fall.

I had been baking one last zucchini/blueberry cake (hoping not to pack any pounds on), and decided I needed to try a new healthy dinner recipe.

I quickly took a photo before I finished my dinner.  I made an alfredo sauce using cannellini beans, garlic, lemon juice and vegetable broth.  The recipe comes from Clean Eating.  I used some Amish made noodles we were gifted last Christmas.  I really should be rotating out my homemade noodles.  I guess that will be my next project.

Blueberry Bourbon Barbecue Sauce

I've been cooking with booze (again).  This time it's with blueberries.  When Hubby whisked me off to Kentucky, we visited a restaurant that had the best steaks.  They also served salmon with blueberry bourbon barbecue sauce.  It was delicious.  

I had to try making it myself.  

I thought it would be best to measure all my ingredients prior to starting.  Jalapenos were from my garden, and boy are they hot this year.

Peaches ~ Plums ~ Apricots ~ Blueberries

I'm getting more peach jam put up, and for the first time, plum and apricot jam. All jams are reduced sugar.  These will go fast in my family.  I can utilize the plum and apricot with other meals, not just PB and J's.

The plum jam is delicious! 

So is the apricot!

I'm  starting to put enough fresh plums, apricots and peaches in the freezer to enjoy all winter too.  I'm freezing them until our our trees start supplying us an ample amount.

Glorious Rain! ~ Homemade Graham Crackers

Thank you all for your happy thoughts and prayers for rain to arrive.  It arrived yesterday afternoon.   It poured for a very short time, but it came down hard. I was so relieved.  I think the downpour lasted only 15 minutes, but it was better than nothing at all.  Today, I will be checking for any new squash, and broccoli to pick.  And tomatoes. 

 

While it rained, I baked some homemade grahams.