Good Day on the Home Front

For our first meal of the day today, I made Cheesy Egg Wedges which I haven't made for a while.  Wonder why as they are so tasty.  Well, I guess I do know why.  Cottage cheese is an ingredient and we usually gobble up the cottage cheese I make with either chopped up raw veggies or cut up fruit.  But I had just enough left today to use, so something made me remember this particular breakfast dish and I made it.

The original recipe serves six and is made in a 9" pie plate.  I halved the recipe this morning, baked it in a funny little 7-1/2" pie plate I have, and we still have one-half left over for breakfast tomorrow morning.  The eggs were served with a dollop of salsa on top, augmented by coleslaw made from some of our red cabbage and a sausage patty for each of us.

Fortified by that meal, we went out to clear the few inches of snow we got late yesterday.  I shoveled and Papa Pea shoveled and plowed.

Back inside, I tackled the jumble of papers and graphs and designs I've had spread out on the kitchen table and kinda, sorta, almost, nearly finished my garden plans for this coming season.   

All twenty-six 4' x 8' raised beds are figured out but for one small glitch.  Some dummy forgot to make a notation of which bed she planted the garlic in last October.  I even have a picture of it from a blog post I did then.

I've looked at this picture from all angles including upside down, but hard as I've tried, I can't tell exactly which bed it is.  Even though the bed is heavily mulched and has a cattle panel lying on top of it, which kept the mulch from blowing off in our fall winds, it's now thoroughly buried under a good quantity of lovely, white snow as are all the rest of the beds.  Bottom line, I may have to do a little quick juggling come spring when the garlic bed emerges from the snow.  I've left myself a little wiggle room to do that.

Other than making sure I rotate the crops planted in the field garden (as I do in the raised beds) and two new areas we've been working up for the past couple of years, there aren't so many different varieties of vegetables to pencil in for those areas.  It's mainly the veggies that need more room (potatoes, beans, pickling cukes, cabbage, shell peas, squashes) that are planted in the larger areas. 

This year (silly me), I'm also planting a block of Painted Mountain Corn.  It's the only corn variety I've ever grown successfully up here in Minnesota.  Being totally frustrated by our corn being laid flat by our high winds the last couple of years I did plant it means this year we've got to figure out a way of surrounding and supporting the corn patch to prevent it from happening again this year.  We've got a couple of ideas, and I would so love to get a good crop again.

Picture from the last time I grew it.

 When the ears are harvested at the right (early) time after development, they are actually good eating as "sweet" corn.  The dried corn is wonderful ground as cornmeal and the beautiful ears make outstanding fall decorations.

This afternoon 'twas time to strain and stash away the beef bone broth I've had simmering during the day.  Did that and made a big pot of cheddar-cauliflower soup for tonight.

The last couple of times I've made this, I've added cook wild rice, and we really like the added flavor and texture it gives to the soup.

More snow, possibly heavy, is predicted for this weekend.  I guess we'd better keep our boots handy and shoveling muscles at the ready.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Come again another day.  It rained sporadically yesterday morning.  Rained all last night.  Rained this morning until about 11 o'clock.  You can turn off the faucet anytime now, Mother Nature.

Thankfully the temperature has dropped a few degrees so it doesn't feel so oppressively hot and humid.  Just humid right now.

When Papa Pea came in from doing some necessary tasks outside mid-morning, he said even the ducks looked wet.  It's not a problem though because all the poultry have the choice of spending these wet days inside dry pens if they wish.  The geese and ducks would just as soon be out in the elements.  The chickens . . . not so much.

It's nearly noon now and I've got some B-B-Q'd duck meat I've pulled out of the freezer heating up for lunch sandwiches.  Still have oodles of cucumbers and cherry tomatoes so I'll made a cuke/tomato salad as a side dish.

A pan of Apple Slices is cooling on a rack on the counter, but they'll be too hot to slice before dessert for dinner tonight.  Or they may be cut into for "someone's" afternoon coffee break if "someone" has anything to say about it.  I don't drink coffee after my morning latte and find if I eat anything at afternoon coffee break, I'm not hungry come dinner time.  And when the cook isn't hungry, the cook doesn't want to cook.  At least that's the case for this cook.

Made a pot of Cheddar-Cauliflower Soup this morning with some of our cauliflower from this year's garden harvest.  This particular soup is always better the second day so that will be for sometime tomorrow.

The Swiss chard in the garden is abundant enough to make another Green Pie.  As soon as it dries out a bit (maybe by next June) I'll go harvest some.  After putting on hip waders. 

Seems I've been ignoring desk-type tasks lately so I'm bound and determined to work on them this afternoon.  (Somebody hold me to it, please.)

My List (which I keep on an 8-1/2" x 11" tablet) has one side devoted to "Inside" and the other to "Outside" items.  You can tell we've shifted (primarily) out-of-summer-into-fall mode because the "Inside" half of the paper is now longer than the "Outside" half.  Guess that means I won't have any trouble keeping myself busy until the weather changes in such a way that being outside is a smidge bit more desirable.

Unexpected Day At Home

Well, our game today (trip to Swamp River Ridge and back with a load) was called because of icy roads and high wind.  We were all suited up, packed and 'bout ready to go out the door when Chicken Mama called from the road (she had left 20 minutes before us) saying conditions were not good and she didn't want us to chance it today.

Papa Pea and I stood in the kitchen looking at each other and I said, "We really should do something outside since we're both dressed for it."  

He decided to go work on our hiking/snowmobiling/snowshoeing loop on the back of our property.  It suffered a lot of blow down damage over the summer (always does) and we never got around to cleaning it up this past fall.  So off he went and I went back to the wood shed and spent an hour or so chopping kindling in an effort to (start to) fill the kindling bin which I never got around to doing this past fall.  (We must have both really sloughed off this fall, eh?)

Then I came in and made a batch of Coco-Mint Cookies (Christmas-type thingies) that I haven't made in years.  By then hubby was back and walked out to get the mail since we probably aren't going out or needing to start a vehicle today.

I had made a big batch of potato soup day before yesterday and we had a lot left over.  I've gotten into the habit of adding veggies to the potato soup the second (or third) time around which I did for lunch today.  I added (frozen from the garden) broccoli and peas.  Frozen turkey meat from Thanksgiving and corn went into the pot, too.  Tasted pretty darn good!

But that isn't the soup I wanted to blog about today.  In answer to the request for the Cheddar-Cauliflower Soup recipe from my Unknown Nephew (I still don't know which nephew.  In California?  Or Illinois?  Or Florida?  Come on, fess up, Fella!), here it is.  (Dang, I know I wrote this recipe in a blog post before, but I sure can't find it in the archives.)

CHEDDAR-CAULIFLOWER SOUP

1 head cauliflower
1 medium onion, chopped (about 3/4-1 cup)
1 teaspoon dried parsley (fresh, if you have it, of course is better!)
2 cups chicken broth (about one can if you don't have homemade)
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon  flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch each of nutmeg and white pepper
2 cups 1/2 & 1/2 (I've used whole milk and/or half cream and half milk)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Wash cauliflower and cut into bite-sized chunks.  In large saucepan, combine cauliflower, onion, parsley and chicken broth.  Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer til cauliflower is tender.

In a smaller saucepan, melt butter.  Stir in flour, salt, nutmeg and pepper.  Cook stirring until bubbly.  Remove from heat and gradually blend in 1/2 & 1/2.  Return to heat and cook, stirring frequently, until very hot (but don't boil).  

Stir in the shredded cheese until melted.

Add cheese sauce to cauliflower mixture.  Makes about 6 cups.

The above picture isn't a fair depiction of the soup because it's the batch I was going to take out for our work day today, so it's cold and has been patiently waiting in the refrigerator right now.

The flavor of this soup improves the second day and it also thickens a little overnight so you may want to add a little water or milk when reheating it.

I use the same recipe substituting broccoli for the cauliflower.  Good stuff!

Okay, back I go out to my kindling project.  I love splitting kindling.  It's kinda mindless work, but provides good thinking time.  (For me, it's mostly thinking about not whacking my fingers with the hatchet!)     

Somebody's Stealing My Hours

Okay, so I realize we're coming up on the shortest day of the year.  Dawn these mornings seems to take for-EVER to arrive while 4:30 p.m. and complete darkness arrives . . . right after lunch it seems.

So daylight is definitely in short supply.  But come on, folks, we have electricity and a lot of lights and lamps in our house so there's no reason I should feel as if these days are super-short and going by at warp speed.  But I do.

Once again I'd like to issue a public apology to those of you whose e-mails have been languishing in my In Box waiting for a reply. It WILL happen.  It's just that the herd of turtles (that is propelling me along these days) is not moving very fast.

Each day I promise myself I'm going to get caught up reading all of your blog posts and get back to regular posting myself, but one thing or another keeps pulling me away from doing so.  (Ha!  Right now it's the timer telling me to go take bread out of the oven.  Back in two shakes . . . )

* * * * * * * *

We're still involved with moving Chicken Mama out of Swamp River Ridge and the Oatmeal Bread (cooling on the counter) and Cheddar-Cauliflower soup I made earlier is to be lunch for the crew of five we'll have working there tomorrow.  It's scheduled to be another big push day and we're hoping the 50% chance of snow doesn't fall on our parade.

Our wonderful neighbor to the east told us a week or so ago that he was offered an 8' x 12' solidly constructed wooden shed if he would move it off a client's property.  D said he'd be glad to set it up on his property and let Chicken Mama use it for storage.

We simply couldn't ask for better neighbors and friends than these folks.  We feel so blessed to have them in our lives.

So D and Papa Pea spent part of yesterday and a couple of hours this morning getting it up on  our flat bed trailer and moving it (very slowly and carefully) the 15 or so miles to D's property where it is ready for some of Chicken Mama's packed away things.  (I think she's moving some boxes in there as we speak.)

* * * * * * * *

I finally got some Almond Spritz cookies baked today to round out the Christmas cookie selection.  I swear spritz cookies are so temperamental that each year I should just plan on eating (quickly before anyone sees them) the first batch (or tossing it into the compost heap maybe even) because they come out so misshapen.  It takes me the whole batch of dough to get the "feel" of the press and be able to turn out something that actually is recognizable as a wreath or Christmas tree.  My spritz cookies are never pretty.

* * * * * * * *

Yessir, 'tis busy enough around here and I'm not finding adequate time in each waking day to do half of what I want to do.  The only explanation is that somebody is stealing my hours.  And I want it to stop!     

Santa Can Use His Sleigh

We finally got some snow! Only about 2" of it but it does a lot to make things look more like the holiday season.

Two days ago it was so warm here that Papa Pea washed all the vehicles in the back yard. Today he had to spend time clearing snow off of them.

I even got to shovel the deck off for the first time this winter. I always keep it shoveled because the dogs like to stretch out on it and take a sun bath on sunny days. This winter it'll just be granddogs Maisy and Tucker when they're visiting.

Will everyone please notice that under my down jacket I'm wearing MY APRON!? Yes, I've actually gotten into the habit of putting it on when I know I'm going to be doing a couple hours of cooking. Today I baked Italian Bread . . .

. . . to make into garlic cheese bread to go with the Cheddar-Cauliflower Soup I also made for our Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow night. Then I stirred up some Amaretto Freeze for dessert and set it in the freezer to firm up. Got some sugar cookie dough half done which I'll finish tomorrow.

Kinda nice to have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day fall on a weekend, don't you think? Seems to make it a little more special.

Late Breaking Bread Bulletin

My rye bread rose nicely (for rye bread . . . which ain't sayin' a lot) . . .

. . . and looked pretty good.

But the desired strong, bohemian rye flavor wasn't there.

It was yummy with our Cheddar-Cauliflower Soup for dinner, but I think a blind man on a galloping horse wouldn't have been able to tell it from a dense whole wheat bread.

I even increased the amount of rye flour called for in the recipe. What does a girl have to do to get a dark rye bread? Do you have to use molasses as the sweetener? Neither Papa Pea nor I care for a sweet rye so that's why I left out the 1/4 cup molasses in this recipe and substituted honey instead.

And how to capture that elusive robust rye flavor? Ah well, back to the drawing board. Or maybe I should more correctly say bread board.

Not Your Normal Thanksgiving Leftovers

Nary a bit of turkey nor green bean casserole could you find lurking in my refrigerator after Thanksgiving. But, boy howdy, did I ever make too many snicky-snackies for three people to eat. (Or as my husband said when he saw everything I made for us to munch on Thanksgiving Day, "So who are the other ten people you've invited?")

First of all, we didn't have a full day to spend relaxing, eating, visiting, eating, and sitting in front of the fire as we had planned. The unexpectedly high amount of snowfall kept our daughter from arriving at our house until a little after 3 in the afternoon.

Secondly, I just plain made too much. So last Friday with a very large container of cauliflower and broccoli flowerettes left over from the raw veggie tray, I decided to make a Broccoli/Cauliflower Cream Soup.

With the vegetables already prepped, it was an easy soup to throw together.

BROCCOLI/CAULIFLOWER CREAM SOUP

4 cups of mixed broccoli and cauliflower flowerettes
1 cup chopped onion
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour 3/4 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a large covered saucepan, heat the 4 cups veggies, chopped onion and chicken broth until veggies are tender.

Meanwhile, make a roux by melting the butter and mixing in the flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Slowly add the 2 cups of milk and cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Then mix in the cheese until it's melted.

Next stir the milk mixture into the saucepan of veggies and broth. Heat to serving temperature being careful not to boil. Even better the second day!

(You'll note by the above picture that I went wild and crazy and threw in some chunked up sweet red pepper that was also left on the veggie tray. The color value really added something to the soup if nothing else.)

Sadly, I still have some broccoli and cauliflower left in the refrig. And pickled herring, smoked fish, onion dip, Dill Pickle Roll-Ups, Smoked Turkey Canapes, and what does one do with about half a gallon (slight exaggeration) of spinach dip? There's an assortment of beer, wine and egg nog. (Oh, never mind, we can take care of that.) I also have a chunk of pricey specialty horseradish and garlic cheese that I'm afraid the chickens are going to get. Why did it taste so good this summer when I first bought some of it, yet nothing much but bitter when purchased for Thanksgiving? Hubby doesn't care for crackers so I don't normally buy many of them. (He doesn't even like my homemade ones! He must have been badly frightened by a cracker when very small.) Now I have three different varieties in boxes that have been opened and will probably go stale. (Crackers, anyone?)

Totally my error in making too much. I like variety so fixed quite an assortment. Just too much for three people. I've made my notes to myself so if we do this again next year, I'll be smarter about it.

At least we got a big pot of really good soup out of the leftovers. Would have been nice to have had a turkey sandwich to go with a bowl of the soup . . . but we won't go there.

Bring On The Snow . . . And Christmas!

During a pleasant, relaxing dinner with friends last night, we were discussing the up-coming big snow that has been forecast for us within the next few days. J and L are heading out today at noon to drive about six hours to her hometown for the holidays and figured they'd be ahead of the predicted storm. Not a very convenient time for 10-12" of snow since I'm sure many people will be loading their cars and hitting the highways today or tomorrow. I'm very happy we're going to be snuggled home except for a day trip to daughter and son-in-law's for Christmas Day. Of course, that in itself could be interesting since they have a four-mile long winter driveway they have to keep plowed themselves.

Tonight will be our Christmas Eve celebration here with Chicken Mama and Chainsaw Tommy. Yes, we have our Christmas Eve on Christmas Eve eve. (Confused yet?) We traditionally have a simple soup dinner . . .

. . . Cheddar Cauliflower this time. I made it yesterday because it always tastes better the second day.

We'll have individual loaves of garlic cheese bread with it. Baked yesterday so I just have to slice, butter and add the cheese before popping it in the oven tonight.

I was going to make Kringler for dessert but I am so done with baking right now . . .

. . . that I'm just going to put out a plate of the assorted goodies I've already made. (This picture is for you, K-Poo. Flashback?)

Let's see, what else is happening on ye ol' homestead?

We've had an ugly, huge burn pile in our open field since the windstorm that took down so many trees this past fall. We've been waiting for snow cover before burning it. So, day before yesterday, we called the Forest Service to make sure it was okay to burn now that we'd received the 4" of snow. They said it would be fine but to notify DNR and Law Enforcement which we did before putting the torch to it. Above Roy is adding old motor oil and gasoline to the pile hoping that would help get the damp debris burning.

Success? Well, we've got a good start!

There she goes! The majority burned but there was enough left that Roy pulled the remnants together yesterday and had another much smaller blaze to get rid of the last of it.

Methinks our Christmas tree this year is going to be coming down right around New Year's Day. It's a spruce (which is notorious for NOT holding its needles) and I've had to sweep up this many dropped needles almost every day from Day One. It's still been a lovely, full, purdy little tree though.

Finally, finally, FINALLY! Our hens are coming out of their molt and we've now getting at least three eggs a day. Enough to keep us supplied. Now that the Christmas baking is over anyway. It was a loooong, (eggless) dry spell and we really missed having our own eggs.

We have nothing on the schedule out of the ordinary for the week between Christmas and New Year's so I'm looking forward to sleeping in these gray, cold mornings, doing some reading, and spending lots of time in my quilt studio. Last night at dinner with our friends, we were reminiscing about when Roy and I owned and operated the restaurant. The week between Christmas and New Year's was always busy, busy, busy. For us in our personal lives, it detracted from the holidays and certainly wasn't a restful time of year. But it went with the territory and we were grateful for the business . . . but I'm sure glad I can say today, "Been there, done that . . . no more!" Yup. I'm sleeping in all next week. And enjoying the snow we'll have gotten by then . . . maybe. If the "weatherdorks" (as friend J calls weather forecasters) get it right this time.