Nope. The last two days were partially filled with a bit of this and that in the way of harvesting and putting up food.
Yesterday we woke to a temp of 45 degrees outside, and 60 degrees inside. I do believe we may have turned the corner toward real fall weather. (Yippee!) And, yes, the house was a little chilly. Before sitting down to breakfast, I pulled on a sweatshirt over my regular outfit and then put on a zip up the front sweatshirt over that.
Sounded like a good day to bake something so I put a cherry coffee cake in the oven. Even though Papa Pea had hinted for "something blueberry" (the baker lady was hungering for "something cherry"), he seems happy enough with this coffee cake to eat his share.
I've been thinking of making the first batch of Stuffed Green Peppers so went out into the garden to see if there were enough good-sized peppers to pick. No problem there.
I also had several slicing cucumbers in the spare refridge that I wanted to use for a couple/few more quarts of kimchi. So I gathered the other ingredients together for that. All from the garden . . . except the sweet red peppers. We don't have quite a long enough season to have the peppers turn color. Most years. I think our summer of unusually high temperatures would have done that this year if it hadn't been for our extremely long, cold spring.
Don't the layered veggies in the jar look purdy? Not for long because I dump them into a bowl and mix them up before putting back in the jar for the fermentation period.
They're still colorful when mixed though.
Today I made the batch of stuffed peppers and got them in the freezer to quick-freeze before wrapping them for storage. If I counted all of them correctly, the total is enough for eighteen meals. One more batch like this one and we'll be set for this winter. We don't consume all of them ourselves. They make an easy company meal and nobody at our table has refused to eat them. Yet.
Tomorrow? Ugh. I've got to put on my big girl panties and attack those dandelions in the strawberry patch. Double ugh. (Blankety-blank weeds!)
22 comments:
Looks good! I have a friend's peaches on the kitchen counter and our pears to use. Fruit time! 90's here but cooler temps on the way, low 50's at night next week...
Nancy - Oh, for homegrown peaches!!! On our last property in Illinois we had a wonderful pear tree and each year I canned them in a light syrup. How we enjoyed a small dish of them as a dessert during the winter time.
You're still in the 90s during the day . . . gak! Glad it cool down at night at least. I know we sure feel better being able to snuggle down and sleep well at night.
So productive! And YAY for cooler weather! Clouds have moved in here, with the good possibility of some sprinkles next week.
Congrats all around from cooler temps to winning the coffee cake lottery. She who cooks eats!
Two technical questions please. Since I make stuffed green peppers also what is your filling comprised of?
And what are your steps, besides annihilating Dandelions, do you take with your strawberry plants when you put them to bed for winter?
It's cooling down here in NE GA too. The leaves are just turning and falling. My agenda today calls for a year's worth of salsa to be made. For us, tomato season is still going strong.
Michelle - Sounds like fall to me!
Goatldi - I did a post (a while back) with my Stuffed Green Pepper recipe in it. You can find that by typing ahomegrownjournal.blogspot.com/2016/08/stuffin-them-peppers.html. If that doesn't work, let me know.
Strawberries: I have hubby set lawn mower at highest setting, about a month after they've stopped bearing, and mow down all the plants. This gives them a crew cut and invigorated, strong, green growth before going into hibernation for the winter. That's the state they're in right now . . . with the vigorous dandelions growing, too. After one or two hard frosts, I cover them with a deep layer of mulch (old hay or straw) for the winter.
Cockeyed Homestead -I would think our colors would be ahead of yours but it sounds like they're just about even. I do think our color change is late this year, but I've read that it always coincides with the amount of daylight/darkness . . . so it should always be the same each year, right?
Oh, to have enough ripe tomatoes to make tomato products like your salsa! I am green (red?) with envy!!
Your weather cools down, and you go into a baking, Winter-prep frenzy!
My weather cools down, and I talk about making a pie.
Do you see a difference there???????
>,-))))))))
Used your link, in another place... and it brought me to the Sr. Gr. Peppers recipe!
Hooray!!!
wisps of words - Have you ever seen that Anne Taintor poster (showing fashionably dressed woman stretched out on a chaise lounge) that says (something like): "I had an urge to clean my whole house. But it passed." Your first comment reminded me of that! ;o) I love your sense of humor!
Glad Blogger got you to the right place for the recipe. Sometimes it does strange things!
The coffee cake looks good and so doesn't the stuffed peppers and kimchi.Thats going to be so rewarding in the middle of winter. You do keep very busy. How's the socks coming along? I agree that knitting is very addictive. It's good therapy.XX
Lynne - I think "therapy" is just what I need right now! I'm currently working on a pair of socks for the big footed man around here (aka Papa Pea) and my daughter (who has feet that take after her father's) has already picked out the yarn she would like for a pair next.
To say I'm looking forward to winter this year is an understatement. My husband keeps telling me these days to "take it easy" and to slow down, and I tell him, "Just watch me come November 1st. You're gonna think I'm comatose!"
I'm glad someone has had good luck freezing on cookie sheets. Has never worked for me. Those stuffed pepper look beautiful! Maybe I could do something similar just putting them away a flat as possible in bags. Hope.
I promised Michelle I’d be back and I am... and so glad I figured out how to get my iPad to work with blogger so I can read posts again. Your peppers and kimchi look beautiful. I cut back on our garden this year and we went to raised beds (like 2 feet deep) and hubby filled them with manure from our local horse barns in March. It didn’t compost enough, so the only thing that grew well was cabbage.
Wow, what glorious goodies. I love that your garden is still producing so well. Mine is balking because of the heat. 45 degrees! How I long for that.
The weather turned here in Northern Virginia too (at least for the weekend). I put on jeans and a light jacket last night to take a friend out for a belated birthday dinner. It felt so odd! I gave her a zoodles maker. They are fun.
Today, I am going to can a bunch of Balls Zesty Salsa so I’m very happy for the rainy cool weekend. My sweet tooth is hankering for something too. If I have the time, I’ll try a new recipe for lemon poppyseed muffins. I also need to make some more granola. My guy mixes it with his Cheerios which is weird. It’s better with yogurt and fruit.
Anyway, what do you stuff your peppers with? Do you blanch the peppers first? When using them, do you thaw or just put them in the oven frozen? I guess you just pop them in freezer bags. I cannot grow decent green peppers. Banana peppers, yes, but try stuffing those! There’s a grocery near me that has green peppers for a decent price this week so I was thinking of maybe stuffing and freezing some hence all the questions. Thanks in advance 😀
Phil - Not sure I understand what you're saying about not being able to quick freeze on cookie sheets. After my peppers are frozen solid, I wrap them in freezer paper for long term storage.
Ruth - When we've had horse manure we've let it sit and settle for a year before adding it to other compost and putting on the soil. I'll bet those cabbage that grew in your new raised beds were big and strong!
Leigh - I know you can't do much gardening during the warmest part of the season where you are. Have you put anything in for a fall garden?
Katie C. - If you want to look up my Stuffed Green Pepper recipe, it's in a post I did a couple of years ago. You can use this link: ahomegrown.blogspot.com/2016/08/stuffin-them-peppers.html.
I do blanch my peppers for just 3 minutes be stuffing them. When I want to serve them, I take them out of the freezer several hours before putting them in the over, and let them defrost on the counter. Cover with grated cheese and bake. That seems to work best for me.
I've frozen mine in freezer bags, but for some reason wrapping them in freezer paper seems to keep them better for me.
What a good harvest! My husband and son would love those stuffed green peppers. We don't "do" peppers here at our homestead...my stomach does not like them and complains loudly when I do accidentally ingest one. However, I can eat jalapenos. Go figure! But - I am sometimes nice and make them their stuffed peppers. A treat for sure. I am intrigued with the layered veggie jars!
Thank you! I’ll go get peppers today. I canned two batches of salsa yesterday. I forgot just how long, because you have to skin the tomatoes first and chop a ton of ingredients, it takes. I was definitely tired last night. As a result, no baking was done so that’s on the agenda for today.
MrsDM - My daughter can't tolerate green peppers either so I know of what you speak. If I didn't make these stuffed peppers in the huge batches I do, I don't think I'd ever make them individually for a meal. (Too much work!) So I hope your troops appreciate it when you do make a meal of them especially as a treat!
Katie C. - Cooking from scratch DOES take time, there's no getting around that. The other night I was standing in the kitchen getting together a (rather simple) dinner for us when hubby walked in. I said, "Cooking takes so much time!!" And he commented that's why it tastes so good. Your salsa, I'm sure, is worth it!
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