Camping food........We started the month out relaxing on a camping trip and we ate great on that trip. I made this potato salad before we left so it was in the cooler waiting for us that night. Here we grilled up some turkey kielbasa along with fresh peppers and onions and served them on a hoagie roll. Pat said it is his all time favorite potato salad. It has a dijon mustard/balsamic vinegar dressing which is a nice change from the mayo base of typical potato salad.
Vanilla extract...........You should smell this stuff. I bought a cheap bottle of vodka and pat bought me an envelope of vanilla beans. I slit open 7 beans and dropped them in the vodka, put the top back on it and shake it occasionally when I see it in the pantry. It should take 90 days to fully ripen but it already smells like and looks like vanilla extract. We calculated that this bottle of real vanilla extract costs about 37 cents an ounce, a far cry from what it costs in the store. I started another bottle this past week since I plan to give most of this away. It will be ready for Christmas baking.
Gnocchi............I know this is not going to sound good but trust me. Gnocchi are just a fancy term for potato dumplings. I concocted these with fresh potato, swiss chard from the garden, garlic, seasonings, Romano cheese, flour and an egg from the girls. I boiled them like usual and them tossed them in the pan after the chicken was cooked so it could soak up all that seasoning. I have a bagful in the freezer for another couple of meals.
Tomatoes............we are still getting bowls and bowls of these. I have given them away, roasted them with olive oil and italian seasoning, eaten them by the baggie-ful at work and they still keep ripening on the vine. I guess they will continue to ripen until frost. Amazing, as we never planted them and this is year two of harvest.
French breakfast radishes...........peppery, crunch and cold. The chickens love the green tops. They are really starting to come in now that we had a bit of rain and a cold spell.
Carrots.......the chickens love these green tops also. If I shred any carrots that are too big they love those also. It helps their yolks get even more orange.
Oreo cookies.......homemade. I came across this recipe and had to try it. The cookies are delicious. Here are the rounds after they came out of the oven.
Here is a cheddar, italian herb loaf that was baked in the iron dutch oven. It smelled heavenly when it was baking.
Here are two loaves for Patrick's sandwiches. This is a three-seed loaf which is mostly white flour so I don't make it that often. He loves it when I do.
My final loaf for the month was made with Travis in mind. He is a white bread kinda guy but will eat wheat bread if push comes to shove.I know they will need some sandwich bread this week while they are here so I compromised and made this loaf that is 75% white flour. When I sliced it up it has a really nice crumb and texture. I might have to bake this one more often, even if it is just barely tan colored inside. Really easy to make and it made a 2-pound loaf, nice and big.
Lasagna.........with roasted cherry tomatoes, ricotta cheese, sautéed onion and spinach and pieces of butternut squash. Delicious! Good use of that butternut squash that I have a plethora of. The only problem it caused was it boiled all over the oven. The next night I had to clean the oven since I was too slow getting a cookie sheet under it. Oh well, the flavor was worth it.
Butternut Squash pie..........just like pumpkin pie. I tried a new pie crust recipe which i screwed up and it was awful. It did not affect the custard part though. It was delicious and I got to eat on it all week since Patrick doesn't like pumpkin pie . What a great way to eat you veggies.......squash, eggs, milk, sugar and seasonings.
Tomato soup and grilled cheese. ..........well, not your typical grilled cheese. I layered these up with Havarti cheese, thinly sliced apple, and honey mustard on some of that leftover cheddar italian bread
Garlic.........lots and lots of it. and onions also but I failed to take a picture of those.
We got the dehydrator all washed up today as I don't really want onion and garlic flavored apples.........seeing as October is the month for apples around here.
Beans............8 pinto and 9 black.We love beans and so do Travis and Carrie. These turn into chile, burritos, refried beans, quesadilla, etc, etc.......The pantry shelves were very low so I decided today was the day.
There should have been 9 jars of pintos also but this is what I saw when I opened the canner up. I know this is a common phenomenon for canners but for me it is a first. It is amazing to me that in the 100's of jars that I have canned over the past few years that this is the first time a jar broke while in the canner. Gad it was only cheap beans in there when it happened.
Enjoy your month. We have a busy October.......Carrie, et al arrive tomorrow and leave on the 16th. Patrick and I travel to Philadelphia from the 5th to the 9th for the national nutrition conference. I see street vendor pretzels in my future. Sorry but Philly cheese steak just doesn't sound appetizing to me.
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