Garden Oddities

I have been so busy this summer that I haven't talked much about the garden.

Yes we did plant a garden.

Yes we did get a ton of good stuff.

Yes we have been preserving and canning.

Here are some of the overall oddities of our garden this year:

We had a tremendous amount of volunteer plants.

This is a spaghetti squash growing in my tomato patch. I did not plant this spaghetti squash. It grew here all on its own.

I had several other squash plants volunteer this year (spaghetti, yellow and butternut, along with some pumpkins!) as well as several tomatillo and tomato plants.

Volunteer gardens are the best!

The items that did the best this year, besides the squash (we have had a bang up year!) were the peppers, tomatoes and strawberries!

Here is a before and after pic of my strawberry patch.

An additional oddity: I am STILL getting strawberries! In OCTOBER. (For those non-gardener types out there strawberry "season" is typically early summer in most areas.)

I took that top picture two days ago. The bowl of strawberries was about a week and a half ago. ODD!

The raspberries are confused as to the season as well. I took this picture on Sunday, too.

Squash:

I have already cooked at least two butternut squash, several (6 or 8) acorn squash, a few spaghetti squash, and this isn't all of what is currently in the "pantry" room. PLUS I have several more of various types still on the vine outside!

Peppers:

Again, this is just some of what we haven't used yet! We have made multiple types and batches of salsa with peppers, we have made chili, we have roasted and frozen a bunch of peppers, we have dried some peppers, we have frozen whole peppers, we have eaten fresh peppers....It is an understatement to say our pepper garden was a success this year.

Tomatoes, oh tomatoes.

Just a sample...we have more than this still ready to eat, plus we have smoked and frozen gallons of them, diced and frozen, cooked with them, dried them, eaten them fresh every day for MONTHS, made multiple sauces, used them in the salsa and the chili...and on and on. I personally planted almost 20 tomato plants (I know) and then I got another  AT LEAST 10 volunteers.

All I can say is that it is a good thing I love tomatoes.

Things that did less well this year than in years past include the basil, cucumbers, eggplant and green beans. We did get some of everything, but not the yields of years past. But, that is part of the joy and wonder of gardening. You just never know what you are going to get!

And just because it is cool and Chris wanted me to post it, here is a picture of a praying mantis that was hanging out with me in the basil patch one day.

Did you garden this year? How did you do? Any crazy producers or oddities?

Mid-Week Food Prep

Sunday isn't the only day of the week you can do food prep. It is just the most popular, and that is understandable.

Many people consider Sunday the "gearing up for the week" day of the weekend; I know I do! So Sunday is often the day that we cook a roast, or a whole chicken, or make a big pot-o-something to eat on for the week (chili and big crock-pot meals come to mind!). 

But, Sunday isn't the only day you can do it!

Take tonight for example. 

It's a Tuesday evening and not much is happening at Casa Beebe. There is no Monday or Thursday night football to watch, no pressing house chores to do, no homework (yay!).

I was making fish for dinner on the grill.

I decided that since I already had the grill going I should go ahead and cook up some turkey sausage to have for easy protein additions to my  lunch for the week. I didn't make a whole chicken or a roast this past weekend, so I don't have an easy protein source for grab and go in the morning this week. 

While that was going on I was thinking about what should be on the menu for tomorrow night. I decided some of our home-grown spaghetti squash could be used up, and since I was already in the kitchen waiting for dinner to cook, I might as well throw that in the oven.

I pulled some homemade tomato sauce out of the freezer and stuck it in the fridge to defrost overnight. I also pulled out some ground chicken breast to defrost. 

Tomorrow night, all I will have to do is brown up and season the ground chicken, toss the defrosted tomato sauce on top, heat it through and then put it on top of the pre-cooked spaghetti squash. EASY! 

I love easy. Especially on a .... HUMP day! (I love that commercial!)

Dinner tonight was rock fish that we caught ourselves, alongside some steamed broccoli and some home grown butternut squash that I roasted on Sunday. 

If you are in the kitchen making dinner or prepping food, pause for a moment and consider what else you could easily do in that moment that will make life a little easier. 

Do you do mid-week food prep? Do you add extra this or that to the grill? Why or why not?

Picture Friday

Sometimes I go through my pictures and realize I have taken several and forgotten to post or comment about them. So I decided I'm going to post a few pictures I've taken recently that haven't seen the light of the internet. Because we all know that if it doesn't show up on the internet then it isn't real!!

Enjoy!

Cat Fight!

 Outside time.

 Birthday dessert: cheesecake!

 Grouchy face.

 White Russian with Pinnacle Chocolate Whipped.

 A beautiful sunset.

 Big kittens snuggling.

 Valentine's Dinner: filet mignon, prawns, baked potato and broccoli.

 Flowers from my grandma for Valentine's and Daisy being bad.

Snuggles with Roscoe.

Have a great Friday night everyone! 

Exhausted!

It's been a long time since I did a weekend review post, most likely because in the dead of winter there isn't much happening. But with the warmer temperatures, sunshine and spring right around the corner we have gotten back into our bust-a-groove!

Chris had the weekend off call, which is so nice! He is in full swing with his boat project. I haven't talked much about it here on the blog, but basically he ripped out all the interior, pulled the motor and pulled out all the old structural supports that run lengthwise down the boat (they are called stringers) and started replacing things. It has been a long project, but it is looking so beautiful! 

The stringers have been in for a while, as has the new bulkhead. We got new aluminium gas tanks to replace the failing fiberglass ones, so those have been installed now, and finally it was time to put the NEW motor in place.

We had a bit of a snafu with the oil pan, so last weekend when we tried to install it we determined that the oil pan was too tall. No good! Chris quickly ordered a lower profile one and it arrived yesterday.

Wrong oil pan. :(

A quick change out today and then time to install the new power plant. Exciting stuff!

So Shmexy! The new motor is a Chevy 454 big block. The old motor was an Oldsmobile 455. You can see the gorgeous new stringers and new fuel tank in this pic as well. 

While he was outside doing that all day, I was inside still working on the organization/shredding mess I mad yesterday. I am happy to report significant progress was made! I had to stop shredding because my recycle bin is full, but at least I have everything all organized and now I can work on shredding and getting rid of stuff over the next couple weeks. I feel very accomplished! 

I also rearranged a bunch of stuff, including putting my HUGE printer in the closet which makes the office look so much nicer!

I also planted some more starts, peas and a few of my pepper seeds that finally sprouted, spent some time weeding in one of my garden beds, played with the kitties, and spent half of Saturday running errands. 

After busting a move all day long, we are both pretty wiped out tonight, but we had plans to fry a turkey. 

Look at this beauty!

The turkey I mean.

Well...the turkey I'm going to eat. 

Deep fried in peanut oil. Twelve and a half pound turkey cooked to perfection in 45 minutes. So juicy and flavorful!

On the side we served sauteed Brussels sprouts and deep fried sweet potato wedges.

Everything was SO delicious! Despite the fact that we are so exhausted after our long day our dinner turned out amazing. 

And now I have a big turkey to use for enchiladas and pot pie later this week! 

It's time to relax. Have a great Sunday night! Chubby tubby looks about how I feel....G'night!

SUPER Bowl Sunday!

It's Super Bowl Sunday!!!!! A football fan's favorite Sunday of the year. 

I am decked out in black and purple today in support of the Baltimore Ravens. Okay, really I have on a black long sleeve shirt and a purple hoodie but still I'm showing my support. 

Super Bowl Sunday is about the food as much as the game and here at Casa Beebe it is no exception. 

I have a nice pot of chili going in the crock pot. 

Chris is slow-smoking some beef jerky and will be grilling up some pork ribs a little later. 

I will be making some guacamole and a recipe I saw tweeted yesterday by Cooking Light magazine. 

Artichoke, Spinach and White Bean Dip

(cooking light image)

I love spinach and artichoke dip and this lightened up version (1/4 cup is only 87 calories) means I can snack on a pretty good pile of it without feeling too bad about the calories and fat content. I will let you know how it turns out. 

I have everything I need to make this in my pantry or freezer, so it will come together quick and easy. 

I will make some corn bread to go with the chili, too. 

That's about it. I am trying not to go too overboard, especially since now Chris has been called off to work and so I sit here alone with the cats. No need for an excessive spread of snacks for just me. 

The game doesn't start until 3:30 this afternoon so I have about 4 hours until game time. I know it sounds super exciting, but I think I'm going to do some homework and laundry. I know. You are jealous. 

If you are not a football fan but are going to a party today to enjoy the food and commercials check out this article from the Huffington Post. It will give you some tips about how to interact with your football fanatic friends as well as understand a bit about who the big players are in the game. 

I like the idea of the side bets, too, for off the field action. That could get down right fun! 

And no matter what, football fan or not, if you drink today: PLEASE don't drive. Call a cab, call a friend, or stay put. The life you save could be your own! 

Happy Super Bowl everyone! May your chosen team win!!

(Go Ravens!!)

Inventory

One of the things that I need to do periodically is take an inventory of my freezers, pantry and fridge to see what is going on in there.

With all the preserving, drying and freezing we do in the summer with our veggies from the garden, plus buying roasts and turkeys when they are on sale, my freezers and my pantry can sometimes become a black hole. I forget what is in there, stuff gets tucked behind other stuff, and then before you know it I have 17 bags of spinach and no meat.

Today, as I was getting ready to make my grocery list/meal plan for the week I decided it was time for a mid-winter freezer inventory. What is still hanging out in there from the summer harvest? Turns out: A TON!

That is my list of stuff in my freezers. Seriously. (click to enlarge)

There is some blackberry jam, strawberries, plums, blackberries, and a turkey. 

That is a whole mess of miscellaneous stuff (I dug it out of the bottom) including lots of corn, diced tomatoes, smoked whole peppers, smoked tomatoes, some ground sausage, a mish mash of other veggies like eggplant, peas, spinach, edemame, zucchini, and so forth.

There is also a TON of tomatillo sauce, pesto, and tomato sauce and tomato juice cubes.

This all came out of there, too. More fruit (something like 7-8 gallon bags full), some meat items, and some more veggies.

Meat list above, veggie and misc. list below.

It is a good thing I looked. I have a bunch of stuff that needs to be used up before it is freezer burned beyond use! One thing going on the menu for this week is Posole, a Mexican pork and hominy soup. The pork for posole I have in my freezer has been there for a (ahem) while. It needs to get used.

Also, I didn't realize I had a bag of shelled edemame in there. I pulled that out and used some of it in my lunch today.

I was frustrated shopping the other day because it isn't fresh fruit season yet. I guess I should have gone shopping in my freezer because I have blackberries, blueberries, plums, strawberries, and peaches all just waiting to be used in yogurt/granola breakfasts, on top of or in pancakes, smoothies and however else I can think of.

My meal plans over the next few weeks are going to include a pesto pasta veggie dish, some posole, a corn and pepper chowder, some verde chicken enchilada, a veggie based lasagna, and chili (tomorrow for the Super Bowl!). I also have plenty of meat options for meals so I won't be picking up any meat for a week or two. We will just need to make do with what is in there. Once we make a good dent we can get something else.

How often do you do a freezer/pantry/fridge inventory?