Busy in the Kitchen

Goodness, I've been busy in the kitchen these past several days! We purchased some red and green peppers along with several long hots. In addition to that I got 10 pounds of beets, cabbage, frying peppers, yams. All this stuff was for canning or cooking projects. The cabbage, along with hamburger from Sam's was for pigs (stuffed cabbage). We had that 2 nights and I froze a container for a third meal in another few weeks. I still have one head of cabbage - not sure what I'm going to do with that. The peppers were to try two canning recipes along with trying out the steam canner I purchased. I made Hot Pickled Sweet Peppers yesterday. It had better be outstanding as it took quite a bit of time. First time through a recipe always takes more time but this one... well, the sweet peppers, red and green had to be roasted in the oven and then peeled. There were also hot peppers to seed and cut and they got mixed up and covered with a brine and canned. I've never roasted/peeled peppers before. After quartering them, removing the seeds and ribs, they were roasted for 20 minutes in a 450 oven and then covered with foil to steam. The directions said to steam in a brown bag but the foil just sounded better. I then started peeling... just didn't work. The skin just wouldn't come off. After trying with several pieces, I popped them back in the oven for another 20 minutes and voila, they were relatively easy to peel. I'll wait several weeks before I try them - sure hope they are worth it. The second batch was relatively easy - clean and cut red and green peppers, heat in a brine that was hot, pack in jars and can. I still have to do something with the beets - that's tomorrow.

Tonight we have chicken on the grill with BBQ sauce I made. We really like that sauce!

It's dark out and has been raining off and on...I'll just grill between the rain drops.

Busy September So Far!

Labor Day is a wash out this year. But we are still enjoying the day even though it is raining off and on. Right now Honey and B are in the living room - B on the Ipad, Honey on the floor sleeping. I'm at the breakfast area table on the computer.

I've talked about canning, but I've also been dehydrating! I used to dehydrate back in the 80s when I also was canning. However, the dehydrator I had was rather basic - on or off with no ability to adjust temperature. So this time around I decided to get one that did have temperature adjustment and I've been experimenting. Saturday I decided to dry some of the herbs I'm growing in pots out on the deck. I did 3 racks of basil leaves, one of oregano stems and one of marjoram stems. The fact that it was rather humid probably extended the time. I kept the temperature low - 95 - as per instructions in one of my books. I started at 2 and at 7 the stuff was kinda dry but not brittle. Turned the temperature up to 105 and at 8 turned the thing off. Sunday I started it again with another temperature boost and finally the marjoram and oregano were dry. The basil took a bit longer. Below are some pictures:

This is the marjoram at the start. There is a liner on the tray since once dried it will be rather small!

And here it is done and you can see the plastic liner was really needed. I use an empty coffee filter for lots of things and here it was just the thing to drop the leaves in as I striped them off the stem. I was then able to use it like a funnel to pour into a small jar.

Didn't get a lot...but there is more in the pots and this was an experiment!

Yesterday I served skirt steak for dinner. I never had that before and found a recipe in one of my 2 Weber grilling cook books I had gotten at BJ's a while back. The recipe suggested serving it with grilled red potatoes which sounded good but I had potato salad in the refrig so we went with that. The cooking time was fast! And it cooked using direct high heat. I first made a rub consisting of kosher salt, ground cumin, granulated garlic and black pepper. This was spread on the steaks and then they sat out a bit to come to room temperature. Heated the grill and in a flash...about 6 minutes... they were done! The steak was good but next time I would reduce the salt in the rub. Very tasty and I served it with the potato salad and a tomato and onion salad with Italian dressing. Picture of the steak before cooking follows....



And finally, an update on Honey! She has been going for short rides with B in the VW and just loving it! She loved riding in the SUV but she bounced all over the place and got very hyper. So, we are hoping that a little ride every day or so will get her used to riding and less hyper. Truth be told, I think they both really enjoy their little outing even though B insists that he is the one who will drive! The picture below is of their return from the little drive yesterday. As you can see, Honey makes a great navigator!



Storm Pictures

During a lull in the rain, I ventured out to take some pictures. B and Honey watched from the deck. I walked down our road and headed toward the stream since taking a picture from the road was not workable - too many trees. This is a picture of the stream about 75 yards from the side of our house. Still trees but you get the idea!

This picture was from the main road that our street goes into. I shot up the stream and you get a better sense of the amount of water. Normally the trees are not under water! 

And then I turned around and went across the road. The stream enters a very large pipe to go under the road. This side then takes it to the Lake. Again, these trees are not usually under water.

And it's still raining at 11:27 AM 

Rains are slowing down

Well, we made it through the hurricane. It was dark all day Friday and we got one heavy shower then just the gloom. The rains started late afternoon and into the night, waking me around 3 with heavy gusts and heavy rains. I just looked out, closed a few windows and went back to sleep. We spent yesterday with the TV on - mostly to the Philly station as their coverage was very comprehensive. The local stations - Scranton and Wilkes Barre - really didn't have much to report though we were under a flood watch. Scranton got over 3 inches of rain by this morning so it's safe to assume that we are around that also. B is out right now with Honey who does NOT like the rain. We are in a lull and he is taking advantage of that.

Our "little" stream is again not little. I hope to get out shortly to take some pictures. The wind is still blowing and the showers occur off and on and right now is an off time!

I've got the dehydrator running. I did some fruit several days ago - a mixture of things. Today I'm drying lemons and oranges. I took some pictures when I started and will take some when they are done. It will be interesting to see how long it takes and how they look and taste. I'm thinking lemon or oranges in hot tea this winter when the lemons are not looking as good as they do now. I threw in an orange just to see what it does. Experimenting and then writing down the results. Reports on this later.

The New Grill

   The new grill that we purchased arrived and we spend Monday assembling it. The Weber people sure packed it well and we opened it up in the driveway and carried the pieces up to the deck that wraps around the house. It is now located at the corner by the sliders that are close to the kitchen. We read the directions and B assembled while I was assistant. Went together smoothly and as we worked we took pictures.

Gosh, so many pieces. As we worked, I unboxed stuff and took off the plastic.

Hummmm where did that last piece of plastic wrap go????

Honey got it!! She is such a help!!??

B did most of the putting together.

A guy has to have tools...and use them, which he did.

And Honey helped! Believe me, while the ratchet thing was really neat, her "help" made it more difficult!

And away Honey went to check out B taking pictures.

A side burner

The finished grill. While we have made sure it works by "firing" it up yesterday, we will save cooking on it until tomorrow or Friday.