A Little Along

Mike and I are having a Thanksgiving Feast right here at home this year.  Mama and Daddy changed up the day of their feast to try to accommodate some of the family but we already had plans.  So, the two of us will be feasting right here at home on Thursday.  We are not doing anything nearly so elaborate as the year we tackled Big Tom.  However, there are a few things that just mean Thanksgiving Feast to us.  So, on the menu this year for us is:

Turkey

Southern Cornbread Dressing

Sweet Potato Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Macaroni and Cheese

Cranberry Salad

Home-made Rolls

Pecan Pie

With a menu like that, we will eat rich all next week, probably!  Today I've stirred up the Cranberry Salad, 

the Southern Cornbread for the dressing, 

and cooked the sweet potatoes.  I figure if I do a little bit each day this week I won't be exhausted.  

Puttin' Up Produce

It's that time of year again!  Produce is ripe and it is time to can and freeze it so that we can have delicious foods all year long.

My brother-in-law, Jim, went to the vegetable auction again like he did last year.  You can read about that HERE and HERE.  So, I have been canning and freezing like we have in the past.  You can read about that HERE.

This time my kitchen has been full of yellow squash, zucchini, onions, and cucumbers (the pepper is from the local grocery store).  So, I have been making Sweet Pickle Relish today.  Lots of chopping!

Chopped Cucumber and Red Bell Pepper

Chopped Onion

I used THIS recipe and made eight pints and nine half-pints.

The jar lids are popping to seal as I am typing this in!

We now have a bushel and a half of yellow squash blanched and in bags, frozen in the freezer, a bushel of zucchini in bags, frozen in the freezer as well.  This time I grated some of the zucchini up and froze it raw in hopes that I can use it for Lemon Zucchini Bread with Lemon Glaze.  I also sliced some and put it up raw in hopes that I can use it for Zucchini Gratin.

Isn't relish a beautiful sight?

My pantry and freezer are full, my floor is sticky, and I am pooped!  Sweeping and mopping will have to wait till tomorrow..

Independence Day Celebration and Zucchinis

Well, the nation's birthday celebration sloshed by me.  Mike had to work.  Yuck!

He said, "Maybe if we work on July 4 we can have off Saturday AND Sunday."

I paused only briefly to think about that.  Don't you think something is wrong if he has to work on a national holiday in order to have two days off that he is supposed to have off anyway?

My gripe session about that is over but I would like to have caused a few fireworks with the powers that be over there at the warehouse!

Anyway, yesterday was a sloshy, mushy, rainy day here at the ole homestead.  So, Toby and I spent the day in the kitchen.

Yesterday we had put all of that bushel of yellow squash in the freezer.  Lots of slicing, blanching, chilling, and bagging going on over here.

This was only the first batch...

Then, today, we (meaning I) began work on the bushel of zucchini.  I sliced up some zucchini and dipped it into buttermilk and tossed it into a cornmeal mixture and laid the slices out on a wax paper/cookie sheet.  You can see a tutorial HERE.

I also made Lemon Zucchini Bread using a recipe by NancyCreative.  It is absolutely divine!

Lemon Zucchini Bread with Lemon Glaze

I tried another zucchini bread recipe that my friend Joann G gave me.  It is delicious and she says it freezes well.  You can see that recipe HERE.

I pinned a couple more recipes on my Recipes to Try Pinterest Board that I'm going to give a try.

On another note, Bridgette and family have gone on V-cation and Lillie and Lydia sported their 'zucchinis' (really it was a tankini but guess what was a more familiar term...)  today and went to the hotel pool!

Finally, when Mike got home from work at about eight-thirty, he told me to look out front to see what was going on and this is what I saw:

Yep, there was a roadblock set up right in front of our house!

Stephen and Bonnie fired off a couple of fireworks up on the hill - a warm-up for Saturday, I guess.

Here is what Toby did all day:

Then, when folks started shooting fireworks all around us, he had to look out the window of the back doors and give a few woofs!

Hope your day was exciting and festive.

Baking Bread

My daughter gave me a bread machine.  I have been wanting one for a long time.  I don't know where she got hers but she decided that she doesn't really like the results she gets when she uses it and gave it to me. 

I started out thinking I would follow the recipes and instructions in the book precisely.  That lasted...oh, about thirty seconds.  Then, I began adapting it to suit what I wanted!  Not that the recipes in it are bad or anything.  I'm sure they are quite alright for folks.  However, I wanted to use the Kefir that my sister gave me and guess what...there isn't a recipe like that in the book!

You can get the recipe and read about my bread-making adventure HERE.  I have a little tweaking to do but I think I'm going to like this new toy appliance.