July 6, 2012 - Visit From a Fellow Blogger!

Greg, from South Carolina Hum Uinic, dropped in for a visit this afternoon!  Those who aren't familiar with his garden blog might recognize him as being the identical twin brother of our dear Jeff, aka EG, from Our Engineered Garden.  Gregg had flown in to WA and was working a few miles from where we live, so he drove on down to Pasco to meet us.

My goodness, he is a big guy.  I felt like a midget standing next to him!  And he's just as nice as he is big.  We had a good time, strolling through the garden, playing with the sprinklers and sitting on the patio until it got too hot outside.  We talked a mile a minute, and I was sorry he had to leave as early as he did, but he had to drive quite a way back to his motel.  If he gets back to this area again, I hope he can at least stay for dinner.  I hate to send people out on the road with an empty stomach!

That tallest corn behind Greg is six feet high!

Annie was slow to warm up to him, but finally gave in to his charms.

I'm very glad you could spend the afternoon with us, Greg.  I hope you're able to return real soon....you know Granny will have cold beer and warm cinnamon rolls waiting for you ;-)

July 5, 2012- Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard

With all the hubbub and excitement of our family get together yesterday, I almost forgot about today's post!  There were 20 of us gathered here for way too much food and a night of watching fireworks, either from out driveway or from the banks of the Columbia River, a short walk from the house.  We always sit in our driveway for a great view of the aerial displays, which are shot from a barge directly in front of our house and at a distance of about two blocks 'as the crow flies'.

Now....on to Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard, AKA Granny's Garden Dinners.

Thursday

Pork Roast

Cinnamon Applesauce

Mashed Potatoes (potatoes)

Gravy

Green Beans (green beans)

Salad (lettuce, cucumber)

Ranch Dressing (garlic, chives, dill, parsley)

Friday-Leftovers

Chicken Stir Fry with Noodles ( (snap peas, carrots, summer squash, onions, broccoli, peppers-freezer)

Cold Pork Slices, Sesame Seeds and Hot Mustard

Lettuce Salad with Sweet and Sour Vinaigrette Dressing (lettuce)

 Saturday

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce (freezer tomato sauce, fresh basil, oregano, garlic, onions)

Green Beans (beans)

Hot Rolls (rolls-freezer)

Sliced Cucumbers and Baby Lettuce

Ranch Dressing (garlic, chives, dill, parsley)

*Angel  Food Cake with Raspberries and Whipped Cream (raspberries)

*Angel Food Cake - In a Loaf Pan, recipe from Delightful Repast

  Sunday

*Pigs in a Blanket....or what we call Wienie Wraps

French Fries (potatoes)

Cole Slaw (Cabbage, onion)

Strawberry Shortcake (strawberries)

*Pigs in a Blanket, recipe from Stoney Acres

 Baking Day For the Freezer

Zucchini Bread (zucchini) and Dinner Rolls

Monday

Grilled Chicken Breast

Baked Potatoes (potatoes)

Broccoli (broccoli)

Lettuce and Tomato Salad (lettuce, tomato)

Ranch Dressing (garlic, chives, dill, parsley)

Home Made Hot Rolls

Tuesday

Dinner at Outback Steakhouse

Thank you daughter Amy and family, for the Father's Day gift card!

Wednesday (family get together)

Fried Chicken

Baked Beans (onion)

Potato Salad (potatoes, celery, onions, parsley)

Chips and Dips

Zucchini Fudge Cake (zucchini)

Home Made Ice Cream - Vanilla  and Chocolate Swirl Coffee

Zucchini Breads (zucchini)

Plus a ton of food brought by the two daughters!

July 3, 2012 - Silver Queen Down!

 Corn's down!

Hilled and tromped, corn's up....kinda.

Down again.  I give up.  Maybe the wind won't be blowing tomorrow.

July 3, 2012 - Bag It!

Grow bag it, that is.

I've heard really good things about grow bags/fabric pots.  I guess they are especially good for potatoes and tomatoes.  I was pleasantly surprised last week when one of my blog readers, Jessica from Bountiful Back Yard, contacted me with the offer of a gift of one of her specialty fabric grow pots.  Of course, I accepted....who doesn't love gifts!

The fabric pot soon arrived at Granny's house, and as luck would have it, I had some pots of herbs that could be moved to make room for it right smack dab in the middle of the garden.  Since her pots all have cute designs, with gardening motifs, I wanted it to be the center of attention.

See the grow pot, right there in the center of the garden!  It shows up much better when it isn't practically dark outside!

Of course, my 20 gallon fabric pot is sitting empty in the garden, waiting for a bag of potting mix, but here is Jessica's photo of what it looks like with something actually growing in it.

I've already decided it will hold sweet potatoes next year, as the soil will stay warmer than in the whiskey barrel where the sweets are now growing.  But I want to plant something in it this year!  At first I thought I'd do carrots, as it would be nematode free (unlike my garden soil).  Then the weather man came on and forecast triple digit temperatures beginning next week.  I really think carrots, loving cool weather, would not be a great choice for this time of the year.  After giving it a lot of thought, I think I'll go for cucumbers.  I can either do a bush variety, or I can plant pickling cucumbers and let them vine out over the sides.  I'll probably decide on bush, as I don't really need more pickles.  We'll be eating those that were canned in 2010 for probably the next five years!

So....stay tuned to see how Granny's Grow Pot performs, and I hope I can do Jessica proud.  In the meantime, be sure to check out all of her cute designs at her Etsy Shop!

July 2, 2012 - Biggest Onion Yet!

Three blog posts in one day?  What can I say?  I couldn't wait for the biggest onions to dry, so I cut off the tops of the eight largest and weighed them to see if I could beat last year's 1 pound-4 ounce biggie.  And the winner is......2012, with a 1 pound-7.7 ounce Walla Walla Sweet onion, 3.7 ounces heavier!

Mr. Granny holds the 2011 20 ounce onion (top)

Mr. Granny holds the 2012 23.7 ounce onion (bottom)

PS:  The 8 onions, with tops removed, weighed a total of 10.4 pounds.

July 2, 2012 - Tomato, Onions and Killer Coffee Ice Cream

My first "full sized red" tomato.  At 1.2 ounces this Bloody Butcher is smaller than last year's 2 ounce tomato of the same variety, but I'll take it.  I'm getting really tired of tiny yellow tomatoes! 

I pulled the last of the Walla Walla sweet onions today.  Most of these are quite a bit larger than the earlier harvested bunch, as you can tell by the sagging fence.  I'm anxious to get them dried, and see if I meet or beat last years 20 ounce onion.

I had a $2 off coupon for a half gallon of International Delight Iced Coffee, so I bought one.  I didn't much care for it over ice.  I drink my morning coffee with half milk, half coffee and some sweetener, so I found this to be too strong and not quite sweet enough for my liking.  I certainly didn't want to waste it, so I decided to make ice cream.  Let me tell you, it is delicious!!!  I ate a bowl of it this afternoon, then I had seconds, then I decided to blog about it and needed a picture, so of course I had to have thirds!  Don't tell anyone, hokay?

Chocolate Ripple Coffee Ice Cream

Recipe by Granny

1/2 (scant) cup sugar

4 egg yolks  

2 cups International Delight Iced Coffee, vanilla flavor 

1  cup chilled heavy whipping cream  

1 teaspoon vanilla 

chocolate ice cream topping

*Note:  You can go through the whole tempering the egg yolks and straining the custard stuff, but I just put everything in the blender and then cook it.  Makes great ice cream without all the fuss.  I had to guess at the amount of sugar, as the iced coffee is already sweetened.  I found a scant 1/2 cup to be just about perfect, but 1/4-1/3 cup might be more to your liking if you don't like super sweet ice cream.

Combine sugar, egg yolks and iced coffee in blender.  Blend on low until very well mixed.  Pour mixture into a medium sized saucepan (it will bubble up pretty high) and bring to a full boil, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir for a minute or so.  Remove from heat and cut a piece of waxed or parchment paper to fit over the top to prevent a skin from forming.  Let cool slightly, then refrigerate overnight.

The next day, stir in the chilled whipping cream and vanilla.  Pour mixture into ice cream machine and  follow the directions for whichever brand ice cream maker you have. 

When the ice cream has frozen, transfer 1/3 of it to a freezer-safe airtight container and drizzle it with some of the chocolate topping (thanks to Delightful Repast for this idea!).  Layer another 1/3 of the ice cream, and drizzle with more topping.  Finish with a third layer of ice cream.  Cover the container and  place it in the freezer for at least 4 hours.  YUM!

July 2, 2012 - Harvest Monday

A small Gonzales Cabbage, a larger Pixie cabbage and a giant Spacemaster cucumber that was hiding from me.  Mr. Granny said the cucumber was still sweet and crisp.

Raspberries and sweet onions.

  

The first beans of the season, but certainly not the last!

This broccoli was just part of a large head.  I broke just enough of them off of the main head for our dinner, and they weighed 5.3 ounces.

More French Filet beans.

I dug up some Russet potatoes for dinner.  Some were really tiny, and some were terribly scabby.  They weren't nearly as perfect as the Dark red Norland and the Yukon Gold, but they sure did make good mashed potatoes.

Some, like this one, were really fine.  At 12-1/2 ounces it is perfect for baking or French fries.

I see more zucchini bread and raspberry shortcakes in our future!

The first batch of onions that have been drying in the shed were trimmed and weighed in at nearly 14 pounds.

Here they are all spread out on the patio table.

A productive trip out to the garden brought in a 2-pound Pixie cabbage, a 1-pound head of broccoli, and nearly 3 pounds of mixed green and purple beans.

Cleaned and weighed.

This day's picking stuffed a one-gallon bag, with some left over.

The next morning, a bowl of mixed beans, ready to blanch and freeze, and a few purple Velour beans for our dinner.

 Blanched, cooled, drained and spread on wax paper lined pans for freezing before they are vacuum bagged.

Two 1-pound and one 10.4 oz. bags for the freezer.

The remaining onions from the drying line in the shed, another 5-plus pounds.

 At 11.5 ounces, this is quite a bit smaller than last year's largest onion......

(Last year's photo) The largest onion of 2011, at 1 pound 4 ounces (20 ounces), in Mr. Granny's large hand.  There are still some large ones in the garden though, so one may match this in weight yet.

Basil and lettuce.  This bunch of lettuce had quite a bit of earwig damage, but I still ended up with a large bowl full of inner leaves.

 The final harvest of the week included rhubarb (probably the last I'll pick for a while, the plant is looking a bit puny), a Pixie cabbage that weighed over two pounds and was beginning to split, a few small carrots, baby crookneck squash and Minigold tomatoes.

 A large bunch of parsley and a few strawberries.

Lots of beans and enough raspberries for Mr. Granny's evening snack.

I have come to the conclusion that I love to plan my garden, and I love to plant my garden, and I love to tend my garden, and I love to watch my garden grow.   I don't mind the cleaning process on them, or the cooking, or the freezing, and I love to eat them.  But I hate to pick bush beans. I even took a little stool to sit on, because it usually hurts my back to bend over that long.  Had a heck of a time getting up off the stool!  When it comes to knees and backs, the "Golden Years" aren't always so golden.

I'm letting the dogs go in the garden with me now.  There isn't much they can hurt, although Annie managed to walk through a bed of carrot seedlings last night.  Otto spent most of his garden time trying to dig up a root, right in the middle of the pathway.  They really love being in the garden with me, as they are closer to the back fence and the squirrels that traverse there, and closer to my face, when I'm sitting down picking beans, to give me quick, slobbery kisses.  There was a whole lot of picking, barking, digging and kissing going on in the garden last night!

Harvest for the week of 6/25 through 7/1 (in ounces) 

Beans, bush - 102.1
Broccoli - 15.8
Cabbage - 122.1
Carrots - 4.5
Cucumbers - 15.8
Herbs - 6.5
Lettuce - 14.1
Onions - 328 (20.5 pounds)
Potatoes - 60.3
Raspberries - 30.2
Rhubarb - 17.2
Squash, summer - 33.1
Strawberries - 4.6
Tomatoes - 24.8

Total for week:  48.69 pounds
Total for year:  140.29 pounds


Daphne's Dandelions is the host for Harvest Monday, where everyone can share links to their harvest for the week. Please visit her blog and leave a link, so we can enjoy your harvest photos!

July 1, 2012 - Bragging Time

I have to brag, because that's what grandmothers do best.  Many of you were with me when my granddaughter, Alicyn, was born.  She's 3-1/2 now, and growing up so fast!