Sylvia's Scenario

Our harvesting has officially started!  And it started with making zucchini bread, if you can call that harvesting!  It turned out delicious and I used up one whole, giant zucchini or 6 cups of grated zucchini.  I tried to find a recipe that uses a lot of zucchini.  Most recipes use 1 cup.  That doesn't put a dent in our supply which is a common problem this time of year. But I found this recipe from Hickery Holler Farm  blog which uses a generous amount of zucchini, just what I needed.  (If you really want to feel exhausted, read a little bit of that blog!  They make their own everything !)  I doubled the recipe to make 3 loaves of zucchini bread and a 4 giant muffins…the muffins were eaten rather quickly…  I also omitted the raisins - a personal preference. Makes 2 loaves 3 cups flour 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. baking soda 3 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp. baking powder 3 eggs 2 cups sugar 3 tsp. vanilla extract 1 cup v...

I made these biscuits for our  salmon barbecue  a few weeks ago and they were a big hit!   We had them for dinner again last night after fixing some of the ling cod from Bruce's fishing trip, as well as some of the endless zucchini from the garden. I used a batter mixture for the cod that actually was very yummy and I think I will buy it again!  It's great for a quick dinner that you can whip up in no time.   And we definetely have enough fish to use up!  Here's what our freezer looks like now.  These biscuits go perfect with fish and are easy to make.   They also freeze really well which is why I like this recipe.  You can make them ahead of time and keep them in the freezer, get one out to thaw, warm it up and it tastes fresh.   The jalapeno and cheese are a perfect combination for fish.   Of course, you can make them with other meals, too.  Give them a try.  You'll love them! Makes 8-1...

After a day of eating ice chips and popsicles, I'm home again to my normal diet and I'm so glad.  I have a rather large incision on my neck now from having my thyroid removed because of a rather large nodule which required a one night stay in the hospital.  My sister-in-law, Shelley, is an anesthesiologist here so I was in good hands and constantly being comforted.  You can't beat that if you must have surgery.  When you have surgery, they always ask you about your pain level.    When you have a relative who is the anesthesiologist, it doesn't get much over 2.  So, I can't really complain about any of it. I am lucky that I don't have any problems with anesthesia.  For this surgery, the problem was a sore throat from the intubation.  Shelley warned me that my surgeon uses a tube that is larger than most so I would definitely be sore so thus ice chips and popsicles.  But it didn't stop me from talking on ...

I made my first batch of pesto with my prolific basil plant and have enough from this plant for maybe a dozen more batches. Pesto is simple to make and easy to freeze so you can keep it  on hand for a quick meal.   There is nothing like taking frozen pesto from your freezer, thawing it out, toss it with pasta for a taste of summertime freshness for dinner.  It's like a bite of your summer garden.    Traditional pesto is made from Genoese basil, a smaller, more tender and fragrant basil plant that originated in Genoa, Italy.  Pesto is a generic term used to describe anything made by pounding but traditionally pesto refers to a creamy sauce made of pin nuts, basil and garlic.  Pounding with a pestle and mortar is the original method of making pesto and that is how gourmet chefs will still made true pesto but for those of us who like to use our food processors for the sake of saving time, here's the modern version of making pesto....

Today, we got a couple of new chickens from  Travis and Courtney  to add to our flock.  We've been hesitant to get new chicks the past few years because we've been gone a lot and it's just one more thing for our "house/pet-sitter" to take care of since chicks require a lot of attention.  Our last group of chicks were a dozen we got in 2009 and they have since dwindled down to 2 chickens after illnesses and predators have gotten them, a Plymonth Barred Rock and a Buff-Orphington. But this year our next door neighbors moved and gave us two of the their Leghorns.  Now we've gotten a couple more from Courtney and Travis because they ended up with more chickens than planned after Courtney decided she also wanted some "exotic" egg layers.  They gave us a Rhode Island Red and another Buff-Orphingon.   I can see why Courtney wanted some exotics, they are so cute!  I don't know exotic breeds but I just call this one a...