Posted on 02/09/2009 12:36:11 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny
My husband found jalapeno relish, I bet you would like that.
My grandma would say that dogs “sleep the sleep of the just.”
Here is an image of four waiting behind the screen door.<<<
I am always amazed at the fact that your cats and ours are the same.
That is a litter that I would expect to see here in the feral cats, they have white and black and yellow and siamese all in the same litter.
There have only been a few blues, but they exist and came out of a black female.
Some of these are related to the wild bobcat, they have super long legs and long hair in the ears.
I stopped to allow a bobcat to cross the road and he took his time, it was something to see a calico bobcat, huge and definitely related to house cats.
When I lived on the mountain, someone dumped a Labrador female who would mate with the wild Coyotes and the pups were beautiful and mean, never going to be house pets.
Your babies are all lovely.
I too remember reading the new editor article - It was a sad one - but don’t remember all the details.<<<
Nor do I.
Countryside for a while was a lot like Organic Gardening and Mother Earth.
Hamill noticed something was wrong with Rodale, leaned over to Cavett and said, “This looks bad.” According to others, Cavett asked, “Are we boring you, Mr. Rodale?”<<<
It was his son Robert Rodale who died in the car crash in 1990. That was the one I was remembering about 20 years ago.<<<
I had forgotten those facts.
It was Rodale the son, that was so interested in growing Amaranth.
My first seeds for Amaranth came from a lady who brought them with her from Romania, many years before. if my memory is right.
had rosemary hedges growing outside. When I realized what they were, I used to pluck off a sprig on the way in to work, to sniff from time to time. I wonder if it’s good aromatherapy.<<<
Yes, I have a bottle of the Rosemary E. Oil, and use it sparingly, as it excites you and isn’t good for folks with blood pressure and heart problems, or some reports say this.
It is noted for clearing the mind and making the brain sharp, it is a germ killer and it helps me to breathe, a little.
jalapeno relish,<<<
I bet I would love it.
dogs “sleep the sleep of the just.”<<<
That photo proves it.
>>>We’re thinking West Virginia.<<<
I hope I didn’t dissuade you when I said some of the things before about West Virginia...
However, that is the first State where I was shot at.
I have always liked WV and took the family there one fall to see the foliage - Well, a 4 lane highway is not the way to see any state, so I randomly took an exit. After about a hundred yards, the pavement ended, and we were on a dirt road. It wasn’t but a quarter mile before it was down to a pair of tracks and no where to turn around. There was one driveway, but they had rocks about a foot in diameter placed across it, so I continued. Then, I was faced with having to ford a stream that was about 30 feet wide, and the trail looked much worse on the other side. Since I wasn’t driving my Jeep, I backed my Pontiac almost half a mile back to that driveway - (believe me there was NO way you could turn around) I moved 3 of the rocks and backed in and then pulled back onto the road headed in the other direction. I got out of the car to put the rocks back and looked at the log cabin that was about 150 yards back down the driveway and low and behold, there was an old guy on his porch who shot what appeared to be a muzzle loader at me. (I could tell from the powder smoke) I decided the heck with his rocks - and we departed - throwing gravel stream behind us...
Remember that they call it “Wild and Wonderful West Virginia”
Some of those ‘hollers’ are pretty remote and the residents are somewhat - different.....
There is a tale of a peddler who went up one of those hollers to a cabin and was trying to sell pots, pans, hair pins, and various items. The residents wife was out picking berries, so her husband, while looking over the peddlers wares spotted something that made his mouth drop open.... He asked the peddler ‘Where did you get that picture of my pappy?’ Well, he didn’t have any cash, but he really wanted his pappy’s picture, so he traded his wife’s heirloom tea pot for it. Knowing his wife would be furious, he hid the picture in the barn. Every few days he would wait till his wife was busy and he would go out and look at his pappy’s picture.
Well, his wife did get suspicious and when he was out cutting firewood one day, she got in there and found what he had hidden. She looked at it and went into a state of rage - she said - “So that’s the hussy he’s been foolin around with” and she shattered the mirror with an axe.
OK, the first one is TRUE but the second is well, a tale...
I want the little gray one. Awwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!
Tenth Amendment/States Rights Update (an ongoing thread)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2193442/posts?page=31
ROFL!!
While I have only vinegar pickled vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots,onion mix), I have made a bit of sauerkraut over the years.
It had always been a chore to make sauerkraut, as you had to daily skim the foam off, and be sure that there was still enough juice to cover the cabbage, and it always added an odor to the house. You had to have a plate or board that just fit the opening and you put a rock or something heavy on it. So, for about 25 years, I didn’t make any.
Then two years ago, I saw an article that piqued my interest. (Before I broke my leg) They used a bag of water to seal it. The article said there was no smell and no evaporation and no scum to skim. I made a 5 gallon batch (in a 7 gallon crock I had. It worked just as they had said and was great! Between my cousins and their spouses and kids, daughters and their families and all, I hardly had any left for us... So I made 3 batches last year. I may have 12 pints of canned left - that’s all.
It is really simple to make. If you have a large crock, you can use it, or two of the batches I made in 6 gallon food grade buckets.
First clean the crock/bucket really well, using bleach first then washing it out and rinse a couple of times to remove any chlorine residue. Shred the cabbage in whatever cut you want - I have a mandolin just for that and it makes the job much easier. You put about 3 inches of cabbage in the crock/bucket and sprinkle salt on it. Add another 3 inches and again salt. Each time you add a layer, mash it down really well - when they say pack it, they mean it. Use a fist, or anything you can put real force on it with. Keep adding cabbage and salt till you are about 6” from the top.
By now you should see some liquid accumulating and you need to keep packing it down till it is covered with that liquid - (cabbage juice brought out with the aid of the salt). Once it is covered fully by the juice from the packing, fill a food grade bag (I used 2 - one inside the other) with water to come up to about an inch of the top of the crock/bucket. Tie off the bags and wait 6-7 weeks at 60º-70º. You should avoid disturbing it - as exposing it to the air will cause it to go bad. You will see a few bubbles coming up around your bag - when they slow to an almost stop, it is done.
The only ingredients are cabbage and salt.
You should use 1# of NON-IODIZED salt - like canning salt -
for each 40# of cabbage. That is the same as 2 oz. of salt to every 5# of cabbage Note: there are 5 teaspoons per ounce.
You can put it in the refrigerator in sealed jars (even zip lok bags work) after it has finished fermenting and you can keep it like that for months. This way, you maintain the ‘live’ lactobacillus enzymes - many swear by the beneficial effects of this.
You can also can it. This does kill the enzymes but nutrients and taste are great. Clean and sterilize canning jars and heat the sauerkraut and pack into the jars to within 1/2 inch of the top and cover with the juice - also to 1/2 inch. Wipe the top edge of the jars, put on simmered jar lid and band hand tight - hot water bath process it for 10 minutes. (primarily to make it seal) Keeps almost forever...
Most everyday pickles use vinegar to pickle, this is acetic acid pickling.
Fermentation pickling uses the lactobacillus enzymes which are present naturally in many vegetables to produce lactic acid to do the pickling.
One of these days I will have to try doing the fermentation pickling of other veggies, and if any of you have, would appreciate your suggestions/methods.
>>>>ROFL!!<<<<<
Hmmm now is that laughter at me being shot at or the tall tale???
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Lavender.htm
Culinary Lavender - Cooking with Lavender
Lavender is an incredibly versatile herb for cooking. In today’s upscale restaurants, fresh edible flowers are making a comeback as enhancements to both the flavor and appearance of food.
As a member of the same family as many of our most popular herbs, it is not surprising that lavender is edible and that its use in food preparation is also returning. Flowers and leaves can be used fresh, and both buds and stems can be used dried. Lavender is a member of the mint family and is close to rosemary, sage, and thyme. It is best used with fennel, oregano, rosemary, thyme, sage, and savory.
English Lavender (l. angustifolia and munstead) has the sweetest fragrance of all the lavenders and is the one most commonly used in cooking. The uses of lavender are limited only by your imagination. Lavender has a sweet, floral flavor, with lemon and citrus notes. The potency of the lavender flowers increases with drying. In cooking, use 1/3 the quantity of dried flowers to fresh. The key to cooking with lavender is to experiment; start out with a small amount of flowers, and add more as you go. NOTE: Adding too much lavender to your recipe can be like eating perfume and will make your dish bitter. Because of the strong flavor of lavender, the secret is that a little goes a long way.
The lavender flowers add a beautiful color to salads. Lavender can also be substituted for rosemary in many bread recipes. The flowers can be put in sugar and sealed tightly for a couple of weeks then the sugar can be substituted for ordinary sugar for a cake, buns or custards. Grind the lavender in a herb or coffee grinder or mash it with mortar and pestle.
The spikes and leaves of lavender can be used in most dishes in place of rosemary in most recipes. Use the spikes or stems for making fruit or shrimp kabobs. Just place your favorite fruit on the stems and grill.
Flowers look beautiful and taste good too in a glass of champagne, with chocolate cake, or as a garnish for sorbets or ice creams. Lavender lends itself to savory dishes also, from hearty stews to wine-reduced sauces. Diminutive blooms add a mysterious scent to custards, flans or sorbets. Dried lavender blossoms used in perfumes and pot pourris.
NOTE: Do not eat flowers from florists, nurseries, or garden centers. In many cases these flowers have been treated with pesticides not labeled for food crops.
Harvesting Fresh Lavender - Harvest flowers as you would fruit, selecting those that look most perfectly ready, with the fullest color, and passing over any that seem wilted or less ripe. The fresher the flower, the more flavorful its taste, so pick your flowers as close as possible to food preparation time. Stem flowers may be put in a glass of water in a cool place until you are ready to use them. All blooms should be thoroughly rinsed. Immerse them in water to remove any insects or soil. Then lay the flowers gently on paper or cloth towels and dab dry, or gently spin dry in a salad spinner. If necessary, layer blooms carefully between moist paper towels in the refrigerator until meal time.
History of Lavender
Lavender has been a favorite herb for centuries. The historic use and recognition of lavender is almost as old the history of man. As an herb, lavender has been in documented use for over 2,500 years.
In ancient times lavender was used for mummification and perfume by the Egyptian’s, Phoenicians, and peoples of Arabia. The Greeks and the Romans bathed in lavender scented water and it was from the Latin word “lavo” meaning “to wash” that the herb took it’s name.
Perhaps first domesticated by the Arabians, lavender spread across Europe from Greece. Around 600 BC lavender may have come from the Greek Hyeres Islands into France and is now common in France, Spain, Italy and England.
The ‘English’ lavender varieties were not locally developed in England but rather introduced in the 1600s right around the time the first lavender plants were making their way to the Americas.
Both Queen Elizabeth I of England valued lavender as a conserve and a perfume. It has been said that she commanded that the royal table should never be without conserve of lavender and she issued orders to her gardeners that fresh lavender flowers should be available all year round! She also drank an abundance of Lavender tea to help ease her migraines and used it as a body perfume.
Queen Victoria of England is most notable for making Lavender popular across England and it could be found, in one form or another, in every one of her rooms, as she used it to wash floors and furniture, freshen the air, and had it strewn among the linens.
During the First World War, nurses bathed soldiers’ wounds with lavender washes.
To this day, the French continue to send baby lamb to graze in fields of lavender, so their meat will be tender and fragrant.
Linda’s Favorite Recipes Using Lavender:
[live links on site]
Chicken with Herbes de Provence
Cottage Cheese-Herb Bread
Crostini with White Truffle & Olive Paste
Grilled Pork Chops with Lavender Flowers
Honey-Lavender Biscotti
Lavender Creme Brulee
Lavender Focaccia
Lavender Hazelnut Bread
Lavender Jelly
Lavender Meringue Cookies
Lavender Sorbet
Lavender Tea Cookies
Linda’s Smoked Salmon
Peppered Lavender Beef
Seared Ahi Tuna with Lavender-Pepper Crust
I should have know you were on top of this!
I was going to send this to you:
>>>Harry Reid: Federal Action Trumps States’ Rights on Energy<<<
But I see you are way ahead of me again... LOL
Ya know, I live in the part of the State that is called - “Lower - Slower Delaware” Next door to the part of Maryland that is called “The land of pleasant living.” So, it sometimes takes us a bit to get ‘round to things...
No, No, No - The slower refers to the pace of living - not necessarily related to the IQ of the residents... ;~)
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Bread/CottageCheeseBread.htm
[The water shows as it is on site, looks as tho it means 1/4 cup....granny
Cottage Cheese Herb Bread
A very unusual and delicious bread! A high protein bread. You would never know that there is cottage cheese in this bread.
Check out Linda’s Bread Making Hints: Secrets to using the bread machine, About yeast in bread making, Sourdough Starter, Quick Breads.
Check out all of Linda’s great Bread Recipes for your bread making.
Cottage Cheese Herb Bread
/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup honey
1 cup non-fat or low-fat cottage cheese
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh or dried lavender flowers
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil leaves
2 eggs, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups plus 3 tablespoons bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons instant active dry yeast
Cornmeal (optional for dusting pan)
Place all ingredients except cornmeal in bread pan of your bread machine. Select dough setting and press start. NOTE: Check the dough (don’t be afraid to open the lid). It should form a nice elastic ball. If you think the dough is too moist, add additional flour (a tablespoon at a time). The same is true if the dough is looking dry and gnarly. Add warm water (a tablespoon at a time).
When dough cycle has finished, remove dough from pan and turn out onto a lightly oiled surface. (I use a nonstick cooking spray. Form dough into an oval, cover with a plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes.
After resting, turn dough bottom side up and press to flatten. For baguettes (long, slender) or boules (round), divide the dough into 2 pieces and shape. For baguettes, fold dough into an envelope by folding the top 1/3 of the way to the bottom. Then fold the bottom a 1/3 of the way over the top. Then press dough with the palm of your hand to make an indentation down the center of the dough and fold the top completely to the bottom, sealing the seam with the palm of your hand.
Place on a jelly roll pan dusted with cornmeal. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to rise until the dough is doubled in bulk, approximately 30 to 50 minutes (depending on how warm your room is).
NOTE: I use my oven for the rising. Turn the oven on for a minute or so, then turn it off again. This will warm the oven and make it a great environment for rising bread. If you can’t comfortably press your hand against the inside of the oven door, the oven is too hot. Let it stand open to cool a bit.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. After rising, slash or score the loaves with a very sharp knife making three 1/2-inch deep diagonal slashes. Bake for 20 minutes or until nicely browned. (A good check is to use an instant digital thermometer to test your bread. The temperature should be between 200 and 210 degrees.) Remove from oven and place the loaves on a wire rack until cooled.
Makes 1 large round loaf or 2 small baguettes.
[Several that I did not know about]
http://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm
Edible Flowers
Don’t be afraid to eat edible flowers - Just try them!
>>>>NOTE: Adding too much lavender to your recipe can be like eating perfume and will make your dish bitter. Because of the strong flavor of lavender, the secret is that a little goes a long way.<<<<
You sure got that right!!!
Once upon a time... When I worked in Ft. Worth, they put a huge kiosk with ‘All Things Lavender’ in the store...
I smelled, tasted, ate, slept lavender for months!
Too much is almost sickening...
I could still smell it when I read your posting. 8~)
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