Rainy Day Work

We've had a run on rainy days here, in the South. Mostly everyone thinks these kind of days are miserable. Not me! I love rainy days! I guess I should since I'm a Cancerian.

Anyhow...yesterday we went to Sam's Club to stock up on some items for the house. We live a LONG way from the nearest store and it's a really big chore to drive there and back. Sam's is a love / hate relationship with me. I love to go to Sam's Club. But I hate spending all that money in one place. But I love getting things I can't normally get elsewhere. But I still hate dropping a ton of dough there. Oh well! We decided to splurge on an item for ourselves. Hubby has been wanting a larger TV for in the bedroom. We had a 19" job we used in our travel trailer. I agree it was hard to see without straining. So we picked up a 32" Vizio. It was nice, but we couldn't easily get Netflix on it. So, we packed this little beauty up and returned it to Sam's Club for a Smart Vizio. Now we can get Netflix. It was nice to retire early and watch a flick from the comfort of the memory foam mattress. Hubby didn't make it too far. I watched 2 movies. Well...sort of. I watched 2/3 of the second movie. I have to go back to finish it. It was pretty good.

Today was clean the pantry / laundry room / kitchen day. I tore apart the pantry closet and rearranged cans and jars and threw away extra junk. It took a few hours to do it, but now it's done. Yay! The laundry room got a bit of a cleaning even though I've been washing clothes all day. We defrosted the fridge in there and I scrubbed it out before I plugged it back in. That was quite a chore! Then I put some petroleum jelly on the seal of the freezer and fridge. I learned this from somewhere...it is supposed to make the seal tighter until you can replace the worn seals. Here's to hoping that works!

I also made some Italian sausage and meatballs with sauce for dinner. I served it over gnocchi I had previously made and put into the freezer. Yummy! Now a pound cake is in the oven for strawberry shortcake for snack tonight.

Busy day!

Take care.

Blessings from Our Garden

Here are some pics of what we've been getting from our garden for the past several days.

Monday's Picks

Here we have Ozark Beauty strawberries...about a pint, a few leaves of Black Seeded Simpson lettuce, and the last bit of radishes worth anything.

This year, the strawberries are abundant, but they are malformed. I think it's because we had warm weather and cold weather and back and forth for a couple of months. The plants would bloom then freeze. This happened several times and I had to remove the flowers every time. Some of the berries are really nice. Some are small. Anyhow, they all taste the same and I'm not out to impress anyone with my berries. We pick them a little yellow, as you see. This is because the birds will get to them if they are really red. Right now, slugs are the enemy. We'll eat these on Monday after they ripen overnight.

Tuesday's Pick

We have about a pint and a half of nice strawberries here. These will be eaten on Tuesday. Sunday, I made a vanilla pound cake from a very old recipe book that I have. It makes the most wonderful shortcake for berries! Yummy!

Today's Picks

There is about a half-pint of strawberries here. This is the first picking of peas. There is a gardening show on TV called Making It Grow. It is on on Tuesday nights at 7pm. I learned when to plant the peas from listening to the experts saying when they plant. Here in SC, you actually plant them in February! It worked. The plants are healthy, large and are filled with flowers and ripening pods. I had only about a cup of peas from this shelling. I put them into the freezer so I can get enough either for a meal or two, or use them in minestrone soup that I make. Next year, we're putting in a lot more peas. We're also going to plant them on a higher fencing as they are about 1-1/2 feet above the fence we have them on. Right now they're on a 2-foot fence.

I hope you enjoyed the pics that I finally got to take. I hope YOUR garden is doing well if you live in the Southern regions like we do.

Take care.

Stuff Around The House

Today was an eclectic day for us on our little homestead. First thing, we went to Tractor Supply for chicken feed and such. Next, we went to WalMart for some plastic containers. Then, we went to Lowe's for a valve. Then, we went to the flea market to buy veggies and fruits. Then, we stopped for a lottery ticket (can't hurt once in a while). Then, we went home.Woo Hoo! Home!

After lunch, we went outside to feed the chickens. They were pretty hungry by now. And we built a worm farm. Yes! I did it! A worm farm. That's what the plastic containers were for. We put a valve on the bottom one for the wee wee to come out of. We drilled holes in the bottom of another which fits inside the bottom one. Then we drilled some holes in the top for ventilation. Then, we built a stand and put it out of the way in a cool dry place. Now, we have to go worm shopping! They say Red Wigglers are a good variety to buy. The ones from the ground are not. Otherwise, we could use the ones in the compost heap. That should be fun to explain to people. Mr. Store Owner: Why do you need so many worms? Are you going to throw them in the lake and wait for the fish to come up so you can scoop them out? Har! Har!  Me: Well. If you must know...(pregnant pause)...I'm going to farm worms for compost and fertilizer. This way I won't have to come back to your fine establishment for fertilizer and fishing worms. Ha! Ha! (ka-ching!...saving money)

I fixed some soup with potatoes, ham, cabbage and dumplings for dinner tonight. It turned out pretty good considering I've never had anything like it before. Yes. I like to make up dinners. I also baked a pound cake from scratch. It goes well with the next item.

We went outside and picked about a pint of strawberries. I had some left over from last night's picking. We pick them just as they've turned red and they ripen over night. I sliced last night's up and put some sweetener to them. It's just about time for STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE!

Then, we went outside to pick off some rats. Missed them tonight. I guess I'm not that good today.

I hope you had a great day.

Take care.

More Strawberries

Here I go with the sugars, again. I can't help it. I love strawberry season. Uh, huh.

Homemade strawberry shortcake with a dollop of canned whipped cream and milk. Yum!

I said I love strawberry season!

Now that they are coming on quickly, I'll be making my strawberry jam for the year. I'll probably post about that later.

Yum! Shortcake!

We've been picking strawberries from our garden for about a month, now.

Here's how we get rid of them...Yummy!

I hull the strawberries, slice them and add sugar to them. I use about 1-2 tablespoons of sugar. I cover and let them sit for a while in the fridge. This give the sugar time to melt and some of the strawberry juices to come out.

I make a 'Lazy Daisy Sponge Cake' recipe from an old Pillsbury Family Cookbook from 1963.

Lazy Daisy Sponge Cake

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup milk, scalded

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, well beaten

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Grease a 9-inch layer pan. I used an 8" x 8" square glass dish so I can split the cake, if I want.

After milk is scalded, remove from heat and add the butter to it until the butter melts.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl.

Put eggs, sugar and vanilla in another bowl and beat until lemon colored.

At low speed, add dry ingredients.

Then mix in the milk and butter mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees F until a silver knife comes out clean. This will be about 30 minutes. Cool a bit and make your strawberry shortcake!

It takes me about 15 minutes to put together the cake and 20-30 minutes to bake it. The taste and texture is so much better than the rubbery little dessert cups you get at the store.

We ate 2 of these cakes one right after the other. I cut them into 9-pieces each. We had 18 shortcakes!

This is one of my favorite desserts ever! I also use blackberries on this cake and peaches, too! Use your imagination and enjoy this simple cake. You won't be sorry!