A Taste Of Autumn/Winter

A Taste Of Autumn/Winter-

After fall-like storms coming into the N.W. we seemed to have a bit here too! A winter weather advisory for the mountains, with a lot of people camping on Labor Day weekend, could be interesting. Some people don't check the weather first :( It's dropped down 20 degrees tonite and it's raining lightly. Yes! I picked a big bowl of tomatoes this evening ahead of the storm, and found my first lemon cukes! Yeah!!! I love them , with their thin skins, little seeds, and great flavor-

So this may be a taste of the Godzilla El Nino! Off to bed with an extra blanket :) This weekend I'll be finishing canning/freezing the last of our apples!

Independence Days Challenge

Independence Days Challenge-

I haven't done much of these posts, so here's a bit of a hodge podge of things we're working on...

1. Plant Something- 

Nope, no fall gardens here, too hot. 96 two days ago :(

2. Harvest Something-

1st Patty Pan heritage squashes about ready, lots of apples, big bowl of tomatoes a couple days ago, more coming! Nectarines and pears are getting ready. Our rhubarb also made a come back and is turning pink! Maybe another week or 2...

girls enjoying the garden

squashes

Lemon Boy tomatoes

3. Preserve/Store Something-

Canning apple slices, applesauce and apple butter next weekend, Labor Day :) Lots of labor here! Freezing extra meats, whole grain rolls (great with winter soups), muffins and misc. stuff. Stocking up pantry closet of misc. items. Fermenting apple vinegar. I may do a second batch.

4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep-

Got some great local peaches and tomatoes last week. Got work clothes clearance priced. Oddly, as always, summer clothes are going off the racks and winter coming in. It's 90 ish so it's summer for me! I refilled some prescriptions a few weeks early before my deductible rolls over in a week. Saved a few hundreds of $$$ on co-pays :) Score!

5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe- 

We've been eating lots of fresh apples from our tree! Two desserts done so far, so today I made a new apple muffin recipe, I thought I'd freeze some, fast and simple- Cooks.com I tripled the recipe and it made 16 large muffins. I also  modified it- I used 1/3 each: WW, Oat and Unbleached flours & added fresh ground nutmeg and 1 cup pecans-

I also used this long time fave apple pie recipe modified for a crumb cobbler, it has orange juice! Stephenson's Apple Pie recipe  Everyone LOVES it! Still cooling.

Made the fried fish BLT's from my last post-

 yummy!!!!

6. Build Community Food Systems-

Bought local fruits/veggies, selling extra eggs at work. I also gave my kids apples and eggs.

7. Recycle/Re-Use-

Recycled odds and ends of decor after painting interiors, my daughter adopted a few things this week, ebayed a few more things, box ready for charity.

8. Skill Up- 

Dave learned from his brother the easy way to remove/replace some of our damaged siding, so we can paint in the spring. You cut the nails with a sawzall so as not to damage the adjacent pieces. Worked great!

9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something-

Repairing house siding, so we we be in good shape in the spring to paint. Dave was able to also patch some areas with the used siding for smaller areas. Some of the beat up siding fell apart in his hands. This side takes the brunt of the storms-

new siding on the bottom

banged up siding on the top, actually the bottom, oops

new siding up, will paint soon for the winter

Mary's Amazing Apple Cake! More Smoke and Fires, Organic Local Veggies, Feathered Visitor

I found this recipe years ago in Sunset magazine, and it's a keeper! A dough-like bottom, layer of sliced apples and a topping of butter/sugar/cinnamon. Oh my!!! It's like a coffee cake, but more. Next time I will cut down on the sugar on top, since the apples were sweet enough. Recipe's here- Mary's Apple Cake

Fresh out of the oven

I'll be making this again from Epicurious.com, mostly apples and very moist-

French Apple cake

From Boiseguardian.com

More Smoke and Fires-

We've really been suffering here in Boise with the smoke from multiple fires in Oregon, Idaho and Washington. I feel for those with breathing issues, both adults and children. One the other end are firefighters being killed- 3 Firefighters Killed, put things into perspective. I'm hoping weather will change everywhere and things will calm down...

Organic Local Veggies-

I was driving by a small local veggie stand this morning. I spotted a local peaches sign. U turn! I bought some wonderful organic Elberta peaches and Brandywine tomatoes, time for a BLT! I also will go back, now that I tried them, and get a big box for $20.00. Time for jams!!! As for the tomatoes, I saw this recipe from Saramoulton.com a while back and I may try it tonite- a fried catfish BLT. More protein and fun!

From Saramoulton.com

Feathered Visitor-

We have lots of pretty ground doves that visit our backyard. They're always walking around, flying, eating and drinking. This little guy was VERY different. I found out it's a Ring Neck dove. I walked near it and it didn't fly away. It seemed calm, uninjured and was just curious. Dave and I got to with about a foot and a 1/2 before it flew off, but only a couple of feet. Pretty little thing-

eating some bird food

checking us out

What a cutie!