Thinking out loud

When I first read basil as the "spice" of the month I was excited to try something new.  Then life happened and here I am 5 minutes till deadline trying to post!  That is ok since basil is something we use a lot.  We use it in Thai food, I planted a Spicy Basil this year which is an excellent addition to my Thai Peanut Chicken dish, we use it in spaghetti sauce, we use it to top a Magherita Pizza but the simplest and favorite way is simply on tomatoes! I work in an office and this year we decided to have a community garden.  This garden was not my idea and I resisted "allowing" it.  My main reason being I knew I would be the one taking care of it.  Much like the "Mom, can we have a dog", I struggled and wavered about whether a garden would be a good idea. Well, much like the dog (which I now love) I agreed to the garden.  While I am the primary caregiver, there are others who enjoy contributing to the garden.  Today was a day everyone who wanted...

Today's entry is one of my favorites, and its a good response to what can be a real nuisance plant. In the fall, morning preferably and cut the mint stalks off at the ground, if, like us, you are trying to hold back the mint menace go ahead and pull them up by the roots. Take the cut stalks, bundle them together, and hang them somewhere cool and dry. In three or four weeks you can pull the leaves off and throw them in a canister or jar. Once spring comes around and its time for iced tea, or for us February, you can either use a few leaves in the jar/pot with your preferred tea bag or leaves or you can take two tablespoons of leaves and brew some sun tea with just the mint leaves. I've found that this slows down the sugar stampede from the girls when it is iced tea season. And I'd continue with some more stories, but I'm on vacation posting this on my phone.

I'd like to thank my fellow veterans for being who they were when they were needed to do what they did. Regardless of how little they think that was. Without you there is nothing.

That reminds me. The grill is back in full use now. We use it over the winter, but that's just for kicks. Nothing like some grilled peaches on the grill for desert in January. Grilling is not as much of an art as most people seem to think. While there are things that you can do by feel and experience if you can cook in an oven you can cook on a grill. Below are some simple rules I go by when grilling. Don't play with your meat! Unless you have to touch it don't. Don't open the lid to check it, don't do anything unless you have to. Food should be mostly dry when it goes on the grill. While I douse my hamburgers with Worcestershire sauce I do it after they hit the grill. Sop up any extra marinade or juices before you throw it on the grill.  Apply any sauce after the food is about 80% done. Any sugar in your sauce will burn before your meat cooks giving you a nightmare of burnt sauce on top of raw meat. Drink something while grilling, I prefer a nice adult bever...

Coriander, really I had no idea what to make.  I love Cilantro (I used to HATE it!) It always amazes me that at my age, I am always still learning new thing.  Like a couple years ago, I found out the easy way that Coriander is Cilantro that has been allowed to go to seed.  Every year I get tons of Cilantro because I let it go to seed the year before. So what to do?  I start looking through cookbooks and on the internet, then I get lazy and fall back on an old recipe.  Woodman bought a cookbook some time back, I don't even remember the name but it had a rub recipe you used in conjunction with a bbq sauce.  While Woodman likes this, the cumin is a bit strong for me but I do like it.  We had it on grilled pork chops this week and it was a beautiful taste of summer.  Here is the recipe with a few adaptions. Woodman's BBQ Rub 2 T Kosher Salt 2 T Ground Coriander 6 T Ground Cumin 4 T Hot Chili Powder 1 T Paprika 1 1/2 t Ground Allspice 1 1/2...

Ok, the square foot garden is moving along nicely. DD fixed it up with some new shit and peat and vermiculite a month or two ago and started planting. We've decided to leave the tomatoes out of the old garden and build a purpose built tomato garden. 1.5 feet by 12 feet, or maybe 16 feet. The rhubarb is coming up gangbusters and we've planted a strawberry bed. Oddly enough the corner where I suggested DD dump all the extra strawberries looks as good, if not better, than the planned garden. Leftover Bed. Planned Strawberry Bed. Peas, and onions, and radishes, and stuff Anyway, she got on a plane this morning and jetted off to Virginia, for a business meeting on Monday and Tuesday..... and a nice relaxing day or two at my Nana's place near Marshall Virginia. Something I noticed while mowing today is that whenever she leaves she leaves me this wish list of chores that I haven't been able to get done in the last few weeks with her here to help, but now somehow...

I let this month get away from me (like that is something new) so I am falling back on a favorite instead of trying something new.  Woodman's favorite - Dilly Beans!!!  I have to confess, I don't like Dilly Beans, maybe it is an acquired taste but I probably won't ever have it enough to acquire it.  When we fist got married Woodman would often talked about Dilly Beans.  It is something he remembers from his childhood and loves so last year while participating in the CanJam, I gave it a try. I am so happy I did, this recipe is so easy and Woodman loves it, his father loves it and a number of our friends love it.  So I get to provide the people I love with something they love with little effort.  Instead of recreating the original post I am just going to link here   Dilly Bean Can Jam so check it out especially the picture, those beans look like summer to me. For this post I lucked into some organic beans on sale at our local market they also f...