menu plan monday ~ july 23, 2012

I headed to my Dad’s last Saturday for a family reunion. Five of the siblings from his family were there. Another brother was unable to come due to an event he had to attend, and another sister is winding up a five-week world tour with her son, so was unable to come. My dad is on the right.

family reunion

It was good to see some aunts and uncles I have not seen for a long time. And also fun to catch up with cousins that I haven’t had a chance to talk to for a while.

Spent some time canning this week, too. Our older son and his wife and the grands came over on Wednesday to learn how to use the pressure canner. We canned tomato sauce and peaches. The twins thought the food mill was the most fun they’d had in a long time!

Snow White's turn on the plunger

This week, I have about 100 pounds of peaches to can. They are a shade hard yet. I think they’ll be ready tomorrow. Here’s the menu for the week. Tuesday will be shredded beef in the crock pot so we can have sandwiches whenever, as we are canning peaches. I’ll move that up to Wednesday if the peaches aren’t ready on Tuesday.

Monday
Taco Salad
Tortilla Chips

Tuesday
Roast Beef in the Crock Pot for sandwiches (I use the linked recipe, but put the ingredients in the crock pot instead of using the oven. Too hot to add unnecessary oven heat to the house.)
Homemade Buns
Refrigerator Pickles
Coleslaw with Peanuts and Raisins
Sliced Garden Tomatoes and Fresh Cukes

Wednesday
Grilled Hamburgers and/or Pork Steaks
Homemade Buns
Garden Salad
Refrigerator Pickles

Thursday
Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Rice

Friday
Homemade Pizza

Saturday
Fridge Food

Sunday
Baked Chicken
Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons
Asparagus
Corn on the Cob
Peach Cobbler with Homemade Ice Cream

You’ll find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday. You’ll find a lot of valuable resources at Laura’s MPM site. Check it out!

~~Rhonda

menu plan monday ~ july 16, 2012

This past week DH put my cubbies on the wall in our bedroom. They came out of an old post office a long time ago. My mom had them and I always loved them. After she passed away last December, we went through her things and this is one of the lovelies I got to bring home.

hanging the cubbies

The hanging supplies, stools and general mess have been cleared and a small lowboy moved under the cubbies. The oak washstand moved to the other side of the room. Now to fill the cubbies will all sorts of fun things, including some from Mom. More on that in a later post.

Now, down to business…the menu for the week.

Monday
Chef Salad

Tuesday
Bacon-Provolone Chicken Sandwiches
Refrigerator Pickles
Sliced Garden Tomatoes

Wednesday
BBQ Chicken in the Crock Pot
Homemade Buns
Carrot and Celery Sticks
Coleslaw with Walnuts
Refrigerator Pickles

Thursday
Pork Chops in the Crock Pot
Baked Potatoes (from the garden)
Steamed Garden Beans
Corn on the Cob

Friday
Homemade Pizza

Saturday
Pork Roast
Cowboy Beans (I use half the sugar it calls for.)
Garden Salad
Peas and Carrots
Peanut Butter Bars

Sunday
Baked Chicken
Baked Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Broccoli / Cauliflower Salad

You’ll find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

hostas and drought…the good, the bad, and the ugly

Yesterday, DH and I spent about two hours in the garden. I have to say that, with the record high temps soaring over 100 degrees day after day, I had not stepped outside the door in a solid two weeks. I knew it was bad out there, but I was shocked. The drought has really taken a toll on the garden. I took pictures of some of the hostas to show you how they are doing. Or not doing…

Hosta ‘Big Mama’ came through pretty well, considering how dry everything was.

Hosta 'Big Mama'

Earlier this year, we could see that the west side of the plant was getting too much sun. It was melting the wax coating that makes the leaves look blue, and that is the same side that really suffered in the drought.

hosta 'Big Mama'

‘Aphrodite’ looks pretty good, too, considering the amount of sun it gets.

Hosta 'Aphrodite'

Here it is in May.

Hosta 'Aphrodite'

‘Royal Standard’ was a big disappointment. It will tolerate a lot of sun, but obviously not a drought.

Hosta 'Royal Standard'

This is the same plant, earlier this year. It is in full sun all day.

'Royal Standard'

This picture shows another ‘Royal Standard’ hosta (toward the back). It’s under the mulberry tree in deep shade. Even though it had shade, it was still a goner.

Hosta 'Royal Standard' in back with Hosta 'Thunderbolt' in front (to the right)

Hosta ‘New Journey’ did fairly well. It has never had leave burn before, but I guess the bit of sun it gets was too much combined with the severe drought. Doesn’t look bad compared to many other hostas in the garden, though.

Hosta 'Journey's End'

But it looked so good in May…

'Journey's End'

‘Veronica Lake,’ which is right next to ‘Journey’s End’ looks great. No problems, even with no rain.

Hosta 'Veronica Lake'

If you remember, we moved ‘Sagae’ to a shadier spot when its redbud tree had to be removed earlier this year. It was watered several times when first transplanted. Came through the drought pretty well. The leaf burn in this picture was actually caused by the exhaust of the chainsaw when the redbud tree was removed. I don’t think it suffered any additional leaf burn because of the drought.

Hosta 'Sagae'

This picture of the same ‘Sagae’ was taken April 9, this year, before we lost the redbud tree. The hosta looked better this year than any other year we’ve had it in the garden. Then we had to move it. Then we had a drought. But it came through well considering what it has been through.

Hosta 'Sagae'

Poor ‘Wheaton Blue.’ This has always been a good looking hosta until this season.

Hosta 'Wheaton Blue'

Here it is shown behind ‘American Beauty.’

'Wheaton Blue' and 'American Sweetheart'

‘June,’ which is in deep shade under the mulberry tree, came through with flying colors.

Hosta 'June'

‘Thunderbolt’ survived the drought with no problem.

Hosta 'Thunderbolt'

As did ‘American Beauty.’

Hosta 'American Beauty'

But poor ‘Blue Cadet’. It can usually take some light sun, but not this year. It suffered from the high temperatures and the drought.

Hosta 'Blue Cadet'

The ‘Blue Cadet’ breaks my heart. It looked so good earlier this year. I enjoyed it every time I walked out the back door. Here it is on May 25.

'Blue Cadet'

‘Liberty’ surprised me by how well it survived the lack of rain. It has been a touchy plant in our garden, though it was doing well in this spot.

Hosta 'Liberty'

This is the same plant, earlier this year.

Hosta 'Liberty'

Hosta ‘Guardian Angel’ did not do well at all. Drought…Poof…no hosta.

Hosta 'Guardian Angel'

The same plant two months ago…

Hosta 'Guardian Angel'

‘Summer Music’ is another one that just melted away.

Hosta 'Summer Music'

Same plant last summer…

Hosta 'Summer Music'

‘Green Fountain’ was another surprise. It is planted in an old iron kettle in full shade. We never water it. It looks just fine, in spite of the drought.

Hosta 'Green Fountain'

The last hosta I’ll share is ‘Regal Spendor.’

Hosta 'Regal Splendor'

Earlier this year it showed off its beautiful blue and creamy yellow color.

Hosta 'Regal Splendor'

The hostas that are in the worst shape may go dormant. We’ll see. It’s heart-breaking to see them in such poor condition after the spring was so good for them.

We did get 2.8″ of rain Sunday evening. What a relief! We are praying for more. The garden still needs rain. And, even more so, we suffer for our farmer friends.

Even with the rain, the grass is still brown in much of the lawn. The daylilies are drying up, though they still bloom. Such a hardy plant!

front yard

In the above picture, you can see that the crape myrtle is blooming. They have not shown any adverse effects yet. I’m not sure how they will look next year. We’ll have to wait and see. The star magnolia, on the other hand, looks awful right now. I’m wondering if our star magnolia will recover. During the drought, it lost all its leaves except for a few at the top. The leaf loss exposed two bird nests that no longer have any cover. One of our ‘Gold Flame’ spireas looks dead. Most other shrubs look like they survived pretty well, considering the lack of rain.

Star Magnolia

star magnolia

It has been almost eight weeks since I mowed under this swing in the back yard.

back yard swing

I’d rather have the rain and have to mow, than no rain with no mowing.

You can visit other gardens from around the country, and the world, at Tootsie Time.

~~Rhonda

menu plan monday ~ july 9, 2012

Monday
Fridge Food

Tuesday
Tortellini with Ham and Peas
Garden Salad
Garlic Bread with Mozzarella

Wednesday
Cheese Burgers
Homemade Buns
Stir Fried Garden Veggies
Refrigerator Pickles

Thursday
Crock Pot Rotisserie-Style Chicken
Rice
Garden Tomatoes
Sweet and Sour Cucumbers

Friday
Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry
Rice

Saturday
Fridge Food

Sunday
Veggie Lasagna in the Crock Pot – Based on this recipe. I’ll substitute sautéed veggies for the meat mixture.
Garden Salad
Homemade Rosemary Bread

You’ll find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

make some refrigerator pickles

My dear daughter-in-law made some refrigerator pickles a few weeks ago. I was inspired to try my hand at it, as well. SO easy and they are delicious.

I made two jars of dills slices, three jars of sweet pickle spears and a jar of pickled radish slices with a few cucumber chunks thrown in to fill the jar.

refrigerator pickles

The sweet pickles were first, as DH likes those the best.

refrigerator pickles

I used the Summertime Sweet Pickles recipe from allrecipes.com, though I left out the onions (DH is allergic to onion…I know! How sad is that??).

Summertime Sweet Pickles

1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 T. salt
1 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
2 pounds cucumbers
2 sweet onions (optional)

In a small saucepan at medium-high heat, combine cider vinegar, salt, sugar, tumeric and mustard seed. Bring to a boil and let cook for 5 more minutes.

Meanwhile, slice cucumbers and onion. Loosely pack the vegetables in a 1-quart canning jar or other similarly sized container.

Pour hot liquid over the vegetables in the container. Refrigerate for 24 hours and enjoy! Keep refrigerated.

This recipe made three quarts for me. So easy! And they taste good, too! Yummy right out of the jar.

refrigerator pickles

For the dill pickles, I used this simple recipe, Overnight Pickles, from cooks.com. I made thicker 1/4 inch slices for one jar of chunky pickles and sliced the cukes for the second jar more like 1/8 inch thick.

refrigerator pickles

Overnight Pickles

Cucumbers
1 tbsp. dill weed (I used one 5-6 inch sprig of fresh dill.)
3 c. water
3 c. vinegar
1/2 tsp. garlic chips (I just added a crushed garlic clove to each jar.)
1/3 c. salt

Cut cucumbers in halves then in quarters (I sliced them). Place in a jar with dill weed. Boil water, vinegar, garlic and salt. Pour over cucumbers and refrigerate overnight. Keep refrigerated.

These are great on sandwiches and kept a good crunch, too.

I made two quarts with the dill pickle recipe and had two cups of brine left over. Ran out of cukes. But I used the brine and combined it with a few ingredients from the recipe at chow.com for Bread-and-Butter Radishes to make a brine for pickling the radishes.

refrigerator pickles

So my recipe looks like this:

Pickled Radishes

2 c. brine, left over from making dill pickles (contained no dill because fresh was added to the jar)
1 T. pickling salt
1 tsp. mustard seed
1/2 tsp. black peppercorns

I cooked the brine and spices at a low boil for five minutes. While it was cooking, I sliced radishes and chunked the few small cukes I had left, till I had enough to fill a quart canning jar.

When the jar was full, I poured the brine over all until it was about 1/4 inch below the top of the jar. The longer the radishes pickled, the pinker they got. Very pretty in the jar!

I didn’t have coriander seed, so left that out, but want to try these again following the original recipe more closely next time.

refrigerator pickles

These are all recipes I will try again. Give it a try yourself! There are many, many recipes for all kinds of pickled veggies, some for the fridge and some for canning. Pack some of your surplus garden produce for later!

refrigerator pickles

PS…for the refrigerator pickles, I used the plastic storage lids made for canning jars. Convenient when using canning jars in the fridge. Less messy than reusing the ring and flat to seal a jar of canned goods that have been opened, too. I found them in standard and wide-mouthed sizes on amazon.com.

~~Rhonda

menu plan monday ~ july 2, 2012

We spent the last half of last week staying inside as much as possible. We had several days in a row of temps over 100, up to 108 one day. We did get .14 of an inch of rain last night, the first in a long time. But not enough to make a difference. We’re praying for more rain. We don’t, as a general rule, water our flower gardens. This week, we have been watering the veggie garden, a few of the more distressed hosta beds, and also the large oak tree behind the house. The veggie garden continues to produce cukes, green beans and tomatoes. We are also blessed with lots of produce from our son and DDIL’s garden. I made six quarts of refrigerator pickles yesterday. So delicious! I’ll post recipes and more pictures later.

refrigerator pickles

We’re coming up on the Independence Day holiday this week. We don’t have anything in particular planned, as it looks like the temps are going to be hovering around 100 for the next ten days. No grilling for us. Too hot to be outside!

Monday
Bacon-Provolone Chicken Sandwich
Corn on the Cob
Refrigerator Pickles

Tuesday
Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Rice

Wednesday
Rosemary Ranch Chicken
Crash Hot Potatoes
Garden Salad
Corn on the Cob

Thursday
Homemade Pizza

Friday
Crock Pot Rotisserie-Style Chicken
Rice
Steamed Green Beans
Orange Glazed Carrots

Saturday
Fridge Food

Sunday
Baked Chicken
Garden Salad
Mashed Potatoes
Steamed Green Beans
Corn on the Cob
Refrigerator Pickles

You’ll find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

35 years and counting

This past week, DH and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. It’s harder for me to get out than it used to be, but I didn’t want to miss our annual trip. For ten years we have been celebrating our anniversary by visiting daylily farms and finding new plants we would like to add to our garden.

The first nursery we visited was Frank Nyikos’ Walnut Grove Nursery. Lots of beautiful butterflies there, as well as daylilies and hostas.

swallowtail

We found some lovely daylilies and a beautiful hosta. Frank has wonderfully healthy plants and takes care packaging them for the trip home.

Frank, readying our  purchases

We saw a sign by the road that directed us to Teresa’s Dazzling Daylilies. I sat on a chair in the shade while Russell perused the daylilies. It was a beautiful day, not too hot, a little breezy. Very nice in the shade.

beautiful daylily farm

Teresa was very friendly and happy to dig anything we wanted. We enjoyed talking to her. Her gardens are neat and tidy, with all the plants well marked.

Teresa, digging our choices

The next day we visited Windy Ridge Daylily Farm.

800 varieties and he looked at every one

Another very nice day. It was pleasant to sit beside the garden and we had fun choosing the flowers we want to add to our garden.

so many choices...

When we got home, DH potted the plants and put them in the wading pool with an inch or two of water in the pool. That will keep them comfy and help them grow on until the heat and drought break. Then we can plant them in the garden.

chillin' in the pool

It took me a few days to recover from the trip, but I’m glad we went. I’m thankful for DH and the many years we’ve had together. Here’s to many more, my Sweet. 🙂

~~Rhonda

summer garden

The daisies began blooming last week. The clumps of white add a lot to the daylily beds. These are the daisy ‘Becky.’ It’s a sturdy plant and great at staying upright. Never needs staking. It spreads quickly, so give it plenty of room or be prepared to divide it in the next few years.

daylilies and Daisy 'Becky'

The Russian sage seems to suffer this year from the lack of rain. It looks good, but is not as full and vigorous as it usually is.

daylily bed

The daylily ‘Red Hawk’ has long flower scapes (stalks). The blossoms hover well above the plant.

Hemerocallis 'Red Hawk'

The center of the driveway is a mix of some good spots and some very weedy spots. It needs to be reworked. The northern end has a nice bed of daylilies, though.

daylily bed

Where the lawn gets full sun, the grass is dry, brown and brittle. Mowing sends up a cloud of dry grass and dust.

Dust cloud from mowing very dry grass. We need rain.

The only way to know if I had mowed parts of the lawn was to look for the flower stalks of the English plantain. Just look at how brittle and dry that grass is. Thankfully, those parts of the yard that get more shade are still green and growing, if slowly.

English plantain

As a general rule, the only watering we do is when putting in new plants to get them well established. We do not water the lawn or the flower beds. Mulching and mature plants that are crowded together help preserve the moisture. But we are way behind on rain this summer and the sun-soaked parts of the garden are suffering.

The tiger lilies opened this week. Even though orange is my least favorite color, this is such a pretty flower. Do you see the tiny inch worm standing on his hind legs?

tiger lilies

tiger lilies

Some of the hostas that are in a lot of sun are beginning to burn a bit. But most get enough shade that, even is the dry conditions, they still look great. Many are flowering right now.

hosta flowers

Hosta ‘Gold Standard’ and “Lemon Lime’ and ‘Pizzazz’

Hosta 'Gold Standard' and "Lemon Lime'

Hosta ‘Daybreak’ and ‘Candy Hearts’

Hosta 'Daybreak' and 'Candy Hearts'

A quick tour of the front yard today, but I hope you enjoyed it.

~~Rhonda

here a daylily, there a daylily…

Just want to share a few of our pretty blossoms.

‘Color Harmony’

Hemerocallis 'Color Harmony'

‘Little Bumblebee’
This is a mini with a two inch blossom.

Hemerocallis 'Little Bumblebee'

‘Siloam Red Toy’

Hemerocallis 'Siloam Red Toy'

‘Night Wings’

Hemerocallis 'Night Wings'

‘Siloam Fairy Tale’

'Siloam Fairy Tale'

‘Dragon King’

'Dragon King'

‘Gentle Shepherd’

Hemerocallis 'Gentle Shepherd'

‘Accent on Style’

'Accent on Style'

‘Last Picture Show’

'Last Picture Show'

‘Thumbprint’

'Thumbprint'

‘Ruby Throat’

'Ruby Throat'

‘Highland Lord’

Hemerocallis 'Highland Lord'

I guess I should quit here, though there are hundreds of other lovely blooms in the garden. I’ll post more another time. If you’re local and see something you like, just let us know. We sell by the double fan and prices are generally $5-$12, though some are higher. All proceeds go to the mission fund at our church.

~~Rhonda

menu plan monday ~ june 18, 2012

Father’s Day was a good one. We celebrated Father’s Day at home on Friday evening, as the girls were planning to be gone Saturday and we were visiting my Dad on Sunday. Here is Snow White rolling pie crust for Pa’s Father’s Day raspberry and peach pie. She said, “I am NNNNNOOOT making such a big mess,” even though no one suggested she was. Just making sure, I guess…

making pie for Pa

She had a very good time.

making pie for Pa

Here’s the menu for the week.

Monday
Fridge Food ~ lots of leftovers from the past few days to eat.

Tuesday
Taco Pizza

Wednesday
Turkey in the Crock Pot
Rice
Steamed Garden Green Beans
Corn on the Cob
Garden Salad

Thursday
Chicken Quesadillas with Avacodo Sour Cream
Oven Baked Tortilla Chips

Friday
Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Rice

Saturday
Fridge Food

Sunday
Spaghetti and Sauce
Corn
Peas
Garden Salad

You’ll find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda