good morning my friends!!! it was 24* when my feet hit the floor this morning but it is warming up quite nicely. I hope where ever y'all are that you're have a fantastic start to your day so far. I'm looing forward to the day ahead and the plans that the Lord has for us today. with all the leaves off the trees now, we hear sounds that we haven't heard since this past spring, until all the trees got dressed up with their leaves. when the leaves fall, we hear all the sounds from the road in the distance and the railroad track in a distance. it's usually muffled by the leaves on the trees in the summer time. so this time of year it takes a while to get used to hearing everything going on outside. believe it or not, at some point in time today, we'll hear someone mowing. that will continue to be a normal sound until about january. every once in a while we're hear some dogs barking, then I'll hear the train horn as it comes in town, way on the other side of town, several miles away. that's what I'm hearing right now.
hearing the horn right now reminds me of when I was a kid. we lived about 6 miles from the local town and the train went right thru the heart of that small town. on some days, if the wind was blowing the right direction, we could hear the train go thru town all the way out where we lived. I don't know why hearing that train just now sparked that memory, but it did. I hadn't thought of that in many years. good memories. what sounds do you hear that makes you remember something from days gone by?
*********************************
let's go to the kitchen for another "2 minutes in the kitchen with me". I was getting ready to put on a pot of pinto beans in my electric pressure cooker. for some reason, I almost just dumped the bag of beans in without sorting and washing them. I have never EVER done that (praise God) and I'm thankful I didn't do it this time. I don't why I would even ALMOST do that!!!! I guess so I caould share with y'all. I caught myself before I did. anyway, the picture below is why you should always be careful and sort and wash your beans. the beans always go thru my hand before dumping into the bowl to be washed. I've looked at every bean with my eyes and pick out any that are bad and you can also see if there any rocks or bits in them that doesn't belong. I was almost done with sorting them when out fell this little rock about the size of a bb. to be honest, it's the first rock I've found in a bag of beans in 3 or 4 months and we eat a lot of dried beans. after sorting the beans, I wash them with fresh tap water and work them in my hand while swishing them in the water and the water usually looks like tea, they're that dirty. and this bag was no exception. I always wash them in my bowl at least 3 times, until the water runs clear when I drain it off. so be careful and make sure to sort and wash your beans real good.
***********************************
so, I had to do some baking bread. I got started at it late, but I'll get it finished before too long and then we can sample it. one of my sweet online friends has been telling me I need to try making a bread that she had one time. it comes from a restaurant. I'll not call the name of the restaurant, but I was intrigued by what she kept telling me. so, I finally remembered to look for something similar and I found 3 recipes. you know me, I started with the fewest ingredient recipe first!!! hahahaha but, the wow factor for smell is off the charts. since I don't want to be a copy cat, I'll call mine "Salsa Bread". it's still in the bread machine rising right now, but I do have a picture of my dough ball. hahahaha I just hope it turns out good. it's really pink from the salsa and you can smell the parmesan cheese. I'm pretty excited about it. I just made a half batch this time, but if it turns out good, I'll be making a whole batch. I'll show you my rolls that I plan to make with the dough if they turn out good. b ut for now, a picture of the dough ball in the bread machine will have to do and you'll have to take my word on the smell, it's divine.
this is what my dough ball in the bread machine looks like. it already smells pretty good.
this is my finished rolls. they are wonderful. I love these and we always enjoy them so much. I wish you could smell them!!!!
**************************************
hey Grandma, what's for lunch? pork teriyaki skillet meal with brown rice and tons of fresh veggies: white, cipolini, and green onions (can't have too many onions), red and green bell peppers, watermelon radish, celery, carrots, broccoli florets and stems diced small; about 4 cups of veg in all. and a homemade cornbread swirls. it was great and enough for a couple more meals. yum yum!!!!
**********************************************
I'm doing my own little investigative reporting this morning. I'm naming names and I'm throwing down some numbers to boot. just getting real "real" up in my corner of the world today!! take a load off and let me tell y'all about it.
was cleaning in my pantry and sorting cans and trying to get everything all "matchy matchy", I know some of y'all know what I'm talking 'bout!!! hahaha
I had several cans that didn't have any buddies and just didn't want them to be lonely. so.......SOUP!!!! that's what you do with cans that don't have any buddies, you make a batch of soup.
so, I actually had 5 cans of beans that was lonely, and the best thing to do is put them in a hot pot with their buddies. got out my can opener and opened the first can; Kroger Pinto beans-15.5 oz, it was half full of water. man that stinks. I poured them in the strainer and rinsed and drained. I took my kitchen scale down, just for funsies, and and got a small bowl and zeroed the weight out and dumped those drained and rinsed beans in there and I had a whole whopping 7.7 oz of beans from the 15.5 oz can!!!
the investigative reporting continues. I had a can of Kroger black beans, 15.25 oz, washed and drained they weighed 10.3 oz. Next I had generic can of chcikpeas, King Cole, 15.5 oz, washed and drained it was 10.5 oz. next came the Dakota Cajun style navy bean 15.5 oz. washed and drained it was 9.3 oz. the last can of beans was Dakota lima beans, 15.5 oz. washed and drained 8.3 oz.
I know that canned goods have to have water in them, I KNOW THAT!!!! but, let me ask you a question? how many of y'all ever listen to your cans before you buy them???? sometimes when I'm in a hurry, I forget to listen to the cans. I know y'all think that's crazy. but I challenge you to listen to your bean and corn cans before you buy them. ok, I'll tell you what I mean by listening to your cans. pick up 2 random cans, hold one close to your ear and shake it. yes, I can assure you, that you will look strange and get funny looks from passers by, but trust me on this, you will be in the know when you do this, I promise. if both cans sound alike, pick up another one and shake it. see if you can tell which one has the most product in the can and the least amt of water. It works!!! I'm telling you it works. I was trained by the master grocery shopper, my Momma, and if you shop with her today, you'll see her do that. Yes, she does, and I'm happy she taught me to do it. sometimes when I'm in a hurry, I don't do it, but I'm never unhappy when I do remember to do it.
I'll also let you in on another secret. I buy a lot of dried beans and a lot of frozen produce. the weight is usually spot on. at least you don't have a half can of water.
well, I guess that's all the investigative reporting I have for y'all. let me offer a challenge. do the same and and weigh some of your beans and corn and maybe even some of the canned fruit you get. it's shocking. I don't guess I'll get any kind of award for the great reporting, but if I know someone got a little chuckle out of this, that will be my award. well, it's about time for soup!!!!
as we eat soup, y'all remember to shake those cans and let them talk to ya, because they will.
**************************************
I tried my hand at making 2 ingredient air fryer bagels. The basic 2 ingredients are Greek yogurt and self rising flour, in equal parts. Mixed like making homemade biscuits and kneaded and then formed the dough into bagel shapes. You can add other ingredients to make them your own. I used 1/4 cup greek yogurt and 1/4 cup self rising flour, then to the dough, I sprinkled a bit of cinnamon and added a small box of raisins. I put my rack in the af and placed my bagels on the rack and cooked for about 10 minutes or less. Yummsville!!!!! These are the BEST bagels I have ever eaten!!!! No joke!!!! No boiling first then deep frying in oil!!!!! Nothing like being able to control the ingredients in what you eat.
they look so good and are so VERY easy to make!!! you just got to try these. what coulld be easier than making them in the air fryer? oh yeah, NOTHING!!!! hahaha
ok, now you tell me, do these look yummy or what? they are sooooooo good. I can't wait to make another batch of them.
*****************************************
well, I guess this is just about all this journey today has for us. we've been cooking a lot, but it seems with gardening wrapped up for the season, cooking is what I do. hahaha so I hope you find something here that will inspire you to try something different. take the time today to thank God for all He's done for you and thank Him for the fact that you have food to cook. when we eat, we can know we are blessed.
blessings of peace, joy and love be yours today and everyday, patty
No comments:
Post a Comment