good morning beautiful friends!!!! we had some rain overnight in my neck of the woods and it actually warmed up some. the lowest it got last might was 35*, that's a big change for us. we've had below freezing temps for the last several mornings. I like the warmer trend, but I don't know how long it will last. oh well, we'll enjoy it for now.
last evening, I pulled some frozen bbq from the freezer. the best bbq around is on the way between where we live and where my Momma lives. so we'll stop by there once in a while and get carry out and when we do, I'll also get about 5 extra lbs to break down in to smaller pkgs and put in the freezer. I'll break it down to the amt of bbg on each sandwich and freeze them individually and then put about 4 small pkgs per vac seal bag and then pop in the freezer. then we can enjoy our favorite bbq anytime we want it.
last evening was one of those evenings that just seemed right for bbq. so I pulled the bbq out and got it to thawing. I started thinking about bread. what did we want as bread? I have homemade buns/ rolls, homemade cornbread swirls, and homemade cornbread wedges. for some reason, that just wasn't what I wanted. but...........I didn't feel like digging my countertop griddle out. my back wasn't feeling to great yesterday. what else can I do? I don't like making hoecakes in a skillet because it takes up too much fat/grease. so what else?
well, I got to looking around my kitchen. and low and behold, I see it!!!!!! some time in late 2022, I had to get a new waffle iron. the one I had that was 35 years old just bit the dust.
piece of junk, they don't make anything like they used too!!!! hahahaha just kidding about that, it almost outlasted me. hahaha I can only hope the new one will last that long.
back to the story: so, I spyed with my little eyes, my cuisinart waffle maker. well, it's not just any old waffle maker. it has plates that I can change out. so, I changed out the plates to the ones that make round pancakes. well, what's a hoecake? nothing but a round, flat, pancake like, piece of cornbread.
perfect!!!!! I got started and swapped out the plates, got my batter made and heated the waffle iron. I'm telling you, I felt like I had stumbled upon the next big thing. I could sell that idea!!!! I really could. well, not really, because I had bought the idea. hahahaha but I'm telling you, it was a fantastic way for me to use those interchangable plates. I will be using them more often for sure.
the next time I use them, I will take pictures to share. but in the mean time, look around your kitchen and see what you have that you can utilize in more ways than you do now. I'll bet you have things that you can use to make different things.
I'm really excited now, to see if I have other pieces of equipment that I can use in different ways. I'll bet we all have things that can be used differently, we may just have to think differently. I had actually forgotten about those extra plates that I can swap out. I was actually just gonna make some waffle cornbread, but the round hoecakes turned out so much better than I could have expected and I have enough left over from last evening that we will have bbq again sometime over the weekend.
that's a win all day long in my book!!
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let's do a "2 minutes in the kitchen with me". just wanted to share a quick dessert. I had a very ripe red plum that I had gotten at the store. I actually had 2 of them, but now you know what will happen to the other one. hehehe Preheat oven to 350*. I took one plum and sliced it thin, peel on. I mixed 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup oats, 1/4 cup sugar, a healthy dose of cinnamon, a dash of cloves, a pinch of salt and mixed that together in a little bowl. I took the 2 little individual pans that I baked them in and put 2 tablespoons of the dry mix in the bottom of the little pans. I put half of the slices over each pan. I then took my vanilla flavoring and just sprinkled a drop or two over the sliced red plums. I then covered the plums with 2 more spoons of the crumb mix sprinkled on. I took a tablespoon of butter and cut it up into tiny pieces and dropped it evenly over the mixture and then sprinkled about a half tablespoon more of sugar evenly on top of both. I set both pans on a cookie sheet and popped it in the convection toaster oven for about 35-40 minutes. Let me tell you, it was perfect!!! Oh my goodness, it was!! The juiciness and tartness of the plum was absolutely divine!!! Can't wait to make the other one the exact same way.
oh my gosh, this was soooooooo good!!!!! you know what resulted from this, a half gallon of dehydrated plums to use to make more of these!!! oh yeah!!!!!
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so this is an excerpt from a fb post that I have taken down from my fb page. I wanted to share how easy it is to fill your pantry with something as simple as onion blades.
ok, another quick little "2 minutes in the kitchen with me." that is big jar of green onion blades. it is all of them that I have dehydrated in the last 3 or 4 weeks. I had a 24 oz jar full, a 16 oz jar full and then what I started the other day and took off yesterday made this jar half full. then I emptied the other jars in here to fill it up. at some point in time, I'll make crumbled onion greens to use like you would use dried parsley to just sprinkle on stuff and dress it up a little. from the rest of it, I'll make powdered onion greens. it will also be a good addition to use as a garnish and also to use in soup and stews and the like. even in your own special rubs for meats. the little plate is a days worth of goodies in from the garden and it looks like I'll be dehydrating more peppers pretty soon. and I'll be doing the same with some of the peppers that I have done with my onion greens. green pepper flakes will be my new "thang" and then I'll make some green pepper powder too. when my tomatoes start blushing, I pick them and let them ripen inside. as much as I love birds, I don't grow my tomatoes for them. if I leave them to ripen on the vine, they will feast on them. a little bite from this one and a little nibble from that one and they will all have bites in them and then be filled with ants. I can see the bird action from the back door. grrrrr hahahaha
so this is how I spend my time recently, dreaming of, and looking at things from the last few years that make excited about the coming gardening season. I hope you have memories that get you excited too, about something you enjoy or take great pleasure in doing.
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well, as they say, "that's all she wrote", this morning anyway. I pray you have a wonderful and blessed day. remember to thank God for all the bountiful blessings in the past, and for all the future blessings that He has stored up for us. blessings of love, joy and peace be yours. hugs, patty
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