Monday, November 21, 2022

November Days


veggie scraps being turned into broth


Hello, friends.  I headed to the coast on Monday for a funeral, and listened to an audio book that I was able to change from an ebook on Kindle for free.  It was a gorgeous day, perfect for a long drive.  With the woodstove going again, another three gallon bags of veggie scraps were taken from the freezer, and simmered for broth.  I cut up and grated another two large cucuzza squash for the critters.  A toothpaste tube was cut, and it's already lasted close to a week more, with more to go.  I strained the first batch of broth, put it in the fridge, and started another pot of scraps on the woodstove.  Last week, I harvested parsley, rosemary, and collards.  I went through Rakuten for gift purchases for 2% and 2.5% back.


this Mickey mouse shadow caught my eye one day


We did get another 1/2" of rain early in the week.  The first real cold arrived, with lows in the low 20's.  We closed up all the chicken coop windows, except for leaving a small opening at the top of one for air flow.  I was able to purchase a label at home for a package heading to family in Italy, saving me a trip to the P.O..   I've been reading Lilac Girls from the library, which is a hard read at times, as it goes into details about experiments done in concentration camps.  I've known there were horrific experiments that went on, but would rather not know the details.  Before the coldest night, J and I gathered up everything we could find, and covered up all the plants in the fall garden, plus the olives and pomegranates.  There was kale that had a stalk too tall to fit under the cover, so J cut it off, and I tried a new recipe for wilted kale salad with apples and pecans.  The pups also got some chopped leaves in their dinner. 


this is apparently what made the shadow above


I turned some of our potatoes into fries, made black bean burgers, and harvested winter greens for a salad.  J and I watched the new Downton Abbey movie, free on Prime.  I would have loved to have seen it on the big screen, as we did the first movie, but we were too busy when it was playing locally.  We did enjoy watching it.  When I went by Harris Teeter after an appointment, the produce section was looking rather skimpy in what was offered.  I decided to head to Food Lion on Saturday, to get the things HT didn't have, or were too expensive.  I stopped at the Aldi across the street first, and was happy to get .99 cranberries, pomegranates for $1.89, which is the cheapest I've seen this year, and brussels sprouts for $2.29.  Food Lion had bags of mandarins for $2.99.  I went to a second Food Lion, because I wanted enough celery to not have to shop again before Thanksgiving.  They had enough celery, and I was delighted to see 3 bags of organic Pink Lady apples, which I had a $1.50 store coupon for, and haven't been in the first store in at least a month.  I also found $1 off raw honey on the clearance rack.

  

tomato rice loaf ingredients before combining

For a dinner, I made colcannon with our potatoes and cabbage.  It's one of my favorite comfort meals.  J is still going back and forth with the solar company in China.  It sounded as though they were trying to blow him off last week, and honestly, what could one do about a company in China?  But he persevered, letting them know how unhappy he was, and they asked us to take another video to send them.  Please send good thoughts for a positive outcome.  I've seen a few people using LED candles lately.  With being back on grid power, I decided to buy some I saw at Aldi, and so far, have been using one in the bathroom in the early mornings and evenings.  J spent Saturday blowing a large portion of our leaves into piles, which he'll pick up with the lawn vac.  For Sunday dinner, I made tomato rice loaf, using our onions, garlic, last grape tomatoes, and three small tomatoes.  Peas and pear sauce were sides.  While the oven was going, I baked lots of small sweet potatoes, some of which I plan to turn into pie.  We'll be enjoying the day with my sister and family for Thanksgiving.  I hope yours is peaceful, if you celebrate, with good food and company.  Take care, friends.



7 comments:

daisy g said...

I'll have to look for the movie on Prime! I've never seen the show, but have heard so many good things about it. We always enjoy British programs.

Hoping for the best with the solar company.

I forgot to ask you where you got the seed envelopes you sent me? I bought some, but they are much too small. Yours look the perfect size.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving. I am grateful to have you as a penpal. Blessings...

Laurie said...

I'm grateful to have a penpal friend in you too! I'll have to ponder about the seed packages. I'm pretty sure the first ones I got were from Pinetree garden seeds, but these might have been ebay, or possibly Etsy. We really enjoy Downton Abbey. I hope you do too!

April said...

May you have a warm (figuratively, if not literally) Thanksgiving.

Staci D said...

I LOVE colcannon. A comfort food indeed! Gosh, that's awful about the solar company. Sending good vibes your way in hopes that you receive a fix soon.

I love that your dogs will eat kale. Emerson, our pup who passed in 2019, was obsessed with food. Would eat anything - or so we thought, until I gave him kale. It was the only thing he ever spit out! 🙄 It was pretty funny.

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Laurie said...

Thanks, April!

The solar company has requested more pics, so thanks for the good vibes! Whenever McNibs finagled his way into the garden, he'd head straight for cabbage, collards, etc. The tall kale stem I talked about in the post... I threw it in front of the house, and he chewed on it for days! Guinness at least tolerates it, though neither likes peppers or celery.

Staci D said...

That is too funny that he chews on the kale stems!!

I just received an email from the website Nora Cooks (where I got my vegan pumpkin pie recipe from) and thought of you. She shared a sweet potato pie recipe that includes a link to a gf pie crust - I didn't know if it would be of interest to you, it's here: https://www.noracooks.com/vegan-sweet-potato-pie/

Happy Thanksgiving!

Laurie said...

Thank you, Staci! I'll check it out.