Pictures from around Crooked Acres.
Dinner: Cherry tomatoes with mozzarella cubes, oven-fried okra and green tomatoes, black-eyed peas, corn on the cob, squash casserole. HEAVEN.
The absolute, hands-down BEST chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever made. Easy, too – also? From Cooking Light. Which means it’s GOTTA be good for you, so don’t just eat one. Eat six! Honest to god, when you can make something this good in half an hour of work, there’s no excuse for buying and eating that prepackaged shit they sell at the grocery stores.
Some fine-looking tomato sauce, made over the weekend by yours truly. I just need to run it through the food processor (I cannot abide tomato chunks in my tomato sauce) and strain it to get the seeds out, then it’ll be ready for the freezer.
Canning done over the weekend: pickled okra, pickled jalapenos, pickled cucumbers. YUM.
Housewarming gift from my sister. How’d she know I like cats? It’s a mystery! (Flour sack dish towels are the BEST. So are SISTERS!)
The chicks absolutely adore anything that comes with seeds in it. We’ve been feeding them a lot of (not-quite-ripe) cantaloupe lately, and tomatoes we find laying on the ground. They eat the entire insides out, and leave the husk. If we’re not quick enough with giving them more, they’ll eventually eat the husks, too.
The black-eyed peas have really taken off.
Japanese eggplant.
::bzzt::bzzt::bzzt:: “Pardon me, ma’am, just doing my job…”
Okra bloom, and some okra, ready to be cut.
Maxi, guardian of the garden.
What with all the sunflowers falling over, Fred decided to cut them down. I told him to bring me the best blooms, and I put them in a vase.
He brought a little more than sunflowers inside, though.
“Hellew, Clarice.”
“Lady, if I might inquire: what the heck? I was just basking in the sun contemplating finding an insect for my dinner, and suddenly I’m in a place where it’s cold and dark and I can’t find my web ANYWHERE.”
“Boog-GIE, move over! I wanna be in the picture, too! Mooooom! Make him move over!”
:::het::het::het:::
I really do like these early morning posts. Right when I get to work and check email – there you are!!!!
Keep up the good work…
“Hello Clarice” HEE!!!!
Your dinner looks SO yummy! May I come to visit? 😉
Tommy and Da Boogs… how cute! Heh.
Have a good day! 🙂
great cat pics today! (not that they arent always)
Good morning Robyn, I love the early morning posts also. Since that is when I spend my time on the computer(gotta get awake lingering with my coffee).Your cookies look so good, I’m going to try making some today. Thanks for the photos. I want to know How do you get such cute pictures of the cats, do you lay hanging down from the pic-nic table?
I have a (probably stupid) question about the squash casserole. When I’m sauteing summer squash, I leave the skin on, but I’m guessing you cut it off before boiling and mashing it for the casserole?
Thanks for the chocolate chip cookie recipe, too! I hope it works well with Splenda. I’ve been substituting it for sugar (brown and white) in baking, and it usually works fine. Does Splenda give you digestive fits? I was wondering if you had any trouble with it after your WLS.
To the tune of “I Feel Pretty”
I’m so jealous.
I’m so jealous.
I’m as jealous as jealous can be!!!
Lisa- I made Robyn’s squash casserole recipe and I left the skin on. It was SO delicious.
Robyn I am so jealous of your dinner- it looks wonderful. And that spider- loved the Hannibal reference!
I am just pea green with envy on your garden and all the canning your are able to do. My garden is just so so this year.
Have you tried a food mill for your tomatoes? It makes quick work of getting rid of the seeds and purees the chunks.
That dinner looks awesome! I love seeing all the pictures.
I am looking forward to your virtual house tour for the new house…when are you doing that? (I know it is a lot of work)
I came *thisclose* to spewing water out of my mouth when I saw the “hellew clarice” line.
hahahahhahahha. still laughing about it. Doesn’t help that I think spiders are about as creey as Hannibal Lecter.
The squash casserole? Looks divine. Recipe?? 😀
“Hellew, Clarice” – what a great picture!! His little beady eyes and everything… if those are even eyes, who knows, with insects. Award-winning photo and caption, though!
Fey: the squash casserole recipe is linked under the picture. 🙂
With all of the chickens eating all of those seeds, you may end up next year with randomly planted tomato seedlings. They go straight through the bird, and end up in a nicely planted poo packet of fertilizer. Childhood friends of my Dad worked at a septic tank effluent management place, and said they always had good tomato plants growing around there.
No-one ate those plants though….
HowDEE!
I just searched your site for “flea” and “fleas” and found nada. Lucky you!
My boys (meow men) are 11 and 12 and I personally haven’t seen a flea in 19 years. This week I’ve seen… 30 – and hundreds of larvae (yuck). The cats go outside very rarely, like 4 or 5 times a year. I let them out last weekend, but now that I know what this is, I realize the fleas started 3-4 weeks ago. Before then they hadn’t gone out in almost 2 months.
So, anyhoo, I tried to de-flea them without killing them (the cats, that is) – so now I still have fleas. Do you have any tips? From fosters, pet store, outside kitties?
HEPL!
(And I love how your men love each other. Mine are the same colors as Boogie and Tom, but dey ain’t nuthin’ but het in dis whol hous. They’ve been together for 11 years, too. Le sigh.)
I love just eating vegetables for supper — way to go; that looks wonderful. I bet it all was delicious. We’re trying to sell our house right now, and it seems like all our showings happen at mealtimes. I can’t do much cooking these days, so I’m enjoying your efforts vicariously. You are a good cook!
Also, Robyn — do you mind another question? About that squash casserole — does a regular 9 x 13 inch dish work, or do you need one of those really big ones for that recipe?
Thank you! I plan to make that as soon as I can!
This may be a dumb question but aren’t pickled cucumbers just pickles? LOL 😉
That stuff looks scrumptious (ack did I just use that word?) I would love me a good chocolate chip cookie recipe that was chewy and not cakey!!!!
Robyn, do you mind if I just take over your questions/comments?
Catherine- I used a regular 9 X 13 baking dish.
Thanks, Janet —