What did I cook this weekend.....

Japanese Beetles have really enjoyed my 2 basil plants while I got none. If anbody knows of a natural solution for those damn beetles please share it. I would rather let the beetles have than use any chemical.


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Best solution I've found is to talk a neighbor about two doors down into putting up one of those bait-n-bag traps. They work great - but they also bring in a lot of beetles!

 

I did read that you should avoid traps because they actually draw beetles to your garden.


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You guys talking about your gardens have me jealous. We moved in our house after we should have planted

Looking forward to planting in the fall though

What kind of goodies are you guys growing?

 

Only harvest-able crop for me are hops (cascade which are doing great, centennial which are pathetic and nugget which started off like gangbusters but aren't developing cones.) Other than that I have tons of flowers. And rabbits. So many rabbits this year!

 

Habenero, jalapeno x 3, serrano x 2, tomatoes x3 (roma, grape and better boy) Tomatillo x 2, tyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, cilantro and 2 basil plants for the beetles.


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Various tomatoes and peppers, green beans,kale,swiss chard,summer squash, tomatillos and a handful of herbs.

 

I miss my garden. Moving right in the middle of planting season has really put a damper in my gardening style. i've got some tomatoes coming and a few leeks... but that is it.

 

2 tomato plants, 2 basil plants which seem to have decided to go all squirrley on me, a jalapeno and a hot portugese pepper plant, tarragon, and a dead mint plant.

 

Same here. I heard somewhere that you should plant cilantro in the shade of your tomato plants to keep it from bolting, and I tried it last year. It didn't get enough light and never grew

 

Irish stew, cooked at work in a cast iron pan on an electric hotplate.

3 half-pound Lamb shoulder chops, on sale at the local supermarket for $1.99 lb
1 onion
1 big leek
4 medium potatoes
two medium carrots
1 bunch of Italian parsley
1 16+ oz bottle of brown English mild homebrew
assorted herbs and spices

I shook the cut-up lamb in a bag of buttermilk pancake mix with salt, pepper and granulated garlic. Don't laugh... it's what I had, and it works. After the meat was browned I added the onion and the tough outer leaves of the leek.

When the onions were transparent I poured in the English mild and simmered for about 1 1/2 hours, until the meat was tender. Somewhere down the line, the carrots and a cup or so of water went in. Eventually I added the potatoes, the rest of the leek, a healthy dose of parsley and seasonings, and simmered until the potatoes were soft but not mushy.

More chopped parsley on top of the stew as it was served, of course....

 

A quick quesadilla, cause I'm hungry!

 

Yummy!

 

Pork butts rubbed down with cider vinegar, mustard, and a honey BBQ rub from pepper palace, waiting patiently for tomorrow's date with the smoker.

 

This looks and sounds amazing. Must be nice to be able to cook at work!

 

Late to the party but in my large garden is 4 varieties of tomatoes(16 plants) 6 jalapeño, 4 green Bell peppers, golden and red beets, Swiss chard, spinach( now past), various leaf lettuce( just about done), 8 kale, green and wax beans, 6 cauliflower, 4 zucchini, 2 watermelon, 2 sugar pumpkins, basil, parsley & cilantro (now going to seed). Oh yeah.. Perennials: Chive, green onions, rhubarb, 2 dwarf apple trees and Concord grapes.
Did I mention red raspberries? Great year for them.


Dan6310

 

I have been using a dish soap and water solution on my basil and nothing has touched it. Just a tablespoon of soap to a quart of water. They we killing my grapes until I used it on them too. You just have to apply it every 3 days while they are at their peak.


Dan6310

 

Thank you I'll look in to that. Sadly it will be next year because they decimated my basil for the second year in a row

 

Cilantro bolts to seed in a hurry no matter what. My SOP is that early in the season I buy a $1 pack of seeds. Every 2 weeks I sow another 5 seeds or so. Cilantro takes between 4 and 8 weeks to grow so you have to build a pipeline. It is only at peak for about 2 weeks them it goes to seed and loses it's good flavor.

 

I'm jealous of all the goodness I see on this thread.

Been cooking precious little - my Mom took a turn for the worst on Sunday and passed away peacefully here at home on Wednesday morning.

So it's been leftovers, Chinese, and stuff heated up from the freezer.

KOTC also retired yesterday. Since I've been my Mom's sole caregiver the last 7 years - I guess you could say, we BOTH retired this week!

Once I get past the urge to go to my Mom's cottage next door about half a dozen times a day, I'll start up with cooking again - we need more homemade bologna and yogurt, we need to bottle our beer we brewed two weeks ago, we need to bottle the strawberry white merlot I made 2 months ago, and plenty more things! I'll try to get pics when we get back into that mode!

 

My condolences,

 

Sorry to hear the bad news.

 

Temptd2,
Prayers go out to you and your family


Dan6310

 

Tempted - sorry to hear about your loss.

 

Very sorry for your loss Temptd2



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Sorry to hear temptd.
Getting back in the kitchen is a great therapy
You'll get there

 

Sorry to hear your mother passed. The peacefully part made me feel better though it is very hard to lose family.

Now for some food porn. This is what we are cooking this weekend. The pig is on the pit.

 

I'll be there in a couple hours,:fro:

 

Come on by. I always appreciate drinking with others. See you in a few hours?

 

It helps if you're the only one left, after everyone else goes home...

Most of the employees here work 6:00-2:30, Mon-Fri. But the place is manned 24/7 by four of us operators working alone in 12-hour shifts. When things are running smoothly, we're kind of like airline pilots or air traffic controllers - in the sense that we need to stay on top of things and respond as necessary, but we aren't actually performing tasks every minute.

As long as I don't ignore the instrumentation, alarms and nine monitor screens I can slice and dice, saute and simmer, or whatever. We have a microwave, a toaster oven and an electric hotplate in the op's room, and It's a perk I do enjoy. On the other hand, if I didn't work 12 hour shifts I'd have time to cook at home instead....

 

Sorry to hear about your Mom. I'm looking straight down that same barrel with my Dad.

We've got a bunch of friends coming over tonight. I bet to practice my paella dance again. Food porn to follow.

 

Sorry to hear of your loss. In food there is therapy.

 

Spent all afternoon in the kitchen, but man was it worth it.

I did a big Greek meal tonight.
First up was some zucchini fritters. Grated zucchini, eggs, flour dill, onions, garlic powder, salt, pepper all fried in a bit of oil. A bit of horseradish sauce made these puppies delicious. I've got most of the "batter" in the fridge to be fried tomorrow when they get taken to the inlaws.

Next, there's a big batch of spanakopita. One batch is going to the inlaws, the other will probably be devoured in the next day or two. The fillo dough was filled with spinach, dill, feta, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Lastly I made a pretty good attempt at gyro meat. Two pounds of ground lamb went into a blender (to intentionally overwork the meat and combine the ingredients better) with onion, garlic, oregano, salt, and black pepper. From there it went into a loaf pan for a half hour before being dumped out and roasted for another half hour.
There's also some tzatziki with homemade Greek yogurt and some pita pockets (still trying to figure out how to get them to puff up properly, as these turned out more like tortillas).

 

Grilled a Tri-Tip, Melted Onions, and Crash Hot Salt Potatoes.




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I had to look up crash hot potatoes. Sounds good; one more thing I'll have to try.

 

Got to use up produce from the garden, eggplant rollatini, Fresh eggplant, tomatoes, peppers and kale, a fresh loaf of bread on the side.

 

Umm....they were chili cheese fries, lol. Gone in 60 seconds

 

Some baby backs for my son - to close out his birthday weekend!

 

No pics but I made one of my favorite guilty pleasure meals today, chili dogs. I grill Nathans hot dogs and cover with Tony Packo's hot dog sauce, onion, cheddar, mustard and yes Heinz ketchup. I ate 3 dogs with Kraft mac & cheese and homebrewed IPA. My soul is at peace.


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Last night bachelor dinner. what you dont see is the Bacon, mushrooms, brown sugar, garlic and french fried onions in the meat... YUMMMM!!!

Cooked on the BBQ at 325 for 60 min! Simply amazing!

Cheers
Jay