I don't think I've ever shared with you that the majority of my family members honestly believed that I was completely incapable of doing anything domestic - including cooking/baking - and most of them also believed that I was completely incapable of even learning how (because they believed I lacked the smarts/ability)! I always loved helping mom with the cooking and baking as a child, and it was even better when I got older and could do some of it on my own (supervised, of course). Despite that love, I made the difficult decision in my early teens to stop cooking and baking. The only exceptions were when I was told I "had" to, and if absolutely no one was around. The reason was because mom would have a massive fit when I did anything in the kitchen with my left hand (I'm a leftie! Interestingly, she never treated my Sis - also a leftie - quite the same way) and it got so the kitchen was a minefield that took all the joy out of cooking and baking for me. When family members would go on about me being a failure because I couldn't cook, I'd always say that I "could" and I "chose" not to. I even did really well in Home Ec in school - baking more than cooking, because I liked those recipes better - and the Shop kids usually wanted to be at my table to sample what we made.
As we got older, Sis would do the baking and cooking, while I did all the clean up. After she moved out, I was still relegated to clean up duty, till mom got too sick to prepare meals. Also, as this was after I'd had my physical collapse in 2013, I was doing more experimenting as so many foods were cut out of my diet - though not a lot as my health wasn't up to lots of meal prep. Still, the overall prevailing attitude was that eating anything made by Beth would poison you. It has only since mom passed - and the kitchen became "mine" - that I've been able to really get back to exploring new recipes, tweaking old favourites, and creating new ones, plus feeling comfortable sharing what I make with others. This year, in particular, I have really embraced my love of creating magic in my kitchen, and I feel so much happier!
On Aug. 8th, I prepped the 5 lbs of apples for juice - tossed in the last handful of Nanking cherries and the last couple cups of raspberries as I knew I wouldn't get them eaten before they went mouldy.
Aug. 10th, I finished off the apple/raspberry juice and ended up with just over 8 cups. I also made an old-fashioned brown sugar pudding - the recipe was in a book I'd read recently and I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten one.
Aug. 11th, I mixed up a batch of almond flour chocolate chip cookies because I was craving them. They ended up cooking too long, but were still fine.
Despite feeling very rough and tired, I spent the afternoon of Aug. 15th cutting 15 lbs of crabapples in half and prepping them for juice. Then I made another Oregano/Tomato/Cheddar clafoutis - I used Gouda and 2% milk again, plus I added beans, peas, peppers, nasturtium leaves, and parsley. It's so YUMMY! I forgot to take a picture before I cut it up and started eating it, which was too bad as "visually" it was the best one yet!
Aug. 16th, I used the biscuit recipe for Deanne's cinnamon buns and instead of using a cinnamon filling, I used fresh herbs from my garden, plus Gouda and cheddar cheese to make Herb & Cheese rolls. I also used 2% milk. Super Yummy!
Aug. 18th, I drained the crabapples and made approximately 20 (?) cups of juice. I put it in Tupperware jugs to freeze instead of quart jars. I prepped another potful of crabapples for juice.
Earlier this year (or late last year?) my cousin introduced me to the Lebonese chef, Abir (
https://www.facebook.com/abiresag), who is just so much fun to watch! A while back she made an apple pie with a cinnamon bun crust that really intrigued me. I created my own version with the biscuit recipe I've been using this year and my apples - I made two mini pies. They didn't turn out too bad, but I think I need to do some tweaking if I make again.
On Aug. 20th, I was up early and put together another of my garden veggie clafoutis. This one had beans, peppers, peas, cherry tomatoes and a mixture of fresh herbs.
Aug. 22nd I finished making the second batch of crabapple juice, and made approximately 20 (?) cups of juice. Froze the juice in the Tupperware jug. I prepped crabapples for a last batch of juice - ended up tossing two ice cream pails of fruit that were wormy and rotten inside. Grrr! That left me with just one ice cream pail to deal with.
Though it wasn't my plan for the day, on Aug. 24th, I cut up the rest of the crabapples to make applesauce - ended up tossing half of the pail as wormy/rotten, so that meant I only had 47 lbs of usable fruit from the 60 lbs I picked! Good thing I picked more than I thought I could use! I cut up some of my smaller apples to fill the pot. Ended up with 6 cups of applesauce, and had an explosion to clean up as one of the jars slipped out of my hand as I was filling it and applesauce went EVERYWHERE! Thankfully the jar didn't break, but what a MESS! I think I'll stick to making juice as less work for me and mess!
Aug.25th I finished making the last batch of crabapple juice and only ended up with 12 & a bit cups! As I didn't want to let "applesauce" defeat me, I cut up the smaller apples (originally planned to make them into juice before I got all of the crabapples) and used a different "easy" recipe - ended up with 7 cups and it worked MUCH better and easier, so I could make more if I want, though what I've made already will probably last me ages.
As I still had some 2% milk that needed used right away, I got into the kitchen before the intense heat on Aug. 26th, and made a batch of apple cinnamon buns (MUCH easier than another cinnamon bun crust apple pie and INCREDIBLY YUMMY!) and a batch of herb & cheese rolls (SO YUMMY!). I froze some of them.
We were under a heat warning again, so I went into the kitchen early on Aug. 27th. I had a dozen peppers off my plants (surprising as I had a LOT rot this year with all our moisture) so decided to stuff them. I used ground pecans for “meat,” chopped cauliflower for “rice,” and added other veggies, plus lots of herbs and spices, but I didn't add the kitchen sink. I didn’t measure any of the ingredients, and ended up with EXACTLY the right amount to stuff the peppers! I froze half of them for future meals.
Aug. 28th, I prepped the rhubarb for juice - there wasn't quite enough to fill the Dutch oven, so I cut up a few apples to fill the remaining space.
Heat warning continued, and the morning of Aug. 29th, my body did NOT want to get out of bed! I finally did get up, and made 4 cups of applesauce with the apples I'd picked off the lawn as they looked sad (added some of my own apples to fill the pot), and tried an applesauce blender muffin recipe. I froze 8 muffins.
The heat warning continued, so I was in the kitchen early on Aug. 30th. I had a jar of homemade coconut butter of indeterminate age, and decided to use it to make coconut cookies, based on Kraft's 3-ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe (I didn't add sugar as the coconut was already sweet). Well, they weren't a resounding success, but they weren't a flop either, and I have one less jar on my counter now!
Aug. 31st was Day 6 of the heat warning! I was in the kitchen early and finished off the apple/rhubarb juice - made 11 cups. I've been making so much this year, I'm going to have to create an inventory for myself so I know what I have, and so I don't overlook using/eating anything!
And the heat warnings continued, so I was up early on Sept. 1st. Made a batch of apple cinnamon buns - used chocolate milk and the gingerbread spice again. Also, instead of slicing the apples, I grated them to see if that worked better - personally, I prefer the apples thinly sliced.
Sept. 7th, I made another garden veggie clafoutis - beans, nasturtium leaves, peas, sliced cucumber, dill, oregano, garlic chive bulbs, red and orange tomatoes, and I used 2% milk and cheddar cheese. I decided to tweak the basic clafoutis recipe I’ve been using and make an apple clafoutis too (most recipes I found online were way too involved for me). I sliced the apples very thin with the food processor, and added sugar, gingerbread spice, plus I used 2% milk. I sprinkled a bit of cinnamon and brown sugar on top before I popped it in the oven. It turned out pretty good, though I could have used more apples so will have to remember for next time.
Jigsaw Puzzles:
Since my last letter, I completed two 1,000 piece puzzles
