Gratuitous Kitteh Monday

Cats (and dogs) being kissed!

For today's GKM, here's a cute video of cats (and even cute doggies) who don't like being kissed:

STAHHHHP HOOMAN!

Green Tomato Salsa Verde

Happy Fall everyone!

I know many of you are done with tomatoes for the season. In fact, you might still have a bunch of green tomatoes on your plants that you know won't ripen before the cold weather arrives.

What to do? There's only so many fried green tomatoes that you can make, right?

Welcome Green Tomato Salsa Verde!

This mild (IMO) green tomato salsa certainly isn't a traditional salsa verde, which is usually made with tomatillos, but it is every bit as delicious. I found this recipe on the Ball website and it's a keeper for sure. Like most of my canning recipes that call for tomatoes, I roast them first for peeling and extra flavor.

Of course you can enjoy it with tortilla chips, but I particularly like to make Cheesy Pork Enchiladas with it, which calls for salsa verde in the recipe.

Green Tomato Salsa Verde
Recipe Source: Ball website
Makes 6, half pints (double recipe to get 6 pints)

12-14 medium green tomatoes (7 cups chopped after roasting)
5-10 jalapeno, habanero, or Scotch bonnet peppers, seeded & finely chopped (I used jalapenos)
2 cups chopped red onion
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup lime juice
1/2 cup loosely packed finely chopped cilantro
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

To roast and peel the green tomatoes, set oven broiler to high and place oven rack 6 inches away from broiler heating element. Wash tomatoes, remove cores, and slice in half from core to core. Place tomato halves on a cookie sheet skin side up and place in oven. Roast tomatoes until blackened and charred; remove from oven, and place a dish towel over tomatoes to steam and cool. When cool enough to handle, remove skins and discard.

Chop tomatoes to equal 7 cups. Combine tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, and lime juice in a large pot or saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir in cilantro, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer 5-15 minutes.

Ladel hot salsa into prepared jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace, and process in a BWB for 20 minutes.

Gratuitous Kitteh Monday

Miss Thang does all kinds of tricks, to include sitting up and begging, giving high-five, and shaking paws. This video shows just some of her other antics... never a dull moment:

Homemade Coleslaw

There's something wonderful about coleslaw that's made from scratch. This coming from someone who's a bit of a coleslaw snob.

Unfortunately, coleslaw is often thrown together with store-bought slaw mix and a bottled dressing, which is a shame. When it's done right, the humble coleslaw can elevate a pulled pork sandwich into a spiritual experience, but when it's done wrong, it overshadows the whole meal. You end up with this amazing entree, but slobby slaw, and it's a buzzkill. How a restaurant makes their coleslaw tells me a lot about who they are.

And coleslaw is so darn easy to throw together, but you do need some heavy equipment to do it well. You could make this with a mandolin and a box shredder, but a food processor makes this go a whole lot easier and with less mess.

This recipe is a takeaway from my culinary idol, and future wife in another life, Ina Garten. Her original recipe calls for red cabbage, but I don't like it as it's too bitter for my tastes, and less sugar. I also like to add either diced pineapple or golden raisins to my slaw for a little sweet surprise.

Kathy's Homemade Coleslaw
Recipe modified from: Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

1 medium-sized head of green cabbage
5 carrots
2 cups mayonnaise (I use Hellman's)
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons celery seeds
1 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup diced pineapple chunks or golden raisins (optional)

Fit a food processor with the slicing blade set to small/med thickness. Cut the cabbage into quarter wedges, removing the core, and process in the food processor in batches. Next, fit the processor with the grating blade. Peel the carrots and place in the feed tube; process in batches and mix with the shredded cabbage.

I a medium bowl or large measuring cup, mix mayonnaise, mustard, sugar, vinegar, celery seeds, celery salt, kosher salt, and pepper with a whisk until combined. Pour half of the dressing over the cabbage mixture and mix well. Pour the rest of the dressing over the cabbage mixture and mix well again. If adding pineapple or raisins, mix those in last until well distributed. Serve cold.

Gratuitous Kitteh Monday

Miss Thang (this is an old picture) agrees that cold weather is good sleeping weather!

We finally had a break in the heat this past weekend and it's wonderful. I am definitely a cold weather kind-of-girl.

I've been wanting (and trying) to upload some videos of Miss Thang doing tricks, but I am having internetz issues.

Oh well, in the meantime, a nap.

Herb Roasted Tomatoes

I can tell by my page view stats/history that you all have been very busy figuring out what to do with all your tomatoes and summer produce that's pouring in right now.

You've also been doing some cooking!

My most popular blog posts this past month have been:

• How to Quickly Peel Tomatoes
• Roasted Red Pepper Spread
• Thai Basil Pepper Jelly
• Zesty Peach Barbecue Sauce
• Chunky Basil Pasta Sauce
• Annie's Salsa
• How to Grill Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts Without Drying them Out

But I'm about to drop another winner in your laps. Ladies and gentlemen, friends and lovers, I give you Herb Roasted Tomatoes:

What to do with all those tomatoes that you just don't have the time or patience to can or preserve right now? Imagine sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, BUT BETTER!

I could barely stop myself from eating these right off the cookie sheet!

I discovered this recipe from Alana Chernila and immediately set to work. She says that you'll "end up with something slightly shriveled, released juice, a little bit dehydrated, caramelized at the edges. It’s totally delicious right away; you could just pour the whole tray over spaghetti right away."

I couldn't agree with her any more and that's exactly what I did last night for dinner.

Whatever is left over will be tucked away in the freezer for future dinners of pasta, sauces, grilled chicken, casseroles, hell warmed up and eaten with bread and a glass of wine!

You're welcome!

Herb Roasted Tomatoes. 
Recipe Source: Alana Chernila

Approimately 7 lbs. of fresh tomatoes, any kind
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Pepper
Dried or fresh herbs (I used Penzey's Italian Herb Blend)
Garlic powder (optional)

Preheat oven to 275°. Clean tomatoes and slice in half. Arrange on a cookie sheet flesh-side-up. Give tomatoes a hearty drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on salt, pepper, herbs, and garlic salt to your liking.

Place cookie sheet in the oven and slow roast approximately 3-5 hours, depending on the size and thickness of your tomatoes. You want them to be significantly shriveled reduced, but not dehydrated and tough. I roasted mine, which were a blend of medium-sized beefsteak tomatoes, for 6 hours.

Eat right away, if you can control yourself, or freeze in a container or Ziplock bag.

Gratuitous Kitteh Monday/Tuesday

Long weekends always throw me off, so I guess it's Tuesday acting as Monday!

Our kitties LOVE plastic bags. They love to play on them, sleep on them, hide under them:

My office floor is littered with three, ratty, plastic department store bags that our kittehs would rather play with or sleep on than the expensive beds, toys, and kitteh trees we have throughout the house. Crazy cats, although Leo loves this kitteh tree!

How To Pump Water Out of A Rain Barrel

It’s been so dang hot and dry in Virginia this past month. In the 5 years I’ve been up here, I’ve never seen temperatures as hot as they’ve been for so LONG, especially in September. We haven’t had a solid rain shower in over a month, and it’s going to be 95° today with the heat index over 100! We’ll get a little break into the mid-80s for the next few days, and then back into the 90s, but no rain.

Needless to say, I’ve had to hand water the vegetable garden and some potted plants to keep things alive around here. We are on a well, so the thought of using drinking water to water the grass or some ornamental plants doesn’t appeal to me, so we use our two 75 gallon rain barrels when we can.

Our rain barrels are from Gardner’s Supply Company and are daisy-chained together to give us 150 gallons. Prior to this year, we’ve just relied on gravity to siphon the water out of these barrels, which really limited our ability to make the most out of their potential.  Of course, I haven’t really HAD to use these barrels as an emergency watering source until this year.

Enter the Wayne 115V Transfer Pump:

We bought this pump this year off Amazon based off of all the positive reviews and Q&A responses we read. We liked that it was an external transfer pump and all we had to submerge in the water was the siphoning end. We liked that it was small enough, yet powerful enough to pull the water up-and-out of our rain barrels and give enough water pressure to hand water. Lastly, we liked the price point!

We had to do a few alterations to make it suit our needs though:

First, we put on a quick disconnect on the hose outlet port.

Second, the user manual said to prevent debris from being sucked up into the pump, so we had to figure out some sort of filter/strainer system for the end of the siphoning hose.

We knew we couldn’t just screw some sort of small, hose-end strainer on there, as the small surface area at the end of a hose would get clogged easily.

So, we went to Tractor Supply Company and Macgyvered a large plastic pump strainer (Part #SR150P) and two coupling collars that would fit both the strainer and the end of the hose.  Lastly, we zip tied a knee high panty hose over the strainer to filter out small debris.

Knee highs are like duct tape, you can do a million things with them!

Once we had everything set up, we first connected our hose to the quick disconnect on the outlet port.

Then we lowered the strainer/suction end into our rain barrel. We had to cut out one of the support spokes in the top of the barrel to fit in the strainer end.

Then we plugged it in. WE HAVE WATER!

The water pressure wasn’t enough to attach a hose-end sprayer or a sprinkler, but you could easily cup your thumb over the end of the hose to get the water to spray. I'm using a 100 ft. hose, so that may be the reason for the low water pressure. 

Some people said they could use hose-end sprayers and sprinklers with this pump. Still, the pressure is plenty enough for me to hand water the veggies and some ornamentals.

The pump siphoned about 30-35 gallons of water in about 30-40 minutes, which isn’t bad at all, so that gives me 4 potential watering periods for both rain barrels. The pump's instructions said you shouldn't run it for more than an hour. 

I've used this about a 1/2 dozen times so far and it's been a champ. Some people on Amazon commented their pumps quit working not long after they bought it, but I'm betting they didn't filter the siphoning end of the hose and debris got into the pump's motor. It makes a difference!

Hopefully, we will get some rain soon so my rain barrels will refill!

Gratuitous Kitteh Monday

He keeps trying, but Miss Thang still gives him the business when Leo tries to play with her. She is taking her own sweet time on being nice. She will tolerate him being around her, and will even let him eat out of her bowl, but if he tries to play, she is sure to give him a solid bop on the head with her paw and some choice words.

Also, I can't get over how long his tail is!

Tempura Green Beans

Ruby Tuesday's makes a tempura green bean appetizer that hubby and I just love. So, after picking a "mess" of green beans yesterday, I pulled out our deep fryer and dug up a tempura batter recipe that I've had my eye on just for this purpose.

I normally do not like to fry food in the house, as I don't like the smell it leaves afterwards. In fact, the last time I used my deep fryer was for Super Bowl 2014 when I made chicken wings. But, boy was this worth it! This tempura batter would work on just about anything: green beans, cauliflower, shrimp, squash...an old shoe. It's THAT good!

I made a dipping sauce that is thinner than Ruby Tuesday's and a little less sweet, but spicier, and it was perfect. Hubby and I drank champagne and ate tempura green beans as our wedding anniversary dinner. Perfect!

Tempura Batter
Recipe source: Garden Guru from The Cooking Forum

1 cup flour*
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup club soda (as cold as possible)
Oil for deep frying

Mix flour, cornstarch, salt, sugar, and baking powder. Add Soda water gradually, stirring with a fork, first to create a paste and then until mixture is like a thick pancake batter. More than 1 cup of club soda may be needed to achieve this consistency.

Heat oil for frying to 375°-400°. Dip prepared veggies/meats in batter, coating completely. Shake off excess. Fry vegetables/meats, a few pieces at a time, until light brown and crispy. Do not crowd fryer, or oil temperature will drop. No more than will cover 3/4 of the surface of the oil.

For the green beans, I fried mine for approximately 3-5 minutes a batch and turned them over with metal tongs halfway through. 

Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt.

Note: Some people like to use 2 parts flour to 1 part rice flour. I used all flour and it was wonderful!

Soy Sesame Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tsps sugar
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1 tablespoon thinly sliced scallions
1 tsp chili paste (optional)

Heat soy sauce, vinegar, water, sugar, and oil in a microwave safe dish until hot enough to dissolve the sugar. Transfer to a small dipping bowl and add scallions and chili paste, if desired.

Pecan Pie Cobbler

A few nights ago, I wanted to make a quick dessert to have after dinner. My go-to fix for easy, after dinner desserts is the good-old, reliable dump cake. So, pulling up Pinterest, I found this Pecan Pie Cobbler recipe from Paula at her blog Call Me PMC.

Pecan Cobbler from Call Me PMC

Actually, she calls it Pecan Cobbler, but it is SO much like a rich, cakey pecan pie, that I had to change it to Pecan Pie Cobbler. Either way, it was dead-on amazing! The great thing about this recipe is you pretty much have all the ingredients on hand and you don't need a boxed cake mix. At first, I was convinced this thing was going to be a bomb after pouring on all the water called for in the recipe. It was a bomb alright....DA' BOMB!

Serve this warm with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and you're in heaven! This is a keeper recipe for sure!

Pecan (Pie) Cobbler
Recipe Source: Paula Jones, "Call Me PMC"

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons of butter (no substitutions)
1 cup pecans
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups hot water

Preheat oven to 350°. Cut butter in large pieces and place in a 9" x 13" cake pan or casserole dish. Put dish in the oven and allow the butter to melt. When melted, remove pan from oven and sprinkle the pecans over the butter.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, sugar, milk, and extract together. Stir to combine, but don't over mix. Pour batter over pecans and butter without mixing. Sprinkle brown sugar over batter; do not stir, and carefully pour hot water over brown sugar; do not stir. This will look like a hot mess, but trust me!

Place pan in the oven and allow to bake 35-45 minutes, or until golden brown. The cobbler will not be firm after 35 minutes, but will firm up after it cools. The longer it bakes, the thicker the sauce becomes. I baked mine a little longer, which made it more of a pecan pie filling...YUM!

Serve warm with ice-cream or whipped cream. Die happy.

Gratuitous Kitteh Monday

Chaz says, "Only 122 days until Christmas."

Apparently, he's thrilled.

Back At It

This past week we have had our painter, Bill, over at the house painting all the first floor baseboards, crown moulding, chair rails, and a good portion of the ceilings.

They really did need it. Our house is 10 years old and still had the original, contractor-grade paint job on all the trim and ceilings. Over the years, the trim work has settled and gapped in places, but my biggest pet-peeve has been the nail-pops in the ceilings. They are the equivalent to a crooked picture that you can never straighten.

We had nail-pops in almost every room. I never knew how bad things looked until Bill made everything better. Such a difference!

Next year, we will have him back to do the upstairs.

It's been stressful all week, as we've had to keep the kittehs locked up separately so they wouldn't get in the way or rub up against a wet door frame or jump up on a wet window sill. We let them out in the evenings and the mornings before Bill arrives, and they think all his tools and supplies are some sort of an awesome kitteh jungle gym.

Every night this week we've had to move furniture from one room to another, clean, and wipe down baseboards and crown moulding...WHEW! My house is a mess and I need a break.

Thanks goodness it's Friday!

August In The Garden

It's been so darn hot lately that I have all but abandoned the garden. I had thoughts of starting some fall spinach and maybe those Chinese Cabbage seeds I ordered, but I just don't have the motivation.

Like I mentioned earlier, everything is tired around here. BUT, the garden continues to bring me tomatoes, which I think my sweet spot for the number of plants to grow is 20.

From a distance, everything looks great.

Until.,,this summer's heat and rain has made blight an early, unwelcomed guest to my tomato plants. Poor things...even though I try to trim the disease out, it's a losing battle.

The spaghetti squash looked promising, but I have since pulled it out. The squash bugs and vine borers were too much. Next year, I will try them again with row covers.

The bush beans are always a true-blue trooper, but I didn't put in enough plants this year.

In the flower bed by the deck, the milkweed has reseeded over the years and has taken over. I don't mind and love the monarch butterflies it attracts.

Lastly, one lone gladiola is sending out the last flower stalk of the season.

The poplar trees are already changing their leaves and beginning to drop. They are always the first. Everyone and everything around here is eager to move on to cooler weather!

Gratuitous Kitteh Monday

There's still a stand-off between Miss Thang and Leo. She still growls at him and hisses on occasion when he gets too close. She was alpha before he arrived and if you come to think of it...she's never seen another cat besides Chaz, let alone a kitten.

But things are coming around slowly. She attempts to play with him, but gets pissy when he gets over zealous. I can't help but laugh when he does a drive-by kitten attack and then takes off. She apparently likes it to some extent because she doesn't leave the room to hide or be left alone.

This pic cracks me up...Leo looks like the "awwww, what a cute kitty" Puss in Boots trick.

Nice try Leo. Nice try.

Kellogg's Breakfast Tomato

It's August and everything in the garden is tired, including me. The kitchen upgrade took a lot of the starch out of my sails for gardening this spring/summer, but I did manage to grow some awesome tomatoes.

I stuck to my word and did not grow tomatoes for canning, but for eating. The irony is, I never had to buy tomatoes at the farmer's market anyway, as the amount of plants I grew this year was perfect for both (20 plants). I grew one bed of the reliable hybrid standby "Early Girl" and a bed-and-a-half of heirlooms, which included "Sudduth's Brandywine" (my favorite), "Kellogg's Breakfast," "Soldaki," "Black From Tula," "Druzba," and maybe an "Atkinson" thrown in and one hybrid "Supersauce".

"Kellogg's Breakfast" was a new one for me this year, and I have to say I have been very impressed at these canary yellow, huge, beefsteak beauties. They are great producers and their flavor is very mild compared to Brandywine, almost a meaty, steak tartar. And they sure are pretty, aren't they?

I love the contrast they give and I think will be a keeper for growing next year. "Soldacki" was new as well and I wasn't too impressed, as it tasted very much like "Early Girl" and wasn't that great of a producer. Hybrid "Supersauce" puts out HUGE, egg-shaped Roma tomatoes, but the flavor is very bland until you roast them. Then they are very sweet and dense flavored, much like the flavor of tomato paste. The others I had grown before and have been reliable troopers.

The tomato patch will most likely be put to rest this weekend and I will think about if I want to grow some spinach and Chinese cabbage for this fall. We have another heat wave coming in this week, so I'm over summer and ready for sweater weather!

Roasted Red Pepper Spread

There aren't many things that I can or preserve that I'm selfish about. I'm happy to share what I make with any one of my friends and family...EXCEPT this Roasted Red Pepper Spread. This baby is mine, mine, mine!

It's kind of involved to make it, and 6 lbs. of red bell peppers is A LOT to deal with for just 5-6 half pints, which is part of why I hoard it. Secondly, this stuff is gooooood! It's more of a bruschetta-type relish that just aches for some crusty bread, some goat cheese, and a bottle of red wine.

I particularly like to use it as a base for homemade pizza.

Last night, I spread it on some pizza dough and topped it with some crumbled goat cheese, a little garlic powder, some Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, and then baked it on a pizza stone at 425° for 25-30 minutes. After baking, it got a drizzle with some smoked olive oil. YUM!

Roasted Red Pepper Spread
Recipe Source: Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Makes 5-6 half pints

6 lbs. large, red, sweet bell peppers
1 lb. Roma tomatoes, cored and sliced in half lengthwise
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 small white onion, peeled and sliced in half
2 tablespoon minced, fresh basil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup red wine vinegar

Preheat oven broiler to high and set an oven rack 6 inches from broiler element. Prepare red bell peppers for roasting by cutting off the tops and bottoms of the peppers, removing the seeds and ribs, and slitting the peppers from top to bottom so they will unroll and lay flat on a cookie sheet. Place skin-side up on a cookie sheet.

Roast peppers for approximately 15 minutes, or until the skins are black and charred. Remove from oven and place a dish towel over the peppers to allow to steam and cool. This is important, as steaming will help the skins peel off easier.

On a separate (or the same sheet if you have room) cookie sheet, place tomatoes skin-side up, garlic cloves, and onion, and roast for approximately 15 minutes, or until tomato skins are black and charred. Remove from oven and place a dish towel over the tomatoes to allow to steam and cool.

Once peppers and tomatoes are cooled, peel and discard skins. Place peppers and tomatoes in a food processor and pulse till finely chopped, but not pureed. Finely mince roasted garlic and onion separately with a knife. Measure 1/4 cup of the onion and set aside.

Combine chopped peppers, tomatoes, 1/4 cup onion, minced garlic cloves and the remaining ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, stir to prevent sticking. Reduce heat and simmer until spread thickens and will mound up on a spoon. Ladle hot spread into prepared canning jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace, and process in a BWB for 10 minutes.

Gratuitous Kitteh Monday

Chaz is our official water kitteh around here.

He's fascinated by all things that contain water: showers, sinks, toilets. He doesn't drink out of the toilet, mind you, he just likes to watch the water. We tried to use one of those kitteh watering fountains once and he was so enamored with it that he kept knocking it over, spilling the water everywhere.

Silly kitteh, looks like he went on a bender and had a rough night, huh? Too much nip. :-)

Ugly Furniture Series: Blue Chair

Take a look at this blue, floral monster I picked up on Craigslist a few months ago for $50:

Ugly little beast, isn't it?

But I have to admit, I liked it's bones, and those extra wide arms are swoon-worthy. It's not a designer name, but for a moment I thought it was an Edward Wormley piece. It does kinda look like it would be one of his, doesn't it?

Anyway, besides desperately needing new reupholstery and cushions, it was very short...I mean get-low-and-squat short! The top of the arms are maybe 22"- 24" off the floor. Not to mention the old legs had seen better days:

The front legs do look like they have brass ferrules (that's what those caps are called), but I wasn't sure of the back legs. And surprisingly, it is hard to find replacement ferrules, plus there's the whole height thing, so I ordered brand new, custom made, black walnut legs from ThirteenColonies on Etsy. 

The old legs were only 5 1/2" long, so I ordered new legs at 7" and they are the perfect height. The new ones are solid genuine black walnut that were finished with a clear coat for natural color, then waxed and buffed to a beautiful finish. I mean, take a look at these sexy legs, will ya'?:

ThirteenColonies is an American-owned company in Vermont that makes custom-turned wood furniture legs and feet. From what I've seen so far, they do EXCEPTIONAL work. All I had to do was contact them and tell them what I wanted for my chair and they pulled through like true professionals. I wouldn't hesitate to do business with them in a heartbeat. 

Now, what to do with this little beast? I'm thinking of staying in the blue color scheme, but definitely a warm blue like one of the three examples below. Which one would you choose?