26 Years and Counting

I love the beach!

Like, REALLY love the beach!

But I haven't touched my toes to the sand in about three years because of my bum foot and subsequent surgery.

This year, Doug took me to a beautiful resort in Galveston that was right on the beach for our 26th year anniversary.

That ice cold water on my feet and sand between my toes never felt so good!

There's a saying that goes,

The cure for anything is SALT WATER ~

tears, sweat, or the sea.

And I believe this with all my heart...

and a little fried coconut shrimp and gumbo doesn't hurt either!

We ate seafood for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

We watched the sunrise over the Gulf, 

sipped coffee on the balcony, 

and took in the sunshine and salt air.

It was the cure all I needed.

I think I'll keep this guy around another 26 years!

The Chaffle

This stuff is LIFE changing!

I have found that the keto diet has been the only way I can loose weight.  It just works for my metabolism.  

But gosh, I sure do love bread!

There are a ton of low carb "bread" recipes out there, but let's face it, it's a poor substitute for the real thing.  

So let me introduce you to the 

CHAFFLE.

It's simply one egg, 1/2 cup of cheese, 

and one tablespoon of almond flour.

Add any ingredients you like to this basic recipe...and I REALLY like pepperoni and jalapeno!

Cook it for five minutes in a waffle maker, and voila!

A scrumptious, low carb, bread-like slice of heaven!

Use them as buns for hamburgers, sandwiches, 

or just eat them plain.

They are super filling, super delicious, and about one carb per chaffle.  I may never go back to regular buns or sandwich bread ever again!

YOU'RE WELCOME!

October in the Garden

 It's the beginning of Fall, 

but someone forgot to inform Mother Nature!

We are still having days with heat indexes into the 100's.  

That kind of weather is great for the garden...

not so much for all the pumpkin spice things.

My little garden is still going pretty strong.

I've started seedlings for cool weather crops and I hope to get them in the ground in the next three weeks.  They've all developed a strong case of "legginess" but I think a thinning and re-potting will take care of that.  Until then, We are still enjoying peppers, chard greens, okra, and a few little cherry tomatoes.  I also let one of my flower beds go to the weeds and I found the most delightful volunteer goldenrod plant growing!  The bees are loving it right now, but I did harvest some for myself to use in tea and soaps!

Our peppers always grow well into the end of October, but the above pictured pepper is absolutely the slowest growing pepper I've ever seen!  I sowed these Carolina Reaper pepper seeds back in February and just now in October I am seeing my first pepper.  There are dozens of flowers on the plant that will eventually turn into peppers, but I'm not sure if they will have time to mature by the time cooler weather arrives. 

Who knows? 

 Maybe we'll be eating that super hot "Suicide Salsa" 

with our Christmas tamales!

Back to the Boot!

Meet my new work partner!

Yep, I'm back in a boot!

And not the cute pointed toe, leather kind.

I'm back in an orthopedic fracture boot ever since I've been back to work.  My surgery from February was botched and will have to be re-done at the beginning of next year.  

Good news is that I've found the most wonderful surgeon to do the revision.  He's given me the task of getting as healthy as I can before going under the knife a second time.  There is also quite a bit of testing to be done.  

Bad news is that I'm still in pain every day, even with the boot, and I have three more months of it.  But at least there's hope of fixing this hot mess!

My plan is to work as much as I can to create a nice nest egg for my time off, and to try to make the holidays this year really special for my family.  I feel like I "owe" them for taking care of me with my first surgery...and then having to do it all again next year.  Maybe if I throw myself into work and family, there won't be any time for the anxiety of having to deal with surgery AGAIN....

maybe.

From Garden to Kitchen ~ Cowboy Candy

Any home gardener in Texas, at this time of year, 

usually only has one thing growing in the garden 

(and has it growing out of their ears!) 

and that is PEPPERS.

So what do you do with all those peppers?  

You make Cowboy Candy!

If you're familiar with pickling and preserving foods, 

then this is an easy and delicious recipe for your excessive pepper harvest.  And if you've never pickled a pepper in your life, trust me, you can do THIS!

COWBOY CANDY

2 cups of sugar

2/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tsp granulated garlic

1/4 tsp ground turmeric

1/4 tsp celery seed

1 lb jalapenos sliced into rings (about 4-5 cups)

This is a small batch recipe and can be adjusted for the amount of peppers you have.  This recipe makes four half pint jars.

To a heavy pot, add all the ingredients except the peppers.  Bring mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add sliced jalapenos, stirring well to coat the peppers.  Bring mixture to a boil again and then reduce heat.  Let peppers cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Have your clean jars ready and using a slotted spoon, fill jars with the peppers making sure to shake off any excess juice into the pot.  Once all the peppers are removed, turn up the heart and allow remaining sauce to hard boil for five additional minutes. Pour syrup evenly over your jars to fill to 1/4 inch from the top.

Wipe down rims of jars with a damp cloth and place lids and rings onto the jars.  Process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

You'll need to wait two weeks to enjoy these.  It takes that long for the peppers to absorb the syrup.

It's ok, it will be worth the wait!

These spicy and sweet peppers are perfect on burgers, sandwiches, salads, or pizza. Our favorite way to enjoy them is to pour a jar of peppers over a block of cream cheese and eat with a variety of crackers.

One bite and you'll be hooked!

They should have called them Cowboy Crack instead of Candy.

Saving Seeds and Sowing Seeds

The summer garden is done, with the exceptions of peppers, and it's time to start thinking about fall and winter gardening.  That's kinda hard to do with the temperatures still in the 90's!

As the old beds get cleared out, it is prime time to save seeds.

I intentionally leave some of the vegetables growing during summer to harvest as seeds later.  It's so simple to do, just ignore them!  Mother Nature allows the vegetables and fruits to ripen, mature the seeds stored inside, then dry up or decompose.  You gather as many seeds as you like!  Above are my beloved Emerald Okra.  With just TWO PODS, I got more seeds than a whole pack from the store and they were FREE!

My most beautiful zinnas for seed.

I read an article once that said if you can repeatedly save seed from your plants and sow them for three years, you'll be virtually pest and disease free.  Plants have the capability to learn.  They can fight predators and some diseases, and by sowing seeds year after year,  you can continue to breed those good traits for your area.  I'm currently seeing if that theory is true by saving as much seed as possible for future gardens.

And what I can't save, I buy!

I get absolutely giddy flipping through seed catalogs and planning for future gardens.  These are just some of the fantastic seeds from Baker Creek seed company that will be in our fall/winter gardens.

There is just something about September!
A new school year, changing colors, falling leaves, a crispness in the air, and the anticipation of the holidays.
I'm ready to settle down and NEST.
But first, I'm saving and storing away what's left of summer.

Tea Time!

I really love a cup of hot tea with honey and lemon!

This summer I set about making my own tea blend with herbs already growing in my garden.  You can make a tea from almost any herb you can grow, and I think I've found a winning combination.

Lemon balm, bee balm, lemon basil, holy basil, and blue hyssop leaves were dried in the dehydrator.  Then I added dried lemon, orange, and ginger to the mix.

Bagged them up in cotton tea bags, 

and they're all set to enjoy this winter!

That is, if winter ever comes!

Today's heat index in south Texas was 109...

I guess I could always enjoy this tea over ice!

LOTS of ice!

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

Our sweet Kyle turned 22 this past week.  He had spent the day in Houston with friends and came home pretty late.  I had made his favorite peach cobbler for his "birthday cake."  So we waited up for him, sang him Happy Birthday, and before we even finished the first verse, the following series of events happened...

It was a SMASHING good time!

That boy loves peach cobbler so much that he stayed up and made another one.  And you better believe we stayed up until 11:30 to eat it right out of the oven!

A Garden Experiment

By mid July here in south Texas, the garden tomatoes are spent.  The plants have given up all the fruit they are going to and start to die back.  Usually I just cut them back to about a foot from the ground and they will come back with a (very mediocre) fall harvest.  But this year I think I'll try something different.

On my days off from work, I usually sit in the recliner with a homemade vanilla latte and watch garden vloggers on YouTube.  Yeah, I know I'm a nerd in need of some serious help, but I REALLY look forward to those mornings!  Anyway, one of the home gardeners was saying that he clips off some of the new growth, puts them into water to root, and then plants them once the roots are a couple of inches long. 

 GENIUS!

So that's going to be my garden experiment for this year, to see if I can get a better fall harvest this way.  I'll keep you updated!

These clones are from my favorite two tomatoes of the season:  Dr.Wyche and Hungarian Heart

And if you're looking for some awesome information about home gardening, check out some of my favorite YouTube gardening channels:

Roots and Refuge Farm

The Rusted Garden

Art and Bri

Sow the Land

Justin Rhodes

I think that's enough to get you inspired to grow something of your own!  And if you already grow things, it's a wealth of information and a wonderful "community" to become part of!

BoneBroth

When I had my surgery, my low carb way of eating went out the window.  I ate what I wanted. And because of that, I ended up feeling like crap and gaining weight.  Since returning to work, I finally feel like I want to take control of my life back.  That means drastically cleaning up my diet again.  It's so much more than just cutting carbs and sugar, it's about eating more nutrient dense foods for health.  One of the most nutritious foods you can eat is bone broth.

Here's how I make it.

Place 12-15 organic chicken legs in a crock pot and any combination of onions, peppers, celery, or carrots over them.  Add chopped garlic and seasonings like black pepper, poultry seasoning blend, rosemary, or thyme.  Cover with water and cook on low for 8-12 hours.

Strain the liquid into a large bowl and de-bone the chicken.  Place all the bones, skin, and cartilage back into the crock pot.  Cover bones with water and add 1/4 cup organic apple cider vinegar.  Cook on low 12-24 hours.  The longer you cook, the more the vinegar has time to leach the nutrients from the bones. 

Combine the broth from both batches, salt well with pink or grey salt, and store in quart or gallon sized jars.  This recipe gives us just shy of one gallon of broth. If that's too much for you, the broth can be frozen or used in your favorite recipes. 

 Sip a cup or two daily for a boost of collagen, micro-nutrients, and pure comfort!

Some of the many benefits of bone broth:

Helps to fight inflammation.

Aids the body in wound healing.

Strengthens bones and teeth.

Heals the lining of the gut.

Supports healthy skin, hair, and nails.

It contains over 19 easy to absorb essential amino acids.

It is the BEST source of collagen and benefits every part of your body from your brain to your gut, muscles and ligaments.

The Lazy Days of Summer...

Color Street nails with my sweet girl.

Grillin' and chillin'

Sunsets on the back porch.

Binge watching Netflix.

And the bounties of the garden!

What are some of the things making you happy this time of year?

Garden to Kitchen ~ Bread and Butter Pickles

I used to be a pickle snob.  I'd only eat dill pickles...Kosher dill pickles.  Anything else was trash in my opinion.  Until one day when I had some bread and butter pickles on a hamburger and my life was changed! Ever since then, I've made these sweet little gems with my home grown summer cucumbers.

Bread and Butter Pickles

4-5 cups of thinly sliced PICKLING cucumbers

1/2 of a yellow onion thinly sliced

1 cup of white vinegar

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup of sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons of mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

1/8 teaspoon turmeric

1 clove of smashed garlic

1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (optional if you like them spicy)

Add cucumbers and onion to a quart sized canning jar.  In a saucepan over medium heat, add the rest of the ingredients and stir until sugar is dissolved and mixture is almost to a boil.  

Pour mixture over cucumbers, seal, and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours.  You'll want to eat these on everything!

Enjoy!

Garden to Kitchen ~ Marinated Cherry Tomatoes

The garden is in full swing now and daily I'm harvesting a few thousand, er I mean dozens, of beautiful little cherry tomatoes.  And if you have an over abundance like me, here is a quick and easy recipe to use them up.  These are so delicious in salads, tossed with pasta, or as a topping for grilled chicken.

Marinated Cherry Tomatoes

4-5 cups cherry tomatoes, halved 

1/2 cup olive oil 

1/4 cup red or white wine vinegar 

2-3 cloves garlic, minced 

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning 

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley 

Salt and pepper, to taste 

Black Cherry and Reisentraube tomatoes

In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, garlic, Italian seasoning and parsley. Gently stir in cherry tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer to a covered container and marinate for at least 2 hours. Refrigerate if marinating longer than two hours. Bring to room temperature before serving (as olive oil solidifies when refrigerated).

And when you've eaten your fill of these, share a jar with your neighbors or coworkers, they'll love you for it!

Artist in Residence

It's no secret in our household that our John Paul is a talented artist, so it's really nice when other folks recognize his talent, too!

This weekend John Paul competed in the El Campo Art Association art show and I'd say he did pretty well!

Second place ~ Best In Show for his watercolor painting, "Corgi."

First place in his division for, "Papillion."

                  Second place in his division for, "Good Boy."

And the award for Most Blessed Parents in the World 

goes to Doug and I!  

Because art is not just a hobby for John Paul...it's how he lives.