bean soup and jalapeno snackers

One day last week the temperature was a bit cooler and it was cloudy and rainy. A good day for soup!

I think I've only made one batch of soup since last spring...so it was a nice change from what we've been eating..

I decided on bean soup since there was ham in the freezer (from Easter!).

When I try making soup with dried beans, I am never happy. The beans just don't seem to soften up properly...mushy outside, dry inside.

My favorite beans for soup are the "Randall" beans...pinto or great northern.  This time I also added a can of black beans to make things interesting.

I dice carrots and onions and saute in a little oil (or bacon grease). Add chopped ham.

Then pour in beans, including liquid. Add bay leaves, cumin, pepper and Tony Chachere's seasoning,

Simmer until all veggies and beans are tender and soup is thickened. Add salt if needed. Sometimes I squirt some ketchup in there too...if it needs to be perked up a little.  Sometimes, balsamic vinegar.

Also that same day, I tried using up some of the jalapeno peppers from Lonnie's garden. Those plants just keep on producing.

I roasted them in the oven at 450 degrees.

Then sliced them lengthwise and took out most of the seeds and pulp. I put some shredded mozzarella and cheddar on the halves and sprinkled with garlic powder and panko crumbs. 

Then popped them back into the oven until the cheese melted.

They looked pretty but they were deadly HOT!  It was a sneaky heat that builds slowly!

I had eaten 3 halves before I realized that my mouth was really starting to burn. Owie!

Lonnie liked them and ate quite a few. I don't know how he did it. 

I need to figure out a different way to use the rest of those jalapenos.

dehydrating tomatoes and more

Even though Lonnie's tomato plants look pretty scraggly, they are putting out enough tomatoes that we are getting "tomatoed out". There are more tomatoes that we really want to eat.

I got the dehydrator out and not only dehydrated some tomatoes, I also dehydrated some fresh pineapple that seemed too acid to eat, some over ripe bananas, and also a little bit of cantaloupe...just to see what it would taste like.

Our dehydrator has 4 trays. I filled them all. 

I set it up out on the screen porch since it does put off a little heat and is also sort of noisy.

The tomato slices were ready in about 10 hours.  They all fit into a pint container and went into the freezer.

After 10 hours, I turned the dehydrator off.  The fruits still weren't crunchy-dry...they were a little chewy.

I will be storing them in the fridge so I wasn't worried about all the moisture being out of them.

The cantaloupe was mild and sweet. 

The pineapple was intensely sweet and tangy!

When I have dehydrated bananas before, they did get crunchy. I wonder if these didn't because they were over ripe. They were pleasantly sweet and chewy though.

The Sasquatch suggested that the dried banana slices might be good chopped up and added to chocolate chip cookies.  It sounds like it's worth a try!   Bananas and chocolate are a good combination.

day trip in Indiana

Lonnie and I did something different earlier this week. We drove up to Carmel, Indiana to tour a new Mormon Temple that has been built up there.

No, we aren't thinking of becoming Mormons.  I had read an article online about this new temple being open for public tours  - before they hold their dedication. After that, no admittance!
I was just curious about how it looks inside of a Mormon Temple.

I guess I'm not the only one who was curious, they said over 60,000 people had visited in the last few weeks. There was a steady stream of people going through while we were there.

The building wasn't as big as I expected.

On top of the building is a gold figure, the angel Moroni, playing a trumpet.

Our guide took us through several rooms, explaining the symbolism of some of the decorative features and telling what each room is used for.   It was interesting and educational.

No photos allowed inside...so these are pictures of pictures...

several brightly lit areas

baptismal pool

A fountain and nice landscaping outside.

Now we know!

On the way home we set the GPS for a pit stop in Indianapolis at.....

After we parked the car and put money in the meter box ( this was an all newfangled experience), we found out that The Old Spaghetti Factory doesn't open until 5:00...about an hour later.

We were hankering for spaghetti so we decided to wait it out across the street at....an Irish Pub. 

Look at this! Quilt patterns on the floor!

They had outdoor seating on the shady side of the building so we sat out there watching the world go by, waiting for 5 o'clock.

After dinner we headed home and found we had a big storm in our area. Leaves and twigs and patio furniture cushions blown around the yard. No damage though.

this is a little too organic

This organic baby spring mix is something I buy at Kroger all of the time. I am not really buying just because it's organic. I like spring mix and they usually have this at a good price.

I recently made a nice salad with spring mix, cherry tomatoes and ranch dressing, and was sitting at the counter eating it while looking at my tablet (of course).

I felt something weird in my mouth, that at first, I thought was a tough stem on one of the lettuce leaves.

I pulled it out and OH GROSS!  It was a BIRD FEATHER!  

How sickening!   I started looking through the lettuce left in the package to see if there were more feathers or bird parts in there....and you won't even believe it...I found a dead grasshopper.

These aren't tiny little things.

Now how do you suppose not one, but two nasty things were in my spring mix package?

I called the Kroger toll free line. The customer service rep had a hard time with the fact that I was eating spring mix that was past the "sell by" date...like that must have something to do with why there is nasty stuff in there.

She eventually made a report and credited my Kroger card the amount I paid for the spring mix. 

That hardly makes up for that unpleasant experience...I keep remembering the feel of that feather in my mouth.

Bleh!

block of the month - July

There hasn't been much sewing going on here, but I did get my "block of the month" quilt blocks finished for July.

Here they are with their frames sewn on and grouped with all the blocks finished so far.

I am liking this quilt better all the time.  Now that I see more of a variety of color and pattern together - it's really growing on me.

The hard part is waiting a month in between to get  the next block pattern!  Now that I like it better I am anxious to get it finished and see what it's really going to look like.

Once it's finished, I'm not sure what I will do with it...but I have a few months to be figuring that out!

four bean salad

In my recipe book, I still have this labeled "three bean salad", even though it has 4 kinds of beans in it.

I think the traditional version of three bean salad didn't have the garbanzo beans (chick peas) in it.  In fact, I think garbanzo beans weren't used much (at least in this area) until maybe the last 20 years or so.

Garbanzos are extremely nutritious though, so they make a good  4th bean to add for this salad!


Four Bean Salad
1 can green beans
1 can wax beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can garbanzo beans
3/4 cup diced onion
3/4 cup diced green pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
pepper
1/2 tsp. celery seed

This salad is so much better after it's been in  the fridge for several hours, so put it together early in the day - or the night before you are going  to serve it.

Drain the liquid from all the cans of beans and combine in a large bowl with diced onions and diced green peppers.    I like the onions and peppers to be diced rather small, so that when you are eating the salad, a bit of each might end up on your fork along with some beans.

In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and celery seed. Mix until sugar is dissolved.

Pour over bean mixture and toss to coat.

Chill several hours, stirring once or twice. Serve cold.

This salad was part of  Sunday dinner, along with beef sirloin roast with gravy, mashed red skin-on potatoes, Pillsbury crescent rolls, and fried cabbage.  I also tried a new recipe for honey glazed baby carrots...cooked in the microwave. We didn't care for it...the glaze had brown sugar and corn starch too, which made the carrots look dead and unappealing...and it was too sweet.

Dessert was fresh peach cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream.

back to Whistle Stop

We were tired of routine household chores (me) and desk work (Lonnie)...so we decided to take a nice drive to Glendale and eat at Whistle Stop.

Lonnie has been wanting to go there again, ever since I told him that I had lunch there with my quilt group, on our outing last week.

It was a lovely sunny, blue sky day...nice for a drive.  Even though it's about a 35 mile drive, it's interstate highway most of the way...so it's really about as fast as if we had driven across town to eat, and had to deal with the traffic.


Lonnie ordered a fried chicken dinner. They informed him it could take about 45 minutes since they cook everything to the order.

Well....we were already hungry so we were forced to order the fried green tomatoes as an appetizer!

Those dudes are filling!  We didn't eat them all, but still, Lonnie wondered where he was going to put his chicken dinner when it arrived at the table.

Wait for the close up....

I had bean soup and cornbread....which I couldn't finish either.  We brought enough food home for another meal.

There are a lot of antique/junk shops in Glendale.  After our meal we wandered around in one for a few minutes...just to look - not to buy.  Their stuff is pretty pricey anyway. 

And it was sort of hot in there too...so we left!

It was a nice break in  the routine and an evening without dirty dishes to wash!  Yes!