What are you growing and cooking?

[DeniseM]

COOKING: It's finally fall here in Hades, CA, and by fall I mean 88º instead of 108º! I made a fall-ish recipe tonight, and it was a hit, although it didn't photograph very well.

Country Hash with Cornbread Crust

1 lb. ground meat (I used turkey so I added a T. of olive oil to the pan)
1 sweet yellow onion, diced
2 t. seasoning salt (I used salt free vegetable seasoning)
2 t. minced garlic
2 t. Worchestershire sauce
4 potatoes, cubed small (I had 6 to use up so I used 6)
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, including the juice
1 cup vegetable of your choice (I used crushed, frozen spinach)
1 C. broth of your choice

1. In a large skillet, saute the ground meat and onion until meat is brown, then stir in the garlic and cook for one more minute.
2. Stir in the Worchestershire sauce, potatoes, diced tomatoes. 1 C. Veg, 1 C. Broth & seasoning salt.
3. Cover and simmer for 20 min. until potatoes are soft and most of the broth is absorbed.
(preheat the oven to 400º)
4. While the hash cooks, stir together your favorite cornbread and set the batter aside (I used Jiffy mix.)
5. When the hash is done, immediately spread the hot hash in a greased 8x10 pan.
5. Quickly spread the cornbread batter over the hot hash (you want the hash to stay hot, so the cornbread cooks evenly.)
7. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 min, or until lightly browned.

*I've used this cornbread crust over chili beans, stew, and leftover burrito filling - it's all purpose.

 

[DeniseM]

Now I'm debating whether to keep it and try the peppers when they are young and green, or to pull it out.

We ended up taking the hot pepper out - we have plenty of peppers, and I'd rather have a little more space between the peppers plants than I currently have.

 

[DeniseM]

GROWING: We just got home from 3 weeks in Kauai about 11 pm last night. We expected to pull out the rest of our garden, but due to the cooler fall weather here in Hades, CA, our garden has a new lease on life. Fall weather here in Hades is 40-72 degrees (at least right now.) So I am going to leave the tomatoes and peppers in, because they are still blooming and bearing fruit. The crazy strawberries think it's spring again!

 

[amycurl]

Growing: I am still harvesting three types of basil (Genovese, Thai, and lemon,) and a few shishito peppers. My banana peppers gave up the ghost a few weeks ago.

Cooking: I put a ham in the crockpot for pot-luck dinner last week, and yesterday I made a 16 bean soup with the ham bone. There was little to no ham left after the pot luck--just a lot of yummy sauce-- so I added about a pound of smoked sausage to up the protein. Also used local peppers and onions from my CSA, and a can of tomatoes. Turned out very tasty!

 

[DeniseM]

GROWING & COOKING: I used up some of the bell peppers and tomatoes from my garden to make stuffed peppers for dinner tonight. We had a hard, cold rain today, so I don't know how much longer the plants will last. Here in Hades, CA, we were THRILLED to have rain!!! They are getting some snow in the high Sierras too, which is where our water comes from, so that's great! Plus, I know the skiers are praying for snow for Thanksgiving.

 

[DeniseM]

COOKING: I made a Keto Pumpkin Cheesecake yesterday. (My son is on the keto diet.) It was a little hard to get out of the springform pan - next time I will grease the sides. We will try it tonight - if it tastes good I will post the recipe:

 

[DeniseM]

The cheesecake turned out well - this is a chiffon pie type consistency, instead of the dense cheesecake consistency.

One note - this made too much filling for an 8 in. springform pan - I will use a 9 in. pan next time.

Keto Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients
For the crust
• 1 1/2 c. almond flour
• 1/4 c. coconut flour
• 2 Tbsp. granulated Swerve- I used the Truvia brand of brown sugar substitute - it is a Stevia product.
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 7 Tbsp. butter, melted
•
For the filling
• 4 (8-oz.) blocks cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c. brown sugar Swerve - I used the Truvia brand of brown sugar substitute - it is a Stevia product.
• 1 c. pumpkin purée
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger - too much ginger for me. Next time I will use 1/4 t. pumpkin pie spice.
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt

Directions
1 Step 1 Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, combine almond flour, coconut flour, Swerve, cinnamon, and salt. Add melted butter and mix until well combined. Press crust into an 8” springform pan in an even layer a little up the sides. Bake until lightly golden, 10 to 15 minutes. - Use a 9 in. pan

2 Step 2 Reduce oven to 325°. In a large bowl beat cream cheese and swerve together until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin purée and beat until no lumps remain. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until well combined. Add vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Pour batter on top of crust and smooth top with an offset spatula.

3 Step 3 Wrap bottom of pan in aluminum foil and place in a large roasting pan. Pour in enough boiling water to come up halfway in the baking pan.

4 Step 4 Bake until center of cheesecake only slightly jiggles, about 1 hour. Turn off heat, prop open oven door, and let cheesecake cool in oven, 1 hour.

5 Step 5 Remove foil and refrigerate cheesecake until completely chilled, at least 5 hours and up to overnight. My crust
stuck to the pan a bit - next time I will spray the sides with cooking spray.

 

[DeniseM]

COOKING: Instant Pot "Baked beans" and homemade cornbread - warm and filling on a cold evening! I like to use dried beans and cook them in my instant pot: 1) cheaper, 2) healthier, 3) faster, 4) the high pressure cooks the farts out! Whenever I make any kind of beans I cook twice as many as I need (plain), freeze half of them for future use, and use the other half for whatever I'm making.

 

[DeniseM]

Greenstalk sale:

GreenStalk Garden: Black Friday STARTS NOW! Snag our Original 5-Tier in basic for just $99.97-now in Razzleberry! Plus, enjoy 25% OFF sitewide + FREE shipping (contiguous U.S.).

https://kla1.io/3w4tNV

 

[amycurl]

Growing: Even though we've had lows in the upper 30s for quite a few days now, I *still* was able to harvest a handful of shishito peppers from my porch plant yesterday, and there are even still a few blooms, so I just hate to pull it up quite year!

Cooking: I snagged a few Granny Smith apples to add to a few Staymens I kept after making homemade applesauce a few weeks ago and made my first apple pie of the season. I also made from-scratch pecan pie. Both are frozen and will be transported via cooler in the car for the 12-13 hour trip to the outskirts of Chicago tomorrow to be served on Thursday.

 

[DeniseM]

COOKING: We had our Thanksgiving dinner a few days ago, and I'm a bit under the weather today, so a big pot of homemade turkey and rice soup hit the spot!

 

[DeniseM]

GROWING: Picked this off my strawberry tower (Greenstalk) today - Dec. 3rd! There are about a dozen tomatoes & peppers ready to pick as well.

 

[DeniseM]

GROWING: We got back from Reno yesterday, and I was going to pull out my tomatoes vines today, but they are still blooming and setting fruit, here in Hades, CA, where is it 65º and sunny today. So, I'm going to leave them for now, and see what they do. These aren't the prettiest tomatoes I ever picked, but they'll eat!

 

[DeniseM]

GROWING: We cut this Kanjiro camellia back in Oct. and fertilized with acid fertilizer, and now it's blooming like crazy!

 

[DeniseM]

COOKING: Tonight, I made pork loin adobo in the instant pot, and used some of the adobo sauce to do a "clean out the crisper" veggie-noodle stir fry. (Cabbage, onion, green beans, celery, peppers, ground turkey.) I will do this again - the adobo sauce was great in the stir fry.



Adobo Sauce

1/2 c reduced salt soy sauce
1/2 c apple cider vinegar
2 T. minced garlic - I use the stuff in the jar
2 T. brown sugar
1 t. whole pepper corns
3 bay leaves

Put the pork loin (or any kind of pork or chicken) in a zipper bag. Stir together sauce and pour into bag, and seal.
Refrigerate and marinate for several hours or over night.
Put the metal rack into your instant pot, put the meat on top, and pour all of the sauce over the meat.
Set instant pot on high for 20 min. (more if your meat is frozen.)
After 20 min, allow a natural cool down until the pin drops (10-15 min.)
Remove the meat and set aside for 5 min, and then slice as appropriate.
Remove the peppercorns and bay leaves.
The sauce is great poured over rice, potatoes, or noodles, or used in stir fry. Before you remove the sauce from the instant pot you can stir in a little corn starch slurry, turn the IP to "saute" and thicken it if you wish.

 

[DeniseM]

Tonight's dinner: Black Bean Chili, corn bread, fresh cut coleslaw. Yes, we have been eating a lot of beans lately at my husband's request - it's part of our alternative home heating strategy. Winco had Famous Dave's cornbread mix on sale for $2 this week, so we are giving it a try tonight - it's delicious and lower in sodium than most mixes.



My completely made up recipe (it varies every time depending on what I have on-hand)

Black Bean Chili Beans
1 lb. ground turkey - browned
6 c. cooked black beans (I like to precook beans in my instant pot and freeze them for later use.)
15 oz. tomato sauce
4 c. grilled peppers & onions - I found this in the freezer
2 c. fresh diced tomatoes - used up the last of my garden tomatoes
2 T. minced garlic - I use the stuff in the jar
2 C. vegetable broth
Seasoning: 1 T. chili powder 1 T. cumin 1 T. cilantro 1 t. salt
*This seasoning is for low-salt, mild chili

 

[artringwald]

I grew quite a few pumpkins. I gave away the smaller ones and kept these.

The deer and squirrels will have to wait until it gets above freezing to finish eating these. It's currently -3 degrees.

 

[DeniseM]

GROWING & COOKING: I know I've been saying this for at least 2 mos, but today I actually picked the last of the green tomatoes and peppers, pulled out the tomato plants, and pruned back the peppers for winter. This green enchilada sauce recipe inspired me to finally get it done! This was SO easy - I just rough chopped everything, threw it in a big pot to simmer, and then pureed it with my wand mixer. Easy-Peasy!

Green Tomato Enchilada Sauce

Green Tomato Enchilada Sauce combines end of season tomatoes and green chillies to make the perfect chile verde enchilada sauce.

palatablepastime.com

 

[PigsDad]

and pruned back the peppers for winter.

I've only had gardens in areas where pepper plants were annuals. So if I'm understanding correctly, a pepper plant can last several years? Only certain varieties? Interesting!

Kurt

 

[DeniseM]

Yes, if you don't have freezing temperatures, you can winter over peppers. We cut our pepper back to about 3 ft. tall and only leave the main 2-3 branches and cover them with a frost sack. Our winters have gotten warmer and warmer, and now we almost never have freezing temperatures (I know I just jinxed myself!)

 

[DeniseM]

@PigsDad - Here are what my peppers look like after they are put to bed for the winter. On the left side of the bed - that is the last celery plant, and the blooming plants are Alyssum to attract pollinators. The Alyssum will bloom all winter and it re-seeds, so once you plant it, it will come up forever. Originally, there was one Alyssum in the raised bed, and all of the Alyssum along the front of the bed came up volunteer. We also plant radishes and cucumbers in this bed. We tie the cucumber vines up to the frame to make the most of the space.

 

[DeniseM]

COOKING: Instant Pot Split Pea, Ham and Potato Soup.



https://www.comfortandyum.com/hearty-instant-pot-split-pea-soup-with-bacon-and-potatoes/

 

[DeniseM]

COOKING: I used the green enchilada sauce I made a few days ago to make enchiladas tonight. They were delicious, and I'm so happy to have found a recipe to use up extra and end of season tomatoes and peppers. I like to steam rice with chicken broth and add it to one end of the enchilada pan before I add the sauce and cheese:

 

[DeniseM]

COOKING: Keto Christmas Brunch Menu. My son, who's on Keto, will be here for Xmas brunch, & I'm making some Keto options for him so he won't feel left out: Keto Sausage Balls, Keto Gingerbread Cookies, Keto Pumpkin Cheesecake. Plus ham, & a breakfast casserole that he can eat without modifications. I made the Keto Sausage Balls today and they turned out great - I don't think you can tell that they are low-carb:



https://peaceloveandlowcarb.com/keto-sausage-balls/

 

[amycurl]

Cooking: I made five different kinds of homemade chili beans from dried beans I got through my CSA. In individual batches in my InstaPot, I made Great Northern beans, navy beans, October/cranberry beans, black beans, and pinto beans. I was very impressed that I could do five batches, back-to-back, with unsoaked beans in a single afternoon while working from home last week. Will definitely do that again.

With those beans, I made 5 quarts of award-winning Sweet Potato Mole chili (vegetarian) and 15 quarts of Sweet Heat chili (made with locally-produced pork chorizo, pork sausage, and American Kobe ground beef.) All of the chili is made with the home canned, locally-grown heirloom tomatoes discussed in a previous post. We hold a holiday open house that was Sunday, and that chili fed about 50 people, with only a quart or two of each leftover.

I need to remember to take pictures for the purposes of this thread, lol...but here's a photo of a previous year's Sweet Heat batch: