The Light in September,

...a new batch of Zucchini Relish (click here),



...our lambs in September (I'm thinking about lamb sausage a lot lately),



...individual bread puddings (click here),



...a jar of chili oil my mom gave me yesterday,



...a September lunch salad of garden green beans, freshly dug potatoes, home canned tuna (thanks mom!), and cherry tomatoes,

...and a plate of deviled quail eggs (click here). Except for the barn swallows leaving, I love everything about this time of year. The light has been absolutely magical this week. Even though this has been a rather dismal year for gardening, I love putting together the hodgepodgey (it's my blog and I can make up words if I want to!) sort of meals that are dictated by what's coming from the garden (and the river) right now. Last night was a weird but tasty stir-fry of fried potatoes seasoned with chili oil, broccoli, zucchini, patty pan and yellow summer squash over rice. Tonight, smoked salmon and cream cheese on crackers, and leftover green beans with bacon and garlic (served the night before last with salmon grilled over the fire, bread, pasta and freshly made pesto). And we'll have individual bread puddings for breakfast in the morning. If I were a cat I'd be purring.

Two Salad Dressings

This photo, showing the romaine lettuces, was our garden a month ago.



This is our garden today. It's amazing how fast everything grows! My husband watered the garden Tuesday evening...



...and I watered the blueberries yesterday morning. With the temperatures predicted to hit the 80's (WhooHoo!), it was a day to make sure everything had plenty of water: water the chicks, water the chickens, fill the pig's water bucket, fill the flock's water buckets, fill a bucket for the dog to find, fill all the rabbit water bottles, empty and fill 3 duck pools (yuck!), and I searched in vain for the sprinkler (lost in the tall orchard grass) to water the strawberry bed with. Tromped way out to the back pasture to check and see if the baaing of a lamb was one stuck up to its chest in the stream with waterlogged wool (this happened a couple days ago) or with its head stuck in a fence (this happened a few days ago also), or if it was just one complaining about being weaned or some other great lambie unhappiness. All was well by the time I got to them, and they all followed me back to the barn to drink from their water buckets and lie around in the shade for the afternoon.



Our blueberries aren't ripe yet. I am patiently waiting and dreaming of blueberries. The blueberries are next to the clothesline and as I hung out three loads of laundry (I simply LOVE line dried clothes) I thought of blueberry foods: eating blueberries fresh from the bush, Blueberry Sauce, Blueberry Pie, frozen blueberries straight from the bag, Blueberry Jam, Blueberry Wine...



Iced coffee...



...and salad for my lunch before leaving for work -with a choice of two salad dressings. The truth is that I seldom measure for this Balsamic Dressing but approximate (and rather flexibly) for these amounts. Make it to suit yourself, tasting and adding as you like. The Yogurt Curry Salad Dressing is a bit unusual, and quite good. I also used it as a marinade for some rabbit pieces we grilled over the fire pit. Delicious.

Balsamic Dressing
Mix together in mini food processor:
1 T. honey
2 T. Dijon mustard
3 T. Balsamic vinegar or half and half with red wine vinegar
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 -1 t. Italian Seasoning
1/2 t. salt
few grinds of black pepper to taste


Yogurt Curry Salad Dressing
Whisk together in a small bowl:
1/2 c. plain yogurt
1 T. cider vinegar
1 1/2 t. lemon juice
1/4 t. curry powder
1/2 t. turmeric
1 T. honey
1/4 c. mayonnaise

I have found if you beat the daylights out of this dressing, as when making it in a mini food processor, it will thin overnight. It doesn't change the taste, it just becomes a rather thin dressing, and I prefer the thicker version on my salad.

"There may be things better than beef stew and baked potatoes and home-made bread -there may be." -David Grayson



Aside from unguarded stray desserts, my preferred breakfast is toasted home-made bread with home-made jam. I just made this basic whole wheat buttermilk bread this morning. It's rising now and I'll bake it later today. I don't think there is anything better than warm home-made bread. When I am on top of things, I make bread once or twice a week, but I am often not on top of things, and we sometimes find we're out of bread which makes the people I live with rather cranky -not that I blame them. Tomorrow, I will toast this whole wheat buttermilk bread to eat for breakfast. That will be much more cheerful than this morning, when I grumpily discovered I have NOT been on top of things, and we are now OUT of bread.



A beef stew is so simple to make, and mine at least, is rarely ever made the same way twice. I usually don't use any particular recipe, but simply brown stew meat (or not), floured (or not), add onions, leeks, or shallots, broth or water, and vegetables. I always include potatoes and carrots, but not always celery. In February I use canned corn, green beans and tomatoes, and in August I use an assortment of fresh vegetables from our garden. Stew can be made on top of the stove, or in a crock-pot; last night I started the stew on top of the stove and then finished it in the crock-pot. I find any type of stew (beef, vegetable or whatever) hard to beat for comfort, flexibility, and frugality. Really, what could be better than a beef stew?



I admit that if my oven didn't take forever to heat up, and if I didn't see a baked potato as a good excuse to eat a ton of butter, salt and sour cream, I would happily eat a baked potato every single day for lunch. Instead, I have my usual 'that's disgusting' (says my daughter) salad, composed of whatever leftovers I find in our fridge that could conceivably be eaten as a salad. This one is with supermarket 'spring' greens, salmon, hard boiled duck egg, chopped sweet pickles and corn. And a salad WITH a baked potato is my idea of the perfect lunch -or leftover beef stew and warm home-made bread!