Saturday, August 2, 2008

Sunday Dinner, August 3, 2008

Funny, it seems like only yesterday that I posted.

Oh. That's right. It WAS yesterday.

Well. It seems that yet another week has gotten away from me and here we are about to discuss Sunday Dinner again already, and believe it or not I have my menu already decided upon for the most part. And it's going to be a vegetarian meal again 'cause I'm using all the fresh veggies we've been given while they're in season.

Earlier in the week Lamar's Mom and step Dad gave us a bunch of garden stuff and amongst all the veggie goodness was a couple of sacks of fresh purple hull peas. I shelled them and tomorrow after we get home from church I'll cook a big pot of those and some of MY HOMEMADE PAN BREAD or MY HOMEMADE CORNBREAD. I'll take a vote of all that are here and the majority will win: either pan bread or corn bread.

You can find my recipes by clicking on the bold links, and you can find MY RECIPE BLOG HERE.

I also have quite a bit of yellow summer squash and okra and I'll probably fry some of each. I have a fresh supply of garden ripe tomatoes and I'll slice a big bowl of those and I still have fresh refrigerator pickles.

So, we're having fresh purple hull peas, either pan bread or cornbread, fried yellow squash, fried breaded okra, sliced garden ripe tomatoes and refrigerator pickles.

Now, what's on the menu at your place this Sunday? If you'd like to participate this week, just share your plans/menu in the comments.Someone asked me about MY RECIPE FOR REFRIGERATOR PICKLES. I've looked back through my comments and can't find it, so unless I overlooked it, which is entirely possible, it must have been asked by email.

I sincerely apologize but I can't recall who asked for the recipe. Ha ha, like I have a recipe. Every time I make them I make them a little different. A little of this, a little of that, add more of something....Keep in mind that I don't measure any of this stuff. I just start throwing stuff in a bowl until it tastes right to me.

But, here's my recipe as best as I can put it down. I've also posted it on MY RECIPE BLOG for easy reference.

To make about 1 quart of pickling brine:

1 cup white vinegar
3 cups cold water
2-3 tablespoons canning/pickling salt if you have it, if not, you can use table salt
2 tablespoons black peppercorns, or coarse ground black pepper
1 large onion, sliced in rings
3 or 4 large cloves of garlic, sliced
small whole cucumbers and/or peeled and sliced cucumbers
fresh hot peppers or crushed red pepper as desired, optional

Stir brine ingredients to dissolve salt as much as possible.

In quart jars or any airtight container that can be used in the fridge, pack fresh whole cucumbers or peeled and sliced cucumbers, adding sliced onion and garlic equally among the jars/containers. Stir brine again and pour over cucumbers to cover, then cover tightly and place in the fridge.

Just a note for V. from Northern Idaho and any others who may be interested: you can also use small zucchini squash in this recipe or almost any pickling recipe that calls for cucumbers, including relishes, chow chow, piccalili and my favorite, bread and butter pickles.

For the refrigerator pickles I'd use equal parts cucumbers and small zucchini if using the squash in this recipe.

According to how many cucumbers you have you may need more onion and garlic and more brine to cover your cucumbers. These have to stay refrigerated because they're not processed in a canner for long storage. However, they will keep indefinitely in the fridge, if they last that long. Hope they turn out well for you.They didn't tell me anything about the results of my fasting glucose tolerance test that I had done on Friday. I'll have to wait until they call me, send me the results by mail or I harass them by phone about it. By past experience I can tell you that it'll probably be the latter of those options.The high temperature today was 104F. That's 40C. With the humidity factored in the heat index (humidex for some of my friends) was well into the 110'sF (45+C) and we were under an excessive heat warning until 8 pm tonight and will be again Sunday.

It's now 86F (30C) at 11 pm and we're under a heat advisory all night.

It's dangerously hot and miserable. What else can be said about it?One thing we did today to help beat the heat was go swimming. Our church rents the city pool in a neighboring town each year before school begins the Fall session and anybody from the church is welcome to bring picnic stuff and go swimming.

The pool was bath water warm but it was still a little cooler than the surrounding air so was refreshing and we had a great time of watery fun and fellowship. We swam for a couple of hours, then got out to eat our picnic, then back in to swim for a couple more hours. By that time it was beginning to get dusky dark and the mosquitoes came out in force!

There was one fly in the ointment, though. Or rather, a LOT of flies on us! Horse flies, that is. The things swarmed us, biting whatever was sticking out of the water and just generally making a pest of themselves. Those things hurt like crazy when they bite! I went with Jason, Jessica and Emmy and we had to extra careful that the horse flies didn't bite her.

Miss Emmy had herself a high old time, and the rest of us had a great time as well. Every time Emmy saw a horse fly light on the edge of the pool she'd say, "boog, boog!"

She is so cute at this age. She'll be 15 months old next Friday, August 8th.

And yes, I did have my camera with me, but since we were around all that water I only took a few pics at the picnic tables. I think most of us know my record with cameras and water. I wasn't about to take any chances with my new camera getting rurnt (ruined) so I didn't take my camera anywhere near the pool.I had Emmy today while Jessica worked and Jason went to orientation for a new job, then we swam for about 3½ hours and as soon as I got home I took a shower to get rid of all the chlorine and chemicals from the pool.

Swimming always saps my strength, more than almost any other type of exercise.

Diane is a TARD girl tonight.Remember back there a few paragraphs when I said our church rents the pool before school starts each Fall? Well, school starts here on August 18th.

In 2 weeks, y'all.

Glory be, where has this Summer gone? I sure won't miss the heat but time is mortally flying!

School starting back is always the first sign of Fall for me. I know that it will still be smotheringly hot for at least another month after school begins, but I am so ready for this Summer to be over and for the cooler, less humid days of Fall to arrive.Did I mention already that Diane is TARD tonight?

My prayer for each of you my friends is that God will richly bless you by meeting all your needs, and may you have enough to share.

30 comments:

Our Home Schooler and Jen said...

Bless Lamar's Mom and step Dad

the church event sounds nice
and
cool

hope you have a nice restful night
Jen

Anonymous said...

I can't believe the temperatures you're having. Way too hot!

Relaxing at a pool sounds nice, even if the water wasn't really cold. I've only been to our pool once or twice this year - too many kids running wild and being load and annoying while their mothers sit there completely unconcerned.

A veggie dinner sounds nice. I love fresh tomatoes!

Try to stay cool today.

Lucy Stern said...

Diane, all of your fresh veggies sound really good. I have a steamer and ususally cook my veggies steamed, but your fried squash and okra sound good too. I like your recipe for the pan bread but my all time favorite is corn bread and I will eat it first, if I have a choice....

I hope things work out with your fasting blood sugar test. Hopefully you are within the normal range.

I haven't been swimming all year...Even when I went to the beach with my sisters and brother, I stayed out of the water. I'm glad you had a good time with Jessica, Jason and Miss Emily.

I'll go back and read your blog from yesterday and see what I missed. It has been a very busy week and I haven't had much time to blog.

Have a great week!

Mim said...

Diane,
Your vegetable meal sounds just like my favorite summer meals I love.Your swimming time with your family and Emmy must have been great.
Those pesky flies were at our camping a couple of weeks ago and biting.. not fun.
Here's to a cooler week for you.
Happy Sunday.
Mim

Lib said...

Hi Diane,
Your Sun. dinner sounds delish. Why, You know it has to be "CORNBREAD"lol I do Love my cornbread!
The church trip sound like fun!
Hope you test comes back good!
So THankful Jason has a job!:o)PTL for that!
Hope you have a Great wk.
Love, &Blessins',Lib

Barb said...

Blogger still has me locked out of my blog, so I'm living vicariously through everyone else. Sigh.

I remember the biting horseflies that were always around anything that held water, especially a pool. My word, it hurts when one of those things bites you.

Good idea, keeping the camera away from water. LOL

I'm making Krissy's enchiladas tonight. I love it that my daughters are giving me their recipes now, instead of the other way around.

Happy Sunday, Diane. I hope to goodness Blogger unlocks my blog again - SOON! I imagine people wonder where on earth I am. Good grief. What a pain in the behind.

Dick said...

Our Sunday dinner today will probably be ball park hot dogs as we are going to a Seattle Mariners game. As to weather, I think I'll keep our upper 70s that is predicted for today rather than yours, thank you. We will somehow survive this hot spell.

Mountain Mama said...

Little Emmy talking made me smile. Victoria is beginning to talk too and sometimes surprises us. One day her mommy was trying to get her attention, calling her name a few times when suddenly Victoria turned toward her mommy and said, "Victoria Star!" Apparently she wanted to be called by her full name. We are so blessed to have babies in the family!!!
My lunch will be that Veggie-Beef-barley soup I told you about. I had some last night and it is fantastic! We are having some cool days, just perfect for sippin' soup.
Blessings Diane

Dawn said...

Ick. Just Ick. Horseflies and heat. Such a great combo.

Good thinking with the camera and the water! Good for you for going swimming - I never get in the water. My grands are loving the water this summer and Care Bear has really learned to swim in two sessions of lessons. She's such a natural athlete.

As for dinner today - we're going to go get a Runza (cabbage burger) or regular burger - nobody else to worry about today, thankfully. I will be writing about our Sunday morning service later on today.

I must have been having the same problem as Barb this week-end. Every time I tried to open my blog, it would "abort." Really frustrating. It fixed itself finally.

Rachel said...

It's too late for me to pick cornbread or pan bread, so I'd say cornbread anyway. It sounds yummy and I'm sure it was. I had a chicken sandwich for my lunch and a brownie. Nothing exciting there!

I know those horse flies hurt. Goodness! What a shame they were there to pester and bite. I had to laugh when you said Emmy called them boogs!! How cute!

That pickle recipe sounds good. I copied it to try sometime. Thanks for sharing with us!

Hope you got some rest!

violetlady said...

Sunday dinner sounds great, as usual. I have never had fried okra, in fact I don't think I have ever had it at all, except in some soup once.
The temps down there are awful!! Be careful out there in that heat.

Anonymous said...

Hi Diane. I will definitely be trying some refrigerator pickles using my zucchini if I ever get enough to harvest. I have been covering them the past few nights ever since they got "nipped" by frost last week. I searched your recipe files for purple hull peas. You don't need to write the recipe out just for me since I have no clue as to what they are or where I would even find them around here. Blessings....v from n. Idaho

Anonymous said...

You have got to be kidding me that the heat is in the 110's!! That's just not right! How do you stand it? You Arkansas women are made of tougher stuff than I. :-)

Oh, horseflies! They're the worst! We don't have them in abundance here at all, but I've definitely been bitten before and it left a huge welt. Ugh.

How nice that your church has a pool party for everyone before school starts up. And I must say, they start school early there. But you must get out earlier.

Your Sunday dinner sounds delicious. We went out for Thai food. Now that we're not in Manhattan anymore we hardly ever eat out, but my husband just got back from a long weekend out of town so we thought we'd splurge. And the food was delicious, so definitely worth it! :-)

Have a great week, my friend! I hope you're feeling good. I'm praying for you still, of course.

Sammy

Jess said...

Now we should inform people that we did not eat at your hasienda... but at cracker barrel instead..

has a good time yesterday and today...

Love you,
Jessica

Betty said...

Diane,

I already typed up a comment and tried to post it,but I don't think it took. So, I'll try again. I was just saying your Sunday dinner sounds good as usual. I love all those good veggies.

Your temps have been higher there than here in Tn. It's been close to 100 deg. though, and the humidity is terrible.

Have a good week.

Betty

MightyMom said...

Well, I"m sorry to say we BEAT you today!!

107. I've no idea what the heat index was...nor do I care.

Well, it's after midnight so technically it's Monday...but my Sunday Dinner was spinach and mushroom/garlic pizza and the LAST, the VERY LAST chocolate/butterscotch iced peanut butter rice krispie treat.

Apparently the boys have been requesting them every chance they get.....might have to make some more huh??

OH, and I vote for cornbread. Just can't have purple hulls and not have cornbread. It's a RULE.

:-)

Unknown said...

Diane: That's a wonderful blessing for all. Thanks and lol!!!:D)

BigDadGib said...

You are the bestest pickler in the world I bet.

Wow... school is starting soon...
time goes flyin' by...

And I know what you mean by tard.
I got tard yesterday but then I got my wind back... later that night... I got tard again, or as we say back home re-tard... lol

Anonymous said...

Roast beef, mashed potatoes, grren beans, yellow tomatoes and hot yeast rolls. :o)

I'm tard too!

Cecil said...

The veggies would have been delicious! Cracker Barrel was good but the vegs sound great! Will talk to you tomorrow. Love, Cecil

Brenda said...

What a fun idea to rent a pool like that. Less the horse flies of course!
Concerning my nephew, the news wasn't good today. Drs. are saying stage 4. I'm sure Reva and/or Amber will blog about it soon with the details. Please continue with your prayers, they are so much appreciated, Diane.
God bless,
Brenda

Hootin Anni said...

Your Sunday dinner sounds scrumptious! And refrigerator pickles! Golly gee....I haven't had any of those in eons. Ya, I'm that ancient.

And now you got me thinking of my mother's bread and butter pickles and her home canned sweet pickles with cloves....oh neither one can be duplicated from store bought. Y'know?

It IS hard to believe school is nearing again. Time flies.

speaking of flies.........ewwwww, deer flies [no, not DEAR flies]...nasty boogers!

Carole Burant said...

Hello dear Diane:-)

I'm back from visiting my boys and am now trying to catch up with everybody! I love having just a veggie dinner whenever the fresh garden veggies are ready...it will still be a couple of weeks before anything in my garden is ready. Unbelievable how late and short our growing season is compared to yours.

Sounds like a fun day at the pool...even if it's warm as bathwater it still feels good:-) I know what you mean about those horseflies, those darn things don't just take a little bite, they CHOMP off a big piece!!! Ouch! They just seem to love wet skin.

Hopefully you'll get your test results soon and then you won't have to wonder about it! I always find the waiting the hardest part. xoxo

Anonymous said...

Yahoo! Today I bought the stuff to make refrigerator pickles. If I don't get to them today, I will certainly get to it tomorrow. Still covering the zucchini at night; although, we haven't had a frost for a few nights.(I'm sure you are wondering how the little buggers are doing...:) Blessings to you...v from Idaho

nancy said...

Stoppin in to say howdy. I wouldn't want to be accused of being a lurker! But sometimes I'm going so fast, I only have time for a quick lurk. Love you.
Nancy

Nancy said...

I think I want to move to Arkansas!!! You all cook up such a storm all the time!!! Sounds so yummmmmmmy!!!! And then you go swimming and have so much fun, flies and all! They can be such pests and they do hurt, too! So glad that little Emmy had such a good time! She is getting cuter all the time!!!

Your pickles look delicious!! I'm a fool for pickles!!! Haven't made any in years, though!

I am still trying to get caught up on my blog reading!

(((((( HUGS ))))))

moreofhim said...

Hey, Diane! Oh, my, goodness! Those pickles look SO delicious! All your fresh veggies sound so good, too. We haven't been blessed this year at all with any fresh veggies from anyone. We didn't do a garden, either, this year. I'm tempted to go and buy some cucumbers from the farmers market on Sat., though, just so I can make those wonderful pickles! Yummy!

Don't you hate that glucose test? I have done it twice now and I just detest drinking that horribly sweet substance. Bleah.

I love to swim, but don't get to do it much. I would love to join the Y or something like that so I could go, but it's so darn expensive! It really tires me out, too!

I've never been bit by a horse fly. I'm not even sure we have them here? I know you all get a lot more bugs than we do because of the humidity. I thought it was hot here, but nothing like your getting. Stay indoors and stay cool, girlfriend!!

God bless you ~ Julie

Kelli said...

Thanks, Diane, for the good words for me on my blog! You are always so encouraging, I really appreciate it!

I haven't actually been thinking that far ahead about Ryan and driving although he's gotten his permit, I think he's just marking time until he's 16 next September. I think I've been too busy burying my head in the sand about Tyler starting kindergarten! LOL Hopefully I can find something to do to occupy my time during this school year that will give me a new peace about them growing up. I have been praying and praying about it, and I know God will get me through, I'm not the first person whose children have grown up too fast, I know that for sure!

Thanks again and have a great rest of the week, we're going to Branson tomorrow, I think for a few days before school starts and I'm mighty glad for the rainy thundery weather today! It certainly is cooler here and I hope it is for you, too!

Love and Grace
Kelli

Anonymous said...

Hi Diane. I did make the refrigerator pickles..2 quarts. The cucumbers I bought were a little spongy but they are still delicious. They brought back memories of my mom and I have not ever made them to taste like hers. Thanks to you, I figured out why...I was using straight vinegar. Blessings...v

Mary said...

Diane,

I am late getting over this week. It's almost Sunday again. Your dinner does sound delicious though.

I'm glad you had an opportunity to have some fun at the pool. I remember those horse fly bites and they weren't much fun. Those things hurt like the dickens. Hope you didn't get too many bites.

Take care and have a great weekend. I've had the boys every day this week and am also TARD. LOL

Blessings for a great weekend.
Mary