This and That

It is about time I caught you all up on all the other fun stuff, besides protesting, that we have been up to over the fall and early winter. Election years always distract me from the best things in life like food, cooking, the great outdoors, friends, family and of course, banging on things with a hammer and cutting things up with a saw! If you have been enjoying the protest news, don't worry, there will be more coming from me.......guaranteed! :o)

The Fall in Southern Indiana was spectacular this year. Crisp, sunny mornings, clear skies, beautiful fall color in the wooded hills. The perfect recipe for hiking along the lakes. Here is me and our friend Sally along the limestone shores of Lake Monroe. Rowan is laying on the warm rock like a lizard taking the picture.

Here is our donkey friend Jerry. Yes, his name is Jerry and he is HILARIOUS. He belongs to our friend Suze who has a 70 acre ranch just outside B-town. We go out to her place to chop wood and have campfire cookouts throughout the year. This Fall, Jerry and the new baby calves decided they wanted to join us for our cookout and we had quite a time letting them know they were not invited.

The little ones were very curious about us. Once mom showed up we were

 VERY careful not to get too close. I just love running around with all of these farm animals. Brings out the pioneer woman in me.

This is Sal and I as we finished up our last fire wood cutting adventure on the ranch a few weeks ago. We chopped up a HUGE walnut tree that had fallen last year. This will help keep us warm over the very cold snowy winters we have here in these parts.

The fall season always brings us lots of last minute hunting and gathering for food stuffs to put away and freeze for over the winter months. Nothing like the taste of fresh tomatoes to help remind you of the warmer summer months during the dead of winter. Here are some of the things we made up to keep our tummies full over winter:

Green Tomato and Jalepeno Salsa with Late Summer Sweet Corn - the perfect thing to make with those late season green tomatoes, peppers and sweet corn.

Our next culinary challenge came to us from Sally in the form of many large baskets of fresh field tomatoes from her sisters ranch. We have never had quite this many to make sauce out of, but welcomed the chance to 'feed the masses' with some delicious marinara over the winter. We also received quite a few hot peppers to find something to do with.

 It took me almost half a day just to peel and seed all of these heirloom beauties.

We added lots of garlic, basil, sweet onion and spices.

 We ended up with about a dozen jars of sauce to share with our friends

 As the change in season comes upon us I also get this uncontrollable urge to start cooking all kinds of cold weather comfort food to share with our friends. Our first big dinner this season was an Indian feast. We had a very large 8lb leg of lamb left in our freezer from the animal we had slaughtered last fall, so we decided to use it to make up some Rogan Josh Curry for the masses.

 Here is the selection of Indian spices to make the Rogan Josh: Cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, fennel, garam masala, cilantro...........

The Rogan Josh Lamb Curry. YUM!!!!

We also made up some Chicken Tikka. Here is the sauce of yogert, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, chili pepper. Kick-yo-ass hot!

 The chicken pieces in the marinade before grilling.

 Rowan making her chapati bread on the open flame.

Here is our group of friends enjoying the Indian feast in our new fabulous dining room.

As Thanksgiving approached, Rowan decided that its time for us to start making our own bread. Since she is the baker in this family, it is her roll (pun intended :o) to do it. Here are the first loaves she made for our Thanksgiving dinner. They are a wheat/rye recipe from our neighbor Jane, who came over to instruct Rowan on how to do it. Those left over turkey and lamb sandwiches will be delicious between two slices of this!

Here is our Thanksgiving table.

 YUMMY! We are truly thankful for everything we have.

We had our first snow of the season on Nov. 30, the earliest we have seen snow since we came here 10 years ago. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.............. :o)

Stay tuned for some holiday season news coming soon........