It's blueberry time again

October Late Bloomers

Forcythia Re-Bloomed

Pooka Bean



Yarrow



Old Christmas-Boughs are free

While you are pruning this season save your boughs for weaving into quick garlands.
Cover up halls in your walls with them.  (ha, ha, I mean holes).   Mask cooking and cat odor.
Greenery smells Fresh.    Stick in all your vases, add sprigs of anything, heck those Peruvian lilies from the grocery store with your greens to accent will make two bouquets, one for a hostess, except no one is supposed to bring  flowers anymore, so Dog groomer? One for you because if someone brought me flowers I hope that I would never say, "Hmmm, I really only do black."
Wrap it all in old New Yorker cartoons this holiday.   They will laugh, it will slow it all down.   Recycle, oh yeah, that too.   So, you can spend your cash on razzleberry dressing.
-cheers from The Com Post

Root Vegetable Bisque

Made quite a variation on the Parsnip Bisque Recipe-
 Preparation and cooking-Takes about 2 1/2 hours because I don't know where all my spices lodge and run out to the garden a few times.

Find out that parsnips have been snatched our of your hands at the Farmer's market and yours are either big as boulders and as impossible to extract or spindly but darn you will use them anyway for Flavor.
Substitute a

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• pound of Sweet Potatoes
• one last sad Parsnip that the Amish offer to take back.
• 1 carrot or old apple in my case
• 3 tablespoons Honey, what no honey?, use sap from your Maple or Agave syrup.
• Oil cookie sheet, (scrub or peel/scrape root veggies) quarter potatoes, sad parsnip.
• Drizzle with Agave.
• Place in oven for 30 minutes.   Flipping occasionally.
• Place 6 cups of water in pot to boil.
• Chop everything you have up in small pieces so you don't have to make some crazy Bouquet bag out of cheesecloth.
• Things to chop-
• Parsley-none of course, so I used mint.
• Onion and old apple
• Spindly parsnips and carrot
• 2 Bay leaves, o.k., the Bay jar now has Cumin, hmmm, not sure, throw some in.
• All Spice
• Black pepper and white if you have it, I don't so I used lots of salt.
• More black pepper
• A little Maple syrup, a little Agave, Thyme, a little butter.
• Make some coffee and biscuits.
• By now the roasted vegetables are soft and smell wonderful.
• Place in pot with everything else.    If you have biscuits made throw them in the oven now.
• Did I mention Heavy Cream?  Oh yeah, you need 3 cups.
• Immersion or other blender I use immersion but make sure you turn it off before putting in or out of pot.  Ha, ha.
• Blend in cream.
• Simmer 10 minutes or until thick.   Mine took a half hour.

This is an incredibly sophisticated taste, superb and surprisely filling.   Yum. I doubt I could ever make it again.

Peppers, Tom & Dill

Pumpkin Pie with Oreo Crust

So Easy!

I made one crust this year from scratch but I have been mainly popping everything into these easy to store, easy to cook with graham cracker and assorted crusts.   This would be breakfast food if made with whole wheat flour.

• Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
• Libby's or any generic 100% pumpkin in a can.   If you have pumpkins go for it!   Chop off the crown, scoop out the seeds, chop the pumpkin, slice off the peel,  steam until mashable and then-
• Mix in a bowl with 2 eggs.
• Evaporated milk, hmmm about 1/4 cup.
• Honey, Guava, Maple syrup, sugar or Splenda for cooking 1/2 cup or to taste.
• Some salt
• Cinnamon
• cloves
• ginger
• Spatula into Oreo crust.
• Sprinkle cinnamon on top.
• Bake for 15 minutes.

My husband and I were just discussing the real amounts of sugar in this pie.   Great for a dessert but not if you are cutting calories or sugar.   The pie filling has 4 grams per serving 3 1/2 servings per can.  Evaporated milk has sugar and the crust is 7 grams a slice.   If you are having sweets, then this is the one to blow it all on.  So good.

My pumpkins were actually Harlequin squash as pictured.   How come I don't know what my seeds will turn into?   This would be a compost bumper crop.

Applesauce as promised.

• Leave peels and leave vitamins.    Have 16-20 medium apples that have a slight bruise or other damage and won't be stored.  
• Slice as thinly as possible being careful of fingers as peel makes knife slide.
• Throw in a sauce pan.
• Add 3 tablespoons Maple Syrup.
• 1/4 tablespoon Vanilla Powder or shake to taste.
• Ginger generously.
• Clove creatively.
• A pat of butter, actually I forgot and thought I was making pie so this is optional.
• Cover and Simmer on low heat for about a half an hour. 
• Cool and place in 1- 16 oz Bottle Jar with lids.  (Mason, Ball) ,store glass containers may not be tempered so be careful.   I definitely encourage re-use but test for heat strength before it cracks on you.
• Refrigerator or just eat it all warm on raw oats for breakfast, on pork chops for dinner, with vanilla ice cream, on top of different pies that are not apple...Enjoy.

today is- sometimes it is alright to leave the past alone, day.

Carrots & Parsnips Go Together like Rosemary & Thyme

As a matter of fact grab a pound of each.

Slice in half,  with ancient parsnips use a meat slicer.

Throw them on a cookie tray.  Sprinkle them with olive oil, rosemary and thyme.  Roast them in a 350 degree oven until they smell ready.   Alternate, throw them in a roasting dish.   My sister Donna bought us the

greates;t Le Cruset the enamel Dutch oven in Orange.  This really looks nice.   Add potatoes, garlic, dill, honey, olive oil.   Maybe cheese and breadcrumbs depends on what you are having and who is eating.

Tonight!  Honey Roasted Parsnip Bisque.  By Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh from Food.com

We found we had parsnips when shopping at the local Amish farmer's market and I said, "Look at those leaves, I have been calling them lovage...."  A step up from last year when I was convinced that they were celery root.

Found this wonderful article about Parsnip, Lovage and Hogweed- In fact they are related!.. and to Celery, Carrot and Parsley, too.   Like one of my family reunions....

http://www.arthurleej.com/a-gianthogweed.html

Yesterday was Teacher's Day.   Today is Principal Day.

Principal (adjective or noun) conveys the meaning of "primary" or "chief" - like [as adjective] e.g. the principal aim of a series of tasks,or [as noun] the principal of a school. It is also used as the chief part of a loan (i.e., not the interest), as in apply the extra $50 in this month's mortgage payment toward the principal.

Principle (noun [only!]) is a rule, law or general truth. The principles of mathematics

My favorite is my Uncle John.