School is in full swing and I have been busy this fall maintaining the garden and getting into the fall routine. Our chickens have discovered the joy of digging up and eating potatoes. We are going to dig up the potatoes and put them in the shop to cure. They also love romaine lettuce and spinach less so. So far, they have left alone the peppers, tomatoes (which are still VERY green) the zucchini and cucumbers. Have you ever tried lemon cucumbers? They are delicious. Last weekend, we picked enough green beans to can 16 pints and had some leftover for the freezer. They are still coming on so will pick again this weekend.
We have not been able to spend much time at all outdoors do to poor air quality from the fires here in the PNW. Some days it smells like a campfire all day long and visibility is so poor it is about 1/2-3/4 mile. It would be such a lovely fall if the air were better. Winter preparations need to attended to in October, so I am hoping we can get to everything before the snow flies.
Meanwhile, Safeway had an excellent buy on beef round tip roast for $2.49/lb. It is the kind of roast that does so well in the crock pot all day, then shreds to perfection without all those grisly, slimy parts that are yucky to peel off. It's all meat and so tender. The first roast I put garlic slivers in and rubbed with salt, pepper and some spice rub, and it had the most wonderful juices leftover to make a tasty gravy to serve with mashed potatoes. Saturday we are having company, so I am thawing one and am going to crock pot it all day with mexican seasonings so I can shred it for tacos and burritos for a mexi bar so that people can make the burritos as they like. Love to have leftovers for easy week night meals, too. What have you been cooking?
