In my Kitchen December 2024, looking back on November.

My first thought is that I cannot believe how fast December has arrived! It seemed miles away when I first started the garden and we as a family booked a five day Disney Cruise, back in August or there about. And yet we take off in two weeks! For today however we are joining Sherry for In My Kitchen, a monthly look back on achievements, kitchenware acquired, any lessons learned, or enjoyable and lively tales about the delicious food you cooked and served!  Come, and have a visit...

November was an interesting month. 

We have been fighting an upper raspatory virus that has taken it's toll on my hubby. The goal has been to get him well and over it, by cruise time. Fortunately there were not that many chores I needed help with, so he has been able to rest. But it means we haven't been out and about for much fun either. I do plan on making up for all this stay at home time when we are on the cruise, we have booked a tour of the Mayan ruins. It will be a long day with lots of walking, but I remember studying them in Junior High School, and simply using that phrase tells you how very many years ago that was!

The other baking pans I needed arrived! 

And I must say I love how these pans behave in the oven, nothing much sticks to them. There is a bit of a warping issue when baking in the rectangle pan and the square pan, but those pie pans? I love them...I made pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, and it baked up perfectly! Oh I did buy two additional things for my kitchen, a bench scraper and a lovely serving bowl. I needed something to help me divide a four loaf recipe of our whole wheat bread, into four loaves, easily. Until now, I have been "cutting" it with a knife...And while I had to hunt for a place to keep the bowl, it was too pretty to leave behind at the store.

 

The six little chicks, are no longer little! 

They were ready to be put out into the chicken run much sooner than I would have thought. Maybe because they were crowded in the small coop we were housing them in. Even though it was advertised as large enough for six hens, it didn't serve them, these little ladies like to move! No longer chicks, but not large enough to be consider a hen. But they passed the test of being too large to fit through the fence and so their freedom they were given! Now they are mostly full grown, and with a few more months maturing, will be laying eggs! They have learned to fit right in, and some of the older established chickens have invoked the pecking order...

A cold snap hit us here in East Texas. 

And while it might not seem cold to many, it is cold for here! Last night it was only 31 degrees. A cold snap is taken seriously around here because building standards are not accountable to the cold, but for the usual temperatures of between 75 and 105 degrees. During a cold snap of a few years ago, many lost water when their buried water lines froze...while we placed the new water lines put in by us deep, I have no doubt there are many that were already on the property laid in a shallow trench. But, with the cold snap we decided to make the most of it and decorated for Christmas! 

A quick walk around before beginning this post I noticed that a couple things have froze out, the two cucumber plants along with the basil. Hopefully that will be all. Many of the young plants from the second planting seemed too tender to withstand a freeze. But they do not look like they suffered any damage at all. Before Thanksgiving we did harvest a small crop of sweet potatoes, and I baked some of them up with butter and real maple syrup for our Thanksgiving dinner. There is probably enough remaining for a few more dinners for the two of us. And for some particular reason they taste real good when you harvest them from your own sweet potato patch. 

November saw seven new recipes shared on the blog. 

Minted Apple Bread. This is a very tasty apple quick bread. I have been making it for years, and it is now another successful 100% whole wheat recipe. 

Cheddar Cheese Drop Biscuits. Another recipe I have been making for years. It calls for Whole Wheat Self-Rising Flour so it is quick to pull together. But the secret is setting out diced cheddar cheese the day before... 

For Pete's Sake, why did that  recipe fail? There is only one reason to write a post like this one, because I had three (yep 3) recipes fail in one week. 

Two Pickle Egg Salad. I have been developing recipes for sandwich fillings. Why? Because since retiring I have never eaten so many sandwiches! This goes in rotation with about six other sandwich fillings. And it is another way to use our own eggs. 

Being Prepared During Natural Disasters, for Homestead Sunday #3 When tropical storm Beryl went through our area and we were without power for almost a week, I realized that we were not as prepared as I would like. So I took an inventory of what we did, and how we can and will do it better next time. Because there will be a next time...

What's in your Crisper Drawer...let's talk celery. Food is expensive, organic celery even more so. How to store, but more importantly ideas and recipes for use. Because the best way to avoid waste, is eat whet you bring home from the market. 

Three Ingredient Tuna and Cheese Patties. OK first off, I was taken by surprise how good these are. So good in fact I decided to share them...

Plus I updated another twelve recipes with new photos and better text, as I get better and better at this blogging thing!

Thank you for dropping by for a visit, I appreciate it! Be sure to stop by and visit all the bloggers who participate with Sherry at In My Kitchen. 

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