The Catch Up Post

Digit seems to be on the mend and we've been busy, so here are the last few weeks. :)
Our new super awesome windows are being installed this week. We had to make one of the windows in the bedroom bigger to meet egress requirements so we decided that while were at it to just put in the sliding glass door we always talked about in there. It's very cool. They're probably going to finish the last ones Saturday morning. Their guarantee is that our climate control bills each month will decrease by at least 40%.

Hungarian Mushroom Soup from Sunday. This is the first time we tried this recipe. It is definitely a keeper - and pretty quick to make.


The Banana Pink Jumbo Squash. I'm looking forward to baking it. It ended up 8 lb. 5 1/2 oz.

Here's early October's massive root vegetable harvest and tomato plant removal "party" (party of one - me). Q finished our last compost bin that day.
This is the harvest of "early" cabbages. We've still got the late variety out there. They looked like little heads, especially weird since some were about perfect "baby-head"sized.
I sauced the last of the tomatoes that I pulled off the plants while I made a double batch of cabbage burger filling. We froze seven quarts of filling. (You can see the jar of sauerkraut I was starting hiding behind the coffee maker. It's in the fridge now. It sure smells like sauerkraut - working up the nerve to taste it!)

Cabbage Burgers
1 lb. ground beef
2 lbs. shredded cabbage
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 t. salt

Brown beef, add cabbage and onion and cook until tender, adding oil if needed. Drain and freeze or use fresh.

Dough - Dissolve 1 pkg. yeast in 1/2 c. lukewarm water. Add 1/4 c. sugar and 1 t. salt. Scald 1 c. milk, melt one cube butter into the hot milk. When cool enough, add this mixture plus 1 c. water to the yeast mixture. Beat in 2 eggs. Add 5-6 cups flour to make a soft dough. Let rise until double, roll 1/4" thick and cut into 4" squares. Place filling at the center of each square and seal; place seam-side down on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

We used our first quart of filling for dinner early this week and have had the leftovers for lunches all week. I used the gluten free flour blend for the dough and it worked well, although it had to be a bit thicker than usual - continuing to perfect the combo.When the filling's already made it's a pretty low work meal although letting the dough rise takes time.