How many Old Friends have returned?

[sammy]

AJ! Chocolate bits??? BRILLIANT!!! (See! Everything IS better with chocolate! )

Hmmm...maybe Laura should grow some Cocoa beans at her new place!

LOVE!!!!
Sammy

[Sandy]

Oh my gosh, AJ, that sounds fabulous! Thank you! I'm copying it for my boys too. They love chilli and I doubt they have ever tried this version.
Everything's better with chocolate!
((((Hugs))))
Sandy

[Petra Wilson]

I don't have an exact recipe because when it comes to chili, I start throwing everything in and then start seasoning to taste. But here is my initial.

1 - 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef or other red meat (I typically use ground deer)
Large box Beef Broth or Beef Stock (don't know exacth amount right now)
5-6 tomatoes skinned/ deseeded and cut into however small you like or you can use about 4 cans of diced tomatoes
2 Cans of Kidney Beans
2 Cans of Black Beans
1 onion chopped
2 red or green bell peppers chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
1/4 tbs salt
1/2 tbs chili powder
1/2 tbs of chipotle chili powder
1 to 1 1/2 tbs of Cumin (though I typically add more of this than anything for taste)
1/2 tbs of cinnamin (this makes it cincy style and I too add more of this to taste as well)
1/4 tbs of sugar
1/2 tbs of garlic powder (despite what I already have in the form of cloves)
and then for my secret.....about a cup of dark chocolate chips.

AJ, are you cooking for a battalion??? Sounds marvellous, but still too hot and ickey
here to eat hot foods. Will try it soon though as I have all the ingredients, except chipotle chili, and will only use freash garlic, hehe!

[Petra Wilson]

Incidentally people, dark chocolate is extremely good for you, but only a few squares.
It improves health and mood apparently. Guess who just bought a load?

Love, Pet xx

[inlikeflint]

I usually have White Chili made with shoe-peg corn, navy beans, green chilies, onions, Williams White Chili mix, chicken and chicken broth... Then I sop it all up with jalapeño corn bread and tortilla chips... and cheese. lots of cheese.

I'm a 500lb man waiting to happen.

[Petra Wilson]

I'm a 500lb man waiting to happen.

I like that Flint!

[Sandy]

Oh wow...there's another one I must jot down! I bet I can turn it into a vegetarian dish for me. Same as AJ's... there's enough yummy ingredients that George wouldn't even miss the meat in either one. Especially with all that chocolate in one and the cheese and corn bread in the other.
Only thing...I may not be able to find the Williams White Chili mix....any idea of the ingredients in that, Flint?
Love,
Sandy

[AJ]

To make a white chili without a mix you would need white pepper, some chili powder, garlic, cumin and salt.

I usually figure out my allocation of each to taste. Also you use chicken broth instead of beef broth as the base. I love tomatoes in mine so unfortunately it becomes more of a light orange chili vs white but still excellent!

Sandy to move away from the meat in cincy chili would be interesting. It is the meat that gives it a lot of body so that it isn't more of soup.

Pet, yes that is for a lot. I like to give it away to parents and friends and store some in the freezer for later to eat. You don't need the chipotle chili powder, I just like variety. Also when I cook it day one, I typically put the whole pot back on the stove for day 2 simmering all day as well. Chili gets so much better the next day!

[inlikeflint]

I had to pull out a seasoning packet out of the the cabinet to see what was in it.
Here goes;
Maltodextrin... (?)
Dehydrated green chili peppers
Dehydrated onion and garlic
spices (probably cumin)
More fillers that have chemical names
Modified corn starch... (I could imagine that a tea spoon of corn starch would thicken the chili up.)
And that was about it.

In a crockpot pour in a large container of low sodium fat free chicken broth as the base
Pour in a 16 oz can of Great Northern beans with the water that comes with the can.
Pour in Shoe peg corn with the water that comes in the can.
Add two cans of diced chilies (6oz cans?)
add your spices... bring to a boil then simmer for 20 minutes.

I usually have chicken in mine and I add cilantro and a small onion.
However if you ware doing it the vegetarian way you might consider using a can of blackeyed peas, hominey, rice, more Northern beans... It's all on what you guys prefer.

AJ is right. You need cumin and the white pepper...

You top the soup/stew/chili with tortilla strips and grated sharp cheddar...
Tortilla chips are just a substitute for Saltine crackers.

[inlikeflint]

I had a bad sweet tooth today, so I went down to a local place that has more candy and nuts than you can shake a stick at.

I like the original Wonka Everlasting Gobstoppers.
The problem is that they changed and become smaller... They are no longer a jaw breaker they are a candy coated sweet-tart.
So I went down to the candy store to pick up a bag of jaw breakers which will keep me from pounding down a few pounds of sugar and corn syrup in a few hours.

(I used to be good and eat two to four cookies out of a box of cookies. Now I eat the whole damn box.)

Anyway, I was looking for the jaw breakers and I found Black Cow bars sitting on a back shelf. I haven't had one since grade school and I thought that they stopped making them. Black Cows and Slo Pokes. http://www.inthe70s.com/food/blackcow0.shtml
The last black cow bar on a stick I had was in 4th grade. I can still remember the waxed black and yellow wrapper and how it could pull a filling out of your teeth if you tried to chew on it.
Good times, good times.

Anyway... I found Black Cow candy bars on the back shelf and I almost had to wrestle a couple of women down who were my age who were just as excited as I was to find them. It was fresher than the ones I remember. The ones I used to get when I was younger were tough as a boot. (It was okay because that made it last all day.) It's just a stick of chocolate flavored caramel, but it is way better than a Sugar Daddy.

It was a nice find today.

[Sandy]

Hello again ...and thanks AJ and Flint for helping me figure out the needed spices for white chili. I also realized there might be a problem finding shoe peg corn here, white corn in general, because corn is not as popular here as in the states. But even though yellow corn may add a slightly yellow cast to the soup mixture it would probably taste wonderful all the same... Oh you guys reminded me of a chowder recipe I made years ago from Taste of Home magazine. It was soooo good... Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder. I just looked it up, out of one of the few magazines and cookbooks that survived the trip to Australia. Don't get me started on that sad story. (Petra just rolled her eyes! ) Anway, when I looked it up..oh my goodness the recipe was so full of fat it could singlehandedly do much to propelling me towards that 500 pound person Flint was mentioning earlier.
Your recipe is much healthier, Flint, and I suspect much more nutritous, and yet, still giving you a similar taste. I love beans of every description so I will consider adding black eyed peas instead of the white beans if I make it vegetarian.
Yes!!! I remember Black Cows, sugar daddy and Milk duds! And unfortunately I could never refrain from biting them! They probably singlehandedly paid for the Dentist vacations during the 60's decade. I loved them though! Gosh one would taste good now. But... sigh... I am munching on a sugar free low carb chocolate cookie I made yesterday. We are celebrating here as George just got his second glowing report from his Doctor yesterday. (type 2 diabetes) His blood sugar has been so good for 6 months that his doctor does not want to see him again until March! I am sure Doctor Mendoza (Midwayer doctor) is relieved that George is taking better care of himself. It's time for a short vacation Doc M...at least in respect for keeping an eye on the two od us! We'll be good.. I promise! and on that note...thank you, Flint, for posting that old fashioned candy URL.

Love you guys!
Sandy

[inlikeflint]

Yikes... Diabetes!

I wonder meditation can can fix something like that?
Has he ever asked for direction or suggestions from celestials?
Is there a way to get the body back into the right vibration to eliminate it?

Just a thought.


The chowder recipe sounds good.
It always seems odd that you can't get some of the vegetable you can get here in the U.S.

What kind of vegetables do they have there that we don't have here?

[Sandy]

Hi Flint,

You make some very good points with the meditation aspect of healing disease yet, I think we also must take responsibility for our own actions at some time as well. It is all a part of healing. Our bodies have been designed nearly perfectly...And with the proper fuel and along side proper spiritual nourishment they should serve us well and be nearly disease free. My dear George is a stubborn man and I say this with much love. He has abused his body through his food choices as well as his tobacco habit for many years and yes,his good friend, Dr. Mendoza, a Midwayer doctor, has kept his body on an even keel. But as I said, there comes a time in our lives when we must recognize that the responsibility for health begins with us...with our choices and with the strength of our resolve with our minds fully viewing what we desire most. I was recently told in meditation, when whimpering about my lack of, shall we say "fortitude," that I must take the first determined step and each one become easier with each succeeding steps. (This is true about a lot of things) So we ask ourselves, "What is the first small thing we wish to improve about our lives?" "What first step can we take towards that improvement?" Sometimes it is knowledge, human and celestial combined, that can lead us towards our goals. And sometimes the choices are hard as we let go long nurtured ways of being and old habits. Perhaps that is why I was told to begin small. I have had much encouragement from Michelle and Monica in this area and I have begun making those tiny steps that lead towards my goals, and so has George. I suspect his successes of these past 6 months health-wise have been both a celestial and human accomplishment.
I truly believe, though, that Type 2 Diabetes can be completely reversed with a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables and much lower in those sweet and floury carbs so many of us have cut our teeth on in the Standard American diet. George is working towards this...

What kind of vegetables do they have there that we don't have here?

Have you ever heard of a choko? That is one I had never heard of or seen in the US. It is a firm nearly tasteless vegetable that is handy to add bulk to soups and stir fries. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/ ... 12273.html

Silver Beet is popular here. It is known in the US as Swiss Chard.

Beets are also very popular here and often sliced beets are added to hamburgers and sandwiches.

Pumpkin is used extensively here in dishes...Not the large orange ones I am accustomed to but the smaller green varieties I believe known as Japanese pumpkins. They also eat butternut squash and group it in the pumpkin family.

In season they enjoy more fruit such as mangos, mandarins and passion fruits..something hard to find in my area of Northern Ohio. But otherwise they enjoy much of the same fruit choices we do. Plenty of apples, pears, grapes, oranges, grapefruits etc... And in vegetables... zucchini squash, green beans, snow peas, tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce of many types, broccoli, cauliflower, avocado, celery, carrots, peppers, cucumbers...etc...


The things I miss, I suppose, are yellow and spaghetti squash which were always a staple in my home, white, bread and butter, and Indian corn varieties and peaches, too, as it seems where we live they are in and out of season in the blink of an eye and hard to find fresh after that. But otherwise, it is lovely here as we have a year round growing season in this area. I just need to educate myself on what to plant when and what pests I can expect and how to organically discourage them. Yesterday I planted some green beans, cucumbers, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, radishes, and some dill. ( I love dill weed with fish dishes) So I have my fingers crossed the plants will soon germinate and my green fingers can get some much needed exercise.

Are you able to harvest anything after your long and notoriously hot summer? And has this heat in America’s bread basket affected the prices on the store shelves?
Hope all is well over there.
Love,
Sandy

[inlikeflint]

Choko was a new one on me. It looks real interesting,

As far as my garden is concerned it has been a slow production of vegetables. The heat made my large tomato slicers small like cherry tomatoes. My grape tomatoes came out like the size of pearls.

Out of the 30+ tomato plants that I had I lost only a couple of plants. Now that it has cooled off thing are starting to grow like crazy again.
I have a black cherry heirloom tomato plant that just filled out and flowered AND the Caspian Red (Russian) heirloom finally has tomatoes the plant would be over 8 feet tall but the 5 foot cage isn't tall enough, so it flows out over the top of the cage, sweeps near the ground and grows back up again. (It could be about 9-10 feet if supported up that high) Most of everything looks healthy.

All my squash dies, except for one zucchini plant. The leaves changed colors to a sea green color before the plants futzed out.
1 Spaghetti squash, a couple pumpkins that came up on their own, 30 pole beans, 20 snow peas two crook neck squash, 1 zucchini, 1 basil plant most of my sweet pea flowers, 1 green pepper plant... and a couple of cucumber plants didn't make it either.

I have discovered a few things this year;
*The cherry tomato that is indeterminate that is in about a cubic foot of earth has grown close to 8 feet tall. I think as long as your soil depth is at least 12 to 18 inches, most plants will reach their full potential.
*Greenhouse effect (High heat) is bad on crops. Some of the plants grow great, but most stay ratty looking and stunted. Leaves are smaller and tomatoes develop a thick skin. (Ants and pill bugs consume fruit much faster... the good bugs that are in your garden become pests.)
* Three flowers that I grow in my garden this year to attract pollinators are the sunflower, basil, and passion flower. The flowers are more like feed as opposed to feeding a colony of bees nectar. Keeping the bees collecting pollen keeps them pollinating all the flowers they can including the zucchini, and cucumbers... I use sunflowers as billboard advertisements for bees because I have a six foot tall fence the sunflowers grow 8 -10 feet tall and then the passion vine grows anywhere it wants and trellises the fence.... The basil bolts out quick and it is a nice companion plant with tomatoes The bees work this plant like crazy when it bolts.
I ended up with honey bees, bumble bees, parasitic wasps, carpenter bees, sweat bees, some flies, monarch butterflies, and hundreds of light blue and white butterflies that also went crazy over the basil.
*Flowers are very important to a vegetable garden... I had borage for a while but it became long and ratty looking after it matured and the heat killed it off. It is another companion plant for tomatoes and is supposed to confuse the tomato horn worm. (I have not had any of those this year and that is good. I also have marigolds and a lot of them com up on their own. (But I am saving seeds in an envelop in the fall to replant in the spring.)
*Onions are easy to grow, and they seem to grow better on top of the soil instead of in the soil.
*Turnips produce nice spicy salad greens, and make a low carb mashed turnip (like mashed potatoes.)
*Some radishes produce nice salad greens that taste just like the radish.

This year I kept my eyes peeled for old wood framed windows. I have over 120 medium sized windows collected from the free section of craigslist. I am going to build a greenhouse with a roof that shades the plants in the summer time, but lets in full direct sunlight in the winter. I am hunting down wood pallets and old fence planks so that I can glue and bolt and "engineer" wood so that have a greenhouse with a living roof and a water collector. I will drop in concrete footers so I can build everything up on posts to support the weight of a living roof. The Idea is to double the growth of the area. I can grow plants that have shallow roots but will insulate the roof in the winter time... and use large barrels of water in black containers to heat the greenhouse in the winter time. The greenhouse will have raised beds so I don't have to stoop to find vegetables, and it will probably be tiered so that I can grow things vertically in the garden as well as in the beds. So far I have about $10.00 invested in this, but I am debating on buying the posts instead of engineering it out of salvaged materials... maybe. Other than that my most expensive parts will be concrete footers and the steel bolt down parts, and the roofing liner. (Everything sounds great in theory.)
...So far the greenhouse will be over 200 sq ft, and 16" tall on the tall end so that the sun can reach way inside the greenhouse in the winter.

This is a site that gave me the idea for vertical growing...http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/urban ... os/80242/5 I think it is a cool idea for a wall of light stuff like flowers & shallow root plants like lettuce, or parsley... It looks relatively simple to build and keep watered. I think a person could grow their greens on the South side of the building (It would be north for AU) up the wall on the side of their house creating more space in for other stuff on the ground... I've been looking at using pop crates or maybe used gutters to do this with.

I'm also interested in aquaponics, but that is for another thread...

[Sandy]

Wow, Flint...There is a wealth of gardening experiencing and information in your post and if you don't mind, I saved it in "Sandy's stuff" on my computer torefer back to when needed. It sounds like gardening can be quite a creative endeavor as we root around and come up with innovative ways to grow in large or small spaces. I clicked on that fabulous URL you provided and quickly got lost in thought looking at the amazing eco freindly homes. Isn't it amazing what some people can design and make work. A few I though...hmmm in a high wind...not sure I would want to live in one of those. But still it is fun to consider...My favorite is the wrap around tree homes. There is the coolest photo of them surrounding a lake and they blend in so beautifully. I suppose a draw back could be though the tree itself has a limited lifespan and must be able to tolerate a parasitic house. We have these lovely huge Ecalyptus trees here that make me wide eyed with wonder so I cannot even imagine viewing one of the Giant Redwoods...Oh if only those trees could talk and tell us what they have seen.
You must take photos of your green house as it develops and detailed notes to assist others who wish to do something similar...Hmmm I am seeing a newsletter or maybe down the road even a magazine in the works. You know, with your artistic ability, know, how and practical creativity...it could work...of course that would mean spending more time inside and less hands on outside perhaps. ..give and take I suppose. But I believe people need what you can give... and that is how to practically turn what you have in terms of space into a little produce factory. Well just a wild thought on my side of the world.
Geez... You have me itching to get back out there and re design my simple little raised bed gardens... finding more places to stick a plant or two especially some flowers to attract some bees.. so I thank you for the timely advice.
Love,
Sandy

[inlikeflint]

Hey Sandy,
I just get lost in gardening.
I think a lot of people would be better off if they had time to grow their own food.
Then there is the "putting you hands in the dirt" and the smell of good soil.
It is a lot of discovery and creative problem solving for me.

That Eco site link is pretty cool, I browse it for ideas. It helps spur new thoughts and ideas.

Glad to spur some new ideas for you!!! (And anybody else who lurks and reads these posts.)

[AJ]

couldn't agree more about gardening. I love it and do it though this year was not really successful. The darn raccoons ate all my corn and I mean all of it and we had 6 rows of it about 20 yards each. They got in there the few days before we were going to harvest it and ate it all. We can't figure it out. They must of climbed the 30 foot fence we have all around it.

[Sandy]

Oh NO! What a beep-beep AJ! I have heard that raccoons are smart little critters. I found out they really love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches too. There was this raccoon up a tree outside just beyond my children's swing set many years ago. This made me a bit uneasy so I decided to try to coax him out of the tree with a plank of wood and some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I laid the plank up against the tree and in several places up and down the board, placed bits of sandwich. Well, I have never seen a raccoon move so fast as he devoured the sandwiches and chased me back to the house doo,r hoping I had more. So we went from a racoon in a tree at the back of the property to a raccoon on our porch just outside our back door... Not exactly a well thought out plan, huh? Eventually he left after a long siege. We found out later a neighbor had lost a pet raccoon and suspected this one may have been his. Oh, I was just reminded of that children's book. "If you give a Mouse a Cookie..." Have your children heard that one?... cute story. This could be a sequel..."If you give a Raccoon a sandwich."

Here's to next year's corn patch!
Love,
Sandy

[sammy]

SANDY!!!!! Great story!

Oh, I was just reminded of that children's book. "If you give a Mouse a Cookie..." Have your children heard that one?... cute story. This could be a sequel..."If you give a Raccoon a sandwich."

Two authors under the same roof! Go for it girlfriend!

LOVE!!!!
Sammy

[AJ]

They love the give a moose a muffin book!

[Sandy]

I used to read those books and many others to our preschool kids. What fun! That was my favorite part of that job, reading to the kids!
Love,
Sandy

[Petra Wilson]

Thanks for the recipes. Any tips on what to serve the sauce with. Usually I make
white rice, but I'd like to try out something different.

Sandy, I've never seena wild racoon before. Loved the story, I could picture it all
really well. You always say I'm good at writing, I reckon you are too...

Love, Pet xx

[inlikeflint]

I am going to grow mushrooms next year.
I am looking for logs and I am going to grow my own Shiitake mushrooms on logs.
and maybe some oyster mushrooms.
I need two different kinds of logs though.

It is going to be good, I can taste them already.

[Sandy]

Oh I used to love grilled portabella mushroom sandwiches...yum! Can you believe I've never eaten shittake or oyster mushrooms? What kinds of logs do you need to grow them?
George has spoken before about searching for mushrooms as a kid... lets see these were called... morrellas. He said they were out of this world! (I think that was the way you spell it)
I hope next season is just a little cooler and wetter for you Flint!
Love,
Sandy

[Petra Wilson]

Hi you gourmets,
I just googled mushrooms and the page just listed sites for magic mushrooms!
Don't go there will ya's.
I used to go out with Phil in the Jura gathering wild mushrooms, Trompet du la Mords were
one of my favourites, although I was dubious when I translated it: Trumpets of Death, but
they were delicious with no ill effects. Also Morels and chantrelles are a great find and the
locals never revealed their secret hiding places. I was always lucky in finding them apparently.

Love, Pet xx