After the first frost, before the first hard freeze

I've been cooking up a storm lately! I peel apples nightly, and stash little containers of applesauce in my freezer. I've made a bazillion apple crisps, and I'll make another one today.

I've had my first ever gluten free party! Twenty-some people came over for steaks on the grill, a big bonfire and a few fireworks. I've had a lot of bonfires, but this was the best fire ever. Rich brought over a whole trailer full of well-seasoned pine. He'd taken it to his woodpile after my tornado, six years ago. By the end of the evening, we had a HUGE pile of glowing logs. It was hypnotic. We couldn't look away. We kept all the food outside, and my house was safe from wheat. Sorry I couldn't taste all the pitch-in dishes everyone brought, but I'm sure they were delicious as usual.

Yesterday I cooked a big brunch for a homecoming reunion at the sorority house at Butler. This is my 13th year of cooking for the Alpha Chi's. I was happy to see some old friends. Those young college girls have grown up to be lovely ladies.

I can't eat anything I fix in the wheat-kitchen at Butler. So I was hungry when I got home. I decided to treat myself to some comfort food. I still have baskets of ripening tomatoes from the garden. A few of my basil leaves were protected from the first frost. I had some mushrooms and zucchini in the fridge.


So I started with this.


I made a red marinara and a yellow one.

I sauteed sliced mushrooms and zucchini strips in brown butter with a little cayenne. I browned some ground beef and shredded some mozzarella. I assembled all my ingredients into a lasagna with a layer of creamy ricotta.


Here's my yummy lasagna. It was a puzzle to figure out the order of the layers. I wanted to keep my red and yellow sauces separate, and I wanted to to taste every ingredient in every bite. I ended up using three layers of zucchini strips, and assembled the mushrooms in a layer as well. I was thoroughly comforted by the gooey goodness.

Without cutting flowers, I've had to look underground for photo opportunities. I call this one "Carrot Britches."

Stone Soup

Remember the old fable about the man who made soup by boiling a stone? It was a fabulous soup because everyone around found something to add to the pot, even though they first said they had nothing.


The gardening season should have ended by now, but my garden offered up some bonus produce. So I made myself some stone soup.

These are my back steps covered with cucuzzi squash vines. I'm having a party next weekend, so I'll need the steps. I cut the vines and harvested about 50 tiny squashes.


The babies look like furry green beans. They are very tender. I also picked some tomatoes, okra, a few green beans, peppers and pulled a couple of carrots and onions.

The gluten free bloggers have been pulling out their soup recipes lately. Cindy at Cindalou's Kitchen Blues posted a great looking pepper chowder that inspired me to concoct a similar fall pot of goodness. I used all the "bonus" produce my garden had to offer.


Kay's Stone Soup

2 chicken thighs, no skin
3/4 C pork pan drippings, defatted
2 C water
2 carrots
2 sweet peppers
2 (sort of) hot peppers - I used Salsa peppers, which are pretty mild on Cindy's pepper chart
2 stalks of celery
2 small onions
12 green beans
20 tiny squash
1 C diced fresh tomatoes, with juice
6 okra, sliced in chunks
2 sprigs fresh basil
1 T chopped Italian parsley
Salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne to taste
Fresh chives for topping

I boiled my chicken thighs in the water and dipped off most of the fat. Then I added the pork pan drippings. I de-fat and freeze all my pan drippings for later use. I shredded my chicken and added it to the broth. I sliced and diced and added and tasted until the soup was perfect. The okra thickened it a bit.

I had a bowlful for supper. I'm saving the rest for a couple of days. We've had unseasonably warm weather in Indiana. On Tuesday or Wednesday our temperatures will drop like, well, a stone. I'm sure it will taste even better then.


I got to use my homegrown paprika for the first time in this soup. It has a lot more flavor than the stuff I buy at the grocery. I can't wait to sprinkle some on deviled eggs.


I cut my ripe paprika peppers in half, removed the seeds and dried them in the dehydrator. Then I broke the dry peppers into pieces and ground them in my coffee grinder. I don't drink coffee and never dreamed Mr. Coffee could become such a valued friend. This is a great little spice grinder!

Daddy Cat says, "Cook more meat. Don't need no stinkin' vegetables!"


Instead of a flower photo, you get a picture of me. I'm in the pink. Saturday was my 30th college reunion. It was 83 degrees, so I didn't get to wear a new homecoming sweater. I did, however, get to buy some new skinny jeans. They're the same size jeans I wore in college. Yahooey! I'm with my pals Nancy, Dee and Rick. I really enjoyed the weekend festivities. We had great weather, a good turnout and we won the football game 63 to 3.



And thanks to Rachel at The Crispy Cook for giving my blog an E for Excellent award! I am honored. I joined the gluten free blogging community because you have all been vital in my lifestyle transition. I'm glad you tune in to see my garden photos and share in my continuing journey. Check out her blog for links to other award winning sites.

October! Really? Already?

Okay, September is over and I'm still behind on EVERYTHING! Every day has been full . . . too full. So sitting at the computer was put on hold. I've managed to read a few blogs, but haven't had time to write any words myself.

Looking at my last post, I'm guessing I will never make the time to re-learn those linking skills and tag some friends. If you'd like to play along, please join in.

Summer has been fading in Indy, but only for the last week or so. The last two nights have cooled to the 40s. I had to dig around and find some long pants. Surprise! Last spring's skinny jeans are now too big! I've got a college reunion coming up and I'm treating myself to new jeans to wear to the football game. I'm also trying a natural hair dye I made from boiled black walnut hulls. This whole experiment has been fairly entertaining and pretty darn messy. Vanity struck me when I met with reunion committee. Apparently I'm the only female who is allergic to commercial hair dyes. No one else had any gray showing. Thank God the guys look their age, and my age. This is my 30th reunion. I don't want to be ushered into the 50th reunion photo.

I conducted extensive internet research to figured out when to harvest my sorghum crop. I learned a lot of interesting things about the rainy season in Africa, but could not find any information about when to harvest sorghum in Indiana. Then it all became clear. When flocks of migrating birds change their flight pattern to include a stopover at your sorghum patch, IT'S TIME TO HARVEST THE SORGHUM!


So I cut the grains off the top of the stalks and put them in vases all over my house to dry. The grains are really pretty up close. I ordered seed for white popping sorghum. I think a couple of other varieties sneaked into my seed packet, including red sorghum.

I tasted a few grains before they were ripe. They were soft and starchy, a little bit sweet. I'll let them dry until they are hard enough to grind. My research did not tell me how long it should dry. I just hope birds are not involved.

I picked my last beans about ten days ago. I made this pretty pickled bean salad from a recipe in the Ball Blue Book. I substituted my orange and yellow carrots for lima beans. I didn't grow any lima beans.

I spent an evening slicing and dicing peppers, zukes and onions for some zucchini relish. See, I haven't been idle. I've been busy.


Looks like a meager harvest, but wait! I used several baskets.


I pulled a few more carrots.


I dug my second row of potatoes. Still one row to go. The long skinny one is a sweet potato. I hope there are some larger ones.


These are my paprika peppers. I'll dry them in the dehydrator and grind them to powder in a coffee grinder. I don't use the grinder for coffee, just spices.



My Lily of the Day feature has come to its seasonal conclusion. These are the last of my gladiolus. I'll miss having cut flowers in the house. I'll have to settle for my bouquets of sorghum.

Back in June, Cheryl at Gluten Free Goodness tagged me for a meme. Sorry for the delay, Cheryl, but I've been busy in the garden. Yesterday, Sarah at Gluten Free Everyday tagged me for a "fun facts about me" game. Since both games involve the same information, I've decided to combine them.

I like these games because they connect me to new bloggers, and let me feel like part of the gang with familiar blogging buddies. They're like party mixer games.

Here are Cheryl's rules:
1. i must link the tagger to my blog and list the rules;
2. i must share 7 weird bits about myself
3. 7 new bloggerites must be tagged and must be made aware with a comment in their blog.

Here are Sarah's rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. List 6 random facts about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
5. Let each person know they've been tagged by commenting on their blog
6. Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog

Here are my fun facts:

1. It's taken me 40 minutes to figure out how to link both these sites to mine. Sheesh! I am sooooo geeky in sooooo many ways. It's a shame the techno-geek gene is not in my DNA. I was a graphic artist in advertising before computers were part of our daily lives. That was 20 years ago. Then I began my food career. Now that I found out I have celiac, I need to find a career where I don't touch wheat-laden food all day every day. My graphic skills are, sadly, obsolete. Every 12-year-old on the planet is better at computer graphics than I am. But I'm learning! This blog is my classroom.

2. I bought my first house for $1. After a year of jumping through governmental hoops, my name was drawn to win a long-vacant FHA repossessed house in Indianapolis' Homesteading program. I had to make repairs to get it up to code and live in it for five years. I ended up staying 14 years. It was a cute little bungalow on a dead end street near a massive city park. Mayor Bill Hudnut played Bob Barker and drew the names from the hat. A few years later, I ran into him and told him how owning my first home had changed my life. He decided to announce his candidacy for re-election from my front porch. There was a media circus on my little street and I was on the news. I got a half day off work and wore my best suit. The reporters were really nice to me.

3. Though I haven't used them in years, I still own tap shoes. They're on a shelf in the garage next to my roller skates and ice skates. I still use the ice skates.

4. I love the Atlantic ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. I love the Florida Keys, and every island I have ever visited. When I'm on an island (any island!) I am comforted knowing I can walk in any direction and fall into the ocean. Ahhhh.

5. My favorite bands for nearly 20 years were Steely Dan, Chicago and the Doobie Brothers. These days I like Coldplay and Counting Crows. It makes me happy anywhere, at any time, in any mood to hear any song by Earth, Wind and Fire.

6. Since discovering multiple allergies, I have given up chocolate. AND I LIVED TO TELL YOU ABOUT IT! I never dreamed I could live without chocolate for a day, let alone months. I'm doing just fine with my cobbler-of-the-week.

7. The bonus tidbit! I am attempting to write my first work of fiction. I failed miserably at previous attempts. I couldn't even stand to read them. But I've done my homework, and I think I have a good beginning. I pray the right words keep on coming.

I'll edit this post later to tag some pals. All this linking and thinking has worn me out!

In Between Summer and Fall

The summer sun continues to move south, casting longer shadows in my back yard. I officially ended my pool season. My lounge chair is back in the barn. The last book of my summer reading season remains unfinished.

But the garden hasn't figured out that its season is passing. I'm still canning, freezing and pickling until the wee hours of the morning. I have plenty of pickles now - dill pickles, lime pickles, sweet pickles, pickled okra, pickled onions, pickled peppers and hot pickles.

With four days of rain on the way, I dug the last of my onions. I also pulled some of my funny carrots. Their pastel shades are interesting, but I think I'll plant the Burpee Rainbow Carrots next year. I like their vivid colors. I hope to dice those peppers for some zucchini relish. I made some last year and it was beautiful and tasty. My mother ate it with a spoon, no hot dog required. I found the recipe in the Ball Blue Book.


My ridiculous cucuzzi squash continue to THRIVE! This one decided to go wading in the pond on a hot afternoon. A friend and I are wondering if we can feed it to her dog. The large pup is now on a gluten free diet. His expensive special dog food contains vegetables. She may start cooking for him. I have lots of squash to experiment with.



I had a visit from my old friend, the box turtle. She likes tomatoes and cucumbers. This tomato lasted her three days. I'll put a new one in her reach today. Or maybe I'll leave her an overgrown cucumber.

This is my hardy bibiscus. The blooms are as big as saucers. I moved my plants last fall. The bushes are small, but the blooms are still big.

I'm watching The Hurricane Show on the weather channel. Ike is blowing Galveston away. Looks like he'll head for Indianapolis and arrive just in time for motorcycle races at the Indy 500 track on Sunday. Unlike the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400, motorcycle races will run in the rain. The Moto GP races will be the first motorcycle races on the track in 99 years. They reconfigured the Formula One track to add more turns.

Quick note

I was off the grid last week. My indestructible mom had a heart attack and spent some time in the hospital. She's home and feeling better. I'm feeling more normal, too.

I saw an anonymous comment on someone else's gf blog about itchy arms. The comment said the upper arms itched like fleas were biting, but there were no fleas.

I have experienced the same kind of itching. It drives me crazy and even wakes me up at night. I tried every topical cream I could find. Nothing worked. Years ago, I thought I had become allergic to bleach, and stopped using it in my laundry. The result was continued itching, and dinghy whites.

Now, fifteen years after the itching started, I think it's probably related to celiac and the itching occurs when my body's pH is too acidic. I squeeze a fourth of a lemon or lime in a glass of water and drink it. The itching stops almost immediately. I drink lemon water twice a day for a week or so, and my system seems to balance itself out again.

I was relieved to hear that ONE other person experienced this baffling symptom. Anyone else? I'd like to hear about your similar experience, and your solution. Has anyone had a medical professional say this was a symptom of celiac disease? I assume it is, since celiac seems to be the cause of ALL my odd symptoms.

Labor Day Sunday

The long Labor Day weekend offered perfect weather here in Indianapolis. We had spectacular fireworks, set to music, on Saturday night. Downtown was bustling with activity.

My friends, John and Sara, had their annual party at the farm on Sunday. So I headed west to Cloverdale with my fishing poles and my bathing suit. It was so wonderfully comfortable in the shade that I never felt the need to jump in the water. I enjoyed sitting in the shade and catching up on everyone's news. It was a fun day! Sara made a big clam bake (more like a shrimp boil, with mussels and clams) and everyone brought goodies to share.

I, of course, shared some things from my garden - tomatoes, beans, okra. And I took along a couple of my cucuzzi squash. They proved to be so entertaining as table decorations that we never ate them. At home, I'm still working on eating the first squash I harvested. They're HUGE!


That's the lake you can see through the trees behind me and the remarkable cucuzzi squash.


Later, that same day . . . me and my stringer of fish! They started biting right after we ate dinner. The sun was falling and the trees cast shadows on the water. I found a shady spot just off the west shore line where they were biting like crazy! So I stayed out in the little rowboat until I ran out of bait. I'm standing by the water in this shot, but darkness fell quickly, so you can't see the lake. I didn't want to clean fish in the dark, so they're on ice in my fridge.

Back at home, here are the two cucuzzi plants that have taken over the flower bed. Really, there are flowers under those big leaves and vines! That's my back door at the top of the shot. Vines continue across my sidewalk and are heading for the steps and my house. I think I hear the shark music from Jaws! Eeek!


This is an okra bloom. It reminds me of hibiscus. Like the tropical flowers, each okra bloom lasts only one day. When the bloom falls, there is a baby okra that looks line a tiny green acorn.


My pole beans don't know that school has started, and I have to spend time away from the garden. They show no signs of slowing down.



The bumble bees are happy that I have some new blooms for them to taste. This is a frilly pink sedum. Around here, we call them "live forevers."

That reminds me! At John and Sara's party, I ordered some honey. A friend's brother has added more hives to his collection and has honey to share. I'm excited to be on his customer list.

I think I'll clean my fish while I watch tv coverage of Gustav hitting the Gulf coast. I'm glad New Orleans had a good evacuation plan this time. I'm reading James Lee Burke's latest offering in the the Dave Robicheaux series. Robicheaux (and Burke) live in New Iberia, Louisiana. The Weather Channel has a reporter posted there, which is never good news.