Monster Sweet Potatoes, Bean-shelling by Candlelight, and Other Stories...

Look at these monster sweet potatoes--they're the size of
a baby's head! This makes up for all the years of no
sweet 'taters at all.

Before going into the oven, I chopped and tossed them
in olive oil, pepper, a garlic seasoning mix, and salt.

...and here they are after 30 minutes in the oven, with a quick stir
at the 15 minute mark.

Now, pair them with fresh salad greens, Guz tomatoes, and ranch dressing.
Now that's what I call dinner.

Here, I've salted eggplant slices, and they're draining in a collander before
getting a rinse and spending 20 minutes in the oven.



We have had a banner bean year. And we've been shelling each night.
Pictured here are:
1) kidney beans
2) holstein beans
3) cow peas

 

All of Savannah's cookie sheets are in use around here lately. These
two have Christmas Beans and Cherokee Trail of Tears (a black bean).  

Our dehydrator is out and working, starting tonight.
On the top level are some gorgeous, bright orange habaneros.

The hot peppers, too, have been prolific. We have hot banana peppers,
habaneros, hot wax peppers, and jalapenos, among several other types.
Look! Savannah's piggies are also present.

...and in this box are sweet peppers of various kinds, mostly the bell
variety, but a few Hungarian wax peppers, too. Oh, and piggies. My feet look
different in photographs. Who knew? 

The power went out for about a half hour around 8:15, so Michael
and I shelled beans by candlelight. It was actually very romantic...well,
as romantic as bean shelling can get. Here, Bun is making a funny face
and spreading out paper to catch all the bean casings.

Fred is a bean freak. Usually, he hides beneath the coffee table
and emerges, blinded by the table cloth over his eyes, pushing
his muzzle up towards the place where my hands are shelling.
Sometimes I feed him a bean, but too many makes for...
well, let's say, "explosive loads in the tunnel", to quote a sign
I've seen near the tunnels in Pittsburgh.

Bean shelling with ambiance, no?

Seven Pints of Blue Lake Beans...

"No, officer, absolutely not. I had one drink. That's all."
*hiccup*
"Excuse me."



Me with a bean. I can't believe I finally got my head
centered in the shot for a change. Yay!



Bun loads pint jars into the canner.

We're raw packing our little beauties, so we've stuffed
the beans in tightly to allow for the inevitable
cooking-down to occur.

Michael pours boiling water over the beans in each jar.

Oooo...tonight, we had red beet brownies. Yes, beet. No,
I'm not nuts. It's really good. Roast and puree your beets,
and you can incorporate them into special brownie batter.
How special? Well, see the receipe here.

The canner is climbing to 10lbs. right now, this minute.