Things Change

It seems to be an unstoppable force. Change. We are currently going through the change of seasons, but there was another change noticed this week. Homecoming dances. As best Big Man can recall, the homecoming festivities consisted of a bonfire the night before the big game (Christiansburg always played Floyd, so they were sure to win) then there was a sock hop after the game.
Kattie Grace attended her first homecoming dance this week. There was no bonfire we were made aware of, but there was a formal dress needed, hair needed doing, and there was at least one limo seen at the event. The times, they are a changing.

And back to the seasons changing, we are predicting yet another harsh winter. Last post we showed our spring bushes blooming in the fall, much like last year. Again this year, spiders are building webs in the tops of trees, just like last year. You heard it here first folks.

So, to make ready for the winter to come, Big Man spent the week prepping comfort foods. A couple of weeks ago, we tried our first home made tomato soup. It was such a hit, Big Man made a single batch for dinner one night.

Onions, celery and carrots to start

A couple of fresh from the vine Tabasco peppers

Fresh from the garden tomatoes, a couple cloves of garlic. How healthy is that?

Peasant bread on the side. So simple, so, quick, and so good with homemade butter

We managed a whole meal, leftovers for Cupcake's lunch the next day, plus two quarts in jars for later. Rain kept Big Man in the house one day last week, along with about a quarter bushel of tomatoes left from the last of our supply on hand. So, rather than waste them, Big Man whipped up a combat batch of soup, and canned the whole lot of it.

In the Army this was a "Combat size" cook

In all it made a little over four gallons of soup. (18 quarts)
There was smoked meat again on Thor's day (Thor is a woman now, if you didn't see the headlines in the nerd publications). This week we skipped the ribs, and did a brisket.

There was home made pizza again this week too.

Pepperoni, Mushroom and Onion. Home made sauce

And for an extra special treat, Cupcake made preacher cookies. Or as Big Man's outlaw called them "them brown cookies".

And lastly, a batch of laundry detergent. You can't eat it, but we do need it every day, and we are proud to make our own. It's like a finger in the eye to corporate America.

We ended the week as we always do, with chicken wing Sunday (you can see the wings in the preacher cookie picture, if you're curious)
K&K