Too Much Procrastination

I'm much too good at putting things off. Who wants to think about pulling all the tomatoes when it's still pushing 100°? Even though we're now into October (!), it hasn't seemed like fall. And so, having legitimately earned a Masters in Procrastination, my houseplants are still grouped on the front deck. The dahlias haven't been dug. The gladioli bulbs haven't been trimmed and bagged for winter storage. Shoot. I just had another picking of green beans a few days ago. I say pshaw to fall. (I really need to make that other green bean salad I had picked out to try.)

I'm still up to my ears in husk cherries. These unusual fruits (also known as prairie gooseberries) go into full production at the end of summer. You have to go collecting them every other day, if not more often. When they're ripe, they simply fall off the plant and lie there, enticing flies, box elder bugs, and mice to gorge themselves. The fruits are encased in a loose papery husk you need to remove from the "cherry" inside. When still green, they're very tart, but once fully ripe, the amber fruits are very sweet. They feel waxy, because they're loaded with pectin. They're easy to use for jams and pies, but my daughter and I have preferred eating them as is. She says she eats them like popcorn - until she's almost sick.

I got to that point (sick of them), and so searched out other ways to use them, especially since I'm again on the no flour, no sugar kick. I've used them in a tart salad, mixed with chopped tomatoes, cucumber, onions, capers, and feta, with a balsamic vinegar dressing. I also fried up a bunch in butter with fresh ginger. This is good by itself, but also atop ham. I'm sure I can add it to chicken, pork chops, or as relish on Polish dogs.

Blistered Husk Cherries

1 C husk cherries, husks removed and rinsed

1 Tbl butter

1/4 tsp freshly grated ginger

Pinch salt

Heat butter to bubbly over medium heat. Add ginger and stir for 30 seconds. Add cherries, increasing heat to medium high. Let sit until cherries start to brown and blister. Stir and remove from heat when soft and starting to pop. Season. Spread over toast and serve immediately.

A new recipe I tried from my Whole Life Challenge Facebook page follows.

Crispy Lemon Pepper

Chicken Drumsticks

12 drumsticks (3#)

Juice from 1/2 lemon

1 C EVOO

1 Tbl pepper

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 egg

1 more lemon, not for marinade

Combine juice, oil, pepper, paprika, flakes, and egg, whisking until smooth. (Don't over-whisk, or you might get mayo.) Perforate drumsticks with a fork. Put in a Ziploc with the marinade. Shake. Lay flat in fridge overnight. Heat oven at 375°, line a sheet with foil. Heat skillet on stovetop on high. Pour in chicken and marinade. Fry 5 minutes, flip chicken and fry another 5. Cut lemon into 6 slices. Put chicken on prepped sheet, lay lemon slice over each pair of drummies. Bake 15 minutes. Put skillet back on stovetop. Fry chicken another 2 minutes, without lemon slices. Put on serving platter and squeeze lemon over the meat.

I used a large chicken breast, sliced 1" thick. The marination only lasted a few hours (procrastinating again). Only the stovetop frying was done. I'd cut the ingredients in half, but forgot to halve the salt. Oops. I won't even add salt next time, when I'll actually use drumsticks. That should even things out, right?

There was a cool patch of weather before the heat returned. I'd thought it was going to stay cool, and so I dusted off my soup recipes. A pot of soup was made, using onions from the garden. I didn't have either Swiss or Gruyère, but I did have an older block of Havarti that needed to be used. A plus was it didn't get stringy and drip soup down my chin. I also skipped the crusty bread and used almond flour crackers, on the side, not in the bowl. I used arrowroot instead of flour as my thickener so as to remain compliant with the WLC.

Brendan's Onion Soup

2 Tbl unsalted butter

3 C thinly sliced sweet onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 1/2 Tbl flour

6 C lo-sodium chicken broth

1 C white wine

1/4 tsp fresh thyme

1/2 tsp salt

Cracked black pepper

6 baguette slices

1/2 C shredded Swiss or Gruyère cheese

Melt butter in large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and garlic; cook until very soft and golden, about 20 minutes, stirring, sprinkle flour over, stirring to coat. Add broth, wine, and thyme. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add salt & pepper. Top baguettes with cheese, broil until melted. Ladle soup into bowls and top with baguette slices. Serves 6.

The deer have finally found the green beans, so those are done for this season. They also munched a lot of the leaves from the squash plants, and most of the leaves from the raspberry canes. They were eating the flowering tops of the lettuce that had bolted, so I tied plastic bags over the heads of some to try to save the seeds. They get fluffy, like dandelions, so I needed to bag them anyway. The deer just forced me to quit procrastinating on that score. Whoever bags my deer should have fine eating!

Correction: if you make the citrus bean salad from last week, I forgot to list 1 shallot, minced, to the ingredients. My proofreading wasn't great!