Musings from the Junque Yard

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

I plan on laboring away. I am behind in processing my pickled nana peppers. I seriously need to put up a few quarts of those before I lose them.


Our potatoes have finally died back, and we need to pull up the wire cage surrounding them and see what they did. I'm not holding our breath it was our first time doing them, I have no idea what they will bring. But I'm excited to see!

Our carrots are also ready to pick. Had I been on the ball, I would have already planted more for another harvest before (or shortly after) frost. I've read that carrots can take a little frost, it makes them sweeter. I plan on canning a few pints into sliced hot carrots - the kind you find mixed in with commercially canned jalapenos. I bet they will be tasty. I've set aside some recipes to try.

The tomatoes are coming along splendidly! We are past the halfway mark for picking. Since neither daHubster nor I like raw tomatoes, only cooked, we always process them. Not sure if I mentioned this, but instead of canning them in the dead heat of summer, we've been freezing them whole and will can them in the dead of winter. It's a stroke of brilliance....can when I *WANT* to heat the house up, right???  *grin*

I have 5 (count them 5!) pumpkins growing in their little mini patch. They are cooking 'kins, so they won't get huge, and they set so late in the season that I fear they won't get big enough before frost. Oh well, we shall see. I was hoping to be able to make pumpkin pie with my very own 'kins. Whatta hoot that'd be!

My loofa planting is ginormous. But it never flowered. I'm a tad bummed, but will try again next year.

I waited to long to pick my basil, and the plants are fading. I wonder if there's enough oils in the leaves to dry anyway. I may try it. I might also sneak in a quick planting to see if I get some viable newbie plants before the weather turns too cold.

I've let my weeding go in the past month. My poor strawberry patch looks like a jungle. I need to thin it out before frost, other wise next years crop will be pitiful.

So much to do, and I wont get to it all. But that's OK. This season was a great learning experience.

Junque Food - Breakfast Challenges

Good Morning! Did anyone try out some of the homemade beauty products I listed in my last blog? If so, let me know...throw me a comment.  I get responses at my Face Book page, but rarely here. My blog needs some lovin'...  :)

Anyhoo, I was talking with my friend Vino, and we were discussing healthy breakfasts. As I diabetic, I need to eat regularly, and breakfast is not my most favorite meal of the day. Mainly because I don't have time to cook it every day. However, what I have been known to do is cook ahead, portion off, and take breakfasts and lunches with me to work. When I do that I generally spend a fair amount of time on Sundays doing this. It gets old, especially when the weather is nice, and I wanna go play outdoors (Please, Mom...can I?).

I am particularly fond of making a no-crust mini-quiche recipe I found in a South Beach Diet book a hundred years ago. That particular recipe isn't online, but it is super simple in that you whisk up eggs, add some low-fat/no-fat shredded cheese, any diced veggies you have on hand and bake it in muffin tins. 2 "muffins" are your meal. That's an awesome recipe as you can package up the portions into baggies, freeze them, and they zap in the microwave in a couple of minutes (take them out of the baggie first or YUCK!).

Unfortunately, I get bored of eating the same thing for more than 3 days. I need variety. And I need to plan ahead, or I do nothing and am completely unprepared. When I'm in a good organizational mood, I can plan a week's worth of meals (not just breakfast, but lunch and dinner too), checked against what I have on-hand, make a list of what I need from the store, get it, prepare it, and I'm golden. I also get SUPER WIFE points, but that's a story for another time...

I can admit that my organizational skills have not been up to snuff lately. And as a result, I've made bad food choices. And my pants are a wee bit tighter than they should be at the moment. THIS MUST CHANGE!

So, here's some ideas I have for mixing it up in the breakfast department:
Yogurt (home made if I can get DaHubster to make it - he's the yogurt guru around here) or store bought with home made granola and frozen berries
Different variations on the baked egg dishes like this one I just found off the South Beach Diet website that looks decidedly NOM.
Bumping up my salad intake, and eating it in the morning (I've done it in the past, and can do it occasionally, but I get bored with salads quickly)
Sliced turkey wraps with a homemade veggie in vinegarette dressing

I need ideas, people! Help a sister out. Don't worry about sugar content or portion, I can work with anything. I've been doing it a long time, and can work pretty much any recipe to fit my dietetic needs. The only requirement is that I need to be able to make it ahead of time, and take it to work with me (I have access to a microwave at work).

If I try your recipe, I will happily send you a glass bead pendant from my stock of lampworking days, along with my thanks and gratitude. :)