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| Rainy Backyard with Plum Tree |
It started raining late last night and it rained most of the day. Not a very heavy downpour, but, a steady rain. It eventually stopped raining, later in the evening, but, by that time, we had cancelled M's visit as it was too wet for him to do any gardening and I didn't have any inside work for him to do.
I had a fairly productive day. I cleaned my bathroom, changed my bed sheets, did a load of laundry (and hung it up to dry; not using the dryer unless I have to), put away the cans and bags of cat food that were delivered, did some dishes, and finished knitting the back of the sweater I am making. I had to turn the oven on low a couple of times this morning to get the dish of yogurt to set, but, it eventually set:
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| Freshly Made Yogurt |
I put it in the fridge to cool. Later in the evening, I made a pot of ham and split pea soup, using some ends of ham I had frozen (from the half ham I had bought at the end of December, on sale for $1.68/lb.), about half a cup of green split peas from a bag that I had been given by a friend, a carrot, some onions, and some celery. I soaked the split peas before I added them to the soup, which shortened their cooking time. Then, to go with the soup, I baked a batch of drop biscuits:
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| Drop Biscuits |
Dinner was a bowl of the soup and a drop biscuit:
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| Dinner: Ham and Split Pea Soup and Drop Biscuit |
There are leftovers for several more meals.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Rain for the garden!
- Deliveries of cat food
- Being able to hang laundry inside the house to dry (daughter's lease, for example, expressly prohibits hanging up laundry to dry, in order to minimize mold build up).
- Working appliances
- Video chatting with my daughter
Today's joyful activity was knitting.
I don't have any specific plans for tomorrow. I'll probably continue to repair the quilt and take it easy!
How was your Friday? What are your plans for the weekend?
Are you finding that your laundry is taking longer to dry with all of these rainy days?
ReplyDeleteI have to leave it up overnight. Especially since I don't have the heater on during the day. During the summer, things dry in a matter of hours. :)
DeleteYour garden is looking very green. It looks great.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a very productive day. You achieved a lot. How long do you think that dish of yoghurt will last you? There's nothing to give an indication of scale so I can't tell how big the dish is. I don't eat much yoghurt but am debating whether to try a tiny batch in my Instant Pot - there's a recipe for two people in one of my new recipe books.
The drop biscuits and soup both look very tasty. I often have a scone with soup instead of a piece of bread so I'm wondering if your biscuits are a similar texture to our scones? xx
Thank you, Eileen; the garden is thriving with all the rain!
DeleteThe dish with the yogurt is 8" x 8" x 2". How long the yogurt will last me will depend on how much and how often I will eat it and if I will use it for baking. I tend to eat it sweetened as a dessert, so, don't eat it daily. Yogurt can also be frozen, but, it does change the texture when thawed; still, it'll be good to use in baking (or, for homemade frozen yogurt, in which case, you'd use the frozen yogurt, as is, without thawing).
The drop biscuits are similar to scones, but, a bit more moist. There's flaky biscuits, too, which require rolling out and folding and rolling out, again, to create the flaky layers, but, I have not made them. Drop biscuits are quicker! :)
Your biscuits look so good! I am back on the keto train and all breads look fabulous to me.
ReplyDeleteThough I use my dryer regularly, I have a permanent bar to hang clothes on hangers and dry most of my personal clothes that way. They seem to last much longer than those I toss in the dryer.
Thank you, Anne; they turned out well. I haven't tried making flaky biscuits, yet, though. I'm sorry to be posting pictures of biscuits, etc., when you are on a keto diet! I'll try to remember that when I post food pictures! :D
DeleteI love the convenience of using the dryer, but, the dryer is gas and I'm trying to keep the gas bill low. :)
home made yoghurt! awesome. I have never mastered to keep making it over and over, did you? i used to buy a litre of yoghurt, make a batch from the last bit, and then make another batch from that batch. and then buy new again.
ReplyDeleteNo, I have not been able to continue to make yogurt, batch after batch. I started this batch from the last bit left from a container of yogurt I bought. I might or might not make another batch from what I made yesterday. Usually, by the time I finish eating one batch of yogurt, I'm tired of yogurt! :D
DeleteYour backyard is really attractive with that terra cotta coloured wall. You have a lovely batch of yogurt, do you put it in jars later? I'm glad our supper is nearly ready as your soup and drop biscuits are making me hungry! We are having packet mac and cheese with tuna stirred in and grated cheese and breadcrumbs on top, now in the oven. I was grocery shopping this morning, mainly for produce and I had a rather long nap this afternoon, I was quite tired.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bushlady; the wall goes around three sides of the backyard.
DeleteI usually leave the yogurt in the dish, covered with some cling wrap or a lid. I have not tried putting it in jars.
Your baked macaroni and cheese with tuna sounds delicious! I often add tuna to my mac and cheese, but, I've never baked it, afterwards. Must try that, next time. :)
Glad you were able to do your grocery shopping and I hope you were able to get all the things you wanted to get. Glad you were able to get in a nap, too. Hope you are feeling much refreshed after your nap :)
Your garden looks very green and nice. Plants do like a gentle long rain, don't they. You've given me the idea to make split pea soup this week. I need to restock my freezer supply of lunches, and I have split peas in the pantry that I'd forgotten about. I've never made yogurt. Recipes always make it look fussy to get the temperatur just right and hard! I've tried freezing yogurt, and yes, the texture is off we hen thawed.
ReplyDeleteThank you! The garden is enjoying all the rain!
DeleteThe split pea soup turned out quite well. I added ham to it, but, it can be made all vegetarian, too, I'm sure. I soaked the peas before hand to cut down on the cooking time.
As for making yogurt, the way I learned to do it was to bring the milk to boil and then, continue to boil it for about 15 to 20 minutes, while stirring it all the time to prevent the milk from getting burnt, or boil over; boiling for this length of time reduces the amount of water in the milk. Then, pour the milk into the container, let it cool until lukewarm (I don't test the temperature - I just check the milk on my wrist), add the yogurt starter (either from plain yogurt from the grocery store or an earlier batch), and leave it in a warm place until set. It will take a few hours or overnight. When I make it during the winter, I prewarm the oven on the lowest setting for about 2 minutes, then, turn the oven off. This last time, I left the oven light on, to help keep the oven warm, but, I had to reheat it, periodically (the dish of yogurt stayed in the oven when I reheated it).
I had some of the yogurt, today, and it had set nicely without a lot of whey.
That anonymous was me! Thank you for the instructions on how to make yogurt. Im going to try it with lactose free milk. I hope that works!.
DeleteI wondered if it was you when I read about needing to restock your freezer supply of lunches, because I remember you saying you did that! :D Good luck with the yogurt making! :)
DeleteYour soup and drop scones look very tasty. I have never made yogurt but I understand it is easy to make. Drying washing is a big problem in this weather and I do admit to using my tumble dryer but i am trying to make savings elsewhere in fact I am going to cancel my landline today and I have changed my usual supermarket to one with cheaper delivery charges.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen; a thick, hearty soup is just the thing when it is cold and wet outside, isn't it? It's not too difficult to make yogurt, in my opinion. It's probably even easier if one has a yogurt maker.
DeleteYes, it is a problem to dry the washing in inclement weather, especially when the humidity levels are already very high. I do use my dryer from time to time; it's just that, right now, I'd rather use the gas to warm up the house than dry the clothes! Sounds like you're taking several steps to cut down expenses! I still have my landline as I don't use my cell phone that much. I hope the change in supermarkets will work out well for you. :)
Everything is so nice and green in your yard.
ReplyDeleteYour soup and biscuits look really good and certainly a good choice for your rainy weather.
I'm not much of a ham eater so I've never made split pea soup - assuming it's one of the main ingredients. But on a video not long ago, the cook just threw the split peas in a crock pot with water, onion, carrot and garlic and voila! It turned into soup. I might have to give that a try.
The garden is enjoying all the rain!
DeleteOh, yes, you can absolutely make a vegetarian split pea soup! Or, substitute sausages for ham. I didn't use a lot of ham in the soup I made - probably about half a cup of diced ham.