Does every farm place have mulberry trees? Birds eat the mulberries, sit on the fence, poop mulberry seeds and voila! Volunteer trees in the fenceline!!!
After a couple hours bending over to cut them off at ground level in the hot sun, I called it a day. Here comes the good part – when I asked Becky what she was doing this afternoon she told me she was with her friends at the VFW!!! What is wrong with this picture?
It was also a mowing day – love my new mower!!
I enjoyed watching The Fever beat #2 Connecticut tonight!! Wowser!
Reader photos
I mentioned Mexican Caviar and Frito Corn Salad – both were in the Goat Gazette Cookbook.
Anybody got some good ideas for supper? I know I’m out of ideas –
I got a sweet card today from a reader who wrote this:
“Your blog is bigger than you know!”
Kinda scary.
I’m enjoying reading new recipes too. Last night I made tuna casserole – that’s my easy meal and it’s my husband’s favourite. Cook pasta, add a can of tuna, can of cream of mushroom soup (I add milk now cause they’ve made the cans smaller), a can of tuna, a dollop of mayo, and last night I added peas, corn, red pepper and chopped carrots that I partially cooked. I mix that all together then mix in shredded cheese, add some to the top and bake for 30 min at 375.
it’s late today. had my physical. does anyone else think these have become a joke? he reviews my meds, checks my vaccination status, blood test status. renewed my meds for 6 months. today i got asked the medicare questions – are you driving, do you walk with a walker, can you bathe, dress and feed yourself. i don’t get to ask questions about anything because that requires a separate visit (which i seldom make).
yesterday the lung doc gave me a new med for restless leg syndrome. boy, was i loopy as could be this morning. no problems with the legs last nite. i am halving the dose (approved) to see if i’m not so loopy tomorrow.
changed my routine a bit and tried to sew earleir. starting to put together blocks for a potato chip top, they are now four rows. maybe i can stitch together tomorrow. will be small, like 36×48 so will probably add borders. i’ll decide after i see it. still cutting for more bricks, etc. will be for a while.
the supper/dinner ideas are great. i’m so tired tired of having to make those decisions. doesn’t help that once i have it cooked, i’m too tired to eat. i’ll keep eating sandwiches for a bit longer. some of these ideas are easy enough, i think i can do some of them. thanks. now to send mr. ed to grocery – maybe saturday. found a great recipe (i hope) for a peanut butter pie – looks so yummy.
off to sleep. blog is great again. glad i don’t have mulberry trees. sharon, i love your quilt. patti in florida
I’m for any of the “Impossible” recipes, either from Bisquick or the homemade mix. Cheeseburger Pie and Quiche are two favorites here. Serve with a salad and ice cream bars for dessert. Do the dishes and done.
I’ve been ‘off-line’ for a week when our daughter came. Great to have a chance to really talk and catch up, but I’m late wishing peace and healing to those who have lost loved ones and are dealing with health issues. May the good Lord bless and keep you all though all the days ahead.
Thank you for the blog, Mary, and thanks for everyone who sends in pictures. Great sunflowers today!
Prayers continue. Kris in WI
There’s a blog, Melandboyskitchen.com, which has a wonderful recipe for Strawberry Jam Vinaigrette. It goes beautifully with a simple spinach salad with cucumbers and shredded carrots. A nice cool summertime meal.
San / Murphy, NC
I’m fixing Taco Pie tonight. Brown ground beef and drain well, add taco seasoning and a little water. Spread in greased 9″ pan. Mix up 6 eggs and a cup of half ‘n half or cream, garlic salt or crushed garlic, salt & pepper and pour over beef. Sprinkle with 1 cup of shredded cheese and bake for 30 to 40 mins at 350. We top it with sour cream, chopped tomatoes and avocado if we have any.
I don’t like mulberry trees. I’m fighting two. One in the raspberry patch and one in a flower bed. I am constantly cutting them back to the ground.
They never die. We have many full grown mulberry trees. We’ve learned over the years never to cut them down when they have leaves on them unless necessary. The wood is very heavy and there are an amazing amount of leaves on each branch. We have to take down many full size ash trees this fall. It will be lots of work. We are waiting for cooler weather. Thanks so much for your blog. I’ll be making raspberry pie this afternoon.
I love both of those corn dishes. If I make the chili corn dish we don’t mix the chips in, we put them on top of what we want to eat so we don’t waste the whole bag of chips. But if the whole gang is over then I mix them in. It is so yummy! I’m not home right now, but that cauliflower broccoli salad is yummy too, also the broccoli, grape, bacon and sunflower seed salad, layered lettuce salad. I’ll have to take a pictures of those recipes later. Sometime we get so bored with cooking we can’t even think and it takes a good recipe to get our mind working again. Thanks Mary!
Joy – that’s how we manage the chips, too – don’t want soggy Fritos!
Joy, please share your recipes! I am always looking for something new as I suffer regularly with the food blahs.
We don’t have mulberry trees, that I know of, but we do have choke cherry trees/bushes, and the birds spread those everywhere. Plus we have aspen trees. They volunteer everywhere. If their mowed, the lawn has “toothpicks “ everywhere. One trim and 100 sprout up!
That Civil War quilt is 6”x6”! If that’s pieced, how did they do it? It is so perfect, I wonder if it’s printed.
My neighbors have mowers like that and they mow and mow. I love it cuz they mow mine too.
One of my favorite meals for summer is take a tortilla cut it in 4ths. Sprinkle with cheese. Zap for 40 seconds, serve with salsa and sour cream. If you have a leftover hamburger patty, break that up and put in it, or some chili’s, hotdogs, sausage or chicken. It’s all good. Wham, bam, and your done.
Jo – the blocks are each 6 x 6, not the finished quilt – is that what you meant? I’m going to use your tortilla idea!
Anyone ever tried those frozen Chicken Cordon Blues from the supermarket? Two people can have at least 2 dinners from a box of them. I bake them, not microwave. They only take about 35 mins in the oven. So good. We love them with a salad or veggie.
I think tonight though we will have a tomato/cheese pie with one of our big juicy tomatoes from the garden.
I think I am glad we don’t have mulberry trees here. lol
Thanks for the recipes Mary-off to the store and deciding which one to make first! I watch a cooking program on YouTube and the Ukrainian woman was picking fruit from a tree that looked like big blackberries. I googled and found out it was a mulberry. I don’t think I had ever heard of them except in the nursery rhyme. Now I think I want one! We are being over run with deer of all sizes this year. This morning there was a baby eating my muscadine vines when I got up and last night three large adults were eating on my fig trees. There are usually 3-8 grazing in the pasture with the goats every day. They jump our pasture fences like they’re not even there.
Great pics & recipes. Love quick & easy.
I am liking Candys recipe ideas as I too go for sheet pan meals where it all cooks together. I roast my Brussels sprouts and squash slices with a drizzle of maple syrup while baking a meatloaf.
A childhood girlfriend and I just had a discussion as we are total opposite when it comes to our entertainment. She loves to be at VFW’s or other venues like that with her friends, planning cruises, going to casinos and have cocktails with whomever she can have conversations with. She couldn’t understand why I turned two bedrooms into sewing rooms and not guest rooms once the kids and grandkids were done using them. I told her my form of entertainment is using my fabric stash and sharing quilting ideas with other sewers. She could not understand how that is happiness and laughed at me. Maybe I’m not as social as she wants to be but I’m happy with my form of activities. So we will talk again in a month and she will have come home from a trip to Bermuda and made more friends to visit, and she’ll listen to me talk about cutting up fabrics and making quilts for a refugee family relocating to an apartment to start a new life. To each their own is what I say for how we want to live in our homes and communities so cut down those tree shoots with pride that you enjoy your place.
Kathy in NY,
I am with you 100%. The idea of quilts for families gives me the warmest thoughts. How welcome a handmade gift must make them feel. Someone cares.
Thank you Li. It’s very heartwarming for me to share with those less fortunate as that’s how my parents lived and showed me.
Tonight it’s salmon and new potatoes with a salad on the side. We are fish lovers so that’s often on the menu. I don’t have much cooking mojo right now because there’s a quilt I am eager to finish so easy does it in the kitchen.
I tried Stanley Tucci’s string bean minestra, his summer version of soup. He posted in in 2023 and I’ve seen versions of it on allrecipes, parade, and eating well. It calls for potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes, and green beans. Cooked in a mixture of garlic, onions, olive oil and marinara sauce. All in one pot, easy peasy. Add Italian seasoning if you like.
And I picked up his book, The Tucci Cookbook from the library. It’s a good read.
Mary, you need to republish the Goat Gazette Cookbook! 😄
Frances – I remember the days when we were closing that we gave them away in everyone’s bag just to get rid of them. So, no, I will not be reprinting.
Our neighbor has mulberry trees and the birds eat and then poop over our lawn as they fly away. Trees try to grow. If we mow over them, they don’t go away. We have to pull them. So, on a nice day I will walk the yard pulling 3 inch trees and getting in lots of exercise steps. I can pull 30-40 mini trees on a given day.
I have had the Mexican caviar. It is quite tasty. The sunflowers are beautiful, with such big heads. To be another hot day. I am looking forward to tomorrow when it is to be cooler.
Our neighbor in town has a hedge, and a wonderful (?) mulberry tree is nest to our property lines, plus, it is socked full of buckthorn as well. I may offer to clean it up after Labor Day as she has parts that have dead shrubs as well.
And why do those stinking mulberry trees grow like weeds grow even when everything else turns brown! My first all time disgust if sticky weeds, I don’t know what they are, but we have about three different types of nasty weeds that Sammie and Nelson can find daily. Trying to get those weeds and sticky seeds out of Nelson’s fluff is ridiculous and often I have to cut them out. I’m making a spa appointment for both of them today and they will go sticky seeds and all! Let the groomer get them out.
Your mower looks just like mine but I think they are different brands. I need to cut today so hopefully it won’t rain. I got hay delivered Monday and noticed how high the grass is on the other side of the barn and now, most days, Don can’t get on and off the mower so it is one more thing on my chore list!
Love to you! Blessings to all!
Linda – I have another smaller mower like it, too, for tight spaces. I know the little round green burrs weed which gets into Finn’s and Ivy’s
Linda – and yes, I usually have to cut them out! Rick can get on our John Deere lawn tractor so he does mow,outside the fences. Chore lists seem to get longer every week.
We had a huge mulberry tree on the edge of our property but it was blown over in a huge windstorm a few years ago. Before my husband could get up there to chop it up for firewood the deer had come and eaten all the berries or what ever was on it. Sad to lose the shade.
Hi Mary, l made creamy broccoli soup today(very windy and wet in New Zealand today)and melted cheese on crusty bread rolls , must have been good, the dog kept begging me for more!So she had her own bowl full for supper! We used to love eating mulberries from the tree as kids,trying not to get any stains on our clothes! Take care everyone, best wishes from Sandy
Sandy – we did the same as kids. Now, no matter how careful I am, when I mow under the branches some berries fall off into the seat of my mower so I try to wear old black pants during the berry season.
One of our favorites is Mini Parmesan Baked Potatoes, which we love with oven barbecued meatballs or oven barbecued smokies. I love barbecue, but I can’t always find a ‘volunteer’ to man the grill, so in the oven they go! For the smokies, all I do is slice them up in about 1/2” pieces, toss them with barbecue sauce, then bake them for about 30-40 minutes at about 350 degrees. I like them a little on the crispy side, but that’s up to your preference. I’ve started buying pre-made, frozen meatballs. I use them in my tomato sauce for pasta, but also love them for barbecued meatballs in the oven. For the sauce, use 1/2 c. apple cider vinegar, 1/2 c. barbecue sauce (whatever you have), 1/3 c. brown sugar, 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp. dry mustard … mix together and pour over meatballs. Bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. For the potatoes, slice small new potatoes in half, toss them in olive oil (I actually use Italian dressing instead), then toss them in a mixture of 3/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese, 1 tbsp. garlic salt, 1 tsp. pepper, and 1 tsp. Cajun seasoning. Place on a baking sheet (sprayed with non stick spray), cut side down. Bake for about 40 minutes at 375 degrees, turning over after about 20 minutes. Serve with sour cream, crema, or anything you like with potatoes. Yum!!! Any, or all of these can go in the oven at the same time, just pick a temperature you’re comfortable with and keep an eye on them. I like pretty much everything well done, but it’s your choice. That’s my easy summer cooking! Enjoy!
Candy – I’m writing these down – this is a meal we would love!
These sound great! Thanks for the recipes. I get the “tired of planning and cooking blahs”, so these will be nice to try.