Verna was in the kitchen preparing Meaty Ziti Casserole while Cabela and Bay Bay anxiously awaited for her to drop something their way. She will generally oblige them by launching an occasional tidbit for them while ensuring the treats are equally divided.
Our lemon tree has been doing great this year. I trimmed it this spring and it already needs to be trimmed back more. I took this photo today of some of the lemons just at the top of the tree. There are many, many lemons and we will be harvesting them in the near future.
We are planning to use the lemon skins to produce Limoncello, an Italian liqueur (digestivo). We will take the pulp and squeeze the juice out to keep for future use as ingredients to meals or as lemonade. We’re looking into how to preserve lemon juice over the long term. Click on the image to enlarge.
A few weeks ago, I spotted some heart-of-the-tenderloin beef steaks (filet mignon) in the butcher case at the supermarket. We had something else planned for the weekend cooking then, but regardless, I bought them and put them in the freezer for a later date. Well, here we are in Memorial Day Weekend grilling mode and those steaks made for a great grilling experience. Verna wrapped the steaks in slices of bacon before I took them to the grill.
The meal was awesome! Verna had some roasted sweet and red potatoes on the side and I roasted some corn cobs on the grill while the steaks were cooking. The results were DELICIOUS!
Click here for pix of the weekend cooking.
Even though we roll out the grill no matter what the weather is, we are glad to see warmer temperatures for weekend grilling. Yesterday (and today) saw temperatures in the 80’s and blue skies.
This is me smiling for Verna’s camera and posing with my usual BBQ tools; tongs, stopwatch, mitts and (in the background) a Samuel Adams beer. Click on the image to enlarge.
Today’s special meal was (naturally) traditional corned beef and cabbage with boiled vegetables. Verna started the meat in the crockpot overnight and added the veggies this morning. She served this great dinner this afternoon to celebrate the Irish American in both of us. Click on the image to enlarge.
Verna had a notion to have stuffed pork chops and since she had a surplus of cream cheese, she wanted to add mashed potatoes that used that ingredient. We deviated from stuffed baked pork chops to cooking them on the grill and serving the stuffing on the side. The grillmeister can be seen in the image above. Some poached sugar snap peas and Verna’s excellent gravy completed the meal. It sure was good. Click here to view this sumptuous meal.
