Back to Work

Several months ago I had purchased a box of frozen Black Angus beef burger patties. There were 8 in the container and each weighed 5.3 oz. I fried two in my new little electric pan and they were tasty but I still had quite a cleanup. I do not like to clean up after cooking now. I have even forsaken use of the big heavy cast iron fry pan because it is simply too heavy for me. It takes too many steps in and out of the cabin to the gas grill on the porch to keep an eye on them. Grilling is out. Oh what to do with the 6 that are left? Six times 5.3 oz. = 31.8 oz. —just about 2 lbs. of frozen meat! Then I remembered that in 2021 I had used the old 1915 Buffton slaw slicer on a nice onion and had frozen the results. When I went looking for that bag, I came across another bag of a chopped red pepper from 2021. Well.......MEATLOAF came to mind! After thawing the patties overnight in a large bowl, I added the onion, red pepper,  two fresh eggs, a sprinkle of garlic powder, a shake or two of parsley flakes and black pepper, some Italian-flavored bread crumbs and a dash of milk. Left out salt on purpose. Hand Mix! Mix! Mix! I lined my ancient aluminum pan with foil and put the meaty concoction in. I pressed down the edges so the juices and fats would have a groove to fill and put it in the 325° oven for about two hours! You should know that the internal temperature has to reach about 160° before meatloaf is considered thoroughly done! After pouring off the liquids, I proceeded to slice this loaf into slices and then froze each one individually. (Had one for lunch.)

While I was enjoying the aroma of a meatloaf baking, I took the last of the Oxheart tomato seeds that had been fermenting for a few days, rinsed them and dumped them on newspaper. It took about 1/2 hour to separate each as an individual with my tweezers and they are in the drying process now. 

It is a good feeling to be productive. (I forgot that I was going to make French onion soup with those onions! Oh well.....

My friend just dropped off some pink and purple Cleome seeds from her garden.

She also saved some pink poppy seeds for my flower garden project next year! Now I have high hopes to see lots of color next summer as I have a good supply of seeds!