To tell the Truth

Well, it isn't an "old timey" tv game show........it is a major "faux-paux" on my part. Yesterday was our
monthly RS enrichment meeting and it was a pot-luck. As usual, I have been playing around with new and old recipes. The night before,  we met up with an old friend from Colorado at their camp site and I took a new recipe that I had seen that day with roasted corn, fresh tomatoes, arugulla, red bell peppers,  red onions, basil, parsley and a vinegarette dressing (very good recipe) but I didn't want to make it again even though it would have new reviewers.

Sooooooooo, I have been trying for quite some time now to perfect my recipe for either dumplings, fried tarts or berry cobbler which uses almost the same dough recipe. A friend had just made dumplings and they were so good, so I asked for her recipe since she made such wonderful ones. I looked it over and the ingredients were the same, just different proportions, so I decided to use hers. I finally made up my mind that I would take  berry dumplings and also make a cobbler to leave here at the house for Carl that still had the seeds in them. I was really pushing the time, so dumped all of the ingredients without any further thought & made the dish. I was running out of time and it looked okay so I literally pulled it out of the oven and walked out the door to just make it there in time.

Everyone brought really wonderful dishes. Looking back, I realize that there weren't many comments made on my dish and I really thought that it would be well received. Comments were made on most of the dishes as to how great they were. One comment was made on mine and asked what it was. She had at first thought it was some kind of ham dish until she took a bite of it. Then I made a comment that I used a friend's recipe for it and that friend got a fork and took a bite and really didn't say anything.........I should have known then that there was a problem. But no, I didn't.  We were scattered all over the place so I really couldn't see or hear how it was being received.

We had a great time with our demonstrations for skin care and we finally wound up everything and went home. I got my dish  which had about a "Carl serving" left in it and left. When we got home I told Carl that I had made an extra dish of the blackberry cobbler so that if he didn't get enough, there was more in the oven. He said, "How come it was so salty?" I went "What?...salty?"...then it hit me.......the ham comment, not any "compliments"....so I tasted it for the first time..................Y U C K !!!!! It was so salty that for a second I wondered if somebody had switched the salt for the sugar...but I know that didn't happen, because I got it out of the bin. I went and got the recipe and looked at it and realized that the salt content was for  NOTHING but a soup dumpling because of the amount of salt and usually the dessert dough only had a pinch of salt. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH , sigh...LOL & all of the usual regrets!!!!!!!!!

So, if you can't laugh at yourself or admit a stupid mistake...who can?
An that's the TRUTH !

So, just like falling off of a horse, I had to try it again today, but this time, modifying the amount of salt for a sweet dumpling/cobbler!

S U C C E S S !!!!! Ya know, if I had really been paying attention when I was making the dough, I would have realized that I needed to adjust the salt, but I was so intense on getting the right proportions for the shortening and flour which had been giving me a problem....I just didn't T H I N K !!!!!  

Peas, anyone?

Last year, it was the abundance of tomatoes and squash. We had so many, we couldn't give them away fast enough. Now, for the first time, we have JUST the right amount of something....PEAS......just "love 'em". We have a perfect crop of cream crowder peas. They came in at just the right time and are yummy, yummy, yummy. We have eaten several meals of them and shared several meals with friends. Given some away to friends and I canned 27 pints of them and we still have "maybe" a couple more pickings. Anyway, whatever it is, is PERFECT. Our tomatoes this year have been just "so-so" and the squash while they tasted really good, has had a weird crop. Evidently, they cross-pollinated with each other and made very interesting shapes and colorings.......ever seen spotted squash? But they taste really good, so.........They won't win the judges award and they aren't as prolific as usual. Better luck next year. The watermelons are still doing okay, the corn was small but fantastic tasting (got about 9 quarts of them and several meals) The corn crop just kind of snuck up on us and was ready before we knew it. Irregardless, good veggies! Now it is getting really hot and no matter
how much we water, it isn't enough, so I am going to say it is time to call it a season.

Almost forgot, we did get a small amount of Kentucky wonder beans to make about 2 meals and I canned a couple of pints (the brownish colored ones above whereas the greenish ones are cream peas)