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Hash Browns For Breakfast
Frozen hash browns are so convenient! And tasty! (I am so lazy) They are never easy to shake out of the bag when they’ve been in the freezer for a while, but I’ve had good luck using the microwave to semi-thaw them. Takes 30-60 seconds.
I think I’ll try to make a few parts in the layer of potatoes just after adding them to the hot skillet to make flipping them easier. My pan flip-fu is weak.
Tidbits
Gabe waits for his dog mama, she won’t be gone long because she misses her dog boy.
We eat some of the tomatoes fresh! I set a few aside when we are processing for soup or stewed for canning. I try to get the best ones – no marks or splits or spots. This sammich started out wanting to be a BELT but I didn’t have the lettuce so it just gets billing as a breakfast sammich. Brunch, actually, we don’t get up early enough…
I used up some odds and ends of pasta for this one. I still have plenty of parsley, the caterpillars that were eating it have gone away. Still have a hornworm or two – they seem to be specializing on my hot peppers now that the patio tomatoes are gone. 
We love these upside down cakes. I cut them into single serving squares and freeze them in plastic containers. They really hit the spot for late night snacks while watching videos.
More cookies! These are my current favorites. I’ve been leaving out the almonds and adding raisins. I’ve made these often enough that I can do them without looking at the recipe.
Mmm… French toast and garlic pepper sausages. The sausages are from that processing plant we travel to a few time a year to stock up. They have the best ham hocks, and they are the closest place I know that has fresh pork bellies. I buy a couple, cut them in two, and vacuum seal the halves for the big freezer.
Mrs J said we have plenty of tomato soup canned. I think she mentioned 40 quarts. Well, we better get busy with it! I used a veggie peeler to shave Parmesan for a garnish.
Mmm… smoked pork makes a fine sammich. The sides are potato salad in the back and bacon, tomato, and basil pasta salad.
I’ll wind this one up with a few cute kittehs.
Tidbits
Mmm… another Reuben. We’ve pretty much settled on an assembly standard: The corned beef, sliced just so, homemade sauerkraut, and cheese all warmed in a skillet – adding the cheese only when the beef and ‘kraut are warmed through. The rye slices are started in the toaster when the cheese goes on. The thousand island dressing goes in a small bowl to be used as a dip – this helps to keep the sandwich intact because it is not soaking through the toast. Pickle spear garnish is optional but encouraged!
We’ve been seeing a lot of rain, 10 inches in the last week, and rivers and creeks are overflowing. Whenever we get high water one of the obligatory stops on the gawking tour is this municipal band shell at the aptly named Riverside Park. The Big Muddy River (actual name!) is a tributary of the Mighty Mississippi, it enters a few miles below Grand Tower, IL.
An access road loops around the park. It would be visible below the shell but for the high water. Right now we are kinda “meh” – we’ve seen it higher. All bets are off should the rain come back. Crews are sandbagging the big levee along the Mississippi just in case and they are keeping a 24 hour watch.
We’re using those naan loaves for pizzas, and here is one replacing a tortilla in a vaguely Tex-Mex hodgepodge with rice, beans, chicken, cheese, eggs, and a salsa verde.
Another selfie with Bitsy that I’ve run through the Prisma app. This is using the Heisenberg filter. My favorite filter is the one they call Gothic.
Time for another pineapple upside down cake! I used dark brown sugar in this one rather than the light brown I usually go with. Pour melted butter mixed with brown sugar in the bottom of a pan, this one was made in a 9-1/2″ x 12″ hotel pan with 3/4 cup of butter and 3/4 cup sugar. I drained the juice from a can of pineapple tidbits and used about half of them in the recipe. Use the pineapple juice to replace some of the water needed for a yellow cake mix and pour the prepared mix over the pineapple bits. These baked at 350 for 20 minutes and were not quite done so I added 10 minutes to the timer and reduced the temp to 325 because the top was browning nicely. If you would rather go from scratch this recipe should work fine for you.
These are a favorite and this surely won’t be the last one you’ll see here. We are just getting warmed up for those summer garden tomatoes.
