Beef and Noodles from the Pantry and Planting Flowers and Herbs. (Playing in the Dirt!)

This week I am primarily using up things from the pantry, freezer, and refrigerator that have been accumulating and making room.  A bit like a purging....I may well wind up taking some canned goods to the food bank as I almost never use them but have them on hand as back up emergency stock in case of unforeseen circumstances.  Generally speaking I buy fresh meat, fruits, and vegetables each week.

There was a chuck roast I had trimmed up and used for something but saved the trimmings and a good bit of the less nice portions of meat for the freezer.  This morning I set them into water with garlic, onion, salt and pepper and they have been simmering away.  My thought is to pick the good meat out and add it back to the stock with carrot, celery, and perhaps a chopped onion to make a hearty noodle soup for tonight's supper.  This link is to how to make stocks in general if you are interested in making up your own .    thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2012/05/make-stock-to-freeze-clean-out-your.html    These links give my recipe and instructions for making homemade noodles.   thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2011/11/make-egg-noodles-for-now-or-store-in.html   or    thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2010/09/home-made-noodles-evolve-from-self.html

It is not a very warm day as it started raining in the night and is to resume again this afternoon.  So it would be a good soup night I think.  Cole slaw and some canned peaches from last summers crop sounds easy enough.   The link for my Cole slaw recipe follows here.   thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2011/02/creamy-potato-salad-and-cream-cole-slaw.html    The link for the peaches follows here.    thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2012/08/canning-nectarines-peaches.html There are frozen homemade noodles in the freezer too, ready to cook,  so there is certainly not a big effort going into any of this!

Old Fashioned Sage wintered over as did Chives, Onion Chives, and  German Thyme.  Rosemary, Basil, and Pineapple Sage have bee added and I am hunting a couple of others.

Sounds good to me! I have finished planting all of my containers to the front and rear of the house and the little garden is ready for a second planting in some areas that have seen the first crop.  I am going to look for tarragon tomorrow it is a harder herb to find around here and I haven't seen any yet but there are still some places to explore.  I will be terribly disappointed if I can't lay my hands on some.

Aloe is a staple here.  I added some annuals to the pot of lanky Lemon Grass to fill in with color.

Happily I put out some pineapple sage for the hummingbirds to enjoy and have been keeping their nectar changed.

Love my herbs!  Dill, Parsley, and Cilantro.

I think I may put out a second row of basil as I just love to see and smell it growing.  There would be plenty to share should I do that!

4:30 PM, I am excited.  Stopped at the Newburgh Country Store and carried off the last 4 Tarragon  starts they had at half price!  Now it is pouring down rain so I will have to wait until tomorrow to find them a home here.