I tried my experiment with the cherries, and while the cherry "butter" didn't exactly work the way I expected, it did taste good and I think will be perfect as the filling for baked goods. The texture of the cherry butter just never was exactly right, because of the skins, I think. However, the flavor was awesome, so if you don't expect it to be a "buttery" spread, I think it will be lovely. I also did find out that you can pressure can caponata, so after making double my recipe, I canned four quarts and a pint of it, which is now shelf stable and not taking up room in our fridge or freezer.

My sweet Rich is taking a day off for us to can peaches. We still have four boxes of peaches, and while we are enjoying them, it will be good to have them for the winter.

For my birthday, I did try the duck shawerma, and it was fantastic. Now I think that duck is the best choice for shawerma. We will have to try it with some of our geese next.

My experiment with the vegan oatmeal muffins was not nearly as successful. I have a recipe for Lenten muffins and a recipe for leftover oatmeal muffins and I tried to merge them. They imploded. The kids liked how they tasted, though so I think I will keep messing with it to get the right texture.

We are deep in the harvest season, and we have an opportunity to get a whole lot of garlic this week, too. we are still trying to figure out what else to do with the cherries. I suggested brandied cherries, but that seems more like a gift idea, because how many times can we eat that? Perhaps I can put up some cherry pie filling, we would eat that more. I may also try a Spanish recipe for a savory pickled cherry. Our house is kind of covered with produce, but it seems like God is taking care of us for what might be a challenging winter.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Leftover Scramble, Fruit Plate, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Slow Baked Chuck Roast, Parishioners bring Sides/Salads/Dessert
• Monday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, Toast, Rainier Cherries and Cantaloupe, Tea and Milk
  Dinner: Thai Style Ginger Chicken with Eggplantt, Jasmine Rice, Strawberry Mango Salad
• Tuesday - Feast of Saints Mary and Martha
  Breakfast: Fried Eggs, Toast, Peaches and Apples, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Garlic Roasted Pork Loin, Corn on the Cob, Cucumber Tomato Salad, Yellow Plums
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Diced Apples and Raisins, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: East African Pilau, Portuguese Marinated Carrots, Apricots
• Thursday - Feast of Joseph of Arimathea
  Breakfast: Sausage and Potato Hash, Plums, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Meatloaf, Steam Sautéed Zucchini and Corn, Cherries
• Friday - Feast of The Holy Seven Maccabee Children, Solomone Their Mother, and Eleazar Their Teacher
  Breakfast: Ful, Toast/Lefover Saj (Gluten-free for Jerome), Sliced Radishes, Kalamata Olives, Cherries, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Lemon Garlic Scallops, Rice Pilaf, Sautéed Summer Squash, Chard and Garlic, Fruit Plate
• Saturday
  Breakfast: Pancakes (Gluten-Free for Jerome) with Peach Syrup, Sliced Peaches, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Vegan Egyptian Mahshi, Turmeric Rice, Duqqus, Fruit Plate

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

Labels: Church Year, Family, Homemaking, Homesteading, Menu Plans, Tales from the Kitchen