The Okay Tokay: Spending some time in the "garden"

Yesterday was spent outside (but it was only 60!) cleaning up the back yard, cleaning up the plants that died during the cold weather, and just being in the sun:

Yea I know there is a plant sitting in the middle of the yard. Our north facing porch doesn't get a lot of sun during the day, so we put the avocado out on a piece of plastic that is covering our water access (I think that's what it is). Do you see our nice new fence on the right side? Well not so new any more (my Aunts installed it for us back in September). Anyway, our HOA is putting up a stink about it cause it doesn't match the other crappy fences that they have. Whatever.....Here are the puppies enjoying the sun:

And my cilantro is starting to flower and is about to seed (I now have coriander and, very soon, coriander seeds):

I am going to be re-planting my basil probably at the end of the month since we have a few more freezes in the next week.

Yesterday I made some Stewed Chicken based on the recipe from the 1961 cookbook (pg 322). Then I had stewed chicken that I didn't know what to do with. Chicken and dumplings sound good! I found an Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumpling recipe in the Southern Living cookbook (pg 394). My dumplings sort of looked like cauliflower:

But they were very good, and stewing the chicken for a few hours actually made some really good broth! Yum (oh, and that triangle is one of the basil ice cubes I made awhile ago):

My neighbor gave me some peanut butter that she didn't want, so I made some No Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies from the Southern Living cookbook (pg 149):

They were okay. I am normally not a fan of no-bakes, but I like peanut butter! Probably not something I would make again (at least not from this cook book).

Dinner tonight was my variation of this Rachael Ray recipe, and I mean a big variation. But it was very very good. Grilled chicken thighs (on bone), smashed garlic potatoes, and corn (no mushrooms):