Easy Come, Easy Go

Would you believe that this mess was actually put away earlier today? Then I decided to make jam and clean out the fridge.Honey moved the kittens. Mr. Fuzz was acting ugly so I don't blame her, but I do miss them. Easy come, easy go.

Mom update. Here's a picture of the back of her little legs. She's going to kill me, but I'll take it. Notice how much straighter the leg on the right is. It was as bowed as the left leg. Today her bruises have started showing up. Poor thing. The side of her knee is black and blue. I take pictures so she can see what I'm talking about when I tell her her knee pits are purple.

She's not having a good day. She got too hot sitting on the patio yesterday and was sick last evening. She's been laying down more today and hopefully she'll feel better soon. As for walking, she's moving right along.

I think I'll go work on a new header and see about getting July out of here.

I have big onions

Did I get your attention? LOL. I have some onions given to us by a friend that weigh nearly 2 pounds each. That weight is in ounces.

The onion on the left is gigantic compared to the one on the right. I fixed one the other day with potatoes and it was so sweet. Yum!

Speaking of yum, I made my first peach jam of the year last Saturday. The tall jars in the back hold 12 ounces and the ones in the front are regular jelly jars. I haven't eaten any yet, but have heard it's pretty good.

I'm still hanging stuff on the walls. I have a collection of old hankies and rather than leave them in a drawer I wanted to display them. This brilliant idea came from Addicted 2 Decorating. I chose to display the blue hankies and have the others folded in the little area below. Now I need a bigger spoon holder.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Wednesday.

Canning 2008

I'm about to start on a new adventure and need some side-bar space. See that canning nonsense over yonder on the left? It's about to go poof!

What I managed to get canned in 2008, though not nearly enough.
* Beef & veggie soup - 8 qts + 10 pints
* Beef soup base - 4 qts
* Black-eyed peas - 19 pints
* Bread and Butter pickles - 8 pints
* Chicken & Rice soup - 12 qts + 12 pints
* Cinnamon pickles - 10 pints
* Corn - 21 pints
* Green beans - 28 pints
* Green chili stew - 36 pints
* Peach jam - 17 half-pints
* Pickled okra - 6 pints
* Pickled peppers - 1 x 12 ounces
* Pinto beans - 7 quarts
* Purple hull peas - 15 pints
* Salsa - 4 x 12 ounces
* Spiced peaches - 2 quarts
* Strawberry jam - 12 half-pints
* Tomatoes - 6 half-pints

Let's see, 33 quarts, 165 pints, 35 half-pints, and 5 x 12 ounce jars.

Whew!

Beef Stew

It's been cloudy and overcast most of the day. This is the kind of day that makes you think about Fall, turning leaves, hot chocolate, and snuggling.

In honor of the weather I made beef stew to can. DH is a lucky duck since he got beef stew for lunch. He shakes his head at my canning, but loves lunch time on the days I'm cranking out soup or stew. This is the first two canner loads.

Day before yesterday I made my granny's yeast bread recipe. Granny is a hard act to follow. It turned out okay, but next time I'll let it rise one more time.

I haven't worked on the quilt top any more. I'm one row away from being done. Instead, I've been sitting on my backside reading. I don't have a lot of time left to work on it so I'd better get busy and finish.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic Friday.

I'm still in the kitchen

I intended to sew this afternoon, but I haven't made it yet.

This morning I put up 12 quarts and 12 pints of chicken and rice soup.
For this I use thighs and legs since DH has an aversion to dark meat, but this way he doesn't notice. What he doesn't know won't hurt him. I really don't measure anything and just go by taste. I use chicken broth, bullion, water, salt, chicken, celery, and carrots.

I made a quick run by the farmer's market and came home with corn. I kept meaning to call the guy in the paper and never got it done. I hope they have more.
It's shucked, silked, and cut off the cob.

I'll deal with it tomorrow after I get two new tires for my car and pick up DH's boat from the boat doctor.

I think I'll go visit the sewing room and see if a quick project jumps out at me.

Spiced peaches and other fun stuff

DH and I have to leave town tomorrow for a funeral on Friday and I've spent the afternoon trying to get this produce done up into something yummy before I lose it.

I had enough peaches to do two quarts of spiced peaches plus two little bowls for snarfing.

I used the tomatoes and made four 12 ounces jars of salsa. Have you seen the new quilted jelly jars that hold 12 ounces? They are so pretty.

I got 15 pints of purple hull peas. They look so yummy.

There was enough okra for 2 more pints of pickled okra and just enough banana peppers for a jar of pickled peppers.

I hate that I'm going to miss the farmer's market on Friday and Saturday, but it can't be helped. Maybe they won't have anything good.

To market, to market

Purple hull peas. Yum!

Granny never would let us kids shell these because they can turn your fingers purple and they always got ready right before school started. She didn't want us starting school with purple fingers.

I always wanted purple fingers and now I have my chance.

I picked up some more peaches, a few onions, some okra, and peppers. I have no idea what I'll be doing with those.

In crafty news, I made a cute pillow and started another one. I also have thrifty news to share a little later.

Green chili stew

Mom made green chili stew because both she and DH love it. I don't care for it, but that's okay. I still love them and will can it.

I knew she made a big batch because it filled the water bath canner, but I had no idea how big. Try 36 pints big. I was surprised. I thought 24 pints maybe. Nope, 36.

I know a couple of people who are going to be eating well this winter.

Winning Wednesday

I bought some lovely tomatoes at the farmer's market. Unfortunately I bought too many to eat and not enough to really can. I decided to send them through the food processor and can them in half-pints for use in tomato gravy later.

The yellow ones are Lemon Boy, low acid and I couldn't tell you what the red ones are, but they were huge. I ate a Lemon Boy and it was yummy. I really couldn't tell the difference in the acid content, but then it doesn't normally bother me.

I dropped by the thrift store and scored 2 dozen quart canning jars for $3.60 a dozen. You can't beat that price with a stick.

Cinnamon twiddle pickles

Pickle Log: Friday
Start with 2 gallons of sliced, peeled cucumbers, with centers removed. Rinse well and add 8-1/2 quarts water and 2 cups lime. Let stand for 24 hours.
Pickle Log: Saturday
After your 24 hours is up, rinse cucumbers until the water runs clear. You want to get all of the lime off of them. Cover cucumbers with cold water and let stand for 3 hours. Go twiddle your thumbs. Drain.
Make a mixture of 1 cup vinegar, 1 ounce red food coloring, 1 tablespoon alum and enough water to cover cucumbers. Let simmer for 3 hours (go twiddle your thumbs again)and drain.
Make a syrup of 3 cups vinegar, 3 cups water, 15 cups sugar, 12 sticks of cinnamon, and 30 ounces of red hots. Dissolve red hots in water and then add sugar stirring diligently until it dissolves. This is no time to be twiddling your thumbs.

Pour mixture over rings and simmer for 3 hours. Does anybody but me see a trend here? Go twiddle your thumbs. Turn off the burner and let the mixture stand. It's not going any where and honey, those are pickled. What could possibly happen to them? Go to bed. That's what I did.

Pickle Log: Sunday
Simmer pickles for 3 hours. Again, twiddle, twiddle, twiddle. After 3 hours of twiddling, I mean simmering, bring the pickles to a boil. Immediately put into jars and seal. There you have it, cinnamon pickles.

Aunt Jo's changes: I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I decreased the sugar considerably and used 3 cups of Splenda baking blend instead. I'm sure die hard pickle purist will hate me, but I can live with it. I can't live with blood sugar over 1000 which is what would happen if I'd used 15 cups of sugar. Can you imagine?

I was stingy and wouldn't pay 5 bucks for five dinky little half cinnamon sticks. I bought a bottle of cinnamon extract and an extra bag of red hots instead.

Other than those two changes, I did it by the book. Not only are my pickles plenty sweet, they're also plenty cinnamony.

Oh yeah, I have one pink finger and a pink thumb. I'm so proud.

If you find yourself in a jam...

I hope it's strawberry.Mom and I put up 12 jars of strawberry jam last night. It sure is good. I licked the spoon. Yum!

This morning I overslept and didn't get to the farmer's market until 7:15. I got okra, peaches, and cucumbers.

Mom came over and helped me put up 11 more jars of peach jam and 4 jars of pickled okra.

We peeled, cored, and sliced cucumber to start the 3-day Cinnamon pickle marathon. Seriously, three days to make pickles. Let's just say when somebody, namely me, read the recipe she didn't register that this was going to be time consuming. That's okay though. It's going to be worth it.

Hey pickle puss

You're a peach! 8 pints of bread and butter pickles with onions (the way Granny made them) and 6 half-pints of peach jam.

I wish I'd gotten more peaches. Unfortunately, they were packed up and gone when I went back. Tonight is the regular farmer's market so maybe they'll have something good.

I can, because I can

I managed to get 28 pints of green beans canned today with no disasters and no busted jars. I'd love to do more.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, beats home-canned green beans in December. Growing up, I helped my granny can vegetables in the summer and loved it. The whole process is just so darned much fun. If you're into that kind of thing that is.

Today, I feel like I really accomplished something every time I hear a 'pop' coming from the kitchen. Another pint sealed. Another pint of green beans for later.

I enjoy knowing what exactly is in those jars. I know there's no stems or yucky beans. Just good stuff.

DH loves green beans and would eat them every day if I'd let him. At that rate I'd need to can at least as much as I did today just to have green beans once a week.

Next up for canning, assuming I can find it at a good price, more green beans, black eyed peas, pinto beans, peaches, corn, a couple of different soups. Heck I might even give pickles a whirl if my cucumbers do as well as I think they will.

I hope everyone is having a great Saturday. I know I am. :)