Dehydrator Love

I love my dehydrator.  Today I decided to spend a lot of time in my kitchen.  I made some Apple Berry Salsa and had leftover fruit so I dried some of it.

 

 Here's the end result.  Dried kiwi, apples, an oranges.  The kiwi is delicious--I've never dried it before.

 I made a bunch of salads, and cooked taco meat for hubby's lunches.  Also I made 2 lasagna meals, cooked a chicken, deboned it and am now making bone broth.  I spent about 4 hours in the kitchen.  I did a few loads of laundry---and oh yes, I made sweet cinnamon tortilla chips in the oven on my baking stone.  I'm a gadget girl.

 



Pesto Making

 

I picked 12 cups of basil this morning, which made 3 batches of pesto. The two bags will be frozen.  I put more basil in the darker batch.

 

 

 

The recipe calls for 4 cups of lightly packed basil, 1/2 cup of toasted walnuts or pine nuts, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, 1 garlic clove, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil.

 

Here's my recipe card, if you can read it. 

 

It doesn't take very long to make, but it is a little messy, because you have to drag out the food processor.   

 Yum!  It's great in pasta, or on a grilled chicken sandwich, or just as a condiment on your grilled chicken.

 



UFO Finish and Summer Class

 

I finished my Tree Tea Towel project.  All nine tea towels finished.  Here are the last two.  It's nice to finish a project that I started many moons ago.  I hope to finish my red hexie quilted purse soon.

 

 

On Wednesday nights I'm helping teach a cake decorating class to kids.  Some kids get it.

 

And some don't.  It's fun anyway.

This week they learned about borders, next week they'll learn about writing, and the third week they'll learn about flowers.  The fourth week we'll have a show and tell to parents--with pictures.  They take their work home each week--to eat.  Yum!!



Zucchini Lasagna

 

I made some low-carb lasagna and it turned out pretty good.  I just substituted sliced zucchini rounds for the noodles.

 

It has layers of four things.  First layer was uncooked zucchini slices in the bottom of a sprayed baking dish.  Next layer was spaghetti sauce mixed with browned ground beef and one large sweated onion, chopped.  The third layer was cottage cheese mixed with two raw eggs. The last layer was shredded mozzarella cheese.  I repeated the layers, then baked it for about 50 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  It was yum-o as Rachael would say.

 

We have a weird robin that keeps trying to fly through the glass patio door.  It's been doing this for the last several days  off and on all day long.  He flys up and down the glass trying to penetrate the glass for about 5 minutes, flys away, then comes back about 5 minutes later, and sometimes 30 minutes later.  I think this bird is wacked out of his mind.  Maybe he got ahold of someone's meds and can't figure things out.  I scare him off, but he always comes back.  I've thought about taping strings to the back door just to see what would happen. Gooney Bird!!



Oo!-Oo!-Oo! Lookin' Out My Back Door

 

My age is showing with the title of this post.  I have to show a few fall pics.  Our back yard here. 

Lots of leaves coming down now.

 

 

 The trees will be bare soon.

 

Lookin' out our front door, here. 

 

 

 

On another note,we made beans and rice for supper the other night.  I brought the beans to boil on our new rocket stove, then pulled out the sticks for the quick soak method.  Waited an hour, then started another fire, and brought it to a boil for 15 minutes.

 

Without lifting the lid, I put it into my mock wonder oven below.

 I lined this large tote with blankets and beach towels.  I lined the sunken part in the middle with a brown-black towel so the soot on the pot wouldn't get on my blankets.  I wrapped the brown towel around the pot and added the last quilt, put the lid on and took it into the house.  When we got back from evening church I cooked some rice on the stove, then pulled the beans out of the wonder oven, and they were done!!  We had beans and rice for supper with some salsa---m-m-good.  I just wanted to see if in an emergency I would be able to cook some beans without using much wood if we were without power.
I have plans on making a wonder oven that I got the plans for off of Pinterest, (now that I know it works).



Birthday Boy

 

Here's our Birthday Boy.  Hubby had a B-day, and we celebrated with our kids and grand kids.  I made: Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Green beans, and Carrots.  The kids brought Homemade Rolls, Baked Beans, Trifle, and Pumpkin Cupcakes.  Yummy! 

I had Erin carry the cake to him so there would be no tripping by me this time, he-he.

Look what we received---a Rocket Stove.  It came yesterday afternoon.  We ordered it less than a week ago.  It's for emergency situations.  A few sticks is all it takes to boil a little water, which is what we were doing here, and today I plan on making some stew in the Cast Iron Dutch Oven that was my mom and dad's.

That little stove blackened up the bottom and sides of one of my good pots, so I will be using cast iron from now on.

I plan on making a wonder oven, and I think that will be a great combination if we should have another ice storm this winter--We had a terrible one in 2007, and were without power for 12 days.  That taught me a lot.  We had another one the very next year, and were without power for 4 or 5 days if I remember right.  It wasn't nearly as traumatic.  We had a propane camper burner for one pot, and I have propane, but this rocket stove just uses twigs and small scraps of lumber.  Kind of fun.  We also have a self-pruning-tree, as my hubby calls it.  It's a silver maple that drops a lot of small limbs, ALL. THE. TIME!  That will be a great way to get rid of them.  This stove even burns up the smoke after it gets going good--look, no smoke coming out of the top.

We had the sweetest little visitor last night when we were handing out candy--my great niece Arianna--isn't she the cutest thing.  My niece made her costume out of a used suede garment.  How cute is that? 



Beans, Beans, Beans

 

Well it was a success; no jars broke--yea! 

 

As you can see 1/2 cup of dry navy beans was not enough. 

 

 

For the second batch I upped it a little.  I used 3/4 cup per pint for the navy beans,  a little less than that for the pintos, and same for the great northern beans.  I canned 15 pints altogether.  I ate one the the jars that have less beans in them for lunch, and it was very good.

 

I'm thinking of canning some pintos in quarts, and pints of chickpeas and blackeyed peas--Yum!

 In (one a few) memories I have of my paternal grandmother, she tried to get me to eat some blackeyed peas, which I hated, when I was small.  I love them now.  I can eat a whole can of them by myself, but they are hard to find now days.

 



Beans and Salsa

 

 

 I've decided to make up with an old friend---my pressure cooker.  I am canning some dry beans.

I decided to post on my blog while I am babysitting my canner.  It has been a long time since I posted.  SHAME!

 I bought this canner 31 years ago.  My sister, Paula and I decided to make some salsa, because our Mom and Dad were going on vacation, and with a large garden, they had an excess of tomatoes and peppers and our mother suggested we try our hand at canning some salsa.  She forgot to tell us to use gloves when we were cutting up the hot jalapeno peppers, so we didn't.   About the time we were ready to put the salsa into jars and can them, intense PAIN begin.  We had to finish the job, so we fixed bowls of ice water to put our hands in every few seconds---it was terrible.  We finished the job then she went home to nurse her wounds.  The pain lasted for Four. Long. Stinking. Hours.  I laid on the couch with my hands in ice water.  I haven't used my canner since. I have made lots of jelly, apple butter, and some water bath salsa.  We had our last baby a couple years after that episode, and I just lost interest in canning.  I have been reading peoples blogs about canning dry beans and I had to give it a try, so we dug it out of the attic yesterday afternoon.

 

 

 

My hubby loves beans and salsa.  So here we go.  There are 54 minutes left to pressure them, and a heard a loud crack about 20 minutes ago--I'm hoping it was just the canner popping and not a jar cracking--so far I don't smell any burnt beans smell, which is a smell I am well acquainted with.  I have let my beans boil dry on more than one occasion.  One time it took 3 days to get the smell out of our house.  I get side tracked pretty easily.  I am a little nervous about that crack I heard though.  

 

It's just a vinegar smell coming out of the rocker weight vent--I'm hopeful.  The pressure gauge stays steady at 15 pounds with my large burner set on 4.5.  (I added that so I will know next time.)  I am maintaining 15 lb. pressure for 90 minutes.  I poured boiling filtered water over 1/2 cup of rinced dry beans, and added 1/2 tsp. canning salt, with 1" of head space--that's also for next time.  With the 2 quarts of water in the canner, I added 2 Tbs.white vinegar so my jars would come out clean.  I will let you know how it turned out on my next post.



Canning Again

I've canned some more---two five pint batches of salsa.  It's medium heat and it taste great.  It actually made 11 pints altogether.  I have one in the fridge.  Hubby had some on his eggs this morning and loved it. 

 

I looked in my Blue Book and found out about what it means to boil to the gelling point.  I should have read the whole book before starting, I guess.

I think I will have to make some more of the salsa.  But first I want to make some apple butter.



Jam Candy

 

 Well.........I made some strawberry jam today, or...... I tried to make some.  These labels should say Strawberry Candy!

 

 

Here's what happened.....The recipe from the Ball Blue Book called for two quarts of strawberries, mashed up, then add 6 cups of sugar.  Boil that till it gels.  That isn't something I understand---maybe if I had been canning for a long time I would understand it.   Sooooooo, I boiled it till it lightly coated a spoon.  Well, I don't think that's what it meant, because it was suppose to make 2 quarts, and it only made a little more than half of that.  I did the boiling water bath on four of them, and put the fifth one in the fridge.

 When hubs came home I asked him if he wanted to taste it.  I could barely get a spoonful out of the jar---it was like candy--it stretched a long way when I finally did get some out.  Here are the pictures of the process.  (I need a medium sized pot, but I didn't want it to boil over.)

 

I was ready to fill 8 jelly jars, but only used 5. 

 

 

Here's the water bath part.



 

 

And the finished product.

I used to make grape jam all the time, but it called for pectin and you had to add water if  too much of it boiled away-----it always made the right amount, with the right consistency----Oh well.

I'm planning on making some salsa, and some apple butter.  I think I'll do a little research on the web first.  That Blue Book is not for amatures.

 

I took the rest of the jam in that jar, and added a little water and boiled it, then poured it back into the jar.  I suppose I'll have to do that each time I open a jar.







Black Friday

Another yard work day here on Black Friday--sure beats fighting the crowds at the stores!  We got the front yard and east side-yard cleaned up and ready for winter---I forgot to take pictures though.  It took me a little bit to get going since I have been sick this week, but I finally did.  I took down the fern on the front porch, and hubby and I noticed that this evening some purple finches were hanging around looking for it.  I think they have been roosting in it at night.  It's probably some of the finches that hatched in the nest that was in the fern this spring.  I took their home down---*sniff-sniff*.

While we were working in the yard we smoked the turkey that was thawed in the refrigerator.  I cut it in half so it wouldn't take as long to smoke.  It took 10 hours.  It was a very nice day outside--beautiful weather with temps in the 60's.  Here is one half of the turkey.

I got six bags of meat---that will make six meals for us.  I am freezing four of the bags.

A very good day. 

The rain is suppose to start tonight; it will be cooling off, and snow flurries are in the forecast for tomorrow night and Sunday.



Little Bunny Foo-Foo and Smoked Chicken

This little bunny is sunning out in our back yard this morning---cute.  Bunnies like our yard because we have no pets out there, and lots of hiding places from the neighbors' cats.

                        

We smoked some chickens.  I love having meat on hand in the refrigerator.  Smoked meat doesn't get an old taste either, which is handy for me on my special diet--instead of carbs for snacks I need protein to keep my BP from spiking--weird, huh?

This pic was taken soon after we put them in our electric smoker.

This one is taken after the smoking process was over.    I know they look dark, but that's because of the smoking--you don't eat the skin.  We had a meal with part of one chicken, then I de-boned and skinned the remaining......and

bagged the meat into meal sized portions, which I can freeze or just refrigerate, depending on when I plan to use them.  I'm thinking... barbecue sauce and wraps for one meal, and a salad for me.  Soup is a possibility, pot pie also, that is if I could figure a way to make it lo-carb.  I guess I could make some small portions to freeze for hubby, then fix a salad for me.  He's on a lo-fat diet, while I'm on a lo-carb one.  It's kinda tricky.

I just know this meat is great on a salad, or in a wrap, which is real handy when you've got other things you need to be doing.



Having Fun Now

                 

Tonight I made another pressure cooker recipe, and it has possibilities.  It's called

Mexican Chicken Tacos.

Here's the meat mixture after cooking it in the pressure cooker.  It would be great in Chicken Enchiladas too.

Here's the recipe.  You can click on the picture if you're interested.

I hope you can read my handwriting.

I didn't make the salsa, I just opened a jar of it.  I'm a cheater, I know, especially when it comes to cooking.

Now for the FUN!  I've started a new handwork project, because I'm not happy unless I'm doing some handwork.  I still have my quilt I need to work on, but this calls my name, and I can do it when I'm tired of the other.  I had to trace the pattern onto the tea towel after I ironed a ten inch square of freezer paper to the back to stabilize the towel while I was tracing it.  I have a light box, but it was sure nice out today--sunny and 65 degrees (can't beat that in January), and we had the doors and windows open, so I traced it on the patio door with it slightly open--Wonderful Clean Air.

I just used an ordinary pencil for this, and it worked fine.

Now, I'm having fun again. Woo-Hoo!

Sailor's Delight

Lovely Sky tonight.

You know the saying--Red sky at night, sailor's delight; Red sky in the morning sailor's take warning.

I tried another pressure cooker recipe.  This time I picked an easy one that would not fail.

I have no desire for two flops in a row.  This one turned out great.

I didn't exactly go by the recipe---I used a cheaper cut of meat---rump roast.

I have to cut back on my carbs so this one is Hubby's.  He liked it real well.  I hope the sugar in the BBQ sauce doesn't send my pressure up.  It sure was good.