Dinner was ready....

Well in my head anyways. We were supposed to be having guests for dinner, but with all this shelter in place stuff going on, our guests had to cancel. And of course I wasn't told until AFTER I started making dinner because hubby forgot to tell me they weren't coming.
No problem, just put the extras in the freezer right? Except my freezers are FULL. I just got my meat order from the farm, and there isn't any room!

Homemade Buns

First we made buns for our dinner. But after I mixed it, I was confused as to why it didn't smell right.  Then I felt the dough.. Oh crud, I forgot the yeast!  UGH. I had doubled this recipe and my mixer was getting full. So to remedy the problem, I added the yeast for 3 batches, the ingredients to make it a total of a triple batch. This got a little messy. BUT, it worked, and the buns were amazing. So amazing in fact that my hubby requested I make more to live in our freezer. He said they were light, and yummy.  And would be good for sub sandwiches.

While the dough was rising, I ran an errand. When we got back the dough was crawling out of the bowl, I forgot I would need it to rise in a larger bowl because I tripled it. No problem, it was not over proofed, thank goodness. After I got the dough cut and shaped and onto the pans to rise. I made the next ingredient for dinner.

Meatballs!  I really like my meatball recipe. My oldest ate an entire pan himself  once(24 meatballs)!  Glad I made 6 pounds!  Whew, he loved them, but he always has liked my cooking. He is my best eater, always has been.

These are also pretty easy. I will put the recipe at the end. These are tender, and can be made gluten free, and they are dairy free.

 Want to know the best way to doctor up a store bought spaghetti sauce? Add a little pesto. I know it sounds weird, but it works and it just makes it a little bit more special. So after I baked the meatballs, I put them into some hot spaghetti sauce and kept them warm until my buns were cool enough to do assembly.

 What is this? Egg salad? Potato Salad?

NOPE, this is the special cheese mix that makes this dinner creamy goodness! Now my little guy is allergic to dairy, so his is made without the cheese mix in it. BUT he loves this dinner, he scarfed it right down.

Here they are! All assembled. It is like a meatball sandwich. Whenever we are having new missionaries over for dinner, our kids request we make this for them. Sometimes it is with meatballs, and sometimes it is just the meat browned and added to the sauce. Either way it is delicious and I know my kids will eat it. 

This is just for pure temptation. Look at the cheesy goodness, look at the fresh bun, the moist meatballs. Oh my foodgasm!  Sorry couldn't help it. No leftovers tonight. I feel bad we couldn't take any to the missionaries (our guests that couldn't come), their mission president said not to accept any meals. We have to keep them safe and healthy. But hopefully we can serve them soon.

My kids say this meal is comfort food.

I hope you like it too.

Now for recipes. I will share the meatball recipe here. I will to the buns recipe another day.

MEATBALLS

• 2 # italian sausage, bulk
• 1 1/2 # ground turkey 85/15
• 3 eggs. beaten lightly
• 2 palmfuls Italian Seasoning
• 3 pinches kosher salt
• ground black pepper
• 1 cup gluten free oatmeal (or quick)*
• 1 cup gluten free oatmeal soaked in cold water for 3 minutes (or quick), drained *

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine all ingredients with hands in large bowl.
Make 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet or on cast iron pans. Bake 15 - 25 minutes or until done. DO NOT OVER COOK.
*I use gluten free oatmeal, it is usually quick cooking. You can use normal quick cooking oatmeal. Regular oats tend to give a different texture, so we use the quick oats.

We use these meatballs for spaghetti and sandwiches, or plain. They are delicious.

Cheesy Mix  

• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1 cup shredded cheddar*
• 1 cup mozzarella *

In a food processor, blitz the cottage cheese until it is about the consistency of ricotta. Stir into the shredded cheese.

SAMMY
Put meatballs into your favorite spaghetti sauce. Open buns, but do not pull apart the halves completely. Slather some cheesy mix onto both sides. Next put a few saucy meatballs into the bun. Place in oven proof dish. When pan is full, cover with foil and bake sandwiches about 20 minutes or until every thing is heated through.
Serve with salad or fruit or both.

Do you have yeast?

I had an entire post written up, but it was too. aarghhh. I am so sick of hearing about the virus, I am tired of hearing people argue if it is or isn't as bad as influenza. Nobody can seem to talk about anything else.

So my question was. Do you have yeast? Um.. what do you mean? I mean, if you can't get bread at the grocery, you have to make it; and you need yeast to make bread. So do you have yeast? What kind?  There's a couple to choose from: commercial yeast (Red Star, Fleichman's, SAF) and sour dough starter.

Commercial Yeast

 Each one gives you the same general result.  A loaf of bread. Usually the commercial yeasts will almost always give you a great rise, fine crumb, and a way to make a sandwich. BUT if it is too old, or has not been stored correctly then it's not so good. Nobody likes ending up with a brick after using 3 to 15 cups of flour, plus sugar, fat, and the precious yeast to find out that it didn't work.

Commercial yeast is finicky. Store it too hot and it dies. Store it in the freezer and it lives. Make your bread with too hot of water or milk, kill your yeast. Use warm to cool water, yeast is happy. Too much salt will retard (prevent yeast from growing), too little and the yeast will over proof (rise) and your bread will be loose and crumbly.

Sour Dough

Sour Dough is what some of us bakers call perpetual yeast. It is easy to make, and you don't have to buy it. Yes you can find sour dough starters on ebay and etsy, craiglist and most likely facebook too. You can also make it yourself.
It can be finicky like commercial yeast, but once you have it going, it is a powerhouse. Again, you have to treat it right.

About day 7

I started this sour dough starter in February. I all of a sudden decided I needed a new challenge. I guess dealing with my second kid getting married and kiddos #4 & #5 saying they are getting married this year too! Dealing with health issues (don't go down the three steps in the garage incorrectly!) and trying to make sure everyone is getting the love and attention they need and want. Plus working on a quilt, and just feeling overwhelmed. So yes, let's start a new challenge!

No pressure. So I follow The Prairie Homesteader, and so I learned from her. I have made starter before, but that was before .. That was before our new normal.  So I needed a refresher course.  I followed her directions and made my starter. As you can see, it came out great.

 

I forgot to take pictures of each day, but if you look closely at the picture you can see tiny bubbles. It took about 7 days, and I made some yummy sour dough pancakes. I waited until day 14 until I attempted my first sour dough loaf. It .. worked.. but it was pale, and bland, and heavy and tight crumb. Nothing like I was expecting. I wanted big holes, I wanted it to be crispy on the outside and fluffy yummy on the inside. It was not. So I kept feeding my starter and using the discard for muffins and pancakes.

About day 14

I patiently kept feeding it and using the discard, giving discard away to a good friend. And now look at it. Look at those amazing bubbles. I found a recipe for sourdough bread. It is more labor intensive, it is worth it though. I also was educated by
amyinthekitchen.com about why my first attempt didn't work. I didn't do a float test. You can find this information on the website, and it isalso where I found the recipes I am working with right now to make sour dough bread. I already have a sour dough pancake recipe I like.

 And finding the recipe I liked a lot was on her other page, Little Spoon Farm. 
I tried making her recipe for "Beginner's Sour Dough Bread", and let me tell you.. It is yummy. It was more work than I was expecting, but it is worth it.

This picture of that recipe; it makes two LARGE loaves, and I think if I make that one again I will cut the dough into fourths, not just in half. Because the loaves were so big that it is too wide to cut easily. Yes I can remedy this by cutting across the loaf, and then putting the cut edge down and make half slices, but I didn't want to do that.
These loaves are BEAUTIFUL! And I made them!

 Isn't it pretty? Look how wide it is!  It is 8 inches, or a little more wide! This one I did the classic triple slash with the razor blade.

I will warn you, you need a brand new razor blade, the kind you put in a box knife, to make the slashes in the dough. I tried with a sharp kitchen knife and it just didn't slice through as good as a thin razor blade. I may even try using one of those double edge razors you get for old Gillette razors.

 This one with the weird face, I tried to get fancy with the razor blade, and when it was done baking, it looked a lot different! But wow did scoring the loaves with the razor blade help it rise better. I know it doesn't make sense, but it works. MY little one said the wavy slash was a snake, what you can't see is on the one end of that slash is looks like a little forked tongue coming out.

 Now look at how tall they are! 4 inches!  Holy cow!  And they are a little different in height because I used different size bowls to proof them in. They weighed exactly the same.


This bread is delicious. It does not have a strong sour dough flavor, which is good because two of my kids do not like the taste, but they are getting better with it. I am educating their palates.

I am so thankful for these two ladies who helped me to grow. I love learning, I love cooking, I love baking. I just hate cleaning up (just being honest). I am currently working on another recipe from Little Spoon Farm, her Sourdough Country Loaf Bread. This recipe only makes one loaf, but it was so easy now that I understand what I am doing, and so quick for me. The beginner's loaf seemed hard at first because it was the first time I was making the recipe. But next time I make the beginner's bread recipe I will cut it into four, and give it away along with some starter and the website so they can start this amazing journey.   

I had to use these up!

I discovered that the blueberries I bought were about to go bad. What was I going to do? It was too much for me to just eat, I didn't want to freeze them. What should I do?

PIE!!!  In fact one of my favorite pies. "Blueberry Sour Cream Pie".

This pie is amazing!  Depending on my mood will determine which crust I make. I love the shortbread crust, but this time I made a butter crust (the key is to let the butter crust rest in the fridge for a minimum of an hour after you get it into a ball). This time I used a butter pie crust, and rolled it very very thin. This pie was fabulous!

 1 pie crust

Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
2 TBS flour
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Topping:
3 TBS flour
2 TBS sugar
1 1/2 TBS butter
3 TBS finely chopped pecans

Put crust in pie pan.
Mix sugar and flour together in bowl, and mix well.
Beat in sour cream, egg, vanilla and salt together until smooth.
Fold in blueberries.
Pour into pie crust, and bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. (May need to adjust temperature and time for frozen berries)
Meanwhile, combine topping ingredients.
Remove pie from oven after 25 minutes, and sprinkle on topping.
Return pie to oven and bake 10 minutes more.
Chill before serving.

I will say, I did use a different amount of berries this time. I used 1 1/4 cups fresh blueberries, 3/4 cup frozen blueberries and about 1/3 cup frozen raspberries. The flavor combination was great, and it was nice to get a different bit of flavor.

The crumb topping on this pie is nice and crunchy. The pecans I chopped with a knife and I did a fine chop so you couldn't tell what kind of nuts they were by looking at them. The texture was fantastic with the rest of the pie so that you had the creamy sour cream part, the bursting berries then the crunchy topping.

Here you can see the raspberries and blueberries, and how they did not sink. The dark bits in the topping are the nuts. This pie is not too sweet either, another reason I like it so much. but honestly the mixture of textures is really nice.

This is a pie I could have often and be quite happy. You can use other berries such as currants, raspberries, marionberries or other black berry. Different berries will give you different textures. My favorite berries for this pie are fresh blueberries. Why? Because the fresh berries stay intact while cooking and so when you eat them they burst. The frozen berries have already burst and so don't have the same great texture.

My favorite pie is pie flavored pie. But this one was extremely satisfying. 

November and December Challenge: Dec 24 - 31

 #LightTheWorld

Tomorrow is the celebration of the birth of our Savior and Lord. Having had several children, maybe as many as Mother Mary. I marvel at what women went through in those days. For some childbirth is easy, for others is it not. Medical interventions and such today, do not guarantee a good pregnancy outcome. People do not realize that the risk of losing mother and or baby is still great in this day and age. Can you imagine giving birth in a stable or barn? With vermin in the animal's bedding? No running water? Having to shove rags between your legs to deal with the lovely bleeding that happens for a minimum of a week after birth? Although I have given birth in multiple places: hospital, midwife's office and at home.  I will tell you our best experiences were at the midwife's office and at home, it was so relaxing, calm, and I could focus on what I was doing instead of wondering who the next stranger was going to be to come and look between my legs.

Can you imagine walking as far as Mary walked? It wasn't just to the mail box. It was very far, and she was 40 weeks along!  I can feel and hear those pelvic bones moving, grinding, popping with every step. I know the pressure of that baby on my back, my bladder, kicking my diaphragm so I can't breath.  Can you imagine what she went through just before she was to give birth?! It is amazing.

This is what our ancestors went through as well. Whether they were traveling on purpose or because they were running for their lives. Many women have given birth along the trail, and many of those women and babies were also buried along that trail.

I am thankful that Mary and Joseph listened to the angels, I am thankful that Jesus is the Christ and that he has given us the ultimate gift. I am thankful for this gift so we can again see our sweet family members that have passed and especially see my sweet Saralyn again. I hope you remember what Christmas is about, and are able to feel the sweet spirit it brings.

This is it folks. The last week of this challenge. Were you able to do it? Can you believes it's already the last week of the year?! It has been another trying year, full of love, pain, life and unfortunately death.
New things this year: we got more of the yard done; went fishing on several rivers and cooked water's edge; we had our family reunion; went camping; figured out a major food sensitivity; welcomed home our missionary; preparing for the marriage of another of our children; and welcomed more pets into the home.

This is the week of cans to meet our goal of filling our pantry/larder.
#54: Can of pears
#55: Spaghetti Sauce
#56: Baked Beans
#57: Evaporated milk or Coconut milk
#58: Re-fried Beans
#59: Spaghetti Sauce
#60: Applesauce
#61: Soup of choice

 We welcome the new year in soon and with that we will have many new adventures.

November and December Challenge: Dec 16 - 23

Well, crud. This year is almost over and I didn't get everything done yet!  SLOW DOWN!

This Christmas we as a family decided to be more service oriented. Instead of buying a ton of gifts for us. We decided to do a couple kids on the giving tree. We also decided to donate to The Giving Cupboard. Our kids enjoyed doing all the shopping. It was fun. Our family's love language is service, as in serving others. It truly makes us happy to be permitted to help someone, be with others, and lift other's burdens, even if only for a moment.

Building your larder/pantry/food storage is a way you can lift your own burden. How do I find these sales? Sometimes I scour the ads on store's websites, and sometimes I just happen on them when I am in the store. How do I build my food storage? Slowly. I am not kidding. I was a very young bride, and I had no idea what food storage was. I had no idea why I had this urge to have a certain amount of food in my cupboards. If I had a little extra leftover after buying groceries, I would get something to put in my cupboard. Heck I didn't call it food storage, or larder, or engineering. When we first got married our pantry was a tiny cupboard by the sink. It had very little in it. Enchilada sauce, canned peas, canned corn, chicken noodle soup, tomato soup and if lucky a jar of spaghetti sauce. Looking back, it was a very weird combo.

When we moved to college, we had these huge closets in the hallway that went to the bedrooms and bathroom. They were giant! This apartment had the biggest closets we ever had in apartment living. They were even bigger than most houses have! They were amazing closets! I began accumulating more food stuffs in my closet. Still, I didn't really know how to cook well. I am so thankful my husband still ate it, and so did my baby (best eater ever!).

We moved to a different apartment that had just been built because the molds in the amazing closet apartment were bad for my asthma. This new apartment had this huge closet in the living room. It had some wire shelves on each end inside this closet. We filled them. Slowly. An extra can of chili, the next week an extra jar of spaghetti sauce, another week extra pasta. It builds, slowly. If it was a new food we hadn't had before, we would only buy one. No need to waste money, what if we didn't like it? We could always get more the next week if we liked it.

Now... I have 5 gallon buckets with hard white wheat, salt, sugar, oats and rice. I have #10 cans full of dried beans, cocoa, quinoa, millet.. I have cans of tomatoes, olives, peas, chicken.. I have condiments like pickles, mustards, ketchup, mayo..I have spices, I have medicine, I have home canned foods.  When we first got married I never could have imagined all I would learn about foods, medicine, preservation of foods, how to sew..

It doesn't matter how old you are.  You can learn to build your cupboard/pantry/closet/ or what ever you have (my college kids use a rubbermaid tote). It is a slow process, it is a learning experience. Find joy in it. And remember, if you have never had it only buy one to try. If you find a deal on something you use, make that be your can for the day or week. Store what you eat, Eat what you store.


#46: Vegetables
#47: Tomato Sauce
#48: Salsa
#49: Rotel
#50: Diced chilies
#51: Can or jar of NUTS (if not allergic)
#52: Nut butter (the one your family will eat)
#53: Stewed Tomatoes

November and December Challenge: Dec 8 - 15

How many of you went shopping on "black" Friday? Cyber Monday? Today?

How many of you went to make dinner from your normal pantry and realized you were missing something? Tomato paste? a spice? pasta? rice?

The other day I went to make dinner and the recipe called for tomato paste. This is not an item I usually have in stock; why? Because I do not like the taste of tomato paste. What did I do? I actually had a bunch of tomatoes from my garden ripening on my kitchen table (yes still, because we moved the tomato plants to the garage when it got cold out so I wouldn't lose all that fruit). So I took some of those and I washed them, took out that weird core where they hook to the plant, put them through a quick blender, and used those instead. Dinner was saved, and delicious. What would I have done had I not had those tomatoes? I would have used tomato sauce or canned diced tomatoes (put through blender).  My kids do not like chunks of cooked tomatoes, so I still have to blend those. BUT, they are learning to handle cooked onions, carrots and celery.

So this week is more of the same, but a little change. Remember the point of this challenge is to build up your food storage/larder/pantry. The point is so you have something to eat in a pinch. That pinch of low funds is not fun.

#38: Sliced Peaches
#39: Canned Chicken
#40: Campbell's chicken noodle soup (add water)
#41: Dinty Moore Stew (or which ever kind you prefer)
#42: Chili
#43: Can of Pears or Fruit cocktail
#44: Tomato Soup (add water)
#45: Baked potato soup (ready-to-eat)

One of the cans I stocked up on last week was Snow's Minced Clams in the yellow can at the local grocery. The price was so cheap I bought 10 of them. Tonight I needed a fast dinner as the teens were headed out to their weekly meetings.

What did I make with these lovely little can's of yum? Clam spaghetti of course. This is a family favorite. It's fast, easy, and not expensive.

CLAM SPAGHETTI

2 - 6.5 oz cans minced clams in clam juice
1/2 tsp salt
4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup olive oil
2 TBS parsley
1 pound spaghetti, linguini, angel hair or fettuccine  OR GF ramen noodles or bean threads

Cook pasta according to package directions. While waiting for the pasta, make the sauce.

In sauce pan put butter, oil and garlic. Let gently cook on low to med low heat until it starts to bubble and the fragrance of garlic is fantastic. Drain only ONE can of clams and put into sauce pan. Pour second can of clams with juice into sauce pan. Add salt and parsely. Bring to a gentle simmer and keep hot.
When pasta is done cooking, drain. Return to cooking pan. Pour all of the sauce over the pasta. Stir well with tongs or whatever you prefer to use.

Sometimes we garnish with finely shredded parmesan cheese. But not tonight.
We served this with a salad. So yummy and good comfort food.

November and December Challenge: Dec 1 - 7

OH MY HECK IT'S DECEMBER!!!!

I can not believe how fast this year has gone by! It has flown, and there are parts of it I wish we could spend more time in. We had a fabulous family reunion that was just amazing. We went camping, lots of fishing, learned how to cook fish very well. Learned how to heat smoke foods. New opportunities for adventure.. It has been fun, hard, exciting, and worth it.

What did you do with your turkey bones? As my hubby was carving the turkey, he put the bones into a crock-pot (WITHOUT being asked) then put in the baggie of veggies scraps from the freezer. Then he added a tablespoon of salt, covered the bones with water and set the crock pot on low. Again, I didn't ask him, I didn't let him know I was going to do this at any time. He just did it. I love my husband.

We ended up cooking this bone broth for 48 hours! It came out so yummy. So next we strained it and put it into jars to cool.
We are starting our December challenge with some different items. Now please remember, if you or your family do not eat something, do not buy it! Get something your family will eat. I use evaporated milk for making pumpkin pies, caramel and bread. We use peanut butter, tahini, and almond butter in our home. Chicken viennas my kids will eat out of the can after they are rinsed. I have also used a fork and mashed them on a plate (like a banana) then put them in our spaghetti sauce. For the ready to eat soups, grab the flavors you know your family will enjoy, my flavors are only suggestions.

#31: Evaporated Milk
#32: Nut Butter (peanut or almond or sesame whatever kind you can have)
#33: Can of Pineapple
#34: Can of Navy Beans
#35: Chicken Vienna Sausages
#36: Potato Soup (ready to eat)
#37: Can of sirloin burger with country vegetables soup

What is something you can think of to add to the list?

November and December Challenge: Week 4 Nov 23 - 30

So how are you doing so far? I am going to tell you right now. Brands only matter if you really taste a difference. I love Hunt's tomato products, they for some reason to me, taste better. I also like to have some Rotel on hand to make salsa. Do you make your own? What about spaghetti sauce? Woops off track, it was just what popped into my mind.

This week we are working on:

#23: Baked Potato Soup (ready to eat)
#24: Refried Beans
#25: Canned Chicken
#26: Canned Chicken (Yup, another can, because you will use it!)
#27: Chicken Broth
#28: Chili
#29: Black olives
#30: Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup (add water)

First month done! Whew!

It feels so good to have food in your larder, cupboard, pantry, etc. We are getting into that busy time: parties, dinners, shopping, more shopping, maybe buy something. Don't let life overwhelm you. Do your normal grocery shopping, but add an extra can  of whatever canned good you buy. The other day I was shopping, needed tomato paste, so I grabbed 2. I also needed some olives for the salad, so I grabbed 2 cans. And I grabbed 2 jars of spaghetti sauce, you see easy.

It's also that time of year for the creapy crud, colds, vomiting, diarrhea and body aches from fevers. Chicken noodle soup, or broth always helps. So make sure you grab atleast 1 can to have on hand. Sometimes Campbell's soups are in 4-packs and even 6-packs. When we had a Costco nearby us I bought it in a case. Now I can't eat it, but my kids will drink the broth and maybe slurp down a noodle or two when sick.

Why am I suggesting ready to eat soups? Well, for one, we are in winter, and when the power goes out, so does your well pump. You won't have water to add to your soup. This is why I suggest getting a few cans of ready to eat items. OH, and also, I love the Wal-mart brand of chicken breast in a can. It is yummy, GF and soy free, and ready to eat.

November and December Challenge: Week 3 Nov 15 - 22

Well I am not satisfied. I feel the list for canned goods is lacking. So many things you can put into your larder. What about stock or broth? This can come in a can or in a 1 liter (quart) mylar box. What about beans? What about tomatoes? What about? What about?

So many items to choose from, but I will repeat, if you will not eat it, DO NOT BUY IT. It is a waste of money to buy something you absolutely will never eat. I mean you could by one can, try it to see if you like it, and if you do then add more. That makes sense. But buying something you won't eat like chipotle chilies in adobo. If you don't like it, won't use it, don't waste you money buying it.

Let's take a look at this weeks list.

#15: Chunk Pineapple
#16: Fruit Cocktail
#17: Green beans (french? cut? wax?)
#18: Corn (niblets? creamed? regular?)
#19: Canned Pasta (chef boy-r-dee?)
#20: Can of Veg-All or can of vegetables
#21: Chicken Vienna Sausages (My kids love these! I gag from the smell of them)
#22: Sirloin burger with Vegetables soup (ready to eat)

Due to our corn and gluten allergies, I don't buy a lot of convenience foods, including canned soups or pastas. But I will can my own bone broth and vegetable stock. I will can meat, I can veg, I can fruit. That said, I do have family members that can eat some ready to eat soups. So I will get some.

Anyone remember Libby's Chicken Noodle Dinner?  It was my favorite ready to eat meal from a can. Guess what? I can't find it. It was delicious with fresh homemade biscuits.

Nalley's Chili company moved from Tacoma WA to somewhere else. BUT you can still go to the Nalley Valley in Tacoma and see the old factory. When they moved the recipes changed, and they added wheat flour, lower quality meat, and the flavor is different. So I make my own now and either pressure can it or freeze it.

November and December Challenge: Week 2 Nov 8 - 14

This one is a little early, but something has come up.

Last week's was hard for me. I looked and looked, but could not find a canned soup that would be safe fore me to eat. So I will have to make some soup and can it myself. Hopefully get that done this next week. These are only suggestions, again only buy what your family will eat.

BY #8: Canned Potatoes (usually these are called new or baby potatoes)
BY #9: Beef Tamales (we won't do this, but will do canned hamburger instead)
BY #10: Bean Soup
BY #11: Mandarin Oranges (yum, these are great in salad and smoothies)
BY #12: Chicken Vienna Sausages (kids like these, we have added them to spaghetti sauce mashed up)
BY #13: Salisbury Steak Soup (do not add water)
BY #14: Green Beans (cut? french? wax?)

I have used the canned potatoes in stew. I haven't had canned tamales in years (corn allergy). My dad LOVES bean soup from a can.

It's that time of year again...

So this is the time of year when baking items go on sale. Mostly nuts, sugar and flour, and sometimes if we get lucky spices.

I am not sure why there is such a baking boom in November and December, I mean we eat year around. But there is, and so we must stock up on what is on sale, when it is on sale.

What do you stock up on for baking during this time of year?
Flour
Sugar
Brown sugar
Chocolate Chips
nuts
cinnamon
nutmeg
cloves
allspice

Plus, I just picked up 100 pounds of gourds to can. Why? We use gourds (pumpkin, banana squash, sweet meats) to make a lot of things like pie, cake, muffins, cookies, pancakes, waffles, quick bread and yeast bread. We love pumpkin! I hope we have enough. We are down to our last few jars of pumpkin from last year so we are glad we found some.

October Challenge Week 1 : Oct 6 - 12

Now that fall has arrived. It's time for a different challenge.

This week's challenge is to use something from your garden. What did you have to mad dash harvest so the frost wouldn't ruin it? zucchini? onions? kale? berries?

We harvested the ripe strawberries, some kale and moved our tomato plant into the garage, under a grow light. I think it needs some heat too, so we might set up a small heat lamp as well.

What did you harvest and use? How did you use it or preserve it?

Part of the September Challenge

I am finally getting to my chicken broth. This is the broth I mentioned the other day. I am not canning it until tomorrow morning. BUT, I got the chicken backs baked! Our favorite seasonings on baked chicken are salt, pepper and paprika. Super easy, and super yummy!

Yes, I ate some of the cooked skins, delicious!

Then I through some mire poix (carrots, onions and celery), bay leaves, turmeric, garlic, salt and kale into my crock pots; today I used curly, dinosaur and purple kales.

I used 2 crock pots, that is why you get 2 pictures.

 

 Really pretty right? What next? I tossed 14 backs on to the pile of veg. 

This almost looks like some kind of fancy salad. Now I added water to cover everything.

My goodness, my mouth is watering just looking at that deliciousness. Now we have to wait about 24 hours cooking this on low. Sometime in the morning tomorrow or the next day I will strain the liquid, then can it in my pressure canner. My next batch will be smaller and will be for working on my recovery.

Now if I needed this because I was sick, or using this as a medicine during recovery, I would NOT can this. I would strain it, then put it in the fridge. The collagen (gelatin) and minerals in this broth are amazing for helping one to heal, and the canning process kinda kills them.

UPDATE: Ok, just pulled these out of the canner.

September Challenge Week 3 : Sept 15 - 21

Well, I barely made it! But I did it!

I was able to can pears, and dehydrate pears, plus I got raw honey!

Aren't they pretty? I got 38 pints of pears, plus 4 quarts of dried pears. And I got 4 quarts and half a pint of raw honey! The pear chips are perfect and I am half tempted to go get some more pears and dry another 5 trays.

This week I am working on chicken bone broth. When I picked up my honey, I also picked up 32 pounds of chicken backs. First I bake them with seasoning, then I will pull off any meat and freeze it for a casserole. Next the chicken backs, and some onion, carrots, garlic, celery, ACV and a little salt will go into either my crock pot or my pressure cooker (cp for 24 hours on low, pc 3 hours on pressure of 2). Then I will strain the broth, and pressure can it. Seems like it is harder than it really is.

What will you be canning, or dehydrating to add to your food storage this week?

September Challenge: Week 2 Sept 8 - 14

I did it, even with surprise travel, kids starting school, and doing weird things like shopping.
Week 1

36 jars of different beans AND chicken bone broth! Whew!

Now for this next week. I am hoping to can some butternut squash and pears or peaches.

How about you? What are you canning or drying this week?

What to do today? Grind up some flour!

So I went to make some rolls for the family, and discovered I was out of flour. No worries, I usually grind my own grains to make my flour. So today I combined white hard wheat, kamut and barley. What grain mill am I using today? My FGM, aka Family Grain Mill. I got it from Pleasant Hill Grains, and it comes with some very neat attachments, but right now, I am making flour, so using the normal head.

 Because kamut is such a large grain, I decided to crack everything first.

After this I dial the setting to finest, and grind away.

As you can see this grinder is not as loud as my kitchen tec, and so I let the little one help me.

 

Next I will be putting this through my sieve and then grinding the germ again. Anything too big will be tossed to the worm bin, because those sharp edges break my gluten strands when making bread.

Chicken Stock

It was so nice the other day, after putting in a bunch of hours, and my sick kid feeling better, to have a nice sit down dinner with the family. We roasted a chicken, made some mash and gravy. It was delicious. After dinner, we took all the bones, put them in the crock pot and made bone broth.

For this wonderful bone broth it contained bones from one chicken, plus any dripping in the pan, any skin not eaten, bay leaf, some chopped carrot, chopped onion, chopped celery and some garlic. Along with a tablespoon of salt and then covered it all with water. Cooked this on low for 48 hours because I accidentally forgot about it. This happens when you have a kiddo that had a nasty virus, and the night we had our chicken dinner was the first day she was feeling better, and I took a few days to recuperate from lack of sleep.

Sometime during the last 2 weeks, my teenager decided he wanted to learn to make bread. He did great! The first time he made garlic mash bread. The second time just potato bread. Both times, all the rolls and loaves of bread came out beautifully!

And yes, these are made from a gluten dough. Yes these were FABULOUS!!! The smells were divine! So each time he made bread, it was a 6 loaf recipe, so about 9 pounds of dough. Great Grandpa and I are so proud of him. Great Grandpa was a master baker, and I am so thankful he taught me his skills before passing. Although we didn't use Great Grandpa's recipe (100 pounds of flour, 20 pounds of this.... 10 pounds of that.. I don't have that big of a mixer ).  For my little mixer, this was great. Some day  I might have the mixer of my dreams, a 60-quart Hobart, but for now my little Bosch will have to do.

Crock Pot or Instant Pot Challenge WEEK #2

Today marks the first day of week 2, November 8 to 14th. I am so excited, making my first butternut squash soup with a butternut from my garden! It smells great, dinner in in about an hour. I am going to throw some rolls in the oven to have with it, because soups need something dipped in them. I got this recipe from Taste of Home. I got the recipe out of a TOH book, and didn't know the reviews, but it smells good, and the little guy might like a cinnamon soup. Here is a sad picture of it cooking.

 So here is the Butternut Squash Bisque.

So I pureed the soup. That's what you do with bisque. BUT let me tell you my changes first. I followed the recipe, but honestly, the cooking in OJ in oven is a waste. LEAVE out the OJ and brown sugar. The apples add plenty of sweetness. I also added 2 tablespoons of short grain rice to the crock pot after I took the picture above, to thicken it a little, and give it a better mouth feel. I also added half a pint of home canned cannellini beans that I drained and rinsed to add some protein to the soup.

 THIS SOUP WAS WAY TOO SWEET!!!  Trust me, leave out the OJ and brown sugar. Don't bother roasting the squash in the oven first. DO NOT use 1/2 cup butter, it was too much. I doubled this and still only used 1/2 cup butter for the onions and it was too much.

The rice helped with the mouth feel, and the beans kind of toned down the sweetness. I might make this again, with changes. BUT I don't know. The cousin thought it was a warm dessert soup.

November 11th: Veterans Day..While in the morning I somberly remembered my Grandfathers, and their brothers who have served. I also remember our Angel girl.. who fought a different war, a war against Medical Discrimination and Gene Discrimination. Although I think of her daily, I was a wreck most of the morning.
Today we used our instant pot to "bake" potatoes. Then the piper mashed them and made "his special recipe" for garlic mash. They were delicious!

November 12th: BONE BROTH.. I make bone broth almost weekly, this time I accidently made it with too much water. I am used to having bones from 2 chickens in the pot, not one.. So I messed up. Owell, I just won't have to dilute it before using it. I got 4 quarts total, normally I get 4 quarts from 2 birds.

For dinner tonight I pulled some chili from the freezer that I made in the instant pot last month. Threw that and some shredded cheddar in some tortillas and fried them up in butter, DELICIOUS.

November 14th: LAST day of week #2, and wow Guess what I did??? I messed up!!  I forgot to read both sides of my recipe card.. So I tripled my recipe for Chili but... ok, so I tripled the meat, but I have to multiply everything else by 6 !! WOOPS  So ya..

I love this chili recipe. It is so yummy. I got this recipe from my sister, and I doctored it up a little. Hands down our families favorite chili, and we eat a lot of chilis.

Can you smell this? OMGoodness my mouth is watering.. I almost said my watering mouth.. either way.. let me wipe the drool off my chin. We usually top this yumminess with some shredded cheddar. The little one likes a little sour cream too as he doesn't like spice (except buffalo wings).

BEST CHILI EVER 

2 tablespoons bacon grease or oil

1/2 cup water

1 pound ground meat (beef, chicken, turkey or pork, whatever you like)

1 cup chopped onion (I use 1 whole small or medium)

2 poblano peppers, roasted, peeled and seeded

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons cumin

4 teaspoons chili powder

1/2 teaspoon oregano

4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced (the more the merrier for us!)

2 - 15 ounce cans tomato sauce (or 1 - 29 ounce can)

2 - 16 ounce cans beans (pinto, cannellini, black, garbanzo, whatever you like)

2 cups bone broth, stock or water

Heat oil and water in a stockpot a minute. Gently cook meat with onion until no longer pink, and water has mostly boiled off. While meat is cooking, add prepared poblano and broth to blender, and blend to almost smooth. If you don't have a garlic press, then add to blender.  Add spices to meat and let warm for 2 minutes, then add the rest of ingredients. Bring to a boil, lower heat, partially cover pan and simmer 45 minutes. Makes about 3 to 4 quarts

CROCK POT: Follow directions above until you have warmed spices. While meat is cooking, place beans, tomato sauce, 2 prepared poblanos and broth mix, garlic, oregano if you didn't put in with meat. When meat is done, add to crock pot, give a stir. Cook on HIGH 3 to 4 hours, Low 4 to 6 hours. 

We also use this chili for making quesadillas: tortillas, chili and cheese.

We put chili on half the tortilla, top with cheese, fold empty side over the cheese and fry in butter on each side until golden brown.. My FAVORITE meal growing up.

It's dinner time!!!!!