yard

Last spring when we were getting ready for our Easter Egg Hunt

Hollyhocks are kinda like weeds to me right now, but I sure do like this color.

Hooee in the flower bed just before the peonies started to bloom.

Cole and Tag hanging out in the garden.  Tag would eat the nasty rolly-pollies.

One day I asked Sierra to pick a zucchini.  She texted me this picture and asked which one.

This bowl has lettuce, cilantro, poblano peppers, onion, and tomatillos in it.

Added to rice and garlic to make a tasty/hot green rice dish for dinner.

Cole was helping to bring in the squash harvest a few weeks ago.  Summer said, "Looks like the Grimm Reaper dropped some zucchini."

This was the overflowing cucumber & pumpkin patch.  I got A LOT of cucumbers this year, they just didn't ripen on the days that were convenient for me to can them into pickles.

The pepper and tomato plants.  We had lots & lots of peppers this year.

And finally the beets.  It is hard work to pickle beets.  Good thing nobody else at my house likes them because it was such hard work, I really don't want to share them.

Garbanzo Beans/Chick Peas

We are home from St. George.  A few more pictures to come, but for now...

Garbanzo Beans!

I pressure canned these lovely beans (or are they peas?) a few weeks ago.

It was a first for me to rehydrate beans and then pressure can them.

One thing that I was NOT prepared for was that they would expand, a lot!

I had to keep adding water and moving them into more pots.  Adding water.  And adding pots.

And the next thing you know, my kitchen was full of beans.

I was afraid I was going to have to fill the bathtub! jk

I only soaked about half of the 25 pound bag.

(I should have done a quarter of the bag.  Now I know...)

I soaked them over night, then the following day I pressure canned them.

It took 3 rounds of pressure canning.  I ran out of jars.

I did some in quarts and some in pints.

There were some leftover that didn't make it into the pressure canner--I wasn't about to go for 4 rounds of pressure canning.

And there was a jar that didn't seal.  So, we had plenty of extra garbanzo beans.

Rick used them to make hummus.

It was the best hummus I've ever tasted.

Probably because they were the best garbanzo beans I have ever tasted.

I'm so glad to have 38 quarts of garbanzo beans on the shelf.

You know, so that when the zombies come, we can enjoy a nice batch of homemade hummus.

Next up:  Pinto beans.

tomato...jam

It's time for a change...
Brandi was not impressed with my Pressure Cooking adventures and Summer said she is sick of looking at my blog and having jars of chicken looking back at her.
So, I will tell you about my latest kitchen adventure:

It kills me to wait all winter, spring, and summer long to get those yummy ripe tomatoes.

Oh how I love a fresh garden tomato.

I can make an entire meal of tomatoes for days and days.

So, when the threat of frost and winter sets in, it makes me sad to see all of those poor green tomatoes.

So, I heard of making jam out of green tomatoes.

Sign me up!!

I just googled "green tomato jam recipe" and I had dozens of choices.

This is what I did...

Made 4 cups of green tomato puree by throwing the prettiest green tomatoes in the blender.

Added 4 cups of blackberries and raspberries that were lurking in the freezer.

Add 4 cups of sugar.

Boil 10 minutes.

 

Add a 3 oz box of Jell-O.

And 1 tsp. lemon juice.

I had blackberry fusion on hand.  Not sure why, but it was a great combination.

Simmered for 20 minutes.

Put in small jars and put it in the freezer.

It was so darn yummy that I ran downstairs and found a box of berry blue Jell-O.

And I had plenty more green tomatoes.

And I threw in the last few raspberries and found about 2 cups of blueberries.

The second batch ended up much thicker than the first , not sure why.

So, by the end of the day I had used up all of the random berries lurking in the freezer, 

used the end of the tomato crop, 

and barely made a dent in my food storage sugar supply.

There were tons of recipes on the internet.

Some were freezer jam.  Some you could process and leave on the shelf.

Lots of options.

I totally recommend this cheaper version of berry jam.

And, if the tiny nut in the raspberries or blackberries bother you,

You can make this entirely with the tomatoes and the Jell-O.

If the tomato seeds bother you, you can strain them out.

But, if you leave them in, they just seem like seeds from the berries.

It's like camouflage. 

PS.  I went to a class last week sponsored by the "other" stake.

Topic:  Pressure Cooking.  (not canning like I did, cooking, as in, cooking dinner.  every night.  in the pressure cooker.  fast.)

Between the crock pot and the pressure cooker,  I don't know why I even have an oven.

Oh yeah. to bake bread so I can eat my yummy freezer jam.

pressure canning

For the past year or more I have been contemplating the purchase of a pressure canner.

I have mostly gotten the hang of canning things in a water bath.

But, I realized how much more I could grow and can if I could pressure cook.

So, after much price comparison shopping and reading reviews,

I purchased the silver pressure canner pictured below on the left.

I was quite intimidated by its massiveness and its buttons, knobs, and gauges.

But, it came upon conversation a few weeks ago with a friend of mind that we needed to learn how to use a pressure cooker.  

And, wouldn't you know it...chicken was on sale for $1.39/pound at Ream's with the purchase of 40 pounds.

Perfect.

 I'll spare you the disgusting details but this is what it looks like when you get the chicken into the bottles and ready to can.

Still quite intimidated by the knobs, buttons, and gauges, my friend and I called the neighbor across the street to come walk us through the process. 

I was afraid I would do something wrong and blow something up and end up in an ambulance on the way to the hospital like Cliff Bingham who lived next door to me growing up. 

They were pressure cooking beans, as I recall.  And I have been freaked out by the thought of pressure cooking ever since.

Here is the chicken just after coming out of the pressure canner 90 minutes later.

The quart bottles were on the bottom and you can see the white film on them from all of the minerals and whatnot that is in our water.

All but one of the bottles sealed.

It looks quite gross and my house smelled like chicken for a day or two.

But, it felt like a great accomplishment to can my own chicken.

So much so that I decided to make chili a few days later.

I was at Sam's Club and I found a big package of extra lean ground beef that was marked down for quick sale.

I used that along with the 3 bottles of canned tomatoes that were in my fridge.

I had canned tomatoes a few weeks ago and I had 3 bottles that didn't seal, so I used those.

I also used the peppers from my garden.

And chili powder from the pantry.

I thought that turned out to be a pretty cheap project for food storage.

All of the bottles that I canned did seal.  That was good.

I had one bottle worth that I didn't can, I just added more tomatoes and a can of beans from my food storage.  The kids thought it was the best chili they had ever tasted.

It turned out to be more like a chili concentrate where you add more cans of whatever you have to make a meal.  So, even thought it was only 8 pints.  

I'm sure we could count it as at least 8 meals depending on who is eating and how much we add to it.

And then...

we had some potatoes that needed to be used that had come with our vegetable co-op thingy.

I had the carrots, celery, onions, and stew meat on hand, as well, and the next thing you know...we have lots and lots and lots of vegetable beef stew on the storage room shelves.  

I'm pretty happy about that because these are things that Cole will eat and he is definitely the picky eater at this house.

I was worried that my investment in a pressure canner might have been pretty steep. 

But, I can see now how easy (relatively speaking) it is to use a pressure canner.

And I love to grow things in my garden all summer and see them lined up on my shelves all winter long.

As this growing season is winding down (and I failed miserably as a gardener this year), I find myself already planning all of the things I want to grow...and can...for next year.

Calculating the harvest

well, the canning season is over. Happy and Sad. The problem with canning is that those darn fruits and vegetables just ripen on their own time and demand to be bottled according to their own schedule with no regard to my schedule.

I thought that I would list all of the things that I canned this year and last. I think it will help me to see how fast we are using up these things and help me decide in the spring what I should be planting.

(Not that the rest of the world even cares about what I planted or harvested, but if I write my own list and put it in a special place where I will always remember it, then I will not find it until Cole graduates from high school. So, I will record it here and will always remember where to find my list...)

2008

Peach Jam 8 pints

strawberry Jam 8 pints

Salsa Verde 24 pints

Tomatoes 5 quarts (and lots of frozen tomatoes)

Jalapeno 4 pints

mustard relish 14 pints

Zucchini relish 8 pints

Jalapeno jelly 10 pints

Tomato Juice 4 quarts

Apricot Nectar 7 quarts

2009

Currant Jelly 3 pints

Grape Jelly 1 pint

Chokecherry Jelly 12 pints

Peach Cranberry conserve 7 pints

Pepper Jelly 3 pints

BBQ sauce 8 pints

Enchalada sauce 7 pints

Salsa (USU version) 4 pints

Salsa (zesty version) 16 pints

Chili sauce 9 pints

Peach Pie filling 10 quarts

Peaches 5 quarts

Honey Spiced Peaches 6 quarts

Plum jelly (syrup) 6 pints

Plus, during the summer of 2009 I filled the top of the freezer with stawberry, raspberry, and mixed berry freezer jam because I prefer eating freezer jam. But, I like to have freezer jam and jam on the shelf because you never know when the power will be out for an extended period of time and you will be forced to eat all of the freezer jam in one week. And then you can sit back and relax because you still have jam on the shelf that won't go bad.

One thing I noticed for both years... NOT ENOUGH HOT PEPPERS!!

Do not plant those nasty pear tomatoes.

Let the cherry tomatoes grow from seed in the area next to the drive-way. They are so yummy.

Do not let more than 5 tomatillo plants grow. They are really just weeds.

Next year...plant carrots and beets in the "tomato row". That has good soil without rocks and will allow the roots to grow nicely.

Do not plant more than 1 zucchini plant. Even if they come in a 3 pack.

Plant more pumpkins.

Plant more indian corn along the back fence.

And last of all pray that the apricots freeze again next spring.

Any other suggestions?

Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

This came in the mail yesterday. Sorry if you need to reach me. I'm busy in the kitchen.

I'm also out of canning jars. again.

The recipe of the day today is: Honey Spiced Peaches. It smells so good....

Have you ever picked chokecherries?

well, I have. Summer, Sierra and I picked a bucket of chokecherries over Labor Day. Summer held the bucket. I reached up and pulled down the branches and picked the berries. Sierra's job was just to tell us stories to make us laugh so that we would drop half of the chokecherries we picked. It was a wild tree just off the side of the road in Carbon County (kind of vague-- I can't let my secrets out). People kept driving by on 4 wheelers and asking us what we were doing. Nice. It took us about 3 hours to pick half a bucket of chokecherries. OK. More like 1 hour, but it felt like 3. Chokecherries are about the size of BB's. And they are about 90% seed/pit. So, there is not a lot of fruit. at all.

So, what did I do with my chokecherries?

I washed them and picked out the yucky ones. That left about 1/2 of an ice cream bucket full of fruit. Seriously.

Then I got out my vintage juicer that I acquired this spring. It was still in the box and it had a Grand Central price tag on it. I couldn't read the price. but I remember the good old days when Arctic Circle and Grand Central were the only 2 businesses on that entire block on 1200 South in Orem.

It took about 1 hour to juice the chokecherries. I got 3 cups of juice. Barely.

Then I took the juice and added about 25 lbs. of sugar and some pectin and stirred and stirred and stirred. I also added a little bit of apple/raspberry juice.

In the beginning I thought I might give these to neighbors for Christmas, or bake a loaf of bread and give it to my friends and neighbors for their birthdays. But, after having put so much sweat and blood into these 7 little jars of sugary goodness I feel a little bit like the Little Red Hen. I don't want to share with anyone. I picked every single one of those tiny chokecherries with my own hands. I am going to enjoy every single spoonful of chokecherry jelly all by myself. OK. Not really. I will share. But, I'm still upset that they didn't have a canning competition at the stake Harvest Fair last week. Because I am certain my chokecherry jelly would have one first place.

spending time in the kitchen

Cole loves to cook. I have to do most of my cooking/baking while he is asleep or I must be prepared to let him "help". Last night while I was making dinner, Cole helped me make a salad. He is not allowed to use sharp knives--only soft knives (aka butter knives). I had to sacrifice a couple of small tomatoes. They were so smashed they didn't make it to the salad. I peeled a cucumber and let him slice it with his "soft knife" for the salad. Needless to say, we had some chunky cucumbers in our salad. Oh well. When we wasn't looking I threw away his tomotoes and dumped in a bunch of cherry tomatoes to the salad. He did also try to chop the lettuce with his soft knife, but he gave up after a few minutes. He also got a small cut on his finger and the tomato juice was burning. it was OK, once I found a barbie band-aid.

Anyway, we have been doing a lot of canning and baking lately. Summer is getting to be quite a pro at the zucchini bread. If I haven't tried to give you a loaf and you live within walking distance, let me know and I'll send one of the kids to your house next time we bake!! I have been trying to make some for our new neighbors and they are NEVER home.

Last week I made about 5 gallons of fresh salsa and 22 pints of bottled salsa. I used 2 different recipes so we'll see which one turns out the best.

Then I inherited five 5 gallon buckets of peaches. We've had peaches on everything lately. Cole thinks that all meals now are to include a peach smoothie. Yesterday I canned 10 quarts of peach pie filling. I figure that when we are in swine flu quarantine this winter, I'm going to eating a lot of peach pie and peach cobbler. I'm pretty tired of peaches. I might bottle as much as I can for how many quart bottles I have and then the rest I will just freeze so Cole can have peach smoothies all winter.

Next up is jalapeno jelly.

And the girls are telling me that there are tons of ripe tomatoes. I wish I could save them just like they are on the vines until some time in about February.

Oh. I have one other canning story, but the pictures are on my camera so I will wait and post about it later.

I Heart Canning

I have been obsessed lately. Not with aprons this time--but with canning while wearing an apron. See, I knew that those 45 aprons in the closer would be good for something. We have lived in our house for about 18 months which means that we have been here just long enough to experience a growing season where could actually plant a garden. My grandparents were yard & garden people and so were mom and dad. My mom is still a yard Nazi. And come to think of it, so are my brother and sister. It must be in the genes.
I was so excited to plant my flowers and veggies this past spring and it has been so fun to see everything grow over the summer and to harvest it the past few weeks. My first venture into canning was a few years ago. I started with Jalapeno jelly while in Mississippi. My friend, Kallie, must have grown about 400 pepper plants. She brought the left over harvest to church one day and I ended up with about 30 pounds of peppers. I can't tell you how much I love jalapeno jelly AND cream cheese and crackers.
Next on the canning list was freezer jam. EASY. and YUMMY. My favorite is raspberry, but the kids like strawberry and Rick likes peach. Too bad nobody likes apricot since I do happen to have a tree in the back yard :(
Here are some things that I planted in the garden this year: crookneck squash, zucchini, all sorts of peppers, tomatillos (12 plants) tomatoes (24 plants), spaghetti squash, butternut squash, pumpkins and birdhouse gourds.
The first thing that I canned was zucchini relish. Rick is hoping that there is NOT a natural disaster which will require him to survive on this canned item. I happened to think it was de-lish. Next, jalapenos, jalapeno jelly, tomatillo salsa (salsa verde), bottled tomatoes, bottled tomatillos, marinara sauce, and peaches.
The only problem was that I kept running out of canning jars. Apparently I wasn't the only one! There was an article in the Provo Daily Herald yesterday that said that the Ball canning company has seen a 30% increase in sales this canning season. I guess. There is not a canning jar to be found in this valley. I know because I have looked. I have even checked the second hand stores. My SIL is keeping her eye out down in Las Vegas. You can read about the canning jar shortage here

So, if you have some empty canning jars on your shelf, send them my way, I still need to do a couple of batches of salsa and relish.  Or you can just hang onto them until someone comes along and pays the big bucks for them.  In the meantime, I am heading back to the kitchen.

Happy canning.