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October 5th, 2008 - Beans and rice
Thanks to a number of reasons, Eric and I have spent the past two weeks eating a lot of beans and rice (sometimes together, sometimes not). I’d like to give credit to some of the influences:
The blog Lentils and Rice is not a direct influence but I’ve been reading for a couple months now and it’s nagged me to think about more legumes and rice. Let’s say it watered the seed (I can’t say planted since I’ve long known beans and rice are good to eat, hence the rice in the freezer I had Eric get 6 weeks ago that we didn’t eat right away).
L&R recently pointed me to Simply Living Smart which I finally looked at Friday (it’s mainly about stocking up and storing foods long term, but also has tips for eating that food!). After registering (free and simple), I was able to view the section on beans. One tip was to add beans to tuna, chicken, or ham salad. Ding ding ding! Last week, I pulled ham out of the freezer for ham salad. (The first salad I made with light mayo. I’m not doing that again!) With the second pressure cooker of beans, I threw in the last of last year’s scarlet runner beans. Eric didn’t care for the texture (they may have been undercooked, as they were actually larger than the kidney beans, and they never split like the kidneys did), so picked them all out. They have dark purple skins (and white interiors), so are perfect for ham salad. I added them in. And, as Anitra promised, you wouldn’t know they were there! The purple skins (I chopped them with the ham in the mini chopper or you could puree them) just look like bits of well cooked ham skin. There’s no taste at all. And they made the ham salad with mayo worth about the same calories as the ham salad with light mayo! Part of that is that their creaminess meant I could put in less mayo (about twice the ham and I used the same amount of mayo).
Another piece of it is that beans and rice both store well. We want to build up our stored foods a bit more–we generally don’t keep a whole lot of extra food around. More than the average family perhaps, but not a ton. If the power goes out, for instance, or the flooding had been worse, it would be nice to know we had plenty of good food for a few weeks. Plus, the more food we buy now, the less it will cost since prices seem to just be going up (if only we’d bought more a year ago, or the year before!).
And finally, Eric was looking for something with a lot of protein and few calories. Beans fit the bill nicely!
I’ve had less beans than he but more rice I think. I’ve made Spanish rice twice. Tonight, Maggie adores it so much that I think she’s eaten at least half of what I made–meaning I won’t have the leftovers I was hoping for! (And she’s still eating….) I’ve often thought I’d like Spanish rice, but I just never made it. Since I was pulling rice out to go with the beans, it came to mind and I said “I’m going to do it!” The first time was a little funny: I had only ONE ripe tomato! (So I used a couple not quite ripe ones.) It was during the cool weather last week when things just slowed down in the garden. Tonight, I had plenty, all from the CSA since mine are still slow to ripen.
But we’re nearly out of rice, so Eric will need to head back to the Red Radish–or perhaps to the store here in town–to pick up some more and make a bulk order. Oh, and I forgot something important: It’s all brown rice. No non-nutritious white rice for us! This is also great as I don’t think Eric’s ever had brown rice before. Far as I can tell, it tastes the same, but I was never much into rice so I’m not sure.
October 4th, 2008 - Getting colder
Fall is here and I’ve started dismantling the garden. Last night, we had to cover up the tomatoes, peppers, and ground cherries for a threat of frost. If we got some, it was very, very light. Our CSA farm got a hard frost however so there will be no more tomatoes, peppers, etc.
Maggie and I picked all the herbs–thyme, mint, sage, and rosemary. They are all hanging to dry in paper bags. Today, I brought in some cilantro (um, not cilantro, the seeds from it whose name I can’t recall right now).
Today we–I mean Eric dug up the potatoes and carrots. I just rubbed the dirt off. I collected dry(ing) beans and put them in the garage where the onions used to be to finish off. It’s been so damp lately, I don’t think they can completely dry on the vines, but some were crunchy to my surprise. The weather’s to be warmer (down to the 40s at night) for the next 5 days at least, so I hope the rest of the beans hurry up and dry as well.
I also saved some wildflower and sunflower seeds for next year. Plan to remove the wildflower gardens. I have some wildflower mix I bought last year to use, but it will also be fun to toss in the seeds that have already been growing in my yard.
Tomorrow, I intend to plant garlic.
October 2nd, 2008 - My new pressure canner
While on vacation, I bought a pressure canner, Presto 23 quart. Coolest thing: It’s made here in WI! Other cool things:
- Can be used for water bath canning, meaning I can get rid of my old one
- Works well on glass stove tops; others are too large (including most water bath ones, like the one I had)
- Can put 2 layers of pints or 3? of half pints–as the site says, 7 qts, 20 pints, 24 half pints
- For small jars, they can’t fall through the wire rack, because it’s not wire, it’s a rack–a mostly solid piece of metal with large holes in it. I would like to have another one for stacking jars, but they say it’s not necessary. I’d have to order it and am not sure I want to pay for shipping for it. Maybe if I need other items in the future I’ll get them all at once.
- It’s also a pressure cooker
I’ve used it for water canning the grapes, peppers, pickles, etc. I’ve pressure cooked beans twice–that’s worked so slickly that we’re thinking about getting a smaller one, since I don’t actually make more than a few cups of beans at a time. I’m sure it would go faster if pressure didn’t have to build in all 23 quarts. In addition, it just barely fits in the sink and is difficult to clean since it’s so large. A smaller cooker would be much handier for beans. Even with the large one, they are done in about 45 minutes, enough time to cook them after getting home from work (or up from naps) in time for dinner. And the same amount of time brown rice takes in the steam cooker. They complement each other nicely. And about the same time to make and cook cornbread in the toaster oven. (You can guess what our dinners have been this week.)
I was rather nervous the first time pressure cooking. I didn’t do it until Eric and I were both home. I watched it like a hawk and wouldn’t let Maggie stay in the kitchen after pressure was hit until it came off the burner. I believe I have actually used a pressure cooker before; I made beans and cornbread quite often down in Kentucky and pressure cooking seems vaguely familiar. The second time, I was much less nervous, and left the kitchen except for checking on it. And Eric wasn’t home. It was a BREEZE! Maggie was quite helpful, too, as she noticed the pressure regulator bopping around when the 15# pressure was hit and came and let me know. She’s going to be a cook one day (and a vet, don’t forget).
If you’ve considered buying a pressure cooker and have things you’d cook in it, I strongly rec’d getting it. It’s not scary at all! And if you can, get a large one and give away your old water bath canner.
October 2nd, 2008 - Grape jelly
I called The Farm Phone and talked about my grape jelly recipe, so I have to post the recipe so Geek Farm Life can link to it from their grape jelly podcast:
Pure Grape Jelly from Joy of Cooking: All About Canning
Use Eastern Concord, Muscadine, or Scuppermong grapes. (Elsehwere, I’ve seen the comment “use high pectin grapes.” Including the stems in the juicing will add to the pectin.) Make juice. Let sediment settle for 24 hours. Pour off juice, leaving sediment behind, straining through a jelly bag to eliminate tartrate crystals.
Use 1 cup sugar for each cup juice.
Boil rapidly, stirring frequently, to the jelling point. Pour into hot sterilized jars leaving 1/4″ headspace. Process in boiling water canner for 5 minutes. [Read directions in a canning book for more info about making jelly in general.]
The recipe is also good for wild berries, particularly blackberries, boysenberries, loganberries, marion berries, and olallieberries (whatever those are!), using 3/4c sugar per cup of juice.
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Geek Farm Life is one of my favorite podcasts, as I’ve written before.
September 30th, 2008 - Feeling a little more secure
I’ve long wish we’d had even a modest collection of emergency supplies. We don’t even have a first aid kit (not that we don’t have first aid items, but they are in various cabinets and drawers and not in one container, much less in a place we can grab and go). That I read a lot of post-apocalypse novels is, yes, part of that wish. What’s happening to the economy is another part. That we live in tornado and flood country another.
So we’re doing something about it. This weekend, I bought:
- a 170-item first aid kit
- magnesium fire starters (these are just so cool I can’t wait to try one out!)
- mylar blankets
- emergency candles
- dry sack (waterproof bag)
- waterproof matches
- a few other things I can’t recall
We also put Eric’s old pair of glasses in with this stuff, a package of baby wipes, a Gerber utility knife (like a Swiss Army knife only a different brand that Eric swears by), and a few toiletries. Over the next few months, we’ll gather at least a 3-day supply of daily medications. I’d also like to get a few more solar-powered items, especially another flashlight or a lantern. And water (although my canned juices should count for some of that). Should also have some extra clothes–but since we have so few (compared to the typical American) that one’s tougher. We literally wear all of our clothes every week (except Maggie–she has plenty of extras since I buy so far in advance). Although, with our weight loss, I might set aside a few things we’ve grown out of just to have something there (once we get to that point, that is).
I feel just a little more safe and secure with these few items. I spent only about $100 for the items we didn’t already have. It’s worth it!
September 30th, 2008 - Still on the bike
Despite rather cool weather this week, I’m still biking! I wouldn’t have been able to this morning except that over the weekend I bought a balaclava that fits under my helmet. I’m so excited because it could mean an extra month of biking (two weeks each spring and fall), maybe even more. I usually quit due to the cold. I can bundle up the rest of my body, but not under my helmet. Except now I can.
It was $25, so not cheap. But I may wear it throughout the winter as well. It’s weatherproof, so cuts wind AND water. It has a face portion, with a cutout under the nose and small holes around the mouth area. It will probably work better than scarves do. We’ll have to see.
Now I just need to get new boots for walking all winter. I realized I needed new ones last winter, but forgot about it all summer. If only I’d remembered in the spring and looked for clearance sales.
September 26th, 2008 - Great galloping grapes
I took a 6 day vacation and should have written a bunch in here whilst doing so (it was at home). Instead, I didn’t and felt like I had all sorts of things to share that I never got to so I procrastinated more and more. ::sigh:: Sorry for my absence. Let’s get back on track with grapes!
Last Sunday, I picked something over a bushel of grapes at Moes. She had grape vines on the house she bought and can’t keep up with them. I also got some a few years back but not last year. I should just go ahead and email her each fall. Whenever I run into her, she always welcomes me over! It took only about an hour–not bad at all! I had two bushel baskets about half full. Wish I’d weighed them, but forgot. I believe these are Concord grapes. They aren’t sweet enough to eat plain (except the occasional lucky one) and have seeds. Maggie liked them, however!
My grape jelly recipes said that including the stems and green grapes was a good idea for extra pectin, so my first batch in the steam juicer just was dumped in. I them realized that it would be a LOT of batches and started stripping grapes off the stems. Not too carefully, however, as I didn’t care that much, just wanted to fit more in the juicer. (It was over 23 quarts of grapes, as I nearly filled the pressure canner with grapes waiting for the juicer.) Ended up with three batches in there. Each took at least 30 minutes till steam came out, then 60 minutes of juicing.
Put it all in the fridge to settle overnight. Monday, I made grape jelly. I may have scorched it as I thought the three tests would appear in a row, and I never got to the sheeting stage, so I never even tried the “in the freezer to see if you can run your finger through it” stage. I finally gave up and decided to have grape syrup. After filling the jars, I discovered that the bit left in the pan had jelled in those few minutes of putting jars in the canner! Aaaaack and aaaargh. I’d wasted quite a bit of time that wasn’t necessary. Now I know to go with “when it boils check it in the freezer.” It’s a bit sticky and a little scorched flavor, but livable. I have 6 half-pints of jelly.
I bought a jelly bag for straining the juice since I always made quite a mess with cheesecloth. The jelly juice had no sediment to speak of.
Tuesday, I stayed home and canned juice. The juice–just a tiny bit of sediment. I hope it really did all get out, because the juice I froze before always had crystals and sediment in the bottom (I didn’t know about straining to prevent that.) This time, I added sugar right away. In the past, I’d add it when drinking it, and you always get sugar at the bottom of the glass, which I don’t like. The recipe suggested 1-2 cups per gallon or to taste. I added about 2.5 cups. It’s still on the tart side, just like grape juice should be. (Actually, I had to ask Eric that question. I don’t recall the last time I had commercial grape juice.) I made 9 quarts of sweetened juice along with 3 more quarts unsweetened to make jelly again later. Counting the jelly juice from Monday, I got about 14.5 quarts of juice from the one hour and one+ bushel! Not sure why, but the 1/4″ headspace turned into about an inch, although there was no loss of juice to the canning water. Maybe the jot juice takes up more room than room-temp juice?
There was just a bit of unsweetened grape juice that didn’t fit in the jars, so I added a bit of sugar and Maggie and I drank it Tuesday for a snack. It can definitely be cut with water! Which means I actually have more than 9 quarts of sweetened juice to drink. (I found the same thing the last time I juiced it. It’s great to have it concentrated for preserving because it takes less space than if it were full strength.)
I’m very tempted to go get another bushel of grapes tonight or tomorrow, but I really need to concentrate on taking care of other things I already have to around the house like hot peppers, carrots, potatoes (the later two still need to be dug out of the garden, for instance!).
Grape juice: Heat to 190F. Add 1-2 cups of sugar per gallon of juice, or to taste. Fill hot jars to 1/4″ headspace. Boiling water canner for 15 min, quarts or pints. (Every canning book.)
Grape jelly: 1 c sugar to 1 c juice. Prep and cook as for any jelly, boiling rapidly to the jelling point. 1/4″ headspace, boiling water canner 5 minutes, 1/2-pints. (Joy of Cooking: All About Canning)
September 10th, 2008 - Revising my thoughts on jam
I recently realized that a tablespoon of jam will cover as much bread as a tablespoon of butter…and has about half the calories! I think I’m going to make some small batches of jam, starting this weekend. Or maybe I’ll work on the fresh produce this weekend, since I have some jam in the fridge and the pantry and save jam making for when the garden is done. But still, I’m getting inspired and delighted by jam again!
Of course, this means you can’t butter the toast THEN put jam on. It’s one or the other. And half a tablespoon of jam appears to be the perfect amount for my sourdough bread (which is higher than my whole wheat bread, so one slice is much larger). I thought it wouldn’t be nearly enough to taste as good as butter but it is! And saves me about 40 calories on breakfast.
One of the jams in the fridge I made last fall. It was supposed to be apple syrup, made from apple cider. But I cooked it just a tad too long and it appeared to have turned to jelly. All winter, I kept thinking that I should try microwaving it and see if it would soften enough for ice cream…but I never did. So I finally pulled it out yesterday and realized it was indeed the perfect consistency of jelly. And it tastes really quite yummy! (Cooked down apple juice can replace pectin in many jam/jelly recipes, so it makes sense that I ended up with jelly instead of syrup.) Perhaps I shall have to make more this fall–I didn’t use any sugar at all so it’s healthier than other jams, but it also made very, very little. I don’t recall how much cider I started with but I think it was 2 cups. There’s less than half a cup (maybe even only 1/4 cup) of jelly.
September 8th, 2008 - 14 quarts of dill pickles
Saturday, I bought about 16# of pickler cucumbers (the little ones) for $10 and made 14 quarts of dill pickles, with the addition of the 3 big cukes from the farmer. Somehow, I had the idea that 8# = 8 quarts but that’s not in the recipe (at least not as I put it in the blog) so I’m not sure where that number came from. Anyway, I wanted 14 quarts–or two batches of the canner–so I figured 15 pounds would be good. The seller had baskets of cukes for $5 each–and each was more than 8#. It was a LOT of cucumbers. But it wasn’t too difficult to process them since pickles are oh so terribly easy.
At the tail end, when I realized I would not quite fill the last jars, I remember the 3 huge cukes from the farmer, so I put them in the last 3 jars. Turns out they are squishier (since they were halved then quartered) and made the jars easier to pack than when I just had the picklers. May use a mix of sizes for all batches next time.
Eric thought the pickle from the fridge (extra cukes put in leftover brine last week) was too salty. We’ll have to see how they come out after a few weeks in the jars in the basement. I love the saltiness myself!
I also make 7 half-pints of mild salsa, using the Ball Canning Traditional Salsa recipe. I replaced all the hot peppers with green and used 1/2 the hot sauce (2 drops instead of 4) and it was just barely not too hot for me. Unfortunately, Maggie and I used up the last bits of tortilla chips to have the salsa for lunch and I forgot to buy more. (Saved a cup or so of salsa in the fridge and I want to eat it!) Will make up a hot batch for Eric to try one evening this week. It was a less complicated recipe than the one I’ve made before, and from a canning company so no worries about whether or not it’s appropriate to can. Did a lot of research online to find out that it’s acceptable to replace the hot peppers in a recipe with green peppers as long as the proportions remain the same. ::whew:: ALL the recipes I was finding had hot peppers in them, and I’m pretty much a mild salsa person. Well, not all the recipes. Ball’s mild one called for buying the company’s salsa mix from the store. I wasn’t interested in doing that.
Also tried yet another tomato sauce Sunday. Once again, way too acidic. Dumped it, along with last week’s that I’d saved, in the compost. I’m done with tomato sauces. Maybe…got another canning book from the library and it has a good sounding sauce in it.
I always say I don’t like to cook, but I’ve been thinking maybe I can’t say that anymore. I certainly do a lot of cooking to preserve the harvest!
September 5th, 2008 - Found a use for cauliflower
I mentioned that when making the pickles, I put some cauliflower and carrots into the leftover brine. I’ve already enjoyed the ones I put in the Zing Dill Beans and they tasted just like the dill beans do, except with a different texture. In other words, lovely since I adore the dill beans. For lunch today, I’m eating the ones I put in with the dill pickle brine.
The cauliflower is awesome! The carrot I just tried doesn’t work so well. Maybe it needs to sit longer since it’s a harder vegetable. Not sure. Will try again in another few days. I have another head of cauliflower in the fridge that will be cut up tonight and brined. I’m so delighted as it just wasn’t tasty, even with dip, this summer.
I had been wondering if any nutrition was lost by pickling. Given that fermentation is a far longer tradition than canning or freezing is, I suspected it would be fine. But I had to know. Surprisingly, it’s rather difficult to find anything about this. I ended up at Nutrition Data and compared 100 grams of Pickles, cucumber, dill or kosher dill to 100 grams of Cucumber, with peel, raw. Their numbers are pretty close, although the pickles have more calcium (why?), Vitamin A (?), Vitamin K, and sodium (obviously). The cukes have more Vitamin C and a bit more of some of the B vitamins.
Now I just need to see if anyone advises against canning dill pickles other than cucumbers and beans. I’ve never actually seen a recipe for pickled cauliflower or carrots, but I have for a lot of other veggies (green tomatoes, onions, asparagus, corn, and don’t forget watermelon rind!). They all seem to use 10 minutes processing time, so I feel pretty comfortable using that with cauliflower and carrots. Especially since I will not be making an entire jar of either one; they’d just be additions to jars of beans or cukes.
I’m also having an actual dill pickle with lunch. I tried one this morning and it transported me back to childhood, just like tasting the dill bean did the other day. I am so thrilled about this I hope to buy a few pounds of cukes at the market tomorrow and will be planting my own next spring! (My lemon cucumbers didn’t germinate this year, and I didn’t mind at first since I only eat a few on salads anyway.) I didn’t realize how pickles are far easier than everything else I’ve tried canning since the cooking is just of the brine and that’s really simple!
September 4th, 2008 - I’ve been lying about my pesto
I just learned that I don’t make pesto, I make pistou. What’s the difference? Pistou doesn’t have nuts, and sure enough, I never put nuts in my pesto…I mean my pistou.
I’ve already made quite a few batches of pistou this year, even though I’ve not mentioned it much. I’ve made a few changes since last summer:
- After great frustration with the blender, I switched to the stick blender. Woohoo! It works so much better I can easily make a double batch without problems and tons faster than with the blender. I credit Eric with the idea; he credits me.
- I’m freezing it in small jars instead of cubes. The problem with cubes is that it was never quite the right amount. I always wanted a little more or a little less, but I was stuck with whatever cubes I pulled out. They also got quite icy by the end of the year. With the jars, I can pull out a jar at the beginning of each month (or so), let it defrost in the fridge, and then use just however much pesto I want each time we have pasta (or other delights with pesto. Ooops, I mean pistou!) I bought a case of 4-oz (1/2 cup) jars and have used them all up, plus two taller “jelly” jars I had downstairs. I’ve considered doing this before, but had read that you should only use jars specially made for freezing. None of the jars sold in stores every mentioned freezing so I avoided them. A few weeks ago, I looked up Ball’s website and discovered a list of which of their jars were safe for freezing (PDF). I also bought a case of the wide mouth Half Pints (why don’t they call them 1-cup?) which I think will be good for herbs.
- As mentioned, I’m making smaller batches instead of a great big one that takes 3 hours to process. It’s been much easier and I’ve done it three times already. I’d have done a fourth last night, but I was out of cheese. Tomorrow’s will be my last batch as I’ll have more than one jar a month ready. I still have plenty of basil outside but I need to resist the urge to make too much. I still have some from last year after all!
September 4th, 2008 - Strawberry preserving
We don’t eat much jam/jelly/preserves, so I’ve only once made jam and twice made apple butter. I gave away most of the jam and half the apple butter is still in the freezer. I’ve been intentionally making pb & j sandwiches just to use up the four partial jars of jam in the fridge (I threw out one that was mostly crystallized).
However, I’ve just been inspired to make some strawberry preserves by My Daily Dollars. First, she describes her process, with lots of helpful tips then she wrote about other ways to use jams to save money. I particularly like the ice cream topping idea (not that we are eating much homemade ice cream this summer–but next summer I will again!). It would also be good on waffles, although I do just love them with butter and cheese.
September 3rd, 2008 - Massage #2
Yesterday, I had another massage. That means I’ve lost the first 10 pounds! I’m afraid the second ten will go a lot slower. Those first few pounds went quickly, as often happens. It’s the longer time that they say is more difficult. I’ve had virtually no problem keeping my calories low. With the change to eating less bread and more of my fresh veggies, it’s actually be difficult to hit the minimum recommended (1200 for women) some days. I know this will get a LOT more difficult as the garden fades in the next month. I’m used to eating a couple slices of bread for two meals a day and each slice is 100 calories on it’s own. Well, at least I’ll have some processed foods to eat.
That sounds weird. What I mean is food *I* have processed by drying or canning!
So, the second massage was last night. Wasn’t quite as great as the first time, and I didn’t realize till I got home that one knot was still there. I had started to tell her about it beforehand, but got sidetracked and forgot about it. Still overall a good one. And I slept oh so soundly last night! (So did Maggie. When I got her up for the 8:30pm potty, a time at which she is usually wide awake already, she was so sleepy she couldn’t find the toilet paper then she didn’t know what to do with it once she got some. Poor girl! But that’s far better than changing her sheets and giving her bath because she peed through her training pants!) I think next time I’ll just get a 30-minute massage, which is just the back, as that’s where I appreciate it the most.
I’ve also decided that when we are financially independent, I’m going to get a massage every single week! At today’s prices, figuring a 30-minute massage 3x a month and a full body the 4th, we’re talking $1680/year (or $2680 for the full one every week, not counting any discounts or vacations). I got the idea from Millionaire Mommy Next Door, the lady who started the Abundance Project. She has a weekly standing appointment. I started dreaming of it after reading that post. I can just imagine having the time and money for such an indulgence! Eric said his choice if we were financially independent would be a personal trainer 4x/week. That’s a good one, too, and I could certainly use a professional trainer to help with my sciatica/exercise issues. But, ::sigh::, it would take more than simply being financially independent, as those two things would add quite a bit to our annual costs (in the vicinity of $10,000 for that many training sessions!).
But, if I could teach my online course a second time each year, that would almost cover massages and one training appointment a week….
September 2nd, 2008 - About apples
Somehow, in two or three years of getting apples from a local orchard, I have managed to not once write up my apple buying. All I’ve managed to do is write making and drinking apple cider, even calling the orchard by the wrong name at least once!
So here’s a start, as I haven’t actually bought them this year. I was hoping to find out how many I bought last year, as it was just about the right amount.
Orchard: Spranger’s Orchard. I like to get Fireside, Spartan, and Mollie’s. They are open 9-6 7 days a week. It’s a few miles east of my church, so I go Sunday after the service. (I always wonder if I can go beforehand, but nope.) the first apples are available mid-August, but I never remember until September. I hope I remember sooner next year, as I’d love to start eating fresh apples in August! I’ve almost run out of applesauce–would have but I wasn’t sure my 3 pints would last long enough so I haven’t eaten any plain, plus I stopped making fruit bread due to other things to eat. (Oh, and as usual, I horded the apple cider and we still have 2 quarts left. I should go ahead and drink one this week!)
I plan to get apples this Sunday, which means it’ll soon be time to make sauce and cider again! woohoo!
August 31st, 2008 - Some more canning
Doing some more canning on this long weekend. Yesterday, I picked up 2# of green beans at the farmer’s market–this time from the known organic farmer. They were $1.50/# and in far better shape than the beans I bought last week. The only problem? I should have written down how many I wanted before I went. I couldn’t remember and actually wanted about 4#, in order to make a fully kettle (7 pints) worth. Oh well. I also planned to make dill pickles, so I figured I’d do them at the same time to fill up the kettle.
After the market, we went to St. Vinnie’s to see if I could buy more pint jars–I usually use at least 13 for applesauce, I didn’t have that many left! I recently read someone who paid $1/jar at her thrift store, so I was hesitant. For her, it was cheaper to buy new, since you’d also get a lid and ring with it. To my delight, pints are only 25 cents at St. Vinnie’s, so I was in luck. (Quarts are 50 cents; blue jars–pint or quart–are $1.) I got 24 jars, including one wide half pint and about 8 wide mouths. I thought maybe those would work better for the dill pickles and I don’t have any. I also have a whole bunch of wide mouth lids and rings (bought at garage sales or inherited from Grandma/Grandpa Frost). I got all the wides they had, and all but 4 of the regulars. Unfortunately, my quick glance at each missed two with chips. The other blogger was figuring out how much money she spent canning, but even at $1/jar I wouldn’t figure the jar price into it because they can be used for years and years and years. I have canning jars that are decades old that are still usable! At that rate, they cost pennies. The real cost is the fruit and veggies if you don’t grow them yourself and the lids which can’t be reused.
And frankly, I don’t count the cost. It might not be cheaper (except for dill beans) to buy veggies and can them, but the taste is incomparable! I rarely buy pickles, never buy dill beans, never buy applesauce or apple cider, etc. The taste of the ones I make are simple impossible to find in stores. (In particular, I made chunky applesauce with no sugar, a rarity.) I think my ingredients are likely fewer in number and of better quality as well. Speaking again of applesauce, I leave the skins on which I doubt any commercial a’sauce does.
I also got lucky that a box was sitting next to the canning jars so I had a handy container for getting them home. Next time, I should be sure to bring my own box just in case. I had meant to, but just like with the pounds of beans, I didn’t think about it as I left home so it was forgotten.
So this morning, I made 4 pints of dill beans. One of them hasn’t sealed yet, so it might go in the fridge. Not terribly disappointed in that as I didn’t have any leftover beans this time (in fact, could have used a few more in the last jar). I absolutely adore these pickles but I would probably save the canned ones for the middle of winter, so having an unsealed jar to eat would be lovely! :)
And I made 6 pints of dill pickles. I realized that I easily could make more than 3, so I processed them separately. With pint jars, it took more cutting as none of my cukes were short enough. But I think I’ll prefer opening pint jars–unless Eric ends up loving these. Which I hope he does! But I tend to eat a few pickles for a few days, then forget about them. So a pint jar will easily last a few weeks or a month.
There were a few pieces left over and plenty of brine, so I tossed them in an empty jar along with some carrots and cauliflower. I also did this to the brine from last week’s dill beans. If I enjoy these flavors, I’ll make other dill pickles with excess veggies. Not that I ever have excess carrots–I love them too much. But I’m not a huge cauliflower fan and haven’t been eating up what we got from the farmer. I take them to work, but only like them with dip. But I’d eat them pickled straight up.
It takes 30 (pints)-45 (quarts) minutes for my canner to come to a boil before sterilizing jars. I never remember this year to year, despite having written it down a few times. Hopefully, this summer’s work will keep it in memory!
It would be far easier and faster to have a helper (I remember helping Mom as a kid!). For instance, once a jar is packed, someone else could put in the liquid and on the lid while I packed another jar. With just one person, you are doing all the steps!
I have a glasstop stove and have no problems canning with it (the reason I didn’t try for the first few years we lived here) despite warnings elsewhere. I have never tried pressure canning, but may this winter.
If you are thinking about maybe trying canning, I recommend jumping in. It’s not nearly as intimidating as I thought. And pickles are REALLY easy since you don’t have to cook the main ingredients first. I’m finding pints easier as well. For starters, they take less work and require fewer ingredients to get a good number of them. They also take less water to cover!
My recipes are similar to what you’ll find online and in books. But here they are from my relatives.
Garlic Dill Pickles Rita Frost (my Grandma)/ Ellen Bilstein Hamlein
Bring to a roiling boil:
2 c vinegar
1 c salt
12 c soft water (I just used my tap water)
Pack jars with one head of dill (dry or fresh) and one clove of garlic top & bottom. Fill with cucumbers and pout boiling solution to cover. Leave 1/4″ headspace. Seal 15 minutes in boiling water bath. Makes 8 qts (or 16 pints?)
I used wide mouth pints, took about 10 4″ quartered cukes per jar.
Crisp Dill Beans Rita Frost/Violet VanDeest EDIT: I think I’ll call these ZING! Dill Beans as they are really, really zingy, or at least the ones I put in the fridge w/o processing them are!
2# small tender green beans
1 tsp red pepper flakes/cayenne powder
4 cloes garlic
4 large heads dill
2 c water
1/4 c salt
1 pt vinegar (why it says pint instead of 2 c I have no idea!)
Stem green beans and snap to size if necessary. Pack uniformly in hot, sterilized jars. To each pint add 1/4 tsp red pepper, 1 clove garlic, and 1 head dill. Heat together water, salt, and vinegar. Bring to a boil and pour over beans. Seal in boiling water bath 15 min. Makes 4 pt. (Note: 1qt jar packed fairly well takes 1.5c liquid.) Notes: Due to time spent boiling, I ran out of liquid for 4 pints.
August 29th, 2008 - Day 3: $400
If I had an extra $400, I would buy a 16GB Apple iPod Touch. That’s the one that’s just like an iPhone, except it’s not the phone part. We have wireless in most places on campus, so it’s invaluable at meetings! I know because my boss and a coworker both have them. We attend just one meeting in common each week, and invariably something comes up that they whip out the iPod Touch for.
Instead, I just entered a giveway for an 8GB iPod Touch instead. You can enter, too! Unique Blog Design is celebrating their 1-year anniversary with this giveaway. You’ll also get a free WordPress blog design–three more free designs are are also being given away.
Find the money: I haven’t been writing these because I don’t want to do this part. Frankly, I don’t have lots of options for earning or creating extra money that I’m willing to do. Selling items, starting a business, having ads on here. Just not interested. So I’m not going to try to do this part of it anymore.
August 27th, 2008 - Canning morning
Yesterday, I took some time off work to do some canning. Excited, I had plans for two separate recipes–next time, I think I should go ahead and break it up into separate times even though it did mean less heating of the water. It is hard to keep track of two different processes and I ended up forgetting the salt (AGAIN! I highlighted in the recipe because I did the same thing last year, too, and added it late. This time, I’d already filled most of the jars. Luckily, it’s optional.).
I made dill beans, following Mom’s recipe, which came from her Mom and aunt. I loved these as a child and haven’t had anything like them since we moved from SD. I should have called and asked about the red pepper. I just used cayenne powder, which was NOT the right thing so these might be a bit hot. On the other hand, the pepper is really old so might not be very potent. I called Mom in the evening to ask about it and they use broken up dried red peppers from the garden. I’ll have..wait a sec–I already have some left over from last year! I only made 3 pints (1.5# of beans) and one one pint broke in the canner. The bottom just completely sheared off. That means I lost 33% of what I’d made. (I did not try to salvage it given the extent of the breakage.) In addition, I had a few beans left over, as well as some of the brine, so I pouted them into a jar and put it in the fridge. Mom says to try them in 3-5 days to see what I think. I’m particularly wondering about the red pepper before I make another batch. It’s definitely worth buying more beans this weekend to make another, larger batch. I originally had the idea to make these a few weeks ago when I got beans from the farmer. Sadly, I put it off too long and the beans went bad before I made the pickles. So now I have to buy beans, but they have them for $1.5-$2 at the farmer’s market. Far cheaper than the $6/jar I saw at the store! (And not nearly as tasty, either.)
Meanwhile, I also made tomato juice cocktail. Had to run out to the store Monday night for celery, but the rest of the ingredients (onion, carrot, pepper) came from the farmer. Had parsley in the cabinet. I made this last year but froze it. I think I’m much more likely to drink it canned as A) I don’t have to wait for it to defrost before drinking and B) it’s in a jar which is so much easier to shake up than the freezer boxes. The juice separates quite a bit so has to be shaken before drinking–sometimes even while drinking. Maggie likes it, too. We picked 14# of tomatoes Sunday night so I had to do something with them–and this is a pretty easy recipe as well as yummy. I tried all sorts of different recipes last summer; most of them turned out watery and were only good for adding to soup. This one was spot on. Say, I should ask Mom for her tomato juice recipe. Or did we only get it from the store once in a while? No, I’m pretty sure what I remember came from canning. I’ll have to see–that’s where I fell in love with tomato juice after all! (We drank a 4 oz glass of juice with almost every single breakfast. Mom and Dad still do. I always forget to have it, even when I have juice in the fridge, since I don’t buy oj on a regular basis. So when I do, or when I bring out my tomato juice, it gets neglected. But it is such a good habit!)
A half day ta work was quite nice. Wish I could work just half time all the time! Will probably do this again in a week or two when the next batch of tomatoes ripens and it’s not Saturday or Sunday.
August 25th, 2008 - Go outside and play
Thanks to my brother for sharing “Remember ‘go outside and play?’” from the LA Times. This is our philosophy for Maggie–she’s already doing it this summer at just 3.5. The only precautions are an adult has to let her out (the doors are kept secure due to the animals–if we had none, we’d probably let her go out on her own) and the gates are secured (one is locked, the other one she’s not strong enough to open). The article mentions a new blog, Free Range Kids that I think I will love! Maggie can play outside for an hour at a time or even longer. Sometimes she wanders in to tell us something or use the toilet or ask a question, then she heads right back out. Since neither of us are particularly into hanging around in the backyard, we love that she’s independent!
I wish she could range the neighborhood…maybe when she’s 5 or 6. I don’t really like that our neighbor girls (18 months and 7) do–it just seems too dangerous for the younger one and the older one shouldn’t be in charge of her kid sister at that young of an age. At this point, Maggie doesn’t know enough about safety to not have an adult with her outside the backyard. For instance, she doesn’t understand looking for cars before crossing the street. No way will we let her roam before she understands that one! (The 18 month old, for instance, doesn’t get that one either to our occasional horror. Luckily so far her sister has been vigilant.)
August 25th, 2008 - Book review: Patriots by James Wesley, Rawles
Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles is another of those post-apocalypse novels that I love. It’s quite different, however, from the others. This time, the main characters planned in advance! The book follows the apocalypse and the first few years afterwards, with flashbacks to the group’s founding and advance planning. In many ways, the book could be use as a blueprint for planning yourself (and surviving afterwards). The advance planning, in particular is very interesting–everything from one couple moving to land way out West to stockpiling food and supplies to choosing compatible vehicles (for easy maintenance, parts, and repairs). Another difference: it’s an economic collapse instead of war or environmental.
I have two major complaints:
1. The author is a former Army Intelligence officer and obviously a gun fanatic (enthusiast, he calls himself). Large sections of the book focus on guns, ammunition, bombs, and related weaponry, in great details. (There’s even a warning before the book starts about how the making of some of the things in the book is illegal in many places.) I understand the need for weaponry in post-apocalyptic situations. But I’m not really interested in reading about weaponry in such great detail. Despite this being so far out of my realm of knowledge, and interest, it has spurred me to be interested in at least learning how to shoot a gun. Presently, we own no guns and have no plans to do in the future. But if we ever do (Eric has greatly enjoyed target shooting in the past, both when he was in the Army as well as later with his friends in the police force), I would like to take a shooting course. But still, it got very tedious in the book.
2. If you had the choice to plant a garden or face 18 months eating solely from stockpiles which are mainly MREs, who in their right mind would choose the MREs? I was aghast that no garden was planted the first year (the apocalypse comes in the fall, IIRC, maybe spring, but enough time to plant and harvest that first year). One brief mention was made, but nothing was every actually done. Instead, they survived on MREs. From what I’ve heard, these aren’t the most pleasant meals, especially day in and day out, nor completely nutritious. Plus, if you did not know what the future held, wouldn’t it be best to keep the MREs around–they’ll last for years–in case of, oh, say, crop failure? Even a small garden would give you fresh food and variety for a few months, even if you eat everything and save nothing for the winter. Relatedly, they have no chickens, goats, etc. I think this goes along with #1–he obviously knows a lot more about security than about food production.
Oh, yeah, one other recommendation for a survival situation: When you run out of toilet paper, the next step for me wouldn’t be scratchy paper from catalogs (or whatever they used it from), but cloth. Way more comfortable as well as sustainable.
Overall, a fascinating read (excepting the weapons passages I skipped) that seems very realistic. I mostly enjoyed the characters, the plot lines, their solutions to problems, etc. I was definitely rooting for them ALL to survive and thrive. I did not want to put the book down!
Wesley, Rawles website has many details about the book. I read the Huntington House edition, which has been superseded by the Exlibris version which includes 2 more chapters.
The author’s last name is written “Wesley, Rawles” which made me curious. I was going to ask Eric if Rawles was some kind of Army designation, but never remembered to. I believe it is his own convention instead of hyphenating his last name. Towards the end of the book, a baby is born who is given a similarly comma-ed name, and the two names are the last names of his parents. Nope: Here’s his own answer from the FAQ: “I use the comma to make a distinction between my Christian name, and my family name. My Christian name (James Wesley) is my property. My family name (Rawles) is the common property of all those that share the Rawles bloodline, and our wives. ”
August 25th, 2008 - Rethinking breakfast
I’ve been getting frustrated the last week or so that I don’t have enough meals in the day to eat all the fresh veggie meals I want and like. Some of our favorites are salsa (I’ve made two so far) and chips, tomato cheese sandwiches (also adored by MJ), pesto and pasta, and salad. Plus I finally got another yogurt sourdough starter going and love the bread from that. There’s tons of zucchini so it’s the perfect time for zucchini bread.
Over the weekend, it finally occurred to me to rethink breakfast. I ALWAYS have bread (toast or fruit bread) or granola, day in and day out all year ’round. Why not have what’s usually lunch or dinner for breakfast? I can have bread–even though it’s great right now as well–any time of year. I can’t have fresh veggies the rest of the year! So for the last two days, I’ve had salsa and chips for breakfast. I may have a salad another day so I can have something else for lunch.
I just got farm fresh, free range eggs at the farmer’s market, so I might make a salsa scrambled eggs for another breakfast.