The Most Important Ingredient? Time!

I've been at it again.  Last week I baked off some pie pumpkins, scooped out the flesh, ran it through the food processor, drained/strained it and then froze it.  Now I will have fresh, real pumpkin to use in recipes throughout the winter.  Or, I can give it to dogs who need to 1) lose weight, 2) stop pooping, or 3) start pooping.  It really it a multi-purpose vegetable.

Today I made some fresh marinara sauce using tomatoes from last summer and zucchini from this summer.  Then I mixed it with some ziti and cheeses to freeze pans of ziti to be popped in the oven at a later date, when we don't feel like "making" dinner.

Later in the week I expect I will get more pumpkins and apples too that will need to be processed into food stuffs for the winter months.

Yes, I've done a lot of canning, freezing, baking, cooking, etc. this summer.  A few of you have commented that you are so impressed with that.  It's nice of you to say but, I have to share a secret with you....  NOTHING that I have made this summer takes any particular skill or equipment.  If you can boil water, follow a recipe and set a timer you can make all of the things I have made and make them just as well as I have.  The only ingredient I have right now that most of you don't is time.

When I was working full time, I very rarely froze, canned, baked or cooked much of anything.  When (notice I'm saying 'when' and not 'if')I return to work,  I'm not sure I will continue to do all these things.  Sure, UHM and I will still make supper for ourselves and, if I have a little time on the weekend I'll whip up a dessert that will last through the week.  But, I have to tell you that I am not entirely certain I will make the time to do all the things I've done this year.  It's takes a full day to can 20 lbs of apples into applesauce and pie filling.  If I only have 2 days off a week, I'm not sure I'll want to spend one of them doing that.

Still, those of you who don't currently feel like you have the skill set to freeze fresh green beans or make your own applesauce I would encourage you to try.  It's a wonderful feeling to sit down to a meal and know exactly where some of the items on the table came from and how they were made.  Plus, the flavors simply don't compare to anything you buy in the store.

First Craft Project

Last week I posted that I was looking for new craft projects to keep me occupied during the colder weather.  When UHM and I were out tasting apple cider and buying apples last week, we also stopped by one of our favorite antique stores, The Covesville Store.  Like most 'antique' stores, it's a mish-mash of nicer, truly antique pieces mixed in with thrift-store-type items that aren't really worth all that much.  While I was poking around in the store I found a box full of "vintage" cookie cutters and had an idea.  I bought several of them and today got around to trying out my idea.  Below is a picture of the result.

What do you all think?  It's a cross between a wind chime and a mobile.   If you saw it at a craft fair, would you buy it?  What would you pay for it?  Any suggestions on sprucing it up a bit?  I have some other ideas for something similar but need to spend more time on the mechanics.  Let me know what you think though.

I Pulled Out the Turtlenecks

First - no word on the job front.  Very frustrating.  For the life of me, I can't understand why a company would go to the expense to bring me in for less than 24 hours (over $1k) and then not call!  On the flip side, they haven't called to say take a hike either :)

This morning was the first chilly morning we've had.  I think it was around 42 when we got up and it never got warmer than the mid 60s today.  A really beautiful fall day!  And what do you do on a beautiful fall day?  Well, you convince your UHM to drive to the local apple cider brewery for a tasting!  We drove about 45 minutes south to Albemarle Cider Works and tasted the four varieties of apple cider they produced in 2010.  These ciders remind me a lot of sparkling white wines - not really my thing - but were all very good.  My favorite was the Ragged Mountain Cider which was the sweetest of the group.  They also had apples picked in their orchards available for sale.  We bought 20 pounds; a mixture of Suncrisp, Grimes Golden, Jonathan and King David.  The apples are actually grown by Vintage Virginia Apples.  They grow over 250 varieties of apples, many of them heirloom varieties.  Guess what I plan to do for the rest of the weekend?  Can applesauce and apple pie filling, that's what.  The pie filling recipe I have uses butterscotch schnapps!

Also in honor of the cooler temps, I made my favorite chicken pot pies; the filling includes artichoke hearts.  The recipe makes enough for 6 pot pies so I end up freezing 5 of them for future meals.  This recipe also happens to have one of my favorite pie crusts.  When I was a kid, my mom always made 'pie crust cookies' with the trimmings and excess dough.  We usually had sweet pies so the cookies would be sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.  Tonight I tried something a little different, since I was in a savory mood.  I brushed the cookies with an egg wash and then sprinkled them with garlic salt before baking them off in a 350 oven until golden brown.  YUM!  A lot like home made crackers, only better!

Now that the cold weather is getting nearer, I'm looking for projects to keep me busy inside.  I'll probably can some more apples before the end of November and there will be pumpkins to bake off, puree and freeze too.  I also have a few ideas for inexpensive craft projects.  If you all have any favorite cold weather crafts (besides knitting or crocheting), please share.

If you'd like my recipes for canned apple pie filling or chicken pot pie, let me know.  I'm happy to share.  Time to dig into the pot pie.

Great Green Bean Bandit

This is the first year UHM and I have had a vegetable garden and we've been thrilled with it so far.  We've harvested beets, lettuce and green beans - lots and lots of green beans.  We almost can't keep up with the green beans.

The other day I got a phone call from a friend whose husband is an avid gardener - 'Come up and pick some beans!'  Well, I didn't want to be rude so yesterday afternoon we headed out to their place.  They live in the Blue Ridge foothills on land that has been in the family for probably a hundred years and have a HUGE garden.  I'll give you a sense of the scale - 100 tomato plants.  It's all grown strictly for pleasure.  They eat what they want from it, can a good deal of it and give the rest away.  We came home with at least 50 lbs of assorted vegetables - including 4 plastic shopping bags of green beans.  Guess how we spent today?

You may remember the green bean extravaganza from last year.  We had another cooler full of beans again this time and my Green Bean Bandit made another appearance.

So far this evening we have canned 7 pints of Dilly Beans (pickled green beans) and another 7 pints of plain green beans.  When I finish this post, I'll be going back to the kitchen to work on blanching and freezing the rest.
Tomorrow I'll start on the 20+ lbs of tomatoes - both red and green - that need processing (while UHM picks more green beans from our garden).  I might be done with everything by Sunday......UHM doesn't think so.

The Weekend

We had a great weekend here in Central Virginia.  Georgia was entered in the Virginia Kennel Club (VKC) shows in Richmond so we got up at ungodly hours both days to drive to The Showplace (which is actually kind of dumpy) to take a run at picking up some more points.  We didn't have any luck on the points but we did get to see some friends and relatives and I think I've finally managed to explain to UHM, in a way she can understand, how the AKC points system works.  Next shows will probably be in August.

We also picked more beans and beets in the garden.  Tonight UHM made southern-style beans for herself (read cooked until they are a disgusting shade of pale olive and have the texture of mush).  I don't understand southern-style green beans, I really don't.

Strawberry-Palooza 2011

UHM and I spent some time this morning picking strawberries at a local U-pick farm.  This is the second year we've done this so that we can have strawberries year round.  Last year UHM went a little crazy with the strawberry picking and we came home with around 50 lbs of berries!  We restrained ourselves this time and only came home with only 20 lbs.  After everything was processed, that amounted to 17 pints to go in the freezer and a quart or so fresh for immediate consumption.  We also bought some fresh rhubarb which I chopped up and froze for rhubarb crisps to enjoy long after rhubarb season is over.  There are 3 qts in the freezer now.

I inventoried what was left in the chest freezer from last summer's bounty and we have some peaches and strawberries to be eating soon.  I think there are 6-7 qts of peaches still in there and another 4-5 qts of strawberries.  Guess I have some baking to do - or maybe peach or strawberry daquiris....