Thinking out loud

Apples provide such memories for me - beautiful fall days building forts while my mom made apple pies to freeze, my grandmother's fantastic apple butter (why did no one get her recipe before she passed) and family trips to the apple orchard.  Woodman, the girls and I go to the apple orchard every year - this is a tradition we began a few years ago when Woodman and I were dating - the orchard is only about 10 miles from our home - but this year we just didn't make it.  It has been one heck of a year!  So with some apples from my former in-laws, Woodman decided to make "Spiced Apple Rings".  I was skeptical, I don't like cinnamon candy or gum, and vinegar and apples do not belong together but I was willing to give it a try.  These were VERY good.  I am surprised but I really like them.  Woodman is not completely happy with the color, he expected much brighter red but I think they are fine.  Pics to come soon. Spiced Apple Rings 12 pounds firm t...

Can jam October was Peppers. It just so happened that I grew peppers this year. Some beautiful California Goldens, some Bulgarian Carrot Peppers, and some Scotch Bonnets.... all of which were pretty wimpy after the initial batch of peppers, which was back in July. But then, about three weeks ago, all three plants turned white with blooms, the Carrot Pepper, which had fallen victim to a tomato caterpillar, had sprouted new leaves and blossoms. The Californian Golden, which seemed to be on a swivel at ground level finally took root and was holding itself up! And the Scotch Bonnets were bushing up and out quite well and actually had new peppers already growing. None of those peppers are in this recipe. I have several green peppers out there in my pots, but all three of these pepper varieties turn orange when ripe, and not one is even close. They are in containers and I watch the weather, so I'll get those suckers. Anyway, DD and I were at the Farmer's Market, one of the las...

So, first I had to figure out how the hell I was going to get a some fruit to smoke pot. Ok, we tried three different recipes this time. We managed to score 25 pounds of peaches for 20 bucks, which we thought was pretty good; until DD found 50 pounds for 20 bucks. We also scored a bushel of tomatoes at the same time. And the cukes were finishing up, so it was pickle time again, as well as starting another batch of sauerkraut. After 8 quarts of spaghetti sauce, using a safer recipe, 8 pints of salsa, 4 pints of pickle relish, several random jars of pickles, and a 2 gallon jar of kraut it was time to look at the peaches. We did canned peaches in light syrup (6 pints), canned peaches in extra light syrup (6 Pints), canned pickled peaches (6 Pints), and peach butter (4 pints), and peach jam 12 jelly jars and 3 pint jars worth. Oh, and we ate some peaches too. Pickled Peaches 2 pounds of sugar 2 cups of white vinegar 2 T whole cloves 2 sticks of cinanananamon 4 quarts peaches...

My wife just asked me why the dog is in the last post..... Can anyone really look at that picture and wonder why I put the dog in these? Anyway, I have a container garden of peppers, used to have some tomatoes but they all died. Indiana is experiencing it's second year of blight since 1994, so almost all of my maters and about half of DD's are gone. No Green Zebras, no Mr. Stripeys, no Pineapple Tomatoes, just Black Plums, Rinaldos, German Johnsons, Whoppers, a few Pink Brandywines, and Golden Cherries. My peppers were doing quite well, I lost my habanero peppers a while back, bad soil and I think not enough water. My California Goldens are doing really well, my scotch bonnets are doing well. But, my hottest peppers are my Bulgarian Carrot Peppers, which fell victim to a evil caterpillar 5 hours and the whole thing was gone. I have three leaves and 4 peppers left, so I'll hope to get at least the last ones out. Oddest thing I realized, all our surviving peppers th...

While I do not have a glut of tomatoes, I am overfilled with peppers so what to do?  My family would never forgive me if I did not can lots of salsa!  They LOVE it.  My 17 year old even has her best friend bringing me tomatoes so I can "can" her some for when she is over there.  Seriously, this is some fantastic salsa and since there is concern over my Dried Tomatoes in Oil, I thought I would post this as well.  I have only canned two batches so far but I know this weekend the expectation is for much more! Sassy Salsa 10 cups tomatoes peeled and chopped 3/4 cup green pepper, chopped 3/4 cup banana pepper, chopped 3/4 cup onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic minced 1 tablespoon salt Mix all items in a heavy pot and bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until desired thickness (about 1/2 to 1 hour).  Pour into hot, sterilized jars, add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice per jar, seal.  Hot water bath can 10 minutes .Apparently this is not safe either f...

Tomatoes are a beautiful thing.  Are they veggies?  Are they fruit?  No matter they are delicious and can be used everywhere - in salad, sauce, salsa or simply sliced with fresh mozz cheese, basil and a little balsamic vinegar.  So again, we are faced with a choice, what to can for the can jam?  After much thought I settled on Dried Tomatoes in Oil, From Sensational Preserves (Hilaire Walden) 4 1/2 pounds fleshy, ripe tomatoes sea salt virgin olive oil Preheat the oven to the lowest setting.  Line the bottom of the oven with foil to protect it from drips from the tomatoes. Halve the tomatoes lengthwise and scoop out the seeds using a teaspoon.  As each tomato half is ready, place it, cut side down, on a wire rack, spacing them slightly apart. Sprinkle salt very lightly on each tomato half, then place them, cut side down, on a wire rack, spacing them slightly apart. Put the racks in the oven and prop the door very slightly ajar with a skew...

This months can jam was a challenge and a joy.  I LOVE pickles - you know the "real" ones made from cucumbers so when I saw the theme was cucurbits I was ecstatic.  Boy did I have a lot to learn.  I had no idea that cucurbits included not only cucumbers but squash and melon as well.  Well this opened new doors to me.  I started the search for the perfect can jam item.  Did I find it?  Well, Woodman can answer that.  I have often wanted to try Watermelon Rind Pickles.  There is something about making use of something I am just going to throw away that really appeals to me.  We had a watermelon on hand, the girls love them and eat tons this time of year, so guess what we had for dessert?  Of course the girls thought I was a little nuts when I wouldn't let them throw the garbage away.  I got my recipe from one of my favorite standbys.  At first glance, it seems a little intimidating and time consuming.  In reality much o...

Ok, for those of you who have a blog you know how this goes. You are driving down the road and you think to your self, "Oh yeah, I need to post about this!!!" This is the garden back in May. And then you get home and life happens to you. So, as you get ready to go to sleep something else hits you... This is the Rhubarb cordial, syrup, stuff. It's all gone now, mostly in Rhubaritas, but some in Rhubarb Iced Tea. A few days pass, maybe a week or two, or three, and you realize that you are way behind on anything you meant to talk about, and some things don't even make sense any more. Some people get on planes and go to foreign places... Some things show up and start eating shoes. And sometimes, even when you post the most recent picture of something, it's still three weeks old.

"erries" I LOVE 'em!  Any kind any way!  The sweetness with the sometimes tartness just tickles my taste buds.  So why did I wait so long to post?  Decisions!!!  They are so hard to make when you have so many recipes you want to try! So I settled on a variation of a jam.  Ok, it really was a jam but I got too impatient and it really makes a yummy syrup for ice cream, pound cake, yogurt and if you don't mind it a little runny even on biscuits so I didn't bother to re-boil it! The original recipe was from the Ball Blue Book.  I do have other canning books but seem to come back to this stand by a lot.  Here is the original recipe: Strawberry Jam 2 quarts strawberries, crushed 6 cups sugar Combine berries and sugar in a large sauce pot.  Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Cook rapidly until thick, about 40 minutes.  As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking.  Poor hot into ho...

Finally, a can jam I can jam on!  Rhubarb, I LOVE rhubarb and everything I have ever tried it in or on.  This was a chance to get my creativity going.  I scoured books, magazines and web sites.  So many choices and all sound great.  I wanted something out of the ordinary - trust me, I will be canning many other items with rhubarb so it isn't like I will be missing out on old standbys like my cheater rhubarb jam (more on that later).  So I am looking around and I find something I have never heard of - RHUBARB BUTTER - now I have made apple butter, sweet potato butter, pear butter, spiced peach butter even pumpkin butter but I have never heard of rhubarb butter - this was just the thing for me. So I assemble all my equipment and get started.  The recipe follows but this was a quick easy recipe.  There is one catch - it looks like green slime but I'm telling you this stuff ROCKS!  I love it and can't wait to eat more.  It will never make...

Ok, let's set the scene. Three weeks ago DD and I are at Lowes buying two for one plants. Some tomatoes, peppers, and other stuff. It's early for our zone but we can keep them in the house until it's time. I was wanting to plan right away, and I was told I was silly. Then we talked about the people at the plan shop in the parking lot at the mall that were saying you should plant now and that is totally safe to do so. DD laughed about them a lot. On our way out of Lowes with a cart full of plants a gentleman walked up to us and asked if it was ok to plant now. DD explains that no, not at all, there is still a strong chance of frost, in fact there is a strong possibility of frost just three days from now. We talked about the garden shop that was so silly as to tell us to plant now, and my wife talked about how she was going to wait to plant our plants. We get home and someone picks up the plants, walks out side, and plants them.... All of them. Three days later, we did ...

Ok, I'm posting this, which means DD didn't like what she canned.  When we first read that it was herbs there was some confusion and consternation concerning this confounding canning conundrum (OK, I was reaching a little on the alliteration). We thought of a couple things that we make for recipes, an apple thyme jam was suggested many times and we almost went that direction. But, there was a substance that I have always craved from my childhood that DD decided to attempt to replicate. I have no idea if this is what I had as a kid, but it rocks..... Dilly Beans! Pretty cool stuff. You go and buy some beans, then you open up your Ball Blue Book 2008 to page 54 and do what it tells you. 2 lbs Green Beans 1/4 cup canning salt 21/2 cups vinegar 21/2 cups water 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 4 cloves garlic 4 heads dill Trim ends off green beans. Combine salt, vinegar and water in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil. Pack beans lengthwise into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch...

DD is doing a raised bed garden this year. Our dirt is crap, nothing has done well the last couple years. So, I got her some horse poop, and peat, and vermiculite... and a pulled groin later we had a raised bed garden. In square foot gardening by some magic method you are able to put a million or so plants in each square foot. In some of the squares there are upwards of a couple dozen things growing. 24 carrots, 24 radishes... I have no idea how that works. The cages are for peas and tomatoes, we can't plant the maters outside yet since we live in some of the most random weather in the US. Edit: Ok, peas and cucumbers, not tomatoes. I put the string in, and she puts the plants in. And then the plants come up. The close up is Asian radish things. The site she gets a lot from is http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ I'm looking forward to more things like what we made for the can jam, which I'll talk about tomorrow.

We are driving home from vacation right now.  I have had the most relaxing time.  We stayed with Woodman's Nana and Papa J.  They live just west of Washington DC in a little piece of heaven.  Their farm is very off the beaten path and they are the most wonderful host and hostess ever.  I feel as if I have just been to a bed and breakfast where my every need was attended to.  It isn't that they necessarily wait on you, they just make you feel so welcome and relaxed.  We did make a trip into our nation's capitol for a peek at the cherry blossoms (beautiful) and a couple museums.  We really had a great time and I am coming back refreshed.  Of course spring is in full bloom there so I played outside quite a bit and brought home some wild onions and a few starts of a willow tree.  I am so excited to get started on my garden.  Woodman and I had some discussion about why we (or more specifically I) are drawn to the locavore movement....

Woodman indicated he would be doing his own can jam this month but I don't see that happening!  Best laid plans and all that.  That said, I have completed my mission for the month.  I wasn't sure what to do with onions, which is the only allium I felt like canning.  A few months ago I did Tigress' Onion Tickled Pink which I highly recommend.  These are the greatest condiment ever.  But alas, they are not really a canning item.  Just a make and eat - keep in the fridge kind of thing so would not qualify for the a Can Jam entry since there is no water bath canning.  Of course you might be able to can them I will have to check into that. I wanted something sweet anyway so I searched and searched for recipes.  The Ball Blue Book's Red Onion Marmalade with 4 cups of sugar looked like it would do the trick.  So I started the process, wanting to get it in early so Tigress could get her part done before her busy work schedule.  It was the...

March Can Jam is Onions. DD and I have an issue though, she wants something sweet, and I want something savory.... I am voting for dueling household can jamming!! While I have helped can a gazillion times (Ok a couple dozen or so), I have mostly been the one cutting things up and mashing things together and stuff like that, pure sweat shop labor. This will be the first time I have tried the whole process from start to finish. Thursday DD put up some spaghetti sauce. Big can of tomato sauce, big can of crushed tomatoes, garlic, basil and oregano. 7 quarts of spaghetti sauce for about $7. Friday was our youngest daughter's birthday. The big THREE!! We let her pick out her cake. Strawberry cake with strawberry icing, strawberry orange juice, vanilla ice cream with strawberry syrup..... I guess it's a strawberry kind of birthday.

The bread had a butt.... That's ok though, because the pizza had plenty of heart.

I am doing this post because something unfortunate has happened. DD made these carrots a week ago and they are supposed to sit for two weeks, so we tried them after one. Then tragedy struck, she doesn't like them. But, she doesn't like carrots anyway. So, I'm the one who gets to write this one up. The recipe is from The New Preserves, so we've hit two from the same book now. Sweet Pickled Carrots 1 pound carrots 1/4 cup water   3/4 cup cider vinegar 1/2 cup sugar 1 tablespoon canning salt 3/4 teaspoon mustard seed 3/4 teaspoon celery seed 6 whole cloves 1 stick cinnamon Combine water, vinegar salt and sugar in pan and bring to a boil . Boil  to a boil. In each sterilized jar add 1/4 t mustard seed, 1/4 t celery seed and 2 cloves.  Break the cinnamon stick in three pieces and put one in each jar. Divide the carrots between the jars. Add vinegar mixture leaving 1/2 inch head space, seal and process for 10 minutes. I love them, ...

t's carrot week and I will be posting on Wednesday so we can taste before I post so keep a look out!  I tried a recipe that needs to sit for two weeks, we are going to jump the gun by a week but that should at least give us an idea if it is good! Now to the task at hand - we had some cranberries I found on clearance.  Woodman LOVES cranberries so I started looking for something a little creative to do with them.  Another wait and see so I will have to post again in two months to let you know how it turned out but the jars were beautiful and we did have a little with some on some bread last night and it was pretty darn good - could use some time to mellow.  Here is the recipe: Cranberry Chutney 1 lb cranberries 1lb apples peeled, cored and cut into pieces 1oz ginger peeled and grated zest of one orange 1/2 cinnamon stick pinch of ground cloves 2 cups sugar 1 1/3 cups of cider or white wine vinegar (I used cider) Put everything into a saucepan on low unt...

Ok, my wife has stated several times that she needs to post, and there is a story she needs to post. I have decided to take the weight of this off of her shoulders and post here what happened. When we were making our marmalade for the can jam in January DD had also wanted to make wine jelly. We had a couple half bottles of red wine and she thought it would be cool to try to make this interesting sounding jelly. Boiling, and preparing and canning later she sets the jars to the side to set. The next day we are checking how the marmalade set and it's all a little loose, and the wine jelly is a thing syrup. We decide that we can reboil it all and get the set right. The next weekend is the next time we have time to mess with this. DD hands me the jars and tells me to pour them all out into one container. I fill that container pretty quick and she gives me another. Then she looks at me and wonders how I filled a two quart jug and a quart jar with 6 pints of jelly. There was a sne...

Carrots are February's can jam thingie!! At least it's not something else that will rot my teeth out. And I'm hoping for some spicy pickle with cauliflower thing. If DD doesn't do one like that I may be forced to do one myself. I'm really looking forward to about half a dozen jars filled with hot spicy vegatables.... must be too much marmalade in my system right now.

I have been so excited about the can jam that it has thrown me into a whirlwind of activity.  I have been canning up a storm lately!  While it may seem a boring choice I decided on a marmalade, I have only tried marmalade once or twice and really didn't like it.  Of course I was trying the little retangular packets you find in your local breakfast place so I reasoned, if I make my own, surely I will like it better.  Wow, the difference was amazing.  While I will always be a "berry" jam kind of gal, I can definitely say I like marmalade.  I wanted to try something different so Woodman suggested an Orange Lime Marmalade, I had tons of citrus so I tried the Orange Lime as well as a Citrus Marmalade which included Orange, Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit and Clementines - it was great!  Woodman liked the Orange Lime better so that is what we are posting. Orange Lime Marmalade 3 lbs oranges 3 Limes 6 cups water Peel the oranges and l...

Someone says "I make my own yogurt and granola, and can fruits and vegetables from my own garden" and most of the people I know are expecting someone who has a liberal political leaning. I've read quite a few blogs lately that can't imagine someone wanting to do these things without being motivated by "liberal" causes. I can't say that I've ever thought of myself as a liberal. Or a democrat, or a Greenie, or whatever you want to call it. I'm pretty conservative, in an old school small government kind of way. Libertarian if it wasn't just throwing my vote away, and if they'd stop coming up with ideas like privately owned and operated highways. The appeal of living out in the middle of nowhere and producing 90% of what I consume is extremely appealing, but I have no idea why this appears to be a "liberal's" dream. I think by forcing people to choose one camp or another we end up creating enemies out of friends.

It is another weekend and I have been very busy. Sometimes I think I need to go to work on Monday just to relax! Of course I really love this kind of work. This weekend I worked on my can jam entry. I have never done anything with citrus so this has been an adventure but I will save most of that for next week for my "official" entry. Right now I am going to talk about all the other things I have done and hopefully I can get Woodman to post some picture. I have sliced, peeled and chopped my way into a blissful coma this weekend. Yesterday I started with the marmalades. I tried two different types and am not sure which one we will use for the can jam. I had never made a marmalade so the sitting time gave me a long rest. So, did I rest? Really, you obviously don't know me yet. When I was done with the first boil and prep, I moved on to the Thai pears I talked about before - they were very yummy but I think I will use more lemon next time and maybe a little les...

Don't eat the marmalade before the sugar goes in.

This morning, at about 6:55 AM I awoke to a scream and a door slam. Looking for my wife in bed I realized two things... one; if I have to look around in the bed to see if someone is there I'm still not awake, and two; DD wasn't there. I run my butt downstairs half dressed to see if she was ok. I see canning supplies out on the counters and citrus debris Ok, time out. My daughter just ran up when I was typing this and was jumping up and down yelling " I gotta go poopie!!". So, as parents we tell her to go poopie, since if we don't she just keeps standing there telling us she has to go. The bathroom is about 5 feet from me and she's in there doing her thing and singing to herself when all of a sudden she yell's "I'm done poopie!!" (Another tradition) then passes gas... Which causes the most evil chuckle to come from her and she says "I just farted!".... That's my daughter. Ok, so the kitchen is in full canning mode, my wife is...

Ok, it's things like this that made me pick the name for the blog.... I have a desk that is not right by a window, but if I lean back a bit I have a clear view of one about 15 feet away right by the copier. All day yesterday I saw people go up to pick up something from the copier and get stuck staring out at the snow falling. A couple of them for several minutes. I did it a couple times myself when I went to go get coffee. I do the same thing with camp fires or fires in our fireplace. I get lost trying to make order out of it, there is just enough order to think that it's organized, but then a swirl of wind comes by and it's all gone. Some people I've talked to have said it's because it's beautiful... I think there is something to be said about the chaos and order and patternless patterns. But, maybe that's just the way my head works. I agree that it's beautiful; I'm just not sure if that explains the almost hypnotic qualities of snowfalls and ...

I was a domestic goddess this weekend. No really, it is true. The can jam has gotten me in the mood to create. This weekend (remember, it was a long weekend) I made onions pickled pink which I already blogged about, dill pickles, sauerkraut which will take a few more days and then I turned to our other passion. Cooking and freezing meals. Woodman and I found some great deals at the grocery store Saturday morning so it was time to restock the freezer. Not a huge restocking but definitely filling in the gaps. Our local grocery store has great manager's specials which we like to take advantage of. Saturday seems to be the morning. This week we bought 9 pounds of ground beef which became sloppy joes for two meals and 156 precooked meatballs - yes I did say 156! These will last us quite a while and are great for popping in sauce for pasta, meatball sandwiches, meatball stew and many other items. We also bought two whole pork tenderloins - had one sliced for grilling and divid...

The can jam has begun!!!! I am so darn excited I can hardly stand myself - and Woodman is probably tired of hearing about it already. I can't tell you how many times in the past week I have wondered aloud what it will be. I was prepped and ready to go and now the day has arrived. What pray tell am I so excited about - CITRUS! Yes, citrus is the name of the game and so many various recipes are floating through my head. I have oranges, tangerines, lemons, and limes in my house - dare I put them all together, surely not but we will see what I decide. I will be keeping you posted. To get my domestic vibe going, I decided to make a couple other items this weekend. I have started with the Onions Pickled Pink found here - these are the greatest onions ever. Seriously, I think Tigress may be my new hero. I thought I would really like these onions, but no, I LOVE these things!!!! Woodman has provided pics below but let me tell you, these babies are delicious. (Woodman here, ...