The best secret...?

I have a friend Catie who has the best advice.  She's an extremely talented sewer and she has a sister in law who shared with her a great secret for making jams, etc.

It was a secret to me, but maybe it's not to you.

Have you ever heard of canning in the oven?

Me neither.

Supposedly if you usually use a water bath canner to process your canned goods, you can substitute the oven for the water bath.  Process as many jars (as many sizes as you want) at 200 degrees for 68 minutes.  That's right. 68 minutes.

I had pizza sauce to can the other night, and with crossed fingers, I tried it, hoping that I wouldn't have to throw the whole batch out.

After all, these are precious commodities in the garden that don't last all that long unfortunately.

I used my copycat Pizza Hut Pizza Sauce recipe as follows:  (this makes alot, so I always reduce the recipe down.)

2 1/2 gal. tomato juice                    1/2 gal. (64 oz.) tomato paste

8-10 onions, chopped                     1 c sugar

4 green peppers, chopped               2 T basil

2 T hot peppers, chopped               2 T oregano

1 pt. salad oil                                  1 T italian seasoning

2 T parsley                                     1 t garlic powder

1/2 c salt                                        6 bay leaves

3 T McNess pizza seasoning

Simmer all ingredients for 1 hour.  Put in jars and cold pack 10 minutes.  Makes 13 quarts.

I went to work, filled my jars, sealed the lids on, put them on a cookie sheet (all 12 pints) and slid them in the  200 degree oven for 68 minutes.

They ALL came out and popped.  NO PROBLEMS WITH SEALING!

It was amazing.

I was giddy.  This will revolutionize all the former water bath canning I do.  I can get so many more done at a time!

So tell me...is this really a secret?  All the seasoned canners I told at my church meeting last night couldn't wait to try it....they all whipped their pens out of their purses and wrote it down.

Best advice I've heard all week!

Thanks Catie!  You're the best!

What is...

What is yellow, sticky, has hair, and takes forever to put away?

SWEET CORN!

Yep, we're in the midst of it.  The other day when my sister was here from South Carolina, she helped me do 2 1/2 5 gallon buckets worth.

Last night, Brent and the kids went outside to take the remaining ears off what is in the corn patch.

They ended up filling 12+ more 5 gallon buckets!
Ugh.
I was in the house shucking it as fast as I could, and cooking it at the same time to slice off and put in containers.

We started around 6:30 and by 10:30 I was still working on it, with 6 buckets in the basement to go.

That's for today.

This year Brent planted more than ever... because it seemed we never had enough to last all winter.  He planted SO MUCH this year, I don't think we're gonna have that problem.  So far, I have 35 containers made and in the freezer with more to make.

For all the work that goes into freezing sweet corn, it is awfully good to eat throughout the winter.
At least it wasn't ready the week of the fair like it was last year.  That was too much!

Anyone putting anything in their freezer now?

Up next....canned pizza sauce.

When did life get so complicated?

When exactly do you think life got so complicated?
Wait a minute, let me rephrase that...when exactly do you think we stopped caring about how things were made/or just got too lazy/busy/crazy to make them ourselves?

I think I remember when it happened.  For me, at least.  It happened twice in my life.  Twice since I had kids.

The first time was when my daughter was 3 months old and I went back to work.  I thought we could make it work, and I LOVED my job.  I was good at it, and it was fun.  I had good babysitters, and I was making good money.

BUT...
we ate out A LOT, and we spent a lot on gas (driving to work 1/2 hour each way, and also driving to the babysitter)  I made convenience meals because I didn't have time to make good ones.

Then I found out I was pregnant again when Grace was only 4 1/2 mo. old, and I decided I was quitting work.  We worked it out and I could stay home if we saved money in some areas.

I started making my own baby food, grew a garden, and started freezing and canning.  I made my own baby wipes and pinched pennies by trying to make things myself.

This worked out great until the kids went to school, and I went back to work.

I still had a garden, and canned and froze my own food (still do), but my time to do the other things got harder and harder.

However, things started to feel more important to me again.  I got  am tired of paying SO MUCH for things in the store.  I care about what is going into our bodies with all the processed food out there, and I want to change it, so I'm starting small.

I've talked about some of these things before, but they are SO EASY, I'm sharing them again.  And then I found something new.

I'm trying this because the grates on my burners are disgusting.

The solution with no scrubbing is here.  It's on my list.

The other products I've cut back my costs on are...Homemade fabric softener. ( I've been using this solution for months now, with the same result as the expensive softeners I used to buy. )

 I've tried different smells of conditioner with this recipe, but my new favorite is the Suave Lilac/Lavender scent.  It's great!  The recipe for the above is here.  This total solution costs me about $2.00 and it makes 1 1/2 bottles of fabric softener.  FULL bottles, not the half full ones you buy for $4.99 and more.  This recipe is a KEEPER.

The next recipe I've wanted to try since before Christmas, but I haven't needed to use it yet, so I haven't tried it.  My bar of soap is waiting for me.  Lilac scented.  I can't wait.  Hand Soap refill.  It cost me all of $5 for the ingredients and it'll make me a GALLON of refill soap.  That's a lot of soap.

The recipe is here.
Now, I'm not making this post to be preachy...far from it.  I just wanted to share some things that have worked for me (or that I'm willing to try) to save money at the grocery store.  It makes me feel better, also, knowing the ingredients I'm putting into something my whole family uses.  Who knew these things could be made with so few ingredients.

Same with the canning and freezing I do.   I know what's in the food because I'm the one putting it in there.  I'm starting small.

You can too.  Ask me anything.  I'm grateful to share!

This is what I vow...

I've been reading alot already this new year.
Now, this is no surprise, I read everyday...I can't get enough reading, but I've been reading some, I guess you'd say, interesting subjects lately.
I already told you that I read this over Christmas because my sister got it for me.

It was great, it was awesome, it was radical.
Then, while I was at the library the next week, I got this book.  Just by accident, just because the subject sounded interesting.

It was even more radical.  The story was all about a couple who reside in British Columbia and who decided to start at 100-mile diet.  They ate no food out of season, or what they couldn't get from 100 miles away.  They ate, and this is totally my opinion, some very disgusting things.  They lost alot of weight, and craved food like mad, and hardly every shopped in a grocery store, and paid extravagant amounts of money for things they had to travel 100 miles to get, but it was a good book.  I took away SOME things from it.

Then, every spring, and it's about that time for me...I read this book, which I own.  A friend recommended it to me a couple years ago, and I read it, and loved it from the first moment.

It too, is about a family who decided to eat just what was in season, for one year.  They also ate at restaurants that supported local farmers by preparing food in season, and grown locally.  It's a good read, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in this sort of thing.

You're wondering where I'm going with all this right?

Since I loved a part of each book, and each book talked about how important it was for us to eat things grown in season...I decided I wanted to do something for my family in 2012.
I decided I wanted to be more conscious of what we eat.  We need to eat healthier.  I want  need to lose weight, and I want the food we're eating to not cost us a fortune every time I get it from the grocery store.

This means, I will grow more in my garden this year even though that means more work, more weeding, and more planning in the beginning stages.
I will also do more canning.  (I can't believe I just said that.  I do alot as it is...) But I want to be able to know the ingredients in MY canned products are real things, and not some fake fillers.

I will buy products from the new local bulk store in town because I know they buy from a man locally who grows lettuce and other vegetables in a greenhouse over the winter.
I want to be more conscientious about this.

Now, I'm not gonna get as radical as the people in all the books I read.  I'm not gonna suggest to Brent that we buy a cow and milk it ourselves, and make our own butter and cheese (although that sounds pretty cool, just alot of work!)  I want to start slowly, and work myself up to maybe some things more out of my comfort zone.

So, today, I started small.  It was our last day home for Christmas Break, and I told the kids I would make them bacon cheeseburger pizza.  In the past, we've just bought frozen versions of this.

I got out the Boboli whole wheat crust that I bought at Meijer.  (Yes, I should've made my own, but I am terrified of yeast.  We don't have a good relationship, and I can never get it to work.)

On the crust, I put some of my Pizza Hut copycat pizza sauce that I canned this fall.  (By the way...it is GOOD!)

Then I browned 2 lbs of hamburger that came from one of my uncle's cows.  My grandparents traded it for 2 dozen eggs last week.  (A great deal in my opinion.  Can't get more local than that considering I can see the cows from my backyard.)

To the hamburger in the skillet, I added a little garlic and some Italian pizza seasoning.
I used Cheese from the store, and bacon too since we are already out of the bacon from the pig we butchered this fall.

Into the oven at 450 for 10 minutes.

It was pretty good.  I'm making it again on Friday when Brent is gone.  The kids must've thought it was good too, cause it was mostly gone by the end of lunch.

So, hold me accountable if you must.  I will try to do the same for myself.  I want this experiment to work.  I want to stay in my grocery budget, however, so I will not pay exorbitant amounts for my food.  I will use what is currently in my freezer that I spent all of last summer and early fall putting away.  I will used my canned grape juice and pizza sauce, jelly, and tomatoes, and I will plan to can some other things as well this summer.

Hopefully soon, I will be healthier.  I will be more in shape, and I will be happier about what I'm filling my family's bodies with.

So, welcome 2012!  Here we go!

Guest Post

A couple months ago, a new friend of mine asked me to do a guest post on her blog.

I was flattered. I had never been asked to do one before. However, thinking of a topic was hard. What in the world would I talk about that would interest anyone else?

So, I went with canning. I know I've talked about it here before, but to put it on someone else's blog is a different story.

So, today I'm over at Vicki and Barb's blog, Curlywillowdiy. You need to go visit these wonderful ladies.

They are two friends who take turns writing their blog. Vicki's daughter is getting married soon and they are up to their eyeballs in preparations. Gee, I don't know WHY they don't have time to blog!

So, head on over. You'll be inspired by their creativeness!

Lorie

A Blazing Accomplishment

All my life, (well, as much of it as I can remember) I've tasted my mother's delicious applesauce.

When I got married, some applesauce came with us, and soon I started making my own.

It's a lot of work. Don't be fooled. It's an all day kinda thing.

When my sister still lived close, we would do our applesauce together (2 1/2 bushels each) and it LITERALLY took at least 8 hours to get it all done.

I refer to the stuff as liquid gold. It's that worth it.

So, the other day, while I was minding my own business, I got THE CALL.

Each spring I put my name on a list at a local orchard for Transparent apples. Once they are in, they call me, and you GO the minute they call, or someone else might get your apples.

They were 3 weeks late in ripening this year, and of course this week was crazy anyway, but I knew I needed to get my applesauce made before fair starts tomorrow.

I just made it.

Oh, and did I mention, when I started yesterday morning at 6:30 am, that our air conditioner decided to quit, with a predicted 95 degrees as the high? Oh yeah, baby, I couldn't believe it myself.

Of all days....

With these babies waiting for me...

I started working anyway, and the repair man showed up about 12:30. The temperature in the house was already 80 degrees. It was warm, and we had every possible fan we own downstairs.

The apples cooked on the stove

and deliciousness was made, all the while we're sweating like bullets!

I had some great helpers

and some resistance from the Queen herself.
The fan was aiming for the table, and once she found her "spot" she wouldn't budge.

I finished about 2:30pm. A long day. The air came on about that time too, and it took the rest of the night to cool the house down.

Needless to say, we spent the evening hours at my uncle's pool, after we grilled him supper.

63 containers of applesauce later, I'm a happy woman!

Summer Is...

Each school year there is a pivotal point that passes and all I can think about is SUMMER.

I try to wrap my mind around that fact that I will have more time to do housework, canning and preserving, furniture rearranging, craft making, and sports watching.

I can't WAIT until that season. And then it comes.

And time slips away faster than you can blink your eye. You see, summer is...produce at it's peak, just waiting to be eaten, preserved, canned, and frozen.

It's gardens overflowing with healthy goodness...
and WEEDS. So many weeds!
It's lazy mornings with a full coffee cup...
and a great book.

It's flowers coming out of EVERYWHERE imaginable.

It's tetherball games to the death...
And dirt where is shouldn't be...
because of this "innocent" animal.
It's time off from work for me, but a different kind of busy-ness replaces it.

It should be easy nights on the porch

and sometimes it is, but more often it's not.

Summer is great and bad all at the same time. I find myself counting down with trepidation to the time we'll have to march back to school and endure "newness" again.

Summer is a refuge that I'm lucky to be able to enjoy.

Hope you're all having a wonderful summer too.

A Lost Art.

I was up SUPER late Thursday night working on this....liquid gold.

At least that's how it feels to my family. Several times a year I get a call that the vegetable/fruit I ordered is ready to be picked up. It's a vegetable/fruit crisis, and it usually comes on a very BUSY week. I don't know how that happens, but it usually happens that way. This week was no exception!

Brent called me at work, "THE GRAPES ARE READY. CAN YOU PICK THEM UP?" No, actually I couldn't. I was getting groceries and I had a million other things to do before this crazy busy weekend. So, he graciously picked them up for me. I thought about it all that afternoon. About how I'll have to spend HOURS that night canning liquid gold.

We think of it that way because it's really THAT GOOD. And, if we don't pace ourselves in drinking it, it doesn't last all year. I have 5 quart jars left from last year. That's not bad. I made 59 more quarts the other night.

We started with this...

and ended with this...

I'm glad I learned this old fashioned art. It's quickly going out of style I think. I'm glad I can put away all this food for my family for us to enjoy all winter because we sure do miss fresh stuff from the garden.

Now, I want you all to know I'm not tootin my own horn. I'm just glad I can do it. I'm proud of what I've done, cause gosh darnit, it takes a long time to do.

But look at what I've got!

(side note....my mother did the green beans. I can't take the credit for that, just the grape juice, tomatoes, and jam are mine.)