Where does the time go?

I can't believe it's been over a month since I last wrote.

Let's see. I'm in the middle of the movie Mama Mia (actually I've gotten through the first two previews), but it's in the DVD player, so that's a start. Then I remembered there were a couple TV shows on tonight that I really like......... So, Mama Mia sits in wait. But I have to finish it tonight, or send the western back so I can "try" to get Twilight. Hhhmm Need to definitely mail one back tomorrow....... it arrives Friday......... Twilight ships Friday afternoon (if I got my request in soon enough) and arrives Saturday. Unfortunately, I work Saturday and have commitments for Sunday evening. Looks like Monday will be the first day I will get to watch it.

I canned some chicken breast the other day. It was the first time I've ever canned meat. But, it turned out great! I forgot to pick up tuna for Hubby's lunch about a week ago. This is not a good thing, so I opened a jar of the chicken and made chicken salad. With the milder flavor, the chicken provides a blank slate to create some really interesting taste combinations. I never make things the same way twice, so it's an adventure every time. Hubby really likes fresh ground pepper. It got lost in the tuna salad, but added the perfect bite with the chicken.

My next canning adventure is going to be cole slaw. Perfect timing with it being right past St. Patrick's day with it's corned beef and cabbage. I've heard people give rave reviews using the recipe I'm going to try. We'll see. I have a friend who cans, also. She is a bit sceptical about the possible results. But it will be a BWB process, and the syrup has vinegar, so it should be ok. Tomorrow, after I get back from the grocery (if I get my list and coupons ready tonight), I'll start the grating. I'm really excited! Hopefully I'll be able to offer canned cole claw as a side dish at Sunday supper.

OH! I went to Wal-Mart last night to buy seeds for my garden. I was so not impressed. Yes the seeds were pretty inexpensive, but the packages didn't tell me how many seeds were in the packet. What's up with that? I know what I want to grow, approximately how many seeds it will take - including the possibility of seeds not germinating, or getting mangled, and when I need to get them started. So, I'm going to be placing another seed order from Burpee. I have a little seed starter maker coming. It uses newspaper to form the pot. I've wanted one for several years. This year I finally thought about getting it before it was too late to start the seeds.

In addition to the veggies, I'm starting some flowers for my mom. I can grow a whole sea of flowers for what we pay for plants every year.

Hope to "see" you again soon.

Am I Crazy?

Well, let's not get personal here, ha!

Today I am going to try my hand at pressure canning. I finally got my new pressure gauge and installed it this morning. The turkey broth that has been sitting in the freezer since Thanksgiving is thawing. I'm a bit apprehensive. But, it's cold outside, the wood stove is not putting out the heat like I would like it to. So............. let's see if we can avoid putting a hole in the roof, yet have some awesome broth to use for cooking as the months go by.

Wish me luck! I'll report back with pictures if everything works.

Cracking Eggs

Well, it's been a bit interesting over the past couple of days. Last night I decided to make an omelet (I'm still working on it) by cracking a few eggs.

In my house, making an omelet means I'm totally gutting an area and decluttering it, or re purposing it. Last night was re purposing. I have a pantry with pull out shelves in the top that holds my small appliances (an appliance penthouse since its on the top shelf) and my baking / cooking ingredients like spices, honey, oils, etc. That only takes up the top half of the pantry.

The bottom half was originally built to hold a portable dishwasher. Since I am the dishwasher, that space it pretty much wasted with things I had totally forgotten about. Such as the sauce pot that I tried to use for a wash pail............until I discovered the hole that was in it. Then I remembered that I used that with the hot air popcorn popper because of the hole. That went into the recycle bin!

Anyways... After I cleaned the "stuff" from that nice open space and washed it down, I decided to put my canning supplies in there. So far it's several cases of jars (pint and quart) that I have here, and will have more when I bring the cases I have at my mom's over here. I have 2 pressure canners and 2 water bath canners. I also have my food mill and various spoons and gadgets. I'm hoping to be able to add a steam juicer to the collection. I don't think I'll have room to put my dehydrator when I get it, but I'm going to try.

So that's my re purposing day.

Monday I was inspired by a post featuring Roasted Beet and Potato Salad with Fresh Goat Cheese from Gastroanthropology to try my hand a Roasted Root Vegetables. I had Idaho and Sweet Potatoes on hand and a couple of "fresh" beets. I don't normally have beets (let's just say I have never had fresh beets in my house), but I had tried to do root vegetable chips a couple of weeks ago. Suffice it to say that didn't work out but had two beets left over.

I diced the potatoes and beets, tossed them in a bit of olive oil and salt, poured them into a not-so-deep roasting pan then put them in the oven at 400 for a bit (25 - 30 minutes if I remember correctly). These turned out so much better than the veggie chips. There are some improvements needed. Next time, I'll skip the sweet potatoes which were too sweet and figure out how to cut that rutabaga without breaking my knife or breaking the counter into small pieces.

It's supposed to get down to single digits tonight with wind chills -10 to -20. I have the wood stove going and I'm thinking about canning some turkey broth that I froze at Thanksgiving. Not sure if I have time since the broth is still frozen. If I don't get to it tonight, I'll try to get an earlier start when I get home from work on Thursday. I'll probably need the extra heat from the canner to keep the furnace from coming on (it's set at 60 right now and doing ok).

The cold front is roaring through as I type. BBRRR Time to throw another log on the fire! The wind is blowing really good now. Until next time.............