Top Ten Posts of 2009

I really enjoy looking back over my posts to see which ones ended up being the top posts. Oftentimes, I am surprised by the results.

Here are the Top Ten Posts for 2009:

1. The Lentil Brown Rice Casserole continues to come in on top. This continues to surprise me. We love this dish, and it continues to be the most frugal dinner dish I've made, not including our free venison.

2. One of my favorite posts, was the first post I did in the Home Management Binder Series.

3. Managing Your Expenses was another post I really enjoyed writing--I could talk finances all day long. :)

4. The hardest post to begin would definitely be this one. The Beginning--which was the beginning of Nicholas' Story.

5. A not so common way of using the bounty of your jalapeno harvest: Jalapeno Jelly

6. This one really shocked me; Menu Plan week of 3/15-3/21 (After looking back, this is when $5 Dinners hosted Menu Plan Monday, and I was #1!)

7. Canning Jalapenos

8. Saving Money On Clothes, where I highlighted some thrift store finds.

9. The second installment of Nicholas's Story.

10. A Whole Wheat Tortilla Tutorial comes in 10th.

Homemade Applesauce

I truly think that my children could eat their weight in applesauce. While I am very happy that they love it, sometimes the store bought stuff is just laden with sugar, which to me, almost negates the nutritional benefit of the apples.

When I stumbled upon an awesome deal on apples ($10 a bushel!), I decided now was my chance to try my hand at homemade applesauce and apple butter. It was easy, frugal, delish and sugar free! Since then, I've picked up 2 more bushels, although these were higher, and I'm ready to stock my pantry with homemade applesauce!

This is all there is to it:



I peeled, cored and sliced my apples just like I did when I was making the apple butter. This time, I placed all the apples into my biggest stockpot and added about 2 quarts water. Instead of water, you can add apple juice instead. I didn't have any, so I used water.




It wasn't until I was finished with the batch that a light bulb went off. If you have a juicer, throw the peels and cores that were leftover into the juicer--and Wa-La! You've got juice! You may still need to add a smidge of water to get enough, but atleast most of your liquid would be juice.




After I had my water and apples in the stockpot I brought it to a boil. When the apples started softening up, I added in about 2 Tbsp of cinnamon and cooked for an additional 5 minutes. If you want a chunky applesauce--remove from heat before the apples are translucent. If you are going for a smoother textured applesauce--cook until completely soft.




Once your apples have reached the desired doneness, process them in a food processor or food mill, juice and all.




Your applesauce will keep in the refrigerator for 2 months, or you can home can it for longer storage, using the water bath canning method. We prefer ours in quarts, which should be processed for 25 minutes. If you are canning them in pints, process for 20 minutes.




Homemade applesauce is perfect for after school snacks, a side at dinner, or even as a substitute to oil in baking. With it being sugar free, there isn't any guilt, either. :)






This post is linked to:

• Mouthwatering Monday
• Slightly Indulgent Monday
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
• Tasty Tuesday
• Tuesday at the Table

Making Crockpot Apple Butter

I remember eating homemade apple butter as a kid and thinking that it was the best thing. Ever. Let me tell you, it is!


I've always assumed that making applesauce and apple butter would be a laborous task, that wasn't really worth the final effort. Part of my 2009 Goals, we wanted to get atleast 3 months of food stored up. This includes everything from jam/jellies, to vegetables, to meat, to grains and everything in between. Over the past few weeks I've bought 3 bushels of apples and jumped right in!

To make apple butter all you need is:

• Apples
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Sugar

You need to peel and core your apples before placing them in the crockpot. To make this easier and faster, I used an apple peeler, corer and slicer thing. Similiar to this one. I filled my crockpot all the way to the top. The amount of apples will vary by the size of crockpot. This is so vague, but I used about a Wal-Mart bag full, or a ¼ bushel.

Once my crocpot was loaded, I added 2 cups sugar, roughly 2 Tbsp Cinnamon, and 1 tsp nutmeg.

Put the lid on and cook on low for about 7-8 hours, or on high for 4-5 hours. You can stir it around if you want to (I couldn't resist), but you do not have to. When it is done, the apples will cooked through and will look somewhat like applesauce.





If your mixture is a little runny still, remove the lid and let cook for roughly another hour.


Put mixture in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Yum! This will keep in your refrigerator for up to 2 months. If you want to can it for long term food storage follow the water bath canning method and can pints for 10 minutes, quarts for 15.

Homemade apple butter is better tasting, lower in sugar and more frugal than the store bought version. In addition, when you are cooking it, it serves as a whole house air freshener!

This post is linked to :

• Tackle it Tuesday
• Frugal Friday
• Recipe Swap.

Baking Day Update

I've had so much fun baking the last few days. While I have been alone in my kitchen with nothing more than my radio going (and an occassional 4 year old, when he isn't at school), I know that I have my Twitter friends who are baking along with me. Twitter was all a buzz with the #bakingday hashtag today. Everyone was tweeting what they were baking, their questions, and their progress. So fun!

I got a lot more accomplished today than I had originally anticipated. I love it when that happens! You can see my baking day plan here.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (2 bags of 20), Chocolate Chip Cookies (2 bags), 2 batches croutons (Garlic Paprika, and Garlic Pepper), French Bread Baguettes, and French Bread. Not included in this picture are the Breakfast Burritios I made this morning; I already stashed those in the freezer.

I started out by tossing my beans in the crockpot for dinner and mixing up my breads so that they would have time to rise. In addition to the 2 batches of French Bread, I also made a loaf of Whole Wheat bread. However, I used my new (bigger) loaf pan, which was too big. Lets just say it isn't the prettiest loaf on the block.

I exeriemented around and made some Apple Streusel Muffins. They were really good--but there is still a bit of tweaking that needs to be done.

Last week when I was cleaning out my freezer (which is what inspired me to do a baking day) we found this old pack of hot dog buns, that was obviously past it's prime. I hated to throw them out, so I turned them into Croutons! So good!

Lots of Taco Meat for the freezer.

Refried Beans. Plenty leftover to freeze (although I've never frozen them mashed up)

Jalapeno Cheddar Tortillas

In the midst of all my baking, I decided to go ahead and make up some Jalapeno Cheddar Tortillas for dinner, instead of my normal, plain jane one. I went ahead and browned and seasoned the whole pack of hamburger, so that I could freeze the leftovers for a quick meal.

Tomorrow, I will be baking again--if I still have energy!

Here is what I am hoping to do:

• Ham/Cheese Pockets
• Pepperoni Pizza Pockets
• French Bread x2
• Whole Wheat Bread(the right way!)
• Apple Butter
• Applesauce x2 batches (made and canned)

I should be set for awhile!

You can see other Baking Day participants over at Money Saving Mom.

Canning Green Beans

Many home gardeners grow green beans. If you are anything like I was, when harvest time came I had no idea what I was going to do with all of them. I'm no fan of frozen green beans and I was terrified of the pressure canner. Something had to give somewhere.

I had to overcome my fear.

Honestly, and truly, there was no reason for me to be afraid of the pressure canner. As long as you follow the canner directions and pay attention to the pressure gauge--you are good to go. No worries!

First things first, harvest your green beans. Snap the ends off, and snap into manageable pieces. Depending on the size of the bean, I usually do them in thirds or halves. Once you have all of them snapped, you need to rinse them off, and drain off the water.

Now you need to get your jars, lids and bands ready. To me, this is where the guess work comes in. I never remember from time to time how many green beans I need to pick to yield a full canner load (which for me is 7 quarts). I just eyeball my snapped beans, and guess how many quarts I think they will make, and that is how many jars I sterilize. You can either do pints or quarts here, depending on what is effective for your family. A pint is roughly equivalent to a can from the grocery store.

Sterilize your lids by placing them in HOT water. Do NOT let these boil, as it can affect the rubber seals and they won't seal properly.

To sterilize your jars, place in boiling water, and let boil for atleast 10 minutes.

While these are sterilizing, place your green beans in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a light boil.

Remove your jars from the boiling water, and get ready to fill them up.

If desired, you can add in ½ tsp canning salt to every quart and ¼ tsp to every pint before adding in your green beans. Pack in the green beans, and pour the boiling water over them, leaving 1 inch headspace. **TIP** 1 inch is roughly to the bottom of the threads.

Once you have your jars packed and covered in hot water, you need to remove all the air bubbles. Using a non-metallic utensil, gently push on the contents and move around to remove the air bubbles. In doing so, you may end up creating more room in your jars. If you have extra green beans, add them in, just be sure to remove any more air bubbles that made their way in. Oftentimes you can peer in and see if you got all of them out.

After all of the air bubbles are removed, wipe off the rim of the jars and add on the lids and bands. Now is time to load up the canner!

When using a pressure canner, you need to have 2-3 inches of water in the bottom. Add in your jars and put on the lid. Do NOT put the weight on, yet.

When steam escapes from the vent hole (located on the left) for roughly 10 minutes, then you can place on the weight. Basically what you are doing here is letting all the excess air escape from the canner.

After you have the weight on the canner, your canner will start to "seal up" and your pressure will begin to build. For green beans, you want your canner to reach 10 pounds of pressure.

You will notice in the picture that in between the weight and the pressure gauge, there is another thing sticking up. This is called the vent lock. It is naturally flush with the lid, but when it starts to seal up the vent pops up, then it starts to build pressure.

Your canner needs to maintain at 10 pounds of pressure. You will notice that in the picture my gauge is reading a bit over 10 pounds. This isn't a huge deal, but you do not want it much over that..and NEVER under. If your canner ever goes under 10 pounds of pressure, you will have to start your timing back over. I've noticed, atleast for my stove, that once my canner reaches it's pressure point, I can turn the heat down to medium or medium-low and it will stay there.

When processing green beans, you need to process quarts for 25 minutes, and pints for 20.

Once your time is up, turn off the heat and let the canner cool off on it's own. Once the pressure has returned to zero and the vent lock has went back down, it is now safe to remove the weight. I must say, that nothing devastating will happen if you remove it before the vent lock pops down--just a massive amount of steam. Which is rather scary, and not recommended. :)

After removing the weight, let the steam escape, and remove the lid. Be very careful, the canner still contains steam.

Using your jar lifter, remove the jars from the canner and place on a towel to begin cooling. If you take a close look you will see lots of bubbles rushing to the top. Once they start to cool, you will hear the music to a canner's ears.

*Ping*

The ping is letting you know that they have sealed properly. If you are uncertain if one has sealed, you can check them by pressing in the middle of lid. If it doesn't give, then they have sealed properly. Let them cool completely before checking their seals, or you may cause them to "false seal." The cooling process usually takes about 24 hours.

Now you are able to enjoy fresh from the garden green beans, all year long!

Home canned green beans work for me!

Corn Cob Jelly Recipe

I'm sure that the first thing you think of when you hear "corn cobs", is definitely not jelly. After you try this recipe, though, it will be!

Awhile back, my mom-in-law and I went to the local farmer's market. When we were there, we met a lady who was selling all sorts of crazy jellies, Corn Cob Jelly being amongst them. My curiosity got the best of me, and I finally asked her what it was.

Long story short, when she was renewing her teaching degree from Louisiana to Missouri, she had to take a Missouri History class of some sort. A fellow student brought corn cob jelly in as a project assignment, and passed the recipe on to the class. She told me how to make it(thankfully, because I was not going to pay her $4.50 asking price for a half pint of jelly!), and said it tasted very similar to honey.

Quite honestly, when we left, neither one of us knew what to think. I couldn't imagine a corn cob tasting like honey. The more I thought about it, I knew I had to try it! Talk about using it all!

Corn Cob Jelly

6-8 Corn cobs--corn kernels removed

roughly 2 quarts water

3 -4 cups sugar

2 boxes pectin

Cover corn cobs with water and boil for about 10 minutes.

Once you are done boiling, you need to strain the liguid. I used this Jelly Strainer that my husband got me for Christmas. For this recipe, you actually only need to use 5 cups of strained liquid.

Put your strained liquid into a clean pot and return to boil. Add in sugar, and bring to a full rolling boil. Empty both packets of pectin into the pot. (I asked a few people and searched around to find out how sugar to use in this recipe and it varied; anywhere from 3-5--so I went with 4 and it worked just fine). Bring back to a rolling boil again, and boil hard for roughly 1 minutes.

Ladle into sterilized jars and process in a a water bath for 10 minutes. Yields 7 half pints.

Perfect on biscuits and toast. I can't wait to try it as a glaze on grilled chicken. Delish! I think I will also throw some in my Christmas Baskets for a unique gift. Wonder what other unique stuffer I can come up with, other than the jalapeno jelly?? Any ideas?

This post is linked to:

• Frugal Friday
• Recipe Swap

A Full Pantry

A full pantry is a huge blessing and a big relief in those times when the grocery budget is feeling a little squeeze. This year we have been blessed with bountiful garden harvests. I am so amazed! Everytime I am harvesting our crops or putting them up so we can enjoy them in the cool winter months, I can't help but think that the "fruits of my labor" were once little tiny seeds and seedlings. God is amazing!!



Coming into this gardening season, Willie and I had big gardening plans. Our main goal was to store up enough food from our summer/fall harvests to make us through until the next garden was producing. We sat down and came up with a rough number of how many of what we needed, and we planted away. Mid way through the season, I was getting a little discouraged because things weren't going exactly as I had envisioned or planned them to be. I wanted the perfect garden, with perfect gardening beds and walkways, with no weeds. Any.Where. End of story. I worked, worked and worked some more--but things just weren't going as I wanted. My tomatillos came down with nasty bugs and once I got that taken care of my zuchinni plants and beloved pie pumpkins were compltely killed out by those pesky squash bugs. My green beans weren't producing at the rate that I thought they should in order for us to end up with what we wanted..so I gave up.



Seriously.



I got to where I didn't want to go out there, it was too discouraging. Then it hit me. You are blessed. Immensely and immeasurably blessed. And you're going to throw it all away?? Everything doesn't have to be perfect. You can't give up when the going gets tough. Persevere and you will be richly blessed.



Slowly but surely Willie and I are regaining the garden. It has been overtaken by weeds in the walkways, but it is still producing like crazy! We planted some more green beans and some asparagus beans (huge 2-3 foot long beans) so that we can have a small fall harvest to keep our storage up.



Looking in my pantry and in my freezer just makes me smile. God, You are so good!



As of today, this is what my pantry and my freezer hold--all of which is from this year. (I do still have some pickles and jelly from last year, but they are not included on this list).

• 33 bags (with roughly 1 cup each) Chopped Green or Yellow Pepper {frozen}


• 5 (½ cup portions) sliced jalapenos {frozen}


• 12 cups shredded zuchinni (I was able to get these before my plants were killed off) {frozen}


• 2 gallon bags of Tomatillos {frozen}


• 1 Ice cream bucket of Blackberries. {frozen}


• 46 quarts Green Beans


• 11 pints sliced banana peppers


• 4 pints sliced jalapenos.


• 4 pints Hot Pepper Mix (Chinese 5 color, Fish Peppers, Banana Peppers, Jalapenos, and Cherry Bombs)


• 3 pints Spaghetti sauce (We've been using some of these. I do believe there were also 2 quarts and a pint more)


• 26 pints Diced Tomatoes.


• 6 Half-Pints of Corn Cob Jelly {recipe to come Friday}


• 6 pints; 5 Half Pints Blackberry Jelly


• 4 Half Gallon; 5 Quarts Sweet Pickles.

In addition to this list, I still have jalapenos waiting to be turned into more Jalapeno Jelly (notice there is none on this list!), banana peppers, various hot peppers, green/purple beans, cucumbers, and 100 tomatoes ready to be preserved. As well as a few pie pumkins that are this close to pie.

Wow. So glad I didn't throw in the towel!

It may not be the prettiest garden these days, but let me tell ya something. It's mine. God gave it to me. ;)

How is your garden and your food storage coming along?

Recipe: Sweet Pickles

Last year we had so many cucumbers coming from our garden, that I ran out of ideas for them. I canned multiple Bread and Butter Pickles as well as Dill--I even tried my hand at relish. I had no idea what to do with the rest of them, so I started flipping through my canning book. I came across a recipe that sounded decent, but I didn't like the very long process that it entailed, nor did I have the exact ingredients.


That is where this idea came from. I used the same process as I had with the bread and butter pickles, and some of the same spices, since that is what I had on had. Little did I know at the time, but this pickle recipe quickly became our favorite, as well as everyone who has tried them. I came into this canning season already having numerous requests for these--guess what I am giving out for Christmas?!

Sweet Pickles

4 pounds cucumbers

5 cups vinegar

5 cups sugar

1 Tbsp celery seed

1 Tbsp mustard seed

Pickling Salt and Ice

Wash your cucumbers thouroughly and cut off the ends.

*QUICK TIP* Slice horizontally, and thinly--just like "Stackers" that you get in the grocery store. I have found that when I cut them this way, they tend to be more crisp that spears or discs. Once you cut them, put them in a bowl of ice, and salt with pickling salt, continue to layer until finished. Let sit in ice/salt for about 2 hours. This also helps with their crispness. Doing them this way eliminates the need for Alum.

Sterilize your jars and canning lids. Meanwhile make up brine: In large pot bring vinegar, sugar and seasonings to a boil. Rinse salt and ice from cucumbers and pack them into quart jars and ladle brine into jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Using a non-metallic utensil, remove all of the air bubbles, wipe off rim, and put on lids/rings. For one reason or another, sometimes I run out of brine. Thankfully, there are equal parts of sugar and vinegar which makes it easy to mix up what I need. As far as figuring out how much spices to add--a dash here, and a dash there work real well. ;)

Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes. For best flavor, let pickles sit for 4 weeks before trying.

They are irresistable!!

What do you do with your excess cucumbers??

This post is linked to:

• Tasty Tuesday
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
• Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Canning Tomatoes

After all the fuss of no tomatoes ripening, I've been blessed! We returned home from visiting family back in our hometown at about 7:30 Sunday evening, and I decided to take a peek at the garden. I knew I had some green and purple beans that were ready, and probably some peppers. Boy was I in for a surprise!

I took an ice cream bucket and a big green bowl that I have, only to have to ask Willie to bring me a 5 gallon bucket! I picked about 120 tomatoes, 10 green peppers, some jalapenos, an ice cream bucket of tomatillos, and 7 quarts of green/purple beans! Yes--this is what I've been waiting for!

That night Willie and I decided to go ahead and can the green beans so I could get them out of the way and have basically the whole day to mess with the tomatoes. While I love the end product, canning tomatoes requires the most work and makes the biggest mess. After using the juicer with the blackberries and getting amazing results, I tried using it on the tomatoes. Yeah, that doesn't work. So I'm back to using the tried and true method from last year.

First things first--Wash your tomatoes. Even if you haven't used chemicals, they are still icky. Then you need to get a big pot of water and turn it to about medium, or medium high. You don't necessarily want it to boil, but you need it to be hot.

Then, you need to cut out the stem and the core. The best thing I have found is a melon baller. They usually come with 2 different sizes, the smallest one is just about the exact same size as the tomato stem. Just push it down in and cut it out. When doing so you will see that inside the tomato (which is red) there is a green core. Make sure you get all of that out as well.

Once you have all of the tomatoes stemmed and cored, put them in the hot water for a few minutes. What you are looking for is for the skin on the tomatoes to start cracking. While they are in there, fill your sink with cold water. When the skins are cracking and starting to come away, plop them into the cold water. Not only will this cool them down and make them manageable again, but it will help the peels come off so much easier. If there is part of the peel that just won't come off--put them back into the hot water and repeat.

Now comes the messy part of seeding them! Taking a paring knife, cut the tomatoes in half horizontally. This will show you the seed cavities and make it much easier to get them out. Stick your pairing knife into the little seed cavities, scraping around and getting all the gel looking stuff, as well as the seeds out--discard. (We've taken the seeds and peels, covered in water and boiled them down and strained to make a "juice". While it may not be authentic, to my surprise, it wasn't bad.)

Now that you have the hard part down you can do different things with your tomatoes. I usually dice them up and can, or you can leave them as is. You can also make salsa, sauce, or spaghetti sauce. One thing to keep in mind when making sauce--it takes GOBS of tomatoes. For instance today I had 100 Roma tomatoes (which are a sauce tomato) to make spaghetti sauce with. I ended up with about 2 quarts! One that I canned, and enough for us to have for dinner.

To can tomatoes:

• Sterilize your jars and lids.
• For every pint add 1 Tbsp Bottled Lemon Juice to the bottom, and for quarts add 2 Tbsp of Lemon Juice. This is used to maintain the acid level and it is a must--you cannot go without it. I have never noticed any taste difference.
• You can either can them in their own juice or in water. I'm not sure why, but I've always canned them in water. After your tomatoes and lemon juice are in the jars, pour hot water over them, making sure to leave ¼inch headspace.
• Put the lid/ring on.
• Process in a boiling water canner. Quarts take 45 minutes and pints are 40 minutes.

To do a sauce:

• Process your tomatoes in a food processor.
• Put into a saucepot. If making spaghetti sauce, or other flavored sauce, now is the time to season. I used 2 green peppers and 2 red onions (all from the garden) and sauteed them in EVOO and garlic powder (processed them in the food processor once slightly tender) and seasoned with parsley, garlic powder, oregano, and basil.
• Simmer/Cook until reduced by half. This takes quite some time, so patience is a virtue. The taste afterward is worth waiting for!
• Sterilze your jars.
• For every pint add 1 Tbsp of Bottled Lemon Juice, and for quarts add 2 Tbsp.
• Fill your jars with sauce and add the lids/rings.
• Proceed as above.

Out of all of my tomatoes, 100 were Roma, which went to the Spaghetti Sauce, and 20 were Black Krim. I diced up the Black Krim's and canned diced tomatoes, and was able to get 4 pints (which is eqivalent to 2 quarts!). Definitely a big difference from the Roma's. Honestly, while we really enjoy homemade, home canned spaghetti sauce--I don't think I will continue doing it. After all is said and done I don't know that it is cost or labor effective. While the green peppers and onions cost me nothing, I used the fire out of the seasonings--although they really don't amount to much cost either. However, I was in the kitchen, processing tomatoes from about 12 until 5--with very few breaks in between. Considering I get my Spaghetti Sauce at Aldi (which out beat Prego and Ragu{amongst other brands} in our taste tests) for just over a $1, I'm thinking that is the route to go!

What do you do with your tomato harvest?

This post is linked to:

• Tackle It Tuesday
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
• Tasty Tuesday

Preserving the Harvests

It has been quite some time since I have last updated my garden progress. I planned on being home a lot more and spending more of my day in there than what I am. Nonetheless though, it is keeping us in food!

Our summer has been incredibly mild, with only one week that was so hot we could hardly stand it. The last week or so has just been amazing. As a matter of fact, we've had our windows open since Sunday--and it is gorgeous. The down fall here is, my peppers don't like that! My hot peppers are not hot, and my green peppers are just not progressing as fast as they should. I've only picked one--from 23 plants!

For one reason or another I am unable to find all of the pictures I took of our harvests. I can only find this one:




But I can assure you that there as been way more than that!! All in all this is what the garden has produced:

• (7) Half Pints Jalapeno Jelly (I've had tons of jalapenos, but not enough tomatoes to make salsa..yet so I had to get creative!)
• 3 batches Blackberry Jelly (I can't remember exactly how much that produced, but I think it was close to 9 pints)
• (13) Quarts and (1) Pint of green/purple beans and enough that we ate a mess for dinner one night. In addition to these, the boys picked another ice cream bucket full this evening, which should get us about 3-4 more quarts. This may sound like a large amount, but our goal was 100 quarts. Having this much will grant us about 2 quarts a week from now until harvest next year. We still have a long way to go!
• (6) Quarts Sweet Pickles. I toyed with the spices in a recipe last year, which produced our favorite pickle ever. But, because it was an experiment I had no idea how much we would like it and we ran out quickly. My Mom-In-Law has requested tons of these, and so has my husband, which leaves us in the same boat as the green beans--I need TONS more. Guess I can put that 5 gallon bucket worth of cucumbers to good use. ;)
• (3) Pints Pickled Banana Peppers.
• (5) Pints of Jalapenos--although not from the garden.
• And..we're trying something new this year and brining a 5 gallon bucket of Dill Pickles. We are on week 3 and it just doesn't seem to be progressing like it should. We'll see...
• Shredded 12 cups worth of Zucchini and fried one up for company Monday night. The squash borers got far more than I did. :( We may not have an organic garden next year. :)

With our picking this evening, we also got a big batch of tomatoes. I see a big canning day in my near future.

This post is linked to: How Does Your Garden Grow?

How is your garden coming along? Are you preserving any??

Home Canning: What do you Really Need?

*This is Part 2 of the Home Canning Series, go here to read Part 1: Getting Started.*

Now that we have went over the 2 different methods to canning, and you know what type of canner you will need for what you are canning--lets take a look at the other supplies that you may need.

• Your food to be canned. Before you begin, make sure that you have your food all ready to go. The amount of preperation all depends on what exactly you are canning.
• A recipe and recent canning guide. This part is very important. The whole reason you have to process the jars in the first place is to rid them of any bacteria that might be present. Different foods require different processing times/methods and they have changed over time--that is why you need a recent canning guide. I highly recommend Ball's Blue Book to Preserving.
• Jars. These can be used or new. The only thing to watch out for when buying used ones are nicks and cracks. You can not use those! We use mostly quarts for our vegetables, pickles and spagetti sauce, so we need more of these than pints and half pints. The only thing we really use those for are salsa and jams/jellies. The half pints are tiny, but make great gifts when filled with homemade jelly!
  
  
• Lids/Rings. These go on top of your jars to seal them. The lid goes directly on the top of your jar, and the rings screws onto the jar to hold the lid in place while you are processing them. You can re-use your rings year to year as long as they are not corroded or rusted. Once your lid has been used and sealed on a jar, you can not reuse it again. They will not seal properly the second time.
• Silicone Oven Mitt or Jar Lifter. While I probably shouldn't openly promote a Silicone Oven Mitt for removing the jars from the canner, I will say that it worked perfectly for me. All I had to do was put it on and reach into the canner and pull out my jars. I obviously had to use caution when doing so, but it was all I had and I wasn't going to go out and buy a new fangled gadget just because. But then, my husband bought me a Jar Lifter for Christmas. I've only used it when I canned jalapenos a few weeks ago, but I liked it. You reach it in the canner and grab onto the jar, close it and pull the jar out. Easy as that.
• Plastic Utensil. I use the handle of a plastic spoon or spatula. After you fill up the jars with your product, you have to remove all of the air bubbles before you place on the lids/rings. You cannot use a metal utensil because it could nick/crack the side of the jar.
• While it isn't necessary-food mill or a food processor. I actually didn't have any of these last year, but it sure would have made things easier and less time consuming. My hubby really came to the rescue this year at Christmas--because I got both. I have yet to use the food mill, but I use my food processor multiple times a week.
• Timer. Everything you can has a different length of processing time, and sometimes it can be an hour. Your timer will become your friend.
• Sharpie or Labels. It is always a good idea to atleast write the date you canned the item on it. For my personal pantry I just use a Sharpie on the lid since it cannot be reused anyway. But when giving as a gift, you can use labels that you print off your computer that have the date canned as well as the contents.
• Dry Towel. When you remove your newly processed jars from the canner, you need to place them on a dry towel to cool.
• Storage Spot. Home canned goods are best if stored in cool, dark places since sunlight/heat can diminsh the nutritional value. They can be stored for a year, if canned correctly, without losing any quality/nutritional value. You can use them after a years time, just inspect the jars to make sure that the contents haven't changed colors and the seal hasn't broken.
• Patience. Especially the first time. Until you get the hang of it, it may take you some time to do the process from start to finish. Don't let this discourage you. Just make sure that when you decide to can, that you set aside an entire day and don't rush yourself. You want to make sure that you do it right. Cutting corners trying to save time isn't going to get you anywhere in the end.

Some of these things you may already have in your kitchen--and the rest is a one time investment so don't let the list scare you away! Once you have your supplies, you will have them forever unless you choose to get rid of them. A one time investment to be able to have fresh, preservative free, home canned goods catered to my family's taste sounds like a plan to me!

**Be sure to also check out the guest post I did for Eat at Home that talks about some of the other reasons why I choose to can my own food.

This post is linked to: Frugal Friday

Canning: Getting Started

Canning your own food during the summer months, for use throughout the rest of the year, can be a great way to save on your grocery budget. Not only that, but it is very rewarding to step back and look at all your work and have peace of mind that if things got really tough--you would have a little bit of a back up. If the peace of mind isn't enough--knowing exactly what you put into those jars is very comforting. But, the idea of canning your own vegetables, jams/jellies, pickles and sauces can sound pretty intimidating. Once you know the basics and do your first few batches--you'll not only feel like a professional, but you'll be looking for new things to can. Canning my harvests works for me, big time!



One of the first things you should know before beginning is that there are 2 different canning methods. Each of which serve their own purpose.

• Water Bath/Boiling Water Canning--This method is used when wanting to can High Acid foods such as tomatoes. You do not have to buy a specific Water Bath Canner. As a matter of fact, as long as you have a big sauce pot with a lid (and something that you can put in the bottom so that the jars are not directly on the bottom) you are good to go. If you are wanting to buy a Water Bath Canner--keep your eyes peeled in the fall when the typical canning season is over. I scored my canner, originally priced at $18.75, for $8!
  
  
  • The boiling water inside the canner heats up the contents of the jars, ultimately destroying any mold, yeasts or bacteria that might be present. DO NOT process Low Acid foods in a Water Bath Canner. The temperatures are not high enough to destroy the bacteria spores present in the lower acid foods, which could result in botulism.

• Pressure Canner--This method is used when wanting to can the lower acid foods such as Green Beans, Corn, Carrots, and Okra. Over the last few years, pressure canning has gotten somewhat of a bad rap. If done correctly, while using caution, there is no reason to fear it. I got my pressure canner last year and now use it for more than just canning. It does wonders on cheap cuts of meat (with very little time), and I also use it when preparing pumpkin for Homemade Pumpkin Pie.
  
  
  • Pressure Canners are heated to 240° and stay there for a specified amount of time, under pressure, which varies with the item you are processing. The weights on the canner, pressurize the steam inside. I will go more into the safety of pressure canning in a later installment.
  
  

Now that you know the 2 methods to canning, and their purposes, in the next installment I will go over Canning Equipment and Tools.

This post is linked to: Works For Me Wednesday

Canning Jalapenos

**This post begins a series that I will be writing, beginning sometime next week, on the procedures of Home Canning.**

On Tuesday of this week, I made a quick pop into the grocery store for some needed items. I happened to walk buy a buggy with some clearanced produce and decided to take a peak. Lo and behold there were 2 containers of marked down jalapenos. I asked DH what he thought and he told me to go ahead and get both.

But what to do? There was no way that we could eat all of those before they went bad. And I definitely wasn't going to let them go to waste.

I remembered that last year a neighbor of ours canned some home grown jalapenos that were absolutely divine. We blew through an entire quart in just over 2 weeks! For us, that is fast.

I looked through my canning book when I got home, and did a quick google to figure out my plan of attack. It was so easy!

I first sliced them up thinly.

Altogether there was about 2 ½ pounds of jalapenos and I only paid $1.48!

While I was slicing them up, I was sterilizing my jars, and lids, as well as preparing the liquid to go into the hot jars.

Here is the pickling solution I used:

6 cups distilled white vinegar

3 tsp pickling salt

Add those ingredients to a saucepan and bring to a small boil. Once boiling, it is ready to be ladeled into the jars.

Once I had my jars filled, all the air bubbles removed, and placed their lids/rings on--they were ready to put into the hot water bath.

10 minutes in the boiling water bath, and they were done and ready to be taken out.

I was able to get 5 pints of canned jalapenos. For best flavor you should wait a few weeks before trying--but I just don't know that I can! Don't those just look so good?

I'm not 100% certain, but I want to say that one jar of jalapenos from the grocery store would set you back roughly $2.50. I've made 5 jars for right around $4 (that includes the jars, vinegar and jalapenos).

Pretty frugal, and incredibly rewarding!

This post is linked to Frugal Friday

Menu Plan Week of 5/3-5/9

Last week went faster than I thought it was going to, especially considering I was completely winging my menu plan. Thankfully I also didn't end up spending loads of money or succumbing to the temptation of eating out since there was actually no plan.

Breakfast:

• Oatmeal. Egg White.
• Egg Substitute. Bacon. HM Whole Wheat Toast.
• Oatmeal Pancakes. Cherry Syrup. (I had some wild black cherry jelly that I made last year that didn't set up fully for some reason. The kids LOVE it on their pancakes! Great way to use it up.)

Dinners:

• Sunday: Sweet and Sour Chicken. ($3.75) Fried Rice. (.50)($4.25)(5 servings=.85/ea)
• Monday: Tuna Cauliflower Bake. (I'm going to try this with the California blend veggies) ($2.75) Salad.(.50)($3.25)(6 servings=.54/ea)
• Tuesday: Cabbage Rolls. ($2) Mixed Veggies. ($1) HM Whole Wheat Bread.
• Wednesday: Baked Haddok and Spinach (I found this recipe last week while searching for something to eat--but we decided on something else instead. Can't wait to try it, though!) ($4.75-ish) Salad. (.50)($5.25)(5 servings=$1.05/ea)
• Thurdsday: Grilled Fish Chef Salad. ($4-$5)(5 servings=.80-$1/ea)
• Friday: Taco/Mexican Pizza on homemade crust. ($3-ish for 1 pizza..will probably make 2)($6)(8 servings=.75/ea)
• Saturday: Picnic at the Park with Church.

Snacks:

• Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Granola Bars
• Smoothies.

Total Cost: $25.75 Average price per serving= .74/ea Higher than normal, but we are also having fish 3 times this week!

Looking for more menu inspiration? Be sure to check out Menu Planning Monday.

Recipe: Black Eyed Pea Soup

I love an easy, frugal meal. I came across this recipe about 6 years ago, and it was an instant hit. The recipe was eaten by my recipe binder, and just surfaced a couple weeks ago. My husband was delighted to find out that it was on our menu plan this week.

Black Eyed Pea Soup

4 diced bacon strips (.80)

1 chopped med green pepper (I used these) .18

1 small onion chopped (I used these) .06

2 undrained cans of Black Eyed Peas (or dry beans) $1 for canned or .40 for dried

2 undrained cans of diced tomatoes (Free from garden)

1 cup water

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp each ground cumin, chilli powder, and ground mustard

minced garlic

Using 1 Tbsp of bacon drippings, saute the green pepper and onion and 2 minced garlic cloves. Add the black eyed peas, tomatoes, water, and all the seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover and simmer for 12-20 minutes.

Sprinkle with shredded cheese, parsley and cooked bacon.

Yields 2 quarts and about 8 servings.

It tastes very similiar to a chilli, but the black eyed peas give it a different flavor than a traditional chilli. When I made it this week, I decided to come up with a different variation (plus I didn't realize that I was out of chilli poweder AND cumin!) so I used oregano in the place of the other spices. It gave it an Italian flare, and was rather tasty. We topped it with croutons, and the kids devoured it!

I used dried beans and canned tomatoes from our garden, which made the TOTAL COST: $1.44 for 8 servings or .18 cents a serving.

But, using store bought tomatoes and canned beans will end up with a TOTAL COST: $3.04 and about .38 cents a serving.

Still a frugal, delicious, filling meal either way you look at it!

Enjoy!

For more frugal ideas head on over to Frugal Friday and for more delicious recipes visit Grocery Cart Challenge, SuperFood Carnival.

Photo Source

2009 Goals & Challenge

**If you want to see other's goals, visit The Happy Housewife, or Biblical Womanhood.**

I've never been one to make New Year Resolutions. When I did, I would just make them to make them..generally not a whole lot of thought into them. I would find myself either forgetting them in a few months, or just not able to attain them.





I have, however, always been goal oriented. So, I've decided that this year I will make a list of goals in all aspects of my life and seek to attain them all year. Basically, not a whole lot different from any other year..other than that I'm looking at all areas of my life and posting them for the world to see!





Since I have taken up a frugal lifestyle and began to implement many more things in my day to day life, this entails many a goal at this point. There are areas of my life that need more work than others, I seem to be broken in some areas! :)




Spiritually

• Actually set aside me and God time in the morning. I have a yearly devotional that I plan on using as a starter. I hope that this will refresh me for the day and set my focus on Him throughout my day.


• Become more knowledgeable with The Word. I read the Bible, but I don't know the Bible, if that makes sense. I also know that this isn't something that I'm going to be able to accomplish in just one year, but it is something that I find very important to me in this season of my life.


• Know Him more. I truly need to rely on my Creator for more things, instead of trying to handle them on my own. I need to turn all things to Him, instead of just things that I want to. This is so incredibly hard for me, if you haven't been able to tell, I'm a bit of a control freak.

Relationships

• Wife: Be his help meet. Be more understanding.


• Mother: Patience! I've really been trying to work on my patience, as well as yelling. I grew up in a home that it was okay to be yelled at, and while I've never been a fan of it..I've noticed that I, too, yell. I really don't want my kids to remember that from their childhood. Also, I need to be more understanding. My oldest has behavioral issues. I've touched on them lightly before, but not in depth. Quite frankly, we're unsure. Sensory perception? Mild Autism? ADHD? All? None? Anyway, both patience and understanding are key here. There are times I lack both, and throw in yelling. Not good. *Now, I don't want anyone to get the impression that I continually yell at my children, because I do not. But, in my opinion, a child (or anyone for that matter) should never be yelled at. Sometimes I lose my cool, and it just happens. I'm sure we've all been there.* Spend more time with them doing things they want to do.


• Daughter: I will admit that I am not a very good daughter. Period. This area needs a lot of work. But, I am happy to say, that things have drastically changed (for the better) within the last year. Praise God! My mother and I used to be very close, before 2 things happened. I made choices as a young adult that she didn't agree with, and my father passed. When dad died in 2003(great health, very unexpectedly in the middle of the night) things crashed to the ground. We both said things that are just hard to get past. I was not a Christ follower at this time in my life. Thankfully I am now, and I am forgiven! :) I need to remember that life can change in the blink of an eye.


• Sister & Friend: I live away from all of my family and most of my friends. I really need to communicate with all of them better. End of story.

Financially

Oh how I love talking finances! :) This area though is a toughie. Our original goal was to be consumer debt free by January 1, 2010. But, at this point that would mean that we would have to pay over $19,000 in debt in a year. Hmm. That is close to $1600/mo. Something about that just tells me that it probably won't happen. So...Plan B.

• A total of $4000 (including EF) in savings for: Health expenses, and vehicle/home maintence. I talked about this a little bit here, but I'm going to throw it here as well since it is still our goal for 2009. Just hopefully one that gets crossed off soon!


• Bump up our contribution to our Christmas Club account. No, this doesn't have to do with our Budget Massacre! I actually want to go ahead and set the money aside for Willie's annual trip as well, since it falls at the same time. As I outlined here, the money that goes into my Christmas Club account goes for Christmas as well as our personal property/real estate taxes.


• And, as far as our debt goes...I think that it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to say pay of $16000 of our $19000. I'm seriously tempted to put $19000 so we will push ourselves. I'll compromise with myself and put $17500.

Home

• Finish painting the interior rooms.


• Update flooring in the Living Room. (Orange Shag just isn't my thing, ya'll. Don't be jealous! :)
  
• Make it a haven.


• Fall in love with my home! I think that this is very important. You have to love your home in order to want to stay in your home and be comfortable and at ease.


• Be more efficent in my housework and day to day duties.


• Finish my Home Guide, Budget, Gardening/Food Storage Notebooks *More to come on all these later*


• Continue Couponing...Of course!

Gardening/Food Storage/Cooking

• Oh wow. After all the learning from last year, and all the fun we had..we are really looking forward to this year. We plan to do organic (atleast try to) and switch to all heirloom seeds (if the budget allows these things).


• Build Greenhouse/Permanent Garden Beds. I loved the idea of these type of beds versus the typical row garden.


• Plant beginning stages of our orchard.


• Grow our own herbs.


• Preserve all our own veggies, fruit.


• I want to get my 3 months of food storage up. I currently stock a lot of the typical food storage items (powdered milk, flours, sugar, etc)...just not in a 3 month stockpile.


• Continue to make from scratch and the switch to whole grains. I would love to expiriment with grinding grains, but I don't know that I am that ambitious quite yet.


• Cook more healthy, more nutritious meals. Learn more about nutrition/vitamins.


• Have the children assist more in the kitchen and garden. I tend to be a do it myself type of gal, sometimes it seem to be easier for me to just do it. This is how I grew up, and as an adult I'm having to learn all these things on my own. (With friends of course!)


• I would love to be more self-reliant. Entrust God to bless us with our harvests.

Self

• Let go of my perfectionism. This gets in the way a lot. More than I care to admit.


• Become healthy. I have some minor health ailments that need taken care of.


• Lose weight. For real! I'm thinking that once the above is taken care of, that this one will be easier.
  
• Read More books that I am interested in. I love reading to my children, but sometimes it seems those are the only books (other than the Bible) that I read. Definitely need to broaden my horizons here!

While this list may seem overwhelming, we are doing some of these things now, just on a smaller scale. So, in the big scheme of things, I don't think it is too much. As the year progresses I will come back and update in blue on our progress and or challenges.

Overall 2008 was a great year for us, and I look forward to all of the things God has in store for us in 2009.

I'm interested to hear what goals or resolutions you are making this year. I challenge you to make atleast 12 goals, so that we can work on one a month. My plan is to focus on a set of goals a month, since some goals will take all year, and less on others.

Would you join me?!

Blessings

Our God is such an Awesome God!! When I step back and look at all the blessings He has sent my way, it astounds me! I've been absent the last week from the blogging world due to massive amounts of food coming from my garden and lack of time from various household duties. This is our first garden and we really didn't know what we were doing. I've toyed with the idea of canning, but really didn't think that it was for me. Wrong. I've canned A LOT in the last week, and I've had a lot of fun doing so. I'm dreaming of all of the things we can plant next year and all of the different things I can can (that sounds/looks strange!).
Here is a list of everything that I have canned this year:

3 qts 1pt of Spaghetti Sauce
11 qts and 7pts Dill Pickles
6 qts Green Beans (the deer were nice enough to leave us some!)
3 qts and 2 pts Bread and Butter Pickles
9pts Carrots
9 half pint and 4 pints Blackberry Jam


Even after canning all those pickles, I still have 40 cucumbers that I have no idea what to do with!! I know I need to make one more batch of Bread and Butter pickles, but that will be more than enough pickles for us. I still have TONS of cucumbers on the vine, with new blooms every day. Maybe I should look into the Farmer's Market! Anyone want cucumbers?! Or, if you have any other canning recipes for cucumber let me know....my daughter and I are the only ones who will eat them fresh.

I plan on making some Strawberry Jam sometime this week...if I can get a chance. We have VBS at our church this week, and I am the leader for the 3rd and 4th graders. They are a pretty good group, but my energy is drained by the time the night over!

Although I've been absent from the blog, I have still been saving awesome amounts of money! I've updated my little tracker on the right side so you can see my progress. I never would have thought that it would have been this fast moving or easy to save money. Or this much fun!! I made a trip to Walgreen's and Walmart on Friday, and I hit them both again Sunday evening. Normally I wouldn't have done this since both stores are about a 30 minute drive, but I was already close to town Sunday evening, so I figured I would cash in on this weeks sales at Walgreens and get school supplies. Normally, I would have missed this weeks sales since I go in 2 week increments. Oh boy was it worth the trip! I will post all my deals later on....when I get the house recovered from all the chaos!