Archive for September, 2008
September 30th, 2008 - Feeling a little more secure
I’ve long wish we’d had even a modest collection of emergency supplies. We don’t even have a first aid kit (not that we don’t have first aid items, but they are in various cabinets and drawers and not in one container, much less in a place we can grab and go). That I read a lot of post-apocalypse novels is, yes, part of that wish. What’s happening to the economy is another part. That we live in tornado and flood country another.
So we’re doing something about it. This weekend, I bought:
- a 170-item first aid kit
- magnesium fire starters (these are just so cool I can’t wait to try one out!)
- mylar blankets
- emergency candles
- dry sack (waterproof bag)
- waterproof matches
- a few other things I can’t recall
We also put Eric’s old pair of glasses in with this stuff, a package of baby wipes, a Gerber utility knife (like a Swiss Army knife only a different brand that Eric swears by), and a few toiletries. Over the next few months, we’ll gather at least a 3-day supply of daily medications. I’d also like to get a few more solar-powered items, especially another flashlight or a lantern. And water (although my canned juices should count for some of that). Should also have some extra clothes–but since we have so few (compared to the typical American) that one’s tougher. We literally wear all of our clothes every week (except Maggie–she has plenty of extras since I buy so far in advance). Although, with our weight loss, I might set aside a few things we’ve grown out of just to have something there (once we get to that point, that is).
I feel just a little more safe and secure with these few items. I spent only about $100 for the items we didn’t already have. It’s worth it!
September 30th, 2008 - Still on the bike
Despite rather cool weather this week, I’m still biking! I wouldn’t have been able to this morning except that over the weekend I bought a balaclava that fits under my helmet. I’m so excited because it could mean an extra month of biking (two weeks each spring and fall), maybe even more. I usually quit due to the cold. I can bundle up the rest of my body, but not under my helmet. Except now I can.
It was $25, so not cheap. But I may wear it throughout the winter as well. It’s weatherproof, so cuts wind AND water. It has a face portion, with a cutout under the nose and small holes around the mouth area. It will probably work better than scarves do. We’ll have to see.
Now I just need to get new boots for walking all winter. I realized I needed new ones last winter, but forgot about it all summer. If only I’d remembered in the spring and looked for clearance sales.
September 26th, 2008 - Great galloping grapes
I took a 6 day vacation and should have written a bunch in here whilst doing so (it was at home). Instead, I didn’t and felt like I had all sorts of things to share that I never got to so I procrastinated more and more. ::sigh:: Sorry for my absence. Let’s get back on track with grapes!
Last Sunday, I picked something over a bushel of grapes at Moes. She had grape vines on the house she bought and can’t keep up with them. I also got some a few years back but not last year. I should just go ahead and email her each fall. Whenever I run into her, she always welcomes me over! It took only about an hour–not bad at all! I had two bushel baskets about half full. Wish I’d weighed them, but forgot. I believe these are Concord grapes. They aren’t sweet enough to eat plain (except the occasional lucky one) and have seeds. Maggie liked them, however!
My grape jelly recipes said that including the stems and green grapes was a good idea for extra pectin, so my first batch in the steam juicer just was dumped in. I them realized that it would be a LOT of batches and started stripping grapes off the stems. Not too carefully, however, as I didn’t care that much, just wanted to fit more in the juicer. (It was over 23 quarts of grapes, as I nearly filled the pressure canner with grapes waiting for the juicer.) Ended up with three batches in there. Each took at least 30 minutes till steam came out, then 60 minutes of juicing.
Put it all in the fridge to settle overnight. Monday, I made grape jelly. I may have scorched it as I thought the three tests would appear in a row, and I never got to the sheeting stage, so I never even tried the “in the freezer to see if you can run your finger through it” stage. I finally gave up and decided to have grape syrup. After filling the jars, I discovered that the bit left in the pan had jelled in those few minutes of putting jars in the canner! Aaaaack and aaaargh. I’d wasted quite a bit of time that wasn’t necessary. Now I know to go with “when it boils check it in the freezer.” It’s a bit sticky and a little scorched flavor, but livable. I have 6 half-pints of jelly.
I bought a jelly bag for straining the juice since I always made quite a mess with cheesecloth. The jelly juice had no sediment to speak of.
Tuesday, I stayed home and canned juice. The juice–just a tiny bit of sediment. I hope it really did all get out, because the juice I froze before always had crystals and sediment in the bottom (I didn’t know about straining to prevent that.) This time, I added sugar right away. In the past, I’d add it when drinking it, and you always get sugar at the bottom of the glass, which I don’t like. The recipe suggested 1-2 cups per gallon or to taste. I added about 2.5 cups. It’s still on the tart side, just like grape juice should be. (Actually, I had to ask Eric that question. I don’t recall the last time I had commercial grape juice.) I made 9 quarts of sweetened juice along with 3 more quarts unsweetened to make jelly again later. Counting the jelly juice from Monday, I got about 14.5 quarts of juice from the one hour and one+ bushel! Not sure why, but the 1/4″ headspace turned into about an inch, although there was no loss of juice to the canning water. Maybe the jot juice takes up more room than room-temp juice?
There was just a bit of unsweetened grape juice that didn’t fit in the jars, so I added a bit of sugar and Maggie and I drank it Tuesday for a snack. It can definitely be cut with water! Which means I actually have more than 9 quarts of sweetened juice to drink. (I found the same thing the last time I juiced it. It’s great to have it concentrated for preserving because it takes less space than if it were full strength.)
I’m very tempted to go get another bushel of grapes tonight or tomorrow, but I really need to concentrate on taking care of other things I already have to around the house like hot peppers, carrots, potatoes (the later two still need to be dug out of the garden, for instance!).
Grape juice: Heat to 190F. Add 1-2 cups of sugar per gallon of juice, or to taste. Fill hot jars to 1/4″ headspace. Boiling water canner for 15 min, quarts or pints. (Every canning book.)
Grape jelly: 1 c sugar to 1 c juice. Prep and cook as for any jelly, boiling rapidly to the jelling point. 1/4″ headspace, boiling water canner 5 minutes, 1/2-pints. (Joy of Cooking: All About Canning)
September 10th, 2008 - Revising my thoughts on jam
I recently realized that a tablespoon of jam will cover as much bread as a tablespoon of butter…and has about half the calories! I think I’m going to make some small batches of jam, starting this weekend. Or maybe I’ll work on the fresh produce this weekend, since I have some jam in the fridge and the pantry and save jam making for when the garden is done. But still, I’m getting inspired and delighted by jam again!
Of course, this means you can’t butter the toast THEN put jam on. It’s one or the other. And half a tablespoon of jam appears to be the perfect amount for my sourdough bread (which is higher than my whole wheat bread, so one slice is much larger). I thought it wouldn’t be nearly enough to taste as good as butter but it is! And saves me about 40 calories on breakfast.
One of the jams in the fridge I made last fall. It was supposed to be apple syrup, made from apple cider. But I cooked it just a tad too long and it appeared to have turned to jelly. All winter, I kept thinking that I should try microwaving it and see if it would soften enough for ice cream…but I never did. So I finally pulled it out yesterday and realized it was indeed the perfect consistency of jelly. And it tastes really quite yummy! (Cooked down apple juice can replace pectin in many jam/jelly recipes, so it makes sense that I ended up with jelly instead of syrup.) Perhaps I shall have to make more this fall–I didn’t use any sugar at all so it’s healthier than other jams, but it also made very, very little. I don’t recall how much cider I started with but I think it was 2 cups. There’s less than half a cup (maybe even only 1/4 cup) of jelly.
September 8th, 2008 - 14 quarts of dill pickles
Saturday, I bought about 16# of pickler cucumbers (the little ones) for $10 and made 14 quarts of dill pickles, with the addition of the 3 big cukes from the farmer. Somehow, I had the idea that 8# = 8 quarts but that’s not in the recipe (at least not as I put it in the blog) so I’m not sure where that number came from. Anyway, I wanted 14 quarts–or two batches of the canner–so I figured 15 pounds would be good. The seller had baskets of cukes for $5 each–and each was more than 8#. It was a LOT of cucumbers. But it wasn’t too difficult to process them since pickles are oh so terribly easy.
At the tail end, when I realized I would not quite fill the last jars, I remember the 3 huge cukes from the farmer, so I put them in the last 3 jars. Turns out they are squishier (since they were halved then quartered) and made the jars easier to pack than when I just had the picklers. May use a mix of sizes for all batches next time.
Eric thought the pickle from the fridge (extra cukes put in leftover brine last week) was too salty. We’ll have to see how they come out after a few weeks in the jars in the basement. I love the saltiness myself!
I also make 7 half-pints of mild salsa, using the Ball Canning Traditional Salsa recipe. I replaced all the hot peppers with green and used 1/2 the hot sauce (2 drops instead of 4) and it was just barely not too hot for me. Unfortunately, Maggie and I used up the last bits of tortilla chips to have the salsa for lunch and I forgot to buy more. (Saved a cup or so of salsa in the fridge and I want to eat it!) Will make up a hot batch for Eric to try one evening this week. It was a less complicated recipe than the one I’ve made before, and from a canning company so no worries about whether or not it’s appropriate to can. Did a lot of research online to find out that it’s acceptable to replace the hot peppers in a recipe with green peppers as long as the proportions remain the same. ::whew:: ALL the recipes I was finding had hot peppers in them, and I’m pretty much a mild salsa person. Well, not all the recipes. Ball’s mild one called for buying the company’s salsa mix from the store. I wasn’t interested in doing that.
Also tried yet another tomato sauce Sunday. Once again, way too acidic. Dumped it, along with last week’s that I’d saved, in the compost. I’m done with tomato sauces. Maybe…got another canning book from the library and it has a good sounding sauce in it.
I always say I don’t like to cook, but I’ve been thinking maybe I can’t say that anymore. I certainly do a lot of cooking to preserve the harvest!
September 5th, 2008 - Found a use for cauliflower
I mentioned that when making the pickles, I put some cauliflower and carrots into the leftover brine. I’ve already enjoyed the ones I put in the Zing Dill Beans and they tasted just like the dill beans do, except with a different texture. In other words, lovely since I adore the dill beans. For lunch today, I’m eating the ones I put in with the dill pickle brine.
The cauliflower is awesome! The carrot I just tried doesn’t work so well. Maybe it needs to sit longer since it’s a harder vegetable. Not sure. Will try again in another few days. I have another head of cauliflower in the fridge that will be cut up tonight and brined. I’m so delighted as it just wasn’t tasty, even with dip, this summer.
I had been wondering if any nutrition was lost by pickling. Given that fermentation is a far longer tradition than canning or freezing is, I suspected it would be fine. But I had to know. Surprisingly, it’s rather difficult to find anything about this. I ended up at Nutrition Data and compared 100 grams of Pickles, cucumber, dill or kosher dill to 100 grams of Cucumber, with peel, raw. Their numbers are pretty close, although the pickles have more calcium (why?), Vitamin A (?), Vitamin K, and sodium (obviously). The cukes have more Vitamin C and a bit more of some of the B vitamins.
Now I just need to see if anyone advises against canning dill pickles other than cucumbers and beans. I’ve never actually seen a recipe for pickled cauliflower or carrots, but I have for a lot of other veggies (green tomatoes, onions, asparagus, corn, and don’t forget watermelon rind!). They all seem to use 10 minutes processing time, so I feel pretty comfortable using that with cauliflower and carrots. Especially since I will not be making an entire jar of either one; they’d just be additions to jars of beans or cukes.
I’m also having an actual dill pickle with lunch. I tried one this morning and it transported me back to childhood, just like tasting the dill bean did the other day. I am so thrilled about this I hope to buy a few pounds of cukes at the market tomorrow and will be planting my own next spring! (My lemon cucumbers didn’t germinate this year, and I didn’t mind at first since I only eat a few on salads anyway.) I didn’t realize how pickles are far easier than everything else I’ve tried canning since the cooking is just of the brine and that’s really simple!
September 4th, 2008 - I’ve been lying about my pesto
I just learned that I don’t make pesto, I make pistou. What’s the difference? Pistou doesn’t have nuts, and sure enough, I never put nuts in my pesto…I mean my pistou.
I’ve already made quite a few batches of pistou this year, even though I’ve not mentioned it much. I’ve made a few changes since last summer:
- After great frustration with the blender, I switched to the stick blender. Woohoo! It works so much better I can easily make a double batch without problems and tons faster than with the blender. I credit Eric with the idea; he credits me.
- I’m freezing it in small jars instead of cubes. The problem with cubes is that it was never quite the right amount. I always wanted a little more or a little less, but I was stuck with whatever cubes I pulled out. They also got quite icy by the end of the year. With the jars, I can pull out a jar at the beginning of each month (or so), let it defrost in the fridge, and then use just however much pesto I want each time we have pasta (or other delights with pesto. Ooops, I mean pistou!) I bought a case of 4-oz (1/2 cup) jars and have used them all up, plus two taller “jelly” jars I had downstairs. I’ve considered doing this before, but had read that you should only use jars specially made for freezing. None of the jars sold in stores every mentioned freezing so I avoided them. A few weeks ago, I looked up Ball’s website and discovered a list of which of their jars were safe for freezing (PDF). I also bought a case of the wide mouth Half Pints (why don’t they call them 1-cup?) which I think will be good for herbs.
- As mentioned, I’m making smaller batches instead of a great big one that takes 3 hours to process. It’s been much easier and I’ve done it three times already. I’d have done a fourth last night, but I was out of cheese. Tomorrow’s will be my last batch as I’ll have more than one jar a month ready. I still have plenty of basil outside but I need to resist the urge to make too much. I still have some from last year after all!
September 4th, 2008 - Strawberry preserving
We don’t eat much jam/jelly/preserves, so I’ve only once made jam and twice made apple butter. I gave away most of the jam and half the apple butter is still in the freezer. I’ve been intentionally making pb & j sandwiches just to use up the four partial jars of jam in the fridge (I threw out one that was mostly crystallized).
However, I’ve just been inspired to make some strawberry preserves by My Daily Dollars. First, she describes her process, with lots of helpful tips then she wrote about other ways to use jams to save money. I particularly like the ice cream topping idea (not that we are eating much homemade ice cream this summer–but next summer I will again!). It would also be good on waffles, although I do just love them with butter and cheese.
September 3rd, 2008 - Massage #2
Yesterday, I had another massage. That means I’ve lost the first 10 pounds! I’m afraid the second ten will go a lot slower. Those first few pounds went quickly, as often happens. It’s the longer time that they say is more difficult. I’ve had virtually no problem keeping my calories low. With the change to eating less bread and more of my fresh veggies, it’s actually be difficult to hit the minimum recommended (1200 for women) some days. I know this will get a LOT more difficult as the garden fades in the next month. I’m used to eating a couple slices of bread for two meals a day and each slice is 100 calories on it’s own. Well, at least I’ll have some processed foods to eat.
That sounds weird. What I mean is food *I* have processed by drying or canning!
So, the second massage was last night. Wasn’t quite as great as the first time, and I didn’t realize till I got home that one knot was still there. I had started to tell her about it beforehand, but got sidetracked and forgot about it. Still overall a good one. And I slept oh so soundly last night! (So did Maggie. When I got her up for the 8:30pm potty, a time at which she is usually wide awake already, she was so sleepy she couldn’t find the toilet paper then she didn’t know what to do with it once she got some. Poor girl! But that’s far better than changing her sheets and giving her bath because she peed through her training pants!) I think next time I’ll just get a 30-minute massage, which is just the back, as that’s where I appreciate it the most.
I’ve also decided that when we are financially independent, I’m going to get a massage every single week! At today’s prices, figuring a 30-minute massage 3x a month and a full body the 4th, we’re talking $1680/year (or $2680 for the full one every week, not counting any discounts or vacations). I got the idea from Millionaire Mommy Next Door, the lady who started the Abundance Project. She has a weekly standing appointment. I started dreaming of it after reading that post. I can just imagine having the time and money for such an indulgence! Eric said his choice if we were financially independent would be a personal trainer 4x/week. That’s a good one, too, and I could certainly use a professional trainer to help with my sciatica/exercise issues. But, ::sigh::, it would take more than simply being financially independent, as those two things would add quite a bit to our annual costs (in the vicinity of $10,000 for that many training sessions!).
But, if I could teach my online course a second time each year, that would almost cover massages and one training appointment a week….
September 2nd, 2008 - About apples
Somehow, in two or three years of getting apples from a local orchard, I have managed to not once write up my apple buying. All I’ve managed to do is write making and drinking apple cider, even calling the orchard by the wrong name at least once!
So here’s a start, as I haven’t actually bought them this year. I was hoping to find out how many I bought last year, as it was just about the right amount.
Orchard: Spranger’s Orchard. I like to get Fireside, Spartan, and Mollie’s. They are open 9-6 7 days a week. It’s a few miles east of my church, so I go Sunday after the service. (I always wonder if I can go beforehand, but nope.) the first apples are available mid-August, but I never remember until September. I hope I remember sooner next year, as I’d love to start eating fresh apples in August! I’ve almost run out of applesauce–would have but I wasn’t sure my 3 pints would last long enough so I haven’t eaten any plain, plus I stopped making fruit bread due to other things to eat. (Oh, and as usual, I horded the apple cider and we still have 2 quarts left. I should go ahead and drink one this week!)
I plan to get apples this Sunday, which means it’ll soon be time to make sauce and cider again! woohoo!