Archive for October, 2008

October 29th, 2008 - Pumpkins

When I got home yesterday, we started in on carving pumpkins. That’s a link to Maggie’s blog, with pictures, including me in my two sweaters + flannel in 58 degree house. (And surprisingly, Maggie decided to wear a sweater yesterday. Maybe Eric insisted she wear it to preschool.) I gave Maggie the choice of three designs; no surprise that she chose the cat over the frog (actually a toad and a skull) or the bat.

We put them out on the porch, lit up with candles, last night. I ran outside to check that they were in a good spot. What a mistake! I already had on my slippers and it was far too cold to be outside in such thin protection. My feet didn’t warm up for hours. I went to bed with them cold, despite sitting for an hour with a hot pack on them.

We’re delighted with the seeds–huge and plentiful. Even if we don’t carve the other two pumpkins, the $4 was worth it for the seeds. My seed recipe comes from Mom and is 1 tsp seasoned salt, 1 tsp salt, and water. I think this is for about 1 cup of seeds, or the amount from your average winter squash. The original recipe is for 1/2c of water, but I just put in enough to cover (be careful; seeds float so don’t put in too much). I like to put the salt on the seeds first and stir it up, then put the water in. If you dissolve the salts in the water first, the seeds don’t get as much flavor or salt as they don’t absorb that much of the water.

Bake in a 425? oven for I forget how long. I will update tonight. If you use a toaster oven, it will take less than 5 minutes. (To my great surprise this weekend. Burned half the seeds from the small winter squash I put in the roasted veggie stock.)

Roasted seeds are one of my favorite snacks. Maggie’s too!

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October 29th, 2008 - I won! I won! I won!

When I went to bed last night, Eric decided he couldn’t stand another 6 hours (he goes to bed at 2-3am or so; me ~8:30) at 58 degrees or lower. So he turned the heat on. I WON! For the first time in years, possibly ever, I WON THE HEAT CHALLENGE.

Must say it was much nicer to get up this morning in a 63 degree house. Have to figure out our new thermostat a bit better; it was 63 by the time I got downstairs, and I highly doubt it was 63 all night (but maybe) and it kicked in for the 7am 67 degrees by 6:20 (that is, it’s set for 67 degrees at 7am but by 6:30 it had already heated up the house to that temp). It has a feature (which I can turn off) where it will learn how long it takes to heat/cool the house to a given temperature and then turn on the right amount of time before the setting so that at the given time, it’s that warm. I’m not used to that and the times are set more for when we want the heat to kick in. Have to figure out what times will work–plus it’s learning how long the house takes to heat. (By the way, I use “house” loosely since the upstairs is usually at least 5 degrees cooler, maybe even more, since heat doesn’t circulate very well and half the upstairs has no vents.)

Speaking of which: Last winter, I learned we had the wrong thermostat–we have a 2-stage furnace but had a 1-stage thermostat. I finally got around to buying a new thermostat this past month. I ordered it the day before we had the heating folks come in for the annual furnace checkup. Eric mentioned it to him, thankfully. He looked at things and said that we’d need two wires run up to the thermostat. One for the dual stage part and one so that the battery was backup instead of constant (not necessary, but nice and cheaper probably). We *could* do that ourselves, except that’s totally not in our abilities.

Boy was I mad when Eric told me about this. I was already mad at the original installers for putting in the wrong thermostat, then to find out they didn’t even run the proper wires. And to top it off, the furnace guy took a look at some other things and found they also hadn’t changed the presets on the furnace blower, so our AC unit thought we had a 3000 sq ft house (it’s half that)! (Might effect the furnace as well, but it was put in terms of the AC so I don’t know.) For 6 years we’ve been running our furnace and AC wrong!

Here’s hoping the the new thermostat and changes to the furnace will keep our bills lower…or if not the bills, the therms used (since rates are higher than they used to be).

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October 28th, 2008 - Pumpkins Plus

Yesterday, we discovered a lovely little local place to buy pumpkins and straw bales. Unfortunately, the ripe pumpkins from our Farmer were eaten by their turkeys, so none from the CSA. For whatever reason, we didn’t buy one at the last farmer’s market, but at the time, we still had plenty of time to get some. We were going to get some at the apple orchard (that’s another post) last week but didn’t. So what to do?

I discovered a little ad in the Buyer’s Guide (one of those free papers that’s mostly classifieds and local ads) for Pumpkins Plus with corn shocks, straw bales, mums, and of course pumpkins. Self serve, open dawn to dusk, 3 miles west of the highway on 9th. I figured it was a little farmette at best and might be expensive. But it’s the weekend before Halloween and I’m not buying pumpkins at a grocery store!

So Eric and Maggie went there yesterday morning while running other errands on the west side. Eric was so thrilled we went back after work! The pumpkins were $4 or less (we got $4 ones) and the straw was also $4. The owner drove up while they were there in the morning and showed Eric how to run the little train he’d made. It’s pulled by a lawn mower (the kind with a seat) and is made from 50 gallon barrels (on their side with half a side cut out and wheels beneath). Eric drove Maggie around the little path and she was THRILLED! We went back because at $4, we could get afford a couple more pumpkins. And some more straw. But it was too cold–it snowed a teeny bit more while we were there–so Maggie didn’t go for another ride.

We’ll be making Jack O’Lanterns tonight and I’ll be roasting a whole lot of seeds tomorrow!

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October 27th, 2008 - This is how much I love the first snow of the season

Eric called me about 5 minutes ago and simply said, “Get outside right now.” I said “Thanks!”, hung up the phone, walked out the door, around the corner of the hallway and then ran the rest of the way outside.

It was SNOWING!!!!!!!

I never run except in emergencies. Or the first snow of the year. It’s my annual tradition to go outside and (if no one is around) dance in the snow, or at least twirl around a bit enjoying it with a huge grin on my face. I don’t put on a coat. If it’s night time, I go out in my slippers (which never ever go outside otherwise).

We haven’t even had a hard frost yet, and it’s snowing!!!!

(I wonder if the heat will go on today. Eric said it’s only 60 in the house. And it’s not even 40 outside. Brrrr!)

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October 27th, 2008 - Hi Roger!

Oh, wow, someone from my past just commented! Hi, Roger! It seems vaguely familiar that maybe we were in touch a few years ago (or more?) so I’m not utterly surprised, but still surprised. What’s up?

He wondered what ground cherries are. Too bad he didn’t ask back when we both lived in Madison, as we grew them there, too. Trade Winds Fruit has a picture and short description. I can’t figure out how to describe their taste. It’s nothing at all like a cherry nor a tomato (to which it’s related). It looks like a tomatillo with the papery husk, but is the size of a cherry tomato. Despite what TWF says, I wouldn’t use them like tomatoes. They are a sweet fruit. Maggie and I just eat them straight up. When I was a kid, Mom (and Grandma Frost) made ground cherry pie that was fabulous. Maybe next summer when we have more, Maggie won’t eat them all up before I can bake a pie. The Frosts used to also buy them (gc pies) from the Amish.

My plants are from seeds Mom gave me from her plants that originally came from seeds from her father, my Grandpa Frost. I think that’s oh so cool–my OWN heirloom seeds!

Oooh–that last link to the pie article includes info that I may be able to store them to ripen later. Need to move the ones I rescued last week from above the fridge to downstairs. (By the way, my tomatoes are ripening nicely and slowly downstairs. I remembered to check this morning. Now to remember each week until they are gone….)

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October 27th, 2008 - It’s time to stop biking

I decided to not try to bike through the end of the month, starting this morning. I didn’t even check the weather, I just knew it was blowing and colder. The expected high today is 40!!! With a chance of SNOW!!! (woohoo!!!!!!) Thursday it could warm up back in the 60s, just maybe I’ll bike then. But the rest of the week is the 40s. That’s too cold for my comfort, plus the wind would be dangerous (I’m not the best biker).

I wore the balaclava when walking, however, and was nice and toasty. Except for my feet. Time to pull out the boots. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get all-leather boots from Lands’ End like I did 5+ years ago. I’m not thrilled about wearing the new ones before it snows as they are obviously made for wet weather. However, they will protect my feet from the wind, unlike my extremely breathable running shoes.

I also broke out the corduroy pants.

But we haven’t turned on the heat yet. Still shooting for November, despite the 63 degrees it’s been inside for the past week. I had a tough time this weekend; Eric said that if it gets below 60, he’ll probably turn it on. With the low temps this week, that’s a possibility. If you aren’t a long time reader, Eric and I try to beat the other every single year to not be the first to turn the heat on. We also try to make it till November as well. Last year, for instance, I made it till Nov 4th. On the other hand, the first frost was only a few days before that as well. We’ve had frost already. Oh, and I usually lose. We think it’s because I’m at work where it’s warmer all day long. I’m also just a colder person in general; Eric radiates heat. So does Maggie–she chose to run around bare foot (inside) most of yesterday, and has refused to put on a sweater most days. I wear two!

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October 21st, 2008 - It’s been a long, long time

Sorry for the quiet. Feels like not much is happening on the simplicity front, but here are a few updates anyway:

Still biking to work, despite highs in the low 50s (meaning probably in the 30s or 40s when I ride at 6:40am). I’m just hoping for no rain since I don’t want to bike in that, especially at these temps. I started wearing my long johns, sock liners, and winter coat last week. I’m hoping to bike through the end of the week, which will have added an extra month to my normal biking season. Then, if I can get started in April next year, that will be an extra 2 months!

Still haven’t had frost advisories, except for the one a few weeks ago. However, there was definitely frost on the ground and the cars this morning. A bit nervous about my tomatoes and peppers now. Will bring them in today after work, instead of making soup stock. This probably means no more ground cherries–there are tons on the plants but I don’t think they ripen well indoors. But may try anyway–can’t hurt and maybe they’ll ripen just like tomatoes do.

It’s going slowly but surely on the weight loss front. I’m down below 145, but wasn’t feeling a strong urge to get a massage so I bought a 6-qt pressure cooker instead. Made soup in it last night–took longer than I expected, however so we ate late. LOL because pressure cookers are supposed to reduce the time to cook! It did, I just estimated much less time than necessary for preparing the food and for depressurizing. Next time, I’ll add 15 minutes for prep and I’ll quick-release (running cold water over the cooker) so that we can eat in about 45 minutes start to finish instead of 90 minutes. This definitely means we can have soup for supper (assuming I find some good recipes–I just don’t have much luck with seasoning soup) without me having to set it up before leaving for work in the morning. (I know, Eric could set up the crockpot during the day, but there are two problems. 1. Have to remember to start it at the right time. 2. The end time is so variable that we seem to always end up with it done too early or too late. Oh, and we have a really big crockpot and I always make too much soup then someone doesn’t like it. The pressure cooker is smaller!) Did I mention before my new goal is 135#?

I used the pressure canner for the first time on Sunday, canning 6 qts crushed tomatoes. The only problem is that you have to let it slowly depressurize, so I wouldn’t want to can more than one batch in a day as the process can take about 2 hours total (heating the jars, boiling the water, coming up to pressure, canning, depressurizing). But you can fit two stacks of jars in there, so I can can 14 qts at a time, even more pints. I’m hoping to find a good soup recipe to can this winter. May also can some of our beans for quick and easy use.

On Saturday, I made roasted red pepper spread for the first time. Took far longer than expected to roast the veggies in the toaster oven (about 45min instead of the 15 in the recipe). Came out quite yummy and I will definitely make it again. It’s a canning recipe, so next summer I can buy a whole bunch of peppers and make a large batch. Oh, you also need plum tomatoes, so maybe I’ll have to plant more of those, too. (I have some this year, but they are really small, just a bit larger than decent sized cherry tomatoes, so a hassle to work with on a large scale.) Twice, Maggie and I had grilled RRP and cheese sandwiches over the weekend.

Speaking of which, we also bought a cast iron skillet. We’ve both longed for one for ages, but had been told over and over they shouldn’t be used on glass top stoves (except the ceramic coated ones, which are lame as the entire surface is coated, including inside. What’s the point of a cast iron skillet if you don’t get the cast iron to cook on?). The last time I was at Fleet Farm, I saw a sign on their Lodge display that the company says you can use them on these stoves, with care (don’t drag and don’t drop, unlike on a computer). I used it three times in two days, also making fried rice (which didn’t work so well, as much of the egg stuck to the bottom, but it came off easily after soaking). Maggie almost burned herself, as she has been allowed to hold pot handles when we cook together. I didn’t think of telling her not to touch this one. Luckily, it was just warm when she did so. I totally understand the little “handle mitts” they sell right next to the skillets; I almost forgot to pull out the hot pad when cooking as well.

My biggest problem these days is that there aren’t enough meals in the day. There are all these good things I’m COOKING. FROM SCRATCH. WITH FRESH VEGGIES (and beans and rice). The fridge is crowded with leftovers and veggies, and there’s just not enough time to eat it all. Tonight I also need to get the broccoli and cauliflower (from the final farmer’s market of the year last Saturday) into the freezer. Maybe tomorrow–as long as it’s not raining, I’m taking the day off and we’re going up to the apple orchard.

Hmmm…I could have made at least seven posts over the last week if only I’d done updates daily instead of waiting. Sorry about that and I’ll try to do better.

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October 9th, 2008 - Mint tea

I have searched long and hard and multiple times to get good advice online about making mint tea. I can NOT find it. So I have had to cobble together what I think works and present it here for your benefit. And mine if I forget next winter.

Use boiling, not hot, water. This advice came from Mom and has definitely made a difference.
Use far more mint than you think you need. Currently, I’m using about 1/2 cup loosely packed leaves in a teapot. I have reused it for at least 4 cups of tea over 2 days, and will try more later today. UPDATE: It’s really quite weak today. Even after steeping for 15+ minutes, the water is barely green.
Let it steep at least 5 minutes. If you leave it even longer, it will get darker and stronger. But if you are trying to make your mint last for multiple cups, 5 minutes seems long enough to get enough flavor.
It will be a rather subtle flavor, nothing like, say, peppermint toothpaste. However, this is with last year’s mint. I’ll update this once I finish it off (now that I know how to make it work).
You need a large tea ball or a teapot with a built-in strainer. A single-cup te strainer spoon will not hold enough mint to have any effect on the taste (as I discovered last winter, and why I’m still using last year’s mint).
Chocolate mint doesn’t affect the flavor much. At least, not my chocolate mint. But it barely even smells of chocolate and when I ate leaves this summer, I couldn’t tell they were chocolate either.

My office area has been quite chilly lately, since the heat isn’t turned on till mid-October (whether we need it then or not). Cocoa runs about 100 calories for an 8-ounce cup…but tea has 0 (I don’t use sweeteners). So I really wanted to be able to use my mint, since it’s free. But even if I got boiling water, I had the problem of only have a single-serving tea strainer. Then, cleaning up the basement, I ran across my tea set. Many years ago, possibly even before we were married, I won a tea set in a drawing from the grocery store. It’s green! I never used it, but couldn’t get rid of it, because, well, it’s the perfect color. And finally, I had the perfect use for it, although I would need to buy a large tea ball.

Until I unpacked it and discovered it has a built in strainer at the base of the spout. It has relatively large holes for a strainer, but my mint leaves aren’t finely crushed and there are a lot of them. It works fairly well, although some leaves do come through. I just dump them (and the last bit of liquid) back in the pot after drinking the cup.

Meanwhile, the microwave at work broke, which meant I wouldn’t have anything to heat water with. My first thought was to buy a new microwave for home and bring the old one in here for everyone. Then, when I ran across the teapot, I also ran across my old hotpot, something I haven’t seen in years. The perfect combination!

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October 8th, 2008 - 100 things about me

I just found this file that was over two years old on my hard drive. I guess I never posted it. So I updated it to the present, and here, at long last, is the long time favorite meme, 100 random things about me.

1. My name is AnnMarie Paulukonis Johnson
2. I’m married to Eric.
3. We have a daughter, Maggie.
4. Paulukonis is my middle and maiden name.
5. I now regret using it as my middle name as it causes confusion, is rarely used, and is an awful mouthful when used.
6. My favorite color is green.
7. Most of my clothes are green.
8. I was born in 1972.
9. In Madison, South Dakota.
10. I live in Oshkosh, WI.
11. Excepting 10 months in Kentucky, this is the farthest south I’ve ever lived.
12. I’ve also lived in St. Joseph, MN (college), Lancaster, KY (volunteer after college), East Lansing/Okemos, MI (grad school), and Waverly, PA (parents house for two summers).
13. I am the instructional technology developer at the University of WI Oshkosh.
14. I enjoy gardening.
15. 1/3rd of our side yard is a vegetable/flower garden.
16. I use organic methods; no chemicals have been used in our yard since 2001.
17. We live in a turn of the century house—the 20th century that is.
18. It’s not a cool old Victorian or anything, however.
19. I’ve done my own taxes since about age 12.
20. I begged Dad to let me do them that year.
21. I’ve only messed them up once—that first year, I underpaid by 12 cents.
22. I was a math major in college.
23. Actually, I double-majored, picked up a Liberal Studies major with a concentration in technology during my last year.
24. I love to read.
25. Once summer as a kid, I piled books from the library up on my bed (which was in a corner against the wall). They were about 10 high the entire length of the bed.
26. Nowadays, I pile them up on my desk at work.
27. And in at least three places at home.
28. I used to never read multiple books at once but now I always have at least 3 or 4 going at once.
29. You know the adage “You can’t see the forest for the trees?” My husband says “I can’t see the trees for the forest.” I have a hard time seeing the bits and pieces for looking at the big picture.
30. I prefer to solve problems than to find them.
31. I enjoy tracking my family’s finances.
32. I use Quicken and Excel to do so.
33. I have been keeping a budget since I was in 7th grade.
34. I only took a break during the first 3 years of grad school.
35. I love finding things around the house to donate to charity.
36. I can play the piano.
37. I have also learned to play the clarinet, pennywhistle, and recorder.
38. But I always wanted to play the drums.
39. I have visited almost every state, except Hawaii, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Arkansas, and New Mexico.
40. I went to Canada when I was little kid but don’t remember how many provinces we hit.
41. As an adult, I’ve been to Ontario quite a few times.
42. I’ve also been to France, England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Switzerland (rode through on a train), Hungary, Germany, Czechoslovakia (days before it no longer was), and Russia.
43. I’ve always wanted to visit Antarctica (ever since 7th grade that is).
44. But now I’m concerned about the environmental impact of tourism so probably never will.
45. Had I know you could get a support job there, I probably would have after college. But I thought only researchers lived there.
46. I’m fascinated by the artic.
47. I adore snow and winter.
48. I participate in no winter sports activities.
49. Although I’d like to try cross country skiing.
50. We took a cruise down the coast of Alaska for our honeymoon.
51. It was August. I was surprised by how little snow there was.
52. I got locked out on the balcony of our room for 2+ hours one night.
53. It’s VERY dark in Alaska at night even in August.
54. And cold.
55. I love reading about homesteaders and adventurers.
56. I wish I were one, but don’t believe I’d actually survive.
57. I have sprained a wrist or an ankle, on average, once a year since moving to Oshkosh.
58. I have been admitted to emergency rooms three times but never to a regular hospital.
59. It totally freaked me out when I was put under for the first time as a 32-year old for wisdom teeth removal.
60. I hate the taste of alcohol.
61. I have never had a hangover.
62. I hate the feeling of carbonated beverages so don’t drink them either.
63. As a kid, I’d stir them until the fizz disappeared.
64. I give a different answer every time I’m asked what my favorite food is.
65. I have five sisters-in-law. Two are under 13 (as of 2008).
66. I have one brother-in-law.
67. A childhood friend of my father’s named his first two children the same names as my brother and I.
68. I get the biggest kick out of talking to Ann Marie since we have the same name.
69. Especially because she’s also my SIL so she actually has MY name now.
70. I have known only two other Ann Marie’s.
71. And everyone of us spells it differently: Ann Marie, AnnMarie, Annemarie (called Ree), and Annmarie (called AM).
72. I never had a nickname growing up.
73. So in highschool, two friends called me Annie while I called them Scotty and Dubbie (his name was W. Alan; friends called him Dub).
74. In college, I picked up the nickname Sally.
75. Some people didn’t know it wasn’t my given name and insisted no one named Ann Marie was present when someone was looking for me.
76. My birth first name was Ann and my middle name was Marie.
77. My family used both names when I was little.
78. When I went into 7th grade, I refused to be called Ann anymore.
79. Except by teachers, of whom I was too intimidated to correct.
80. I hate the name Ann now. It’s just not me.
81. I legally changed my first name when I got married so that I didn’t have to keep correcting people or explaining the use of my middle name.
82. I sleep with a teddy bear (actually, an elephant, a piglet, and a bear; mostly the elephant).
83. I had an emotionally abusive boyfriend for two years in graduate school.
84. I got my Ph.D. (He didn’t. He left with a master’s.)
85. I used to be in the RPGA.
86. That’s where Eric and I met.
87. I stopped playing after graduate school.
88. I loved tabletop roleplaying and miss it.
89. I do not play videogames (generally speaking).
90. I get motion sick very easily.
91. I was diagnosed as a dizzy blonde by a neurologist.
92. In front of my husband.
93. It’s true only in the medical sense.
94. Sometimes, I can’t ride in elevators without getting mildly motion sick.
95. So I avoid them; unfortunately my sciatica often requires it over 2 flights.
96. My favorite music group is Rush.
97. I own all of their music.
98. But few of their albums; I bought most of it via iTunes.
99. My favorite music genre is 80s.
100. Did I mention my favorite color is green?

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October 6th, 2008 - Growing garlic

Torina asked: Please do tell how you plant garlic! I have always wanted to do this and you may just inspire me to follow through with it :)

Garlic is one of the EASIEST things to grow. I never knew until a few years ago. I don’t know why my family didn’t grow it when I was a kid. But my parents didn’t know how easy it was until I grew it, either.

Buy a bulb of garlic, preferably a good, heirloom variety, but even the stuff from the store should work (though it might not produce all that well). I recommend the local farmer’s market at this time of year. Places like Seed Savers Exchange are already sold out although other companies might still have them.
Break it apart into cloves.
Find an area of the garden/yard that won’t be disturbed through next July. IE, don’t plant it where you intend to have animals rooting (be it pigs or dogs).
Break up the soil if necessary and dig a hole for each clove about twice as deep as the clove.
Put each clove in with the pointy side up and the flat previously-connect side down.
Cover with mulch about 6″ deep. I used weeds and plants pulled up from the garden at the end of the season. You can also use straw/hay.
Wait until next July.

Honestly, that’s all there is to it! A few addition tips:

Plant right about now, or close to the autumnal equinox (we’re a bit late at this point, but as long as you haven’t had a bad frost, you’re okay).
When the scapes arrive, you can eat them (although I found mine hard and unflavorful); the scape is the twisty, usually round, leaf-like structure. You’ll know it when you see it as it doesn’t look like the rest of the garlic leaves. When the scape starts to bulb up to flower, remove the bulb so the garlic keeps growing underground.
When the leaves start to die back or when they are 2/3rds done (I’ve seen both rec’s), dig your garlic. Every clove will have turned into a bulb. Unless you have really soft soil, dig them out. If you pull, the bulb will stay in the ground.
When you harvest, set aside a couple of the best bulbs to replant. I recommend planting more than you think you’ll want since you never know how the next year’s garden will turn out. You can always give it away (or compost it) if you have too much.

Torina: If you don’t have a place near you where you can buy some garlic, send me your address (annmarie at new dot rr dot com) and I will mail you a bulb of garlic to plant!

Posted in Garden | 1 Comment »

October 5th, 2008 - Beans and rice

Thanks to a number of reasons, Eric and I have spent the past two weeks eating a lot of beans and rice (sometimes together, sometimes not). I’d like to give credit to some of the influences:

The blog Lentils and Rice is not a direct influence but I’ve been reading for a couple months now and it’s nagged me to think about more legumes and rice. Let’s say it watered the seed (I can’t say planted since I’ve long known beans and rice are good to eat, hence the rice in the freezer I had Eric get 6 weeks ago that we didn’t eat right away).

L&R recently pointed me to Simply Living Smart which I finally looked at Friday (it’s mainly about stocking up and storing foods long term, but also has tips for eating that food!). After registering (free and simple), I was able to view the section on beans. One tip was to add beans to tuna, chicken, or ham salad. Ding ding ding! Last week, I pulled ham out of the freezer for ham salad. (The first salad I made with light mayo. I’m not doing that again!) With the second pressure cooker of beans, I threw in the last of last year’s scarlet runner beans. Eric didn’t care for the texture (they may have been undercooked, as they were actually larger than the kidney beans, and they never split like the kidneys did), so picked them all out. They have dark purple skins (and white interiors), so are perfect for ham salad. I added them in. And, as Anitra promised, you wouldn’t know they were there! The purple skins (I chopped them with the ham in the mini chopper or you could puree them) just look like bits of well cooked ham skin. There’s no taste at all. And they made the ham salad with mayo worth about the same calories as the ham salad with light mayo! Part of that is that their creaminess meant I could put in less mayo (about twice the ham and I used the same amount of mayo).

Another piece of it is that beans and rice both store well. We want to build up our stored foods a bit more–we generally don’t keep a whole lot of extra food around. More than the average family perhaps, but not a ton. If the power goes out, for instance, or the flooding had been worse, it would be nice to know we had plenty of good food for a few weeks. Plus, the more food we buy now, the less it will cost since prices seem to just be going up (if only we’d bought more a year ago, or the year before!).

And finally, Eric was looking for something with a lot of protein and few calories. Beans fit the bill nicely!

I’ve had less beans than he but more rice I think. I’ve made Spanish rice twice. Tonight, Maggie adores it so much that I think she’s eaten at least half of what I made–meaning I won’t have the leftovers I was hoping for! (And she’s still eating….) I’ve often thought I’d like Spanish rice, but I just never made it. Since I was pulling rice out to go with the beans, it came to mind and I said “I’m going to do it!” The first time was a little funny: I had only ONE ripe tomato! (So I used a couple not quite ripe ones.) It was during the cool weather last week when things just slowed down in the garden. Tonight, I had plenty, all from the CSA since mine are still slow to ripen.

But we’re nearly out of rice, so Eric will need to head back to the Red Radish–or perhaps to the store here in town–to pick up some more and make a bulk order. Oh, and I forgot something important: It’s all brown rice. No non-nutritious white rice for us! This is also great as I don’t think Eric’s ever had brown rice before. Far as I can tell, it tastes the same, but I was never much into rice so I’m not sure.

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October 4th, 2008 - Getting colder

Fall is here and I’ve started dismantling the garden. Last night, we had to cover up the tomatoes, peppers, and ground cherries for a threat of frost. If we got some, it was very, very light. Our CSA farm got a hard frost however so there will be no more tomatoes, peppers, etc.

Maggie and I picked all the herbs–thyme, mint, sage, and rosemary. They are all hanging to dry in paper bags. Today, I brought in some cilantro (um, not cilantro, the seeds from it whose name I can’t recall right now).

Today we–I mean Eric dug up the potatoes and carrots. I just rubbed the dirt off. I collected dry(ing) beans and put them in the garage where the onions used to be to finish off. It’s been so damp lately, I don’t think they can completely dry on the vines, but some were crunchy to my surprise. The weather’s to be warmer (down to the 40s at night) for the next 5 days at least, so I hope the rest of the beans hurry up and dry as well.

I also saved some wildflower and sunflower seeds for next year. Plan to remove the wildflower gardens. I have some wildflower mix I bought last year to use, but it will also be fun to toss in the seeds that have already been growing in my yard.

Tomorrow, I intend to plant garlic.

Posted in Garden | 2 Comments »

October 2nd, 2008 - My new pressure canner

While on vacation, I bought a pressure canner, Presto 23 quart. Coolest thing: It’s made here in WI! Other cool things:

Can be used for water bath canning, meaning I can get rid of my old one
Works well on glass stove tops; others are too large (including most water bath ones, like the one I had)
Can put 2 layers of pints or 3? of half pints–as the site says, 7 qts, 20 pints, 24 half pints
For small jars, they can’t fall through the wire rack, because it’s not wire, it’s a rack–a mostly solid piece of metal with large holes in it. I would like to have another one for stacking jars, but they say it’s not necessary. I’d have to order it and am not sure I want to pay for shipping for it. Maybe if I need other items in the future I’ll get them all at once.
It’s also a pressure cooker

I’ve used it for water canning the grapes, peppers, pickles, etc. I’ve pressure cooked beans twice–that’s worked so slickly that we’re thinking about getting a smaller one, since I don’t actually make more than a few cups of beans at a time. I’m sure it would go faster if pressure didn’t have to build in all 23 quarts. In addition, it just barely fits in the sink and is difficult to clean since it’s so large. A smaller cooker would be much handier for beans. Even with the large one, they are done in about 45 minutes, enough time to cook them after getting home from work (or up from naps) in time for dinner. And the same amount of time brown rice takes in the steam cooker. They complement each other nicely. And about the same time to make and cook cornbread in the toaster oven. (You can guess what our dinners have been this week.)

I was rather nervous the first time pressure cooking. I didn’t do it until Eric and I were both home. I watched it like a hawk and wouldn’t let Maggie stay in the kitchen after pressure was hit until it came off the burner. I believe I have actually used a pressure cooker before; I made beans and cornbread quite often down in Kentucky and pressure cooking seems vaguely familiar. The second time, I was much less nervous, and left the kitchen except for checking on it. And Eric wasn’t home. It was a BREEZE! Maggie was quite helpful, too, as she noticed the pressure regulator bopping around when the 15# pressure was hit and came and let me know. She’s going to be a cook one day (and a vet, don’t forget).

If you’ve considered buying a pressure cooker and have things you’d cook in it, I strongly rec’d getting it. It’s not scary at all! And if you can, get a large one and give away your old water bath canner.

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October 2nd, 2008 - Grape jelly

I called The Farm Phone and talked about my grape jelly recipe, so I have to post the recipe so Geek Farm Life can link to it from their grape jelly podcast:

Pure Grape Jelly from Joy of Cooking: All About Canning

Use Eastern Concord, Muscadine, or Scuppermong grapes. (Elsehwere, I’ve seen the comment “use high pectin grapes.” Including the stems in the juicing will add to the pectin.) Make juice. Let sediment settle for 24 hours. Pour off juice, leaving sediment behind, straining through a jelly bag to eliminate tartrate crystals.

Use 1 cup sugar for each cup juice.

Boil rapidly, stirring frequently, to the jelling point. Pour into hot sterilized jars leaving 1/4″ headspace. Process in boiling water canner for 5 minutes. [Read directions in a canning book for more info about making jelly in general.]

The recipe is also good for wild berries, particularly blackberries, boysenberries, loganberries, marion berries, and olallieberries (whatever those are!), using 3/4c sugar per cup of juice.

****
Geek Farm Life is one of my favorite podcasts, as I’ve written before.

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My Adventures in Simple Living

Archive for October, 2008

October 29th, 2008 - Pumpkins

October 29th, 2008 - I won! I won! I won!

October 28th, 2008 - Pumpkins Plus

October 27th, 2008 - This is how much I love the first snow of the season

October 27th, 2008 - Hi Roger!

October 27th, 2008 - It’s time to stop biking

October 21st, 2008 - It’s been a long, long time

October 9th, 2008 - Mint tea

October 8th, 2008 - 100 things about me

October 6th, 2008 - Growing garlic

October 5th, 2008 - Beans and rice

October 4th, 2008 - Getting colder

October 2nd, 2008 - My new pressure canner

October 2nd, 2008 - Grape jelly

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