Canning

So I figured a different post just for canning as most people probably are not this dedicated to their food! So in my adult life so far I've canned only applesauce, pickles, stewed tomatoes, salsa & all types of jams (blueberry, peach, strawberry, cherry).  My biggest learning curve has been on pickles.  The first year my pickles were so awful I threw them all away.  Last year I canned throught the season and taught myself what to do right.  The only item I've canned so far this season has been green & wax beans, which I've never done before.  So I can not tell you if they are good or bad....but here is the recipe.

I'm going to assume you know the basics of canning but if this is all new to you let me know and I can help you out.

Beans
cut off ends of beans, wash and cut into 1" lengths
stuff beans into warm jars
add 1/4" tsp salt
fill jar with boiling water (leave 1/2" headroom)
add warm lid and tighten
process in pressure canner (10 lbs) for 20 minutes (pints) and 25 min (quarts)

Basil

I'm sure you have a million ideas for basil...but I had none past the traditional tomato, basil & mozarella sand.  Since then we have basil in all sandwiches and basil & cheese omelet!  Yum. Bruchetta....but I still has tons left over.  I found this on line and it works great.

Preserving basil:
1) fridge- remove basil leaves from stem, wrap in paper towel, put in ziploc baggie and store in fridge (mine have been good for two weeks so far)
2) freezer- chop up basil & oil in food processor, put in ice cube trays & freeze, once frozen, remove from trays ( you know the old run the bottom of tray under water trick) and store in tupperware.

Boi Choi

This is something I had NO idea what to do with a few months ago but have enjoyed experimenting.

Sauted Boi Choy & Bacon
Cook chopped bacon (I used 5 slices of precooked kind) and garlic in some olive oil.
Add cut up stalk portion of Boi Choi to pan with 1 bouillion cube and 1 c. water (or chicken broth) and hot pepper to taste, simmer ~5 minutes.  Add chopped up leaf portion of boi choi and cook for another 5-10 minutes.

I've made the above recipe with and without the bacon...both times were equally as good.

The next recipe is compliments of my dad as he gave me a ham bone to use and I came up with this.

Boi Choi & Ham soup
Cook ham bone in boiling water for 5-6 hours.  I usually make sure there is enough water to cover the bone but again no measuring here!
Remove bone & fat and return meat to pot.
Add chopped up stalk of boi choi and cook for 15 minutes, add in a can of diced tomatoes (or fresh..I didn't have any left), remaining boi choy, garlic, frozen basil cubes and salt & pepper to taste.  Cook another 10 minutes or so.  I wanted to eat this over rice but alas the rice was going to take 45 minutes to cook and I was hungry now, so I hate like a stew.

Pickles

Ok, so I love, love, love pickles...and by far my favorite recipe are these refridgerator pickles that are great to eat all season.  I'll post some canning recipes a bit later...but these are good in fridge for 2-3 months.

Half Sour Fridge Pickles
cucumber cut up however you wish...cut of the "butts", 1/2" of each end and toss.
Stuff pickles into quart size jars.
In each jar put:
1 Tbl. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. pickling spice
1/2 tsp. chopped garlic
1/2c vinegar
1 1/2c water.
Cover and refrigerate 2-3 days, flipping to mix spices when you remember.

Zucchini

Zucchini Puffs! 
OMG I LOVE these.  In my attempts to get my kids to eat zucchini I created this recipe.  They are an awesome snack too!

2 small or 1 medium zucchini shredded
2 small or 1 medium summer squash shredded
1 large carrot shredded or a handfull of baby carrots diced
cook above in skillet  with small amt of oil until softened- drain out liquid

mix together
1/2 c flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 eggs- beaten
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
couple heaping spoonfuls sour cream

added cooked veggies from above, season with pepper & onion salt and spoon into greased baby muffin pan.
cook at 350 for ~15 minutes...scoop out, cool and enjoy!

The following recipe passed "I hate Zucchini Jayce"...he even asked for seconds and Keith's response was "This is the way I like to eat my vegtables!"

Zucchini Meatloaf
2 zucchini chopped finely
1 onion chopped finely
1/2 green pepper chopped finely
~2.5 lbs meat (I used equal volumes of meat and zucchini)
2 eggs
~3/4 c parm cheese
~3/4 c shredded cheese

Stir fry zucchini, onion and green pepper  for ~10 min.  Mix meat, egg & cheeses together.  Let veggies cool a bit and mix into meat mixture.  Form in meatloaf pans.  I made 2 with this above volume of food.  Cook for ~45 minutes at 350 degrees.  I found that I needed to drain fat/liquid twice during cooking. 

Zucchini & Orzo salad
2 zucchini- cubed
2 summer squash- cubed
2 cups cooked orzo pasta
10-15 basil leaves chopped
bunch of scallions chopped
olive oil
lemon juice
salt & pepper
feta cheese

Mix together above ingredients except feta & refridgerate overnight. Mix in feta just before serving.

Zucchini, Tomato & Ricotta Bake
zucchini cut into 1/2" circles
Ricotta cheese
tomato slices
tomato sauce
parm cheese

Layer in order: tomato sauce, zucchini, tomato, ricotta, repeat....top with parm cheese and bake at 350 for ~45min.

New Idea

Ok it is CSA time and I've been asking everyone for ideas on what to cook and sharing recipes.  I figured I'd resurrect the old blog and put things here for people to comment and share.  One thing you will learn about me is that I do not measure or time things....so season and add to your taste and cook until done!...I'll give you approximate amounts when I can! :)  I figured I could add a new post for each food to keep the searching simple.

February- April Pictures

I've been so lax in taking pictures.....we had a lot of focus this past few months on getting my Memere's 90th b-day video completed, that all picture taking and photo album making is very far behind. Only so many free minutes in the day! But here are a few pictures from the last few months....sorry about the snow reminder!!

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Time goes by so fast

I am amazed at how fast the kids are growing both physically and mentally. Kaelyn is so quick to pick up on things and she mimics Jayce's every moves. She is still a little peanut though, so sweet...she will charm her way into your heart. She is starting to get a bit defensive with Jayce and tending a bit on the whiny side, so we need to make sure she doesn't get lost in the shuffle. Jayce is such a dominant child that he tends to boss Kay around and sometimes she really just wants her own space. I do have to say I LOVE their little conversations, I spy on them and just listen to them talk to each other and play...it is so adorable! I do love that I have split my time between home and work. The struggle is mostly still trying to make all the financials meet at the end of the day. I have so much I want to do and never enough money!! Then you try to do more yourself and sacrifice quality family time.....I always struggle to find that balance. I really see how much good quality time means with the kids. When Keith travels I actually find that I try to just play with the kids more and let everything else fall apart. It is those weeks as a single mom that I am so glad I only have two kids...one for each hand crossing the street, one for each leg when reading a book, one on each side of me when we go out to eat....

Updated Memere Video

Kaelyn's 2nd birthday party

So on our second attempt this month we were finally successful at having Kaelyn's b-day party. We were all so sick two weeks ago when the party was originally scheduled that we had to cancel. Even today Grammy & Great Memere decided not to come as we all still have lingering coughs and they didn't want to get sick. But it was a nice time. Kaelyn finally had her b-day party and we got to hang out with family and eat some good food. The theme was dollies. Kaelyn got a doll care center, doll tubby, potty & rocking horse all to go with her new baby dolls. Also a cool dance CD, rocking horse for her, some princess dress up items and a Dr. kit. So blessed to be able to give our little girl these wonderful toys. Thank you family & friends!

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january 2011

Wow, it is amazing how fast these kids grow. Jayce finally can spell his name and count objects up to ten. He also knows all his shapes & colors (he's known those for a while). Kaelyn actually correctly identified a triangle today. She is a lottle talking machine. It is so amazing to me how many works & concepts she can grasp and put together. She'll only be two in a few weeks but she acts more like 4...she'll tell you she is turning 3. She sings her ABCs, counts to 10, sings twinkle twinkle little star and my favorite is she needs "privacy" when going potty! I love it. She is a trip.
We moved the kids to a new daycare as jayce was having socialization issues at the first place we put him. Mostly b/c there was no one else for him to play with and if you ask him he says "mommy I have trouble playing by myself". VERY true Jayce. He's now in a place with 10 other kids his age and doing much better. Kay is in a room with kids her age and I can tell she will be underchallenged there but it is good for her to have some space from Jayce and maybe be the top dog for a while!
Well, hope you enjoy the pictures from last month...mostly a bunch of snow ones but some cute kid picture too.
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december 2010

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Hope you enjoy these pictures.

Disney Trip Pictures

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November 2010 pictures

With facebook I've been a horrible blogger. It seems like my life can get pieced now in 1 day chunks and I no longer need to save up fun stories to blog about later. So, let's see what is new.

We spent the last couple weeks traveling. we took our RV down to Florida and went to Disney with Trent, Jessica, Trey & Alex. The kids LOVED Disney, so much more than I had originally thought they would. So much different stimulation, rides, lights, people. It was overall a great experience. Plus we traveled the east coat to get there and road trips are always fun. We stopped to visit Meghan & Scott in NC and hung out with them for a day. We rarely get to see so many family members that it is nice to take some time and visit when we can.

Kaelyn figured out how to climb out of the pack n play on the trip and then proceeded to apply that knowledge to her bed at home, so now she has a big girl bed, I guess that goes hand in hand with being potty trained...but we still need to figure out how to get rid of binky!! The kids are starting to play more with each other, lots of fights but lots of sweet moments too. There are quite a few sweet pictures in here where they are cute together. I'll upload the disney pictures later but I wanted to get these November pictures loaded before the end of December is here!!

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