Prayers

A friend just posted a story about the prayers her kids said when they were little.  It sparked a memory of the family prayer we used when I was little -

"Come oh Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let this food to us be blessed. Amen"

For many years I thought Come oh Lord Jesus was one word: comeohlordjesus - go figure.  The mind of kids.

Of course, I also thought there were 23 letters in the alphabet:

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-LMNO-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

Yes, LMNO was one letter for years!

Pickle Relish - recipe #2

I made two different recipes for pickle relish this year.  This was the 2nd recipe I tried - it is very sweet, tangy and yummy.  I canner for the hot water bath started when I drained the vegetables.  It takes a while to get all of that water hot and boiling!

4 cups chopped cucumber
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped green bell pepper

1 cup chopped red bell pepper

1/4 cup Kosher salt

3 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups cider vinegar
1 T Celery Seeds
1 T Mustard Seeds

1) Mix vegetables and kosher salt together in large bowl, pan or crock.  Cover and let sit for 3 hours
2) After three hours, rinse and drain vegetables well.  I allowed them to sit for 45 minutes
3)  In a large pan mix the sugar, vinegar, celery seeds and mustard seeds together, bring to a boil
4)  Once the liquids have  begun a full boil, add the rinsed and well drained vegetables
5)  Bring back to a boil, turn heat down and allow to simmer 10 minutes

Carefully ladle relish into hot sterilized jars, add lids and rings and process in a hot water bath for 10-15 minutes.

Baking and canning

It's been a busy week in the kitchen.  The reason is probably because the farmer's markets are overflowing the beautiful fruits and vegetables.  I with fresh fruits and vegetables were available year round.  Oh, I know some people will tell me they are available but having a watermelon that is trucked across the country is not the same as cutting into a watermelon that was picked yesterday (or this morning) and in my tummy this afternoon!  Fresh fruit tastes so much better.

Even better is getting to know the farmers and knowing what goes into my food.  Better yet, knowing what does NOT go into my food - like pesticides or other nasty chemicals.

As of this post I have made jars of jam - cherry, strawberry and blueberry.  All of the jams were made without adding extra pectin.  I've also canned countless jars of salsa, hot & mild, stewed tomatoes, applesauce, bread and butter pickles and pickle relish.

Funny thing about the pickle relish.  The recipe calls for 5 cups of sugar so I purchased a new 5 pound bag.  I moved the bag around on the counter while I was preparing the pickle relish.  It wasn't until all the jars were filled and sealed that I sat down to write the recipes in the book of recipes I'm keeping.  It was then - very late at night that I realized the bag of sugar had not been opened!  Yikes!!!  The following morning I opened all the jars, dumped the contents back into the kettle with the 5 cups of sugar and bought everything to a boil & simmered for 20 minutes again.  Early taste tests show the relish, although perhaps a bit overcooked, tastes delicious.  Da Hubbs had some on his sandwich the other night and he gave it his seal of approval.


I'm actually looking forward to this winter when we can open the jars and enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of my labor.

Side note, I canned several jars of tomatoes yesterday - all of the tomatoes in the jars came from my garden - yeah!!!