Last Dog.....

Our beloved Duke went to the Rainbow Bridge in September.  It was very difficult for us to say goodbye.  A week after his death I came home to find my husband sulking in his chair.  When I asked what was wrong he blurted out "I want another dog!"

My immediate response was absolutely not!  We are too old to start a new family.  Dogs are too dependent and it is so difficult to say goodbye.  It did not take long for me to change my mind.  I counter offered with a deal.  I would agree to adopting a puppy if 1) it is a small dog, 2) it is not another English Setter or any full breed, 3) it must be a non-shedder and 4) it must be a female.

At first da hubs said no but the idea of no wagging tail to greet us every day changed his mind.  I began trolling the internet and the same little picture kept popping up, a little Teddy Bear born in August.  I made contact with the breeder and immediately named the puppy Laswan, a Bislama word which means "last one".  On October 23, 2013 we officially adopted the puppy, her fur mama is a Llapso Apso and her fur papa is a Maltese/Poodle (Multi-poo).  Although officially named Laswan, we call ether Lassie.

At her first vet appointment, Lassie weighed 4.2 pounds.  Three weeks later she weighed 5.6 pounds. We made the decision to piddle pad train her.  It was an excellent decision.  She already trots into the bathroom to us the piddle pad and proudly makes sure we notice so she can get her reward.  We have had very few accidents for a couple of weeks!  She is so smart.

We attended Puppy Orientation at PetSmart and were happy to learn we are on the right track in our training.  Lassie is enrolled in Puppy School which will start the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  In the meantime, we will continue with potty training, teaching her to come when her name is called and learning to sit with hand and voice commands.

She is so smart, I am confident she will be a pro by the time school begins.

Summer 2012, part one

I cannot believe it has been almost a year since I last posted. Well, time to update... We ordered a load of black dirt today. It has already been delivered. I ordered too much so da hubs will build a new raised bed to add dirt to. That will make 5 raised beds. One will be the salsa garden, tomatoes and peppers. Another will be the pickle garden, cucumbers and onions. The third bed will have strawberries, more tomatoes in the 4th bed and zucchini, summer squash, and pumpkins in the fifth bed. Maybe I'll add some radishes and carrots too. Anyway, my body hurts from the hauling, shoveling, raking and squatting. It's almost summer, bring on the good times For now, I'm going to my sewing cave to sew.

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!!!

Baked Beans & Childhood Memories

My weekly trip to the farmer's markets yesterday were educational.  One of the farmers was holding a "demonstration" of pressure cooker canning.  I use the term "demonstration" loosely since he had no heat source, did not demonstrate how the pressure canner was used and had several jars of food that were pressure cooker canned that did not turn out very well.

After watching his so called demo with another shopper I turned to the next booth and discussed water-bath canning (the method I currently use) with another farmer.  At that booth I purchased a pound of beans and received a recipe for making baked beans --- and also instructions for canning the beans.  I wandered through the rest of the market and picked up garlic, maple syrup, and onions - the rest of the ingredients I needed to make the recipe I received from Shady Side Farms.

Last night I covered the beans with cold water.  This morning I drained and rinsed and drained the beans and then covered them with cold water.  The pot of beans is now on the stove simmering - a process that, according to recipe directions, should take two hours.

A few minutes ago the beans started fill the air with childhood memories.  As a child we spent a considerable amount of time visiting my grandpa.  He was a widower who lived alone in a home he owned that was converted years before into two apartments.  Grandpa lived in the two bedroom aprtment on the 2nd floor.  When we pulled into the driveway at Grandpa's home we could often smell the food he was cooking.  Sometimes the smells permeated the neighborhood - or could it be the smells were embedded in our nostrils so we carried them with us wherever we went?  Grandpa never settled for opening a can - he always made his beans the right way!  The smells filling my home today are the smells that greeted us on our wonderful visits to see the most wonderful Grandpa.  His other passion was making homemade bread. 

Hmmmm, perhaps I should up put a loaf of bread .....

Here's the recipe for the beans I am making today:

Maple Baked Beans

(recipe from ShadySide Farms)

1 pound Pinto or Jacob's Cattle beans

1 large onion chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced 

1 bay leaf

2 glugs of maple syrup (about 1/2 cup)

3/4 pound chunk bacon ------I'm leaving this out of my beans, personal preference

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons dry mustard

1. The night before, pick over beans, cover generously with cold water, and set aside.
2. The next morning, put the beans on the stove and simmer until tender -- about 2 hours.
3. Drain beans; put in slow cooker on low.
4. Add onion, garlic, bay leaf and chopped bacon.  
5. Add maple syrup and enough cold water to cover the beans
6. Stir beans from time to time and add a bit of hot water if necessary to keep the top layer just nicely submerged.  Around noon, stir in salt and dry mustard.
7. Remove the lid for the last hour of cooking so the beans thicken.

Things not included in the recipe but learned from the farmer.  The beans swell about three times the size so make sure you use a large crock pot.  This recipe makes enough to feed a small crowd so, if you are making this for your family, cut it in thirds or plan on canning the rest.

To can the beans,

• follow the recipe as written.  
• Wash and sterilize jars and fill the hot dry jars with the beans. 
• Make sure you leave 1/2 inche head space.  
• Put the lids on the jars and immediately process the jars for 10-15 minutes in a water bath canner. 

Treasures vs. Junk

As many of you know, my dad passed away February 8, 2011.  My dad was a builder for most of his life.  He built many homes around the Muskegon area and later in life he worked for RHJ Management.  Dad loved to work with tinker in his workshops - he had one in the basement and one in his garage.  The workshops were full of tools - screwdrivers, hammers, saws, wrenches, etc.  Lots of tools.  He also accumulated a collection of nuts, bolts, nails and a bunch of treasures.  I'm pretty sure the "treasures" were things he was saving because they might come in handy some day.

Well, after dad died, mom commenced to clean out the workshops and of course welcomed any help offered.  We (my nephews, son & husband) spent time clearing and hauling.  The final steps were to fill a huge dumpster with objects we deemed not worth keeping.  Then we had a yard sale and basically gave away some of dads tools.  Finally we sorted all the steel (as in nails, screws, lawn mower blades, etc) and loaded them into mom's van.  We hauled all this stuff to the Rag & Metal recycle facility where mom earned a whopping $46.  The last step was a woman purchased the rest of dad's treasures and she cleared out the garage workshop!

Clearing and sorting dad's stuff has been an eyeopener for me.  I have a sewing room, which I call The Cave, full of my treasures.  I spent several hours in there tonight sorting and clearing.  The room is still full of precious material, patterns, tools, thread, etc. that are too important to me to just throw away.  Unfortunately I know that my children do not view my prize accumulations as precious and will probably toss everything into a dumpster when my day comes.

I guess, in the meantime, I should spend a lot of time in the cave creating things such as quilts, clothes, purses, etc that my children might view as heirlooms.....

Hmmmm, I doubt they will but at least I will have fun.

Rest in Peace dad!

Back in the kitchen.....Zucchni Relish

This recipe for Zucchini Relish came from SparkPeople.com

Chef Meg's Zucchini Relish Recipe

4 cups diced zucchini
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2  celery ribs, sliced
2 medium carrots, sliced
1 medium sweet red pepper, sliced
2 tablespoons salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
Dash onion salt
dash ground tumeric

In a large bowl, combine the vegetables, sprinkle with walt and cover with cold water.  Let stand 3 hours, rinse and drain.

In a large saucepan, bring the remaining ingredients to a boil.  Stir in zucchini mixture and return to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer uncovered, for 5 minutes,  Transfer to a large bowl; cool to room temperature.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 days - yields 4 cups

Side Note: I ladled the relish into hot sterilized canning jars, sealed them and put them through a 15 minute hot water bath.  According to comments on the site, this is another option - Ball, the canning people, recommend a pressure canner.  I've never used a pressure canner so I have not comment there.

Back in the kitchen.....Bread and Butter Pickles

I've been absent from the blog lately.  I haven't been absent from the kitchen though.  I need to post several recipes for friends.   First.....

Bread and Butter Pickles (makes 6-7 pints)

In a large bowl, mix together and let soak for three hours:
     25-30 small pickling cucumbers - sliced thin
     8 small onions - sliced thin
     1/2 cup canning salt

shortly before the 3 hours soaking time is up, mix and heat to a full boil the following in a large kettle:
     5 cups sugar
     5 cups white vinegar
     2 T. mustard seed
     1 t. tumeric

After 3 hours, rinse pickles & onion well.
Add rinsed pickles to large kettle, bring back to a boil & simmer for 5 minutes
Place pickles in hot sterilized jars & seal - be sure to leave approximately 1/2" head space
Can using your preferred method.  I use a 15 minute hot water bath which works fine for me.

Brass Monkeys by Terry Caszett

Brass Monkeys by Terry Caszatt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The beginning of Brass Monkeys was a little slow as the author laid the foundation for the rest of the story.  As I continued to read, I found several times throughout the book where I could not put the book down, waiting for the next event to happen.  I loved how the author intertwined some of the slang from the 60's and 70's into the modern day story. 

Fantasy fiction is not my favorite genre but this book was fun to read.  The ending was a little strange and leaves the reader with a feeling there is more..... does this mean there is a sequel in the future? 



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