Things My Mom Never Taught Me

 

 

My Mom has taught me many wonderful things, but canning was not one of them. I do remember as a little girl going to our neighbor's house and helping her or watching her can tomatoes. I have been wishing for a large garden for many years and this year my dream came true! Our garden has been done SO well this summer and is giving us many vegetables. We have cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, squash, beans  (several varieties), corn, green peppers, and several different melon plants. We are fortunate to have our garden on the river bank where the sandy soil and plenty of rain has been great for it.

In the past, I have only canned tomatoes and made jam, but this year (with the abundance from the garden), I decided to do more. For the first time, I made pickles dill and bread and butter (see previous post) and also pickled some green beans. Both turned out great! I am thankful that my husband replaced our old metal shelves in the pantry with sturdy wood shelves because I am filling it up! The old shelving would have collapsed by now with the weight.

I never had anyone teach me how to can, and was honestly really nervous about doing it at first. I did plenty of reading and research on my own. You can find many wonderful websites on how to process and put away fruit and vegetables on the web. One of my favorite sites is www.pickyourown.org. You can find information here about where to get your fruits and vegetables, when the produce is in season, and how to prepare, process, and store your produce. I have also found many great recipes here.

Even though canning is LOTS of work, it is very rewarding and I'm sure will be even more this winter when we are still eating our fresh garden vegetables. Not to even mention how much money it will save us this fall and winter!

So, go ahead give canning a try. You may LOVE it and it is fun! Your family will thank you this winter!

 

 

 

Grandpa's Apple Strudel

This recipe was given to me by my father in law. My husband remembers his Dad making this as a kid and he said it was "always a special treat".
The recipe is simple and quick to make. Great for a Saturday morning breakfast or even a Sunday brunch item. Would be great for a dessert too!


Our neighbor had an abundance of apples on his tree so this seemed like a perfect thing to make to kick off our weekend.

Wash and peel apples, slice.

Roll out dough and brush on melted butter, cinnamon, sugar and apples.

Fold sides to meet in the middle and on ends. Make sure the pastry is sealed where it meets. Bake, frost and enjoy!

 

 

Grandpa's Apple Strudel

 

 

Pastry

2c flour

3 T baking powder

1/2tsp salt

3T sugar

1/2c shortening

2/3c milk

 

3T melted butter

 1tsp cinnamon

1/2c sugar

3/4 c chopped apples

 

 

 

 

Icing:

4 T milk

10x sugar to paste

1/2tsp vanilla

Nuts, optional

 

Blend flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, shortening and milk together. Turn onto slightly floured board and knead gently. Roll dough into a rectangular shape 1/4" thick. Brush melted butter over top. Add cinnamon, sugar, chopped apples. Roll. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Ice and sprinkle with chopped nuts (if desired).

Pickling, pickling, and more pickling!!!

Our garden is starting to really produce some beautiful vegetables! We are loving working as a family to harvest this goodness. So far we have had an abundance of cucumbers and green beans. We all  LOVE pickles so of course we decided that we needed to make pickles. I have never made them before, so was VERY impressed when they turned out so delicious! We made dill sliced or hamburger pickles and bread and butter. We also pickled some green beans and they are fantastic too!!! Today, when finishing up the bread and butter, we had some left over "juice" so decided to throw some squash in and they too turned out very good. I guess I found out that you can really do whatever you want with this "pickling" thing.


First you have to wash and slice the cucumbers. I have a Julienne Slicer which made the job super quick!

Of course with the beans you snap and wash. You want to keep the long length.

This was the bread and butter pickles cooking. Smells wonderful while cooking too!

Our finished product.......hamburger pickles and dill green beans!

 ......................bread and butter pickles and squash!

There are hundreds of recipes online for pickling or making pickles. You really just have to decide what kind you want and how you would like to prepare. Some are "no boil" recipes, and some you use the boiling water bath to seal the jars. We chose to "can" or seal the jars since we are hoping to put them away to last us into the winter months. With the other method, they should keep for about 6 months in the refrigerator.

Oh and I tip I feel necessary to post is that the turmeric (in the bread & butter pickles) will stain your kitchen counter and or any other kitchen utensils. Very good to know!

Tomato Pie

This is one of my favorite recipes for summer!!! It is very easy to make and always is a hit at any family picnic or summer party. The pie turns out best when using ripe garden fresh tomatoes and basil.

Tomato Pie
1 Deep Dish Pie Crust
2-3 Spring Onions
6 Fresh Basil Leaves
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
Pepper
Bacon (optional)

Preheat Oven to 350.
Peel large tomato, slice, salt and drain on paper towels or in colander. (It is important to drain to ensure the bottom of you pie crust doesn't become soggy from the tomatoes).
Cover bottom of pie crust with sliced tomato, chop onion and layer over tomato. Tear basil leaves and layer over onion. Mix mayonnaise, cheeses and pepper. Frost cheese mixture over layers in pie crust. Bake on 350 for 30 minutes. Allow to set and cool before cutting and serving.

 For extra summer time flavor, add crisp bacon on top of the tomatoes.
Enjoy!

Wild Flowers: To Brighten The Day

Some days are just extra gloomy and today turned out to be one of those days! We have had LOTS of rain in this part of Virginia lately! It seems every day this week we've had clouds and rain. This afternoon, I was feeling down so decided to take my youngest daughter, Abby on a walk to pick some wild flowers. We each made a bouquet to fill our tables in the house. We had a great time doing this and definitely brought some cheeriness in on this gloomy day!!!! Thank you Lord for these beautiful flowers and a beautiful daughter to brighten my day!!!

Wild Wine Berry Jelly/Jam

Our family has been living on our "farm" for about ten years now. Every summer we drive past these berries and always wondered if they were edible. We researched and discovered last week that in fact they are! These berries are known as wine berries and really remind me of a red raspberry. They are a little tart, but great for pies or jelly. These berries usually grow in wooded areas or along roadsides. They look very similar to a blackberry or red raspberry plant. They have a white color on the underside of their leaves and are an invasive species. The plant puts out a shoot and where each shoot touches the ground, another cane (stem) will then develop.

Our family goes through lots of jelly, so I decided to make some with these berries. The first batch was with the whole berry (mashed). Since there are SO many seeds, we didn't like the way that jam turned out. The second batch we decided to just use the juice from the berries. It takes a little time to drain them and takes quite a bit of berries for enough juice (4 cups) for one batch of jelly. We used the same recipe that we use for Red Raspberry Jelly. The jelly turned out great!

First, prepare your jars and lids. Make sure they are clean and dry.

Next, start your water for boiling the jars. I just use a large pot with a lid, lined with jar rings in the bottom (as a rack).

 

Then, wash your berries and drain (unless you are just using the juice) then you would drain juice with cheese cloth or towel to collect only the juice (straining the seeds and berry pulp).

 

This is the way we collected the juice (just let it sit and drain), then we'd press and drain more.

This one the mashed berry for jam.

 
 

Bring berries/juice to boil along with butter and box of pectin until it comes to a full rolling boil (that doesn't stop when stirred).
Then add sugar and return to full boil for exactly one minute. Remove from heat, ladle into jars, wipe rims of the jars, and place the lids on. Boil the jars for 5 minutes. Let set for at least 24hrs and you have your jam or jelly! YUMMY!!!!

Recipe:
4 cups Wine Berry juice or berries
1 box SURE-Jell Fruit Pectin
1 tsp. butter or margarine (this keeps it from foaming)
6 cups sugar









 I also made a pie, and we picked plenty more to freeze. The kids LOVE them and they are a nice
summer treat! Be sure to check before eating wild berries to be sure they are safe and not poisonous!

A New Day

We all have days when we just don't feel our best. Life and stress can set in and really work on our self esteem, mood, and spirit. I had one of those days yesterday. I had to just step back for some "quiet time" and recognize all of the things that I have blessed with and am thankful for. We live in a time that is depressing. Every where you look, seems like bad news and sad stories. I love this verse in John 16:33 that says, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." This gives me great comfort on the days that life looks so "gloomy".

I am so blessed and am so thankful that I can live out here in the country, I have a beautiful garden that is starting to yield many fresh veggies for me and my family, I have 5 beautiful children in my home that are healthy and daily brighten my day, I have a wonderful, supportive husband who takes great care of us, and I have my faith in God. He is the one who sustains us and blesses us with all of these good things!

So, today is a new day! There is much to be happy about and I am choosing today to be a smiling, happy, encourager instead of an unhappy, depressed Mom today! I hope this post will bless and encourage you today.

Perks of "Country Living"

How blessed we were to be able to see this beautiful Bald Eagle on Saturday morning. My husband had cleaned some catfish that he caught Friday night and threw the "scraps" out in the field thinking some animal would enjoy them and this is what it lured in. We were able to watch from our windows and my husband was even able to sneak out on the front porch to capture this picture! What a majestic and beautiful site! Thank you Lord for creating such beauty for us to enjoy!