Menu Plan Monday 10/31

Last week’s menu changed drastically after the Tuesday grocery shopping. We ran smack dab into an amazing sale on cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. A couple of meals changed to cabbage-heavy Polish dishes, and I treated the family to a pot of cream of broccoli soup one night, a rare treat indeed!

This week starts with finishing off the leftovers and then heads into a recycled version of last week’s menu, which we didn’t actually use. While I’m a huge advocate of menu planning, I’m also flexible. A couple of years ago, I learned the benefits of taking the menu with me along with my detailed list while grocery shopping. A sudden jump in the price of one item or an unadvertised sale on another has been known to cause a few changes to the plan. I try to write the change down on the menu right there in the store so I don’t forget!

The week ahead promised to be filled with wonderful scents as I put up a few pie pumpkins, experiment with an unusual jam recipe, and see just how many ways I can put up 2 bushels of apples! I think I need more cinnamon!

Today is your last chance to enter the Awesome October Giveaway!! Make sure you stop by and leave a comment to enter!

Don’t forget to stop by Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas! If you’re looking for some new recipe resources, check out this Recipe Index Round Up.

Menu Plan for Week of 10/31/2011

Breakfast 

Fruit, granola, yogurt, or smoothies.

Lunch

Lunch of the week – Salads, wraps or leftovers

Fruit of the week – Apples, bananas, and pears (the fruit selection will probably stay about the same now until March. No more summer fruits…sigh.)

Dinner

Monday – Leftover halupki, smashed taters, carrots, and a tossed salad

Tuesday – Homemade White Pizza with Broccoli, tossed salad

Wednesday – Cauliflower and potato soup, tossed salad

Thursday – Sautéed veggies in marinara over pasta, tossed salad

Friday – Texas Ranger Soup, tossed salad

Saturday – Grilled chicken sandwiches on homemade buns topped with grilled pineapple rings, tossed salad

Sunday – Vegetable Barley Soup, tossed salad

Snacks – Crackers and peanut butter, fruit, yogurt, carrot and celery sticks, or popcorn.

Thank you for stopping by!

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Betty

Freezing Carrots

Although we do our best to grow our own groceries, the reality is that we live in the city. We are blessed with an above-average sized yard, but it’s no 5-acre farmette. We grow what we can and pretty much eat it all as it ripens. At the very end of the season, I might come away with a little produce to put up for the off-season, but for the most part, we grow just enough to eat.

If you’ve talked food with me for more than five minutes, you know what a big fan I am of produce stands and farmer’s markets. I watch prices like a hawk and as soon as they start to drop, I start haggling for better case prices. That’s my big harvest time!

I also realized many years ago that I needed to be ready for anything to be on sale. And I do mean anything! I’ve walked in on surprise sales on peaches, tomatoes, and even mushrooms. Being able to buy extra produce at rock bottom prices and being able to preserve that produce for later use has been a big blessing for our family. We’re still enjoying the yummy food I put up back in the spring during the four days of canning the Two-Hundred-and-Seventy-Pounds-of-Tomatoes-for-$10 awesomeness!

This week, we walked into broccoli at 2 heads for $1, carrots at 50-cents a pound, and cabbage at 25-cents a head. I started my very first batch of sauerkraut, made some amazing broccoli soup, which is a rare treat around here because it takes so much broccoli to make, and put up a few carrot in my freezer. I am also going to can some of the carrots. I don’t like to rely solely on the freezer. One, it only holds so much, and two, you never know when the power is going to go out.

Anyway, today, I’m sharing how to freeze carrots. When you realize just how easy it is, you’ll be looking for deals, too!

Freezing carrots is as easy as freezing any other fresh veggies. Pick it, wash it, blanch it, and freeze it. That’s all there is to it.

What you need:

Fresh carrots

Pot of boiling water

Bowl filled with ice and water

Colander

Sharp knife

Freezer-quality plastic zipper bags

Whether you’ve grown your carrots in your backyard or picked them up at a local produce stand or from a good friend who has extra, be sure to wash them all. 

Trim off the tops and tips and dice the carrots into 1/4-inch thick coins.

Cook carrots in boiling water for about 2 minutes to kill the enzymes that make it look and taste funny after a while in the freezer.

Immediately transfer the carrots to the ice bath to stop the cooking process. A slotted spoon works best here. Add more ice as needed.

When the carrots are cool, about five minutes, let them drain for a minute or two in a colander. 

Pack the carrots into zipper bags leaving a generous one-inch headspace. Place closed filled bags in the freezer.

That’s all there is to it!

Tips:

Don’t forget to toss those tops and tips in your compost pile, and pour the cooled blanching water and the melted ice bath water on your flowers. They’ll love you for it!

For some reason, we’re all a little sensitive to the flavor of the outside of the carrot. Yeah, I know; there’s tons of good stuff there. Here’s the problem. I think it tastes like dirt. No matter how well I scrub with the veggie brush, it still tastes like dirt. So, yes, I peel my carrots and toss the peelings to the chickens. I have tried to get over this, but then my family said they agreed with me so I peel our carrots. If you do peel yours, too, just make sure those peeling are put to good use. Sometimes, I’ll dehydrate them and put them in a treat for our rabbits. No waste!

Thanks for stopping by! If you ran into an amazing deal on produce, would you know what to do with it? Do you have any fun stories about a great deal and what you did with it all? I’d love to hear about it!

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Betty


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Fruit Ketchup

One of the entries that won a blue ribbon at the Hillsborough County Fair was Fruit Ketchup. It’s a little different and packed with a lot of flavor! A little goes a long way!

Normally, I don’t share my fair entry recipes until after they’ve gone through all of the fairs, but I decided to share this one a little early. I trust that you won’t make a big batch and enter it against me at the Florida State Fair in February! Now, if you were to show up with some fun creation of your own, I’d be okay with that. I love watching the food preservation competition grow each year!

Five Fruit Ketchup

2 3-inch cinnamon sticks

1 tsp whole cloves

1 tsp whole allspice berries

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp mustard seeds

6 cups chopped tomatoes

2 cups chopped peaches

2 cups chopped apples

2 cups chopped pears

2 cups chopped plums

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped

2 cups cider vinegar

2 cups honey

1 tsp salt

Prepare jars and lids.

Place cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice, peppercorns and mustard seeds in a cheesecloth bag and tie the top with a string. Combine vinegar and spice bag in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat and let stand for 25 minutes. Discard spice bag.

Combine tomatoes, peaches, apples, pears, plums, onions, garlic, peppers, spiced vinegar, honey and salt to large stock pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

Working in batches, press the mixtures through a food mill and return the pulp and liquid to the pot. Discard the solids.

Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for about 1 hour until mixture is reduced by half and is the consistency of commercial ketchup.

Ladle hot ketchup into hot jars, leaving ½” headspace.

Wipe rims and adjust lids. Process in a boiling water bath canner for 20 minutes. Cool completely and store in a cool, dark place.

Notes:

Watch your waste! Your chickens, worms, or compost pile will love all those tomato and fruit peels! And don’t pour your canning water down the drain. Water a few plants with it!

 

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Produce Bags

Our family eats a lot of produce these days. Unfortunately, because of a variety of reasons, we can’t grow everything we consume in a week yet. So, every Tuesday, my husband and I head to our favorite produce stands to stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables.

Our family is also very waste conscious. Between composting, recycling, and serious efforts to reduce our waste, our family of four only fills one small garbage bag a week, with the biggest amount of waste coming from plastic produce bags!

We are pretty good about remembering our reusable grocery bags and baskets when we shop, but those produce bags are awful! They’re so thin they can’t even be recycled for puppy clean-up duty! In fact, they usually rip and tear while I wrestle my produce out of the clingy, wet confines. I’d been complaining about them for weeks until I finally did something about it!

I made produce bags!

The material is strong enough to hold at least three pounds of apples without showing any stress. The drawstring allows for easy opening and closing. The mesh is see-though for a no-hassle check out. I can do a quick swish with the bag in my veggies’ wash water and hang it over my oven handle for easy cleaning and drying. And since I no longer have to deal with those icky plastic bags, I’m calling this a winner of an idea!

I might procrastinate about things sometimes, but every once in a while, I do have a good idea.

Thanks for stopping by! Don’t forget to enter my awesome giveaway! You only have until Monday to leave your comment entry!

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Betty

Shared on:

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Hillsborough County Fair

In all of the craziness of the big birthday/anniversary day, I forgot to tell you about our Hillsborough County Fair adventure.

Although we live in Pinellas County, the managers of the Hillsborough County Fair allow Pinellas County residents to enter their competitions because we no longer have a county fair. About 10 years ago, the Pinellas County Fair closed down, never to be seen again. After our family became involved in 4-H, we gained a new perspective and appreciation of county and state fairs and really felt the loss of our own county’s fair.  

Thankfully, we can participate in the Hillsborough County Fair which really gets us ready for the Florida State Fair in February. It’s a bit of a drive but worth it for our family.

This year, we entered items in photography and food preservation, and both kids brought their bunnies.

How did we do? Not too badly, if I do say so myself.

Jared took home a couple of ribbons for his rabbits. Rabbit showmanship for his age group was a hands-on seminar instead of actual showmanship, so no ribbons awarded there.

I managed to take home 2 blue ribbons and a red ribbon in food preservation.

However, Colleen really cleaned up this year. She won senior showmanship for rabbits plus took home a few blue ribbons for her bunnies. She also snagged the Best of Show ribbon in food preservation away from me. I won it last year. Since I had a hand in teaching her how to can, I’m going to say I had a hand in winning this year’s Best of Show, too. Granted, she chose the winning recipe and did all of the work herself, but who quibbles about these minor details? Not me. 

 

Anyway, the photography competition was a minor disaster for us. The photos the kids entered were excellent and should have brought home more than one little third place ribbon. Unfortunately, we misread the directions and mounted all three photos incorrectly! Thank goodness, the judges only took off 10 points in their scoring instead of completely disqualifying the pictures, which they could have done. We know better now and are much more prepared for the State Fair in February!

If you have a county fair or even a state fair, I encourage you to get out and enjoy this little bit of true Americana. If you enjoy a particular craft or hobby or raise animals, I also encourage you to participate in the fair competitions. First, these fairs need your participation in order to keep going. Second, when we enter these types of competitions, we often challenge ourselves to grow and to improve in our craft. I’d have never branched out from canning simple jams if I hadn’t entered the Hillsborough County Fair and Florida State Fair last year. We don’t obsess about the competitions, but we do let the idea of competing fuel our creativity.

Even if you’re not into the fair competitions, find a local fair and enjoy a little kettle corn or cotton candy. Better yet, go for the funnel cake. What’s a fair without a little funnel cake, right? Our daughter learned of a long-standing country tradition this year when her boyfriend coaxed her onto the ferris wheel. There’s nothing quite like cuddling up with someone you love while surveying the world from the top of the ferris wheel.

One of our favorite parts of the Hillsborough County Fair is a very special shooting competition. Contestants ride their horses through various different courses, shooting balloons with old-fashioned pistols that have to be cocked for each shot. Not an easy feat! That means they control the horse with one hand while controlling the gun with the other. It's a lot of fun to watch, but I don't think I want to even think about trying this.

Thanks for stopping by! I've added just a few more of our favorite sights from around the fair. The cow, by the way, was in a large pen in the middle of the walkway and loved visitors! She was also part of a "Cow Chip Bingo" game. I kid you not! See what you miss by not going to the fair?! While you're here, make sure you enter my awesome October Giveaway! You have less than a week to get your comments in!

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Betty

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Menu Plan Monday 10/24

The dust has finally settled after the schedule hurricane blew through here over the last couple of weeks. I’ll be spending a lot of time this week seeing well to the ways of my household and setting my home back upright. When we have a whirlwind of activities and projects and deadlines, the house does suffer. I’m grateful to my very understanding and patient husband who ignored the messy house for one more day as we sank into a serious day of rest after several busy weeks. However, it’s time to clean it up and get ready for the holidays!

We’re still sticking to a diet that is about 90% vegetarian. Tom and I both liked how we felt when we spent six weeks exploring the idea of going completely vegan. The original plan was very low in sugars and starches, and I loved the resulting mental clarity! So, we’re continuing on the low-carb, high-veggie path, but we’ve added a little chicken breast for a couple of meals. I’m still trying to figure out some more creative meals, but for now, my family is healthy and happy so I guess we’re doing okay.

Don’t forget to stop by Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas! If you’re looking for some new recipe resources, check out this Recipe Index Round Up.

Menu Plan for Week of 10//2011

Breakfast 

Fruit, granola, yogurt, or smoothies.

Lunch

Lunch of the week – Salads, wraps or leftovers

Fruit of the week – Apples, bananas, and pears (the fruit selection will probably stay about the same now until March. The summer fruits are fading away…sigh.)

Dinner

Monday – Fend for yourself (The boys are heading over to Lakeland to spend the evening with my Father-in-law, doing repairs, so it’s just the girl and me. We’ll probably just enjoy a nice big salad and call it done.)

Tuesday – Spicy three beans and brown rice, tossed salad

Wednesday – Sautéed veggies and marinara over homemade pasta (spaghetti), tossed salad

Thursday – Shepherd’s Pie, tossed salad

Friday – Veggie pitas and steamed veggies

Saturday – Homemade Pizza, tossed salad

Sunday – Gumbo, tossed salad

Snacks – Crackers and peanut butter, fruit, yogurt, carrot and celery sticks, or popcorn.

Thank you for stopping by!

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Betty

The Birthday Roller Coaster

Birthday and anniversary celebrations around here come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Most of the time they’re just lovely days where the special person being celebrated gets a little pampering, a couple of gifts, and a special dinner. We might throw in a bit of letterboxing or a few hours wandering around Busch Gardens, too. A couple of times, we failed miserably to make the day special, and the day went down in history as the worst ever. Sometimes, the day is over-the-top amazing and unforgettable. This year, my birthday/anniversary celebration was a combination of all three!

My crazy family sent me on a wild roller coaster ride all day!

It all started with my hubby and I spending a lovely day driving around the county finding letterboxes. The kids didn’t feel like traipsing around in the woods all day, so they opted to stay home. Tom and I were enjoying our hiking and wandering so much that we didn’t stop for breakfast until about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Forgetting half the food at home and a few other mishaps might have had something to do with that.

All day, though, I was suspicious that something was up, but I didn’t know exactly what.

Tom had wanted to head out the door at 8 o’clock in the morning. I wasn’t feeling it. After all, no one had given me any presents, cards, hugs, “Happy Birthday” wishes, breakfast in bed, etc., yet. Why on earth would I want to leave and miss out on all the good stuff? Since my kids kept avoiding me all morning, I finally accepted that this was going to be one of those “lovely” birthdays. That was fine with me…sort of. For weeks, my family was acting quite suspicious, so I was convinced that this birthday was going to be the over-the-top variety!

All day, I kept watching for suspicious behavior from my husband. I caught a few things, but then we didn’t take any unexpected detours. When our letterboxing lasted longer than expected, my husband was fine with changing our dinner reservations which really made me suspicious. You can imagine my level of anticipation by the time we got home to clean up and change for dinner. You can also imagine my state of mind when we walked in and the kids, surrounded by several baskets of clean laundry that needed folding since the day before, barely looked up from their game.

I showered and changed for dinner, thinking that any minute my family would shower me with awesomeness. I had myself so worked up that when nothing happened, I was actually in tears. How awful! My rotten, spoiled kids didn’t even acknowledge my birthday. Hubby was off the hook because he took the day off of work, took me letterboxing, which I love, and was taking me out for a very nice dinner. But my kids were about to be treated to a year of misery and guilt!

Tom barely got me out of the house quietly, and being the perfect hubby for me, proceeded to make me feel better. The rum helped. But so did my hubby's innate ability to distract me from my troubles. Soon, we were back to a lovely birthday/anniversary.

When dinner was done, my husband handed me an envelope and mumbled something about a candle. Actually, I had to choose one envelope from a couple of them while my husband continued to ramble on about a candle. I had gotten over my little snit fit and was no longer expecting anything so now I was completely surprised and once again suspicious…especially since the piece of paper in the envelope was blank!

Suddenly, I remembered seeing a jar of lemon juice on the table earlier. Now I knew why he was going on about a candle. The waitress must have thought I was crazy when I asked her to bring me a candle from one of the other tables.

Slowly but surely a message appeared on my blank piece of paper as I moved it over the candle and nearly caught the paper on fire several times. The game was afoot!

When all was said and done, I had to solve three more puzzles in order to find my wonderful presents. That suspicious behavior I had witnessed over the previous weeks really was suspicious, and my dear family really was up to something. That whole “we forgot to do anything special for your birthday” thing was just an act. My “dear” husband told the kids to make sure that it looked like they hadn’t done a thing all day except sing karaoke while, in fact, they had done quite a lot, including walking to the store to buy a special birthday/anniversary cake, creating challenging puzzles, hiding my presents all over the house, and assembling my new grill! By the time we returned after dinner, the house was spotless! My birthday loot? A gold cross necklace from Jared; fuzzy socks, a large jar candle from Yankee Candle and a jar cover with a chicken on it from Colleen; a new, beautiful grill from my hubby; and a memory to last a lifetime. 

Notice the candles.

What an emotional roller coaster! I felt so bad for feeling hurt that no one cared. I know my family loves me very much, but I had gotten myself so worked up in anticipation of something exciting that when it didn’t happen in my time, I was really let down and I let it show. What a great reminder that good things do happen in my life…just not necessarily when I think they should!

Sometimes I wish I could still hide my feelings like I used to, but these days, I’m an emotional open book that my family has memorized from cover to cover. They knew exactly what I was going to be feeling all day and used that knowledge to send me on an emotional roller coaster that I will never forget. Am I angry that they purposely made me cry….twice? Nope. If I hadn’t let myself feel so bad in that one brief moment, the final surprise wouldn’t have been as big and unforgettable as it was. Besides, that little dip makes the story even better! And yes, I did cry twice. First, when I thought this was going to turn into the worst birthday ever and second, when my family poured a ton of love all over me. My husband told me that I’m “still the one” after nineteen years. Of course, I cried!

By the way, yes, I did get a few presents for my husband. Tom’s not the easiest person to buy for. He’s not really into “stuff,” but he liked his anniversary gifts because of the sentimental value attached to each one.

The Eagles CD is filled with songs that form a large chunk of the soundtrack of our life together.

The minute I saw the goofy string of Coleman Lantern lights, I thought of my husband’s love for our family camping trips and how much he loves lighting up our campsite! I had to have them for him!

 And finally, Tom just recently broke his wallet so I replaced it. While that doesn’t seem very sentimental, the dollar tucked inside is. First, you never give a wallet or purse without including at least a dollar. An empty purse or wallet as a gift will always be empty! And second, I wrote “I love you” on the dollar to match the dollar that I’ve been carrying around for over 19 years. While we were dating, I tended bar at a little neighborhood pub, and Tom would come visit me when I worked. One night, he wrote “I love you” on a dollar and left it as a tip. I’ve had it ever since. How could I not write on his dollar?!

Thanks for stopping by! After a day like I had yesterday, it’s not easy to fall back into the routine of reality, but unfortunately, I have to. So, I’m off to clean up the aftermath of our crazy life and settle back into the daily grind of morning chores, school work, music lessons, grocery shopping and all that jazz. It all sounds a bit dull, but I think that amazing, over-the-top, unforgettable birthday will somehow get me through.

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Betty

Menu Planning Monday 10/17

Since my hubby is taking me on an adventure for our anniversary today, I had to put the menu together over the weekend. However, we spent a large chunk of the weekend at the Hillsborough County Fair. If I’m in a big rush when I’m creating the menu, I end up missing schedule obstacles and changing the menu during the week. We’ll see how this goes!

By the way, don't miss out on the October Giveaway, celebrating both my birthday and my anniversary. You get a chance to win a few of my favorite things. 

Don’t forget to stop by Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas! If you’re looking for some new recipe resources, check out this Recipe Index Round Up.

Menu Plan for Week of 10/10/2011

Breakfast 

Fruit, granola, yogurt, or smoothies.

Lunch

Lunch of the week – Salads, wraps or leftovers

Fruit of the week – Apples, bananas, and pears (the fruit selection will probably stay about the same now until March. The summer fruits are fading away…sigh.)

Dinner

Monday – Anniversary/birthday dinner at the Texas Cattle Company

Tuesday – Vegetarian chili and cornbread or baked potatoes (We didn’t have this last week)

Wednesday – Veggie pitas, sautéed veggies (we’ll see what’s on sale and looking good this week)

Thursday – Vegetable stir fry over short grain brown rice, tossed salad (didn’t have this last week either…what the heck did we eat??)

Friday – Chicken pot pie, tossed salad (Yeah, this too!)

Saturday – Sandwiches and salads on the go, Ye Olde History Faire

Sunday – Vegetable soup

Snacks – Crackers and peanut butter, fruit, yogurt, carrot and celery sticks, or popcorn.

Thank you for stopping by!

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Betty

What Was I Thinking?

Nineteen years ago today, on my 26^th birthday, I was joined in holy matrimony, charged to love, honor, and cherish a man I'd only know for 4 ½ months. What was I thinking?

The cover of our wedding invitation.

  

We’d actually dated briefly a few years earlier in 1985. Evidently, the couple of times we did get together were so touching and poignant that I left town and joined the army without even telling him, let alone saying good-bye. What can I say? I was young and ready to conquer the world. What was I thinking?

My father walking me down the "aisle," a crowd of family and friends in our living room.

In 1992, we ran into each other again. That time I was completely unprepared for the shock of seeing him again. Since I had left town the first time with barely a backward glance, I wasn’t expecting him to completely take my breath away seven years later. What was I thinking? And this time, I wanted to know, “What was he thinking?”

Praying together for the first time. It would be a long time before we did that regularly.

For our unforgettable second first date, my someday-to-be-hubby made me dinner. He dragged all kinds of pots and pans to my house to cook. To this day, I’m still a little fuzzy on why he didn’t just cook at his apartment, but I supposed that date wouldn’t have been so unforgettable if he had cooked in a familiar kitchen. To impress me with his culinary skills, Tom filled a well-worn hand-hammered steel wok with a beautiful array of vegetables, including huge chunks of my personal arch-enemy, the onion, which I proceeded to leave in a pile on my plate during dinner. When it comes to onions, I have no manners. I will not eat them even to be polite.

By the way, Tom also provided the “loveliest” dinner music for our date. The blue-grey haze crated by a pot of severely burned rice set off a smoke detector. I think he finally had to remove the battery for it to stop.(My husband just corrected me. The rice wasn't "severely burned." It was "browned" brown rice. Um...it was burnt. Browned brown rice does not send a plume of black, acrid smoke into the air. But I digress.)

Somehow we muddled through that second first comedy-of-errors date and actually agreed to see each other again. What were we thinking?

Within a month, we’d settled into a comfortable relationship and were talking marriage. What were we thinking?

The wedding plans were as short and sweet as our relationship. Friends and family members pieced together our wedding according to each person’s expertise. My sister-in-law that lived nearby was my matron-of-honor and my mother made our dresses. My family moved heaven and earth and a whole lot of furniture so we could have our reception at their auction house. My sister-in-law’s family owned a bakery and supplied the cake, as a wedding present. A florist friend of mine created beautiful silk bouquets and boutonnières, also as a wedding gift. A catering service owned by friends of the family sent over twice the food we actually paid for, plus friends and family brought extra food. We tied balloons to bottles of wine as our table center pieces and Tom’s brother and cousin supplied the huge tank of helium. The invitations were provided at a serious discount by a printer that Tom had done work for. The cars for the wedding party belonged to family members. And finally, the “refreshments” were provided by a friend who owned a pub and were served by a friend who decided to work only for tips. I think everyone had such a good time because EVERYONE had provided a piece of the party. 

Exchanging vows and rings. I was afraid my heart would leap out of my chest if I looked up.

My only regret from our wedding is that we didn’t hire a professional photographer. I’d gotten this odd idea of leaving disposable cameras on the tables for guests to take pictures that we’d develop and use as our wedding album. Since you are seeing just about every wedding picture I own, that didn’t work out so well. I think there's only three other wedding pictures in existence that aren't posted here. What was I thinking?

At the reception with Tom's best man, his brother David, and my matron-of-honor, my sister-in-law Linda.

 Obviously, since we’ve been married now for 19 years, our whirlwind engagement worked out well for us. Unfortunately, our marriage wasn’t always a fairy tale story, and we had couple of times I was sure we were facing a very unhappy ending. We’d both brought some baggage to the marriage that neither one of us shared beforehand. We’d also brought very different ideas of marriage and views on raising a family to our marriage and clashed often in the early days. I’m embarrassed to say that there were way too many moments that I felt trapped and wanted nothing more than to escape. On too many occasions, I would wonder, “What was I thinking?”

We learned a lot over the last nineteen years, about life, about each other, about raising a family, and about marriage. I take a lot more pictures these days, too. Looking back, I often shake my head and still wonder, “What was I thinking?” And then I realize that I wasn’t thinking at all. Thankfully, God was doing all the thinking! Only God could turn that whirlwind they-won’t-last-a-year courtship and wedding into a growing-grey-together marriage where nineteen years later, we’re still acting like newlyweds. Only God could take two people who were clueless about compromise and who had serious pride and trust issues and create a love so strong and deep that we really are each other’s best friends forever. When we invited God to be the center of our marriage, I stopped wanting to run away from my husband and started running towards him. We still have days where we snipe a bit at each other or get on each other’s nerves if we’re in a mood, but we’re in it for the long haul. Considering some of the obstacles we’ve navigated over the years, a little sniping or a bad mood are trivial things.

Today is our 19^th wedding anniversary, and I pray that the good Lord lets us celebrate 50 more. My husband really is the best birthday present I ever received. I didn’t appreciate that in the early years of our marriage, but I definitely appreciate it now and try to let my husband know it, too. Today, we’re gallivanting around the county hunting for letterboxes and then enjoying a dinner-and-a-movie date. We’re going out to dinner, so no worries about the smoke detector going off tonight…I hope. And then afterwards…well…you know what I’m thinking!

Thanks for stopping by! While you're here, make sure you enter my giveaway that celebrates our anniversary!

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Betty

Shared on:

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Celebrating Family's Family Time Tuesday
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Raising Homemaker's Homemaking Link Up 
GNOWFGLINS Simple Lives Thursday

Friday Funny

In light of our pending wedding anniversary, I texted this little love note to my hubby:

I love you with all my butt!

 I’d say all my heart, but my butt's bigger!

Mulled Apple Cider

 Around this same time very year, I post this recipe for mulled apple cider. As temperatures drop, especially in the evening, a hot cup of mulled apple cider warms the insides nicely.
By the way, if you want something a little more “grown-up,” add a little spiced rum, apple wine, apple schnapps, or cinnamon schnapps to your cup. I use rum to make my homemade vanilla these days, and recently, I tossed a couple of cinnamon sticks into the bottle to see what would happen. The resulting cinnamon-vanilla extract is perfect in the cider! I wonder what would happen if I added a few whole cloves and whole allspice berries?? 

Anyway, before you race off for your first gallon of apple cider of the season, I want to share this poem my son wrote about apple cider a year or two ago. I prompted him to describe apple cider with all five senses. I love the results!

Apple Cider

The apple cider tastes like Fall, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

It smells like pine trees, a wood fire, turkey, and food.

It feels like happiness, cheerfulness, God, and relaxation.

It looks like holiday spirit, twinkling lights, family, and the falling leaves.

It sounds like the church bells ringing, leaves crunching, people laughing, music playing, happiness, ice skaters, parties, and friends.

Apple cider is family, and it always will be.

By: Jared

Mulled Apple Cider

1 orange
1 lemon
1 gallon Apple Cider
5-6 whole cloves
5-6 whole allspice berries
2-4 cinnamon sticks
¼ cup packed brown sugar, or ¼ cup honey (optional)
2 tea bags

Directions:
Slice orange and lemon crosswise into ¼ thick slices. 

Pour Apple Cider into a large slow cooker. Add orange and lemon slices, spices, brown sugar and tea bags. Stir well to dissolve brown sugar.

Heat on low for at least 4 hours to blend flavors. Strain into serving mugs. Strain any leftovers and refrigerate. Mulled Cider reheats very well!

Variation: Substitute a dry red wine for the apple cider for a special treat: Mulled Wine!

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Reality Check, Farm-style

The Wyandottes are the black ones.

If you’ve ever had baby chicks around, you know that sometimes unpleasant things happen. One day everything seems fine and the next day, a chick dies. Sadly, all three of the Wyandotte chicks died last week. One minute, they were chirping away happily, and the next moment they were gone. How odd that out of a batch of 25 chicks, only the Wyandottes didn’t make it.

Thankfully, the hatchery was fine with refunding my money for the three chicks, but I still wonder what happened. Illness would have hit the other breed, too. An injury would have only killed the injured chick. Having all three chicks of the same breed die is just odd.

Colleen took the loss in stride. She wants to be a vet someday, and I think she’s already wrapped her mind and heart around the fact that sometimes an animal dies. She’s chosen the Ameraucanas that she’ll keep for her 4-H project and love them as much as she would have loved those Wyandottes.

During all of this, I realized that even though we live very farm-like lives, we’re still city folk. The death of an animal is more of an everyday reality on a farm, but for urbanites, that reality is only faced occasionally when a beloved pet passes away. I cannot tell you how odd it still feels to lose an animal in my care. Since we started raising chickens about five or six years ago, we lost one hen to heat, one to a tumor, one chick to “too much love,” and now three chicks to some mystery. I’m practical enough to be able to say, “It happens,” but it’s still hard.

Thanks for stopping by! Sorry about the sad post. I’ll try to make it up to you with a laugh-out-loud Friday Funny tomorrow. In the mean time, check out my giveaway. That’ll put a smile back on your face.

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Betty

Where's My Discount??

On Saturday, I awoke at o-dark thirty to drive our young son to church for a middle school fishing trip. Since neither my husband nor I are morning people these days, we went together. Wouldn’t want anyone starting the day resenting their spouse, you know.

Anyway, after dropping Jared off, filling out release forms, chatting with other non-morning people parents, racing back home to grab a forgotten backpack, and delivering said backpack to the fishing pier, my husband shanghai-ed me with the promise of breakfast and forced me to walk through Home Depot long before any sane person should be even remotely thinking about home improvement projects.

I grumbled a bit and kept wandering off to the garden or paint departments to look at something more interesting than plumbing. Trust me. Anything is more interesting than row after row of fittings and elbows and other pvc or copper bits and pieces. Except maybe electrical bits. Besides, I stayed in the store which is all I had to do to earn breakfast.

As we went to check out, we were surprised to find that the only option was self-checkout. You have to understand that I would stand in line for an hour if  necessary just to avoid using the self-checkout. I’ve spent enough time working retail to know that every time someone uses the self-checkout, she is telling that company that someone else needs to lose his job.

So, there I stood watching my husband scan and bag his purchase, and it suddenly occurred to me that we should get a discount for using the self-checkout.

Each person on the company payroll costs that company more money than just his weekly paycheck. Unemployment tax, unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, social security and Medicare payments tack on an additional 10% at the very least, not to mention any health or life insurance premiums and paid days off. Since the customer is now doing the job of the missing employee, therefore saving the company money, where’s my discount?

Anyone who has watched the slow but steady conversion of full-service gas stations to self-service knows what’s coming. We’ll be given the illusion of choice for a while and then slowly but surely, our choices will narrow down to self-checkout only with the inference that the savings will be passed on to us as the consumers picking up the slack of the missing work force. As we all know from the gas station transformation, we’ll be standing around with quizzical looks on our faces wondering, “Where’s my discount?”

On the plus side, we’re a well-trained non-paid workforce. We can pump gas, clean our own windshields, purchase movies, and find our shoe size in the mountain of boxes on the shelf, all services that used to be provided by another human being. In fact, we even pay for the privilege to pour and fix our own coffee. Some people are so well-trained that they pay dearly for that empty cup to fill themselves. Oh, how I long for those diner days when a smart-alec waitress brought you that coffee already fixed with a little cream and two sugars just the way you liked it, a lot of personality and all for 25 cents. The next time you’re serving yourself up that coffee or fountain drink, you might want to ask yourself, “Where’s my discount?”

As protesters “Occupy Wall Street” crying out against the current unemployment rate, I have to wonder how many jobs were eliminated because someone was in too much of a hurry to wait in the line manned by a human being instead of racing through the self-checkout. Several years ago, my husband and I were looking through some financial curriculum for our kids to help guide them with creating a budget. One of the authors—I wish I could remember who it was—presented a wise observation about our spending. He said that every dollar we spend is a vote.

Every time we spend money, we are telling these companies and the government how we want things to be.

Every time we opt for the machine over the person, we tell that company that they are over-staffed.

Every time we zip through the drive-thru because we’re in a hurry instead of allowing enough time for a decent meal, we tell that company that fast and cheap trumps healthy and nutritious.

Every dollar is a vote. How are you voting today? The reality is that money talks. So, what message are you screaming from the rooftops today?

Me? I just want to know, “Where’s my discount?”


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Menu Plan Monday 10/10

No amazing sales to report form last week so the kitchen really did stay quiet, expect for little mishap. I hadn’t bought any meat since July because of our six-week vegan experiment and the decision to stay with a very veggies-heavy diet. The freezer was looking a little bare so I picked up 10 pounds of chicken breast form a local butcher. Unfortunately, grocery-shopping day was a little hectic this week, and hubby and I just put everything away in the refrigerator instead of washing all of the produce and repackaging the meat for the freezing. Obviously, we intended to take care of it the next day. Well, things didn’t really go as planned, and we ended up washing our produce as we needed it this week. However, I completely forgot that I bought meat and left it this little refrigerator we have for overflowing produce. On top of my forgetting that I even bought that chicken, somehow the door to the refrigerator didn’t get closed all the way.

I remembered about that chicken we bought on Tuesday…on Sunday. And that little refrigerator was completely defrosted. The smell that poured out of that little refrigerator when I went to rescue the chicken made our eyes water and our noses burn. Oh, and did I mention that guests were arriving in an hour!

Praise God for a spritz or two of full-strength white vinegar and a lovely Yankee Candle to clear the air! Wow, was that nasty!

By the way, yes, you read that correctly. Keep a spray bottle of white vinegar handy for air freshener emergencies. The vinegar smell dissipates quickly and takes the nasty smell with it. This’ll work on upholstery, carpets, and curtains, too.

Place a saucer of vinegar next to the stove when frying to keep the house from smelling like McDonalds.

And, last but not least, I learned this nifty odor-killing tip this week for getting cigarette smoke out of your don’t-ever-let-a-single-drop-of-water-touch-this outfit that you wore to your smoking friends’ party. Put about two inches of very hot water in the bottom of your bath tub. Add about 1 cup of white vinegar. Hang up your smoky clothes in the bathroom. Close the door and let the vinegar-filled steam do the work.

Don’t forget to stop by Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas! If you’re looking for some new recipe resources, check out this Recipe Index Round Up.

Menu Plan for Week of 10/10/2011

Breakfast 

Fruit, granola, yogurt, or smoothies.

Lunch

Lunch of the week – Salads, wraps or leftovers

Fruit of the week – Apples, bananas, and pears (the fruit selection will probably stay about the same now until March. The summer fruits are fading away…sigh.)

Dinner

Monday – Breakfast for dinner, fruit salad

Tuesday – Vegetarian chili and cornbread or baked potatoes, I can’t make up my mind

Wednesday – Pasta salad, tossed salad

Thursday – Vegetable stir fry over short grain brown rice, tossed salad

Friday – Chicken pot pie, tossed salad

Saturday – Sandwiches and salads on the go, Hillsborough County Fair

Sunday – Sandwiches and salads on the go, Hillsborough County Fair

Snacks – Crackers and peanut butter, fruit, yogurt, carrot and celery sticks, or popcorn.

Thank you for stopping by!

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Betty

Chicks

Colleen opted to do the Poultry project for 4-H this year but wanted a very specific breed: Silver-Laced Wyandottes. She really wanted Polish Crested chickens, but found out that the care of the crest could be a bit demanding so she changed her mind.

Because shipping only 3 chicks is outrageously expensive ($42), we ordered 25 to save on shipping. We’ll sell off the extras in order to cover costs. For now, though, I get to enjoy the beautiful music of these precious peeps. I really do like that sound.

Anybody want to buy a Rhode Island Red or Ameraucana chick?


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Mushrooms

The other day, I came across an amazing deal on mushrooms. Evidently, the store had more mushrooms than they needed and dropped the price to 35¢ for an 8-ounce package. Oddly enough, I had just noticed a recipe for shrooms in my canning book a day or so before. How handy would it be to have a few jars of shooms put up for pizza and marinara sauce? I excitedly snagged a dozen packs!

After a quick search through all of the canning books I happened to have out from the library, two hours in the kitchen, another trip back to the store for another dozen packs of mushrooms, and another 2 hours in the kitchen, I am happy to report that I’ve canned a dozen jars of mushrooms, filled a couple of jars with dried mushrooms, and experimented with a marinated mushroom recipe. Jared declared that the jars of mushrooms looked like eyeballs and belonged in a mad scientist’s laboratory. I think he’s right.

Anyway, to put up plain mushrooms, you need a pressure canner, but you can use a water bath canner for the marinated mushrooms. I used a dehydrator for the dried shrooms because of our constantly humid conditions, but feel free to air dry them or use your oven.

Dried Mushrooms

Dried mushrooms add a great flavor to soups and sauces. Pulverize a few into a powder to make a healthier, fresher-tasting cream of mushroom soup substitute.

1. Wash mushrooms well.

2. Soak mushrooms in a large bowl of cool water for 10 minutes.

3. Drain and rinse well with clean water. Trim stems to within ¼-inch of the cap. Slice mushrooms about ¼-inch thick.

4. Soak sliced mushrooms in a browning-prevention solution for about 5 minutes. Drain.

5. Lay slices in a single layer in the dehydrator tray, leaving space in between pieces for air flow.

6. Dry at 135°F - 150°F for about 6 to 10 hours. The dried mushrooms will be about half their original size but still a bit pliable.

7. Store in a cool, dark place in an airtight container for 9 to 12 months.

 

Oven Drying

If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can dry your mushrooms in the oven. Repeat the steps above, using a cookie sheet or flat baking pan. Dry your mushrooms at 135°F - 150°F for about 6 to 10 hours, keeping the oven door slightly ajar for air circulation. If your oven is like mine and cannot be set at such a low temperature, set the oven at its lowest possible temperature, make sure the oven door is propped open about 6 inches and check on the mushrooms occasionally. They’ll still dry well but will probably be done much faster than my dehydrator.

If you like dehydrating food as a way to preserve the harvest, invest in a dehydrator. Using your oven is not a very economical way to dry foods.

Canned Cultivated Mushrooms

Canned Mushrooms

Use your canned mushrooms in soups and sauces or scatter a few slices on your homemade pizza. It takes about one pound of mushrooms to fill a pint-sized jar.

1. Prepare pint-sized or half-pint-sized canning jars and lids. Do not process mushrooms in jars larger than a pint.

2. Wash mushrooms well.

3. Soak mushrooms in a large bowl of cool water for 10 minutes.

4. Drain and rinse well with clean water. Trim stems to within ¼-inch of the cap. Keep small mushrooms whole, but slice the mushrooms that are over 1-inch in diameter in half or in quarters.

5. Soak sliced mushrooms in a browning-prevention solution (see below) for about 5 minutes. Drain.

6. Combine mushrooms with enough water to cover in a large, stainless steel pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 5 minutes, until heated through. Drain, discarding cooking liquid.

7. Heat about one quart of water in a saucepan over high heat until boiling.

8. Pack hot mushrooms into hot jars, leaving a generation 1-inch headspace. Ladle in fresh boiling water to cover mushrooms. Add ½ teaspoon of salt per pint jar or ¼ teaspoon of salt per half-pint, if desired. Remove air bubbles and add more boiling water to adjust headspace, if necessary.

9. Wipe rims and adjust lids.

10. Process jars in a pressure canner under 10 pounds of pressure for 45 minutes. Remove jars, cool, and store.

NOTE: These instructions assume that you know the proper steps for preparing your jars and lids and for canning in a pressure canner. If you have never used a pressure canner before, please read the manufacturer’s instructions before canning or check out the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning available for free online.

Marinated Whole Mushrooms

Marinated Whole Mushrooms

Add a jar of Marinated Whole Mushrooms to a pasta or antipasto salad or serve them as a side dish.

7 lbs small whole mushrooms

1/2 cup bottled lemon juice

2 cups olive or salad oil

2 cups white vinegar (5%)

½ cup balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves

3 tablespoons fresh basil leaves

1 tablespoons canning or pickling salt

1/2 cup finely chopped onions

1/4 cup diced sweet red pepper

2 cloves garlic, cut in quarters

25 black peppercorns

Yields about 9 half-pints

1. Prepare half-pint-sized canning jars and lids.

2. Select very fresh unopened mushrooms with caps less than 1-1/4 inch in diam­eter.  Wash mushrooms well.

3. Soak mushrooms in a large bowl of cool water for 10 minutes.

4. Drain and rinse well with clean water. Trim stems to within ¼-inch of the cap.

5. Place mushrooms into a large, stainless steel pot. Add lemon juice and water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Drain mushrooms.

6. Mix olive oil, vinegars, oregano, basil, and salt in a saucepan. Stir in onions and pimiento and heat to boiling over medium-high heat.

7. Place 1/4 garlic clove and 2-3 peppercorns in each half-pint jar.

8. Fill hot jars with mushrooms and hot, well-mixed oil/vine­gar solution, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed.

9. Wipe rims and adjust lids. Process in a boiling water bath canner for 20 minutes.

10. Cool and store in a cool, dark place.

NOTE: These instructions assume that you know the proper steps for preparing your jars and lids and for canning in a boiling water bath canner. If you have never canned before, please read the manufacturer’s instructions before starting or check out the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning available for free online.

Only can cultivated mushrooms which are the mushrooms available at the grocery store, produce stand, and farmer’s market. If you are an expert wild mushroom forager and have been putting up wild shrooms for year, who am I to stop you? However, if you are not a wild mushroom expert, please leave those wild mushrooms in their wild habitat. Some mushrooms can alter your mental state (picture the hallucinogenic drugs of the psychedelic 60s) or worse. Some wild mushrooms can kill you.

The next time you run into a great sale on mushrooms you can take advantage of the deal. Now you know what to do with them!

Thanks for stopping by! Our mushroom festival only lasted a day or two, but boy was it interesting! Those marinated mushrooms are a keeper, that’s for sure! I just might have to save a couple of jars to enter into the fair this year.

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Betty

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