It's all good!

The "mason jar" challenge:

I have a cousin, who lives in CA, who has been in TV commercials and even been included as a character in her friend's published novel.  She is now a life coach.

Bad Weather ~ Baking with Booze

Weather was nasty. School was canceled.  It's was a perfect excuse to bake a cake for dinner.  We woke up to ice, sleet, slush, then pouring down rain on a layer of half melted ice....then in the evening 55 mph winds.  We may have lost a pillow to the back porch swing (should have run out and collected them, but forgot about them).  It's too dark and early to tell.  When the sun is up, I'll go take a looksee.
 

I dug out my old, hand-me-down cake pan, and baked a maple-rum pound cake with maple-rum glaze.  It was a new recipe that had been floating around the kitchen.  I believe I tore it out of a King Flour magazine.

The results?

Stocking up was so worth it!

I had so many people tell me to "take a break" and "is it really worth the work?" while I was putting up my 530# tomato season last summer.  Honestly, I see that I didn't stock up enough green peppers (diced), nor onions, but we learn each year too.  I need to freeze more homegrown asparagus too.  I really miss it this time of year.

Was the work worth it?  

Absolutely.

The weather is terrible today - ice, slush, high wind and snow on the way....who wants to go out to the store in this weather (unless you have to go to work of course).
 
Dinner prep from yesterday - pulled homemade noodles from the freezer.  I also pulled some chicken, a jar of home canned BBQ sauce, some potatoes and some frozen green beans.  All the work for the real food was worth it.

I would have loved to make a beef and noodle dinner, but these vegetarians in my home had me thinking of something else.

I made a mushroom sauce with leftover cream cheese and sour cream with the noodles, made mashed potatoes, and then put the chicken in the "crocky" with the BBQ sauce.  This made every one happy.  By the way, this last recipe I used for canning BBQ sauce is a keeper.  Best flavor yet!

Random Tidbits

It's been a week of "random" everything here.  I made it to the library.  I have never read this book, and sort of excited to read through all the recipes.  

I have found the first "new" thing I'll be doing this year.  Once I have supplies, I'll be posting about it.  This "new" thing is not the "biggest" of all things, but a new experience for me.

I keep asking Hubby to let it be the year we butcher our own hen, and learn how to do it, but that darn lingering tree is keeping him from any other decision.

Homesteading Happenings

Yesterday's breakfast:  collards wilted down with a tiny clove of garlic (I'm still out of onions), with added leftover sausage, our eggs, and some chives I froze.  Oh, the toast is organic bread topped with home canned caramel apple jam.  The last jar of the jam, which I will probably not can again, unless I am really bored.  It's more time consuming than apple or apple butter.  It's delicious, but.....

Chili ~ Homesteader Variety

I got up yesterday morning and fell in love with the giant snowflakes.  I was inspired to cook dinner for once.  I love cooking, so this is a huge step forward in recovery.  The girls cooked the last two nights.

This is not your regular chili.  To get this pot of awesome delicious-ness going, I went into my "pretend root cellar" and got a few sweet potatoes (so thankful we still have some, and in edible condition). 

The garage is too cold to store my potatoes.  I put a card table up in my utility room (which has a doorway directly across from the side door we go out of most often).  The heat is never on in that room, so it stays cool (unless we hit below zero and then I turn on the heat to prevent frozen pipes).  Sadly, it was not the best way to store my red potatoes.  When I got home from the hospital, I saw they all had long "eyes" on them.  Back in November, the temperature was not cold enough in that room.

A Little of "This" and a Little of "That"

I brewed a canning jar of home picked, wild growing nettle yesterday.  It tasted so good.  I am running low, but I have many other teas to enjoy this winter - chamomile, ginger root, tulsi, lavender, lemon balm, catnip....the list is long.  The health benefits are awesome.

I'm gearing up for a possible "Farmer's Market" season this year.  I may only do a few dates, as it 's taking a long time to create the "goods" to sell.  This is one "set" I am creating - over sized pot holder, hot pads to match, one crocheted flower dishcloth, and a soap saver bag.  I am using up extra "country yellow" yarn, but many not have enough to knit a matching dishcloth.  I guess we'll see.  I like to make an entire matching set, even if I put them all in separate groups to sell.  One customer once told me she buys "matching sets" for three family members each Christmas.  That put a light bulb on for me.