Happy Homemaker Monday

Just 2 days after finding out we could set up meals on wheels for my Mom, the newspaper printed an article about food shortages and "problems" getting meals to seniors.  I sighed.  Just when we found a solution, the darn covid issues stomped them.  The article mentioned bulk food prices for them went 4 times higher than in 2019. They are making adjustments.

Our local schools are experiencing the same food shortages, and now they lack enough bus drivers due to covid and sick drivers.  They had an emergency meeting.  They may have to go back to in-home schooling again.  Currently, they are asking parents to share rides.  Some parents are not able to do this.  We gave family and friends with kids in that school system.

My husband worked all weekend.  We were up early drinking coffee and I realized I need to get the garden hoses off the house and put into storage.  It also meant I needed to pull the beets and carrots (need the hose to wash the dirt off as we have a septic and cannot run dirt down our sink).

I got that done, and realized there was more to do outside than I thought.  Beets did not do well this year.

We got a good chuckle with Daughter E last night.  Ha ha! She called and said she didn't know how to turn the heat on in her apartment.  We had her send photos and she didn't know what a furnace was.  So funny.  Her heat is on though.

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

I will link up later when she posts.  I'm an early bird.

The weather . . .

62°F/45° Rain all day

How I am feeling this morning . . .

Tired.  We both didn't get to sleep in over the weekend.  

On my mind . . .

The kitchen floor project.  I hope our crew is all healthy when we finally set the date.

On the breakfast plate . . .

Sausage, potato, eggs, swiss chard, bell pepper, and jalapeno breakfast burrito, organic coffee

Right now I am . . .

Posting this, then jumping in the shower to get my "power shower" and get this day started.

On my reading pile . . .

Honestly, I haven't been reading anything lately.  I need to get back with a good book.

On today's to-do list . . .
-freeze bell peppers and more hot peppers

-make more fire powder
-laundry, and get it on the drying racks

-sweep and mop

-pull bedding from the camper and start winterizing it

-take more totes upstairs

-change light bulbs

-dishes, dry and put them away

On the TV. . .

You Bet Your Life (Jay Leno) Love this new show.  The show makes me laugh and I have fun guessing the answers.  Cooking shows when they are on.

On the menu this week . . .
-Grilled chicken kabobs, baked smashed brussel sprouts

-pumpkin/ricotta stuffed shells, crock pot carrots

-Cheese sandwiches, home canned tomato/basil soup

-Turkey, carrots

From the camera . . .

I picked a lot more hot peppers than I thought. 

Looking around the house . . .

Looks like I need to buy a few storage totes.  I washed up the towels from the camper, and some hot pads.  I will store that, and the linens in the house this year.

New recipe I tried last week . . .

I tried a baked donut recipe.  It was good.   We are going to try a new grilled chicken kabob recipe this week.  I also have a new crock pot recipe with chicken to try.

To relax this week, I will . . .

Crochet

Something I want to share . . .

Fun fact I learned:  you can eat the tops (pesto, sauces etc) and they have more vitamin C than the root itself.

On my prayer list . . .

Mom (heart health issues), Mike's family (passed away from a car/semi accident), the world, the USA

From Pile to File Recipes (a keeper) ~ Carrot and Taragon Tart with Sherry

Conversation while taking the laundry off the clothesline.

Me:  "Honey have you seen what I've gotten done in the garden lately?" (which is a small start)

Hubby: "Yeah." (looking out at the garden)

Hubby: "Do we really have to take all that out?"

Me:  "Well we can't very well till it in."

Hubby: (after a long pause and sigh) "I guess we can't" (lowers head)

Lots of hard work in the garden, and I imagine over the weekend.  We'll see what gets done I guess.  Potatoes have to cure for about 10 days before going in our potato bin.  This puts me in a bind for space.  

No less, I dug the remaining Kennebec and more sweet potatoes on Friday, and brought in another 30#.  My kitchen will be a mess for another 10 days plus.  I guess I can live with that.  I just hope the food sharks (dogs) don't run off with any during the process. 

The one thing I did not thing about - where am I storing the sweet potatoes?  Yikes!  I better whip up a plan while they cure.

More to dig yet this weekend.  Some crazy lady planted a boat load of them this year.  Only about 3/4 of the garden yet to weed and yank.  "Only" makes it sound much easier.

A bit of broccoli and collards made their way to the overstuffed freezer.  I am keeping up with keeping up so far.



In the process of cleaning out old magazines (I'm sure I'll find another stash somewhere), I found a recipe that I totally forgot about.  It uses carrots, farm fresh eggs, tarragon from the herb garden, homemade plain yogurt, and has an all Einkorn flour crust.

Carrot and Tarragon Tart with Sherry.  The recipe is from Eating Well.  They have it online, and I just used my garden goodies and switched the flour choice.  I do not have a "tart" baking dish, so I used my quiche dish.  Oh, and I did not use "reduced fat" cheese.  I used organic cheddar shreds.

The taste test was completed.   Delicious!  I also tested to see how this reheated, using the oven.  

I have been looking for recipes to take veggie dishes up a notch at gatherings. We are plum tired of green bean casserole.

It's a "keeper" recipe.

I told "Grad" daughter that I needed a photo of King and Zuri to update my blog header.  She responded with a long, hysterical laugh.  Hyper King and lazy Zuri.  "I may have to photo shop them together," she says laughing more.

Random Tidbits ~ Pumpkin Hummus

The carrots are all out of the ground - 7.7# more. I got them all out after a day of rain, but it was so wet out there.  I could not pull dead plants, and then the rain returned this morning.  With a vengeance.  This puts all garden work, and barn work to a halt.

Pears ~ Carrot Cake Jam

Pears are about ready to be picked.  Hubby brought in 5 or 6 and some were hard as a rock, so we have time yet to pick them.  Thank goodness.

Two of them were ripe however, so I used one to can carrot cake jam for the first time.  Using our homegrown carrots, a home grown pear, and a few purchased ingredients.  I used this recipe:  Carrot Cake Jam.

It uses the same amount of sugar that most recipes online require, but a mix of white granulated and brown sugar.  I have wanted to try this recipe for years, but put it off.  We didn't get any carrots last year either.  I can't remember why, but we didn't get beets or carrots.  

Anyway....

Tuesday Tidbits

If you think I crossed off my to-do list yesterday (Happy Homemaker Monday post), you are incorrect.  And you are probably happy to see we all can't get everything done in a day, ha ha!

I got half of the carrots dug up.  They are not all the best in size, but there are plenty.  Some are fairly large, so we are happy regardless.  I still have half the row to dig up.  I'll be weighing these this morning.  Most will go into the freezer, considering we do not have a basement, root cellar or other. 

More popcorn was brought in, but

Sorghum Molasses Butter with Whiskey ~ From Pile to File

I have found yet another way to use sorghum molasses - flavored butter for winter squash, sweet potatoes, or carrots.  If you don't want the extra brown sugar on your acorn squash this winter, it is a nice substitute.

Honey-Ginger Carrots ~ More Ways to Use Millet ~ Cold Coffee

I pulled the last two bags of garden carrots from the freezer.  I added them to dinner last night, and made Honey-Ginger Carrots.  It's very simple to make too.

 (Homemade tuna and noodle using homemade mushroom soup and soy free tuna, honey-ginger carrots and organic peas).

Boil the carrots

Savory Soup ~ Snow

I tried a new white bean soup recipe - White Bean Soup with Greens and Rosemary.  I found it in a book my Dad gave me years ago (Super Foods Rx), but there are many versions of it online as well.  The rosemary in this soup makes it taste wonderful, along with a pinch of cayenne.

Carrot Sandwich Bread

I'm not really a fan of baking yeast rising breads when it's colder in my house, so I wanted to try this 1969 cookbook recipe for a sandwich bread.

Homemade Bread, By the Food Editors of Farm Journal © 1969.

The recipe caught my eye, because it uses carrots in the recipe.  My first choice in "shortening" in this recipe would be real lard, but I do not have access to any.  I used organic, non-hydrogenated shortening.  If I keep coming up with reasons for lard, Hubby may reconsider raising our own pigs too.

Weekend Update

Saturday we got a good amount of work done - one trip to recycling (huge load because for some reason we had a ton of cardboard), one trip to Goodwill, several bags to the garbage, swept up the back area by garage, washed curtains and windows. 

I found a cute tin for my tea, and for only $.50.  I just need to wash it up.


We finished up more work on Sunday. 

Soup, Pears, and Playtime

The temperature here dropped to the 20's last night, so I made soup to warm us all up.  I admit, I had my doubts that the kids would eat this soup, and I was pretty sure a few would refuse to even taste it.

I've been experimenting this week with sweet potatoes.  They were on sale, so I stocked up on some.  This recipe comes from Allrecipes, and contains sweet potatoes, carrots, an onion and an apple.  It also contains freshly grated ginger and red lentils too.