Pioneer Woman at Heart

  It is tough getting the day started this week.  The cooler weather, just screams "sit, sip and enjoy the morning while you can" and then I delay the day ha ha ha!  It's worth it, as we are heating up now to the 80's again.   I picked all of the hot peppers that were on the plants.  I don't think we'll get  anything more, as this could be the very last warm fall week we have this season.  There were zero Anaheim  peppers, two baby hot banana, no serrano, and just these jalapenos.  Not enough to can hot pepper jelly this year.  I could buy extra from a farm stand, but I decided not this year.  I will freeze these remaining jalapenos, and keep a few for cooking this week and next. If you read yesterday's post, I forgot to pack my husband's breakfast for the day (2-day's prep in photo).  I decided to use up some of the smaller eggs, from the newer laying hens, and scramble them.  I added them to his breakfast (and mine)...

  It's nearing the end of our garden season.  The rain is arriving here, so I will wait for the garden to dry up before pulling some more plants/stakes. The hot peppers are doing okay this year, but some did not make it.  Oddly, I got one lonely Anaheim pepper from 3 plants I grew from seed.   I brought in another 15 green bell peppers as well. It's getting down to the 40's at night this week, which is perfect weather for camping.  Speaking of that, we got our very first camping trip in this year.  It was so nice and relaxing, and the campfire meals were delicious. One breakfast we made - omelets with garden bell pepper, onion, spinach, bacon and cheese.  The other breakfast contained spinach, feta, bacon, and topped with homemade fresh salsa (made with garden goodies). We took a walk, played cards, I brought handiwork along, and a book.  On the drive home, I pulled out my knitting project, only to find out that we must have accidently l...

  One of my extreme clean projects (craft binders) landed on the kitchen table, and it made me realize, I need the table for tomatoes.  Yikes.   Tomatoes, although we are getting black rot on some, are rolling in, so I have set up a small camping table for the extras, as they are not all turning red at the same time this year.  The sound of locusts outside, reminded me to wash our bathrobes while I still had good clothesline weather.  Plus, they were on the bathroom door, and I need that door taken down to paint anyway.  Eventually. I didn't get a photo, but that clothesline was full.  I washed all the towels, clothing and anything else to beat the rain. Speaking of laundry, my washing machine is now acting up.  I am getting codes, and it will stop completely.  We got it running again, but it is 14 years old.  It may be the next appliance to be replaced.   So, what would eat jalapenos?  I have one plant almost eaten c...

  First time to try using a seedling heat mat to start the hottest of the hot peppers.  I typically do not have any problems starting my jalapenos, but the hotter peppers like the Serrano etc. I do. I bought my heat mat online, and about $10.00 less than at our hardware/garden store (be sure to check reviews). The one I bought was a simple, plug it in and put your seed tray on it.  There were a lot of "don'ts" so I put my mat and tray on my wood stove hearth (we are not using the wood stove right now). In 6 days the serrano pepper seeds started to sprout. In 7 days the cayenne started to sprout. In 9 days the Datil started sprouting.  Did you know these are native to St. Augustine, FL?  I just learned this fun fact. In 10 days the Cherry Bomb peppers, and Anaheim peppers started to sprout. My hot banana have not sprouted yet (those were saved seeds), so I will keep an eye on that.  So far, it's helped the hot peppers to sprout much better than without the m...

  It's been crazy busy around here.  I cooked a meal and delivered it to a family friend who had foot surgery, and we had to drive 3 hours to go pick up our truck keys.  Just strange all around, but we have the keys.  I just don't have the truck ha ha! It is still in the body shop getting fixed from the deer hitting it.  I however, have not run out things to do. Our hot peppers are doing exceptionally well this year.  The bell peppers however are still small and a small harvest. I canned some sweet chili sauce - new recipe.  I cannot wait to taste it. Canned hot pepper jelly.  Taco sauce got canned. I purchased Meyer lemon seeds from someone on Etsy.  I tried to sprout one all summer.  Every single seed was a dud.  Guess I'm spending a fortune next year on a plant. It's getting difficult to not only budget other food we need, but to even find what we need.  Daughter E cannot find her cat's cat food anywhere.  I could ...

Froze the last of the green bell peppers. Jalapenos and green bell pepper went into this breakfast, topped with freshly cut chives. Froze the last of the mad hatters and some more hot banana peppers. Made hot sauce with some of the habaneros.  New recipe.  I'll let you know if it's good or not. Filled the dehydrator with a mess of peppers for more fire powder. Dinner last night.  Something I haven't made in a long, long time - pumpkin/ricotta stuffed shells (recipe is still online with Country Living) with basil and sage.  I sliced home grown carrots and put them in the crockpot with honey, butter and thyme. Sadly, another extended family member on my husband's side of the family, had passed away from covid.  

I started some cilantro and parsley seeds indoors, and they were doing great.  However, I had two spray bottles in the kitchen, and one is not labeled.  I have a 50/50 of vinegar and water in one (not labeled), and one with water.   I was spraying the plants with water and they were doing great.  They other day I noticed them all dying.  Guess who used the wrong spray bottle?  Yep, ha ha!  Labeling the bottle and replanting. Back when I was at the greenhouse picking out some plants for the garden that I didn't start from seed, I asked for "serrano" when I meant to ask for San Marzano (tomatoes).  That's how I ended up with 6 serrano pepper plants, ha ha!  I never figured it out until I went to plant, and that's how I ended up with so many. I picked more hot peppers, and gave some away.  I am finally getting some cherry bomb peppers. Due to high price of disposable gloves I am rinsing off my gloves after slicing then, and reusing to ...

  I have a lot on the to-do list this week.  Gosh.  I totally wish it was canning tomato sauce, but I don't think that's gonna happen.  Not unless a family member has tomatoes they want to get rid of.  So what's on the list that got done yesterday? I canned hot pepper jelly.  Gave some hot peppers to my sister who was in town visiting Mom. Made a breakfast scramble with steak, sausage, eggs, hot peppers, and cheese (burritos). Took a few more totes upstairs and cleaned up an area of the bedroom (I've been pulling craft supplies from the closet). Unloaded and loaded the dishwasher, and washed canning dishes.   There were many things on the list that didn't get done, so I'm back at it today.  I do feel it's the end of tomato season for me.  I'll watch it over the next few days, but mostly I'll be yanking plants soon.

In lieu of the kitchen floor project discovery, I sliced and diced yesterday to get some tomatoes off the tables.   Ketchup was canned.  I love Amish paste, I cut less, because they weigh more.  I may have to mix it up next year to ensure I have enough for all things tomato.  I may plant 3 types of paste tomatoes.   I started to drain rain barrels and flip them upside down for winter.  We were supposed to get rain last night but did not.  We really needed it too. Picked hot peppers, and there were a good amount to pick. I froze two more trays of mad hatter peppers. My husband told me twice he was bringing dinner home.  Guess who walked in the door with no dinner?  Yep.  I was tired.  He was tired.  I made adult cheese sandwiches (Recipe is online with America's Test Kitchen). Daughter K has been a Godsend in helping with Mom's appts. She not only picked up the transport wheelchair and shower stool, but also took ...

It took me a while to figure out how to get this saved to my computer from social media, but I got it done.  It was too long to be able to upload the entire song. I had to save it in 3 short videos to post it on my blog.  I will try and make it a video on YouTube later when I have more time and upload the entire song.  My younger brother is working on a slideshow possibly for this song. This is my Dad singing and playing his guitar.  He used to take song requests and play at a radio station in the 50's.  Happy birthday in Heaven to my Dad! I thought I would spread some goodness and love today.  Hope you enjoyed it.   Dad was a true cowboy. My husband leaned over this basket and said, "it's like Christmas in a basket" ha ha!  I'll be out picking more over the next few days, but this has to be the worst tomato harvest we've ever had.  In 2016 we had a 300# year.  This year I'm barely bringing in enough to can small batch recipes....

Habanero peppers made their way to the freezer.  They will stay there until I have a wee bit more free time to can hot sauce or jam with them.

Although canning is not over for me, the kitchen deep clean project continues.   Everything is being removed from counter tops, disinfected, re-organized, purged, things put back where they belong (recipes removed from the fridge and filed once again), drawers cleaned out, doors wiped down, windows cleaned, light fixtures cleaned, curtains washed, baseboards scrubbed......the whole sha-bang. Just a wee little bit every day. Every day chores still get done too.  It's been a good week for drying everything outside.  Our bedroom smelled sooooo good last night.

I finally found some habaner o peppers, so another batch of hot sauce was canned.  I used my own serran o and jalapeno pep pers for this batch. I got exactly 4 - 4 oz. jars this time, and boy i s it hot !  Personally , hubby and I much prefer the first batch using cherry bo mb (hot , but not burn-your-mouth -off hot).  It's all up to your taste I guess. Did I share the recipe (BHG) link?  Trip le Pepper Hot Sauce I put more dandelions on the freezer.  I am pretty sure we 'll be well stocked with greens, but I have another l ist that needs filled before the snow even thin ks about falling.      T he barn cats are eating up a storm.  I am taking this a s a warning to prepare for a bad winter.  They are already trying to fatten up.   To day ?  It's another day with tomatoes.   And the next day too .

Hubby loves hot sauce and I use it in several recipes (and our steak marinade) .  I decided it was time to try canning it.  I planted serran o hot pepper s this year by acci dent, when I purchased my j alapeno plants.   They were mixed in and I didn't see the labels. I drove down the road and bought some cherry bomb peppers from our roadside stand guy we rely on some days.  He was out of habanero, so I decided to try cherry bomb for the first batch.

I'm reclaiming my vegetable garden . . . . . . cleaning  it up