Cabbage Lasagna ~ New Recipe Tried ~ Sauce Maker Issues and other Tidbits

 

Although not the typical dinner for such hot weather, I tried a new recipe.  I had thawed the meat, and had the cabbage, so it was made.  It was delicious!  It was some work, but instead of boiling the cabbage first, I am told you can freeze your cabbage and thaw it, and it will be soft and pliable.  Is this true?

Either way, we did not miss the pasta.  I used home canned tomato sauce (herbed) in place of Marinara sauce.  It was very good, and of course perfect for my husband's health (and mine).  I will be making this again.  Recipe is from Sugar free Mom online.

 I'm still canning.  I canned another half batch of tomato sauce yesterday.  See that white bowl in the upper left?  My husband dropped it and broke part of the pour spout off, and the handle is cracked about 2 inches downward.  The smaller matching bowl was also broken.

I went to look up the price of another set of these, and they are now $109.00 for the set of 3!!  Crazy!!  I will be looking for other options. 

The one on the left is the original, the one on the right was the replacement a year ago.  The bottom gasket for it, where it goes into the inside of the sauce maker, and where the handle goes in from the outside, has been out of stock.  I have to wrap a towel around the base to collect all the liquid that drips out during the process when I crank the handle on the sauce maker.

The replacement for these are up to $22.00.  I found one similar to it on Amazon (saving me $7.00), that is made for a different brand of sauce maker, and it works.  It's slightly smaller, but it works, and hopefully will keep working until this canning season is done this year.

In the midst of looking for something, I found this box that was packed up during the kitchen renovations.  Daughter K made it for me.  I am keeping my leftover bits of cotton yarn in it, along with a crochet hook.  I can now work on small scrap projects while watching the canner pot.

We had some thunderstorms come in yesterday, but it was still very hot and humid.   They say it will cool down now, and I am looking forward to that.

New Recipe ~ Heat Index ~ Jalapenos

 

I made the black bean salad suggested, and ended up adding one more jalapeno (with seeds) to it for some flavor (a small one).  Pretty good.  I got to try out my new tool too.  It's for removing the hair off the corn without damaging any corn.

As for the recipe, it makes way too much for us.  We will be eating it for breakfast burritos, nachos, daily snack, etc.  Goodness it makes a lot.  

The heat last week was almost unbearable, and yesterday we hit a high 98 degree heat index.  It's been extremely humid as well.

I took the day off from tomatoes and picked jalapenos.  One batch of Cowboy Candy was made.  It's a good time to save seeds ha ha!  That's a lot of slicing.  I brought in about 4#.

What I call garden dump breakfast.  I made a casserole.  The squash is completely done, but I have not pulled the plants yet.  It's too hot out there.  The bees have cross pollinated the plants and the yellow squash is now producing half yellow and half zucchini.  I will get them yanked, but we are enjoying a few last yellow squash.

I'm moving rather slow this morning.  I tripped and fell over a suit case we had not put away. I'm always good at putting it away right after we get back, but not this last time.  I've been so busy, I have been too tired at the end of the day to get that job done.

Good gravy I am sore.  Maybe it's a sign I need to pack up and take a trip, and ignore all  the tomatoes I brought in.

Speaking of travel, I have a prayer request.  I typically post these on Monday's Happy Homemaker post, but we have a very close friend (Aaron) to my husband that will be driving over several states to see is daughter right now.  He and she, could use prayers.  His adult daughter is in ICU with an unexplained brain bleed, and they are unable to do surgery right now.  Her name is Cheyenne.  

Coasters (Scrap Yarn Project) ~ Garden

 

Here is a close up of the zig zag coasters.  I love the edging.  I didn't realize it, but it's basically, almost the same pattern as the facial scrubbies, only a different edging.  So....I learned a new edging this year.  I found the pattern on Youtube.  These are my current on-the-go travel project, to use up small scraps of cotton yarn.  

Monday was a holiday, so I was able to enjoy the day with my husband home.  The potluck day put me behind with everything, from housework, to the garden to canning.  I finally got the latest canning labeled and put away.

First thing, I checked the garden.  We are in a dry spell right now, so I am trying to decide if we have enough "sauce" related items canned, and if we can yank the paste tomato plants.  I still have some in the house to can yet too.

Has anyone grown a hot pepper plant, or bell pepper plant inside over winter?  

  

Broken Waste Funnel ~ BBQ Sauce ~ Bell Peppers ~ Tidbits

Here is a photo of the waste funnel that goes to my food strainer/sauce maker.  There are 3 plastic tabs that secure it onto the metal strainer.  One tab broke off.  It has happened before, and I have talked to my husband about upgrading to a metal food strainer.  I have now figured out how I broke it off too.  If you are not careful when you slide the  the piece on, that is the splash guard/strainer, it will brake those tabs off.

The white tray that drains it off into your pot is what I am talking about.  Now my gasket has gone bad that is inside the metal stand part of it, and where you insert the handle to hand crank it.  Juice from the tomatoes now seeps out, so when I crank I have to wrap a towel around the base.  I could not replace the funnel for a year, as it was out of stock, and now the gaskets are out of stock.  With the amount of paste tomatoes we grow, and the amount of sauce making I do, I think an all metal food strainer/sauce maker is going to the top of our wish list.

I am making it work for the season.  I have to hold the funnel, so that the waste does not fall into the sauce pot.

BBQ sauce was canned  (day 7 of "sauce" canning).  We have been super blessed with paste tomatoes this year, but it is exhausting, and heats up the house.  I have been running a dehumidifier this year, to help with the humidity created from the sauce reducing all day.

I have finally caught up with bell peppers, and we are thankful for all that we are getting this year.  Most of the peppers went into the freezer, but we are still enjoying them with our meals.  I made more breakfast stuffed bell peppers and gave some to one of the kids.  They are so good.

Some of the produce we grow is needed ingredients for recipes I can too.  I have a growing list of new items to grow next year, crossing my fingers we get raised beds built.  I did not grow greens, due to the busy spring (husband had crazy work hours), so I have to find local greens and have a day of putting them up for winter.  

Update on the potluck . . . we ended up taking watermelon.  What happened?  Well, we went to Wal-mart to find me some summer slacks to wear to it, and because they renovated and moved everything around, it took us forever to shop and we were late to the gathering.

There were so many high carb sides served, so we ate at home afterwards.  They had lots of chips and dips, pasta sides, creamed corn (starch that we limit), and lots and lots of sweet desserts (so I'm glad we too the fruit).

As for the "slacks" I came home with 3 pairs, and ended up wearing a pair I had in the closet.  Not one of the ones I brought home fit well.  I am tall, and now losing some inches off of me, so it's been hard to find the right fit.  Anyway, I have to return them all now.  At least the return station is in the same place in the store (ha ha!).  

Oh, also, we ran all over tarnation to look for a farmstand with cherry tomatoes.  Not one had them.  I'm planting about 3-4 of those plants next year.

Zucchini Pizza Bites

 

Trial recipe #1.  These were baked at 375 ° for 14-15 minutes.  Home canned pizza sauce, Mozzarella cheese, and turkey pepperoni.

I see there are other instructions on making these, like using a higher temperature and using the broiler.  These were very good!

I've had this in my blog drafts for a week or so.  I'm so stinkin' tired and busy right now.  Holiday weekend or not. 

Paste Tomatoes ~ Spearmint ~ Cucumber Powder ~ Bell Peppers

I'll admit, that some things suffer this time of year, and yes that is a big ol' pile of towels on a kitchen chair.  It's been there for 2 days now, as I have been very busy, and too tired at the end of the day.  We still need to eat and we still need to have clean clothes and linens.

Tomatoes are still rolling in.  I've canned ketchup and Lemony-Basil Tomato Soup, and a 2nd batch of ketchup.

I've put a start on dehydrating spearmint finally.  I've also made dehydrated cucumber powder.  Spearmint is for tea and both of them are for Tzatziki Sauce this winter.  It is the first year to make cucumber powder, and I am researching the uses for it.  It sounds like it would be great in sauces, dips, and other recipes.  I had a few cucumbers getting too soft to make a salad, and didn't want to waste them (although I am sure the chickens would have loved them).  I do have a better plan to keep the cucumbers "fresh" after picking them.

The weather is heating back, so any dehydrating is on hold now.

I used some of our regular beefsteak type tomatoes to make fresh salsa.  I just throw it all in my food processor.  Our jalapenos are hot this year.  Woooweee! 

I have a few more bell peppers to take care of, but we found our newest, favorite breakfast. 

 I stuffed them for breakfast with some sage sausage, egg/cheese mixture with spinach.  The one in the middle spilled out, but you can't get "perfect" bell peppers when they are homegrown ha ha!  These were so dang good!  I used a recipe online from The Recipe Rebel, and just used the sausage vs. ham.

Has anyone frozen halves of bell peppers to make these over winter?  If we get more bell peppers in the garden, I may try freezing some in halves, just to try this breakfast.  I'm just wondering if they will be too soft after freezing.  Anyway, that is a quick catch up on what's going on here.

I found a quick pattern, to use up leftover cotton yarn balls, and I have a small container (one of the kids hand crafted me and gifted me one Christmas), in my kitchen now.  It's holding the leftover yarn, so I have a special place to work on them while watching the sauce reduce or canning. 

They are cup coasters, and after making 2 with the leftover balls of yarn, I had enough yarn to make one facial scrubbie, and still had a small bit of yarn leftover.  These are balls of yarn leftover from knitting dishcloths.  I do love the edging.  I now have learned a new stitch believe or not.  I'll get a better photo to share.  I plan to sell them all at the last, and only fall craft show this year (which I still have to locate and sign up).

I thought I took a photo, but will be back with that, as I am wondering what to do with the last small bit of yarn leftover.  I may call the local school and ask the art teacher if they could use it.

I am still putting up paste tomatoes, and may be doing it all next week. I am devoting Saturday to a day off from them, as we need to get the chicken coop worked on.  It seems that everything was put on hold, because of tomatoes.  I'm too tired at the end of the day, and I am my husband's only help.  If I am not available, it's not getting worked on.

We got a hot minute of porch time last night.  We grilled burgers and topped them with home canned pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese, and grilled corn on the cob.  The weather was oddly chilly.  The Labor Day weekend will be hot, with temps up in the upper 90's.  I'm glad I did not turn the AC off.

Brr!

 Woke up to a brisk 48°F outside.  There appears to be a frost on the windows of the truck, and top of the trash can, so I'm hoping it has not affected my herbs or garden.  

It's not going to last (we are heating up again to the 90's), but I will admit, I slept in, as the cooler weather was a welcome.  However, I have more tomatoes and bell peppers to take care of, and running very behind now.

Anything "sauce" tomato days are long days here.  There is the chopping, dicing, then heating until a puree, then removing peels and seeds, then reduction, then canning.  Canning in the water bath is typically 35 minutes or longer, depending on what I'm canning.  My husband was shocked at how many ingredients (and the time to do it) go into tomato soup.

I'm brewing some coffee to get this day started, but hope to be back with an update.  Thank you all for your potluck ideas.  I do appreciate it.