Canning Season is well under way!

The first couple days this week wasn't to bad in the busy department...but then we got hit with lots to can, and we've been busy, busy, busy!!

We've canned 101 quarts of potatoes for Mom and I, 40 quarts of green beans (for our niece Abbie...cause DH and I can't stand the things...but since she loves them and I'm trying to teach her to can too, they got canned this week also) 48 pints of peaches and a few of the left over pickle relish we did last week. Today we are finishing up putting the last of the green beans through the canner...and doing a few more potatoes for Abbie. The photo is only part of what we canned. :-))

Praising God for the bounty we were blessed with this week!!  Love canning season, although this week was kinda brutal...I was tired but so far so good on my foot pain not flaring up so I'm extremely thankful to not be fighting that while getting the canning done.

Gotta get off here...just thought I'd do a quick update, since it's been awhile!  LOL  Life is Good...and we are blessed...and have a good start on our winter's food supply already!  :-))

Kraut Pounder

I finally got to use the Kraut Pounder this week, that my Dad made me last fall!! It worked wonderfully well! The cabbage juiced up a LOT more than any of the other cabbage I've used for sauerkraut has when I made it before, using a meat tenderizer to beat it. The metal meat tenderizer made a little juice...but not much, it was however good at denting my metal bowl...which this new wooden kraut pounder didn't do so I'm happy with it for that reason too!

It's so much easier to use...and also helped me pack the cabbage into jars, cause one end fits in my wide mouth jars (the other will fit in a narrow mouth...although I don't usually use the narrow mouth jars for this) and I can push down on the cabbage and fit a LOT of it in to a quart jar.

If you make sauerkraut or anything like that and have ever wondered if a Kraut Pounder is worth getting...let me just say, after using mine....YES!!!  It really does help!  :-))

Thank you for making it for me Daddy!!!  ;-))

Family, Food and Fun!

I've been (for the most part) enjoying having our niece living here! She enjoys a lot of the same things I do so we get along pretty good. Don't get me wrong, there have been a few times I've gotten a bit irritated...(remember I'm kinda hard to live with at times LOL) and I'm sure she can say the same, *giggle* but thats the way it goes when you are living with someone, no matter who it is. We still love each other and as long as we are willing to talk about our problems...things will be just fine!

Abbie is one of the only people (women anyway) who I can stand to be in the kitchen with! My Mom is probably about the only other one LOL. I've always prefered to cook on my own for the most part...not that I don't like having help on the BIG family meals, but for the most part I'm happy being alone with my cooking. In fact, I at times prefer to have the whole house to myself...not just my kitchen. DH doesn't bother me, although I tend to get more motivated to cook if he is outside  busy with his own thing, but that's just probably cause I know he is busy so I should be too...and if he is being lazy, we can be lazy together. *giggle*

Anyway, I'm not really compatible in the kitchen with most people, but Abbie and I are doing quite well together, even having FUN being in the kitchen together at times! We don't even have to be working on the same thing and still haven't gotten in each others way...least so far...even though the kitchen isn't real huge. (Well...she didn't get in mine anyway...don't know if I got in hers. LOL) That's a big surprise actually to me, cause although I know we've cooked together before...and been around each other, it's not something we've done a LOT of...so I didn't know how it would be with her living here, knowing how I tend to have "loner" days where I want that alone time.

I have to say it's almost like having a daughter come home, cause we finish each others sentences...can interpret each others sign language when one of us can't think of the word we are looking for...and have a lot of fun together when we are both feeling good. Seriously we can have a blast together at times...and talk and talk and talk. Course, it's not a never ending chat fest...we both like our quiet times...but when we ARE in a talkative mood look out! LOL We both can be shy...but not with each other. It's so GOOD to be an AUNT sometimes!! ;-))

The other day Abbie wanted to make homemade Runza's. In Nebraska there is a fast food resturant that serves Runza's that Abbie and DH LOVED. I've never been fond of them cause I didn't like the cabbage in them. However, knowing how they both liked them, I agreed to get out some hamburger (which I'm a little stingy with...one package, which is two pounds, of beef and one package of deer burger a week is all I've been allowing...cause I wanted it to last till we butcher again if possible since the store bought burger just isn't agreeing with me to well.) Abbie mixed up the dough recipe I pulled out that I usually use for dinner rolls...I got it from my Aunt Betty, and it's the BEST!...then fried up the meat mixture for the middle. She even made a pan of it especially for me, without cabbage!

While we need practice rolling them and getting them the right size, they really turned out YUMMY! We are for SURE going to have to make them again sometime...maybe enough to freeze some, for easy lunches. DH and Abbie said they were pretty close to the "real" thing...and I thought they were WAY better, cause mine didn't have that nasty cabbage that I didn't like in the "real" ones in Nebraska. LOL

The photo above was an after thought...I stole Abbie's plate, after she got done taking a photo to send to her fiance, and snapped my own photo of it, so I could share our success story with making Runza's. (although it was mostly Abbie's success story...I just supplied the dough recipe and a little help with rolling them...oh and my companionship for the afternoon of baking.  LOL)  Needless to say, I really can't wait to have them again...cause they really ARE good!  :-))

It's been a hotter week here...a little rain, not as much as "they" were saying we might get, but that figures.  LOL  It's been peaceful for the most part.  Abbie's been working on a late garden...she likes to garden, silly girl... she hasn't done it for a while, so doesn't know if it will produce anything, but least she can get her feet wet (or muddy) this summer and see how it goes. I finally got some salve made, and more started...and need to get back to making soap, but that's for another week I guess cause this week is almost gone.  Strawberry season is finally over...next week we may get a few black raspberries (not enough, thanks to the hail storm we had a few weeks ago *cry*) but least we are done with the first wave of fruit for this year!  Hubby has been running around doing his own thing...I never can remember all he's doing during the week.  All in all I'd have to say it's been a pretty good week.

Praise God for the wonderful gifts of love, family, and food God has blessed us with this week!  :-))

Cream Line

I've been pretty happy with the cream line we've been having on each gallon of milk lately. We have one of the calves wearing a weaning ring right now, so only one cow is giving us ALL her cream...but the cream line has still gotten bigger since she stopped holding it back for her calf.

Usually it's only a couple inches, which is still good for us anyway, but this one gallon this morning had to show off...so I thought I'd show it off to you! *giggle*

Needless to say...I'm making butter pretty much every day these days!  Yippee!!

Just wait till we have ALL the calves weaned...we'll really have milk and cream coming out our ears then!!

Sure loving the bounty, God has given to us so far in the milk and cream department this year!!!  ;-))

Homemade Vanilla Extract

A year or two before we moved to Missouri, I made my first homemade Vanilla Extract out of Vanilla Beans and Vodka. I read about doing it here...although there are LOTS Of places to tell you how online.

After giving my Mom some, and using lots over the last few years, I finally started my 2nd batch a month or so ago.  It has to sit and "brew" a while, so I wanted to get some started, even though I still have a quart jar of my first extract left. (The jar on the right is the old...the new is in the half gallon jar on the left.)

It's sitting in my dark pantry, working and I'm sure it will be ready by the time I need it, once I've finished the last of that first batch.

I'm not real fond of a strong vanilla taste, but do use vanilla in a lot of my baking...It's good in small quantities...although DH would LOVE to have more of it in some things, cause he likes the vanilla flavor.  LOL

The beans may not be real cheap to buy....but neither is the "real" vanilla extract, and I never wanted to get the imitation stuff.  Least it lasts a LONG time...and I do like the satisfaction of making my own.

Try some...you just might find out you prefer it over what you buy too!!  :-))

In other news...I'm feeling so much better this week, than I did last!  So glad to be pretty much over the cold, with just an occasional runny or stuffy nose to remind me of it.  Least I'm able to work in the kitchen again, without having to stop every little bit!  We will see if I can get my gumption together enough to make my brother those cinnamon rolls he requested.

Oh yeah...and those nice warm temps we had last week...not so warm now.  We had snow flurries again today, thankfully it didn't really amount to much.  Just irritating, when it's SUPPOSE to be spring!  LOL  Least it's not May, I'd be really upset to get snow in May two years in a row!  ;-))

Now...get off your computer and try making your own vanilla extract, if you haven't already!  I've gotta get off here, it's past my bedtime!  LOL

When life gives you lemons...

...make Lemonade...and lemon zest...and lemon/vinegar cleaner!  ;-))

I LOVE ordering things from Azure Standard. They have things there I can't get at the local stores especially organic foods. I don't order in the winter as often, because getting to the drop point to pick up my order is sometimes harder to do, but I couldn't stop myself from ordering some things the first of this month.

One thing I ordered was 10 lbs of lemons. Now, I really thought I'd have lemon juice coming out my ears, but I didn't get near as much as I thought I would out of them.


First thing I did was get all the zest off the rinds. I figured that could be dried and then frozen, so I could use it later when I needed lemon zest...like for lemon cookies (which are WONDERFUL BTW, especially once frozen for a few days...Orange ones are fabulous too!) or anything else "lemon" flavored I happened to want to make.

Next I got the juice out of the lemons and put most of it into little jelly jars, so I could freeze it for use this summer in lemonade. I thought for sure I'd have a ton of it, when I ordered those 10 lbs of lemons...but I only ended up with 6 jars, along with enough to make a batch of lemonade right away. Oh well...those 6 jars will be nice to have when it's HOT outside! ;-))


Once I had the zest and juice all finished up, I looked at the rest of the lemon, and thought hmmm, there HAS to be something I can do with these instead of just tossing them out to the chickens (who didn't really want them when DH DID take a few out to them. LOL). Then, I remembered I had read about soaking them in vinegar for a couple weeks then using the resulting vinegar to clean with. So....


...I had to try it for myself, although I didn't know if it would still work, since I took off the zest for other uses. I took one of the 1 gallon jars we have for milk and stuffed it FULL of the lemon rinds. Then I poured as much white vinegar over them as would fit in the jar, put the lid on and stuck it over on our wood cook stove by the window to soak for a few weeks.

I already use vinegar to clean with at times...but this way I can have the added benefit of the lemon in it too! Hopefully it will still work good, since the zest was off most of the lemons. LOL Only time will tell!

It's to bad I can't place another order for a couple months, I'd be tempted to get me another 10 lbs of organic lemons, so I could double what I put in the freezer for later use!  Looking forward to spring for so many reasons, but right now, it's because then I can get back to my monthly Azure order if I want to!

What's YOUR favorite thing to do with lemons?  Feel free to e-mail me or comment on my blog and give me more ideas!

More "playing" in the kitchen!

After we butchered our bull a couple weeks ago (almost) I put some of the brisket in a brine to make my own homemade corned beef brisket. I've never done that before and had to go looking for a recipe, but it wasn't hard to find one online. I found one that didn't use whatever they use to make the meat stay red...as I didn't have any of that and am never sure how good it is for you anyway, so don't mind not using it.

I left the brisket in the brine for a week, then cooked it up this weekend. Yum! It really turned out quite tasty, and while I've not had the store bought stuff much, so can't tell you if it tasted like those you can buy in the store DH said he thought it did...and even if it didn't, it was really good!

We had some left, so I made my own version of corned beef hash (actually I'd call it a corned beef breakfast skillet myself) for breakfast this morning. It made for a bigger breakfast than we usually have but wow...makes me wish we had MORE! LOL I actually do have a little left, just not as much as I used this morning. Since the meat isn't red, its not real easy to pick out but it's in there. I caramelized an onion, then took a jar of the potatoes I canned this last summer and sliced them then browned them...then put the meat in to heat up. Mixed everything together, made sure it was hot and had some with our farm fresh eggs and homemade banana bread.

It's the WONDERFUL breakfast pictured above!  And yes I ate to much!  LOL

I'm not sure what I'll be making this week, but hopefully I get around to doing something...guess it depends on how I feel and how much time I can spend playing.  I'm extremely tired again today for some reason...so haven't felt like starting much yet today.  May just go play in my soap room as there are a few things I need to do down there too.

One of these days, since we are back in milk I need to make some mozzarella cheese.  Our newest neighbor called and wants to come help when I do it next time, cause she wants to learn how to herself, so...guess I need to get back on the cheese wagon and get started using our milk.  LOL  The chickens and neighbors have been happy that I haven't been using it all lately, but...it would be nice to have some fresh cheese too, so sometime in the next week or two I'll have to do that.  I have however, been using our cream for butter and cream cheese!

One of these days I'm going to make a real "baked" cheese cake with my homemade cream cheese...just haven't had time AND had the cream to do it with yet...but I'm thinking this winter is the perfect time since I should have time AND cream! :-))

Anyway, off to find something useful to do with my day now I guess...even though I just want to curl up and take a nap under a nice warm blanket.  We had a couple nice warm days again, and now it's back to being cold.  Hope everyone is staying warm out there (but not TO warm for those of you in summer now!).

Persimmons

Dad's persimmon trees are sure loaded this year! They are small and full of seeds, so I'm not sure what I really could do with them besides Jelly...but...one of these days I'm going to at least try that!

If you have any other ideas for what I could do with them leave a comment on my blog or e-mail me!  :-))

Drying Herbs

Hubby brought home a nice little bag of Comfry leaves this morning, from one of our Amish friends!! LOVE it when he finds something cool to bring me like that! LOL

I use Comfry in my herbal salve, and it's always nice to find someone who grows the herbs I use in it, so I don't have to buy them online...since I can't seem to grow much myself lately (or ever LOL). I knew I was getting lower than I really wanted to be with my herbs, so knew I would have to hopefully find some money to get some ordered...this just means I have one less to order...although it won't make near as much as one would think, once they are all dried...it should be enough for 2 or 3 rounds of making salve at least, which should get me a ways further down the road!

Herb's don't take all that long to dry, when you put them in an electric dehydrator...yes you could air dry them, but it's so much nicer to get them dried and put away as fast as possible. They shrink up a lot so while the tray's were full when we started out, by the time the leaves were dried and crispy there was lots of empty room left on the trays. The ones above were half to 3/4's dry...still have a little ways to go, but should be done in a couple hours anyway I'd think!

Love my dehydrator!  I don't get to dry as much as I'd like, since our garden didn't do well...but I've used it several times this summer already, and hopefully will more as fall progresses.  This is the first time I've dried an herb...and was thrilled with how it turned out!

Today Mom and I also got more tomato sauce canned up!  Fun times here on Hillbilly Hill Farm...to me anyway!  *giggle*  Probably boring to a lot of others, but that's OK.  The beans I started fermenting the other day are bubbling...not to sure how soon we should "try" them, but probably will in a day or two.

I did finally cut into the first block of cheddar cheese I made, today...it wasn't to bad tasting, but was kinda dry.  Not really something I'd want to eat by itself, but we had some on our baked potato tonight, and it was fine...so maybe it will be OK on/in things.  Maybe one of these days we can see how it melts.  Now to study and maybe figure out why it was dry.  Probably won't be doing a whole lot of that till winter, but hopefully I will remember to do it then.  LOL

That was pretty much what filled MY day...a good day spent with my wonderful mother!  Tomorrow we are going to go to one of the Amish communities around, to do a little shopping, so I'll get to spend the day with her again!  One of the many blessings we received with our move last year was more time with my parents for a change...although we seem to keep busy separately a lot, we do get to spend more time together too!  :-))

Something I bet you never thought you would see in MY house!

For those of you who know us well...the above photo is something I bet you never thought you would see in our house! Yet...here they are. Yes they REALLY ARE green beans!

No we didn't plant them, they aren't from OUR garden...we haven't lost it THAT much. LOL

Yes, I am actually planning on making something with some of them.

Hello?

Helloooo?!!

Are you ok? Can I help you up? Sorry, I should have made sure you were prepared to hear that one!

Yes, I really said I was planning on making something with them.

For those of you who don't know us well...we really DON'T like green beans! Hence the above imagined (one sided) conversation with someone who really does know us well. *giggle*

Hubby brought these home from one of our neighbor's...frankly I would have told them we hated green beans, BUT...maybe that's rude??  Or....maybe he just figured my parents would eat them?  Whatever the case, I decided to keep a few to try fermenting, as I've heard of doing that and am trying to delve a little more into fermenting things...so the more things I have to try, the better, even if usually we don't like them.

I can tolerate fresh raw green beans....and if I HAD to eat cooked, fresh from the garden ones are about the ONLY way you would get me to eat them, so...who knows, maybe fermented green beans will be editable.  We will see!

This is however, proof, for anyone who is wanting some, that we have gone insane...lost our marbles...gone around the bend.  Yep...we have green beans in our house!  *gasp*

Having FUN!!

Last week, I was busy with peaches...I froze some, canned some and dried some. I'm still hoping to get more, but the Amish store hasn't gotten any in yet, so "putting up" peaches is on hold for now.

We were getting low on potatoes late last week, so I told hubby to stop and get me some when he was in town. I totally forgot I don't like Hy-Vee's 10 pound bag of "smart" potaoes, cause I think I read on the bag that they clean them in a solution...of what I don't know....and I doubted that "solution" was something I wanted on my potatoes, especially since they have enough junk on them without THEM "cleaning" them to add more. The small 5 pound bags were expensive, so I told him we would do without...I won't pay 10 pound price for 5 pounds of spuds! LOL Yes, I'm a cheap skate, what can I say.

So anyway, I got to thinking...hey, it's potato season, why not check around and see if the Amish have any they are selling! We asked around, and found one place (it was actually the people who bought one of our last heifers) that may have some, so went to check them out. It turns out we were a day late for them having many...as they sent some to a produce auction, but they did have a few we could buy...not the big ones we would have liked for baking, but I'll take them! They were 20 cents a pound, plus we got several pounds for free of the ones that had been damaged (by the fork) when they picked them so I think we got a REALLY good deal!

I've never liked canned potatoes that you buy in the store, but figured homemade is ALWAYS better...so maybe that would be a good way to have some that will keep longer, as there is no way I could keep the small ones good enough for use in the winter without canning or dehydrating them. So...I managed to can up several canner fulls of potatoes with what we were able to get. We are keeping our eye's out for more from someone else too...but least we do have some!

I also made mashed potatoes with some of them and filled my big 8 tray dehydrator so in a day or so we should have our own homemade "instant" potatoes! Can't wait to try them, they HAVE to be better than those you buy in the store...cause there has only been ONE time that I've had instant potatoes and thought they were editable. LOL

I tell you, this morning I actually feel like I got a lot done, between dishes, making sourdough waffles for breakfast, getting the jars washed for a couple more loads of potatoes through the canner, filling the jars and getting them canned, making a ton of mashed potatoes and getting them spread out on the trays, and turning a gallon of cream into butter (still LOVING that electric churn, as I could churn the butter while doing the other things!)I think I really had a pretty full morning! LOVE it when I get a bunch done like that...it's just to bad I couldn't keep going and feel good about my afternoon's work, but I get tired and can't get myself a moving in the afternoon as well, unless I just HAVE to. LOL  It's just to bad I don't get this much done EVERY morning!  *sigh*

Oh well...I sure do have fun this time of year! Gotta love watching the jars of food start adding up to be used in the winter! It's such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment, and I always laugh when I remember how I hated having to do it when I was growing up...yet now I love it! I'm so thankful that my wonderful Mother taught me some about all this, so I wasn't going into it blind, when I finally got around to being able to do it myself...even if I had forgotten a lot about it, it was still "Familiar" enough that it wasn't a problem relearning.

Canning potatoes is a new one for me though...I've not done it before, but it's super easy! Just hoping I can figure out how to use those canned potatoes now that I have some...and of course that I will LIKE them. LOL I read about using them for fried potatoes, or putting them in the oven in butter and herbs...or of course using them in stew or pot pies. I'll probably try several of those ideas, but if anyone has any other ones let me know! :-))

Making Sauerkraut

We got a homegrown head of cabbage from one of our Amish neighbor's the other day, so I thought I'd turn it into lacto-fermented sauerkraut (that I learned to make in the lacto-fermentation class on gnowfglins.com) for hubby...cause he loves sauerkraut. I've only made it one other time, cause getting a hold of homegrown or organic cabbage has not been easy (or cheap) in the past. I think I read somewhere that the fermenting process may make any chemical's that are on your produce to be even worse for you or something strange like that, so I have avoided making anything with store bought cabbage...unless I spend the big bucks for organic...and I don't do THAT very often.

Last year my Mom gave me this neat little gadget she had had for years, that cuts up the cabbage in nice thin strips. I finally used it today, and it worked wonderfully well!! I did have some I had to cut up with the knife, and they didn't get near as thin as the rest was.

Since I didn't have a Kraut Pounder (I have an "order" in to my Dad to make me one, but I didn't get it to him in time to have one for this years kraut...hopefully I find it in one of my gifts from my parents over the next year, so next year I can use it! *wink, wink*) I improvised using one of my meat tenderizer's to do the pounding, but I don't think it got pounded as well as it should have...as it just didn't work as well.  I also kinda put a few dents in my stainless steel bowl, with the tenderizer.  *OOPS!*  LOL


It was nice to be able to make it again cause it's fun, even if I don't like it myself...least unless I'm making TON'S of the stuff at a time it's fun.  It has to sit for several days before it's ready now, but it shouldn't be to long before hubby has some nice fresh sauerkraut to enjoy!  One of these days I'll add some other veggie's to the mix...but since I've not made it much, I want to be sure it's working like this first.  :-))

It was a surprise when hubby brought the cabbage home...but a NICE one especially since I've been wishing I could try making sauerkraut again!  He also brought home another zucchini, so I think I'm going to have to make some zucchini bread!  Been awhile since I've had that, and it is so good.  :-))

Mom says they are finally starting to get some tomato's, so maybe before to long we will be canning them up, once they get enough of them to mess with anyway.  Gotta LOVE canning and storing food for the winter, it really does give me a wonderful feeling to know we have some good food ready for the cold months.  All that yucky work I hated as a child is now satisfyingly fun (as long as we don't try to do TO much in one day it's fun)...go figure!  LOL

Good Food

This has been a Berry Good year so far when it comes to berries! *giggle*

 We were able to get lots and lots of strawberries, and then came the black raspberries. Sadly, we didn't find out where we could get those yummy black raspberries till the season was almost over, so we only got a gallon and 3/4 but boy did we ever enjoy them!

Actually, we didn't eat them all...I made a pie, and put enough for 4 pies in the freezer, but we couldn't resist snacking on a few of them, till I got them put away.  Boy do I LOVE black raspberries!  Hopefully next year we can get a few more of them, so I have several pies worth in the freezer, AND can make some Jelly...I really wanted to make jelly this year, but didn't have enough.  *sigh*

The raspberries were only $10 a gallon, which seems like that's not that much to me, especially since we didn't have to pick them but I was thankful for the price, since we've been kinda low on money this year.  God has been good to us with food so far this season!

***TIP - If YOU live close to an Amish community, I would recommend befriending them...they know where to get the best deals in their community, and trust me, they are good friends to have!

I am Soooo loving, living close to the Amish, their prices are so much better than the store prices, and their produce is better too!  They have some GOOD Local food, that doesn't have those nasty chemical's added to them!  Gotta LOVE that!  :-))

Speaking of good food, boy howdy was supper good tonight!  (if I do say so myself *giggle*)

I made a pot roast...I was going to this weekend, but we ended up being gone on Saturday taking my brother and his wife car shopping since someone decided to not stop at a stop sign and hit her a while back...thankfully she doesn't seem to be badly hurt, although was having headaches after the fact.  Then Sunday we had game night (since we were gone on Saturday) and we had something else for supper that night.

Today was the first chance I had to make the roast I had gotten out of the freezer, and wow, it really turned out extra yummy this time.  LOL  Not sure if I was just wanting roast, or what, but it was nice and tender, we could cut it with a fork which isn't always as easy with grass fed beef (It was from our own beef we raised), and the flavor was wonderful!  *sigh*  Sometimes I can manage to cook right...course naturally it was one of those times when no one was here but hubby and I.  LOL  When we have company, that's when it's bound to not be so good.  It's just a law around here I think!  *giggle*

Oh well, even if only hubby and I enjoyed it, it's still nice that it turned out so yummy!  It was a good sized one too, so I have plenty for a small stew...and some "beef tips" over rice for the next couple of nights!  Gotta love it when you basically cook one day, and have enough for three dinners!  :-))

The blackberries are almost ripe here to I think...not sure how many we will get this year, cause the cows have "trimmed" the bushes, but I saw there were some coming on, so hopefully I can get enough for a blackberry cobbler at least!  Loving all the berries over here in Missouri!

Can't wait to see what else we can enjoy from our wonderful Amish neighbor's gardens as summer progresses. (Yes, we do still have things growing in ours...but it's slow growing, so who knows WHEN or IF it will ever give us anything.)  We were given a few cucumbers and zucchini by one of our neighbors so far...we are hoping to find one who will be selling melon's soon too, cause it's getting close to that time of the year now, and we love those too!

I do miss the nice "tomato" guy we had out in Nebraska...we got a ton of the things for free from him, and I was able to dry a bunch, not to mention make lots of salsa and sauces out of them...so far we haven't found anyone to give us those...but am hoping Mom and Dad's garden produces enough to make some for all of us...and maybe ours too, if it ever takes off.  LOL

I wouldn't trade what we've found here for what we had in Nebraska though, even for all the free tomato's we could want!  LOL  Hubby is happier, with all his Amish buddies, (although I know he misses his best friend in Nebraska but he's still happier for several reasons I won't go into) and I'm happier because I feel "safer", or maybe I should say I feel our animals may be safer...since several were shot in Nebraska over the 8 years we lived there, and we are here with helpful family for a change!

(In fact, Dad had to come rescue me the other day cause the ceiling fan fell out of the ceiling and was just hanging there by the wire, I couldn't hold it up AND disconnect it at the same time, and DH wasn't home...so Dad came over and helped get it down, then DH hooked it back up when he got home, after fixing (as best as he could) the cheap piece of crap that held it to the ceiling...not sure what I would have done had that happened in Nebraska, when DH was gone.)

So, once again, I'm Praising God for all the Good Food, Good Neighbor's, Good Friends  (New and Old) & Good Family he has given to us!  We really are blessed!  :-))

Brie

The first batch of brie I made was soft and DH has been impatiently waiting for me to tell him they were done...so I brought one up the other day and cut it open to see how it looked.

It wasn't totally "done" as you can see, cause the center was still hard...but the cheese around it was soft and drippy...DH said it was really good, even if it wasn't "done" and enjoyed eating it.

Brie isn't my favorite cheese...although some is ok, but I made it for DH cause I knew it was one of his favorites. He liked it so well he actually thanked me for making it for him! LOL Something he doesn't HAVE to do...but it's always nice to know he likes something enough to thank me for making it especially for him. Now I just need to learn how to figure out when it's ACTUALLY done...so it's ALL nice and soft and yummy!

Still waiting to check out our Cheddar...it has a few more weeks to age. I need to get back to making cheese, now that I'm feeling better but we will see how soon I do that...I'm also wanting to get more butter and ghee made, so hate to do to much cheese before I get that stocked up!  The milk supply has cut down, and I'm afraid they will decide to dry themselves up before I'm ready for them to, since they should both be pregnant now.  So...I've been trying to make as much butter as possible, instead of cheese this week...especially with my new (to me) electric churn making it so easy!  :-))

Churning Butter the EASY way!

OH MY WORD!

I KNEW there was a reason I've been wanting an electric churn for the past couple years! I've been dreaming of one, but just never found one that I could afford...but this year the butter has been kicking my butt, so I finally said the heck with it...I'm GOING to get an electric churn, even if I have to get one of those expensive NEW ones!

Ever since we started getting more cream this spring, I've not been able to take the cream out to warm up a bit, like I used to do in Nebraska, because if I did it would whip the butter and that's not really how I want my butter most of the time. When it whip's it, it's also harder to get it cleaned, so it doesn't spoil to fast.

Since I couldn't warm it up to closer to room temp, I had to churn longer, to get butter. Unless I'm in a major rush, I really don't mind churning for a half hour or 45 minutes, but lately it's been closer to two hours, and believe me that gets on my nerves, not to mention the fact that it's hard to get anything done, if I'm working on butter for a couple hours several afternoon's a week. By the time the butter was done I was in no mood to start baking...or starting something that would take a while to finish...so I knew something HAD to change!

Monday I finally had enough...I got the butter done, and went to look on my computer cause I was going to find me an electric churn...even if it meant getting the one I'd found a few weeks before that was new for $200.00. I decided to look on craigslist first, even though I've looked before and not come up with anything, and low and behold, there it was...the perfect churn for me!

I was wanting a gallon size one, as the bigger one would be to big in the winter when the cream slows down...and that's what I found. DH called the number, talked to the lady, told her it would take us 2-3 hours to get there cause it was a ways away, she said she would make sure it was still there when we got there, so we got in the car and went and got it!

It looks to be in really good shape, nice and clean looking. It's so quiet when it's running even, I had no idea what to expect there, as I've never heard one before. I used it for the first time yesterday afternoon (would have been morning, except I had a dentist appointment, so wasn't home...and believe me it was hard to wait! LOL). I was shocked at how fast it churned the half gallon of cream into butter! It was done within a half hour...straight out of the fridge, cold cream, no warm time. A half hour...and it had been taking me almost two hours with the hand crank churn. *sigh*

Yep, I'm SOOOO in LOVE!

I did a happy dance...first when I got the churn, and then when I saw how fast it did the cream! I LOVE this electric churn, can't believe it took me so LONG to get one!! I would really like to find another jar, just so I have an extra one (The opening isn't the same size as my other gallon jars)...but hopefully I won't need one, if I'm not able to find one. I really think this is going to save a lot of time and effort, and it's going to be so worth having spent the money on it, and the gas to go get it! I loved my hand crank churn...and still do, but I'll enjoy putting it in the back of my cupboard too, and just keeping it for in case I ever need it!

I'm going to be so spoiled now I can churn butter the easy way I think!  Spoiled is good though...it's not like I didn't spend the last 4 years making butter with the hand crank churn...so maybe I've earned the electric one by now.  ;-))

Last of the canning!

The day Clover had her baby, Mom and I did the last of the years canning! (Not counting broth...which I am in the middle of making more of, as it's a any time of the year thing...or pinto beans, which I'm hoping to can some of soon too, but they are an any time of the year thing so I don't count them! LOL)

Dad planted some pie pumpkins this year, and with the drought they probably didn't do as well as they should have, but they still grew and gave them several. We cut them all up, and pureed them, and got 12 pints for Mom and Dad to make pie and bread with! Mom's bringing the pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving, so we will see how they taste then.

I know the puree is sure thicker, than what I got out of the pumpkins we grew last year, so even if you don't get near as much out of pie pumpkins, they sure are the way to go in my opinion! LOL

The photo above shows my Mom getting the jars ready for the canner. It sure was interesting to see the difference between regular pumpkins and pie pumpkins. Now I know pie pumpkins ARE better for cooking with...who knew! :-))

Saving the cheese!

This week I finally decided to take time to make some cheese for a change...something besides cream cheese that is, which is all I've managed to make since we moved. First I decided to make my mozzarella cheese, and for some reason it didn't turn out right...am wondering if the curds got to hot in places. I was disappointed to say the least...but will have to try again, when I have time to.

Today, I decided to try some cottage cheese...I used a recipe I'd only made once before, but it turned out good that time, so I figured it would this time too.

Needless to say...I was disappointed again. The curds all broke up, so it didn't seem like cottage cheese. I figured it would mostly get tossed...and figured it was just a bad week for cheese here...DH figures I have to learn how to all over again, since we are in a new place...can't say I really like THAT idea. LOL

However, I got the idea to try making a cheese log out of the failed cottage cheese...so played with that a little bit this afternoon. Never having made one before, I had no idea what to put in it...so just did a little bit of spice...and put it in the fridge.

This evening, I grabbed it, rolled it in parsley, and put some on a cracker...and ohhh, it was Yummy! I'll add more spice next time...but I liked it! So did hubby...he added some more spice to his...and took these two for an after dinner snack. I thought it was neat looking, so had to grab a photo of them before he ate them. LOL

Least I was able to "save" the cheese I made today, so it won't end up being tossed out to the chickens! Gotta love it when that happens...AND I finally made a cheese log, something I've been wanting to do, but for some reason hadn't yet. :-))

Quick update

DH and my Dad have been working on the barn this last week and weekend. I finally managed to get a photo of it this morning, so I could show their progress. It's coming along...but still has a ways to go.

We will be adding on to three sides of it, as we can...as this is a LOT smaller than we are used to, but least it's a start! Hopefully we can add on at least the one lean to for the milk room soon! Till then we will milk in the main part of the barn...it will work fine, just hoping to have more room in there for hay if we can put up small bales next year. :-))

This week Mom and I are doing more canning...worked on grapes the last couple days, canning some jelly and juice to be turned into jelly later when we have more time. We have beets to do this week (hopefully) and maybe some tomato's, if there are some more...they have been kinda slow producing with this hot summer.

We are keeping busy here...hoping to be able to slow down eventually, but...it's nice to see things progressing, and some good food getting stocked up for the winter. :-))

Peaches...and birthdays.

Mom came over again today, and we got some more tomato soup made. She also brought some of the peaches that Dad had picked off their tree so we could try to make a pie out of them, and see how they worked for pie. The peaches were a little hard, and just never seemed to ripen, but something was stealing them off the tree, so Dad finally decided to pick them before they were all gone.

I haven't had my piece of pie yet, but it sure looks yummy...and the peaches softened up nicely in the oven, so I think they will do just fine for pies. They weren't to bad tasting just plain, even if they were a little hard yet. There is still almost a 5 gallon bucket full we have to work on, so will be doing more of that this week!! The peaches are on the small side, but there are plenty to put several pies worth in the freezer!

I guess Dad liked the peach pie I made awhile back...cause he wanted to make sure they got some of their peaches, so he could have some more pie out of them! LOL We will probably be working on more in a couple days...and trying a peach crisp out of them, cause we thought that sounded really yummy too...even though we are rather fond of the pies.

For not having made a fresh peach pie before this year...I'm sure getting some practice in now! Can't complain though...LOVE peaches! :-))


Speaking of loving peaches...I LOVE THIS "Peaches" too!! She just turned two on Saturday...I can't believe she is now two years old. She still acts like a puppy, and is totally adorable yet, and still LOVES to play with her toys. This photo was taken this spring...but she still looks the same, and still LOVES to play as much as she did as a puppy! She still makes me laugh daily too, and brings so much joy to our home. I don't think we've ever had a dachshund that was so in LOVE with LIFE...and took you along for the ride too. :-))


Autumn will be having a birthday in a few days too! She will be 11...which is hard to believe also. She is slowing down a little I think, and while she can still be a little spit fire, not taking any guff from anyone...even the cows, she has leaned to back off a little from time to time if she thinks there are to many animals that can gang up on her. She still loves to sit on my lap....or "dance" with me to the music, and comforts me if I'm upset. She's pretty much still queen bee around here. :-))

We sure got lucky with our two "girls"! They are spoiled rotten...yet are good with it...as in they mind quite well for the most part. Happy birthday girls, you both are so loved!

Home canned tomato soup

My Mom came over today, with a five gallon bucket of tomato's from their garden, and we made tomato soup out of them. We were both a little surprised with how much we got out of that bucket, (27 pints) but happy to have that much already. Hopefully their tomato's keep doing that well...or better, so we can get some more things canned over the next few weeks!

It was nice doing it together, so I didn't have to either do it myself...or have DH help me get the tomato's cut up and pushed through my food mill...it's the easy kind, but still work to do yourself. Course it was nice having my mother here to talk to while the canner did it's thing too. It's been so nice to be closer to her here in Missouri. :-))

It's been so HOT here...which is one reason Mom wanted to can at my house...cause I have window air to cool the kitchen better here where she doesn't LOL...they are saying it should cool down (into the 90's instead of 100's) for the next few days. Sure hope it does, cause these long hot spells we have had lately are getting REAL OLD! LOL It's an unusual summer, to say the least...we will have temps over 100 some in normal years, but not this many days usually. Can't wait till fall!!!