Playing outside

We went outside and played last weekend

 

Mama's big helper

 

Do the roses know it's winter?

 

The sun was shining, but it was cold. There were some pretty things going on. This huge hibiscus plant started out last year as one of the crummy, half-price plants at Lowe’s. Look at it now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scott’s mom gave us a Christmas cactus a few years ago that has just been surviving in my plant jungle. I went to look through my veggies to see how they are doing and there were some really pretty purple flowers. I thought they were toys at first, but here they are. So pretty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The broccoli is starting to develop. I can’t wait to eat some!

 

 

 

Is this a weed? Sometimes I plant random things in the flower beds, though there are plenty of weeds there too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been using a big planter as a compost pile. We usually just pile stuff in it. Today I had Scott spread out a tarp and spread it out and add some leaves. The bottom layer is good, but I think we need to bury the new food because there is some mold growing there. I think I got a good lungful. Hopefully not too dangerous.

Favorite podcasts

I decided last year to stop pirating audiobooks, so I started listening to free podcasts. I've been through several that I thought were good, then started to be annoying. Here are some that I've stuck with and I'll tell you why.

Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods fame along with someone who works in his office. I went back to listen from the beginning and have enjoyed every one. There's a lot of behind-the-food scenes stuff, and other, normal stuff. I love AZ in all forms.



This is a newish one with Alton Brown just being Alton Brown. He talks recipes, fashion, food and other things with guests or on his own. Not every episode is a winner, but they are usually very listenable.

Garden Brew is 2 guys talking about brewing beer and having their garden, both of which I like. Interesting, but not for everyone.

Chris Hardwick was a 90s host and has been doing this podcast with 2 friends for several years. There are about 430 episodes. Most of them are interviews with entertainers, some more famous than others. There are some really good ones in there.

This is all about organic living. There are 3 hosts and guests around a topic. Some are better than others, but it's not from around here. This one and The Food Craftsman (who didn't have a logo) are from or focus on the San Francisco Bay area, which seems to be a mecca of all things great food.

I really have no idea why I listen to this one. I think it's entertainment, but it's really random. Frustrated actors dishing on lots and lots of stuff. Funny and entertaining, but again, not for everyone.


That's what's on my running list.
Do you have any that you love?

Canning dreams

One of the dreams was to grow and preserve whole foods. I haven't grown anything yet, but I have been canning.
I found some whole cranberries on clearance at the grocery store and wanted to make a jelly for Thanksgiving. I researched recipes and made one with jalapenos. Cranberries have natural pectin, so it was really easy. I didn't use enough jalapeno to make it hot, but it tasted pretty good. I canned it smallish jars and put it through a boiling water bath. And it worked. That was the first taste of success, so to speak.
My friend Joyce has a pressure canner that she got at a garage sale and let me borrow it. I put it through the tests, then got started.
I always make my own chicken/meat/vegetable stock. I keep a stock bag in the freezer and make stock whenever the bag gets full. Sometimes it's more chicken, lately it's been more vegetable. Kale has a very distinctive flavor. :)
So the first thing I canned was meat stock from a roast I made. Then I canned the roast itself, then some vegetable soup, then some chicken stock, then some more vegetable soup. When I have time, I like to cook, so making this all ahead and canning it lets us just pull from our own stock of good food to eat. The soups and meats can just be opened and used. I usually just freeze stuff, but our freezer is pretty small and was getting overcrowded. Right now I have 22 cans of stuff.

Produce co-op

I feel like our little area is getting big time. First a real Farmer's Market, now we have the opportunity for a produce co-op. It's not local produce, but it's fresh and I like that it's a random assortment each week. You pay with paypal, then go pick it up on Tuesday afternoon.  Fresh avocados with tomatoes make great guacamole, or even the avocado on sandwiches. I don't even like tomatoes, but the grape tomatoes were great. Lettuce, onions, garlic, celery, bananas, pears, apples. There was a pomegranate in this last one that I'm about to eat. I'm trying to figure out the cabbage. I think I'm going to make stuffed cabbage tomorrow. One of the farmers at the market is still offering winter produce, though I haven't gotten anything from them. They are looking into doing a chicken CSA. I don't think I'm going to do it this time, but I'm thinking about it for later. Local chickens, freshly processed - that's important to me, so I should put my money where my heart is and do it.

Sugar-Cinnamon donuts aka The best thing I’ve ever made

So I pretty much ignore the Facebook food porn. None of it is healthy, much of it uses pre-bought, processed-food ingredients, but I saw this one and thought it would be a great one to try for holiday breakfasts. AND it was. I didn't use the glaze; I just rolled it in cinnamon-sugar. They were too good. I ate way too many and gave some away as gifts. They are fried in grease; they are made of white flour and sugar. There's nothing healthy here.
This is my crappy picture. There are better ones at the link, along with the recipe. Sugar-Cinnamon donut recipe

Dehydrating Daily

I received a Nesco dehydrator for Christmas from my Mother-in-law.

And I've been using it every day since. It's so much fun.

 

I hate buying herbs and spices that I hardly ever use and just sit in the cabinet. And there's preservatives, it's not fresh, etc. I'd been toying with drying stuff in the oven, but it never worked out the way I wanted it. I tried kale chips that were ok. I dried onions and garlic with mixed results.

 

I also received a coffee grinder, which sets me up to make some really interesting things.

 

One of the first things I dried was bananas. But they weren't great. I think I need to salt them or something. I have a lot of bananas in a produce basket that I needed to use, so I tried it. I'll try again with salt tomorrow or so. I ended up making a ton of banana bread, but I'm out of flour now ;)

Also in the basket are usually onions and garlic, which I tried next. I dried them both, then ground them in the grinder. So now I've got onion powder and powdered garlic, then I did more onions and left them as flakes. I'm very pleased with those things.

I have some dried cilantro leaves that I can't wait to use for salsas, soups, taco stuff, etc.

I found a homemade ranch dressing mix recipe that calls for a lot of ground stuff and flakes and that may be the ultimate goal, providing it tastes good. Maybe for gifts? Is there a market for that?

 

Today I did more garlic, some green onions and some sugared oranges. I feel like these oranges will turn out better than my previous attempt. I tried to do candied citrus peels/sugared limes earlier and they didn't turn out well. I think the peels themselves were not good quality.

Oranges

Garlic

Random citrus/peels

green onions

I tried potato chips, but they are as greasy as they look here in the picture. Also, too crunchy. Not sure how to fix that. Even after a few weeks, they are still hard as rocks. The zucchini chips turned out really good. I made some parmesean green beans, but I let them go too long and they didn't look good. Tasted really nice, but were all shriveled. I'm going to keep working on it. It'll be great if my garden produces a ton of stuff and I can just experiment with those things.

So tomorrow - carrots, more bananas and . . . fun stuff.

Lol

So I haven't updated since September. Lol! I'll update more later, but
Happy Christmas; Happy New Year, etc etc.

 

Still here, still cooking, not so much crafting. Girl Scouts!

More later.