Independence Day Update....

The garden is calling me today.....so this

will be short and sweet! :D

Plant Something: I have had many

packages of seeds sitting around for years!!

This year I finally got

them scattered into egg carton lids just to

see if any of them are any good. LOL. Some

are VERY old....I just could not bare throwing

out a seed if it was good. Also I have green beans

and hollyhocks sprouting that I planted.

I also planted cucumbers, zucchini and

spaghetti squash all indoors, too early

for outdoors....

Harvest Something: Sadly

not this week. My good intnetions were

to take a bouquet of herbs to my son's

on Mothers Day....but I forgot!! :(

Preserve Something: Not this week.

Reduce Waste: Reclaimed this

thrifted basket that was broken, fixed

it with bows and am now using it for my

sewing basket...works great!

Preparation and Storage: Starting

over with our baby chickens.....

preparing to have eggs!

Community: Our community does

not really have a food storage system....but

we do have a couple of shelters. This week

made cornbread and cookies to send for the meal.

Eat the food: Eating our pickles,

applesauce, peach butter, giving away

jam and fruit butters....using my

sourdough starter for pancakes

and biscuits. I think just about

every meal last week came from

our food storage.

Independence Day Update #1

Thought I would join in on the fun over at Sharon's blog...

Casaubon's Book. She tells all about it, check it

out at sharonastyk.com

Here is my update....

Planted Something:

Inside have planted cabbage, broccoli,

cherry tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, various herbs,

squashes, cucumbers, beans, hollyhock, ......

Outside have planted lettuce, carrots, spinach, onions,

potatoes, radishes, beets, kale.....

Harvest Something:

Too early, but we did eat the cabbage sprouts that

I thinned out. They were really good on a baked

potatoe with cheese for lunch!

Reduce Waste:

Used old newspapers to make pots, also used some

egg cartons and toilet paper rolls.

Preparation & Storage:

Have been organizing my canning pantry and working

on a years food supply. Lately have been canning beans.

Did Boston Baked Beans and have done

some Pork and Beans ......

Community:

We serve dinner at the Shepherds House

once a week. That is our local mission. Last week I

made pasta, vegetarian spaghetti sauce and sent

cones for the ice cream.

Eat the Food:

I have been trying to use up some of what is in

my canning pantry. Eating the applesauce

and using up jam, alot of jam left. And....

we did eat sprouts........

Hope you will check out Sharon's blog and read what

the Independence Day Update is

all about!!

And....be sure to check here every Monday

for my Update!!

Spring, Canning, Organizing.....

This is our usual Spring/April weather here

on the High Desert........

This is exactly why gardening in the spring can

be very challenging here. But...know what?!?!?

My garden is surviving!! Yay!

But in the meantime, while we wait for warm

weather I keep doing some canning for my stockpile.

Bought a 25 pound bag of Navy Beans to can Navy Bean

Soup, Boston Baked Beans, Pork and Beans and

anything else I think of with Navy Beans.....

I found the recipes in the Ball Blue Book. The Pork

and Bean recipe uses tomatoe juice boiled with

onions and spices.....mmmmmm.....
That recipe only had you boil the beans for about

3 minutes, boil the juice and pour over beans

in jars and process.

The Boston Baked Beans had to cook 3 1/2 hours,

so I had those cooking in my roaster pan in the back

room while I canned the others. Then when they

were done, I processed them.

A pretty full day, but don't you just love the results

at the end of the day when you can sit back

and enjoy the fruits of your labor.....

Soooo, all this canning lead me to organize my

canning pantry which is outside in a shed. Something

that I probably should have done first. :D

So, how about a bit of sillyness....

Designer Buckets!! LOL.

Yep! Someone gave me some old wallpaper

books....I keep forgetting to use up any

of the wallpaper....

So, how about this, it only took minutes!
You need a small bucket, this is my dishwasher soap

bucket from Costco. (Once I have used up all this

store-bought stuff, I plan on making my own:)

I chose the wallpaper strips that are trims.......

how about apples for canning??
Cut it to fit around the bucket then slit it
up 3/4 of the way as the bucket is not
straight.......

and Voila!!
Designer Buckets!!

I put them in the bottom of my canning

pantry to keep my jar rings in......

What a great feeling to get an area organized. :D

The Shed!!

Well, I cannot believe I am showing you this! But here goes.....I have a cute little shed that is supposed to be my craft "studio".....when we thought we were going to move to England, we went through all our belongings like crazy, willing to part with things we couldnt take but could replace...we thought we were going to be gone for a year long mission trip. Well, we did not go and some of those things I really need....Anyway, it all got piled high in my shed for a garage sale....

Today my daughters helped me unload it all out onto the grass to go

through for a sale this weekend.......

Sorting to see what we can really part with and what would be expensive to replace and that we can use.......so, my daughter from Seattle is down and helped.....what do you think?? Keep the hat???? :)

What a sweetie she is!

Now I am really pushing it....this is the inside AFTER we emptied everything out to the lawn!!! But, you can see the potential, right?!?!? Look at that nice desk for sewing and crafting, and all these shelves to be put in order!!

No, I do not watch TV in my craft room. My daughter likes to watch or at least listen to movies like Emma or Pride and Prejudice when she is sewing costumes from those time periods... :)

Ok, the fun thing will be to show you the

before and after......
Coming Soon! :)

Happy October!!

Once it turns October, I feel like Fall is really here.....I love October! Maybe because I was born in October, do you think?? And it begins

looking and smelling more like Fall.......

Cut back my huge

mint plant today.....

And baked a Deep Dish Pear Pie.......maybe warmed later with Vanilla Ice Cream melting over the top!!! And sour dough starter under the cloth.....ahhh....signs of Fall!

Lovely Shade of Green......

My daughter and I layed these 20 rolls of sod yesterday....I LOVE and am so THANKFUL for every bit of green we can ad to our desert landscape! AND it was FREE!!

Waste Not......

After Tea I always have alot of leftover crusts cut off the bread. Well, when it is simply buttered bread that makes very good bread pudding. However, when the bread has other things on it like a dab of chicken or basil and cream cheese, sometimes I have thrown that away.... :(

This time my friend suggested I make stuffing!! What a great idea!! I also had quite a few herbs left over from some of the sandwiches....so first step cutting the bread into cubes, and stirring up some onions, herbs and butter in a pan (I did not have celery or that would have been a must).
So, I stuffed a chicken! Well, it worked and boy was it yummy!

The Blessing of Zucchini.......

Yes!! The day has arrived, zucchini is ALL done!!

6 bags of grated for the freezer, 12 pints of soup base for the freezer, 8 pints of sweet relish and 8 half pints of sweet relish to sell at my tea this Saturday.

What a Blessing!!

Dinner Tonight.........

I really thought I was done blogging for today.....and then......I started putting together our dinner for tonight. Ok, you might find this disgusting, but I hope not....let your imagination sore as you consider an idea......Maybe some of you already do this sort of thing,

and that is great!

Whenever I have leftovers, first we may just eat them again, but then if there are still left overs, I cannot stand to throw food away, so I freeze it in ziplocs, doesn't matter what it is.

Just like today, in my freezer I found......

1. A bag of frozen chicken soup, might have had noodles in it, not sure, noodles pretty much disappear when frozen......Voila!.....chicken goop!

2. A small bag of BBQ Beans........just ad some Mexi flavors and Voila! Chicken and Beans!!

3. Corn tortillas, which I keep stocked up on in my freezer.

4. A bag of enchilada sauce (I had bought a gallon size can and split it into ziplocs, way cheaper this way, unless of course you make it from scratch, but nice to have some on hand for when you do not have time to do that).

Getting the idea??? :D

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas!!!

When I make enchiladas, I put some of the sauce in the bottom of the pan, then layer about 6 small tortillas, then spread the meat, beans and sometimes rice, a little more sauce......

Then layer more tortillas, sauce and cheese on top (You can also freeze grated cheese in smaller portions, which is also cheaper to buy big blocks and grate it yourself). Then bake it. Some have called this Enchilada Casserole.

My husband affectionately refers to this type of meal as "sink trap" casserole.....or soup.....or whatever.....believe me it does not sound very nice AT ALL....but he always loves it!!! :) I just believe in practicing "waste not want not" within reason of course and I love the concept "what do I have in my hand?"

Today I did both! :)