to can or not to can

I bought a share of winter root veggies from my friend Erin over at Mud Creek Farms last week. I got carrots, parsnips, beets and rutabagas. I planned to can most of the carrots. I started with Better Homes and Gardens Home Canning Cookbook from probably before I was born. Peeled, cut, and ready to go. Aren't they beautiful? They taste as good as they look.

If you have canned before you know what comes next. Fill jars, boil water. seal jars, put in water, wait till they pop. Easy Peasy!

NOT! If you read the chapter on low-acid veggies then you will learn that boiling is not enough. You have to use a pressure canner to bring everything to 240 degrees instead of the usual 212 degrees. This will kill the different bacteria found in these veggies. SWELL!

No problem, my mom has one of those...and it's missing the pressure gauge!  So that leaves me 2 choices.  1. eat all the carrots now or 2. un-can them and freeze instead.  I opted for freezing them all.

So now I have 3 large bags of frozen sliced carrots to eat later.

Kitchen re-do

Oh, I love yellow! It is as if the sun has actually risen IN my kitchen. It has been turtle shell green since we moved in and painted in February 2004; almost 8 years! I can't even find a digital picture of the before so you will just have to imagine it.

Here is over my sink view. I also made the valances. Can't tell here but they are yellowish, sage and red stripe. Lined with red velvet. They have little puckers in them. I wish I could remember the blog that had the directions. If I do, I will post it later.

All I have left to do is put in some remaining baseboard molding and fix the cupboard next to the dishwasher and it will be fabulous.

Here you can see the puckers in the valance over the table. You can see my stove on the right. It is old. Prbably been here almost as long as the house, but I LOVE it. It has a regular size oven on the right and a smaller one on the left. I can cook at 2 different temps at the same time. LOVE IT. The same thing today would cost a fortune!

Hope you enjoyed my kitchen as much as I do.

101 things: January recap

My first month of 101 in 1001 days is going great. I have had lots of energy and excitement about getting my household in order. I cleaned most of our bedroom today. Would someone encourage my husband to do his side now? I will post pics of it when its clean. I will also post pics tomorrow of my many projects I have finished lately.

1. visited Grandma and PopPop with mom and the kids.
2. got quotes to finish drywall in attic
6. put up clothes lines in basement
9. made 4th panel of curtains, just need to hem them all
17. planned meals for January and start of February
18. planning grocery shopping according to meal plans
20. eating more fruits and veggies but not 5 yet
21. made basket of healthy snacks that kids can reach
26 . got the green shelf out of Rebekah's room
29. finished blue sweater
35. Posted on Something-2-Eat (3/429)
36. Posted on tidbits & scraps (12/268)
44. Read "News for Dogs" to Timothy
45. made 2 loaves of white bread
46. made a blue and brown floral dress for Rebekah
47. made wrist warmers for me
50. moved trains and accessories to basement play room
55. ordered Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Steps

Bake on Monday

Today Timothy is home from school for a Cold Day (not a lot of snow, just terribly cold out). Right now they are playing together nicely so I have to post now.

We have bread rising on the stove. We used a recipe from Homegrown and Beeyoutiful:

~BREAD~

2 cups of warm water

1/3 cups of honey

1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup olive oil

6 cups bread flour ( I use ONLY Prairie Gold Wheat)

Directions:

Dissolve honey in warm water in a large bowl and stir in yeast. Proof until yeast is foamy.

Mix salt and oil into yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead (just a little) Put dough into a well oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Let rise until doubled, approximately one hour.

Turn dough onto a floured surface, punch down and either divide in half for two loaves or stretch it out for a BIG loaf. Place into well oiled loaf pans either way.

Bake at 350 degrees for half an hour.

It freezes well. Right after it comes out of the oven, don't wait for it to cool, just wrap it and stick it in the freezer and it will taste like it just came out of the oven. well almost:)

So the secret ingredient is HONEY. You can try making this with sugar (i have) I tell you, the plain and simple truth is it just doesn't taste the same. It has that homegrown taste when you add that honey!

We also have granola in the oven from Regan Family Farm!

FARMHOUSE GRANOLA
1 c. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. honey
Melt in a large pan in the oven at 350. Add:
2 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
Stir together, then add:
12 c. oats
1 1/2 c. coconut
1 1/2 c. almonds (or any nut of your choice)
1-2 c. graham cracker crumbs
(a new secret ingredient that isn't necessary, but is good)

End of January Menus

Sunday 1/23 stuffed pork tenderloin, rice, broccoli

Monday 1/24 Spaghetti w/ grilled yellow squash in sauce

Tuesday 1/25 Hamburgers or hots, oven fries, corn

Wednesday 1/26 Salmon and rice

Thursday through Saturday I work and Kelly and Rebekah eat at his moms.

Sunday 1/30 Kielbasa and grilled root veggies

Monday 1/31 Pasta with meat sauce, garlic bread

Tuesday 2/1 Oops, I missed this one

Wednesday 2/2 Portuguse Bean Soup (from Like a Bubbling Brook blog)

Saturday lunch 2/5 Iri-Iri Pan-Pan for lunch