B is for Baking When Your Diabetic

Making Sugar Free Zucchini Bread with our own home ground whole wheat flour & Coconut flour.

As with most chronic (read long term) diseases progressing/severity is just about inevitable. So has been my journey with "the sugar" beginning with Gestational Diabetes for last pregnancy. My last baby popped out @ a bit over 10 pounds a side effect of diabetes despite being on tow forms of insulin I still winch everytime I think about her birth.
Now almost 18 years later I'm close to staring down an insulin syringe.
You'd think as a nurse I'd know better having cared for patients who suffered the ravages of diabetes, ranging from blindness to amputation. It's a hard disease to live with even when your coming from a medical background. While I've been better than most and @ times wort I am genetically predisposed to diabetes, my mother suffers from it as does a good portion of Puerto Ricans.

Recently took advantage of an Amazon Deal of the Day on Organic Kosher Coconut flour 
Coconut flour is high in fiber and naturally sweet helps with lowering blood glucose levels among other benefits. It is pricey but denying myself baked goods certainly hasn't worked. So I'll buckled down on other aspects of the grocery budget and shop around for sales to make this new lifestyle work.

For me personally it's been a learning curve ... I did enjoy the waffle recipe I made with the coconut flour I'm having a real issue incorporating the flour into my regular baking. Coconut flour is very dry & crumbles if you look @ it with a sideways glance. It does have a slight coconut taste and a faintly gritty texture. Most recipes call for an increased amount of eggs, the waffle recipe I use called for 6 eggs.
Like with all new lifestyle changes I'm working on a fine balance between stable blood sugar levels, keeping my cholesterol numbers low, & finding the extra greenbacks to afford to eat healthier.

The other change is that I've switch out all our fake sugar useage to Stevia. Previously I was using fresh Stevia leaves in beverages namely my coffee. Now I use it in all our baking & cooking needs. Hubby's not thrilled but he wasn't thrilled with the taste of commercially available artificial sweeteners either. I of course wasn't thrilled with the side effects.
He as a diabetic doesn't suffer from roller coaster glucose levels in the same manner as I do. His body can process Maple syrup an often recommended diabetic sweetener choice, fairly well. For me I lapse into a diabetic coma albeit with a smile on my face.
Hence the learning curve.

Scored a great deal on Powdered Stevia and once I added a label giving Stevia = Sugar conversion measurements it's been a snap.

I'm also looking @ Almond flour & Birch Xylitol a sweetener just as soon as I earn some more greenbacks.

8 quarts of shredded Zucchini in the freezer so far.
I was planning on canning it hoping to end up with Zucchini milk concoction but the squash is exceptionally dry this year. Not heirloom so that may be why.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Gone-Not-Gone-Winter

YNNBuffalo 

On Friday I was pedaling around my part of the city in what else - pedal pushers & a tank top, wind in my hair, smile on my face. Life was good, very good I had one paycheck in my pocket and only two days to go to my only day off for the week on my second job.
I even got a bit of a burn on my forearms.
Life was good as pedaled my way to the next neighborhood for my last shift of the day.

That was Friday.

Today we dug out the snow shovels that I had placed behind the garage just two days ago. Today we stood in the kitchen looking out the window @ the back yard ... speechless.
I have a pang of guilt in the pit of my stomach. If I hadn't put away the shovels that late unusually hot April Friday, this sleet/snow fall wouldn't be happening now.
I apologize.
I know better.
I have no idea what I was thinking. I wouldn't have taken down storm windows nor put up snow parkas in favor of light jackets & flip flops.
I am soo sorry!

There's nothing to say.
There's nothing to do.
Or is there ?

My area is slated to have under 10" much more than plastic tarps can fend off. The plan for the cold frames is to just go old school & scrape off the accumulated flakes. The fruit trees ... I plan to shake. Yeah just shake them. Shake the wet snow off so the branches won't be weighted down & snap.
No snapping allowed.

Woods has vowed to snap a pic of me standing sentry in our urban orchard shaking trees.

On the home front we have a bit of cured firewood for tonight & Monday night. If the grid goes down due to tree branches on power lines we also have the back up of a small heater powered by propane along with a small supply but I don't see us really needing it. Instead we can just have the wood stove lit for a few hours to heat soap stone bed warmers then turn in for the night.

If this were really the dead of Winter then we'd break out the two person tents to sleep in. It's easier to body heat a small tent than a whole bedroom.

We also have that old standby, a two burner Coleman Camping Stove for cooking and heating water for hot water bottles. Don't underestimate the benefits of curling up with even a small source of warmth when your cold. There's also our supply of oil lamps which we've been putting into practice as of late, along with flash lights & solar garden lights.

The majority of our food is shelf stable no need for refrigeration. What food items that are frozen would be pressure canned for long term shelf life on the Coleman Camp Stove.

We are to use a popular term, prepared ... for the most part minus the garden & orchard pretty well set for this coming Nor'easter that's headed our way.
Are you ?


~~ pelenaka ~~

Free Firewood Isn't Free

Someone on a forum this past month reminded me that when I say we have free firewood it really isn't free. 

There's the cost of tools unless you inherited them. 

Maintenance on tools like axes, chain saws, manual cross cut saws, ect. 

There's also the tools that you need to preform the maintenance on your firewood making tools.

Add in gas & oil for a mechanical chain saw. 

Then of course there's the cost of traveling to the source & carting the wood back. Along with the cost of the equipment used to transport ... ect. ect. ect.

So no I wasn't being totally truthful when I post that we have free firewood but this is just about as good as it gets. 

Witness to the construction of a neighborhood.

Hundred year old Maple located in the hell strip was finally after eight years of complaining, pleading, and yes even cursing trimmed.

This tree is actually in front of my neighbor's home (to the left if looking out front door), but if it had split that trunk would have bounced off his home & landed in our driveway crushing our only horse or worse my front stoop.
I think the deciding factor for the city to have it trimmed was that my neighbor's home is in foreclosure.
Bank owned properties are as much of a hassle for local governments as they are for a neighborhood. Banks/mortgage companies can be very lazy about maintaining a property especially ones that they won't ever see any return on.

Race is on to get the logs cut & stacked out of view from the street.

For the cost of a few dozen cookies the tree trimmers were putty in my hands .... actually our driveway was closer then were they had their trucks street parked. If the tree had been Oak there be no way they would have let us glean but we're thankful for the Maple.

Legally I only own half of the drive but since notice of his impending eviction the neighbor has been agreeable to not using the area to park his truck (he has a second drive on the other side) when we've need the extra space.

Log rolled back this little piggy didn't run fast enough home. 

Sometimes you have to factor in a higher cost of keeping the home fire burning.
Thank you my husband you are a good man ... and patient.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Filling a Sweet Tooth With Whole Grains

Another example of my New Years Resolution #2 - Eat more healthy as if $ was no object.
My mother's B-day is tomorrow so I wanted to practice baking her as well as us a healthy cake.

Mi Mama, like so many of her countryman suffers from diabetes as well as high cholesterol. She's actually very good about her diet on her own but won't cook with whole grains due to her one & only attempt @ cooking brown rice with nasty results. After that there was no talking her into a second try.

She grew up with white rice learning @ a young age to cook a pot of arrozo con costillas on an open fire. She use to tell me that as important as having the right ratio of water to rice was to make sure that all three of your rocks that were needed to keep the pot level in the hot coals. When they traveled to another area of the island she always remembered to bring her rocks. Pretty smart for a seven year old girl.

Last week when she came for dinner I made arroz de gandules con pollo subbing in brown rice on the wood stove. Much easier than the open fires of her early childhood. Everyone including Mama, thought it was good but lacked that thick layer of pagao in the bottom.
Later during dinner Mama volunteered that maybe half breeds can't make pagao as she spooned a second helping on to her plate. My mother's skill of manipulation would make a Jewish Grandmother envious. 

An added stipulation to this birthday cake baking is I'm beyond broke (what else is new), so I needed a recipe that didn't require any bought ingredients. Well @ least a recipe I could manipulate (yes I am my mother's daughter in so many ways).

I got this free kindle book thanks to a heads up by Pam6, 
Healthy Whole Grains Dessert Recipes, Easy and Delicious Whole Grain Desserts last week. I was in need of a whole grain dessert cook book to fill that deprived void that we've been experiencing since our change in diet to whole gains. This has been a perfect fit for my pantry shelves.

I found a few Lemons in the fridge & sliced bananas in the freezer. Both left overs from the food bank I volunteer @. Hubby put in the time with the grain mill to grind up fresh Soft Winter Wheat I just bought last month with Swagbucks. I subbed in carob powder (had) instead of chocolate, powdered eggs instead of fresh, real butter instead of olive oil because I'm out of extra light, and nut milk for homemade Greek Yogurt because the yogurt maker has been slacking. Knock off brand of Splenda for any sugar needed. to make this recipe more diabetic friendly.

Other than a few substitutions mentioned for Mama's cake even the peanut gallery who doesn't suffer from the sugar is enjoying having sweets in the house again. 

I gave this book 5 stars on my Amazon review and although I was able to score the kindle version for free I would purchase this again ... guilt free.

One of the many hats my Kindle wears is being a Techno-Amish Cookbook 

There's no follow up pic because in my rush to put out coffee & dessert for unexpected guests yesterday evening I forgot. Cake baked up well in the stove top oven giving the house a wonderful smell.

Feliz Campleanos Mi Mama!

~~ pelenaka ~~

Buttermilk on a Shelf

Repackaging for mid-term storage 1-4 years.

Along the lines of converting to a more pantry based menu I ordered Saco Powdered Buttermilk, 12-Ounce Cans (Pack of 6) after testing the powdered buttermilk we had bought last February from Niblack Foods in Rochester. Since I already bake bake & cook with powdered milk instead of fresh it's a nice alternative to having a cultured buttermilk product on the shelf.
Saco Foods, Inc. Middleton, Wisconsin.
Amazon worked out to be the better price even before I factor in that I bought the product with Amazon gift cards earned on Swagbucks (yeah me I've earned just over $400 this year).

Most if not all the bulk food orders are broken down for long term storage. The buttermilk powder was repackaged into pint mason jars that were sterilized for 10 minutes in boiling hot water, then air dried by the wood stove. Added one O2 absorber (bought last year from LDS website) per jar then vacuum sealed. The original expiration date is May 2015 but I'm sure with the air vacuumed, glass containers, and cool temps the buttermilk will be good for a year past that. I also froze the powder for a full week before repackaging to kill any an foreign matter much as I do when I repackage flour for extended term storage.
Cut out the directions from the manufactures containers to tape on each jar as a handy reference guide.

I left two in original packaging for immediate use, one went to a barter deal, the rest are sitting repackaged on a cellar shelf. Piece by piece I'm adding to our pantry and extend term food preps.

So far I've used this product to make Rye Bread, Buckwheat Pancakes, and of course sing it with me ...

Y'all ready to get busy? (huh huh!)

Now, buttermilk biscuits here we go

SIFT the flour roll the dough

Clap your hands and stomp your feet

Move your butt to the funky beat (huh huh)

This boy reminds me so much of my son and his dance routines back in the day. 

I miss those days my son.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Teaching a Virgin to Hunt

IGYBB

The old biblical addage about giving a man a fish versus teaching a man to fish ...
Last week I accompanied Woodsrunner, out to the wilderness as I call it for a day of deer hunting. In reality we were less than an hour from our city lot in one of the many multi-use sections of New York State land the website lets you download maps to print as well as a Google earth link.
Notice the pine tree with the painted yellow markings ? Gang tagging ?

Besides just hanging out hubby was teaching me the skills of the hunt (virgin here). I'm a fairly accomplished semi-backwoods camper (I can set up a tent in five minutes while parenting three children under 4), having tent camped in several states and climates from the beaches of Oahu to California, mountain and desert. But my outdoor skills such as trail & game reading are pretty much none existent unless you count that I can recognize bear scat & coyote tracks.

An unseasonably warm Autumn day reaching almost 60° slight breeze hadn't rained in over a week.
If I positioned myself  just right in a dabble of sunlight all was right in my world. I was communing with nature, basking in the good vibes given off by my man, and reading my Kindle.
K, before you judge I wasn't actively hunting, sitting motionlessness for any length of time got old quick. Boredom sets in. Bad things happen when I'm bored.
Later after a lite lunch in the woods, husband found a nice spot where he could set up and I could lean up against a fallen tree. Yes, it was a good nap. No, hubby didn't bag a doe for the canning pot. Yes, I'll be taking my hunter's safety course so I can hunt next year. Yes, we've worked out a trade agreement for him to field dress anything I'd manage to shoot.

It's a powerful concept standing while one ...

As it turns out this is my 1st free homesteading tool bought on Amazon using my Swagbucks. I'm classifying this as a tool because it will allow me to do other homesteading "chores" more efficiently.

When I'm urban I keep a mental map of where the best powder rooms are along with the locations of public restrooms that fall under the gotta go NOW category. When your out & about via car it's no big thing to stop & go pee. On a bike it's a different story. Besides pedaling out of my way I may have to remove & bring in any items I'm carting around with me like groceries or fruit that I've gleaned. 

Product review for the GoGirl Female Urination Device, Khaki -

Worked like a charm except for a bit of operator error on my part, say it with me practice, practice, practice... Wonderful feeling of power overcame me fueled by the fact that I didn't feel a draft on my bum. As the oldest of five four brothers I have always been jealous. It was always such a big deal for me to to potty when we were kids hanging out in the woods near our house.

Husband found the audio portion of my testing unnerving but did appreciate not having to leave just to find the woman in his life a suitable public restroom. 

As the add copy says I can see using this for public restrooms instead of the old hover maneuver. 

I added a small sandwich bag filled with wipes and a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer plus an empty bag to keep the GoGirl in after use. Everything fit neatly in the inside pocket of hubby's wool hunting jacket. 

If you're real picky add a couple of medical exam gloves.  

Worth the under $8 spent.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Last Jar Standing

Dead center on the second shelf from the bottom in the far right hand corner of my cellar in what use to be the cistern, is the last jar standing of stewed tomatoes. A staple of my home canned inventory I also ways try to put up @ least two years worth. Stewed tomatoes are very versatile I use them as a base for both soup, stews, rice, & of course chili.
The last few years haven't been kind to my garden or our bottom line.
Two years ago I had tomato blight. Last year I was busy with a good friend & neighbor who passed away this Winter. This year even though I feel that my soil is on the upswing (bio char rabbit manure) I couldn't over come the lack of sunshine that my urban garden is cursed with.
Excuses don't fill the pantry shelves. I'm not holding out much hope for this years garden.
I've gotta come up with a new plan.


Jars with the blue or red caps are filled with brown rice with an O2 absorber then vacuum sealed.

To the right is quarts of Cherry Pie Filling & our own cider that we pressed a few years ago.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Growing Money

One of my schemes to generate + cash flow or bartering opps is to grow plants.

Legal plants otherwise this would be a blog about comparison shopping of bail bondsmen.

My idea isn't a new one just do a search on the tomato mortgage lifter.

My goal is to reimburse myself for all out of gardening related expenses, funds for next years gardening and provide goods from bartering.

The cost of gardening last year was $45.90 for veggie plants bought. I think Woodsrunner started a few from seed like his fav heirloom salad tomato Bloody Butcher. He's out running the streets otherwise I'd ask him. In any case half a C note was unacceptable then and more so now. 

So far I've spent just under $9 on a bag of organic bone meal & numerous 4 packs of discounted French Marigolds priced @ 33¢ each. Marigolds along with Nasturtiums are for bug control.

Fortunately Nasturtiums are popping up all over the garden from last years crop so I'm potting those volunteers for now. None of the Marigolds that I started from seed grew. 

I was bemoaning the fact that we started seeds late but with this excessively wet weather, unless the week of our last frost date is dry no one will be planting.

Thankfully all but a few of the heirloom tomatoes plants sprouted. I potted them up using the last of the black 4" nursery pots that hubby had collected through the years. Will start collecting plastic yogurt cups from f&f for next year plants. For now when it's not raining I keep them on the garden cart so I can move them from one sunny spot to the next.

All total there is about 5 maybe 5 1/2 flats of tomato seedlings that I can offer for sale or barter. So far I have an assorted 6 pack promised to the guy who lets us store my tent trailer on his land. I also have some ear marked for my gf the coupon queen. Also a neighbor down the street has fancy pepper seedlings I want to trade with.

Cherokee Purple - my fav great taste, indeterminate, 12 oz. fruits, matures late season.

Valencia - cool weather tom good flavor, orange, 10 oz fruits, indeterminate, matures mid season. 

Black Sea Man Russian -purple-black intense flavor, skin melts in mouth, determinate potato leaf, mid season.

Bloody Butcher - salad tom deep red good flavor canner, 4 oz. fruits, indeterminate, early season (55 days).

Howard German - paste tomato with good flavor, indeterminate, 5 oz. fruit, matures mid season.

Mr. Stripey - 12 oz yellow& red striped beefsteak, mild flavor, indeterminate, late season.

San Marzano an Italian paste for canning.

Yellow Pear - used to make preserves, indeterminate, 1 oz., fruits in clusters, mild sweet taste.

Burpees Long Keeper - $3.25 for a pack of 13 seeds of which 5 didn't sprout & 2 died after sprouting. This is my first attempt @ growing and I have no idea how they taste. The idea behind this non-heirloom tomato is that you harvest fruit just before last frost then store wrapped in a cool dark place for fresh eating 6 to 12 weeks later.

In addition to tomatoes we also have a flat of cucumbers, Swiss Chard Rhubarb variety, and a third of a flat each of cantaloupe & muskmelon. Had to replant wax beans.  

Tomato seedlings moved to a cold frame hubby cobbled together due becoming water logged. As soon as it stops raining I'll put them out to catch a bit of breeze. Worried 'bout tomato blight.

Pulled what was left of the salad fixings growing in this frame so I could keep our stash of seedlings safe. 

In the front are 6 Burpees Long Keepers, Marigolds, a lone surviving Stevia plant (red headed step son da cat), and San Marzano. Paper coffee cups far upper right corner holds cukes & a few melons. 

Planning on growing melons vertical.

Purple Onions collected from other beds & replanted here. As soon as this area is empty I'll plant it with San Marzano, marigolds, basil & carrots. 

Rain rain go away, come back in August. 

~~ pelenaka ~~

Violet Jelly

One of my many Spring activities has been to generate plants for the plant sale I will be having in June.
As you can see I've collected a large number of Violets from the side yard which is shady and moist.
I potted them in 2" plastic pots that I'd been collecting for a few years. I must have over well over 25 or 30. Whatever doesn't sell I'll use as a ground cover next to the foundation.Years ago I had a bed of Strawberries that did fair but now the landscape has changed with trees that give more shade in the side yard which greatly decreased my harvest.
The other pots to the far right are Swiss Chard. One or two 5" pots of Purple Cone Flowers and a few pots of Forget - Me - Nots.
Out of view is Yellow Wax Beans.
In the foreground is Marigolds that didn't sprout.

I was also planning on making Violet Jelly both with these and others that are growing in areas around my hood. But after checking my handy dandy Wild Edible Food Cards I'm not so sure. Apparently only Common Violets are edible.
Quick swagbucks search lead me to several websites that agreed.
Unfortunately I can't find a pic of a Wild Violet to compare. I'm pretty sure what I have growing in my yard is the common variety but still I'm uneasy.

Wish my ex was nearby for a quick taste test.

I'm really confused about telling the two types of Violets apart.
I really wanted to make up a few batches of jelly for both myself & gift giving. I'm trying to be a good girl and get a head start my making my holiday gifts, 223 days left til Christmas.

I can tell this wild food foraging isn't gonna be easy.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Yo Mama

This was my Mother's day gift from Woods, a deck of Wild Cards by Author Linda Runyon.
Picked them up @ a gun for $7 and I gotta say this gift made me pretty happy.
I've been wanting to learn more about identifying, preparing, and eating wild foods. While we have a few excellent books in our urban homestead library such as the Peterson Field Guides Edible Wild Plants, these handy dandy little deck of cards I'll actually use. There are laminated so I can touch them with dirty hands. Small enough to take with. Included was a chain so I won't misplace one or two or three of the playing cards.
One side has a picture of the plant, it's common name, & Latin name along with a more detailed drawing showing flower & leaf pattern. There's also a map that shows growing areas in North America.
The back of the card lists alias, cautions, edible as in which portion of the plant, characteristics, uses, and hints.
I also got a bouquet of pink roses for my kitchen table.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Ball Blue Book Giveaway

Cleaning out the cellar a week or so ago. As I move this box and that box, rearrange this crate & shove that crate over there I find these two new or nearly new canning utensils, a jar lifter and a funnel. No box just these two put inside an empty pot covered by a lid tucked behind an apple crate.
I really do need to either keep a running log of my canning supplies or simply stop buying "stuffs".

Finding these reminded me of when I first started canning and why.
I had just bought this old fixer upper the year before.
I had also just gotten divorced after 10 yeas of being married.
I had three young children under the age of six.
My grand total of monthly income with child support was just over $600. Thankfully at the time my mortgage was under $250 a month.
I was sitting on an elderly neighbor's porch talking about putting in a garden and freezing my harvest since I hads moved here with a small upright freezer.
The conversation turned toward home canning which I had done only once with my Abuela as a young girl. Pears from a tree she had planted. Had I ever considered canning my neighbor asked ? I was too embarresszed to admit that I couldn't afford the equipment.
Next thing I knew my neighbor was telling me to send the children to the corner deli for boxes that she had someting for me in her cellar I needed to go get.
She stood at the top of her basement steps yelling down to me to open the door to the root cellar and behind apple crates (which must be a given in Buffalo basements) stacked on shelves were canning jars. A good sixty or more.
She apologized for there not being more she had been a career woman so she only canned a few things. Nothing like her mother or aunts.
Are you sure ?
Yes oh please yes just fill them. Feed your babies.

Part of me wanted to be embarrassed. After all I was a nurse who if child care wasn't an issue could earn enough money to feed her children well. This was my shit hit the fan scenario.
As we hauled up the boxes of clinking mason jars past her she just keep saying how happy I had made her. How happy she was to know that these jars would be used.

I still have those jars ... Ball, Kerr, Atlas, Anchor Hocking, Opal, Perfect Mason, Strong Shoulder.
We still use the Squeezo she gifted us.
In our backyard. Just like she said her husband use to use it cranking away sitting on the picnic table smoking a Camel and sipping on a beer yelling to her to get the jars ready the tomatoes are coming.


Seriously, the first produce I ever canned by myself was applesauce from an apple tree located in front of the YWCA a few blocks away. I'll never forget the day I walked in and asked the receptionist if I could pick apples or her stunned reply when just as she was starting to say that those apples aren't edible she looked down and saw my three children each eating an apple.
I checked out a Ball Blue Book from the public library, and used a big stock pot borrowed from my church's kitchen.
I scored a small box of gnarly looking rings @ an estate sale and bought lids from a $ store.

Allot happened that first year.
I started a cleaning business were my clients understood that my children worked with me.
I eventually found decent affordable child care that my other two children could walk to from school which gave me an opportunity to work on call @ local nursing home.
I also learned to can applesauce.
Which we ate on cooked oatmeal.
Or baked with.
Or just plain eaten with a spoon an a bit of cinnamon sprinkled on top.
I filled those jars and feed my babies.



So yesterday I reach for my recipe binder and out pops this new Ball Blue Book of Canning 100th Anniversary Ed. that was gifted to me last Christmas. While I appreciate the sediment I already have a well worn edition of Ball's Big Book of Canning, along with Putting Food By & Stocking Up.

So in the spirit of my neighbor and dear friend who recently passed away I present my first ever give away.
If this offends u that the utensils aren't NIB or that I am re gifting a book that I admittedly thumbed through, well all I can say is that this must be the first blog post you have ever read written by me.
Let me introduce myself, I'm pelenaka, an ghetto Amish urban homesteader who is fugal.

Here's the bind - I really want to give this to a canning newbie, a novice. Hopefully someone who would really use the skills of home canning to make a difference in their home both financially and nutritionally. So I ask that if you already own a canning book & or canning utensils please don't enter.
I will also include a box of both regular and wide mouth lids to get you started. NIB I'm not that fugal.
All u have to do is hunt down those empty jars at yard sales, flea markets, or your grandmother's cellar.

That said, simply write me an email with the subject line "Ball Blue Book Giveaway" to enter. 
My email addy is located on the right hand side of my blog under give a shout out.
I'll write every one's name who enters on a slip of pink paper and  put them in a half gallon Ball canning jar then shake it up.
Winner will be picked by someone other than myself.
Not sure who yet but it's gotta be some buddy good.

Winner will be picked May 2nd by 9 p.m. Buffalo time a.k.a. EST.
You'll have 48 hours to return my notification email that your the winner with the address u want the package to be sent to.

In the event that I don't receive a reply back from the winner within 48 hours then another slip of pink paper will be drawn from the canning jar and I'll send them a notification email.
Please respond promptly canning season is sooner than you think.



~~ pelenaka ~~

 

Greek For Yogurt

Sometime between when I made yogurt put it in the fridge to chill and I snapped this pic a full quart was consummed in a day & half. DD#3 alibi up girl.

Greek style yogurt is one of the few made from scratch items that my children actually eat too much of, especially my last baby. She will eat yogurt with fruit, yogurt with jam or jelly for breakfast, lunch, and as an afternoon snack.
This week while she's sorting around the pantry shelves for home canned fruit I'm enjoying not so fresh strawberries with a few mushy kiwis sweetened with homegrown Stevia for myself.
It really does make a nice afternoon snack.

Cost of Making like a Greek

$2.34    Gallon of 2% Milk @ Aldis
    .99    Plain Yogurt (starter culture)
$5.99    Dry Nonfat Powdered Milk @ Aldis - $5.99/25.6 oz
$9.32 = 160 oz. Greek style plain yogurt or 6¢ per oz.

Using the entire box of powdered milk not only gives an extra quart of yogurt (not pictured d/t last baby) increases the protein content, and gives that thick pudding consistency.
Another option is to use plain gelatin as a thickener.

To answer every one's question no I don't own a yogurt maker.
I do own a good quality stainless steel stock pot, long handled stainless steel spoon, and of course mason jars. Personally I use one of my trusty old Roncho Electric food dehydrators to incubate. If the wood stove is fired up I set the jars on long legged trivets with a cookie sheet behind to reflect the stove's warmth.

David B. Fankhauser, Ph.D. site is where I first learned to make yogurt. Excellent directions he does a wonderful job of explain all the scientific aspects. While your there check out his pages on cheese making. You never know when you'll come across a great deal on milk either @ the grocery of off the back of a truck.
What's the point of scoring a great opportunity if you don't have the skills to fully utilize your good fortune ?

K, almost forgot about the cost of toppings which varies anywhere from pretty much just the cost of a canning lid, flavorings or spices, and sugar if I either grow or score free fruit such as Strawberries & Rhubarb or Almond flavored Peaches.
Canning with a thought toward yogurt toppings (think also pancake/waffle/pound cake) lends well to second run or wind fall fruit. That is fruit that has been discounted due to being a bit past it's prime. This fruit is more labor intensive often requiring patience with a paring knife to cut out bruised & bad sections so take that into account when your negotiating a deal @ the farmers market or fruit stand. Figure a good 3rd of what you'll buy will end up in the compost pile
Also remember that once you buy it you need to process it a.s.a.p. as in yesterday.


~~ pelenaka ~~
who needs to defrost her shoebox of a freezer

More than a Jar

Recently pulled this out of my recipe binder and it reminded me of my early years of canning with my children, who are now all teenagers. And yes I got a bit nostalgic not that it was all calm & quiet as this picture.
Check out the children sitting at the kitchen table. There not overly happy to be sitting there but they are there, helping snap beans. Because after all putting food up in this instance is a family affair even in gender specific roles of 1940's.
Besides learning to can or at least food prep, these brothers are learning teamwork.
So did my children
They're learning the whole save for a rainy day theory. Put up while the putting good.
So did my children.
Family bonding.
K, corny but I can tell you that even my eighteen year old 6' son will ask me about my canning efforts, which leads him to asking me about the garden, which leads to us talking and sharing.

I can remember picking them up from the airport after their summer visit with Dad one year. As we pulled into the driveway I announced that I had bought them all something.
Really, what Mom?
Something you can use.
In unison - Sounds like socks Mom.
No it's a paring knife, one for each of you. I scored peaches at the farmers market. 3 bushels needed to be in jars yesterday.
Moaning, groaning, more moaning. We liked it better when you didn't let us use knives Mom.
Tell about your summer children. I missed you.


~~ pelenaka ~~

who still gets teary eyed thinking about the afternoon we all sat around a wash tub filled with ripe peaches in the backyard, the peach juice dripping down our arms as we talked and sliced in the late Summer sun.

Got Balls ?

The following blog post is the 1st in a series of fugal home food preservation for the novice.

K, by Balls I mean jars. Canning jars. Mason jars.
NOT Mayonnaise jars. I don't care if every auntie you have ever known always canned in them don't. They aren't made for canning.

The six canning jars pictured are from my 1949 Ball Blue Book of Canning, back cover. Cost was 25¢.
The top left jar with the gold Ball dome lid is what you want. Accept no substitutions unless you want to use the zinc screw caps or wire bails for storing buttons, dried herbs, or peanut butter cookies.

Very sweet Grandmothers and thrift shop owners with an agenda will try and tell you differently. They will regale you with stories of how they themselves or their dear mothers or wives canned with wire bail jars, (pictured in the middle). They will tell you with authority that the rubber rings (bottom right hand corner) needed to use the wire bails can still be purchased, and they are right. I myself have bought a few boxes.
They will with a smile on their face and a distant look of joy in their eyes tell you that jelly jars (bottom left) need only paraffin wax and a lid to contain that which is known as heaven on earth, marmalade.
They will tell you this and they will be wrong.

Know your jars. Know your lids. Always check the rims for cracks or chips.

That said know your price point on what a new jar retails for. In my area a six pack of quarts can go for $6 and some change to a high of almost $10 for quart size. My rule of thumb is that I won't pay over 30¢ for a jar. The exception is half gallon jars.
I once bought over 250 jars for $25 on ebay from a woman who was cleaning out her mother's home. I've also had limited luck with craigslist as well as church thrift shops and auctions or estate sales.
Jelly jars & pints are harder to locate and generally speaking are priced higher. While I won't think twice about parting with quarts pints and jellies are another story.

That said the majority of my quart canning jars have been free. There is just something about meeting another canner especially a newbie who is in need of jars that compels an old canner, more so if the jars are just sitting idle in the cellar. It's a hard task to just throw away perfectly good mason jars. Which is why so many who once canned will tell you that even though it may have been years since they heard the ping of a lid sealing they can't just throw away perfectly good mason jars.

How to obtain free canning jars

1. Place a sign on your front door "Canning Jars Wanted".
2. Leave index card with your N&N (name & #) at senior centers.
3. Tell everyone that you have started canning. Jars will find you. 
4. Let everyone know that the perfect gift is canning jars.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Pharmacist sells flour

and eggs.
And olive oil.

Good score over the last month @ my neighborhood CVS drugstore - 5 pound bags of all purpose Gold Medal Flour for a $1 each. Bought 24 bags = 120 lbs. Called my bbgf, she scored 30 bags. This was a manager's special a.k.a. unadvertised clean out the back room deal.
Each bag is sitting cold in the freezer until I have O2 absorbers & Mylar bags to prep them for long term storage. I won't be using this flour until my other 8 bags (holiday baking sales) are depleted.
Unfortunately I didn't have any corresponding coupons nor could I find any online but it was a sweet deal never the less.
Eggs were an advertised special cheaper than Aldi.
Filippo Berio Olive Oil Extra Virgin was $8.49 for 16.9 fl. oz. I had two $1 off coupons & a 25% off purchase CVS store coupon. Olive Oil worked out to be $5.62 each or 33 cents per once. Can never have enough olive oil.

I also picked up two knee adjustable braces that were on a bogo 50% off sale. Had a couple of $3 off coupons so the price worked out to $8.24 each. Having spare braces is priceless when we have daughters who play sports. Not to mention Woodsrunner & myself.
I have always kept an extensive medical kit with emergency supplies that covered lacerations & gi issues but have recently in the past few years worked on extending our kit to include other health concerns such as sprains.
Our health insurance doctor office co pays have gone up from $35 to $50. ER visits were $300, now $500 (mortgage payment & a half). So it isn't just a matter of not being able to go to an ER because of a disaster it more of being able to afford that trip to the ER.
Speaking of medical supplies - last Summer I picked up a pair of barely used adjustable metal crutches @ Aunt Sally's (Salvation Army) for $1.99.

Here's a link to the free download in PDF of the book Where There is No Doctor


~~ pelenaka ~~

Urban Orchard Part 4

This is the 4 in 1 Antique Apple Tree that we planted in April of 2008. Just an itty bitty stem compared to what it is now.

A bit out of control to say the least. DH has yet to train it into an Espaliers form. It is going on two years dear. As you can see the Strawberries that we transplanted from another bed filled in very well. It's a real pleasure to walk out the back door of the house and pick berries for breakfast in my robe. This was the only one of 3 Apple Trees that we planted that has fruited yet.

.

Out of 5 Golden Russets only 1 was brusied. Eatten with some of Yancy's Fancy Champange cheese. 

3 more Apples and it would be enough for a pie. It's a start.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Keeping the lid on

Sometimes after you have opened a home canned jar it's nice to be able to close it up for storage without using a metal canning ring. Caps are also nice when you have vacuum sealed a dry product such as rice in a glass mason jar and want an extra bit of protection on top of the canning lid. Also helps to keep the canning lid from rusting if you happen to store the vacuum sealed jar in a cellar. Caps are also great for sealing jars for freezer storage.. Beware frozen caps are brittle.

Caps pictured above are; white - Ball brand something like under $4 for 6. I use them on my 1940's glass canister jars for counter storage since white matches my decor. If I could have found 50's pink well then I'd be a happy June. The bright blue are from Aldis mayo, darker blue from Aldis peanut butter (could be the other way around), red also gotta be from Aldis, dark blue top of pic reads Hellman's Mayo (snagged from an empty jar @ work), yellow rings were in a box of jars I bought @ a tag sale. Love those. Have never seen them for sale retail.

Drop a line if you know where to buy them. I won't since I'm ghetto cheap but it would make me happy to know that they can still be had.

~~ pelenaka ~~

P.S.  10/11/2010 - The head Goat Gal & owner over @ Harper Hill Farm which produce some of the best Goat Milk Soap sent me this link for those plastic screw on lids that have the center cut out. Scroll down almost to the bottom of the page you'll find them.

field to pantry shelf

I need to apologize to my BBFG. I doubted that there was an green beans in this field. That being said don't judge a newly harvested field from a car. Sometimes the goal is hidden in plain sight.



Learn the way grasshopper learn the way. Teaching a son to fish so to speak, age 3.

To the left is about 30 feet of green beans that weren't mechanically harvested due to low hanging tree branches on the neighboring playground. Prime picking. I was able to glean enough green beans to fill my 10 gallon bucket.

Scored canning lids for free thanks to Ball coupons and my local mega mart doing a one week dollar coupon doubling. Thanks also to a non canner bbgf who printed me off extra coupons. And a neighbor who gave me hers from the Sunday paper. 84 small mouth lids. Good deal down to my last 332 acquired from an eBay auction years back.

Gone are the days when Big Lots or Family Dollar priced American Harvest for just under a buck. Currently in my area selling for $1.50. Wally World going for close to $3.
Since I am canning using electric not wood despite the lids being free (remember after 9 years of canning all equipment has been paid off) I really don't know how much my 1949 Hotpoint stove pulls on the meter. For July kWh is $1.46. I figure between two pressure canner loads = 18 pints, prep, and what not I will have had the stove on for 3 hours.

Any takers out there on calculating a rough estimate for me ?

~~ pelenaka ~~

Framed

Would you like a 2,000% return profit after just 4 years on less than $20 ? A profit that not only will save you money on your grocery bill but also make you healthy naturally ? One which gives you a return on your investment even while your asleep?

Not true you say. What's the catch ? Really just send me $19.99 with a SASE to ...

Of all the various urban gardening aspects such as container or raised bed, a cold frame will get you the most return on your dollar. Built in 2006 this frame has easily given us a few thousand $ in gourmet organic salad greens. The seed packets were bought last Fall on discount for a dime each. Seeded with mustard, red oak, arugula, butter crunch, and 2 over Wintered Swiss Card plants in early April. There's also the complimentary volunteer Naturism's that pop up. Need to replace the cracked plastic before Winter.

Made it a point to place a sheet of plastic over my 8 year old Rhubarb plant last month to increase the quantity of harvest. Will gift some to bbgf & use the rest in baked goods both now & Winter for bartering. Since it's a small amount freezing will be the preservation method of choice. No need for canning up - still have over a dozen pts. of Strawberry Rhubarb jam on pantry shelf from the last two years. Considering thinning this patch & potting up what I can to sell or trade.

Snow peas & White Radishes. Unfortunately something has nibbled on the leaves. Marigolds would come in hand shoulda started some in late February. Noticed the plastic sheeting on this bed & the next pic. Packaging off our new mattress & box spring. Hoops are PVC odds & ends.

This is the year that I am all framed up. The plastic covered bed in the foreground is where Green Bell Peppers were last year. DD#2 planted this bed with Yellow Wax Beans & Carrots in Mid April. So far no seeds have sprouted. Sometime this week I'll rework the soil & replant with tomato seedlings that I didn't start from seed. Yes, you read right. Despite the fact that the plant light stand has been set up since March no seeds to speak of have been started for the main garden. Only excuse that can be offered up is that when Mom works outside the home amnesia is epidemic. The plastic covered box behind this bed is a covered bunny cage. Direct placement of organic fertilizer.

However DH was able to start a few for his cold frame. Today he took down the light stand with the barren plywood table underneath 'cept an old collection of empty containers & toilet paper tubes once destined for seedlings. I had such great ideas for blog posts on seed starting.

He is taking me plant shopping on payday for veggies.

So much for my plans of no "bought" garden stock but realistically speaking our home life is in huge turmoil. The job I accepted here in the neighborhood which was originally scheduled for a few hours a day has developed into full time, with many over night shifts. Also I & one of my brothers have entered the sandwich generation, caring for & overseeing all of our Mother's affairs. Add in two daughter's playing JV softball, orchestra concerts, church youth group meetings, there goes my child labor pool. That's my excuse as lame as it is.

Up side is the roof fund has $1800 dead presidents.

Something to be said for a man who plants his rows straight.

Another version of a cold frame made out of scrap lumber, collected plastic sheeting, & hardware taken off of odds & ends found while curb shopping. Think drawer knobs & cabinet hinges when you see discarded furniture.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Stand by my Stove

One major cooking disadvantage to a small wood stove is that for the most part only fit one good sized pot or skillet @ a time. Which works if you cooking up a stew or soup or frying up pancakes. Not so much if you have a steamer going with Broccoli, a skillet with pork chops, and a rice pot. As I'm done cooking one item I slide the pot over to the stand to stay warm and start with the next. It's also nice to have a place to lay down a spoon, hot pad, trivets, or sit my bread bucket on while dough raises.
Have also warmed mittens, socks, and yes unders. Hey much like Marilyn Monroes brilliant idea to cool panties in the dog days of August in her freezer, toasty unders in January are the bomb baby.
This mid sixties mod designed stand bought @ a church tag sale for $2, usually sits next to my garden glider with a potted plant & a few candles or solar light during the Summer. Originally it had only the one middle shelf. The top had a series of vertical pencil sized bars. Hubby added some punch metal pieces to the top & very bottom that he scored from work for a few dollars. This Summer I'll scrub off the rust caused by wet boots & spray paint the whole stand black.
Not a bad hack huh?

~~ pelenaka ~~