Pathetic

This years 1st harvest of canning tomatoes San Marzano out of our backyard garden.

Ended up picking a market basket full of those mini San Marzano tomatoes. I removed the skins by the boiling hot water method, then threw them in the crock pot with rosemary, basil, and sage from the garden along with a few sauteed carrots, eggplants, onions, and peppers.  Also added some dehydrated parsley from a barter deal a few years ago.  Bay leaf came from a houseplant I use to have way back when.  Original recipe called for red wine so I subbed water with a few beef bullion cubes instead. 

Ended up being enough for 3 for dinner & left overs for hubby's work lunch the next day.

~~ 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 ~~

Update Amazon Bulk Oatmeal

 

Gotta love Amazon's free shipping a perk of ordering subscribe & save option . 

To this day every time I make oatmeal I think of Goldielocks and those bears.

Oat groats on the front burner & coffee on the second both acquired for free which of course makes it all the more tasty.
Note to self - cooking oatmeal groats takes much longer than quick cooking oats.
When we have the wood stove lit I'll start the groats before I go to bed simmering in a pot placed on a high trivet. Until then on the advice of my soap maker I'll cook them over night in an electric crock pot set on warm.
I used powdered nonfat dry milk, filtered water, and a bit of honey. Other than an increased cooking time making steel cut oatmeal is as straight forward as quick cook oatmeal. The taste however is wonderfully hearty slightly nutty flavor.
1/2 cup of groats made more than enough for breakfast on Thursday & Saturday.
The 6 containers will be more than enough for the coming year.

Seasoned with cinnamon and accompanied by home canned applesauce, Honey Crispen Apples my favorite. Apples were bought @ an apple farm in LeRoy, New York home of Jello. I remember the day because we stopped off @ a stove store and bought the Jotul wood stove.

That's the unique aspect of home canning. Opening a jar and not only getting wonderful home made food but often a flood of wonderful memories. Sights & sounds of a crisp Autumn day. Smell of the cold storage barn were we picked through a huge crate full of apples. Snacking on cinnamon donuts bought on the apple farm.
Wouldn't you agree my husband.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Giveaway Ball Pectin Coupons

Found these in the bottom of my clutch paper clipped together.
I have more than enough pectin so the first person to both comment & send me an email with a snail mail address with receive 7 $1 off coupons on Ball Real Fruit Pectin Flex Batch.  


Coupons will go out in Monday's mail.

Perhaps you can find a clearance rack before they expire on the 31st of August.
I saw a posting on HT that K-mart was having a sale on canning supplies. If your a member of swagbucks there is also a $5 off of $50 coupon. There is also suppose to be one on Kmart's facebook page.
I know as the Summer wanes allot of stores will be having sales on canning supplies.


What can I say I can't stand to see good coupons go to waste.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Solo Gardening Update

Remember my brilliant idea solo gardening ?  Having just one very well established plant of each vegetable that I could grow into a mega plant. Concentrate my efforts & resources on just one well established plant. Above is a pic of the two plants that over Wintered @ my Mom's apartment an Eggplant on the left & a Green Bell Pepper plant on the right. Only the Pepper plant survived, Seymour. A bit unique looking but @ least it made it.

Not only did it survive but it's producing !  

All together there are over 7 peppers in various stages of growing along with numerous blossoms. Not exactly the biggest Bell Peppers I have ever seen but I'll work on that for next year.
I'll re-pot in a larger container & place this plant next to the wood stove for the Winter. Maybe I'll even have fresh peppers in February.


I took this pick when the plant was in the back yard. Currently with the late Summer sun pattern Seymour the pepper plant is now living in the front yard and occasionally makes it's way out to the neighbor's front yard where the Sun is the strongest.  Unlike the tomatoes that are thriving in the garden cart and now need two people to push them into direct sunlight Seymour is easily toted around.


I can see me needing a movers dolly to garden in the coming years !




~~ pelenaka ~~

Amazon Bulk Oatmeal

Unable to buy the 50 pounds of Organic Red Winter Wheat Berries that I posted about a few days ago because it's no longer in stock. Next best price is 25 pound bag or 92¢ per pound an increase of almost 20¢ from the deal I posted about.
That's what happens to procrastinators, they loose out.

Clicked on the icon for Amazon to notify me when the 50 pound bag of Great River is in stock.
We have enough wheat berries (non-organic) in the short term pantry to hold us over for the year. And another two years worth in the long term preps.

In the meantime I ordered

Subscribe & Save - $21.16 for 11 & 1/4 pounds (12¢ per once) of organic steel cut oats a.k.a. Irish or Scottish depending on who's doing the cooking. Woodsrunner is of Scottish decent & I'm half Irish. Normally the Puerto Rican in me cooks Farina for breakfast. With Winter around the corner I think having a bowl of hearty oatmeal topped with my home canned applesauce then sprinkled with nutmeg would set us straight. 

Yes, I fully realize that I can't get any more boring than ordering oatmeal with my free money. What can I say knowing I have a stocked pantry makes me happy. 

Knowing that I'm prepping for free makes me extremely happy. 

~~ pelenaka ~~