Free is my Cup of Tea

Amazon green tea order bought with my August swagbucks which makes all 120 Lipton Green Superfruit Black Currant & Vanilla Tea bags free.
Here how the deal went down - $26.60 minus a promo code for $3.99, minus the subscribe & save option (free shipping), total was $22.61 or $3.77 per box a savings of $2.88 on each.
Kept one box out for immediate use the rest were vacuum packed in canning jars earmarked for next Summer when a tall refreshing glass of ice green tea sweetened with home grown Stevia is called for.

What is it with cats & boxes anyways ?


~~ pelenaka ~~

Almost a pound

Sink full - these are the tomatoes that were grown by the gf who had bartered pork for tomato seedlings last Spring.  Hodge podge of what was ready to pick that morning, including Cherokee Purple & Howard German. The third variety floating in the sink is a hybrid canning tomato she bought @ a local nursery. 

Her garden receives all day sun like no body's business.

I have garden envy. 

Proof is in on the scale a 12.8 oz. Howard German Canning Tomato.

Dry & meaty but a bit bland. I would mix this variety with a stronger tomato tasting one such as San Marzano when making pasta sauce. 

I am on one hand very proud that she has already put in her seedling order for next spring not to mention that her neighbors have all asked her where she bought her tomato plants. One, a little old Italian gentleman asked for a tomato so his friend could seed save. He apparently was a bit taken aback when he was told that the large horn shaped tomato wasn't an Italian canning tomato. 

On the other hand seeing one grown to this size makes me realize I need to come up with a better plan or quit gardening in my backyard.  

~~ pelenaka ~~

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 ~~