Well is it ever really over? No sooner did I print out my master list than I realized I hadn't made enough jams or jellies, pickled carrots were missing and a new recipe for chicken pot pie filling. But I am out of jars, but they are on sale at Walmart! The majority of the work is done and I can fill in on rainy snowy days. There are 30 pounds of strawberries, 10 pounds of rhubarb and 30 pounds of blueberries waiting for me in the freezer. The garden is pretty much done. The freezer is stocked, the shelves are groaning with overload and I just got back from an over due hike! I am stupid happy at the moment! I love food preservation, everything about it! The gardening, the putting up everything in sight. We get this over abundance of everything from May-June thru the end of Thanksgiving and I am here for the party!
I bought new canning books this year, I attended a canning class in PA and learned about low temperature pasteurization for crunchy pickles and steam canning, I bought a steam canner. I love the steam canner. It's game changer! It saves water and time! Lugging that big pot of boiling water from the sink to the stove was no picnic!
I had a bang'n pepper crop this year so I stuffed peppers and froze them. I also bought a lot of chicken on sale. I did the math. This is the math they don't teach you in school. Was I really saving money? I already had the jars and most of the lids I would need this year. Supplementing my garden produce from local farmers was a win and I love that relationship! Who doesn't love a farmer? I stayed out of the grocery stores all summer! I didn't miss them.
I did not need to buy any peppers this year, so I started stuffing. I also chopped and froze in bags.
This was the left over stuffing mix that can go into acorn squash or zucchini or anything I feel like stuffing this winter.
Chicken bought on sale from my favorite butcher in Middlefield.
Stuffed peppers in the freezer waiting to be bagged and tagged.
stuffed with Italian sweet sausage, brown rice, mushrooms, a bit of cheese (from the Middlefield Coop and its grass fed!) and onions.
I bake them in 375F oven topped with canned pasta sauce I have stashed in the basement.
Here is kitchen math! $1.24 per person per meal for 20-21 meals.
Winner winner chicken dinner!
I currently stand at 476 jars in the basement and the pesto, tomato pesto, blueberry curd and garlic scape pesto in the freezer puts me in at over 500 jars. That really should hold us for quite awhile!
November 3rd, canning is over. I also finished up my last show of the season and should be making a few pots but then this happened and yes I am so old ....... but after buying fishing licenses my entire life this was awesome!
Yes, I am that old! I finally have my lifetime fishing license! Pick up the gear and go! I have a few other things I have been missing too so those pots are just going to have to wait.
Today I am walking down to the polls to vote as I will be working the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 7th. We start at 5:30 am and close around 8:30 pm. It's a very long day but we need people to work the polls and we sure need everybody to vote. If you live in Ohio read the issues before you head to the polls because they sure didn't make it easy this time! There are levies and school board candidates and new council people and charter amendments and and and. Oh if you stand there reading this stuff at the voting machine, just a heads up, the machines shut off if you don't vote within 5 minutes. Ya, I think this one might be a nightmare election in Ohio...... and don't get mad and storm off, your vote counts!
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