Cucumbers!

 This weekend, I came into the possession of some cucumbers:

DO YOU EVEN SEE HOW MANY THERE ARE HERE?!!?

Chris' grandfather has a garden (and grows a bit more than he needs...)  so, he gave us some while we were visiting this weekend.  I already made a batch of pickles with six pounds of these babies, and I didn't even use half of them!  I am so excited to have cucumbers to make pickles that we can enjoy for the rest of the year.  I think I will make another batch tomorrow.  We'll see.  Any ideas for cucumbers?

I juiced one with four kale leaves and a carrot this morning for my breakfast. The kids resoundingly rejected it. :-)

Recipe to make pickles
Taken from the book Stocking Up
6 pounds of cucumbers
1 gallon of 5% brine (3/4 c. salt per gallon)
2 cups vinegar
1/4 cup salt
3 cups water
2 teaspoons pickling spice
2 teaspoons mustard seeds per quart
2 cloves garlic per quart
handful dill per quart

cut up the cucumbers into the size pickles you want and soak them in the brine over night.  the next day, combine the vinegar, salt, water and pickling spice in a pan and bring to a boil.  i put the spices in a tea ball so you don't have to strain the liquid. sterilize five quart jars, rings and lids. pack the jars with the mustard seeds, garlic, dill and (of course!) the cucumbers. fill jars with the vinegar water to 1/2 inch headspace. process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.


Today, I am grateful for cucumbers, and people who share them.  :-)

join us at heavenlyhomemakers.com for gratitudesday!

A Juicer

I am so thankful to day for our recently acquired JUICER!  I know it's not tuesday anymore, but I just had to write this post! 

We got our awesome new-to-us juicer from a sweet sweet friend!  She got a new one and just GAVE it to us!  The last three mornings, we have been experimenting with delicious, healthful juice. 

Monday it was kale apple pear carrot juice.  Very sweet and delicious!

Tuesday we had kale apple carrot.

And this morning we had kale apple carrot zucchini! 

This morning it was much less sugary than the last two mornings.  I really liked it, though!  I am excited that this is a new way for us to get lots of vitamins and minerals from fresh veggies that we wouldn't necessarily eat. I mean, I will eat kale.  But every day?  Not really.  Plus, you should see the kale plants in our garden-- they are huge!  So not only are we eating fruits and veggies, but they are fresh picked from our garden!  Yay! 

Since I am a little wary of only drinking juice and not eating the fiber of the food with the juice, I will not juice every day, or at least I will make juice that is low in or has no sugar.  But even this morning when the juice was not that sweet, two out of three kids drank everything I gave them.  :-) Regardless, I am still excited about this new avenue to explore! 

Thanks so much for my juicer! 

Our CSA!!

Yay! Our CSA started this past week, and we couldn't be more excited!  (A CSA is called a community shared agriculture, which is a great way to support local farmers and get fresh local produce all summer long.) We didn't really know what to expect-- we did a CSA last year that was all fruit, but it didn't start until August, so it was mostly apples, pears and plums.

This year we ventured into the fruit/veggie CSA. I'm so excited to be supporting local farmers.  Plus getting fresh produce every week.  Plus, it's like Christmas every Wednesday, because we have NO IDEA what we are going to get.  I know it will be something I look forward to each week! 

This past week we got: a pint of strawberries, a pint of peas, a cucumber, a zucchini, a bunch of onions, a big head of lettuce, four large mushrooms, and a half gallon of milk.

Sadly, I did not snap a picture of our goodies because it was quite past bedtime when we finally got home that night, plus, half the strawberries barely made it out of the parking lot, let alone into our house. Maybe I will get myself together this week and capture it for you!

I am so grateful we were able to participate in a CSA this year.  Anytime I can get my hands on fresh, local produce (or better yet, home grown produce!), I am a happy camper.

Come back tomorrow (hopefully, I will get out to my garden, anyway) to see how our 17 tomato plants, 22 pepper plants and the rest of our garden is doing!

Join us at heavenlyhomemakers.com each Tuesday for Gratitudesday!

Garden without Groundhog

I am so grateful that we made a scarecrow.  Chris just happened to read a list of things you can do to deter animals from coming in the garden.  He just mentioned in passing a scarecrow.  We did not talk about it at all, or even really consider it a possibility.  But for 'some reason' on Friday, I just decided we would make one.  I used sticks and twine to lash them together, and clothes that I knew Chris would never wear again.  (Insert Vivace shout-out here, to the two or three of you that may ever read this and get it)

I can tell you that the groundhog has not been back (that I can tell) since I put up the scarecrow.  No  more of my broccoli gone.  Some of the plants that were chewed off at the stalks have actually started to grow baby leaves again!

We got a bigger trap to put in the garden on Sunday (borrowed from my FIL).

Then, yesterday, we stopped by Five Below and each of the children picked out a pinwheel.  The movement from them is supposed to scare the groundhogs from coming in the garden.  We put them around the broccoli plants.  I don't know how much they will do to deter small animals, but they actually look pretty cool blowing in the breeze.

So, there you go. A free scarecrow, a borrowed trap, and three dollars on pinwheels to keep out the groundhogs. 

Can you find the pinwheels?

My three workers.  :-) 

So grateful I have generous people to lend us a trap and for the cheap ideas (that seem to be working) to keep out the groundhog!)

Join us at heavenlyhomemakers.com for Gratitudesday
And at Smockityfrocks.com for a weekly garden update

Yummie Quiche!

On Friday, I was so blessed to have Chris at home! 

First, I woke up with terrible spasm in my neck and shoulders so I could barely turn my head!  So I was able to get some heat on it right away while my lovely husband made some breakfast. :-)

We would have never been able to run all the errands we ran on Friday, either, since I couldn't drive in my condition. 

Then, I was able to lie down all afternoon with heat on my neck and even sleep!

Finally, Chris woke me up and already had dinner planned out! He wanted to have quiche.  I had made quiche a week or two before and it turned out delicious!  We started making this with a couple of ingredients in mind, and the more we got out, the more we decided to throw in! 

I am sooooo thankful that I had Chris around on Friday for so many reasons!  :-)

Pie Crust:
1 1/4 cup fresh ground whole wheat flour
1/2 cup shortening or butter
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup water

Mix the flour and the salt.  Cut in the butter or shortening.  Add water until it comes to a nice dough.  Chill for at least 30 minutes. Roll out.

Quiche with leftovers!
4 eggs
1 cup milk (or cream, if you want it really rich!!)
1/4 tsp salt
pepper
2-3 oz. mushrooms
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 red pepper
leftover BBQ chicken
1/2 cup leftover potatoes (small cubes-- hashbrown style)
a big handful of spinach, chopped
one cup of shredded cheese

Beat eggs and milk and salt and pepper. Saute mushrooms, onions, garlic, and pepper.  Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix together.  Pour into prepared pie crust.  Bake at 350* for 30-45 minutes or until the middle is set.

I really love quiche, and one thing that has always held me back from making it was the misconception that it used up so many eggs and you HAD to have cream.  It only takes FOUR eggs-- half the amount we go through on a Saturday morning!  And, you definitely don't need cream-- We even substituted water for almost half the milk and it still turned out fine. 

Do you love quiche?  Would you make it for dinner? 

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

My Turkey Carcass!

Today I am so thankful for.... a turkey carcass!!?!!

Actual conversation with my Uncle Andre after Easter dinner:

Andre: "Janet, take home some leftovers.  Whatever you want."
Me: "Ummm, can I have the carcass?"
<pause>
Me: "I'll even pick off the meat for you!"
Andre: "Um, sure..."
Me: "Yeeeeessssss!"

I am so thankful for this turkey carcass because I used it to make turkey stock.  Mmmm... Lots of delicious, nutritious, homemade turkey stock.  And then, I canned it.  (Be still my heart).  Eleven quarts of it, to be exact.  With enough leftover to make something for dinner.  (There's only nine quarts in the picture below because I already used one, and one didn't seal, so I froze it.)

When I buy stock, which is rarely, because I make it whenever I can out of chicken or turkey bones, it costs roughly FOUR dollars for a quart.  That means for PENNIES, I made myself $44 worth of turkey stock.  I used exactly one onion, two carrots and three stalks of celery.  Three tablespoons of salt and a couple of bay leaves.

In conclusion, today I am thankful for my Uncle Andre for giving me his turkey carcass, my MIL who gave me a canner for Christmas, and my resulting eleven quarts of turkey stock.

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Ants

WARNING:  This post doesn't have much to do with food.

Today, I am thankful for ants.  This is actually really hard for me to say, because at the same time, they are the bane of my existence. I clean up my kitchen floor four or five times a day- sweep and then spray with cleaner and wipe.  I vacuum the dining room after every meal. Every day.  From spring until fall.

Anyway, I am thankful for them, because I am learning about consistency, and persistence.

These ants are teaching me boat loads about being consistent, because if I do not consistently sweep, wipe the floor and vacuum, they will invade.  Just like if I do not consistently check my heart, the bad attitude, or hard heart, or harsh tone will invade.

They are teaching me about persistence, because they come into my house, day after day, hour after hour, in search of food.  And then, because of their persistence, they find every last little crumb that I miss.  And they bring all their friends to show them, too.  I guess I can learn from them.  Every day, I must go with persistence to God, and every day (or hour, or minute), if I am persistent, I will find a crumb that will sustain me through the day.  And when that crumb is gone, or when I give it to a friend, there will always be another crumb.  God is so good to give us crumbs to sustain us every day.  Just like He gives the ants crumbs to sustain them.

So, as much as I hate to say it, I am learning something from the ants that invade my house consistently and persistently all summer long.

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

My Kids Eat Everything.

I am so thankful this today that my kids eat everything.  Well, alright.  That might be a BIT of an exaggeration... almost everything.

almost all the time.

Like yesterday, we ate at 8, 10, 11:30, 1:30, 5, and dessert at 6.  I feel like I live with Hobbits.

But seriously, I am so thankful that my children are adventurous, good eaters, even when I feel like the food is gross.  :-)

What are YOU thankful for today?