Hats for Christmas

This year I wanted to give something to Ethan and the kids that would reflect our desire to do farming together as a family. Since I tend to lean to the practical side of life, I decided to get everyone hats to farm in and to keep the sun off. Ethan and Caleb got a straw hat, and Hannah got a little bonnet.

I grew up by an Amish settlement(a different one from where our cows are located), and had my mom pick up these hats from there. One thing that is interesting about the Amish, is that they use their hats to help distinguish which settlement they are from. Some of my father-in-law's Amish friends know some of the Buchanan county Amish. I wonder what they will think about our new hats. :)

Christmas Baking

When I was a senior in high school, I made 20 different kinds of Christmas cookies to give out.

This year I have scaled it back a bit. All I have made so far is gingerbread cookies, although I think my husband will want to make some snickerdoodles together.

I was going to give out my gingerbread cookies to our neighbors and some friends. One problem . . . I ate them all. Yup. All of them. Ethan doesn't care for them. Caleb and Hannah maybe had 3. So I guess I consumed the rest.

Let's see . . . the gingerbread recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of shortening, 2 cups of sugar, and 1 cup of molasses. Thankfully, I only make these things at Christmas!

I do have a good excuse though. I have had multiple viruses the last month, including 3 separate cases of the flu. All of this has caused me to lose some weight that I was trying to keep on. Good thing for gingerbread.

So after I saw that all of my gifts were gone, I made another batch last night. I think I need to deliver them tomorrow, because they are quickly disappearing as well!(Just in case you were wondering - these aren't the ones I made!)

A Lesson From Norm

If you come over to my house during meal prep time, you might notice something about my children. They will walk over to the kitchen and stop on the carpet, right at the line where the linoleum begins. The reason they do this . . . they are not allowed in the kitchen.

This is something that I am very strict about. I think some of my family think that I might be a little over the top on this rule. They have not watched me cook enough though. I am a disaster! My meals USUALLY turn out fine but quite often, I do not. It seems that I am always burning myself, cutting myself, or dropping sharp objects (like Cutco knives) dangerously close to my feet. As much as I would enjoy having the kids in the kitchen helping me cook, it is for their safety that they are not allowed to.

Here is a good example. Thursday night is our "Homestyle meal" night. It is Ethan's favorite supper of the week. This week's menu was ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, and corn casserole - which is my husband's absolute favorite meal in the world.

All was going well, and everything was done and ready to be eaten. Ethan pulled out the corn casserole, while drooling over it, and set it on top of the stove. I proceeded to turn on the pot of beans while the corn casserole cooled down a bit. While I was getting the plates out, I noticed something smelling like it was burning. I looked over at the corn casserole and noticed that it was smoking. And then I noticed that I had turned the wrong burner on for the beans. The burner under the corn casserole was on 9 - and it was smoking quite a bit. I panicked over the thought of our meal being burnt, so I pulled the pan off of the burner and set it on one that wasn't on.

As soon as I set it down - BOOM! The glass pan exploded. Without knowing what happened, I jumped back and found I had covered my face with the two potholders I was using. After a few seconds of paralysis, I moved them away and saw glass all over the place. I also saw my two kids standing on the line where the carpet meets the kitchen crying hysterically while Ethan tried to calm them down. I guess I had screamed pretty loud and scared them - although I don't remember screaming.

So there went our pan and half of our supper. We had cold beans that didn't have glass in them, and some ham in the oven yet. We added tortillas with cheese to the mix to round it out.

I am fortunate to have thrown the potholders over my face, but it made me think about when I was growing up. My dad and I used to watch The New Yankee Workshop on Saturdays. At the beginning of every show, Norm Abram would run through his shop safety tips. They were pretty scripted, and I was always prepared to quote his closing line along with him, "And remember, the most important safety rule is to wear these - safety glasses." I think that rule might need to be applied in my kitchen too.

RECIPE FOR EXPLODING CORN CASSEROLE

mix: (or use a box of Jiffy Mix corn muffins)
3/4 c all purpose flour
3/4 c corn meal
1/6 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

add:
1 can cream corn
1 1/2 c frozen corn
1 egg
1/4 c butter

bake at 400 for 1 hour
remove from oven and place on a hot burner for 2 minutes then remove from hot burner and immediately place on cold surface to make pan explode

Bonus post: I am a disaster - case in point
Just now, as I was getting out my corn meal to check on part of the recipe, I knocked down my sugar from the top shelf in my kitchen. I'm glad my children weren't standing underneath or they would have a bit of a headache.

Tis the Season

Ahhh . . . Tis the Season. The season for making wish lists. The season for getting wish lists. The season for shopping.

When Ethan and I got married, we started the tradition of Black Friday - getting up super early the day after Thanksgiving to get the deals. We have continued this as much as possible if we are staying in the right area during Thanksgiving. Sometimes we go in shifts to let our two young children sleep, but we still try to get those deals.

This year, as I was trying to juggle my armload of great deals in Younkers and as I was watching the chaos of everyone around me trying to get to the "door busters" before they ran out, I was thinking about the reason we celebrate this time of year - God sending His Son into the chaos of this earth to bring peace for those who trust in Him. This is something that should be celebrated each and every day of the year!

I also was thinking about the whole point of fighting the crowds to get the good gits and that giving gifts to family and friends helps us to remember the gift of God's Son. I think that we need to be careful not to be swept away by consumerism while doing this though - something that we should really be careful about all year long as well.

Awhile ago my husband showed me a music video of a church who needed a new building due to lack of space. They decided that instead of building a new multi million dollar building, because of their location they could build an amphitheater instead. They could then use the money saved to help meet the needs of many more people in their community and around the world. The video doesn't really talk about their amphitheater or church, but talks more about what all our money is worth. I really encourage you to watch the video. It's a great song and a thought provoking message.

So back to Black Friday . . . As I was doing my shopping and reflecting on the Christmas season, this video kept running through my head. As I walked around, I considered how much we spend at Christmas, God's gift to a world in need, and the needs of this world that continue to remain today.

A few weeks earlier, a friend of ours told us about Gospel for Asia. They give 100% of donations received to the people they are serving - nothing being taken out for administrative cost. Among other things, they have a program where you can give animals to families who are are considered outcasts in their society and live in slums without much hope. Since our family has been thinking about farming and the usefulness of owning animals so much this year, I thought this was pretty cool.

I know this is a pretty random post, but I just wanted to throw a challenge out to everyone who reads this. While you are purchasing and giving all of your gifts this Christmas, remember those who have needs greater than we can imagine. See if you can find an organization that excites you, and give a gift to someone who will never know who it was that helped them out.

If you do this, I would love to hear what you did, but please leave your comment as anonymous. It would be so encouraging to see all of the different ways that needs are met by others not only this Christmas season but throughout the year.

Mighty Peas

This summer I decided to try a fall garden so late summer I planted another crop of vegetables. One of the things that I planted were fall peas. I knew I probably wouldn't get anything out of them since I got them in later than I had hoped, but I decided to plant them anyway for an experiment as long as I had extra seeds.

I have been amazed by these peas. They just won't quit! Late October we got our first frost so the first week of November I thought I would tell my garden goodnight. I pulled up everything but the flowers, lettuce and peas. I still didn't expect them to do much more, but I wanted to watch them anyway.

Well, after a few more frosts, we got our first big snow two weeks ago. We took the kids out to see the chicken in the snow, who we had moved to the garden for our clean up crew. While I was out there, I noticed that the peas were still going strong and had blossoms on them!
So I continued to watch the peas. Last week, however, Ethan and I decided it was time to put all of the garden fences and posts away before they were frozen into the ground. There stood my peas, still green. With December just a few days away, I decided it was time to pull their support so out came their fence.

Well, today I went out with Ethan as he moved the chickens to a new spot in the garden. Their lay my green peas on the ground. Boy were the chickens happy when they got moved on top of them!! So now my mighty peas are coming to an end . . . not because of the cold, but because of the chickens.

I think that what I learned from my experiment is that when it comes to fall peas, it maybe isn't as important to worry about the cold as much as it is worrying about timing the blossoms so that there are insects still around for pollination!

Canning Pinto Beans

This week I was able to can some pinto beans. In one of the comment sections, I mentioned I would post the directions so here they are.
This method doesn't take much time that you will actually be working, but you do have to do a little bit of planning since it requires some prep the night before you want to can them.

Make sure all of your jars are washed and ready to go. You also might want to count your lids since I didn't have enough when I was canning my green beans earlier!
After you have all of your supplies ready, it's time to get the pinto beans ready. Measure out 3/4 cup of beans for each pint jar you want to can. Then wash and sort the beans. I have never found rocks in my beans before, but as you can see, this time around I actually found 2 - so don't skip this step!

When your beans are washed and sorted, measure out 3/4 cup of beans into each jar. Fill the jars with water and then cover them with a towel over night.

In the morning, empty the water from the jars and refill with hot water to leave 1 inch of head space. You may need to adjust some beans. If you want, you can save and heat the water that was in the jars to use. This leaves more nutrients, however, it also leaves more bean gas. I use new water. Another option is to add 1/2 tsp of salt to each jar, but I skip this step. After the jars are filled, put a lid and ring on each jar according to the manufactures instructions.

Place the jars in the pressure canner, bring them to a high heat to adjust head space, and process at 10 lbs pressure for 75 minutes. (Remember, this time is only for pint jars.) Be sure to follow all of the directions that come with your canner. (Also, do not can beans with a water bath - see comments.)

After they have cooked and the pressure is gone, remove the jars from the canner to cool. When they are cool, wipe down the jars, label them, and put them in your cupboard. You are done!!


For those of you who like to watch the dollar, here are the numbers. I spent $2.38 on my bag of pinto beans. There are enough beans in the bag to make around 17 pints of beans. I'll say that's 14¢ per pint jar in beans. Lids are $1.29 for 12. I'll also say that is 11¢ per lid.

If you really want to be technical, you can figure in the electricity to heat the stove for the canner, but then you can argue that the heat from the stove heats your house and makes your furnace not work as hard. (A good reason to leave beans for winter canning - doesn't fight against your air conditioner or make your house too hot.) Although if you heat with wood, that changes things too. I'm not about to think that hard, so I'm leaving the heating cost out.

So my beans cost me 25¢ per pint. Keep in mind, that a pint of home canned beans is equal to at least two cans of store bought beans. You end up with a jar full of beans with little to no liquid - the store beans are a can of liquid with some beans floating around in it. If you want to make your beans even more economical and you eat them in large quantities, can them as quarts. (Sorry, I don't have the canning time for this. DON'T use 75 minutes!) That would have given me twice the amount of beans per jar for 39¢. We don't eat that many at a time though so I do pints.

So there you go. Canning pinto beans. I would love to find some recipes for canning pinto beans that include some spices making them even more ready to go. Anyone have any?

** To learn how to pressure can beans, you can check out my series on Beginning Pressure Canning. **




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Tools of My Trade

Beans must be pressure canned due to their low acidity in order to kill all bacteria that would cause dangerous food born illnesses. They can be safely canned by using the recommended times and pressures given for your altitude. I have a couple older Mirro pressure canners given to me that work wonderfully, and my mom has a newer one that she loves as well. If you do some asking around, you might find someone who has given up canning and has one available, or you can look for one like the one pictured below. It should hold around 9 pint jars or 7 quart jars.

This book is a wonderful book for beginning pressure canning.  It includes the science behind safe canning, tools needed for canning, the method of canning, and is filled with tons of recipes that will help you can anything from produce from your garden to meats and broths.  I still enjoy flipping through my book to find new recipes to try!

Canning Inventory

Here is a picture of one of my kitchen cupboards. The bottom shelf is all things I have canned: applesauce, green beans, spaghetti sauce, tomatoes, turkey and turkey broth, ham broth, beef broth, and dried beans. The middle shelf is just store bought noodles and dried beans from the store. I put them in jars because I thought it would look cool, and it gave me a useful way to store extra jars. The top shelf holds grape juice that my mom canned, egg noodles that I made and dried (using our chicken eggs), boy scout popcorn, some of my extra spaghetti sauce, and grape jelly - also from my mom. This is just a sampling of each thing I have. The overflow is stored elsewhere.

My summer canning has now been done for awhile. I didn't get much compared to what other people get. I hope next year to get more of a variety of produce canned and to also can larger quantities of things, however, I am very happy with what I do have from this year since it was my first year canning.

Here's what I ended up with:

Whole tomatoes: 10 quarts and 7 pints

Spaghetti sauce: 15 pints (Still looking for a different recipe, although Ethan really likes it.)

Green Beans: 3 quarts and 5 pints (all from my experimental fall planting)

Applesauce: 20 pints

Now that the summer canning season is over, I am starting into the winter canning season. I recently cooked down 2 turkeys after they were picked clean of meat. What I ended up canning from that was 5 quarts and 10 pints of turkey and turkey broth for soup. (We just used our last jar from the last time I canned turkey broth - good timing!) I also got 5 pints of just turkey broth to add when cooking rice or other recipes.
Last spring I also canned some dried beans for chili, enchiladas, and other meals. I only have one can of those left, and I plan on doing more. It was very handy.

I want to try some soups among other things, but I'm not sure what yet. I would love to hear some ideas and get some recipes from all of you seasoned canners!

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