MerryHeartCrafts.comMountain Momma… Country Living

While the kids were up this weekend, we had a campfire Friday night.  We love doing campfires, smores, wieners-sometimes potatoes.  Sometimes we just sit and watch the fire.  So relaxing.  Grace took this picture for me and I thought you all might like a little campfire too.

Hubby and I have been busy today working on building a shelving unit for the new room.  All my stuff is just piled up on the floor in there.  Such a mess.  Hopefully, by tomorrow, it will look much neater.

I gathered quite a few cucumbers this morning and I am planning on making some pickles this afternoon.  I have to check my pantry and see if I have all the ingredients.  I got a new recipe from a friend of mine that I want to try out.  The recipe is:

Crispy Pickle Slices-   4 qts cuc. sliced, 1/3 cup salt, 6 med onions sliced, 4 cups sugar, 1 1/2 tsp. turmeric, 2 tsp. celery salt, 2 tsp. mustard seed, 4 cups vinegar.  Sprinkle sliced cuc. with salt.  Stir with hands until salt is dissolved.  Cover with crushed ice.  Let stand 3 hr.  Drain.  Add onion.  Mix remaining ingredients with vinegar.  Pour over drained cuc. & onions.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and gently cook for 5 min.  Makes 6 pts.

So now that you all have heard the recipe, I have a question.  Have any of you ever mixed squash and cucumbers together to make pickles?  I was thinking of doing that and just wondered if anyone else had tried it. 

Well, I better get busy.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

Our blackberries are doing much better than I thought they would.  Today makes 3 gal. I’ve picked. YUM!

Yesterday we finished the pears.  Later, we went up to the garden and SURPRISE!  Lots of beans were ready.  We canned 15 quarts and had enough for dinner and lunch today.  

Tomorrow we will be going down to Jessica’s.  Sam has a doctors appointment so the girls and I will be playing with Daniel.  Jess is going to make supper for us before we come back home.  Last night’s menu was fried chicken, green beans, and rice.  We had cantalope and watermelon for dessert.  It certainly has been hot here for the last few days.  Hotter than usual I think.  Oh well, fall will be here soon and everyone knows what follows fall.  I think we better enjoy these hot, summer days.  Cold winter days will be here before we know it.

I think the girls and I will make pizza sauce to can today from the tomatoes we picked yesterday.  The recipe I use is:

1/2 cup oil, 4 med. onions chopped, 4 cloves garlic, 1/4 cup dried parsley, 1 gal. tomato juice, 2-12 oz cans tomato paste, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tsp. oregano, salt, and basil, 2 bay leaves, 3/4 tsp. black pepper.  mix all ingredients, simmer about 2 hours.  Process pints 30 min on 10 lb pressure.  Yields about 12 pts.  I will be adding banana peppers and some hot peppers to mine today as I have quite a few of these in the garden.

I guess I better get busy with these projects.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

I have been asked to post my salsa recipe.  This is a very good recipe and can easily be divided to make less.  This recipe makes about 10-12 pints depending upon how thick you let it get when simmering.

Salsa

7 qts tomatoes chunked
6 cloves garlic chopped
5 med. onions chopped
5 green peppers chopped
1/2 cup hot peppers chopped(this makes med. hot-lower or increase amount for your preference)
2 cups vinegar
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp cilantro
2 tsp chili powder
Combine all ingredients.  Simmer until thick.  I  simmer 4-5 hrs.  Process in hot water bath canner 20 min.  I use pints.

Enjoy!