Month: June 2013

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

 

I got this recipe from http://www.frugalupstate.com/recipes/recipe-cheaters-strawberry-rhubarb-jam/

Cheater’s Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

(freezer jam or boiling water bath canned)

Ingredients:
7-8 C of rhubarb cut into 1 inch chunks
4 cups of sugar or to taste
1- 3 oz pkg strawberry Jell-O

Directions:

1.  Wash and cut up rhubarb stalks into half inch pieces and place in a large bowl.

 

2.  Mix sugar in with the rhubarb chunks.   Cover & let sit for at least an hour until the juices come out of the rhubarb.

 

3.  Cook rhubarb mixture over medium high heat, stirring and mashing a bit until it is soft and the pieces of rhubarb have mostly disintegrated.  Add jello.   Stir until jello is dissolved.  Pour mixture into freezer containers and freeze.

 

 

Yields about 3 pints

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Fermented Salsa

I got this recipe from http://www.cheeseslave.com/lacto-fermented-salsa/

Fermented Salsa

Ingredients

Chili peppers (1-2 serranos or 1/2-1 jalapeno, depending on how hot you like it)
Medium fresh tomatoes (4), or canned tomatoes (1 pound), organic if possible
Medium white or yellow onion, organic if possible (1)
Garlic cloves (2)
Lemons or 3 limes, organic if possible (2)
Sea salt (1 TBS) — where to buy sea salt or
whey (2 TBS) — if you don’t have any whey, use an additional 1 tablespoon salt
Optional: 1 bunch oregano, fresh (or 1 teaspoon dried)
Optional: cilantro (1 bunch), fresh
Optional: Filtered water

Equipment

Rubber gloves
Quart-sized mason jar with lid
Optional: Food processor

Directions

1. Wearing gloves, cut open the chiles and discard the stems and seeds (If you don’t wear gloves, you risk burns — trust me, I’ve done it. I advise wearing the gloves.) Set aside.

2. If using fresh tomatoes, peel and deseed them: Fill a large saucepan halfway with water, set on high heat and bring to a boil. Carefully set tomatoes in saucepan and let sit for 5-10 seconds, then remove with a slotted spoon or tongs. Cool and peel. Cut tomatoes in half and gently squeeze out the seeds, or scoop out with a spoon, and discard. Set aside.

3. Peel and quarter the onion and peel and smash or crush the garlic.

4. If using fresh herbs, rinse, dry and chop them, discarding the stems.

5. Place the peppers, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and optional herbs into the food processor (you can also do this by hand — just dice everything with a sharp knife).

6. Squeeze the 2 lemons or 3 limes and add the juice.

7. Add the sea salt and whey.

8. Pulse several times (more or less for desired consistency).

9. Transfer to quart-sized mason jar. Add a little filtered water if necessary (if you like it more liquid and it’s too chunky). If you add water, put the lid on and shake it up so it’s incorporated. Make sure to leave at least an inch of space from the top of the jar.

10. Cover and keep at room temperature for 2-3 days before transferring to the fridge. Salsa will keep for weeks or months in fridge.

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Thursday

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Hello everyone!  I hope you are all doing great today.  We are kinda warm here in Floyd-86 degrees but we do have a very pleasant wind so it doesn’t seem so bad.  At least, not if you are in the shade!

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We worked in the garden this morning.  We started early but it still got pretty hot before we were done.  This is a picture of the first raised bed.  We have been enjoying the salad greens and green onions for a while now.

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We had a great visit yesterday with my Uncle John and Aunt Elaine.  They live in Mighigan and had never been to the farm before.  Jess and her kids came up.  Everyone went  for a ride in the bumpy truck.  It was so good to get to see them.

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Our grapevine seems to be doing okay now.  I was a little worried about it as it got frostbite by the last frost we had.  We won’t have as many grapes as last year but it looks like there will be a few.

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The roses are blooming and look very beautiful in the tree.  We spent most of the evening sitting here yesterday enjoying the view and time spent with family.  I wanted to tell you all about something beautiful I saw last night.  I almost ALWAYS have to get up during the night to go to the bathroom.  Well, last night when I got up I looked out our bedroom window and the sight I saw was totally amazing.  The stars were shining so bright in the sky and underneath them the lightning bugs were everywhere!  So many it looked like blinking Christmas lights.  I stood there watching it all thinking how good our God is to allow me to see something like that!

I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

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Beach Trip

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Hello everyone!  I’m sure you can guess from the title of this post where we have been.  We went with Dave and Jess to Jekyll Island GA for a week.  We had so much fun.  The girls had never been to the beach before and I have only been a few times.  Some friends from our church recommended Jekyll Island and we loved it.  It is not too crowded and has lots of fun things to do.

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We took a trolley tour of some of the old houses.  It was very interested.  So many of the “rich and famous” lived in these homes.

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We also rode a bicycle around the island.

This took most of one day but it was so much fun.  We saw so many things we normally would not have seen.

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We did a dolphin tour one day.  Little Sam saw his first dolphin on his third bithday.  Then the motion of the boat did him in.  He had to take a short nap.   We also celebrated my Julie’s 15th birthday while we were there.  Amazing to me how fast they grow up.

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On the island they call this driftwood beach.  It is very pretty.

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Saturday morning as we were leaving we made a last trip down to driftwood beach and guess what we saw-a dolphin!  Amazing!  It was just swimming around looking beautiful.

While we were there a tropical storm can through.  It was AWESOME!  We went down to the beach that evening before it came in and the waves were so pretty.  The wind was whipping and the sound was like a roar.  I LOVED it!!!! On Thursday, it rained something fierce so we went down to Jacksonville FL to the Museum of Science and History.  It was a fun trip with lots of things to look at.

I guess I could go on and on about all the fun things we did but I don’t want to bore you all too much.  It was a great week and we are very thankful to Dave and Jess for taking us along with them.  I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

 

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