Homemade Ranch Dressing

Ingredients:

Black Pepper ¼ C
Parsley Flakes 1 1/2 C
Garlic Salt ½ C
Kosher Salt 2 Tbsp
Granulated Garlic ¼ C
Granulated Onion 3/4 C
Dill Weed 2 Tbsp

Procedure:
1. Combine all ingredients, store in an airtight container. Makes about 3 ½ cups of dry mix
2. To Make Dressing, whisk together 2 Tbsp of mix with 2 Cups each of mayonnaise and buttermilk 1 ½ Cups sour cream, & 1 tsp Lemon Juice. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Makes 1 ¾ Quarts

I got this recipe from http://www.thecraftyblogstalker.com

April 10, 2013 0

A New Dress for Katie

Remember how I told you all Mrs. Sally (our pastor’s wife) is teaching my girls how to sew. Well, this is their latest sewing project. Julie made the dress and Grace made the hat. I think they did a great job.

It has been a busy but productive and fun week for us. Monday we went down to Jessica’s. Tuesday, I helped Hubby and then the Horn’s came over for a visit on Tuesday evening. We had a great visit. We had hamburgers on the grill. The wind was blowing so hard though that we had a little trouble keeping the grill lit. It was a beautiful evening with temperatures in the mid 70’s. We sit outside on my green swing and enjoyed the breeze. You wouldn’t know that today though. It has been hot and humid. Oh well. Yesterday, the girls and I made sweet pickle relish. I have never made relish before. I think it will be very good. Today, we worked on green beans. We canned 28 quarts. It really helps to have two canners going. Grace has an eye appointment tomorrow in Salem. Tomorrow evening we are going to the pastor’s house to cook out, then we will be picking beans as they are so generously sharing with us. I hope to remember my camera so I can show you all some pictures. His apples trees are loaded with apples this year.

Well, it is time for the last canner to come off. YEAH! I think we are all tired. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

July 26, 2012 5

Sweet, Juicy Corn

Our corn is ready! I love fresh garden corn. We have been working some of it up this morning. So far we have put 58 ears in the freezer and 9 pts cut off the cob. I have a vacuum sealer which I use for the corn and other stuff. It is a very handy thing to have. I purchase items at the store in bulk at a discounted price and then separate them out into portions we can use. Then seal them with the vacuum sealer. It really makes a difference. No freezer burn.

The type of corn we raise is called Merit Corn or where I’m from they call it Garden Creek Corn. The man who had the seed for it lived on Garden Creek, thus the name. It is an excellent corn, very sweet. It is called the silkless corn because when you shuck it the silks just fall off with the shucks. I LIKE THAT! Makes working the corn so much easy.

We have been getting quite a lot of rain here this week. The temperatures have cooled down some though because of the rain. Yesterday, the girls and I worked on apples. 16 quarts to be exact. I used my new steamer juicer and extracted over a qt of juice from the peelings. We had fresh apple juice with breakfast this morning. Very delicious!

Better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

August 19, 2010 2

Blackberries

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.

August 11, 2010 1

Pastor’s House

I think you can learn a lot about a man by his hands. These hands say I work hard. I am married. I love to work the land. I’m sure if I were a good writer I could write a story just from this picture. This man loves the Lord. Not only in word but in action. We are very blessed to have him as our pastor. Thank you Lord!

A picture of his grapes. He has several different types of grapevines growing. I forget what he told me the name of these were but they were very sweet and delicious.

The girls and I have been busy with beans. We canned 11 quarts yesterday. One of them broke in the canner so we only had 10 to add to the canning list. I picked a gallon of blackberries this morning and we’ll can those later today. We love to make blackberry dumplings and cobblers. I also want to make salsa today. I think we have enough tomatoes. They are mostly yellow tomatoes so it will look a little different but hopefully taste just as good. Maybe even better. I know we have enough peppers.

Sunday morning is our Sunday School breakfast. Every year we have a big breakfast at Smartview Park-a small picnic area on the Blueridge Parkway. After breakfast we do Sunday school. Tom will proably have a message as well. We love all our little get-togethers we have. Our church is really big on fellowship and I am glad. I think it is an important part of being a church family. If I remember the camera I will try to take some pictures to show you all.

I guess I better get busy. Take care and God bless.

July 30, 2010 1

More Spaghetti Sauce

Yesterday we had 12 more quarts of spaghetti sauce. I think this will be all the spaghetti sauce we make unless we have lots more tomatoes. I want to make salsa and maybe try our hand at ketchup. We also usually just can tomatoes and tomato sauce for use in soup and chili. Temperatures here have been hot and humid. Low to mid 90’s.

Jess talked to her mother-in-law yesterday and she said the name of this apple is Scarlett Apple. She thinks she ordered the tree from Stark Bros. I typed it in on Google and found all kinds of information about it. Very interesting.

Today is bible study day so I better get busy. We have decided to do it at Barbara’s house. It is so hot here and Barbara has air conditioning. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 23, 2010 4

Comparison

I thought it would be nice to look back and remember how things were just a few short months ago. This picture was taken this morning. Then I looked back and found another picture of the same scene.

Personally I like this morning’s picture better but to each his own. Yesterday was busy for us. The girls and I went to pick apples. A friend from church offered us his early apples from his tree. We were very thankful to get them. After we came home, we started processing them. Yesterday we got 11 quarts of applesauce made and still have more to work with today. Sally, our pastors wife, told us she puts her apples in the microwave to cook them. This was much easier as we didn’t have to worry about them burning. Then she puts hers through her food strainer and puts them in the freezer. I had never put applesauce in the freezer, only apples. We tried that yesterday. It was a lot faster and didn’t heat up the house.

Beautiful weather here in Floyd this week. Much cooler temperatures with a wonderful breeze. We have had several little rains which we really needed. I picked green beans Monday and dug some young potatoes. They were delicious. I think I’ll be able to pick some more beans by tomorrow. YUM! I love fresh produce.

Did you all notice my canning and freezing logs Dave put on my blog? Thanks Dave. I really like being able to look at it and see what I’ve got done and what I still need. I better get working on those apples. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 14, 2010 1

Garden

Here are just a few shots of our garden. We hope to soon enjoy squash as you can see the bloom on it. This one tomato plant will be an early one. The others are not near as big. Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Floyd. Hubby and I finished getting the garden out. We planted a few more tomatoes and beans and corn.

Later in the evening we got a good rain. I guess God knew our seeds needed a drink. The girls and I are working on cleaning the house today and washing clothes. My house is a little behind as we have been doing up the beef. Our total is 80 quarts of canned beef and 88 bags of hamburger. Pretty good I think. Tomorrow is bible study day. We are studying I Corinthians. Little Samuel will be here in 4 more days. Unless he decides to come before then. We all can hardly wait to see him and hold him. God is good! Also hopefully David will have my computer back in operation soon. I really miss it. It’s sometimes hard for me and Hubby to coordinate on one computer. His free time is usually my free time too. Well, my time is up. The wringer is calling my name. Take care and God bless.

June 3, 2010 3

Summer Anyone?

Ok, so I’m really getting tired of cold weather and I thought I would have a little summer . Garden growing, clothes drying on the line. Mr. Scarecrow on duty. That’s right. Stop. Take a deep breath. Imagine summer in full swing. Not wind chills below zero, frozen water lines etc. Today has been a nice day, church was good. The bad news was yesterday. I went up to my cellar to get some canned goods and discovered my canned green beans had frozen. I counted 40 quarts frozen and decided I didn’t want to count anymore. I just shut the door and walked away. I have never had cans to freeze before so I’m not exactly sure what to do. I researched this and from what I have discovered, as long as they stay sealed they should be okay. I pray this is so. So much work to lose them all. Anyway, it’s all part of life. I’ve been busy making aprons and discloths to sell. I have 3 aprons finished and working on the 4th one. I have about 4 dishcloths made. I am also working on another wall hanging. This one will be for Julie. Oh yea, I also have an afghan in the works. This is all done in my spare time. (What spare time?) Well, it’s time for bible study. Tonight’s menu includes brunswick stew, green beans(guess who’s bringing them) cornbread, mac & cheese and 2 different desserts, unknown at this time. God Bless.

January 10, 2010 0