Britesea - Living the good life in rural Oregon

[Denim Deb]

Glad he has an understanding boss that is willing to work w/him.

I've never heard of Rhode Island clam chowder. How do you make it?

 

[hqueen13]

Wow, sounds amazing! I really need to get a dehydrator that works. The little crappy one that I got at a yard sale has given up already.

 

[Britesea]

I watch the Hot Sheet sales at our local restaurant supply- called Cash N Carry (I think it's a chain, but not sure how big). Knowing how much stuff costs in the regular stores helps me know when I've found a good price. Normally however, I only pick up one mega supply at a time. This time, there were so many good deals I couldn't help myself. The only one I had to pass on was the frozen blueberries- just DID NOT have room in the freezer for 10#s of blueberries *sigh* And of course, I usually have to pass up the specials that involve #10 cans- with only 3 of us I don't see how we could use up that much ketchup or whatever before it got weird.

I was able to pull out the last of the dehydrated peppers this morning and the mushrooms and lemons and broccoli that I put in yesterday. Today it's filled with broccoli, and one tray of lemons. The meat is slow roasting in the oven, to be canned with spicy sauce around 6 this evening.

I had forgotten yesterday that we were going to my girlfriend's house for halloween movies and pig out, so I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped. Luckily, the ice in the ice chest kept the meat cool until this morning.
I was a little nervous about checking my blood sugar this morning after all the goodies last night, but it was a very respectable 123... I guess I did a better job than I thought of sticking to the veggies and protein offerings- though I did enjoy some chips and cookies.

Rest of the day involves cleaning the kitchen, making the spicy bbq sauce for the meat, shredding and canning a couple pounds of cheddar cheese, and assembling several meals' worth of Tortilla Soup for the pantry.
I've decided to take the stems of the broccoli and make a cream of broccoli soup, and serve it with ham salad sandwiches. Probably no dessert tonight- we had enough of that last night, lol.

@Denim Deb ,I'll post the recipe for the Rhode Island Clam Chowder in the Kitchen area.

 

[Denim Deb]

Thanks. I'll go check it out.

 

[creativetwinszoo]

Whoa! You can can cheese?? Does it go weird?? Or is it kinda soupy like cream of **choose a name***, or like canned nacho cheese? I guess the only canned cheese experience/knowledge I have is very not good for you cheeses by then....

 

[Britesea]

Canning cheese is one of those things that tons of people have done safely, but doesn't have an official approval; you takes your chances. From what I've read, soft cheeses might be iffy, but hard cheeses are acid enough to stop botulism.
The procedure is pretty simple: grate the cheese and put into sterilized 1/2 pint jars and set the open jars in hot water (halfway- you don't want water to bubble up and get into the cheese) until the cheese melt. Keep layering the cheese into the jars until you have a 1" headspace. Some say to layer 1/8" oil on top, others don't. Wipe the rims and put sterile lids and rings and process in a water bath for 40 minutes. DO NOT remove the cans from the water when the processing is done, or the oils will bubble up and possibly break the seal. You need to leave it in the bath until the water is cool.
I haven't done it yet, but what I've read is that the texture changes a bit, but you can still grate it and slice it and melt it.

 

[creativetwinszoo]

Oooh! You'll have to let us know how it goes! The twin and I plan on trying our hands at cheese sometime in the future, canning it sounds like it might be worth trying (or if we can buy bulk cheese cheap sometime too, it'd extend shelf life)

 

[wyoDreamer]

You can divide a #1 can of ketchup into smaller canning jars and process them to seal.
You wouldn't want to re-process some stuff because it will get overcooked and some may break - like maybe a cream sauce. I should try it with the cream of mushroom soup concentrate just to see, that stuff is getting expensive and I am not to the point of making my own - yet.
I have some friends who buy the #10 spaghetti sauce, add fresh veggies and then can it in single serve sizes for use as needed. They make homemade pasta, freeze it in single size "bird-nests" and then have a fairly quick and very easy dinner her boys can make between activities.
Ketchup is processed for 15 min. BBQ sauce for 20. Both in Boiling water bath.

 

[Britesea]

Ah, thanks. I had hesitated re-processing because I didn't know how it would turn out

 

[Britesea]

Picked up the mail and found an envelope from DH's motorcycle insurance. Opened it and nearly had a heart attack. Apparently they covered his lost wages, because it had checks for all four months he was out of work. Except that we haven't lost wages, because he had enough sick time and vacation time saved up. So now I'm trying to figure out if this honeyfall is legit, or if they are suddenly going to ask for the money back when they realize that he didn't lose any wages.
The money would really help with the extra medical- his insurance only had $15K in personal injury protection, which was exhausted by the end of the first week. His normal health coverage will pick up the surgery etc, but it only covers 80%; we'll have to pay the remaining 20% which can be quite a lot with surgeries as you probably know.
I also need to find out if we will have to pay income tax on this money. I don't want to have any unpleasant surprises come April.

Yesterday, I spent some time working in the pantry. I had saved up a lot of 2 liter bottles and got them washed and dried and filled them with dry goods like bread crumbs and beans and rice. They aren't mouse proof, but if I wipe the shelves with a little peppermint oil it tends to repel mice.
Today I plan to make up some baking mixes (cornbread, brownie mix, biscuit mix) and vacuum seal them in dinner-sized portions. I'm really having fun with this Meals In A Jar cookbook! The Spicy Pork that I made earlier this week yielded 14 quarts- to be heated up and served over things like polenta or grits or rice.

Also today, I want to start working on a seed order for next spring. I know that at the very least, I need to get some new bell pepper seeds since I don't want to deal with those miniature things again. I also need more favas since I forgot to set some aside for next spring, and I want to try a different variety of peas. The ones I've been growing are called Green Arrow; high yielding, but not the best flavor which is more important in my book.
I found a couple of decent heads of cauliflower in the garden, after I'd pretty much given up on the darn things this spring! They grew all summer long and NOW they are finally heading. I'm glad I decided to not pull them up this summer, leaving them to grow and pulling the occasional leaf or three for duck snacks. I think some cheesy cauliflower soup is in order.