More Cannin', Beef Stew...............

Yesterday I decided to can some beef stew.  I'm trying to can up a bunch of quick meal type stuff so that this spring and summer when I'm too busy to cook, we'll still be eatin' good. 

Now there are folks out there who will tell you you can't can certain stuff.  I'm all about safety but I feel that as long as you research canning times for each item in your concoction and you process your jars for the length of time required of the longest item (good grief, does that make any sense?), you'll be ok.  That said, get a good canning book and follow those rules!!

About 2 1/2 lbs of cut up beef, 2 cups diced onion, 1 quart cut up carrots, 2 qts diced 'taters......

Season the beef, then brown in a bit of lard in a stock pot.......

Dump your 'taters, carrots and onions in there and stir.....

Then add in a quart or so of tomato juice.  I used a quart of V-8 that I'd canned a couple years ago, and if it isn't soupy enough add in some water.  Also season well with your favorite seasonings.  I used celery seed, salt, and black pepper.  Then heat to just to boiling.........

As soon as your stew is boiling, you can it up!  Process in a pressure canner for 75 minutes at 11 lbs pressure and you have this.......

Can't wait to try it!

When you can soups or stews they can't be very thick or they might not get heated all the way through and might not be safe to eat.  When I heat this stew if I want it thickened I'll just thicken it up with some cornstarch or flour.

God Bless................



Makin' a Door Wreath, Goodwife Style............

My dad is constantly telling me I live in Fairy Land, and that I have no grasp of the real world and don't know what is going on around me.  I'm really not sure why he tells me this, unless it's because I'm happy and what sane person could possibly be happy with the world crumblin' round her ears??  Well I'll tell you where my happiness comes from.  It's from the Peace that Passes Understanding, that's where.  I know things are falling to pieces, but the thing I hold onto is this.......God knows what's going on, He knows exactly where I am at every moment and He knows what is coming next.  That doesn't mean the times ahead will be easy, but I know God will give my family the strength to go on, and when we can't go on anymore, He will take us Home.  I KNOW that, there has never, ever been a doubt. 

Because all three of us are total smarty pants with a wicked wit, we decided to make a welcome to Fairy Land wreath for the front door.  We also thought about changing our answering machine message, but I decided that would just be too snarky.....

In that spirit, when The Youngun and I were in town Monday for her orthodontist appointment we stopped in at Michaels (craft store) and picked up some supplies.

I have no plan, just start snippin' and stuffin'

Here we go.........yes that's an Arby's cup in the background, don't judge me.....I'm all about the french dip with lots of horsey sauce when we have to go to town......

A piece of leftover cedar becomes the palette for our Fairy dreams.....

Then I rubbed the transfers onto the wood.........the letters wouldn't stick for some reason.  I think they must have been old or something, but the fairy's stuck real good!

And we are all done!  In the midst of makin' this I had to take a break to help The Man bleed the brakes on The Dodge.  I told him I had fairy dust to spread and didn't have time for such things, but he didn't listen!

Looks pretty no?

God Bless.......................

Catfish Chowder, Ala the Goodwife..........

Every spring and summer our clan heads to the lake to fish.  What do we fish for?  Catfish of course!  Channel cats or mud cats, we don't care, we love 'em all.  Actually I prefer the taste of mud cat, or maybe you call them yellow bellies?  Anywho, there is no size limit on mud cats because folks usually consider them a pest fish, like bluegill (which we enjoy as well). 

As I was makin' my Aldi list on Sunday I found three gallon bags full of itty bitty mud cats.  I was wondering what I could do with them and thought of clam chowder.  I have a recipe for cannin' New England style clam chowder and thought I could probably whip somethin' up, so I got started!

First I put my witty bitty frozen mud cats in my pressure pan and seasoned them up good.....

Fish takes no time to cook in a pressure cooker.  Once you get the steam up and put the jiggler on, it only takes about 10 minutes or less, so while that was cookin' I got the rest of my stuff ready to go!

1/2 lb of bacon..........

2 cups diced onions.........

About 4 quarts or so of peeled 'taters.......

Saute the bacon until it's slightly brown, then add in the onions and saute.......

Dump your 'taters in there and add some seasonings, I used dill, salt, pepper, and some celery seed....

Now while your bacon was cooking and your onions were sauteing you should have been boning that catfish.  Here's a little secret........when you pressure cook catfish, the bones do the same thing salmon bones do.  Yup, they get "soft" so you don't have to pick through it too much.  Pick out most of the bones but if you miss some it's ok because you can eat them. 

Cooked catfish..........

After you get all your catfish mushed up and the bones out, you add that to your pot of bacon, 'taters, and onions.  Then you strain the broth to get out any loose bones and add the broth to your pot along with some water if need be.  How much?  Heck I don't know, this is the Goodwife you are talkin' to....you just add enough!  ;0)  No really, you add enough to make a soup, as you shouldn't can really thick stew.  It should be a nice consistency, not too watery and not super thick either. 

You also musn't can this in anything bigger than a pint.  I used half-pints for single servings and then did some in pints for more than one.

 Once it's in the canners..........

You process it for an hour and 40 minutes at 11 lbs pressure and whalllaaaa.....

You've got Goodwife Farm's Catfish Chowder!

To serve you dump your chowder in a pan, add in some milk and some butter and heat through, but don't boil.

Then you eat it up!

Quite yummy with some homemade bread and butter and a glass of tea!

God Bless...................

Burrees, and Churrees.........

Ordered me up some goodies t'other day!    I ordered some Fragaria virginiana and two Prunus avium.   Hee hee, if you don't know what that means, then how bout if I say I ordered me some straw-burries, and two churree trees!  Still got nuttin?  I'll just show you then.......

I ordered 25 of these......

And two of these.........

They will be joining my little Peach trees......

In our little orchard! 

Last year was the first "real" year for my peach trees.  The second year after the planting year.  They were so loaded down with peaches that I thinned all of them off except for about a dozen.  Then either the squirrels stole them or they all fell off except for one on one tree.  That one lonely peach was so juicy and sweet!  I hope to get more this year, and next year to be harvesting cherries and strawberries as well!

God Bless...............

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars.............

The other day, before the Great Escape  The Youngun requested some chocolate chip cookies.  Since I always like to experiment and invent new recipes, I decided to make up these bar cookies.  They were really good, and passed The Youngun test, and even harder, they passed The Man test.  The Man isn't much on sweets, except for ice cream, and he requested a couple of these bars heated up then topped with ice cream.  When I asked him how he liked them, I got The Nod, indicating they were good!  So, without further Ahh Doo, here ya go!

Beat butter and sugar til light.......

Add eggs and vanilla and beat well........

Then add in flours, soda, and salt. Mix well. Stir in oatmeal and chocolate chips mixing well.  This is a pretty "dry" dough.

(I didn't get a picture of this part, cuz I was on the phone with that darn sister of mine again!)

Press into 9x13 or similar sized pan.  This one is a bit smaller than that, and bake at 350* till center is JUST set.  Don't over bake these, and once again, you know the Goodwife doesn't time anything, so I've got no clue how long they baked...........

 

Looks good no???

Goodwife's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars

• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 pkg chocolate chips (I use semi sweet)

Beat butter and sugars til light.  Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.  Add flours, soda, and salt, and mix well.  Stir in oatmeal and chocolate chips til combined.  Press into 9x13 or similar sized pan (bigger makes thinner bars, littler makes thicker) and bake at 350* til center is JUST set.  Enjoy!

God Bless......................

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Yesterday afternoon I was standing at the sink washin' up some dishes.  My window looks out over the backyard, barns, and pastures.  This is what I noticed......

Does anybody see anything amiss in this picture?

How bout this one?  Anything at all??

Or this one?  Anybody?

That isn't a Tamworth, or a Duroc, or even a Red Wattle sharing Ed Earl and Luanne's pen......

The Youngun and I began casting about for clues.........we didn't find many.....just this track...

No hair, no smashed fence, no other evidence of tampering.......

After getting things back this way......

The Youngun and I began doin' this......

She's putting insulators on the posts so I can run hotwire.....

For this particular project we had to use three different types of insulator.

This is a nail on.......

This is a regular snap on, in long length.......

And this is what we call a reverse, or backward insulator.  It fits on the backside of the post.  In our case, we have insulators on the top outside of the pig pen, for keeping horses and goats out, and insulators along the bottom inside of the pig pen for keeping pigs in!

Now nobody is gonna bust in or out.  Hopefully this will encourage ever'body to stay where they belong!  Why in the world Champ would feel the need to go visit the pigs is beyond me, but nobody ever said he was the sharpest spade in the barn!

After getting all that done, I caught Ed Earl and Luanne in a romantic moment.  They are so in love!  Click the picture if you want to see it bigger! 

God Bless................

Chronic Ordinary Urticaria........or Goodwife Gotta Rash!

"I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches."

Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884 - 1980)

This is pretty much how I live my life, but for the purpose of this post, we are going to address the part about scratching where it itches.......

For at least two years now, I've had hives. Hives, hives, hives! Oh the hives I've had. All....over....my....body...all....the....time!! I'm one of those who doesn't go to the doctor, but finally last year I went and they did a blood test for allergies. They called me and told me the test came back normal and that was that. Still with the hives all the time, but I just lived with it, cuz that's just the way I roll. Uncle Big Dog had hives too, and that is comin' into play in the next paragraph.

Around Christmas time Uncle Big Dog started havin' some trouble with a kidney stone and they found out he had a mass on his kidney. That mass turned out to be cancer and after lots more tests they took that rotten ole kidney out and Uncle Big Dog is doin' just fine. The cancer was contained to just that one kidney, thank God, and he should recover with no more trouble. They also told him, his hives might go away now, they could've been caused by the kidney cancer. And that got my little pea brain to workin'.

I went back to the doctor today because I thought maybe there might be somethin' wrong with my kidney and it's better to be safe than sorry. The doctor didn't think so, but we did get talkin' bout those silly hives I keep havin'. I asked him if I should see an allergist and he said, "Well we already know you are allergic to everything!" Evidently whoever called to tell me the tests were fine was a tad misinformed.

I'm allergic to.........are you ready???

• corn
• wheat
• peanuts
• sesame seeds
• there was more foods on there but I don't remember them all
• oak trees, well pretty much every single tree known to man
• cockroaches (seriously??)
• pigweed
• ragweed, well remember what I said about trees, it goes for weeds too
• timothy hay (hmmmm)
• bermuda grass hay (again, hmmmm) 

There is more, three pages worth, but I can't remember it all. Pretty fun for a gal like me to be allergic to all trees, weeds, and hay isn't it? He said he wasn't too sure this all was causing the hives because my allergy level to it wasn't all that high, but I am allergic to all that good stuff.

So what to do? Nothin'. He says I can take Zyrtec for the hives and they'll go away eventually (it's been 2 years here folks). Now wasn't that helpful?? 

And folks think doctors don't know anything.............are ya pickin' up on the sarcasm here, cuz I'm layin' it on purty thick........

God Bless..............