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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Anna Try It? Yumm, Mommy!


My picky eater is still picky.  But there is a bit of light to this dark cloud.  She seems to like raw vegetables and fruits.  Ok, so not all raw vegetables.  She spits out raw peas (even though they taste like candy to me!)  Here is my girl, all sweaty from running around on a hot afternoon, snacking on a raw green bean freshly picked and snapped.  It was her idea to try it, too.  She's also started eating watermelon and canteloupe.  "Juicy!" she exclaims.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Pickles Pickles Pickles, Oh My!


The past few weeks I have been trying to keep up with the abundance of our garden.  I am very tired of cucumbers and zucchini, two vegetables that ANY gardener can grow because they produce like maniacs.  I am not a huge pickle fan, but my dad loves bread and butter pickles and Eric eats sweet gherkins (little whole pickles).  We do not like relish, but I am even making relish just for fun.  I have also canned over a dozen jars of dill pickles.  I have no idea who is going to eat all of these pickles, and I will very likely be giving jars away to anyone who likes them.  Here is how I can bread and butter pickles:

This is my family's recipe for bread and butter pickles.  You can also find a ton of pickle recipes on the internet.  I recommend looking for ones approved by the USDA and Cooperative Extension, as there are some unsafe recipes floating around out there.  Here is a USDA Guide to Pickling, with recipes.

I just learned that powdered alum, a common ingredient in traditional pickle recipes because it helps to make pickles crisp, is actually toxic in amounts over 1 ounce.  I encountered alum in a dill pickle recipe given to me by a relative.  I was tempted to use it anyway, but it just isn't worth the risk.  I used pickling lime (Ball Pickle Crisp) instead.  We have not tasted the dill pickles yet to see if they are crisp, because it takes a little while for them to develop a good flavor.

Anyway, back to the bread and butters!  Cut your cucumbers, onions, and peppers.  I was crying so badly after 6 onions that I stopped there.  Anna came in and was watching me cut vegetables and she was even crying; the whole kitchen was fumigated with onion.  After my first batch I picked up a Progressive onion cutter, like this one.  I am in love!  I had way fewer tears using this handy kitchen tool.

Let the cucumbers sit under ice for 3-4 hours.  Drain.  Simmer your pickles in the vinegar/sugar/spice mixture.  The spices I use are celery seed, tumeric, and ground cloves.
Stir the pickles every now and then while simmering for 15 minutes.  It takes awhile for them to come to a simmer.  I snacked on some freshly picked blueberries while I was waiting.
I also prepared my jars and water bath canner so that everything was ready to go as soon as the 15 minutes was up.

Pack the hot pickles and pickle juice into hot, sterilized, jars.  Place the hot lids on them and screw on the bands.  Process in the hot water bath for five minutes. 
Remove the jars and place them on a wire rack to cool and enjoy the sound of jars sealing!

Monday, July 23, 2012

Red Raspberry Jam


I really enjoy picking fruit.  I mean, what could be better than being out in the sunshine picking fresh beautiful berries and bringing it home to make yummy stuff like pies and jams?  So far this year, I've picked strawberries in June, and blueberries and raspberries in July.  I drag my girls along with me, so I rarely pick for more than an hour. 

A couple of weeks ago, my dad and sister went with us to pick raspberries.  It's been a hot summer, so the berries we picked were some of the few left on the bushes.  Here is step-by-step how I made raspberry jam:




I washed the berries and put them in a pot to mash one cup at a time.  Added pectin (I buy Certo boxes) and followed the directions on the box. 


The recipe is the same on the box as it is in this You Can Can! book.  Yes, I can can, can you?


I stirred the raspberry jam, while heating.  Once it boiled, I added the sugar all at once.  Make sure you have enough sugar on hand!  This recipe took 6 cups!  I often do double batches.  You'll get diabetes just looking at 12 cups of sugar.


While your jam is "cooking," put some lids in hot water to keep warm and start your water bath canner boiling.  Clean your jars.  I often run my jars and rings in the dishwasher on sterilize and try to time it so that they are hot and ready at the right time.  You could also just boil your clean jars in the canner.


Check on the kiddos.  Yup, Clara is still sleeping.


Anna is watching cartoons...


Uh oh, Anna decided to come check out what mommy's doing.  "Mommy doing?"  Here, play with some alphabet fridge magnets.  Later, I resort to throwing canning jar rings on the floor for her to play with.  She likes to put them on her wrists and ankles.


Put your raspberry jam into the hot, sterilized jars.  Fill to the right height on the jar, according to the recipe.  Beautiful!


Get the lids out of the hot water to place on the jars.  I use a magnet stick, which came in a canning kit.  Oops, the end of it melted because it was resting against the hot canner.  Make sure you don't do that! 


Put the lids on and screw the bands tight, but no need to crank it.  Put them in the canner and process 5 minutes, according to your recipe instructions.  Make sure you time it from when the water begins to boil again.


Dishes to wash.  But before you know it, the timer goes off and your jam is processed.


Remove jars and place on a wire rack.  My favorite part is listening to the lids pop as they seal.  It is so satisfying!


Clara is still sleeping.  What a good baby!


With a little bit of work, you can put up plenty of jam for a year's worth of toast, waffles, and bagels.  Eric especially loves homemade jam.  He even gets pretty possessive over it, so I have to make extra for family and friends to give away (and sneak it to them).  Strawberry and raspberry are his favorites, but I've made peach jam, too.  Blueberries I'd rather just freeze and make pies and other desserts from.  Oh what fun!  Next time I'll post about making pickles.  Stay tuned!

Friday, July 20, 2012

Through the farmhouse kitchen window


This is the view from my kitchen.  From here I can watch the barn cats play, the cows go through the barn to the milking parlor, and my husband and father-in-law working.  It is an excellent view to have, and I think this picture is somewhat symbolic of our lives.  I am busy at work in the house with our family, cooking, cleaning, and providing a haven and comforting place to live.  My husband is out working, rain or shine, making milk for our table, and for others.  He doesn't get paid nearly enough for so much work, but we love it anyway.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Fresh From the Garden

Eric loves to plant his vegetable garden every year.  I love to eat it.  Yesterday's dinner was as follows:


Grilled chicken on a fresh-from-the-garden salad (literally picked an hour prior), green beans freshly snapped, and oven-fried zucchini sticks.  If you try the zucchini sticks, try adding some parmesan or some other seasonings/flavors.  They were pretty bland in my opinion.  Eric didn't even try them.  Otherwise, they were a snap to prepare and are pretty good.

I discovered that my picky eater prefers raw green beans to cooked.  I don't know how long I've struggled to get her to take one bite of a cooked grean bean.  She was so excited to bite into a raw green bean, and once she started she ate about 7-8 of them!  Hey, it's even healthier raw than cooked, so snack away dearie!






Saturday, July 14, 2012

Coming Home



Our hospital no longer does newborn photos, so we attempted a few of our own.  This is the only one that turned out semi-decent.  This was taken on the day we left the hospital. 


Clara slept the whole way home.  We even stopped to pick up two half chicken dinners from a bbq truck across the street from our drug store (vicodin!!!).  She graciously allowed me to consume said chicken in leisure.  My mom still had Anna so the house was very (oddly) quiet.  Until later that afternoon!


This was taken a week after we came home.  I admit that I didn't take a lot of pictures that first week.  I was too busy changing aforementioned diapers and trying to keep up with Clara's frequent feedings.  I swear, the girl wanted to eat every hour!  Anna enjoys holding her, but for only a second.  "Ok, Ok, Ok," is her sign when she is done.  She also likes to exclaim, "Wiggly!"


We have two beautiful little girls, don't we?!!  :)

Friday, July 13, 2012

Well it seems as though I abondoned my blog.  It's been ages since we've last visited, dear blog, and I've got to admit I didn't start missing you until just now.   I was doing some research for work on blogs and I decided I would really like to start blogging again.  Hmm, but how to pick up a blog that has had no love and no structure for so long?

Let's jump right back in.  I love my family.  I was pregnant the last time I logged in here.  Now I am 30 pounds lighter and 12 pounds of baby more fortunate.  My little love, Clara, was born on May 8, 2012 via c-section.  She was 8 pounds, 0.5 ounce, 20 inches.  Anna was just 1.5 ounces heavier, so my girls both started off at a pretty decent but not alarmingly large weight.  Clara emerged screaming, but quickly calmed. 

I loved my time with her in the hospital.  We had time, just her and I, to bond and cuddle.  Once home, all hell broke loose, as Anna somehow came down with diarhhea and was under the weather.  I had what felt like hundreds of diapers to change and my recovery from the c-section was keeping me sore and helpless.  Eric had to get Anna in and out of her crib, and I ended up sleeping with Clara on my chest most of the night, for several nights, as I was too sore to get in and out of bed everytime she woke. 

Breastfeeding was pretty easy with Clara.  I had the typical nipple soreness, but I never felt too engorged.  I actually worried a bit that I wasn't going to get my milk, but then I could hear her swallowing and see her spit up and I knew everything was ok.  She gained 2 pounds in 2 weeks and was quickly settling into a regular eat and sleep routine.  I'll post lots more about Clara and how she's growing, as well as Anna's adjustment to being a big sister.  But for now, here are some heartwarming newborn pics.