In a Pickle???

 Good Evening Internet Friends!!

Scattered day today.  Took doggie for a long walk this morning.  Returning home my neighbour was mowing his lawn so I decided that I should mow mine and make the street look pretty!  It does now.  🤣

Made pasta with home made Alfredo sauce for lunch.

Laundry and house work took up the rest of the afternoon.  

Made a batch of Bean Pickles this afternoon.  Only two litre jars...but still.

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you all the BEST Day EVER Wednesday tomorrow.  Stay Safe out there😷.

Kathy

Here Comes Monday.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Monday arrives tomorrow and I am only sort of prepared for it.  As of this moment, I still have about 50 lbs of tomatoes to do something with.

Thanks to one of the ladies on a quilting page I belong to asking about an Ebelskivor Pan I decided that since I had made all that fresh jam last night that is what was going to be breakfast this morning:

I purchased this pan at Williams-Sonoma when they first opened in Calgary close to 10 years ago.  Of late my son has been more enthralled with the Waffle Maker on Sunday morning, but these are always fun to make and eat:

After breakfast I cut up tomatoes and got started on tomato sauce:

While that was simmering and processing I set about cleaning up some yarn and cross stitch projects that I have in various states of start (notice I did not say finish).

This afternoon we took a walk in the River Valley.  It was pretty but I think I will be regretting this decision as the night goes on because my lungs are very tight at present.  Will be sleeping with my puffer beside the bed I think tonight....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Abracadabra!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It's that magical time of year where everything gets to turn into something it's not by donning a costume.

As you have already witnessed through my blog the garden was bountiful this year.  Plus I was provided with 2 boxes of tomatoes.....I now have just over 200 lbs of tomatoes in my possession.  Seriously.

I have spread all these out on newspaper under the spare bed in the basement to keep from ripening too quickly.  However, they are ripening just a wee bit quicker than I would like what with all the other things I have on my schedule to accomplish ☺

This evening after kiddo and I got home from selling Scouts Popcorn, I started in earnest on the tomatoes.

As of a few minutes ago I am the owner  of 7 1/2 pints of green tomato jam!  This is where the magic comes in; by putting green tomatoes through the food processor and adding a bit of sugar and some Strawberry Jello I have Strawberry Jam!  If only I could wave my wand and make it appear...

Tomorrow will be Salsa and Tomato Sauces!  I am hoping there is still room in the freezer so that I can just put the jars in there and not have to can them to save time......but there is already a lot of vegetables, a half a beef I got from a friend and a basket full of bison from home as well.  Guess I won't put the canner away this evening ☺

Now off to knit for a bit and see if I can actually sleep in tomorrow and get a full four hours of sleep.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

It's A Kathy Kind of Day...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Yes, I am still up and I started this day a little after 0600 hours this morning.  Starting to feel tired so might sleep more than four hours tonight.

I had big plans to get all my "stuff" done here in the city so that I could get out to the farm and get the rest of the vegetables out of the garden.  Before I could do that though I had dill and chives that I wanted to dry for use later.  Cucumbers, beets, carrots and beans to pickle.  Beans and carrots to blanch and freeze.  Zucchini shredded and in the freezer.  Beets, dill, beans and carrots to turn into borscht.  Laundry to do for back to school and work this week.  Pack up the stuff to go to the farm as well as food and clothes for over night.

Well, here it is late at night and all the veggies have been processed, the laundry is almost done and I am still home because that was a lot to do, and then it started to rain again...

Kiddo helped me make pickles (cause he loves them):

He helped wash and clean and prepare all the veggies.

He helped pack the jars:

The first batch into the canner.  In total we have 14 quarts of Dill Pickles!  YUM!

The first batch processed and starting the cooling process.

We were both tired after getting all of this done, Kiddo gave up on me shortly after lunch.  Now came the question of what to make for dinner!  I decided that tonight felt like a pizza night.

I made a batch of whole wheat basic dough.  It turned out fantastic!  Kiddo ate almost half of an 18" pizza!  Lots of veggies, beef and cheese.  

 One of the things that was on sale at Costco this week was a package of Fresh Mozzarella.  OMG on pizza this stuff is amazing!!!  I will definitely purchase this again.  Oh wait, have I ever turned down a cheese.....I'm thinking....... if I ever get an answer I will let you know.  Here's the pizza:

After dinner I sat down with Kiddo for a bit and we watched some tele and I knit a bit.  Then it was time to tidy up.  After all that I decided to finish the last load of laundry.  Since I was near my craft room I finished Block 3 of the Scandi 3 Quilt that I picked up recently:  

TAH DAH!  This is Block # 3.  

Here they all are together:

One more of this color to do and then I can move on to the next color.  In total I will make 25 blocks for this quilt.

I did take a few pictures today while doing this to explain cutting the diamonds and squaring up the blocks but right now I actually am tired so will head off to bed as soon as I get the next load of laundry underway!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

It's Salsa Time...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It's Salsa Time!  No, seriously, really it is!

I have got all kinds of tomato things going on in my world right now.  There are the ones that get a little soft that I throw in the freezer, the ones that looked like they should go to the freezer and a couple that freshly grew on the plants outside.  

So, I gathered them all up this evening and made SALSA:

From the left overs that I scraped out of the pot when all 6 jars were filled; it's very tasty!  

YUMMY!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

In the Dark...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Yesterday was one of those days where I tried to pack as much as possible into the day.  I was up by 0730 (even though it was Sunday) to get all my vegetables taken care of.

I pickled all the cucumbers, all the yellow beans, blanched green beans and carrots all before 2 pm.  Laundry and some more general house cleaning were included with the festivities.  Then my son and I headed out into the river valley riding 28 km in the river valley:

The weather was hot and it was a great ride, and the city looked pretty.

We got home had dinner and while my son started his bedtime preparations I thought I would get a batch of blueberry jam made and that could process while I read my son his bed time story.  Two minutes away from the jam being ready to jar the power went out.  U^&*()_)*(&*^%%$^&*!!!!

Seriously.  Worse yet, it did not come back on.  A check on my phone of the city's power web page let me know that a power line was down and it would be at least 2 hours before power was restored.   At 11:38 pm the power came back on.  I had to re-boil my jam, get the canner back up to boiling and process my jam.  Bedtime at 1 am.  Somehow I have dragged through today and am still up....

Here's my first batch of pickles:

The first batch of veggies:

As of this evening all veggies are bagged and the pickles are on the shelves.  Can't wait til the pickles are ready to try...

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Today has Gone to Beans! Summer Vacation Day 61!

That's right friends, today has gone to BEANS!

My son and I had a lovely day.  We spent all day at the Telus World of Science Edmonton, watched two movies there as well and had popcorn for lunch.

Returning home, I realized I had better get started on the beans:

Twenty pounds of beans cleaned, blanched and chilling in the freezer!

Does not look like I will quilt tonight...

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Finally! Summer Vacation Day 55!

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

So, the very reason I went to the market garden last Sunday was to get the necessary ingredients to make Mustard Pickles!  Every couple of years in late August we travel back to Nova Scotia to visit my husband's family, and of course I HAVE to go to Prince Edward Island.

One of my favorite foods from there is something my mother in law introduced me to:

Mustard Pickles!  Served on top of Atlantic Salmon it's just FABULOUS!

Guess what we had for dinner tonight?

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Third Day Pickled! ☺ Summer Vacation Day 54!

Still having the dilemma with having more brine than jars and vice versa!

So, what to pickle now?

Oh right, I have a big bag of:

 Pickled Carrots!!!

Now the pickling of random vegetables will end and I can start the project I originally went to the market garden for!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...☺

Kathy

Pickle Saga Continuum. Summer Vacation Day 53!

Still pickling away....

Since I had some left over brine and a really big bag of beans I decided to make:

Six jars of these.  I have run out of my special Weck jars so am now using my regular canning jars.  Will be ordering more of the Weck jars for sure though next spring, because they can be stacked!!!  These cannot : (

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Raspberry Jam

One of the things that my son and I also did this past weekend was go to Horse Hill Berry Farm.  It was their last weekend of picking.  We were able to get a full pail, although it did take almost 2 hours, but it was the end of August, so....

 Anyways, we ate raspberries in our morning breakfast cereal, and then made:

Raspberry Pear Jam!  Altogether we made 6 of these jars.

The pears were on a really good deal at Costco, so we got them, and used some in the jam.

I recently purchased these Weck canning jars at Duchess Provisions here in Edmonton.  

These jars are a little more pricey than regular canning jars, but I am totally in love with these jars and the way that they work and that they are only made of glass!!!  I will be getting more of these.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Canning Soup

Today I began to use up the left over turkey.

What better way to use it and the broth up?  Turkey soup!

The broth and left over turkey meat were combined with tomatoes, carrots, onion, and celery, and a wee bit of sea salt.

I boiled it up, added to jars, and then processed for 10 minutes in boiling water.

Easy Peasy.  When it's time to use I will bring this mixture to a boil and add either pasta, rice, or potatoes and boil for 10 minutes and have a hearty soup for dinner quickly.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

More From the Farmer's Market

Last night I used the beets, peas, beans, carrots, and dill that my son and I had gotten on the weekend at the St. Albert Farmer's Market to make borscht.

Thanks to my 27 qt. Stock Pot (also referred to by my Nova Scotian husband as the Lobster pot) from Paderno

 (oh, maybe it is a lobster pot...) this was no big deal.

I also managed to find at the Paderno store in south Edmonton today a canning rack for the inside of this pot!!! So, after taking the jars straight out of the hot dishwasher and filling with borscht, the Stock Pot became my canner.  Worked AWESOME!!!!

In the end I made 10 quart jars of borscht, one of which will have to be given to my colleague Tiera who thinks that borscht comes in a plastic tub from the deli section at Costco  : (  !

Here are the first few quarts out of the canner!

 A tablespoon of whipping cream and a Green Onion Cake (also from the farmer's market), and dinner is served!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy