A Little Dehydrating

 Well, we did it. We purchased another dehydrator to add to our arsenal of machines. This one is a stainless steel one with 10 racks. The drying are is larger than my largest Excalibur and a good 20 years newer. Yah - we thought it was time to get a new one. Mind you, there's noting wrong with the Excalibur, it's just we wanted to try this one and the price was unbeatable. I am not exactly loving it - and prefer the old one to this one, but I have to give it a fair chance. One issue I have is that it is digital verses my older dial model. When the power goes out, even for a few seconds, it is off for good. That's a definite drawback when I'm in the middle of drying something and the power goes off in the middle of the night. Setting the time and temperature is another thing I must learn. The unit is extremely quiet, so I have a hard time telling if it is running. Yes, I know it's a learning curve and will take a bit of time. 

So, to test this machine out, I've dehydrated a few things - garlic scapes, frozen green beans, and mint. I ground the scapes into a powder and will be using them for flavoring my soups, stews, eggs, etc. I am conditioning everything now, and then they will be sealed and find a permanent spot on my shelf.

 

I lined the tray with parchment paper.

I got out my old Ronco dehydrator to make some Minute Rice. No reason to use the big ones for just a couple of the trays. The Ronco is nice because I can add and take away trays at will, making it exactly the size I need. Now, back to the rice... My son thinks I can by a box cheaper than making it, but I know exactly what is in it, and when I making up a batch of rice to eat, I just make a bit more to dry. My rice has only 2 ingredients: rice and water (I know where both came from) and I'm sure the cost is cheaper than the store brand even with the electricity used. It doesn't take long at all to dry and I like having some on hand to use in my dry-mix meals. If I want to make some plain minute type rice, I just pour it out and add hot water - one for one. 

.The finished product

The Homestead Has Been Quiet

 

My little laundry helper. 

Life has been going along with no real change. I've been on burnout and have not had a lot of interest in doing or trying much for new things. I've been just tired and everything that I had plans to do over the past 6 months, I really didn't. I didn't get my herbs planted, so no creating a new herb garden and forget about the flower bed! It looks neglected and with no new plantings. On a positive note, the daisies did extremely well and multiplied like crazy!

We didn't plant much of a garden and the things that were planted, went in late. We have been battling a family of groundhogs, and they are winning. We have no beans, cabbage, greens, okra, or pretty much anything that I had really looked forward to harvesting. It's disheartening to say the least. Living in town has its drawbacks, and this is one of them. At this point, I have no idea what we'll be harvesting this year. Sigh

On a brighter note, I have been working more with replacing grocery store items with the homemade version where I can. I am getting more and more disappointed with the way things taste. Things are different and not in a good way. We bought some beef and a turkey from the local farmer and have been pleased with the meat we've gotten. With us both being seniors, we are always looking at stretching our food and income. It's not easy but it is interesting and a challenge - and that challenge is growing more difficult as time goes on.

I hope your growing season is going well. What is your best fruit or vegetable this year?

Snow #3

 

It's snowing and even though we only have a small amount so far, the University and other public places are on delay or cancelled. The weather report says we are to have a plowable amount, but for here, a plowable amount could be a little more than a dusting - especially over the last few years! Yes, it's been that long since we have seen any "real amounts" of snow. We used to live a couple hours north of here and we actually had decent snow storms, but now, well not so much. But I guess that's a good thing with people driving to and from work.

Ten pounds of turkey are happily vacuum-sealed and frozen in the freezer and broth has been put up. And that is after we all had our fill of leftover turkey and sandwiches. Hubby was all about the dinner but I craved those sandwiches! Then there was the snitching every time the fridge was opened. Just grabbing a piece to snack on was heaven. Now I have at least 10 meals to enjoy over the winter. Hubby is not a fan of turkey - but I love it, so I'm trilled to have a leftovers in the freezer!

We are pouring over seed catalogs and planning next year's garden. I want to do more herbs and flowers and hubby is all about the vegetables. The compost pile is not growing as much as previous years, though. He usually gathers leaves, but this year with all the high winds, the leaves got blown away to who knows where. Usually he has a lot to compost, but they were blown straight from the trees and just gone! We had a few that got caught between the house and garage, but not a lot. He usually gets them from the neighbors, too, but no one around us had any real clean-up this year. 

It's been a strange year all around. I'm hoping we have more success with all endeavors next year. 

Hello December!

 

The calendars have been flipped, the advents have been pulled out and Day 1 has been opened. I am very much looking forward to opening each little door and finding the next hidden "prize". This year is a cham bracelet and I'm still waiting for my Highland Cows. According to my updates, the calendar wasn't even sent until yesterday, so it won't be here until a project delivery date of Saturday. Sigh...

With all the great sales, I was hoping for a deal on a new bread machine. I prefer making all my bread by hand, but there are those days - especially in summer where I don't have the time or maybe want to turn the oven on because of the heat. The one I really wanted did not go on sale, and the others I saw were more money than I wanted to spend.  I guess I'll keep looking for second hand ones. The last one I bought second hand had bearings that would seize, then hubby would have to pull it apart and fix it - only to have it seize again in a small amount of time. The people that sold it to us said it worked well. Well, it did when it was running. I went back to the old worn out machine that is still chugging along, but I'm wondering when it's going to die for good. Right now, the pan flops back and forth from being worn out and the paddle flops around, to name a few things, but it does keep chugging along.

Goodbye November!

 

This fall has presented so many challenges - from my son being rear-ended and totalling his car, to finding out I had some strokes to hubby getting a severe ear infection and flu, a broken sewer pipe in my son's home (that we still can't locate the problem part of the pipe) plus so many odd things in between. Will I miss this autumn? Still yes. All the beautiful sunrises and sunsets, the autumn colors, the skunk that visits the cat dish and compost bin every day. my son's search has ended and new to him home has been found (with lots of fixing to do)... There are so many things that I am grateful for and will miss. And this month held 2 days of snow - the first on November 11th where we had about 1/2 inch and November 20th with just a dusting - either way, it was still white. Black Friday bestowed black ice for the travelers and many local accidents. So we are having more seasonal weather than we've had in years!

I purchased most of my baking items yesterday. Usually this is the time of year to find some decent deals. If you use evaporated milk, Walmart has their GV brand on sale for $1 a can and they also have their GV brand of Sweetened Condensed Milk for $1.77. (maybe different in your area). I use a few cans of each for baking so I need to stock up on these at this price. I cannot remember Aldi's prices, so I will be checking there first. I know the Aldi's online prices are different that in store.

Today is preparing to can all the broth day and then refill the roaster with beef bones. My local farmer gave me lots of beef bones to make broth with. He says no one else usually uses them. I find that interesting, since bone broth is so expensive. I have to buy more onions, celery and carrots for the beef broth, so will be picking up some this week. I'm freeing up space on my shelves and moving this around for all the broth that will be canned. There's going to be a lot!

The monstrous bird is now pack safely away in the freezer. I'm searching for recipes on top if the tried and true ones in my recipe box. Turkey potpie will be tasty this winter as well as other favorites!

One more month to go. I really can't believe it. How did this happen? It seems the year has flown by so quickly. I'm now in the mood for baking and candy making. I haven't had the itch to do that in a long, long time. Sadly, chocolate has skyrocketed, so I won't be making a lot with chocolate, but there are so many other cookies to make that I don't think anyone will miss them. I pulled out my grandmother's Betty Crocker Cooky Book and did a flip through. So many wonderful recipes and memories. I'll be putting it to good use this year.

I dug out my cookie press and my rosette iron. I forgot these recipes were both in this book. And so many others that Grandma had made for the holidays (not just for the Christmas season). Chocolate Crinkles were one of my favorites as well as the Spritz. Now I'm going down the memory path of when we were children and all gathered at Grandma's house. Everyone is pretty much gone now, but the memories still live on. See what opening a cookbook can do?

Next month will also hold some planning time. I usually do it through the month when I have some time. I know already that I want to complete some knitting, crochet and cross stitch WIPs. I have this need to get a lot done and not really start much. So many things are kitted up, and so much yarn and floss to use, plus all the crafts to get done that I have wanted to do, but have not so far. 

I love this time of the year!

Cappuccino Mix Recipe

 

I'm always looking for ways to cut our grocery bill without feeling like we are and also making things a bit more healthy by eliminating the preservatives and other chemicals. I found this Cappuccino Mix recipe on the Little House Living website and although not a necessary recipe, it makes for a wonderful treat to have on hand for those days that you wish you had something a bit special but still want something quick. I made half of this recipe to try it and was quite pleased with how it turned out. I would probably cut back on the sugar next time and use a better quality instant coffee, but even so, it still turned out well. My only issue has been that not all the ingredients dissolve by just stirring with a spoon. I had to get out the hand held frother/whipper to get the best result. Not a real issue but you know how powdered/instant milk can be. Now I want a cup of Cappuccino!

Day After Down Time

 I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. Ours was nice and quiet with just the 3 of us. My son baked a pumpkin pie using sweetened condensed milk. I honestly had never heard of such a thing, so I was excited to try it. The pie has a more condensed texture, but is really good IMHO. Will I go out of my way to make another one? No, but only because it's more expensive to make. While going down the rabbit hole of looking up the sweetened condensed milk recipe, I found that some people use cream and milk in their pies. Very interesting. I'll have to try that. 

I went out to my local farmer to pick up our turkey. He called and said they were in the process of butchering it. I went to his farm to find that we were the lucky recipient of a 37 pound turkey!!! Yes, you read that correctly - thirty-seven pounds!!! Never in my life did I ever expect such a big bird! Well, I lugged it home and cooked it yesterday. That was a trip in itself. I had nothing large enough to bake it in. All my roasting pans were way too small, so I lugged out the roaster only to find that was also too small.

I ended up taking out the liner and using it as a baking pan and covered with foil. What an adventure! I got up at 3:30am to remove any lingering feathers, cleaned it and had it in the oven by 5:15am. The bird was falling apart done by 1pm. We had a huge feast and a TON of leftover turkey. I put it in the fridge to chill and will be repacking it today for MANY dinners to come. The bones, drippings, skin, giblets, etc. are now in that same roaster with some veggies and spices. Tomorrow I'll have a delicious broth to chill to get off the unwanted fat and then Monday or Tuesday, I'll can it for the winter season. We'll have some of the best bone broth to cook with! I can't wait to see how much I'll have from this bird! 

I think I'll take some time today today to see what items are on Black Friday Specials. Most that I've seen so far have been MEH, but every once in a while I find a goodie. I did order a couple of cookbooks that should be in soon. I'm looking forward to them! I'm also looking forward to getting a little crafting time in. Today is not so pressing with tons of leftovers to eat. 

I hope you had a lovely holiday with friends and/or family and you are enjoying all the leftovers as well!