Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

 

Today is Mom and Dad's 59th wedding anniversary.  Although they had plenty of ups and downs, there was one thing that they always knew for sure...they'd always be together.  I'm sure that they're taking a minute to celebrate their earthly anniversary and enjoying the view of all their amazing family.  

This photo was taken in November of 1958.  Although you can't tell from this view, Mom is expecting... me! 

Big Job = Big Taste

Although today was the first time that I've ever canned chili sauce myself, I have had a long time love for it.  No, not the store-bought stuff with HFCS 'corn sugar' in it.  The lovely homemade tomatoey, spicy, sweet kind of chili sauce is what I'm talkin' 'bout! 

Over the years, I've tasted many people's version of this condiment.  Some were really awesome (thanks, Aunt Mary!) and some were pretty awful (names deleted to protect the innocent.)  I knew what I wanted my chili sauce to taste like and finally found a recipe that looked like it might work in the Ball Big Book.

After a trip to the Farmer's Market for tomates, I was able to harvest pretty much all the rest of the vegetables needed from the garden.  My one change to the recipe involved a jalapeno pepper.  I just couldn't figure out how a cook could call her finished product 'chili sauce' if it had absolutely no chiles in it.  So, I added one to give it a teeny, tiny little kick. 

Three and a half hours later, I was finished.  Holy cow, that took longer than the peach pie filling that I've previously whined about!  I ended up with 7 and 3/4 pints.  Since my canner only holds 7 pints at a time, that meant that I had to sacrifice and begin eating the 3/4 pint immediately.  Sam was good enough to help me out.  We ate one bowl full on tortilla chips.  Yum, yum, yum.  Then we put it on our cheeseburgers instead of catsup.  OMGosh!  It was lucious.  I'm going to really enjoy the fruits of my labors, but I don't think I'll be making another batch until next year.  I'm pooped!

Ah Ha Moment

Over the past few months, I have discovered the joy that is Greek-style yogurt.  Dedicated scientist that I am, I have eaten my way through every brand and variety that I could find.  My conclusion:  all Greek-style yogurt is not created alike.  Some are pretty darn yucky.  Some are a little bit of heaven in a plastic cup (Fage, you are my dream yogurt!)  They all have one thing in common...they are all much pricier than their French, American, and Dora, the Explorer-style counterparts.

So, ever thrifty shopper and cook that I also am, I began researching how Greek-style yogurt is made.  The manufacturers websites were little to no help.  Other than a few tidbits about it being a 'multi-step process' and 'made in the ancient traditional way' they were holding on to their secrets pretty tightly.  So, I did what I always do.  I Googled.  I found several home kitchen how-to recipes.  And that's when I happened.  The Ah Ha Moment.  I already knew how to make Greek-style yogurt!

I've been making 'yogurt cream cheese' for many years to use as a substitute for regular cream cheese in recipes.  It's really good on bagels and with salsa on crackers, especially.  This is what I do...

I line a steel strainer with a white paper towel.  It will hold a quart of yogurt.  I put the strainer over a bowl to catch the tart juice that drains away.  I usually cover the whole thing with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight.  Come morning, I just roll the yogurt cheese out of the paper towel into a container.

Well, the 'ancient traditional way' of making Greek-style yogurt is exactly the same process, only I left it to drain for only 4 hours instead of over night.  I just ate some (mixed with a bit of homemade raspberry jam thankyouverymuch) and it is perfect.  And delicious.  And it's going to save me a ton of money.

The one quart container of yogurt (cost:  $2.99) yielded about 28 ounces of Greek-style yogurt.  So, figuring about 10.5 cents per ounce, that's 63 cents for a six ounce serving.  Add a dime or so for the homemade jam and that's a whole heck of a lot less than the
$1. 79 that my beloved Fage usually costs.  Sorry, Fage, I won't be back without a really great coupon.

Peachy Keen Redux

Whew!  I feel like I had a walk on the wild side.  The peachy wild side, that is.  I checked the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving out of the library.  Got sucked in immediately.  lol!  So many 'I gotta try this' recipes in there.  Anyway, I quickly discovered that I had all the ingredients on hand to make several recipes.  My first new recipe was Peach Barbeque Sauce...

The batch was exactly four pints, so I only got a little taste, but it was yummy!  We're going to try it out tonight on oven-bbqed pork chops.

The next recipe I tried was peach salsa, one of the most beautiful salsas that I've ever seen...

Again, the batch was exactly four pints, so licking the spoon gave me my only taste.  It was good, but not as flavorful as the salsa that Carin and I made early in the summer, I don't think.  I'm going to need several (dozen) more tastes before I make up my mind.

Update:  Oh my heavens! For dinner, we had those bbq-ed pork chops that I mentioned earlier.  They were so delish!  The sauce turned out to be sweet and just a little spicy.  Woo Hoo!  I think I'm going to make another batch.

This Year's Quilt

I finished it.  At last.

This year's quilt uses Aunt Gracie-style 1930's reproduction fabrics.  The Sunbonnet Sue blocks are hand appliqued (not a common occurrence around here!)  And for the first time, I used free motion machine quilting on the entire quilt.  That is also known as aerobic quilting.  LOL!  Over all, I'm pretty pleased with the finished quilt.  And, since I've been working on it for a whole year, I'm very glad to be done.

Peachy Keen

My cup runneth over.  With peaches, that is.  Between my little, baby peach tree and the full-grown monster peach tree, I'm estimating we have 3-4 bushels of peaches.  Since the freezer still contains much of last year's bounteous peach harvest, I've had to be creative.  Four batches of peach jam hardly made a dent in the crop.  So, I've been canning peach pie filling for the first time.

It's a labor-intensive process.  Many more steps than any thing I've ever canned.  The first couple of batches came out six quarts to the tablespoon so I didn't really get a taste of the finished product.  This last batch had about half a cup over six quarts so I've finally gotten a taste.  It's very good...will be even better when I'm not absolutely sick of looking at peaches...oh, say, February.

This is also my first canning project using the starch known as Clear Jel, or Thick Gel, as the brand I'm using is called.  That is some powerful stuff!  Think cornstarch on powerlifter steroids.  The first batch I made was so thick that I nearly broke a spoon stirring it.   I cut back on the amount by 1/2 cup in subsequent batches and that seems to be working much better.  I have a few other variations that I want to try as I work my way through mounds of peaches.  I'm going to try juicing some of the softer peaches, then use that juice instead of all lemon juice in the pie filling.  I should probably get around to making a pie out of this stuff, too, to make sure that it really does hold up through the baking process, too.  Pie anyone?!?

Random

A few things that have made me smile lately...

The results of giving these adorable artists a fifty cent package of pipe cleaners and a little instruction.  Love you guys!

The deck is beginning to look like a deck.  Nice, huh?  Makes the whole yard look different, I think.

This is yet another shot of my beloved 'Betty Boop' rose.  Only this time, it's taken with my new camera.  A 10 Megapixel Kodak with a 10x Optical zoom.  I think I'm going to like it!

Beautiful Lifou

Ben e-mailed yesterday to let us know that he has been assigned to Lifou, part of the Loyalty islands chain.  It's a relatively small, coral grown island less than a hundred miles from the coast of Nouvelle Caledonie.  It's so beautiful, isn't it?!?  In fact, I was looking through the photos that Ben and I had downloaded before he left.  Almost all the really beautiful beach and grass hut shots that we'd downloaded are actually of Lifou.  *sighs*  May his mission be as fruitful as his island is beautiful.