saturday is the new sunday...

or at least it is around here!
friday was bernie's saturday, he took me to the doctor for my eyes
the doctor said i am doing better- but i have to continue the drops for a few more weeks if not months
and it's slow
really slow
right now they are killing me, hot, tired....... and painful
a few hours sleep will help too
i renewed the drops but they won't have them at the pharmacy until monday i was told.... i hope i can hold out that long

i cleaned the woodstove while it was HOT....i had to, it had a 4'' coal bed in it and this stove hates a coal bed like that, it won't heat with that large a coal bed.......
so i left the door unlatched, and burnt down the coals... every 1/2 shifting out the hot coal from the ash and dumping the ash in the ash bucket.

we went to town, (this was today but when you read this...it will be yesterday)
we got a LOT of errands done, cat food, quail food, mailers for the prints of my work, hit a sale at the grocery and stocked the pantry on stuff we'd run down on.
i have to mail out some prints this week.....

now.....shhhhh don't tell bernie but i am probably getting another duck....a girl duck.... i need the eggs.....
this one is technically a grand duck of mine!
just what we need right?
but i'll be freezing duck eggs from her -it's not totally decided yet but it's most likely
now the only errands we didn't get done was the post office, and i forgot eggs...... all this poultry and i am buying eggs?????????? oye

this coming week i am hoping to start mailing stuff out..... i have a few things that were supposed to be mailed two months ago but then we had the test of the emergency preparedness system....
which means NON ESSENTIAL stuff.......stopped dead.

btw, i can recommend an occasional test of your emergency systems, prior to maybe having to deal with things like no electric for a week.....or no money coming in...
i did discover that i needed to put away gift cards to grocery and other stores, that don't expire and have no administration fees... so the art supply store and some grocery stores have cards like that..
i haven't looked into amazon or home depot or even the pet store but i think it's a good thing to do

ok i'm going to run now.....i may update this if i get time to paint
if not well you'll have to wait until YOUR sunday (which is our new monday)

take good care

and the day after

i hope you all have had a wonderful holiday, filled with memories and happiness.

we had a very brief and quiet holiday, bernie works nights so he got up at 1:30 in the afternoon, i didn't wake him earlier.
we had a nice meal, the ham i got the other day, brussels sprouts and roasted sweet potatoes
then we had tea and pfeffernusse cookies.

he had to leave at 5:30 so really he only had time to bring in wood....and relax a bit after dinner

now since this posts in the morning, my day after is going to be errands, post office, feed store, pet food store.
friday i have another eye doctor appointment, plus then some food shopping.
i am trying to get a handle on this new routine, so i can get back to painting
the painting that is currently on the board is the quail!
bernie and i aren't sure the quail are eating.....we put food in their bowl, and i moved the bowl to the back of the pen where they've been hanging out
if i don't see them eating tomorrow we'll move them back to the crate.....they seemed to do fine in there... so if that's what they prefer, that is what they will get.

luigi the baby buck hasn't been around, and i saw a small button buck on the side of the road the other day.......it maybe was him.
it's sad but it's life.
let's see........ oh i am going to be doing a bunch of freezer meals with ham (this is a big ham!) and then broth from the bone for beans ...ham broth makes a good base not only for beans but i also mix it half and half with chicken and make all sorts of mixed soups with it....
a potato or potato and leek soup in a ham broth is very good

i keep ham broth either frozen or i can it (pressure can the clear broth at 10-15 depending on your elevation, for 90 minutes for the quarts)

i hope those of you up north here are staying warm, it was BITTER cold this morning.
bernie called me from the parking lot of his job to tell me he was warming up the car to leave and that it was really cold.
since he put the storm in the one window i can't do myself (in the studio-he has trouble with it too but he's taller) the studio is staying much warmer for a longer time. i was able to sleep til midnight ......stoke the stove then sleep until 4am
i didn't sleep well without him there but i did get some light sleep

and i am so thankful that this year we aren't getting bernie ready to go over the road for almost three months.....he's grateful too.
anyway i hope you all had wonderful holidays.

vanilla extract DIY

i've been trying to rest my eyes today.
i got the drops and so far today have used them twice
i cleaned the woodstove, added some plastic to a window that i thought had a storm in it but didn't
got the studio/main house door covered in hardware cloth (and ditched the window screening which wasn't letting heat through)
cut the cat's claws
did paper work and research

went out with the left over seed from when roland was alive, and fed that to the ruffed grouse and the winter birds
let me tell you.......
this resting my eyes is a lot of work

ok another thing i did was make vanilla extract today.
i had found some vanilla beans hanging around in my pantry from two years ago (all safely vacuum sealed) and i found a bottle of cheapo vodka i had bought at the same time.....since we don't drink it wasn't even opened!
i was being very lazy so i just opened the vodka, poured a bit of it out into the other mason jar full of vanilla extract, and put all the whole beans into the vodka bottle......
capped the bottle and shook it up good then put it back where i found it! in six months it'll be extract

now to do it right .......i should have chopped the beans up before putting them in there, and down the road i most likely will remove the beans and do that, before putting them back into the vodka.....
the bottle was i think what is called a 'fifth' and i think i put in 18 or 24 beans......
you should shake it daily, and i might remember to do that
really it IS simple.. and we use it for baking
i have some that's over 2 years old and it's wonderful. since i heavy up on the beans my extracts are a very very VERY dark color..... which is great, and we use normal measures (ok so we don't actually measure, it's more like..... hmmmm that looks like enough) i figure about a teaspoon for whatever we use it in.
it keeps forever if you leave it in the dark in the closet. and overall it's so much cheaper then the stuff you get in the store.
i found my beans on ebay
i don't quite remember what i got or how much i paid for them but there you go

oh and bernie asked met to tell you how to make a tortilla pizza, as he loves them
so maybe tomorrow?

how to make stock, more pantry notes

here is a past post for you to laugh over, it's from when Thaddeaus Peabody was young (we all know and love the little devil cat from hell right?)
it's called 'are you sure you are a cat'

a bit more pantry notes:
essentials- things like baking soda and baking powder, salt, herb/spices, sugar, flour, various oils and flavorings, rice, pasta, cocoa, jello,  home canned pickles.....things like that
things we need every day, i try to always have a backup on the shelf. i occasionally do run out but it's pretty rare now.
i have a list for this too.
i also have a smallish cabinet for some of this
now if you have your list of meals, this list, and an idea of what you'd like put by, we can talk about what type of freezer containers for the meals, and jars for either the dried stuff and the home canned stuff.
i use a vacuum sealer, freezer containers, and currently for the milk i froze, empty spring water bottles. (those are for short term freezing of milk)

for the emergency pantry, i keep actual cooked meals in the freezer and home canned jars of foods such as stews, that really helped during the power outage we had with hurricane sandy. i was able to reheat food on the wood stove. *** i use the OLD corning ware that can go on the stovetop and in the oven, not the french white stuff that is not stove top safe

the turkey stock i froze the other day, is in quart round freezer containers, labeled with the month/year and the type stock 'turkey' ....
if you get into the habit of every time you make a chicken or a turkey, and you use the leftover carcass to make stock, you shouldn't ever have to worry about having stock in the freezer again.

*** a fast way to make stock- you can reroast the carcass or bones to make the stock a darker color, but i don't always do that...i do however scrap the 'fond' out of the bottom of the roasting pans, and i save ALL the leftover juices for the stock.

fill a stockpot with cold water, add the carcass or bones, and if you want to use them, vegetables such as onion or leek, carrot, garlic, celery, and possibly if you like the taste a parsnip.
(save the parsley and or dill for later on in the cooking process)
simmer for a few hours, adding water if you have to
if you do salt, (i don't usually) use kosher salt, as the taste is better i think.

don't be afraid to taste your stock, and also if you need to ....let it simmer down and concentrate it to save room.
when it's finished, strain out the bones, and the veggies.....
you can put it in the fridge overnight then remove any fat layer that's on the top, but i do keep some fat with the stock...... as my dad used to say, 'you need some of the fat' turns out he was right, as there are fat soluble vitamins in it!

stock in the freezer is something i've always done, i've also canned stock for the pantry
that is done in a pressure canner at 10# for my elevation, 15 minutes.

i am also hoping to get around to listing some of the books i love for canning, dehydrating, and putting food by.
plus maybe a list of some of the varieties of veggies i grow for freezing and canning...
if you are interested please let me know.

now the other thing i wanted to tell you folks, i am thinking of moving the blog to wordpress, i've been with blogger for about ten years now, and i am thinking that it's time to move on
i have over 1600 posts here, some useful, some funny, some just daily life, and a few vents on when stuff goes wrong.
right now i am extremely disappointed in google, and blogger so i am going to think seriously about this
if i move to wordpress, it would be a paid website hosting due to the sheer size of the this blog,
which means i would also have to really decide to actively make this a job. that is in addition to painting...... i think i could do both interchangeably
if you have any opinions on this let me know ok?

til next time

vi

painting update

here is a fast update on my nest painting... it's actually a lot further along though.
and i am already starting to look forward to the finish on this and starting the next one (6 seems to be my normal series, with the crows being an anomaly right now -- however i plan on doing series of 13 for calenders in the future)







to get back to discussing the stocking of a pantry, i would like some feedback from you folks, if this is at all helpful to you.
in the meantime, once you have a list of meals, also make a list (separate paper) of the things you use with them, such as ketchup, coffee, other condiments, you can even list things like napkins.

*** now i have found that almost everything goes on sale at least once a year, with the possible exception of the 'grain free' cat food that we feed the cats....... for you to save the most amount of money, you need to be able to stock enough to last you from one of the 'best price' sales to the next.....
for some things that is yearly but most stuff that is about six months. take butter, we tend to see it on sale here in may, and then again november. it's under 2.00 a pound on sale- so i tend to get at least enough to last me to the next big sale......and throw it in the freezer.  if you don't have a big freezer this won't work for you, but there is also a way to CAN butter..... just a thought***

when i decided to stock the pantry for a full year, i made a LOT of lists.
for a two week pantry it isn't too bad, the list of meals, then double or triple the ingredients, and pick them up. plan for the sale items that week for your meals
also keep buying water,....
i pick up things like batteries, periodically when there are sales, ditto on the light bulbs
i hit a great sale in september on pasta, that normally is about 1.50 a pound, i got it for 67cents a pound..i bought 15 pounds and i put it in mason jars. we eat about a pound for a supper and a lunch for two......that is going to last a bit added to what i already have on the shelf

i would also suggest strongly learning to can if you don't already.
now canning most fruits and tomato products involves a boiling water bath.. i used to use a 'canner' for this, now i use my big stockpot with the pasta insert! works great.

i would also like to suggest that you start either batch cooking, or double/triple your recipes. Storing the extra in the freezer.
when i worked outside the home, i cooked one saturday a month, we went food shopping friday night, and i cooked and put away raw meats in the freezer on saturday. now what works for me is batch cooking.
chicken parts on sale, i get 40 pounds and cook some into recipes and freeze some in marinades....
of course normally once a year i get 120# of boneless skinless chicken breasts (when they are under 1.80 a pound) and i slice them, cube them, bread some (link to my 'bread coating for chicken, pork, etc), and freeze some in marinades.

now a word about where to store everything..... i have a very small house, without closets, and the kitchen is a nightmare-(it's a glorified hallway with four doorways, all of which are essential, very little wall space, too narrow for an real island, and NO COUNTER TOPS- and due to a new faucet, terrible water pressure) ... we also have a damp basement with a partial dirt floor .... the joys of an old house,.... so storing the pantry is in several locations.... even in the damp basement, which doubles as night and winter quarters for the poultry, and a cold cellar for the potatoes. (mom was right, there always is a silver lining if you look hard enough)

for me the challenge to be ready for emergencies and to find new and better ways to save money is not only compelling but it's bailed us out on more then one occasion, so i wish that for you as well.
during hurricane sandy we were just slightly uncomfortable. the biggest thing was no running water.
during times of financial difficulty this made the difference in our surviving or starving.
and during better times, we were able to save some money towards retirement.

now if you want me to continue this as a sort of formal series here, please let me know
for us ..... living this way is a way of life.
without even thinking about it, i get ready for each season.
i even pick the seeds for the garden by what keeps the best for drying, freezing and canning.
(which can be a whole other series)

in the meantime
my turkey stock for the other day is in the freezer, part of the ongoing pantry.

painting updates, pantry notes *** pretty long pt 1 of many

i was up most of the night painting, i think it's starting to come along now. i am starting to like what i see here. however i will be cautious with my optimism, as i don't want to become so enraptured with this painting that i don't see if i make a mistake. it's good to keep a critical eye on your work. 

this particular series will be larger in size then my original ones, and i think more intricate, reflective of where i am in my life now.

i do like the 'peeking into' aspect of this painting, a glimpse into a sheltered and secret world. 

some of my favorite things are in this painting, maple leaves, wild berries, the nest and eggs. 

this painting was extremely soft starting out, and still is mostly, but i think things are starting to sharpen up a bit, which they needed to.

now onto another thing that i was asked about recently...

starting and maintaining a home pantry without making yourself nuts. yes it can be a huge job but it's easy one step at a time.

our forefathers (really our foreMOTHERS) marked the rhythm of the seasons of an agricultural based year, taking things in plentiful and season and preserving them for times of want and winter.

for us, it is more a matter of making sure that if there is a hardship, such as illness or job loss...

or a storm, or money is tight, we can survive. despite the supermarkets all around us full of food and goods, sometimes they are beyond our grasp.

so i am going to try to help you put a pantry together if you don't have one, increase your pantry if you do have one, and try to help you save some money while you are doing it.

***please note that when i refer to our pantry it includes batch cooking freezer meals, dried foods, canned foods and homemade 'tv dinners'' part of our pantry, as during hurricane sandy (no running water and no electricity for over a week and then no hot water for another 2 weeks) the food i had already cooked ahead was what we reheated on the woodstove.  it also includes extra amounts of things like coffee, tea, sugar, lightbulbs, toilet paper..... 

first you need a plan. 

and a notebook (i use a three ring binder- and i get a ream of prepunched holed paper for it)

ok, what do you eat during the week (please don't say 'take out every night'..or we will have to talk)

let's just say an average week

make a list of your suppers

here's mine for cold week in fall: 

sunday- pasta and sauce (salad)

monday- meatloaf, baked potato, carrots (gravy optional)

tuesday- chicken stir fry with mixed veggies, brown rice

wednesday- porkchops in apple cider with homemade mac/cheese and home canned cole slaw (yes it stayed crisp
thursday- chicken soup with no knead bread

friday- homemade pizza

saturday- beef stew

summers are in a way, easier as we eat a lot of salads out of the garden, but we'll just do this normal type week.

what else does your family eat?

make a short list of favorite main dish meals

i have a list of about 60 different main dishes put away.......

now you know that you have to eat daily,

so decide for now, how many days or weeks you would like to have stocked for?

***i started out when we were first married (37 years ago) stocking monthly, we shopped once a month, i spend saturday cooking and then we ate for the month without worry....just picking up milk and maybe eggs or bread and some fresh veggies weekly (we lived in an apartment at that time and i worked full time outside of the house)

when we moved here, we started to stock up for 3 months at a time, but soon graduated to 6 months at a time....and finally to a year at a time.

let's say you want to stock for two weeks, 

you know you need 14 meals, but say your family LOVES homemade pizza and you have that every friday night....ok so that really is only 13 meals (cause one is doubled)

and say you make a big roast on a sunday, then cut it up for stew, and the leftover stew is now going into a pot pie, ...hmmmmm see what i mean? (hint, cut the roast into stew chunks before you put it away on sunday, and it's ready to go for a fast stew during the week.)

now i know at this point in the process, i was sitting there overwhelmed and wondering how i was going to do this, where i was going to put everything, afford everything, .....and just remember everything. if you're at that point right now, just remember, i too was there, we were on a very tight budget, we have an extremely tiny house, no closets, a damp basement, a total wreck of a kitchen without kitchen counters, and i was scared, so if i can do this YOU can do this, 

ok so we have a sample week of supper menus, and a list of other meals your family likes

plus an idea of how many weeks (2) you want to try and stock for.

now we do some math,  first off you take the meals you know you will repeat ......so that would be say two meals of  homemade pizza

and you are going to make a roast either of beef or chicken or even turkey, and cut that up for a stew, and the pot pie.

now you just have to fill in the others (fill in your own meals ok-i'm working on a pdf for you to download)

1. roast
2. stew and/or potpie
3. chicken stir fry 
4. meatloaf
5. pizza
6. pizza
7. pork chops
8. pasta
9. soup and sandwitch
10. baked chicken
11. tuna casserole
12. tilapia fillets with parmesan coating
13. enchiladas
14. chili

ok so there is about a two week batch of meals...just supper at this point, cause lunches are normally leftovers (so i just make extras- enough for a meal or two for the freezer and a bit leftover for lunch the next day)

now we are going to break it down into manageable units ( which is going to start tomorrow as i have been working all day and my eyes are exhausted!)

please leave any questions you may have in the comments and we'll work them out as we go along

where in we discuss dehydration of vegetables 101

*** edited to add some links to official dehydration sites at the bottom of this post

as some of you folks may remember, i keep a very large pantry.
i try to make sure that we have enough of everything to last us, in case of emergencies

storms
power outages
shortages (remember the rice shortage?)
financial set backs
illness

i try to keep three methods of food storage.

frozen
canned
dried

my friend rho asked me to do a post about dehydrated foods....
so i am going to start talking about that today (which is thursday for you folks)

first off i want to tell you, drying food at home is not hard,
with some minimal care,
it lasts a very long time, properly stored,
and it's wonderful for emergencies.
or because you just can't bear to scrub, peel and slice the carrots for the stew tonight cause you are so very tired from working all day

first off there are plenty of books on this (we'll get to the book list in another post- if i forget, you remind me)

so we'll start with the real basics, the dehydrator
i have several (yes i know)
i have two excaliburs (one 9 tray and one 5) and an american harvest with something like 11 trays.
i like all of them
and sometimes ALL of them are in use at the same time!

some of the things i dry the most?
carrots
broccoli
sweet peppers
tomatoes
ONIONS (you haven't lived until you've eaten dried vidalia onions-dry them OUTSIDE-you will thank me for that one)
cabbage
herbs
oranges
lemons
limes
grapefruit
zucchini
eggplant
peaches
sliced mushrooms
asparagus
celery


(and occasionally potatoes but you have to really watch potatoes, they mold FAST)

so let's start with something very easy.
onions! in spite of the smell, and i am very very serious about drying them OUTSIDE of your living area, they will get to you if not........
onions are great to dry
i sliced them up in the food processor one year and it was even easier to do
i like them about 1/8 thick
spread them in one layer on the trays, and depending on weather, i start at about 5 hours, then flip them until they are almost crisp. these things are fantastic as a snack btw.

now mine changed color a bit but that was ok too
we also grind them for onion powder as we need them

when they are totally dry, i put them in mason jars with a 'dry can' seal i use a seal-a-meal jar sealer and a used but washed canning lid and ring
label (although onions are pretty obvious.....citrus not so much so)
i think 50 # of vidalia dried down to 4 quarts or maybe 5, i wasn't able to do them this year or last so i can't quite remember how many, but i know that i STILL have them on the shelf
keep them stored in a cool, dark, DRY place (in moist climates, either use them food grade 'stay dry' packs or maybe try the heat sealing mylar bags or both--)

i will tell you also that i hooked more people on drying food by letting them have some of my dried vidalia onions....they are like fantastic chips- seriously, they are better then onion flavored potato chips!

i basically dry citrus the same way, just sliced and dried......USE ORGANIC citrus if you are going to do that ok? and remember to label the jars...... next time lemons and limes are on sale.... pick them up and dry them
i dry these guys crisp, and i do use them often
the oranges in either blueberry orange compot or my cranberry orange sauce at the holidays
sometimes i grind up the citrus slices and throw that into cookie dough......

now some things need to be blanched briefly before drying, i usually blanch broccoli and then slice it thin and dry it- not so much things like peppers or tomatoes, or zucchinis etc.

i cut the veggies uniformly, and i try to cut them into pieces that are pretty easy to deal with, i like to dice peppers and eggplant
i slice carrots and zucchini into 1/8'' slices
i grow special tomatoes sometimes for sun drying but i dry them in the dehydrator (they sometimes turn very dark but that's ok, i don't use sulfur or anything to preserve color)


use? well....... i mostly use them in soups or stews (either soak in liquid prior or just throw them in about 1/2 or so before you're going to eat )
and in sauces- also in dips with sour cream
i like the broccoli in cream of broccoli cheddar soup

but i am going to tell you a HUGE secret.......shhhhhh don't tell bernie, and DO NOT TELL YOUR KIDS
i grind my dried veggies up and put them into things like stuffing for poultry, or into a casserole sauce,
or into meatballs, meatloaf...... hahahaha
what they don't know is wonderful for them

ok, so that's your intro to dehydrating veggies and fruits
i know it's basic but really it's not hard

ask me questions in the comments and we will continue this for a few days if you find it interesting and useful...

http://www.clemson.edu/sustainableag/IP147_food_dehydration.pdf

http://msuextension.org/publications/HomeHealthandFamily/MT200907HR.pdf

http://nchfp.uga.edu/