Canning Some Make-Do Supplies

 Hello Friends; I hope and pray you are all stating safe & well. 

My hubs stopped by our semi local CVS pharmacy to pick up some meds a couple weeks back and came across 4-packs of Charmin toilet paper for.....hold on to you knickers.....$10.49!!! 

Good thing we've been stocked up on toilet paper here at the cabin for years. When ever we buy a different brand and don't really care for it, it goes into a plastic storage container with a lid and into the basement.

Needing to clean out the pantry of dried bread heels, I decided to make bread crumbs. I won't have to buy regular bread crumbs from the store for years.

Then I noticed we were out of brown sugar, so I whipped of a batch.

bread crumbs (left) & brown sugar (right)

For the bread crumbs I break the slice apart and put into the food processor and pulse until fine crumbs. I store in mason jars and vacuum seal until needed. My user jar just has a plastic lid. This will make three 1/2 gallon jars stored on the pantry shelf. You can also make the bread crumbs by using a plastic bag or zip-loc and a mallet or rolling pin.

The brown sugar is made using my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, but you can use any stand or handheld mixer you have. I use setting 1 or 2 and my wire whip attachment.

Put sugar into bowl and add molasses while it is running 1 T. at a time.

4 - 6 cups of white sugar and 1 T. Molasses per cup of sugar then stop, taste, and add more molasses until you get the flavor you want.

This should be stored in an air tight container and will stay soft for 3-6 months.

I keep a using jar and vacuum seal the rest. If it does start to harden up just add a slice of bread or a few crackers and it will soften up in a day or two.

I have sliced apples with cinnamon & sugar in the dehydrator. Better to use it up rather than throw it out.

Take Care Everyone

Hugs, Sandy

A Little Canning

It was cold this weekend so the hubs and I did a bit of canning to stock the shelves and clean out the freezer.

First I made some homemade bread crumbs. Both of us dislike the heels of bread so I dried them and stored them until I had a good supply then I put them in the food processor and pulsed until I got the crumb size I wanted then vacuum sealed them with my Food Saver and the regular mouth jar sealer attachment.

Two Quarts of Bread Crumbs, cost $0 since they would have been thrown out or given to the birds. 

I never bought bread crumbs from the store for recipes and would have to improvise by toasting bread now I always have them on hand.

Next I made Brown Sugar.

Just 5 cups of white sugar and Molasses to taste. Into the Kitchen Aid it goes and just let it go adding molasses until well mixed. Takes about 15 to 20 minutes and your done. More cost effective than the store especially if you already buy your sugar by the 25 pound bag.  

 I store mine in a vintage Ball canning jar.

We finished the evening by getting all the frozen tomatoes we had juiced in 2016, 5 gallon zip locks worth, along with onion, bell pepper and celery plus two #10 cans of tomato sauce and one #10 can of tomato paste and made ......

21 quarts of Spaghetti Sauce. In our opinion, so much better than store bought.

The Bell Pepper, Tomatoes, Parsley and Oregano we used all came from our garden, I'll have to start more herbs this year to keep up our supply.

That's it for now, so until next post .......

Take Care Everyone

Hugs, Sandy

Making Homemade Brown Sugar

I wanted to make my Brown Sugar Honey Mustard marinade/glaze for salmon a few day back but when I went to the pantry I was out of brown sugar. 

I didn't want to have to wait for the hubs to pick some up on his way home from work and couldn't drive to the store 10 miles away, still waiting on a part for the Jeep.

So what was I to do? I made my own and it tastes just as good if not better than store bought and is much cheaper.

 Homemade Brown Sugar

 

Looks yummy doesn't it, and it's sooooo easy. 

 All you need is regular granulated sugar and molasses. 

I put 2 cups of sugar into my Kitchen-Ade with the wire whip attachment turned it on to about a 2 - 4 setting and started to drizzle in the molasses a teaspoon at a time until I got the color and flavor I wanted. It only took about 10 minutes total. The dark bits are molasses and can be mashed in with a spoon and mixed more so they are absorbed better, but I personally like the rustic look of it.

You can use a hand mixer or a food processor if that's what you have, the results will be the same, yummy brown sugar for less than store bought. And just like store bought you need to keep this in an airtight container to keep it soft.

Brown Sugar Honey Mustard Marinade

1 T. packed Brown Sugar

1 T. Butter - melted

1 T. Olive oil (vegetable oil works to)

1 T. Honey

1 T. Soy Sauce

1 T. Dijon Mustard

1 clove garlic - minced

2 t. toasted Sesame Seeds

 

In a small bowl mix everything together well except the Sesame Seeds.

Pour marinade over the salmon cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes but no longer than 1 hour.  

Remove from the fridge, uncover and broil with the salmon 4 to 6 inches away from the heat for 15 to 20 minutes brushing with excess marinade a couple of times. Remove from broiler sprinkle with the toasted Sesame Seeds and serve. Makes enough for 1 pound of salmon.  

Hope you try these out sometime there just so yummy.

Thanks for stopping by the cabin.

Take Care Everyone & Happy Fall

Hugs, Sandy