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

Did Some Canning

Added to my pantry by doing some canning yesterday. 

Picked up a couple of bags of peeled garlic at Costco last month and a bag of baby carrots and didn't want them to go bad, so this is the result.

12 Half Pints of Pickled Garlic.

7 Pints of Pickled Baby Carrots & Garlic Mix.

 

5 Pints of Pickled Garlic.

Pickled Garlic

(for 12 half pints)

2 1/4 c. Vinegar

2 1/4 c. Water

1/4 c. pickling salt

1 T. Pickling Spice

 

1 inch head space. Water bath for 10 min.

You can add 1 t. red pepper flakes for a spicier flavor.

 

For 6 pints increase vinegar & water to 2 3/4 c. each 

and water bath for 15 min.

 

I would like to try the Bread & Butter pickle mix & the Kosher Pickle mix at some point but only for a couple of jars to see if I like it.  

 

That's all for this post, so until next time....

 

Take Care, Stay Safe & Be Well

Hugs, Sandy 

A Bit More Canning

Got to stock my pantry shelves with a bit more home made goodness on Sunday.

I discovered last month that I love Pickled Garlic and Pickled Carrots, couldn't find either one in Costco or Walmart, just mixes that also came with pickle chips. So what's a girl to do when she already has over 30 quarts of different pickles in the basement pantry ? She makes the yummyness herself, that's what she does.

7 Pints of Pickled Carrots & Garlic with 7 half pints of Pickled Garlic

Now I just have to have patients and wait a couple of months for them to cure up before I start snacking.

The Garlic is so good for the immune system and your heart, so a win win situation, health benefits and just plain yummy.

If you like to can as well, here's the recipe ....

Pickled Garlic
2 1/4 cups Vinegar
2 1/4 cups Water
1/4 cup Canning Salt
1 Tablespoon Pickling Spice (can sub Red Pepper Flakes for Spicy)
2 pounds Peeled Garlic (bought a 3 pound bag at Costco)

Mix vinegar, water, canning salt, and pickling spice in sauce pan and heat on medium heat until simmering, stir until salt is melted.
Wash garlic before packing jars.
Pack hot half pint jars with garlic and add pickling liquid to 1 inch head-space.
Clean rims of jars and top with hot lids, screw on rings until finger tight and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. After turning off heat let jars sit for five minutes before removing from water bath.
Let jars set for 12 hours before testing seal.

For the pints of carrots & garlic I upped the vinegar and water to 2 3/4 cups each and mixed about 2-3 pounds of carrots with the extra pound of garlic in a colander and packed jars from there. I didn't count or weigh just grabbed handfuls and added to jars. I processed in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes and let sit for 5 minutes.

Well that's it for today, so until next post .......

Take Care Everyone
Hugs, Sandy

Making A New Favorite Snack

Two weeks back I found out that I LOVE Hummus. 

We were in Costco and they had the Sabra Organic Hummus with Red Peppers at a taste booth or traffic congester as I like to call them, so I thought what the heck might as well try something new. I LOVED it!!!!, so I bought the tub of hummus and had it gone in the first week : (

Didn't want to continue to pay almost $10 for a snack that would only last a week, so I went on the internet and found recipes for the yummy treat then proceeded to make my own using the basics of different recipes as my template to come up with my own from what I had on hand.

Homemade Garlic Hummus

   

2 - 15.5 ounce cans Garbanzo Beans - drained and skins left on

2 T. Lemon Juice - I used bottled

1 to 2 T. Garlic - I used pre-minced

4 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 t. Kosher Salt

1 t. ground Cumin

1/2 to 1 t. Paprika

1/2 t. Onion Powder

1/4 c. Red Bell Pepper - chopped

2 to 3 T. Water

I put the Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas) into the food processor and pulsed them around until they were coarse ground then I added everything except the peppers and water and processed until smooth, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides of the bowl. 

Then add the water a little at a time until you get the thickness that you want, then add the peppers and process to mix them in, next time I will stir them in by hand so I end up with little pepper chunks instead of the barely there that I got from processing. 

I added a little Paprika and a swirl of olive oil on top for looks.

Most of the recipes called for Tahini, but I didn't have any or enough Sesame Seed to make my own, but it was an optional ingredient so I didn't worry about it.

It's really good with Wheat Thins or baby Carrots, I didn't like it with Triscuits.

If you like Hummus, give making your own a try, it's really yummy and quick.

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

Four Bean Salad Recipe

I was asked if I would post the recipe for the Four Bean Salad, so here it is....

Four Bean Salad

 2 - 15.25 oz. cans Kidney Beans (drained)

2 - 14.5 oz. cans Cut Green Beans (drained)

2 - 14.5 oz. cans Wax Beans (drained)

2 - 15.5 oz. cans Garbanzo Beans (drained)

1 cup Red or Sweet Onion (chopped)

2 Bell Peppers any color (chopped)

2 cups Celery (sliced)

3 cups white sugar

3 cups white vinegar

3 cups water

(You can adjust the sugar and vinegar to suite your taste.)

Mix sugar, vinegar and water in a large stock pot until sugar is dissolved. Add beans and veggies and heat on medium for about 15 minutes. Fill clean hot mason jars 3/4 full of beans then ladle cooking juice into jars leaving one (1) inch of head space. Wipe rims of jars and attach heated lids then rings. Put into boiling water bath canner and process for 30 minutes for quart jars. 

This made 5 quarts with one being a bit shy on beans.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is my hubs recipe that he came up with after looking at lots of other recipes. It is milder and I think a bit sweeter than most of the Four Bean Salads that you find in the store.

This is a quick to make recipe that we did to see if we liked it, for a larger batch we would use dried kidney beans and garbanzo beans that we would cook before canning and fresh or frozen green beans and wax beans, if you can find the wax beans like that, otherwise you have to used canned. It is much more economical that way.

(For those that don't know, a Wax Bean looks just like a Yellow Green Bean.)

 

If you do not can foods you can mix all of the above ingredients in a large bowl and put in the refrigerator, covered for 24 hours before eating so the flavors have time to mix. It will keep in the fridge for about one to two weeks depending on your fridge's temp. 

Hope you enjoy the recipe.

Take Care Everyone

Hugs, Sandy