Britesea - Living the good life in rural Oregon

[Britesea]

I canned up 9 quarts of nectarines and 2 quarts of green applesauce yesterday, plus 3 quarts of water to fill out the canner, yesterday. This morning, we had sourdough pancakes topped with some of the applesauce, and a couple strips of bacon... YUM! I think I'm gonna have to look into tattler lids though-- regular canning lids are $2 a dozen here (Dollar Tree didn't carry them)

Then I was going to make some beef and bean burritos but I was out of taco seasoning for the beef. Looked it up and found a recipe for homemade taco seasoning and I had all the ingredients, so I did that, and cooked up the beef. Went to the refrigerator to pull out the open can of refried beans that I knew was in there, only to find it had gone bad So, I looked for an easy refried beans recipe and found something I'm trying now-- cooking the beans with onion, jalapeno, cumin, garlic salt and pepper in the crockpot for 8 hours, then mashing it up without frying.

Tonight's menu is going to be baked cod, freshly made salsa (gotta get started on that now!) with couscous and spinach salad. I'm debating about lemon mousse for dessert.

We went over to look at the storage shed today. It looks like it was made to last till the Second Coming. Our friends said the contractor that's going to work on their new manufactured home (which is why the shed needs to be moved) said he thought it could be moved for about $200. They are willing to go halves on the cost in order to get it moved, which sounds good to me! It will still be cheaper than buying one, and probably cheaper and easier than building one.

Well-- better go start on the salsa.

 

[Marianne]

Nectarines... yum. I grew up in Denver with good ol' Colorado peach trees in the back yard. I really miss that here in Kansas.

 

[Britesea]

Hi Marianne

My salsa turned out GREAT! But didn't have the energy to make dessert:/

I remember when I was a kid we had 2 peach trees in the back yard. But since my mom never bothered to keep them picked, the backyard was a war zone of drunken wasps. I think it traumatized me-- to this day I have no desire to grow peaches, lol

 

[Marianne]

Wow, that would do it for me, too! My mom canned a lot of the peaches. One year she canned 68 qts from one tree, 49 qts from the other. And of course, 3 kids and a dog were eating all they could reach (mostly me and the dog).

I've learned that out here you might as well grow what everyone else grows as nothing else will perform. I bought a peach tree and in 5 years, I've only gotten 4 little apricot sized peaches. I finally planted some pits that someone gave me - she called them Harvest Peaches. They were pretty decent tasting, although very small peaches. Her trees were started by pits from someone else, so I should get the same fruit. From the 8 pits that sprouted, I have three 'trees'. The wind snapped the other ones off pretty early, dang it. It will be a few years yet before they're old enough to bear, but I have high hopes that I'll get something - some years. :/

I'm glad you found the taco seasoning recipe! I have been making my own for a year or two now. I found one that was good, all I added was some salt to the recipe. Have you tried the cream of _____ soup mix? Just a few basic ingredients and then you can mix up whatever kind of cream of soup you need for recipes. Here's what I use:
http://busycooks.about.com/od/homemademixes/r/creamsoupmix.htm

 

[rathbone]

You are making me hungry reading all that. I thought I would share our bean recipe - just in case you are interested. My husband is Mexican...as in... from Mexico so these are the authentic ones. You will never be able to stomach a can of beans again. Okay get ready cause this gets complicated.

Clean and wash the beans and put them to soak.
Rinse them and cover with water and put on to boil.
Add salt (the amount you think appropriate) and about 4 pieces of garlic (I like a lot more garlic than that).
Boil until beans are quite soft.
Using a bean masher, mash just a bit of the beans and cook about 15 more minutes.
This is the basic recipe for beans. You mashing a bit of them makes them give a gravy type consistency to the water.

If you want refried beans -
Heat 2 - 3 T oil in a frypan (we use olive oil in place of lard - but lard is the flavor of choice if you are not worried about cholesterol)
pour in a couple of cups of beans with some liquid.
mash them with the bean masher (potato masher)
cook about 5 minutes.
If they are too dry - add in a bit of your bean broth.

Okay I lied - there is nothing complicated about making beans. I find that most northeners associate the flavors of cumin and chile powder with Mexican food. I think a lot of people think they have to add a lot of stuff to make really good beans and the truth is - these simple beans are crazy kind of delicious. Try them. I think you will like them.

 

[Britesea]

Rathbone, that kind of simple recipe really brings out the flavor of the beans themselves. I do something similar a lot of times, especially for black beans or borlattis that have a lot of flavor. A favorite side dish around here is to cook garbanzos, then saute them with garlic and olive oil for about 10 minutes till they begin to brown, then add a splash of lemon juice and some fresh chopped parsley - YUM!

Marianne, Thanks for the link for the cream soup! I want to make my own cream of mushroom soup I found a recipe for a clone of the Lipton Onion Soup mix too - much more economical than buying it: Yield= 1 envelope 8 teaspoons instant minced onion 1 teaspoon onion powder 4 teaspoons beef bouillon 1/4 teaspoon celery salt

Going to make the beef and bean burritos today, and more calzones for hubby's lunches. This time I think the mixture will be Jamaican meat pies: http://eatjamaican.com/recipes/beefpatty-recipe.html only I will use a yeast leavened dough instead a short crust, and I don't have any scotch bonnet peppers so I'll use my jalapeno.

This morning I found baby brussels sprouts starting to grow along the stems, and a cauliflower about 3" across YAY, and more aphids I will try a lemon spray this time- it's supposed to not only get rid of the aphids, but chase off the ants that are bringing them to my plants, without harming the beneficials. I also found some aphids on the plum tree- spraying will be hard there because the leaves are all crumpled and curled around the aphids. Maybe I should break down and buy some ladybird beetles. Is it too late for them to lay eggs before winter? I haven't seen very many in my yard.

 

[rathbone]

I am definitely trying your garbanzo recipe. Sounds simple, healthy and delish! And now I am off to check out your link on the jamaican meat pies.

 

[calendula]

Lipton Onion Soup mix too - much more economical than buying it: Yield= 1 envelope 8 teaspoons instant minced onion 1 teaspoon onion powder 4 teaspoons beef bouillon 1/4 teaspoon celery salt

I'm going to try this. I love onion soup on a crockpot roast! We are going to have a ton of onions from the garden this year, so I will try dehydrating them to make my own minced onion and onion powder.

 

[Britesea]

I just spoke with a woman that lives nearby that has a Saanen and wants to sell milk... but she's talking $6 a gallon. Is that normal? She also has some pygmy Boer wethers that are ready for butchering... I don't know how much she wants for them, but I was wondering if anyone could give me some idea of how big they get?

 

[Marianne]

I know nothing about the goats, but many on here do. You might have to make a separate post to get your answers. $6 a gallon for milk sounds high!! But it's been years since I bought any.

Thanks gals, for the refried bean info and onion soup recipe! Huh, celery salt, never would have guessed that! I have made beans in the slow cooker with onion and garlic, but always was scratching my head on the frying part of it. I googled it once, got tons of conflicting information, so this looks really easy peasy.

Calendula, make sure you do the dehydrating outside or your house will be ...past aromatic.