Came home from shopping yesterday with:
a 5# bag of lemons to dehydrate
20# of broccoli crowns to dehydrate
10# of mushrooms to dehydrate
25# of pork picnic cushion meat for canning
Last night I was able to cut up 2 trays' worth of the broccoli, and 3 trays' worth of my miniature bell peppers for the dehydrator, plus one tray of onions-- the last of the 50# bag from last week (that made nearly 2 gallons when dehydrated).
This morning I turned the trays, and added 1 tray of sliced lemons. The last of my bell peppers are quartered and ready for seeding and placing on trays; that will fill up the dehydrator until later today when I figure the stuff I put in last night will be done. Then I can get on with the broccoli and mushrooms.
Then I have to cut up the pork and set it up for a long slow roasting in the oven before it gets canned with a nice spicy barbecue sauce.
Since I was gone most of yesterday, the kitchen didn't get cleaned up. I've got a promise from the guys that they will take care of dishes for me so that I can concentrate on all this food prep. I really want to keep up the clean kitchen I've been enjoying lately!
It's raining pretty hard today, so I won't be able to work outside. I need to finish planting my garlic, especially since the weatherman is using the "S" word for this weekend, but the rain hasn't been helpful.
I think I'll make some Rhode Island clam chowder today, we've decided we like it much better than either Manhattan or New England style. I've got enough clams and juice to make a nice big batch so I should be able to can some leftovers.
Hubby had a doctor's appointment yesterday and we have bad news and good news. The bad news is that one of the anchors for the ligaments came loose. He was given a choice of going through the surgery again and starting all over with the healing process (with no guarantees that it wouldn't happen again) or just going through physical therapy and trying to maximize what flexibility and strength he can in that wrist. The chances are good he will eventually get arthritis in that wrist and need surgery to fuse the bones together-- but considering that he has flat feet with neuropathy, bad knees, bad back, gout... arthritis just sort of sounds like a burp in the general run of things.
So the good news is... he can go back to work! He has a 10# weight restriction on his right arm, but he and his boss figured out some workarounds for the more difficult parts of his job. He starts Monday. I know he is really relieved-- for a while he thought he might not be able to work again, and the stress was getting to him. He even still has some sick leave and vacation time left- the benefit of not taking sick leave for 12 years...