Tibbitts and Bibbitts and Solomon Sly

I figured if I kept a record here of the canning I did this year, next year I won't have to go rifling through my recipe cupboard looking for the old envelope with the recipe I want on it! This is the first time I've made Mom's relish, but here it is:

Mom's Cucumber Relish

(1) 8 large cucumbers (12 cups chopped??)
12 onions (mom uses less; I think I used 11 this time, 'cause that's what I had)
2 green peppers
2 red peppers (I used 2 yellow, an orange and a red pepper)

1/2 c. salt

(3) 5 c. vinegar
6 c. sugar (I scooped about 3/4 of a cup for ea. 'cup')
1 Tbsp mustard seed
1 Tbsp celery seed (didn't have!)


(2) 1 Tbsp turmeric
3 Tbsp dry mustard
3/4 c. flour

- Cut off ends of cucs.
- Put (1) through chopper (I used the chopper blade on my food processor. If I didn't overfill the bowl it worked best.)
- Sprinkle with salt. Add 5 cups of water.
Let stand 1 hour. Drain well.

Mix (2) with a little vinegar.
Heat (3). Add (2) and cook until smooth.
Add veggies and cook 20 min. Put in hot sterilized jars and process.

Makes about 10 pints.

Each Peach Pear Plum

OK, so I just made a batch of "Summer Salsa" from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. It said I'd get six 500mL jars (pints) but I ONLY GOT 4! I feel cheated, somehow, although it is very tasty. I even carefully followed quantities (much more carefully than usual, anyway). Instead of 3-4 jalapeno peppers I used one chinese five pepper (it was purple), and I don't think I used a full 1/2 cup of honey, but that's not 2 pints worth of salsa! Anyway, here's the recipe:

Summer Salsa

4 cups chopped cored peeled tomatoes (drained)
2 cups chopped pitted peeled peaches
2 cups chopped cored peeled pears
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped (I used 3 from our CSA b/c they were small)
1 cup chopped red onion (I used white)
3-4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped (as mentioned above, I used one pepper, but b/c it was rather small - approx 1/2 the size of a jalapeno - I used the whole thing, seeds and all.)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup liquid honey (I used 2 soup-spoonfuls)
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon (didn't have - used zest from one orange and a squirt of lemon juice)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh mint

1. Prep canner, jars and lids.
2. In lg pot, combine tomatoes, peaches, pears, red pepper, onion and hot peppers. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, stirring constantly (or frequently ;) Add cilantro, honey, lemon zest and juice, vinegar and mint. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring often, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
3. Ladle hot salsa into hot jars, leaving 1 cm (1/2 in) headspace. ...
Process for 20 min (pint size); 15 min for 250mL jars.

Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake

So the peach galette was delicious! I wanted to take a picture, but dh had the camera on their canoe trip. I also made a batch of spiced peach preserves which are quite yummy. The kids like a tsp mixed into some plain yogurt. I think it will be good on waffles too (or toast!)

A Dainty Dish

To continue the food theme (since I've done nothing but eat ever since May ;)
this is what I've been up to in the kitchen lately:

First, or rather, most recently, is the "meal" that Ev & I just enjoyed together (Dh has the eldest 2 camping this weekend). It was a case of wanting something good to eat, but quickly and without much effort. (I realize that that could describe most nights, but somehow it's different when there are only 2 of you instead of 5-6). Looking for inspiration I ventured down to the basement to mine our deep freeze. Thus, our "dinner" consisted of: asian steam buns (left over from when the girls from Taiwan were staying with us earlier this summer), swiss chard from our CSA (frozen a couple of weeks ago), and (drum roll, please!) cheese-ball omelette, made with some left-over cheese ball sent home with us from my cousin's wedding. (I really wasn't sure what we were going to do with half a large cheese ball, but this was quite tasty.)

And, still to come, fresh peach galette. (OK, I realize that to some this might not qualify as "fast and easy", but you need to understand that I came home from the market today with 7 litres of seconds (peaches) today - because the 1/2 bushel that I received from a friend yesterday is obviously not enough - and there was a ball of leftover pastry sitting in the fridge from when dh baked me a pie. So, it was pretty quick and easy.)

Over the moon

I'm tired, but content.
I've got great kids, a wonderful husband, good food to eat and a book to keep me up late at night. What more could a gal want?

Recent reads include:
Evelina, by Fanny Burney (I think this is one of my favourite novels.)
Cecelia, also by F. Burney (You know how sometimes you get to the end of a great book and wish it would continue? Well this is what it would be like if it did. It continues. And continues. For almost 1000 pages. Took me almost a week to get through!)
The Paradox of Choice, by Barry Schwartz. Interesting. I'm still only 1/2 way through, but already I can see the wisdom of being satisfied with "good enough" for things that really don't matter.
My Family and Other Animals, by Gerald Durrell. I picked this up at Value Village and found myself laughing out loud at several of his stories. Grabbed another of his from the library and was disappointed to find it contained more 'adult content'. Oh well.

Home again, home again, jiggety jig

Our family has just returned from an absolutely wonderful vacation. Dh is on parental leave, so we were able to take just over 3 weeks for a trek out west. First we flew to Saskatoon and spent a week with my parents over Easter. 2 of my brothers and their families were able to come out for the weekend and we had a fabulous time together. It was the first time my Mom had all of her grandkids in one place. Fun!

For stage 2 of our journey dh's parents flew out to join us and we all took the train from Saskatoon to Vancouver. The kids loved the train; anything that lets you walk around instead of being strapped into a car seat is a great way to travel.

We spent two nights in Vancouver (at the Cascadia - with a pool and a delicious buffet breakfast we quite enjoyed our stay) where the Vancouver Aquarium was a definite highlight. Then it was on to the ferry and over to Vancouver Island. Five fabulous nights were spent in Ucluelet. The weather was perfect, and the kids had a blast exploring tidal pools and collecting sea stars, hermit crabs, clams etc. for their own "touch tank" - a bucket which we carried back to our cabin and changed the sea water in daily.

Dh rented a surfboard and wetsuit to taste the waves while A, her grandma and I headed out on "a three hour tour" (you have to sing that part) to see a humpback whale enjoying some spring krill.

We spent a night in Victoria, and one just up the coast in Sooke before heading back to the mainland to visit friends in Abbotsford and Vancouver before flying back home. What a wonderful vacation! Thank you, God, for your many blessings.

(If you'd like to see more pictures of our trip, contact me and I'll send you the link to our web album :)

Snowdrop sighting!

OK, I don't know about you, but those first flowers of spring are worth celebrating. Yesterday as I helped the eldest with her paper route I noticed some small white flowers growing beside a doorway one street over from ours. Today, we grabbed our nature notebooks (first time since last fall, I think), some pencils, and headed over. I loved the drawings all three of them did (no bias here ;) and when we came home and looked up the name of the flower, sure enough, they're snowdrops. I'll have to scan in the kids' sketches soon.
Thank you, God, for Spring!

Mom, why do some wolves swim?

I dunno.

We can't always know everything. No, the truth is that I was busy doing something else, and that was my automatic response in an attempt to maintain my train of thought. Worth it? Probably not. But he'll survive.

Down the drain??

Okay, so I attempted a slightly longer post last week (or was it a couple of weeks ago?)...but, of course, the effort was an interrupted one (like everything in my life these days). So I clicked on the 'save now' button. And now I want to know...where did it go?!

And bring us a loaf in the morn

Hey! Here it is - I found it! (the lost post)


Dh bought me a grain mill for Christmas! It was something that I had been wanting for years, but a couple of things were stopping me:
a) the price tag
b) I liked the idea of milling my own flour, but would I actually stick with it?
c) I didn't really want another kitchen appliance that needed cleaning (I hate cleaning).

So I kept putting it off. And then, in December, our automatic bread maker started making funny noises. In hindsight I think it was just that I was trying to make a loaf of 'rapid french' bread that was too dry and the machine was working too hard.

Anyway, dh (wonderful man that he is) suggested that maybe he should get me a new mixer for Christmas. I think he was thinking one of those flashy kitchenaid that are advertised everywhere these days. (If it's in Canadian Tire, it must be good, eh? ;) After much research on my part I discovered the Electrolux DLX (I had been trying to make heads and tails of the kitchenaid vs. Bosch debate, but that's another post.) In the end, I decided that what I really wanted was a grain mill. For now, I use my bread maker to mix the dough, and then bake it in the oven.

After much experimenting, this is now my "regular" bread recipe. (For excellent instructions, and the original source of the recipe, see the real life home.)

Bread Recipe (for 2 lb breadmaker)

Grind 2 cups of hard wheat.

Meanwhile, place in bread machine pan:
1 1/2 cups water
2 Tbsp honey or sugar
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt

By this time the mill will be long done. Dump the flour on top of the wet ingredients and top with:

2 Tbsp gluten
1 1/2 tsp yeast

Place bread pan in machine, set to 'dough mode' and press start. As the machine starts blending the ingredients, add:

approx. 1 c unbleached all-purpose flour
(recently I've been using a.p. spelt as we had run out of wheat flour)

Check the dough a few times during the first few minutes of mixing to see if you need to add a bit more flour. Basically you want it to form a nice smooth ball, and clean the sides of the pan. If it is too dry your machine will have a hard time kneading it (and may make funny noises!) and the dough won't rise very well. If it is too wet it will be all sticky (when you are trying to shape the loaf) and could over-rise. [I once tried a loaf that was obviously TOO wet - I thought it would just be nice and moist. Well, I forgot it when it was rising and the thing ROSE all over the edges of the pan and all over the bottom of the oven. BIG MESS.] Better to err on the slightly-wet side.


When the dough cycle is complete, dump in lightly greased pan (or shape nicely, if you prefer :) and bake in 350 F oven for 30 min.

Yum.

Upstairs, downstairs and in my lady's chamber

Today is one of those days. The baby is sick, mama's running short on sleep, and yet somehow I still maintain the delusion that things should be "on schedule".

Earlier this afternoon I was thinking, "It's like pulling teeth trying to get "school work" done around here. And where is my eldest? Why, she's lying on the couch READING SHAKESPEARE! (OK, so it's a 'stories from', not the Bard's original English, but STILL.) Doesn't she realize she should be "doing" history? Or math? What kind of homeschool is this, anyway?!"
And now she's building a house out of math manipulative blocks, ds is at a friend's house playing lego, and 3yo is wandering around (mumbling, "upstairs and downstairs and in my lady's chamber") looking for something to get into. Time to go get her making dinner!

Milestones

Do something long enough and it can almost seem like you've been doing it, well, for a long time. (That's rather redundant now, isn't it?) This past December I passed the 10 year mark for being either pregnant or breastfeeding*. Now, you may be aghast at the thought, but I am rather proud of this "accomplishment". It's tough to stick with something for that long, and 10 years (a decade!) is no mean feat. Having said that, it's not like it's really been much work for the most part. Yes, there have definitely been days (and weeks, and months!) when I didn't think I'd make it, but overall, it's almost the lazy girl's approach to mothering.


*spread over 4 children. And, yes, there was some slight overlap between the two (nursing and pregnant**) but I never made it as far as tandem nursing.

**I love how the "milk-brain" thinks tangentally rather than completing...yeah. I was remembering the time (between #2 & #3) I was shopping for a nursing bra. The sales clerk asked, "Is this for when you're pregnant, or nursing?" I replied, "Both!" She totally missed the point of my answer (I was, at that time, both pregnant and nursing) and started going on and on about how my size was going to be fluctuating and I should wait to buy a nursing bra until a certain point in my pregnancy, blah, blah ... I just ignored her and kept trying on bras.

The problem with reading classics to your children

The problem with reading classics to your children is that when you overhear them talking to their friends about the latest great book you are all reading the response is invariably, "Oh, I saw that movie! It was good!" (You think the movie was good? Try reading the book!)

At what point do my kids come to question why it seems to be that everyone else pops in the DVD instead of cracking open a tome? Thankfully, not yet anyway.

Sign on the dotted line

Well, here we go. I'm still not too sure about this whole blogging thing, but I'm ready to give in and join the blogolution. (Resistance is futile!) Actually, I think the sleep-deprivation can be blamed for a lot of it.

A lot of people I respect blog, so maybe it's not so bad. (Just - don't be like me - the silent lurker. If you happen to stop by to have a gander, you have too much time on your hands, I mean, feel free to say 'hi'!)