HSmom

If you have more than 5 boxes of empty jars that you have not opened in 6 months. If you have more than a pallet of empty jars that you have not opened in 2 years. If you buy canning jars by the pallet. If you *hide* your jar purchases from your loved ones because they wouldn't understand/might get upset. If passing the canning supply aisle makes you quiver. If your not even sure how many jars you actually own. You go ballistic if someone uses a jar to store a non-food item (like pens).

Mmmm... thanks!

My recipe is not at all sweet. My mom adds brown sugar to her spaghetti sauce and I don't care for it. If you like sweet sauce and if the yellow squash are sweet, I think you'll end up with a product you like. For something like spaghetti sauce, I add a little something, let it simmer for 10-15 minutes, taste and maybe add some more. That's a TON of sauce! Good for you!!

Several months ago, I purchased an absurd number of canning jars. I left them in my car, after my shopping trips, until the next day when my dh was at work. Then I lugged them all up into the attic. Some were placed conspicuously at the top of the attic stairs, in boxes truthfully labelled "18 quart jars." The rest were secreted away in the dark recesses of the attic. I had a moment of panic the other day. I've been canning a lot this week and last. When I counted the number of empty jars at the top of the stairs, I thought: "Is that all?!?!? I need to buy more jars!" Eventually, my muddled brain recalled the hidden jars, found them and counted them. Ahhhh. While I thought I only had 4 dozen empty jars up there, I actually have 9 dozen - and that's only counting quarts. I still need to buy more. It does become a bit of an addiction. But I figure that other suburban wives waste money on worse things than my little canning habit. lol

I LOVE my spaghetti sauce!! I literally eat it with a spoon...just a bit ago, I sat down with a bowl of sauce, plus a bit of parmesan and ate it. I also canned 14 quarts. For your dining and canning pleasure, I present my recipe 3 lbs ground meat 2 heads (2 whole heads, not 2 cloves) garlic, peeled and pressed or minced 7 - 7.5 lbs fresh mushrooms, quartered or chopped 6 large zucchini (let them grow to 2-3 inches in diameter and 10-12 inches long) pureed with skins on until they are saucy 2 #10 cans tomato sauce (6lb, 10oz each) 4 Tbsp dried minced onion 4 Tbsp oregano 1 Tbsp basil In a large pot/pan, brown and crumble ground meat. After the first few minutes, but before meat is fully cooked, add in prepared garlic and mushrooms. Cook over medium-high heat until meat is no longer pink and mushrooms give off their juice. Stir in zucchini sauce (trust me; noone will know), tomato sauce and seasonings. Let simmer for 1/2 hour or so. Can in quart jars, processing as for meat at your altitude. Yields around 14 quarts. If you prefer a tomato-y-er sauce, halve all the other ingredients. If you love mushrooms, don't change a thing. If you'd like to try this out and see if you actually like it, here is the original small recipe (about 5 pints) 1/2 lb ground meat 5 cloves garlic 1 - 1.25 lbs mushrooms 2 medium zucchini 1 quart tomato sauce 2 tsp dry minced onion 2 tsp oregano 1/2 tsp basil

Thanks Darlene! Actually, it's sticky'd for you - you posted some great pix.

I move that this thread be "stickied."

Here's a for Cookie Jar, for being such a friend to Darlene in Darlene's time of need.

Oh, Granny... it's on now!!!! Man, I wish I could make that bigger.

Since I'm anyway, I may as well get some of it out of my system now. Note: I said some not all!

That's nice Vic; I like the wooden stock. Is it yours?

Everybody DUCK!!!! Sorry, I couldn't resist! I haven't made a duck joke in at least a couple of weeks.

Originally Posted By: cookiejar Okayyyyy what happened to paintball??? He came to your fair state & got to shoot a real gun! That's what happened!

http://www.vetinfo4dogs.com/dtoxin.html Quote: Dogs develop hemolytic anemia if they eat enough onions. I don't think that it matters too much whether the onions are cooked or not. The quantity of onions required is high enough that dogs can generally tolerate small doses of onions without any problem and moderate amounts of onion without clinically apparent disease, even though there may be measurable changes on lab test results. Large amounts of garlic will produce similar toxicity problems in both dogs and cats. http://www.petalia.com.au/templates/storyt...fm?story_no=257 Quote: Onion and garlic poisoning Top Onions and garlic are other dangerous food ingredients that cause sickness in dogs, cats and also livestock. Onions and garlic contain the toxic ingredient thiosulphate. Onions are more of a danger. Pets affected by onion toxicity will develop haemolytic anaemia, where the pet’s red blood cells burst while circulating in its body. At first, pets affected by onion poisoning show gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhoea. They will show no interest in food and will be dull and weak. The red pigment from the burst blood cells appears in an affected animal’s urine and it becomes breathless. The breathlessness occurs because the red blood cells that carry oxygen through the body are reduced in number. The poisoning occurs a few days after the pet has eaten the onion. All forms of onion can be a problem including dehydrated onions, raw onions, cooked onions and table scraps containing cooked onions and/or garlic. Left over pizza, Chinese dishes and commercial baby food containing onion, sometimes fed as a supplement to young pets, can cause illness. Onion poisoning can occur with a single ingestion of large quantities or with repeated meals containing small amounts of onion. A single meal of 600 to 800 grams of raw onion can be dangerous whereas a ten-kilogram dog, fed 150 grams of onion for several days, is also likely to develop anaemia. The condition improves once the dog is prevented from eating any further onion While garlic also contains the toxic ingredient thiosulphate, it seems that garlic is less toxic and large amounts would need to be eaten to cause illness. http://www.petstyle.com/dog/health_well_ar...amp%20Nutrition Quote: Many people have discussed their concern on whether to feed garlic or not to feed garlic to their pets. There are differing opinions, but according to Dr. Pitcairn and many other professionals in Animal Nutrition, your pet will benefit greatly from adding garlic to their diet. I have done extensive research to find out what the truth really is and from my findings, Garlic is very good; a very important part of our pet’s diet and should also be seriously considered in our own diet as well.

When I got my dog, I decided to feed him a mixture of kibble and cooked people food. There are people that advocate raw diets. I am not one of them. For various reasons, I felt that the risk of cross-contamination to the humans or the (medically fragile) feline was too high. My vet has agreed that what I feed is appropriate because I do include some kibble. For the people food, I cook various meats (chicken legs - with some of the skin, but not all, organic liver, hearts, hamburger, tuna, etc), whole grains (usually oats or brown rice), red/orange vegetables (usually tomato sauce and/or canned pumpkin puree), and green vegetables (peas, green beans, spinach, any leftover tidbits - run thru the food processor). I mix 1/3 meat, 1/3 grain, 1/6 red/orange veg and 1/6 green veg. I freeze up big batches of this in containers that hold enough for two to three days worth of meals. At meal time, I nuke about 2 Tbsp meat broth for 30 seconds. I pour that over 1/4 cup high quality kibble, and let sit for 5 - 10 minutes. Then I stir in 3/4 to 1 cup people food mixture, and sometimes a teaspoon of peanut butter. He eats this twice a day. Once or twice a week, I give him a snack at midday. He likes hard-boiled eggs. I just wack it once to crack it and he takes it from there, eating it shell and all. He also enjoys carrots. He chews them like bones and over 2 or 3 days will actually eat the whole thing. This week, I'm going to add a small amount of lima beans to the green vegetable mixture. I fear that it may make him gassy. I'd also like to try cooking dried split green peas, in place of the frozen peas. When buying meats, I look for packages at or near their date and marked down. I usually pay about $1/pound for chicken leg quarters. I don't feed non-organic liver because the liver filters out toxins. I cook the chicken and liver by boiling. I save the water. After cooking & deboning, I might whip it around the food processor, or even just throw it in the Kitchenaid. Well-cooked meat will break up pretty quickly. For tuna, I use the giant can from costco - it's about the size of a cantaloupe. Grains are pretty simple: rolled oats and brown rice are both whole grains. Next time, I may try some barley. I cook the grains in the leftover water used to cook the meats - for extra flavor. Cans of tomato sauce & pumpkin puree are easy. I have also cooked and pureed carrots, but opening a can is a lot easier. For the green vegetables, I buy frozen. I thaw them on the countertop while cooking the other stuff. Then I whiz the veggies in the food processor. If the vegetable pieces are large, he doesn't eat them. Per my veterinarian, the following foods should never be fed to dogs: grapes, raisins, avocado, macadamia nuts, onion & garlic. (Some people do advocate garlic & sometimes onion, but I'm omitting them.) I've been feeding my dog this way since I got him, seven weeks ago. For that amount of time, I've cooked up big batches of food three times - each time taking about 2 hours. I've spent about $45 on the people food. He also ate a 4 pound bag of puppy kibble (ten bucks?). He is 30 pounds, BTW. Typical spending for food for a dog this size is $25 per month. So while I'm not saving money, I do feel like I'm feeding him a better quality diet for the same price. I have occassionally fed him only kibble - sometimes moistened, sometimes dry - just to make sure he'll eat it if I can't cook for him. Or when we go on vacation, I don't want to mess with people food all the time.

Have you ever heard of Interlibrary Loan (ILL)? I believe ALL libraries participate. They can borrow books for you, from other library systems. Sometimes they make you pay $2-$5 for postage. Sometimes they provide the service as a courtesy. Obviously there are some library systems with this book. Talk to your local librarian and mention ILL. Good luck!

Leah, you take the cake! I'm so glad you've joined us!

Oh that's just wrong!!!

These are the meals I cook when money is tight. Some are a little thin for dinners, so serve them for lunch, or else round them out a bit with a salad or homemade dessert. Almost any meal can be rounded out with homemade biscuits or bread and/or homemade dessert (not so good for the low-carbers or diabetics, but better if you use whole grains). I also round out some meals by setting out a jar of my homemade pickles. When the homemade bread gets a little dry, I make garlic toast. Spread butter on bread slices, sprinkle VERY generously with garlic powder, add a dash of oregano and toast in the toaster oven. Also, I use eggs a lot because we have poultry, so I have eggs. The 'formula' I use for a healthy meal is the one that I learned years ago: 1 protein, 1 grain, 2 fruits/vegetables, and 1 dairy. Most of the meals below contain all of those components. Meals *Slice of homemade bread, hard boiled egg, apple, milk *Homemade soup with little meat & lots of potatoes, carrots, homemade pasta and/or rice *Pizza beans, homemade bread, juice *Chili with macaroni *Stuffing/dressing made with bread heels *Eggs, pancakes and fried potatoes or fruit *Baked potato, topped with a bit of something with protein (cheese or chili, usually) Snacks *Homemade cookies *Raisins *Oatmeal *Homemade granola *Fruit *Zucchini or banana bread/muffins *Boiled egg

So tonight I'm having dinner with my best friend... she's telling me a story about when she was in Jr. High and some boy wanted to teach her how to kiss. So she says: "So we were at Jill's house and she had this neat room. You had to go into a closet, open a hatch and crawl through into this room. Inside she had Christmas lights and we'd sit in there and play cards, and..." I'm thinking Never mind the boy and the kissing!!! Tell me more about this room!! How was it concealed in the construction of the house? How big was it? How much 'preps' could I fit in it? Was it an attic and hot? Or insulated? Where is this house? Is it where we grew up? I could buy that house!

21 - I'd better get cracking!

I know this is supposed to be humor, but some of these are really good ideas (and new to me): - You've sewn a secret mini-BOBs into the bottom of your children's school backpacks. - You have two water heaters installed in your basement, but one is a dummy that's been converted to hideaway safe. And this one: *- You fill up when your gas tank is 3/4 full. I've been filling up a 1/2 tank for a couple of years now, but yesterday, I felt edgy cuz my guage was at 5/8. What is a "Volcano" ?

Potatoes like full sun.