Darlene

Happy thanksgiving!!! 🦃

You can sometimes use parchment paper alone and forego the cooking oil depending on fruit

They definitely are a top brand. Not sure how her son burned out 2 with just chocolate shakes. I grind grain in mine, dog kibble into powder for pups etc and never had it whine or cry or give up.

How did you keep the 12 loaves for the week? In the fridge or freezer?

Bummer

You're such a goof. Good to see ya again chica.

I will let her know. It was a very special birthday with her fiancé here and I hope it filled her heart with lasting memories.

I admittedly have issues. Or, they’re not issues, but wisdom in action. Yeah, that’s how I’ll confess it - wisdom in action. I made my 3rd trip to the Amish market yesterday. Got there 15 min before it opened and there were 40+ elderly people politely standing in 2 lines in both sides or the building. I stood in the shorter line which was smart and when the market opened they went flowing into the store, straight to the strawberry counter. There was no way to get any at that moment so I wheeled my bright yellow shopping cart around to another aisle looking for rhubarb. I didn’t see it at first, glanced over at the elderly still frantically capturing quarts of strawberries. I turned my cart around and voila! There were 8 bundles of rhubarb. How could I have almost missed them? I scooped up the 8 bundles, threw them into my cart and made it over to the strawberry area that had calmed down a little although there were still several people grabbing as fast as they could. I finally made it up to the front of the area and started talking to a guy next to me. He had 3 flats (8qts/flat) and half of another one. He was waiting to finish off the 4th flat and he began to share that this was 2nd or 3rd run he had made getting strawberries over the last couple of weeks. He definitely helped me not feel so bad, especially with all the other people grabbing tons too lol. I share with him my Pamona pectin discovery- have known about it for decades but never tried it till this year - and how I’m loving the consistency of the jams setting with far less sugar than I have to use with the other brands. He got all excited, was struggling to remember the name and asked me several times to repeat it. Finally I went out of the market to get cell service and sent him a link on Amazon to check it to his cell and he was on top of the world. It was so cute and adorable to see all these elderly clamoring to get a healthy stash of these strawberries just like I was. And it’s a testimony of the quality of the Amish produce because nobody knows what real food tastes like better than those who have been around long enough to remember the truly good old days. My score? 8 bundles of rhubarb and 15 quarts of strawberries. Not as much as I would have liked lol but definitely enough to preserve and save for a rainy day.

I have a hard time throwing food away too. Thankfully I have the chickens and dogs to repurpose it if need be.

My best friend Momo! Lol

Awwwww thank you!

Rinse and repack.

Sometimes we need breaks and sometimes I just need to be inspired and then I’m on a roll again

Be afraid. Be very afraid. lol j/k FIRST of all, I just skimmed the recipe and prepared loaf pans instead of a 13x9 only because that is what I usually make zucchini bread in and I assumed it was the same until I read the instructions clearly lol. No big deal - it’s doable. I also added 1 cup of mini chocolate morsels because…well, because I’m a chocoholic. I haven’t frosted them yet but will do so today. I’ll make a chocolate ganache which is a fancy word for simple chocolate frosting. I tend to be easy with my measurements and think I put a little too much cocoa powder so there is a faint bitter taste (my fault) that I think will be fixed by the ganache. Here’s a pic of my version of Dee’s chocolate zuke cake. What I loved about the recipe is that it’s one of those easy peasy recipes with ingredients everyone has on hand that makes the best cakes! It’s moist and not too sweet, especially if you forego the frosting. It’s definitely a keeper and I really appreciate you sharing it.

Dee? Should I tell you what I did with your incredible chocolate zuke recipe? Maybe I’ll wait till it is out of the oven

Yep same here just not as extreme… Turn the ceiling fans on in the house - it’s warm outside. Next day, start a fire in the wood stove. We’re getting to the end of the fluctuations though so hopefully sooner than later the warmth will be sustained.

Ambergris is right. It ebbs and flows and is dependent upon 1000 things, at least for me. I’ve been looking forward to the strawberries from the Amish market all winter so that got me stoked. Same with the carrots. Had bought the roaster hens to do last December for Christmas gifts but didn’t have time so threw the chicks in the freezer till Amish carrot season started lol. The granola is a mom thang. My oldest son hasn’t been eating enough in the mornings because he likes a quick fix and I haven’t made the granola for a couple of weeks. Guilt is a great motivator so I promised him I’d make it for him this weekend. My fresh flaked oatmeal from the whole grain, honey from my hives, vanilla bean paste I made, organic coconut oil, Ceylon cinnamon quills I roasted and ground myself, etc etc etc. One of the blessings of being a prepper is that we learn how to store (what to most people) are unusual things. The reward is we are better prepared, but also we can make things like I have done and we all do here, that is superior to anything you could purchase commercially. I have my sites set on your chocolate zuke cake Dee. Just ran out of time this weekend but we have a cold snap coming (blackberry ‘winter’ here) and will make it in the next few days.

Ok. Granola. Done. Wood fire pizzas for dinner, but we do those every week so piece of cake.

Chicken soup? Check. Strawberry jam? Check. Granola? Half a check - it’s in the oven baking. I quit for now.

Yeah I use it for the peppers and onions in my salsa and the Squeezo for the tomatoes but it never dawned on me for the strawberries till now. First batch is in WB canner right now. 3-4 more batches and then I’m done. For now. I’m also using the low sugar sure gel because I hate the overly sweet jams and it tastes much better. I ordered a lb of Pamona pectin so I can be in complete charge of the sweetness. With everything in the world going on right now it’ll be another massive canning summer I think.

I’ve made strawberry jam for decades. Hours cleaning and slicing each strawberry. I bought a bunch of strawberries at the Amish market Friday to make a fresh batch of strawberry jam. After spending all day yesterday preparing and processing a ton of chicken soup, I’m still tired. But, I need to get these strawberries don’t so I don’t lose them. I was not looking forward to hours spent cleaning and slicing them all when I had what for me, was a brilliant idea! I washed and cleaned the strawberries and threw them whole into my food processor. I pulsed it a few times and it did all the hard work for me and then some. Im really excited about this. It took less than an hour to clean 4 quarts and 4 pints of strawberries and they’re ready to be cooked and jar’d. YAYYYYYY me….or actually, yayyyyy God for the inspiration. Are any of you smarter than I am and have already discovered this shortcut?

I picked up some zukes at the Amish market Friday just so I can make this chocolate zuke cake lol. Might try today if I can get all the strawberries processed and get the granola made.

Ta da! 22pts and 7 quarts. It’s always amazing how rich the broth gets after canning. When I first make the stock I add the chicken and veggies and this batch I simmer for about 18 hours on low. When I went to put everything together, I deboned the chicken and cut up fresh raw veggies (carrots, onion and celery) and weighed them into the jars. I also took the garlic pod this time and removed all the cooked garlic and put into my vitamix, added some of the broth and puréed and poured it back into the rest of the big pot of stock. The broth didn’t taste garlicky but I know its nutrients are also in the mix. I was surprised when I pulled out the jars this morning and saw how deep and rich the broth had become. Probably from the fresh veggies that cooked while in the canner Today is strawberries and then I’m done for now.

Eggs. Oy vey. A month or so ago I wrote about how there are very few chicks to be found anywhere, much less the breed I prefer. I scoured the internet and finally found some out of Michigan and ordered a dozen that won’t be here till end of May which is fine. Shortly after that I went into the coop and found one of my hens lazily laying on who know how many eggs. Today I went in there again and she’s still there lazily laying on her eggs and in the box right next to her is ANOTHER hen incubating Lord knows how many eggs. I don’t even want to think how many chicks I’ll have shortly

7 quarts and 20 pint load (I think - it might be one or two more) in the monster canner. It’s been a long day and I’m tired lol but hopefully this will last a year or two. I put a pinch of the carrot tops in each jar too!