Crazy4Canning

So, kind of on-topic .... Does anyone know how to block something once it's been "finished"? I've got that wool shawl I need to shape and block but I've never done anything bigger than a doily - for those I use my old iron and spray starch.

Currently my husband is playing with 2 types of lightweight alcohol stoves - the SuperCat (made from cat food cans) http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/SuperCat/ and one made from pop cans http://www.jureystudio.com/pennystove/ He has used heet for both and likes the SuperCat best because it's more durable. He uses the small white bottles from the 5 hr energy or bottled vitamin drinks and labels it "HEET for stoves". There's enough for 1 stove burn to heat up something or boil water.

I just finished a shawl in the most delightful bulky wool in autumn shades of violet, rust, orange, and a bit of blue/teal. I knitted it on #15 wooden needles and added a fringe. It's so toasty! I'm not a fast knitter, so the big needles and bulky yarn just flew! I've always got a few projects in the bin; I hope to finish a vest for my husband this year in Tunisian crochet (I've got the back done) and am stuck on shaping the shoulders. I'm knitting a scarf in a basketweave pattern for a friend...been at it ah...2 winters now, lol. And I've got a delightful 3 colors of teal, violet, and cream for a modern granny square sweater for ME. Haven't started it yet. I will be making 2 sets of "tic tac toe" crochet games for god-daughters and nephews... Oh - holiday gifts this year will consist of a walker caddy for my mom made out of quilted material. She has a basket on her walker but stuff falls out of it. This mulit-pocket caddy would velcro on the inside. The nephews are getting bathrobes and a fleece blanket and tic-tac-toe items. BIL is getting a scarf and hat set and SIL is getting some aprons.

I also wanted to say that the safety plug on that model is behind the gauge. It's there, you just can't see it. The photo by Ghost of City Life is a pressure CANNER by National, a number 5 or 7, meaning it can hold 5 or 7 quarts. National was a precursor to Presto/ Mirro in the 30's, 40's & 50's.

It is not a pressure cooker, though it can be used as one. A pressure cooker is usually about 2-4 quarts and used for roasts, potatoes, etc. You usually can't fit a quart jar in one. A pressure canner looks like the photo, it has a vent, a gauge or weight, and a safety plug. You can fit at least 3 - 5 quart jars in one without the lid touching the tops of the jars. Both have rubber rings in the lid for sealing. Many people will cool a pressure cooker by yanking it off the stove and running it under hot water. You NEVER do this to a pressure canner. For one thing, loaded up, they're HEAVY. For another, it will damage the pot. Whether you have a gauge or weight pressure canner, you need to let the pressure come down naturally. It takes about 20 or so minutes. Perhaps this would be a better site for you: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_home.html I find the Miss Vicky site to be rather vague at times. The above site is the National Centers for Home Food Preservation from University of Georgia. They keep everything up to date and only use the best canning practices. Good luck!

Hi there, I have to disagree here. They ARE just as safe as the newer ones, in fact, I like them better. I've replaced the safety plugs, the seals and the gauges. I have 5 and I use them constantly. THEY ARE PERFECTLY SAFE TO USE when tested and made safe. You may need to make sure the bottom is flat, for aluminum can warp with time. Occasionally I've had to level one, but it still works great. Having taught canning classes with Violet, we certify these and use them. Hope this helps.

I get to know my produce. If my home-grown pepper is twice the size of a "store bought", then I adjust the recipe. About the eggs - one large egg is about 1/4 C. I got it from a cookbook. Have fun!

It's the color of the EAR DRUM most books say. It also has as much to do with the breed. I've got a white rock chicken and she's ALL white but lays brown eggs because of that recessive rock trait, other than that she looks like a white leghorn. My buff orpingtons have reddish/pink eardrums and lay brown eggs. Go figure. So much more mystery......

For some reason, although it's Feb. 14, 2010, the computer won't let me post with the 2010 date. So...I've given the date as day and month in 2009. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Living in a small house has its disadvantages. There never seems to be enough space for *anything*. At one time there was a basement pantry/ shelf-type thing along the basement stairs, but my husband says it was torn out in the 80's. You could tell something was there, for there was painted space...but sadly, no shelves. We solved that problem temporarily with a particle board pantry and a plastic shelving unit. It was fabulous until our cats discovered they could hop from the stairs to the top of the cabinets and 'people watch' what was happening in the laundry room on the other side...and oh gee, if something got knocked off the shelves in the process, it was a pure accident. So, in sealing the basement, we have enclosed the stairs (much to the cat's chagrin) and built a lovely pantry space. Pure bliss! It's a lovely maple wood that be echoed in the rest of the room as we complete this laundry/ bath/ storage space. So, right before Thanksgiving (of course *before* the holidays!) I had to gut the pantry, move the shelves, and have all my stuff in boxes. NO MORE! This past week, the pantry was DONE! Hooray! I happily filled it and thought of the poem by Keats. It is such a thrill to have ONE THING done in the basement for storage....I've grown to dread this never-ending cycle of remodeling that comes when you buy an older home. Classically, though, I have found the cure for dread to be hope. So, rather than be overwhelmed with dread, I've learned to revel in the small things and take extreme joy whenever I can in whatever I can. This week, my joy was the pantry. For months, my pantry items have sat hidden in boxes. No more. Everything has a place. Truth be told, I could use another wall full of pantry shelves, but for now, it is sheer, unadulterated bliss. True, there are some who won't appreciate this, but it's my pantry and I love it. I love it for all it's four shelves that are 15" high and 25" deep and for its maple polished beauty...for it's smooth finished edges and secure non-wobbly, non-warped shelves, I love it for it's PERMANENCE. It's not temporary, it's built INTO our home. It's not some press-board cabinet made by underpaid workers in a third world country and shipped to a mega-mart. It was lovingly made by hand, making sure the walls were straight and true (as true as you can get in an 80 year old house). I'm sure there will come a day when I have to leave this beautiful thing, but for now, I'm seriously groovin' on my pantry. Keats was right - beauty is not just in the eye of the beholder, it can be that which causes us to stop and smile and sigh - joy in our hearts forever. Enjoy the poem & the pics! Lisa A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever by John Keats A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing. Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing A flowery band to bind us to the earth, Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth Of noble natures, of the gloomy days, Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all, Some shape of beauty moves away the pall From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon, Trees old, and young, sprouting a shady boon For simple sheep; and such are daffodils With the green world they live in; and clear rills That for themselves a cooling covert make 'Gainst the hot season; the mid-forest brake, Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms: And such too is the grandeur of the dooms We have imagined for the mighty dead; All lovely tales that we have heard or read: An endless fountain of immortal drink, Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink. Nor do we merely feel these essences For one short hour; no, even as the trees That whisper round a temple become soon Dear as the temple's self, so does the moon, The passion poesy, glories infinite, Haunt us till they become a cheering light Unto our souls, and bound to us so fast That, whether there be shine or gloom o'ercast, They always must be with us, or we die. Therefore, 'tis with full happiness that I Will trace the story of Endymion. The very music of the name has gone Into my being, and each pleasant scene Is growing fresh before me as the green Of our own valleys: so I will begin Now while I cannot hear the city's din; Now while the early budders are just new, And run in mazes of the youngest hue About old forests; while the willow trails Its delicate amber; and the dairy pails Bring home increase of milk. And, as the year Grows lush in juicy stalks, I'll smoothly steer My little boat, for many quiet hours, With streams that deepen freshly into bowers. Many and many a verse I hope to write, Before the daisies, vermeil rimmed and white, Hide in deep herbage; and ere yet the bees Hum about globes of clover and sweet peas, I must be near the middle of my story. O may no wintry season, bare and hoary, See it half finished: but let Autumn bold, With universal tinge of sober gold, Be all about me when I make an end! And now at once, adventuresome, I send My herald thought into a wilderness: There let its trumpet blow, and quickly dress My uncertain path with green, that I may speed Easily onward, thorough flowers and weed.

Oh yes...funnel vision...somehow the mess from cleanup of a few spilled granules is never as much as the mess from a hot temper.

Well, Cat Boy is what I call all 'generic' neighborhood cats until I know if they are 'bonafide' homeless or just 'passing through'. With her or him being so 'perfect' Miracle is a neutral name. So is "Blessing" for you *know* in your house this cat will be nothing but joy and doted on by your children. Joy is also neutral - a friend of mine from Samoa has a first name of Joy and he is male. Have fun! The rescued kitties make some of the best companions.

Brilliant, just brilliant! I remember doing similar things as a kid. We also did lots of living room camping when I was a kid - smores & dogs around the fire place, forts under the dining table. Wherever we were, the dog had to be, so we always had to make space for her. These memories are things the children will talk about for YEARS!

I now know with great clarity what it means to get up BEFORE the chickens. Yes, yes, I do. Since my DH had to work a night shift Sunday night, he's getting back to days and was up until 3 am last night. When he did come to bed, he flopped like a fish and snored like a lumberjack. Finally, I just got up. What do I need sleep for anyway? It's not really THAT important to life.... Then I looked at the clock...It was four-freakin'-o'clock ...in the MORNING. So, I read some e-mails, played a computer game and realized, with some grumbling, that I was awake, WIDE awake. So, I thought, what could I do before 5 AM that was away from the bedroom and needed to be done, besides laugh at a facebook post from my best friend "are you okay? It's 4:30 am there!?" Like a song from the heavens, I received inspiration: "Clean the study! If you hurry, you can have extra recycling and garbage removed before the haulers come." So, I got dressed, pulled my hair back, and sorted....and sorted...and sorted...I realized I wasn't really messy, just that I hadn't been taking time to stay on top of things. Found some missing phonics and language books and sorted some more. Emptied two shoe boxes of school supplies (from my teacher's desk) back into the general office supplies (where I got them in the first place). Discovered I had more pens, rulers, and scissors than I started with! What blessed things! Arrrggghhh! The closet! In putting coats etc. away, I had discovered that the kitten had gotten into the kitty BOB and it spilled into the closet...she had skated across some papers and decided to try and open a small sample of crunchies. There was spit-out, cat-chewed plastic and crunchy bits adhering to my long winter fleece coat...that had been pulled off the hanger, kneaded into a nice nest and COVERED in black cat hair. I had found her secret lair and snack supply. Sigh. I should be grateful there weren't real mousie parts. I now have a great huge bag of shredding a more piles for sorting. I had forgotten the carpet in here was pink. The bittersweet thing was that I also found a couple of things of my sister's. She died in early 2001. I've been tripping over a tote that had her favorite CDs in it. Sigh. It's time to sort it. I just incorporated them into our huge CD collection. Now the tote can be used for something else. I also found her business card holder...it was just as she left it...so, it is terribly useful, but all the business cards were obsolete. I recycled them and will use it for my own stash....and yes, I kept one of hers in the front pocket 'just because'. In the midst of all this dust and frantic cleaning, it made me ponder. If life is this cluttered, how was my soul? What was I holding onto for a while that was cluttering up my soul so I couldn't commune with God? Hmmm. I thought of a few things. As I paused, I looked through the window and saws the sky turn pink. The sun was rising. I couldn't remember the last time I had seen the sun rise. I was reminded again - the sun always rises. I thought back to that terribly dark time when we lost my sister. It was so dark and depressing, but every day the sun rose. My eyes turned glassy, for I realized that even in the chaos of dark grayness and acute sorrow, the sun rises. Darkness flees and light creeps across the earth, peeking into the windows, doors, and homes; waking us, rousing us, bringing us another day - another day to live, to actively choose how we use the precious gift of life that we've been given. The sun rises...and I am grateful. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Weds. 9/16 - I am happy to report that this cleaning has resulted in some good things....my DH and I are finally sorting through our VHS, CD & DVD collection. It's just chaos. BUT, we bought some organizers and are slowly getting this dealt with. One more area of order....may it spread to the rest of the house!

Well, the alcohol evaporates but a lovely flavor remains. You can always make one cake and take it to a party and try it there. OR, have a friend make it for you, invite you to tea, and try some. You may not like it and that's okay. It's not for everyone. My mother can not stand anything with alcohol in it. It's recipies like this that make her wrinkle her nose and say, "I just can't understand where you get the taste for this...it's so disgusting. BUT your father enjoys it, so you two go have coffee and eat it."

Isn't it funny how the smallest things turn the biggest dogs into whiney puppies?

Put it in a tote marked 'cleaning supplies' LOL

I just received word that some close friends were drooling over the remembrance of my decadent rum cake recipe. I sent some to them a few years ago and haven't made it since. I just e-mailed them the recipe, but wanted to post it here so that everyone could share the love because recipes such as this one deserve to be passed on and shared. They achieve nothing by being locked up in a recipe box. This really captures the decadence and complete goodness of the holidays. You have to make it NOW to enjoy it later. Make some extra and share with friends. I've included all my notes over the years so you can achieve the same exact taste and texture I get from Grandma's recipe. This is indeed an eye-rolling, fork-sucking, plate-licking delish dessert. It's perfect with tea, coffee, cocoa, or a shot of something. If you add ice cream, you're just sending it over the top. I remember my uncles sucking down piece after piece of it. Some History - This recipe graced my dad's family holiday table for YEARS. Grandma took such pride in it. She did at least 4 HUGE cakes every year and held back one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. The other 2 she took to church for coffee after service - Presbyterian Church, mind you. First though, get yourself a good bundt cake pan, tube pan, or one of those 6-cakelet pans. It really should be cast iron for this to work properly and get the proper golden brown hue for optimum yumminess. They have all sorts of designs and shapes for bundt cake pans, but for now if you don't have one, go to the thrift store and get one for $3. Make sure it doesn't have any big nicks or scratches in it. Season if necessary. RECIPE - Bacardi Rum Cake (From the 1950's when butter had no fat values, decadence was in, and Saran Wrap was the coolest new thing!) Note: Please don't use cheap Monarch Rum. Bacardi/Captain, etc. is just a few dollars more. Pay for the good stuff. It really shows. 1 C chopped walnuts or pecans 1 yellow cake mix 1 pkg instant vanilla pudding mix 4 eggs 1/2 C cold water 1/2 C oil 1/2 C rum (80 proof) Glaze - 1/4 lb butter (1 stick) 1/4 C water 1 C white sugar 1/2 C rum Instructions - Preheat oven to 325. - Using Crisco, grease your pan well. No blobs of white, just a nice slick coating. If your pan has points, use a pastry brush for the nooks and crannies. - Sprinkle chopped nuts over bottom and sides of pan (I will use extra if I have them for good coverage.) - Mix cake ingredients in order on box, adding pudding with dry ingredients and rum with wet. - Pour over nuts in pan and bake one hour or until completely done. - Let cool for 20 minutes, then remove cake(s) from pan. - When luke-warm, prick sides and top of cake and drizzle with glaze. (When pricking cake, don't 'jab' it, this compresses the cake, roll the pick (like bamboo kabob skewer) between your fingers while pricking. Perfect holes!) Glaze- - Melt butter in saucepan. - Stir in water & sugar. - Bring to a boil and boil 5 minutes. - Remove from heat and stir in rum. * You don't want to add the rum with the water for it will turn bitter. ** You can also experiment with different types of rum (Captain, Coconut, etc). To Glaze - - Place cake (or cakelets) on saran-covered plates with enough saran to wrap up sides of cake. - Gently pour glaze over cake. DO NOT pour all at once. You will need to wait for the glaze to soak in. I think I do 3 pourings. - It is NORMAL to have some liquid on the saran. - Bring saran up sides of cake. Wrap more Saran around top and sides of cake. Place cake into zippie bag (small quarts for cakelets, gallons for larger cakes). - Age cake. Aging Cake - - To age the cake, flip cake over once a week. - I use an extra jelly roll pan or roasting pan to store the cakes. - No need for refrigeration, there's no air due to the tight wrapping of the saran and zippie bags. - Flipping the cake is essential for even distribution of the rummy glazey goodness. If you don't age and flip, your cake will be soggy and sodden, though still tasty. - You want to age the cake about 8 weeks before consumption. So, for Thanksgiving, make cakes the mid-end of September. For Christmas/ New Years, make around end of October - I put people's names on the zippie bags and make a master list. These cakes have a tendency to disappear. If people *know* they are getting one, it makes the wait that much more bearable. DO NOT Double this recipe - for more than one cake, mix up separate mixes. You can however, double the glaze recipe. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I'm so happy to share this. It's a classic recipe made dense from the pudding and buttery from the glaze and just a bit crunchy from the nuts. Please don't ask about the calorie or fat content. It's astronomical. However, a strange phenomenon has occurred over the years - it is well known that when consumed with friends around a happy occasion, calories have been known to vanish.

I'm so glad you had an enjoyable time! It makes time fly when everyone enjoys each other.

Okay, who would put huge cloves of garlic INTO a loaf of bread and then put said bread next to french, wheat, and sourdough? Fred Meyer. Why am I not surprised? Every time I walk into that store, something stupid happens to me. What am I, flypaper for freakiness? As you well know, I just finished using up every half pint jar in the house making jam and had 2 cups of strawberry that didn't have a home. Oh well, I just poured it into a measuring cup and will store it in the fridge. It's good incentive to eat fresh jam, yeah? So, while I was out today, I picked up some fresh bread from Freddy's. I normally check labels for EVERYTHING, but I was with my sister-in-law, her 6 year old and her boyfriend, I was slightly distracted. I get it home and spread two slices - the small heel for me and a larger one for my sweetie. I bring it to him, looking forward to that wonderful strawberry taste on lovely bread... and it tastes.... odd. It has an unusual bite. Definitely weird. I thought I got french or sourdough. As this is running through my mind, my dear, dear husband queries, "Honey, did you know this bread tastes like garlic? Um, oh man, there's a HUNK of garlic in my bread. Ick... This is definitely weird, like the time I accidentally put ketchup on my taco. Garlic and strawberry do not go together!" Now, lover of jokes that I am, I would NEVER, EVER, in a trillion million years make someone eat something weird. As you well know, there is no way I could have planned this if I had tried. I had to agree, bread that had garlic chunks with strawberry jam was unusual. The bread would be great toasted with cheese with a pasta dish....but with strawberry jam, not so much. Then again, that's what people were hesitant about lime and chili chips or ranch doritos or teriyaki burgers with pineapple. I could have hit on something here. But wait, really. Who wants the reputation for a mixture like this? Um, unless I can read the future and make tons of cash, I'll let someone else take the credit, thank you. So, I am heading out to the store for bread. Again. Maybe this time I will get the right kind.Sigh.