out_of_the_ordinary

Beef tips (a roast cut up into chunks, simmered with dehydrated onion and parsley for a few hours-- until the beef is very tender) Rice Broccoli for DH

DH has a cold, so it's chicken soup. I had some already made, just had to get the containers out of the freezer, thaw, and make rice to add to it. I'm also making chicken stock today and tomorrow.

Congratulations!

Thanks for sharing this! I've been listening.

Leftovers! It's nice not having to cook for a day or 2 after Thanksgiving.

Dehydrating another batch of onions. WOW! What a out of the ordinary thing to do! (man I have been waiting for a time to do that! LOL) Most would just chuck them out - so good to remind us all THERE is still a lot left after you peel some vegetables! Just read a book and they took the tomato skins left over from canning and dryed them, crushed into powder and used that on develed eggs instead of paprika! also adds it to salads and soups.Never waste what you can use! I started making chicken stock yesterday. Even DH says it looks like stuff that should be garbage. In it I have: a whole chicken carcass (made a roasted chicken for dinner the day before), chicken skin, those ends of onions and onion skin peels (they give it a very nice color), carrots from the garden that were too short/deformed to peel safely, and old celery stalks and leaves (when celery gets "old", I put throw that in a bag in the freezer, too, for stock). I also put in parsley. The stock doesn't look appetizing, but the house smells so good!! After I'm done and the pan has cooled, I put it in the fridge overnight and scape off the fat in the morning. I scoop out the big stuff (like bones) and put everything else through a strainer. After it's strained, it looks pretty good.

Onions. There was another sale: 3lb. bag of yellow cooking onions for 99 cents. I bought a couple bags. I just can't pass those up! I save the ends and (clean-looking) peels in a freezer bag for when I make chicken stock.

I made chicken stock for soup on Thursday and made the soup on Friday. We've eaten that the past 2 days. The made really good stock, so the soup is going quick! I'll have to make another batch soon to have some for the freezer.

Parsley. It's the last of it from this year's garden.

Onions.

The last of the oregano from our garden finished drying yesterday. Now there's trays of banana chips going.

Oregano from our garden.

DH does the same thing. He even figured out the number of canning jars of banana chips we end up with based on how many dehydrator trays full we have. I switched from storing them in canning jars (I'd try to put a jar or 2 back for later) to putting them in a big, gallon sized baggie to confuse him a little. Today, we're dehydrating onions. The dehydrator is out on the porch for a few hours. That finishes the ones from our garden.

Tomato slices are in the dehydrator right now. If the humidity is not super high, I'd like to get parsley and onions done this week.

Thanks!

When do you pick your lima beans? And, what do you do with yours? We just did a few plants in pots. They are producing bean pods. I'd like to dry them. I'm thinking I should pick them so the plants continue to produce.

Blueberries. They're in the freezer now, single layer, in glass pie dishes. Once they're fully froze, I'll put them in freezer bags. I'm hoping the freeze blackberries today, too.

Yes! I wonder how much was the census worker writing down what they thought they heard and how much of it was people giving bad information to the census worker. I've seen ages changed (it wasn't uncommon for people to lie about their ages to get a job).

Several quart bags of strawberries (cut-up). The kitchen smells good. The strawberries will be used in smoothies after blueberries are in season/cheaper.

Parsley from our garden.

Thanks! I saw Kennebac (I think) at Agway today. I'll have to pick that up, then.

Do you know which varieties would be good for this? We have a heavy plastic tub out of a washing machine we'd like to try growing potatoes in. Thanks!

Thanks, Michael. I found the article online here http://organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/7-ways-plant-potatoes

Growing Potatoes in a Trash Can http://www.almanac.com/video/growing-potatoes-trash-can-video We've never grown potatoes before. Thinking about giving this a try...

What-you didn't hear about the latest fashion trend? We were shopping for two seasons-end of winter clearance and early summer (before prices go higher). I hadn't thought about that, Violet. I agree with you. Regardless of the deals, we will no longer be purchasing clothing at Walmart. If I hadn't noticed the sign on the desk, I wouldn't have even noticed it on the packaging.