Littlesister

I don't know how I missed this but glad to know about it. This is the first I have heard of it. Thank you, Ambergris, for this information. Though I am a bit late in seeing it.

I went to store and picked up the rest of the food for Christmas lunch. So, Saturday I will cook both the turkey and the ham. Then let it cool to slice for sandwiches and such. So, grocery shopping is done unless I decide to add something to it. Bought shrimp and snowcap legs for GS for his dinner. But he does have to share. My DH always made sure he had those two items for his Christmas dinner but always made enough for everyone. So, keeping up with tradition as much as possible but that will change at some point. Now to keep him out of the fridge. I hid the shrimp and crab legs as best I could. But he will be forewarned. Candy and cookies are hidden for now. Yes, he will get into the food if I don't watch him. Gee, wonder what he would do if I put a lock and chain on the fridge? GS also got his lab results back. Liver counts are down and normal. So, in the Coast Guard he goes. He just has to wait to see doctor again on the 10th of January to get the results to send to his recruiting officer. He needs this. And I hope they can teach him something. Though his Vit. D is low but I figured it still was because he won't take his Vit. D pills. But that won't keep him out of the Coast Guard. Busy day tomorrow. Getting house cleaned, sheets washed, clean bathrooms and a bit of picking up. Then I will be cooking on Saturday. So, everything is about ready. Christmas day is a rest day for me. We can have leftovers to eat, and I can just sit by a fire if it is cold and read and relax. GS will be working some on Christmas day as well as Christmas eve. So, I will have part of Christmas day to myself. Looking forward to that. I really wish my GD from Washington could come here for Christmas. But she would have to take off work and can't afford to do that right now. Hopefully next year the whole family can get together for Christmas.

Euphrasyne, your recipes are very close to the ball book. I like the idea of the chicken stock better than just water.

I have the ball complete book of home preserving. Here is the recipe. Makes about 5 pints or 2-quart jars. 2 cups dried split peas 8 cups water 1-1/2 cups sliced carrots 1 cup chopped onion 1 cup diced cooked ham 1 bay leaf 1/4 tsp ground allspice salt & freshly ground black pepper 1: In a large stainless-steel saucepan, combine peas & water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat. cover and boil gently for about 1 hour or until peas are tender. 2: Prepare weighted-gauge pressure canner, jars and lids. 3: If a smooth soup is desired, working in batches, puree peas and liquid in a food mill or a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Return puree to saucepan. 4: Add carrots, onion, ham, bay leaf & allspice to saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and boil gently for 30 minutes. If soup is too thick, thin with boiling water. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove bay leaf. 5: Ladle hot soup into hot jars, leaving 1 inch head space. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot soup. Wipe rim with a paper towel moistened with vinegar. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight. 6: Place jars in pressure canner. Adjust water level, lock lid and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Vent steam for 10 minutes, then close the vent. Continue heating to achieve 10 lbs. pressure. Process pints for 75 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes. 7: Turn off heat. Let pressure return to zero naturally. Wait 2 minutes longer, then open vent. Remove canner lid. Wait 10 minutes then remove jars, cool and store.

I have already used some of the ForJar lids. So far, they have held up well with no issues. I also have some from Leman's and the ball lids as well. I have enough to get me through the next canning season. Plus, I have plenty of tattler lids.

Themartinchick, I am with you on that one. Most everyone will be here for a little while. More of a eat, open gifts and leave. And of course, leave me with the mess to clean up on my own. That is how it has always been. I'm used to it. But on Christmas day, I have the house to myself for the most part. GS not only has to work Christmas eve but also Christmas day. It's Food Lion and they will be open for holiday hours as far as I know. But he stocks so they must feel it can't wait till Tuesday. But that does give me most of the day to just sit back and relax. And GS got a promotion. He will now be head of the stockers which is just under the manager. And a good size raise to go with it. Hopefully he will start paying off those bills.

Euphrasyne, you made a great haul that day. I am waiting for spring to start going to yard sales again. But I am also trying to downsize the house and get rid of the clutter. Cold weather has put that on hold. So, when I go to garage sales, I need to behave myself.

This was a small batch so just chopped it and dehydrated it. This morning it is more of a very light brown color but still smells like celery. I sort of thought it would turn from the very light green to the very light brown but that is normal.

Mother, I was thinking about the auctions, but we do still have estate sales around here. Now I am going to have to try those deserts. I will have to be careful of natural sugar but once in a while should be ok.

Jeepers, I am with you on the interest rates. I really do hope they come down where houses are concerned. Right now, is not the time to buy nor sale. I hit the right time for the remodel but not to sell the house and buy a new one. But I still have plenty of time to get the house downsized and do some things I need to do before I start looking for a house. Moving to NC would get me out of this high taxed area of VA. Suffolk has gone crazy with high taxes. In NC you don't pay personal property tax and the real estate tax is much cheaper. I have an idea of what I am looking for, it's just finding it in the right place. Got the kitchen floor mopped and towels washed and dried. Just need to get them put away. Tomorrow is another day. The kids will be here on Sunday for Christmas. Won't be cooking a lot but will cook the turkey and ham on Saturday. Since DD and SIL are leaving Sunday evening and GD, and her DH will be leaving to go to church Sunday night. I am just going to have maybe sandwiches, chips and dip and a few other things. So not really a meal since they won't be here that long. Took me a long time to make my DD understand I don't drive well after dark and that would be a 2 and a half hours of night driving. And since I really don't know the area well, I didn't want to chance it. Plus, my GS has to work on Sunday evening. So, no spending the night and coming back the next day. And I could have gotten GS to do the driving, but he doesn't have glasses and needs to see the eye doctor before he can get more contacts. He's blind as a bat for distance driving. As it turned out all the changes in what we were going to do for Christmas was that my GD and her DH wanted his parents to come to my daughter's house for Christmas and they said no as his little brother plays ball in school and they are having the play offs. So that was why everything kept getting changed around. GD and her DH are spending Christmas with his parents and going to my DD's house on Friday and coming back on Saturday morning. Seems they didn't tell me what was going on and the real reason no one could get it together. But GS works and I would not trust his car to make it to his mother's house. Sometimes you have to knock her in the head to make her understand things. Next year will hopefully be much better.

The celery is done and came out great. I didn't use anything on the celery, and it is all the same color. A light green. euphrasyne, I have used the mushrooms both in spaghetti and on pizza and keep that on shelve as I do use those often. I keep some long-term foods back for hard times. I have shared that with one of my granddaughters when she was struggling to make ends meet. I guess you could say I keep it back for those times when kids are not making it as well at times. That same GD is struggling now as her DH still has not found a job after getting out of the Navy. Last time things got hard for her, I sent her a couple of boxes of freeze-dried foods and gift cards for the grocery store. She is the one that lives in Washington. Now I can just have the foods delivered to her from the companies I use. Makes it much easier.

Midnightmom, I saw those when I got an e-mail about the lids during a black Friday sale. They were out of them at that time as well. So still waiting for them to get them in again. They are not the stainless steel like I have now. But aluminum, so they should be much lighter and easier to move around. I do have my eye on those. Mother, you got really lucky on those prices. We don't have auctions around here any longer that I know of. The last place that had them was destroyed in a hurricane many years ago. It took out the building they had them at. Your deserts sound really good. I don't do deserts much anymore with having diabetes. But I will make them when the kids are here.

Jeepers, glad to know about the All-American canner. I haven't checked them out as of yet but have been thinking about one. But at $400, that would be a no go. I will check into the presto and also call Leman's about the Mirro. Maybe I can get replacements that way. I have ordered from them many times online as well as through their catalog but yes, they don't put a lot of things in there compared to going to the store.

You must have been typing when I was. I do have a couple of the Rainy day #10 cans but holding those back for harder times. They last 25 years so they will keep fine for a while.

Jeepers, I will let you know. I checked it a bit ago and it is almost done. It's really looking good. I use it when I make chicken salad and such as well as in soups. The celery I froze was fine for soups but not for chicken salad. So, hoping this will be better. That Nija is doing a great job of dehydrating it, but it is going to take a lot of celery to get several half pints. This was just some celery I had in fridge, and I wanted to try out the Nija.

Glad it was found. I thought I had seen it at some point in time. But, then forgot about it. But today I dehydrated celery. Decided to try out the new Nija grill as it also dehydrates. I really don't like the way celery does when frozen, for some things I want it for. So, this Nija does more than I thought it would but works out great for when I only have a few things to dehydrate. When I buy celery and onions, I have to find something to do with what I haven't used, or it will go bad unless I freeze it or just dehydrate that small amount in oven or the larger dehydrator. They are still dehydrating so will see soon how this works out for small batches of things.

Miki, hope all goes well at doctors for your DH. I know you are getting tired. You do a lot of stuff helping people out taking them to stores and such and then working around at church as such. I am still thinking about getting back into the food ministry but not till sometime after first of year. January I will be doing a lot of canning and dehydrating. So that month is going to take a lot of my time. So will see how things go come February. GS got his labs done and they called him, and he missed the call. He called back and left a message so hoping all is well and he gets into the Coast Guard. But calling today when the labs were just done yesterday afternoon seems fast. Hope his liver counts are good. That is what the holdup is for Coast Guard. I think just about everyone on here is getting tired and weary. Jeepers with all she has encountered over the past year and others with illnesses and such. As for me I am just hanging in there till next year. And then things are going to change. I am hoping the interest rates will drop and it will be a good time to sell the house and get out of this area. It is getting worse with the over developing, as well as a lot of other things that can happen if war comes here or worse. Just not the best place to be. But I will deal with that as it comes. Hopefully next year will be a time of much needed rest from preparing for hard times and the Lord will give us that break. I would be happy with just gardening, sewing and other things I enjoy doing without worrying about where the next bomb will fall or EMP's, high prices and such. Just to be able to sit back and relax and do the things I enjoy doing. Though I still am dealing with a sink replacement in garage but that is an easy fix.

Midnightmom, hoping all goes well with your stress test. I had that done about 2 months ago. I really didn't make me tired or anything so hoping it won't affect you in anyway as well. I have 2 extra gaskets and was thinking about getting a couple of more. But as it turns out no one is selling the Mirro parts any longer. So, will be investing in an all-American canner in the near future. I will use the Mirro's as long as they hold up. Hoping for many more years out of them. But I think I better get a backup just in case. Anything happens to one of the Mirro canners now I won't be able to get parts. Jeepers, I do the same thing. I take the gasket and run it under water to clean it in case something might be stuck on it causing it not to hold up. Then wipe down the edge of canner with vinegar water to make sure that is clean and start again. It works for me also.

Yep, GS just got up and the adjustment is still holding up. He leaves for work around 2pm. So, praying he learned his lesson. Time will tell. MT3B, I really am glad that things were better for you this year. My prayer is that with everything that is going on right now in this world that 2024 will be a huge blessing for all of us here. I think we have all rattled our brains trying to figure out how to prepare for the mess this country is in. I am hoping things will calm down but don't like what I keep hearing about gas prices. We all need to continue to stay healthy and for those that are having health issues to try to improve on those issues also.

Actually Jeepers, you have had more than the front seat of that handbasket. That was a lot to have to deal with. I have been in that handbasket since late 2019 and I haven't gotten out of it yet. Mother, I am counting on 2024 bringing all of us hope. I think most of us on here have been through a lot. Had that talk with GS and gave him an altitude. adjustment. Wow! what a change he made in 2 hours. Now to see if that adjustment holds up.

Thanks also Midnightmom. Will be pulling my book out and making that correction.

I would think it would count as all preserved food. You have been busy Euphrosyne. I have done a lot of pickles and would definitely say yes on the pickles as that would be a part of food preparations. I might make some next year when cucumbers come in. I like the bread and butter pickles the best. But also do dill. I also make pickle relish as well and can it.

GS wanted me to go with him to Food Lion late this afternoon. He was buying groceries for him and wanted my help. They had reduced the whole turkeys to 39 cents a lb. So that is what I bought. So, cooking a whole turkey instead of just a breast. I couldn't pass that price up. What we don't eat, I will up. It's just not that many of us to buy a whole turkey any longer but I will take care of that issue. That turkey saved me $49.82. Can't beat that savings. Might have to get another one for making turkey soup to can also. Tried out the new indoor grill tonight. That thing works great. It is the Nija grill with a thermometer. It also dehydrates. So tomorrow I am going to try dehydrating celery in it. Hope it does well as it will be great for smaller batches of things I want to dehydrate. It has been really cold here today. I think maybe one of the coldest days yet. So got the wood stove going.

I am working on my freezer next year. Going to hopefully have it totally emptied. Then I am going to work on an upright freezer for things I use a lot of. The deep freezer, I will move my flour to. I want to freeze that for a while and then move it to mylar bags and buckets. I have already done some of and put in canning jars but have just about used all that up. The house is really cold today. Got up this morning and GS came into house to use bathroom and left the kitchen door to garage wide open. He had bought his friend home with him, and they were not allowed to come in house. It was after 11pm last night. He thinks he is going to fully move back into my house. Nope, Nadda, it's not going to happen. He is still sleeping in his car. So, I am going to have a talk with him right after Christmas and let him know to get his stuff together and go sit in his friend's driveway for a while till, he decides to get his life together. Although his friend's house is also his mother's house. But not my problem. I slept on the couch last night because I didn't trust GS to not bring his friend in the house. I don't know this guy. He is 19 years old, and GS just met him a few weeks ago and doesn't really know him all that well either. Glad he has made a friend from work, but they seem to be sticking together like glue. On their days off GS picks him up and they hang out together all day and half the night. DD tried to change plans for Christmas again. She wants me now to come up to her house on Saturday. I had already told her that GS was working Saturday and couldn't come up with me and I was not trusting him enough to stay by himself here. Sleeping in car or not I still don't trust him. She said he told her he was off on Saturday but told me he was off on Friday. So, either something is in the wind, and he is lying again to one of us. So, the plan still stands. They will be coming in on Sunday. DD and SIL are off work Christmas day and DD is off on Tuesday as well, but SIL has to work on Tuesday. So, they could stay over for Christmas day as well and leave to head home in the afternoon. But she doesn't want to do that. Her choice. So, I am preparing to have Christmas on Christmas Eve. But hate that I will miss the candlelight service at church. Hopefully next year everyone will get their act together and I will be free to come and go as I please. Need to head to bank in a little while. Then home again to check the store adds. Still looking for that turkey breast. Hoping to find one cheaper. But will see what happens. My arm and shoulder have been killing me the past couple of days. I think it is the arthritis and the rain didn't like each other. I was texting back and forth with my GD in Washington and forgot to shut down the computer and log off this site. And I slept on couch which didn't help my shoulder any.

Necie, I know you are glad of that. You have really been busy putting all that meat up. I heard also that Russia is going to try to send their merchant ships through Iceland if they can melt the ice there. Not sure how that will work. But not sure that will help us here or not. I don't know if we import merchandise from them or not. Seems most of our stuff comes from China and India. Babysat the baby most of the day. DGD worked from my house. I thought she had to go to a couple of meetings, but they were online meetings. She is the manager so she could do them anytime she wanted. So, she was here after lunchtime and worked in the dining room. She did have to stop twice to nurse the baby, but other than that the meetings went smoothly, and baby went to sleep for a bit and then I had her playing on floor. She is grinning a lot now that she had her tongue and lip clipped. Seems that was not caught at birth and doctor caught it a few days ago and clipped it. Now she is having to learn to latch on again at feeding but doing good. Seems she was swallowing a lot of air and causing gas and that is mostly why she was crying a lot. But she still fights sleep. She is 10 weeks old today. And they are planning for baby number 2 come June. Said they will start trying at that time. They want the kids to be close together. So, by the time the second one is born the first one should be out of diapers.