euphrasyne

1 recipe coming up:

The Game Cookbook

Brunswick Stew

4-5 squirrels disjointed

3 sliced onions

2 quarts tomatoes chopped

Cayenne to taste

3 peeled diced potatoes

2c fresh lima beans

2c corn

2c sliced okra

Brown squirrel and onions in bacon fat.  Debone and add all to a pot.  Cook slowly, season to taste.

I prefer to disjoint squirrel and cook it like pork chops.  You will need to use a good bit of fat to cook it.  It smells exactly like pork chops.  The lady that watched DD20 that first year after ii went back to work cooked it at least once a week.  

I vote, yell 'squirrel' and keep on scrolling.  

I like Terry Prachet novels.  One of the worst cures in them is 'May you live in interesting times."  One of the books is called Interesting Times.  

  If you are ever in SE VA, feel free to come by.  

Its hormonal. I have similar happen.   

we eat split  pea soup about once a month.   That or lintel soup which is the same recipe( add turmeric), chunks are a plus for us, but I have  pureed many things for the old/young.  Texture is a thing savored by a certain age.

@littlesister your GS is going to an amazing place if he can manage it.   
DH was with the army then NNSY for over 30 years now (one sold to the other)  and it is awesome.  The perks are indescribable and amazing.   The quality of life is potent.  We live happily on a single income with 4 kids because of it.  

Got a grocery order from Kroger today.  I scored a 2# standing rib roast for $5.99lb.  We're having Prime Rib for Christmas day.  DD15 flies out on Saturday, so it will just be the 3 of us here until New Years. 

DH is done with work until the second week of January, so he will be home for all meals for awhile.  He always has a bunch of use it or lose it vacation days leftover at the end of the year.  Today he let me sleep in and has been watching the toddler for most of the day and picking up the groceries.   It has been very quiet and relaxing so I am reading.

Tonight I will wrap presents and clean DH's office where the xmas tree is.  

Bay leaf adds a very nice flavor.  I use it in a lot of things including marinara, and any and all broth based soups.  It is hard to describe the flavor and it doesn't add much, but you can tell when it isn't there and when it is.  It makes a big difference and things just meld a little bit better when using several spices.  It sorta useful to get things to combine properly.  

You can blend the veggies if you like.  I usually make the soup a tad on  the thinner side with finely diced carrot, onion, and ham floating around in it.  Its a texture issue that we prefer.  I have pureed the whole thing before feeding older people with teeth issues.  You can puree ANYTHING.   Just some things taste better with a bit of texture if there are no health issues.   

I love estate sales and garage sales.  It is sort of date day that me and DH do every so often.  We get up early, take the truck and get some snack food and wander about to the ones posted.  We are always happy at the end of it.  Last time, I got a 4' metal cabinet (retro 50's office and faraday cage worthy)  and a GIANT cooler for $60 together.  

The Southern Living The Canning and Preserving Cookbook recipe from page 72 is this:

Split Pea Soup

2 c split peas

1 ham hock

1 onion chopped

2 carrots sliced

1c chopped celery

salt to taste

Soak peas in water to cover for 12 hours and drain.  Place in a large pan with 3 quarts of water and ham hock and simmer covered for 2 hours.  Add onion, carrot, and celery and simmer covered for 1 hour.  Remove ham hock and cut the meat into small pieces.  Pres the vegetables through a sieve and add the meat and salt.  Pour into hot pint jars to 1 inch from the top.  Process at 10# pressure for 50m.  

I don't have that particular book, but my personal recipe is this:

Split Pea soup canned:

2c split peas

8c water

1 T chicken bullion/base

1 c diced ham or pork

1 1/2 c small diced carrots

1 c small diced onion

1/2 t lemon pepper

1 bay leaf

salt & pepper

Cook peas, water, bullion for an hour and then puree.  Add remainder.  Boil.  Reduce heat to low cook 30m.  Season to taste.  Add water if too thick.  Remove bay leaf.  Pack into jars and process pints at 10lbs for 75m.  

When it is fresh, I often add smoked sausage slices if not vegetarian.  

I don't stock anything for long term that we will not use in the short term.  That way I am familiar with the ingredients and using them is no stress or hardship.  That being said, dehydrated celery is a convenience food for me as much as a long term plan.  I have no qualms about opening up a can of dehydrated anything if I'm out of fresh anything.  I just mark it on the list to be replaced.  Some things, like mushrooms, actually work better as dehydrated.    Many types of rehydrated mushroom take on a fleshy texture and have the mouthfeel of beef or pork.  It makes great vegetarian dishes.  

I use a commercially dehydrated celery all the time.  WaltonFeed/Rainy Day #10 can of it open in my pantry is a staple.  I cook with it a lot.  

Soo many leftovers I made 4 quarts of beef broth/consommé.  I started a quart of pickled cucumbers, made 3 pints pickled pear relish, and mixed up a batch of 8dzn apple oatmeal cookies.  Half of which are in the oven tonight and the rest are being flash frozen in shape for later.  It has been an exhausting, productive day.   

Fresh pickles are fun, but does shelf stable mason jar pickling count as canning or does it need another thread?  That being said, do we need separate threads for dehydrating, etc? or does 'canning' count towards all preserving?

DH was sick a bit this weekend and yesterday, so the double batch of spinach nuggets got made last night and sent to work today.  I filled a mason jar with marinara, put it in the middle of an oval crockpot, then piled the nuggets around it in a doughnut like shape.  I told him to run it for an hour or two before serving it on low.  They turned out pretty good and even DD3 likes them.  I made more than would fit, so we have some for the house regardless of if he returns with any.  

DD15 has an art club party tomorrow.  She wants to bring a sweet.  I have a plethora of oatmeal atm and also some frozen diced apples with cinnamon & sugar.   So I suggested we make apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies and that is the plan for tonight.  

Deep freeze 1 is almost empty.  It only has some popsicles, ice-cream, and 2 loaves of bread left.   By January 1, I should be able to downsize it and move deep freeze 2 to its spot.  That will open up more space in the sunroom for shelf stable, appliance, and non-food storage.  

The big debate down in the deep south over tobasco vs cayenne usually is that tobasco adds heat without any flavor and cayenne adds heat with flavor, so you are changing the seasoning and the heat level with cayenne but only the heat level with tobasco.   Never heard it the other way around.  Interesting.  I do know that it is a big debate down there and most people feel very strongly one way or another.   Both peppers run 30k-50K scoville, so they are about the same amount of heat in general.  

If you want to make something hot....DH works with a guy from Nigeria.  His wife grows hot peppers and gives us some.  In return, I send a few hotter dishes their way.  I have scorpion pepper, Carolina reaper, and ghost pepper that I either froze or put up  in the last 2 years.  Since they grow the hot peppers near the milder peppers, they cross pollinate and I do get a few hotter cayenne and bell peppers every now and again.  

I made Red Headed Chili (it is crazy hot and will mess with you) with some of the scotch bonnets and reapers awhile back and was told that it was delicious, hotter than H E double hockysticks--officially the hottest chili several of the 'yankee' coworkers had ever had, and please make more.  

Necie, there is never an upper limit on how much garlic goes in a dish.   We eat a ton of it on everything.  

That looks like a good recipe, Littlesister.  I agree that hot sauce definately makes a difference.   I've been making greens in the following manner without a written recipe for longer than my oldest kid has been alive--its how my Papaw taught me and we always used fresh greens from his garden:

Collard, Mustard, or Turnip greens or any mix thereof:

Dice bacon and onion.   Can use any fatback, ham, or pork product on hand.  Sauté in pot with garlic.  Wash and tear or chop greens depending on level of involvement.  Sauté leaves down a bit.  Add chicken base or bullion, ACV, a good dash of hot sauce, (we like the cayenne based Louisiana or such better), a small spoon of brown or white sugar, and water to top of greens. Season with salt & pepper.  Cook for a couple hours.  Serve with hot pepper vinegar or spiced cane vinegar if you don't make your own hot pepper vinegar.  Green beans can also be done in this method to a good result, but do not need to be cooked as long.  

This flavor is fairly common in Mississippi and Alabama.  Most folks use a very similar variant of the recipe and I saw it at every BBQ, school function, or church potluck ever when living down there.  

Everyone I know is sad that Bennet's Creek closed.  The collards have been mentioned by many.  Even my therapist brought up how sad he couldn't have them for Christmas so I gave him my recipe.  I use onion, bacon, ACV among other things.  Sometimes I do green beans the same way and it is really good.  I think that the only reason I'm less sad about the closing is that I'm a good cook and do most things myself.  They were really good by anyone's standards.   

We use too much sugar and not enough honey.  I'd be more upset, but DH is down over 100 lbs since last year (he is now about 160 and 6' tall) with our current diet and wants to put on more muscle mass.  I'm super proud of him, but a little jealous.   I now outweigh him by about 20lbs.  We both need to make some dietary and exercise changes.  I'm too fat and he needs more muscle.  We are both middle aged with limited mobility so that makes a difference.  

Dh's work has been doing potluck type food since the beginning of the month.  I sent Italian beef to work with DH on Friday and they ate 100% of it; there were no leftovers.  Score.  He is slight on the praise, but says everyone says they liked it.  I told him that women want more details than that, but he is a man and doesn't understand.  I plan to make spinach nuggets for Monday and a few loves of bread for Tuesday.  I explained that praise = more things made and no praise means less things made.  Hopefully that will rouse his memory.  

DH got a quart of honey from a coworker who works with him.  Apparently they do bees.  I now have some local honey.  

I'd be lost without my phone.  It has alarms, reminders, lists, recipes, books, games, websites.  I didn't get a cell until I was in my 30s, but it makes a huge difference.  I can even see what isle of the grocery store the item I want is with store apps.  

Pocketbook, kindle, and Calibre all allow you to highlight and take notes.  I also use onenote to take screenshots and make other notes for various things.  

You can add almost anything to paint to get texture.  Common additives are dirt, salt, sugar, flour, chalk, cat litter.  A dry sponge will have more contrast than a wet one.   Wetting the sponge will make it a thinner layer and more translucent.  Adding water to acrylic paint in general makes it more translucent.  Sponging it gives it a different texture than a brush, but you can achieve the same 'translucency' with either one by diluting the paint enough.  I prefer the brushstroke look of the brush, but many like the texture of the sponge better.  Different sponges give different textures.  

I hate toll roads and tunnels.  The first time I ever had a road toll was when I moved up here.   We use them often now and the roads here in VA are no better than the 'free' ones in MS.  I have no idea where the $ goes.  

https://www.facebook.com/homesteadingfamily/videos/1429541294303708/

I watched this and thought it was worth sharing.  

We have an EZ pass on every vehicle.  MIL does not, and it still bills to this address.  The amount difference is equivalent to 1:5 for us verses her for very pass through the tunnel.  I do not care if they track me that way, but apparently she does and they do it anyway.  She stays broke and unable to afford basic groceries.  That is another difference between us.  I would help her, but she once lived with us and would not communicate basic things other than negative.  So now she lives with her brother and still cannot communicate anything worth knowing her son or granddaughters.    Life lesson:  you reap what you sow.  

I like BJs.  Their store brand is acceptable and they carry the items I need.  The bonus over other membership stores is that BJs takes coupons --store coupons and manufacturers coupons.   I find them slightly cheaper than Sams, way cheaper than costco as far as membership.  If you wait to renew, you can usually get a 2 card membership (1 for DH, 1 for me) for $20 rather than the usual $55.   We just renewed and the 'you let it expire' incentive to renew came in at $20 for the membership with $20 in 'rewards'  applied to the card.  Basically free.  

I drink a lot of green tea, the cheese is inexpensive, and the beef goes on sale for 4.99 or sometimes 3.99 for roast.  They are also much cheaper on bulk junk food like chips, juice pouches, poptarts.  Jerky is the lowest price anywhere but the Commissary.  Diapers and formula are usually cheaper there also.  

As little sister said, they carry bulk amounts of normal sizes for a lot of things.  Instead of 1 giant jar of sauce, you are buying 3 large/normal jars grouped together.   Ceral is in normal boxes, but there will be 2 grouped in a bigger box.  I was completely out of macaroni, had a coupon, kid was begging, so I bought a 16ct box of Kraft.  One big box that opens into 16 grouped normal size boxes.  It is much more convenient sizing for family use.    They also carry books, seasonal house and toy items, clothing, shoes, and beer.