So, how did the goals for last week go? Well first I got the daughter through her dentist appointment, so that got done :). I also did go through projects and things I had around the house and figured out a few ideas for Christmas gifts for this year. At least one thing I found was a kit to make my daughter a doll, so that will definitely come in handy. I also dug out my yarn and started working on a project for Christmas as well this week.
On the sewing front, I didn't get to repairing my husband's jacket zipper as I ended up doing some chores around here to help my husband get ready to go out of town this week. To complicate matters my son didn't sleep at all one night (he went to bed at 6:00 am) and didn't sleep well most of the week, so it was kind of hard to get motivated to do much of anything some days. Luckily, though, the iron supplements and vitamins I've been taking finally started to perk my energy levels up, so I was able to cope with the lack of sleep a lot better.
I also dug out the Fourth of July table runner and put that on the table for tomorrow.
I still haven't found the DVD repair kit, but like Indian Jones in the Adventure of the Allusive DVD Repair Kit, I'm not going to give up! I shall traverse any pile of forgotten stuff to go through and dodge any falling items as I look on the tall shelves in the closet! I shall not be denied!!!
On canning goals is where I really did do good work this week. I canned...
1. Cherry jam (seen up top).
Some people asked for the link to the recipe I used. I used the recipe HERE but I did do a few things different. For one, when you used prepared tomato sauce to start, the reducing time is a LOT less. I only reduced the stuff for about an hour and I still ended up with some getting scorched even on the lowest heat setting (luckily it didn't make the BBQ sauce taste like charcoal or anything when it happened, I just had to scrub the bottom of the pan afterwards). I also used poblano peppers because I had them in the freezer and skipped the hot peppers and the sweet bell peppers, using the poblano peppers in their place. It worked out pretty well actually. I had just enough celery and onions frozen to get the veggies out of the way. Once the veggies were tender I used a immersion blender instead of worrying about food milling everything and got the veggies incorporated into the sauce that way.
Normally I would have added a tablespoon of liquid smoke to help flavor the BBQ sauce more to our liking, but after searching for a good hour, I have to say that I must be out of it. I'll just get some liquid smoke at the store at some point and mix in a little bit into the sauce when I go to use it. It'll work.
4. And I got pancake syrup canned today. I adapted a recipe I had used for years to work better for me and it came out great. I'll post up the recipe here soon.
5. After I got done with the pancake syrup and the honey mustard, I went to put the 1 lb package of powdered mustard I had opened into a jar, but there was some left over. My husband asked if he could have what was left in the package and I said okay. He then went online, looked up a recipe for hot English mustard, got my scale out, got the last bottle of hard cider and made his own mustard. I put it into sterilized jar and canned it for him (I tasted it and can see why they say to let it rest for two weeks. Holy COW that stuff is hot!!!). I thought that was pretty neat of him to do with just some left over powdered mustard.
When it came to getting cleaning goals done with the kids rooms that didn't get done this week with the son not sleeping and other stuff going on. I'm hoping to get to that this week.
I did get bread baked today. The recipe made two loaves of bread, but I really didn't NEED two loaves since my husband is going out of town this week, so I grabbed the other half of the dough and quickly made some cinnamon rolls for breakfast tomorrow with it. It worked great and the rolls are now slathered thickly with cream cheese icing and are under the Tupperware cake cover until tomorrow morning. Yum!
My goals for this week will integrate into my monthly goals (I hope *laugh*), so I'll get to that tomorrow. How about you? Did you get some of your goals accomplished last week?
Wow, despite the lack of sleep you got a lot done! I got many projects done last week as our son was away at camp. I finally finished our back yard ( it's only 2 1/2 city lots) weeding, planting, trimming and mulching) did all the wash, cleaned all 11 rabbit cages, organized the upstairs pantry, and generally put our house in order. I also took some time to relax and enjoy our yard and hung out with a friend.
ReplyDeleteWow!!! That was a lot to get done in one week! I'm currently working on putting the house back in order after canning the last few days. Triaging what needs to be done the most, sometimes the housework takes a back seat and it takes me DAYS to get it all caught up. That's definitely where I am right now.
DeleteWow, you really did do great with the canning this week! It all looks really good, too. I'm just as impressed that your husband took the time to research an recipe and make it himself. My husband is a cook and he's never did something like that! Bravo to his frugal efforts!!!
ReplyDeleteThis week I bought 2 more flats of strawberries and a large basket of Ontario cherries at the farmers market. We washed them in water with a bit of vinegar and prepped them for the freezer. I also tried a tray of each in the dehydrator as an experiment, which worked out rather well. I made sure to leave some in the fridge for fresh eating this week.
I discovered that there are wild raspberry bushed at my work I din't know about and they are loaded with berries this year! Last year I spent $50 on one flat of raspberries, so this is a huge discovery. I'm planning on grabbing as many berries as I can with the hopes I won't need to buy any this year. Here's hoping the animals don't take them all!!!
I hope you get some better sleep this week, Erika. It is awful hard to accomplish anything when you are constantly exhausted, especially when your husband is away. Take it easy and do what you can to survive your husbands absence. There's always another week.
I was impressed that he did that too! Usually my husband is utterly lost in the kitchen, so that he not only attempted but was successful making the mustard impressed me to no end.
DeleteOoo! Dehydrated strawberries are great! I'll make crepes and then mix the dehydrated strawberries into a blintz filling to fill them with. Goodness that's good! The dehydrated strawberries give you such a more concentrated flavor in the filling. Yum! I actually have some in the pantry right now. I might have to buy some more cream cheese soon to make into blintz filling. Thanks for reminding me!
Man I wish I could find a bunch of wild raspberry bushes around here to glean. I'm praying my mother-in-law lets me glean her bushes again this year as hers are WAY more productive than mine are. At least I AM getting some raspberries this year, despite the bugs attempts to deter them from growing, so hopefully after my fruit loving daughter gets done I'll have a few to put in the freezer ;).
As for sleep...I'm not looking forward to my husband being gone, that's for sure. My son's eczema is flaring again, which makes him grumpy (can't imagine it wouldn't when the bottom of your feet crack and bleed) and then him not sleeping because of it just compounds the issue. My husband has traveled with his job quite a bit over the years, but honestly this is the most I've dreaded him leaving since we were newlyweds. Probably a good sign that our marriage is healthy that I'm already missing him and he's not even gone yet, though :).
Such pretty canned things!! Im really excited and curious to see your pancake syrup recpie, we go through the stuff like crazy. My 3 year old only eats pancakea or waffles for brekfast, and sometimes lunch too.
ReplyDeleteSo have you ever tried to make red or green pepper jelly? My husband discovered it a few years back at a Mennonite store, and used the last we had stored and I'd like to make him some, but ive never make jelly, only jam. Not sure how much more difficult it is.
I hope your next week is more productive, but remember, even if you didn't get everything done that you wanted to, you still did well and got done a lot!!!
Jelly, to me, isn't much more difficult than jam, but if you do it correctly to make a clear jelly it does take a while (I don't bother and really haven't had any problems NOT getting a clear jelly).
DeleteNow there is this recipe here, but it does look more like a jam than a jelly from the pictures. You might want to try that :).
http://www.freshpreserving.com/pepper-jelly-recipe-%7C-pepper-jelly---ball-fresh-preserving-br1275.html
As for the pepper jelly itself, normally up here peppers as a whole are platinum plated price-wise. Normal price for a green bell pepper is around 2.00 or more, but every once in a while you can get some red or yellow bell peppers for 1.50 each on sale. Thus why I used the poblano peppers instead of the bell peppers called for the in the BBQ sauce. I had them :).
Good luck with your jam/jelly making!
Thank you! I'm going to bookmark that one. Peppers are about that much here too, yet, at one grocery store, for $1 I can buy 12 oz of frozen mixed peppers! I don't go to that store often, but I always wonder at that. We are trying to grow some again this year, but they are so slow. Hoping they start soon! We finally have a flower on one.
DeleteYep, the housework and "To Do" List never go away. It just hangs around until you get to it. lol
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid my mom gathered little things all year long for us for Christmas. I thought we were rich when in fact we had very little. She wrapped everything and it looked like so much on Christmas Eve. I remember one Christmas when I got my first pair of nylons, a bottle of nail polish and assorted other small things. And of course the ever present clothing that she made for us. We loved it all.
When I was a single parent and money was really tight I'd shop the sales and part of their Christmas presents were things like their favorite box of cereal and a half case of their favorite soda or some other goodie they liked. And socks - always socks, it was a running joke. Our stockings held little odds and ends usually samples of things I got for free. Funny that they remember these things now and not the big ones. We always had fun. I think it's the memories more than the things. Well, that's my trip down memory lane. I so enjoy your blog. Take care.