sparrowgrass

I have a big pressure canner like the one you linked to, and it is great for stock. And when you get done, you put the stock in pint jars and can it. Mine has a weight that jiggles.

AnnaN, those are my favorites, too. I like them on saltines.

I planted brussels sprouts, broccoli, kohlrabi, celery and lettuce yesterday, but that is probably it for the next week--rain, rain, rain, and then I think it is going to rain again. I planted some peas and lettuce way last month, but not a sign of them--that wascally wabbit probably got them. (The dogs have been regularly snacking on baby bunnies--good dogs!!) The sparrowgrass is up, so I am a happy woman. As soon as I have a few minutes to cook, I am going to batter and 'French-fry' some.

I don't know anything about verbs and adjectives, but I am having French-fried asparagus tips for dinner tonight!

I peel mine and then peel the membrane off the segments, usually with my teeth. If I was feeding a grapefruit to company, I would peel and then cut the segments out of the membrane--supreme-ing, Ithink they call it.

I don't bake much--diabetic, too--but I have almost 2 gallons of vanilla steeping in the cupboard. It makes great presents. (And I use it in my Greek yogurt--a spoonful of vanilla and a couple packets of sweetener. Add some strawberries, and you have a great breakfast that doesn't make my sugar go up.)

If you want the unabridged version of Sheryl Canter's post on flax seed oil, try this LINK.

I found out in December that my blood sugar was high--pre-diabetes is what the doc says, but I think pre-diabetes is like being 'a little bit' pregnant. I have been doing low carb--less than 30 carbs per meal, sometimes 0 carbs per meal. Almost no grain, no sugar, no potatoes. I eat a little barley now and then. Lots of green leafies, broccoli, celery, etc, and meat. I have lost 25 pounds since Dec. 1, and, more importantly, my blood sugar monitor says I am doing a good job. No cravings, but I do miss popcorn.

Wild rice. I stocked up the last time I was in Ely MN (at least 2 summers ago), and when I cleaned out the freezer there was a 3 pound bag and 2 one pound bags.

My mom taught me how to use the 'Archimedes method' to measure shortening--if you need half a cup of shortening, put half a cup of water into the 1 cup measure, add shortening until the water reaches the 1 cup line. Since I no longer use shortening for anything, that tip goes unused now. I was allowed to bake sweets, to fill up my brothers and myself, so I started with cake mixes and graduated to cookies and candy. Other than that, I think I mostly taught myself. She went to work when I was 12, evening shift, so I was responsible for dinner. She got the meat out of the freezer, and I pretty much had free rein with what happened next--the only rule was 'meat, vegetable, starch'--and the starch, per my father, was generally potatoes. And the veggies came out of cans.

Lettuce, spinach, raw cauliflower, garbanzos, cukes, shredded carrots, celery, sunflower seeds and (sorry) ranch dressing. If I am at home, I add tomatoes, but I never see good tomatoes on a salad bar.

Dang, what a wonderful blog!! I have enjoyed every word and picture, and drooled over most of them!! Just a note--the T in T-Mike is a contraction of petite. Learned that from Dave Robicheaux, I think.

My younger son is adventurous and a pretty good cook, at 26. The older boy thinks his head will fall off if he eats anything green. His poor wife has to wait til he is out of town to indulge her passion for Asian food, because he doesn't like the way it makes her breath smell. Where did I go wrong with that one?

My meds say one hour before or 2 hours after eating.

Naguere, I AM lucky, but I am NOT a guy!! :laugh I tease the producer of the beef--I tell him that I ate some of his 'stringy Mexican beef' for dinner! Last night it was stuffed peppers, using the last of the green peppers and some of that tomato sauce I canned. Delish!!

Too late--cleared mine out on Friday to make room for the side of beef I picked up on Saturday. My co-worker raises Corrientes, which are the little steers rodeos use for roping. After the rodeo season is over, he fattens a few for the freezer. They are delicious and lean, and, as a plus, they are very small. (And, no hormones or antibiotics.) I live alone, and the 214 pounds of beef I picked up doesn't overwhelm. I tossed a bunch of stuff from the bottom of the freezer--an old tube of sausage, a pound of bacon, a big bag of flaxseed, some chopped nuts from a couple of years ago--and canned the 4 gallon bags of whole tomatoes and the 2 of green peppers I put in the freezer in August. (My kitchen smelled like summer all weekend!)

Red Cross has great information on how to plan for an emergency. I am on our local disaster team, and have been to many classes on preparedness and emergency management. I am in Missouri--about 100 miles from the New Madrid fault. If we have another earthquake of the magnitude of the one in 1811-12, St. Louis and Memphis will look like New Orleans after Katrina. I need to be prepared--if that happens, our little county, 90 miles south of St. Louis, won't be reached for weeks, probably. The grocery stores will empty in a day or two--they already look awfully bare the afternoon before a big snow storm is predicted!! And, because of the geology of our area, we may be relatively untouched, and the first undamaged place the refugees from the river bottoms will find. Earthquakes aside, the tornados and the ice storms knock out power regularly. I have an electric heat pump, so I installed a ventless gas heater--looks like a little woodstove without a chimney, and it keeps me nice and warm. I have enough food in the pantry and the freezer to last a long time--the stuff in the freezer might have to be canned, but I have the supplies and the fuel (and the know-how) to do so. Water supply--yes, do rotate your water, or set the older water aside for cleaning and flushing toilets, if you have the room. Bottled water has a date on it. There is water in your toilet tanks, and in your water heater--find the tap on the bottom of the heater, now, before you have to find it in the dark!!

I, too, was probably about three when I had my first food epiphany--a marshmallow peep. I still remember the lusciousness of the marshmallow and the crunch of the sugar between my teeth. (Can't stand them now, but as a tot--nirvana.)

I bought a whole hog a few years ago, and they included the head, skinned and split in two. I had no idea what to do with it, so I simmered it in water and picked the meat off. I got nice broth for making beans, and enough meat for a few sandwiches. The eyeballs didn't bother me, but the roof of the pig's mouth is corrugated just like a dog's. That skeeved me out.

In answer to the question, NO--absolutely not. Winter tomatoes are a poor imitation of real tomatoes. I generally don't buy tomatoes, I grow my own, and freeze and can enough for the winter. Once in a while in the off season I will buy grape tomatoes for salad--they aren't great, but they have more tomato flavor than the larger ones.

Eggs can be packed up to 30 days after being laid--the Julian date is for processing--washing and packing. Eggs are kept in cold storage sometimes. There is probably about the same amount of production all year round, since modern facilities have temp and light control to keep production high all year round, but use of eggs varies--it peaks in Nov-Dec (all that baking) and at Easter.

I work in the courthouse, and there is a little coffee shop right across the street. Their food is lousy, but they are convenient. However--when the guy behind the counter makes change for someone and then reaches into the bread bin for my croissant without washing his hands--convenience is not enough. I don't know where those hands have been! I am not a germophobe, but that was a bit too much. If you are going to work barehanded, you better be washing every few minutes. When I go to the fair, and the fundraiser booth guy makes change and then makes my sandwich with the same GLOVES, at least I know (or maybe just hope!) that he hasn't been to the bathroom with those gloves on, and that he probably hasn't picked his nose or cleaned his ears with those gloved fingers. A few germs picked up off the money don't bother me too much--I am going to take my change and then eat my sandwich without washing my hands.

Commercial eggs do have to be washed, so they must be refrigerated. I have chickens, and I don't have room in the fridge for any eggs except the 3 or 4 cartons with eggs that I have washed and am saving for boiling when they get old enough.

I started my seedlings yesterday. Tomatoes: a mixed packet of heirloom seeds from Burpees, Ananas Noir, Golden Sunray, a little red one that I don't know the name of, saved from last years garden, Riesentraube, Mortgage Lifter, and a free sample of a yellow tomato--Djene something. Peppers: Carnival sweet bells, serranos, Mucho Nachos jalapenos, and, because I have a juvenile sense of humor, 'Peter' peppers. Also planted some broccoli, brussels sprouts, celery, basil, cilantro, and cosmos.

My only rule is, if you come to dinner and help me clean up, I will not rearrange what you have done, at least not while you are still around. Help with dishes is hard to find.