Category Archive: Foods
Work and play
I started early because the grandsons were coming for a trip to the beach. I did work some on the pillowcases and caught up (mostly) on emails. I must be on too many groups as reading just what I think is important email takes me long enough.
These peppers and some onions were cut up and the peppers went on trays to fast freeze in the freezer while we were gone. When we returned, they were placed and sealed in freezer bags. (when I open a bag of strawberries or other food, I cut the bag on the seal line so I can wash and re use the bag. The peppers are now stored in bags that had strawberries in July.
It was such a lovely day that Mt Rainier shows clearly in the distance.
The boys had a great time in the water and then came out to warm up, while their mother and I had a good visit. Then it was home for lunch and they asked to play a board game – too hot outside.
Do you remember this game? It was new to the boys. My parents had it early in their marriage, I believe it is older than I am by a little bit. Jen and I taught the boys how to play. Spencer picked up the idea rapidly. After a game and some strawberry shortcake, they went home, and we went back to work.
Celiac meals – Sept 5
We spent a couple hours at the health food store looking at what fun foods might be available that were also vegan and gluten-free. Not a lot, but we did find a Daiya Pizza that looks good, two types of patties and mostly high priced crackers and other “treats”
And I did spend a considerable amount of time looking for bread and muffin recipes on the internet that were gluten-free and vegan. It wasn’t very encouraging.
Breakfast: Cooked oat bran, bananas, 1/2 apple, blueberries.
Lunch: Finished the Quinoa, rice with green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers,
Dinner: Potatoes with hummus for dressing and pinto beans
Studying, sewing, and peppers
As you can see, I now have the 4 bottom rows put together. I haven’t had a much time as I have been doing a lot of research on recipes for favorite foods no longer on the Celiac menu.
There I stopped as these peppers were calling me. They are washed and several chopped and on the dehydrator. A huge pan of them is cut, deseeded, and sitting in the refrigerator until Sunday when I will finish them. The plan is to freeze them so they will be easy to add to salsa and it can be put together as we need it.
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Life changing day
Yes, I did get the heels turned in this pair of socks as I was canning two more canners full of different kinds of beans. I even knitted a bit more after taking the photo.
However, the big life changer was the call from the doctor, stating that yes, my husband has celiac disease – confirmed from the results of his blood tests – something both of us hoped would not be the case. However, it is good to know what the problem is and what we can do about it. The doctor prescribed supplements to build his body and the test will be repeated in a year.
So I spent a good part of the rest of the day, clearing out the pantry, looking for recipes, etc. This really sounds a bit silly because we don’t use that much gluten anyway – or so I thought. We eat mostly vegetables and fruits. But there are certain food items he really likes that I will have to find a substitute for as shortcake for under the strawberries, pretzels (that don’t cost $7.99/bag), pizza, pasta and pancakes. I think those are the big ones, and that isn’t too many . But gluten hides in many other products, so we will be very carefully reading labels. I’ll concentrate on finding new recipes. If any of you have super tasting vegan, gluten free recipes, I’d love to try them. In the meantime, it is off to Google to see what I can find.
More canning and a friend
Today I was honored to have a friend come over and keep me company while I continued to can more beans. It takes about 10 minutes for the cooker to start steaming, 10 minutes of steaming and then I can put the cap on and wait for the pressure to get up to 11# another 10-15 minutes.. I wait there for 45 minutes, watching the heat carefully as it likes to fluctuate on this stove, and then let it reduce pressure to zero – another half hour. So the actual pressure canning part takes up to 2 hours per load of 10 pints. Since I spend a good amount of time checking the stove, it was super nice to have a friend over to visit. We shared food, knitted, caught up on life, and enjoyed the wonderful ping, ping, ping of the jar lids sealing.
I think I’ll do a couple more loads of beans in the morning and then wait until later in the month to do the soups . The boxes on the right on the floor are for the beans I’ll be doing in the morning and later soups.
Then there will be jams, salsa, and ??? still to do. I’d like to do pears, but I don’t know yet if I will get them. This, for me, is the busiest time of the year as I like to be ready for winter, with all the harvest put away.
Another pair of socks
This is sock pair #9 for this year. I chose another of my self striping yarns so I could knit while in the car. Also, because there is just so much going on that I need something that doesn’t take thinking. Today I used the pressure cooker again and I don’t leave the kitchen while using it or I may become distracted and bad things could happen. So I knit in the kitchen.
I did the cuff on this pair last month and then decided to make the purple pair instead. So I started Friday with the cuff already done and have been working on them in the car and in the kitchen. They will be my take along pair.
Other than the 2 hours spent walking my Fitbit steps, taking water to the bees, picking tomatoes, roasting a pan of cherry tomatoes, picking and freezing raspberries. freezing three trays of bananas and canning one load, I’m straining to remember what I did. Why does everything take so long? Not one of these was a big job.
Oh, yes, I selected fabrics for the scarf part of the “Knitters Gifts” quilt and will press them later this week. I prepared the pattern as it is a paper piecing pattern, and worked a bit on pillowcases, but didn’t actually finish any Perhaps that is why it seems I don’t get enough done, because I work on several projects instead of just one. I do so want to get back to embroidering. Patience, summer is only for anther month.
This is my vacation week. I will be using it for family time I made a potato salad for our picnic with Kati and Zach tomorrow. It’s really too bad we’ll all be involved in the activity without anyone to take photos. They are going to try to teach me to kayak. I am going to try, but I have no thoughts of being able to accomplish this. I may be spending a lot of time in the water. And I ‘m quite sure this will look very funny to others
Then the next two or 2.5 days, our Boston grandson will be here and we will be enjoying the Seattle Science Center with the three grandsons and a couple of our children. Our children so enjoyed it when they were young, maybe still do. I haven’t been there in a long time. Yes, summer is nearly over and the boys will be back in school and every activity available.
Preparing for winter
One of the things that I try to do is to be as truly prepared for winter as possible. If there is a snowstorm or a power outage, I don’t want to have to navigate the roads and I’m quite sure others don’t want me to either. I also stay home when the flu season is the worst.
I am thrilled to have enough hay now in the hay building for the animals. It was rather interesting since I have not purchased 2 ton for this location. The last bale barely fit into the building.
Add to animal feed, the people food. I have been freezing and canning all summer. We started with the berries and yesterday and today, I cooked some beans and canned them as well as picked 4 pints of green beans. Tomorrow I’ll pick more tomatoes and then can the green beans and tomatoes in the same load as they take fewer minutes. Pressure cooking just takes more time than water bathes. Here are today’s black beans, cannellini beans and some garbanzos. I love being able to just grab a pint of beans for a quick meal, so in September when the weather is a bit cooler, I’ll be putting up many more of these.
