My easiest home canned tomato sauce method makes it one of the easiest things to can. A large part is hands off which is a nice way to can. I love canning with tomatoes. Usually I grow an abundant amount of tomatoes. So many that I give a lot away. Not so this year. My […]
No Waste. It’s a Good Thing.
I dried more apples and again I realized how little food we waste. Since we grow our own apples I chose to not work so hard around blemishes, bugs etc. I just cut those parts out and put them in the waste bowl. But the waste bowl doesn’t actually go to waste. I can give […]
My Kitchen Adventures
I thought I would take some pictures of a few of the things going on in my kitchen. In the photo above, I wanted to make “Triple Berry Scones” from my latest issue of Cooks Country. I was measuring my ingredients when my boys came in and announced that they too wanted to make their […]
Basil Cubes
One of the things I needed to harvest this past week was basil. I have five pots of basil and it grows quickly. It was time to preserve it. Long before I ever had anything that could be called a garden (even by city standards) I’ve grown basil. Fresh basil adds so much flavor to […]
Preserving Strawberries
What did I do with all 65 pounds of strawberries? I have a variety of ways that I preserve their deliciousness. We picked on Friday and spent that day plus all day Saturday preserving them. It always begins with washing the strawberries. I just dump half a flat in to one side of my sink […]
Salmon Cakes (Freezable)
Years ago I came across this Salmon Cakes recipe in the Oregonian Food Day. It has been a staple in our house since. These salmon cakes are easy to make and taste great. Depending on what type of canned salmon you use you may have to discard skin and bones. I use the canned salmon […]
Breakfast Egg Mini Tarts (freezable)
Breakfast Egg Mini Tarts are full of deliciousness and protein. The perfect start to your day. I make breakfast for my guys every morning. I like to feed them things high in protein. It seems they do better in school when they get a healthy, protein rich breakfast. Some mornings I have more work to […]
Canning Homemade Chicken Stock
This is a staple in my kitchen. It is tastes so good and it is incredibly healthy since you control the ingredients. One of my favorite cook books is the “Dairy Hollow House Soup and Bread: A Country Inn Cookbook.” I have other favorite recipes from it that I’ll share in the future but today […]
New Culinary Successes
This summer has brought a few new tricks to my culinary tool belt. I thought I would share them with you in case you might benefit from them. The first time I met my neighbor Jen she was cutting up watermelon. I was so intrigued by the technique that I immediately started doing it. She […]
It’s Apple Harvest Time
Woohoo? When you have sixteen apple trees you really do question whether it is a good thing. The first thing I did was take one of each type of apple that we have and cut it up to sample. We don’t know the name for each type of apple. I know that we have Granny […]
Roasting Tomatoes
Life is busy. Harvest. School. Chores. Appointments. Do you remember this picture? Well those ended up being two loads in the food dehydrator. I tried slicing them on the thick side by hand. Missed using my mandolin which makes things go lighting fast but we like the texture of the thicker slices. In the midst […]
Canning Tomatoes
I’ve been waiting for what seems like an eternity for the tomatoes to ripen. My hope is always to get most of the canning done before the new school year begins. Tomatoes in Oregon are notorious for taking their own sweet time. Well finally, it was time to pick tomatoes. In my first haul of […]