Food – Asbery's Echoes

A Simple Day

After days of hot and humid weather, the kind that make it miserable to be outside for any length of time, we finally got a break today! I even have the windows open! Perfect weather for hanging laundry on the line. Joe braved the heat last evening to finish up my clothesline for me – bless his heart! After I finished up the supper dishes I went out and helped. And I went to bed last night knowing I was going to get to hang clothes outside in the morning. I get excited about such crazy things! And today the sky is overcast, there’s a beautiful breeze, the temp is down and the humidity is gone. The chickens are even happy!

And I get to look out the open window and see my laundry dancing in the breeze! I get excited over open windows too. I hate having the house shut up – any chance I get the air gets turned off and the windows get opened. I love hearing the birds chirping and the trees rustling and Gilbert (in the picture above) and Matthew perfecting their cock a doodle doo!

I had wanted to learn to can for years and last summer I finally decided to jump in with both feet and teach myself. I asked for the Bell Canning Book for Christmas, purchased my canning supplies and next thing I knew I had jelly, salsa, applesauce and tomato juice all in jars waiting for winter meals! And now it’s canning season again!

The beginning of the tomato harvest. Now my table is covered with bright red tomatoes!

This year I’m finding that it has already become more “natural” to me. I don’t have to read before doing every step. I’m a lot calmer and I’m really enjoying the process. Last week I put up Canndied Jalapenos. I made them last year and Joe and I loved them. So this year, I’m planning to can a lot more of them. So far I’ve put up 8 jars using my tried and true recipe. But I’ve discovered a different recipe that is Trim Healthy Mama approved so I’m hoping to have enough jalapenos to give it a try. We’re working on eating healthier and we’re really loving the THM plan.

This week it’s been salsa. Abby came over Tuesday and we put up 11 pints. She took half and I kept half. Yesterday I put up 9 more. And it looks like I’ll have enough tomatoes and peppers to hopefully do that many more again! We like to eat salsa plain but I also put it in chili and other things so it’s nice to have it canned and ready. Canning for me is another way of living a more simple life. And there is just so much satisfaction in it. Yes, it’s time consuming. It takes a lot of time to harvest, prep and go through the actual canning process. But at the end of the day, you have all these beautiful jars full of summer goodness just waiting to be opened and enjoyed! And I never get tired of listening to that ping that says all is good! Homegrown, healthy ingredients – we know exactly where everything came from. Another step towards living simple!

And I pulled my onions today. My Mom says to never let the August sun touch your onions so no August sun for these guys! Last year I pulled them, chopped them up and put them in the freezer. This year I’m going to try and dry them and keep them in the basement. I’ve got them in the pergola right now drying. There’s lots of shade here so hopefully they will dry alright. I’ll keep an eye on them. Then when they’re dry, I’ll clean them up. Cut the greens off, trim the roots and dust off the dirt that’s left. Then I’ll put them in an old milk crate and store them in the basement and see how it goes. I want to keep freezer space open for our sweet corn so I’m hoping this will work out fine. It stays cool and dark in the basement during the winter so I’m hoping for good results. Again, another step towards that simple living. And the more I can put away for the winter, the less running to town I’ll have to do and less chance for worry when a winter storm hits!

Yotty’s Ice Cream

We visisted the grandkids Sunday night. And Jeremy and Abby too of course! We met them in Kalona and ate at Tequila Grill. One of the best Mexican restaurants in the area. It didn’t disappoint. It was so yummy! Drew and I shared a Super Burrito and we ate the whole thing!

After we ate Jeremy suggested we get some ice cream. It was a cold, rainy, miserable evening, definintely not ice cream weather, but who says no to ice cream! So off to Yotty’s we went. They have the best ice cream hands down! Miss Bayah learned to use a straw while we were eating supper and it came in handy at Yotty’s. She confiscated her mommy’s malt and never gave it back!

We had a nice evening visiting with the kids and enjoying the grandkids. Kalona is about an hours drive from our house and although it’s a great place to visit I’m looking forward to when the kids get their house built this summer and move a little closer. I’m planning to have them over for supper now and then. It’s fun to eat out once in awhile but there’s so much more fun and quality time to be had sitting around your own dining room table!

Quiet Weekend

What a wonderfully quiet weekend we had! I hardly took any pictures – I just enjoyed the weekend. Saturday was a beautiful day. We fixed a brunch of fried eggs, bacon and toast then headed outside to get some much needed fall cleanup done. Joe mowed one last time and put the mower away for the season. I cleaned out flower beds. Then we did some odds and ends things that needed our attention, sat on the deck and watched Drew drive the 4-wheeler around and decided what we wanted for supper. Joe wanted to grill, I had a couple recipes from my book Autum by Susan Branch I wanted to try. So, off to the local grocery store for a few ingredients and back home for an appetizer of onion straws, pork chops, stuffed sweet peppers, baked beans, grapes and warm apple cranberry crisp. Joe and I ate the onion straws in the shop while he grilled the pork chops! They were soooo good and sooo unhealthy – definitley a treat and not an every day thing! Then cuddles on the couch with Drew and bed by 9:00. We are getting old – no staying up late around here if we don’t have to!

Sunday brought a little different weather. It was warm enough but the wind was something else! We had brunch again – this time scrambled eggs, sausage and grapes. (I have an over abundance of eggs right now! We had eggs twice and I gave five dozen away and I still have a fridge full of eggs!) Then off to Wellman to watch Braxton play his last soccer game of the season and to play with Bayah! Braxton had two sets of grandparents and a set of great grandparents there to watch – what a lucky little boy! Then back home to carve a pumpkin and mix up some Cranberry Apple Walnut Bread. Oh my was that delicious bread! I’ve never used cranberries before and I’ve decided apples and cranberries together are my new fall favorite! I threw a tuna casserole together for supper and that was our weekend. Simple, quiet, productive, perfect!

Morning Coffee

I have always loved the smell of coffee. And I enjoy coffee flavored candies, ice cream, frappes, even chocolate covered coffee beans, but try as I might, I just couldn’t drink a cup of coffee. Whenever someone asks me over for a cup of coffee – I bring my Diet Pepsi. But, for some reason over the past couple of weeks I’ve been enjoying a cup (or two!) of coffee in the mornings. I have to drink my water first thing, I take Drew to school, come home and enjoy a cup of coffee. I have no idea why all of a sudden a cup of coffee tastes good to me but I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts. Of course, I just might be drinking coffee with my creamer not creamer with my coffee but hey, there’s some coffee in there! I’m also finding I’m not drinking near as much Diet Pepsi – which is a good thing. Now if it would cool down outside and this darn humidity would go away – I’m thinking a nice hot cup of coffee on a cool autumn morning will taste even better than it does on a hot humid one! And if I keep this up I just might have to invest in some fun coffee mugs just for me!

Tea and Cookbooks

I’ve made a batch of sun tea every day since I started making it earlier this week. Joe has been drinking it like crazy since it’s been sooo hot out. Yesterday I decided to make two containers to try and keep up with him! It looks so pretty sitting in the sun!

Does anybody still use these old cookbooks? They were a staple in my house for years. I have a small collection but always went back to the same two. They are literally falling apart and have to be held together with rubber bands. They are stained and ripped and falling apart and I’ve written in them. I would write the date I tried the recipe and what we liked or didn’t like about it.

I don’t hardly use them anymore. The reason why I even pulled them out was to get an old tried and true no bake cookie recipe. Now I find myself getting recipes off of Pinterest and Facebook. I print off the ones I like and keep them in a binder. I use my binder all the time – it’s handy because I can pull out the recipe I want, it’s in a plastic sleeve so I don’t worry about it getting dirty or ripped or stained. Or I go to my computer and find recipes I have saved. These “new” ways work great. But I think I need to pull these old books out again. These recipes are tried and true comfort food recipes. They use basics from the pantry. Things I usually always have on hand. And there’s just something about these old books, there’s something about picking out a recipe to make that was submitted by someone I know. A lot of these people are gone now but seeing their names brings back memories. I think the younger generations are missing out on something not having these wonderful old cookbooks to use. They are like old friends to those of us who use them!

Kids In The Kitchen

Drew ran across this old Better Homes and Gardens kid’s cookbook I used years ago with Abby and Aaron. Back then I had both kids fix supper one night a week so they could learn to cook. Aaron loved it – he was pretty good in the kitchen. Lasagna was his specialty! Abby on the other hand – she would make macaroni and cheese or frozen pizza. She had more important things to do than learn to cook although I think she does a pretty good job now. It’s amazing how getting married and having kids changes what is important in your life – gotta feed the family! Eric never wanted to even try but now that he’s worked at Casey’s in the kitchen I think he can find his way around the kitchen too.

Anyway – Drew found the cookbook, sat down and went through it and asked if he could make pancakes. This was not on my list of things to get done for the day but I have been wanting to work with him in the kitchen this summer so I figured I might as well get started. The best time to introduce something new to this kid is when he shows interest, otherwise it may or may not happen. So, pancakes it was. With a lot of help, a few giggles, and a few stern explanations as to why we don’t goof around when using a hot griddle – Drew stated he made the best homemade pancakes ever!

Homemaker Mode

(My Clematis is blooming – so pretty!)

I seem to go in spurts – I can be in homemaker mode one day and the next – not so much. Usually homemaker mode for me means planning ahead, experimenting and being frugal. The past few days I have been in homemaker mode. I pulled some chicken breasts out of the freezer and cooked them up in the crockpot. After shredding them I now have chicken for Sweet Chili Chicken Pizza, Chicken Spaghetti, shredded chicken for a lettuce salad and enough to freeze for later.

(Cheesy Creamy Chicken Spaghetti – yummy!)

I made the Sweet Chili Chicken Pizza and it didn’t turn out the way I had hoped. We love this pizza from our local Pizza Ranch and I am hoping to be able to make it at home. For one thing I didn’t have any pineapple and it was definitely lacking the pineapple. I also used too much pizza sauce and instead of using mozzarella cheese I used what I had on hand – which I think was Cheddar Jack. I’ll definitely try again and make a few tweaks and hopefully I can come closer to the Pizza Ranch one we like!

I also picked up some blocks of cheese on sale at Hy-Vee and shredded it. Now I have shredded cheese in the freezer. I don’t like actually shredding the cheese – I always make a mess and it’s somewhat time consuming but – I like having it stocked in the freezer – I think it tastes so much better than the bags you buy at the store.

I did some research on chives as my chives are blooming right now. I harvested some and froze for later. I plan to freeze a bunch more. Then I harvested the blooms and have some chive blossom vinegar infusing in the cupboard. I’m hoping to make a Dijon mustard vinaigrette later this week with the chive infused vinegar to put on our shredded chicken salad. I hope it turns out as good as it sounds! We had chef salads for lunch over the weekend and it was so good to sprinkle fresh chives from the garden over the salads! I also chopped some up and mixed with a container of cottage cheese. Yummy! I’m planning to transplant some later in the season and bring in for the winter – hopefully we can have fresh chives all winter long!

(The color of the vinegar is so pretty!)

I made a big batch of potato salad to have for supper meals. It’s always nice to have a big salad to eat on throughout the week to go along with whatever we have for a main course. And it’s a great way to use up eggs when I have an abundance.

I also tried pickling some eggs with our over abundance of eggs. A couple we camped with last year brought jalapeño pickled eggs to the campground and Joe loved them so I thought I would try to make him some. In three weeks we’ll know if they turned out or not. It’s always fun to try new things and see how they turn out!

What We’ve Been Up To

Last week we saw snow. Lots of snow. It started a week ago Monday and kept coming. All in all we ended up with something like 15 inches or so. I’m not sure how many years it’s been since we’ve seen this much snow but it’s been awhile. I’ve really missed having snow like this and I’m enjoying it while it’s here. It covers all the drab browns with a beautiful blanket of white. It softens all the hard edges. It’s beautiful!

On Friday after Joe got done clearning the driveway he pulled Drew around on his sled behind the 4-wheeler. Unfortunately this ended up with Drew falling off the sled and planting his head in the driveway. He came in the house crying and with blood running. He banged his head up pretty good but he’s tough. After an hour of cuddling he was up and running around loving his war wounds and planning how to make sure he doesn’t fall off the sled tomorrow!

By Saturday we were needing groceries and needing to get out of the house so we headed to Oskaloosa. First we took Drew to the mall to see a model train set up that’s there. He is fascinated with model trains. We all enjoyed this set up and best of all – it was free! Then onto Fareway to stock up on some meat and Hy-Vee for some sale items. On the way home Dad called and asked if Joe could run over and help him fix his tractor so when we got home Joe and Drew headed over there while I stayed behind to put groceries away, bag up meat for the freezer and clean the chicken coop.

Joe and Drew built a fort on Sunday after Joe got done cleaning out the driveway. Snow – free entertainment for adults and kids alike! Then we headed to Fairfield to visit Aunt Konnie. She had been in the hospital with pneumonia and is now in a care facility for a week or two for some additional help before she goes home. She was looking good and seems to be on the road to recovery. Later Dad and Mom came over for supper and to play games. A nice ending to the weekend.

Nothing much went on throughout the week. A nice quiet week for once. I got my hair cut on Thursday – the first haircut I’ve had in over a year. Joe likes it long but it was just getting to be too much for me and it was time to shorten it up. I worked at the school on Friday and yesterday we met Joe’s brother and sister-in-law for supper in Des Moines. Something we’ve talked about doing and finally did. It was a nice evening. We decided we needed to try and do that more often. Hopefully we will make it happen.

Our meals the past few days:

Saturday: Comfort Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes – recipes from The Pinoneer Lady

Sunday: Crockpot Beef Stew, bread and butter and cheese.

Monday – Cheeseburger Quesadillas – recipe from Sunny Simple Life. I hadn’t made these before but was hoping we would like them. Something fairly quick and easy to make for those busy nights that pop up now and then. We all loved them!

Tuesday: Pancake supper with Dad and Mom at the Sigourney Christian Church.

Wednesday: Spaghetti with both red sauce and alfredo sauce, strawberry Jell-O with bananas and marshmallows, homemade rolls, Mississippi Mud Cake. And Valentine’s chocolates!

Thursday: Leftovers. I love leftover nights!

Friday: Crockpot Taco Chicken Bowls

Saturday: Famous Dave’s – we met Joe’s brother and sister-in-law in Des Moines for supper. A spur of the moment decision – and a fun evening out with family.

What I’ve done to be frugal: Stitched the flower back on my headband that Drew had been wearing around. That kid likes to wear my headgear for some reason.

Fixed my winter chore hat. Drew had worn it to school and brought it home with a broken clasp. I cut the clasp off and attached iron on Velcro. I’ve had that Velcro stashed away for years and never used it. There was a time when I would have simply stuffed the hat into the back of the closet and bought a new one. And yet now, after my frugal fix, it stays snugger than ever and is better than new!

Repurposed an empty plastic coffee container. I hate throwing those away and yet you can only store so many for later use. But, we are now using one for leftovers to go to the cats. I keep it in the refrigerator and when it’s full out to the cats it goes. Then I wash it and start all over. I’m saving the container from the landfill and saving on cat food too. On the days the cats get leftovers they don’t get dry cat food – and they love leftovers!

Joe started cleaning out his office and shredded tons of paper – will be used for bedding in the chicken coop.

I’ve gotten a lot of stitching done while watching the Olympics in the evenings with Drew. We really enjoy the Winter Olympics. Anybody else enjoying the competitions?

Breakfast Is Served

What perfect timing. I got my new Trim Healthy Mama cookbook last week. I was searching for a tasty, healthy breakfast item I could have made up ahead of time. Something I could grab and eat on the way into town if need be before dropping Drew off at school and then walking. And this is what I found – oatmeal on the go cups – delicious! And a bonus – it can sometimes be a battle to get Drew to eat breakfast but he loves these and asked if he can have them in the morning! How perfect is that??!!

Recipe Wall

I finished a project today that I have been working on for awhile. I gathered up recipe cards handwritten by family members and framed them in little vintage frames. After getting my cupboards painted I decided it was time to put everything together and hang them. So far I have a card from my mom, my mother-in-law, my Grandma Houseal and my Step-Grandma Houseal. My aunt is looking to see if she has one from Grandma Ward and I’ve asked her if I could get one with her handwriting too. I love decorating with anything family and what’s more family than handwritten recipe cards from your loved ones. I’m afraid recipe cards are becoming a thing of the past. The same with cookbooks. It’s so much easier to get on Pinterest, find a recipe and print it off. I find myself doing this all the time. But they just aren’t the same as a handwritten card. Now I have something to look at when I’m doing dishes that reminds me of the many wonderful meals I’ve had, cooked by the wonderful women that have been and/or still are in my life. Cherished memories for sure!