They are too cute...I mean scary.

the cutest kids on the block

Right now the Witch, Vampire and Caterpillar have gone off with the giant hockey player to pillage the town for treats. Kymberly was so excited to go Trick or Treating. I don't know why, she has never gone before...so she doesn't really even know what it is all about. She started to get an idea when kids started showing up at our door saying trick or treat. She started coming to me with her bucket and saying "TREAT!" like the other kids had done. She also wanted her face painted too. I had already done Kathryn and Tansley and she came to me and said "my turn?"and then squinted up her face like she saw her sisters do. She was too cute and if my hands hadn't been covered in face paint I would have taken a picture. So I put a little green stuff on her face, after all she is a caterpillar, then she kept asking if she was scary. As they walked away you could hear Kymberly yelling "Trick or Treat" over and over again.

Homemade Salsa

There was once a day when I didn't have a lot of room for food storage. We lived in a small apartment with a tiny kitchen. I hadn't yet ventured into the world of canning, not for the lack of knowledge or experience (I've done it with my parents for as long as I can remember), but mostly for lack of space and tools. Then one day I came across a canner at a second hand store for just a few bucks. I had to have it. Then I found some other basic canning tools on sale at the SuperStore. I was now set for some simple canning. One of the first things I decided to make was Salsa. One of our favorite snacks is nachos and salsa. I used a recipe from my trusty 4-H club cookbook the best wedding gift ever...just in case I hadn't mentioned that yet). I bought a 20lb case of tomatoes and all the rest of the ingredients. This was before my days of being able to grow most of the ingredients myself. The salsa was to die for. The only problem was that I hadn't made enough and when we ran out and had to buy salsa from the store we were so disappointed, and I vowed to always make enough salsa to get us through until the next fall.

Since that day, we have never run out of salsa and often have enough to share with neighbours and good friends. We moved to Lethbridge the year after that. I had a small garden space and my neighbour let me use her space as well. With that I was able to plant tomatoes, onions and some peppers...my salsa garden. I started making salsa with a friend of mine who wanted to learn how to can. Together we tweaked the recipe from the 4-H cook book to create the recipe I use today, we called it Mandy and Toni's best salsa we ever made.

Here is the recipe for a 12 litre(3 gallon) stock pot

3/4 full stock pot of chopped peeled tomatoes(about 15lbs...I am totally guessing, I really have no idea because I don't buy my tomatoes I use the ones I grow in my garden)
3 red peppers (or orange or yellow I use whatever I have on hand)
2 green peppers
4 large onions
1 1/2 heads of garlic
6 stalks of celery
handful of cilantro
1 good sized zucchini, grated skin included(again this is garden grown)
5-7 jalapeno peppers with seeds
1/3 cup pickling salt
2 cups sugar
1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper(optional)
1 cup vinegar

To easily peel tomatoes, place in boiling water for about 60 seconds and then put in cold water. the peels will split and can then be easily removed. Hand chop tomatoes for chunkier salsa. Chop all other vegetables in a food processor or hand chopper if you have one to save time. Combine all vegetables in stock pot with salt, sugar, vinegar and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for at least an hour. Fill sterilized jars and process for 15 minutes.


For the past 4 years, I've been making salsa with friends. We have a day long salsa making party. We divy up the ingredients, bring your own bottles and we simply spend an afternoon chopping and chatting. Then we all go home to our husbands smelling like salsa with our jars of goodness. It's a grand time. This year we got together a couple of times, we'll see if we ended up with enough salsa to last until next fall.

Apple pie in a jar

I love apple pie and I love apple crisp even more. So I love this recipe to make the making of either apple pie or apple crisp quicker, simpler and just as tasty.

recipe

4 1/2 cups sugar
(variation 2 cups brown sugar and 2 1/2 cups white sugar)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pickling salt
10 cups water
1 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup lemon juice
10 lbs apples
(variation 1 1/2 cups cranberries)

Makes 7 quart jars

mix sugar, spices, salt and cornstarch in a large pot. Add the water and cook on medium heat until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. Add lemon juice. Peel and slice apples. Fill prepared jars with apples and ladle sauce over top to within 1 inch of top. Process for 20 minutes. When ready to use, dump into prepared pie crust, cover with top crust. Cut slits in tops of crust, brush melted butter on crust and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400F for 40 minutes.

Or you can put it in an 8x8 pan and put the apple crisp topping on top and bake as you would apple crisp.

The cranberries added a little different twist to an already delicious recipe. You should give this one a try, It is delicious!

If you have an apple peeler and an apple corer slicer(like the one from Pampered Chef) or an apple/peeler/slicer combo it makes this really easy and fast. I have a peeler and they work great. My mom has the combo which is also great.

Bring on winter!

My canning season has finally come to a close. I love canning season...not so much the mess of it, but I love filling all my jars. I filled all my jars this year and then some. I think that I had to run to the hardware store at least 5 different time to buy jars, not to mention all the ones that I would pick up randomly at the second hand stores. What this all means is that I filled a lot more jars than I did last year. I was given about 3 dozen empty jars last winter. I filled all of those this year plus of course all the ones we emptied over the year.
Here is the list of all that I did this year
2 pints and 10 half pints of Bumbleberry Jam
7 pints and 4 half pints of Raspberry Jam
12 pints and 1 half pint of Strawberry Jam
4 pints of Plum/blueberry/strawberry Jam
5 pints and 1 half pint of Peach Jam
2 pints and 1 half pint of Peach/Blueberry Jam
8 pints of Crab apple Jelly
5 pints of Pear Jam
13 Pints of Apple/Cranberry Jam
(do you think I'll have enough Jam?)
30 quarts of Peaches
26 quarts of Pears
23 quarts of apple sauce(with crab apples)
12 quarts and 4 pints of apple/pear sauce
14 quarts of crab apple cider
7 quarts of apple pie in a jar
20 pints sweet relish
12 pints Zucchini relish
12 4oz jars of various beet relishes
4 pints pickled beets
8 quarts salsa
11 quarts tomato sauce
about 40 3cup bags of corn were also frozen
and I have a cooler full of fresh garden carrots.
Sadly, no pickles this year...my cucumbers just didn't produce very much. I would have liked to do more tomato sauce, but I ran out of tomatoes. I didn't do as much salsa, but that is because I still had 5 jars left over from last year. It's possible that I may still do another batch of apple pie in a jar...maybe...we might just eat all the apples instead. I was in desperate need of jam, I only had I pint of each of peach, blueberry and crab apple jelly left in my storage room, I think I did a good job of remedying that problem. We'll have relish to eat for the next 5 or so years. All in all a good year. We'll see if we make it through till next summer and make adjustment were necessary. I always keep track of how much I put up so that I know if I need to do more or less of something the next year. With kids growing, we all know how that changes from year to year. I love looking in my storage room at all my pretty shelves. Next year I want to invest in a pressure canner and venture into that world...it could be fun.

Aren't they pretty?

Another step to replenishing food storage...Our little local grocery store was having a case lot sale, and since I have been neglecting that part of my food storage for quite some time in order to fund the previously mentioned food storage, I decided to go and take advantage. $245.66 later(and two shopping carts full) I had nearly restocked my mostly empty pantry. It is only a start of course, but now when I open the cupboard I don't feel like there is nothing to make supper out of...always a bonus. Now nobody can say that there isn't anything to eat in the house.

Crab apples

We have two large crab apple trees in our back yard. They look amazing in the spring, smell delightful in the summer and are full of colour in the fall.

The trick is to find enough things to do with them before they freeze and fall to the ground making a REALLY BIG mess. So this is what I do...

First I pick box after box full of beautiful red crab apples...Then I cook them...

With my steam juicer (that I found on ebay for an amazing $45 including shipping)I get this amazing coloured juice...

that I then make into delicious crab apple cider. I also froze to ice cream buckets full of crab apple slush.

I also make applesauce with them, they are pretty tart on their own so I mix them with a sweeter apple like a gala and make this beyond amazingly delicious apple sauce that comes through the food strainer (again I found on ebay for only $40 including shipping)in the same amazing pink colour.

My mom used to just can crab apples whole. She would make a heavy syrup and put a cinnamon stick and some whole cloves in the jar. They are delicious...it's like apple sauce on a stick.

If you are ever planning on making apple sauce or tomato sauce you really need to invest in a food strainer. It makes your job so much easier! It looks something like this...


The steam juicer is also amazing. A friend of mine told me about how much she loved hers last year. Ever since then I'd been looking for one and I am so glad that I found one.

digging carrots

I went outside about an hour ago to dig some carrots for Thanksgiving dinner.

We are hosting the Court Thanksgiving dinner at our house Sunday afternoon...don't worry, it won't be quite as crazy as Christmas dinner was....probably only half the number of people. But that is not the point of my story. Because it was snowing and kinda cold I just wanted to dig enough carrots for dinner tomorrow. But in spite of the snow and it really didn't feel that cold, I really started to enjoy myself. I was having so much fun...yes fun, that I decided to dig all of them. I love my garden. I love taking care of it all summer long. But most of all I love reaping the rewards from it. I don't even mind the work, I find it relaxing and fulfilling...apparently in the snow too. Now I have two boxes of dirty carrots that I need to clean up...that will make a bit of a mess inside since it is too cold outside to clean them up like I usually do.

I look forward to enjoying these for months to come

Jam, Jam and more jam

I love home made jams and jellies. And this year I had so much fun making a variety of jams. 
Strawberry jam....
Raspberry jam...
Peach jam...
Bumbleberry jam...
Peach blueberry jam...
Crab apple jelly...
Apple cranberry jam(Mom's apple pie in a jar)

This is my favorite new jam that I made this year. I found the recipe in a Bernardin book when I bought a box of pint jars when I was desperate when I ran out while in the middle of making my relish...oh remember all that relish?

I've looked and looked on their site and can't find this recipe. So forgive me if I am breaking copyright laws this recipe is too good not to share.

Mom's Apple pie in a Jar

6 cups chopped, peeled firm apples
2 cups unsweetened apple juice
Juice and grated zest of 1 large lemon
3 inch stick cinnamon
1 pkg Bernardin No Sugar Needed Pectin
3/4 cup dried cranberries or raisins
1 1/2 cup sugar or SPLENDA No Calorie Sweetner

In a large deep stainless steel saucepan, combine apples, apple juice, lemon juice, zest and cinnamon stick. Simmer several minutes just until apples begin to soften. Remove from heat, gradually stir in pectin until dissolved. Add dried cranberries and 1/2 tsp butter or margarine(to reduce foaming). Return mixture to a boil and boil for 3 minutes. Add sweetner and boil 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat, discard cinnamon stick and skim foam.
Ladle hot preserves into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace and following directions in product insert. Heat process in boiling water canner 10 minutes. let cool. Makes 4 or 5 half pint jars.

I just opened a jar of this a tried it on toast...oh my, I was in heaven! It was a huge hit with my kids. I would love to try this in mini tarts...but likely we will have it all gone before I ever get around to that.

Happy Anniversary!

Eight years today. It seems like it has just always been this way, and yet it also feels like it was just yesterday. All in all it's been an incredible eight years. There isn't a thing that I would change. Nothing I can honestly say we should have done different, or should have done or not done at all.
On our honeymoon we attended  three Oilers hockey games. Yeah, I know I am the best wife ever. All the men are jealous that Daniel snagged a wife that would allow such shenanigans on the honeymoon. And all the women think that I am nuts to have allowed such shenanigans. To be honest, I enjoyed it. I didn't allow it, we decided on it together. He basically said "what do you think?" and I said "sounds like fun". So we did it, and had a great time.

Oilers VS Flames Oct 3, 2009

Eight years later we headed up to Edmonton for the Oilers home opener. It was a good game...in parts, however the Oilers lost in the last 44 seconds of the game...it was dumb, and I don't want to talk about it. Daniel arranged for some friends to watch the girls for a couple of nights. We stayed at a fabulous bed and breakfast in Edmonton called the Secret Garden.

Secret Garden Bed and Breakfast

The suite(which was originally built to be a basement suite for her elderly parents) was huge. They welcome kids, if in fact we ever wanted to bring them along. The suite has a full kitchen, with everything you need to cook or bake any thing and everything, you simply provide the ingredients. It has two bedrooms and a good sized living room that walks out into a beautifully landscaped garden. Nancy and Harold are wonderful people who make you feel right at home. And guess what? Twenty four years ago they were married on this day too. What are the chances that we would share the same anniversary as the people who were hosting us in their home? And Nancy cooks a killer breakfast. And because she didn't have anyone checking in for a few days, they let us stay for as long as we wanted on Sunday. Which meant that we could stay and watch the morning session of conference in the comfort of our suite and also that we could have a late breakfast... which I guess makes it brunch.
It was superb, the whole weekend.

Beets and a confession

My husband loves pickled beets, so this year I planted a small row of beets so that I could make a few jars of pickled beets for him. I on the other hand don't like beets...at least I don't think I do. I realized the other day while I was in the middle of pickling beets, that if somebody asked me to describe the taste of beets, I wouldn't even know what to say. I haven't a clue what they taste like, I don't even know what it is about them that I don't like. I tried to remember when it was that I decided that I didn't like them, and I honestly don't have a clue. For as long as I can remember I have not liked beets. So...was my experience with beets so bad that I have blocked it from my memory? Or is this a case of a child claiming that they don't like a certain food even though they have never tried it, and I have told myself that for so long that now it's just what I believe? Either way, I don't like them....or so I say. I couldn't even bring myself to just take a taste. Pathetic, I know. So I thought that maybe if I did something different with them, then maybe I could build up my courage to try them just as beets. I had seen a recipe for beet relish in my trusty 4H cook book(the best wedding present ever!). So that got me thinking, and I wanted to see what other kind of recipes for beet relish there were out there. Google led me to cooks.com where I found pages and pages of beet relish recipes. I tried out three different types this week.

so here are the three recipes I put to the test...

Beet Relish #1

2 pounds medium-size beets
1 small onion
1 sweet red pepper
2 cups shredded cabbage
1/4 cup prepared horseradish
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups vinegar

Directions:
Clean and pare the beets. Grind the beets, onion and red pepper, using the fine cutter of the food chopper. Add the finely shredded cabbage, horseradish, salt, sugar and vinegar. Heat to boiling and simmer for 10 minutes. Ladle into hot, sterilized jars and seal. This recipe yields 2 pints.

This recipe was so very tasty! I look forward to eating this with pork or on hamburgers. (I cut this recipe down a lot, I think I only used about 1/2 pound of beets and adjusted accordingly)

Quick Beet Relish #2

* 1-1/2 cups (375 mL) grated cooked Ontario Beets
* 1 cup shredded cabbage
* 1/2 cup ground onion
* 1 jalapeno pepper, minced
* 2 tbsp (25 mL) each of red wine vinegar and prepared horseradish
* 1 tbsp (15 mL) granulated sugar
* 1/2 tbsp (7 mL) Dry mustard

Combine grated cooked Ontario Beets, minced jalapeno pepper, ground onion and shredded cabbage, red wine vinegar and prepared horseradish, granulated sugar and dry mustard. Bring to a boil and cook until all veggies are tender. Ladle into hot, sterilized jars and seal.

I loved the spiciness of this relish!! I will be eating this one alot!

BEET RELISH #3

6 c. beets
6 c. sugar
3 c. vinegar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves

Blanch beets; peel. Grind beets; add sugar, vinegar, cinnamon and cloves. Cook for 30 minutes or until tender. Ladle into hot, sterilized jars and seal.

This one is quite sweet...almost like candy and would be tasty on pork roast. (I cut this recipe down a lot, I think I only used 2 beets and adjusted accordingly)

OK, so I'll admit, I liked beets done up in these three relishes. So maybe the next time my husband cracks open a jar of pickled beets, I'll give them a try...maybe.

The important things.

Today we had an incident with hitting...as we do so often with Tansley Kaye. But this time she hit Kathryn in the face with her baby doll and broke Kathryn's glasses. Thankfully they only cost us $12.95 from zennioptical.com and thankfully she has a second pair. But this is the second time that the same arm has been broken due to an incident. The first time I just got replacement frames for $4.00 plus shipping and hoped that if they broke again that it would be the other arm or the bridge or something....but no such luck. I don't know what I'll do this time...maybe nothing.
Anyways, I was furious. I didn't witness the incident, but assumed it was just Tansley being mean again and sent her to her room until Alex went home at 4:30pm(which meant about an hour and a half of sitting in her room).
A few moments ago Kathryn wanted her other pair of glasses that were in her bedroom. I had strictly forbidden her from going anywhere near the bedroom, so I said I would go get them for her. I had cooled down and wanted to talk with Tansley about why she hit Kathryn with the doll. When I walked into her room she was holding the framed picture of Jesus that I have yet to hang on their wall. We talked about what had happened and I asked her why she had hit Kathryn with the doll. Turns out she wasn't being mean, she was just playing along with what Kathryn and Alex were playing and she didn't think her actions through. I then asked her what she was doing with the picture of Jesus. "I was praying because I was sorry". That touched my heart. At least somethings have sunk in along the way...some of the important things. "Good Girl" I said and let her come out of her room to play as along as she told Kathryn she was sorry.