Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The Headless Chicken

Ahhh...a cushy chair, finally!  If only for a moment to sit and post! 

Yesterday was brutal!  Not complaining, because it means the gardens are coming into full swing and that feeds us throughout the year.  It's a blessing of busy, right?

The peaches were first to hit the hot water! This recipe turned out pretty good!  In all, I had 8 Qt jars of Peach Pie Filling and 10 C frozen Peaches for whatever tickles my fancy later.

Peach Pie Filling - as seen on PickYourOwn.org

6 Qts Peaches
7 C Sugar
2 C plus 3 T Clear Jell
5 1/4 C Cold Water
1 t Cinnamon
1 3/4 C Lemon Juice
Combine Water, Clear Jell, Cinnamon and Sugar and heat till bubbly thick.
Add Lemon Juice and boil exactly 1 Minute
Add Peaches and stir for 3 Minutes (it's a real workout!)
Jar and Hot Water Bath for 30 Minutes

Here's my Mom making up some cukes for dinner!  I think they walked in uninvited...Who ordered the cukes??
Up next, more corn!  I had a few more hands to help for this and Ohhhh, I was so thankful!

So I searched all over and wasn't sure which recipe to use for Creamed Corn and finally just consulted my Ball Book.  I thought I had done what it said, but who weighs their ears of corn???  So this is what I ended up doing and it turned out great!  I made 16 pint jars, so it better be good!

Creamed Corn

10 C Kernel Corn from cob, scrape cob for milk
6 C Water
1/2 t Salt
Bring to a boil and continue to boil for 3 minutes.
Jar and Pressure can for 85 minutes at 10 lbs of pressure.  Makes 8 Qts.

One thing I just didn't quite get to was the rest of the onions.  They are drying at least, but I wanted to get some more cut up and frozen.  Good thing they keep for a while, so no rush!  Our total onion harvest came in at 174 onions!  Whew!

Now, time to relax and recharge!!  For Andrea, at least!

But before I go, I wanted to share a funny little clip of an email my MIL sent me:

"What are you doing today? Making your own toilet paper? Just kidding!!!!! Love you though! :-)"

I wonder if I gave her homemade toilet paper if she would eat that too?

7 comments:

  1. Oh you have help, Please send them to PA so I can use them too! My one dog loves fresh corn too, but she eats the cob and a couple of hours later we see the cob again. It usually resurfaces about 1 am when you are in a deep sleep and you have to clean up...so about the help, PA is only about a nine hour drive :))

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  2. P.S. I have read on some blogs where people do make their own toilet paper, from flannel. So you wash it, its reusable. I am doing all I can to be self sufficient but I draw the line with reusable toilet paper.

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  3. LOL! I will be sure to tell my Mother-In-Law you found a 'recipe' for toliet paper! HA! I think I would draw the line there too! I've always told my husband we need to get out more so I will let him know a trip to PA has been requested!

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  4. I loved your sentence, "Not complaining, because it means the gardens are coming into full swing and that feeds us throughout the year." That's exactly why I put in such a big garden! I need to have that tattooed on my forehead or the back of my hands or somewhere that I will see it several times a day. It is truly a blessing and these hectic, hot, frazzled times will not last forever. A small, intense period from which we reap benefits all year long. Thanks for the reminder.

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  5. MamaPea, don't feel bad! No one here thinks you are 'whining'...you have the perfect most sympathetic eyes for ears in these parts. So let it out!!!

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  6. AP, I put up the creamed corn recipe yesterday, it looked good going in the pressure cooker but when it came out it was seperated, not creamy. A day later and it still looks that way. What happened? Why doesn't mine look like yours?

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  7. Couple things, it will look more granular as it has no thickner to smooth it out. Mine does too, but the picture doesn't show it well. We have already opened a few jars and it is great! Also, it would depend on how much 'milk' you got out of the cob and what type of corn too. Some corns have more sugar and can up different in appearance. If you think it is separated or watery looking, don't worry it will cook down and come together when you heat it. My neighbor just did the same but rather than can it, she froze it with good results too.

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