Stewed Tomatoes...ABC's

Have you heard the term locavore?   It means that you try and eat locally and seasonally as much as possible.  You get food that hasn't traveled hundreds or even thousands of miles to make it your table, so this helps save the Earth.  Good.  You also know you're getting the freshest product available, that has been allowed to ripen naturally and not get gassed into ripeness.  Good.  You get to help support the farmers and economy in your area.  All good.

Now, when you combine the locavore movement with the DIY movement...what do you get?  Bottled tomatoes.  True. It's science.  So, I am excited to be a small part of both.  Also, the best thing about preserving your own food, you know what's in it.  Want to know what's in my tomatoes?  Tomatoes.  And a dash of lemon juice because the FDA says so.

But, what do you do if you've never bottled tomatoes before?  I was thinking about this and figured there are probably people out there, who want to try it, but where the hell do you start, when you're starting from the very beginning?  The beginning.  So, come along, let me give you some canning know-how, hard-earned from a life of helping my mom and grandmother's preserve food.

First thing though, you will need some equipment.  You need at least two large pots.  One of those two needs to be extremely large.  We are talking large.  My largest pot is a 21 quart capacity.  I didn't always have a pot that large, so if all you've got is an 8 quart, that's okay...as long as you have several other bowls and pots you can dump cooked tomatoes into.  You need a small pot. You also need a canner, whether this is steam or boiling water, it's okay, just follow the instructions.  You need quart bottles, lids and rings.  These need to be washed and ready to go.  You need a liquid measuring cup, a funnel, a pie tin and a 13 x 9 inch casserole dish.  Yes, a casserole dish and pie tin are essential when it comes to making bottled tomatoes.  Now, come along and see how to do it!!

Canning is a dirty, messy, long process.  Don't be fooled by all the beautiful pictures of rows and rows of bottled goods.  Don't wear your best clothes, be prepared to stand for hours on end and expect a giant mess when you're done.  Fair warning.  It's worth it, but, be it's nice to know what you're getting yourself into.

Step 1: Sort and wash your tomatoes.  Start with a clean sink, and begin going through the box of tomatoes, discarding any that are particularly unpleasant, and washing the good fruit and placing it in the sink for later.  My family just uses one of the tomato boxes as a garbage can.  Don't be afraid of tomatoes that have cracks in them.  These can be cut around.  In fact, if you purposely buy the cracked tomatoes, also known as the seconds, they'll cost you half as much.  Insider trick.

Step 2:  Imagine the pot on the left was filled with tomatoes, gently simmering for a few minutes, until the skins break a bit and you can peel them easily...I forgot to take a picture of that happening.  Sorry.  Once you've washed your tomatoes and  are ready to begin, start some boiling water.  They only boil for a few minutes to soften the skins.  Using a slotted spoon, remove the tomatoes from the boiling water to...

Step 3:  Your casserole dish.  This is where you place all the hot tomatoes and let them cool for a bit, amongst the discarded skins from the previous batch of tomatoes you've just peeled.  Once this gets too full of skins, toss the skins.  It's just easier to work in this one spot.  You can set your tomatoes down and clean them all in the same spot.  As you can see, next to my casserole dish is a large bowl where I put my peeled tomatoes.  Once that gets full I dump them in the stewing pot as seen above next to the simmering water.

Step 4: Peel your tomatoes. Here you go, a step by step on how I do it.  1. Make sure the tomatoes are cool enough to handle.  2.  With a nice sharp paring knife, cut out the core.  Don't cut yourself and don't burn yourself.  3.  Slurrp!  The tomato slipped right out of its skin.  It's not always that easy, but nice when it happens.  4.  Quarter the peeled tomato and toss it into bowl.

Follow a proper canning guide book regarding amount of time to cook.  My Mom, and therefore me, likes to cook our tomatoes longer than is strictly necessary.  Make sure you stir your tomatoes so they don't scorch on the bottom!

Step 5:  In your clean bottles, measure out the appropriate amount of lemon juice.  According to new guidelines, you should put 2 Tbl. lemon juice or vinegar per quart bottle.

Step 6:  Get your pie tin, measuring cup and funnel and place them next to your cooking tomatoes.  Place your empty bottle in the pie plate, put funnel in and start  scooping up tomatoes in measuring cup and carefully pour into bottle.  It will splatter.  Beware.  The reason for placing your equipment in the pie tin is to keep the mess from going everywhere.  It helps....minutely.   Set filled bottle aside and continue filling bottles until you have 7...which is how many you can can at once.

 

Step 7: In small pot of simmering water, place the necessary amount of un-used rings and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Step 8: Using a damp paper towel or cloth, wipe the rim off.  If there's anything here, the lid will not seal properly!

Step 9: Now, just follow the canning guidelines.  Pay special attention to altitude!  If you're like me and live at a higher elevation, you need to process for a longer time.

Step 10: Label it.  Using a permanent marker, make note what you've made and what year you made it.  Now, I just put the year, because I know the only thing in quart jars in my pantry are stewed tomatoes.  Other people might have salsa or chili sauce or spaghetti sauce...and in that case it could get confusing.

There you go.  Now you have a little knowledge on what equipment to use and how to use it, I feel secure in unleashing you to the farmer's markets for your own boxes of tomatoes.  And this coming winter imagine all the pots of soup and spaghetti and chilli you get to make, all from your own bottled tomatoes.  It's worth it.

Thanks for reading!

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Mellywood's Mansion

Heather

How to make a bunting...Easy...really! Oh, and the winner of the giveaway is announced!

They're everywhere.  Buntings.  They don't look particularly hard, but you've never made one and maybe would like to see how simple they are.  Don't need a template.  Don't need bias tape.  Just some fabric, some ribbon, cutting implements and sewing machine....and baby booties, if ya got em!

Let's get started...

Decide how big you want your flags.  I chose 7 inches long and 5 inches wide at the base.

As long as you can line your ruler up correctly, cutting out these flags is a cinch and quick!

1: Cut your piece of fabric 7" wide, by however long, around 13" or so (depending how many triangles you want to make out of a particular piece of fabric), and square up the end nice and straight.

2:  Line up your fabric as evenly as possible on your mat.  At the top of the fabric, make sure the very edge of the ruler, intersects the very top point of the fabric.

3. Now working at the bottom edge of the fabric... you are going to cut a line 2.5" in from your squared edge, so you need to align your ruler's 1/2" mark 3 inches in, while keeping the ruler on it's angle.  This is so your ruler will be nice and straight and the final cut will be 2.5" in from the edge, and you'll have the first half of a triangle.  We're doing a 5" base, remeber?  So 2.5" is half of 5.  Okay, making sure your ruler is lined up, cut.

4.  Swing your ruler the other way, and commence 2nd angle.  This time make sure the bottom of your ruler sharply intersects the bottom point, make sure the top of your ruler is now 5" to the side of the first cut.  Cut.  You have a perfect triangle.  Continue cutting flags.  Swing the ruler the other way, making sure it's 5" apart.  Line up your points and cut!  Make as many as you need for your bunting.  My ribbon is 6 feet long and I have 9 flags as well as 8 booties.  Adjust accordingly.

5.  Cut backs for your flags.  They need to be double sided.  I may have used this old pillow case.

6.  Pin fronts and backs together.  Sew a straight seam, 1/4" from the edge...I did not sew the top edge, it will get sewn in a minute.

7.  Pink the edges so they don't fray too much.

8.  Evenly space your flags.  Pin in place on your ribbon, making sure they are 1/4" above the bottom edge of the ribbon.

9.  Sew flags in place, using a 1/8" seam. 

10.  Fold over the top edge of the ribbon, and stitch it in place.

You're done.  Unless you want to sew some dangling chads, I mean, dangling baby booties on.

Hang and enjoy.  This project really only took 30 minutes, max.  I was pleasantly surprised by how quick and easy it was.  I will be making buntings for everything, from now on!

Thanks for reading!

Oh wait...you want to know the winner of my sweet 1st giveaway!!

Okay, drum roll please...

Denise M.  Please contact me and let me know your Email address and we'll go from there!!

Thanks again everybody!!

Heather

Pressure to Impress...Wicker Baby Booty Project...And our 1st Giveaway!

The agony of anticipation.  The pain of having to be patient.  The thrill of the reveal.

Yeah...wicker baby booties.  Oh the project opportunites...such a versatile product. Endless possibilities.  See why I have a million wicker baby booties in the first place.

I've had many people tell me they can't wait to see what I did with the baby booties to try and entice people to buy them at my yard sale a couple weeks ago...urrmmm...I hope I don't disappoint....they are wicker baby booties, after all...

Ohhh lala!!  That's right.  I have made baby shower decor with the baby booties.  Baby Booty Bunting.  I spray painted the booties with some Krylon Watermelon spray paint.  A cute, bright color and sewed up the bunting which was surprisingly quick and easy.  I've never made a bunting before and I was nervous because I didn't have bias tape, just some sheer ribbon and worried it wouldn't work.  It worked great!   Then I just used some DMC floss and sewed the booties on.

One upside of spray painting wicker booties....the latest in manicure stylishness!  The saleslady at the mall about had a conniption when she saw my "natural" nails and I still refused her attentions to give me the finest nail buffer around.  Leave me alone, lady!!!!  I said back off.  My nails are fine, thank you very much.

I quite enjoyed fabric shopping my stash for this little project.  I wanted to go with pink, red, white and aqua...the aqua mainly because I was using blue ribbon.  But, I think it is adorable and really like the hanging booties.  And the upside with this little project is, My Youngest cannot wait for me to hang this in her bedroom.  See, and I didn't think I'd have any use for the booties.  Interior design possibilities abound!  My Oldest also wants a bunting now...I don't think I'm attaching booties to her's though.

Then I made these little favors to entice people to buy my booties (thanks again lady whose sister isn't even pregnant, but she wants to be prepared for when the blessed event does occur and she can throw a shower on the cheap).

Don't have cellophane?  No problem!

Baggy.  Fill with Candies.  Tie.  Cut.  Prettiness.

When choosing what to tie these with, go with whatever is handy at late:30.  This can be garden twine, ribbon...maybe one of those twisty things on the bread bags, after having made a million yard sale signs, anything was looking good.  Scrunch the candies in the booty and call it done! Super easy shower favor.  Come on!!  Who doesn't want this at their next baby shower. 

I have said booty and booties many times now in this post.  The question is...will I now get rejected for my ads because of adult content?  Tricky.  I mean, I am excited that in 2 years I will get a check from them, so I am crossing my fingers for not.

Giveaway Time!!!!  I need you to tell me what you would do with this amazing product.  The prizes are Grand!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

First giveaway...TOMORROW!!

Pssstttt...I'm giving everyone who comes here a heads up.  I know I promised to reveal my baby booty projects today, but I changed my mind.  Instead, I decided to show you the goods tomorrow, and include a giveaway!!!

Yup.  My first ever giveaway.  So, I hope you come back tomorrow and the anticipation won't do you in.

Thanks for reading!!!

Heather

Wicker Baby Booties For Sale....Cheap Cheap!

Let's say you have an opportunity for your husband to raid a craft store that's going out of business and you can take WHATEVER you want.  Amigurumi-makers out there, you can score eyeballs!!!  There are patterns galore, doll parts, artsy stuff, there's fake flowers and little birdies and goodness only knows what!

Now, let's say you are mother to a toddler and a nursing infant, so you feel that rummaging around a giant warehouse searching for elusive craft treasures, with your weens in tow, isn't exactly your idea of fun, so off you send your husband with the hopes of scoring amazing things!  Fabulous things!  Things you can craft to your heart's extent with, and hopefully sell some of what you got and make piles and piles of money!!!! 

Enter reality, stage left.

I'm sorry, I didn't hear you correctly....You brought home what?

Oh, these super wicker baby booties.  Aren't they nifty!  I am pretty sure there are people ready to line up at our door, begging to buy these!!  I got about a million of them!!!!

To do what with?

Oh, I don't know, crafty stuff.  Come on, there's lots of things you can do with these.  Everybody is going to want them.
...
...
...
...  
...

Right....

****note**** When given the task to raid a warehouse full of crafting goodness,  Do Not Send Husbands.  In his defense, he was not alone in making these decisions.  Another husband was with him.  Oh, and one more note, The Mister has probably never actually used the word "nifty". Creative license.

Many years later....ask me how many of these baby booties we have sold....Hmmmmm....about 36, because we had a yard sale last week and I practically begged people to take them off my hands.

To give you an idea how small they are.  The cup next to the booty is a plastic cup you would give a child when at a picnic.  Very small.  Now, this doesn't mean these booties aren't totally cute and could be completely useful...just, you have to be the right person.  AKA somebody who is throwing a baby shower and wants to use them as favors, filled with candy.  Or somebody who knows somebody who's having a baby and wants to attach them to the present as a cute touch.  You could even attach them to a baby's Christmas present.  Very cute, just....not many people need miniature wicker baby booties.

I'll show you what I made with them, to give my people at the yard sale an idea of what can be done, tomorrow.  I am also going to host a contest in the next month or so to see what ideas you out there in blogville come up with.  The prize will be GRAND!!!  (probably a box of baby booties for your own use.)  Stay tuned for details.

If you, yes you reading this blog, want some, please contact me.  I am more than happy to sell you some and ship them to your location.  Cheap.

Thanks for reading!

Heather

Homemade Peach Butter

What's for breakfast over here, you might be asking yourself.

Alright, there is very little chance you are asking yourself what's for breakfast over here, but now that I've mentioned it, I'm guessing you are just a bit more curious than you were before...maybe?  I'll just show you.

Easy Scratch Buttermilk Biscuits with homemade peach butter.  Sounds good, but maybe you are asking yourself, what is peach butter?  It sounds like you take a hunk of butter and mix some peaches in it and spread it on toast.  Sounds good if you ask me...but nope, it's basically jam.  You cook it for a long...let me repeat...LONG time so that it cooks out most of the liquid and it gets really thick and the flavor is really concentrated.  No pectin needed.  The kinda fun thing about peach butter is, it reminds me of my Grandma Kathy's peach leather.  So, I think it's extra delicious.

Extreme close-up.  And yes, that spoon is in imminent danger of being....cleaned...we'll call it.

Not just me who thinks this is the best breakfast.  This little girl would eat just biscuits if I let her.  She might mix it up with jam one day and honey the next, but all biscuits, all the time would not even phase her.

So, peach butter.  I doubled the recipe which turned into a fiasco because Smitten Kitchen said it takes ohhhhh....40 minutes max to simmer it down to the appropriate thickness.  Bull.  It took me almost 3 hours and that's just because I decided to give up getting the appropriate thickness and kept turning my temperature up hoping for a faster reduction.  As my pot's contents got lesser and lesser from it slowly being put into jars, the remaining product eventually got there....so some will be thicker than others.  Oh well.

**********The thing you need to know about canning is...well there are three things that I feel are most important. ***********

1- READ THE INSTRUCTIONS COMPLETELY BEFORE YOU BEGIN.  I can't tell you how many times I have messed up a step because I think the sugar should go immediately in the fruit...it doesn't.  READ FIRST!

 2- The 7 P's!  Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance (for those of you who didn't know the 7 P's).  Have all your supplies ready.  Pre-measure things.  Have your canning gear ready to go.  Fill things with water and get them boiling.  Because you just know you're going to want to do something and you're going to have to go find it, because canning crap is usually at the bottom of a pile in your garage or you have to wait for water to boil.  Not fun.  Be ready.

3-Have all your jars and twist-on lids already washed.  Nothing killed an attempt at canning faster than jars that have been sitting in a cupboard for a year. This really is part of the 7 P's, but felt it was important enough that it deserved a specific mention.  So, go get yourself a bushel of peaches and makes some butter!

Smitthen Kitchen's Peach Butter Recipe

I also referred to my Ball Blue Book to make sure I wasn't going to give my family botulism.  These kind of things are important.

Happy breakfasting!!

Thanks for reading!

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Mellywood's Mansion
Try a new recipe tuesday 

Heather

Two For One Dinners...Ground Beef Enchiladas

It's the middle of the week, you've just walked in from whatever errand you've been running around doing, and you have no idea what's for dinner.  You're on your last nerve and the very thought of having to get something out of the freezer and attempt to thaw it in the last spare moments of daylight in order to nourish your family is not going to happen.  Grab a pizza?  Take the kids for burgers? What to do, what to do?  Oh wait!  You have a solution!  You read This post about making enough meat for two meals! Hurray!!

Enchilada Night!!!

The great thing about this meal, is the protein is already cooked, and everything else is stored in your pantry.  Let's hear it for pantry meals, they don't get enough love in my opinion.

Ground Beef Enchiladas
Leftover taco meat
1 can enchilada sauce.  You can use red or green, I find that red is a bit milder, so my kids eat it better but sometimes I do a combo of red and green.
Flour or corn tortillas (my family likes flour better, but corn is healthier, and I find the corn tortillas fall apart easily)
Shredded Cheese.  Whatever you have on hand.  I used a combo of Cheddar and Pepper Jack...and a good sized pile of it.  2+ cups

Preheat oven to 350 F.

This is one of those intuitive recipes.  I'm not going to give exact proportions, just go with what feels right and it'll taste amazing, I promise.  Spray a 13 x 9 casserole dish with cooking spray.  Pour a tiny amount of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of your dish, just enough to coat the bottom.

Add a heaping handful of cheese to your taco meat and a splash of the enchilada sauce to make everything nice and moist.  p.s.  I really like that people get freaked out by the word moist.  Makes me like it even more.  Stir everything until nicely combined.

Take a tortilla and add a nice sized scoop of your meat mixture (you'll get a feel for how much is the right amount).  Roll it up and place it in your dish, seam side down.  Continue until you have used all your filling.   I have my row of enchiladas, but then I had a smidge of filling left, so I stuffed two more in horizontally, along the bottom of the dish.  If you ask The Mister, the more enchiladas, the better.

Using the rest of the enchilada sauce (you should have approximately half a can left), pour it over the enchiladas.  Then, cover everything with a nice layer of cheese.

Bake for about 30 minutes until everything is warm and meltsy.

Serve with a diced avocado, some tomatoes freshly picked from your garden, black olives, salsa or sour cream would be great here too.

These enchiladas will taste so much better knowing they were mostly done before you even got started.  Love you Two for One Dinners.

Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

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Anything Blue Friday

Heather

Two For One...Dinner Style...Ground Beef Tacos

Every day it happens...like clock work.  5 pm rolls around and My Oldest comes in...I'm STARVING!  What's for dinner?  I tell her and she is usually pleased at whatever it is I'm cooking.  My Youngest comes strolling in.  What's for dinner?  She asks very politely.  I tell her.  Not tha-aaat.  I don't like that.  Sigh.

Whatever.  I am not usually the type of Mom to make more than one meal, so they just have to eat what I cook...or they don't eat.  The only exception to this rule, as my sister knows, is if I...or she (which is usually the case) make something the girls have never eaten and I have a hunch they will not like, then I will break out the nuggets for then, but make them at least try the unusual offerings of the night.

My favorite thing to do, and the reason I'm starting this series, is to get two meals out of one prepared food item.  It saves me time and mental strain.  I know immediately what we're having for dinner and it is so much quicker to prepare.  And, come on home chefs out there...isn't half the battle just figuring out what you're going to make.  This is your sanity-saver!  Here's how this series is going to work.  On Wednesday I will post the recipe number one.  On Thursday I will post what you make from Wednesday's left overs.  I am cooking for a family of four.  Please adjust amounts to suit your family size.  My cooking does accommodate lunches for The Mister, too.  Okay, got it?  Simple.  Easy.  Good.

Day 1: Tacos
2 lbs Ground Beef
1 onion, diced
2 cans beans, drained (I used one can Red Kidney and one can Black...use what you like)  Adding the beans extends the quantity of meat...and gets those healthy legumes in your diet.  If you don't do this already, start.  Your family won't notice a difference.
1 packet taco seasoning (I use McCormick...you can make your own...cumin, garlic salt, oregano, chili powder...)
Diced pepper if you want (I have Padron's growing, so I used a couple)
Salt and Pepper to taste
 The Fixins
Tortillas or taco shells
Lettuce
Salsa
Cheese
Sour Cream....and whatever it is you like on tacos.

In a large skillet heat a couple TBL of oil over medium-high heat.  Brown beef, diced onion and pepper (if using) until cooked through, season with salt and pepper.  Once cooked, throw in your beans and taco seasoning.  Stir and reduce heat to low and let simmer for a few minutes while you prep the rest of your meal and get the table set.  If you find it looks too thick, you can add a smidge of water.

Toss together a tasty taco and serve with some melon and Spanish Rice.

I hold my daughters' tortillas closed with a toothpick.  This makes it easier for them to pick it up and eat.  Try not to poke yourself!  And remember, save your leftovers for tomorrow!!

Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

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Crafty Thursday Obsessions

Heather

Tomato Abundance...and aren't we smiling

The fruits of my labor.  Yellow Pear, Black Cherry and Indigo Rose.  Yum!  Tomatoes at their August best.   I grow many heirloom tomatoes, but this year I tried a new and unique variety, Indigo Rose.  The "bluest" naturally bred tomato out there.  The blue pigment gives you the healthful antioxidants of blueberries.

My Indigo Rose tomatoes.  These babies have tricked me all season long.  They start out like this...

Deeply purple with a green spot.  Then they finally mature after what seems like ages and ages and the green bit goes red.

 And then you do this.  Heaven!

Now, what do you do with all these tomatoes besides eat them freshly picked?  Melted cheese and tomato sandwich, of course!!  A lovely sprinkling of salt and pepper, melty oozing cheese, crusty bread and the freshest tomatoes around!  The angels in heaven are singing right now. There is a melted cheese sandwich underneath the tomato abundance there...would I like some sandwich with my tomatoes?  Maybe.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. 

Neither could she.

Yes, she is just eating the tomatoes off of the sandwich.  My children, pretty much every day run outside and harvest all the ripe tomatoes.  Eat half of them outside, then bring me whatever they didn't gobble warm off the vine.

Other tasty things that have been devoured at the Hearth lately, Smitten Kitchen's Whole Wheat Raspberry Ricotta Scones using Bear Lake Raspberries.  And if you're not from Utah or Idaho, you might not know, but these are the best raspberries you can find.  Period.  Head to Bear Lake for the tastiest raspberry milkshake you've ever had.

So, enjoy the fruits of the season.  Get out to a Farmer's Market and start thinking about what you want to plan in your garden next year.

Thanks for reading!

Heather

Oven Roasted Bacon

Bacon, there's nothing quite like it.  Salty, crisp, a touch...make that a lot, greasy, so, so, so good and everything instantly becomes better when it's included in the recipe.

I love roasting my bacon in the oven, for a couple of reasons.  First: I don't get splattered with bacon grease.  One day I was making bacon and a splatter just missed my eye...by an eyelash.  Talk about scary.  Look, I don't mean to complain, but I'd hate to be that person who had to say she went blind in one eye from bacon grease.  Second: The bacon cooks up nice and flat.  This makes it so nice for a BLT.  Third: You don't have to stand by the frying pan and fuss with it.  You simply toss it in the oven and 20 or so minutes later out comes the good stuff.

Oven Roasted Bacon
Bacon...yup.  That's it.  This is the best recipe evah!!!!  One ingredient.  Make extra, always make extra because sneaky fingers might try and snag a piece or two.

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Place a cooling rack inside your sheet pan.  Lay the bacon on top of the rack.  Cook for 18 to 23 minutes.  Cool and eat.

I cook mine towards the high end of the time spectrum...because I like my bacon to be more on the crispy side, and I use the nicest, thick cut bacon from my butcher shop.  The other nice thing about this cooking method is that the grease drops down from the meat and collects in the pan.  I still like to drain mine on paper towels though.

Go ahead, give this a try.  You won't want to pan fry bacon ever again.

Thanks for reading!

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With a Blast
Mellywood's Mansion

Heather

Just beet it....beet it...no one wants to be...Pickled Red Beets

Oh Michael.  My Aunt had your poster hanging up in her bedroom in the 80's alongside Tom Selleck in his itty bitty khaki shorts.  I still have a thing for mustachioed men in short shorts and love it when The Mister indulges my mustache whims.  He flat out refuses to indulge my short shorts whim.  Whatever.  He claims that red-heads should NEVER have mustaches (but every once in a while I get a mustache out of him).  This stems from a childhood with a red-headed father who wore a mustache.  I will never confess to him that this may, in fact be sage wisdom.  I still like it.  I also like...beets!

Beets are a misunderstood root vegetable.  I think they get a bad rap from being cooked incorrectly.  Roasted they are divine.  They are sweet and pair so nicely in savory dishes.  As a child, beets were always pickled and canned.  So when the time came to harvest my own beet crop, I knew exactly what I was going to do....make my children recreate a page from my own childhood.  Scrubbing beets.

Here's what you do.  Put on your dumpiest clothes.  Beets juice will stain the heck out of anything.  Clothes, hands, counter tops, so be prepared.  Get a scrub brush, a clean bowl and head outside with your kids.  Turn on the hose and ask them to scrub the dickins out of each and every beet.  You want all the dirt off and the beets to gleam bright purplish red.   If you have a dog...they will probably try and steal your beets.  Wild beast.
 
At first, your kids will think this is lots of fun.  Until they realize that Mom is actually having them do work.  Then be ready for the whining and complaining.  Don't give in.  Make them scrub those beets.  You had to scrub bushels of them...for goodness sake, I think they only have 25, max!  Weak.

While kids are cheerfully scrubbing beets, get your work station set up in the kitchen.  Pot for boiling the beets.  Canning pot and tea kettle ready with hot water to replenish canning pot's water level.

Take the scrubbed beets...and give them a good once over.  I'm guessing your kids do a questionable job, as my kids did.  They're learning.  They'll do better next year.  Chop off the tops and the tails.  Plunge them into boiling water for about 10 to 15 minutes until they're slightly more tender and peel them.  You can actually keep the skin on, but my Mom didn't, so I don't.  Chop them accordingly, if they're very petite...whole.  Halved.  Quartered....etc...you don't want huge chunks of beet, you want them to be nicely bite sized.

While all the above is happening, heat your pickling fluid up to simmer and get the sugar dissolving.  Follow your recipe.  Or be like me and use half my Grandmother's recipe and half the Ball Blue Book's recipe.  And then be nervous you're going to give your family botulism and store the three jars you get in the fridge.

This is my fancy new canning pot.  Loving it.  It's extra huge and has a fancy lid that tells you when you are able to start timing.  I live at 6000 feet above sea level, so at different altitudes, you have to adjust your canning time accordingly.  Fancy.  I just said fancy a lot...fancy, is in fact one of my favorite words.

Voila!  Final product and so, so pretty.  I have eaten 2 out of my three jars so far.  A...because they are taking up valuable space in my fridge, but B...they are so good.  Unless you ask my children and they are foul.  They are quite sour because I used a larger vinegar to sugar ratio.  I suppose if I used more sugar they'd like them more.  But, my Mom's beets were sour, so I like mine to be a bit sour.  If you're putting them on tossed salads, they really cut through creamy dressings...and I love it.

Thanks for reading!

Heather

Mason Jar Paper-Pieced Quilt Block

If you haven't noticed, there's a mason jar craze going on right now.  People are decorating with them, cooking in them and well, I guess still canning in them.  I know I am.

Thought I'd jump on the bandwagon by making a paper-pieced mason jar.  This is actually my second and a half attempt at making this block.  I should have taken a picture of the first one, but I had a moment of seam ripping inspiration and so I just got to work.  When you're inspired to un-pick seams...you just gotta go with it, cause it doesn't happen very often.

The first attempt, was far too wonky.  The lid of the taller mason jar was not a pretty sight, so much so, I had to re-do it....which meant unpicking the entire block.  Even this attempt is still a bit off, but I am much more satisfied, so it gets to stay.

My half attempt had me using a pale yellow, solid fabric for the sash...ahem...can we say urine sample?  Yeah.  Not attractive.  That was undone with lightning speed.

I am going to embroider the above phrase using some floss, but first I had to write it on and make sure I liked how it looked and if it was centered....The Mister wanted me to embroider on something random, but modern as he put it...because I wanted to write...Beets...or...Raspberries.  I don't know, I like to take his advice into consideration because quite often he is correct, but in this case, I just felt like putting something weird on would just be confusing and not modern.

This pen is my new favorite quilting tool.  The ink disappears under friction or a hot iron.  So you can write on your sewing or quilting lines with a pen that writes quite smoothly...and then it just goes buh bye!  No rubbing off and making a huge mess like with chalk and no tell-tale signs of pencil lead.  So a worthwhile investment!

Want to know The Mister's suggestion?  Salty Tart.  Yeah.  I don't think so.  We were watching a show about bakeries and there's one that's named the Salty Tart, which for the record is the best name I've ever heard for a bakery.  But...not good for my mason jar quilt block.  Just saying.  So I finally settled on Fresh Picked.  It's not fruit or veg, but it's not completely random either.  More...modern, if you will.

Oh yeah, and the red thing up there, is a beet.  Not a strawberry.  Artistic license. 

Thanks for reading!

Heather