Whole Lotta Catchin’ Up To Do…

August 23, 2015

It has come to my attention that I have not yet posted anything for August.  My only excuse is that after we returned from our trip to Florida in the spring, I felt like I hit the ground running and haven’t really stopped since.  We got the garden planted and before I could turn around, the tomato plants were full of tomatoes…despite the dry weather in our neck of the woods.

I have been picking and canning and picking and canning for what seems like months now.  (Although, in truth, it’s only been about four weeks.)  I’ve canned tomatoes, tomato juice, tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, spaghetti sauce with meat, vegetable soup with meat, chili with meat, salsa, pizza sauce, pork & beans, and green beans.  So far, I’m up to 97 quarts of canned food. 

I’ve also frozen about 15 packages of green beans, 10 packages of shredded zucchini, and umpteen packages of chopped green peppers.  We’ve also got about 20 bunches of onions hanging from the ceiling of our shed’s porch.  Despite the work involved in “putting up” the bounty from our garden, I love every minute of it.  It brings me great joy to know that when the snow starts blowing outside I will be able to pull out a jar of my home-made chili, heat it up for a few minutes, and serve up a hearty and healthy meal.

In addition to my small scale canning operation, I’ve also come up with a recipe for Frozen Yogurt Pops.  These are so good that I’ve been making them at least twice each week.  I started off making strawberry/banana flavored pops and then tried my hand at making my own version of a “dream-cicle”.  Both flavors are great, but Charming and I really like the orange pops.  We’ve decided that there’s no better way to wind down a hot summer day than with a cool frozen treat!

Seven quarts of chili w/meat that I canned.  Because
I'm canning 6 - 8 meals during one canning session and I know
exactly what goes into my food, I believe that my food is more
economical and healthier than what I can buy at the grocery store.

A sampling of what my garden had to offer this year.

The first step in making my Frozen Yogurt Pops.  Mash
up two cups of your favorite fruit (or a mixture of your favorites...
or for my version of the "Dream-cicle" add one can of frozen
orange juice concentrate, slightly thawed).

Add one cup of sweetener (such as Splenda for baking...store brand
works just as well), one teaspoon of vanilla, and one 32 oz. carton of
plain yogurt.  Stir all of this together in a big bowl.

Divide it up into frozen pop molds...at the time, I didn't have any...
small cups or other plastic/glass containers worked just as well
when I stuck a popsicle stick in and covered the glasses with a
plastic baggie with a small hole for the stick.

TaDa!  I found these molds at our local grocery store for 88-cents,
so I bought two of 'em.  Yay!

My gluten-free Raspberry Scones turned out so well that they were
gone in a flash.

But these gluten-free Chocolate Chip Scones went even
faster.  They were only relatively bad for you until I decided
to add a drizzle of chocolate icing and large-crystal sugar to each scone.
Oh...My...YUMMMMMMM!!!