Pa's Steak Rub.

This is the Steak Rub Recipe that Pa made up that he made sure he left us the recipe for.  Ma wants me to include this in the blog so that everyone can get to it as well.  This makes basically the single serving size or at least jus the small amount.  He on the other hand used to make up a large batch at a time so that we had it.  Do as you choose.



2 TB Great American Seasoning
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion salt
2 TB salt
2 TSP black pepper
2 TB chili powder

Pickled Peaches

experimenting with a recipe that I cant find actually written down anywhere in my Grandmothers things but they were the most amazing. 

End of the Day. ... Start of a New Week

This is most of the fruits of my labor today.  Not quite all as several things I had already put in the refrigerator to be ready for the week.  Three containers of chopped lettuce to be ready for salads for my lunches this week.  The container of celery that came in my baskets is cut into sticks ready to be spread with peanut butter for snacks during the day.  A couple of the onions are chopped waiting both salad use and other meals during the week. 

The things that you can see here however are:

 Nine jars of Pasta Sauce using the zucchini, a couple of the yellow squash, some of the onions, mushrooms, celery, the basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary that came in this weeks basket. We also added some of the rainbow carrots left from a previous add on.   The tomato sauce came from the tomatoes that a friend gave to me that were getting a little mushy so sauce just seemed right.  yes I will share with her as well if she wants some. 

This picture contains Whats For Dinner, tomorrow night.. well partly at least.  The yellow squash is going to get battered and fried, the onion chopped to be added to the ingredients in the container.  Those ingredients are shredded zucchini, shredded carrot, chopped mushrooms all to be added with the onion when I chop it up.  Those things will then be mixed in with the hamburger and ground turkey that will make the meatloaf for dinner tomorrow night.  Some of the chopped lettuce and other things that are currently in the refrigerator will make the salad that will top off the main course tomorrow night. 

 

I pitted and sliced one bag of the add on cherry box that I got and decided that dessert needed to be a cobbler!!!   This shows half of that first bag of cherries and I decided to try a patriotic theme and threw in some of the blueberries that I had left from the last basket I got as well.  I have so far resisted "tasting" it. 

 

YYYUUUMMM YYYYUUUUMMMM I hope.  This is one of the easiest recipes in the world as far as I am concerned and I would be happy to share it with anyone who wanted it.

 

And last but not least.  I tried One lone test jar of Canned Cherries.  I kind of put together two different recipes as I am looking for a particular memory. 

Once a very long time ago I remember that my Grandmother and Mother canned cherries.  To me they were absolutely "heaven on earth" when we used them as a topping over my Mothers special home made ice cream.  They never made them again and no one completely remembers them except for me.  I am almost there.. I need to tweak a couple of the ingredients and keep trying but I am almost there......

 

So tomorrow night, it will be the ears of corn, and pitting more of the cherries to can the rest for later use.  Cherry pie, Cherry cobbler,  Cherry ice cream topping, and maybe just out of the jar with a spoon.  

Then, it will be time for some more mango salsa as I am down to just 2 jars of that. 

 

I have decided that if there is a Kitchen Fairy out there anywhere who delivers presents to good little cooks, I would wish upon a star for a food processor, a new ninja, and new canning equipment.  I used to have a lot, but over the years things have gone missing or I decided I didn't need them anymore so I let them go.. but I think, I am going to be doing this for years to come. 

Someone has to keep lost arts alive, right? 

But now, its time for lights out, everyone have a wonderful night, sleep well and join me for my next adventure.

 

Today is Bountiful Basket Day!!!!

This time I ordered 2 regular baskets, 2 Italian themed add ons and a box of cherries.  I cannot wait to get home this afternoon and start deciding what I am doing with it all.  My family is hoping for home made pasta sauce being canned for the next couple of months. 

I remember a time as a child that my grandmother canned cherries that were locally grown in the mountains near here.  I was very young but it is one of my fondest summer memories of my mothers home made ice cream.  We used those cherries to pour over the ice cream.  I have no earthly idea how she made them but I think I am planning to maybe try to hopefully figure out something close to the way she did it. 

So watch for updates. 
 UPDATE NUMBER ONE>   This is a combination of things that came in the Italian add ons and and things I already had in the fridge from past shopping trips and onions from the last basket.  Add to it a bunch of tomatoes that a friend gave me.  They were a little mushy in places so I turned them in to the tomato sauce that will be the base of this round of pasta sauce.  They are cooked and cooling over night now so I am going to hit the bed early and get up early to add to it before church tomorrow. 

Well, Here I am at the end of the weekend and Im here to report what has been accomplished. 

Im off to bed after canning 7 pints of mango salsa and another jar in the refrigerator that was partly used on the dinner of baked chicken thighs. 
I couldn't find the exact recipe that I used the first time I made it so I really hope that this turns out remotely good.  Major ingredients include mangos, red onions, jalapenos, and bell peppers.

I canned the three pineapples that we had left and let me tell you, the general concensus between *M* and I is that I may not ever use canned pineapple ever again.   I am very thankful to my aunt who told me how to tell when the pineapples were ripe and then how to make sure that the juices were through out the pineapple.  I put a touch of sugar in but Im not really sure if I needed it at all or not. 

I baked chicken wrapped in fresh herbs, roasted the artichokes for dinner tomorrow night, along with roasting most of the garlic that I have around here at the moment. 

I also made English muffins for breakfasts. We will be eating those in the morning with the blackberry syrup that I made a couple months ago.

I also roasted the eggplant and the zucchini later this week. 

thanks for reading.

Bountiful Basket First *A* Week.

Today was the first time our community has had an A week Bountiful Basket drop site.  This is spectacular because now we can indulge in our "habit"  every week if we want to.  This change also involved a time change from where we at in the afternoon to an 11 am drop site.  This was very exciting to me as I get finished with my "work day" by noon and can go home and start deciding what I am going to do with my new acquisitions. 

So, after a wonderful lunch with my hubby, I came home, got him ready for a trip he is heading off on and then started looking at what was in my basket. 

I contributed this week to get only one regular basket, and an Italian themed add on and a jar of organic coconut oil.  This is what it starts out looking like. 

 

So I have a head of romaine lettuce, one bunch of asparagus, 3 cucumbers, 3 artichokes, 3 mangos, 2 grapefruit, an eggplant, 3 yellow squash, 2 zucchini, 2 green bell peppers, 2 orange bell peppers,  2 small watermelons, a bunch of parsley, basil, oregano, and rosemary, a yellow onion, a red onion and a head of garlic,  2 boxes of mushrooms, 4 ears of corn,3 heads of broccoli. 

 

Add to that some green onions, kale, tomatoes, celery, cauliflower 2 more zucchini and ginger 3 spaghetti squash  and a couple of butter nut squash that I already have. 

 Left from last week are 3 pineapples just getting ripe, some more mangos, lemons, Anaheim chilies,  2 kinds of pears.

 

Next part of the plan is to turn all of those items into ingredients for the next week or so of healthy, delicious meals for my family.  If anyone has any ideas, be sure to comment to me, please. 

 

UPDATE TO FOLLOW

 

 1>  Eggplant/zucchini  Parmesean on tap using the eggplant, and probably 2 of the zucchini and some of the herbs. 

 

2>  Roasted artichokes along with the asparagus as sides for baked chicken using more of the herbs.

3. The bell peppers and onions will go into fajitas

4. Broccoli will go into both salads for the week and a side dish for fish out of the freezer later this week. I believe I will sautee the yellow squash and the rest of the zucchini along with some more onion as a side for that fish also.

Romaine lettuce, cucumbers, green onion, tomatos. cauliflower, celery into salads for my week for lunch.

 

So far, that gives me dinner for 4 out of 7 nights.  and a few lunches. 

Hi, My name is Sherry and I am a produce junkie

The End of the Week

Today was Bountiful Baskets day.  In any general week that makes it a good day, but today was our first time as a host site so that makes it an AMAZING day.  It was a great learning experience to see how the produce was brought in from the very beginning. 
Being a Trucking Family, we were interested in the operation from beginning to end. 

So, In rolls the truck, my husband goes out to the street to direct him in to our loading dock.  The back of the truck opens and there our shipment is.  Three pallets stacked and shrink wrapped, along with a pallet of the baskets.  Off it all came with very little trouble, even though knowing how it works now, next time will be an even better smoothly oiled machine. 

Sorting of boxes began, fruits over there...... Vegetables over there.... and add ons on that shelf there. 
Next came, lining up the baskets, 100 of them I believe.  Volunteers lined up to be given instructions by our site coordinator.  Two by two we began to grab boxes and work our way down the lines of baskets placing the produce. 

Looking out toward the front loading dock we see people beginning to line up.  Much talking and laughing and general camaraderie is going on everywhere, inside the warehouse and out.  There are a mixture of old and new at this site it seems.  I was excited because I am going to be able to see favorite old customers of mine who have become good friends, but now I see that I may make some NEW friends as well. 

Next the flurry of distribution of began.  Regular basket contributors on that side and add on packs over there.  With in minutes it seemed things were wrapping up and we were all ready to take our tired feet home. 

Of course, the first thing I had to do was lay my Bounty out and photograph it. 

What a GREAT Foody Monday!!!

I haven't been around for a while as there has just not been too much going on.   Or, maybe it means that there has been TOOO much going on in my world.  We have not been eating well lately as, yes, there has been way too much going on. 

Today, things have changed, for the better, or at least for the moment.  Our community decided that we needed at least one more Bountiful Basket site as we were over full.  WE are going to house at least one of the new sites and this is the first week of the new site.  I got in to contribute this week and will be freezing both organic strawberries and asparagus this weekend. 

I thought that nothing could get better than that today but THEN  I found a recipe on line for Gyro meat with Tzatziki sauce that is from the Food Channel courtesy of Alton Brown... so you know it HAS to be good.  

AND hot on the heals of THAT wonderful acquisition, a previous customer and friend of mine came by to drop of the sourdough starter that he promised me weeks ago@!!!!  I cant wait to get off work and go home to feed....(name to be inserted later)  You have to name your starter, right?

Here is the blog that I found the most interesting information on what to do from here.  I hope they don't mind me using it for my own reminder.  http://heartlandrenaissance.com/2010/01/the-definitive-guide-to-sourdough-according-to-me/

Cant wait to see what is next this week.

UP DATE:  Monday evening.  Tiberius is in his new home.  I have a bean pot that works in a wonderful way for dough starters of several kinds.  If this goes well I will be adding another jar of Amish Friendship Bread starter to my mix. 

If any one has tried and true sourdough recipes that they would like to share with me I would love to receive them.  I used to have a cook book of sourdough recipes and now that I have Tiberius, I of course cannot find it anywhere. 

Photo Montage of my day.

Bountiful Basket Saturday

 

 

 

 

 

This basket contained granny smith apples, black berries, strawberries, bananas, grapefruit and oranges in the fruit side.  The vegetables were romaine lettuce, leeks, asparagus, zucchini, cucumbers, and broccoli. 

 

 

 

 

After spending the afternoon making blackberry syrup with some of the add on and freezing part of them, a big bowl of blackberry cobbler topped with real whipped cream was just the great end of the day! 

 

 

 

Help Wanted, Ideas for Roving Food

I live in a world different from most, it seems.  Lets start with the general idea I am looking for.  I need what I am calling Grab and Go food.  It needs to be basically shelf stable in prepackaged containers, and yet things I can make up myself.  No 20 year old Twinkies here.  It needs to be as fresh and healthy a food stuff as I can manage in this situation. 

Now, specifics on this project.  We lead an incredibly busy life.  Not making us sound like something different than most, I do offer the opportunity to anyone who wants to come follow us around for a few days. 

My husband and I own a fledgling trucking company.  Currently we have a staff of the two of us, an office manager and one other driver. 

My mother and I are also co owners of another very local trucking company that belonged to her and my dad.  I manage it pretty much on my own with the help of 2 part time drivers, my husband as the back up, to the back up driver and my right hand in times of crisis.  Now, here comes the issue I have that brings us to my food blog.  Its the food....

The nature of both of these companies is that we get a call and drivers leave.  For the "regular drivers" this is a somewhat more planned thing but when they are out and another call comes, it is my husband who goes.  He has health issues that make me want to try my best to keep him around regardless of his not thinking about this issue much. 

I need food that I can premake, say over the weekends, have packaged in the fridge or shelf, that I can grab, stuff in a bag or ice chest and shove in his hand as he walks out the door.  There are days that he leaves and is gone for 5 hours.. and other days due to the nature of this business that he doesn't roll back in to home base for 24-48 hours and we really never know the ending answer until he actually drives back in.  

He has a nasty tendency to just forget about eating until he is starving and the picks up what ever he sees on the truck stop snack shelves to hold in one hand and drive with the other, or hits the truck stop restaurant.  Yeah, that brings its own trouble.
So, hopefully you see my dilemma. 

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.  

Sunday Afternoon food prep

Sunday afternoons at my house are either spectacular or horrible.
I love to cook and I love to prep for the coming week any time I can as I work more than 40 hours a week and then people still expect to be fed as well.  (No really, I could skate out of a lot of what I do, but I just love to cook)  

But which way the story goes on any given week is determined by the condition of my kitchen on any given Saturday Afternoon, when I get home from work.  You see, I have other grown men who live in my house, and even sometimes invite friends and then some how feel that MOM should be doing all the cleaning up after them.  I disagree. 

But you would THINK that after all this time, they would grasp the concept that cleaning up after themselves in the kitchen will in the long run BENEFIT THEM.. greatly. 

Last week, the whole house was a wreck so the weekend was spent with me yelling, and crying and threatening, and just generally "loosing it" as I had warned them what to expect if my demands had not been met. 

Well, this week, they tried much harder for the most part and I was able to walk in to the dining room and kitchen and be very pleased with the space I saw around me. 

You see, my kitchen is really rather small for someone as adventurous as I am.  I will at some point add pictures of my kitchen and surroundings to a blog post. 

As for today, Oh Men In My Life.. this is what cleaning up when I tell you has brought to you in the present and near future. 

RED VELVET CUPCAKES W/CREAM CHEESE FROSTING  LARGELY BECAUSE WE TALKED ABOUT THEM THE OTHER DAY AND NOW I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT THEM, BUT MORE BECAUSE MY DEAR FRIEND SUZANNE HAS NEVER HAD ONE, AND WE JUST CANT HAVE THAT

2 JARS OF SLOPPY JOE FILLING FOR LUNCHES THIS WEEK AT WORK

 ON THE LEFT IS A BAG OF MANGO SALSA MADE FROM ALL FRESH INGREDIENTS.  THIS WILL GO ON SALMON STEAKS LATER THIS WEEK FOR DINNER.  ON THE RIGHT IS A BOWL FULL OF MANGO SALSA WITH AVACADO AND SALAD SHRIMP ADDED TO EAT ON CORN CHIPS AS A DIP/SNACK DURING THE FOOTBALL GAMES

3 BUNDLES OF KALE BAKED INTO KALE CHIPS WITH A LITTLE ORGANIC OLIVE OIL AND SOME SEA SALT.  I ALSO ADDED A LITTLE PEPPER FLAKES AND SOME CURRY POWDER TO SOME OF THEM AND A LITTLE GARLIC SALT TO SOME OTHERS.  YUM YUM YUM.  I AM ADDICTED TO THE STUPID THINGS NOW, THANK YOU MY DEAR FRIEND JENNIFER

  4 FULL QUARTS AND MOST OF ANOTHER OF PASTA SAUCE.  THIS CONTAINS ALL OF THE ITALIAN VEGETABLE PACK FROM MY LATEST BOUNTIFUL BASKET,  YELLOW SQUASH, EGGPLANT, MUSHROOMS, RED ONION, RED BELL PEPPER, PLUS SOME GRAPE TOMATOES THAT HAD SEEN BETTER DAYS BUT WERE STILL GOOD ENOUGH TO COOK, SOME CELERY THE BASIL, OREGANO, AND PARSLEY   HUMMMM NOT SURE WHAT ELSE BESIDES THE DICED TOMATOES AND TOMATO SAUCE.  The partial jar is going to be Vegetable Lasagana Monday night along with some Garlic bread and a nice salad.    THANK YOU FOR THIS IDEA FROM MY DEAR FRIEND AMI!!

 

AN OVE FULL OF BLUEBERRY MUFFINS FOR BREAKFASTS THIS WEEK.
 
 
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THIS PILE OF BOILED CHICKEN TENDERS IS GOING TO TURN IN TO CHICKEN SALAD FOR LUNCHES THIS WEEK ALSO.  A LITTLE VARIETY IS A GOOD IDEA. 

January Bountiful Basket

Today I picked up the first bountiful basket I have gotten in on since the beginning of November. 
Tomorrow I will decide what I am cooking, saving and preserving.  There are two mangos in there and if I make a small run to the grocery store for jalapenos I can make some more mango salsa.  I have found I really LOVE that stuff and since we have a freezer full of fish to top, I am excited! 
More to come!!!!!!