Using Leftover Pickle and Olive Brine

I just hate to throw out these liquids left at the bottom of a jar of pickles or can of olives. It always seems to me that there is something worthwhile left in there. So, I try to use those liquids at the very least for flavoring.

Pickled Carrots

This is so easy and one of my favorite uses for leftover dill pickle brine. I cut a couple of carrots into sticks and plunge them into the liquid left at the end of a jar of dill pickles. I let them stand in the fridge overnight and by the next day, I have carrots that are flavored with garlicky dill. The texture of the carrots is slightly softer than fresh carrot sticks, while still somewhat crisp. I reuse this same jar of liquid 3 or 4 times within a 7 to 10 day period before finally discarding it.

Black Olive Brine for Flavoring Meatloaf and Tomato Sauce

I made meatloaf earlier this week and used about 1/3 cup of the liquid from a can of black olives to soften the bread and cracker crumbs in place of salt for the meat/bread mixture. It was delicious and flavorful.

I also made a large batch of tomato-based pizza sauce, adding some olive brine in place of the water and salt. The added flavor and sodium in the olive brine uses something that would otherwise be discarded, while enriching the final cooked product at the same time.

Both pickle and olive brine can also be used to marinate meats, flavor salad dressings, and boost the flavor in soups.

These are ways to use it all up with just small savings. However, I feel keeping my mindset into using every part helps me save in bigger ways too.

Just How Many Pie Crusts Can I Make with a 3-lb Canister of Crisco Shortening? (And why would this even matter to you?)

With blackberry picking each weekend, this is pie season in my house. In fact, I was making a large batch of pie pastry this past week. I got to thinking about how much Crisco I'd like to stock up on.

Stocking up is not just about buying as much as I can. It's equally important to know how much I will use before the product expires. It's no savings to buy too much and have to throw some away. For some items in my pantry, I instinctively know how much we use in a month or a year, such as peanut butter. I know that we go through about 16 ounces of peanut butter each week. Knowing this, it's easy to figure out how much peanut butter to buy to last us say 6 months. I don't need to calculate how much peanut butter we use on each sandwich, and how many sandwiches we might eat in one month. Other items in the pantry are used more sporadically. One example of this type of item is Crisco-type shortening.

I use shortening mostly for pie pastry (and occasionally for biscuits). Knowing how much shortening to buy for a year's supply depends on me knowing how many pie crusts we will consume in a year and how many pie crusts I can get from one 3-lb canister.

The other day I did the calculation of how many cups of shortening are in one of those 3-lb canisters. For information, there are little over 7 cups per 3 pounds or 2  1/3 cups per pound of shortening. My bulk pie pastry recipe uses  1  3/4 cups of shortening for a 5-crust batch. So I figure I can make about 20 single or 10 double crust pies with a 3-lb canister of solid vegetable shortening.

I'm currently baking one 2-crust blackberry pie per week, using all of our wonderful foraged blackberries. I'll continue with the blackberries until the Italian plums are ripe in mid-September, when I'll switch over to single crust plum pies for a month. Then later in fall and in winter, I'll occasionally bake single crust pumpkin pies. 

With my rough estimations of how many pies we'll eat (plus a guess at how many batches of biscuits I'll bake) and knowledge of how many crusts I can get out of each canister of shortening, I know that I need 1  1/2 to 2 canisters of vegetable shortening for a year. 

Too bad I can't buy 1  1/2 canisters of shortening. Fortunately, it can be frozen to push its expiry out into the future. When I notice the best-by date on the can is approaching, I freeze the shortening in 1-cup portions. Frozen shortening needs to be brought back to room temperature for making pie pastry, but otherwise works just as well as shortening that's never been frozen. 

You may not use shortening or even be considering stocking up on any in the near future. So why read this post? Well, these types of calculations can be applied to other foods you may stock up on. When I'm trying to decide how much of an ingredient I may need for a year, I make calculations based on the amount I use for my most common recipe for that ingredient and the number of "servings" listed on that item's package. Another example is cornstarch. I mostly use cornstarch for making scratch pudding. My recipe for pudding uses just over 5 tablespoons per batch. A 16-oz box of cornstarch contains 45 tablespoons. So, one box will make between 8 and 9 batches of pudding. I also occasionally use cornstarch in cookies. At one batch of pudding per month and a few batches of cookies, I would likely go through 1 1/2 to 2 boxes of cornstarch in a year.

All of these calculations may sound too nitty gritty. Just like moving oldest items to the front of shelves and taking inventory every few months, I see these calculations as another necessary part of my stock management.

Weekly Round-Up of Posts

It's been another busy week for me. I'm experimenting with my own productivity this week. So, I finished up a bunch of posts all at once and will link to them from this post.

Highlights of my week:

A neighbor gave us a dozen ripe yellow plums this week. So very kind. And the plums are super sweet.

I harvested what I think is a year's supply of garlic for our family. That's about a $25 value. This all began with a single 33-cent head of garlic about 15 years ago, saving and replanting a little more each year.

I transplanted a bunch of lettuce seedlings into pots and baskets, collecting seeds from some of the spent plants, including nasturtium and spinach seeds for planting next year. I also collected chive seeds to top a batch of rolls. The radish seeds are not quite ready. I've let a lot of radish seed pods develop, as I hope to make radish sprouts this winter.

I'm working on my garden plan for 2022 already. I keep a small notebook with what worked and what needs improvement, adding content as it comes to mind while working in the garden. Two plans for next year are to increase the size of our pumpkin patch and add another potato bed. Canned pumpkin is a more expensive canned vegetable, averaging about 90-95 cents per can compared with other veggies that I can get canned for about 50 cents per can. With the potatoes, last year we ran out of garden-grown potatoes in early February. Adding another bed will yield enough potatoes to serve them often in fall and winter, with some perhaps lasting into spring (especially if I cook, mash and freeze some or dehydrate slices).

We are experiencing the smoke from California wildfires once again. The light looks pink and even though there aren't any real clouds in the sky, the light is on the dim side. I'm wondering what this does for growing vegetables. The smell is smokey, but not terribly bad. We did have a few nice days between spells of this smoke-filled air. We spent a lot of time outdoors on those days. Dinner outdoors is such a lovely summer treat.

I found a way to make previously frozen, thawed and badly separated milk more palatable for my family. (There's only so much pudding they can eat.) I added some powdered milk (2 tablespoons) to a couple of cups of the separated milk and ran it all through the smoothie blender. The milk treated this way did not appear to separate while sitting in the fridge overnight like the rest of the frozen/thawed milk did.

And now, as promised, some weekend reading for you -- a trio of posts. Pick and choose (click on links), if they sound interesting to you. 

What else can you do with the abundance of garden zucchini? In this link, here's what I wrote this week about how I make stuffed zucchini, with a bunch of variations that I've tried and enjoyed.

A couple of friends emailed wanting a recipe for jello made with flat soda pop. I typed up how I made it in this post. 

I know, we're almost half-way through August, and I'm just now getting to writing up my grocery shopping recap for the month of July. I've included our list of items, with prices, stores and quantities in the link in this post. I've also added a few more items to our list of foods that will likely see large price jumps in the next year.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Grocery Recap for July 2021 (plus another few items added to the possible shortages' list)

grocery shopping in 1938
photo source:
https://www.wbur.org/npr/139761274/how-the-a-p-changed-the-way-we-shop

In July, I began to feel the need to stock up on some staples again. I placed a few orders with walmart.com to be shipped to my house, made a pick-up at a Walmart store, and shopped in-person at WinCo, US Chef'Store (formerly Cash & Carry -- a restaurant supply) and Fred Meyer (while picking up gardening supplies). I spent a total of $293.58. (Of this, $10.75 was for foods for the 4th of July.)

Here's a comparison of what I've spent, month by month, in the last year. My spending in July is not bad, considering I stocked up so much.

Monthly food spending for last 12 months

Aug 2020   $92.18

Sept 2020  $182.30

Oct 2020   $304.52

Nov  2020  $189.45

Dec  2020  $77.98

Jan  2021  $54.07

Feb  2021  $184.66

Mar 2021   $152.77

Apr 2021  $447.19

May 2021  $285.53

June 2021 $127.98

July 2021 $293.58

Here's what I bought. You'll notice that I bought very little produce (the garden is prolific in July) and little meat. Most of what I bought was for my pantry stock-up.

12 bananas, 6 @ 46 cents/lb, 6 @ 48 cents/lb (Walmart and WinCo)

6 20-oz canisters raisins, $2.94 ea (Walmart.com)

bundle celery, 88 cents (WinCo)

5-lb bag carrots, $2.48 (WinCo)

4 gallons 2% milk, 1 gallon whole milk, $2.79 ea (WinCo)
pint whipping cream (for making ice cream), $1.87 (WinCo)

5-lb bag shredded cheddar and jack blend, $12.15 (US Chef'Store)
2 5-lb bags shredded mozzarella, $11.85 ea (US Chef'Store)
10  1/2-gallons 2% milk, 3  1/2 gallons whole milk, 99 cents/ea (Fred Meyer)

24-oz package pork bacon, $5.98 (Walmart)

2 27-oz packages pepperoni slices, $7.47 ea (Walmart)
2 dozen eggs, $1.15/dozen (WinCo)

2 10-lb bags all-purpose flour, $2.50 ea (Walmart.com)
5 10-lb bags sugar, $3.92 ea (Walmart.com)
2 gallons vegetable oil,  one at $5.60, one at $5.70 (Walmart.com)
4 5-lb bags all-purpose flour, $1.22 ea (Walmart.com)
4 boxes graham crackers, $1.23 ea (Walmart.com)
6-pack 32-oz spaghetti pasta, $7.92 total for 12 lbs (Walmart.com)

2 3-lb boxes macaroni pasta, $2.12 ea (Walmart)

4 32-oz raw honey, $7.93 (Walmart.com)

5-lb bag corn meal, $2.36 (Walmart.com)
26 oz canister salt, 40 cents (Walmart.com)
2 16-oz bags whole almonds, $4.96 ea (Walmart.com)

.55 lb bulk cocoa powder, $1.42 ($2.58/lb), (WinCo)
2 16-oz jars chicken bouillon, $2.74 ea (Walmart.com)
2 16-oz cornstarch, $1.08 (Walmart.com)

4 boxes toasty oats cereal, $1.23 ea (Walmart)

3 bags chocolate chips, $1.78 ea (Walmart)
2 bags mini chocolate chips, $1.98 ea (Walmart)
32-oz beef bouillon, $3.98 (Walmart)

25-lb bag regular rolled oats, $14.50 (WinCo)
25-lb bag lentils, $14.96 (US Chef'Store)
large container ground cloves, $14.98 (US Chef'Store)

88-ct corn tortillas, $2.39 (US Chef'Store)

4th of July
hot dog buns, 85 cents (WinCo)
2 packets Kool-Aid (1 red, 1 blue -- 4th of July jello), 18 cents ea (WinCo)

deli potato salad, $3.98 (WinCo)

whole watermelon, $5.56 (33 cents/lb), (WinCo)

This was the month that I was preparing to defrost 2 freezers, which meant I didn't have a lot of space to keep much in the way of stock-up freezer items. In August, I hope to stock-up on meat.

More foods to add to the possible shortages and price increase list

A few more foods have come to my attention that may see significant price increases in the coming year -- bacon, flour, and almonds. Last week, I read an article about Prop 12 in California which will ultimately drive pork prices up. Read it here. I read another article about the devastation of our regional drought to the wheat crop in Washington state. I suspect flour prices will jump, as Washington state is one of the 4 major producers of wheat in the US. This article is here. When wheat scarcity hits, many will turn to other grains, which could drive those prices up as well. And again with California in the news, almond growers in CA are tearing out their almond orchards due to record drought and water restrictions. 80% of the world's almonds are grown in the US, with California producing more almonds than any other state. The article on the almond growers can be found here. 

I can live with less bacon, and I'm also happy to eat turkey bacon. The wheat crop may be better in 2022, who knows. But the almond orchards being torn up could lead to longterm higher almond prices. This will in turn affect the price and availability of almond milk.

And yes, I did stock up on more bacon, flour, and almonds when I read this news. Some of these purchases fell in August, so they'll be reported in a month.

Recipe for Making Jello Salad with Flat Soda Pop

After last Friday's post, I received a couple of emails requesting a recipe for making jello with flat soda. So, here's my best estimate of what I used.

Jello Using Flat Soda Pop

3 teaspoons of unflavored gelatin

1/4  cup cold water

2 cups of flat fruity soda (I used orange soda, but I also have a half bottle of flat fruit punch soda waiting for more jello)

2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice

3 tablespoons of granulated sugar (to taste)

In a small dish, softened the gelatin in the water until all particles of gelatin are translucent. Once softened, melt the gelatin/water in the microwave in short bursts (15-20 seconds) until it is melted and liquid.

Stir the melted gelatin into a bowl with the soda, citrus juice, and sugar. Continue stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Chill for 4 hours or until set.

When mixing fruit into jello for a salad, I partially chill the jello before adding the chopped fruit. The fruit seems to remains suspended in the jello better if its (the jello) is more gloppy when stirring in the fruit.

The Many Variations of Stuffed Zucchini

Are you struggling to find new ways to use your excess zucchini crop? I've tried a variety of recipes and ideas over the years. I already mentioned the success of my zucchini chips, using the dehydrator. Well, here's another family favorite that even my zucchini non-enthusiast loves -- stuffed zucchini.

Zucchini can be stuffed with bread or cracker crumbs, cooked rice, cooked meat, shredded cheese, herbs, salt and pepper then baked into a yummy side dish or even light entree.

The easiest for me is to simply cut one slice of dense bread into tiny cubes, toss with chopped zucchini that I scooped from the insides to form the shell. I add 1 minced clove garlic, 1/3 Parmesan/mozzarella cheese, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon oregano, thyme or savory. Then I stuff this into hollowed zucchini halves (sprinkled lightly with salt) and drizzle the whole stuffed zucchini with olive oil. I bake at 375 degrees F for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until the filling is lightly golden.

Because I don't pre-cook this filling in a skillet before stuffing, I only use about 2/3 of the scooped out flesh in the filling. Using all of it yields a soggy stuffing even after baking.

I use a melon baller to hollow out squash,
leaving 1/4 to 1/2-inch walls.
I chop the balls of zucchini
and add to the filling

hollowed shells sprinkled lightly with salt

before baking I drizzle with olive or veg oil

golden filling and slightly firm squash
 after baking

Here's another recipe that calls for the addition of a small amount of cooked meat. These can make a light dinner entree all on their own.

Sausage-Stuffed Zucchini 

4 small or 2 large zucchini (about 1 pound)

1/2 lb Italian sausage (pork or turkey, bulk or removed from casings)

2 tablespoons minced onion

1/2 cup of bread crumbs

2 to 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1 teaspoon dried oregano

dash red pepper flakes

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

salt (for the empty zucchini shells) 

Also, if using turkey Italian sausage, 1 to 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil for sautéeing the meat, zucchini pulp, and onion.

Split the zucchini into halves, lengthwise. Scoop out the flesh, leaving about a 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick shell. Sprinkle the shells lightly with salt. Place on an ungreased baking sheet.

Chop the scooped out flesh. In a skillet, cook the sausage with the chopped zucchini flesh and onion until meat is cooked but not browned, drain (if needed) and toss with the bread crumbs, parsley, oregano, red pepper flakes, and Parmesan cheese.

Fill zucchini shells with the cooked mixture. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 25 minutes.

Other meat, cheese and seasoning possibilities: 

• chopped and cooked chicken with sage, black pepper, cheddar (white would be nice) in place of oregano/Parmesan/red pepper flakes
• browned breakfast sausage with sage, thyme and/or marjoram in place of oregano with or without cheese
• browned chicken and apple sausage with sage and white cheddar in place of oregano/Parmesan
• browned ground beef, chili powder, mild cheddar in place of oregano/Parmesan

Leftover crumbled cornbread can be substituted for the bread crumbs in any of the above combos.

Leftover cooked rice

Zucchini halves can also be stuffed with cooked rice and seasoning mixtures, with or without meat. I don't know about you, but I rarely make the exact amount of rice that my family will eat at one meal. Leftover cooked rice can be mixed in with cooked ground beef, some Italian or Tex-Mex seasonings and salt/pepper, then stuffed into zucchini shells. Top the cooked stuffed shells with either marinara (Italian) or salsa (Tex-Mex) plus some shredded cheese.

Leftover cooked polenta

Leftover cooked polenta also makes a good grain base for stuffing summer squash. Break up the cooked polenta, add some shredded cheese, chopped zucchini flesh, and maybe some diced red pepper. The resulting filling will be tender and flavorful.

notes:

When I plan on stuffing zucchini, I look for those that are about 11 to 12 inches long and 2  1/2 inches in diameter. These seem to cook evenly and quickly, while still providing plenty of stuffing capacity. 

My family prefers a firmer zucchini once baked. If you prefer a softer texture to the vegetable, you can steam the empty and scooped out zucchini halves in the microwave for a minute or two before filling and baking.

Quick message from me

Hi friends,

I just wanted to let you know that I'm trying something different with my schedule this week, so I'm not posting. I'll be back with posts on Friday.

Have a wonderful week! Enjoy the Perseids if you get a chance.

Lili

Can We Talk About Food Saves? Gelatin and Fruit Salad Using Flat Orange Soda

I've been slowly cleaning out odds and ends in the fridges. It appears that I have a daughter that loves soda, but never manages to finish a two-liter bottle. This orange soda has been sitting in the fridge for a few months. I finally got around to using it up in a jello salad.

I punched up the flavor with lime juice and sugar, mixed with softened and melted unflavored gelatin, and folded in some fresh fruit. The gelatin salad was delicious and we managed to use up a banana that was too ripe for anyone to want, a pear that had fallen off the tree, some blueberries, and that last 2 cups of orange soda. All in all, a win for saving food!

In the comments, please share your best food save from recent weeks.

This Week I Am . . .

• working on my fall deck garden. I cleared out another planter, mixed in compost and got it ready for some autumn kale.
• peeling, slicing and dehydrating apples. A sweet friend dropped off a large bag of her tree apples for my family. In addition to dehydrating, we've also been eating a lot of the apples fresh every day.
• harvesting green beans, blueberries, kale, chard, rhubarb, salad greens, cucumbers and summer squash. This is peak garden time. Lots of variety every day.
• enjoying these long sunny days. I'm not usually a morning person. But this time of year, I can't help but get up with the birds once the sky looks light.
• admiring the beauty and fragrance of the Oriental lilies in bloom in my yard.

So, how about you? What are you doing this week?

Cheap & Cheerful Meals for the Tail End of July

 

Hi friends. Happy Friday! And it's the last Friday of the month of July. How did your week go? I hope you found time to enjoy yourself as well as took care of your work. 

What we ate around here this past week:

Breakfasts: 

homemade raisin and spice granola, blueberry muffins, toast, homemade yogurt with raspberries, blueberries or blackberries, chicken gravy on toast, juice, milk, coffee

Lunches:

leftovers, cream of sorrel soup, turnip and vegetable soup, mixed green salads, hummus, crackers, cheese or peanut butter sandwiches, cookies, graham crackers, raisins, blueberries, eggs, sausage, zucchini chips

Dinners:

Friday
peppers and olive pizza, dolmades with yogurt sauce, sautéed summer squash, cookies

Saturday
hummus, fry bread, carrot sticks

Sunday
barbecued burgers, beet greens, tossed garden salad, cookies

Monday
eggs with chives, turnip greens, roasted root vegetables, rice and gravy, rhubarb crisp

Tuesday
chicken in thyme gravy, rosemary mashed potatoes, beet greens, leftover rhubarb crisp

Wednesday (my daughter prepared this)
beef with broccoli, chicken and vegetables, rice, egg rolls

Thursday (my other daughter prepared this meal)
scratch macaroni and cheese, turnip greens, summer squash, stewed prunes

This past week, I finally got around to thawing the chest freezer. Sometime in September 2020 I froze several jugs of milk in the chest freezer. One of the jugs split a seam and leaked 3/4 of a gallon of milk all over the bottom of the freezer, cementing anything sitting on the bottom of the freezer in place. I wanted to just get that cleaned up, but with a full freezer that's not terribly easy. I waited until that point in summer where we'd gone through most of our frozen foods from last summer's garden and foraging, but it was still early enough in this year's harvest so I wouldn't have as much food to stuff into other freezers. That moment came this week. It was a nuisance, but much more do-able that I'd thought it would be. So now I have this pristine freezer all organized and room to spare. How long do you figure this will last -- 3 weeks, a month? It doesn't seem to take too much rummaging to mess up the organization. But at least I now know exactly what we have in there. And yes, there were some surprises.

Last Friday, I was out of pepperoni for our weekly pizza. So I scrounged in the freezer and found some frozen pepper strips and opened a can of olives, yielding a pepper and olive pizza for the family. This week, I have pepperoni again for our favorite pizza topping. Plus, I'll be baking a blackberry pie later this morning. While cleaning out the deep freezer, I came across several bags of frozen blackberries from last year's foraging. Blackberry season is just about to begin for this year, so I need to do some quick baking, and jam and syrup making. So, tonight -- blackberry pie. I also came across a bag of dried prunes. And you guessed it, we're coming close to ripe plum season again. Stewed prunes were added to the menu this past week and will be on coming menus as well. I also came across several bags of blueberries. I made some blueberry jam and baked some blueberry muffins. Cleaning the freezer is a bit like a treasure hunt. I found so many odds and ends that will add to our upcoming meals.

When I wasn't cleaning out the freezer, I was in the garden or organizing our pantry. It's always about food for me these days.

How was your week? What was on your menu?

Got Zucchini? Make Zucchini Chips

I don't have the overabundance of zucchini that many gardeners seem to get. However, I have a daughter who is not wild about zucchini. So I am always looking for new ways to prepare this lovely summer squash that will appeal to her.

Enter zucchini chips. I got the idea when she bought herself some vegetable chips and was actually enjoying them. Then I discovered that many other folks make zucchini chips with their dehydrators, air fryers, and ovens. Since I have my dehydrator out and running this month, I decided to give that a try.

Here's what I did:

I sliced fresh, washed zucchini between 1/8 to 1/4-in thick and placed them, plain (no oil/no seasoning), on the dehydrator trays, up against each other but avoided overlapping. I set the dehydrator to 135 degrees F (the setting for fruits and vegetables) and left it for 3 hours. After 3 hours, I switched the trays around for uniform drying. After another 5 hours, the slices were dry.

I tasted a couple and really liked them. I could eat the whole batch myself, I think. It's late in the evening, so I'll season and add them to tomorrow's lunch. I think these will be a hit.

My zucchini chips are very thin. I started with 1/8 to 1/4-inch slices. I may try slicing the zucchini a little thicker for a sturdier chip next time (the kind that could stand up to some dip). The only downside to thicker chips is longer dry time. We'll see how they turn out. And just so you know, bigger zucchini is actually a plus, here. The slices shrink up considerably, so a fatter zucchini would yield more generous sized chips.

I didn't use any oil, but a light spritz of the trays with cooking spray might be good, especially for super thin edges when not getting a full slice.

Have you made zucchini or any other vegetable chips?

Thought You Might Like to See Another of Our Native Edibles Here in the PNW

Oregon Grape Low Bush

Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium)

If you haven't spent much time in the Pacific Northwest of the US, you may not have come across this plant before or known that its berries are edible. Locally, it's simply known as Oregon Grape. As it is not a true grape, it's also sometimes known as holly-leaved grape or berberry. I would guess it gets it's name "grape" due to the long hanging clusters of dark blue berries it presents each summer. The edges of the leaves are serrated and prickly, much like holly leaves.

Historically, Oregon Grape berries were a part of the traditional diet for indigenous people of the PNW. Having tasted them myself, it's hard to imagine eating such tart berries as they are. However, I've used them in making very delicious jelly. They're high in pectin, which means I can make a jelly with just the berries and sugar.

Today, Oregon Grape berries are a common fruit for foraging in the PNW. But in my neighborhood, most of the landscapes have the bushes in abundance. The plants grow well in semi-shaded areas that receive abundant rainfall and require virtually no attention. I'm familiar with both the tall and low bush varieties. The tall bushes grow to over 7 feet high, while the low bushes stand about 2 to 2.5 feet in height. We have both growing on our property. These plants have been here since we bought the house 26 years ago, and in some cases, they've seeded new plants. We've never done anything to care for them, that's how easy they are to keep. 

In spring, the bushes are covered with yellow blossoms. And every year in early August, the berries size up, ripen to a dark blue with a whitish bloom, and are ready for me to make a small batch of jelly. The jelly is rich with spicy overtones, like an improved grape jelly. My own kids knew this as "grape jelly" for their PBJs when they were little.

I'm watching the berries this week and next. The birds love them as much as we do, so I have to be quick to grab what I can when they're ripe.

Working On My Fall Deck Garden

a trough of turnips just started

I've been clearing out early season vegetables from some of my containers so that I can plant some vegetables for fall and winter harvest. In my zone, most vegetables stop growing in early October. If I start cooler season vegetables now through mid-August, the plants should be mature enough to harvest by the time the light levels are too low for more growth. I won't be harvesting everything in October, however. Most of the plants I've chosen for fall and winter will "hold" in my deck garden for early to mid-winter harvest.

The deck is on the south side of the house. Right now, it gets part sun and stays cool due to deciduous trees. Once the leaves fall, my planters will receive full sun through winter. For now, the containers are a couple of feet away from the house wall. When temps cool more, I'll push them completely against the house to protect the plants from hard frosts. 

The vegetables that I've chosen for my fall garden are kale, cauliflower, turnips, beets, Swiss chard, lettuce, spinach, arugula, and green onions. Some of these vegetables will die out in early November (lettuce, green onions), but most of them will still be harvestable, with protection, through winter.

I love the idea of a four-season garden. Lacking a walk-in greenhouse, I'll have to be satisfied with a fall and early/mid-winter harvest from my fall deck garden. 

Did You Know Carrot Leaves Are Edible?

For those of you who are growing your own vegetables, do you use the leaves to your carrots? Carrot greens are edible and have a mild and pleasant taste that is like a cross between carrot and green herb.

I have 2 deep pots filled with carrots this summer. I cut a stem from a couple of carrots every time I gather greens for salads. Since I still want my carrots to continue sizing up, I try to not take more than one stem per carrot and also try to space out how often I cut from a particular carrot. The green leaves can be used up till harvest.

The stem itself is tough, but the tiny frond-like leaves are tender enough for salads. Carrot leaves can also be added to soups, pesto, rice, dressings, stuffings, and dips. 

I picked an assortment of lettuce, watercress, nasturtium leaves and blossoms, chive blossoms, and carrot leaves for this salad mixture to go with leftover dolmades for our lunch on Sunday. The carrot leaves added visual, textural, and flavor interest to the salad.

I'm making a real effort to use as much as possible from my garden this summer and through fall. This means I need to be resourceful and look to the different parts of plants that are edible.

Have you tried carrot leaves?

Cheap & Cheerful Menus for Late July

I made rosemary vinegar this week. It's simply fresh rosemary in distilled white vinegar. I'll allow the flavor to infuse over the next 4 to 6 months before using it. I love how herb vinegars look when they are first made. The vinegar is crystal clear, and the herbs still have their green freshness. 

Another end of a week. My how fast this summer is flying! 

A lot of very ordinary meals around here. But that's okay -- my family likes ordinary (after all, they like me, and I'm ordinary). Here's what we ate:

Breakfasts this week included toasted O's cereal, homemade yogurt, berries, homemade blueberry muffins, homemade bread, toasted, eggs, milk, juice, and coffee/tea. I just haven't had it in me to make pancakes or waffles. I'll have to do something about that now that the blueberries are ripening.

Lunches were more varied. I sometimes picked greens from the hanging baskets and garden for salads, and sometimes I made soup from the garden (sorrel one time, turnip stems and carrot another). We also had peanut butter or cheese sandwiches and hummus/crackers. Plus, we ate leftovers from dinners for lunches. There has been no shortage of cookies for quick desserts. Yesterday, I made some chocolate chip shortbread rounds -- very yummy!

Here are the dinner menus:

Friday
homemade pepperoni pizza, watermelon, roasted broccoli, rhubarb crisp

Saturday
TVP meatballs and spaghetti, green beans, blueberries and raspberries, cookies

Sunday
hot dog cookout, homemade buns, sauerkraut, carrot sticks, canned corn, garden salad

Monday
eggs with chives, sausage, brown rice and chicken gravy, sautéed summer squash, roasted turnips, sautéed turnip greens, vanilla rhubarb sauce

Tuesday
pasta, broccoli, and cheese, cookies

Wednesday
7-11 pizza (my daughter bought this), garden salad, blueberries and raspberries, cookies

Thursday
meatloaf, fresh bread and butter, stuffed zucchini squash, vanilla rhubarb sauce

I have a couple of meals that I make each week. My family doesn't notice the repetition and doing so eliminates some planning. As examples, I make the same basic meal every Monday and Friday. I always know that Monday's dinner will be eggs, rice, gravy, and whatever vegetables and/or fruit that we have. Friday is always pizza night at our house, with side dishes that vary. This week, I'll be making stuffed grape leaves again to go with the pizza. I noticed some of our grape leaves are the perfect combination of size and tenderness. I am all out of pepperoni, so I'll be rummaging through the pantry and freezer to find pizza toppings.

What was on your menu this past week?

Historical Gardening: An Unusual Method of Making Pickles

melon-mangoeing: an historical technique of pickling a stuffed vegetable or fruit.
image from video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UhB4iOl-PA

This post isn't to suggest that any of us make pickles in this way. But I just found this very fascinating.

There's this pickling technique that was used in pre-1900 prairie vegetable gardens called melon-mangoeing -- no association with actual mangoes, however. A type of melon, which was very bland in itself, was hollowed out, filled with finely chopped cabbage, peppers, and onions, then sewn shut and submerged in a brine until the outside and inside was pickled. Melon-mangoeing became a popular method of preserving other vegetables as well, such as peppers and even sweet fruits like peaches.

I heard about this technique in a documentary about vegetable gardening in 1800s Minnesota. The video is about 30 minutes and available on youtube, here: Prairie Yard & Garden: Growing Vegetables in the 1800s, put together by Pioneer Public TV (pickling technique shown around the 11:30 mark and again around the 25:20 mark.)

I'm an historical gardening and cooking geek, so this documentary was right up my alley. I thought some of you might also find the entire video as engaging as I do. Enjoy!

If you do watch the video, please share your thoughts, here, in the comments.

Cooking the Fibrous Stems of Kale and Turnip Greens

As my garden is not as sunny or as warm as it could be for growing a really bountiful harvest, I have to look to using all parts of the vegetables that I can grow.

When I harvest turnips for dinner, I cook the root and greens. I pull the leaves off of the tough and fibrous stems and use them as cooked greens. But I don't discard those stems. I cut them into 1-inch lengths and simmer in a saucepan full of water for an hour. It's important to cut the fibrous stems into short, 1-inch lengths so the "stings" don't tangle on the blade of the blender. Ask me how I know. . .

After cooking, I use my immersion blender to puree the liquid and stems, then strain it all through a mesh sieve. At this point, I compost what doesn't pass through the sieve. What remains is a stock with a mild turnip flavor -- great as a basis for an all vegetable soup.

To make a pot of soup using the turnip stock, I add 1 large diced carrot, some onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. I then allow it all to simmer until the carrot is soft. I add instant mashed potatoes to thicken the soup and to moderate any turnip-iness and adjust the flavor by adding more salt, garlic, powder, and or onion powder. 

I like this soup topped with cheddar cheese. One of my daughters likes to swirl in a pat of butter. It's also tasty topped with plain yogurt or sour cream.

This technique is also a great use for the fibrous stems of mature kale, whether from the market or garden grown. No need to throw those out. They make a delicious broth to use as the basis for a broccoli and potato soup.

My garden motto -- use every bit of the vegetable when possible.

What It's Like Being a One-Car Family

For most of our married life, we've had just one working car. There were a few years in there where we had two working cars at the same time. But for the most part, we had either one non-working plus one working or just had a single car. Currently, we have one car that we share between 4 drivers. 

A lot of the time, we don't really think about having just one car. That is unless you're the one walking a mile each way to the bus in the pouring rain.

Despite trying to have a positive attitude, there have been several negatives to the just "one car" thing.

• Sometimes, my plans to run errands or pick-up groceries conflict with another family member's plan to use the car.
• When the car needs repairs, we don't have a back-up car to use.
• When the car has broken down on the road or a driver locked themselves out of the car, there was no back-up car to go help. This actually happened. My daughter locked the key in the car while paying for gas. A couple of us took the bus up to the gas station so we could break into our own car. We also don't have a second car to jump a dead battery.
• One of us invariably plays chauffeur in order for the car to be free for another driver. 
• We've each had to pass on at least one opportunity that would have helped our respective careers.

All that said, we've also found several up-sides to the just "one car" situation.

• We've really had to learn to be considerate of one another's needs. In that respect, having one car between all 4 of us has been a good thing. I think especially, this has helped our daughters learn that valuable lesson at a time in their lives when they might have become self-focused.
• We tend to do more as a family, I believe, than if we each had our own vehicles.
• We are more inclusive with all of our family members. If one or two people want to go out to the beach, we tend to invite all of the family.
• Because one of us often plays chauffeur, there is more one-on-one time for conversation. 
• We save money on maintenance, insurance, gas, and purchase price with just one car.

A big however, though -- when it becomes the right time again to buy a second car, we will jump at the chance. We live in the suburbs. Stores are not at a walkable distance. The nearest bus stop is just over a mile from our door. We need our sleep. Some of those early morning chauffeur jaunts can be very early for more than one party. And I think all of us would appreciate being able to go where we need to go on our own schedules.

I know there was once a time when practically all households had just one car. My parents had one car when I was small. My father's commute was about one hour, making it difficult for my mother to have  the car for her use. They managed. But when the time came for a second car, I'm sure they were relieved.

These are my personal reflections on sharing one car between multiple drivers. I don't know many families these days who are in the same situation. So I thought I'd write a bit about it. 

How do you think your life and relationships would change if you found yourselves as part of one-car families?

Peaceful, Frugal Weekends at Home Are My Favorite Kind

It's just what they say, there's really no place like home.

I had one of those very pleasant weekends just spent puttering around the house and garden. I didn't go anywhere at all, keeping our household spending down.

I've been trying to do one thing per day toward putting away or growing food for fall and winter. So, on Friday I made red currant jelly, on Saturday I cut and dried thyme, and on Sunday I planted seeds for fall turnips.

Friday is our family's pizza and movie night. I made our favorite scratch pizza topped with cheese and pepperoni, with watermelon and broccoli on the side and rhubarb crisp for dessert. We ate while watching a free movie with the Roku.

Saturday, we were all home for the day and evening. I took care of some housecleaning and garden work. Dinner was TVP meatballs and spaghetti along with green beans and the last of the rhubarb crisp. Bargain meal. In the evening, I put in another online grocery order to be delivered to our home, filling my order with items that I found at great prices.

On Sunday, I again spent the day puttering, cleaning, organizing, baking, and enjoying the nice weather. In the evening we had a hot dog cookout. I made scratch hot dog buns in the afternoon to go with the dogs. We had carrot sticks, blueberries and raspberries from the garden, and canned corn to go with the hot dogs and buns. The four of us sat around the fire ring for a while after eating and just talked about life. Another budget-wise family meal.

Just a peaceful and frugal weekend on the homestead. How was your weekend?

Cheap & Cheerful Menus for a July Week

This has been my breakfast every morning
 for the last 10 days -- plain yogurt,
fresh raspberries, and honey. Yum!

Another week of all home-cooked meals.  I feel like this may sound dull to someone else. However, I've discovered that I really like our own home-cooking.

In the garden this week, we've been harvesting lots of raspberries, some blueberries, the rest of the cherries and strawberries, some red and black currants, salad greens, kale, turnips, garlic scapes, chives, Swiss chard, beet greens, grape leaves, lavender, oregano, and zucchini.

Cheap and cheerful pretty much describes this past week's meals. Here's what we ate:

Breakfasts

homemade plain yogurt with raspberries and honey, toasted o's cereal,  toasted homemade bread, eggs, cheese, peanut butter, dried fruit, bananas, milk, juice, coffee, tea

Lunches

hummus, crackers, mixed garden green salads, cheese sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches, berries, carrots sticks, celery sticks, bananas, juice, lemonade, cookies

Dinners

Friday
homemade pepperoni pizza, stuffed grape leaves, strawberries, sorbet

Saturday
sandwiches, canned green beans, cookies

Sunday
bean and cheese enchiladas, pickled beet salad, watermelon, cookies

Monday
eggs with chives, brown rice and chicken stock gravy, sautéed zucchini, roasted turnips, sautéed turnip greens and garlic scapes, watermelon

Tuesday
hummus, crackers, raw veggies, sautéed Swiss chard, watermelon, cookies

Wednesday
hotdog cookout, mixed vegetable salad, pasta salad, watermelon

Thursday
beef, beet green, cabbage, chives and sesame stir fry, brown rice, fruit cup of blueberries, raspberries, and banana slices, cookies

It was a busy week for me, so meals were simplified as much as possible. It's Friday, so tonight's dinner has been predetermined -- homemade pizza and a movie.

How about you? What's was on your menu this past week?

A Productive Hobby

The last week or two, I've been working on planting our fall garden. I really dislike that being a gardener means that for some of my moments, I'm not just living in the present but have to think ahead to the next season. Right now, even though we don't have even one full month of summer behind us, I have to think about autumn meals. This is bit of a drag, because I just want to revel in summer. I don't want to think about chilly days, thick sweaters, and lots of rain and clouds. I want to think about the beach, sunshine, the farmer's market, and cookouts.

But, when you're the food producer of the family, you have to think ahead. Otherwise, come October, I might come up short in the fresh produce department.

So, what have I been planning for an autumn garden? In spring, I planted Brussel sprouts, potatoes, pumpkin, and winter squash, all veggies which I expect will mature in fall. This week and last I started the fall kale, lettuce, Swiss chard, cauliflower, bunching onions, and beets. By the end of the month, I'll also add turnips to our fall veggies. And by mid-August, I'll seed more spinach and radishes.

Keeping a  kitchen garden is my job, it's a hobby, as well as a hedge against emergency food insecurity. I've mentioned that it often feels like food is my J.O.B. It's not my entire job, but it is my responsibility for my family to always have food on hand, whether it's by shopping or growing. As a hobby, my kitchen garden is something that provides a satisfying personal challenge with tangible rewards. When my husband and I were young and dirt poor, we didn't have the finances for fun, but frivolous hobbies. So we chose hobbies that would be productive. Growing vegetables was one of my chosen hobbies. 

As it turns out, this productive "hobby" is also a big part of our emergency contingency plan. This past year and a half has shown us that the future is never certain. We can think we'll be employed until we determine our retirement. But that can change as an economy shifts or physical or mental ability decline before we planned. The last 18 months has energized my desire to make our yard as productive as it can be. What I can say for this year's garden is that I have tried harder with all of the garden than in previous years. That may or may not result is the biggest harvest yet for me. But I have tried my hardest and used the sum of my experience, so far, in hopes of producing a large harvest. As for the future, I hope I never stop learning how to make our yard more productive. The learning aspect is the challenge for me, which is what makes keeping a garden as much of a hobby as it is my job.

The good news about my focus on planting for an autumn harvest these last two weeks is that now that's mostly behind me and I can transition back to summer thoughts. I think it's time to make a batch of ice cream. 

How about you? What's your favorite "productive" hobby?

The Many Edible Stages of a Radish

Here's a recent photo of one of my hanging salad baskets. They look a bit untidy at this stage. I thought about trimming them up, but then decided to leave them as they are so we can get more salad ingredients out of the plants.

When I initially planted the baskets, I seeded the radishes thickly to promote green growth. We've enjoyed radish greens as part of our salad blends. Down in my garden in the yard, I actually planted radishes for the roots. 

Do you know what I love most about radishes? There's never a too-late moment to eat them. You can eat the leaves. You can eat the roots. If you don't dig them, you can allow them to blossom and those tiny flowers are edible, too. If the flowers are left on the plants, they will develop seed pods, which are also edible. And if you leave any seed pods to mature, you can harvest the seeds for replanting more radishes. I just find that so incredible that every phase of the radish's life is useful.

Here are some of the radish flowers. See how tiny they are? The blossoms are pretty floated in a bowl of soup or sprinkled over a salad or cup of hummus. Their flavor is mildly radish, and while pretty, they go best with savory dishes.

I've shown you these before. These are radish seed pods. They're crisp and hot in flavor, like a radish. I use them in salads or for snacking. I've read they can also be pickled.

We'll eat some of the pods, but I'll need fresh radish seeds next season. So, I'll be leaving several pods to ripen and dry for the seed.

Leaves, roots, blossoms, seed pods, and seeds for replanting -- I've been able to use every stage of these radish plants. Now that's frugal!

My Struggle with Gift Cards

I mentioned yesterday that my daughters had given me a gift certificate to a local lavender specialty shop for my birthday over a year ago. It was nearing its expiration date and I still hadn't used it. It's not that I couldn't find something I'd want in that shop. That's not the issue. I adore that shop and always make a point to step inside when I'm in the retail and restaurant area of our small town. 

I just have a problem with spending gift cards and certificates. I hang onto them for years. I'm not sure why. But I think it has something to do with my other financial habits. When you're frugal for a very long time, sometimes one's frugality backfires on a person and they find they can't spend money freely when given a chance. I think this is me. I think I hoard gift cards that are given to me because it feels like they are and will be in short supply in my life. So I feel like I need to find that "perfect" item on which to spend my gift card. The problem is, perfection in anything is elusive. I can no more find a perfect thing to buy than I can bake a perfect cake or have perfect hair. 

So, when I try to use a gift card, I look at everything and think about it all, over and over. Sometimes, it just feels easier to delay spending a gift card. I don't have the answer to this issue. But I am working on my thoughts about gift cards and using them. I want to honor the person(s) who gave them to me, and actually using it to buy something they'd choose for me is a way to honor their gift. I also need to let go of "perfect". As I was perusing the website to spend this recent gift certificate, many items were very nice. And I would have been thrilled to receive any of the lavender products. If it weren't for this particular gift certificate having an expiration date printed on it, I may have delayed choosing something even longer. But I did choose a product that I will really enjoy. And just under the gun -- on the very last date before expiry.

I just keep thinking, spending a gift card or certificate should not be so hard. I think I understand why I am this way. I'm just needing to work on solutions to this struggle. 

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a hard time spending money or gift cards on themselves. If this has been an issue for you, how have you dealt with it?

Making Gourmet Goodies with the Help of My Garden

While cooking basic meals for my family is a satisfying endeavor, I also like to make a few gourmet treats every now and then. This past weekend, everything seemed to fall into place for me to make some of these goodies.

Several years ago, we planted some grape vines in our yard. That spot has become overgrown with trees and we now never have a grape harvest. However, the vines are nice for making grapevine wreaths and the leaves are edible, themselves. Right now, this season's leaves are a mix of large mature leaves and small to medium tender leaves. The small to medium tender leaves are delicious for stuffing, while the large tougher leaves make an excellent pot liner when steaming the stuffed leaves.

Last Friday, I made a batch of seasoned rice stuffed grape leaves for dinner. I love these and they're really not that complicated to make. I think they're easier than making burritos as I don't have to roll out tortillas or cook beans. I use a dry rice and seasoning filling that I roll into the grape leaves, then simmer the batch in a large pot with chicken broth spiked with lemon juice for an hour, then allow to stand another hour.

It occurred to me that I should harvest a bunch more leaves for stuffed grape leaves at another meal. Saturday, I picked lots of grape leaves, then rolled them into recipe-sized bundles, tied, and blanched before freezing. 

Later in the weekend, I was using a gift certificate that was about to expire given to me by my daughters for my birthday over a year ago. The gift certificate was to a small shop that specializes in lavender products. I was shopping online and put a bag of lavender shortbread into my virtual cart. After remembering my own lavender and mint shortbread recipe, I quickly rethought my purchase and bought something else. My lavender is in a large trough on the deck when I see it every day. I've been eagerly anticipating the development of the buds. 

In the afternoon, I went out and cut a bunch of lavender stems and made my own lavender shortbread cookies and a couple of small jars of lavender honey. I've made the shortbread numerous times in the past, but I'd never made lavender honey. A few years ago, my son and daughter-in-law gave me a jar of lavender honey that they'd picked up at the lavender festival near us. I'd been wanting to make some lavender honey myself and finally had both lavender and honey at the same time.

These little gourmet treats really perk up the meals around here. It isn't just that I save money by making these foods myself. Actually, I'm not sure I'd ever buy grape leaves or culinary lavender to make the items if I didn't grow them in my garden. So, using what I grow in my garden allows us to have these gourmet treats.