93...Free!

This morning as I canned more salsa, I listened to several finance experts on the radio. My toes curled a bit. Then, I asked several friends what they thought about the current economic outlook. My toes curled a little more. Then, at dinner, my husband and I discussed our own financial resources. We agreed on a plan. For the remainder of the year, we will try to spend as little as possible, challenging ourselves to buy what is necessary and putting off "extras." Although we live a fairly frugal lifestyle anyway, the specific challenge..."93 Free"...or 93 days free of spending anything that isn't necessary, is new.

In that spirit, I'll be trying to post a reflection on each day of our "93...Free!" Hopefully, this will include tips and ideas that others can use as well. Since Christmas falls into this time frame, I'll be posting Christmas ideas.

93...Free
Day 1

I didn't spend any money today, but I tried to get creative in saving some. "Dump Soup" was the result. The last several days' worth of cooking and canning has resulted in our fridge being filled with odds and ends:

* cooked hamburger
* half a cabbage
* chopped onion, tomatoes, green peppers, celery (from making salsa)
* corn (cut off some corn-on-the-cob we had a few nights ago)

I basically emptied the fridge into my crockpot and added beef broth (frozen, from previous leftovers), chili powder, Worcesterchire sauce, and salt. The outcome? "Dump Soup!"

We added a little grated cheese and a few tortilla chips. My husband asked to take the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. It might not be the 'purtiest thing, but it tasted good! Our neighbor gave us some Asian pears to round out the meal.

Tremendous Tomato Sauce!

Last summer I made tomato sauce from Simply in Season for the first time. LOVED IT! So this year, I'm making more. I froze last year's, but our freezers are already almost full and we're awaiting another 1/8 of a beef and 1/2 of a pig (local), so I'm canning.

Yesterday, I picked these from our garden:



By afternoon, I had tomato sauce:



Believe it or not, I don't really enjoy cooking all that much. But few things are as satisfying as watching the filled jars line up on my pantry shelves.

Here's my favorite tomato sauce recipe from Simply in Season. I quadrupled the recipe when I did it.

Basic Tomato Sauce
Yields 3 pints

1 onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (minced)

Saute until soft in 2 T. olive oil.

2 carrots (shredded)
1/2 green pepper (chopped)
2 bay leaves
1/4 fresh parsley (chopped)
2 T. fresh basil (chopped; or 2 t. dried)
1 T. fresh oregano (chopped; or 1 t. dried)
1 T. fresh thyme (chopped; or 1 t. dried)

Add. Stir well.

6 c. plum tomatoes (peeled and chopped)
6 oz. tomato paste
1 T. honey (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Add and season to taste. Simmer 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf and serve or freeze. To can, ladle into hot sterilized pint jars to within 1/2" of top, add 1 T. lemon juice or vinegar per pint to assure acidity, seal with sterilized lids, and process full jars in boiling water bath for 35 minutes.

"Organic," Economical, Weed Killer

Yesterday and today are big canning days. With canning comes pots of boiling water. When the canning is over, I take the pots outside and dump the steaming water on WEEDS. The weeds die. I figured this out by accident, but my mother-in-law told me that she does the same thing, so I guess it's a pretty effective means of eliminating weeds. :)

Nightmare Revisited

This is not intended to be a political statement. Just a personal reflection.

Since I worked last week, I missed out on two major interviews (Couric & Gibson) with Palin. Since I didn't know that much about her, I wanted to watch for myself. This weekend I saw both interviews on YouTube.

When I watched, I started feeling panicky. I have this recurring dream in which I am supposed to take a college final exam but I have not attended any of the classes and have not received any of the study materials. Watching Palin, I was vividly reminded of that dream. The interviews about gave me heart palpitations. Since I'm about the same age/gender, it made me feel like I was on the spot being asked questions like "What's your opinion about the Bush Doctrine?"

I wanted to interrupt and say..."let me get back to you...just as soon as I wake up!"

Sincerely,
A person who is very, very grateful to NOT be running for office!

Skunk Conclusion

Thanks to the stick/board that my husband lowered into the hole, our little skunk friend got out on his own. Thank goodness! The other options that I was thinking of weren't very good...

1a. shoot him
1b...but then how do you remove the body??? And how do you stand above a 3 ft hole and shoot straight down at a skunk?

2a. trap him
2b...but how do you get him out of the hole and into the trap...and if you trap him, then what do you do with him?

Our neighbor was kind enough to offer assistance with both of the "a" options...as long as we understood that it was our problem to figure out part "b." ;)

Skunk Update

So we left the skunk overnight, hoping it would get out on its own.

IT'S STILL THERE!!!!!

So we put a stick down the hole, hoping it would help the skunk to climb out.

To be continued... (without tomato juice baths, I hope!!!)

Look What 'LilDude Found Tonight!

Dictated by 'LilDude:

I found a skunk tonight. It was in a post hole by the chicken coop that my dad has been building. When I told my dad he thought it was a cat. He was very, very surprised!

This is our chicken coop. Our cat, Keiko, is a few feet from the hole. (You can see the hole if you look carefully...it's diagonally out from the corner of the coop.)



Here is the hole:





Note from the photographer...

I held the camera out at arm's length, extended over the hole, to take the pictures. I wasn't sure how good an aim a skunk has from 3 feet underground. ;)

Playing Nice in Election Season

Maybe I've spent too much time in kindergarten this year. Or perhaps, not enough. In kindergarten, it's fascinating to watch children learn to respect one another, despite any lifelong (5 years is a long time!) beliefs they may have. Just this week, 'LilDude came home and told me that Elvis (yes, 'LilDude has an "Elvis" in his class) looked at 'LilDude's pink shirt and said, "Boys don't wear pink." 'LilDude didn't argue with him. But he did enjoy conversing with me about what our beliefs are...including the fact that even Daddy wears pink. :)

Anyway, in the spirit of loving others and getting along, I want to post Jim Wallis's "Five Rules of Christian Civility." Even if it isn't helpful to you, it's something that I need to revisit during the next few months.

1. We Christians should be in the pocket of no political party, but should evaluate both candidates and parties by our biblically-based moral compass.

2. We don't vote on only one issue, but see biblical foundations for our concerns over many issues.

3. We advocate for a consistent ethic of life from womb to tomb, and one that challenges the selective moralities of both the left and the right.

4. We will respect the integrity of our Christian brothers and sisters in their sincere efforts to apply Christian commitments to the important decisions of this election, knowing that people of faith and conscience will be voting both ways in this election year.

5. We will not attack our fellow Christians as Democratic or Republican partisans, but rather will expect and respect the practice of putting our faith first in this election year, even if we reach different conclusions.

...here's to a quick conclusion to election season! May life return to normal ASAP. :)

Starbucks-Free Coffee for Classroom Teachers & Homeschooling Parents

Starbucks is offering free coffee for homeschooling parents on Monday, Sept. 29. Details here.

Free coffee for classroom teachers that day as well. Details here.

Why didn't anyone tell me about this a month ago???? ;)

Scrumptious Salsa

Here's our favorite salsa recipe. We got it from a friend. I don't know the origin beyond that.

Salsa

12 c. tomatoes, peeled & chopped (Roma are best)
3 c. celery, chopped
3 c. onion, chopped
1 c. sugar (the recipe says "use less if not Roma tomatoes")
1 c. vinegar
1/4 c. salt (I use canning salt)
2 T. mustard seed
2 T. red pepper (recipe says "can use ceyenne"...I use red pepper flakes)

Put the above ingredients in a big pot. Simmer. Bring to a boil. Add:

2 c. chopped green bell pepper
4-5 jalapeno peppers, diced (recipe says 1-2 for mild...I find it varies depending on strength of pepper)
2, 12 oz. cans tomato paste

Bring to boil again. Put into pint jars. Water bath 20 minutes. Makes 8-9 pints.

That's what the recipe says. However, since the recipe was passed through friends, I wasn't sure about the safety of the time/heat. So I called our local extension office for advice.

They listened to the ingredients and said that I need to pressure cook based on the time that would be used for the low-acid foods on the list. They advised 35 mins. at 10 lbs pressure. I've done that ever since and always had success. Not sure how much nutritional value is left after it's cooked that long, but it sure tastes good. ;) This year I canned it in quart jars since we go through it so fast. I made one double batch; my husband assures me that he and the kids could easily down another double batch in a year.

Couple of additional tips:

I like to chop/dice everything on one day and then can it the next. I use a food processor and just put one ingredient through after another. I end with the jalapenos. I take the tops off the jalapenos and then throw the entire jalapeno into the food processor and dice to smithereens. I transfer the jalapeno to a container using a spatula and never have to touch it.

I learned the hard way about jalapeno pain. I'd always heard that the oils in jalapeno can hurt, but I'd made salsa for years and never had a problem, so I got careless. One year we had an abundance of jalapenos so I diced them to freeze for chili, etc... I touched them. That night, my hands were on FIRE! It was so bad that I couldn't sleep. Nothing helped...not hand washing, not lotion. It was horrible. For at least a day afterward I could feel a burning sensation in my hands. I respect jalapenos more these days.

Embarassing, Isn't It?

Bono commented on the current U.S. financial crisis:

"...it is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable, treatable disease and hunger."

Organic Surprise

It's been a long week. While I'm usually a SAHM, I sometimes do contract work as an educational consultant. This week I worked four days and traveled about three hours a day on the road. When I arrived home each day, I was famished and only too happy to scrounge on whatever leftovers I could find in the fridge.

One day I threw together a plate of the aforementioned groundnut stew/rice with broccoli. Although I was shoveling the food in as quickly as I could (this was about 2pm and I hadn't eaten anything but a snack since my breakfast at 5am), I still happened to notice something that made me stop, mid-chew. From beneath a branch of broccoli protruded several very skinny, black threads. Kinda leggy lookin'. I pushed back one clump of broccoli. There, peacefully laying on my plate, was one very dead Daddylongleg spider. Thankfully, all his body parts were still there. I counted.

Still being hungry, I added his little body to the compost and finished my lunch. If it's organic enough for a spider, it's organic enough for me. ;)

Groundnut Stew (a "10" says 'LilDude)

In our home we like to sample foods from many different countries and cultures. One of my favorite cookbooks is Extending the Table...A World Community Cookbook. It contains foods from the majority of countries in the world using recipes that don't use overly exotic or hard-to-come-by ingredients. And the best part? Most of the recipes are very kid (eating) friendly.

Tonight I made a revised version of "Groundnut Stew" from Ghana. 'LilDude said that he'd rate it a "10." That says a lot coming from a 6-year-old!

Here's a photo of my plate. It's a little deceiving since I went back for thirds on the rice/stew. :)



Here's the recipe with my revisions. Taken from Extending the Table...A World Community Cookbook

Groundnut Stew (Ghana)

In heavy frypan or saucepan, brown in 1 T. oil:

1 lb. round steak, chuck, or stewing beef, cubed (I used chicken tonight)

When browned, add 1 T. oil and saute:

2 c. onions, chopped (I use less)
1 clove garlic, minced

Add:

ground red pepper to taste
1/2. t. ground ginger or 1 T. ginger root, minced (I freeze extra ginger root)
2 c. stewed tomatoes or 2 large fresh tomatoes, mashed (frozen works, too)
1 beef bouillon cube (I used vegetable)
1 t. salt
2 c. water
reserved beef (or chicken)

Cover and simmer 30 minutes, or until meat is tender.
In a small bowl, mix:

1/2 c. peanut butter (I use chunky)
1/4 c. liquid from stew

Slowly stir peanut butter mixture into stew. Cover and simmer, stirring frequently, another 30 minutes. Add more water to thin, if necessary. Add more ground red pepper and salt to taste. Serve with rice. (I use brown.)

A Little Guitar Heaven...Part II

I promised I'd try to get Anakin to play "For These Are My Mountains" with our new Misty River CD for my blog. I LOVE this song...and LOVE watching him figure it out.

Sweet September Strawberries!

Who'da thought?

In spring 2007, we planted everbearing strawberries in a raised bed.



We had a few berries, but production was slim...to be expected in the first year. Spring 2008 was cold. The first crop of berries wasn't bad, numbers-wise, but they weren't particularly sweet. (More like your typical store-bought California berry. ;) Then, mid-summer, production almost stopped. I thought it was over.

Then, a few weeks ago, a second good-sized crop appeared. The sweetest, most luscious berries.



Praise and thanksgiving for September strawberries.