Nuthin' much

I puttered around the house today, getting this and that done. Nothing huge, but little accomplishments that add up. We were up early. I12 had to be at church at 7:40 this morning for a final rehearsal and then the youth choir he is in sang at the 8 am service. We're not used to getting around that early on a Sunday morning (we're usually in the 10:30 crowd) but in some ways, it was nice to get home early enough to still have most of the day left.

Lets see, I got some Christmas lights hung outside since the weather is still cooperating with us with low 4os. Nothing spectacular, just icicle lights around the porch. It's funny though, they actually illuminate the porch better than the regular porch lights do.

I cleaned up a bit around the house, washing ziploc bags, doing dishes, a load of laundry and general scrubbing.

V and J15 were hanging drywall in the basement. They're making progress on her room. It has been on hold for a while while other, more pressing matters took priority, but now that work outside is closing in, work inside is becoming more frequent.

I made cranberry mustard for gifting this year- 7 quarter pint jars plus a bit of extra for us. This was a recipe I hadn't used before and I was expecting it to be a bit more mustardy than it turned out to be. Not that it's bad- it just wasn't what I had expected.

I also finally ground some of our corn.

It turned out lavender!

I used a spare coffee grinder that we have from somewhere. It didn't make the cornmeal very uniform, some was ground into flour and some was pretty chunky. But the mix worked and it was very tasty.

It bakes a lavender/gray color.

But OH, so tasty with butter and honey!

The children pronounced it 'wrong' but yummy. They thought the color was odd but they ate it. In fact, of a whole batch there is only one piece left!

We had a lovely, local meal for this dark, chilly day: one of our grass fed steaks, spiced fried potatoes (diced potatoes and onions with pepper and cayenne) corn from my mom and cornbread. A bit heavy on corn but the cornbread was an afterthought- mainly because I wanted to grind some of our corn. The wine V and I had wasn't local- but it went well.

Now, after 4 days off, I've got to think about getting back into work mode for tomorrow. I could SO live the life of simply working on our land and not leaving- but, we're not at that point in our lives and the mortgage needs paid.

Local produce

This afternoon, the children and I shelled our Bloody Butcher heirloom corn. I hope to grind some tomorrow and maybe we'll have some pink cornbread for dinner.

Isn't it pretty?

We didn't have a huge harvest but still ended up with about 6 pounds of corn. We would have had more but it was so wet here this year that the ears started to mold on the stalks before we even harvested it. So we were VERY careful about shelling it, trying to not get any bad bits into the mix. So, there was quite a bit wasted on several ears. But still, it is not bad for a first harvest.

Here's another local product that V was quite pleased to find at the store on Wednesday night on the way home:

Locally produced whiskey

We're not huge whiskey drinkers but this stuff is really good. It was even mentioned in Wine Enthusiast magazine last year. In fact, it has been such a hit that the small company producing it has been unable to keep up with demand and there has been none on the store shelves for at least 6 months. So, when V saw a single bottle gracing the shelf he snapped it up. We stopped to pick up milk and tortillas and see what else we find.

But here is what is really special about it, besides the taste:

Every bottle is hand numbered: Batch, barrel and bottle.

Even the date bottled.

Pretty cool!

Today is Black Friday

My parents celebrate 54 years of marriage.

I get to spend the day with my family.

I'm not buying anything or going anywhere.

I emptied, re-baited and reset 3 mousetraps from the garage. Eesh, that takes us up to 18!

I've got a pumpkin in the oven.

I'm doing dishes and laundry and general household clean-up.

The weather is warmish- for late November- so I can work on my raised beds this afternoon.

We're eating leftovers from the feast at my brother's house. (It was fun. My family, my parents, my Brother and SIL, and several couples that they know from a gourmet cooking club- from Germany, Turkey and other far flung places- so the food, while not all traditional, was FABULOUS!)

Thanksgiving

There are so many things to be thankful for, on this day- and all the year.

Here are just a few:

I am incredibly thankful for my family. For V and the children who help me get through life and who are willing to try to live out this crazy dream with me.

I am thankful that my parents are still with us, and that they have and continue to teach me about living simply and frugally.

I am thankful that we have been given the opportunity to transform this neglected house and 5.5 acres of land into something wonderful.

I am thankful that God has given us strength of mind, body and spirit to make it possible.

I am thankful that I have a job that I love.

I am thankful, even though I may complain about finances, to realize that we are rich beyond comparison with most of the world. But I need reminded of that on occasion.

I am thankful that I have a roof over my head, food in my pantry and safe water to drink.

I am even thankful for our crazy pets. They provide comic relief in our days, companionship and are ever on mouse patrol.

And I am thankful for all of you, my friends. You have made this journey less lonely and made me feel that I'm not so crazy after all.

Peace and blessings to you all this Thanksgiving.

She's obsessed!!

Our kitten that is. She is obsessed with plastic. Not playing with it- eating it! I'm really glad we use cloth bags for groceries and try to not buy things with too much packaging because every time we have anything plastic in the house, she is trying to eat it- ASAP. I caught her trying to chew on the pack of toilet paper that hadn't yet been put away last week, and last night she opened the kitchen cabinet doors to go in and chew on the plastic bags that some of my bulk stuff is still in (she was after the quinoa last night-note to self- I need to put it in a jar before I go to bed). I'm really glad I don't generally store things in plastic but transfer them to other containers. She isn't interested in the food that's inside- she just wants the plastic. Store bought bread- yup, leaves the bread but eats the bag. I had saved a couple of mini ziploc bags from getting bulk spices over the weekend and had put them on top of the microwave until I had time to wash them- you guessed it, she got hold of them last night and chewed the corners right off.

Anyone else ever have experience with this? I've had cats before with weird behaviors but this is WAAAY beyond any other I've ever had. This is more than just curious cat- she is truly obsessed! V asked our vet when he had them in for boosters but all he said was "Hmmm".

Any suggestions are appreciated. Right now, all we can do is keep everything made of flexible plastic out of her reach.

A Thankful IDC

Turkey Day is almost upon us. I don't have to cook much this year. We'll be feasting at my brother's house this year- about a 10 minute drive. Yay!!! I'm responsible for bringing the mashed potatoes and milk. Oh, I don't know if I can stand the strain!!!

It's been busy but since it is Monday, I'm going to do my usual Independence Day Challenge update- especially since I've got things to report.

1. Plant something- no. But I did get my first seed catalogues in the mail this week. Ooo... garden porn!

2. Harvest something- A jalapeno pepper from the indoor plant.

3. Preserve something- Made chutney from the pears that were going bad in the fridge. Yummy.

4. Waste not- Hmm, the usual here. I was really good at using cloth bags when shopping.

5. Want not- Continued work on organizing my pantry and cabinets. Stocked up on some spices that were on sale at the food co-op when I was there picking up spices for chutney. Got an extra bag of cranberries for the freezer. Oh, and local honey.

6. Community food systems- Made a largish donation of food to the local food bank. The high school youth at church were doing a special food drive. I donated a few of those excess cans of tuna, some canned veggies that I picked up a couple of weeks ago specifically for the food pantry (They were on a really good sale but we don't eat commercially canned veggies), canned beans, some rice and peanut butter.

7. Eat the food- I've been a busy little bee in the kitchen lately. The pear and gorgonzola tart was good this evening. It was tasty but it was more work than it was worth. I was pretty sure that the boys wouldn't like it so I also made a quiche for dinner. Everyone was satisfied.

I've got my resume and cover letter ready to turn in tomorrow for the Clinical Supervisor position. V is still waiting to hear anything after his interview. We'll see. He isn't feeling well. He's got a terrible cold and has been hacking and coughing... including most of the night last night so I've essentially been up since about 2:30 this morning- so I'm TIRED! At least it is a short week this week. The children's last day of school for the week is tomorrow but I have to work Wednesday as well. I'm SO ready for a long weekend.

I hope you are all getting your Thanksgiving preparations done.

Chutney Sunday

Ok, I confess, I am a newcomer to chutneys. My parents, while widely traveled in the world, have always been fairly conservative when it comes to food. While I have tried many world cuisines, there have been gaps in my food education. I had never had chutney until last year.

I had my first introduction at the food preservation workshop that J15 and I attended in the fall of 2008. After that, we made and canned our first batch of apple and green tomato chutney. In fact, it was the first thing that J15 helped can. We fell in love!

This year, I'm trying a new recipe. With the abundance of pears I needed to process, I was pleased to find a recipe for pear chutney in my Simply in Season cookbook. It has a much more complex, sweet/savory flavor than the one we made last year but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

It went from this:

Diced pears, dried fruit and spices.

To this:

Thick and flavorful!

I was pleased with how it turned out. We've got some for us and several small jars for gifting this holiday season.

The finished product.

I've got 5 half pint jars and 5 quarter pint jars for gifting.

Here is the recipe:

12 cups pears- peeled, cored and diced (you can also use apples or a combination)

1 1/2 cup onion- chopped

1 jalapeno pepper- seeds removed and minced (I used one from our indoor plant!)

4 cloves garlic- minced

1 cup currants

1/2 cup dried cranberries

2 inches of fresh ginger root- peeled and minced

4 cups brown sugar (less if the fruit is sweet)

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp each: ground cloves, yellow mustard seed, salt

1 1/2 tsp each: chili powder, ground cumin, whole cumin seed

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground cardamom

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer until mixture thickens (about 50-60 minutes) Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Ladle into sterilized jars, allowing 1/2 inch headspace, seal and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

It was a great and tasty way to use up my pears. I have only 5 left and those will be used tomorrow evening when I'm making a savory pear and gorgonzola tart for dinner. I'm turning into quite the kitchen queen here lately!!!

Have a thankful week!