Me vs. Pressure Canner

Today was my first experience ever using a pressure canner/cooker. I'm not gonna lie.... My nerves were a wreck! I just kept waiting for the lid to explode or the pressure gauge to go flying off. I was babysitting a little girl, and every time she dropped a toy on the ground it gave me an instant heart attack!

So after reading the instruction manual 5 times over (just to make sure I didn't miss anything) I started with step 1. Process water in pressure canner to make sure pressure gauge works properly. Ok, so sounds pretty easy.

Now, it's pretty big and heavy and I'm sure could demolish my kitchen but the water process went good! Now for the real test! Today I canned black beans, which actually began last night since the beans had to soak for 12-16 hours. Start with a 2lb bag of black beans. Sort through it to remove all broken beans and foreign debris. Then cover the beans with 3 times the water and let 'em soak!

When I woke up this morning was a big bowl of black liquid. I though the beans had all disintegrated, but after rinsing them I found most of them were still intact! I sorted out the ones that had split and transferred them to a big stock pot, then covered them with water again and started to boil. Once the beans were boiling, and that's not a very pleasant smell, I filled my jars with hot water to get them up to temperature. I used pint jars since I figured was closest in size to a can of beans. Fill the pint jars with beans and pour boiling liquid over beans leaving 1" headspace.

Now, at this point I'm a little worried... Though I can for the preservation and readiness of food, as well as knowing what goes into what I'm eating, I also can because it's fun and I think "home canned food" is so pretty. This however, is not pretty!! I figure, well at least it will be in the cupboard and nobody will see it! So now that the beans are in the jar, I added 1/2 teaspoon of canning salt and used the little spatula to get out all the air bubbles. Put the lid on 'em and we're ready to go into the deadly pressure canner.

I absolutely love this little "jar grabber" I finally invested in. Previously, I was using tongs and a spoon. This is much nicer!

I got 7 pints out of my 2lb bag of beans which was nice!! Now with all the liquids filled and jars in place time for the cookin! This part was kinda tricky! Once the lid is on and sealed you have to get the water really boiling. Once steam is "escaping" the pressure valve, you let it steam for 10 minutes. Then apply the pressure gauge with recommended weight. For these beans it's 10lbs of pressure. So I put the "weight" on and let the pan fill with pressure. Once the gauge is "gently rocking" you start the timer. 75 minutes these bad boys take! That's 75 torturous "please don't let it explode" minutes. That sound like this "rattle rattle rattle hiss hiss hiss clack, rattle rattle rattle hiss hiss hiss clank." I kept thinkin at any minute something was gonna fly off! When the timer dinged at 75 minutes, all parts were still where they belonged. Yay!! At this point I removed from heat and allowed pot to "depressurize." I just want to see if those darn beans turned out! but I was patient and it was worth it!

And look! They got pretty after they cooked! I am a happy canner! It seems now this is only the beginning. Originally, I wanted to make black beans with roasted green chilies, since this is how I normally eat them, but didn't want to go through the trouble of roasting and risk wasting my home grown green chilies. Wasting a $2 bag of beans is one thing, but the delicious peppers from my beautiful garden that's a whole different ball game! Now that I've successfully utilized the pressure canner the fun begins!

New and Improved* Homemade Laundry Soap

My latest adventure started after a discussion with my girlfriend about removing grease spots from clothes. ( I know quite intense conversations I have with my friends... I should write a book of one liners called "You Know You're A Mom When...") Anyhow, she was telling me how great a little dab of Dawn soap works to get out grease stains, so I tried it! And wouldn't you know it worked great!! So got me thinkin'. Here I am spending $25 bucks for laundry soap and my $2 bottle of dawn does a better job.  So I started researching and found a couple different recipes for homemade laundry soap, and it's soooo cheap to make!

So here are the ingredients....

1 box of Borax
1 box of Super Washing Soda
1 box of powdered color-safe bleach
Ivory soap (There were other types of soap you could use, but I like the smell of this one best.)
Purex Crystals softener
You also need a grater and an air-tight container to put it in.

Recipe

1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup powdered color-safe bleach
2 cups finely grated soap (2 bars equals pretty close to 2 cups)
1/2 cup Purex Crystals softener


Mix all the ingredients together until well blended... And that's about it! Easy work there!
It takes 2 Tablespoons of this powdery stuff per large load.

Now for the ultimate test...

Those are my dad's wood cutting jeans. They're covered in dirt, sap, chainsaw grease, and who knows what else. I pre-treated the heavy grease spots with a little dawn, since that's how I'd do it if I were using the regular detergent, and threw them in the wash. Normal cycle, warm/cold water and 2 scoops of the new homemade laundry soap.

And I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome....

As you can see, I could have "spot-treated" a little bit better on one pant leg, but all in all pretty darn clean.

So, I am now hooked on making my own soap! It is quite the cost saver too, though that was not my primary focus when I started this project. Here's the financial comparison if you're interested. My previous laundry soap was costing $0.21 per load and my new homemade, equally as effective laundry soap is costing a whole $0.07 per load! So works great, costs less... That's a good thing in my book. The Purex Crystals definitely add that fresh laundry scent that I was missing. I also am testing out the "color-safe bleach" because I've noticed on my whites the previous recipe wasn't quite getting them white enough.
Happy laundering :)

Next, I think I'll try the dishwasher detergent. :)

The "Great News!"

Today was one of the few days my children actually got to ride the bus home from school. I am not sure why it is so exciting to them, especially since they are on it for a whole 3 minutes, but they were very eager. I met them in the driveway and my little Parker comes sprinting towards me and said "Mom! I have great news!!" So of course, I ask "What's the great news buddy?"
Huge smile spread across his face and he said, "I have homework!!"

I hugged him and laughed, praying he keeps that enthusiasm! You see, he just started Kindergarten this year, this is our very first ever "real homework" and THAT is a big deal!  So he hustled on into the house, unzipping the backpack like it was on fire. PeeChees and lunchboxes flying all over the place! He finally settles in at the table... Time to get serious!

"Red bird, Red bird what do you see?" I love this project. Their adorable little creations of the animals and their very good memorization of the story. He "read" through it so fast I barely had time to sit down.

And finishin' up strong with the "Mom, this is so easy" stuff... The boy is a number whiz!

As I sat at the table next to him, I saw Jared... Just 3 short years ago we were doing the very same packet of homework, from the very same teacher, at the very same school. And now, my baby is there, going to school all day...such a big boy! Time is flying for I certainly don't feel 3 years older, and I often wonder where does the time go.

So "Bountiful" might be an understatement!

Last week we faced the invasion of these nasty little squash beetles. I'm sure there's a more scientific name for them, but to me they were these super thick, gross, creepy crawly, yucky bugs that were killing my squash plants! So Thursday my dad sprayed the plants with the mighty bug killer! Which worked fantastically, but also put harvest on hold until today... That's 4 days that went by without picking any squash or cucumbers.  So today I thought I'd tackle the task and to my delight, suprise and also humor this is what I found.....

Yep! That's a wheelbarrow full of fresh garden produce! Well I shoul say, zucchini, yellow squash, and a variety of cucumbers! As I was pushing the load of veggies from the garden to the house I heard my grandma hollerin' from across the way, shocked at the "bountiful" harvest that I just collected. Of course, I took a few over to them and then wheeled my goodies on home.  Because we sprayed, they needed a good scrubbing before I could distribute anymore. So as I stood on my front step assessing the situation the only logical solution I could come up with was to just take it all inside!

So that's what I did! Wheeled that dirty ol' wheelbarrow into the kitchen and scrubbed and sorted! I have a sink full of cucumbers and a counter full of different squashes! All of them still just sitting there! I guess that puts shredding zucchini on the schedule for tomorrow and pickle making a little later this week!

My Bountiful Garden

Last year was our first attempt at having a garden, and I must say it was quite productive! So much so that this year we have expanded our garden space and it now measures in at about 70'x100' and is fully fenced. (I am pretty sure this is so I cannot expand it again next year!) This year we also planted some vegetables in raised beds and our tomatoes in tires. This is our garden in the middle of June... We kind of got a late start thanks to weather, but I'm sure as did most people around here.

Just a few short months later I am finding myself with monstrous tomato plants that are invading the walkways and zucchini that seem to quadruple in size over night! These are not complaints mind you, I am very grateful for the bountiful harvest we have gotten thus far, but as you see it can be a bit overwhelming!

Our garden is filled with 8 rows of corn, 1 raised bed(box) of zucchini (5 zucchini plants... it's enough to supply the entire state with zucchini!), 1 box of yellow squash- crooked neck and yellow summer squash, 1 box of "gourmet" squash (yep that's a whole lotta some squash/zucchini), 1 salad box, 1 herb box, 1 beans/peas box, 1 hot pepper box (a definite must for the salsa makin!), 1 bell pepper/ broccoli box, 1 root veggie box, 15 cucumber plants- including 5 different varieties, 3 spaghetti squash plants, 40 tomato plants (remember that salsa I talked about... We make some spaghetti sauce too.) and our very own pumpkin patch!



As much as I find delight in watching my garden grow, I love watching my childrens' excitement! They are rigorous little creatures out there, helping me keep it weeded and building wind barriers around the boxes.

Their favorite time of harvest seems to be when it's "time to check the corn." I love watching throughout the summer as these tiny little sprouts emerge to the ground bringing smiles to my boys' faces. Almost overnight, they double and double again. Quickly approaching the height of my littlest gardener. He calls "Look Mom, it's as tall as me!" and a few short days later it's as taller and he calls "Look Mom, it's as tall as Bubba!" And now the harvest begins. Six rows of corn is quite a bit (the other 2 rows are "decorative corn" for the fall) and we are battling the worms trying to get the best corn before they do!

The first harvest puts a definite order on the dinner menu for corn on the cob, and rightfully so after all that hard work... shucking and cleaning, and of course getting all those pesky worms out, should definitely be rewarded with a nice, fresh, piping hot, slathered in butter, home grown piece of corn on the cob! MMMMMMMMMM!!!!