Mending

My mom is a sewing wiz, she sewed and mended my clothes when I was just a little gal. She then went on to professional alterations which included leather work, she was in high demand.

Then I grew up and my mom still did my mending, and my husbands and my kids...the jeans anyways because my old machine could not sew through the denim, well that's I used to tell her...I would do the buttons, socks, hems and basically anything that I could mend by hand.

Well it's my turn..my son blew out the knees on his work jeans and he is house poor so he asked if I could help. I told him "best you run to the store and buy a pair just in case..I never did the jean patch thing"...

He called me to say he found a good pair of work pants for $29.00, good thing because his old jeans went from this:

To this:

They will do for work but boy..best I keep my day job.

Margaret

On my own

My husband went hunting yesterday and left me to my own devices. I love being on my own to putter around the house doing a little of this and a little of that. And more importantly eat the things I love, like Swiss chard, brown rice, roasted eggplant and tomatoes. I don't know why but when my husband is home I feel compelled to cook the things he really likes and not as many of the things I like so when he's not around and get to cook what I want when I want.

He left quickly yesterday because of some miscommunication between the hunting party so the hen house did not cleaned as planned. I was up very early this morning, took the dog for a quick walk then back home for a cup of coffee while I made some oatmeal in milk for my chickens, did I mention that I love my chickens...they get spoiled. While they ate their oatmeal I cleaned out the hen house. It's not very difficult and it takes no time at all because their house gets cleaned every week...I know, I know..I love my chickens???

Well my reward? Two fresh poached eggs on home made bread.

What a great way to start the day!!!

Margaret

Sotto Aceti

Sotto aceti (under acid) are a very popular anti-pasto in Italy. Sotto aceti are made up of mixed veggetables, peppers, zucchini, eggplant in vinegar. The combinations are endless or very often soto aceti consist of just one vegetable. The tastes can differ as well, the veggies can be spicy, mild, sweet, with or without spices but salt is mandatory.

I like my giardiniera very simple and without sliced peppers. I don't really like the consistency of the pickled red or green pepper. I like whole peppers so I put those in, I also like cauliflower, green beans, carrots, celery and pearl onions and I don't like it sweet. So I made my own. A jar of Bick's hot mixed pickled veggies is about $4.50 and for about $8.00 I made 8 jars, quite a savings.

For the first time I'm also making pickled green beans, afterall what's a Bloody Caesar without pickled green beans or asparagus. Forget the celery.

Super Delicious Bloody Caesar recipe:

Wipe the rim of a large glass with a cut lime, dip the rim in celery salt. Fill the glass with ice, lots of ice is key. Add an ounce of vodka (or more) totally up to you, fill the glass with Clamato juice, add a few drops of Tabasco and Worcestershire, salt and pepper to taste, stir with a pickled green bean, and enjoy. I wish I had a glass to show you but well...all I have at this point is a picture of the empty glass I use.

I'm busy with all sorts of canning and pickling but I do other things besides cook and drink Caesars...I'm also patching a pair of my son's work jeans, stitching some new kitcheny things for the shop and upcycling an old pair of jeans into a purse...stay tuned.

Food mill

I had it in my brain that I did not want to peel the tomatoes I froze, they peel easily enough but it takes time so I decided to can my tomatoes.

However that was after I froze a whole bunch of them...

I decided that a food mill would work great. Just plop the defrosted tomatoes into the food mill, give it a couple of turns and I would get the pulp without the skin.

I looked high and low but a food mill was nowhere to be found in my little town. I was quite sure I could find one in Vancouver but it would have to wait. I was not going to spend money and time of ferries just for a food mill but I travel to Vancouver every once in awhile for work so I enlisted my mom's help. Both my dad and my mom would look in some local garage sales and buy one if found.

I was in Vancouver the day before and guess what my mom found..a food mill. Her food mill. It has a bit of history as well. She got the food mill from her friend who brought it over from Italy many years ago. Her friend decided to move back to Italy and that's when my mom got it. I remember putting beans through it to make soup for my dad and it made the best mashed potatoes, my mom thinks it's about 50 years old, I wonder if my electric food processor will be around in 50 years, I doubt it.

Well now I have it..I sure hope I can do it justice..

That's not rust, just the signs of a well used kitchen utensil.

Only one blade but it worked well all these years on so many different foods that one will just have to do.

Peter picked a peck of peppers

Look at them all..Now what to do? Pickle, dry, jelly??? A little bit of all I think.








I will definitely grow these again, very easy. I started them indoors from seed in early March and transplanted them into the greenhouse in mid May. A couple of things I won't do again..is use peat pellets, they dry out to fast or peat pots, they don't break down fast enough. Before transplanting at broke the bottom off the pot but the roots had a tough time breaking through the sides. This goes for all my starters not just for the peppers.

To dry them I used a needle and some cotton twine. I poked the needle through the stem at the base and then hung them in my cantina. They should dry in about 4 weeks and then I can crush or grind them into a powder. Can't wait...









The rest I'll use to make jalapeno jelly. It's really good as a topping on creackers and cream cheese and the I'll pickle some when I make some pickeled veggies.

Stay tuned more canning and pickeling to come!!!

Off to Vancouver again tomorrow for two days, can't wait to see what bargains I'll find at my favorite fabric store, Dress Sew on Hastings.

Peperonata

Hard to believe that just a few months ago I was ready to throw them all out. I was having such a hard time controlling the pests, mostly flea beetles, but the plants made a comeback.

What to do with all my little eggplants? Peperonata of course.

In Italy, peperonata is very popular and every region has it's own version. This is how my mom taught me....

4 tablespoons of olive oil

1 large eggplant - for me that was 3 of my little guys.

4 green peppers chopped - I grew the ones you see in the picture above but they were pretty small added 2 large yellow peppers.

1 onion chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

4 cups chopped tomatoes - I peeled and seeded my own tomatoes

Dried peperoncini flakes or in my case 1 Jalopeno - I grew my own and boy was it hot..

Salt and pepper to taste.

Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes, add the tomatoes, and cook for about 5 minutes, then add all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a low simmer, cover and cook for about 45 minutes stirring occasionally. If the peperonata is runny just simmer a little longer with the lid off.

I serve this as a side dish, or on top of rice, or tossed with pasta. It freezes very well to. My dad loves to add a tablespoon or two in his chicken soup, it's very delicious.

Homemade dog food

I have some favorite blogs I read on a daily basis which educate, inspire and motivate me on my journey towards a simpler life. My favorite blog is Down to Earth. Rhonda is a wonderful writer and her blog is full of recipes, how to's and inspiring posts. Once such post is about homemade dog food and homemade dog biscuits.





I few days ago I made the dog food and wow does he like it, or should I say , loves it. It's very simple to make with very basic ingredients. The meat I used was very old left over beef.



Several years ago I purchased a quarter side of beef. I was very disappointed with the flavour and it took me some time to get through most of it. Of that quarter I had 1 1/2 kilos left over which I chopped in my food processor as a substitute for the minced beef the recipe calls for.



Going forward I'm not sure where I'll get the beef. I called a local feed store and they don't carry raw animal grade beef and store bought beef will make it too expensive. Soooo...this might be a once in a lifetime treat for my dog.







I made the dog biscuits some time ago but my dog did not like them very much, he ate them but he was not very excited about them. The liquid I used was most likely not beefy enough so I'll be making them again this weekend but with a much more concentrated beef broth. Hopefully he will like them this time around. I will keep you posted.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Margaret