Category Archives: Kitchen-Cooking & Misc

Manual Handheld Vacuum Sealer System

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P1040454I’ve been freezing my bell pepper harvest.
0-zipvacI’m using the same method as I always use.
Flash Freezing & Vacuum Packing
I wanted to get some ZipLoc Vacuum Bags, but I couldn’t find any. They’ve either stopped making them or they’ve sold out for the season.

What I did find was vacuum bags by Freshsaver. You’re supposed to use them with a small Handheld Vacuum Sealing Appliance
I studied the package and noticed the bags works the same way as the bags by ZipLoc.
So I figured why not try them.

The small ZipLoc handheld manual vacuum pump worked like a charm with the bags for me.  Now if they’ll hold their seal after being frozen awhile, I’ll be ever so happy. The FS bags come in several sizes and are priced fairly well for the product. Well, in our department store they’re fairly priced and handy to purchase. I’m so glad I don’t have to purchase a whole new vacuum sealer system.

Wishing you all a happy rest of the week.

 

*I’m not an affiliate nor an associate of ZipLoc nor FoodSaver/FreshSaver, I just like their products.
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Garden Update 7-22-2016 – peppers, cucumbers, carrots, corn

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0-stuffedpeppersMy blogging buddy Dianna mentioned in a comment on my pepper post that she used to make stuffed peppers.
I’d never made stuffed peppers and since I have oodles of them at the moment, I found a simple recipe and made some.
I used a green pepper and a purple pepper so we could compare their taste.
I served the stuffed peppers with a baked potato and cornbread. We really enjoyed it.
The purple pepper was really good. It had a nice smooth taste to it.
We didn’t care much for the green pepper, it had a harsh taste to it. The stuffing was good so we emptied the green pepper’s stuffing out on our plates and ate it that way.

I used a recipe for Broccoli and Rice Stuffed Peppers by Knorr
I made some changes and additions to it:
ground turkey instead of ground beef
chopped fresh tomatoes
chopped fresh basil
in the casserole dish bottom I put 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce with 1/2 cup water.
After the peppers were done, we sprinkled them with the Worcestershire water
my husband topped his with mixed shredded cheese
I topped mine with ricotta and sour cream cheese
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0-cucumbersMy blogging buddy Sheryl posted on her blog about fried cucumbers. It sounded like something I’d be interested in trying except I would bake them. I peeled a cucumber, quartered it up, coated it in a bit of olive oil, coated it in crushed herbed croutons and grated parmesan cheese and added them to a tray of squash sticks prepared the same way.
The cucumbers had a nice texture and smelled great, but I think the taste would be described as an acquired one.
I think if I had of used the recipe on Sheryl’s post and deep fried the cucumbers they may have been more to our liking.
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0-carrotsWe planted a pack of mixed color carrot seeds. So far only a few of the white ones have matured enough to pick. I topped them, washed them and scrapped the skins clean.
Well, the taste was really not very carroty. It was more like a big crunch with very little taste, for some reason it reminded me of a very bland radish.
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2016-02-01 10.18.55We harvested, shucked, cleaned, cooked and tried to eat some of the ornamental corn. We didn’t care for the plainness of the taste. I think if I had of add a lot of sugar to the water and it would have been better. It’s edible though and would be welcome if one was hungry.
Thankfully, we didn’t grow the ornamental corn to eat. We grew it just to be growing it and maybe get some to dry for decor. If the birds and critters leave us any for that.
We have a large patch of sweet corn for eating, so we’re still hoping for some delicious corn on the cob.
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P1040229Here’s a photo of our bounty for the week. I’ve got a few last stragglers of squash. My squash didn’t do very well this year. We’re still getting a few tomatoes. We’ve been eating the tomatoes like candy. Yum! I’ve got oodles of peppers and I’ll be up to my elbows preparing and freezing them someday soon.

Next year we don’t plan to use the variety mix of color seeds. They were a disappointment. We plan on buying individual colors in plants or packs of seeds.
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And that’s all of my gardening updates at the moment.
I wish you all a nice relaxing weekend.

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Sewing & Juicing

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P1030975bc
Except for doing repairs and making some adjustments, I haven’t sewn anything in a while. I’ve been in the mood to make a wallet or clutch or coupon keeper or whatever you’d like to call it. I chose this pattern ‘McCalls Fashion Accessories M6768’. I’m making the yellow wallet in the pattern photo; mine’s going to be greens & beiges. I’m going to attempt to go by the pattern as close as possible. It’s a real challenge for me to follow a pattern because I always want to make changes (and complicate things.) I hope this wallet works out okay. I’ll post an update and let you know if I made it or tossed it away.

P1030970Last evening, I had a brainstorm of an idea for my tomato juice. If I freeze it in water bottles, it’ll take up less space and can be thawed out for drinking and/or cooking just like the juice frozen in the bowls. My husband liked the idea too. So today after I made and cooled the tomato juice, I poured it in bottles and set it in the freezer. Hopefully it’ll do just fine.
*I’m going to edit this photo into my tomato juicing post as another idea for freezing containers.

That’s all for me at the moment.

I hope you all have an enjoyable rest of the week.

Tomato Juice

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P1030894bThe first batch of tomato juice is finished and in the freezer. It’s now ready to be thawed either to be drank or used in cooking. I didn’t add anything to my juice: no sugar, no salt, no herbs. More tomatoes are ripe and ripening, so I’ll probably up to my elbows in juice making again soon.

I poured some fresh juice in a glass. It’s foamy and thick, so I added a spoon of water and the foam bubbles rose to the top where I dipped most of them off. I stirred in a bit of salt and it tasted quite good.

I’ve never froze tomato juice before so I don’t know how it’ll do; I figure it should do okay.
I’m happy to be finished for now. Hopefully I can get caught up on my blogging.

Wishing you all a terrific Tuesday.

Monday Misc: peppers, tomatoes, lilies, juice, cookies

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0prplpprI thought some of you may be interested in seeing the inside of a purple bell pepper; it’s cream color. Who’d of thunk it? It was an amusing surprise  to me. I looked it up on the internet and it’s supposed to be that way, so that’s pretty neat.
As for what the purple pepper tastes like, I used it in a sauce and it tasted like a normal bell pepper to me. We haven’t found anymore ripe peppers. From what I can tell we have about 4 purple pepper plants. That’s okay, the 50+ other plants have lots of fruit, so we’ll be bell pepper poor by the end of the season.

0chrkprlWe rescued a large Cherokee purple tomato from the garden when it was just turning. I set it in the kitchen window and after a few days it ripened all the way. It was mighty tasty. There’s nothing like home grown tomatoes. This will be the last Cherokee Purple tomato that we get. The storms made a mess of the tomato patch and the Cherokee purples that are on the vines are culls. But they won’t go to waste because as they ripen the deer eat them up.

P1030624My tiger lilies are blooming. The blooms makes me think of my Mom. I grew these from seeds off her tiger lilies and she grew hers from Grandma’s tiger lilies. It always brings a bittersweet smile to my heart.

7-11-2016-tomatoI’m making tomato juice today. Our Early Girl Tomatoes are producing quite well even with the storm damage they’ve been hammered with. I didn’t want them to go to waste, so I’m making juice and then I’m going to freeze it.

P1030588bCookies with directions printed right on the back…
Not sure what that says about our society,
but it gave me a good chuckle.

Until I get the tomatoes done, I can’t do any blog visiting or commenting. Don’t give up on me, I’ll be around as soon as I can. I’m making this post while the tomatoes are cooking. Wish me luck to get the job done soon.

Wishing you all a pleasant week.