{this moment}

Alright so I have seen this on a number of blogs, some I follow and some that I stop in a visit once in a while. So I think it's a neat idea. Can't guarantee that it will be every Friday, but we'll see. Also it might not be from this week or that particular week. I have some random pictures that maybe I'll share on Friday. And it might be more then one picture too! So I'll let 'er fly.

what's cooking in my kitchen

Truth be told, lately not a whole lot.
The weather is changing and I'm not really ready for it to. I'm hoping we get a bit of an Indian summer! That would be great!!
Everything in my garden is water logged with all the rain we've been getting.
Anyways...
I found some homemade Grapenuts at a natural food store. WOW were they good! But they were expensive so I never bought them again. I mean it was a small bag and it was gone in one sitting with all of us eating it. So I decided to look up a recipe that sounded good and had similar ingredients in it as the one I had bought. The search began and I found one. The only thing different in the one I found was there was no oatmeal in it. Well 6 0 1, I figured I'd try it. Yup they were good too! I was pleased. They were great in yogurt or milk, but I liked 'em better in the yogurt, my homemade yogurt at that. I'm picky! haha Everyone liked them too, and it makes a ton. Well maybe not a ton but 5 quarts. So it lasted a while. And so much cheaper to make it myself then to buy it. My Man likes warm Grapenuts in the winter, so now I can make Grapenuts and he can have a warm breakfast before going to work! Not to mention they are filling so the kiddos can have a warm breakfast before school. Something different besides oatmeal!  So lets look at some homemade Grapenuts!!

this is all the ingredients in the bowl ready to be mixed.

next you put the mixture into a 9x13 pan and smoosh is all down

forgot a picture of what it looks like before you blend it all up. Looks like a cake after its cooked.

after it's blended, but still needs to cook more!

finished product, all cooked. smells wonderful and tastes great!

I found the recipe online at a Taste of Home site. I guess it was in one of their magazines. I don't remember the persons name that gave it, but like I said it's at a Taste of Home website! I liked it and have made it a few times, and I liked that it made a lot so I don't have to make it all the time. I am still looking for one with oatmeal, and when I find it, maybe I'll share!! This is not a make it quick recipe either. It needs to cook for 1 hour 35 minutes. So it takes some time, but I think it's worth it!!

Grapenuts
7 C whole wheat flour                          3 C brown sugar                         2 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tesp salt                                            2 1/2 C buttermilk                       6 Tbsp butter, melted
2 tsp vanilla                                        1/2 tsp maple syrup

Mix dry ingredients, then add wet. Mix until combined. Spread in 9x13 inch pan** a note about this is coming**
Bake 350 for 35-40 minutes. Cool on racks. Turn oven temp down to 250.
Break mixture up into pices and blend in a food proccesseor. Put back in pans **note it coming**
Bake 1 hour at 250, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool and store in air tight container!
Makes 5 quarts. It really does I tried it and all 5 were full!
**Note**  I cooked it the first time it 2 pans. Then, you are going to need 4-6 9x13 pans. When it's all ground up it makes a lot and stirring it it will spill out all over the oven if they are too full. I think I used 4 pans, and was very careful when I stirred it.
Well that's it!
Happy cooking!!!

good quote

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit  to be encumbered with your old nonsense."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

harvesting...

cucumbers!
I was gifted some cucumbers from my neighbor, and I had some from our garden. And my boy LOVES pickles. I figured these were the perfect size for pickling, so that is what I did, instead of mowing the lawn today. I got a new recipe for dill pickles, it's actually garlic dill pickles, from a friend, so I decided to try it. I'm never a big fan of mooshy homemade pickles, but this recipe called for Alum, it's supposed to keep them firmer. I never knew that, but now I do! Yay!!

cucumbers and garlic

going in the jars

mmmm fresh dill

Alum sitting in the dill

in the jars with the liquid. Let the pickling begin!

Now I wait about a month before I can crack one open and try them!! My house smells like pickles! My boy will love that, and the fact that we now have some homemade pickles to enjoy! 

knitting projects

Alright so my Saturday morning is shot because of the weather. It's raining, so I'm not able to mow the lawn or hang laundry out. Now I need to come up with a new plan, or wing it, like I do best! I like that better sounds like more fun, maybe not as productive, but more fun for sure!!
I'm working a a new baby blanket for a friend so I thought I'd share a picture of it. I really like the color, it's called lavender blue. It's the Simply Soft yarn too, as always. I like this pattern and how it works up. Again the pictures don't do the color justice.

Have a great weekend all!

ever wonder what to do with...

...all that zucchini and summer squash that everyone is always and forever planting way too much of and then blessing or curing you with it or for it?? I mean there is only so much of that stuff we can eat in a summer. I love both of them. I grill it, saute it with garlic, throw it in a green salad, throw some in a stir fry. But there still seems to be a never ending supply. I creep out to my garden and look at everything but the summer squash and zucchini plants. I cringe slightly when I happen across them and sigh and pick a handful or two gallons of the stuff. I wonder who I can bless it with of my friends. Seems like people lock their cars and doors more this time of year. Maybe I could drop it off on their door step when they are not home, I've been the recipient of extra produce that way. I really don't mind either.  I've been given more extra produce this year due to the fact that we have pigs and chickens and the sheep like some of that stuff too. That's great they all love it. But I also wanted to figure out how to save some of it. Didn't really want to freeze it. Then I was reminded of  a soup started that my MIL had. I haven't thought of it for years, and didn't even remember what it tasted like. So I asked if I could have a quart to try. Well I got it home and everyone saw it and said with great disgust "what is that?" I said soup starter. Well it sat in the cupboard for a few days or maybe a week, life got real busy with everything going on the tropical storm and guests and everything. Well the other day while I was in the midst of canning peaches and it looked like a bomb went off in my kitchen I realized it was after 5. Oh great, everyone was coming in and telling me they were hungry. I had my stove and table full of canning jars, boxes, peaches, and all that stuff. I cleaned off a burner and cooked some hamburg that I had in the fridge from loosing power, no it hadn't gone bad. I popped open the soup starter and dumped it in the hamburg when it was cooked and served it up to my starving vultures, I mean family. Well it was gone in about 5 minutes and everyone was asking for more. I didn't get but a bite of it and the flavor was wonderful and very satisfying. Well there, I thought. I guess I need this recipe, and a quart and one pound of hamburg was not enough. I think maybe if I had some bread or something else with it it might have been, but everyone was looking in my still empty fridge for more food. I don't have any left overs and haven't done much cooking since getting power back on, because I've been up to my elbows in peaches and various other canned goods, and then soup starter!! AAAHHHH! There I feel better. Naw it's not too bad, just hungry kiddos and a husband that are eating every last scrap of food that I've been cooking lately. Maybe everyone is growing, again!!

So yes I recommend this soup starter. It uses 6 cups of zucchini. Well this time I just used the summer squash, but would throw in some zucchini with the next load, maybe 2 cups and 4 cups. Summer squash is better liked in my house. It's got carrots, well I'll share the recipe, but it's really good. Just doesn't look really pretty! Not too bad though.

looks good

not that pretty, kinda dark

final product in jars

So that is what it looks like. Let me tell you when it's simmering on the stove it smells wonderful! Everyone was lingering around the kitchen last night while it was cooking. Wondering what I was making that smelled so good. They all wanted to eat it. I made 6 batches of it and got 7 quarts. And now I'll tell you the recipe. I have no idea where this came from or who invented it. I guess someone desperate to get rid of lots of summer squash and zucchini!

Soup Starter (one batch)
1 onion
1 carrot
6 C zucchini and or summer squash
1/4 C oil
3 C tomato (peelings taken off)
1/2 tes salt        1/4 tes pepper    1 bay leaf (take out before canning)      1/4 tes basil       1/4 tes oregano
Finely chop everything. Saute onion in the oil, add spices, throw in carrots, and squash, then tomato. Simmer on low heat 15 min covered, then 15 min uncovered. Put in jars and can. I canned them at 11 pounds pressure for 30 min.
So simple and so wonderful.
If you have a question feel free to ask, send me an email or a comment!!

harvesting...

peaches!

don't they look amazingly good??

We were blessed with a phone call to get some peaches from a Maine man that grows them! He had a bunch of utility peaches he needed to get rid of and Matthew had called and said if you have a bunch let me know. I was so excited to add them back into my pantry cupboard, I haven't had any for a year or two! I don't think I've ever showed you the wonderful cupboard that Matthew made for me. It's wonderful! Maybe I'll stick one in here.

I love this thing! But I love the man that made it more! I think he's a wonderful carpenter. Pardon my potato bag!

The kiddos love them and what a treat! These peaches are amazing. Really amazing. Super sweet, juicy run down your face and make a sticky, sweet mess all over your face, wonderful! The way a peach is supposed to taste. Not the yucky ones at the store that never ripen and are hard and then just turn to moosh and have no flavor. Anyways...
Matthew came home with 130 pounds of peaches. Now before y'all faint and think I had them all, although I would have happily kept them if they were all mine, but my MIL and SIL wanted some too. So we took what was ours about 60 pounds and I began working on them. They were really ready for canning. My kiddos happily eat a bunch before I said no more before you get... you know. I  am quite happy with what I got canned. Will be nice this winter to change things up with peaches, pears, and applesauce with breakfast.
I don't add any sugar to the water when I can them either. I actually saved the juice I got while peeling and pitting them and dumped it  into the jars. I think that will add a nice sweetness to them. Everyone likes pear juice so I figure they will like peach juice too.

here's 60 lbs of peaches

here they are canned!

Have a great day!