Thursday' Kitchen Cupboard 02/16/12

Not a whole lot happening here this week.  Thursday I did cook up a big pot of spare ribs for the meat and to make pork stock.  Got 7 pints of stock and enough meat for 4 dinners.  Thursday night I made pork tacos.  Guess what they are not on the menu again.  Not such a great idea.

Friday night we had home made pizza and one of the toppings was green pepper strips from the freezer.

Saturday night was dinner for 4.  Made a Sirloin Tip oven roast with gravy, boiled potatoes and fresh asparagus.

Sunday night was fried ham steaks with milk gravy, boiled potatoes and yep fresh asparagus again.
Monday night was hot roast beef sandwiches from Saturday's leftovers, fried left over potatoes and Asparagus.  That was the end of the asparagus.
Tuesday night I made marinated lamb kabobs over Curry Rice Pilaf with peas.

Wednesday was dinner for 1 liver and onions with a baked potato

Besides making the pork stock to add to the pantry, also added 3 meals of pork rib meat and 4 meals of cooked veal stew meat to the freezer and 4- 1/2 pint jars of veal broth to go with the meat to the pantry shelves.

On Monday I showed my latest crop of bean sprouts.

To these I added carrots, celery, red and green peppers, onions, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts.

Hot packed them in 7 pint jars.

And now we have chop suey vegetables to make chow mien with.  Granted there wasn't much of a savings since all the ingredients were purchased but come fall when the harvest comes in the only purchase would be the bamboo shoots and water chestnuts.

Be sure to go to our host of Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard,  The Gardener of Eden and see what others are adding to their pantry or freezer or using from them.

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard 10/20/11

It is that time of the year unfortunately when many more things are coming out of the cupboard than are going in.  Did put up a couple of things this week.  Made clam chowder and vegetable beef soup.  At least the carrots and the potatoes came from the garden originally.

 Buckwheat Pancakes

 Since a recipe for pancakes make many more than enough for one breakfast the rest to into the freezer for future breakfast.  They are wrapped in wax paper and stacked in a bread bag so the stand up in the freezer and take up less space.  Good recycling also.

 

Spaghetti sauce made and canned earlier with tomatoes, basil and peppers from the garden with a cube of basil from the freezer to give it a fresh flavor when heated up.

Texas Garlic Cheese toast to accompany the spaghetti and meatballs made of fresh homemade French Bread and spread with a garlicky cheese spread.

--Black Angus Garlic Cheese Bread--
1 loaf french bread
1/2 cup butter
1 cup shredded jack cheese
1 cup shredded asiago cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pureed
Split french bread loaf into halves horizontally. Mix butter, cheeses,
mayonnaise, green onions and garlic in a bowl, blending well. Spread the
cut side of bread with spread. Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes, then
place under broiler about 3 minutes longer. Cut into slices and serve.

Vegetable beef soup

Clam Chowder

From the garden to the freezer to the table.  Gilumpkis and Spaetzle

Don't forget to visit our host of Thursday in the Cupboard

The Gardener of Eden

and see what others are doing with their harvest. 

Gathering and putting up 10/13/11

First thanks Robin at The Gardener of Eden for starting Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard.  I am sure there will be many to share how they preserve the bounty from their garden and how they use them during the long cold winter months that many of us endure.

From Mid July until late October my steam canner, pressure canner and boxes of canning jars become permanent fixtures sitting in their boxes on the floor in my kitchen.  It seems they are in uses a number of days away during that time.  But I can and freeze year round not just while the garden is going.  I love to cook and still do everything in big batches as I did when my family was growing up even though there is now only me and my brother that I am the caregiver for.

Hear are a few of the times that made their way into jars this week.

 I am still canning tomatoes.  Did a couple of batches this week.

 My lonely 2 pints of cannelloni beans.  Hope to do better next year but did get enough dried for my seed for next year.

 One of my favorite tools.  The Squeezo.  At the end of the tomato season I use the scrubs to make tomato juice.  The gadget makes it so easy.  No peeling, coring, just cut them up and cook them down.

 This pot was full before cooking.

 This is after my buddy the squeezo

 Total waste from the pot of tomatoes

 Final product

Finally braved the task and got 2 pints of pickled Hungarian Wax Peppers.  Since I am allergic to the oils in hot peppers it takes me a while to get my courage up to do them.  Took a benedryl then dropped the peppers into boiling water for just a minute and came through the process without the throat swelling shut.

Also had a chicken to stew up for dinner the other night so made stock from it at the same time.  Canned two quarts of the stock for later use and made creamy chicken soup with one quart.

Creamy Chicken Soup

1 quart of Chicken stock

1 Carrot diced

1 Potato diced

2 Stalks of Celery Diced

1 Small Onion Diced

1 Pint Canned Tomatoes

1/2 Cup Condensed Cream Soup Mix Cream of Condensed Soup Mix

Cook soup until vegetables are tender.  In a bowl add enough water to Soup Mix to make a slurry then slowly stir into the soup.  Allow it to come to a boil and thicken.

(Note I do not add the Chicken Bouillon to the mix when I make it)

Happy cooking.