soups

My first experiments in making soups were pretty terrible. I tried recipes and different kinds of stews and soups. 

Most turned out pretty blah over the years.

My MIL taught me how to make soup her way which was pretty unique. 
Her methods were generally what I'd call Left Over soups. Cook a roast? Save the leftovers with the juice and use it later as soup broth.

Leftover veggies? Toss them in a freezer bag and wait until you have more.

Eventually take the leftovers, add some diced tomatoes and maybe some creamy mushroom soup and cook it up.

Viola. Left Over Soup.

I made some incredible Garbage Soup last week. It was amazing. I combined the left overs from two previous left over soups of venison veggie soup and pot roast [frozen ]. I put it in the crock pot, stirred it and let it cook all day.
It was amazing.

My interpretation of a foodie photo
done in AI art in an
abstract way.

Rich had been asking for another round of potato soup. Creamy potato soup. I'd made some a while ago and needed to finish up the tiny purple potatoes I'd purchased in October from the Farmer's Market.

I had 3 large regular russets that I peeled and cut up along with diced purple potatoes. I followed the idea of the soup I'd made last time but thought that I'd use up the rest of the bacon that was open. I fried that and added it to the soup.

Rich thought carrots would be a welcome addition. I added carrots. Now I had a soup that was mostly yellow, with bright orange and purple in it.

I recalled that I had about a bowl of the old soup in the freezer.  I opened it up and grabbed what I thought was it and dumped it into the crockpot with the new ingredients. 

I headed out to do our chores and go care for the neighbor's two dogs. I took them for a long walk on their property and then feed them and the cat [she hates me! and hissed at me!]. The dogs got their meds and I headed back down the hill.

When I got back, the new stuff had melted into the soup and it looked pretty good. It smelled good too.

When I got done with all the evening chores, we decided to have the soup.

I served it up and while I was doing something at the sink, Rich commented, "Wow! This is really good!"

He is always kind regarding my cooking. He won't/can't cook for himself, so he remains on my good side.
He slurped away and kept making mmmmmmmmm sounds.

I made it to the table and took my first bite. It tasted a bit sweet. Not what I'd expected at all. But it was really quite delicious. The carrots and the purple potatoes really added color.

I took another bite and then stopped. What was I tasting? Then I took another bite. Apple.

I hadn't taken the old potato soup out of the freezer, I took an unlabeled container of homemade apple sauce and added it to the soup!

Wow. What a taste sensation!

Rich liked it so much he took a second full bowl of soup and ate it. I asked him if the soup tasted different to him.

He said it did, but it was just great. 

When I told him what I did, he laughed.

I'm pretty sure I won't ever do that again, but hubby was happy that we'd have enough potato/apple soup for lunch on Monday.

And yes, I usually label what I put in the freezer. Apparently I didn't when I took the extra homemade apple sauce and dumped it into a container this past fall. It was what didn't fit into canning jars.

Happy Accident this time. 

Next week I'll be cleaning out more leftovers. A turkey breast and some chicken to make another soup.

Then I can start adding leftovers again. This time...Labeled!

I can cook, sorta

This is a photo of one of the few wild apples trees that have grown on the other side of the line fence in a large meadow.  Every other year or so we get lucky and have great crops of apples.

This year is one of those years. The last two years were flops as either we had late frosts or terribly dry weather.

The apples are super tart and of slightly different sizes.

Over the years I've become quite good at making apple sauce, apple butter, and apple jelly from picking these wild things. 

Yesterday I picked several apples to see if they would be ready. I chopped some up and dumped them in a sauce pan and the others I dipped in cinnamon and sugar and stuck them in my dehydrator.

I ended up with fresh applesauce and sweet apple chips to take with me hiking for snacks.

See? I can cook!

Since I was doing apples and it was pouring cats and dogs outside on Saturday, I decided to get with the program and dehydrated tomatoes with seasoning along with onions, broccolli and seasonings from the flower gardens.

I packaged everything in small sealed bags that are a bit of each veggie and seasonings for winter use. I'll drop each prepped packet into a stew or soup. I only had 4 tomatoes that needed processing and cooking and canning them was not an option.

I bought a couple of pounds of onions at the farmers market, but we don't use a LOT of onions on a daily basis, so I dehydrated those also.

As I was cutting up the wild tart apples and sorting some for applesauce and the other slices for drying, I kept hearing my grandmother's voice saying things like:

'Waste not, want not.' 

The tomato soup mix stuff went into the freezer next to the little packets of nettles and lamb's quarters for winter eating when fresh veggies were not readily available.

It looks like I may get more veggies this coming week! My son and his fiancé are coming to visit and he is bringing some produce from his garden.

I'm looking forward to the visit. However, Megan is a cook and she can whip up delicious meals from thin air I think. 

That is intimidating! So do I offer them a take out pizza? Or horrify them with an attempt to make 

Meat and Tators?

Decisions, decisions.

Apples. Simply delicious!

A friend of mine visited this weekend and they enjoyed some of our apple jelly and applesauce.

I explained to him that I'd picked apples and made apple juice and canned it. I also use the juice to make jelly. The pulp gets run through a mill and I use that to make applesauce.

He asked me to send him a recipe. So here is my method that is really quite simple.

Picking the apples.
I know~basic~ but I took some photos while up in the tree. I enjoyed the view in the tree!

The only thing I will do different next time is get a bag to sling over my shoulder so I won't have to climb up and down the ladder as much.

I wash the apples then cut them in half and dump them in a large pan. I add a little bit of water to the pan. It is an experiment. Sources on the 'internet' say to cover the apples. I find that makes the juice a bit watery. I found a happy medium of just adding enough water to get the apples to steam up.

I take an apple smusher aka a potato masher and mash the apples. I let them simmer on low for about 15 minutes.

I ladle the mushy stuff into a strainer and let it drain. I don't push on the mush too hard as I want some nice clear juice. Another method is to use is straining it through some material. I like to use an old cotton pillow case cut up. It gives the clearest juice.

Once you have your juice you can decide if you want to make jelly or simply can the juice. I use Sure-Jell to make the jelly. If I feel like making jelly this winter, I simply can the juice in a hot water bath for the recommended time.
I just canned a gallon of apple juice so I will have plenty to either drink or use to make jelly.

I believe the Sure-Jell recipe calls for 7 cups of apple juice.

I decided to run the leftover pulp through my food mill. It did a nice job of getting rid of the seeds and skins.

Since I had a ton of other things to do during this day, I added the pulp to my crockpot, added some sugar and some cinnamon to taste and set the crockpot on low.

That evening the applesauce was hot enough and had cooked enough to can.

From the tree to the shelf in about one day.

Oh and let's not forget that apples do very well in the dehydrator!

Mules, Pigs, Apples, and Stars

Here is to hoping that Rich and Mica stay out of semi retirement from mule riding. Mica is about 21 years old and has always been a 'hard' keeper. However she had a hard job in her younger years. She was a 'heeler' and a trail mule. After we acquired her she was used for trail riding and team penning.

The view from Mica is different than any other mule I have ridden.

I could really like this view...a lot!
Mica gets a little grain in the morning and a little bit at night. None of our other mules really need grain. They can stare at a piece of grass or some hay and gain weight.

I plan on riding Mica much more this fall. She is tall enough to get me through those thick weeds in the valley. After she and I break open a trail, I'll rotate with Sunshine and Siera. Fred gets a break after all of his hard work training youngsters this summer. Although he will put up a huge fuss if he is left behind.

Apples.
After juicing the wild apples the old fashioned way.

I took the left over pulp and ran it through a food mill.

And viola! I had the makings of apple sauce or apple butter.
I put the apple sauce in the crock pot with some cinnamon and sugar to slow cook while I canned 4 quarts of apple juice.
Now common sense would say that it is less work and easier just to buy apple products, but there is some sort of satisfaction in making it yourself.


Pigs.
Swine.
Vernon County Fair.

Regarding Pigs. Hmm. Well we purchase our hay from a local farmer and have for 9 years now. I met this farmer through work. Rich and Ed hit things off right away and have been friends ever since.
Ed's daughters started to show swine at the Fair along with other projects.

This year Rich and I actually went to the Fair specifically to watch the Swine judging. Rich has not been to a Fair in a very long time.

I'd forgotten how intense showing an animal at the fair can be. Months of work are then judged in an arena with a lot of people watching. The judge looks over the animals and places them.

Learning how to walk a pig and show off your pig is really quite the task. Just say I was very impressed. I'd seen the farmer's girls raise these pigs and train them.

Stars.
Last summer Lily asked me if we could see the Milky Way. So I've done a bit of studying including using a program that would show me the location of the Milky Way on any given day.
I studied and practiced in taking photos of it too.

I wanted Lily to know that indeed the Milky Way does shine right above "Grandma and Grandpa's" house.

I obviously need more practice for 'shooting' stars, but as always, ... I love a challenge.