Tag Archives: pressure canning

Midweek Musings

Posted in Blood test, books, bread, California, cooking, home stuff, Uncategorized by

Yesterday was a busy day. I decided to go to the Roseville gym and library. I did a 30-minute upper body workout, so that felt good. I dropped off my books at the library, but didn’t get any.

I’ve been rereading the Harry Potter series and am now on the last one, book 7. I’ve greatly enjoyed rereading them. She does get a little winded in the last 3 books. Still she brought quite a character/story to life. Of course, she used lots of Tolkiens ideas, but still.

After that, I went to WinCo for a few things and then home.

Once home, I got started on pressure canning kidney beans. I had soaked them the night before, so I just had to boil them and then start the canner. It is a bit time-consuming, but once the pressure came up, I went and lay down on the couch for the 75 minutes.

Today, we are going to pick the VW and hopefully won’t be too shocked at the cost. Still, it needed to be done if we were going to either keep or sell. We haven’t decided, and with everything going on, I don’t want to make a decision right now.

This morning I’m pressure canning vegetable soup too. I have most everything prepped, but will wait till I’m back home to start the canner.

I also have a loaf of sourdough in the oven. This time I made walnut raisin. I added some cinnamon and a little sugar too.

The good news is that B doesn’t need a transfusion right now. Yay!! He has a video visit today, and I’ll sit in if the canner is going and I can just let it finish and then turn off.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, cooking, Flylady, home stuff, Myeloma, simplicity by

It’s warm out but cloudy right now. It’s supposed to clear up and be in the 80s, so that’s a first this year.

I might go to the Auburn gym to do weights, but I’ll decide in a few hours. It depends on what I want to get done today. I vacuumed yesterday, so it’s maybe a quick mop. Flylady is the living room zone. Usually, that means in my LR, dust the Easton Press books and the ceiling fan, and wash the mirror. So not too much overall. Most of that I do anyway on Monday mornings when I do my house reset for the week. I need to start on the sunroom windows so I may do some of them.

I have some sourdough starter ready to use, so I’ll get that together. Last night we had the Costco chicken burgers on the BBQ and they were delicious. I think I’ll put together a chili tonight since I defrosted some ground turkey. I’m still working my way through the freezer, and this was the last pack of Costco turkey. I’ll probably cook that in the Le Creuset on the stove instead of the IP. I have my pressure-canned beans to add, so I don’t need the IP to cook the beans. I’m still contemplating the electric pressure canner. Does anyone reading use the Presto one? They are not cheap, but from the comments in the Facebook group, most everyone loves the convenience. Mostly because you set it up and there’s no watching it, etc, like the All-American. Like I said, it’s expensive, so not something I’m rushing to do.

It should be a quiet week, no appts, unless B ends up needing a blood transfusion, which I certainly hope not. He gets labs tomorrow, so he’ll know by Monday afternoon. I have nothing but need to call the sleep place to arrange getting the home test, and I need to call Ortho, as they should have reviewed the MRI by now. Mostly, from Ortho, I just want to get the PT referral to start doing that.

I do plan on going down to Roseville to the gym at least once. I think I’ll try and coordinate either WinCo or Costco with that.

How does your week look?, Do you have routines you follow, like Flylady? Some people really like Clean Mama ( I think that’s her blog name), but I tried it and it seemed way too involved for me. I’m always interested in minimalism, especially in older people, and how that helps with daily stuff.

Oh!!! I forgot my labs came back just a smidge above high normal, so all good. 19.6 kappa light chains, high normal is 19.4. It does tend to fluctuate, but this is still excellent. Boy, I am always so relieved that Velcade is working because I couldn’t handle one more thing right now. 😦

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, decluttering, Flylady, freezer cooking, simplicity, swimming, Walking by

I was able to walk the .5 mile today again. So that’s some improvement. I’m taking it slow but still, I am thrilled just to be out there. I hope to get to 3/4 mile this week.

I went and did the Auburn gym this morning for the upper body. I’d like to get to the Roseville gym once this week as the weights are much nicer and there is more variety.

Last night we had a pressure canned vegetable soup with canned kidney beans and some sourdough garlic toast. Quite delicious. I’m planning on pressure canning lentil soup this week as that was one of our favorites. I might try canning French onion soup but not sure yet how much we would use that.

I pulled some random food items from the freezer to use in the next couple of days. There’s 1 ready meal of mushroom crepes, 1 chicken enchiladas, 1 pulled pork, and one rice casserole. So there are some choices for everyone.

We had quite a bit of rain overnight but today is mostly dry till this evening. It’s not that cold though so that’s a plus.

With Monday a holiday, I have PT on Tuesday. I need to figure out how I want to plan the rest of the week. I definitely want 1 swim day, 1 gym day and ? I also need to get to Trader Joe’s for a few things or Winco. I think one of us is going to have to hit Costco because we will need coffee.

My friend suggested watching the Longmire series on Netflix. But we don’t have Netflix so I checked the library and they had all the seasons. So far we really like the characters and the storyline. It’s certainly not a new series but in the same line as Dark Winds ( Hillerman series).

The Flylady zone is the bedroom if you’re keeping track. I just have some dusting to do and that’s about it. I may go through a bin under the bed and see what can be consolidated. Ideally, I’d like just one bin of things to save for the kids if they ever want them down the road. Neither of my children are sentimental about stuff like that but there are a few things I’d like to keep just in case. (haha, just in case).

Thankful Thursday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cash envelopes, Gratitude, Uncategorized, Walking by

I’m thankful we made it through the storm without trees falling and losing power. Today is going to be sunny and I’m glad for that.

I walked around the park once and I did ok. I was very pleased with that and thankful too.

Today I plan on pressure canning beans in the All American and I’m grateful to have that pressure canner. It seems we use the beans the most and then tomato sauces including salsas. The jams we use the least. It’s nice to have homemade jam but this year unless it’s our apples, I’ll probably skip the jam-making. The one exception would be the blackberry jam which we did use all of. That’s where my daughter and I went to a U-pick farm.

Yesterday, the gym went well. I almost got on the stationary bike but thought I’d wait till I try it at home. ( my daughter has one I can try).

After the gym, I went to Trader Joe’s and got a few more things. We needed oat milk, regular milk, 1/2 cream, bread, and gluten-free bread. Our new Costco opens in April and it will be closer than the one we go to now. Also, it’s basically across the street from the TJs so it’ll be very convenient. I’m not sure where we are in totals on groceries this month, so I’ll do a tally soon.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, Political things, swimming, Uncategorized, Walking by

We had a nice walk although it was busier than usual for a Sunday. We’re usually the only ones there. I think it’s because of the heat.

I cleaned the bathroom and sent Bender( robotic vacuum) around in the bedroom and living room.

I went to the Auburn gym for an hour and just got home. I did a quick kitchen zone tidy/clean. I’d done it not so long ago so it didn’t need much.

Yesterday my daughter and I went to the local nursery and got some lovely plants. I got another birdbath and 2 geraniums. It was fun. Before we left I finished baking the 2 sourdough batards. They came out beautiful. I’ve been adding about 100 kg of ww flour and that adds a nice flavor.

After settling in after getting home I started in on my pressure canning beans. I wanted to do garbanzos and black beans in pints. I think pints will overall work better for us as a side dish or addition to soups/curries. It all went brilliantly and now I have 8 pints of shelf-stable beans.

It’s too hot to go outside at least for me so I may just read or knit.

I ordered a 10″ Lodge cast iron skillet because the antique one had developed a crack. I traded for this cast iron in the late 1970s. The woman was an antique dealer and this pan was probably early 1900s. I was sad it cracked and FYI, once there is a crack it’s not safe to really cook in it. I checked eBay for a Wagner but wasn’t willing to pay the price. Lodge does a great cast iron so I’m sure it’ll fit right in. I still have the 12″ antique one she also gave me and that one is fine.

Tomorrow I plan on going to the pool. I’m hoping all the 4th of July travelers are where they want to be and not on the road. I’ll probably try and swim one other day this week.

On the political scene, what a sad day for America. Letting the Christian woman deny services to LGBQT+ people, the ending of affirmative action, and blocking student loan forgiveness. It’s bullshit. The SCOTUS is totally out of sync with what the American people want. Yes, there are the nay-sayers, helping people with student loans but there are millions of people even older people who are still stradled with brutal loans. Why not help out people who need it. So what the fuck they willingly signed those papers. We’ve all done stupid things so give them a break. then the Christian stuff totally unglues me. It is out-and-out discrimination. What’s next ?

This country is going back 50 years and it’s getting worse.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, frugalism, Uncategorized by

It seems like it was a low-spend week. I did go to Winco and got the strawberries and some other stuff I can’t remember and that was $50??? I haven’t been to Safeway or Costco so that always makes for a lower spend week.

I received my order of peaches but not both boxes. I ordered 2 and only got one. I’ve emailed them but haven’t heard back. It would make way too expensive for peach jam. I sure hope they deal with it.

Then I checked my LLS and it seems they’ve messed that up too so I’m waiting to see the final assessment. The other day when I checked they had it all right and then yesterday I checked and it looked way different and only was paying a fraction of what I submitted so, I may have to call:(

I guess all of this would be frugal if it was working the way it’s supposed to.

Today, I’m going to pressure can Boston Baked Beans. I have done the presoak and pre-boil and now have them in the oven for 4 hours. I should get 6-7 pints of beans. I omitted the bacon so it may not have as deep a flavor. I got this bag of Great Northern white beans at Winco during the pandemic. I think I paid $2.00 for it. So 6 pints of baked beans for that price is pretty frugal.

I’m heading into the gym for a workout and then when I get home will get the pressure canner going.

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, home stuff, Pantry, reading, Uncategorized by

I guess it’s been a frugal week. By not going to Capitola we saved gas money and food money. So there’s that. But then I wanted to go to Costco and finish getting the extra things on my list like batteries, cheese, canned tomatoes, and some other small items, which added up to another $250. Oh, and B threw in a case of Sierra pale ale. Still, I won’t need to go back to Costco till the end of April when the coffee will need replenishing.

Yesterday, after Costco I picked up my library books. It’s a good haul of around 10 books. I’m really enjoying Phillip Margolin’s books.

When I got home I took the chicken broth I had made the day before, skimmed the fat off, and got the pressure canner ready. The chicken broth only takes 25 minutes at 15lbs of pressure so it went quickly. So far then I’ve done chicken soup, chicken broth, and pinto beans. Next is the split pea soup but I don’t plan on doing that till Sunday.

All our big annual spring bills are done which include property tax, Allstate, and IRS. So now there’s nothing big till Fall and I’ll start saving up for that starting in April. Oh BTW, we found out that the eviction of our neighbor was due to a foreclosure that happened last year but took this long to process and serve the eviction. Amazingly, it sold at auction for $105,000 which for Meadow Vista is shocking. You can’t even buy land for that price so whoever bought it basically ‘stole’ it from her but really she was the one who let it go. Sad… Now why she didn’t sell and make some money, IDK. Maybe her health has declined so much she wasn’t really thinking straight. The owners I’m sure will remodel and flip this house as it’s still redeemable. They have had the junk removal people there at least 3X with a big truck. As I’ve said she was a hoarder! I still feel sad about it.

Today is just home pottering around day. I’m doing some house chores and am working on a thrift store load and food pantry drop off for next week.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, books, cooking, Uncategorized, Walking by

We actually have a cool morning with some overcast. It seems like a marine layer that is coming in. We had a lovely walk by ourselves. Nobody was there at all. Tomorrow is usually my non walk day but since I took Friday off from everything I will walk. I also go get my labs and then head down to the Rec Center to do some weights.

It’s been a busy few days. I pressure-canned the Baked Beans.

It only made 5 pints but the sauce tasted delicious. I plan on doing another batch but with the bacon. I’m having lots of fun learning this new way of food preparation.

I also started some sauerkraut. I had a lovely head of cabbage from the farm down the road and knew that’s what I wanted to do. I chopped it finely up and then add the salt which starts the cabbage to make the brine. I don’t have the weights or the special top for the sauerkraut but the Ball book of preserving said just use a 4ounce jar filled with water and press down. ( It fits in the wide-mouth jar perfectly.) so one head of cabbage made 1 Qt jar of kraut. I think I’ll wait the week out and then transfer it to the fridge. I plan on having it with the baked beans and some beer brats I have in the freezer. I’ll make B a veggie brat thing.

Then my son brought home a box of apples from his friend’s farm and I made a delicious apple pie.

I always only make one pie crust so I just use the extra that I cut off to make a lattice and use a cutter for the oak leaves.

I had pie for breakfast and it was quite good.

Today is just some house tidying, sheet day, and reading. Plus I’ll knit some later.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, California, camping, cooking, travel, Walking by

A lovely walk this morning with NO ONE there. Definitely unusual these days. Still, it was lovely and the stars and Jupiter were very bright.

We are having the most beautiful fall weather. It’s perfect. Cool at night and then the days are golden and warm.

So, I researched why there was some ‘siphoning’ with the Vegetable soups I pressure canned and the reason was the jiggling ( the weighted gauge)was going too fast and I didn’t reduce the heat. They are still safe to eat but did lose some liquid. So yesterday I got the pressure canner up to 10lbs of pressure and did that on high heat. Then when the gauge started jiggling( that’s what it’s called), I moved it to the middle burner which is a lower heat factor. I measured the jiggles at 4-5 a minute and that’s where it should be. So I wrote all that down in the pressure canner book. I also got a new book that is quite excellent with lots of recipes. The next one I’ll try is called white bean ragout. It has bacon in it but I’ll leave that out. There’s also a lentil soup with sausage but again I’ll, leave the sausage out and add that later if the meat eaters want that. Most of the time everything we eat is vegetarian.

You can see the reduction of liquid. It’s been fun to learn about all this.

Here’s a picture of us going over to Apple Hill. This is Sutter Mill where gold was discovered. We did our Rosh Hoshanah thing with the bread crumbs in the river. That is the South Fork of the American river behind us. Oh, and there were APPLES at all in Apple Hill because of the frost we had back in April.

I made zucchini bread in the new Lodge. The Lodge loaf pan is a real star for crisping up the edges.

Well, I have to go get food and stuff ready to take out to Rubi, and then we’ll leave for Tahoe. Trailering does take longer and usually, it’s about 1 hour 45 minutes to South lake but with the trailer, it takes well over 2 hours- 2 /12 hours.

September 30th and another turn around the sun.

Posted in budgeting, California, camping, cooking, home stuff, simple foods, travel, Uncategorized by

I’ve got to say it is VERY Weird to turn 70. I’m not sure if that means anything at all since you can’t stop time unless you’re dead and gone, I suppose. Well, I’m at a good place in my life. I’m swimming and doing the weights(although I’d like to be at the Rec center more), walking, and going out with the RV whenever possible. We have our SS and that covers most of what our monthly bills are and our 2 children pay us ‘rent’ and that covers the incidentals. I feel very grateful to have what we need at this point in our lives. Down the road , who knows really.

Yesterday I used the pressure canner again and made vegetable soup. For my birthday, my daughter bought me the ALL-Clad stock pot which is 16 qts and needed to make large amounts of prepared food for canning. I also got from her the new Alexa which is fun. My son got me a Lodge loaf pan which looks great. Very sweet of him. He really always thinks of the greatest gifts. I’m terrible at coming up with ideas.

I’m getting more comfortable with the pressure canner. This recipe made 7 qts and processed for 85 minutes. I bring a chair into the kitchen and keep an eye on it although nothing seems untoward. This morning I’ll wash the jars and label. I had one jar ‘siphon’ a little which is some seepage. It doesn’t make the canned product unsafe just slightly lower liquid in the jar so I’m planning on using that in the next few days. I’m really excited about learning this new skill. The Mirro canner seems to be working fine. I went and checked out the All American but still not ready to do that. Maybe next year. I ordered another pressure canner book so maybe they’ll be some new recipes to try. Ball has a few in their book and online but it seems limited.

B bought me some lovely flowers too.

On to Frugal Friday…

We went to Costco last Sunday and stocked up with coffee, bagels, bread, and lots of other stuff I can’t remember and,non food stuff like AA batteries, laundry soap, dish soap, TP etc. This all goes on October’s food budget. I decided to up our budget to $800 and I think that will be the right amount. We’ll see:)

We took Buggie in for that alignment that was needed but the mechanic( a different garage) couldn’t do it because he couldn’t get the bolt or something undone. So I guess we’re going to just leave it for now. He said it would be @ $900. After the expensive other garage stuff, I’m kinda done for now. I only use Bugs to go to Auburn and maybe drive 1500 miles a year at the most. So I’m not too worried. We did get the 2 new front tires though.

We were able to get a reservation at Nevada Beach for next week so we’re heading up there for a few days. The weather looks perfect. I also booked New Brighton for March. It might a little early to go there but you never can tell with March weather.