Buying Local

This was posted on one of our family member's facebook walls. He owns his own local photography business. It is a good reminder of why it is important to buy local.

Meatloat

Don't tell my family but meatloaf can be one of those meals you make that you can hide leftovers within it as long as there is not too much of one thing. Some things I have added to my recipe are mashed potatoes, stale bread (crumbed and exchanged for oats), leftover mushrooms, onions, carrots, etc. Any vegetable that you can chop fine can be used in a meatloaf. In order for it to work though you have to keep the quantities of "leftovers" down or it will eventually alter the flavor of the original recipe.

On Saturday, we took my meatloaf to a friend's house for a potluck dinner. It did not last long. For those friends reading this now, I did not add any "hidden" ingredients to the one I made Saturday. A couple of them asked for my recipe so here it is.

Meatloaf

1 lb ground beef

1 cup sharp shredded cheese

1 medium onion, chopped finely

1 small green pepper, chopped finely

2 eggs, slightly beaten

½ cup quick oats

½ cup catsup (can use less if you like a drier meatloaf)

2 Tbls prepared mustard

Topping:

¼ cup catsup

1 Tbls prepared mustard

1 Tbls packed brown sugar

Combine all ingredients together in bowl except topping. Put in sprayed loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until down in middle (internal temp of 160 degrees with meat thermometer). Combine topping ingredients. Spread across top of meatloaf. Put back in oven for 5-10 minutes until top is brown. Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. Enjoy! 

One other quick note. You can also substitute spaghetti sauce for catsup and use mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar to make an italian flavored loaf. I usually will add oregano and basil to the flavorings to make it more an italian taste. 

Energy Conservation Tips

I was reading an old Birds and Blooms magazine this week. Thought I would share a couple of facts with you from the magazine.

1) If you shade your air conditioner, you'll increase the efficiency by nearly 10%.

2) If you plant trees along the west and deciduous trees on the south side of your house, you can reduce energy costs by 20%.

A couple of things to think about when planning your landscaping around your house. 

Lady Renaissance

Mary and Lady Renaissance

Lady Renaissance

We got a new female rabbit a couple of weeks ago. Her name is Lady Renaissance. We are hoping to eventually breed her with our male rabbit Charming. She is a sweet rabbit and loves to be held. Had to share a couple of pictures of her. 

Fruit Crisp

One of my favorite, versatile recipes I frequently use is fruit crisp. I use about any fruit and it takes the fat and calories of pie crust away. Here is my recipe:

Fruit Crisp
Fruit of choice

In a 8" sprayed pan, fill with fresh fruit leaving about 1/2" space at the top. Small berries and cherries can be put in whole while the rest of the fruit should be sliced or cut up into smaller pieces (similar size to pie filling). If your fruit is tart, you may need to sprinkle sugar over the top of it before adding topping. For pears and apples, sometimes I will sprinkle lightly with cinnamon before adding topping. Make the topping below and spread evenly across top of fruit. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until fruit is tender and crust is browned nicely.

Topping
1 cup oats
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 stick butter

For topping, place first 3 ingredients in bowl. Cut up butter into topping mixture until pea size. Sometimes for pear and apples I will add 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg to this mixture.

This has been a great recipe that I use frequently during fresh fruit season. My family loves it. For special treats sometimes I will serve with ice cream or fresh whipped cream but I find it is good without these added things.

Peach Salsa

My sister makes peach salsa. I have to admit that it has taken me a bit before I would try it. Finally, after many rare reviews of others I took the "dip" last week. It was delicious. It tasted like a sweeter version of regular salsa. . It is something that you can easily make at home. Take your normal salsa recipe that you can and substitute peaches for 1/2 of the tomatoes. Make the recipe as normal. You will want to make sure that the salsa is more blended versus being chunky so you do not get big pieces of just peaches. You will be surprised by how good it tastes. I saved a batch of peaches back just to make some this week. 

Peach Canning

Our community peach canning session went well yesterday. We were able to put up 5 bushels of peaches in about 4 hours (not including water bath canning). Everyone pitched in. Those who were familiar with canning shared their knowledge with those who were new to the experience. It seemed like everyone had a good time visiting with each other while working. We shared a simple meal together before we started where everyone brought a dish to share. We made canned peaches and pie filling. We smashed peaches up and froze them in batches for jam and peach salsa which we will make later at another time. Now, we are starting to work on the free pears we got from a friend's neighbor's tree. We will split these canned goods among those who come to help. I am hoping to keep this tradition going on a yearly basis.    

Community Peach Canning Day

When I was growing up, doing peaches was a family affair. Once a year, we would go pick up the peaches and that night we would all sit around and do them up. All helped including my Dad and even the littlest helper. We would set up an assembly line-blancher, fruit cutters, canner. Even though we all worked hard, we all enjoyed it. We became very efficient and the five of us could kick out 2 bushel of peaches in a long nights time.

A couple of years ago, we restarted this tradition. We started small and have kept building over the past couple of years. Tomorrow, for the first time, we have invited friends to join us. We will go to church and then head to my sister's house. We will eat a community meal and then all take our places in the assembly line. When we are done, we will have canned peaches and pie filling. We will have reserved enough leftover peaches to make jam and salsa later on. Looking forward to tomorrow. 

Grape Juice

Last week was very busy. I went out the day before I was to leave for camp to visit Mary to find all of my grapes ripe so I spent the little time I had left canning grapes. I then spent the rest of the week at Lutheran Hills with Mary so I am finally getting back to blogging.

One thing I decided to make with my grapes was grape juice. I searched the internet but only found recipes for what I call grape flavored sugar water. I wanted to make some without added sugar since my grapes were already so naturally sweet. Here is the process I used after some research.

Step 1: I sorted, cleaned and pulled the grapes off the stems.
Step 2: I put them in a pan, added enough water to cover and boiled them until the skins split open.
Step 3: I let them sit in cheesecloth lined strainer over bowl to catch the juice. I put them in the frig to drain overnight or about 24 hours.
Step 4: I removed the skins, strained the juice from the bowl back through the cheesecloth into a pan. I heated the juice to boiling.
Step 5: While still hot, I ladeled juice into jars leaving a 1/4 inch head space.
Step 6: I water bathed the pint jars for 15 minutes (quart jars are for the same amount of time)

You can add sugar to taste if needed. My juice was so sweet there was not a need for added sugar. The leftover skins are now in a jar making wine vinegar. I will let you know how that goes later as this is my first attempt at making homemade flavored vinegar.