Stocking Up…

Yeah, Canning Season is HERE!!!!  I am being completely sarcastic… I really have mixed feelings on canning but I LOVE having my tomatoes all through the winter to be used in stews, soups, chilies and sauces – you can tell a difference I promise!  Canning is not all that complicated but it is time consuming and you do need to make sure everything is clean – botulism is horrible and really just something you really don’t want. 
1. To start with put on some good music or if you’re anything like me – you might listen to a college lecture on the Peloponnesian War or some other Book on CD.
2. Next rinse you jars and put them in the oven on 325 and let them dry – once they are dry sit them on a towel on a counter and let them cool down to room temp. 
3.  Next gather lots of pots and bowls – I am kinda kidding here… You need a compost bowl, a bowl to quick cool the tomatoes, and a bowl to put your tomatoes into as they wait to be canned – you will also need a Presto Pressure Canner and a large stock pot of boiling water.
4. Gather your mess of tomatoes and start plopping them in the boiling water and wait for the skins to split, once they have split you will place them in your quick cool bowl full of cold water and maybe some ice cubes (I am a big pooh so I need to make sure I can handle the tomatoes without getting burned by hot liquid). 

Garden goes “BOOM”

    
I have promised you guys a post on our garden and here it is, with the season almost over and now into the height of canning (which I will post about later).  So, this is our 2nd year growing an all Organic garden.  Let me start off by explaining what I mean… The only thing in our garden that is not organic are sometimes the seeds we start with (Organic seeds are EXPENSIVE!!!) and the Terro we use for the ants…  :)  BD (Baby Doll) loves his garden, in fact he has an affair every year – with the garden… I really think he spends more time with the garden than me but I am not complaining – He loves it and we get all of this delicious food. 
We have planted the following this year:
Spring Garden: Spinach, Mesculin Lettuce, Baby Carrots, White and Red Texas Sweet Onions, Sugar Snap Peas
Summer Garden: 18 Tomato Plants (Better Boys, Romas, Brandywines, Pink Girls, Heirloom Variety Pack), 3 Tomatillos, 12 Peppers (Poblanos, Jalapeños, Pimentos, Cayenne and Sweet Banana), 3 Ichiban Eggplant, 2 Cucumber, 1 Cantelope, Potatoes, Tenderette Green beans, 3 Squash and 3 Zuchinni, Tons of Marigolds for all natural pest control… :) and then herbs: Basil, Cilantro, Rosemary, Parsley, Oregano, Thyme, Dill, Lavender, Mint, Chives and we also have Tommy Toe and Jelly Bean tomato plants in pots… :)
If you guys have any questions let us know, BD has done some major research and might be able to help you out if you need him… :)  Having the garden is great and especially when you don’t have to worry about pesticides and artificial fertilizers. 
Happy Gardening!!!!

My Favorite Breakfast!!!

So as I mentioned yesterday, I am going a new direction with this blog and I will now be sharing all sorts of crazy things with you!!  These are all things that I have learned over the years and have incorporated into my life or just really cook or interesting things I have found.  Today I am going to be talking about my new favorite breakfast!
MBC (Magic Breakfast Cream) – Trumpets sound here… :)

Simple Stuff & Living Well

Well, it has been quite a while since my last “post” and I have done a lot of reflecting, I have also discovered that everyone has found a niche that they decide to stay in and that I haven't actually been able to find a single blog that is relevant to me.  So the question is, do I continue with this blog stuff or do I stop?  If a few of you have been reading my blog and you are wondering why I don’t post more recipes I have an answer for you, although I don’t think you are going to like it.  I don’t cook by recipes.  There it is, plain, simple and honest.  The only time I will follow a recipe specifically is if I am baking and even then I have a tendency to deviate.  Being able to cook and being able to pull together a meal is, much to the dismay of most, a craft that you have to learn and practice, A LOT.  My husband asked me why I hadn’t written more this summer like I had planned to and I admit I had to think about it for a while, what I came up with interested me.  Life is too short to make life more complicated than it needs to be.  In other words, documenting my recipes was taking too much time.  I also have come back to the realization that I am interested in much m
ore than just cooking and that perhaps, my public (so ridiculous) would like to know more about how to live well and VERY inexpensively.  Maybe I have lessons that I can share with people, like