Darling

A dear friend from church loaned my girls her doll.  Her grandmother made her and her sister each one of these dolls when they were little.  Aren't they so sweet?

The most darling part is that what you see above is the same doll.  Her little dress flips up and over and reveals "another" doll underneath!

I just can't get over this.  Have any of you seen this before?  Is there anything on Etsy like it?  Have you made something similar?

C'mon you crafty folks.  You need a new darling project now don't you?  You'd make some little girl or boy very happy. Pin It

Broken

If someone is having a problem, particularly someone I love, I want to fix it.  I want to look at the situation, figure out what's gone wrong and do what needs to be done to make it right.  I hate seeing people I care about in pain.  I want to take it away, take it away from them, take them away from the pain.  I want to be of help, to be of service, to put an end to the hurt feelings, the impossible decisions and the string of bad news.

It tears me up and apart.

Even though it goes against my grain, I know there that are problems that no person can fix.  Sometimes things seem to have to be the way they are- raw, terrible, unfair and hopeless- and it's all happening for no apparent reason.  I've come to the conclusion that some things happen for a reason and some things happen for no reason, but God will do a good work in spite of the awfulness.  And, sometimes it might not be the good work we have in mind.

I know that He works behind the scenes - softening hearts and leading people to those who may offer them hope and comfort, but so often it's not visible enough for me.  I can't see the softening, the affects of the comfort and hope and it leaves me feeling helpless again and it breaks my heart because I know that the helplessness of the people directly involved is infinitely more intense than mine.

I need to let go.  I need to lay it at the feet of my Jesus.  I need to give up the (lack of) control and rest in the confidence that my God is SO big and awesome and mysterious and yet He loves and cares and He sees every hurt, hears every word and senses every emotion.

In this life we may never see the reconciliation, the good work, the softening that we long to take place, but we must trust anyway and never doubt for one second that our God hasn't been right in the midst of the brokenness from the very beginning.

"Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah" Psalm 62:8

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Hands On Activities for Read Alouds: A Giveaway

 This giveaway is closed.  The winners are announced here.

Whether you homeschool or not, chances are you read a lot to your kids or nieces and nephews or grandchildren.  Many adults who want to foster a love of reading in the lives of children make it a priority to read to them aloud.  Sometimes, said children, snuggle up close and hang on every word.  Other times, those same kids want to be down on the floor, keeping their hands busy with something while they listen.  I, personally, have no problem with this (as long as the activity doesn't require talking or noisy sound effects) and even think it may help them listen.

Blocks, legos (again, less the sound affects), drawing paper and pencils, paper dolls, and sewing are just some of the wonderful activities our kids can keep busy with while we read to them.  The possibilities are endless.  Recently, I was given the opportunity to review some products (of my choice) from Froebel USA, an educational toy website whose motto is "Educating the Whole Child".  Many of the items on their website scream "read aloud activities!"  And, lucky us (!), the owner of the website wants to give two products away here this week!

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Mellow

I've been feeling very mellow these last few days and it's effecting my preserving drive.  And my laundry drive.  And my balanced meal drive.

You know I'm a bit off kilter when I'm posting on a Saturday.

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Maintenance

A friend of the family helped me catch this blog up a bit to this day and age.  Left to my own devices, this site would become sorely behind the times.  Oh?  It had already?  Shoot.  See what I mean?  I needed help.

One of the things we he did was to make it easier for some of you to keep track of what's going on with us.  As of today, you have options!  You can follow me on blogger (lower right hand column), subscribe to my posts through a reader (like google reader, yahoo, etc.), sign up to get email notification when a new post is published OR follow me on twitter.  No, as of yet I don't twit or tweet or whatever it's called, but you can find my posts there under JaneAtThyHand.  See the right-hand column for these links.

My head is spinning.  Is yours?

OR, you can just keep doing whatever you're doing to get yourself here.  I would miss you if you didn't.

One other thing I'm trying is to provide excerpts of my posts down the page so when you visit you can read the beginning of the post and then hop over it (and other ones) if you're not interested in the content (that never happens, right?).  How it works is this...you will start reading a post and then boom! it will stop, but below the stop will be a link that says, "Click here to continue reading".  If you click that, you'll be taken to the rest of the post.

Let's practice.  Guess what happened here last night!!
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Field Tripping We Will Go

I don't think many kids are going on field trips yet, but you lucky ladies (and men) will get to in just a moment.  "Big school", as my kids call it, started a couple days ago in our area.  When I saw the school bus go down our road in the afternoon that first day I felt happy.  I always liked school and I like teaching my kids.  But, then the happiness in part gave way to anxiety.  I'm pretty much ready to start (we're starting Labor Day), but how it's all going to come together with two in school this year (officially for the first time) and a two year old...well, it will be interesting.

Before I send you on your trips (I told you you were going), I'll tell you a little bit about what we've been doing around here. 


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Are We Willing?

In just the past week, I have been bombarded with need.

I received a letter from Compassion International which described the great drought and famine occurring in Africa, an email from Gospel for Asia which brought to my attention to the recent and devastating flooding in India, Myanmar and Bangladesh, a letter from Covenant House requesting funds for their van outreach where they pick up broken youth on the streets and give them shelter and hope, and an urgent request from the World Food Program for funds after telling me that their recent shipment of 800 metric tons of food that they recently sent to Somalia will feed 1.6 million hungry people for only 1 day.

Photo courtesy of the World Food Program

Oh, Lord God.

There is so much need right now.  Across the globe and in our own country as friends and neighbors lose their homes and jobs. Some needs seem more urgent than others, but all are real needs of real people.  Real people like you and me.

It's so easy in the midst of all this need to become so overwhelmed that we let that little voice take control and entice us to look away and think that our measly funds won't make a difference.  You know whose voice that is, right?

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August

Here's what's happening in the garden these days...

 Our zinnias are doing beautifully.  This is the first year we grew them.  They didn't mind the dry spell and keep blooming, providing me with gorgeous cut flowers.  I love having them right along the garden fence that faces the house because I can see them from my kitchen window.  They remind me of my mom and my little sister's wedding and that just makes me happy.

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Little Orley Winners!

I'm so sorry I am drawing names so late tonight.  The day just got away from me!

 Without further ado...the winners are...

Crystal ~ Little Orley Stories CD 

and 

Karla T. ~ Little Orley Radio Show CD

Congratulations, winners!  Please email me your mailing addresses and I will make sure your CD is sent your way:-).

Thank you Red Hen Books & Toys for another great giveaway!! Pin It

Putting Them to Work

I'm not one of those moms who assigns their kids chores for the day or even for certain days of the week.  I like the idea, but I know that if I make a list and display it somewhere either something will come up and disrupt the plan or I'll forget to enforce the schedule/tasks.  So when I need a chore done, I ask a child and expect them to do it.  And, they usually do.

Whenever they give me the line, "But I didn't make this mess!" or "Those aren't my dirty socks!", quick as a wink they get the I-didn't-make-all-these-clothes-dirty-and-use-all-these-dishes-but-I'm-cleaning them-because-I'm-a-part-of-this-family speech, which almost always leads to eye rolling mid-way through the speech as they turn on their heels and start working for fear I'll give them the speech a second time.  It works like a charm.

I often wonder what other parents are asking of their kids.  Are there things that I could be getting my kids to do that I'm missing?  So, I thought I thought it would be fun to do a chore swap.  I'll fill you in on the chore requests that I ask of my kids.  And then, you can do the same.


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Special Occasion Pie Crust

My main pie crust is just fine for day-to-use.  In our house, day-to-day use entails holding quiches and (this time of year) tomato pie.  But if you want a reaallly yummy, lovely, buttery and impressive looking pie crust that holds the juices of fruit pie nicely and remains flaky, you may want to listen up.

My best friend from high school is getting married this fall and she asked me to make some of the desserts for the reception (I enlisted my mom's help).  She wants pies.  So, a couple weeks ago I set out to find a worthy pie crust for this happy occasion and struck gold on the first try.  It helps that the recipe came highly recommended from a dear friend who blogged about it.  It also helped that the original recipe came from Deb over at Smitten Kitchen.  I can't remember a recipe of hers that I've tried and haven't liked.

My standard pie crust method is to make 11 pie crusts at once, line pie plates with them and freeze crust-in-plate so they're at the ready.  This All Butter, Really Flaky Pie Crust recipe which makes two crusts can be frozen in disc form, at the ready for special pies/occasions.

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Lessons Learned

Yep.  Two posts today.  Please don't get sick of me.

1)  Remember that homemade fruit fly trap I told you about just a few days ago?  Well, thanks to commenters Jennifer Jo and Christy, I tried Margo's fruit fly trap and it works even better.  Go on, check it out.  It's even easier to make than the plastic container one and you'll love meeting Margo.  She's darling.  I don't know how I missed learning about this trap last year.  I probably had my head in the canner.


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A Little Orley Giveaway!

My kids cycle through their toys, videos and favorite CDs.  I bet yours do the same.  You know something is really special to them when it never drops out of the cycle.  Little Orley CDs are back in the van's CD player which is a sure sign that they are back at the top of the list once again.  It's hard to imagine our kids ever tiring of them.  Even Miriam, just over 2 years old, asks for Little Orley as soon as she's buckled.

Those of you who are new here may not know about these wonderful CDs.  My dad and his brother listened to the Little Orley radio programs when they were boys.  They both have such found memories of these stories and were thrilled when my uncle came across some of them on CD.  Our family got a hold of one and then purchased several from Red Hen Books & Toys.  We LOVE them- even Jamey and I- which is saying a lot for a kid's CD (I know you know what I mean).  They're great stories that combine humor, lessons, music and old-timey charm.

Well, I have two very fun things to share with you.  First of all, thanks to Red Hen Books & Toys, I'm going to introduce you to some of the other fabulous things on their website over the next couple of months in the form of more giveaways (three, to be exact).  Some of these items are perfect for keeping little hands busy during read alouds when school starts- more on that later.


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Homemade Fruit Fly Trap

Between the tomatoes, the peaches, the nectarines and all the vegetable and fruit peels that are generated this time of year, it makes for fruit fly heaven.  I've tried bought fruit fly traps in the past and they kind-of worked, but I was never very impressed.  I've heard of others having success with setting out a fruity drink or vinegar to attract and drown the little buggers, but not all the fruit flies drown.  Some take a sip and fly off, possibly inviting their friends to join in the drink.  A recent web search lead me to a homemade trap that attracts, traps and drowns them without potentially spilling everywhere if it gets bumped.  And you can make it yourself in 2 minutes.

They suggest using a plastic soda bottle, but since we don't drink soda, I had to improvise.  It was easy to find the type of container that's needed- one that narrows at the top.  I used a dish soap container, but one of my vinegar bottles would have worked just as well.

Find the place on the bottle where it begins to narrow (toward the top) and, carefully with scissors, cut there, removing the top.

 Note the cut I made just over the word "ultra" in the container in the right hand photo.

Take off the container's lid (if you haven't already).  Turn the cut off portion upside down and slide it down into the bottom half.  You do not want the spout to touch the bottom.  Take a look and gauge how much fruit juice or apple cider vinegar you will need.  You don't want the spout to touch the liquid.  Remove the spout half, pour in the liquid and make sure when you put the top back in (spout down) that the spout doesn't touch the liquid.

Now, tape the top edge so that no fruit flies can sneak out between the seams.  The fruit flies enter via the spout but have trouble finding their way out the narrow spout opening and end up drowning.  It's kind of sad.  But, not really.

So, within a few minutes of setting it out, I had caught and drowned five fruit flies with my homemade contraption.  Continued results weren't so dramatic but this has A LOT to do with the fact that I still have tons of fruit and produce sitting around.  These traps will work best once most of our produce is off our counters and tables.  But it doesn't hurt to catch some of those buggers in the meantime.

Brenda, via facebook, offered up a homemade version of this that doesn't require a plastic container.  She wrote,

"I take a piece of paper, twist it into a funnel shape that will fit into a mason jar leaving approx. 1/2 inch hole in the bottom of the funnel. Tape or fasten the funnel together (a paper clip works best as you can adjust the size of the cone), put approx. 1 inch of apple cider vinegar in the mason jar, put the funnel inside but make sure the bottom of the funnel is above the top of the liquid. The top of the funnel seals the top of the jar. Fruit flies go down the funnel towards the vinegar and then they can't get out and die or drown. Clear as mud??? It really does work!"

Thank you, Brenda, and happy fruit fly trapping to you all!

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The Reality of It All

Yesterday I found myself standing in the middle of my kitchen, looking around at all the stuff that accumulates on my counters this time of year.  I thought back to my younger self.  The self that cleaned her house (completely) every week no matter how clean dirty it was.  The self that always had everything in it's place.  The self that couldn't go to bed unless everything was in it's place (no matter the hour).

Ahhh.  I remember her.  Her expectations were high because they could be high.  Fast forward eight years, three children, an old farmhouse, large gardens and a (sometimes insane) desire to put up and make my family's food.

My expectations have changed.

At first, I wasn't too sure about the change.  I regularly had internal arguments with myself.  What if someone came over?  What if I win the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes and they come to my door with cameras?  (I was failing to remember that you actually have to enter said sweepstakes to have a chance to win it.)

But slowly, and over time and additional kids and projects, toys and canning supplies, I've been able to relax into some new expectations of myself.  Here are the main biggies:

1) The house is not cleaned completely unless we're having overnight guests.
2) The downstairs will be cleaned (minus the dusting sometimes) if we're having dinner guests.
3) The bathrooms are cleaned only if they are in (way) obvious need of cleaning.
4) The floors must be picked up/swept every couple days.  I cannot let go of this one- I really dislike feeling stuff on my bare feet.

Back to kitchens.  I often see photographs of kitchens with nary a thing on the counter tops and it puzzles me.  First I think, maybe they don't cook.  Then I think, maybe they do cook but they're just willing to pull out everything they need each time (and then promptly put it all away) to keep their counters clear.  If the second maybe is the case, I applaud them for not being as lazy as I am.  And for having adequate storage space to house all their stuff.

And so, this is my life.  The reality of it all is that my counters are cluttered.  Yes, everything has it's place and one day each thing will return to it's home, but I will never promise that they'll all be away at the same time.

So, just for fun, I'm going to show you what my kitchen looks like these days (this happened to be a pretty good day).  Controlled clutter is what I like to call it.  I'm fine with it.  My younger self?  Well, let's just not show her, okay?

 Pans that wouldn't fit in my drying rack (I do not believe in drying dishes.  Now, if my Mom wants to do it when she comes, I will not stop her.  I love you, Mom!), bag of used plastic bags for freezing, red raspberry jam.

 Butterfly habitat complete with chrysalis and a caterpillar happily munching on carrot fronds, my food processor (which requires me standing on a chair to put back in it's place- not going to happen if I'm going to use it again within a week), spare bowl, cake carrier contraption, bag of jar rings.  Behind it all, radio/tape/CD player, books on tape, CDs.

 Lid, lists, canning journal, seed catalog, Sunday school materials, bug spray, phone, pennies drying on a tissue (what? why?).

 This counter is kept relatively clear.  I mean, where is a girl going to work?  (Three) compost containers (goodness- take a walk already), cooling rack, egg towel, garlic, stevia, homemade fruit fly trap (more on that soon). 

 Even my bench gets cluttered.

Okay.  I know my fridge looks pretty good.  I recently cleaned it because something spilled everywhere.  I just took this picture because I think it looks so pretty this time of year.  You know, because of all the produce?  Am I the only one that sees the beauty of the contents of refrigerators?  

I may be embarrassing myself now.  I'm going to stop typing.

But before I do, I want to know about the state of your counter tops- at this very moment.  Embrace those changed expectations!

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Tomato Love

This past weekend I made the first of (hopefully) five batches of our favorite tomato sauce.  I can't say enough about this sauce.  It's extremely versatile (we eat it over pasta, on pizza, etc.) and is packed full of vegetables that our children can't see (carrots, peppers, onions, garlic).  It's also a thick sauce that doesn't require hours of baking or boiling down.  Oh.  Did I mention that you don't even need to remove the tomato skins?  It's true.  And you'd never know they're in there.  I know.  I know.  Folks tend to be pretty loyal to their sauce.  But!  If you're ready to try something a little easier, a little different, packed full of veggie goodness and fresh garden flavor, go on and give it a try.

Need some other ideas of what you can do with your tomatoes this year?  Let me offer a little help.

Roasted Tomatoes
Tomato Soup
Salsa
Stewed/Canned Tomatoes
My Favorite Tomato Sandwich
Tomato Pie
Curried Green Tomato Sauce
Bruschetta
Fresh Summer Salsa 
Savory Tomato Bread Pudding 
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Slow Cooker Enchiladas

Some folks have mentioned that they have trouble leaving me comments.  If you don't mind, please take a quick second and answer the poll off to the right hand side.  This will help me decide if I need to take steps to change the way my comments work.  If you don't ever try to leave a comment, please don't answer the poll question.  Thank you, dearies!

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This is a dish to make when you have time in the morning but have plans in the afternoon.  It's not a throw-everything-into-the-cooker-and-you're-done kind of a meal.  It's takes some prep, but then you can forget all about it, go about your afternoon and come home (or cease canning) and have a wonderful all-in-one meal ready and waiting for you.

And, if you make it right now (and live around-about where I do), all the veggies are available fresh from your garden or produce stand.

Slow Cooker Enchiladas (adapted slightly from Simply In Season)
Serves 6.  I used 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken, adding it to the onions and peppers once they were soft.

1 pound ground beef, turkey or venison
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup bell pepper, chopped
2 cups cooked pinto or kidney beans
2 cups cooked black beans
2 cups tomatoes, chopped
1/3 cup water (or 1/4 cup if using summer squash)
1 tsp. chili powder (optional)
1 tsp. cumin
1 vegetable or chicken bullion cube
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 cup zucchini or yellow squash, shredded
1 cup carrot, shredded
2 cups corn
2 cups shredded cheese (Monterrey Jack, cheddar, or a combination)
7 (6-7 inch) flour tortillas

In a large skillet, cook the meat with the onions and bell pepper until the meat is browned and the vegetables are starting to soften.  Drain off excess fat.  Add ingredients beans through corn and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 10 minutes.  Drain off some of the liquid that still remains, but don't be fussy and drain off all of it- you want some moisture left.

In the crock of your slow cooker, layer 1 cup vegetable mixture, then 1/3 cup shredded cheese, then a tortilla (in that order).  Repeat these layers, ending with a tortilla topped with cheese.  Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours.  Fifteen minutes before serving, remove the crock and let it cool on the table uncovered to allow some of the juices to absorb.

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Who's Afraid of the Big Bad...Pressure Canner?

I'm not sure exactly how I came across the blogger, Just Plain Marie, but she hooked me from the start. I 

was intrigued by all the food she was putting up while living in an apartment.  She processed a whole pig in 

there.  Oh, yes, she did.  Well, she's a wiz with her pressure canner and since I have been back and forth 

between wanting to learn to pressure can and just sticking to my hot water bath-ing methods, I asked her to 

convince me to go the pressure canner route and she has done just that.  I'm putting a pressure canner on my 

Christmas list!

If she convinces you as well, she suggests that the pressure canner you chose have a three piece weight and 

not just a gauge.  She feels the gauges are unreliable and a lot more work. I bookmarked this blog post awhile 

ago which provides some great things to think about when shopping for a pressure canner. 

Without further ado, be prepared to be no longer scared (if you were in the first place).  Thank you Just Plain Marie!

Why Bother Pressure Canning? 
 
Whenever I talk about pressure canning, I find people who believe that it is too 
difficult, too much effort and work, and invariably, too scary. 
 
Those who are familiar with my blog know that I am strongly in favour of canning 
according to modern, tested, USDA-approved canning methods. That means Boiling 
Water Bath Canning (BWB) for high-acid foods (pickles, jams and jellies, most 
fruit) and Pressure Canning (PC) for everything else. 
 
In fact, I pressure can everything if I can get away with it. Why? Simply put, it 
is easier, less effort and work, and less scary and accident-prone than Boiling 
Water Bath Canning. In addition, Pressure Canning uses significantly less water, 
heats up my kitchen less, can process more jars at a time, works for an incredible 
array of practical, useful, every day foods, and produces food that is safe in a 
normal kitchen cupboard. 
 
Before I go into the details of BWB and PC, let's mention one outdated method which 
many people use - Open Kettle Canning. That is the method by which you boil and 
sterilize your jars and then add hot food to them, add hot lids and rings, seal 
them tight and let a vacuam form without any heat processing at all. Unfortunately, 
it is possible to have a very good seal form and still have unsafe canned goods if 
bacteria remain alive inside the sealed jar.  There are conditions under which I 
would consider doing Open Kettle Canning, but they are few and I won't go into them 
here. Now the practical reason not to do Open Kettle Canning is that you must boil 
your jars to sterilize them, which means you already have the huge pot of water 
ready to do the five to twenty minutes of heat processing necessary for safety! 
 
With all of that, why is my Pressure Canner the most beloved tool in my kitchen? 
 
I do not need to sterilize my jars. I wash them with the rest of my dishes, ensure 
that there are no food bits in them, and then fill them with the food I want to 
Pressure Can. That means I don't have a huge pot of boiling water on my stovetop to 
deal with. When doing BWB canning, it is extremely important that the jars be 
steriled before adding the food, as the jars will only be heated to 212F. 
 
I do not need to heat the food. I keep my food (meat, vegetables, sauce) cold, add 
it to cold jars, and use room temperature water in my Pressure Canner. I have never 
had a jar break. BWB requires hot food to be put into hot jars and added to boiling 
water - there are many, many opportunities for burns. 
 
Once I have my jars in the Pressure Canner, seal it and start up the heat, I have 
very little work to do for between one and three hours. I watch until the steam 
appears and then count ten minutes, then I add the appropriate weight to the steam 
vent. I putter around the kitchen until I hear the weight starting to rock, and 
then I note the time and set the timer. The only thing I then have to do is gently 
lower the heat if the weight is rocking too rapidly. When the time is up, I turn 
off the heat and wait for the pressure to be gone (gauge is at zero, no steam is 
releasing, and pressure lock has unlocked). Then I open the canner and use a jar 
lifter to remove my food. 
 
As for less water - my Pressure Canner (and they're all slightly different) uses 3 
quarts of water. That's all. There's a fill line inside my canner that's about 2" 
from the bottom. My Boiling Water Bath canner is about the same size, and it holds 
almost 20 quarts of water because the water must completely cover the jars by one 
or two inches. Which do you think is easier and safer to lift to the sink and pour 
out? Of course, 20 quarts of water also takes a long time to come to a boil. 
 
Whenever I do Boiling Water Bath Canning, my kitchen fills with steam. That's 

because I have several gallons of water boiling away on my stove for such a long 
time. That wouldn't be a problem during a dry winter day, but most food isn't 
harvested in cold weather. Even though the Pressure Canner brings the food to a 
bacteria-destroying 240F, far less steam is created. Or rather, it's created but 
it's kept inside the canner. Less water is used, and very little water is boiled 
away into the air, 
 
The standard Boiling Water Bath canner will hold 7 1-quart jars or 9 1-pint jars. 
In order to do more, you need to process those, remove them and then add more. 
Technically, this means you can do as many jars as you have the energy to process. 
The problem, though, is that the water is boiling away all that time, topping it up 
with fresh water as it boils away. In order to keep my BWB canner at a full boil, I 
usually have the burner set at maximum. This is hot, steamy work that wastes a lot 
of water (as steam) and uses a lot of heating fuel. The benefit with the Pressure 
Canner shows up primarily when doing smaller jars. I can process 18 pint jars at a 
time, and each pint jar holds 1 pound of meat. 
 
So what foods do I Pressure Can? Looking in my cupboards, I see cooked ground beef, 
meatballs in pasta sauce, chicken broth, pork broth, baked beans, chicken soup 
starter, potatoes, carrots, chicken in many forms, ham, pork chunks, spaghetti 
sauce .... the list is endless. When my cupboard is fully stocked with home-canned 
foods, I can make a beef stew in ten minutes that tastes like it has slow cooked 
all day. I can whip up incredible cream of chicken soup in five minutes. Spaghetti 
and meatballs is a quick meal. Potatoes are $7 for 10 at the grocery store? I'm not 
worried - my home-canned potatoes can be roasted, mashed, added to stew, or made 
into potato salad. 
 
As for safety in the cupboard, we just went through a heat wave. We rarely see 
temperatures over 80F, but they were hovering around 100F all week. I expected to 
see jars popping in the heat. Instead ... a few days ago, my toddler got into one 
of my boxes of canned foods and was carrying around a jar of pork chunks in broth, 
and holding it by the flat lid! The seal held beautifully. I stopped worrying! 
 
None of this is to say that Boiling Water Bath canning is bad. On the contrary, 
pickles must be done in a BWB, as must jams and jellies and most fruits. Pressure 
Canning would destroy these foods. I experimented with Pressure Canning some of my 
rhubarb this year - those jars turned out darker and overcooked. Oh, they'll still 
be edible (and my goodness, they're safe!) but they won't taste as good as the BWB 
jars. 
 
There is definitely a place for both Boiling Water Bath canning and Pressure 
Canning, and I do both. However, when it comes to energy and water conservation, 
safety, convenience and ease, the Pressure Canner can't be beat! 

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Two Corn Salads

Tomato and corn.  It's what I have.  And, it's what others seem to have, too, because in the past week, I've seen several corn salad recipes.  I didn't have a recipe that I really liked, so I gave two of them a go and, as simple as that, my quest has been fulfilled.

If only everything in life was so simple.

One was this Potato, Green Bean and Corn Salad from Epicurious.  Reading the comments was really helpful.  I cut the oil way back, doubled the dressing and added a few tablespoons of mayonnaise to add some creaminess.  It turned out to be a very nice alternative to regular potato salad.  The cider vinegar shines through and adds great flavor- Sam kept saying  it tasted like apples as he gobbled it up.

This second recipe has a very light, fresh taste.  It tastes like summer.  I don't know how else to describe it.  It may appear that my corn is roasted a little.  The recipe doesn't call for roasting the corn, although it certainly wouldn't hurt it one bit.  Mine looks like it's been roasted because I became a bit distracted while I was cooking the corn and it started to burn.  You know that moment, right?  When you're bustling about feeling productive and all of a sudden, your nose senses alarm.  Something is burning.  Mumbling insults at yourself, under your breath (Our kids don't need any new name-calling names, correct?), you grab the pot off the burner and check the damage.

Thankfully, I caught my corn in time.  I quickly added a bit of water and was able to save 98% of the corn.  In this case, the burned aroma can be easily mistaken for roasted.  This won't always happen so well, so I hesitate to suggest you do the same, but if you are SUPER cautious and PROMISE not to blame me if things don't turn out as well, go on and give it a go.  Or, be safe and cook your corn like a normal, responsible person.

Tomato & Corn Salad (adapted from Epicurious)
You can use cilantro in place of the basil if you like.

4 cups corn, cooked or roasted (or ever-so-slightly burned- see above)
1/8 cup olive oil
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
3 medium tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup feta cheese
3 tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk olive oil and red wine vinegar in a medium sized bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients and toss well.  Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Pin It

Ultimate Zucchini Cookies

In case you are a tad recipe-deprived, I have some summery ones for you this week, starting with these delightful cookies.  And!  One day this week, we will be welcoming a guest poster who may possibly flip your world upside down (when it comes to preserving).  At least she flipped mine around.  I'm still working on picking things up off the floor.

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I'm naming these cookies ultimate because they have everything.  They're made with oats, peanut butter, chocolate chips, zucchini (of course) and they are amazingly soft and chewy.  I just do not like hard, dry cookies.  I do not like them Sam-I-am.  Now these, I would eat with a fox and in a box, on a train and in the rain...yeah, yeah...okay.  You get the idea.

Ultimate Zucchini Cookies (adapted from here)
Makes 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used natural)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup rolled oats (not quick oats)
1 1/2 cup shredded zucchini
3/4 cup chocolate chips

In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat butter, peanut butter and both sugars.  Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.  In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and oats.  Gradually add flour mixture to mixing bowl and beat until well combined.  Fold in shredded zucchini and chocolate chips.  Drop by tablespoon onto greased cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes or until the edges turn light brown.  This is important: because they are a soft cookie, let them cool completely on the cookie sheets.  Remove them when they are cool and store leftover cookies in the fridge between layers of wax paper (if there are any).

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