Preserving Apples at My Kitchen Table

It all happens in the kitchen doesn't it!   Whatever food we grow or raise or purchase, in the end, winds up in the kitchen, doesn't it?

Our kitchen area is the hub of much of our household activities. I just love the whole 'kitchen table' in the kitchen idea.  Growing up we had a kitchen table in the center of the kitchen, and it was always the center of activity.  

We ate off of it ... 

We processed food on it ...

We had family discussions around it and even one on one discussions around it at times ...

My dad would enjoy a cup of coffee sitting around it when a friend would drop by for a visit.  Of course, the friend enjoyed a cup of coffee too.  

Big family meals with extended family and friends happened around that kitchen table.

Fast forward some 40 plus years and in my home today, apple preservation is happening around my kitchen table ...

We brought back a box of sun crisp apples from our travels and today I started work on preserving them.

I filled up the dehydrator with slices ... 

I used the cores to make apple juice, but instead of making apple jelly with it, I opted to freeze it and use it in baking sweet breads later this fall ...

I set aside enough to make an apple cake which will be frozen for the holidays ...

I set aside a few for eating fresh ...

and I set aside one for adding to chicken salad I'll be making later this week.

This is my first time working with sun crisp apples, but it won't be the last.  These apples are delicious and hold up well just sitting in a pretty bowl on the kitchen table while waiting to be used!

Yesterday, we ran errands all day, so I didn't get around to doing the laundry from our traveling.  I tackled that today as well.  Since I was going to have a day of doing laundry, I decided to wash our bed linens as well.  Oh, my goodness, what was I thinking!  By the time I got it all done, I was exhausted and had myself a sit down.  (I did the apples in and around the laundry!)

At the end of the day though, I felt a great sense of satisfaction:  

The laundry was done ...

The apples were in the process of being preserved and I had a plan of how I was going to use the ones not preserved ... 

We would be able to sleep on clean, crisp sheets ... there's just something about sleeping on freshly laundered sheets that feels so right ...

And I paid bills and thought about our financial goals for the rest of September. (The next 'Hunkering Down' post is coming on Friday!)

All of this took place on and around our kitchen table!  Our kitchen table isn't Pinterest worthy, nor does it sit idle with pretty decorations showcased on it while being relegated for holiday or 'company's coming' meals.  Our kitchen table is a workhorse that bears the marks of having raised 3 active children; it has and continues to serve the family that lives here in many ways.

Our kitchen table and I go back a long way, lots of memories have been made at that table and I can't think of a single one that I would want to have happened anywhere else!

until next time,

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps free up more disposable income in budget which we use to help meet our financial goals for the year.   

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means. 

Learning or Improving Upon Skills: Kefir Cheese

If you read last week's A Journal of My Days, you will know that the skill I've chosen to learn or improve upon this month is all things dairy.

This week I've chosen two old dairy skills to revive and improve upon:  kefir cheese and yogurt.

This post is about how I made kefir cheese this week ...

Working with what I had, I pulled a 2-quart glass pitcher from my cabinet and this colander.  I needed a colander that would nest in the top of a container which would allow the whey to drip from the kefir.

Next, I lined the colander with a clean cotton cloth (I used a man's handkerchief.  My husband doesn't use handkerchiefs so when he was given these, I confiscated them for use in the kitchen.) and removed a jar of kefir milk from the refrigerator.  Cheese cloth would work as well for draining purposes or any white/off white clean cotton cloth.

(I got my kefir grains to make kefir milk from HERE.  They've been good, healthy grains from the beginning and continue to be so.  These things multiply so if you know someone who makes kefir milk, you might ask them if you could get some of theirs.)

What's the big deal about kefir ... it's a powerhouse for probiotics!

I emptied the kefir milk into the handkerchief lined colander ...

... and covered it with another clean handkerchief.

You can see the whey starting to drain.  I let it drain for about 24 hours at room temperature.

When the 24 hours was up, I removed the cheese from the cloth and ...

... All finished!  

I added a little salt to the cheese for taste.

Both the cheese and whey went in the refrigerator.

This spreadable cheese will be used in the following ways:

on crackers with a bit of jam or jelly

on toast, again with a bit of jam or jelly (I've been known to mince up fresh garlic, mix it in with cream cheese, spread it on toast and consume it when I need a little health help.  This kefir cheese would be much healthier and would serve the same purpose.)

and as a dip for fried (baked) pita bread chips

If you want to add some flavor to it, mix in a package of ranch dressing dry mix or other similar mixes.

I'm researching ways to use the whey, so far, the most popular ideas I've found have to do with beverages.  Do you have any suggestions on how the whey can be used?

I hope you've enjoyed this little tutorial!

until next time,

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Sharing 44 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study.  Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness.  Ladies, join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

German Chocolate Cake: Made From Scratch

Someone asked me for the recipe for the German Chocolate cake we make from scratch after seeing this picture ...

I thought I had already shared the recipe, but couldn't find it so, here you go ...

This recipe came from my mother-in-law, who is no longer with us.  She served it in her home for as long as I knew her.  It became and continues to be a tradition for our family during the holidays and it has even been requested for a birthday celebration every now and then.

German Chocolate Cake

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (we use cake flour)

2 cups sugar

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon soda

1 cup Crisco

1 pkg German Chocolate melted in 1/2 cup boiling water

4 egg yolks

4 egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat egg whites and set aside

Blend Crisco, sugar, flour, yolks and 3/4 cup of buttermilk

Mix soda with remaining buttermilk and add to above mixture

Add vanilla and chocolate

Fold in egg whites

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 - 40 minutes

Enough for 3 layers

(These layers can be made ahead and frozen!)

Frosting

(we double this recipe)

1 cup evaporated milk

1 stick butter

3 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

1 cup coconut

1 cup nuts, chopped

Mix all ingredients except coconut and nuts in a saucepan and cook until thick over medium heat, stirring constantly.  

Note: this sticks easily so don't take the stirring constantly lightly!

Let mixture cool then add coconut and nuts

Spread between layers, on top and sides

Enjoy!

until next time,

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Sharing 44 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study.  Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness.  Ladies, join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

Beef Stew from My Pantry and What I Did with the Leftovers

Beef Stew was on the menu for a meal one day this week so off to the pantry I went and started pulling jars of ingredients ....

Into the pot it all went ...

After it had simmered for a while, I added cornstarch to thicken it and served it with a side of cornbread.

It was delicious ... and there were leftovers!

With the leftovers, I made a meat pot pie (I drained and added a can of whole kernel corn, chopped some leftover pork loin we had in the refrigerator and added some leftover black-eyed peas from our New Year's Day meal to the mixture.) and then added this topping ...

Mix the following and pour over the top of the mixture:

1 cup self-rising flour

1 stick melted butter

1 cup milk

Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.  

There was a bit of beef stew broth left in the pot after I removed the 'pie mixture' so after that cooled, I froze it for future use in soups, stews and or casseroles.

Everything gets used in our new 'hunkering down' lifestyle!

Can you think of another way to use leftover beef stew?

until next time,

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Sharing 44 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study.  Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness.  Ladies, join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

Biscuits and Tenderlion!

 We had a pork tenderloin in the freezer that needed to be used so, I removed it and added it to the menu.

To go with the tenderloin, I made a skillet of biscuits ...

I had dough left over ...

So, I filled my smallest cast iron skillet with what was left.  Notice the biscuit in the middle, that's what we call a 'funny biscuit.'  My husband's mother started this 'funny biscuit' tradition with our kids as soon as they were old enough to understand.  What is a funny biscuit?  It's when you take the very last bits of biscuit dough and shape it into a funny shape.  In the picture above, I had a narrow strip of dough left, so I just curled it up into a circle and stuck it in the center of the pan ... voila ... a funny biscuit!  My kids used to argue over who was going to get the funny biscuit at grandmother's house as she was a master at creating some funny shapes!  Sweet memories and a frugal fun way to use up 'leftover' dough!

As for the tenderloin, I sliced it up into rounds, floured and seasoned them, fried them up and served them in between those biscuits.  It was truly delicious, and we had enough leftovers for another day.

patsi @ A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Sharing 43 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study.  Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness.  Ladies, join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

Lunch from the Refrigerator!

It was lunch time on a day in which I was battling an allergy issue and I wanted something warm/hot that wouldn't require a lot of effort.  So, I took myself over to the refrigerator, opened the door and had a look inside to see what my options were.

As I surveyed the possibilities, I knew what I would have ...

I laid the ingredients out on the counter ...

Put a skillet on the stove top, sprayed it down with coconut oil cooking spray and turned the eye on medium heat ...

Placed a low carb tortilla in the skillet ...

Added two slices of provolone cheese ....

As soon as I could see the cheese starting to soften and melt, I added thin slices of deli ham ...

After a minute or so, I did a fold over ...

After another minute or so, I flipped it and turned off the stove ...

I placed my hot and gooey sandwich on a plate and cut it in half.

It was quite delicious and hit the spot!

(If you are a calorie counter, as I am, this came to approximately 325 calories.)

Until next time,

patsi @ A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Sharing 43 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study.  Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness.  Ladies, join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

How Are You Coping?

The horrific news just keeps coming, it's everywhere you turn ... social media, online, TV, at the grocery store, corner market, etc.  Everyone is talking about the news, so how are you coping?

How does one stay informed, but not inundated?  In my opinion we need to know the facts but encountering it at every turn is a bit much for some of us, including myself.

Here's how I'm handling the news ...

I limit myself to one update per day, not a continuous feed of updates.  This means I'm careful about what I watch on TV and allow myself to be exposed to online.

I pray about and for the innocent victims and that the reason for this horrific news will soon end.

I do not allow myself to be drawn into conversations where the news is being elaborated on, I just don't.  Everyone has an opinion, and this can turn into a heated argument.  I don't want to be a part of that.

I do not allow myself to be drawn into 'religious' discussions about what is happening.  Here again everyone has their opinion, and a heated argument can quickly develop.  Christians are here to teach and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not argue about whether this is the end of time or not.  If as much energy and effort was being put into sharing and teaching about Christ as arguing over what may or may not be 'religious' implications of the current happenings, I wonder how many more could be won to Christ. 

I stay busy!  This morning I got up and made out a 'to-do' list for the week and then I pulled from that list the things I wanted to work on today.  Here's what my day has looked like so far ...

I made a jar of elderberry syrup ... (The picture in the top left is of all the ingredients I used .... water, dried elderberries, cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise and ginger.)

I took the chicken bones from last week's chicken canning session out of the freezer and made broth.  The plan is to can it tomorrow.

I need a Bible cover for one of my Bibles, so I took the measurements and cut it out today.  I hope to be able to start sewing on it tomorrow.

I spent time outside doing chores, harvesting herbs and soaking up some sunshine.

I spent time in prayer and in Bible study the first thing this morning in and around doing laundry.

I did my daily exercise.

I still have a couple more things I want to do and mark off my 'to-do' list today, but what I want you to take away from this post is that you must be proactive in protecting your mental state and the mental state of your children during this time.  Please be careful and protective.  Don't stick your head in the sand, but don't invite anxiety as a guest into your home either.  Be wise!

Until next time,

patsi @ A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Sharing 43 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study.  Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness.  Ladies, join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

It's Been A 'Kitchen' Kind of Day!

 Pretty much all the work I did today was done in the kitchen ....

(I listened to podcasts and watched/listened to YouTube channels as I worked.)

I started the morning off by cooking sausage patties ahead for our breakfast for the week.  I cooked some bacon ahead too as hubby likes a little variety.  He gets 'food fatigue' really easy.

While the sausage was cooking, I cut overripe bananas in half and froze them.  I'll use them in my kefir smoothies.

Here's the recipe I used today for my 'kefir' smoothie:

In a blender, etc mix ...

1 cup kefir milk

1 tablespoon protein mix

3 pitted cherries (frozen and from my freezer)

1/2 of a frozen banana

Whiz it and enjoy!

I had onions that needed to be used so I chopped up some for the freezer and then sliced up enough to start a couple jars of fermented onions.

I have a few more onions to preserve, but I got a start on them today!

I started canning the chicken we purchased over the weekend as well.  The canner in the picture is processing as I type.  I'm listening to the constant 'jiggle' as I sit and rest!  I'm a bit tired!

Until next time,

patsi @ A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Sharing 43 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study.  Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness.  Join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.

Items I use in keeping my pantry well-stocked:

Dehydrator

Dehydrator Teflon Sheets

Dehydrator Cookbook

Food Saver Vacuum Sealer

Herb/Coffee Bean Grinder

Manual Food Chopper

Pressure Canner

Canning Supplies

Food Scale

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

Zucchini Walnut Brownies

I needed a desert to take to someone and I had some zucchini that needed using so I made ...

Zucchini Walnut Brownies

Beat together in a bowl ...

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups oil

2 cups sugar

Sift together ...

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt 

4 tablespoons cocoa

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well.

Add to mixture ...

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups shredded zucchini

Fold in ...

1 cup walnut halves

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes in a 9 x 13 baking dish

I taste tested the edges ... YUM!

Until next time,

patsi @ A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Sharing 43 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study.  Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness.  Join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.

Items I use in keeping my pantry well-stocked:

Dehydrator

Dehydrator Teflon Sheets

Dehydrator Cookbook

Food Saver Vacuum Sealer

Herb/Coffee Bean Grinder

Manual Food Chopper

Pressure Canner

Canning Supplies

Food Scale

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.