Quote from Hubby

In a very sleep deprived state.

"So insomnia is an inability to sleep.  Then what is outsomnia?"

Random Thought

The other day I had to drive out to the local farmer's co-op to buy Chloe's dog food.  While driving through the countryside, there seemed to be an awful lot of birds mooching from the farmer's fields.  There were the usual geese.  Then there was a flock of turkeys.  Then there were small flocks of sandhill cranes.  Imagine the size of the hot wings you could get from sandhill cranes.

Beef Stew

Just the thing for a cold, rainy fall day.  Even better that it can be made using the new kitchen tool, the modern, gadgety pressure cooker from my aunt.

 I have never really been a fan of crock pots.  My mom is many things, but a super-fantastic cook is not on the list.  We never starved, a testament to her tenacity, but it wasn't always pretty.  As a result, the mention of crock pots conjure images of over-stewed turkey drumsticks and soup that could be used as glue-way too much barley.  Crock pots also suck a lot of power - all day or all night long, depending.  I will never forget a friend who was heading to the jungles of Brazil to be a linguist asking me, "Can I run a crock pot on the same solar cells that I use for my computer and radio?"  To which I replied "No, not enough juice."  

But sometimes it is necessary to simulate slow cooking when the grocery store meat prices push me to buy a tough chunk of heavily used dairy cow that has been "retired".  After an hour in the pressure cooker, the meat is nice and tender and all the yummy flavors have been sealed in the cooker and infused into the stew.

The beef stew recipe is fairly standard:
1-2 lb. chunk of tough beef, cut into big bite sized cubes,
    seasoned with salt and pepper
1 onion, cut in big pieces
2-3 potatoes, peeled and chunked
2-3 carrots, washed and chunked
2 or 3 bay leaves or a sprig of rosemary
thyme to taste
a few slices of pickled jalapenos, if heat desired
a few good squirts of Worcestershire sauce (1-2 Tbs.?)
a few good squirts of malt vinegar (1-2 Tbs.?)
additional salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups water

Brown the meat & onion.
     (This particular gadget has a browning setting!)
Dump all the ingredients into the pressure cooker.  Put the meat on the bottom of the pile.  Seal the pressure cooker tightly, switch it to pressure mode, set timer for 60 minutes, and start it.  Keep children and pets away from the device until cooking is complete and pressure equalizes with room.  If impatience and hunger rule when the cooking is complete, use pressure relief valve very carefully to equalize pressure with the room.  Don't use leafy herbs like parsley in the pressure cooker as they may clog the over pressure safety valves.  If parsley is desired, add it at the end.

Unfinished Projects

Well some cooking and canning has been completed.

But there is more to do yet,

because my dining room table and other places are still buried.

See.

But here is what has been done so far.

I found some new recipes in a library book

Blue Ribbon Preserves, by Linda J. Amendt at the library.

There will be more details on a few of the recipes I have tried in future posts when I am done dealing with the bounty.

Pickled Jalapenos

More Marinara sauce, tomato juice,

 and meatless green tomato mince

(It ain't pretty; so eat it with your eyes closed.)

Oh and hubby says I have to finish Chloe's haircut before pheasant season opens because he is not taking her anywhere the way it looks now.

It is good that dogs don't care what they look like.

In case you are wondering, it takes a long time to get a dog's ears cleaned, hair brushed, bathed, dried, and shaved.  I ran out of time in the day but needed to get the end that makes messes shaved before she had to go potty again.

Have a wonderful evening.

Tis a Blustery Day and Night

Nope, I did not see Piglet fly by today, but on the drive over to mom's to give her shot, there was a rather slender and scruffy looking man trying to cross the street.  He was leaning at least 15 degrees into the wind.  He had not been to a barber in a while and had adopted the bandana tied around his forehead look to keep his hair from blowing all over the place.  In spite of it all he looked like he was enjoying his walk.  The lady on the next block did not look nearly as amused.  I would guess that by the time she reached her destination her hair looked like she had styled it with a hand held mixer.

Today has been spent canning, cooking, and more canning.  Maybe there will be some pictures of the kitchen bounty tomorrow.  Sleep sweet everyone.

Fall Is Falling

Enjoy the colors

before they get buried under snow.

Update:
The scary thing is I made this blog post before reading the weather forecast.  Behold below - they mention flurries.

• SaturdayA chance of sprinkles and flurries before 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 48. Northwest wind 11 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.

Winter is coming.

Apple Calzone

What do you do when you have extra pizza crust dough and some apples?  You make an apple calzone of course.  It turned out pretty good, but if I made it again I would sautee the apples a little before filling and sealing the dough.