We had a big labor day project which was redoing the plywood on my kitchen floor. That also lead to putting in a new 'temporary' sink and cabinet. I want a double sink someday when we rearrange and expand the kitchen, but for now the old one is back in place. I would have shown you pictures of it, but everything else looks so crappy, I'd be embarrassed. The other half, Frank did all the work. The trap is leaking and will have to be replaced, it is from the old sink setup too. At least this cabinet is not ready to fall over, the old one was sawed off the end of my now non-existent stretch of cabinets that were original to the kitchen. I am thankful and appreciate all his hard work, it was a bear of a job and the floor still isn't level.
Lee and I stopped at a Salvation Army store at the end of a shopping run, and did some thrifting. I got that great little bike basket and the wooden telephone message center, which I had seen a month ago and couldn't believe was still there. I got the basket for $2.99 but had to get the message center stickered. Only $1.99 for that, and I was all smiles. The basket will come in handy for toting things down to and up from the freezers in the cellar.
This is the rest of my haul for that day. The two little wicker chairs are now occupied by birthstone fairy dolls in the office. The castle book went right into my reference bookshelf, it is a Dover book and has lots of black & white pics and illustrations. The cookbook had a couple of really good recipes, and even Lee said he could make those. The amberwear ramekin is for things like roasting garlic in the toaster oven. I just couldn't pass up the stoneware vase with lady bugs, it has a slightly bluish cast to it. The tins are for craft doodad storage, so much nicer to look at than plastic tubs.
Earlier we had stopped briefly at Michaels Arts & Crafts and I did a quick run through the store. Give me credit for having some self control, it was not easy. The two pendants I can wear on a sterling silver snake chain I like. The buttons are for projects, but I think someone is getting the smiley face ones for Christmas. She will know what to do with them. Those are silver sprinkles for Halloween (???) but I thought they would be excellent on Christmas cookies, which I do tons of every year and give them away. The curved high-temp silicone scraper comes in handy when you have hot stuff to get out of a pot - and it was marked down! Hey, I spent under $12, and paid cash.
This week's first big project was making mango salsa. I will post the recipe I used if anyone is interested. I make mine with half mangos and half tomatoes, and it gets a light cooking for about 20 minutes to soften everything and meld the flavors. I don't can it, I freeze it. Freezing is better because it stays fresher tasting and you don't need all the vinegar to preserve it. I don't care for the taste of salsa with lots of acid, and you can't safely water bath can anything without a good acid balance. This is real good stuff.
A closeup of the salsa. I didn't get fancy about how things were cut up, but I did it all by hand. I chopped and cooked the day before, cooled the pot on a rack, and stuck it in the fridge overnight. That way it went into the jars cold for the freezer. Always leave some headspace so it can expand as it freezes, I stop filling at the bottom of the threads. BTW, the jalapenos, tomatoes, and some of the bell peppers in here came out of the garden. It has a decent bite, even though I seeded and partly ribbed the jalapenos, about medium hot and quite fruity. I used 4 average sized mangoes in there.
The yield was 17 half pint jars, one 12 oz jar (that is what we put our regular salsa in) and one little container for the kitchen fridge which is all but gone. Good stuff! That old galvanized basket was from our first freezer, which was a chest style that we bought used. It died years ago, but I kept the basket which is nice for hauling things up from or down to the cellar. We have 3 upright freezers and a big canned goods shelf down there. I am looking to get a new large freezer to replace the two small old ones, eventually. I know, it costs to run them all, but I feed 6 people and I have them all stocked with veggies and meat and things we get on sale.
The rest of the bell peppers I picked got seeded and sliced up in strips for the freezer - no other processing necessary. I have a few more bell peppers coming along, as well as hot and frying peppers. When they are expensive this winter, I will have plenty to cook with. After being frozen, they are no good in salads, they get too soggy. If I take a bag out, I knock it gently until I loosen some of the strips and then just quickly run a little water over them. Still partly frozen, the pepper strips can easily be chopped. Another little trick I learned over the years.
The broccoli and cauliflower here are from the garden. That was one head of cauliflower, not as big as some I have grown, but decent sized. It is not all snowy white like the stuff in the store, which has been gas treated, but it tastes wonderful. I soaked the cuts in bowls of salted water to kill any hidden buggies, because I don't spray much. It gets rinsed afterward. I only got two little caterpillers, so not too bad - something you learn to live with if you want fresh produce that isn't full of poisons. Both got blanched in boiling water for three minutes, rinsed and dunked in cold water, and then drained and packed in zipper freezer bags.
The jalapenos and tomatoes were just there and I left them in the picture. Yeah, some of the tomatoes have bad spots, it is the end of a very wet season. Rinsed and cut off, they still taste yummy. I think I will make some baked jalapeno poppers.
We picked 18 lbs of green beans last time and gave away more than half because they are still coming in. This is maybe 8lbs that I snipped and rinsed, ready to be put up. I freeze them so they get the boiling water bath treatment too. Blanching softens the tissue, kills spoilage enzymes, and I think improves the taste. Lots of good eating there!
The results of an afternoon's work. I got two quarts of baby broccoli spears, one scant quart of cauliflower, and 4 quarts of green beans with enough left to cook for dinner! Yeah!
Remember that thrifted bike basket? It has already been put to good use.
And now you have a better idea of how I spend my 'spare' time. As I said in the previous post, I start the majority of my own plants, and do all the planting myself. Every one of these veggies has been coddled from a young age. Would you believe that because I am still a stay-at-home wife and very overweight, some people have accused me of sitting around all day eating junk food and watching TV? Yeah, right... *ROLLS EYES*
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