Been doin' stuff!

 Good morning all!  

Sorry it's been a while since last we spoke, but I've been making up for the 2 weeks I lost being vaccinated by God for Covid!  That was a long road to hoe, but not near as long as some who've gone thru the process.  I'm not complaining at all!  I'm glad it's over and done with though.  I still don't have my sense of taste and smell back.  It is coming back a little at a time.  The other night I had chicken on the stove cooking.  We have a large open area that is a combination of the kitchen and the Den (aka the gym/man cave).  I was sitting in a chair in the Man cave with DH, when all of the sudden I smelled something that smelled so good!  It was the chicken!  I hadn't smelled anything for 2 weeks!  It was awesome.  Other things haven't come back yet, but that did; so I know I'm on the right track.  

Once I was over the Fever, the Covid, and the migraine that had nothing to do with Covid, but decided that would be the time to harrang me; I started doing things a little at a time.  I started with processing the huge amount of Bell and Jalapeno peppers from the end of the summer garden.  

The larger ones I just blanched and froze for use as Jalapeno poppers and for stuffed bell peppers.  The rest were made into  Cowboy Candy aka Candied Jalapenos  These are a very sweet hot condiment used to top cream cheese and crackers, or Hamburgers, sandwiches, Bar B Q.  All this was slow going and it was about all I could do that day.  

I've cut out things to sew, and begun the process of reclaiming the house again.  I've baked some bread.  I need to do that again.  I've made a batch of Cookies.  Probably should do that soon.  The thing that has given me the most pleasure, and strength is being outside again!  It's time to get things set up for fall and winter.  I swear something happens every fall that sets me back where I can't get it all done, but I've made lots of progress.  I've been clearing out beds, thinning strawberry beds, replanting and giving away strawberry plants, preparing perennials for colder temps, basic yard clean up and raking up leaves both for our yard, my garden beds, and our chickens.  I/We have a lot to still do.  We have 7 roosters to start processing for the freezer.  That's on the docket for this weekend.  It's no where near a years worth of chicken for the freezer, but it's something, and we'll take it.  

Yesterday was a rainy, cold day; so no playing outside.  Instead I opted to do something I've been meaning to do: Can dried beans for convenience.  It takes a while to do it, mainly processing time in the canner.  In order to maximize efficiency, I opted to do this in conjunction  with making last nights dinner: Ham and Navy Bean Soup.  So I got out my Big water bath canner and filled it with 6 lbs of navy beans.  I let them cook til almost soft.  I measured out 6 cups of beans for dinner and put that in a Dutch oven  with the rest of the ingredients to finish cooking.  I then proceeded to can up the rest in my pressure canner into exactly 7 quarts of navy beans.   

Our dinner last night was the soup paired with Garlic Parmesan Bread Sticks.  This morning I'm canning up last nights leftover soup to go on the shelf : 4 pints, plus 2 pints of left over chili.  

Yea, I could freeze it, but this way it doesn't take up freezer space, and I don't have to thaw it to serve it.  I'm feeling like this practice is going to become common place here.  It's more work on the front end, canning all this up, but the pay off of having the convenience of just opening a jar for dinner sounds very appealing.  Not to mention something shelf stable allows me to free up freezer space for other things, or to eventually get to the point where I no longer need a second freezer!  Dare I dream?  That would be a nice energy savings at a time when energy prices are climbing.  

I won't be canning up any dried beans over the next 2 weeks.  The canner is slated to be canning up the chickens we process( possibly), a turkey I bought yesterday (definitely), the bone broth from both, and some potatoes that need to have something done with them.