Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[misfitmorgan]

I must say Misfit....I haven't gotten hard up enough to give that a shot, I much prefer the fruit....but, it is good to know in case I'm starving.....
My preference on squash is crooked neck, but do like acorn and butternut too. Mom did her pickles the old fashioned way of brine, lime, sugar and spicing....she used an old butter churn and it took close to a month...I believe. They were sweet pickles and she used the McCormick pickling spice, but hand picked the red pepper flakes out of it. I thought of them as candied cucumbers....but were really good....I like it as relish in tuna, egg, and potato salads....they are great as slices on burgers too.

Well supposedly the squash vines taste really good, lots different dishes from different countries that use them including italy it seems.
http://www.motherofahubbard.com/eat-shoots-and-leaves/ That actually a really interesting blog for growing stuff and using stuff you grow lol.

If you ever get radishes that bolt...let them go until they grow pods on top....you can eat those and omg they are better then the radish.
http://www.gardenbetty.com/2013/04/radish-seed-pods-and-some-pickles/ Of course i also like radish greens so you have to choose which you want.
Really interesting how much tasty stuff comes out of a garden that i never knew was useful or edible. We always ripped out radishes that bolted....i so regretted 25yrs of that when i tasted a radish pod for the first time.

 

[Mike CHS]

The pickles we made yesterday are all for short term since they weren't done in a water bath but the next batch will be for long term. The relish (or chow chow) we made this morning was all done in a water bath with splenda since Teresa can't have sugar.

 

[Hillaire]

I have never been brave enough or have enough patience for canning... maybe next year I will give it a try... my garden is lackluster this year anyways lol

 

[CntryBoy777]

@Hillaire I don't know about up there, but down here ya can buy peas and stuff by the bushel. You don't have to raise it to benefit ya. The easy way and a good way to start is to freeze peas, squash, corn, and such for winter eating. It is as simple as shelling, washing, and parboiling....allowing it to cool and put it in zip lock bags and place in freezer. The stuff in jars does last longer, and stays good thru extended power outages.

 

[Bruce]

Poor Teresa! Can she do raw honey???? If I were in her place I'd be eating nothing with any sweetener, artificial ones instantly give me a major migraine.

I've never canned either. I only buy Claussen's pickles. They stay crunchy in the fridge for months. I also only buy refrigerator salsa/pico de gallo. Cooking turns it to mush and messes with the individual flavors. No thanks.

 

[Hillaire]

@Hillaire I don't know about up there, but down here ya can buy peas and stuff by the bushel. You don't have to raise it to benefit ya. The easy way and a good way to start is to freeze peas, squash, corn, and such for winter eating. It is as simple as shelling, washing, and parboiling....allowing it to cool and put it in zip lock bags and place in freezer. The stuff in jars does last longer, and stays good thru extended power outages.

By the bushel not so much... we do have farm stands but unfortunately they try to really drive up the price due to being in closer proximity to nyc and they really promote "farm fresh" the store bought stuff is fine but just fine lol

 

[misfitmorgan]

The pickles we made yesterday are all for short term since they weren't done in a water bath but the next batch will be for long term. The relish (or chow chow) we made this morning was all done in a water bath with splenda since Teresa can't have sugar.

You don't have to water bath pickles. You would need to use a recipe with amounts such as 12C water, 5C White Vinegar, 1/2C Salt for the base and then add whatever herbs or seasonings you like. Pack jars with cukes and whatever you want, bring brine to a rolling boil, fill jars with brine, quickly put on sterile/hot lids & rings. Place in a deepish pan(with easy to hold handles) and stick them in 310F oven for 15 minutes. Turn off oven, leave in oven over-night to cool. Remove and check to make sure each jar sealed. Done!

Alternatively you can also do 300F for 20 mins with a brine of 6C White Vinegar, 3t sugar, and 6t salt. You can also do the same method with dilly beans. The oven method is much less messy and we generally can make up to 24 quarts at once.

 

[Mike CHS]

Poor Teresa! Can she do raw honey???? If I were in her place I'd be eating nothing with any sweetener, artificial ones instantly give me a major migraine.

I've never canned either. I only buy Claussen's pickles. They stay crunchy in the fridge for months. I also only buy refrigerator salsa/pico de gallo. Cooking turns it to mush and messes with the individual flavors. No thanks.

She can and does eat a lot of honey. We have even grown stevia but neither of us care for the after taste that it has.

 

[misfitmorgan]

i cant stand stevia either, my mom pretty much lives on it and tries to tell me it tastes exactly the same a sugar...i tell her her taste buds are broken.
It's good Teresa can have honey , have you tried other sweeteners like agave syrup, brown rice syrup, coconut sugar, palm sugar, date sugar or date syrup? Might offer up different sweet profiles she might like so she can have a change up now and then.

 

[Mike CHS]

We don't use a lot of sweetener but have tried some of those mentioned. We cook a huge variety of foods and sweetener in most cases isn't missed.