Here at last!

Wow! Hard to believe I'm actually here talking to my blogging buddies. I'm almost shaky.Like everyone else we had a busy summer. I'll try to give you the condensed version in the next few blogs. I was under the impression that I had everything under control,however,I WAS WRONG.

Then before I knew it canning season was upon us.Was I ready? Of course not silly.Jars needed cleaning,equipment needed to be found. Wait a minute jars needed to be purchased.Bounty was greater than anticipated and a trip to Blue Seal was in order.See those raspberries?Two beautiful trays like that were about to go in the dumpster because of heavy harvesting that weekend. Some people rescue dogs and cats. Everyone at work knows I can't bear to see good food thrown out so they came to me and said "Can you do something with this or should we toss It?"Who are they kidding !They knew I would bite for that sob story.

Soooo,despite the fact that I work full time and have a gazillion things to do. I have spent the last 2 weeks canning and canning.These are my little soldiers waiting on the dining room table for me to give them a proper tag. We(it was just me)made stewed tomatoes,tomato sauce,pizza sauce,pickled beets,chow chow,dill pickles raspberry jam,dilled carrots and this year I attempted something new. I quartered and roasted small tomatoes with garlic,onion,and basil in evoo with s&p. When they had roasted to a point where I wanted to rip open the oven door and devour the whole tray,I packed them in hot pint jars.(Well maybe a few didn't make it.hehe)I made a brine of 1part lemon 2part vinegar and 1part evoo. Part for me equals 1 cup but it can be whatever you want it to be.This was brought to ALMOST boiling then poured over the waiting Divine tomatoes as we are calling them. I don't know why I keep saying we. Trust me no one in my house cares what I call the food as long as I call them to the table. Slap me if I say that again. Anyhow process in a hot bath 20 mins and take them out and admire the beauty of them. Really,I was impressed with these.

So this is Sarah The baby in our home. She is also the main reason our summer was crazy busy.She and her husband Matt needed temporary housing this summer. Matt was on tour with his band and she got a new position with Boston Ballet. She is their new outreach director. Well of course my husband and I opened the Inn as it is called by everyone in the family and said "come stay with us"The biggest problem for me was that my guest room is my computer room. The biggest problem for Sarah was and additional hour drive to and from Boston. After 8 week of living out of a suitcase she is now in her own apartment and about 15 minutes from her office.That's her in her pantry jumping for joy. We are very glad to see her embark on this adventure and wish her success. Oh ya,we miss her too......................said the hobbit

Pizza night and coffee too

Guess what I got at pizza night.That's right ,Sarah

read my blog and came with enough coffee for me to maintain my $1.83 a day

as my January total.That means $56.73 was spent on food in the month of January. We have decided to try for one more month and see just how frugal we can be.

Fridays pizza night was one of the better ones I wish I had a picture to show you,but,it was that good.That's right, gone before I could even think of taking the camera out. As you know I've been making my pizza dough once a week. After the first rising I freeze the dough in 4 separate packages that way I can take out only what I need.
This week was a spicy one.Instead of the traditional red sauce I used this Spicy Maple Fig Sauce It's made in Maine but about 15 miles from our home so I consider it local fare. I topped this with caramelized onions and thinly sliced andouille sausage then smothered in cheddar cheese. Pop it the oven for 18-20 minutes and gone in the blink of an eye.

The after pizza treat came from the back of a dark brown sugar bag that was begging to be used in this pantry game. They weren't bad I might even try this again. Here is the recipe for those who are unable to decipher the blur of a picture

1 cup of dark brown sugar

1 cup of softened butter

2eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teas.salt,baking soda,cinnamon

1/2 teas nutmeg

1/4 teas ground clove

1 cup dried cranberries

1cup golden raisins.

I had everything but the sour cream so I soured some whole milk with lemon juice let it sit for 30 mins and then proceeded with the recipe

Preheat oven to 400.I thought this was a little high for my old oven so I did my favorite temp of 350ish

Lightly grease cookie sheets-I sprayed one with pam, used parchment paper on one and a silkpat on another.The winner was the pam.

Then you beat the sugar with the butter add the eggs and sour cream till creamy as they say.

By now I have sifted all my dry ingredients and they are added to the creamy mix. Then you fold in the cranberries and golden raisins.

Drop by the large spoonful onto the cookie sheet and bake 8-10 min. I called these biscuits because they didn't spread out like cookies do. They were more cake like. The recipe makes 5 dozen .Yeah that's a lot of cookies for 2 people. However some went home with Sarah and more will be taken to work. I think the thing I've heard the most from people who are eating out of the pantry is how much extra food they have. For less then it would have cost for a bakery dozen of cookies I ended up with 5 dozen. Kind of makes you feel like a magician. Well there is plenty of food left in the pantry so I'm hoping for a good month of Feb. Well I think I've been sitting here playing long enough after all time wasted is existence time used is life........................said the hobbit