Jalapeno!

So we had a good jalapeno harvest this year.  That is one thing I usually grow well.  I love that it worked out perfect. When I started to can this year I looked and we were down to our last jar from last year!  Awesome... So here is how I do it.

 

First gather all your peppers.  Now I use this same recipe to pickle all my peppers.  I have jalapenos and some red sweet peppers this year and I just mixed them all together.  I like having jars with both spicy and not so spice peppers. 

I like mine to be in rings so I slice them up.  Or if you want whole peppers just cut a slit in each side.

Next sterilize all your jars and lids. 

For our pickling solution you will need to mix 10 cups white vinegar, 1/4 cup sugar and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil and simmer about 10 minutes. 

 

Now that everything's ready fill your jars with peppers.  I use whatever size I feel like.  Usually pints and quarts as we go though peppers quite a bit. 

 

   Ok so I can't pour and take a steady picture at the same time but you get the idea.  Pour your hot pickling solution over the peppers leaving 1/4" head space. 

Run a spatula or knife around the jar to remove air bubbles.  Put the lids on and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. (or longer if you live above 1000 feet altitude. Click Here)

And Voila....

You now have canned jalapenos!

I've used this recipe for years and I've read more of them and had one that called for soaking the peppers in a salt brine for 12 hours first. This is supposed to keep the peppers crunchy and help retain the color.  I've done it both ways and I couldn't tell the difference between the jars that had been soaked and ones that weren't so I stopped doing this step altogether. 

Happy canning!!

 

 

Fall is here!

So No I haven't fallen off the face of the earth! Yet. :)  We have been busy!  Most days I feel like I am just trying to stay above water.  I took on a second part time job at the end of summer here.  But it is seasonal and will end this month.  School is back in session at our house and that takes up a good portion of each day.   Super D got the Chevelle put together and it is in driving condition.

 

Super D has done an amazing job at getting this up and running.  It is a fun car.  That man didn't even make it through the first weekend of it running well before he bought the next project car. The next one will be neat so we will see how that works.  We have lots going on around here it seems.

 

The garden has pretty well this year.  I got a great pepper harvest and some tomatoes.  We had so much rain at the beginning of the season that tomatoes didn't do well.  They were just splitting and rotting before they could ripen. But as we have moved in to fall they are doing decent. I expect the first frost to shut down the rest of the garden any day now.  Next post will be how I canned my jalapenos. 

Happy 4th!

Hope you all had a great 4th of July!  We celebrated with a BIG bang!

We set off all these Fireworks! And had fun doing it.  We had good food including pies from all those blackberries...

I tried to get pictures of our fireworks  but our camera didn't cooperate so I really only have this pictures of Sugar Bug with the biggest sparkler ever!

That is one cool sword!  We had a blast and hope our friends will come out next year for the bash!

Happy 4th everyone!

Blueberries!!!

Blueberries anyone? We went blueberry picking...

 We went and picked 12 gallons of blueberries at a local farm.  We gave away 1 gallon and I canned the rest. 
For those interested I followed this recipe...  Blueberry Jam and syrup.  

I loved that I was making jam and syrup at the same time pretty much.  In all I got 6 half pints syrup, 23 half pints jam, and 23 pints of just blueberries. 
The blueberries I didn't turn into jam I packed into sterilized jars and filled with a light syrup of 1 cup sugar to 3 cups water heated until the sugar dissolved. Then processed them in boiling water bath for 15 minutes. 
It all turned out great and now we are on to blackberries!

Party Animals!

So we had a crazy weekend with a birthday and wedding back to back...
First Sugar Bug turned 12...

Yes my daughter picked a X-box game theme for her cake. She had a rather quiet birthday as everyone was preparing for the wedding the next day.  But we still had some fun and checked out the river, which is way up with all the rain we've had lately.

And of course you have to have balloons! 



Sugar bug was excited to get an easel from her aunt for all her artistic flares...

My two girlies checking out the Nintendo DS Sassafras got her sister.

Next we have wedding!! Super D's little sis got married beside the river in a beautiful service.  Hot but pretty...

Congratulations you two!

My pretty girls.  They were both bridesmaids..

The Cake... All the kids thought it was super cool that the butterflies were edible.  I guess there was something fun about eating a butterfly. 

It was a fun and busy weekend! I'm glad everything went smoothly and no rain this weekend.  We are all recuperating this week! 

New Project

Super D has a new project...

This is after a bit of hard work by Super D and his buddies!  The car came in pieces.

Super D is like a kid a Christmas getting new things for the car...

Don't ask me why but, Yes he is smelling the wiring harness he got in the mail this morning.

He has been receiving packages for the last few weeks...

 Hopefully we have all we need to get it up and running in the next few weeks. 

Garden Time!

Ok, So I've gone overboard on my attempts at gardening before See post 800.  That was part of last years garden and well live and learn.  Of my 800 plants not many survived, but I learned a lot. Mostly I get excited and get a little over zealous trying to plant all that I want and run out of time. 

So with that in mind this year I tried to cut back a bit.  I started some pepper and tomato plants inside.
That's my focus this year tomatoes and peppers that doesn't mean I haven't planted some other things but I'm trying to keep myself reigned in knowing I have limited time to put in on the garden...

Here's my little garden spot.  With everything so green it's hard to see the different things I've got going.  But there's radishes, cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes, spinach, onions, and peppers.  Now I am not a very neat or organized gardener!  As I have plants to go into the ground I find a spot and plant it.  Since there isn't much rhyme or reason to it I have to draw myself a little map of my garden so I can keep it all straight.   And of course I always run out of room so to add some space I use the big hill of dirt we still have..

Since pumpkin did so well on it last year I planted squash, zucchini, watermelon, cucumber, and a pumpkin plant there.  In case your wondering that big tall plant on the hill is what most consider a weed.  It's a poke plant and we left it there as we like poke... Click here on how we make it.

I am pleased this year everything is doing great and I've already picked a mess of spinach and pulled radishes.

My tomato plants already have green tomatoes on them...

I am so excited and hope to have a bumper crop of tomatoes. Now if I can just get the girls to pull weeds I'd be in good shape :) 

Girls Trip

We got a mini vacation right after Memorial day with my mom in Branson.  Super D had to work so he missed out this time but we will be going again!  We had a blast at Silver Dollar City!

Here we are after our first roller coaster, the one in the background.

Sugar bug was super excited to go as this year she was tall enough for all the rides!  We sure took advantage of it and hit as many rides as we could.

Yep I think they qualify.

Of course the water ride was fun and needed as it heated up!

Yes you are going to get wet!

Silver Dollar City is not only fun, but beautiful also.  It's an amusement park set in the woods that also has shows and demonstrations of unique skills.

After we were HUNGRY! so we stopped at this neat restaurant.

Kinda interesting walking through a giant meatball! 
Thank you Grammy for a great trip... We missed having my sister and niece there to join us but they couldn't make it at last minute. 
We will have to do it again!

Where does the Time Go??

 Life has been flying  by this year.  Spring has come, it's starting to get hot, the garden is started, and everything is green! We have been working round the clock to get the place in order. Ready for summer fun. 
In the past few months we've been to Colorado and had a great visit with family and friends...

Easter picture with Super D's family.  It was Great to see everyone!

Girls got to catch up with friends and all those kids are getting so BIG!!
Sassafras got to see her cousin get married...

Sassafras is getting so big and the bride is just beautiful! 

We had a great visit and came home to Missouri just bursting in spring blooms!
So we got some hiking in...

I love Missouri this time on year!  Will get the garden pictures up soon.  Go enjoy the outdoors before it gets unbearable hot!

We may be sick...

So....  Check this out then come back...

Is Opting Out of Processed Food the New Eating Disorder?

 

So really I'm a little speechless over the whole thing.  I think it is ridiculous that  because I wish to eat food without chemicals I could be labeled with a disorder!  This is just over the top.  Sadly the more we come up with silly "disorders" that people have the more we do a disservice to those who are really ill. 

This is the sad direction we are going and I'm afraid it won't change unless more of us stand up and say enough is enough!
 Just doing my part to inform. :)  

 

 



Spring is coming Right???

So we've had winter hit hard late.  Here we are in March when it should be warming up and we are shoveling snow!  We've had 10 inches over the last few weeks in a couple bouts of ice and snow.  So... We've stayed indoors for the most part having fun snow days watching movies and challenging the kids to Monopoly.

Super D remains the undefeated champ in our house.  But it was a close game!  :)

So Yes, if you see the plants in the back ground I am hoping spring makes it soon!  Those were a gift from a friend but I hope to get mine started soon...

Thankfully the weather man says it is supposed to warm up this week!  So we will be out hiking and planting soon.

We had a few beautiful 60 deg. days before the cold that the girls and I went adventuring a bit.  I don't remember what Sassafras thought she saw that made her jump.  We are looking forward to playing in the river soon!

And because I missed it....

Super D surprised all his girls with roses for Valentine's Day.  We had a fun day even though it included loading up fire wood for the cold that was moving in.  :) 

Garden season is almost here.  I will probably be a bit behind but I'll try and keep you all updated.

Life...

Ok, So I have been very remiss in posting since Christmas.  Truth is life has been pretty slow around here.  Winter we spend most of our time indoors and Super D and I have been working and kids doing school.  And really that's about it..  Not a lot of interesting things going on right now. 

But summer is coming.  So anything you have questions about? Anything you all want to see posted?
Let me know!  See you all soon. :)