When life gives you hail, IMPROVISE!

You saw the damage. Not pretty.  This was my best year for tomatoes.  I lost four plants, two of which were massive!  They were magnificent.  But amazingly, the plants did their job and protected the tomatoes...everything was stripped except for the tomatoes.  I lost some, but I had 17 pounds of perfectly good green tomatoes.  What to do, what to do????  Usually it's in late fall when I have this problem and I just let the green tomatoes ripen inside.  I've been seeing so much on green tomatoes lately that I wanted to try some things.

Here's a sampling of some of my tomatoes.  They were just gorgeous.  I decided to make a green tomato salsa, picalilli (which is a green tomato relish), and also with some of my zucchini, I made mock pineapple.

It all turned out beautifully and the mock pineapple (zucchini) tastes just like pineapple!  We put it on some pizza.  It's awesome.  I found something else that I will no longer need to buy.  I rarely use pineapple so that's going to be a real treat!  I hope through life's storms you find the unexpected treasures!  Blessings to you!  Happy canning and harvesting!

Biggest secret EVER!!!

We heard something about a week ago that exists here in Colorado.  I couldn't believe it.  I would often sit in front of the tv watching shows about Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, pining away about this certain something.  Living here for the majority of my life, I just now found out that here in the landlocked state of Colorado...we have salmon!  Isn't that unbelievable???  Apparently, they are a landlocked, freshwater species that is a cousin to the sockeye. It's spawning time, and the department of wildlife nets a ton of salmon to collect eggs and puts them in their hatcheries so that in the spring they can be released. Once they do that, then they open up what is called snagging season (will discuss this in a bit).  They are called Kokanee, and this lady was very excited.  So I got myself worked up into a very fishy frenzy and we got ready for our adventure.

First issue we had:  the reservoir is over four hours away.  No problem...we just did some forward planning and woke up at four in the morning (not pleasant).  With four kids (between ages 10-17), that was fun...but they made the most of it and it turned out to be the most gorgeous day.

Second issue:  we do not fish.  We didn't even own one fishing pole.  This is where you can laugh hilariously at me!  My husband and son are hunters, but there is not one fisherman in the family.  So why even attempt this?  Well, snagging is a different kind of fishing.  You don't use a lure or a fly or bait.  You use a snagging hook, which in technical terms is a weighted treble hook.

You basically are trying to "snag" them in their body and drag them in.  Why allow this?  Well, during spawning, the salmon aren't going to go for any lures, and once spawning is done (you've seen the shows), they die.  So they allow snagging only on the salmon during this time period so that there isn't a horrendous amount of dead fish floating in the reservoir or the small little river and tributaries leading to the hatchery.  So, in my mind, no true skill is really involved.   Ahem, well, we had a few things to learn.

Issue number 3:  I was thinking this would take no real skill.  With six of us, we could all get our limits and bring home 60 salmon.  Well, that didn't quite happen.  First of all, we have very little fishing knowledge, so it took a while before we had our gear ready to go.  My husband was the only one who knew how to tie the hooks onto the line.  As we got going, almost everyone around us were catching things left and right, and we weren't getting anything. I would sit and watch to see what they were doing and learned some good things.  We talked to some of the guys around us and they told us what to do.  I felt like I had a groove going, but the day was almost done.  This is probably the last good week of snagging because we caught some salmon that had already started their decay (yes, they are still alive...they have tell-tale signs like yellowish spots of missing scales and tails that are yellowish and partially missing).  You can't eat those.  Our grand total of fish: three!  I don't feel horrible because some of these guys had tons of fish and were fishing all day, but by the time they were going home, they only took three.  They were beautiful fish, though.  We caught two males and one female.

We ate them yesterday and they were very delicious.  I wish I had more!  The eggs from the female went to our chickens, along with any stray scraps we had.  The heads are going straight into my garden bed for tomatoes...that will be wonderful fertilizer.  I had considered making my own fish fertilizer (like you buy in the store) but I read on someone's blog how he made it in Florida and a neighbor almost called the police because of the horrendous smell (they thought he had a dead body in his backyard).  Since I live in the burbs, no thanks!!! Hahahaha!

Lessons learned:  1) more fishing rods!  Because of budget, we could only have two.  That was a bit of a bummer.  2) Everyone learn to tie their own hooks!!! 3)  We did have plenty of hooks, which you need for snagging, but next time, I need smaller snagging hooks.  We had size 5/0, when really we needed size 4/0.  That's all they had in the stores around here so I have to find the right size on the internet.  

Would I go again?  You better believe it.  When you can see the salmon swimming, you know the water is ripe for the picking.  I have much more knowledge now and I am so excited for next year.  Living in the suburbs, sometimes you have to find resources that are outside your immediate community.  Take advantage.  Find some farms for produce, find some lakes/reservoirs/rivers to fish...the possibilities are endless.  I had no idea we had salmon, but now, it's on my yearly to do list!  

It was something we had NEVER done before. Sometimes you have to step outside the box.  I tell my kids, always try to learn something new.  We had a good time!  May you find a lovely adventure where you live!

Blessings!

Garden happenings

Cilantro
I don't know about your garden, but one of my self-seeding plants in the garden is my cilantro.  I can seriously consider it a weed because it grows everywhere!!!!  Every year, I let it flower because it is so inviting to all the beneficial insects and then it goes to seed (which I try to control) and then it's growing season is over while everything else starts ramping up...like tomatoes.  I always make salsa and can it and you have no idea how infuriated I am with myself because I have to buy cilantro...from the store...and it's not very cheap...and I had pounds of it weeks before!!!!  Well, no more, my friends...I picked half a pound of it today and I could still get a lot more...I'll keep picking as this week progresses.  I'm freezing it so that I have plenty when it's time for salsa making or if I want to make Chipotle-style burritos!!!  I saw a blog where they clean the cilantro, take off stems, barely put olive oil on it so that everything gets an extremely light coat of it, then I bagged it up and stuck it in the freezer.  I am so thrilled!  Here's what half a pound of cilantro looks like:

The salad spinner I have the cilantro in is not a small one--it's a pretty large hefty one that can really hold some greens!  (I got it at the thrift store for around $5...this brand usually runs around $30...it's already earned it's keep around here!)

Other homestead updates

The garden is just swinging along.  I have my own personal army of ladybugs...it's been so exciting to see that because it helps me feel that the garden is in balance. The lacewings are out, too, so the beneficials are really working hard this summer season.

 I will probably have some yellow squash and zucchini by the end of the week.  We've had some beautiful salads lately and we are just chomping at the bit for the zucchini!!! The peas are prolific and tomatoes are forming left and right.  All in all, it's been a good growing season so far.  

The chickens have been so fun to watch and feed.  I give them tons of garden scraps and I never knew chickens could "honk" like geese.  It's the funniest thing.  Here is something I found on clearance at our local grocery store.  I wanted to do a rooster stencil on our chicken coop, but the bargains never cease to amaze me.  This is the before...

It's a rooster chalkboard.  I paid $3.59 for it because it no longer came with it's stand.  No problem.  I didn't want it as a chalkboard anyway!  Here's where it is now!

This is actually the door of our chicken coop.  We painted the rooster white like the trim, and I hardly had to put any effort into it!!!

Here's the actual full coop pretty much finished.  I have one more thing I have to do with it if I get some time, but it is fully functional and complete!  My husband did such a nice job!!!  The flowers on the front give it a nice touch, too.

The yellow flowers, calibrochoa, I picked up from the store, and just peeking up in the back is one of two agastache (will be purple) that I started from seed indoors.  They should be a striking combination!!!  

I hope all is growing well in your part of the world.  To all my fellow Americans, happy Fourth of July!!!  Be safe and God bless!!!

Stretching the Food Budget Friday

Fast Food at My House

Are you ever in a pinch and need to make something fast without having to go to a fast food joint???  With four kids and many different schedules, my instinct is to get something quick.  However, the budget is too thin to be going out all the time.  Another problem I have is that I make everything from scratch and sometimes meals take a while to put together.  Things are frozen in bulk and time is of the essence.

So, what do I do?  Well, a little planning never hurt anyone!  Add a bit of creativity and you have yourself a meal!  One of my easy go-to quick meals is bread pizza.  I got a nice loaf of sourdough bread on the clearance rack.  I use my homemade sauce and top with cheese and I throw it in the oven for a few minutes and boom, quick meal with great results. 

I also made a second batch in which I put some leftover sausage.  I have a stash of cut-up green peppers in the freezer which I bought on sale during the summer for such a time as this.  A little bit of pepper goes a long way!  I added the cheese and crushed red peppers and my husband was very happy with it!!!  He eats late at night due to his work shift so this is also a quick dish to reheat. 

This also is a super-cheap meal idea...we have been in a bind lately financially so this was quite delicious and very affordable.  Who doesn't like pizza?

Hope you have a great week...we are going into Spring Break now, hallelujah!!!!  We have lots of cleaning to do and fun projects.  Lots of posts to come!  Blessings to you!

Stretching the Food Budget Friday

Lasagna

Sorry for such the delay in blogging; between bad weather, getting sick, and my oldest daughter's algebra class, my hands have been full.  So back to blogging I go.  We have to forego getting groceries for an extra week due to some budget issues, but with a well-stocked pantry and freezer, that isn't a huge problem.  I decided to make lasagna last night.  I did have a problem though:  I had no cottage cheese.  The lasagna I make is fairly traditional: mozzarella, meat sauce, cottage cheese, a sprinkling of parmesan.  However, with no cottage cheese, I felt my lasagna would fall pretty flat.  I didn't have any extra meat to put in it so what to do???

Well, this is where the homemaker must get creative and improvise!!!  We had some leftover mashed potatoes...yes, mashed potatoes!  I mixed in extra sour cream and layered the tasty potatoes as I usually would with cottage cheese.  I baked it and served it and it was quite tasty and gave the lasagna some bulk and substance!  It absorbed any extra liquid and made a very nice substitute.  Is it traditional?  Of course not.  But we made do with what we had on hand and turned out an excellent meal without having to run to the store.  Problem solved.  Stretching your food budget means being creative with the food you are blessed with and not running to the market every time something comes up.  Mashed potatoes (or potatoes in any form) can be substituted to give your dish an extra oomph...try it and see what happens!  I'd love to hear what you're doing to stretch your food budgets!

I hope you all have a warm and toasty weekend as I know many are still digging out from the snow!  Blessings to you and hope to hear about any awesome substitutions you have made with your meals!!!

Stretching the Food Budget Friday

What to do with 12 ounces of pecans??? Part 1



Stretching the food budget:  this is a skill that can net you big gains in the finance department. As a homemaker, I've had to make magic with what I have on hand.  I can make a vat of chicken noodle soup with two chicken breasts or make a few pounds of hamburger last a couple of weeks.  For our family of six, this skill is a necessity.

Coming out of the holidays, do you splurge on a few extras to make special recipes?  I do. I get all giddy when I see all those displays of nuts during the holidays because there are so many recipes that use them.  However, they are expensive.  So I bought 12 ounces of pecans for $5.99.  I had considered making a pecan pie for Christmas, but that would have taken most of the pecans and I wanted it for many other recipes.  Here is a recipe that will take something ordinary like apple pie and launch it into extraordinary with a twist using pecans.  I found the recipe while cruising through the grocery store.  They always have little free pamphlets put out by companies full of recipes using their products.  I found one by Pillsbury and it's called Topsy Turvy Apple Pie.  I'm not going to give you the apple pie recipe...use your own favorite recipe for this because we all have one, LOL!  What makes this pie amazing is this...before you assemble your pie in the pie pan, mix together the following ingredients at the bottom:  1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 1 TBSP. margarine or butter, melted, 1 TBSP. corn syrup, and then arrange 1/4 cup pecan halves in the mixture to make a nice design.



Now assemble your pie as if there was nothing on the bottom of the pie pan.  Here's how my pie looked before baking.

Here it is after baking.  Notice I didn't go crazy making the crust look perfect...there's a reason for that.





Immediately run a knife around the edge of the pie pan and carefully with all the skill you can muster, turn the whole thing upside down onto a platter or cake stand.  I know...it goes against everything within you...but look at the result!



This is why it's not important what your "top crust" looks like.  It will be the bottom crust.  This pie was absolutely delicious because of the pecans and the unusual twist on an old-fashioned recipe.  I hope you try it sometime and enjoy!!!  It is absolutely delicious!  It's a great recipe that with the use of pecans, takes it to a whole other level.  Only 1/4 cup of pecans were used, so we still have plenty of pecans left for many other recipes.  Blessings to you and enjoy the nuts in your life, hahaha!