Apples and Pears

My new find is less than 2 miles away from my house and I can't hardly beleive it has been there for 7 years and I never knew about it. There is the cutest littel apple orchard(it also has pears, pumpkins, honey and squash) just down the road from me. I took the kids there yesterday and we had so much fun roaming around all the trees. We were able to see so much the kids favorites were the apples be shined in a special machine and seeing the bee boxes with very active bees making honey. Oh so fun and again so close to home.

Peaches

I bought my peaches today and have them all spread out on tables waiting for them to be ready for me to can. I don't can a lot of items. My preferred method is freezing but I do like to keep myself canning every year so I do not become rusty at it. This fall I will can peaches and my grandma's pear sauce. Then in the winter I will be doing something else for the first time. Either chili or stew? The jury is still out on that one.

Peppers and onions- What a Pair!!!!

One of my favorite foods is fajitas-yum yum! In preparation of eating them all winter long with the great vegetables we have in season right now this is what I do:
1. julienne onions and peppers
2.freeze them on trays
3. put them into labeled freezer bags

The other thing I do with onions and peppers is dice them for omelettes. I do the same thing as above except I put them into snack bags and then into one big freezer bag labeled.

Jam, Jam and more Jam!!!

I have finally wrapped up my jam making days. We started with strawberry, then cherry, and the season finale raspberry the family favorite! Now I just need to learn to make homemade bread and we will be on our way!

Peaches!!!!!!!!

All I have to say is peaches are here!!!!!!!!! and a story of motherhood....I went to the Farmer's Market today with a list in my head of what I was going to purchase and a couple quarts of peaches were just thing I was looking for. I of course find them at one of my favorite farmers tables ask for 2 quarts and then I feel my bum get hot and then wet. It is then I realize my smart boy is throwing up all down the back of me needless to say that ended the trip to the Farmers Market with 2 quarts of peaches. And of this writing 12 hours later it is not 2 quarts of peaches anymore it is 2 peaches. You have to love teenagers!

Blueberries and Zucchini

Today we were up bright and early to go blueberry picking which the whole family was excited to go do. 15 minutes into picking I have kids pretending to be camping under the blueberry bushes, building a campfire out of found bark and wearing their buckets as hats. Needless to say they were having fun and I knew where they were. 1 hour later we were done; our buckets were full and we were heading home.
I freeze my blueberries on cookie sheets first and then freeze them in ice cream pails so I can scoop them out as I need them. Today we have 42 Cups of blueberries that is around three pails. A quick hint (thanks grandma) cut a piece of wax paper to fit the top of your container to help curb any freezer burn. While my blueberries were freezing up I grated some zucchini(14 cups) for one of my honeys favorite treats zucchini bread. All in all I feel like I have had a productive morning and kids had fun too!

"It's Belicious Mom"

Today seeing I have oodles of cherries still and one request from my smart guy, "Could you make cherry jam?" Which I will tell you he doesn't try new things very often so for him to request me to make something new was quite shocking to say the least. After all was said and done he actually liked it and my laid back boy thought it was "belicious".

So far this summer

We have been very busy in The Little Jewels Kitchen this summer. I have blanched and frozen 18 quarts of broccoli and the same amount of pea pods. With more to come. Also as previously stated in my blog asparagus and spinach. I have made over 2o containers of strawberry jam and have frozen 10 quarts of them as well and 1 quart of cherries. This is were I left off before I went on vacation.
Today was my first farmers market trip since we have been back and boy did I have fun there. It was the last day for cherries from my favorite cherry vendor and so I bought 2 lugs of cherries. I know what was I thinking I have now pitted one lug with purple fingers to prove it and I have 70 Cups of cherries to freeze!!! In one phone call I have given half of the other lug away(thanks mom) and now I have requests to make cherry jam and so more fun in the kitchen. I am grateful I have such willing participants to help me with all of my kitchen adventures(thanks honey and kiddos).
I also have started collecting my potato supply for the year in a bushel basket provided by mom(thanks again mom). We also will be blueberry picking soon enough and then onto peaches-yum! yum!
I am often asked how do I have time for all of this when I have 3 little ones to take care of? They help. They wash the broccoli, destem pea pods, help pit cherries, crush strawberries, label bags, fill bags and the list goes on. It truly is a family affair and I wouldn't have it any other way!

What I do with my Pesto

White Sauce:1/4 cup Butter
1 tsp. minced Garlic
1/4 cup Flour
1 liter Fresh Milk
200 grams Grated parmesan
1/4 tsp. pepper

In a medium size saucepan, melt butter, saute garlic until light brown, then add the flour. While stirring this mixture together, you actually want to cook the flour. The color will be somewhat blonde around 2 minutes at low heat. Change your kitchen tool to a wire whisk and slowly add the fresh milk while stirring the sauce.Once you've finished the milk, turn to medium heat, add the grated cheese and pepper and stir sauce until thick. Stir in 3 tablespoons of the Basil Pesto prepared earlier. I love this over tortellini!!!

Pesto Recipe

2 Cups fresh Basil Leaves, packed
1/4 Cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
3Tbs Walnuts or Pine Nuts
3 Garlic Cloves, finely minced

You can use a food processor but I used the blender. Add oil and half of the basil whip add the rest of the basil. Whip again. Add walnuts(I chop them first) whip 1 minute add garlic whip one minute add Parmesan whip one minute. Keep in refrigerator one week or freeze for up to 6 months.

BASIL and GARLIC

Today as usual we had planned going to the Farmers Market and so off we went whne it started to downpour but I say to the kids, "We have your raincoats in the back so lets go have some fun." Of course by the time we got there it was sunny and no need for the coats. We had a plan get some basil plants, strawberries, 3 bunches of asparagus(since it is almost out of season),pea pods, and some of the best Amish bread. We quickly go to the people I know grow locally and get the things we were hunting after but something caught my eye and that was garlic and basil which I couldn't pass up on so I buy what I can with the cash I have left saving $1 so the kids can get some cookies.
When we get home we make freezer jam -yummy and now with the back of my counter lined with freezer jam I am so proud of our accomplishment. Thanks my princess for all your help. The husband in the mean time is destemming spinach for last pureeing party of the spring and we readily take care of that job. The contrast of the strawberry jam and the pureed spinach is wonderful and reminds me of Christmas andthen I am grateful for the knowledge of this work, Iwill have a freezer full of resh yummy goodness when the snow flies and I actually get giddy!
Now I did get garlic and basil at the Market today and for the first time ever I made my own pesto and I will tell you the smell in my house right now is so delicious. It was very easy the prep took a bit of time but with my sweetie and I working together it took no time at all. I love the summer and all the fruits that come from it!

Blanching Asparagus

In a large pot bring to a boil 1 gallon of water. Rinse and sort your asparagus into small(2 minutes), medium(3 minutes), and large(4 minutes), widths. Also have a large bowl full of ice water ready. Once your water is boiling add asparagus to water for specified amount of time and then put it into the ice water for the same amount of time. Remember to let the water come back up to a boil each time before adding your next batch of asparugus also add more ice if needed. Once you have it all blanched put it into labeled freezer bags and into the freezer it goes.

I did this with pea pods last year and they were like fresh picked but it was January.

Spinach Puree

1. Remove Stem
2. Rinse
3. Wilt by putting in large pot over high heat until drops by half it size in pot
4. Dump contents in blender and blend away
5. Put in small containers and freeze

I store it by putting them in small freezer containers(I found them at Target)

Spinach and Asparagus

I read this book that really opened my eyes and changed my preceptions called Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbra Kingsolver very insightful into where our food comes from and the costs to us... really. It can be a bit preachy in spots but the idea behind it(eating locally) is like I said insightful. Keeping this book in mind and not going to its extremes but doing what I can to make some changes. With that said I have been going to the Farmers Market twice a week and since in the power outage we lost everything in our freezer it has been a good time to start. With cash in my pocket, recycled bags in hand, and an empty freezer desperate to be filled off I go to the farmers market to see what I can see and what I see the first week was not so much. We walk away with bread from Fat Gander(Tomato Basil my favorite), spinach, green onions(the biggest I have ever seen), and asparugus. That night of course I get my kids to devour the aparagus by pretending they are eating Junior Aparagus from Veggie Tales(depraved I know but it worked). The funny thing is they really did like it. Then off to the spinach... green eggs anyone? I have this great cook book called Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld and it has this great recipe for green eggs and the kids loved it along with the story Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Suess.
With my new found knowledge of how to get the kids to eat these new veggies the next time I go to the Farmers Market I get 6 bunches of asparagus and 5 bags of spinach. I spend the afternoon washing, prepping, blanching, bagging, labeling, wilting, and pureeing with my little jewels and start filling my empty freezer.

How this all began...

I have always been a food storer even at my young age of 18 in my first apartment. I learned a lot of frugalness from my grandmother and her food storing ways. Now we will fast forward to the year 2006. I started a group that would come to my home once a month and there was an amazing woman there who was trying to figure out food storage not only how to store long term goods but what to do with it once you had it. Basically how am I going to get this food into my kids not just in an emergency but using it frequently enough so if there was an emergency they would be used to eating beans, wheat, and rice and even powdered milk. She was and still is very inspiring to me.

Now full of inspiration and no place to go I would frequently(and I still do)call my amazing friend and ask all kinds of questions and then I decided to come up with a plan. Here is my 3 step plan:

1. Get food and storage containers

2. Get food into containers properly and find places to store it in my house(and without a basement or a garage I had to be quite inventive and please if you come to my home don't go snooping around too much because I am sure you will find food stored somewhere)

3. As stated above-how am I going to get this food into my kids

Funny enough steps 1 and 2 came quite easily. A couple of trips to Farmington Hills and to local bakeries and tada food storage. I also changed how I grocery shopped to buying only what was on sale(except for fresh produce and five items) which really did help get more food for my dollar and I am still amazed at how much food I can buy in a week which means I am always adding to my food storage. I go to Farmington Hills biannually and to Sam's quarterly.

Now step 3 not as easy and still working on it and probably will always be adding new recipes to use my food storage.

Wheat- I found out very quickly that waffles were #1 on the kids list so once this was realized in came 32 pounds of syrup.

Beans -4 family members love black beans in whatever even cooked plain and eaten with little fingers and 2 do not but evertime we have them they have to eat their ages and they do so willingly now. In matter of fact one of my little jewels states I like the taste not the feel or visa versa and this is how he lets me know how he feels about all of his food

Rice- Our family loves rice and so I never was very concerned about this item. I do however store 3 varieties.

Powdered Milk- Now this is trickier and I am still working on it but I have a fail safe and that is chocolate. I have enough nestle chocolate mix for a couple of monthes. But as I posted earlier I made ricotta and I am sure the kids will love it! I will let you know how it all turns out!

This is how Jewels of a Kitchen started: one amazing friend's inspiration, wanting to be prepared no matter what lies ahead and a love for my family and that is truly what keeps it going. I will continue to share Jewels from my kitchen and my adventures in using food storage and other twists and turns in my kitchen.

I Made Cheese!!!

Believe it or not I actually made cheese and I am actually quite excited! It is amazing what a little science, knowledge and a few items that are probably in everyone's home can do and now I have fresh ricotta to make lasagna with!