April Fools day!

 Today is Tuesday April 1st.  My girls LOVE a joke. I didn't want to let them down so even though it was 10:30pm I googled easy pranks and made red jello in cups and left them to set in the fridge overnight. 

Ashley and Emily thought it was funny. I told them it was fruit punch.

I'm still cooking. We had a huge bag of potatoes that weren't great.  So peeled and peeled.  I followed a website about making freezer hashbrowns. Peel potatoes and shred/grate.  Rinse in cold water, drain,  three times. Squeeze in a clean tea towel to get all moisture out.  Lay out in one layer on cookie sheets and freeze.

Gary gave me a vacume and seal device for Christmas.  I used it for the first time for my freezer hashbrowns.

I also made cream of potato soup with ham. (Yum)  and Mashed potatoes for Sheppard pie for supper.

Today I made 2 Sheppard pie for a friend. I got frozen tomatoes from jen and all the ingredients to can salsa. I figure if I feel like cooking I better keep doing it. When the weather is nicer I'll be outside gardening and not want to cook. 

March 30

 

Today was the second day of ice storm.  I made homemade pizza crust. I oiled the cast iron frying pan. Put corn meal in the bottom of the pan. Laid out the pizza dough and filled with toppings.  Baked at 445. For 20 minutes they turned out great. Crust was a little thick. Next time I will roll thinner.  It was great to clean out the fridge and put the toppings on pizza.  I used the homemade tomato sauce from yesterday and the day before. 

Emily tried baking balsamic Brussel sprouts. She likes them. I'm about to try them.

Also I blanched broccoli and carrots.  I got out my dehydrator. I put celery on the bottom then slightly cooked carrots,  broccoli and Shallots.  I'm going to use these in a dehydrated soup with Mr noodles if i ever get to go camping. It was a great day. Now I have to do the dishes. 

March 29th

 

It's an ice storm day today. We canceled our plans and are staying home for a quiet weekend at home.  Which is my favorite. 

I asked my kids what they were going to do today.  I'm proud to say that they understand that a day at home is a day to create.  Emily wanted to start with

Cinnamon buns. But her recipe was a baking powder instead of yeast so she agreed to turn them into  tea biscuits.  Then she made amazing chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. 

Ashley has alot of homework to do this weekend.  But also she made me the yellow spoon rest in the photo.  I'm very proud of the people my girls are. I made crockpot tomatoes sauce yesterday.  Today I pureed it and made spaghetti sauce for supper. 

Great day inside. Emily is now sewing pockets into her female pants thst have no pockets.  Why do female pants have no pockets? There is nothing these girls can't do.

 Also this march the girls had 2 weeks of march break.  It was alot like this weekend.  Time at home , playing,  creating,  eating.  Ashley worked on her civics project.  She has to help her community.  She made cat beds for the Napanee Ospca.

Great kid, great project.  These are great times

Apple crisp

 I don't know where I first got this apple crisp recipe.  I learned from my mom how to make apple crisp this way. It's delicious and everyone loves it. Often my kids eat apple crisp for breakfast.  In my mind it's just apples and granola.  When apples are in season I peel, slice and freeze apples in freezer bags so I can make apple crisp all winter.

Apple Crisp

topping

1/2 cup of soft butter

1 tsp of cinnamon 

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup of all purpose flour

2 cups of oats,   I usually use quick oats but also rolled oats work.

1 cup of brown sugar. Mix until wet, if dry add 2 tbsp of vegetable oil.  I usually do this.

10 or twelve apples peeled and sliced 

Put in bottom of 9x11 inch pan.  Sprinkle top of apples with 2 tbsp of white sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon. 

Cover apples with topping and bake 50 mins at 350.

Sometimes I use apples straight from the freezer. Apple crisp is great with frozen apples but the apples cook down like apple sauce. Still delicious.  

Feb 5th 2025

 Happy middle of winter.  It's minus 15 today.  We returned from Mexico on Saturday night.  It was a great trip with the girls.  Since we got home I've been craving homemade meals.  Especially soup. I did a big grocery order on Sunday.  I had a few recipes in mind. I bought frozen spinach in balls for the first time.  I made a new recipe sausage,  potatoes white kidney beans and spinach soup.  It was so good. The sausage was a bit spicy so the soup had a kick. I made a pot for the Hough's and a pot for us. 

https://thecozyapron.com/sausage-soup/#recipe-bookmark

 Gary had a bad cold so I also made him chicken noodles soup with my famous Mr Noodles. 

Tuesday I made spaghetti sauce and a lasagna for the freezer.  I pulled some homemade applesauce muffins out of the freezer and made applesauce muffins for the kids. They loved them.  I also made chocolate chip cookies and ate them all. Just kidding,  I froze half.

Today I made beef vegetable soup to share with the houghs. Andrew said they loved my sausage spinach soup so I will send this soup over too.

I also made a freezer soup , Dump Taco Soup for them to cook in the crockpot a different day. 

I also made a canned peaches cake from allrecipes.com  it didn't turn out great.  I think it needs more flour.  I'm enjoying experimenting with my ingredients from the cupboard and freezer like frozen tomatoes and ham broth.

Tomorrow I plan on making potatoes soup with more frozen ham broth and a ham steak. 

Fresh tomato sauce

 Today my sweet friend Karolina offered me, tomatoes from her garden.  She has a Beautiful garden.  She said she has canned all the salsa and tomato sauce she wants for this year.

Holy money, lots of tomatoes, peppers and hot peppers.  I washed and froze 2 bags of tomatoes.   I peeled tomatoes.  I'm trying a crockpot recipe for tomato sauce. 

https://growagoodlife.com/crockpot-tomato-sauce/

I will be freezing this sauce. Its not suitable for canning.  Toasted tomato sandwiches for supper tonight 

Tomorrow Jane is coming over in the morning to make salsa with me. That will use up some.

My garden is pretty much done. I'm so thankful for these veggies.  I'm going to have lots of canning for the winter

🙋

August

 This month of August has been busy. I have surgery Aug 8th. Then Aug 11 we left on a trip to the east coast. Gary did all the driving.  Our first night we stayed at Edmunston for the night. Our next night we drove to Hillsborough NB. It was a beautiful cabin. We stayed there 2 nights. 

We went on to PEI and had a wonderful time at the beach, Green Gables,  our air bnb cabin.

After pei we drove over the big bridge and on to Nova Scotia tagamagouche.

Aug 24th was our kimmett family reunion.  We hosted it at our cottage.  It was a wonderful day 

While Aug was awesome. My garden dried up. I don't have much veggies to collect anymore.  Todayi went to Harvest Brinery on John Street.  That store is full of canning jars. Emily and I bought haskaps jam and raspberry jam

I bought 1/2 a bushel of pickling cucumber and made 10 jars bread and butter pickles.