I Ran Out of Refrigerator and Freezer Space!

Just a quick post today!

It's COLD out!  When it's cold and dreary like this, I like to make a BIG pot of my Confetti Bean Soup.  Well, I did, and when there are only two people to eat it, there are LOADS of leftovers.  Usually, I just divide up the soup among a bunch of 1-quart containers and either freeze them or put them in the fridge and eat on it until it's gone.

Well, I made the soup, we ate the soup, and I looked in the refrigerator - FULL.  No problem!  I checked the freezers - FULL.  Hmmmmmm...  This was quite the dilemma.  What to do, what to do?

CAN IT!

Now, I had never, ever, canned bean soup before, so I was wading into unknown waters.  I was confident it was possible to pressure can it, but I just didn't know the headspace, pressure, or time required.  I rummaged through my shelf of canning books, and in the third one I pulled out, there was a recipe for 10-bean soup that's similar to mine.

It's just the normal pressure canning process with these specifics:

1" headspace

10 lbs pressure

90 minutes

I ended up with SEVEN quarts (a full capacity load for the canner) of soup, plus almost another quart I stuck in the refrigerator.  Now the guys won't get tired of eating bean soup every day for a week, and I can have it whenever it strikes my fancy, with no real effort (say hello to Mr. Microwave!).

And now I have to find some shelf space in the pantry...oh me.

I Didn't Read 100 Books (or Even 40!) in 2020

 Those of you who know me know that I LOVE to read, and the past few years I've tried to read at least 100 books.  Well, this past year, what with That Knee That Won't Cooperate (not mine), COVID-19 and its related inconveniences, appliances dying, and election woes, I gave up.  I wasn't driving much, so even listening to audiobooks didn't happen, and I was in a total funk by the end of the year (that's why no posts between Thanksgiving and New Year's), so I just gave up.  I hardly read anything.

Except...the Bible!  I started a year-long Bible study in APRIL, and I actually finished it mid-December.  It is a chronological reading plan, which means you read the Bible in the chronological order that it was written, to the best of scholars' knowledge.  So sometimes you skip around, reading different parts of different books and then going back to a book you started earlier - Psalms were sprinkled throughout the Old Testament, for example.  You have an overview of each book when you begin it.  After each day's reading, you have a more in-depth explanation of what happened.  It reminds me of a class I took as a Junior in high school, Histlish - a double-credit combination of United States History and American Literature.  You studied some period of U.S. history and connected it to the literature written during that same time frame.  The Bible study is one of the plans (The Bible Recap) offered in the YouVersion Bible app and on the website.

Anyway, other than the Bible, I read only thirty books, which is pretty pitiable for me.  I just couldn't.  I actually did pretty well to begin with - before the pandemic crisis.  Most of the books were fluff, but that's what I craved.

Just a few required any brain cells, and I recommend all of them:

• The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity - Julia Cameron (she used to be married to Martin Scorcese)
• Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman - James Gleick
• Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century - Jessica Bruder
• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones - James Clear
• The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure - Jonathan Haidt, Greg Lukianoff

If you want to see the full list, click here.

Hop to It! - Hoppin' John Two Ways

There are lots of New Year's traditions - watching the ball drop at Times Square, making a champagne toast, kissing at midnight, and eating cabbage rolls or blackeyed peas with pork for dinner.  Cabbage and blackeyed peas are both supposed to bring good luck and prosperity.  Even though it's a New Year's tradition, I'll eat blackeyed peas any time!

One of my favorite ways to fix blackeyed peas is Hoppin' John, also known as Carolina peas and rice, but I like the vision of some guy hopping up and down.  I have two ways to make it - a lazy way, and a not-so-lazy way.  If you want an even less lazy way, you can start with dried blackeyed peas, but I'm too lazy for that!  Here's the lazy way:

Hoppin' John (super easy!)

2 15-oz cans of Marjorie Holmes Hoppin' John, undrained

10 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped

10 dashes of Tabasco sauce

3 T brown sugar

4 c cooked rice

Dump the first four ingredients into a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer 20 minutes.  Serve over rice.

Hoppin' John (still easy!)

10 slices bacon, cut up

1/2 c chopped onion

1/2 c chopped celery

1/2 c chopped bell pepper

1/2 c chicken broth

1 15-oz can diced tomatoes and green chilies, undrained

2 15-oz cans black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained

10 dashes of Tabasco sauce

3 T brown sugar

4 c cooked rice

In a 2-qt saucepan, cook the bacon until almost crisp.  Add the chopped vegetables and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the canned tomatoes, blackeyed peas, Tabasco, and brown sugar.  Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer 30 minutes.  Serve over rice.

More Canning - Apple Butter!!!

It's fall, new crop apples have arrived, and that means apple butter!!!  Apple butter is super easy to make.  The hardest part is peeling, coring, and slicing the apples, but it's worth the time and effort to have your own apple butter to put on your toast, dinner rolls, or fried biscuits.  (Apple butter was MADE for fried biscuits!)  If you want to try your hand at making preserves, apple butter is a good place to start - it doesn't require the exactitude of making jelly or jam, but still delivers the same satisfaction of self-sufficiency, plus you get to learn a new skill!  How awesome is THAT?

Here's the recipe I use.  It must be pretty good; when she was tiny, my oldest granddaughter used to eat it with a spoon like applesauce!

Apple Butter (about 6 12-oz jars)

6 c apple cider
6 lb apples, peeled, cored, sliced
1 1/2 c sugar
1T cinnamon
1 t ground allspice
1/4 t ground cloves

In a large pot, bring cider to a boil.  Add apples, reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally about 45 minutes.  Add sugar and spices, stir until well blended.  Cook over medium-low heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thick and smooth, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

OR...

In the evening, place the apples and cider in a large (6 1/2-quart) slow cooker, and cook them on low overnight with the lid ajar.  In the morning, stir to break up the apples, add sugar and spices and stir until well blended.  Continue cooking on low with the lid ajar, stirring occasionally, until thick and smooth like applesauce.  Because slow cookers vary, I can't give you a specific timeframe.  My latest batch in the slow cooker took a total of 15 hours; however, I used 10 pounds of apples instead of 6 and adjusted the other ingredients (except the apple cider - I only had 7 cups).  You need to check the apples about once an hour to see how they are progressing!

I like my apple butter a little chunky, but you can use an immersion/stick blender to make it smoother, more like "store-bought."

TO CAN:  Ladle into clean jars, adjust the lids and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.  Remove from the boiling water bath and let cool overnight before removing the rings.  (I know this is an abbreviated version of the process, but full instructions are available here).  

OR...

Ladle into freezer containers, let cool, and freeze.