No Can Pickles, Margaritas, Guns...heck ya!

 

Like most people I love pickles! I have canned them many times before. However, last year my pickles were an epic failure! I overcooked them or something because they came out way too soggy…..beyond edible.  Anyone that cans knows how bad that sucks.  Lots of work was put into growing those babies from seed, tending the endless amounts of weeds and insects trying to steal your precious goods, picking, cleaning, canning.  Damn!  Well this year my cucumbers did not do well and regardless I was stuck in Florida in the prime of Maine’s canning season.  Thankfully I was home in time to put up my favorite crop, tomatoes.  I was fortunate enough to make up lots of spaghetti sauce, canning some and freezing the last of it as that is the  lazy easy way out.

 
I like canning but honestly I’m all about making life easier!  Making this type of pickles is a tangible goal for anyone especially if someone gifts you the cucumbers. 10 minutes top to delicious pickles the whole family will enjoy…I promise!
This will make a half gallon

• 4 1/2 cups of water
• 3/4 cup of vinegar
• 1/8 cup & 1 tablespoon of sea salt or kosher salt
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 3-4 dill sprigs (or whatever you want I tend to use more)
• couple cloves of garlic
• several pickling cucumbers washed and sliced lengthwise

Mix first 4 ingredients, bring to boil, cool til warm and place in jar with remaining ingredients.  Cover with something breathable like cheese cloth or a tea towel for 3 days then refrigerate.

The first 2 batches I made NEVER made it to the fridge, we devoured them starting the day after I made them.  Batch 3 that Maine Man made has been in the fridge a couple weeks and are still very tasty.  Not sure what the shelf life is on these but I will definitely figure that out next garden season!




My kids are fortunate to have a good Papa that takes time out to teach them real life skills.

Practicing up so she can beat the boys!

 This is her third year she is able to go out hunting with her Dad.

On a final note I want to share with you a tried and true margarita recipe

This only makes a small amount but if you need, there are lots of conversion charts.

• salt for rimming the glass
• 1 1/2ounces tequila (blanco, 100% agave)
• 1 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 ounce Cointreau (not Triple Sec)

Wicked Simple Hearty Honey Oat Bread Recipe

 

  

So I confess….I sucked out on the 30 day post.  I made it 13 days somewhat consecutively.  Don’t judge!  I truly had good intentions.   Any hoo…I made this bread the other day and it was delicious and Maine Man really liked it too.  I will be so kind and share it with you because it is easy and it is a must to save in my archives.  Basically you mix up the ingredients, put it in a bread pan, let it rise for 1 hour and bake.  That’s it!  NO Kneading….SWEET!!
2 cups hot water
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons salt
2 ½ teaspoons yeast
¾ cup oats
2 cups white flour
2-2 ½ cups wheat flour
1. Place the oats in a large bowl and pour half of the water over them. Let stand about 5 minutes to soften the oats. Meanwhile, combine the rest of the water, honey, and salt, and yeast together in a small bowl, and let stand until the yeast is dissolved and beginning to bubble, 5 – 10 minutes.
2. Add the yeast mixture to the oats, then add the white flour, and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon for 2 to 3 minutes. Continue beating as you gradually add the whole-wheat flour. Add just enough whole wheat flour to make a stiff, heavy, sticky batter – it should not be thick enough to hold its shape outside the bowl.
3. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and smooth the top with wet fingers. Cover and let rise to the top of the pan, about 1 hour.
4. While the loaf is rising, preheat the oven to 400°F. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until browned on top and pulling away from the sides of the pan. Turn out of the pan and cool on a rack. Let cool 2 to 3 hours before slicing; cool completely before bagging.

This recipe comes from Maine Huts & Trails blog…..Enjoy!


 

Making Salad Dressing

I have made salad dressings a few times but it is not something I do on a regular basis. My inspiration? A couple things…..first I went on a field trip with by boy a few weeks back before school was out. It was at Old Fort Western. I think I enjoyed it more then the kids. Here the staff talked and demonstrated how life was back in the 1700’s. One of the stations a woman made up some goodies from the kitchen garden. She made a simple dressing for the salad which consisted only of cider vinegar, water, and sugar and to my surprise it tasted pretty dang good. Easy & tasty…..caught my interest for sure!

Then about a week ago I was going back reading Food In Jar’s blog and I saw her post on how to make Chive Blossom Vinegar. Perfect timing because my chives were in full bloom! So I popped the flowers off the tops, rinsed them, filled a canning jar then added vinegar (white distilled vinegar). It sat on my counter looking real pretty for about a week. I strained it and what I had left was some cool looking pink vinegar that smelled divine (like onions).

I refrigerated the remains although I am not sure that was necessary and made a simple vinaigrette based out of a recipe I clipped out of a magazine (Cooking Light 2010) and revised to my own likings.

This recipe is approximately 4 servings

1 teaspoon of minced garlic

4 tablespoons of “Chive Blossom Vinegar” (doesn’t that sound fancy?)

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

12 tablespoons of olive oil

1/4 cup of parmesan cheese

Place all the ingredients in a canning jar, cover, shake it all about and serve immediately

SIMPLE, EASY & CHEAP!! That’s how I roll. Would love to hear what you make for dressings. If you have a link to share from a previous post of your own creations I love to read and I’m sure others would too!

2010 in Review

Last night I skimmed though the last year of posts. It was great to look back and reminisce 2010. In this digital era where photo albums are often lacking I am thankful that I document some of our journey here. The goal for 2011 is to post a picture everyday but I have yet to decide if that is doable so we will see. I made 2008's archives into a book and when I have some extra cash I will be ordering 2009 & 2010 through blog2print. The kids, family & friends love looking through it and it is a great back up of my blog if and when the internet ever crashes.



As I looked though the posts there were a few I thought would be worth sharing again before they were buried in the archives.

• In January I did a post on Grapenut pudding - I often retrieve this recipe from my archives. Good way to use up milk and eggs if you have an abundance and it is popular with the older population, Maine Man likes it too.

• I have been saving bacon fat since I wrote about making bird food. I plan to make it again soon.

• It is nice that I no longer have to purchase pie crust at the grocery store when I can make it at home for a fraction of the cost.

• Soon we will be planting leeks. I look forward to cooking up some more of this potato leek soup

• This year I plan to pickle some of the fiddleheads I forage. Can't wait to go out this Spring!

• If you ever visit Maine you must visit Acadia National Park. 36 years in Maine and this year was the first time I ever went there.

• We had an amazing growing season in 2010 thanks to the greenhouse that supplied us with produce from April to December. Next year we plan to plant earlier for winter greens.

• This morning I at some of this garlic scape pesto mixed with farm fresh eggs along with the BEST toast ever.

• Tonight I made up some yummy broccoli soup using my own chicken stock. I cannot even stand the thought of buying that stuff in the store as it can be made at home for pennies and there is no comparison in taste & quality. I usually have a stash in the freezer and even canned some this year but with soup season in full swing my stock is depleted. Now I have to plan ahead.

• This summer our fresh air child will be returning for 2 weeks instead of one. We can't wait to see her again.

• Lastly..... do you remember the duck that hatched out 26 ducklings? That is just crazy!

Looking forward to MANY more Adventures in 2011!

The Accidental Foodie

It was never intentional, it just happened! When we first married dinner consisted of frozen pizza, chicken nuggets, take out, and if Maine Man was really lucky... Shephard's Pie. Fast forward 15 years later and food has become a HUGE part of my life, as it should be! What else do we do 3-6 times a day? .....EAT. What interests me most is cooking from scratch, eating organic, and local food. The BEST meal to me is a dinner that consists all of food we've grown, raised, hunted, and/or foraged for. We are fortunate to have quite a few of those kinds of meals. Don't get me wrong....I do not eat 100% organic, nor all local, I eat processed crap time and again, and I MUST confess I have a slight addiction to diet pepsi. I've quit the "swill" (as MM calls it) three times previously, they say fourth time is a charm, right? Change takes time........and will power. I'm getting there ;)

Any how the point I am slowly trying to make is about the bread recipe I posted back in November. It is the ONE I have been searching for for years. If you have always aspired to have a fresh loaf of bread in your bread box, you MUST give this a try! I can't even began to tell you how many loaves I have baked over the last month. It is EASY...just takes a little planning. CHEAP... literally cost pennies. Not sure about your neck the woods but at the farmer's market a loaf of bread like this goes for $5. And above all DELICIOUS....Flower Girl refuses to eat store bought bread...LOL.

In addition to bread I now set aside a batch once a week to make pizzas from. I prepare as I would for bread except I split the dough (blob) in half prior to rising. After rising I refrigerate if I am not going to use immediately. I will admit the dough is a little tricky to work with due to it's consistency, the shape is not always perfect but I assure you it is always super tasty.
Now if you take my advice before long you will be eliminating bread & pizza crust (frozen pizza) off your grocery list. Not sure about you but stuff like that EXCITES me. I love walking past the egg cooler, the meat section, baked goodies, pickles, produce etc when my cupboards, freezers, and pantry are right packed full of the real deal.

Just saying.....give it a try!

Making Cranberry Sauce

I have never been a big fan of cranberries until recently when my friend gave me a big bag of local cranberries. I made a few treats that came out better then expected and on Thanksgiving morning I decided to try and make some cranberry sauce.

Very easy....I used approximately 2 cups of berries, added cranberry juice (water can be used) a couple inches up the pan. Boiled for 15 minutes. The berries popped as they cooked...that was kinda cool. Then I added 1 cup of sugar and cooled and served. It can also be canned via water bath for future use. My family liked it, nothing like the stuff you buy in a can.

Guess what kind of berry picking I want to do next fall?

Sticky Buns

Maine Man say these were the "best cinnamon buns" he's ever eaten! Yipeeee...it was the first time I'd ever baked them. 2 ways to a man's heart, right LOL;) This recipe for Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls comes from allrecipes.com

Love that site.....I reference it often.

I did not follow a recipe for the glaze. A bit of powdered sugar, splash of milk, dash of vanilla, and a chunk of butter. These sure beat the cinnamon rolls that pop out of a can. I figure with the time and effort it took me to make these I must have burned of most the calories I consumed ;)

Making Granola

A while back my friend Diane brought me over some of the BEST granola I have eaten.

I begged her ;) for the recipe... she e-mailed it to me, I lost it. Organization is not one of my better qualities. I begged her again and with her permission I will share her secrets with the world and forever have in my archives.

All you need is....

6 cups of old-fashioned rolled oats

2 sticks of butter

1 cup of brown sugar

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

dried fruit

I used dried cherries and they were DELISH but next time around I am going to try dried blueberries

Nuts

I used pecans because they are my favorite.

1 cup honey

Melt butter and honey, warm.

Mix other ingredients in separate bowl then combine the two.

Spread on a 2 cookie sheets (p.s. aluminum foil was a mistake on my part)

325 degrees for approximately 30 minutes

Stir every 10 minutes and when it starts to brown watch closely, easy to overcook.

Viola!

Can't wait to make some up for Christmas gifts. Thanks for sharing the recipe Di!

Making Cream Style Corn & Shepard's Pie

Last Christmas Maine Man bought me this wooden corn cutter & creamer.

This week he put it to use as we currently have an abundance of corn.

You can do the same work with a knife but I have a slight obsession with kitchen gadgets. Among other things.......magazines, books, bags, to name a few ;)

Cream Style Corn

• 12 ears of corn with kernels and juice removed. (If you do not have a cutter use a knife to cut and run the back part of the knife down the cobs to get some of the juice out)
• melt 1/3 cup of butter in a pan
• add corn & enough water to make a gravy consistency
• add 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper
• bring to boil and cook for 5 minutes
• simmer for 20 minutes = THE BEST CREAM-STYLE CORN YOU HAVE EVER EATEN....no joke!

I even had enough to freeze a couple containers.....we will be loving this in the dead of winter!

The next night I cooked it up and added it to what MM said it truly was the "best Shepard's Pie ever." That meant a lot because he as you know is my biggest critic!

Not sure how you all cook Shepard's Pie but this is how I do it. The bottom layer I usually use a combination of cream style corn & whole kernel but in this case I made my own. For the next layer I sauteed some onions and cooked up some deer hamburg. The final layer is mashed potatoes (fresh red potatoes dug from the garden). On top a dab of butter with a handful of shredded cheese. Bake @ 400 for 30minutes.

The Great Pumpkin

This years pumpkin crop was not as big as we anticipated. Last year we had enough for the kids to set up a stand and make a few bucks. I really can't complain because we still had plenty for ourselves, some to give away, and the rest went to the pigs.

The kids made a few jack o' lanterns and I cooked some up and froze it.

We cooked up some seeds tossing them with a bit of olive oil and sea salt. Next year I'll be sure to try Don's recipe for pumpkin seeds. This post is also a great tutorial for making pumpkin puree for anyone that may be interested in learning more. Up until last year I had no idea that you could just cook up any old pumpkin. Regardless, next Spring I will try and grow some pumpkins specific for cooking in hopes of a richer flavor and smaller pumpkins for easier handling.


I put 20 bags in the freezer. I have cooked two dishes with it since. A tasty pumpkin custard that the whole family enjoyed and the other night I cooked up a delicious pumpkin soup that
I will make again for sure. Here is the link

and the recipe...

Simple Pumpkin Soup

1/2 cup onion

3T. butter

2 cups of mashed cooked pumpkin (or canned)

1 teas salt

1 T sugar

1/4 teas nutmeg

1/4 teas ground pepper

3 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup of half and half (can use fat free)

Those are not exactly the steps I took. I removed both the chicken stock & the pumpkin from the freezer and thawed them in my crock pot. Then I added spices & cooked onions. After a few hours I ran it all through my food processor to chop up the pumpkin a bit more. In addition to the above spices I added 3/4 tablespoon of cumin, meant to add curry but it still tasted good.

Perfect soup for the season!

Homemade Earring Hanger

I'll start to by giving credits to my friend Mary for the original idea. She made me an earring rack several years back. I've used it every day since! So I decided to experiment and make a couple of my own. Since they came out ok I plan to make a few for Christmas presents.
My daughter & I put the above two together. We went to a thrift store to pick up the frames then over to the hardware store to buy black fiberglass screening. (84ft for $6)
Then we stapled the screening onto the back. Easy, inexpensive, useful project.

The above rack now holds my earrings (picture is a little sideways...oops!)
If you click on the picture it will enlarge. Most of the earrings were also made by Mary.

Crafty lady, isn't she?

This is Flower Girl's. Pretty funky earrings for a 7 year old. Trust me, she is not allowed to wear some of them in public.

I will end this post with a couple random links I'd like to refer back to and for you to explore if you desire.

Making liquid soap - I'd love to give a try at this sometime. I am going to attempt making bar soap soon, I've done it once before.

Blueberry Gateau - made this recipe the other day..... yummy!

Banana Bread

Not often do we have bananas long enough to turn brown but on occasion that happens. So I came across a quick, easy, tasty banana bread recipe that I thought I'd share and save for my archives for future retrieval. I try to cook as much as I can from scratch. That in itself is a work in progress. So as you can imagine that is a whole lot of experimenting with recipes and a whole lot of recipes that never impress me enough to save. Last night by request of Maine Man I made apple muffins and tonight it was 4 layer bars as requested by the kids. They were both ok but not good enough to share or save. Get the point! I only post good stuff here ;)

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
4 bananas, finely crushed
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
1 Cream together butter and sugar.
2 Add eggs and crushed bananas.
3 Combine well.
4 Sift together flour, soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Add vanilla.
5 Pour into greased and floured loaf pan.
6 Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.
7 Keeps well, refrigerated.

P.S. I did not refrigerate and I topped it with walnuts.

My Girl's Apple Sauce

The other night after bath time Flower Girl proclaimed she wanted to make some applesauce.
What's a Mom to say? I was busy cleaning up so I said "go for it, but your on your own".
I think she did summon her Dad to cut up a few apples but other than that she did the rest. Last year was the first time she'd ever made it. She came home with the idea from school. I really could not remember what she used for ingredients previously so I kept to myself.

She washed

She peeled

She cored

She chopped

"10 apples"

Put the apples in a crock pot and said to me:

"Mom, Take Note... I used the one slash four cup of honey

& a small spoon of cinnamon"
Slow cooked overnight and once again another tasty treat by Flower Girl!

Nothing Worthwhile Comes Easy

There is nothing like digging up your dinner an hour before you sit down to eat.
The taste and satisfaction of it makes the work involved seem so small. And no worries FDA did not approve this food so there is no fear that the food we eat has been sprayed with toxic chemicals or that a meat was injected with antibiotics and/or steroids. We know for sure the animals we are eating have never been mistreated from farm to slaughter because it all happens right here.

P.S. I finally finished reading "In defense of food". Looking for another good foodie/agricultural book to read...suggestions?

Ha, enough preaching!! We are not all good I assure you. My kids love oodles and noodles and we eat plenty of food that does not follow the above statements. Change comes slow and over the last couple years we have progressed. I am confident that things will continue to evolve here on the farm. We estimate that we are raising approximately 75% the meat we consume and 100% of our own eggs. As far as fruit and vegetables are numbers are much lower. We are working on that by learning ways to extend our season, preserving, and connecting with local resources. We hope to get the greenhouse up soon in anticipation of growing greens this winter. I had big plans for salsa and spaghetti sauce this season but our tomato plants were devastated by blight as many other Maine farmers.

I am planning to make sauerkraut with the above cabbage even though I've never liked it in the past. Homemade is always better, right? A few weeks back I made some fermented dilly beans that Erica from One Busy Momma posted. They were SO easy to make and mighty tasty. All you need is garlic, peppercorns, dill, salt, and beans of course. The whole family enjoyed and it took all of 5 minutes too put together.

Best Pineapple Upside Down Cake

My in-laws come over weekly to get my FIL's pill boxes set up. We always try to cook up a nice dinner and dessert. I am always looking for something new and yummy to cook. A few weeks back I found a keeper of a recipe! It is amazing as is but even better right out of the oven with a dab or cream or vanilla ice cream. The recipe is here found on a blog called Food Blogga.
She has lots of other recipes that look and sound good, check it out!

Life of the Party!

That would be my girl! This past weekend we went to a barn dance/pot luck. Square dancing and all. It was a great time!

(Sorry about the photo quality. The dust made for a bubbly appearance.)

It was at a neighbors house that we have recently become friends with. They are a lovely homeschooling family and Luke takes guitar lessons from there boy. We really did not know anyone there and I'd say there was well over 100 guests. Regardless it was fun to watch everyone dancing it up and Leah made friends within minutes of arrival.

I love that girls expressions! She so reminds me of myself in my younger days. Right full of it!

I will end this brief post with a yummy recipe I just made up. It comes from June's Martha Stewart Magazine that I have on borrow from the library (btw one of my FAVORITE places to visit!)

"Basic Vinaigrette"

Shake

1/4 cup vinegar

2 teaspoons Dijon Mustard

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Then add 3/4 cup olive oil and shake well to emulsify.

I mixed up in a canning jar.

Tonight we will each our first garden lettuce of the season drizzled with the above. Off to get dinner started! :)

Spring Fishing

What is a dad to do when he is home alone with his boy on a warm spring day? Updates

• Animals: Returned "Romeo" a boar we borrowed. He arrived on April 1st and returned home this past Sunday. We think he did his job, he at least gets an "A" for effort. We are hoping our two sows will be having piglets in July/August. Not ideal timing. Next time around we will plan for spring piglets rather then fall.
• We hope to get our electric fencing up within the next couple weeks and get some cattle out in the pasture.
• Broilers are really close to freezer camp. Maine Man has almost completed the plucker. He just needs to attach motor. Pictures and post to follow.
• We have babies! One of our does had a litter. Not sure how many? I'd say at least 4 by the picture. I did not want to disrupt them so I just put my camera in the hole of the box and snapped away until I caught a glimpse of them.
  

• Garden is coming along. We have lots more planting to be had over the next few weeks. The greenhouse is another project that needs to be done. Not sure when we will have the time. One of MM's buddies gave him plastic for it. Only problem is that it is 3 feet too short in width. Not sure what we are going to do with that. Too bad it wasn't too short in length instead. That would have been an easy fix.

• Food: I have been doing a little experimenting (imagine that!) with raw milk. This week I made butter for a first. Skimmed 1 gallon, end result about 2 tablespoons. It was very tasty. Note to self: don't bother unless you have a milking cow in your backyard an an abundance of cream. I also attempted to make yogurt. Bought the culture at the natural food store and incubated it using a crock pot with water. Did not come out very well. Consistency was good but it seemed a bit tart. Not sure what I did wrong. I never buy plain yogurt, just flavored so it could have been that? Will experiment again sometime!
• With some of that milk I had to use up I also made this grape nut pudding recipe. It is at the bottom of that post. MM ate it up in no time. If you are looking for a really good chocolate cake recipe with peanut butter frosting this is what I made for Leah's birthday. I made it for the first time last year for MM's birthday, it is now a family favorite!
• Leah has been cooking up a storm. She nearly killed me school vacation week. I think I gained 10lbs and had a bad case of dish pan hands. Damn I need a dish washer! It is the top of my I NEED list! This past weekend she made some really yummy peanut butter balls and she plans to post the recipe sometime soon on her blog.

• Community Treasure Chest aka the "tote" from here on out. That adventure has REALLY taken off. I started with one tote in circulation but others wanted to join along so I started a second. It has been SUCH A SUCCESS! My buddy Miki is starting a third except she is putting a little twist on it making it a couples tote. I have received great feedback from the members. Everyone so far has been happy with the goodies they have scored. SO VERY excited at the responses! I think I may have even inspired a women I work to put one together with some of her friends. If you haven't considered getting one of these started in your neck of the woods I suggest you get on it.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

The picture has NOTHING to do with this post. I just can't post something without a picture! I have been promising this recipe to a friend at work. Instead of writing it out the old fashioned way I thought it would be nice to share with you folks. (and it is always nice to have in my recipe archives) My friend Anna gave it to me years ago after she made it up for us a work. It is simply delicious! I cooked it for my in-laws last week and my MIL wanted the recipe, that is a FIRST. Just goes to show how darn good it is!

Sticky Toffee Pudding

3/4 cup dates (pitted & chopped)

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 Tablespoons of butter

3/4 of super-fine sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup self rising flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix dates & baking soda. Pour 300ml boiling water over dates & leave to stand. Cream butter & sugar until pale. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beat well after each. Gently fold in flour. Stir in date mixture and vanilla. Pour into buttered cake pan. Bake @ 350 degrees for 39-40 minutes until done.

Butterscotch Sauce

2/3 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup of heavy cream

1 vanilla bean (split)

2 oz butter (1/2 stick)

Combine all ingredients in a pot. Bring to a boil then simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and remove vanilla bean. Pour on & serve!

I always buy the "superfine sugar" that it the above recipe calls for but my MIL suggested putting regular sugar into a food processor. What a good idea!

I like to make it up and serve it cold with warmed sauce.....the flavor, texture, and contrast in temperature really make it happen!

Remember that vanilla extract I made months ago. I used it for the above recipe and have and it seems to do the trick. I will being buying some more vodka to start my second batch since it needs to sit for 3 months.

Making Sausage - processing pig part 2

One of the perks of making your own sausage is that can determine the amount of fat you want to add. We made ours on the lean side. A few days before I picked up some casings from a local butcher. I knew what they were made of but I was not sure what animal they came from.... anyone know or want to take a guess? My kids were a little grossed out but quickly got over it when I told them, "that is what hot dog casings are made of" and reassured them they were cleaned out really good.

We used our electric grinder that we have had for years. It has a sausage attachment that goes out the side. Some time soon we will need to upgrade to a heavy duty grinder. My ultimate goal is to have a meat cutting area/canning kitchen in the shed.....maybe someday. John will be building a chicken plucker in the near future. He will use the book that Angie gave us to guide him. Her husband Eric built one last year. I have attached a link to you tube if you have any interested in seeing how a whiz bang chicken plucker works.

Ha, gotta love the bud light Luke got in the picture below. If you noticed in the picture of my watch (2 pictures back) the time was 19:54, which is 7:54 pm in standard time. I still have my watch set at military time from when I worked nights. He started this project at 5 am and a couple bud lights helped to ease the pain.

We let the sausage sit for a few days before freezing. I made a sweet & a breakfast sausage mix,

below is the later of the two. We made enough for 2 - 10lb batches.

Breakfast Sausage
2 pounds pork butt (2 1/2 pounds with bone), diced into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 pound fat back, diced into 1/4-inch pieces
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage leaves
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Making the sausage was certainly the highlight event for the kids. They were fascinated by the process. The final post will be "Making Bacon". We did not make hams this time around but plan to in the future!

P.S. We have the greenhouse! It took us 5 hours to disassemble and move. Thankfully my brother showed up with a tool we needed and helped us with the big stuff. Big THANKS to Steve once again!!! I will post on it when we get it up. I am afraid it may not be up until late summer with all we have (GARDENS, animals) going.