Greetings, All
Welcome to Spring. Weekend Yard “<span style=”text-decoration: line-through;”>Warriors</span>” workers do too much too fast and hurt their muscles. From sitting all winter, to full bore catch up with Spring is not smart, we must ease into this. The snow is nearly gone from last week’s snow- and rainfall. Hopefully the daffodils are coming up.
On the hottest day of this year (62! Chuckle) I decided to make and can Salisbury Steak, and Meatballs for Spaghetti Sauce. Senior discount day is Wednesday, I wonder if my exchequer will let me buy some more beef in addition to the hams this week.
I looked online for the recipes and combined what I thought would taste the best. The Salisbury steak, “hamburgers” in an onion, mushroom beef gravy was ok. Not particularly flavorful. I was able to put 3 beef patties into jars and add the onions, potatoes, and mushrooms to get 11 dinners. But, the meatballs were outstanding. Maybe it was the parmesan cheese in it. The meatballs, I formed with a 70 cm scoop, baked then weighed them, then put ten meatballs each into eleven ½-pint jars. All will be covered with beef broth, with water added to the one-inch mark. Just dump the meatballs into the spaghetti sauce and dinner is soon ready.
Eleven dinners of each is 22 meals. Slowly the dinner menu builds up. The Swiss Steak I made last week was very tender. I need to make more of that since I only ended up with three on the shelf. 25 dinners. (One a week for 25 weeks.) Now I need another (6 days x 52 weeks) +27 and my year will be complete. Ha, ha. I have not counted the soups that are already on the shelf. I did realize that I have NO Chili! That must be on the to-be-canned menu.
Now what will YOU can with the ham that will be sale priced this week? I like: split pea soup, bean soup, ham with sweet potatoes and pineapples, plain ham, Hoppin’ John. I am sure there are more.
I finally got up the courage to use my new gadget today – a food processor. Those blades are sharp! I sliced onions, garlic, whirled eggs, ground breadcrumbs, and mixed the ground meat together. It was much easier and faster than cutting it all by hand. Clean-up is not easier compared to one knife and one cutting board.
While it is too early to till the garden it is time for me to start the seeds. Hubby was cleaning up outside today. Washing the tables on he porch, raking the sunflower seed hulls away from the now exposed grass, picking up sticks; lots of bending over. He is pooped. I am hot and my feet hurt from standing; while the creating is completed, I have two more canner loads to do. At least I can sit while they process and write up my recipes for posterity. I took careful notes so I don’t have to experiment next time.
There are thirteen wild turkeys outside with three males displaying. Well, one is dominant at the moment. The ladies do not seem to be paying attention. There have been more visiting at one time. I think my hubby needs to get a turkey license this year. Corn fed from the neighbors’ fields should be good. During last week’s snowfall, we had over 30 Juncos, over 40 Fox Sparrows, 3 Song Sparrows, plus our normal assortment coming to the feeder for food. I even saw a Tri-colored Blackbird visit. It flew into a lock of nearly 70 Red-winged Blackbirds and they all flew. Have never had a blackbird at the feeder before. A few years ago we heard Great Horned Owls calling. I’ll have to have my resident ornithologist see if he can all one in tonight.
Take care everyone. Happy Easter/Spring to All.