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The Owl pointed out that I needed to bring some stuff up to date.
Cheese
Canning Corned Beef
Bread From Scratch
So! We were so pleased with our results that we threw 9 trays of veggies into the dehydrator and the Owl disappeared into the mancave and I made a cup of tea and sat down to write this book. Cheese is a keeper, thawing 2 more corned beefs and a pork loin to can tomorrow, and smelling bell peppers drying.
Good stuff and I'm beat! :eek:
1. How's the cheese?
2. Canning corned beef
3. Bread from scratch
2. Canning corned beef
3. Bread from scratch
Cheese
We reported when we canned the cheese, it's at http://xcolony.com/x/showthread.php?...eese#post20476
But! How's it taste?
When we went to Sam's Club a couple of weeks ago we found a #10 can of chili for 6.58, so bought one to try.
One night this last week, I was rumaging for something to cook for dinner and pulled out that can. Boiled up some macaroni and glopped some of that chili on it. I opened one of the cheeses to add. Voila, chili mac!
Only used about half the jar of cheese, so will have to get some half pint jars for canning the rest of it. Used some more of the cheese this AM in the Owls breakfast of Spam chunks in scrambled eggs. It tasted right good! If you like velveeta, this ones a keeper!
BTW, the chili tastes so much like Hormel's we were both astonished. We will definately get more to go into our stores. Both took a bowl for lunch and had plain chili with some chopped onions and shredded cheese for dinner one night. Good stuff.
But! How's it taste?
When we went to Sam's Club a couple of weeks ago we found a #10 can of chili for 6.58, so bought one to try.
One night this last week, I was rumaging for something to cook for dinner and pulled out that can. Boiled up some macaroni and glopped some of that chili on it. I opened one of the cheeses to add. Voila, chili mac!
Only used about half the jar of cheese, so will have to get some half pint jars for canning the rest of it. Used some more of the cheese this AM in the Owls breakfast of Spam chunks in scrambled eggs. It tasted right good! If you like velveeta, this ones a keeper!
BTW, the chili tastes so much like Hormel's we were both astonished. We will definately get more to go into our stores. Both took a bowl for lunch and had plain chili with some chopped onions and shredded cheese for dinner one night. Good stuff.
Canning Corned Beef
You remember I bought a bunch of corned beefs and threw them in the freezer at St. Pat's day, intending to can them. Thawed 4 of them for this project.
For some reason, the Owl was fascinated with this project and dove in to help :D, was wonderful to have him heaving the full pots around!
I put a quart jar beside my chopping board and filled it with corned beef chunks as I cut. Removed most of the fat while cutting them up, which broke my heart because the fat is part of why I love corned beef! When the jar was slightly overfull, I dumped it into my cooking pot. Since my pressure cooker holds 7 quarts, I did that 7 times. Then added water and brought the beef to a boil. Boiled it for about a half hour, just enough to make sure it was hot all the way through.
Took my hot jars from the dishwasher and started filling them. First, I took the little seasoning packets and used a teaspoon to divvy them out between the jars. Then used a wire mesh basket to scoop beef chunks from the cooking pot, spooning from the basket into the jars. That worked well, could stuff the jars and see how much meat I had in there without guessing.
I expected the meat to shrink, that's why I overfilled the 7 jars while chopping, but it shrank so much, I only got 6 quarts out of it. :( Then used a cup to scoop out the meat juice I'd boiled it in to fill the jars, covering the meat. Threw them into the pressure cooker.
Once I got them up to 13 pounds of pressure (we are at almost 5K feet), turned them on low and cooked for 90 minutes.
Once the pressure came down, pulled the jars out to cool. One didn't ping for me, the bastich! So I only got 5 for the pantry. :mad: The Owl and I took a fork to the other jar. :D
For some reason, the Owl was fascinated with this project and dove in to help :D, was wonderful to have him heaving the full pots around!
I put a quart jar beside my chopping board and filled it with corned beef chunks as I cut. Removed most of the fat while cutting them up, which broke my heart because the fat is part of why I love corned beef! When the jar was slightly overfull, I dumped it into my cooking pot. Since my pressure cooker holds 7 quarts, I did that 7 times. Then added water and brought the beef to a boil. Boiled it for about a half hour, just enough to make sure it was hot all the way through.
Took my hot jars from the dishwasher and started filling them. First, I took the little seasoning packets and used a teaspoon to divvy them out between the jars. Then used a wire mesh basket to scoop beef chunks from the cooking pot, spooning from the basket into the jars. That worked well, could stuff the jars and see how much meat I had in there without guessing.
I expected the meat to shrink, that's why I overfilled the 7 jars while chopping, but it shrank so much, I only got 6 quarts out of it. :( Then used a cup to scoop out the meat juice I'd boiled it in to fill the jars, covering the meat. Threw them into the pressure cooker.
Once I got them up to 13 pounds of pressure (we are at almost 5K feet), turned them on low and cooked for 90 minutes.
Once the pressure came down, pulled the jars out to cool. One didn't ping for me, the bastich! So I only got 5 for the pantry. :mad: The Owl and I took a fork to the other jar. :D
Bread From Scratch
And I mean REALLY scratch. The jug to the right is Montana Red Wheat. We started out the morning grinding wheat. We ran about 6.5 cups through the grinder 3 times, once coarse ground, then finer, then finest. Got 7.5 cups of beatiful whole wheat flour. It was a little coarser than the whole wheat flour you buy in the market, but then that isn't usually really "whole" wheat.
The grain mill we have is a hand-crank job, since we aren't guaranteed electricity forever. The first run through only took about 5 minutes, but that is WORK! We traded off cranking, I traded arms so I wouldn't end up with bulging muscles in only ONE arm :p. The Owl got to looking at the thing about half way through the second run and said, "Stand down, I'll be right back". And disappeared with my crank.
He came back with a portable electric drill and a big allen wrench bit for the thing that he'd made. Sucker was only gone 5 minutes, he's amazing!
The rest of the 2nd run and all of the third only took about 3 minutes! Now he's got to figure out how to always have battery packs for that drill or it's back to developing muscles.
Didn't think until afterwards that I should have taken pics of the grinding, will show them next time.:o
Made the bread in the usual fashion, with all of the necessary kneading and "resting". More muscles! Have the recipe I used if you'd like it.
Once the loaves came out of the oven (and they were beautiful, if I do say so!), we cut off a heal to split and slathered it with butter for the taste test. The consistency of the loaf was very nice. Even grained and smooth, without being dense.
Both of us agreed that it was very nice, but somewhat bland. We are used to my bread-machine french bread, I guess. I'll put in a little more salt next time. Will also add some Italian Seasoning or even some dill. This was a basic recipe to try with the ground wheat, so was not unhappy. It was very filling and we only had a half a slice each.
The grain mill we have is a hand-crank job, since we aren't guaranteed electricity forever. The first run through only took about 5 minutes, but that is WORK! We traded off cranking, I traded arms so I wouldn't end up with bulging muscles in only ONE arm :p. The Owl got to looking at the thing about half way through the second run and said, "Stand down, I'll be right back". And disappeared with my crank.
He came back with a portable electric drill and a big allen wrench bit for the thing that he'd made. Sucker was only gone 5 minutes, he's amazing!
The rest of the 2nd run and all of the third only took about 3 minutes! Now he's got to figure out how to always have battery packs for that drill or it's back to developing muscles.
Didn't think until afterwards that I should have taken pics of the grinding, will show them next time.:o
Made the bread in the usual fashion, with all of the necessary kneading and "resting". More muscles! Have the recipe I used if you'd like it.
Once the loaves came out of the oven (and they were beautiful, if I do say so!), we cut off a heal to split and slathered it with butter for the taste test. The consistency of the loaf was very nice. Even grained and smooth, without being dense.
Both of us agreed that it was very nice, but somewhat bland. We are used to my bread-machine french bread, I guess. I'll put in a little more salt next time. Will also add some Italian Seasoning or even some dill. This was a basic recipe to try with the ground wheat, so was not unhappy. It was very filling and we only had a half a slice each.
So! We were so pleased with our results that we threw 9 trays of veggies into the dehydrator and the Owl disappeared into the mancave and I made a cup of tea and sat down to write this book. Cheese is a keeper, thawing 2 more corned beefs and a pork loin to can tomorrow, and smelling bell peppers drying.
Good stuff and I'm beat! :eek:
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