Friday in the Kitchen

-

I had a very productive day in the kitchen today. I began this morning by putting a pot of veggie broth on to simmer. I had a gallon size bag of vegetable scraps in the freezer, plus a gallon size bag of zucchini pieces and another gallon size bag of beet greens, and a few carrots, these last three items were from last summer’s garden. I had frozen them just for this purpose. I put all these veggies in my 14 quart stock pot and added 3 gallons of water….



In the afternoon it was time to start doing a little baking and cooking. I made 2 dozen pumpkin muffins. My family loves these muffins and usually eats them up pretty quickly…



Dinner tonight was salmon patties and garlic roasted potatoes. This was supposed to be Wednesday night’s dinner but we ended up having leftover tacos on Wednesday instead so I moved it to Friday’s menu. I also made a big tossed green salad.



I ended letting my veggie stock simmer for about 7 hours. It is a beautiful dark color (most likely due to the beet greens)…



After I get this posted I will strain it and bag it up in quart size ziplock bags for the freezer.

You can find the recipes for all these dishes here:

Pumpkin Muffins: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/pumpkinmuffins.htm 
Garlic Roasted Potatoes: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/garlicroastedpotatoes.htm 
Salmon Patties: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/salmonpatties.htm 
Veggie Stock: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/ttbveggiebroth.htm

Comments

  1. MonicaFebruary 11, 2012 at 10:01 AM

    I guess you can use any variety of veggies for this veggie stock?...This sounds like a great way to use up veggies when you have an abundance. Thanks for all the great tips! You never cease to amaze me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CrystalFebruary 11, 2012 at 10:55 AM

      Hi Monica, I give detailed instructions on the veggie stock on my site.. the link is posted above. I typically save all my veggie scraps.. onion peels, carrot peels and end pieces, tomato cores, sad limp looking veggies that I figure I might not get used in time, etc.. I have a gallon size zip lock bag in the freezer and I just keep adding the scraps to the bag. When I have 2 or 3 bags full then it is time to make stock! :)

      Crystal :)

      Delete
  2. janaFebruary 11, 2012 at 12:47 PM

    I have to know something about the flour you use. I have white whole wheat flour and you use whole wheat pastry flour. what is the difference? jana

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CrystalFebruary 11, 2012 at 1:28 PM

      Hi Jana, whole wheat pastry flour is also known as "soft white wheat". You can also purchase "hard white wheat".. hard white wheat is typically used to make yeast breads. It has a higher protein content and more gluten than soft white wheat. But hard white wheat can be used for quick breads as well. So the question to you would be is your white whole wheat flour hard or soft wheat?

      Crystal :)

      Delete
  3. janaFebruary 13, 2012 at 3:56 PM

    i sent in the answer you asked for sbout my flour, but did'nt know if you got it or not. it is hard white whole wheat. where can i buy the kind you used? i have looked but can;t find any. just white, whole wheat and bread flours. do i have to get it somewhere other then local grocery stores? jana

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CrystalFebruary 13, 2012 at 6:03 PM

      Jana, you can find soft white wheat in health food stores or food co-ops or online.
      Crystal :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

All messages are moderated. After approval your message will be posted. Thank you for your comments!! Crystal :)

Popular posts from this blog

Canning Chicken Noodle-less Soup

-
Image
Today was one of those busy days that it seemed I was moving from the time my feet hit the floor until this evening.. But, I got so much done and that is a great feeling! :) One of my accomplishments today was canning 14 jars of chicken noodle-less soup. I call it “noodle-less” because you can’t can noodles. They end up falling apart. So I canned the chicken, veggies and broth. When I go to use the soup I will bring it to a boil and then add a handful of noodles (any type of pasta will work) and cook it until the noodles are done. Because I plan to add the pasta after the fact I wanted to make sure there was enough chicken broth to do this. So I only filled my jars about half to two thirds with chicken and veggies and then filled with chicken broth. Here is how I did this…. I started off with 2 chickens that were a total weight of about 10lbs. I put them in my 14 quart stock pot… I then added 2 gallons of water.. And 3 tablespoons salt.. I brought this
Read more

Canning Cabbage

-
Image
I had 4 large heads of cabbage that weighted about 25 pounds. We had some really hot days and I figured I better get the last of them picked soon. My daughter Sierra and I ended up processing 3 of them yesterday and I have one left for a meal on my menu this week. I made pickled cabbage and then canned up the last of the cabbage. Here is the recipe for the pickled cabbage (according to how I made it)… 8 pounds cabbage 1 large onion 1 ½ red peppers 1 lb carrots ¾ cup salt 9 cups water 12 cups white vinegar 10 cups sugar 1t mustard seed 1t celery seed Slice cabbage thinly. Slice onion and peppers. Grate carrots. Mix all veggies together in a very large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and mix in well. Let sit for 2 hours to soften veggies. Rinse veggies well.  In a large stock pot (mine was 14 quarts) combine water, vinegar, sugar, spices. Bring to a boil. Add cabbage/veggies. Bring to a boil. Fill hot pint jars with veggies using a slotted spoon. Fill jar with brine to
Read more

Canning Beef Stew

-
Image
In my last blog post I shared that I had bought 10 pounds of beef roast. I cut it all up and used 4 pounds in 2 crockpot freezer meals ( http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/2012/02/two-more-crockpot-meals-for-freezer.html ) . I used the other 6 pounds of meat along with potatoes, carrots, onions and celery to can beef stew. Here were the general proportions I used in canning 7 quarts of beef stew.. 6# beef 2# potatoes 2# carrots 1# onions 1# celery After I cut up the meat and got the freezer meals done I moved to the beef stew. I peeled and cut up the potatoes and carrots. I chopped up the onions and sliced the celery. I pulled out 3 quarts of veggie stock from my freezer to use for liquid in the stew. You can use beef or chicken stock or you can use water. I did not add anything to thicken the liquid as usually thickeners don’t hold up in canning. You can thicken the broth after it is opened if you would like. I added 1 teaspoon salt to each of my
Read more