Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Zucchini Relish

So I showed you my humongous zucchini's that our garden has been producing yesterday. Well, I chopped up some of them and made relish!


For those who have never had zucchini relish, it's just like pickle relish. I grew up on it, but it tastes the same to me!

Here is my attempt to do a tutorial!

Zucchini Relish
12 cups zucchini, ground
4 cups sliced onions
5 Tbsp. salt
2 1/2 cup vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)
1 Tbsp. dry mustard
3/4 Tbsp. turmeric
3 cups sugar
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 1/2 Tbsp. celery seed
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 red pepper
1 green pepper


using my handy dandy recipe card holder.
you can find it on my etsy shop!
Grind zucchini, onion and peppers.


Mix well with salt. Stir and let stand overnight.


Rinse with cold water {next day} and drain well.



In large kettle, blend together vinegar, sugar, dry mustard, nutmeg, cornstarch, celery seed, pepper and turmeric. 


Stir until it starts to get thick. Add the ground veggies, mix well and cook slowly for 30 minutes.
Seal in hot jars. 
Makes about 7 pints.



Now I made one batch with quarts and didn't get my jars filled well. And then made a double batch and made 9 pints and a jelly jar... exactly!

This is what everyone will be getting for Christmas!!

Happy Canning.

Mandie




Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Success...

I wanted to get this post up yesterday, but it was a busy day! I sat in on commissioners court in the morning for the clerk, then worked on some stuff. After lunch I had to run some district court cases to Big Spring (where is the district court is) I got the tour of the district court building. Since I have never been there is was good to learn where everything is! And then since I was in town got some groceries. Being out in the boonies, you don't miss opportunities to get what you need in town, while you are in town!  Then while I was checking out, I hear a loud crack of thunder! I knew it was going to rain. The sage everywhere was in full bloom and it was still and the flies were biting! But when I went in the store, it didn't look close! But it was pouring! I sat at the doors going out for like 15 minutes, then finally decided to just go get soaked! And I did! It was kinda wonderful though!!

So now the reason for this post!

My version of success and my husbands version of success this weekend was totally different! I had a projects list I was working on and Bobby had a recliner and a remote he didn't want to leave unattended! Let's just say we both succeeded this weekend!! I did have a little fun asking him for help and making him get out of his chair a couple times. I mean, what are wives for if not to give their husbands heck every once in a while!?! Right?!?!

Here are some things I got done over Saturday and Sunday.

Shelf for the pantry:

Now I didn't take a before and after, but I should have. It was a total wreck and I couldn't stand it anymore! I had to clean up the bottom of this closet!


 And the good thing about cleaning out closets, you find things you've lost. I thought I lost my pedometer (for contest at work!), but it was on a shoe in the closet. I guess I never looked too hard for it! Oops!

It's just a simple shelf, but it makes a world of difference!

Chalkboard:

My little sweet adorable niece... this one!


...Well she is turning ONE on September 6. So there is lots of planning going on! My sister asked me to help with some of the decorations! And I jumped at it and have it finished everything she asked me to make. Maybe I'm a little bit anxious!?! Here is the chalkboard. I will be selling some on our etsy shop and at the show this fall! Stay tuned!

Plus I added the felt banner! I thought it needed a bit more!


These are the other little things I did for the party! I'm getting excited!

Canning:

I also canned some zucchini relish this weekend. 2 batches! So that is what everyone is getting for Christmas. I still have a few recipes that I will make with some zucchini, but I am done with the relish! I'm going to do a casserole and a cake. Maybe freeze some. Then the rest is target practice. I want to go pull up the rest of the plants so we get no more squash!

 I will try and get my zucchini relish making experience up on the blog tomorrow!

Swimming:

Bobby had to finish some spraying up on Saturday, but when he got home he was ready for some swimming. I had a watermelon chilling in the fridge, so we loaded up the watermelon, a knife, the dogs and jumped in our swim suits to go swimming. Now, we have this small personal lake on the farm. It's called a frac pit. It just had a bunch of fresh water pumped into it that they didn't need, but all the better for swimming. The pit is only about 7 feet deep or so, but it's big! Bobby wants to put the pontoon boat in and act like he's fishing! I bet the boss would like that!! {Disclaimer: Don't ever swim in one by yourself, and don't tell your boss (the county judge) that you swim in a frac pit!} But we had some floaties and were very safe!

i had to get some pics of him being a goober! I LOVE THIS MAN!!










Look at that watermelon face!!
You'll have to excuse his farmer tan!! His body doesn't see the sun much!!

Hope y'all have a great week!!

Mandie

Friday, July 26, 2013

Foto Friday

I know I have been slacking lately with no posts. I haven't had anything to post lately and when I do, I forget my camera. Oh course!

Well, here is what has been going on lately!

Garden:
The garden loved the rain we had. We totaled 3.4 inches. It was wonderful. I can definitely handle not seeing the sun for 4 days during the summer. Now that we've had a week of sunshine since, the weeds are getting even more out of control! And I haven't had time to get to pulling them!
Our tomato plant is doing extraordinarily well! We have more then one, but this has been the only one to thrive! He has a buddy right next to him, but he hasn't done a whole lot of producing, but we have gotten a couple!
Here is the money maker!

 This is the bounty from this past Friday's pick!


We also have some melons!
This baby I have watched grow from the very beginning!

Birthday Weekend:
Tuesday was my birthday! So last weekend Bobby took me to Canyon Texas to get away a bit! We stayed with some good friends there and they took us skeet shooting, to eat at a dive called Coyote Bluff and then to the Texas Musical Play in Palo Duro Canyon. It was a fabulous evening! We will be going back to the canyon to get in some camping and hiking! It is a beautiful spot!

Isn't he a hunk!?!?!


This is Billy! My sweet friends sweet husband. Love them!
 I don't have any picture of the play of the canyon. We were running a bit late and so I didn't think about it, plus they ask you not to take picture at the play.


Bobby got me some more Fiestaware. I love getting new colors. I got lots of turquoise (love it!), the new blue, Lapis, Flamingo, Paprika and plum! I got a plum plate and the plum gusto bowl from my in-laws and also turquoise salt and pepper shakers from Bobby that aren't pictured!
Bobby also got me a turquoise seed bead necklace! It is gorgeous! He is a doll!
We also went out to eat on Tuesday at Hotel Settles. I'm loving that place. It's kinda romantic! They have their pool open now. You have to be a guest to swim, but we took a peek! I would love to go stay there, but it seems weird to get a hotel room 40 miles from home!

Randomness:
These are a couple old pictures that I ran across! 


Sorry for the blurriness, but I thought it was kinda a cool pic!

Today:
I took a couple hours off work this morning to get caught up on things around the house. I was anticipating a really slow day at work and the boss said it was cool if I came in late! Love my job!
So I took a big walk this morning! I love early morning walks. Normally would say peaceful and quiet walks, but the rigs around us are quite noisy right now!

I snapped a couple pics with my phone! The beauty of a morning cannot be captured in a photo, but I can at least try!


Photo doesn't do justice to the green cotton!

Water storage for "Frac"-ing. It's like a mini lake!
Hope everybody has a wonderful weekend!

Mandie

Monday, July 15, 2013

Sister, Swimming and Shooting!

My little sis came to visit Bobby and I this weekend. We had a fabulous time just hanging out and goofing off!





















We did some antique shopping!






















And some swimming!

































And then a little shooting practice...




























 Have a great week!

M