Eat Make Grow Thursday Blog Hop #9

Welcome to this week's Eat Make Grow Blog Hop where you share what you have been eating with your family, growing in your garden or making with all your creative impulses. Eat Make Grow is a collective link party that is shared across three blogs and runs every Thursday-Tuesday. Whichever blog that you choose to link up your post, it will show up on all three sites! Eat Make Grow is a way to share with many people posts about your domestic doings, whether that’s growing veggies, hosting parties, sewing, mixing up cleaning supplies, or trying out a new recipe. We want to learn about it! Every week, we will feature the most popular link, and one chosen by the the host. This week, your host is Miranda!

Your Hosts 

Miranda from Pocket Pause

Marigold from Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky!

Foy from Garden. Cook. Write. Repeat. 

We’re not big fans of rules so there are just two of them:

No big corporation or business advertising or promotional posts. Let’s not dilute Eat Make Grow with junky posts. We don’t mind helping out the little home grown businesses of independent bloggers or handmade merchants (Etsy, etc.).
Please link your posts back to one of the hosting blogs. This is a common blog hop courtesy. This link helps build the Eat Make Grow community by sending your readers to all of the other participant’s posts. We will feature two posts each week and we will only consider posts that have a link back. A text link is fine, or you can grab this button and put it anywhere on your blog:

<a href="http://foyupdate.blogspot.com/search?q=eat+make+grow/" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJRQLW8gfVLqmV2RWQZRmcgp7cvbbQXtcLC1AqPaZRIGod7aeXWdghJO2s1Kl5RBQPZR5RLbHF0rXrY-8eOmIyBEBHYQm0QU7pXoupGmR9WGyN98Uc8srsHdcEqkGksa1aFd8IqzshhgNT/s190/eatmakegrow125x125blue.foy.jpg"></a>

Our featured bloggers this week:

Who doesn't love a good DIY? Lazy people, i guess. Our blog hoppers must not be lazy in that case, because our most popular post came from Brown Thumb Mama. Her submission last week had some great ideas for projects you can do at home yourself, including this yummy looking taco seasoning. I've been making all of my seasoning blends for years. Although i love that addicting MSG flavor, i'd rather not sprinkle it onto everything i eat.

As some of you may know, among my multitude of businesses and homesteading skills includes soapmaking and concocting other herbal remedies. I make and sell herbal salves, but they really are so easy to make yourself! I have yet to try using plantain (a common and very soothing herb/weed) but love calendula and chamomile. Maybe These Light Footsteps will try a new blend sometime soon. Check out her great post (including links to info on Plantain) on how to make a healing salve right at home. Fancy tins not necessary, but certainly attractive and professional looking.

Is one of these featured posts yours? Grab our “Featured Blogger” button to post on your blog and show off how cool you are. You can also visit our Pinterest Eat Make Grow Featured Bloggers pin board to see some of our past favorites.

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9LfkOaqAop3L5znjZrI7jDkHehEnDWPu_L3cQC0kg3exeFZeZacf6hyphenhyphenQVF9liJsU_Shng6Qz9bHrjncbPMeMnnj3zKQ7ZHgnMMWeYhZk8n-OaIgR5hgencNEqXgJxJ8onX8E_G26Iaix/s1600/featured125x125.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9LfkOaqAop3L5znjZrI7jDkHehEnDWPu_L3cQC0kg3exeFZeZacf6hyphenhyphenQVF9liJsU_Shng6Qz9bHrjncbPMeMnnj3zKQ7ZHgnMMWeYhZk8n-OaIgR5hgencNEqXgJxJ8onX8E_G26Iaix/s1600/featured125x125.jpg"></a>

And as a reminder, PLEASE remember to add a text link or button for Eat Make Grow to your blog when you link up. We've had to pass up lots of great posts to feature because of not having a backlink :(

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How to Freeze Sweet and Hot Peppers

Can you say "bumper crop of peppers"?  Yes, 2012 was the summer of the pepper.  I harvested this lovely half bushel of peppers at Hawkins Farm.  It's mostly wrinkly ones or ones with holes or other issues. The kind that aren't nice enough to go in the shares.  And even after I picked these guys there were still tons more.  Every plant of bell peppers has at least 10 peppers in various stages of development.  The banana and hot peppers easily have twice that many.  I hadn't wanted to freeze peppers.  They weren't in my Plan to Preserve.  But since they are prolific this year, I added them to my list.  

When I think of what a pepper costs at the grocery store, I can't help but feel giddy about having this many to put up for the winter.  Right now a green pepper is 88 cents and red, orange or yellow pepper is $1.69.  The organic peppers are more than twice that!  These are even better local *and* organic.  I probably have $100 worth of peppers right there.  Four cups chopped pepper went into canned salsa and the rest I am freezing.  

Frozen peppers are not as good as fresh peppers for salads or other places where fresh is best.  However, they are excellent for recipes where they get cooked like soups, egg scrambles and curries.  

Here is how I do it.  

How to Freeze Peppers

Start by cleaning all of your peppers well.  Sometimes there are included lobes that make it difficult.  I just cut those open and scrub them out.  Then I cut the pepper in half, remove the stem and seeds, remove any icky spots and cut into the size I want to use.  Look at the recipes you make most in the winter to decide whether you want strips or cubes.  I cut strips for pizza toppings, dices for soups, stews and scrambles and chunks for roasting and curries.  

You do not blanch peppers.

Next arrange your cut pepper onto a metal baking sheet in a single layer.  It is important that the tray and the peppers are dry.  Extra water will make prying the frozen peppers off the sheet a trial.  

Then put the tray of peppers flat into the freezer.  Make sure you can fit your tray into the freezer first.  I balance mine on top of the sliding basket thing and it has to go under a metal divider bar thing too.

Several hours later the peppers will be frozen solid.  Use a spatula to scrape them off the tray quickly and put them into a zip top bag before they defrost. Label the bag with the date and note if they are sweet or hot peppers.  Then put them back into the freezer and they are ready to go when you are cooking.  Pretty easy, no?

Hot Peppers
The process is the same for hot or sweet peppers.  However, if you are working with hot pepper wear latex gloves.  I didn't realize one of the peppers was hot.  I thought it was a banana, but it was a Hungarian wax.  An hour later my fingers were burning from the capsaicin oil.

I washed my hands well with dish soap and then used a scrub of one part olive oil and one part white sugar to remove any remaining hot pepper oils.  In about an hour the tingling was gone completely.  And as a bonus, my cuticles were the cleanest they have been this growing season!

What do you have for a bumper crop this season?  

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Eat Make Grow Thursday Blog Hop #8

Welcome to this week's Eat Make Grow Blog Hop where you share what you have been eating with your family, growing in your garden or making with all your creative impulses. Eat Make Grow is a collective link party that is shared across three blogs and runs every Thursday-Tuesday. Whichever blog that you choose to link up your post, it will show up on all three sites! Eat Make Grow is a way to share with many people posts about your domestic doings, whether that’s growing veggies, hosting parties, sewing, mixing up cleaning supplies, or trying out a new recipe. We want to learn about it! Every week, we will feature the most popular link, and one chosen by the the host. This week, your host is Marigold!

Your Hosts 
Marigold from Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky!
Foy from Garden. Cook. Write. Repeat. 

Miranda from Pocket Pause

We’re not big fans of rules so there are just two of them:

No big corporation or business advertising or promotional posts. Let’s not dilute Eat Make Grow with junky posts. We don’t mind helping out the little home grown businesses of independent bloggers or handmade merchants (Etsy, etc.).
Please link your posts back to one of the hosting blogs. This is a common blog hop courtesy. This link helps build the Eat Make Grow community by sending your readers to all of the other participant’s posts. We will feature two posts each week and we will only consider posts that have a link back. A text link is fine, or you can grab this button and put it anywhere on your blog:

Our featured bloggers this week:

This week, your host is Marigold!  Our most popular post last week was Little Homestead on the Hill's Filling Up My Freezer. Lisa Lynn shows us what her freezer looks like when she, quite literally, got the whole hog. By the way, I have never been great at thinking ahead in terms of food preservation, but since starting this hop, I have learned so much and have actually started filling up my own freezer with extra veggies from our CSA boxes and such.

And my favorite post last week was Noelle's Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Mini-Muffins. That's right. I said Doughnut Muffin. I don't think I need to say any more.

Is one of these featured posts yours? Grab our “Featured Blogger” button to post on your blog and show off how cool you are. You can also visit our Pinterest Eat Make Grow Featured Bloggers pin board to see some of our past favorites.

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9LfkOaqAop3L5znjZrI7jDkHehEnDWPu_L3cQC0kg3exeFZeZacf6hyphenhyphenQVF9liJsU_Shng6Qz9bHrjncbPMeMnnj3zKQ7ZHgnMMWeYhZk8n-OaIgR5hgencNEqXgJxJ8onX8E_G26Iaix/s1600/featured125x125.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9LfkOaqAop3L5znjZrI7jDkHehEnDWPu_L3cQC0kg3exeFZeZacf6hyphenhyphenQVF9liJsU_Shng6Qz9bHrjncbPMeMnnj3zKQ7ZHgnMMWeYhZk8n-OaIgR5hgencNEqXgJxJ8onX8E_G26Iaix/s1600/featured125x125.jpg"></a>

And as a reminder, PLEASE remember to add a text link or button for Eat Make Grow to your blog when you link up. We've had to pass up lots of great posts to feature because of not having a backlink :(

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Harvest Time

Sophie and Josh have been leading the charge this September for both the CSA vegetables and animals.

Harvest season is in full swing.  I have a peck of peppers in the garage, a bushel of apples in the laundry room, tomatoes simmering on the stove, tomatoes in the dehydrator and the ingredients for salsa just waiting their turn in the boiling water canner.  Oh and a herd of fruit flies multiplying on the kitchen counter.

Here's what the truck at Hawkin's farm looked like this morning as we prepared to divide the vegetable shares.  Those squiggly light green squash on the right are 'Rampicantes'.  We decided they look like undiscovered creatures living in the deepest darkest part of the ocean.

Coming soon, I'll share some of these recipes for how I am preserving all this biomass, but right now I just need to keep slicing, stewing and freezing.

In the mean time here are a few timely posts:

• The Great Tomato Post - All my tomato posts from 2010 together
• Garden Veggies Roasted with Polenta - Recipe
• Making and Freezing Fresh Basil Pesto - Recipe
• Crunchy Fall Apple Crisp - Recipe
• Acorn Squash stuffed with Wild Rice - Recipe

What's going on in your kitchen and garden this week?

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Eat Make Grow Thursday Blog Hop #7

Welcome to this week's Eat Make Grow Blog Hop where you share what you have been eating with your family, growing in your garden or making with all your creative impulses. Eat Make Grow is a collective link party that is shared across three blogs and runs every Thursday-Tuesday. Whichever blog that you choose to link up your post, it will show up on all three sites! Eat Make Grow is a way to share with many people posts about your domestic doings, whether that’s growing veggies, hosting parties, sewing, mixing up cleaning supplies, or trying out a new recipe. We want to learn about it! Every week, we will feature the most popular link, and one chosen by the the host. This week, your host is Foy.

Your Hosts 
Foy from Garden. Cook. Write. Repeat. 

Marigold from Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky!
Miranda from Pocket Pause




We’re not big fans of rules so there are just two of them:
No big corporation or business advertising or promotional posts. Let’s not dilute Eat Make Grow with junky posts. We don’t mind helping out the little home grown businesses of independent bloggers or handmade merchants (Etsy, etc.).
Please link your posts back to one of the hosting blogs. This is a common blog hop courtesy. This link helps build the Eat Make Grow community by sending your readers to all of the other participant’s posts. We will feature two posts each week and we will only consider posts that have a link back. A text link is fine, or you can grab this button and put it anywhere on your blog:

Our featured bloggers this week:

The most clicked on post was how to make Cream of Mushroom Soup from Camille at Growing Up Gabel.  She shares her recipe for making your own cream of mushroom so that you can make all those delicious casseroles, soups and other recipes with out all the sodium and processed gunk in canned soup.  Her recipe is only five ingredients!  I love the idea of having this on hand in the freezer. 

Foy's hostess pick of the week is Michelle's at Simply, Live, Love: Homestead Update 9/4 ~ Ready to Build our Passive House!  I got so excited reading about their plans for a Passive House.  What a boon to have a Certified Green Builder husband and a brother-in-law architect. It's interesting to see common sense and advanced technology working together in a house.  

Is one of these featured posts yours? Grab our “Featured Blogger” button to post on your blog and show off how cool you are. You can also visit our Pinterest Eat Make Grow Featured Bloggers pin board to see some of our past favorites.

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9LfkOaqAop3L5znjZrI7jDkHehEnDWPu_L3cQC0kg3exeFZeZacf6hyphenhyphenQVF9liJsU_Shng6Qz9bHrjncbPMeMnnj3zKQ7ZHgnMMWeYhZk8n-OaIgR5hgencNEqXgJxJ8onX8E_G26Iaix/s1600/featured125x125.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9LfkOaqAop3L5znjZrI7jDkHehEnDWPu_L3cQC0kg3exeFZeZacf6hyphenhyphenQVF9liJsU_Shng6Qz9bHrjncbPMeMnnj3zKQ7ZHgnMMWeYhZk8n-OaIgR5hgencNEqXgJxJ8onX8E_G26Iaix/s1600/featured125x125.jpg"></a>

Show us what you've done this week!

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How to Juice Grapes for Jelly

I help out a little at Hawkin's Family Farm.  I put my horticulture knowledge to work at their CSA in exchange for some chemical free fruits and veggies.  This September I asked if I could pick some of their lovely grapes.  

I used my trusty pair of Felco pruners to cut some clusters of grapes off the vine.  

I filled two ice-cream buckets full (6 pounds give or take) which some how gave me the exact amount of juice for two batches of jelly.  

Aren't they lovely?  

Here's how I got the juice out:

First I soaked all the grapes in my sink in enough water that they were submerged.  All the little bugs living in there had to come up for air and I used a strainer to skim them off and dump them outside.  I also removed any leaves and twigs as well as any grapes that had fungus or disease.  It was a dry summer so they were pretty darn clean.  

I don't have a very big pot, so I did two batches in my 8-quart pan.  I threw the cleaned grapes, stems and all, in with 1.5 cups of water.  I don't bother to crush the grapes.  The boiling will release their juices.  Above you can see on the left that's how the grapes started out and then on the right is after 20 minutes simmering covered.  

Next, I poured everything from the pot into a strainer over a big bowl.  The juice drains through leaving the skin, stems and such behind.  I poured off the first round of juice.  Then I left the boiled grapes to sit over night and let the remaining juice drip out.  I never squeeze or press that just makes for cloudy juice which yields cloudy jelly.  The grapes did turn the bottom of my colander blue.  I hope that will wear off eventually...

I've also used a strainer over a measuring cup.

I've heard of folks straining out juice through cheese cloth.  My mom used to put them in a pillowcase and hang them from a branch in the back yard for the afternoon.   

Then I used the recipe in the Sure-Jell box to make grape jelly.  Here's the link in case you're interested.  I just realized that Sure-Jell is a Kraft company.  *Sigh*, I prefer not to buy from Kraft.  Guess I'll have to get my pectin from some other source next time.  

I made two batches of jelly one with traditional pectin and one with low sugar pectin. Check out this post to see how it went: Side by Side Comparison of Traditional and Low Sugar Pectin Recipe for Grape Jelly

My family makes jelly from wild grapes too.  If you're interested here's that link: Making Wild Grape Jelly.  

Do you have any tips for juicing grapes for jelly?

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Eat Make Grow Thursday Blog Hop #6

Welcome to this week's Eat Make Grow Blog Hop where you share what you have been eating with your family, growing in your garden or making with all your creative impulses. Eat Make Grow is a collective link party that is shared across three blogs and runs every Thursday-Tuesday. Whichever blog that you choose to link up your post, it will show up on all three sites! Eat Make Grow is a way to share with many people posts about your domestic doings, whether that’s growing veggies, hosting parties, sewing, mixing up cleaning supplies, or trying out a new recipe. We want to learn about it! Every week, we will feature the most popular link, and one chosen by the the host. This week, your host is Miranda (me!)

Your Hosts
Miranda from Pocket Pause
Foy from Garden. Cook. Write. Repeat.
Marigold from Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky!



We’re not big fans of rules so there are just two of them:
No big corporation or business advertising or promotional posts. Let’s not dilute Eat Make Grow with junky posts. We don’t mind helping out the little home grown businesses of independent bloggers or handmade merchants (Etsy, etc.).
Please link your posts back to one of the hosting blogs. This is a common blog hop courtesy. This link helps build the Eat Make Grow community by sending your readers to all of the other participant’s posts. We will feature two posts each week and we will only consider posts that have a link back. A text link is fine, or you can grab this button and put it anywhere on your blog:

<a href="http://www.pocketpause.COM" target="_blank"><img src="http://pocketpause.com/woofwoof/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/eatmakegrow125x125blue.pp_.jpg"></a>

Wow, my [Miranda's] turn again already! We had a nice turnout this week with over 80 linkers sharing their crafts, recipes and garden updates. There were some tantalizing looking treats out there, and some fun sounding projects. I don't know how you mamas out there do all this cool stuff, what with school starting this week (here in OR at least). You're an inspiration! Grab your keyboards for round 6 and let's get this linky party up to 100!

Our featured bloggers this week:

2 ingredient deodorant by "Too Many Jars in My Kitchen"

Adding to the countless "make your own deodorant" blog posts on the net is "Too Many Jars in my Kitchen." I'm a long time 'diy deodorant' gal myself, and she's spot on with her basic recipe. I've found that cornstarch can be irritating over time, but baking soda is definitely the key to staying odor free!

Crocheted Elf Hat from Simple Stitches by Rachelle

Since knitting my own version of an "elf hat" for my husband recently, i just had to choose this post to be featured this week. I don't crochet much anymore, but after peeking at this sweet project, i might have to try and whip a baby elf hat out myself, for my new nephew!

Is one of these featured posts yours? Grab our “Featured Blogger” button to post on your blog and show off how cool you are. You can also visit our Pinterest Eat Make Grow Featured Bloggers pin board to see some of our past favorites.

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9LfkOaqAop3L5znjZrI7jDkHehEnDWPu_L3cQC0kg3exeFZeZacf6hyphenhyphenQVF9liJsU_Shng6Qz9bHrjncbPMeMnnj3zKQ7ZHgnMMWeYhZk8n-OaIgR5hgencNEqXgJxJ8onX8E_G26Iaix/s1600/featured125x125.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9LfkOaqAop3L5znjZrI7jDkHehEnDWPu_L3cQC0kg3exeFZeZacf6hyphenhyphenQVF9liJsU_Shng6Qz9bHrjncbPMeMnnj3zKQ7ZHgnMMWeYhZk8n-OaIgR5hgencNEqXgJxJ8onX8E_G26Iaix/s1600/featured125x125.jpg"></a>

Show us what you've done this week!

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Side by Side Comparison of Traditional and Low Sugar Pectin Recipe for Grape Jelly

It’s been an incredible summer for grapes.  They love it hot and dry. There is much less disease this way.  I got a hold of enough grapes to make two batches of jelly.  I decided to do one traditional Sure-Jell Premium Fruit Pectin jelly and then for my second I tried Sure-Jell Pectin for Less or No Sugar Needed Recipe.  Now I can show you how the two types of pectin compare and whether or not the low sugar pectin is worth trying. 

I followed the recipes as exactly as I could in my home kitchen so that this could be a true side by side comparison. 

The methods for both recipes were almost identical.  The only difference was adding a quarter cup of sugar in with the pectin packet to the cold juice for the low sugar pectin recipe instead of waiting for the juice to come to a full rolling boil to add all the sugar like you do in the traditional pectin recipe. 

From what I understand traditional pectin binds the acid of the fruit to the sugar which is why you need an exact amount of sugar while the low-sugar pectin binds to the calcium so the quantity of sugar doesn't matter as much.  In fact, there is even a recipe in the box for substituting in Splenda™ if you are into that kind of thing. I hear stevia also works. 

Be careful if you have hard water there could be calcium in there and you could wind up with jelly that is too stiff when using the low sugar pectin.  Also low sugar jelly must be processed in a boiling water canner or frozen for long term storage as sugar is a preservative and since there is less sugar the jelly will mold more easily.  

Here's the break down of the sugar to juice for each pectin and then nutritional information:

If I get out my calculator, that equals the low sugar grape recipe is about 1/3 the calories and sugar of the traditional recipe. 

Both jellies set up well.  By looking I could tell the difference between a spoonful of one or the other.   When I looked really close the traditional pectin set-up with slightly firmer edges and is lighter in color. 

The jellies do have slightly different flavors.  Both of them are plenty sweet in my book.   The low sugar jelly tastes more like grape juice, while the traditional pectin tastes like my grandma’s jelly.  The low sugar reminds me of a grape Jell-o shot without the alcohol.   Both are excellent. 

If I had to choose between the two, I would go for the Sure-Jell Pectin for Less or No Sugar Needed Recipe.  I like that it has fewer calories and the purer grape flavor. 

My sister recently brought to my attention that jelly can be made with no added pectin at all.  Simply use the fruit’s natural pectin to thicken the preserve by boiling down the juice.  She’s been trying it out and says is not as fool proof as store bought pectin and it doesn’t  gel as hard, but it works.  It involves using a technique called sheeting to tell when it is done or a candy thermometer.  The next time I make jelly I’ll have to give that a try.

Here are some links if you would like to know more:

• LOW SUGAR JAMS AND JELLIES - Oregon State Extension
• Notes About Pectin for Making Homemade Jam - Pick Your Own
• How To Make Pectin-Free Jam: Ditch The Box and Increase The Creativity In Your Preserves - Northwest Edible Life

I know there are lots of other options out there to make jams and jellies.  What do you use?

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The Trick to Cutting Corn Off the Cob Without Making a Mess

Ta da!  I'd seen several other bloggers recommend this trick, but I hadn't tried it myself until today.  It works like a dream. So much better than doing it on a cutting board which sprays corn juice and corn bits all over.  I might go so far as to say it is the best way to cut corn off the ear. 

All you need is a bunt pan or angel food cake pan.  Stick the top of the ear into the hole and it will stand up nicely on its own and the pan will catch *almost* all of the corn kernels as you cut them off.  Love it.  

This kitchen hint will work for all sort of things like:

Blue Ribbon Corn Relish

Freezing Sweet Corn and Creamed Corn

Sweet Corn Chowder

Have you tried this trick for cutting corn off the ear?

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