Our Vacation

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We took the kids on vacation about two weeks ago. We had a wonderful time and I think the reason I have avoided blogging about it is that I just don’t know where to start or what to write about. We did so much, and saw so much and had such a wonderful time together it is a little overwhelming for me to try to write it all down in one post.

I will start with the first day. We stared out Wednesday morning. Yellowstone is about a 6 hour drive from our house, which isn’t bad, especially if you time it around naps and such. On our way up we stopped in Layton Utah at Hill Air force Base to see their aerospace museum. It is really big and had a lot of stuff to look at. The girls got a little bored, they just aren’t old enough to really appreciate everything. I would have liked to stay longer and taken my time looking and reading about all those planes, but the kids were just too restless.

From there we headed on to Island Park Idaho. We rented a cabin with my parents, my two married sisters and their families and my one lone little brother. We had 19 people there, it was a nice big cabin with more than enough room, beds and bathrooms for everybody. The only person we were missing was my 19 year old brother who is in Georgia, serving an LDS mission. We really missed him, he livens things up.

In Idaho we drove through beautiful potato country. There were fields upon fields of flowering potato plants. It is a beautiful area of the country. In Ashton Idaho we took a scenic byway. (I need to say here that I fell in love with Ashton, the farms of potatoes and wheat were so beautiful!) We drove along the Mesa Fall Highway. It wound us through a canyon and out into Island Park. There were so many wild flowers long this highway. I guess they had a wet spring because everything was blooming!

I was spectacular! I love all the beauty that is around us. I love being in the wild wide open.

Apricot Jam

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I am insanely tired this morning. I have had too many late nights on top of late nights on top of vacations and colds….it is catching up! Last night I was up until 1:30 finishing my jam.

This is one of my favorite jam recipes. It is a little different, instead of pectin you use Jello as your thickening agent. As a result, the jam it a little thinner in the jars, but once it is open and refrigerated, it sets up really nicely.

Here is what you need for one batch of Apricot Jam

8 cups Apricots, pitted and chopped
(leave the skin on)
4 cups crushed pineapple, drained
(about 2 large cans)
10 cups sugar
(I know insane, but yummy)
1-3 ounce package of apricot Jello
(the store was out of apricot so I used peach instead)
1-6 ounce package of Orange Jello

Put the sugar, apricots and pineapple into a large pan
(I know, crazy amount of sugar)

Slowly bring in to a boil, stirring constantly
it is very easy for the sugar to burn on the bottom of the pan and that will ruin the whole batch.
Also, you don’t want the pot to boil over (more about that later)

Once you get it boiling find the right to keep it at a low boil, stirring occasionally at this point. Once the fruit and the sugar mix well, it won’t burn as easily.
You boil this for 30 minutes.

Once it has boiled for 30 minutes, you add your two packages of Jello.

Mix it in well and let it boil for a few minutes so the Jello completely dissolves.


Then you pour it into your sterile jars and process for 15 minutes.

I made 48 pints last night.

There is something so satisfying about preserving your own foods.

On my last batch I was about 2 cups short on my apricots, so I added two cups of frozen strawberries out of my freezer. It turned out really yummy, and that is why those jars in front are darker and redder.

Now, about pots boiling over

It is really messy

And bunt sugar isn’t the nicest smell.

This is what happens when you put the apricots to boil and turn around thinking you have time to load a few dishes into the dishwasher.

Anyone want to guess what happens to sugar when it is exposed to high temperatures?
It turns to caramel

What to know what happens when it is exposed to even higher temps for an extended period of time? It turns in to hard candy

I am still trying to get all this off my stove!

Pantry dinners #8 and 9

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I cheated, twice.

For dinner #8 I went to my Mom’s and she fed us. My Mom lives about an hour away and I was going to be in the area for a family Wedding Shower, so we came early and crashed her dinner. I did ask the day before, so I guess I wasn’t really crashing her dinner. Anyway she fed me and my kids…so thanks Mom!

Last night I wanted to use some hamburger patties that I had in the fridge that were going to go bad if I didn’t use them asap. I also had some cabbage from my garden. So we grilled hamburgers and I made some Cole slaw. Here is where the cheat came in. I had Dadzoo stop at the store to pick up supplies to my jam and I figured since he was there anyway….I had him get hamburger buns too. I fully planned on trying to make my own buns…but since he was already there….

On to the Cole Slaw. I am not a fan. Not a fan of Cole Slaw at all. Until I tried my Aunt Beki’s recipe. It isn’t your traditional Cole Slaw, there is no mayo, or carrots (I guess you could add carrots if you wanted to) or raisins, or any of the things one would associate with Cole Slaw, excepting the Cabbage of coarse. I really like it, and so does Dadzoo, the kids not so much, but I don’t cook for my kids.

Here is my Cabbage freshly picked and washed.
Chop it all up, or shred it, however you like.

Then make the dressing:

3 Tbsp vinegar
2 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp Sugar
and salt to taste
(I use a lot of salt, it seems to need it)

Whisk it all together and pour it on the Cabbage

Mix it up good
and toss it in the fridge

I like it to be cold when I serve it and it give it some time for all the flavors to mix.

There you have it

Aunt Beki’s Cole Slaw

An Egg

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I have been getting eggs from my two small chickens, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum for about three weeks now, so I knew that the larger chickens would been coming along soon.

Yesterday I got my
first

large
green
egg!
Easter Eggs in July
On another note, the neighbor that gave us some apricots this weekend got weary of making jam and gave us the rest of the fruit. So I have my slave punk #2 working on cutting up apricots. We are going to be making the most wonderful jam. I will post more on that later.

Pantry Dinner #6 and 7

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First,
before we get to any dinners
aren’t friends and neighbors wonderful!

Apricots are in season around here and from the looks of it, it will be a wonderful crop!

There are many years that we won’t have apricots if we have a late season frost and while the spring time was wet and cool, it didn’t get cold enough to freeze the apricot blossoms!

My neighbors across the street gave us some of their apricots, aren’t they pretty!

I love the color
and if I have more I would have made the most fabulous jam from them!
But, instead, I make apricot crisp!
I have never made crisp from apricots and I think it turned out pretty darn good.
We had it for breakfast on Sunday.

Pantry dinner number 6 was on Saturday and I turned to one of my staples
Salsa Chicken.
I throw chicken breasts into the crock pot, dump some salsa over the top and cook on high for 4 hours.
Once it is done cooking I shred it with a fork, and this is what I am left with.

I use this chicken as a base for a lot of meals:
Chicken Enchiladas, Quesidillas, Tacos, Burritos, even on Salad with rice and black beans.

All of those recipes require cheese and since I am out of cheese I needed to improvise.
I found in my pantry a half a block of velveta cheese, I had used it for a recipe and had some left over. Normally I don’t ever use velveta, it is too processed for me (when cheese can be stored on the shelf it makes me suspicious). Anyway, I cubed up the cheese and tossed it in with the shredded chicken and let it melt.

This is what it looked like after all the cheese melted in.
YUM HUH!
I served it burrito style and everybody loved it.

I had a little left over, it ended up in a baggie tossed in the freezer for another time.

On Sunday I cooked a Turkey breast given to me by a neighbor, she ran out of room in her freezer (yay).

I cooked it the same way I roasted my chicken the other day and it turned out just as good.
I served this with rice, gravy and steamed summer squash.