If you’ve shopped for groceries lately, you have felt the pain of the price of groceries when you checked out at the register. It’s ridiculous how the price of food has increased. So, what are we expected to do? Clip coupons? Use savings apps? Grow as much of our food as possible? Yes, to all the questions above and also learn to be frugal with what we have.
I grew up in the sixties and seventies in a single parent home with two siblings. We didn’t know it at the time, but our mom, who was also a working mom, was very frugal and could make delicious dishes from leftovers. Left over vegetables became delicious vegetable soup. Popcorn was transformed into delicious caramel corn. The list could go on and on. But, one of my favorite transformations was left over potatoes, which became scrumptious potato cakes! I am excited to share my version of my mother’s delectable potato cakes.
After our children married and left home, we have more leftovers than ever before. Leftover mashed potatoes and the dread of emptying them to the dogs, or just going to waste inspired me to make potato cakes! My mom always made what she called depression potato cakes. I remember watching her in the kitchen mix the delicious mix and then frying it to perfection! After pondering on the delectable cakes, I determined that I could make a heather version. As the mix started coming together, I was sure this transformation dish would quickly become a renewed favorite. And so, the experience had begun with cherished memories, a desire, and a little creativity. Finally, the cakes were complete. I was too eager to wait for dinner to try the golden potato cakes. Yummo! They were delicious! I am so excited to share this delicious recipe with you. I hope you enjoy these delicious plant-based or vegetarian potato cakes as much as my family.
Ingredients:
Leftover cold mashed potatoes ( I used two cups)
Two tbs diced sweet onion
1/2 cup self rising flour of choice
1 cup yellow corn meal
Either one egg white or a flax egg (flax egg is I tbs finely ground flax seed and 2 1/2 tbs water mixed)
Salt and pepper to taste
Process; mix all ingredients together. The mix will be stiff. The stiffer the better. If your mix is not thick enough, add a little meal and flour. Once mixed, set aside and add a little extra virgin olive oil to frying pan. Allow the oil to heat and then either form patty’s or drop by large spoon fulls into the pan. Allow to fry on one side while adding a little extra pepper and or salt. I like to add a sprinkle of turmeric, just because I love the flavor and it’s good for you! It also gives the potato cakes a nice color. Flip, season, and fry the other side until golden brown on both sides of the potato cake
This is a delicious side dish for pinto beans, green beans and also makes a great side for breakfast. My family loves them with ketchup as a side. You can add diced bell pepper in the mix for a bit of Mexican style potato cake. I like to add a little plant based cheese as well for a cheesy potato cake. The possibilities are endless and it allows you to use leftovers to make delicious food that saves money all the while.
I hope our renewed favorite will become a new favorite of yours! God bless from the mountains of Kentucky! As always feel free to leave feedback, ideas, and or comments. Have a blessed week!
Hello, from the mountains of Kentucky! I hope each of you had a wonderful Christmas! We were blessed to celebrate with our children and grandchildren, despite the polar vortex storm that slammed us. That was some crazy weather! We have cold winters in the mountians, but don’t often see it below zero. Even still, we were blessed that our family could spend the day with us. With the new year, my thoughts have been focused on reflection, which helps us learn from the past, while also confirming plans for our future. I want to encourage you to stay the course that the Lord has laid out for us. Even though the world looks bleak around us, let us carry on, love life, live it, and enjoy it. Love Him while always placing Him at the forefront of our lives and we’ll finish the race strong.
Winter in the mountains.
Once the planning, decorating, shopping, cooking and all the festivities is complete, the reflecting begins. I take a little time each day and try to reflect on the past months, take notes, reread journal entries, add more notes, take time to meditate and pray, and then begin preparing and planning for the upcoming year. Reflection can include both physical and spiritual reflection as well as reflection of our finances, health, for me my academic growth for my career, time spent with family, but most of all the time we’ve spent in growing our relationship with the Lord. I have found that when my time spent with Him increases… all the other areas are easier and more pleasurable to manage.
Tree decorated and grand babies gifts wrapped.
So, you may be wondering how I’m planning to reflect and prepare for 2023. After much prayer and meditation, I have laid out a plan for increasing my personal time spent in prayer, meditation time, studying the word, reading uplifting books, and simply abiding in Him. I have added additional time to my already scheduled time that I have devoted for Him each day. This allows more prayer time, meditation time, and the all important quiet time to listen to Him. Last year the Lord spoke to me about sharing the word and Him with my students. It should have been an easy task, but most of the time when the Lord asks us to do something, we are met with opposition from the enemy. Recognizing the opposition was from the enemy, I quickly dismissed the enemy and put him under my feet and began opening class with prayer, and ending it with a scripture. As time went by, the students began giving in prayer requests. Since, many students have thanked me for praying and stated the opening prayer had helped them through difficult challenges and difficult days. It is nothing that I did, no credit for me, but all about what He does. I give God the glory for all. I am just a vessel that is willing to be used. I’m not sure what the Lord will ask me to do in 2023, but I am anxious to hear from Him and look forward to sharing more with you soon.
As for me-time. Upon reflecting on how I made time for myself last year, I do see improvement, but still find myself lacking in that category. So, for this year, I have books purchased and waiting for me to read. I have begun revisiting a book that is among my favorites. I am rereading, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. This book has ramped my mood up to read through the remaining winter days. I am excited to finish it, but will admit that I am also reading a few other books at the same time. Of course I have begun a new year of reading the Bible through with an insightful eye, and also reading a study on Jonah. I love to read Priscilla Shirer’s books. Her study on Elijah was outstanding! I would recommend all of her books for those who are interested in diving a bit deeper into the word.
Powerful study!
Finally, my health. I have not made any big changes in my eating other than continuing to reduce the amount of processed foods that I am eating. I am adding more and more whole food plant based recipes into my daily intake. I have maintained a vegan diet for over four years and have found that inflammation is not an issue, my stamina has increased, and my cholesterol and blood pressure have both decreased. I encourage you to explore the many vegan options that are out there. My goals for 23 are to get up and move more, intake more water, and drink more herbal teas. I have recently fell in love with hibiscus cold brew tea. I prefer the Simple Truth organic brand. It’s really tasty and delicious over ice! I have also resumed an old passion of mine… I have rediscovered my love for crocheting. I am currently working on crocheting a temperature blanket. I’ll keep you posted on this project. It’s a fun project that doesn’t consume much time each day. Our daughter is crocheting one also. We’ve both joined a temperature blanket Facebook group that currently has over 500 members who are also crocheting this type of blanket. Again, I’ll keep you updated on the progress.
A finished Afghan for our grandson.
I will be posting new recipes, ideas, words of encouragement, and reviews of great books in upcoming posts. For now, I’m off to work on plans for my students next week when we return to campus for the spring semester. Remember, being healthy requires more than a resolution, an exercise program, a diet app, or pre-made diet foods, drinks, or protein bars. Being healthy requires a close relationship with our Heavenly Father, buying and growing healthy food, preparing it in a healthy manner, getting up and moving, drinking good quality water, socializing with positive people, spending time with self, and loving yourself. From the mountains of Kentucky, my prayers for each of you is for a happy, healthy, prosperous, life that includes God. For now, I’m off to work a bit. Feel free to leave comments or follow for upcoming recipes that I know you’ll enjoy! God bless, from our home to yours!
Hello, from the mountains of Kentucky! I hope you’re having an awesome and blessed day! Things have been quite hectic in our neck of the woods! As a college professor this is one of the busiest times of the year as we are deep into the fall semester. Each year brings growth and change, which are both welcomed, but not always easy. As famers, life has been extremely hectic as we are harvesting, preserving , and canning the remnants of our garden. As a part of a church family, it’s been a busy time of growth, and a sense of urgency to pray more for our country and family than ever before. We’ve also felt the need to preserve and can more than in years past. With that sense of urgency, we’ve actively been growing our pantry, and stocking our shelves with a little more than usual this year.
Making time for self-care, especially when life gets crazy is a must. I have found that taking the time early in the morning hours to sit quietly, reflect, meditate, pray, and journal has proven to be very therapeutic and healthy for my mind and spiritual well-being, which helps to maintain a healthy mind, heart, and soul. I enjoy crocheting, which is also very therapeutic. After prayer, devotion, and Bible study, a few minutes of crocheting is one of my times to reflect and meditate. Mornings are great for me as the house is quiet and the farm outside hasn’t come to life just yet.
Morning fog hovering in the still green mountains. Morning walks are the best! Crocheting and reflecting on the past and meditating on the day.
Holistic living is healthy and very satisfying way of life. I am often asked how I made the decision to lead a holistic life. I have been an advocate for clean eating for a great number of years, which made the transition somewhat easier. I chose clean eating for my health. My health was declining at a young age. My cholesterol was out of control, my blood pressure was extremely high, I was over weight, and I was border line diabetic. So, the journey began there! I decided that I would take back my health! I chose clean eating as many fad diets just didn’t work. Day by day, week by week, with the help and support of my family, church and friends, changes started happening! One by one I was able to stop taking meds for all of the above health issues, I lost 75, yes 75 pounds! I was finally in control of my diet and my health!
With the wonderful effects that clean eating had on my health, it evolved into my decisions to become a pescatarian, then gradually that evolved to becoming a vegetarian, which both added vitality and a new zeal for life in my thoughts and my body and evolved into an even cleaner diet. I’ve had trouble with digesting diary for years and had gradually made the change to almond milk and plant butter and cheese, which again made the transition easier. For nearly five years now, I’ve enjoyed a vegan/plant based diet, which has lead to an increase in my overall health, and a peace and satisfaction that I am making a difference in my overall well-being.
Enjoying the smell of mint drying in the kitchen.
I am also a herbalist, and enjoyed growing our own herbs for cooking, making teas, and also for minor medial problems for years. I also love sharing them with family and friends. The most recent addition to living a cleaner and healthier life, was the decision to become a doTERRA essential oil consultant. I’ve used essential oils for years, and finally decided that I would become a consultant and purchase from myself rather than online markets. This line is the best that I’ve used thus far and it’s also a nice little supplemental income as well. With a holistic lifestyle come lots of questions. The primary questions I am asked are, why and how.
Fresh basil in the background and one of my favorite oils. Orange is very versatile.
The first question is the most common question. What inspired you to lead a holistic life? I always answer that question with a question. Why wouldn’t I? Then I begin to explain I chose this lifestyle for my health, my peace of mind, and simply put, for my life. I also add some details about the astounding amount of research revealing the high level of toxins, preservatives, and additives that basically poison the human body and our environment. These toxins are found in food, fast foods, shampoos, soaps, toothpaste, makeup, perfumes. detergents, cleaning products, air fresheners, candles, and even in our pet’s food. I’ll share another story in a different post of how we nearly lost my canine baby due to additives in what was supposed to be healthy doggie treats. That was a real eye-opener!
I always share one of the most informative books that I’ve ever read was, How Not to Die, written by Dr Gregor. There is so much information revealed within the covers of this book that confirmed my reasons for eating clean, and eating cleaner than I had been eating. His research also solidified my thoughts about why I had been food poisoned by fast food on more than one occasion, why we nearly lost our house dog, and why cleaning products and certain air fresheners lead to smothering and irritated sinuses. He exposes much about how these horrific toxins are actually allowed to be in our foods, pet foods, cleaning products, and even in medicines and vitamins that we think are helping us.
An eye-opening read!!! I encourage anyone who is interested in living a cleaner, more holistic life to read this book!
Secondly, I’m asked if it was a difficult transition. My answer is no. You don’t have to make the plunge and change everything at once. I made changes over a period time with my diet and I did the same thing with household items, hygiene items, and even my car air fresheners. I didn’t see the need to waste products that I already had on hand, so as I would empty an item, I would replace it with plant based, organic, and a cleaner item. First on the list, I would begin eliminating the toxins from my our home and our vehicles. My first elimination was laundry detergent. To prevent waste, after exhausting the last of my stock, I began using organic plant based detergents that didn’t require fabric softeners. There were some products that I had in my home that I could not convince myself to continue using. Those plug in air fresheners were tossed in the garbage, empty or not!
With the various air fresheners gone, I replaced them with diffusers for essential oils to help clean and purify the air and also bring a wide array of wonderful scents into the house. One by one I replaced our cleaning supplies with either organic plant based cleaning supplies or homemade supplies from natural ingredients. It’s quite amazing how many options are on the market and what’s even more amazing is the number of cleaners you can make using essential oils! I’ll share my bathroom cleaner soon! It cleans great, easy to make, and also prevents those toxic fumes that no one likes.
The next change was hair care products and tooth paste. doTERRA made that change easy for me as well. They have a wonderful plant based shampoo that incorporates essential oils, and a fantastic plant/based conditioner, and leave in conditioner that is excellent! I can’t even explain how wonderful my hair feels after using these products! My hair shines so much more than before and it feels less weighted. I also made the transition from usual tooth paste to a clean toxin free tooth paste from doTERRA. I chose this toothpaste simply because I’m a doTERRA consultant, and after trying it… it works! My teeth are clean and white and after reading the list of ingredients in my old toothpaste, it was an easy transition and one that I am happy I made.
doTERRA shampoo, conditioner, and leave-in conditioner. All natural!!!
Finally, vitamins was the next item to begin changing. It was easy to switch vitamins with doTERRA. The vegan vitality pack is on my monthly auto order. I love these vitamins as they’re all plant based, no additives, or artificial colors added, and they’re in veggie capsules. Essential oils, homegrown herbs, and homemade teas helps with common cold symptoms, allergies, scrapes and minor abrasions. I could go on forever with the reasons why I chose a holistic lifestyle.
Vitality pack! This was a game-changer! Even though I already took vitamins and had for years… I noticed an immediate change in my stamina!!
I’m asked if I miss fast foods, soft drinks, and what in the world do I do about coffee. Number one, I don’t miss fast foods. As a matter of fact, the cleaner you eat, the less you even want fast foods. My husband and I now prefer food prepared at home ten to one over restaurant foods. I gave soft drinks up over twenty years ago for my own personal health and have never looked back. I’ll be honest, coffee change took a while. It took a little while and a lot of different coffees to find a good organic coffee that I truly enjoyed, but have finally found one that is very satisfying. I have also replaced much of the coffee that I drank during the day and evenings with organic and my homemade teas.
Delicious organic coffee from Amazon!!!
Finally, I’m asked if I feel better physically since making so many changes. Simply omitting meats and dairy from my diet was a game changer with my cholesterol and inflammation. Omitting artificial colors, scents, and toxic preservatives really made a positive impact on my allergies. Plant based vitamins, a good clean diet, and the removal of toxic smells in our home has made a positive impact on my overall health, stamina, and lead to a much more simple life that makes me happy knowing I am doing something to improve my quality of life, my families, and decreasing the chances of disease in our bodies.
Enjoy the simple things that bring joy and support your health. Organic lavender growing near our front door! Love to add to plant butter, cookies, teas, and more.
If you’re interested in holistic living, start slow. Remove one thing at a time. Don’t try to do it all at one time! You’ll become overwhelmed, which might result in giving up. Make one change and allow that change to become a routine. Once you feel grounded and content with that change, make a second change. As you empty or exhaust a supply of one particular item, replace it with a cleaner wholesome item. Read the labels, do the research, do a little soul searching, meditate, pray, and take holistic living one day and one change at a time.
Take time to enjoy the change. One change at a time and you’ll be more likely to stay the course. It’s so worth it!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Feel free to leave comments. I enjoy reading comments and answering questions. For now, God bless from the mountains of Kentucky! Happy Fall!!!
Good evening, from the Mountains of Kentucky. I hope wherever you are this post finds you blessed and well. It’s been a bit of a strange summer in our part of the world. We’ve encountered extremely dry weather that resulted in hand watering our garden, to extremely wet weather that is resulting in our picking buckets of tomatoes as they start to ripen to prevent them rotting on the vines. We’ve been laying our tomatoes in the sun and allowing the sun to finish ripening. We’ve juiced the majority of the tomatoes and will begin canning whole tomatoes next. With the diverse extreme weather our grape tomatoes have flourished! The weather don’t seem to have affected them. We’ve enjoyed them with salads, sides, and more. We’ve had so many of them that I’ve already started freezing them to use in stir fries, sautéed dishes, and for one of my favorites, sautéed basil tomatoes!
Stewed basil tomatoes with breakfast
Our cucumbers are still coming and we’re still picking them! We’ve blessed others to have cucumbers to make pickles, relish, and also to enjoy eating. We’ve canned spicy kosher, pickle relish, and enjoyed them as sides with all meals… and they’re still producing.
Garlic pickles
So the question became… what can we do with those lingering cucumbers? It suddenly came to me. Garlic pickles, I would can garlic pickles! You’ve probably ate those delicious big crunchy garlic pickles that you can pickup at gas stations, convenient marts, and several other businesses at some time in your life. If not, you’ve missed a real treat. We usually pick one up when we visit our local Tractor Supply. It’s enjoyed to its entirety on the trip home. So, with the thoughts of those delicious pickles… I decided to try my hand at making them myself. And, it turned out quite well! I’ve already consumed nearly a quart of them by myself! So, for you pickle lovers… here you go!!!
Ingredients:
Approximately three pounds of cucumbers
3 cups white vinegar
3 cups water
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup white sugar
8-12 cloves fresh garlic
5 tbs dried dill seeds
7 tsp minced garlic
5 tbs whole black peppercorns
7 sprigs fresh dill
7 tbs Pickle crisp
Process:
Sterilize seven quart jars, rings, and flats and set aside on a clean folded towel. Wash, scrub, and dry cucumbers. Trim the ends of the cucumbers and set aside. (We add these to our chicken’s feed) They appreciate it! Happy chickens lay more eggs! Cut clean cucumbers into spears. You can change the cutting to the type of cut you prefer.
In a stockpot, I prefer to use an enamel coated cast iron stock pot, add vinegar, water, salt, dill seeds, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil slowly. While brine is coming up to a boil, divide garlic cloves, sprigs of dill, and minced garlic to clean jars. Add sliced cucumbers to jars. I usually lay the jars on their side with dish cloth folded beneath the ring to create a bit of slant. This prevents all of the garlic from being one-sided and prevents spills. I then carefully stack the cucumbers in jars until tight. Remember, there will be shrinkage as the pickles process. Now add a full tablespoon of pickle crisp to each jar.
After the brine comes to a rolling boil, remove from heat and ladle the brine over the cucumbers leaving at least a half inch space for headspace. Make sure all cucumbers are covered. Run a butter knife or spoon handle around the jar to remove any air pockets. Wipe the rims with a paper towel that has a bit of vinegar on it and add the flats and rings.
Add warm water to the water bath canner until about half full. Turn the stove on medium high heat, and add the filled jars to the canner. Finish filling the canner until the water is at least an inch over the jars. When the water in the canner comes to a rolling boil, set a timer for ten minutes and allow the pickles to process for the full ten minutes. When the time has exhausted, turn the stove off and allow jars to sit for about five minutes until the water simmers down. Using the jar lifters, remove the jars from the canner and set aside on a folded bath towel or wooden cutting board. Soon you should hear the ping from each jar letting you know the jars are sealed.
I couldn’t wait any longer than two weeks to try them!!! Oh my! They’re delicious! We’ve about devoured a quart in a few days.
I hope you and your family enjoy these delicious crispy garlic pickles as much as we do. I have a feeling they’re going to quickly become a family favorite. Please feel free follow and leave feedback. I love to hear from my readers. I enjoy answering questions and reading comments. For now, may the Lord bless each of you. I’m off to can more tomato juice today! God bless from the mountains of Kentucky.
Hello, from the mountains of Kentucky! I hope your July is off to a beautiful start! We’ve had a blessed week with just enough rain to water our thirsty garden and make the zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers explode. The number of gorgeous veggies awaiting my attention caused me to wake even earlier today. After having a hot cup of coffee, relaxing with my daily devotional, prayer, and another fascinating chapter of the word, I looked at the tasks that lay ahead of me for the day. Farming looks glamorous to those who see it as all the veggies you can eat, decreased payout at the grocery store, and the many wonderful health benefits. All of these benefits are true, but the work and the labor are also very real… but satisfying. Chores are a big part of planting, growing, maintaining, and harvesting the rewards. After reading a chapter of my chosen summer read, What the Wind Knows, it was time to get up and get started checking things off my list. Yes, I am a list maker! It helps me feel organized.
The day began with watering the herbs, which needed harvesting again. It’s been a great year for all of our herbs. I quickly clipped lavender blooms to dry for flavoring teas, and clipped various types of mint. After washing and drying the herbs, I quickly tied them in bundles to hang for drying. The aroma of fresh herbs drying in the kitchen makes me happy.
Fresh mint hanging in the kitchen! This is chocolate mint. It makes great tea! Lavender Blooms for flavoring Tea
Weekly household chores were next on the agenda. One by one, I checked them off my list. But, between chores… the squash, zucchini, and cucumbers were reoccurring thoughts. So, I decided to bake a little zucchini bread. I also vacuum sealed a few bags of sliced squash and zucchini for the freezer to enjoy this winter. Next on the list, was the sink full of cucumbers. Checking my time, I decided that I would have time to make seven quarts of spicy kosher dill pickles, which are always tasty any time of the year. If you’ve not tried my recipe for spicy kosher dills, you can follow the link below to learn more. These pickles are a family favorite, as well as a favorite among many of our neighbors. Canning Spicy Kosher Dill Pickles
We’ve had an abundance of summer squash and zucchini this year!
Now to proofread. My editor is expecting the final revisions of the last chapters to be ready later this week. I am in the homestretch of finishing this nearly year long project. I’m excited for my students to have this new workbook in their hands. It is designed to accompany the textbook I wrote in 2019. Thankfully, the abundance of rain we received over the last few weeks allowed me to work ahead of schedule, but also resulted in lots of weeds. That was another thing on the list to attend to. Hoeing usually means all hands on deck! Again, lots of hard work, but very satisfying work.
The zucchini kept calling my name! I ended up grating several zucchini for the freezer for bread this winter. I use a hand-held box grater and a glass measuring cup lined with white paper towel or cheese cloth. I grate the clean zucchini into the cup until the measuring cup is full. This is perfect for breads as my recipe calls for one full cup of grated zucchini. It also works well because the paper towel or cheesecloth is already holding the zucchini, and ready to be squeezed to remove the liquid before freezing. I felt better about having used several of the beautiful green bounty.
Three hours later, seven quarts of spicy kosher pickles are cooling and waiting to be taken to the basement for good eating this winter! Zucchini bread will be cooling soon. One loaf to eat and one for the freezer. Yes, you can freeze whole loaves of homemade bread. Allow the bread to completely cool, remove from loaf pan, and wrap twice with plastic wrap, then once with aluminum foil. Once the bread isfrozen, you can vacuum seal for reassurance of no frost gathering on the bread. When you’re ready to eat the bread, allow it to thaw in the fridge. Once it’s completely thawed, remove the vacuum seal and unwrap and enjoy. It’s amazing how moist the bread is.
Spicy Kosher Pickles
I hope you’ve enjoyed spending a little time with me in the mountains of Kentucky. It’s been a busy day, but one that makes me feel accomplished. Feel free to leave comments. I love to hear from my readers. I’ll share the vegan zucchini bread recipe soon. It’s a keeper. Also, I’m excited to share my new Indian relish recipe with you! I’m hoping to have it posted later this week. Check out the picture beneath the bread photo! God bless from the mountains of Kentucky.
“Garden work is satisfying to the body and soul, as is the harvest.” ~Dr Bowling
Hello, from the mountains of Kentucky! I hope you’ve been blessed with awesome weather for your gardens! It’s been very dry in the mountains. Our garden is growing and we’re picking, but a lot of hard work has been involved with watering by hand through the month of June. Needless to say, we’ve decided to invest in ground soaking hoses that will water the ground when we want it, or as we need it. For a garden of our size, I’m not sure why we hadn’t already thought about this. I’m often asked questions about the difficulties involved with organic gardening. So, I decided to share five organic tips that can beneficial for your garden at this time of the year.
Love eating from the land… even though it’s a lot of hard work. Our garden early in the year!
Tip One: We’ve also dealt with low calcium in the soil through this very dry beginning to summer. So, through research and back work, we’ve added ground organic oyster shells to the soil around the squash and zucchini. As well as eggs shells and diatomaceous earth. Thankfully the rotting squash and zucchini have come to a stop and we’re back to picking our fill and then some of both fruits!
A few of the straight neck summer squash from our garden.
Tip Two: to add a little extra fertilizer to our herb garden, I’ve been saving organic tea bags and reboiling the bags for a weaker tea and watering the herbs. This is a game-changer for herbs. My favorites are chamomile, mint, and black tea. The plant feed on the rich antioxidants, and the the tea bags are added to the garden as the bags are biodegradable. We add the spicy cinnamon black tea bags around the garden for an additional deer repellent.
Nothing better than fresh herbs to cook with.
Tip Three: in the battle against those pesky beetles on beans, cucumbers, and squash plants. In a spray bottle we mix a spray of 10 drops of lavender essential oil, 10 drops of peppermint essential oil, and 10’drops of citronella essential oil, with a tsp of organic plant based dish detergent. Then fill the bottle with water. This makes a great spay to repel all kinds of munching little friends. We also dust our plants with organic food grade diatomaceous earth for an extra layer of protection.
Tip Four: adding a little potassium to tomatoes while repurposing banana peels. A lot of bananas are consumed at our house. I eat two a day most days. I love organic bananas for oatmeal, baked oatmeal, and as a snack and frozen ones in smoothies. So I’ve learned that not only roses like bananas, do do tomatoes in the form of a tea. To make tea, keep a pitcher of water in the fridge. The pitcher should be about half full to allow for room as you add banana peels. Once you’ve peeled the bananas, add them to the water. You can cut the peels, but don’t have to. There’s no need to cover the pitcher. After a week, take the bananas out and add one part banana tea to five parts water. Use this transit the base of tomatoes. It provides potassium to the soil. This will help produce stronger roots, stems, and great fruit. Banana tea can also be added beside of pepper plants as well.
Banana peel tea.
Tip Five: Begin saving egg shells a couple of weeks prior to planting tomatoes. When it’s time to plant, place an egg shell in the hole before putting the plant in the ground. Egg shells are loaded with calcium and will feed the soil at the roots of the tomatoes and help prevent blossom rot and what some of the old timers called, the blight.
I hope that you find these tips helpful and you have success with your garden this year and for years to come. Feel free to leave comments or ask questions. I love to hear from my readers. Well, it’s time to go pick a while and reap the joys of our labors. God bless from the mountains of Kentucky.
Hello from the mountains of Kentucky. Can you feel fall in the air? With the days becoming shorter and the nights getting much cooler, you can tell that fall is just around the bend. With fall also comes garden remnants. Lingering tomatoes here and there, an occasional head of kale that decides to sprout new growth, and the last nubbins of corn. We’ve had a really good tomato crop this year. We’ve ate our belly’s full, canned nearly one hundred quarts of tomato juice, an abundance of tomato sauce, and a good deal of crushed tomatoes. We’ve canned pickled tomatoes and and fried quite a few, which by the way is one of my all time favorite dishes!
A few of our tomatoes early in early summer.
A few years ago while frying a pan of fried green tomatoes memories of eating my mom’s delicious fried green tomatoes filled my thoughts. I savor those memories and enjoy the trips down memory lane. When I was growing up life in the mountains was simple, plain, and a time filled with family and always good southern cooking, With that thought, I decided that fried green tomatoes didn’t have to be a seasonal food. I wanted to enjoy them year around. So, I began the journey of trying new recipes.
I fried the tomatoes as if they were ready to eat and froze them in vacuum sealed bags. That was a great way to have access to a quick dish of deliciousness, but it wasn’t quite the same as frying them fresh. They’re good, just not as good as fresh fried tomatoes. So, moving forward, I decided to try an idea to can green tomatoes. This is what I died. While canning a batch of my grandmothers pickled tomatoes, I made up a jar of sliced tomatoes with a few preserving ingredients, sealed the jar and added them to the canner of pickled tomatoes. All I could lose was one jar of tomatoes. I was excited to see how they turned out. The rest of the story is why I’m posting about my recipe for preserving green tomatoes for frying! It was a success!
Sliced green tomatoes preserved for frying!
It’s a simple recipe. I hope you like it.
Ingredients: Green tomatoes, lemon juice, salt, and water. You’ll also need clean pint bars and a canner.
Process: Wash and sterilize jars. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon of salt to each jar. Rinse tomatoes, pat dry, and slice tomatoes. Place slices of tomatoes in pint jars leaving about a half inch for head space. Bring a tea kettle of water to a boil and using a funnel add boiling water to each jar. Don’t forget to leave about at least a half inch of space for head space. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice and 1/8 teaspoon of salt to each jar.
Wipe rim of jars and place clean and sterilized flats and rings on each jar. Place jars in a canner of water with water covering the jars by at least two inches. I use a stove top canner because I enjoy the old fashioned method of a water bath for canning. Allow water to come to a boil. Allow to jars of tomatoes process under the boiling water for 35 minutes. Remove carefully and allow to cool. Always add the date to the lid of all jars. This year, I added a 1/8 teaspoon of pickle crisp to few pint jars as an experiment. When I fry the first batch, I’ll let you know how they turn out. Experimentation is one of the best methods of learning. Feel free to check out my pickled tomato tomato juice recipes!
I hope you enjoy this method of canning and winter fried green tomatoes as much as we do! Feel free to leave comments and also check back for my new recipe of refrigerated spicy pickled grape tomatoes. I’m going to try to post that easy and delicious recipe next week. For now, God bless from the mountains of Kentucky!
It’s been quite some time since I last posted. I’ve been one busy professor, wife, grandmother, mother, etc. and all of the other hats that I wear. My apologies to my readers for neglecting you. However, I am back with good news! Yes, that’s right some good news. We can all use good news and a fresh break away from all of the negativity that floods our news, news feeds, and often our conversations. I like to be an uplifting and positive person who spreads cheer, hope, love, and joy as much as possible. So, today I am going to share something with you that sure brought a smile to my face, a little relaxation on my grocery budget, and also hope for all of you that love a plant-based diet and have a vast amount of veggies in your fridge!
For the majority of my adult life I have always been frustrated at how quickly the veggies in the refrigerator go bad. I was tired of throwing away peppers that had suddenly developed soft places, cucumbers that became soft and mushy, and mushrooms that were slimy. Yes, that’s right they get slimy. You know they do. All of this is especially true if you buy organic fruit and vegetables. Why, you may ask. It’s simple reasoning actually when you think about it. Organic produce hasn’t been genetically modified and are not full of unnatural preservatives. I did a little test a couple of months ago. I purchased a couple of non-organic bell peppers, which I must say was a hard thing for me to do, as I always use homegrown veggies, or organic vegetables from the grocery in off seasons. I also bought a couple organic bell peppers. I placed them both in the same vegetable bin and discovered that the organic peppers did not have the same shelf-life that the non-organic peppers had. As a matter of fact, the non-organic pepper is still in my vegetable drawer after three weeks and is still firm. Now, that was an eye opener. My analysis of the experiment is as follows; non-organic veggies last longer due to preservatives and being genetically modified, whereas organic veggies have a true shelf life because they are in their natural state, and haven’t been preserved in some manner. I also am a firm believer that organic produce is healthier and always tastes better. That’s my spill on organic produce. Now for the big reveal…
I have always been guilty of washing and drying my produce when I came home from the grocery store, and then proudly putting them in their appropriate bins in the fridge. They looked colorful and the bin was full with a lot of choices. However, the veggies just didn’t last very long. It was a struggle to either dehydrate, make stock, or try to use the veggies to prevent from throwing them away or feeding them to our farm animals. Now for the good news! What I discovered was this; when I bring produce home, I did not and I repeat, DID NOT wash it, but simply wrapped the beautiful veggies in a good quality white paper towel, the veggies had a longer fridge life! I prefer Viva paper towels as they are thicker and more absorbent.
The paper towel absorbs moisture that often collects on the produce and prevents it from spoiling as quickly. For those organic mushrooms that were always a chore to keep and or use before they went bad, I now simply line the paper bowl they come in, or use a natural basket with a white paper towel, empty the mushrooms in the container, and then cover them with another paper towel. It’s hard to believe, but I have kept organically grown mushrooms for up to three weeks this way. Now, that’s a big deal as the organic mushrooms never seemed to have a long shelf life and I was stopping several times during the week to buy more. Now, they stay dry, firm, and they don’t get slimy in a few days. They are also still fresh and delicious. Now, that is a bargain money saving tip or what?
Preparing to roll these beautiful baby cucumbers in white paper towel.
I house carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower the same way that I store my mushrooms. My vegetable drawer is not as colorful as it once was, but instead filled with odd shapes of vegetables wrapped in white paper towels. But, I know that two weeks after I put cucumbers away with each being individually wrapped, they’re still fresh and crisp!
I individually wrap each cucumber as I roll them into one big bundle. This prevents the cucumbers from touching and also ensures that the paper towels absorb the moisture from each cucumber.
I love unwrapping vegetables and feeling the firmness of their skin, the freshness of their smell, and holding crisp firm veggies in my hands. I also love the freshness of vegetables while I am preparing them. The taste of the vegetables is still fantastic and their integrity is still top quality. One more advantage about this fabulous discovery is that the vegetable drawer remains dry and requires much less cleaning as opposed to just placing the veggies in the drawer. I know you know what I’m talking about. That veggie drawer can get nasty, but not with this really simple trick. It only takes a few minutes out of your time when putting your groceries away. It will save you a small bundle on your groceries at the register and allow you to have quality vegetables available for all of those wonderful plant-based recipes that you love cooking! Oh, I didn’t mention how delicious, fresh, and crisp that salads are after wrapping the veggies!
I hope you enjoy this wonderful bit of information and find it as useful as I did! Feel free to follow my blog, leave feedback, or comments. I look forward to posting an upcoming new favorite go to plant based soup that I am totally loving right now! I am excited for you to try my recipe for Three Bean Mexican Soup! For now, God bless, happy eating, and remember to always eat fresh and organic when possible. Until the next post God bless from the mountains of Kentucky!
A Healthier Me...Simple & Clean 