Canning Potatoes

In my last post, I explained how I came to be the owner of a fifty pound bag of potatoes. Well, for about a week -at least- my husband has been stressed about me doing something with the rest of the potatoes before they go bad. Today, between Tae Kwon Do, piano, shopping for a trip, dusting the house, and washing clothes, I decided it would be a great time to get some of the potatoes canned. Surely, they will be done before the family demands supper, right???

Naturally, while I wait on the canner to come up to pressure, it's the perfect time to tell you how you can can some potatoes for yourself, too! 😊

First, you want to peel your potatoes, remove any bad spots, and dice them into chunks. I used ten pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes. Make sure to keep peeled potatoes in clean, cold water to prevent browning.

Then, place a large stock pot of water (or chicken broth) on the stove to heat to boiling, and get your canner ready for canning.

When your water in the stock pot is just about to boil, fill wide mouth quart jars with potatoes, leaving one inch headspace. My six pounds of potatoes was divided into seven quart jars with a remainder of three chunks. 😁 I also added one teaspoon of canning salt to each jar.

When the water in the stockpot is boiling, fill one jar at a time with the boiling water, leaving one inch headspace, remove air bubbles, wipe the jar rim clean with a wet paper towel and seal with a lid and ring.

Place each jar in the hot canner as each jar is finished. Can the potatoes for forty minutes at 11 lbs pressure for a guage canner or 10 lbs for a weighted canner. Make sure to make proper adjustments for your altitude.

There you have it, my reader friends! Potatoes are very quick and easy to process. At this point in the post, my potatoes are already half way done! I hope you get the chance to can your own!

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!
*To ensure the safety of your food, be sure to follow safe canning guidelines issued by the USDA. Don't take my word for it! 😁

Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

In my previous post I described how I became the proud owner of an unexpected fifty pounds of potatoes. After spending an afternoon turning fifteen pounds of those potatoes into Potatoes O'Brien, I still had supper to cook. Desperate to use up more of the potatoes, I decided to make scalloped potatoes.

This recipe is comforting and easy enough for any weeknight meal, but it is also elegant enough to accompany any holiday or special occasion meal. A mandolin makes this job much easier and quicker, but it is not required if you are handy enough with a knife to cut potatoes into thin slices.

Ingredients:
3 T butter
1 onion, peeled and chopped or sliced finely
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c all purpose flour
3-1/3 c milk
1/3 c cream
1/3 c water
2 t Orrington Farms Chicken Broth Base
      Powder
1 t salt
1/2 t seasoning salt
1/4 t paprika
1/4 t black pepper
1 pinch thyme
4 cups sharp cheddar cheese, divided
4 lbs potatoes, thinly sliced
Parsley flakes

Directions:
Slice potatoes, placing in cold water until ready to use. Chop onions and mince garlic, setting aside. Preheat oven to 400° F.

Gather all needed ingredients and begin melting butter over medium-high heat.

Once butter is melted and hot, add onion and cook until translucent. Add minced garlic and cook and additional 30 seconds to one minute, until garlic is fragrant. Stir in flour. Stir continuously while cooking one to two minutes. Pour in milk, cream, and water that has been mixed together slowly, stirring constantly. Quickly add in all the spices, stopping to stir occasionally to keep the sauce from sticking to and burning on the bottom. Monitor the heat carefully. You don't want it to come to a full boil. Small bubbles around the outside edges is about right. Add half of the cheese. And continue to stir. The mixture will eventually thicken up. I promise!

Once the sauce is nice and thick, drain the potato slices well and add them to the sauce. Carefully stir them into the sauce, coating them well. 

Layer half of the mixture into a buttered 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle on half of the remaining cheese. Sprinkle on desired amount of parsley flakes.

Repeat with remaining potatoes. Pour any sauce remaining in the pot over the potatoes, and add remaining cheese. Sprinkle on desired amount of parsley. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and continue to cook 30 minutes or until potatoes are done. Place foil back over the dish loosely if the top begins to get too dark before the potatoes are done. Remove your beautiful scalloped potatoes from the oven and enjoy!

For a delicious one dish meal, try adding in cubes of ham! What is your favorite way to enjoy scalloped potatoes?

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!

Homemade Potatoes O'Brien

Recently, a friend asked if I could use a few potatoes. Why would I turn away free potatoes? I said yes, and a couple days later I found a fifty pound bag of potatoes on the freezer by my door! My eyes about popped out of my head! After the initial shock of the sight of that huge bag wore off, I was so amused and still laugh about it.

I'm not one to back down to a food challenge, so I started pondering ways to add the spuds to my life before they went bad. That's how Homemade Potatoes O'Brien came to be in my life.

The process to make these potatoes is quick and easy, so I thought I would pass the process along to you- you know...in case a fifty pound bag of potatoes happens to show up at your doorstep. 😄 Just kidding! You don't have to have that many potatoes.

First, set two stockpots of water on the stove. Turn the eyes on to bring the water to a boil.

While the water is heating, prepare the potatoes by weighing out two pounds,  washing them well, and removing any eyes that may be trying to form in them.

Slice the potatoes into slices of desired thickness. Then, chop those slices into relatively similar sized cubes. I love my little chopper for this job! Make sure to add the chopped potatoes to a bowl of cold water to prevent discoloration while you are waiting on the water to boil.

My daughter helped me, and we had two batches to get us started and continually had a batch or two in process until we were done.

Once the water comes to a boil, drain the waiting potatoes and add them to the boiling water. When the water returns to a boil, time them for three minutes.

When the potatoes have boiled for three minutes, drain the potatoes ( I used a strainer over a large bowl so I could reuse my water without wasting water or the energy needed to heat new water.).

Immediately, submerge the hot potatoes into cold water to stop the cooking process. This completes the process known as blanching.

Stir the potatoes around a bit to make sure the middle cools. Once the potatoes have cooled, drain them, and spread them out to dry. I place mine on a clean towel.

You may need to pat them dry with paper towels or the dry edge of the towel, but once the potatoes are dry (not wet with soaking water), add them to a gallon sized freezer zip top bag.

To the bag of two pounds chopped potatoes, add one chopped onion and one cup of chopped bell peppers. Thankfully, I already had bags of one cup servings of chopped bell peppers in my freezer.

The bag should be sealed, removing as much air from the bag as possible, and then the bag should be placed flat in the freezer until needed.

That, my friends, is how I made Potatoes O'Brien. These are wonderful cooked in a little oil in a skillet with some spices or added to sausage, eggs, and cheese for a breakfast casserole.

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!

Quesadilla Goodness

Good evening, friends!

I hope this post finds you well! It' been a while since I have posted, so I wanted to drop in with this quick and easy recipe I cooked up last night.

Ingredients
4-5 c Fresh spinach leaves
8 oz. Sliced mushrooms
2 pints canned chicken
   (or 3 cans store-bought chicken), drained
   of any liquid
6 slices Bacon, chopped
1 t Cumin
1/2 t Garlic powder
1/4 t sea salt
1/4 t seasoning salt
1/4 t chili powder
1 package flour tortillas
1 stick butter

Directions
If you want your mushrooms to be supercharged with vitamin D, sit them in the sun for an hour before you are ready to begin. No, really! I promise I haven't fallen off my rocker! Look it up; it's really a thing!

I've done some crazy things
in my life, but this feels
plumb nutty!

While your mushrooms are enjoying the sun, you can use the time to gather and prepare your other ingredients. Wash and chop your four or five cups of spinach and chop up the six slices of bacon. When the time is up for your mushrooms, toss them in the food processor and chop them really fine.

I finally got to use the spinach
from our garden! Eeek!

To a hot skillet, add the chopped bacon. Cook until done, but not crispy.

Add in the processed mushrooms. 

Continue cooking until liquid is cooked out. 

I know it doesn't look too special at this point. Just trust me, and keep going! You won't regret it, and you won't even realize the mushrooms are even in the quesadillas in the end.

Add the spices and the drained chicken.

I use my own chicken that I can. It is already seasoned some. You may find you need to add more seasoning to your chicken if you use store bought canned chicken.  (You would probably be okay doubling the seasonings, but just start with one and a half times the amount of spices called for. If it is still not up to par for your taste, then go ahead and add in another half of what the original recipe calls for.) Cook, stirring often, until the the chicken is heated through. 

Add the chopped spinach.

Cook and stir until the spinach has wilted.

Now, this filling would be good for tacos or burritos topped with avocados, tomatoes, lime, and/or lettuce, but since my little, rural grocery store specializes in less than desirable produce, I opted for plain quesadillas in my pinch for time.

To make the quesadillas, I set out my tortillas and topped half of the tortilla with the filling and cheese. 

Use whatever cheese makes your heart sing! Fold the tortillas in half. Butter a hot (but not too hot!) griddle or skillet. 

Place the quesadillas on the griddle or in the skillet. Cook until desired doneness. Flip the quesadillas over and repeat. We like our tortillas with a little crunch, so I cook mine longer than most people would cook a traditional quesadilla. How fast it cooks depends on how high you have the temperature. I keep my griddle at about 250°F. I start checking them after two or three minutes.

Once your quesadillas have reached your desired doneness, they are ready to be served. I cut ours in half. They are wonderful served with homemade guacamole and pico de gallo, but again, my rural grocery store.... I had to opt for Mexican corn and sour cream.

I hope you get to try this recipe and enjoy it! Have fun with it, and make it your own! Let me know what you come up with! I always enjoy learning from others!

Until we meet again, may you be blessed! ❤️

Elderberry Syrup

Good day, reader friends!

I trust you had a blessed holiday season! We did here, but now I have been gearing up for gardening season. In between garden projects today, I made a batch of elderberry syrup that I wasn't able to get to at the end of 2018.

I posted a picture of it on my Facebook page a few minutes ago. I have been lots of questions, so I thought I would do a quick write-up for all of you, my friends.

This syrup was so easy to make! It isn't hard, and it doesn't take long. The hardest part was probably gathering the ingredients.

I hope this helps and gives you confidence to try it!

Ingredients
4 c water
1 c dried elderberries
1-2 one inch chunks fresh ginger, peeled
1 t ground cinnamon
1/8-1/4 t ground cloves
1 c raw honey

To make your syrup, combine all your ingredients except the honey in a small sauce pan. You don't want to add the raw honey because the heat will kill off any beneficials in the honey.

Don't say I did warn you! This smells devinely scrumptious simmering on the stove! Ahhh!! Let it simmer for about thirty minutes until it has reduced by about half.

Remove the pan from the heat and prepare to strain the solids from the liquids. You can use cheesecloth or a fine mesh sieve. I used both over a large glass measuring bowl.

I spread the cheesecloth over the sieve and carefully poured the contents of the pan into the cheesecloth.

Once this is cool enough to the touch, mash or squeeze the berries to release as much liquid as possible. Don't leave that goodness behind!

Once the liquid has returned to room temperature, add in the raw honey. Raw honey is best for the extra health benefits. Once the honey is mixed in well, transfer the syrup to a sealable jar. 

This syrup can be used during cold and flu season or it can be used on pancakes and waffles!

However you wish to use this syrup, I hope you enjoy it!

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!

Canned Seasoned Chicken

Late last night I found out a new store a few minutes away was opening with an amazing sale on chicken. Since we eat a lot of canned chicken for quesadillas, I decided to go get a bunch and can my own. For what I pay for one 12.5 ounce can of chicken in the store, I was able to can nearly four jars of the same weight. I say that's an awesome deal!

Normally when I do chicken, I just can it in broth. Today, though, I took a walk on the wild side and seasoned it so the chicken going into the quesadillas is not bland.

To start, I chopped my raw chicken into cubes and placed it into jars, leaving one inch headspace. Then I added my seasonings. To each jar I added the following:

1 t broth base
1/2 t sea salt
1/4 t cumin (or 1/2 t if you love cumin! 😊)
Scant 1/8 t garlic powder
1-2 pinches chili powder

This is the broth base I use.

Next, the jars were filled to 1 inch headspace with water. Air bubbles were removed, additional water was added where it was needed, and the jar rims we're wiped clean.

The jars were then sealed with a lid and a ring and placed in the canner.

My pints were processed at 11lbs. for 75 minutes. Quarts would have been processed for 90 minutes. If you want to can chicken in a weighted canner, process it at 10 lbs for the same amount of time. Be sure to make any adjustments needed due to your altitude. As always, to ensure the safety of your food when canning anything, make sure to follow safe canning practices as outlined by the USDA.

The house smells so good, and my stomach is grumbling! I'm ready to eat! Enjoy!

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!

Budget Friendly Healthy Meals

Hi friends! Recently, I've been getting a lot of questions and comments about my Trim Healthy Mama way of eating. I have been getting messages and comments with comments which I have made myself at one time or other, but I am here to speak a hard truth that I had to speak to myself.

Giving up our bad habits is not always easy. It is easy to grab quick, cheap foods that offer us a moment of comfort or fleeting satisfaction. They are easy, and our taste buds are tuned to them. Often they are the cheapest things on the shelf screaming out our name.

When looking at Trim Healthy Mama, it is easy to take the lazy way out and say that it is too expensive or there are too many special ingredients. I'm sorry, but I am going to stop you right there, dead in your tracks, just like I did myself. You stop right now. Stop giving yourself that excuse. I am taking it away from you because it is not true. If you don't stop telling yourself that, nothing is ever going to change, and you are never going to feel better. Your knight in shining armor or your fairy godmother isn't going to swoop in and magically make this happen for you, but I will show you how you CAN do Trim Healthy Mama easily without expensive, special ingredients. Please stop giving yourself excuses. You are worth way more than that! Give yourself the gift of your health! Only you can do it for you. You are not a victim of your food! You make the choice daily of what you put in your shopping cart and mouth. Do it for you, and do it for your family.

In this post, I am giving you a menu (not recipes) of meals that will last at least a week, maybe more depending in the size of your family. This is just a sample to show you that you don't have to make things complicated. I hope it gives you the courage and encouragement to move forward. I pray you find the excitement that, yes, you really can do this and make it work. Yes, you can put forth the few extra minutes of planning to make sure you are giving yourself and your family the gift of health. You can do this! I promise it is not hard, and it is so worth it! YOU are worth it! YOU are amazing and loved!

So let's get started. My first piece of advice to you is to keep it simple. Keep your carbs with carbs and your fats with fats. That's it. If you are eating a meal heavy in HEALTHY carbs, keep the fat to 5 grams or 1 teaspoon. If you are eating a meal that is heavy in fat, keep the carb count to around 10 grams or lower. My next word of advice is to not get hung up on the numbers. Just keep them as close as you can.

The following menu includes meals that are my stand by meals. They are staples in my weekly menus. Yes! I encourage you to make a weekly menu and make the grocery list as you make the menu. You must plan for success! When I have the energy and money, that is when I get adventurous and add in special meals. I have included only meals that are inexpensive and do not require any special ingredient other than an on plan sweetener which can be bought where you buy your groceries.

Breakfast
Bacon and eggs with berries on the side

Oatmeal- strawberry, blueberry, maple

Overnight oatmeal

Frittata

Egg muffins

Sausage or bacon with radish hash browns

Lunch
Wraps with lunch meat, lettuce, mayo and/or mustard- low carb tortilla

Chicken salad on a bed of lettuce

Tuna salad

Egg salad in a mini pita if your store carries Joseph's pita..make deviled eggs if the pitas are not budget friendly or are not carried by your store. Have some grilled chicken or other low fat meat with them and berries or a low starch veggie on the side

Black bean burritos- these are probably a crossover the way I make them, but I am okay with that. It is still a healthy choice that's on plan.

Ham or turkey rolls with raw celery, broccoli, and/or cucumbers with homemade ranch dip

Salad with grilled chicken strips- light on tomatoes

Leftovers from any on plan supper

Supper
Well seasoned drumsticks baked with a non starchy vegetable and a salad on the side

Crock pot BBQ chicken- use breast and the lowest sugar content sauce you can find- add a side of green fries or sweet potato fries

Pot roast with radishes in place of potatoes

Chicken and cheese quesadillas with guacamole- use low carb tortillas- can use canned chicken seasoned well

Tacos- light on tomatoes

Salmon patties with roasted or steamed broccoli or green beans

Chili- use one pound of the leanest ground beef you can afford and one pound of ground chicken

Boneless/skinless chicken thighs or breasts cut in half baked in brown rice and chicken stock with a small serving of peas and carrots or other veggie on the side

See! It's easy! It's not nearly as hard or painful or overwhelming as it seems. These are just examples of meals you could have. Just about any meal you already love and serve can be tweaked and adjusted to fit the Trim Healthy Mama plan. Eat what you love, but keep it between the guidelines. If you are unsure, reach out to someone who can help with your tweaks and questions. The THM Beginners group page is a wonderful place to seek help with questions. They are a friendly, loving bunch who are always willing to help a girl out! I'm positive they would give other great ideas for budget friendly options, too! You can do this! I promise! WE can do this!

Play around with this menu. Take off what you don't like. Add things you do like as long as they follow the guidelines. Soon, you will have a list of meals at your finger tips that will make planning quick and simple. Do the best you can. Learn as you go! You don't have to have it all down perfectly to begin; I sure still don't! The important part is to just begin and go from there. Start with just one meal a day if you are overwhelmed. Add an additional on plan meal gradually until you are fully on plan.

Feel free to comment with what you will add to your menu ideas! I love being inspired by others in my kitchen!

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!