Blog Posts

Stethoscope Covers

9/17/2014

A co-worker friend of mine asked if I could sew her a stethoscope cover... I had never tried before, but I gave it a whirl, and gave her the results. It was not very pretty... the seams were not straight and the closure was a mess. I have been working on a new design and I have finally come up with something that I like. So I have begun sewing stethoscope covers for all those healthcare workers who would like one. I will take custom orders, and post any unsold covers in the Store section of this blog. Currently I'm using designer quilting cotton, however, I am going to start trying out organic bamboo french terry, and up-cycling cotton jersey. Hopefully it works!!

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Tomato Harvest

9/16/2014

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Canning Fresh Salsa

The poor tomatoes ended up getting picked very early, and very green this year, because of the dump of snow we had early this September. We let them ripen in cardboard boxes over the past week and a bit, and have finally collected enough ripe ones to start canning some salsa!

This salsa recipe is one I received from a very good friend of mine, and she makes this stuff like a master. I hope I do it justice Chrysten!

Chrysten's Salsa
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
1 Tbsp chopped garlic
10 cups chopped tomatoes (either remove the seeds or squish chopped tomatoes in a colander to remove the juice)
2 cups bell peppers (red, yellow, and green)
2 Tbsp chopped jalapeno
1 cup loosely packed cilantro OR parsley, chopped fine
1 cup cider vinegar
1 Tbsp dried Oregano
1 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 cup Franks Hot Sauce
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp salt

In a large pot combine onion, garlic, and cider vinegar. Boil for 2 minutes
Add tomatoes and peppers, and return to a boil for 3 minutes
Add all remaining ingredients, and boil gently until peppers are soft (5 - 10 minutes or so).
Ladle into sterilized jars, leaving 1cm headspace
Seal with sterile, warmed canning sealers, and process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

*** Recipe makes approx 5 x 500mL jars ***

Sunset Salsa!

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Fall Apples

9/12/2014

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Canning Organic Applesauce

I am very fortunate to have a grandma who supplies me with beautiful produce all summer and fall. My Dad comes to visit me in Grande Prairie once a month, and always has a car filled with goodies from Grandma's garden. This last visit included pickling cucumbers (which I used to make the Bread and Butter Pickles yesterday), as well as two giant bags of apples. My husband LOVES fresh applesauce with pork chops, so applesauce it is!

Applesauce is very simple to make... All you really need is apples and lemon juice. Peel and core them, and make sure to put all the slices in a lemon-water bath to prevent browning. Cook the slices in a large pot with a lid, and use either lemon juice or Fruit Fresh to make sure they don't discolour. When everything's all soupy and bubbly I like to give it a quick once over with the immersion blender before packing the sauce into sterilized jars. Then process in a boiling water bath for 15 mins. You can always add fun stuff and be creative with your applesauce... cinnamon and a hint of brown sugar perhaps. Or while the apples are cooking add in some frozen strawberries to make strawberry applesauce. Leaving it plain adds to its veratility though, and I often sub out half the fat in baking recipes with my homemade applesauce!

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Pickles

9/11/2014

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Bread and Butter Pickles

This recipe also came out of the canning book my Grandma gave me. It's something I remember having since I was a kid, and it has a certain nostalgia for me. The sweet, salty, sour balance is truly perfect, and makes an excellent replacement for classic sweet relish on burgers.

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A Taste of Summer

9/11/2014

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The Best Pectin-Free Concord Grape Jam

I don't have anything against using pectin when making preserves. It shortens the cook time so those delicate summer fruits can retain some of their fresh beauty. But there's always something in the back of my mind that feels like it's cheating. It's not the old world way of doing things. I like to make preserves without any additives whenever possible, but I will never mess with the basics of a recipe. It's like baking... you can adjust the odd spice or seasoning here or there, but veer to far and you've got a soupy mess instead of jam. So when my grandma gave me her canning recipe book I was in heaven! I can't find a date on it anywhere, but it was given out by the Edmonton gas company (Northwest Utilities Ltd.) to customers. The recipe inside for Grape Jam is the best I've ever made... and appeals to the purist in me!

Grape Jam
5 cups concord grapes, stemmed and washed
21/2 cups sugar

Squish the pulp out of the skins, place the pulp in a large pot and the skins in a medium one. Add enough water to the skins just to cover, and cook on medium heat for 15min. Cook the pulp at the same time, until soft. The pulp should take about 10 mins.
Run the pulp through a fine mesh strainer to eliminate all of the seeds
Combine the two mixtures into a large pot. (I just washed out the pulp pot and did everything in there).Bring to a boil for 5 minutes.
Add sugar and bring back to a hard boil that can not be stirred down. (this is why you use a large pot. The mixture foams up quite high and it can be a disaster if your pot is too small). Continue to boil until you reach jam consistency. Mine took about 15mins at the hard boil. *Make sure you stir often, or you will scorch you jam and it will taste burnt*
Pack in sterilized jars and boil in a water bath canner for 10 min. Allow to cool in a draft free area. Any jars that did not seal must be put in the fridge

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Fall Harvest Already?

9/4/2014

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The garden has been quite the adventure this year. I decided to try a new gardening method called square foot gardening. Everything was planted a little late because of the extensive planning, and construction required before planting (ok maybe not that extensive, but certainly more than I was used to). Watching the garden grow into the new method was pretty exciting, and I think I increased my yield compared to previous years... I will need to change the layout for next year, and fine tune things, but overall, I'm not disappointed.

Spring... the seeds are sewn

Summer... things are filling in nicely

Fall... harvest everything before it snows next week!

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Knitstravaganza Begins!

9/4/2014

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The weather is cooling, and I finally finished my squishy soft alpaca cardigan on September 1st. Time to think about Christmas knitting! I have been scouring Ravelry patterns (a little obsessively, I'll admit) and came across one called 'The Hurricane Hat', and I just happened to have a hand-dyed skein of alpaca called 'Thundercloud'. A match made in heaven I think.