Canned Okra, Corn and tomatoes

I went this morning to the farmers market and bought a bunch of okra and tomatoes. I also bought a 1/2 bushel of apples, 3 bars of homemade soap (1 lavender and 2 lilac) and a loaf of cranberry walnut bread (organic of course).

I canned 7 quarts of the okra/corn/tomato mixture. Only 1 didn’t seal and lost its liquid. I am not sure what happened to it, so I will be taking it with my tonight to my best friend’s house for our dinner since she and I are cooking. It will be a surprise for her husband! She also gets 1 of the lilac soaps.

I froze the rest of the okra in a gallon baggie for future use. I will deal with canning the rest of the tomatoes and making apple butter tomorrow. I also want to stock up on some bananas the next time they go on sale really cheap. I found a recipe for banana butter (which of course I can’t find today) on one of the frugal living type websites. I knew I should have copy and pasted that particular recipe last night but I was too tired and ready for bed. Oh well. That’s life. LOL

I will be canning the rest of my pears tonight while at my best friend’s house as well. My pantry is really starting to look good! It excites me to know that everything I canned I did all by myself. I have truly become a “country girl” in this aspect. :)

Morgan freeman solves the race problem.

Feeling tired today...

I am  not sure why I feel so tired today. Maybe it is because I went to bed at a decent hour and got up late after getting to sleep in! I have been doing a lot here lately, too.

I have cleaned the bathroom from top to bottom and been working on the kitchen. I have cleaned the oven and stove completely. Cleaned off the tiny countertop and rearranged the few items on it, cleaned the washer and dryer so they look white again. I even took the curtains down, washed them, ironed them and put them away. I put up the new curtains I bought so the kitchen has a different look. I went so far as to take down the mini-blinds over the kitchen sink (the window behind the stove and dryer doesn't have one) and soaked it in the tub with some Dawn dish detergent. Then I scrubbed the heck out of them and hung them back up to dry. They look so much better now! I still need to move the washer, dryer, stove, fridge, etc. to scrub down the walls, but they way things are hooked up, I don't dare. I will probably wait until we can afford to paint to do that.

Now I am looking around the rest of the house at all the boxes and totes sitting around thinking I really ought to go through them all and start putting things together for a yard sale. But that sounds like an overwhelming chore! I do have one tote started of yard sale stuff, but it isn't full yet, only halfway. I do relish the the thought of having a yard sale by myself. Too much work to keep up with people coming and going and to make sure I am not being ripped off. I told my hubby that S.M.A.R.T. (Supplies, Materials, And Resources for Teachers) is having their second annual yard sale next month and that I think I am just going to give them everything to sell. We can take a tax write-off because one of the local churches is who actually deals with it. They will take all the proceeds from the yard sale and and buy school supplies for teachers and kids in our county. It was a big hit last year, so I am praying that it goes as well this year. I am not sure how much work I will be able to do for them because of the grand kids, but I will do whatever little bit I can. I will deliver supplies to the school I work for, and perhaps help to separate out the supplies after they are bought and/or donated. I can't afford to go buy anything this year for them because I don't even have the money to pay my house payment. :(
It is not helping that I have to pay to be a member of Weight Watcher's right now, but since it is actually helping me to lose the weight, I think the $39.95 a month I am paying is well worth it. The $20 for the gym membership is not right now. Simply because of babysitting and the gym doesn't offer daycare during the summer months. Which is really stupid. Who needs daycare when school is in session? Like hello!! Once school starts back, I will be able to go to the gym every day if I want. And most likely will so long as it is not Thursday morning which is when my weigh-in is. And I don't want to do anything to weigh more! LOL I am losing and want to keep that trend going. After all, as of last Thursday, I had lost 44.6 pounds since April.

I can't believe how good I feel. I also can't believe how much 44 pounds is! We stopped at Sam's Club Thursday or Friday after I picked up hubby, and I needed to buy some cat litter while there. They had my brand in a 42 pound bag. I could barely pick it up! And to think I was carrying that around on my body plus 2.6 pounds! I was shocked to say the least! I know my poor body is happy to be rid of that much excess weight, but it still has a ways to go. Like about 86 more pounds, give or take.

Well, Dr. Oz is on, so I am out of here!

Okay, I am bad about keeping up with my blog, but...

I have had a ton going on. I have a small garden and grand kids to keep up with. Summer tends to keep me busy.

My poor little garden is full of tomatoes which I am hoping will produce a lot so I can them. I have been canning green beans, beets, carrots, peaches, zucchini, squash, and made peach butter.

Lets see, 6 pints of carrots, 7 pints of beets so far (I will be buying about a half bushel next Saturday to can), 9 quarts and 21 pints of green beans, 4 quarts of zucchini, 2 quarts of pattypan squash, and 2 quarts of mixed squash. Then I made 3 pints and 9 jelly jars of peach butter, canned 9 pints of peaches, and then got the bright idea to use up all my blueberries. I made 4 pints of blueberry freezer jam. I ran out of blueberries and had to substitute a cup of strawberries but it is still quite tasty!

That is not counting all the canning I have helped my best friend do. Beans, beets, carrots, zucchini, peaches and peach butter for her.

I am freezing okra for me and hubby. I won't get much out of my garden, but my best friend's husband has a bunch of plants in his! :) I also froze some corn on the cob I bought at the local farmer's market. Super sweet stuff and boy is it yummy. I froze strawberries earlier this spring and pulled out one bag for the jam and the grand kids to eat.

This is the book that I used to get my peach butter recipe from. It is so good and I substituted Splenda for the sugar in the recipe.

Got some canning done today...

Today I went to the farmer’s market again. We have had so little rain that it was rather slim pickins. I did buy all the beets again, and it was enough to can 4 pints. He is supposed to have a half bushel for me next week. I am the only one who eats beets in my family, so I will gladly can them and eat them myself! I am not a big fan of pickled beets.

I also bought two of the small round white with purple stripes eggplants. I plan to roast them for dinner one night. I also got three tomatoes for slicing, although I may roast them as well.

I have picked 4 zucchini out of my garden. I may can them, or I may steam them. I haven’t decided yet. Depends on what I am in the mood for in a day or so.

I am having to really watch the weather. It is getting somewhat rainy and I may have to figure out how to keep my pumpkins from rotting on the bottom. I have been told to use coffee cans and put the pumpkins on them, but I don’t drink a lot of coffee so I don’t have any cans. Any suggestions?

I lost some more weight!

I lost more weight this past week. I am down another 1.6 pounds for a total weight loss of 37.8 pounds. My clothes are all too big and the next smaller size is too small. My rings are turning freely on my fingers, too.

I no longer have to crawl over to the couch for support to get up off the floor. I am feeling so much better about myself. I still have along way to go though.


I wish I had more Weight Watcher's cookbook, but I am trying to take ome of my favorite recipes and redo them using www.weightwatchers.com.