Marti’s Corner – 118

Hi Everyone,

Well, we are officially in fire season.

What can you do?  If you live on a large piece of property, make sure there is space around your home – between you and the dried vegetation that would burn quickly in a fire.

EVERYONE should take their phone, walk through their house, and snap pictures of everything they have for insurance purposes.

EVERYONE should have an Evacuation Plan–not only for getting yourselves out, but for taking those things you most want.  You can get lots of fancy charts to help you with this.  

My list has three columns:  downstairs, upstairs, garage

It has 3 rows:  5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes

Then I filled in the boxes with items like cell phone chargers, reading glasses, family photos, laptop computer, wheat grinder, etc.

Finally, let this sink in:

Keep your bedroom doors closed.

GARDEN HAPPENINGS:

Powdery Mildew raises its ugly head!!!  I went out early to check on the garden and saw this:

Those white spots are powdery mildew.  Not enough air flow?  Not enough sun?  Who knows.  I cut off both of these leaves.  If the squash leaves are UNDER the fruit, go ahead and cut away.  But this one:

only has a few spots.  My go-to spray for mildew is Neem Oil.  Be sure you spray on top of AND under the leaves.  In fact, the bottom of the leaves are often worse than the top.  This particular zucchini gets afternoon shade.  In my mind, I’m thinking that it doesn’t need shade cloth because it’s shaded by the tree in the heat of the day.  But….maybe it’s not enough sun???  Ugh.  Once the mildew starts, I’ll probably be fighting this battle all summer.

Oh, and don’t spray in the heat of the day.  I did that one year to my zucchini, and it literally “roasted” the plant and killed the entire thing.  Cool mornings are best – or early evening when the temps are lower.

THIS WEEK’S PURCHASE:  dried beans 20 lbs.

One pound of dried beans = 6-7 cups of cooked beans.  Each can of beans = about 1 1/2 c. beans.  So, 1 pound of dried beans = about 4 cans of beans.  If you are one of those people who cannot remember to soak beans the night before you need them, then prepare beans on a day you DO remember to soak them.  Cook, drain, and put 1 1/2 c. cooked beans into a quart freezer bag, and stack them in the freezer.  Each bag will cost less than 1/2 what a can will cost.

MISC PURCHASE:  Sprouting seeds

EVERYONE should learn how to sprout.  If the stores have no food, and you have no garden, sprouts will give you vitamins and live enzymes and other great nutrition to supplement your stored food.

You do NOT need a lot of fancy equipment.  You need a jar and a piece of netting–something that will let the water drain but keep the seeds in the jar.  I went to JoAnns and bought some netting like you would use in a little girl’s tutu.  I think I bought 1/4 yard and it was under $1.  Then I cut it in squares that were big enough to cover the mouth of the jar with leftover edges so the lid would hold it on.  6 X 6 or larger.  

Basically, you want to soak them 8-10 hours (or overnight)

Then rinse and drain morning and again at night.

The lentil sprouts will start to grow in 24 hours.  I like my sprouts to be small (only about 1/4 inch long).  As soon as they are as long as you want them, put the jar in the refrigerator.  (574) How to sprout seeds  No fancy sprouting materials needed.  Just a jar, a ring, and netting or cheesecloth.

FOOD STORAGE RECIPES:

Raspberry Muffins

I made these a couple of weeks ago and a number of things went wrong.

First, I didn’t have any raspberries.  BUT, I had blackberries, so I thought I would use them.  They were good (we ate them all), but the berries turned the batter purple and that took some getting past.  Second, I melted the butter as instructed and totally forgot to add it in.  Third, I do NOT know where my muffin pan went.  But, I have two mini-muffin pans, so I used those.  It actually worked well, as each muffin was only a bite or two.  A few days ago, I bought some blueberries at the store for pancakes, and I decided to use the rest to make these muffins again…. but I didn’t save the recipe and couldn’t remember where I’d seen it.

SO, after searching through my YouTube video history for 20 minutes, I found it!!!  Here you go, courtesy of preppykitchen.com

PS- they are really good (even without the butter), and worth the search

Muffins:

Preheat oven to 400.  Butter or spray a 12-cup muffin pan or use paper liners (who doesn’t use liners???)

• 2 c. flour
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

     Mix together

     In a separate bowl whisk together:

• 3/4 c. milk
• 2 large eggs
• 5 TB vegetable oil
• 3 TB melted butter
• 2 tsp vanilla
• zest of one lemon

   Fold the egg mix into the flour mix, stirring until just combined.

• 1 1/2 c. fresh raspberries (I’m using blueberries today).  If you use frozen raspberries, you do not need to thaw them.

    Fold in the fruit.

Divide the batter in the muffin cups.  Sprinkle with streusel on the top.

Streusel: 

• 1/4 c. flour
• 1/4 c. sugar
• pinch salt

      Combine

• 2 TB cold butter – use your fingers or a fork to cut in.  Should be very crumbly.

Bake 18-20 min or until golden brown on top and toothpick comes out clean.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Here is another one from preppy kitchen.  

• 1/3 c. unsalted butter – put in a large Dutch oven.  When the butter has melted, add
• 1 medium yellow onion diced
• 3 medium carrots peeled and chopped
• 3 celery stalks thinly sliced

    Cook and stir until vegetables are tender

• 5 garlic cloves peeled and minced
• 1/3 c. all purpose flour

     Add garlic and flour, stirring for 2 min.

• 6 c. chicken stock

     Slowly add the chicken stock.

• 1 pound Yukon gold potatoes peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 tsp fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

     Add and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender and soup begins to thicken, about 15-20 min.

• 4 c. cooked shredded chicken (about 1 rotisserie chicken)
• 1 c. frozen peas – or canned or fresh
• 1 c. frozen corn – or canned or fresh
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 c. heavy cream

     Stir in and bring back to a boil.  Simmer for 5-10 min more.

• 1/4 c. chopped parsley – stir in just before serving

Pasta and Vegetable Salad

My cherry tomatoes have always been prolific!  Mostly I just eat them off the vine like candy.  But they produce so much that I am always looking for recipes where I can use them.

Here’s one.  No quantities are given (I know, weird huh?)  But this way you can make as much or as little as you want.

• rotini pasta, cooked and drained
• broccoli cut in small pieces
• grape tomatoes cut in 1/2
• cubed cheese
• dry salami cut in 1/4ths
• black olives
• Dressing:
• Italian dressing mix
• vinegar and olive oil to make
• Heavily season with Salad Supreme Seasoning

Marti Shelley