Strawberry Preserves

REST

That is one of the best little words my weary mind and body can eagerly comprehend, especially at this time of year.  It seems after months of planning, preparing and planting the garden, I look ahead into the hot and sticky summer months and realize I've only just begun.

This week has been full of not only an abundance of garden work, but lots of work in the kitchen too.  We are just about done washing, hulling and preserving over twenty quarts of beautiful, luscious, juicy red strawberries.  

Is your mouth watering yet?

We have gone a bit strawberry crazy!

Trying to figure out what to do with all the strawberries even after making strawberry preserves and flash freezing several gallons, we turned to the ever trusty Pinterest for ideas.

First we made the strawberry preserves.

Planting in Winter

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Here it is, the end of the first full week in January and I have been looking forward to being elbows deep in our sewing projects, but instead, it seems that the weather has turned my attention back to the fast approaching growing season.

We can not believe how many beautiful days we are having in January!  The warmest day last week was about 65°, turning my mind to mailing out the seed order.  The thermometer in the greenhouse was reading 80° and my fingers were itching to play in the dirt.

Hearty Winter Beef Stew

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Soups and stews tend to dominate our kitchen this time of year.  I absolutely love cooking up a big ole' pot of meat and vegetables that can simmer for hours, blending so many yummy flavors into some of the greatest comfort food during the winter, not to mention making our home smell delicious all day.

Dutch Oven Pork Loin

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This is an extremely easy meal, and SO delicious you won't believe it!

I simply put the pork loin in the bottom of the dutch oven, dice up 4 or 5 potatoes, 3 or 4 carrots, a sweet onion and celery if I happen to have some, oh and a few sliced cloves of garlic.

Sprinkle on some rosemary,thyme, salt and I add a bay leaf.

Cover everything with a mixture of one can of cream of celery soup, 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup sour cream.  

Pre-heat your oven to 350 and then cook it for about an hour.  

Ovens and size of pork loin vary, so check to see if its done by forking the potatoes.

This recipe can be changed with just about any meat such as ham, chicken, roast etc.  Adjust your herbs for the type of meat you are using.  I'm telling you......you will fall in love with this way of making a meal.  Talk about no fuss and made from scratch!  

You can find me linked up at:  Homestead Revival, Growing Home, Far Above Rubies, Skip to my Lou, Penniless Parenting, Titus 2sdays, Raising Homemakers, Frugally Sustainable, Women Living Well, Raising Mighty Arrows, Deep Roots at Home, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Farm Friend Friday, Life as Mom, Farmgirl Friday

Autumn Fried Apples

 For the record, I am crazy about our new cast iron ware that I got for my birthday.....thank you Mom and Dad!  Since it's apple season, we gathered a few bushels and proceeded to make some Apple Butter (future post) which called for 5 1/2 pounds of apples per batch.  Our wonderful, helpful daughter was having so much fun peeling the apples with the awesome (everyone should have one) apple peeler, that she got ahead of me and we had some leftover, peeled and sliced apples.  Seriously though, everyone should have one of these apple peelers, they peel, slice and core all at the same time.  (Thank you for mine Mom and Dad in law!)

Anyway....back to the leftover apples and our new cast iron ware.  At some point I had seen where someone (if I could remember who I'd give them credit for it)  had fried up some apples in their cast iron skillet, so with great excitement I melted about 3 tablespoons of butter in the skillet, layered in the apples while sprinkling them with brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  While having it on medium heat, I turned the apples until they were covered with a beautifully golden glaze and the apples were soft when pierced with a fork.  I have to say....YUM!!!  Wonderfully yummy on homemade ice cream.  It might even be a good glaze on meats if there is any left...which is doubtful in this house.