good morning y'all. it's kinda gloomy here in my neck of the woods this morning. we just have to remember that even if the sun isn't shining outside the Son is always shining on the inside. let's let Him shine brightly this fine day and make it a wonderful day. let's all be thankful and grateful for all He has done for us and count our blessings. you know what, I find that if I count my blessings slowly, I enjoy the process so much more. if I'm thinking about people, I stop and think about that person and what they mean to me. God is good and He is to be praised. I hope and pray that you all have a lot of blessings too numerous to count.
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this is some stuff I done last year, 2022 and am looking forward to getting things ready for 2024. I'm excited about gardening and experimenting and having fun. I hope you are too. with all that said, let's do " 2 minutes in the garden with me" today. first off, let me say this, "I am not a gardener", so don't do as I do. I'm just a "wanna be" and I'm wingin' it big time. hahaha while I'm not a gardener, I plant and pray and God does the rest. so I'll say that up front and you'll know without a doubt, if I have any little bit of success, I attribute it to God, not anything I've done. I do all my gardening in containers on my deck.
I have two 4 tier greenstalks with strawberries, and one 5 tier mr stacky with strawberries, and three 6 tier dollar tree towers with yellow beets, red beets, and little marvel peas. I also have three 6 tier dollar tree towers waiting to be filled. I have between 40 to 60 varying size pots and containers.
seed starting can be a nightmare, especially if you don't know if your seeds are viable. I'd seen something about this seed starting method a couple of years ago and never thought anything about it. this year for some reason, I didn't get seeds started as quickly as I usually do. when I did get seeds started, it was hurry and wait and hope they came up and I've lost a month already on some not coming up. so I decided to give the wet papertowel in a ziplock bag a try. I have 15 or 16 baggies full and waiting on them to sprout. I started them on the 8th and a lot of them have already sprouted.
so when I get ready to plant these, I'll use a solo cup or a clear cup to start them in, since they have already been germinated, I know they will be ok. it will take me being careful and using my garden tweezers (hahaha, yes they make them...who knew? hahaha) and plant my little sprouts and wait for them to burst forth from the soil. this will be a fun seed starting season, even though it is a late one for me. what I done with these is just fold the papertowel up and wet it down and opened it up and placed my seeds in between the layers of the folded papertowel and put that little wet bundle in a sandwich ziploc baggie and wrote the name and date on the outside. I put it close to a floor vent where the heat will encourage it to sprout. it has worked quickly on a lot of my seeds.
I'm excited about that. also there is 3 pictures of the roots of 2 leeks and several green onions. when I can buy leeks or green onions with roots on them, I cut the roots off and put them in water until they start growing new growth from the rooted bulb. these are ready to plant and if we have a pretty day this week, I'll get them planted and stick them in the green house till they are rooted well enough to survive outside. I already have a pot with 2 leek roots in it. one of the roots has greenery about 2 inches tall and the other one is about an inch tall. so that is free and easy gardening. you can also grow ginger and turmeric from a scrap of a viable root. if you get a head of lettuce that has the root ball, cut the lettuce off and plant the root ball, free lettuce. anyway, let me know what you grow from scraps and also give me any container gardening tips that you may have. plant something and have fun.
in 2024, I will be removing all my strawberries. they were everbearing and with close to 80 or 90 plants, I never had any more than 15 or 20 strawberries at a time. so they gotta go. greenbeans will be replacing them. hahaha
every year I always buy at least one bunch of green onions and one bunch of leeks from the grocery store. I cut everything off and save the root ends and put them water and get the roots started and plant them. the last 2 years I have filled a half gallon jar with nothing but the green blades from green onions. it's such an easy way to add great flavor to your dishes. I do the same with leeks.
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well, let's go to the kitchen for another "2 minutes in the kitchen with me". I recently fixed a batch of dried beans for the week. I'll fix a couple of batches weekly. I've seen some videos where people are cooking or canning dried beans. they just start with dirty beans fresh outta the bag. they never wash them or sort them at all. if they actually do this behind the scenes, they need to be talking about it and showing.
if they had been washed, you would be able to tell because the beans would be wet and sticking to their hands. I've seen some just clip the top off a bag and dump them in then proceed with their cooking. first off, always wash those beans. the wash water I pour off my beans is usually pretty crudy and gray brown and I always wash and rinse them at least 3 times. secondly, before washing them, sort thru them. every bean I cook has what I call the "hand/eye treatment". I dump them in a bowl and I scoop a handful of beans and I look at them. I pick out any rotten, bug eaten beans and I also pick out any chunks of rock or grit that looks like a bean.
every time I fix a batch of beans I go thru the same process. the process that my Momma taught me. if you've eaten beans with grit in them, you know how unpleasant that is. it's even more unpleasant to get a rock. so for those of you that go thru the process of washing and picking out rotten or bug eaten beans and rocks, way to go!!! for those of you that may not do this, consider doing it. I can admit to being a very picky eater when it comes to eating other peoples food, and that's one reason why. I just have a couple pictures to prove why they need to be sorted and washed.
you can see the rotten and bug eaten beans and the rock!!! someone would eat that if just dumped in the pot and gone thru. that's why I look at every bean. don't want to eat rotten beans but I sure don't want to eat rocks.
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Who loves yogurt? Who loves greek yogurt? Who has an Instant pot with a yogurt setting? Well, if you have an IP with the yogurt setting, you have the main ingredient. hahaha I have a bread machine that also has yogurt setting, so I'm gonna check that out closer too. Back to the IP. I like all things easy, not gonna lie. Don't want to heat anything to a certain degree or anything like that. So, I'm gonna tell you how to make delicious yogurt with your IP called the "cold start method".
In order to do the cold start method, you MUST use "ULTRA PASTEURIZED" milk. I bought the "Fair Life" brand in "no-fat". Again, you MUST use ULTRA PASTEURIZED milk!! Then get one of your favorite little tubs of plain, non flavor yogurt, (I got Chiobani non fat, plain) with as many live cultures in it as possible. Pour your ULTRA PASTEURIZED milk into the inner pot and wisk in 2 tablespoons of your purchased yogurt. Wisk it really good. Those 2 tablespoons inoculates the whole batch with cultures.
Put your lid on, and lock it in place, although it won't be hot enough to come to pressure and press the yogurt button to start. 8 hours later, carefully take the lid off (there will be lots of condensation on the inner lid and you don't want it to fall in your yogurt) and put a paper towel over the pot (to catch any more condensation that may form) and then put a plate over it, or another lid that will set on it and pop in the fridge for a couple hours till it cools off completely. Once it's cooled off, you can just stir it up for regular yogurt and enjoy, or you can place it in a strainer lined with a floursack towel and strain off the whey for a thicker greek yogurt. The longer you strain it, the thicker it will get. If you forget it and get it too thick, you can add some of your whey back in in and stir really well. Either way, you have just made you a batch of yogurt. Yay!!! Got my first batch of many in the fridge, straining off the whey as I type. I hope if you love yogurt, you will give this a try.
If you like a tangier yogurt, set the time for 10 hours, or even more for really tangy yogurt. Mine went 8 1/5 hours and it's delicious!!!
Another option for the ULTRA PASTEURIZED milk is Kroger Carbmaster. I personally have not checked this out yet, but will for my next batch. There are probably several other brands, maybe store brands, of ULTRA PASTEURIZED milk on the market. So use what you can find as long as it is ULTRA PASTEURIZED. I may be the last person on the planet to make their own yogurt, and if I am forgive me and my excitement. But if you haven't made any yet, give it a try. It will be worth your time if you love yogurt, plus it's fun. So, that's a win win as far I'm concerned.
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and speaking of the instant pot or electric pressure cooker, one day this week, I fixed some greenbeans in one of my electric pressure cookers. when I use those, I like to maximize my dishes, if at all possible. meaning, if I can prepare 2 dishes at once, I'm all over that. so I got my green beans in with seasonings and enough stock to cook them. I have a long legged trivet for use in air fryer or pressure cooker so I set that in the pot too just smack dab down in the greenbeans. I have a little flat bottomed bucket/pot with handle on it like a bucket (also designed for af and epc cooking) and I sprayed that with avocado oil. I got a half dozen potatoes and peeled and done a good sized dice on them and into the bucket pot they went. I took a pkt of onion soup mix and sprinkled it on the potatoes and then added about 1/2 cup of homemade chicken stock and gave that a good stir and commenced to cooking the greenbeans and potatoes. once done, I boxed them up for storage in the fridge and we have been enjoying them. what I do with the potatoes is put them in the air fryer for a few minutes and WOW, are they ever good. the potatoes were delicious as is, but getting that extra crisp on them really bumps it up a notch. I realize this probably won't be for everyone, but if you want to give it a whirl, you don't have anything to lose. sorry no pics, but the next time I do this, I will have pictures.
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so small loaves of bread I made. they turned out so much better than I could have hoped for.
so, when I was making bread, I saved enough to make a couple of small loaves of bread. I flattened the dough and put a mixture of sugar, cranberries and orange on the dough and rolled them up in loaves and baked them. oh my goodness, they were so good!!!! the cranberries and orange was some that I had previously dehydrated and rehydrated to use for this purpose. it worked well!!!
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the first part of this is something that I copied. everything between the 2 set of 3 astericks symbols. beneath that is what I was inspired to write after reading the first part. I can so relate to this writers strong desire to just touch the hem of His garment.
***Copied: I wish I lived in Jesus’ time. I wish I was able to experience His healing touch. To have years of pain erased in just one simple word. To have peace return to my mind again because anything resembling death bowed at the mention of His name.
But I don’t. And my heart can’t help but wonder… is healing still accessible today? My body… will I always experience unpredictability? Will I always deal with pain? Will I always be held back by limitations? My mind… will I always experience depression and anxiety? Will there ever be a time when I am no longer in that prison anymore? Will I always struggle with this familiar ache in my mind?
Should I be praying for healing, or would those prayers be in vain? Would they be presumptuous, since my entire life has been marked by these things?
How do I know when it’s supposed to stay to humble me or when it’s supposed to leave?
I wish I could reach out to touch the hem of His garment. Because I crave healing. But on this side of heaven, will healing come?
I know His power hasn’t changed— that He still is a miracle-working God. But why haven’t I found healing? For my body OR my mind?
Teach me, Lord.***
I couldn't help but think about how powerful this is. I have asked some of those questions myself. all I do know, is that He hears every hearts cry for help. He is sustaining me/us thru our situations and pain. I do know that. so while we wait for healing, we gain patience. while we wait for healing, we still experience good days. while we wait for healing, we still show love to and for those who are in lives on a daily basis. while we wait for healing, we still laugh and share and do the best we can with what we have, pain and all. I'm so thankful to God for all He's done me thru the shed blood of Jesus.
just in my bible reading, reading thru the gospels, I've recently read about the woman with issue of blood. when you think about all the problems that came with her situation, it is almost more than I can bare to even think about. as a Jewish lady, she was unclean. had been unclean all those years. she wasn't supposed to even be in the crowd that day. but she was!!!! she was on a mission. she was a mission minded woman. she went for one thing. to touch the hem of His garment. actually to touch the tassel that was on the corner of His outer garment. she knew all she had to do was touch His garment. that lady had faith, I'll tell you!!! she had faith!!!! when she touched His garment, Jesus felt her faith!!! the touch from her faith was very different from all the other touches He was feeling in the crowd. He felt her faith!!! He knew who it was who had touched Him. as a matter of fact, He made it possible for her to touch Him by being right there in that place at that very time. so when He asked who touched Him, He wasn't asking because He didn't know. He was asking so He could bless her even more. she was very humble and grateful and thankful. in the blink of an eye Jesus changed her life forever and because of her faith, she also inherited eternal life. that is the greatest healing we will ever receive. we want to live long healthy lives, our main goal should be an eternity with Him. so while we wait for healing, let us also encourage others to keep praying and to stay strong in the Lord until He does heal us or bring us home. I just had to share the copied part above and then share what I had seen in the gospels about the woman with the issue of blood. so stay strong and keep praying, God will make a way!! so, teach us Lord!!!
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another instant pot, electric pressure cooker item. so, how do you cook in your electric pressure cookers. this is how I cook and wanted to share some pictures of how I "layer" cook in my electric pressure cookers. this one in particular is my Insignia, from Best Buy. it is their "in-store" brand and I got it last year between thanksgiving and christmas when my cuisinart epc quit, mid meal prep. anyway, this is how I have been cooking in my epc for years. I started with my green beans from my garden, and seasoned them with a diced onion and then salt and pepper and little bit of southern essential oil, aka-bacon drippings. next I put my smoked turkey sausage on top of that. I peeled about 4 good sized potatoes and put those in my little pot and seasoned them and set the little pot right on top of the smoked turkey sausage. next I took a small rack and put on top of the potatoes and placed my corn on the cob on the rack. about 25 minutes, and we'll be eating a meal fit for the king and queen of our house. 🤣🤣🤣😜😜😜 we'll eat on the green beans, turkey and sausage and potatoes all week. I started cooking in layers about 10 years ago, long before the epc's were even popular, but it's the way I cook all the time now. quick and easy, and little clean up, what's not to love. anyway, hope y'all enjoy.
this is an awesome and easy way to cook a hearty meal. I hope y'all will give it a try.
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well, I guess that's about it for this go around. some of this is stuff that I took down from facebook and am sharing it here. some of it is new stuff. just want to be upfront and honest about it. the dehydrating and cooking stuff is impportant to me and I love passing it on to those who may not know or want to learn more. so I look it as my way of kinda sorta maybe teaching, just a little bit.
blessings on you all this lovely day and I hope you are thinking of all the many ways the Lord has blessed you and that you're thankful. I don't know where I would be without my Savior. I'm so thankful for all He's done me.
blessings be yours today. hugs and love, patty
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