It's Sunday Morning Y'all

good Sunday morning my friends.            it's 39* here in my neck of the woods and I'm  not loving it.         an old old friend of mine has come to visit and I'm not very happy about it.           I had hoped and prayed that I would never see this friend again, but alas, this friend showed up and now this friend is here and I have to deal with this friend.        what is this friend?          a horrible flareup of my body when we have a lot of cold, cool, damp weather.           I started feeling it thursday, but pushed on thursday.            with all the rain we've had, it actually popped into my head on tuesday or wednesday of this past week that I haven't had any signs yet and then there it was thursday morning but I ignored it.        a little worse on friday, I still ignored it.         yesterday, I couldn't ignore it any longer.         I did get a batch of bread made yesterday and by the time I got that done, I was done for the day.        I got my shoulder heating pad on and wrapped up in that and the heat in my recliner going.        I had a tear in the muscles across my back at the lower part of my shoulder blades about 40 years ago and I guess that's why this particular area of my body is so affected by arthritis and ra.         not only my upper back and shoulders and neck, but my wrists and certain fingers and my ankles and certain bones in my feet along with my hip joints.        so it seems to be everywhere.          it's everywhere, it's everywhere!!!!         hahaha          oh well, just wells to get a little grin out of it.          hahaha            my good friend that lives in arizona sent me some essential oil blends and that is what I'm using to get me thru this.          I'm so grateful to her for all she has done for me.         it's about the only thing that has helped me keep my sanity.

so, I didn't make a post yesterday and that's why.          I think I've missed 2 days since I got started back to blogging in november.         that's the best record for me, ever.          I've got to get it worked out so I can post about 3 days a week and keep the routein.            especially with spring and summer just around the corner.          so we'll see what I can come up with.

thursday, I filled my dehydrator with produce in the fridge that needed to be dehydrated.        plus a bag of frozen corn and some oranges.         I got all that going and took a couple of pictures in the process and I truly wish I had taken more.           this is where I feel like I'm failing right now, not getting enough pictures for good explainations.         I guess that's something to work on.          anyway, I'll share what I did get done.

this is the pictures that I did get.            first off, let me say that I dehydrated oranges, bell peppers, tomatoes, green onions and a bag of frozen corn.           the corn went on the bottom tray.         next tray up from the bottom was the bell peppers cut up and that took only a half tray.          so I filled that tray with cherry tomatoes,    the next tray up, was another tray of tomatoes.         the next tray up from the bottom was orange slices and then the top 2 trays was green onions.  

when you learn how to use your trays, in a stackable dehydrator, you can dehydrate all kinds of thing together.          my heat comes from the bottom, so I start with what ever has the least aroma on the bottom, working my way to the top with the most aromatic on the top.          if you have a stackable that has the heat unit on the top forcing heat downward, then you would reverse that order.         this right here is how you can dehydrate all kinds of produce together and not have apples smelling like onions or garlic.           it works.         I've been doing it this way for years. 

when I got my produce from the fridge, tomatoes and bell peppers were well shriveled.            I look at that as a lot of the dehydrating having already been done for me.             wash and inspect each piece really well before you cut and maybe get some bad pieces mixed in with the good pieces.           as you can see, when I got to the tomatoes and bell peppers, there was stuff I had to cut away.              notice on the left hand side of the picture, some of the stem ends of the tomatoes had started turning black.         so with my good sharp knife I just sliced that off and then cut the tomatoes in half as usual.           just inspect each piece and do a good smell test and if you have to, taste a piece and see if it tastes funky.         if so, toss the other half.           

in the bottom right hand corner is where I was cleaning the bell peppers.            I washed them and cut the tops off them.         I had 4 bell peppers and when I got the tops cut off, I started cutting away the flesh from around the stem area.            gotta save all that good yumminess.           when I got to the last one, the biggest one, I turned the stem end over and it was molded on the inside, just at the stem.          so I made another cut across the pepper, cutting off a ring about 1/4 inch thick and then sliced off another sliver and tasted it and it was fine, so I cut that one up too.           but that's something that you have to watch for in bell peppers, especially the little snacking bell peppers.           those stems get hollow as they get dried out in the fridge and will allow bacteria to come up thru the stem into the pepper.           so when you're cutting them, be sure and check for mold on the inside, especially if they have started to shrivel a little bit.

at the top of the plate is the way I cut my tomatoes in order to expose the insides in the best way.         the top one is how I used to cut them, the bottom one is the way I now cut them.           yes, the top ones will get dry, but not as quickly as the bottom ones.            I would suggest you to try it next time you dehydrate grape tomatoes.               

so this is what was in the top pic, just a more closeup shot of it.           cutting them east to west always exposes the most of the insides possible.            you can see the top one looks like it still has seeds hidden by the interior design of the tomato and it does.

this is my green onions that I dehydrated.          notice all those lovely roots.            I let that pkg of green onions stay in the fridge until the roots had grown.           there was 15 green onions in that pkg and all but 1 grew roots.         the root area of the onions had been cut away from that onion in the pkging process.           but the others still had the root bed intact, so that's why they grew.          

this is how much I cut away from the green onions to save.            I got them all cut up and on my dehydrator and then the fun started.             once I got the dehydrator completely loaded, I went outside, in the 60* temps on thursday and planted all these lovely green onion roots and I fully expect them to make it.          if they don't, it's no great loss, but if they do, wow, free onion blades all summer long!!!!          

green onions make a wonderful powder that is super fantastic used as a garnish with a ton of flavor.       I also love to just crush into fine flakes and use it that way as a garnish.         I love to use it on deviled eggs, potato salad, pasta salads, open faced tuna salad and the list goes on.            larger crushed flakes is good in salsa.       if you buy a jar of salsa and it's lacking something, try adding some green onion flakes.         it's always good to put in stews, soups and casseroles.           I always say that I'm only limited by what I can't think of, when it comes to using my dehydrated goods.           there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to using them, we just have to use them.          and have fun.

this next little picture is a pic of my little measuring spoons.            the tiny little things are so hard to take a picture of.          I think they are shy because they are so small.           hahaha           these are the "bees knees" as far as I'm concerned.             the tiny one on the left, the "nip" is what I use in my vanilla powder when I make my breakfast bowls.          these came from a local Amish store.          I'm sure there are other places to get them too.         

well, I think I'm gonna get off here and try to get a little rest for this dreary body.           I feel good other than where I don't.           hahaha           but I keep thanking God for the winter I've had up to this point and I know He'll see me thru this bump in the road.         Lord give me some sunshine.            but I'll take what ever You give me.           it did feel so good to get out thursday and get my hands in the dirt while I was planting the onion roots.          if/when they come up, I'll take a picture of them. 

I pray that you all have a wonderful Sunday.          let's keep God at the top of our list and keep Him first place, and even the days that hurt won't hurt so bad.           you'll still have your joy that comes from knowing Him, and with that joy, we can handle it all.          Lord, bless us all with a great day and may we share Your love with someone that needs to know You.    

blessings of love, joy, and peace be yours today.          hugs and love, patty

Happy Friday Afternoon!!!

good afternoon y'all.          it is your friendly weather lady coming to you direct from her neck of the woods.          hahaha            the temp is 60*, yay!!!            the sun is not shining and it feels really cool just because of it.        but I was outside for a little bit before lunch and got my hands dirty and that felt really good!!!         I'll share that in another post though.        

before I went outside, I had a couple of things to get done.          I needed to make the filling for my husbands breakfast sandwiches for 12 days.          if I had a couple more of those silicons muffin top pans, I would make 24 at a time.           so I may get a couple more of those just to make that time a lot more prosperous.

I took pictures as I was going thru the process of packaging them for the freezer.          this is some of my short term freezer cooking.

 

here in this first picture, the first tray that came from the oven is now flipped over and cooling the bottoms off.         I try to get them cooled down pretty good before I put them in the freezer.

once I get the cooled enough to take them from the muffin top pan, I'll set them on my trivet for a few minutes more.         while they are cooling, I'll get my fllip top sandwich bags out and ready.

once they are cooled, they go into the sandwich bags.             they smell so good while they are cooking.          hahaha            I thought hubby was gonna just eat thim right off the trivet.

once I get them bagged in the sandwich bags, then I'll put them in my freezer bags and press out as much air as I can.         they are only in the freezer at a maximum of 10 days, so I'm not really concerned about any kind of frost  on them.         but if they were going to be in the freezer for an extended period of time, I would use vac seal bags once I had them in the fllip top sandwich bags.      the vac seal bags will keep them for a long time.

so I have 5 freezer bags with 2 each in the freezer and a container in the fridge with 2 in it.          when I use the last one in the container, I'll take a bag from the freezer and put those 2 in the container and they will be thawed by the next morning and ready to put in a skillet and reheat while I'm toasting his brioche bun.

hope you enjoyed this little tine in the kitchen with me today.       I thank you for your time and I hope you come back soon.          let's keep God first in all we do.         hugs and love, patty

Good Rainy Thursday Y'all!!

good evening one and all.           you're friendly neighborhood weather lady with the latest goings on in my neck of the woods.            it''s been a balmy 60* all day today.         guess what it's been doing here all day.          go ahead, one guess.          well, if you guessed rain, that would be 100% correct.              but hey, I'm not complaining, really I'm not.           wanna know why I'm not complaining, because it's not ice or snow.         yup, that's right.        it's supposed to be pretty tomorrow and I'll take that.          next week, we're supposed to start drying out, so I'll be looking forward to that.          

anyway, I hope to get a little grocery shopping done in the morning early.         nothing would please me any more than to get that done and behind me.          I don't really have a lot going on today, but just wanted to touch base.           I don't have any pictures of anything I've done to show you and I don't think you'd be interested in knowing if I took a nap today or not.          hahahaha           well, I didn't, but that don't mean I didn't try.         hahaha            my husband on the other hand, he just kicked back in his recliner, ready to take a nap for the 4th time today.           hahahaha           oh and sppeaking of my sweet husband, I did give him a haircut today.         I don't mind telling ya, I'm getting pretty good at cutting his hair.        the only thing I don't like is that I never get a tip.        I really don't understand why.       hahaha

I also put on a big old electric pressure cooker of pinto beans and we had some for supper and they are delicious.         so we'll be eating good for a few days with these.         I love having several big bowls of good stuff in the fridge at all times.        I have some soup and also some corn chowder.       that's what I always call our "fast food".          plus I keep a lot of homemade bread on hand at all times too.        tomorrow I'll make a batch of cornbread wedges to have with our beans.           and I need to bring in a loaf of my homemade brioche from the freezer in the garage.          I love having that ready to thaw out and eat.           so everytime I make a batch of brioche rolls for my husbands breakfast, I'll be able to make a loaf of bread, maybe 2 loaves.          I think I shared the recipe for that and if you haven't tried it, well, why not?          go ahead, make a loaf, I'll wait for ya.         then you can come back here and tell me how much you love it too.         hahaha

well, I guess I'll sign off for now.        lets remember to keep God first in all that we do and acknowledge Him in all of our ways.            our days will be much better when we put Him first.         I want to thank you all for hanging out with me for a few minutes this evening.          your time is valuable and you can be anywhere, but you're right here for the time being and I do appreciate it.         I hope to see you back here real soon.           have a great evening and a wonderful night of refreshing rest and sleep.         

hugs and love, patty

Happy Hump Day from the Giraffe, hahahaha

good afternoon and happy hump day from your wild and crazy weather lady out here in her neck of the woods.          hahahaha            it's a glorious 59*!!!!!           can you believe that???!!!!?!           one week ago today it was a frozen tundra around here coming in at NEGATIVE 9!!!!!!        yes, -9*!!!!!            a temp change of 68* in a weeks time.         and I'm not compaining one little bit.         it's raining and has been raining a solid 48 hours with that many or more hours to come.         that's ok.         it's not ice and it's not snow, so I'm good.       hahaha           I'm praying that it will reflect nicely on our utility bill.

we got out  for a few minutes this morning and done a little shopping in the town over from us a little ways.          it's still in our county, just on  the other side of the county.           got a few staples back in supply that we used when we didn't get out of the house all the time it was snow and ice and a frozen mess. 

one of the things that I got that wasn't on the list was fig newtons.         my hubby loves them and they were good price, so I picked up a couple packages.        I stocked up on my coconut milk in cartons.         I couldn't find my canned canned coconut milk like I usually get, so I guess I'll order it from amazon and get that back in stock in my pantry.

now is the time to stock back up and get ready for the next round of bad weather that may be rolling thru sometime in February.            we've already had the heads up for that and we could get another snow and ice storm worse than what we just had.          so, now is the time to stock up.          and pray that it doesn't happen.      get prepared.          plan for the worst and pray for the best.       and when you do that, you can rest assured you've done all you can do to be prepared and know the rest of it is in God's hand.        I do believe that He expects us to do a little/lot for ourselves and not wait for someone else to do it for us, if we're able to do it for ourselves.

so if you're on the other side of the bad weather that a lot of us have had, just know that there is no time like the present to get prepared.            take stock of your cabinets and fridge and freezers and shop according to your needs.        for the next couple of weeks, I'll only be replacing things that we used while I couldn't get out and go to the store.         once that goal is accomplished, then I can get the extras and frivolties, so to speak.         

check your fresh fruits and veggies, eggs and cheeses, flours and cornmeal, oils and butter, meats, chicken, fish and seafood, breakfast meats, popcorn, coffee and tea, sugars and sweeteners and creamer, shelf stable nut milks, quick canned goods, peanut butter and crackers, canned tuna and whatever else that you like to keep on hand in your prepared pantry.         and plenty of food that can be eaten without any heat, because we could have a power outage.     just think about all the things that can be eaten without heating or cooking and stock up on some of that.  

just be prepared.          it's always good to be prepared.

************************************************

a funny little story:  I don't even know how this came about over the last couple days, but my hubby and I were picking at each other and he said something like, "you're a keeper!!"         I laughed and said that I "guess" he was too.          and he questioned me for using the word "guess".           I just laughed and told him that he still owed me.           he wanted to know what he owed me for.         I just told him that I can't believe that he would ever forget the debt  he owed me.           he kept looking at me with seriously questioning eyes.           he finally asked me what he had forgotten.         and I laughed real big and told him that he had forgotten all about being a bought, kept and paid for man.          and we both cracked up.           he said "and I would have it NO other way!!!"           so that has been our running joke for going on 45 years.     

if you want to know the back story to him being a bought and paid for man, well, here it is.           we were and still are as poor as Jobs turkeys, but when we went to get our marriage license in september of 1979, he didn't have to money to pay for them, but I did.         later on when we sorta got on our feet a little bit financially, we laughed about it.        and he's the one that said he was a bought and paid for man.          so that has been our running joke for all these years and we still get a laugh out of it.       I'll have to say that it was the best $10.00 I ever spent!!!          who knew it would be the best investment I ever made????    

I'll tell you who knew, God!!!!           He knew!!!!!!!          He has been in the midst of our marriage even before we knew  would get married.         He knew we would!!          and I am so thankful to Him that He has been such an integral part of our lives as one together in Him and as individuals.         He knew what He was doing when we didn't think we knew.         

the last Friday in January is the first night we had a date.          it started snowing that night when he was bringing me home and it was 3 weeks before we had another date.         sometime in February, we had another date and you guessed it, it snowed again that night and it was another 3 weeks before we had another date.        all the people that I worked with told me that I couldn't go out with him anymore until it got to 100* outside so there would be no chance of snow.         hahaha

so even thru all the snow, we have a lot to be thankful for.           45 years of being best friends!!!       I am so thankful to God every day for him and all that we have been thru over the years.         we've been thru enough that would cause others to throw in towel.          truth be known, we both may have thought about it over the years, but we always kept God where He belongs.         if God is the head of all you both do, then He will keep you thinking right and straight.  

so while this little story was kinda funny, it's something that we cherish and hold on to, because we know that God has been first place in all of our days.         have we both always been perfect to each other?             absolutley not!!!           but we've always kept God in first place and that makes a difference.  

I hope if you haven't put God first place in your lives that you will do it today.          He can make all the difference.            He will make all the difference.           but you got to want Him.            I pray that you do.           He is readily available, tthru the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.        He has provided a way for us to be in right relationship with Him thru Jesus.        that's it.         that's the only way to the Father, is thru the Son.         I hope you know Jesus.         Jesus sure wants to know you.        my prayer is that for everyone who has ever read my blog to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and that we can all hang out one of these days in heaven.         wouldn't that be a wonderful gathering, it sure would!!!           so I'm just gonna say it, I'll see ya in heaven one of these days.        

well, that's all I have today.         blessings of warm weather and warm hearts and fond memories and exciting days ahead.        hugs and love, patty

"Jesus Loves Me This I Know", do you know this?

good morning wonderful people!!!    you're friendly neighborhood weather  lady reporting in with a rainy 47* this morning!!!!!          yes, you read that right and I'm pleased as punch!!         hahaha         most of the snow and ice is already gone, what a blessing!!  

I don't think I could ever thank God enough for His hand of protection over us during this arctic blast that lasted for what seemed life forever.        while it was bad enough, if the electricity had gone off, it could have been a whole different scene with losts sorry and heartache.         so while nature done it's "thang", our wonderful God was watching out for us.         Thank You so much God for your protection!!!

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I found this on the internet today and thought it worthy of sharing with you all, so I copied it.        sometimes we do forget just how much Jesus loves us.          let this be a fun reminder to have a childlike faith and trust in Him.   

everything copied is between ******, at the beginning and the end.

******A church in Atlanta was honoring one of its senior pastors who had been retired many years. He was 92 at that time and I wondered why the church even bothered to ask the old gentleman to preach at that age.

After a warm welcome, introduction of this speaker, and as the applause quieted down, he rose from his high back chair and walked slowly, with great effort and a sliding gait to the podium.

Without a note or written paper of any kind he placed both hands on the pulpit to steady himself and then quietly and slowly he began to speak....

"When I was asked to come here today and talk to you, your pastor asked me to tell you what was the greatest lesson ever learned in my 50-odd years of preaching. I thought about it for a few days and boiled it down to just one thing that made the most difference in my life and sustained me through all my trials. The one thing that I could always rely on when tears and heartbreak and pain and fear and sorrow paralyzed me...

The only thing that would comfort was this verse....

"Jesus loves me this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong,
We are weak but He is strong.....
Yes, Jesus loves me....
The Bible tells me so."

The old pastor stated, "I always noticed that it was the adults who chose the children's hymn 'Jesus Loves Me' (for the children of course) during a hymn sing, and it was the adults who sang the loudest because I could see they knew it the best."

"Here for you now is a Senior version of Jesus Loves Me":

JESUS LOVES ME
Jesus loves me, this I know,
Though my hair is white as snow
Though my sight is growing dim,
Still He bids me trust in Him.

(CHORUS)
YES, JESUS LOVES ME.. YES, JESUS LOVES ME..
YES, JESUS LOVES ME, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO.
Though my steps are oh, so slow,
With my hand in His I'll go
On through life, let come what may,
He'll be there to lead the way.

(verse 2)
When the nights are dark and long,
In my heart He puts a song..
Telling me in words so clear,
"Have no fear, for I am near."

(Verse 3)
When my work on earth is done,
And life's victories have been won.
He will take me home above,
Then I'll understand His love.

(CHORUS)
I love Jesus, does He know?
Have I ever told Him so?
Jesus loves to hear me say,
That I love Him every day.******

what a lovely sentiment to remember as our age becomes more and more evident in our lives.          may we always be found as an example of believers who loves Jesus and know that beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus loves us.          let us have that childlike faith to sing this song, that believes and knows that Jesus loves us even if the sky is falling around us.          let's remember this song and sing it loud to anyone who will listen.

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just a little short and sweet post today.         I hope this is a little bit of encouragement for anyone who needs it.          I sure did.          and it gave me some perspective that I didn't have.          let's keep God in the forefront of all we do today and maybe sing our senior song today as we go about serving Him.

blessings of love, joy and peace be upon us all.       hugs, patty

Using some of my dehydrated goods, Cran-Orange candy!!!

good morning folks.            this is your friendly weather woman coming at you once again from my neck of the woods with the latest on the weather.             it was a glorious 20* when I got up this morning, woop woop!!!          it is right now, as of 8:08am, 25* hot degrees!!!          oh yeah!!!          I'll take it.      hahaha          it is supposed to get above freezing today, praise the Lord!!!!            I just have to say it and I can't keep saying it enough, we truly are blessed to have gone thru this weather event and not lose our electricity!!!            thank You God, for Your watchcare and hand of protection over us.         I know others weren't so blessed and I grieve with them over the loss of their loved ones.         so that doesn't go unnoticed by me at all.          I'm just thankful and grateful for what God has done.

so, yesterday evening late, we wanted a little snacky snack.            I'm usually not one for a snack after six or seven o'clock in the evening.            but I got started at this early enough that I got it made and we got to sample it before going to bed.           ok, who am I kidding, we ate it.         there I said it, we ate it and it was delicious!!         hahaha

I have shown some of the cranberries and oranges that I have dehydrated in the past and that's what I used.         I had made a batch of powdered cranberry orange powder and that's what I wanted to use.        I got out the cran-orange powder and a make shift double boiler along with some white almond bark and commenced to melting the almond bark.         mission accomplished.          I thinned it down with another couple of ingredients so I could get a couple of tablespoons of cran orange-powder mixed in before it set up too quickly.

the above pic is of the mixture once I had in my silicon pan.           I popped it in the fridge and let it set up.             that little dab of mixture is about the size of a small saucer, so it's not a lot.

this is just the mixture without the jar in the picture.              it looks so good.            after it had been in the fridge for about 20 minutes cooling down, I took it out and used my metal spatula to loosen it from the silicone and turned it bottom side up for another 20 minutes.          when I was satisfied with what it was feeling like, I took it from the fridge and rolled it in a tight tube.            it looked kinda like a short fat sausage.           I thought I had a picture of that too, but I didn't see it on my computer.        I may not have sent it from my phone.

this is what it looked like once I got sliced into bite sized pieces.            this right here is the picture of yumminess!!!          this should be in the dictionary as a picture of "yummy".        hahaha

and I love that there are pieces of cranberry and orange that you can see.          this has a hint of tart along with sweet and creamy along with crunchy and chewy.         it truly is good.

and I'll tell you something, I was worried about what it would do to my blood sugar.           I'm not diabetic, but it runs in my family, so I keep a check on it every morning.             I figured my blood sugar would be sky high this morning.           it wasn't!!!       it was at 91, so I was thrilled with that number!!           usually, if I eat something like this, my blood sugar will be higher, sometimes a lot higher.          now, this doesn't give me the license to have this every day, but it looks like it's a treat that I may be wanting to have on hand for a bite when the craving hits.         but I was totally surprised by the number, yet thouroughly thankful and excited.           I will test my blood sugar the next time I have this and see if it's still running like that, if so, then it may be a good, one or two bite snack.

well, that's about all I have today.          it looks like it will get above freezing today and we have a couple of errands to run a little later on.           I hope everyone has a wonderful day.         let's all thank God for His hand of protection over us and keep Him first place in all we do today.          blessings of peace and mercy be yours today.           hugs and love, patty

Vanilla Powder, who knew?

good morning y'all, it's  another  balmy nippy  morning in my neck of the woods coming in at 0* at 7am.           in case I haven't told y'all yet, I'm so over it!!           hahaha       oh, I guess I've mentioned a time or 20 since Alaska decided to move to TN.        hahaha              I'm cashing in my winter card for my spring card.            hahaha             ready to move on.            but the good news is, we are supposed to warm up with a lot of rain.           that will at least get rid of the salt from the roads.            we are so ready to get back into walking.            I'm hoping we can walk between the rain drops.           hahaha

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I got to thinking about something that I had done back in august of 2023 and thought it would be a good project to share, since I'm getting ready to do this again in a little while.           this will be a good refresher course for me and hopefully give y'all some fresh ideas too.          think outside the box with everything we do.          when we do that, we can come up with some amazing things.

I love vanilla, real vanilla extract and flavoring.           not the stuff they use to scent candles with.        a short story: my husband and I was out just driving and seeing interesting things and stopping and going in.          there was a huge store on the outskirts of a larger town where we used to live and we stopped and went it.     they had a lot of christmas stuff year around.         and I forgot to mention that this was just a family owned and operated store.         it was fun to browse.            we stopped and went in one saturday afternoon and they had just gotten a new display of vanilla candles and it was right in the front door area and the fake vanilla flavor was so strong, and I don't know what else was in it             but it was so strong that it just hit my face like a wet blanket.           had it not been for my husband, I would have hit the floor like a rock!!!         he had me by the arm and got me back outside about as quickly as that happened and we never went back.           so I can't do imitation vanilla at all.            even smelling imitation vanilla in desserts, I can't do it.       

I have to keep real vanilla on hand at all times.            last summer I got to thinking about vanilla beans.          I couldn't find any info on anyone dehydrating vanilla beans.           I did find that "grade a" vanilla beans are a lot more oilier that "grade b" vanilla beans.        those are the preferred beans for making vanilla extract with liquor.          but in all honesty, I had no idea that vanilla beans were oily, but learning that info helped me realize that "grade b" is the grade I needed for what I wanted to do.       

so I set out and ordered my vanilla beans from amazon.             there are a lot places to get vanilla beans from, so you can get yours where you wish to get them.          I need to get some that was affordable and had a good reputation on amazon.          I can't remember exactly where these came from, but when I need more, it's in my amazon history and I can find them that way.

this was a bag of 25 or 26 vanilla beans, vacuum sealed.        they were about 6 inches long.          and they smelled so good.

this is a tray of my weston dehydrator.          as I took them from the bag, I had a paper towel and I wiped each bean down real good, just to get some of the oils thats on them, off.          oils on the dehydrator can and more than likely will, go rancid.          so I wiped each bean real good.           I wish I had taken a pic of the paper towel that I used because it was amazing to see the oils that came from these beans, being grade b beans.          during the dehydrating process, I would keep a paper towel close by and I would check on my vanilla beans and wipe them down again.          I probably wiped them a half dozen times during the dehydrating process.           I spent way more time with the vanilla beans than I ever have spent witth any other product that I've dehydrated.           but it was worth it get the finished product.

they are off the dehydrator and ready to be put in my dedicated mr coffee, coffee grinder.            I don't grind coffee, but I do grind herbs and spices, so this is my herb and spice grinder, now vanilla bean grinder.    hahaha            I broke each bean into smaller pieces and you can them on the paper plate.          and as I was putting the pieces in the grinder, I broke them even more.           

my motto for dehydrating is "cracker crisp, rock hard, and bone dry".           these were cracker crisp, breaking like a crispy cracker.          if they don't snap when you bend it, it will gum up and probably mold when you put it in a container.          but you won't get a good grind.            so if you try this, just make sure you get them crispy.            and my temperature was 110* as per my standard temperature these days.          I know it took more than 24 hours, but I don't remember how much more it took.

 

as you can in these 2 pictures, I got a really great grind on my vanilla beans.            I used my brush that I keep in the kitchen to clean my grinder with and you can see the bristles are a little oily.         I wouldn't want to even try dehydrating grade a vanilla beans, seeing how oily these were once I got them done.           but I did get a good grind on them.            I even went searching for grade c vanilla beans and apparently they don't have that grade, just a and b.        

I really wish there was such a thing as smell-a-vision.            hahaha, you would love the smell of this if there was such a thing.          the smell truly is incredible.            

this little jar is a 4 oz jar and that's how much these ground up vanilla beans made.           I have used it every day since I made it and I still have about half of it left.          I have these measuring spoons that have measurements smaller than regular spoon measurements and that's what I use.           the smallest one is a "nib".           and that's what I use everyday.            a nib of vanilla bean powder in my breakfast bowl each morning and it gives a wonderful touch of vanilla.

so I have another vac bag of vanilla beans and will dehydrate them a little later on.           I'll keep a bag handy at all times just to dehydrate when I start running low on my vanilla powder.          it will be interesting to see how much longer this little jar will last before I have to dehydrate the other bag of vanilla beans.           I recently came up with a recipe for "instant dry egg nog mix" and I've been using a half of a teaspoon in the mix, so it's going down a little quicker than it would if I was just using in my breakfast bowls.     

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I guess that's about all I have today.            I hope you enjoyed this adventure into making dehydrated  vanilla bean powder.           I enjoyed making it and I also enjoyed sharing it with y'all.    

I hope and pray that we all remember to keep God first place in all we do today.          if we do, it'll be a good day.           blessings of warmth, grace and mercy be upon us all today and every day.           hugs and love, patty

Pics of some of my dehydrated goods

good morning y'all!!!!!            it's another frigid morning here in my neck of the woods.        it was +2* when I got up this morning, almost high enough to break a sweat!!          hahaha          it was another night that we had to leave the faucets dripping, so we did.         I'm thinking tonight will be more of the same.          I don't think it will get above 17* or 19* today, so it's gonna stay a little chilly for a while longer.         yippee!!!!!!!         not!!!         hahaha          

thank you Lord for your watch care and protection over us during this cold spell.        please don't be  upset at me Lord, for having a weird sense of humor.         but on the funny side of this Lord, please take Alaska back where it belongs.          please!          but if Alaska has to stay here, we'll deal with it, because You will make a way for us to deal with it.         but I am grateful to You for keeping us safe during this.          I love You Lord and I know You're working in this as with all situations that come before us.         You're already there, working it out.        thank You!!!       amen

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just wanted to share a couple of pictures. one is of some of my dehydrated goods.         I work on dehydrating bits at a time, really. just trying to keep fresh produce from going bad mostly, especially this time of year when gardening is at a halt. my motto is "cracker crisp, rock hard and bone dry" for a reason.          I don't like losing one morsel of hard work or food. it's like throwing money away.        I don't have money to throw away.         when I accomplish the goal of my motto, I can make powder from anything in my cabinet, if it's been dehydrated. if it's not up to my motto standards, then it's a short term project and will be used up quickly, within a couple of weeks up to a month and no more.        but for the most part, I dehdyrate for long term. sometimes long term for me means six months to a year, sometimes it means 5 years. and when I dehydrate to my motto, I know I'll get up to 5 years out of it.

low and slow is what helps me reach my goal.        setting my temp low and taking all the time it takes to meet my goal is how I do it.        low temps and forgetting about time. it works for me.        and when I need to powder something, it's cracker crisp, rock hard and bone dry, so it's pretty easy.

 
the cabinet has a lot of powders on the top shelf as well as some dehydrated marshmallows.     yum!!     I also have a couple of good sized jars on the top that are vegetable blends from 21 different veggies, all listed on the side of the jar.         it's not really powdered, it just blended to a size about like a coarse salt.        I use it in a lot of soups.      I have 2 jars of that, one has hot pepper and the other one doesn't.

the 2nd and 3rd shelves used to be in order, but I went thru them all at Christmas and made some gift packages for a couple of friends that I thought would enjoy sampling a bunch of dehydrated goods and I just put stuff back and not in place.        so it's jumbled up.

I also do fermenting too and my fermenting jar is on the top shelf and theres some fermented honey and garlic on the bottom shelf.         and there is little jars of honey and maple syrup scattered on the shelves.         it's fun and very tasty to dehydrate some of my fermented veggies.            I have some dehydrated fermented red onions.         I have dehydrated dill pickles and I make what I call dilly dust with it.             you can season just about anything with it.          it's fun to dehydrate and then figure out ways to use it.

I needed to make some cranberry powder this week and I used oranges for one jar and lemons for the other jar.          I use this in my breakfast and like to keep it powdered up.          I just make a small batch at a time.              I filled my coffee grinder half way with cranberries and then put 4 or 5 slices of orange.         I done the same thing with lemon and cranberries.       wonderful combinations too.        I need to get blueberries and lemons and then rhubarb and orange made into powders too.

I love using these in my breakfast bowls every day.         I'll make 6 at a time and they'll rehydrate really nicely.          it's wonderful.

I slice my oranges and lemons with my mandolin to get perfectly thin slices and they dehydrate completely.

while I spend a lot of time dehydrating, I also spend a lot of time using my dehydrated goods.

there's potatoes and mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, stevia, purple basil, cucumbers, garlic, onions, leeks and green onion blades, all kinds of hot peppers, lots of tomatoes ready to make powder from and I don't know what all is in there.         and a lot of it is stuff that I have grown.         I even made zucchini and yellow squash flour from some of my zucchini and yellow squash.         it can actually be used as a substitute for up to 1/4th the regular flour in a recipe calling for flour.           so I'll always have that on hand from now on.

it's amazing at what you can with a couple of cheap dehydrators.

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this is about all I have today.        if you're in the deep freeze, please stay safe and think before you do something.         let's keep God at the forefront of all we do and praise Him in all things.        hugs and love to all, patty

Another Cold Day with a little more Ice and Snow

good morning beautiful friends.           yesterday was another bread baking day and it was a major success if I do say so myself.         I am looking forward to making more and more of this bread.         it's just about perfect for us.            the rolls are absolutley perfect.            I am so thankful to my friend Sylvia, for mentioning to me the broioche bread that she had made.          we share pictures with each other of all our treats and shennanigans that we find ourselves in when we get in the kitchen.       hahaha            so I got to searching thru all my old files and found the recipe that I shared yesterday.         I have no idea where it came from, but I tweaked it and made it my own and it worked.         and I shared it with Sylvia and she has already made some.         hahaha        and she liked it really well too.

I've had a bread machine for 16 or 17 years and I've worked with it over the years to learn what I can and can't do.         I wore my first one out 2 or 3 years ago and I'm on my second one.        well on the way to wearing it out too.       hahaha         I've done a lot of experimenting and tweaking recipes to suit our needs and tastes.        I encourage everyone to experiment and learn from those experiments.          but one thing to keep in mind is paying close attention to recipes that say  it's for "buns or rolls".          that is a dead giveaway that it should not be baked in the bread machine as is.        there is more dough than most bread machines can handle and it will rise and spill out into the bread making chamber and make a royal mess.          so always keep that in mind.        

if you do come across a roll or bun recipe that you want to bake in bread machine, at some point, well before it starts rising the last rise and baking, take out at least half of the dough ball.         I have done that before and I may do it at some point in time with this new brioche recipe.        this dough really rises, so I could take out at least half of it and still have a great sized loaf and get a few buns too.        so always be thinking out side the "box", or bread machine in this case and come up with ways to make good use of your time and machine.

I packaged up the 2 mini loaves and took them to the freezer in the garage and that's when I found out it had started sleeting again, then turned to rain and back to sleet and in the night, yup you guessed it, it started snowing again.           I'm really over it this time.        hahaha        as I sit here and type, the wind is picking up and if it keep snowing it could be worse than it has been.          it's 27* and that's as warm as it's gonna get today.  

we are getting "hous-i-tosis" from being all cooped up.           we haven't gotten any mail this week at all and I had ordered a new air fryer from amazon and come to find out, they was was delivering it by USPS and it was supposed to be here on tuesday and it's looking like it won't get delivered until next week, if then.          I'm upset at amazon and they have lost my business.         I'll not cut my nose off to spite my face, but they will be the last place on my list to order from.          

I don't want anyone putting their life on the line for delivery of any kind.         that's not it at all.           I don't like amazon not making good on their prime promises and turning our orders over to the USPS.          they don't handle the mail as well as they should these days, much less packages.          I have a great mail delivery lady, so this isn't a put down to her.         I'm just upset at amazon for ditching their promises.        I would feel a lot better if my air fryer was in the hands of amazon delivery, instead of the USPS.        ok, so I'm done with my gripe.           I guess the snow and ice is just getting to me.         hahaha

as it keeps on snowing, I still keep dreaming of spring and sowing seeds.          I'm really looking forward to it.          I just pray that I don't forget everything I want to do when the right time rolls around.

I've had a small stevia plant in the garage, nursing it along and it was doing pretty good and then we had -9 below 0 and that done the poor baby in.          they are really hard to get started, but I'm gonna order more seeds and see if I can get some going and do better with them.         I planted 5 seeds last year and 1 actually came up and lived.         so I'm hoping I can get a better sprout, growth and survival rate this year.         I had heard that they were a booger to get started and they are.       hahaha

I can't wait to get my greenstalks full of green beans.           I have 4 different varieties, all bush style and I'm looking forward to getting them started and hopefully I can get 2 crops of them this year.         I have frost covers to go over my greenstalks, so if I can get my beans going early, I can cover them with the frost covers and remove them during the day for sun and hopefully, I can get some early green beans.         right now, I'm concerned about all my garlic bulbs.           I have 4 keter raised bed garden planters and they have over 100 gralic bulbs between the 4 raised be gardens.         I do have frost covers over the beds, but I don't know if that will be enough to save them.          everyone keeps saying that garlic is hardy, so I guess I'll be finding out when the great thaw happens.         hahaha

well, I'm rambling because I'm stir crazy, or I may just be crazy in general.        hahaha          shhhhh, don't tell me what ya think, it might hurt my one "stir crazy" feeling that I have left.       hahaha

I hope you have a wonderful day.           it may be cold and icy outside, but inside it's cozy and warm and for that I am very grateful!!!          even on cold sunless days, Jesus is always shining brightly, we just have to look for Him.        He's there, in every heartbeat, every blink of the eyes, and every rise and fall of our lungs.         we have so much to be thankful for and while I did let off some steam in this post, I'm so thankful for the presence of God in my life and knowing that He alone, is in control.   

let's keep God first in all we do and say as we go thru this day.       thank you for spending time with me today.        I pray you all stay warm, full of the love God today.         warm hugs and love, patty

New Brioche Buns and Loaves

good afternoon y'all!!!!            we're sitting here waiting on the next round of winter weather to roll in and I don't mind telling you that I'm praying it doesn't!!!!           but we are supposed to get some ice and sleet, so we'll see what happens.           God is in control of it all.        so I'll try not to waste my time worrying about it.          thanks You God for you watchful hand of protection!!!!!

so, this morning I got up and got started on a new batch of brioche bread.           the first thing I needed to do was refill my yeast jar.           I keep my yeast in the freezer, so when I got my jar filled, I vac sealed my yeast again and popped it back in the freezer and put my yeast jar back in the fridge.         it will keep a VERY long time like this.         so if you bake a lot, you might consider getting several pkgs of yeast and throw them in the freezer.

the next pic is what my bread pan looks like when I get everything in.           I start with the wet ingredients first and then the dry ingredients and finish with my butter cut into small pieces and evenly spaced over the top of the dry ingredients.            then I sprinkle all my yeast evenly over the top of everything.      

this recipe calls for water and milk.          I don't keep milk on hand, because it will go bad before we use it.          I do keep powdered milk on hand.           so, I got the one cup of water measured and then added 3 tablespoons of water to the one cup.          next I added 2 teaspoons of powdered milk to the 1 and 1/3rd cup of water.           I also used warm tap water.         very warm tap water.         I wisked the powdered milk into the water and when it was all dissolved I poured it in the bread machine.

once I got all ready, I turned the bread machine on.         when I do so, I watch it like a hawk.         I like to see how the bread is coming together and keep an eye on the dough ball itself.       it may be too dry and need more water or it could be too wet and need more flour.         this is a VERY sticky dough, so you have to know that going in, so you won't add too much flour to it.         you can see that is really sticking  to the sides of the bread pan.

and here, it's still really sticking and the 2 and half tablespoons of butter pieces are getting worked into the dough really nicely.            at this point, I did put in an extra tablespoon of flour.

the machine is working the extra flour into it the dough and there isn't much change yet, so I put another tablespoon of flour in.

up to this point, I've added an extra 2 tablespoons of flour.           it's important to go slow adding the flour.           if I get too much it will change the texture of the dough and we don't want to do that.    

at this poit, it's starting to look the way I want it to look.           but you can see there is still dough on the bottom of the pan.          so I sprinkled in another tablespoon of flour very slowly.         so this batch of bread required 3 extra tablespoons of flour.

now it's really starting to look like I want it to look.         plus, it's still really sticky!!          and you want it to be sticky, very sticky.           so this is.          now I let it keep kneading and kneading until the bread machine stops.           for my bread machine, when I put it on "dough" setting, it will go thru the kneading and resting and rising and kneading and resting and rising several times.           I don't my bread to go thru that many cycles of resting and rising, if I'm not baking the bread it in the machine.          

it's also important to note that this is a roll/bun recipe.          it makes more than a regular loaf of bread made/baked in the bread machine.           if you leave this batch of dough in the machine to bake, it will rise to the point of spilling out into bread baking chamber and that would be a horrible mess and would probably ruin the machine.          so that's important to take note of with the breads you're making.     is it a loaf of bread, or is it 20 buns?          if it's buns, don't assume you can bake the amount of dough for the buns in the bread machine.        more than likely it will explode in your baking chamber and we don't want that mess to deal with.    

when my bread machine stopped for the first time, it was after 30 minutes of kneading time.         that's when I took the dough out and started weighing it and dividing it out for the buns and loaves.

so this is my dough ball and you see what it weighed in grams.           I sectioned out a dozen balls of dough weighing 45 grams each.

then I was left with 363 grams of dough and I divided that into 2 sections and made two small loaves in my 2 1/2 x 6 inch mini pans.           I sprayed my pans good and put the dough in and rolled the dough around real good in the oily pan.         you can see what my little loaves looked like.           I just worked them a bit and then flattened the dough into a strip and rolled it up.       it was after this step that I rolled them around in the oiled pan and they were ready to start rising.          

you can see my little bread pans here and I got this pic out of sequencs, it should have been before the one above, so I apologize for that.            I have the 12 sectioned balls of dough weighing 45 grams and then the pieces to make loaves from. 

I apologize for some of these being out of sequence, I tried so hard but, I failed miserably.       anyway, this is what the dough still looked like in the pan.         you can see that the dough actually stopped sticking to the sides and bottom of the pan and that is what I was looking for.          plus, it's still really sticky.

so the next picture, (I hope they are all in proper sequence now)  is when I had started working on the buns and getting them in my silicone muffin top pans.          each well is 4 inches across and I find that to be the perfect size for a bun.          they don't look pretty right now and that's perfectly ok.

this is my 2 red silicone trays and 2 loaf pans ready to rise before baking.

you  can see the loaves are doing pretty good.

here they are just before taking their spin in the  preheated 350* oven.

this is how my buns looked just before their turn in the hot  oven.

ok now, mini loaves are done!!!       don't they look nice!!!!!!          they really rose a bunch more in the oven.       yay!!!

get a look at these beauties!!!!        oh my gosh!!!!          these have best "hand feel" of any bread I've ever baked before!!!!          they are my NEW "go to" bread!!            I love experimenting with bread and looking for that next great loaf or best buns ever.          I'm here to tell you the search is over.  

they smell divine.            they are soft to the touch.         springy.        

this is the first batch outta the muffin top pan and don't they look so good.            I turned a couple of the bottoms up so you could see how they bottom looks too.          I'm so happy to have this recipe.

this is both batches of buns now done and cooling.             I can't say enough good things about this bread.     

and here is a bun cut open.             I used a serrated knife to cut it and there was not any crumbs, maybe a couple of tiny little specks that stuck to the serrated edge.

this  bread is kinda chewy without being tough.          it's very soft.           I have never had brioche before, at least that I remember.          so I don't have anything to make my commparisons to.          but this is without a doubt, the best bread I've ever made.            my sweet husband will love these buns for his breakfast.          he really enjoyed the sandwich we had at lunch from them.

so if you read this far, you might want the recipe.           if so, here it is.

Brioche Buns Recipe for 20 buns

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons of water

2 teaspoons of powdered milk dissolved in the water

1 large egg

2 1/2 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

3 cups of all purpose or bread flour

1/3 cup of white whole wheat flour (I used regular whole wheat flour)

2  1/2 tablespoons of butter cut into tiny pieces

1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon of yeast

put liquid ingredients and egg in pan first.     then add sugar and salt.         next add the all purpose flour and then the whole wheat flour.

once all the flour is in the bread pan, I smooth it out and then scatter the butter pieces evenly over the top of the dry ingredients.         once the butter is in, then I evenlly sprinkle the yeast.          for my bread machine, I always end up with the yeast being my last ingredient.

I set the machine on "dough cycle"  and don't forget to do this part, it's very important.        then  start the bread machine.         my machine runs for 30 minutes.           its kneading the dough and getting it all incorporated well.          I watch my dough come together for at least the first 5 minutes, checking to see if it's too dry or too wet and then adjusting as necessary.           when it stops for the first rest and rise perod, that's when I take my dough out.        

if I leave it in there for the whole hour and 34 minutes, it will work the yeast to death and it won't rise when I take it from the bread pan and break it down into buns and loaves.        so I take the dough out at the first rest/rise and unplug the machine.   

the dough is very sticky at this point, so I use avocado oil on my hands to keep the dough from sticking to my hands.          I'll put the dough ball on my scale and weigh it in grams.          I find that grams is a more accurate weight.           this dough ball, I was going to make 20 buns.           or the equivalent of 5 mini loaves.           so that helped me know that I could make 12 buns with the equivalent of 3 mini loaves and that would leave me 2 mini loaves to bake.          that is what I call my "bread math".         hahaha          it's probably confusing, but I hope not.     

and as you can see from the pics, the rolls turned out perfect in size.     

I hope you enjoy this and will try it.   

something else about the flour and me adding extra.          sometimes, the weather will play a big role in the weight of your flour and the dryness of your flour.          the dough I maade on tuesday for my first batch of mini brioche loaves was 935 grams in weight.          the dough I made today, was made exactly the same way.          I even used the 3 extra tablespoons of flour to get it to the consistency I was looking for and it only weighed 905 grams.         not only the humidity has something to do with the weight of the flour, but I'm also thinking that the barometric pressure may have something to do with it also.            I really don't know if it does or not.          but I do know the amount of humidity does play a big role in the outcome of our bread.

that's why I always babysit my bread machine when I'm starting my dough.        I want to make sure that everything gets mixed in properly very early on in the process.         and I like to keep an eye on it to make sure the dough isn't too dry or too wet.

with this dough, once all the butter gets incorporated into the dough, I think that's what makes this dough so nice and soty and sticky.         but you do want it to make a cohesive ball.         you don't want it to spill out of the pan like an unbaked cake mix.        hahaha

well, there you have it, the new bread that has taken over my life.           I just put 2 mini loaves in the freezer and now I have 2 more to put in there too.          that's great though.         because I can concentrate on only buns now.  

I apologize for any spelling mistakes and will try to correct them as they jump out at me.    

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I guess this is about all I have today.           I hope you keep God first place in all you do, even in  your bread baking.         hugs and love, patty