More kitchen time and inspiration

Good morning wonderful friends!!!         I pray that you are enjoying the days leading up to Thanksgiving.        it really is a wonderful time of the year just to process most of the year that's already behind us and to help us take stock in who God is in our lives.         we serve a mighty big God.        I love it when He shows up and blesses me tremendously.         He has blessed me in a mighty big way with friends and family.         I'm so thankful to Him for a wonderful husband too!!!         He loves God and he loves me based on his love for God.       that's a big love!!         so as we continue to take stock of our many blessings, I have a few more things from my kitchen to share with y'all.

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

this is a fb post from Sept 21, 2021 and I wanted to share it with y'all.         so here we go, let's have another "2 minutes in the kitchen" this morning.        the pictures below are of a Raw Honey and Garlic Ferment that I started on Sept 20, 2021.         this type of ferment needs to be done with "raw" honey.

I had 6 huge large bulbs of garlic and after 6 weeks 😂😂😂of getting them all peeled, (it actually took a couple hours) I put them in my jar.          some of the cloves were so large that I quartered them.  some were even smashed up a bit.         you want as much of the garlic to be be exposed to the honey as possible.            so dicing big cloves and mashing them a little are good for this type of ferment.  

the honey was raw, really blond and thick.           I had to heat it in a pan of boiling water to get it to pourable consistency, but I didn't get it so hot in the water that it became pasteurized.         once it was melted  some, then I poured it over the garlic.          it was still really thick, but it was pourable with a little coaxing from a spatula.

when I started this, the honey was the same color as the garlic.      I could give myself a little talking to for not getting a picture of it when I got the lid on it.      so sorry.      uugghhh   

ideally, over the course of six months to a year, the colors will go from what you see now, about 20 hours after starting the ferment, to a deep dark, almost chocolate brown, both the honey and garlic.     the honey pulls the liquids from the garlic and thins the honey down.      just over the course of 20 hours, the honey has already thinned down drastically and it has taken on a little darker color.       there is still some solid blond honey in the bottom of the jar and that's why I turned it over to get at least a picture of that.        so we can keep a watch on the color changes.

for the first month, while it's still very active, I'll have to burp the jar every day just to release the built up gases in it.         it could possibly explode if I don't keep it burped.          there is a line of bubbles around the top of the garlic in the jar.            some of the garlic is also risen above the level of honey and to prevent anything negative from happening to that garlic, I turn the jar over every day to make sure every piece of garlic has made contact with the honey every day.

honey and garlic are very good for you in the first place.        add the fermentation process to it and it really bumps up the nutrition value.        I can't wait to see and taste the finished product.  six months to a year is the time it takes to do the full ferment.        right now though, when I burp it, it smells like a really bad garlic burp.      😂🤣😂🤣      it just plain "stanks"!!!        but I do have high hopes of deliciousness later on. 

so, if you've read very much of my blog, I may have mentioned that I just started about 100 cloves of garlic during the last day or tow of October, 2023.          I'm hoping it does well, so I can get another honey garlic ferment started.         and I must tell you that this ferment is really delicious!!!!!        yes, it's over 2 years old and it is absolutely wonderful!!!         I would encourage anyone to try this.        you won't be disappointed if you love garlic and if you love honey.     

this is what it looks like as of today, Nov. 12, 2023.          it is so dark, rich and yummy and it just keeps getting better with age.   

look at this yumminess in my jar!!!!          oh my gosh it is so good to use a little of the honey and piece of the garlic finely diced in a stir fry.       it is so good, you can't go wrong with making it.

the most important this is to make sure you maintain very clean standards in your kitchen.        don't double dip into the jar when getting some out, if you've used your spoon for something else, get a clean spoon.     don't let anyone just dip freely from the jar.         introducing he wrong kind of bacteria into a ferment can cause mold and other baddies that we just don't want.        this doesn't have to be stored in the fridge.        just a dark cabinet is all it requires and keep it away from a heat source.       this is sooooooo good!!!!

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

I wanted to share something else that I got into also!!!!!         Cowboy Candy......made!        can't wait to sample it.         letting it sit in the fridge for 2 weeks, as suggested for the flavors to really blend.       so far, it's yummy and potent.     🤣     burns my eyes just looking at it.        😂    first pic is the ACV and natural sugar (looks like brown sugar, but it's natural sugar), second and third pics are of the sliced peppers.        I added a few more this morning to what I got yesterday.        I also took a couple of long sweet peppers from the fridge and put in it.         a yellow one and a red one.     (they are not in the pics at all, it was an after thought), the fourth pic is all jarred up.        I didn't water bath or pressure can them.          wasn't enough to mess with and they won't last long as it is.         if I get more, enough to make several jars, then I will, and use the proper canning jars for that.          this was something I was hoping I would be able to do, but really didn't have high hopes of my peppers putting out enough at one time to be able to make cowboy candy.        I guess all the rain helped.  hahaha  

this is some really good stuff.          I didn't make any this year, but I plan on it next year.         keep an eye out when you're shopping for those large, 2 quart sized jars of pickled, sliced jalapenos.       those work well for making cowboy candy and a lot of the work is alredy done for you.      plus, when you get the jars empyt of the peppers, you have a larger jar to store some dehydrated goods in or even to store some of your grains or beans in.       that's a win all day long.

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

Where do you belong?        To whom do you belong?     Do you try to fit in?     Those are difficult questions with equally difficult answers.       We spend most of our lives wanting to fit in somewhere; trying to be a part of something.        Maybe a special club or a group that we have been trying to be a part of.       I have never met a person in my life that hasn't wanted to be a part of something, belong to something or belong to someone.       I have met self proclaimed loners.       Even they have a desire to be a part of something.        Most organizations have hoops to jump through and secret handshakes and a list longer than a giraffes neck of all the pre-requisites.        The sad thing is this, even after we become a part of the Kingdom of God, we still try to fit in to all these groups, clubs or organizations.    Why  is that?          Why do we have such a need to find our place and fit in and be a part of something temporary?           Why are we not focused on the bigger picture and being focused on what we are a part of, through the blood and resurrection of Jesus Christ?        So what, (so stinkin' what), if I don't measure up in the eyes of some people!        My husband says, they are people that "have their nose out of joint".         You know the people.         You have seen those people, more than likely you have encountered those people.         You know exactly what I'm talking about.        The ones who have a permanently upturned nose, because they look as if they smell something bad.        The sad thing is, the harder they try to exclude us, the harder we sometimes try to break their barrier.        Why?       Why?    Why have I spent so much of my time trying to find validation in groups, organizations, or individuals that wouldn't spare a cup of water for me if my life depended on it?          Why have I tried so hard to find self worth in the worldly?         I have asked myself that over and over only to come up without an answer.  

The fact is this.       The day I accepted Christ as my Savior, that is the day I became a part of the Heavenly Kingdom of God!!!!!!          That is day that all the worldly stuff should have taken a back seat. I say should have, simply because it didn't.       I was still looking for belonging in the temporal.      I had not realized yet, that I was a part of something that no one could ever exclude me from.       Jesus is the One that opened the door for me.         Jesus is One that welcomed me into His kingdom.     Jesus is the One that made it possible, for a sinner such as I, to be a part of all that God had given to Him.    Jesus is the One that died on the cross for me, then arose from the grave and thus opened the door to His Father's Kingdom, to sinners such as I.

So, after a few years of still looking for groups and cliques and organizations, God finally showed me that my self worth came from Him and ONLY Him and not from this world.        My self value is based on what Jesus Christ thinks of me!      Not on what the world thinks of me and all the flaws and faults and short comings that they can see.          But on what Jesus Christ alone thinks of me.       There is not a group or an organization on the face of the planet that is equal to the Kingdom of Heaven!!!!  

Jesus Christ alone loves me enough to provide a way for me to have a relationship with Him!!!      Who does that?????         Has anyone ever provided a way for you to have a relationship with them, and no strings attached?         Have they????          I haven't walked in anyone's shoes other than my own, but I dare say, that no one has done for you what Christ has done for you.         Jesus loves me right where I am and He helps me to get past where I was and directs me to better.           The day Christ came into my life, I was in the pits of hell.          No other person would meet me right where I was and provide a way out.     He did!!!!       Jesus did!!!!       Jesus pulled me from the pits of hell and has been cleaning me up ever since.        That will soon be 38 years ago.        Have I reached a state of perfection?    Absolutely NOT!!!!!!        I can confess that I am not where I was 38 years ago; but I am not where I want to be either.        I struggle every day to do better, for the cause of Christ!       I struggle every day to do better, for the sake of Christ!         I still have sin in my life; I recognize that, and I seek God on a daily basis to help me make it through another day without being an embarrassment to my Lord and Savior.        I struggle with my temper; I struggle with the words from my mouth; I struggle with fear; I struggle with anger; I struggle my thoughts and I struggle with sooooo much more.       I am not proud to admit that, not at all.         I would love for people to look at me and think, "Wow, she really has it all together", but that's not the case.       I don't!       And I must tell you, that when my friends have actually told me that; I am very quick to tell them otherwise!!!        Oh no, not me, I don't have anything all together!!!!!!         God is so good!!!!!        Praise God, He is NOT done with me!!!!!

I said all of that to say this to you; that if at any point while you was reading what I have written, you said to yourself, "that reminds me of me"; I want to tell you that God is not done with you either!!!!      If you desire better, He will help you achieve better!         All the clubs, groups and organizations of this life will never give you what God can give you!         Eternity with Him!!!!!        God will never ask us to do something that will go against His standard for our lives.          He just won't!!!         God will always provide a way out of every situation that the enemy of this world throws at us.        Unfortunately for me, I haven't always chosen God's way out of some of the situations I have been in, even recently.        I have learned from some of my mistakes.        At the end of the day, I am still a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven!        At the end of the day, I still belong to God, through the love of Jesus Christ, in and for my life!         At the end of the day, Jesus made the way for me and NO ONE else!!!       And, at the end of the day, I don't have to try to fit in, Jesus made me acceptable when He said, "It is finished."      I fit in because of Him!       SO DO YOU!!!!!!!         If you are His, you already fit in!         If you are not His yet, it's not to late.       Just ask Him to make Himself real to you in your life and I promise you, HE WILL!!!!!         Confess to Him that you are a sinner and that you WANT to change and that He is the change you need.           Repent of your sins.        That means acknowledging your former ways and regretting what you have done or haven't done.         Then ask Him to fill your heart and soul with Himself and to lead, guide and direct you the rest of the days of your life.    Friends......it AIN'T easy!!!!!       It's not!        There are lots of people that will be wanting to see you fall and will be happy when you do.         There will probably be people in your former life that you may need to walk away from.      There was for me.    But, there will be more people that will be rooting you on.        There will be people that will be pulling you along, and there will be people that will be praying for you.

So..........I ask you these questions again.       Where do you belong?      (In the Kingdom of God!)     To whom do you belong?      (God!)       Do you try to fit in?    (You don't have to try to fit in in the Kingdom of God, if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, You belong, you already fit in!)     I hope you have answers now that maybe you didn't have before you started reading this.     Just know that God loves you more than you can ever begin to imagine and your self esteem and freedom comes from Him alone!!!!

just wanted you to know that this is something I wrote back in 2015.         I cam across it and thought I needed to share it.          I may have already shared it, but it won't hurt to share it again and remember whose we are and who we are.

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

ever heard of watermelon candy?       well, this is as close to true watermelon candy as I've ever had.  some of y'all have seen those already cut up bowls of watermelon chunks at kroger for $5, well, this is one of those bowls.        (yes, I know, it's expensive like that, but this was my experiment, so it was WELL worth $5, hahaha) I took each chunk and sliced it pretty thin.        I had 3 full trays of watermelon slices.        set my dehydrator at 115* until it is cracker crisp.        I started it thursday evening and finished it saturday sometime.           the little clear tray was completely full of dehydrated watermelon when I took it off the trays.            it was DELICIOUS!!!  oh my gawsh, it was!!!        I will be doing it again.  next time I'll get a big watermelon, hahaha and fill all 6 trays and maybe even have to bring out my old standby and fill 4 more round trays.         the main thing to remember about this watermelon "candy", it still has all the calories in it.             it's just had the water dehydrated out of it, so you want to be mindful of that.                all the sugars and flavors are highly concentrated.  so if you are a diabetic, this may not be for you.             you just have to know what you personally can eat and understand that.  but this is about as close to candy as it gets.             it is absolutely great!!!!     if you get a chance to try it, go for it.           if you get a chance to dehydrate some, go for it.          just eat it responsibly.      hahaha          after all friends don't let friends over indulge.  hahaha   

I've made this several times throughout the years and it's always a hit.      it's delicious!!!!

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

haven't shared any pics of my bread in a while and when this fresh loaf just came from the bread machine, I thought, now is the time to share it, plus, I remembered to take a picture.      hahaha      most of the time I forget.      this is a loaf of  "honey butter wheat bread".      it just came from the machine.       it's really good.      makes a great sandwich and equally good as french toast.     I wish you could smell it, there's nothing like fresh bread.            anyway, have a great evening and blessings on all.

this was breakfast this morning and it was really good.       nothing like fresh bread.       I know a lot of people prefer a firmer bread for french toast, but I just happen to love to use whatever I have and I actually baked this with this mornings breakfast in mind.        probably have a sandwich for lunch from it.        if you don't bake bread, now is as good a time as any to start.        and you know what every ingredient is that's in it.            just wanted to share.          now what I need, is a new griddle.      this one is about 30 years old and it's getting hard to clean.      but I can honestly say I got moneys worth out of it, since it was on half price sale when I got it and only paid $9.99 and taxes.      hahaha     can't beat that with a stick.       I only hope to find another one as good.    

the grilled cheese sandwiches I make with this bread is delectable also.       I just didn't get a picture of it.        but it's good!!

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

There's a lot to be said about silence.        To be honest with you, the enemy wants to keep us in confusion and turmoil all the time, just so we can't hear the still sweet voice of God speaking to us thru Holy Spirit.          Give me alone and silence any time over confusion, noise and chaos and lots of people around.           A lot of the people in our lives are strategically placed by the enemy to try to keep us in chaos and turmoil and the quicker we realize that, the easier it is to make the needed and necessary changes.         Don't be afraid to walk away.         If I want drama, I'll turn the news on!!! 

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

this was something I had found in my scrap papers a couple of years ago.       I am so very happy that I did find it and saved it.        if you have to brag about something, brag about what Jesus has done for you.        yes and amen!!

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

well, that's abut it for today.          I hope you seen something that was fresh and new to too.         I hope the Lord spoke to you thru the this blog post.       I hope that you will pass on the good stuff to family and friends and be a blessing to them.        there was a lot of everything in this one.         I guess I'm trying to make up for lost time.       

brag about Jesus today to someone who needs a Hero.    Jesus is the only hero we'll ever have that made a way for for us to be in right relationship with God.     blessings to one and all this lovely day.      just know that you are loved beyond measure and that if you haven't already taken care of the sin in your life, today is the day to do that.      then you will be in right relatonship with God.    admit you're a sinner, believe that Christ is who He said He is, confess your sins and ask for forgiveness.        blessings be yours today.  hugs and love, patty  

Surprise Surprise A few pictures and some fun

Good evening lovely and faithful friends.      Yes, it's been a hot minute since I shared a post.     I sure haven't meant to my ignore blog, but it just seems like life gets in the way some times and I also think I needed to rethink what I want to do with my blog.      For now, I'm keeping it like it is.     Not many people look at it and I've decided that it's the worlds loss for not checking it out.     hahahaha       Well, it is.      Because I think it's pretty good myself.      It's not loaded with ads that take hours to load.      There are not annoying popups.      The only agenda I really have is trying to show you Jesus and then a few micro seconds into my days and what I'm doing.      So, there you have it.     What my blog is about in a nut shell with a nut typing all this.     hahahaha

I sure hope everyone has been doing well.      We have been.      I'm so thankful for the watch care of Jesus Christ.      I hope you are too.       There has been a lot of sickness and I pray that y'all have been able to miss it.      I would encourage you to get your vaccines if you haven't.       I would also encourage you to think about other people.      That's all I'll say on this subject matter.    I could say more, but today, I want my post to uplifting and encouraging.       So, dear ones,  I'll tell you that Jesus loves you.  Those are the most important words you will ever hear in your lifetime.      Jesus loves you!!!!      Jesus loves you!!!       Please let those words sink in and rest on your heart as you read the rest of my post today.

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

Well, if you've read this far, you may just be crazy enough to want to hang around and see what I've been up to.     hahaha

So, this first picture is of my dehydrator trays filled with the goodies that I put on this morning.      I have 1 tray with ginger and you can see beside the the trays on the stove that there is one on more huge chunk of ginger to get on next time.      I put 3 cans of pineapple tidbits from Aldi on 2 trays.     I drained all the juice from the pineapple and even took a flat potato masher and mashed them to get even more juice from the them.     From the 3 cans of pineapple, I got a quart of pineapple juice, and it's in the bowl beside the trays also.       That will go wonderfully in my next several batches of homemade bread.      I make all our bread and use everything I can to make delicious bread.      This will be delicious bread.     I also have 1 tray of kombucha fruit.     That consists of ginger, pineapple and mango that I have used to flavor my kombucha.        That will be dehydrated and then used in homemade hot sauce.        More on that in a  minute.        Then the last 2 trays have shishito peppers on them.        I split them down the center and dehydrate them.        I grew these this summer and they are a wonderful pepper.       Not many of them are hot, but about 1 in 10 is hot.      They are delicious thrown in a skillet and blistered.       I have learned that I can throw them in the air fryer with what ever else I have in it and blister them  and they are delicious.       I don't like pickled peppers.    I don't like frozen peppers.      So, dehydrating is the way to go for me.      It maintains the flavor better than any other method of preservation.      I can take a couple of pieces of this pepper and crumble and sprinkle it on something and it's as close to the fresh pepper as it can get.      I haven't tried rehydrating a piece yet, but I will, just to see what it will do.       I will do my own assessment of dehydrating, how I dehydrate, why I do what I do and like, in a future post.      So, be on the look out for that.

 

The next picture is of a Honey Garlic ferment.          I forgot to take a picture as I was getting it together, but, I did remember shortly afterwards.        I used raw honey and 6 huge honking garlic bulbs.   hahaha  Can you say stinky hands????    Well, I can and I did!!!    hahaha         My raw honey was blond in color and as thick as margarine, so I had to heat some water and sit my jars of honey in it while I was getting the garlic peeled and smashed.      Since the honey is raw, and that's what you need to use in a ferment, you don't want the honey to get too hot in the hot water or it will become pasteurized and that  will kill off any good bacteria in the honey, rendering it useless for this application.     Once I got the garlic in the jar, I poured the honey in with the help of a spatula.     The honey, over time, pulls the liquid from the garlic and that liquid then thins the honey down.       This ferment will take between 6 months and a year.      The honey and garlic will be almost chocolate brown when it's done.      It will bubble and need to be burped for at least a month, on a daily basis.     If I fail to do this, the jar can and will explode.      So, I keep it sitting where I can see it every day and can release the the gasses that have built up.       It "STANKS"!!!!!       Let me tell ya, stank is worse than stink.  hahaha       It's really bad.     Kinda takes a strong stomach to burp it.       It is, after all, 6 huge bulbs of garlic.      1 clove is bad enough, but 6 whole bulbs!!!!!!!!       That's some crazy stank going on right there.     hahahahaha       But, it will be yummy when this process is over.      Watch for more pictures as it progresses.      The first 2 pictures was taken the same day.      I turned the jar over so you could see how blond the honey was and how thick it was.      The 3rd picture is of the ferment a few days in.  You can see that the garlic has shrank in size a little and there is more liquidy space on the bottom than in the middle picture.     I am expecting the garlic to shrink even more.      And this will still be a raw product when the ferment is done.      This is a very good way to get healthy probiotics in you.      That's what fermenting is all about, the probiotics and keeping the food raw.

This next picture is of a hot pepper, kombucha fruit, onion and salt ferment.       It will eventually be a fermented hot sauce.        I can't wait.      It's just about done.      Maybe another week.       This is my first ziploc vacuum seal ferment that I have ever done and so far, I would say that it is a 100% success.  I will go into more detail about this one a little later on.      After I get the hot sauce made.     I have released the gases from this one a couple times already.      The vac bag will swell almost to the point of bursting and I'll release the gases and then vac seal it again and then the process of forming the gases start all over again.      Oxygen does not get to this ferment, because it is vac sealed.     The bag will swell because of the good bacteria creating gas.        This is a relatively new idea in terms of fermenting, because vacuum seal bags are a relatively new item when it comes to home preservation.     Fermenting has taken place for thousands of years, but these bags are new to this generation.      Since I'm new to fermenting also, this should be a good experiment.      One thing about this type of ferment, it is a relatively fast process.      The vac seal bags keep all oxygen out and that speeds the process up.     So, we'll see how this goes.       Since I am new to fermenting, I certainly don't know much.       So before you do what I'm doing, please do your own research on the subject.      But, I will try to keep y'all updated on the outcome of this experiment.

So, my next set of pictures will be my "Cowboy Candy".        I have wanted to make this for such a long time, but I didn't have the peppers to it, until this summer.      Most of the peppers in my cowboy candy are my own homegrown peppers.      They are my fresno peppers.   I'm so stinkin' proud of them!!!!    I have struggled with peppers.      Heck, I've struggled with growing everything, but this year, it seems like my peppers have been my best crop.      I have several on the plants now and I'm just praying I can get them to the point of picking before they get frosted on.     We'll have to wait and see.     I do have some frost covers ordered for my green stalks and mr stacky and then some smaller one for my potted peppers.    Anyway, on to the cowboy candy.       Let me just say "YUM" right here and right now!!!

The first picture above is my peppers.     Did I say I'm kinda proud that I have raised these this year?   If I haven't I'll say it now.     I'm kinda happy with me that I had a small measure of success.      The top ones are fresno and a couple of jalapenos.       The bottom ones are shishito peppers.       These did not go in the cowboy candy.      I dehydrate these.        And if you look real closely you'll see 3 really small peppers that are purple, just under the left side of the fresnos.       Those are chinese 5 color peppers and I actually had all 5 colors this summer.      As of late, the only color I am having is purple.      That's ok, since my favorite color is purple, I'll just make the best of it.    hahaha

The above picture is the stems left and the bowl with the cut up peppers in it.      Did I say they were hot?     Well, they were!!!    I wore gloves and still got burned by them.     hahaha

This is a close up of that bowl hot goodness!!!      The smell of them burned my nose.    hahaha

The above picture is the syrup base that I made for the cowboy candy.       Depending on how much pepper you have will determine how much syrup you make.      The ratio is 1:2.     1 part vinegar to 2 parts sugar.       To keep this first batch simple, that's all I put in mine.      Once the simple syrup  was made, I put my peppers in it and let cook come back to a boil and cooked it all together for a few minutes.       The peppers will shrink, so if you are canning the cowboy candy, you get more peppers per jar if you put the peppers in the simple syrup and cook it for a little bit.       A lot of people will fill the jars with the peppers and pour the simple syrup over that and then process them in the canner only to find that their peppers shrank and the jars are only half full with peppers.      You can do it however you want to.     

This is what I ended up with.     Small jars, to say the least.       But I am so happy with it.      I will be getting more peppers and making a larger batch and will probably water bath can them.      These will last a couple months in the fridge as they are.     I gave the small jar to my Mom for her to sample.    She loves hot peppers, she just can't eat them like she once could.     But I wanted her to at least sample it and if for some reason, she can eat it, I'll give her more.      It is really good!!!!      I'm really happy that I tried this.      I already  know that if I'm still alive and able to, I'll have more peppers next year.  

Well, I hope and pray you hung with me till now.       If you did, you deserve a medal!!!    hahahaha       I really pray that I can get back into the swing of keeping up with my blog, no matter how few people look at it.      Hopefully it will bless me even if it doesn't bless anyone else.

I want to leave you with the most important thing you'll ever hear or read in your life, once again.    Jesus loves you!!!!!!      Let me say that one more time, Jesus love you!!!!     If you know this and have accepted Him as you Savior, praise His holy and wonderful name.     But you know people in you sphere of influence who hasn't heard this or who hasn't accepted this.     Please tell them what you know to be true about Jesus Christ.     If you haven't accepted Christ as you Lord and Savior, then why not?  Don't put it off.     Acknowledge your sin, believe in your heart that Jesus is who He is and confess your sins.      I pray that you'll do that while the day is still young.     Let me say it one more time, Jesus loves you!!!!     There is no other love that can measure with His.   I pray you have a blessed rest of the evening and a wonderful refreshing night of sweet rest and that you awaken with a new found fervor and love for Jesus and those around you.   Blessings dear loved ones, till next time, I love you.  big hugs, patty