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

Hello Y'all Happy December

Good evening Y'all.     Seems like it has been forever since I have been here to visit for a minute.      To say the least, it's been a long year.      We've all learned a lot.    I'm sure most of us wouldn't want to admit some of the things that we have learned about ourselves and others.    On the up side of that statement, I've learned that I'm a much better cook than I have given myself credit for being.    hahahaha      I think that's a good thing.    I learned that I really LOVE to bake bread from scratch.     In all honesty, I do use a bread machine, because my hands are not what they once were.      I can no longer knead the dough like it needs to be kneaded.       So my bread machine does that for me.       I can either bake the bread in the machine or take it out and make rolls and buns or just bake a big loaf in the oven.     I have started experimenting with the liquids in my breads and am loving the effects!!!!    One of my experiments is swapping out the water in most of my breads with pure pineapple juice, no sugar added, from canned pineapple.     It is absolutely delicious!!!!     And it uses something that might otherwise find itself down the drain.     I dehydrate canned pineapple to use in my kombucha.    That is a tea started from a scoby and starter tea.     I guess you could say that it is fermented.      The word "scoby" means "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast".     It is actually brewed for several days and then you can flavor it and let it brew for a few more days and then put it in the fridge.   If you do it right, it's fizzy like a soda and it's really good and it's also good for you because it is loaded with gut friendly bacteria.    It's good for your body.

I also started doing fermented veggies.     Those too, are really good for your gut health.      The ones I've done so far have been in a salt water brine.     I have fermented gingered carrots,  garlic asparagus (which I hated  hahaha), red onions and I recently started a jar of cabbage to make real sauerkraut.    That will be good.     The ginger carrots are delicious and the red onions will be too. 

On top of that, I have been dehydrating lots of veggies and fruits.     I'm going to start powdering a lot of my dehydrated veggies to put in other foods as an enhancer.     For the powdered veggies, 1 tablespoon equals 1 serving.     That is pretty awesome.     I can put it in all different things.     I can't wait to get  most of it ground up and then start using it.   

I will also be able to make some of my own seasoning mixes.     That will be fun to experiment with.    I have always been a bit adventurous when cooking and try this and try that.     Some things have been huge successes and some things have been flops.      I have always looked at flops as being a learning experience.      If I can learn from a flop, then it was a success.     So, I welcome all experiences.     Any experience can be used as a stepping tool.     Learn from a flop and push yourself even further when you have successes.     You just can't rest on your last best effort.    And you can't beat yourself up over your last worst flop.   Every day has got to be a day to stretch yourself to be better than your last worst flop and your last best effort.    

And just to share some insight on working with tweaking a recipe of any kind.   Keep good notes.    Work on only  one change at a time.     That way you can track what is a success and you will know exactly what you done.     If you go into a recipe and change 4 things at one time, you won't have any idea of what actually worked or what didn't work.     So keep meticulous records when experimenting with recipes or creating recipes.

Off of cooking now and on to something else.     As much as I enjoy SOME social media, I loathe and detest most of it anymore.     People have lost all respect for humanity and would invest more time and effort in a sick animal than they would in a human being.     If you don't believe that, just go to some of your social media and read.    It won't take you 25 seconds to find someone cutting someone else down, especially if they are cutting someone down for being a Christian.     I've got to where I pick my battles and if I see someone being cut down for being a Christian, I get involved.     I'm pretty thick skinned and I have been called everything in the book and a lot of things that even aren't in the book yet, so I'm ok with it.     I let them know that "I have been called worse things by people who thought they were much better than you" and that usually causes a whiplash.    But I will definitely stick up for a Christain being cut down by a bunch of heathen and I'll call them out on it.     And you know what, it works!!!  Bullies can't stand it when someone stands up to them.     Just this afternoon on one of the facebook groups I'm in, a lady got chewed up and spit out for posting an encouraging thought for the day.    People was saying that this is a weight loss group and if I wanted to hear about God, I would join a group about God.     I just spoke up and said that with each and every ounce I lose, I praise God!!!!     And I also said that it's ok for some to post and share all the evil  and immoral and amoral junk that they share and that I will start opposing that because it's very offensive and that I if I deny Christ, He will deny me.     And I also said that if you really want to get people riled up just mention the name of Jesus and that at the name of Jesus demons flee and lives are changed forever.     And you know what, that wasn't received well.   One person with a cartoon head even called me whack and that's when I told her that I had been called worse by people who thought they were better then you.     Her little sense and sensibilities didn't even know how to take that.

In all honesty, I was gonna go back and copy all I had posted just to have record of it and when I went to check it out, the whole message had been deleted.     I guess a moderator finally couldn't stand hearing the truth so the truth got deleted.   On the up side, the whole message thread got deleted and I'm ok with that.    I said I have learned to pick my battles and when someone is being picked on, YES, I will step in to stop it.    And you know what, I'm pretty sure that some of my comments helped get the whole message deleted and I'm good with that.    Just wish I had been quick to get a copy of my own words of testimony.   

But even at my age, it blows my mind that people don't care that they are going to hell.     While I will stand up to people that purposefully hurt others, I will still pray for God to make Himself real in the lives of those people before it's too late.    Just like all the madness surrounding this year with covid and next year.     People are showing just how little they actually care for their fellow human beings.    You know what, I don't like wearing masks.     I have anxiety and a couple other issues, BUT and I'll say it again BUT when I am out, I wear my mask!!!!!!      I don't care who you are, there is no reason to NOT wear a mask when anxiety is touted as the reason why some don't.     I'll bet if they was going to a ball game and had to wear a mask to get into the stadium or a concert or something of the like that THEY WANT to do, they would have their masks on quicker than a flash.     People don't want to be told what to do.     People have no respect for themselves, so they have no respect for any kind of authority.    What people have left out of the equation is that this is  HEALTH matter, not a political matter.     I do believe that the people of today are the most selfish, most evil minded, most ignorant of any generation that this planet has ever witnessed.     I used to say that there was hope.      This year has shown me there is no hope for humanity, only Jesus and most don't want to hear about to Him.     But then again, a lot of the people that claim to be a Christian are the very ones that are beating their chests and screaming about their rights.     There in is the conundrum for me.      I don't get it.     If you are a Christian, where is your love God and others.    That is what Jesus said the two commandments were.  To love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourself.     If you love God and if you love your neighbor you'll do as the government is asking us to do.   Loving God means doing as the government as us to do for the health and safety of others BECAUSE even the most corrupt government on earth is ordained by God.     God created government and He told His people to live at peace and to honor the government, it's in scripture, read it and find out.     No, I don't like that bars and casinos have their doors open when the churches have been shut.     But on the other hand, churches should have closed their doors on their own volition and not be ordered by the government to close their doors.    Understand, these are MY opinions and I stand by them just as much as the crazies out rioting and burning towns and murdering people and beating their chests about their rights.   It's my right to speak some truth over the lies that have been told and still being told.

If the people that didn't want to wear the masks were the ones getting sick and dying, there might not be much of a loss, but it's people that have tried to do the right thing for all that is getting sick and dying.     I guess that doesn't sound real good for me to say something like that, but I guess it's just the fact that my husband and I have been doing all we can to stay safe and not make others sick and it's just getting to me a little.     I love my mother and I want to see as often as we can, so we don't go anywhere and have any contact with others so we can see her and know that we aren't taking the disease to her.    So, that's why we do what we do.     That's our motivation.      I would love to know the motivation behind all the hate that's going on out there.      Until someone can give me some firm answers, I will stick to the early conclusions that I have drawn.      People have evil hearts with evil intentions doing evil things.      That's what it boils down to.

The best I can say is that we will all answer for our deeds of commission and deeds of omission.     I can't answer for you and you can't answer for me.      But I can say that I tried to warn others and I tried to share the love of Christ with others.    I stood up and spoke truth when I had the opportunity.     I tried to share the gospel and lead others to Christ.     As of late, I've almost had a Jonah-Nineveh complex.  Jonah didn't want to tell the people of Nineveh about God, he wanted them to go to hell.      I don't want anyone to go to hell, but I can't make anyone want Jesus Christ as Lord and savior.    People stand up and thumb their noses at God and curse Him, and live like hellions and heathens and do all kinds of evil acts and evil deeds and then want to blame others for their behaviors!!!!      Or better yet, they say I was born this way.     It makes no difference what we say, we all have to answer for our sin.     And there are a lot of people who have heard about Christ and turned their back on Him.     It is clear then that they have sent themselves to an eternity in hell, God didn't do it, they did.

I feel like I live in a world of 2 year olds that all they want to do is cry kick and scream till someone pats them on the head and gives them a participation award.     It's time for real Christians to start acting like real Christians and even better than that, we can all act, we need to be living like real Christians and setting real examples and calling sin out for what it is, sin.     We don't want to this for fear of exposing our own sin.      We need to bring the darkness to light and get our lives straightened out with the help of Jesus, so we help point others to the light of freedom and forgiveness and life.     If you are a Christian and you have hidden sin, I challenge you to get that taken care of, bring it to light.     When we as Christians take it seriously then we can make a difference.     But if we are living with hidden sin and fear of exposure, then the world is going to stay like it is and get worse.     We either make a difference or we don't.      I want to make a difference.   What about you?    

Well, it's almost bed time and my fingers are worn to nub.   I hope you all have a wonderful night of refreshing rest and that you can share the love of Christ with someone you know.     I hope that December is the best month of your life to this point and that blessing abound.   And if you know Christ, blessing will abound for you.     Remember that  God loves you all and He made a way for you to be in a relationship with Him through the blood of Jesus at the foot of the Cross.    I love y'all too, hugs and blessing be to each one of you.   Goodnight!!!!