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More Emergency Prepapedeness Info

 A quick critique of my Honeyville Farms freeze dried vegetables order:
The mushrooms are excellent. I'll definitely get more. I use them in everyday cooking, too.
Potato dices are the best value for your money in terms of the weight of the #10 can. The dices are very small, like hash browns. Good for soups, breakfast, or casserole toppings. I'll try the slices next time to put in casseroles instead.
Celery and chopped green onions are great in jar dinners and everyday cooking. Lots and lots of onions in a quantity that will probably last forever!
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Sweating over a hot stove canning for the EP Pantry:

Pickled jalapenos, both red and green  2 pts.
Large sliced hamburger dill pickles      3 pts.
Mixed veggies-- okra, zucchini, and a few cucumbers  1 pt.

Okra-- tasty and pretty, too

Fighting the grasshoppers for veggies during this drought has affected the yield in the garden, so I'm doing small batches. The okra is still too slow producing to do full jars, so I did a  mix just to get some okra pickled.

I've learned to keep extra veggies nearby when pickling. I ran short of cucumbers and had to go back to the garden in the middle of packing the jars to get more. Good thing the pickling process is more forgiving than making jam or jellies. The whole house smelled like pickles for six hours. Good thing I like pickles. Sadly, Hubby doesn't like them.

Emergency Prep. Recipes--cont'd

Whether your emergency is a collapsing economy, your spouse's boss coming to dinner, or an overfilled day of errands , it pays to be prepared!

We've eaten some of the prepared emergency dinners on our shelf this summer, and I'm working on modifications of some of the recipes. Some were just too salty! I've branched out to modifying regular recipes for on-the-shelf storage. Here's my latest venture into Mexican cuisine in a jar:

Quick Chi-Rab Mole
(if you're new here, this means recipe works with chicken or rabbit)



My recope looks redder due to tomato sauce

 Combine in a small baggie:

2 TBL. dried onion flakes
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. cocoa powder
2 tsp. garlic powder

Layer in Jar:
1 cup uncooked rice
1-8oz. can tomato sauce
1-4 1/2 oz can diced green chilis
spice bag above
Close and label jar with name and directions

Additional ingredients needed: 2 TBL peanut butter
                                           2 c. water
Directions:

Combine spices with tomato sauce, peanut butter and green chilis.
Stir in 1 # shredded cooked chicken or rabbit. Simmer on stove top 20-30 minutes. Prepare rice with 2 cups water.

Serve mole over rice.

Optional:
* add 1can black beans to mole mixture before simmering
                            or
* serve in tortillas instead of over rice
                  
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I ordered dried bulk food from Honeyville Farms this month and am very pleased. Their shipping and handling fee is only $4.99, no matter how much you buy, and the order arrived in four days!

"So long, Ready Store!"

Post Garage Sale

I think I've finally recovered from last weekend's garage sale. All that beautiful folding green certainly helped. Made a few good trades, too! Got an air popper for a rice steamer, and a 6' tall shelf for a handmade quilted Christmas wreath.

Mornings were tolerable, but afternoons of 102 to 104F were a bit much. Drank so much water I thought my eyes would swim. Art went on a lunch run every day to Subway, so lunch was easy.




Not our hoard, just an example!

 

You'd all be so proud of Art and I. We sent most of the remaining "stuff" to a hospice resale shop. Thanks to our new friend Maggie D for taking that load there for us.

No more sorting through shipping containers until October when we prepare for the next garage sale. For now afternoons will find me inside under the zephyr breezes of the AC!

Scuttling Across the Desk...

Minding my own business, pricing things online for the upcoming garage sale, I threw myself violently away from the keyboard this morning.

 I found myself facing a bark scorpion heading for the mouse pad. I've been stung before and didn't want a repeat. Burning pain for hours, and nothing seems to help.

Yesterday I'd been congratulating myself at the lack of scorpions finding their way into the house. See if I do that again!

Art jumped up and dispatched it with the butt end of the 9 volt flashlight. "Crunch-Squish" and it was done!

I think the senior indoor cat was miffed; he loves those hot and spicy snacks. Usually he finds them, eats them, and spends a day or two with a swollen muzzle. I never understood his fascination with the nasty creatures. Maybe it's the challenge?

As for me? Crush-Kill-Destroy! Better yet, leave the scene and have someone else take care of it.

New Cultural Experience

It's a wonder I've made it to 61 and never participated in a garage sale. I'll fix that this coming weekend. Maggie is holding one and Art and I are helping.

Today we spent two hours sorting through barely half of the 20' shipping container near the driveway. Amazing how many treasures we've accumulated since 1990 together, and on our own before we met. Finally able to let some of that stuff go. Making room to store things actually on the shelves! The extra cash will be welcome.
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I am pleasantly surprised how quickly the Texas Dept. of Transportation sent me a replacement title for my old Ford Festiva. I sent off all the required papers less than a week ago!

 A good servant, that car. I drove it until it died,  we graffiti'ed it, then shot it up at the "Cops and Robbers" shooting workshop we held more than a year ago. It taught writers not to hide their characters behind a car and hope they'll be safe. We'll take it across the scales at the recycling plant for cash. I hope its next incarnation is a happy one.

Still trying to get rid of the remains of the Buick Skylark. It's door-less, hoodless and trunkless. those parts have already gone across the scale. Impossible to get the title on it straightened out; I'm sure it was headed to Mexico before we bought it. "Title, Senor? We don't need a title!"

Never buy a car when you're desperate, is my advice. Too bad I can't follow it. Skylark gave up the ghost 18 months after we bought it. It's been sitting in the woods, awaiting the final recycling. How to get it in smaller pieces is the question. Hmmmmm....