Little Susie Homemaker

Author: spfled

  • A Day In The Life – July 2024

    *this post contains affiliate links which means I’ll get a small commission if you buy something through one of the links below

    Whew what a day it has been and it’s only 2PM!

    Summer is here which means it’s backpacking season. I knew I wanted to get some food freeze dried to prepare for upcoming backpacking trips. I have also been changing some dietary things to improve my health and well-being and wanted to do some food prep for that. And finally, it’s the 3rd of July and we have a 4th of July party we’re attending tomorrow, and I need to take food to that.

    Wednesdays are my ‘rest’ day from my Barre workouts. For some reason, I woke up an hour early which ended up being just fine. I got up and stripped the bed and the guest bed. Since we’ve been doing some backpacking, our dog sitter has been staying with our boys while we’re gone, so I stripped the bed she uses to wash the sheets. I’m also working on getting a bit more of a routine down and chose Wednesdays as sheets & laundry day.

    Next up, I headed downstairs and made my coffee and breakfast – I’ve been incorporating a LOT more veggies and protein with breakfast – of sautéed zucchini, eggs and sausage and berries.

    Most mornings this time of year, after breakfast, I head to the backyard with a small colander to harvest whatever is ready. This morning, I picked tayberries, raspberries and blueberries. (The picture below is from a couple days ago.)

    Harvest from June 26th (blueberries, raspberries, black currants, honeyberries, a couple of peas and tayberries)

    Once I weighed and washed what I picked, I put everything away. I then headed upstairs to change clothes, brush my teeth and head out the door to pick up some free ‘canning jars‘ from Facebook Marketplace.

    While I was out, I dropped a card in the mailbox and headed home to get my jars cleaned and ready for use. Well….these were not mason jars unfortunately and I ended up recycling many of them. It’s a good thing they were free! All of the jars were glass, but none of them were actual canning jars. I grabbed a regular and wide mouth lid to see which ones will work.

    I usually use a vacuum sealer to seal jars that I store freeze dried foods in. I’ll use these jars for storage and will be able to see very quickly if a jar doesn’t seal.

    Goo Gone is needed get these jars cleaned up. I prefer nice, clear, no residue jars.

    Next up was to make up a salad I’ve been enjoying recently. It’s a very simple recipe of cucumbers, bell peppers, lime juice, salt & Tajin.

    I recently freeze dried some to bring along as a cold soak lunch while backpacking. (Most freeze-dried meals require boiling water to heat up and rehydrate which you eat a hot meal. A cold soak means you add the desired amount of water to the container and leave the food to rehydrate over several hours. Its ready to eat later on as a cold meal.) I added some chicken that I had freeze dried last season to add some protein to my lunch. I loved it!! For our trip last weekend, I made up a couple of those for us to take along and we both loved it!

    Today, I made up a large batch of this salad to freeze dry (probably 8 servings worth). I didn’t have quite enough to fill the third tray in the machine, so decided to only freeze dry 2 trays and save the rest to eat this week.

    I then cut up 3 kiwis to fill the third tray in the freeze dryer. I did kiwi last year, but we ate it for the first time this past weekend while in camp. We loved it and our friends loved it too. Once we were back, I made sure to pick up more kiwi to get more freeze dried for future snacking!

    salad and kiwi

    I turned on the freeze dryer, set a timer for 15 minutes while it cools down the inside of the machine and got some water boiling to make deviled eggs.

    I sat down for a few minutes to read a few pages in a book while waiting for both things to be ready.

    After15 minutes, the food went into the freeze dryer and I headed to the stove and dropped in a dozen eggs to boil. I got out a big bowl and filled it with ice water for the eggs once their 12 minutes of boiling finished. (It’s easier to peel the eggs if they’ve cooled down and a big bowl of ice water speeds that up!)

    I’m bringing deviled eggs to a friend’s party tomorrow for the 4th!

    In the midst of doing these various tasks, I decided to refill the dishwasher detergent jars – washing soda and citric acid. Refilling those jars led me to check if other jars needed to be refilled. I went through the bulk spices I have and refilled the spice jars too.

    (Having a small flexible silicone funnel makes that job easier! I bought mine years ago from Pampered Chef, but this set is very similar)

    Once the eggs cooled, I turned them into deviled eggs. When I was a kid, I got a paperback trio of cookbooks that I still have. I used the Fanny Farmer cookbook recipe for the deviled eggs and sprinkled paprika on about half and dill on the other half.

    By the time I finished all of that, it was time to sit down and have lunch! Whew, what a morning.

    Now, on to make remake the beds and mix up some cookie dough to bake in the morning before we head to the 4th of July party!

  • Garden Update – June 2024

    June has arrived and it’s been beautiful! The garden is growing, but I’m not expecting much this season. Thankfully the yard has a LOT of perennial plants which are producing well!

    I took these pictures at the end of the week, left to go backpacking for the weekend and came home to quite a bit of progress in the berries!

    Boysenberries
    Currants
    Honey Berries (Haskaps)

    Just today, I picked over a half pound of honey berries (haskaps). There are more on the bushes that will be ready for harvest in the next couple of days.

    Some of the boysenberries and raspberries are starting to turn. I think they will be ready earlier this last year.

    Alpine Strawberries
    Blueberries
    Raspberries

    The more standard berries are ripening as well. I’ve picked about 5 alpine strawberries, and about an ounce of raspberries. Just today, we picked 2 blueberries! I’m always excited when things start coming in and there’s some production in the garden.

    Apples
    Thyme

    For the other stuff that returns or grows every year, our apples are coming in well on 2 of our 3 trees. The tree in the middle was pruned quite a bit this winter, so I think it’ll be fine next year.

    The thyme has blossomed and looks beautiful! I’ll try harvesting some of the stalks that haven’t bloomed to dry for use as spices this fall.

    Now for the garden, I’ll start with what is doing really well! Peas and potatoes!! We have blossoms on both, but peas are starting to ripen.

    Have you ever smelled a potato blossom? I wish I could provide you with a scratch and sniff picture because they smell AMAZING!

    Peas
    Potato Blossoms

    The garden rows are still looking rather pathetic. But, so be it. The radishes I had planted went to flower, so I pulled them up. I would say I harvested probably a total of 7 radishes. The beets that were planted at the same time as the radishes just didn’t grow. I have one that grew to about 3 inches and stopped. And several others that grew to about an inch tall and stopped.

    Once I harvested the radishes, I cut of the stalks and threw them on top of the garden to let them rot back into the soil.

    The asparagus barely came up with a whopping total of 6 stalks but what came up grew and is going to seed. I’m hoping that it will help replenish the crowns underground and we’ll get a lot more next year.

    The spinach has bolted and is either going to flower or just go to seed. I’ll be pulling out the spinach later this week. I’ll plant more in September when things get cooler again.

    I also got the tomatoes and peppers I had started from seed moved into their final spots. We’ll see how they do. We just don’t get warm enough for most tomatoes and peppers.

    There is plenty of room to get some things planted for fall. The potatoes in the garden are doing well. There’s a small patch of peas that are about a month behind the other peas. And the black beans seem to be coming out of their slug-eaten state and are growing new leaves.

    Black Beans
    Spinach, Asparagus, Beets
    Peas, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Peppers

    We also have some delicata squash starting and some Peruvian tubers planted that are doing well. The tubers were done last year and were kept in the fridge to plant again this year. We’ll see how they do. That is one of the ‘exotic’ plants my hubby likes to try out!

    Delicata Squash
    Peruvian Tubers

    And finally, I threw a bunch of old seed packets into a section of the yard that the bunnies can get at. I figured if something grew, then the bunnies could feast. It looks like we have some cilantro starting in that section. Feast away bunnies, cilantro is gross!!

    There you have it. The garden is doing its garden thing and I’m waiting patiently for it to need me. See you next month with the next update!

  • Tea Towels

    (This post contains affiliate links which means if you purchase something through this link, I’ll make a few cents)

    I started a new hobby this past winter and have continued as I wait for spring and all of the outdoor activities to begin – embroidery. Now that the outdoor activities have begun, I’ve set this aside for now, but am enjoying using these tea towels.

    Embroidery is a quick, easy thing to occupy my hands in the evenings while watching TV. 

    When I was younger, I did counted cross-stitch and because of having that experience, it helped make embroidery much easier to pick up.

    I picked up some embroidery books from the library for ideas, have hand drawn a couple of the patterns and use quilt patterns (something like these) to draw on the towels. 

    Here’s how I did it:
    1) Start with a laundered cotton or linen towel.

    2) Using a washable pen or pencil (I have a couple specific for quilting and used those), draw a pattern onto the towel. If you’re using a pattern from a book, you’ll have to place the pattern under the towel and then trace it thru the fabric. (If you can tape it up to a window or have a light box, that would make things a LOT easier). If you’re using a quilting pattern, set it on top of the towel and draw the pattern on the fabric. 

    3) Start stitching.

    For the books I got from the library, I took a picture of the instructions page so I could reference back to it after I’d returned the book. That also worked great in taking some embroidery on vacation and packing just needles, thread, small scissors, hoop and towel. 

    Here are a few of the towels I’ve finished: 

    Butterfly, dandelion and dragonfly
    Apples
    Fall leaves and pumpkin

    I have a few ideas for future towels, but I also need to have somewhere to use them 😉

    Happy crafting!

  • Strawberries

    (This post contains affiliate links which means if you purchase from my link, I will make a few cents)

    It’s strawberry season here in the PNW. I’m very thankful for a u-pick farm nearby that has a variety of things I can pick. While they aren’t certified organic, they practice clean farming practices which we appreciate. 

    I picked about 8ish pounds and brought them home, cleaned them up, sorted them and got to thinking about all that I going to do with them. 

    First up, EAT them! Strawberries are do delicious. Growing up, I wouldn’t touch them! I’m so glad my tastebuds changed in adulthood, and I tried them again. 

    I sorted the berries and separated the ones that are the ripest. (Some are almost purple, they’re so dark red!!) We’ll eat those tonight or tomorrow morning and whatever is left of those will go into jam. 

    Next up, make jam! 😛 I use Pomona Pectin which is a no-sugar/low-sugar pectin and uses calcium to activate the pectin rather than sugar. I tend to use a bit of honey for just a hint of sweetness (½ cup for the whole batch of jam). 

    Mashed Berries
    Adding honey w/pectin
    Bringing to a boil
    Water Bath

    I love this set of canning tools (see picture below) which helps when it comes to not burning fingers on boiling hot items!! You’ll also need canning jars. You can buy brand new with lids & rings. Or you can buy the jars, rings and lids all separate.

    Every time I can, I LOVE that ping of the jar sealing when it comes out of the water bath. I took a video and you can hear the ping, but it’s more of a ‘pong’ because the phone must have been a bit too close. LOL

    Third way to use them, freeze dry them. As I’ve previously posted, we have a Harvest Right freeze-dryer which I use to make shelf-stable, dried foods that are ultra-lightweight for backpacking. Freeze dried strawberries are delicious. They work great to break up and throw into oatmeal but are also great to eat by themselves as a snack. I love having freeze dried fruit on hand. 

    (I store a lot of my freeze-dried food in mason jars as I’m not doing this for long-term storage. There’s less waste with not throwing out a mylar bag every time I need to repackage something to take backpacking. I love these half-gallon mason jars! I use these jar sealers that I use with our Foodsaver accessory vacuum sealer)

    Lastly, I’ll freeze some that we can use in smoothies or other things throughout the winter. (Nothing like a taste of summer in the cold of winter.) Last year, we bought a stand-up deep freeze that we keep in the garage. I have loved having fruits, vegetables and meat in the freeze to ‘shop’ from when it’s time to think about what to make for meals. I have one bag of raspberries left from last year and about a half bag of diced apples from last season. 

    As it is still early in strawberry season, I’m sure I’ll go out to the u-pick farm at least once more. (The farm has about 7 varieties of strawberries and only the first two were ripe when I went today.) 

    Happy Strawberry season!

  • Berries in bloom

    “Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey’s uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that’s about it.” Bubba from Forrest Gump

    When someone asks what berries we have in the backyard, I suddenly feel like Bubba from Forrest Gump when I start listing out all the berries we have.

    My husband loves having unique plants in the back, plus things that will flower that the hummingbirds, mason bees and other neighborhood bees can eat from. We have quite a variety in the back yard.

    Before I met him, he’d walk around the backyard in the summer and have dessert. Now that I live here, I harvest the berries for us to fully enjoy through the year.

    In fact, I still have 1 bag of raspberries from last year and just opened the last bag of strawberries that I picked at a nearby farm.

    I love the idea of having an edible yard with a lot of things that come back every year. Seeing how my vegetables are extremely pathetic (its old seeds – at least that what’s I’m claiming), having perennial plants around help with the overall harvest.

    This is the first spring that I’m paying much attention to the blossoming and ripening of the berries instead of just the harvesting!

    Here is where our berries are at beginning(ish) of June!

    The earliest to harvest are honey berries, or haskaps.

    Honey berries, or haskaps, are the first to ripen in June. They grow under the leaves and look like an elongated blueberry. I find them very tart and pick them, freeze them and then throw them into smoothies over the winter. But it is fun to have something non-rhubarb to harvest early in the season.

    Next up are blueberries which are already starting to ripen and turn colors. (do you see that bit of pink in the picture below?)

    This year, we have 2 new blueberry plants which are pink lemonade blueberries. They will be pink when ripe, so I think it may be a “by taste” test to know when they’re ripe. (that is an affiliate link)

    One of the fun berries we grow, but they are a bear to harvest are the evergreen huckleberries.

    These are actually pretty easy to harvest, but you end up picking up a ton of debris as you do it. It’s the cleaning that is really the chore. But, these are fun tiny little berries, like miniature blueberries. I have gotten almost a gallon zip bag full the last 2 years. That leaves plenty of berries on the plants for the birds to pick at too!

    We are in the second year of transplanted ever-bearing raspberries. I pruned them back in the early spring just as leaves were starting and pulled out all the canes that weren’t growing any. Ever-bearing will produce a spring AND a fall crop (first year canes vs. second year canes). After the second-year canes produce, those canes have finished their lifecycle.

    You can see the berries starting to grow from where the blossoms were. They’re so cute!

    I love strawberries (as an adult). Growing up, my parents had a small u-pick strawberry patch, so of course I had to help pick berries. At the time, I hated strawberries. Boy am I glad my tastebuds changed with age!

    I have a spot in the yard that is fairly shaded, so we have planted alpine strawberry varieties (mignonette). They’re fairly novel and oh so tiny, but I’m looking forward to eating the couple of tiny berries these will produce. (that’s an affiliate link)

    (They are surrounded by chicken wire to keep the bunnies out!)

    One of the berries that I’m surprised at how much I like are boysenberries. Think huge, long blackberries!!! I made jam with them last year, both by itself and in a triple berry blend. I also threw them in a bag in the freezer as I harvested them (at least the ones my husband didn’t eat right as I brought them inside) along with tayberries & loganberries for a mixed berry blend. (affiliate link above)

    We have several other kinds not listed or shown. “We have blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, boysenberries, honey berries, tayberries, logan berries, goji berries, lingonberries, huckleberries, strawberries. That’s all I have to say about that!” ~Little Susie Homemaker

  • Raspberry Rhubarb Jam

    Rhubarb – how I love thee and how I hate thee!!!

    Rhubarb causes so much excitement because it’s the first thing to harvest in the spring which means it is almost the start of gardening season. (Here in the Pacific Northwest, that season starts late and ends quick!!!)

    I also hate rhubarb – what in the world do I do with it all????

    Rhubarb isn’t one of those veggies that you just take a big ole stick and munch on all day. There’s the usual Strawberry Rhubarb pie, jam, scones, cakes, etc., rhubarb sauce (think applesauce but with rhubarb) and……what else????

    Last year, I made strawberry rhubarb jam. It’s yummy, but it turned out to be my least favorite of the jams I made, and the color is rather unappetizing. (Strawberries lose their color when you cook them, so the jam is a lovely shade of…brown.) I still have 2 small jars of it left from last year.

    Earlier this spring, while visiting a garden shop, I saw a jar labeled Raspberry Rhubarb Jam. Lightbulb moment!!! I have frozen raspberries that were given to me. And I have frozen rhubarb that I harvested and had no idea what to do with.

    The other day, while my husband was out mountain biking, (I tend to my messiest kitchen stuff while he’s not home) I decided it was the day to make the jam.

    Out came lots of pots and pans – the pot to cook the jam in, the pot to put jars in hot water while they were waiting and another pan to put the rings & lids in to boil while the jam was doing its thing. (Oh, I was also making a batch of pancakes for the freezer at the same time – the kitchen was A MESS!!!)

    Last year, I found Pomona Pectin which is a no/low sugar pectin that uses calcium and pectin to gel jams. (that is an affiliate link) I still use some honey in my jams, but no sugar! (I used 1 cup of honey for a double batch.)

    *Interesting tid bit – do you know the difference between jam and jelly? (I’ll tell you below)

    I followed the raspberry recipe in the pamphlet inside the Pomona Pectin box and doubled it. (Their recipe calls for 4 cups of berries and since I had both berries and rhubarb and 4 cups of each, I doubled the rest of the recipe)

    I put the berries, rhubarb and calcium water into the pan and then mixed the pectin with the honey. I brought the fruit to a boil and then stirred in the honey and brought it all to a boil again.

    Time to fill the jars. I pulled the jars out of their hot water bath and put them on a towel on the counter (hot jars, cold granite counter – towels help!!).

    I ladled jam into the 6 jars I had out. The handy-dandy funnel helps keep things much cleaner. You need very clean jar edges to ensure a good seal and the funnel helps keep those edges clean. (That funnel comes in this canning set which is fantastic and helpful when dealing with VERY hot jars, contents, lids and rings!) (that is an affiliate link)

    The jam was now ready to get its water bath. Since I only had 5 full jelly jars (the 6th was only partial so I didn’t ‘can’ it, it went in the fridge to use right away), I cleaned out the pot I had made the jelly in, filled it with water, and brought that to a boil. Once it was boiling, the jars went in to boil for 10 minutes. (Please use proper canning procedure to ensure you don’t have spoilage. Ball has a great book on canning basics that is a fantastic resource to have on hand.)

    *tid bit – jam is made using the whole fruit, jelly is made using just the fruit juice

    When they finished their bath, they dried off on the towel on the counter. (again, hot jars, cold counter, good idea to have something to buffer between the two.) And I waited (not for very long) for that satisfying ‘ping’ that lids make when they seal. The first ping was before all of the jars were out of the pot!

    awaiting the ‘ping’

    I let the jars cool for a good 9+ hours before I moved them. I wanted to ensure everything was sealed well.

    After making the jam in the morning, I made a loaf of sourdough bread that evening and then had a slice of bread with the jam for lunch today. YUM!!! I think strawberry rhubarb is something in the past for my tastebuds. The raspberry rhubarb combo is DELICIOUS!!!

  • Garden Update – May 2024 (later)

    I know I already posted about the garden for the month of May, but I find myself walking around the backyard multiple times a day just to gaze at the dirt.

    There is something so satisfying about watching things grow.

    I have harvested rhubarb, radishes and spinach so far. The rhubarb is excelling! If only I could excel in how to use it all up!

    First Radish
    First Spinach Harvest

    I have 4+ cups frozen ready to do a batch of raspberry rhubarb jam. I only hesitate because I still have jam left from last season and the strawberry rhubarb is my least favorite flavor. But, I’ve never had (or made) raspberry rhubarb so I’ll give it a try.

    I also have 4+ cups of frozen raspberries that were given to me, and they were already frozen solid. I figure this is a great way to use up both items!

    The radishes are coming in well, but so far, the ones I’ve picked have all been split. At first I thought something was eating them, but once harvested, I realized they were split and not bites out of them. I’m also finding that they don’t keep. I’ll need to look into how to keep them, although I’m harvesting 1-2 every few days, so really should just eat them right away.

    Spinach has been planted in 2 different places. I’ve done multiple plantings in both spots, but so far they’re only so-so in how it’s coming in. The larger garden area seems to not be very hospitable to spinach.

    One of the spinaches looked like it was growing a seed pod, so I snipped that off the top before it bolted. (No idea how it could bolt as we haven’t had much heat yet)

    One of the biggest hurdles to the garden (at least I’m blaming it on this and NOT on my own skills) is that we’ve had old seeds that I’m using up. I decided that was a major issue and decided to go ahead and throw seeds onto the garden just to see what will take.

    There were several packets of miscellaneous ‘greens’ that I figured we wouldn’t actually eat so I threw them into an open area along the back fence that the bunnies can have their fill (if the seeds actually grow something). So far, I’m seeing two areas that seem to be growing. If that will keep the bunnies away from the other things growing, it will accomplish what I hoped it would.

    In the main garden, there are 6 bush beans that have sprouted. And 3 rows of black beans have sprouted! The potatoes have come up and I’ve added more soil on top of the greens, and they’re working their way up over that additional soil. The peas planted under the tomato cages are coming up on one side. And it looks like there might be broccoli and cauliflower coming up next to the potatoes (time will tell).

    Top row (L to R): Spinach, Asparagus, Beets (not growing), Radishes
    Middle row (L to R): onions and carrots (not growing), peas, potatoes and possibly broccoli & cauliflower on the edges of the potatoes
    Bottom row: black beans (3 rows), bush beans (3 whole sprouts :o) and not seen, 2 rosemary bushes on the corners
    Potatoes in the pot! They are loving this pot. I’m excited to harvest this fall!

    The honey berries are starting to turn purple and ripen. These are the first berries to ripen and they’re quick to ripen. (Kind of like an avocado – “I’m ready!!!!” 30 seconds later, “sorry, now I’m over ripe. You missed it.”)

    Blueberries
    Currants
    Honeyberries

    Blueberries, currants, huckleberries, gooseberries and raspberries all seem to be coming in strong. Little green berries are growing, and blossoms are falling off. Thank you, bees!!

    Looking forward to what June bring!

    Garden Tally as of 5/26/24: 7.78 lbs harvested (thank you rhubarb!)

  • Sourdough – It’s a journey

    *links in this post are affiliate links which means that I may make a bit of money if purchased through my link

    For anyone who is frugal, I’m sure that making things for yourself from scratch is high on your list. It is for me!!

    I decided that after I retired, I would delve into the world of sourdough because it seemed VERY intimidating and time consuming. I’m glad I did it! I’m also glad I did it after I retired and had plenty of time. I know myself well enough to know that I would have thrown in the towel if I had tried it while still working and focused on other things.

    I won’t get into the all the crazy info that is available about sourdough, but I will say that it has been a journey. Early loaves were either gummy or so hard you couldn’t bite into the bread. Some were so dry, you had to drink a gallon of water to get through half a sandwich. And some were VERY crumbly and wouldn’t hold together for much of a sandwich.

    I’ve been making sourdough for almost a year now and my husband said the other day “These latest loaves are really good. I’m really glad you didn’t give up on this!”

    Cut bread in half

    Me too!!

    One of the most frustrating parts of sourdough for me has been getting it cut in thin enough slices that I could actually eat it as sandwich bread.

    I’ve used various bread knives, asked for a slicing set (knife included) for Christmas but returned it and have finally settled on what works for me!! Bread knives are a mixed bag for sure. They either work for a slice or two, or they completely squish the bread in order to even start the cut.

    When I visited my parents earlier this year, my mom had asked me to make sourdough while I was there. I was happy to, but was even happier to discover the knife that makes sourdough slicing a joy!

    A CutCo Bread Knife makes it so easy!!! My parents have used CutCo knives for years and look for them at garage sales or estate sales because they are such good quality and have a great warranty.

    I used their knife while at their house. Then promptly found one (on Facebook marketplace for half of what is it on Amazon) and bought it!

    I can now slice my bread into thin slices that make eating sandwiches with my homemade bread so much easier to eat!

    Here is my method of slicing my sourdough that now works perfectly with this CutCo knife!

    1. Cut your round loaf in half (see photo above).
    2. Put cut side down on the cutting board and begin slicing to the desired width you want.
    3. Cut second half the same way as step #2.
    Cut side down
    Slice to desired width

    Viola, you have a sliced loaf of sourdough bread!

    Since its just my husband and I eating this and it dries out in a day or two, I put 3/4 of the loaf in the freezer (already sliced) and take out a few slices as we need it. It thaws to the softness and crustiness of baking day (or the day after). Once I have it on the counter, I have it stored in a cotton bag that I have melted some beeswax on it help keep it fresh. (Experience showed that plastic isn’t a good way to store sourdough).

    There you have it, scratch sandwich bread without squished, wonky sized slices of bread!

  • Away from Home: Arches NP

    Here is chapter 3 from our trip to Southern Utah last month. If you missed the other chapters, read them here and here.

    Arches National Park is located just outside Moab, UT. It has become a ‘timed entry permit required’ park. Like so many national parks, it became overrun and extremely busy and they implemented timed-entry. I will say it made it for an extremely pleasant visit.

    We had 7AM permits and drove in about 7:50am. (You have an hour to enter with your permit – if your permit is 2PM, you will have from 2-2:59PM to enter the park.) We were able to enter quickly, stop at the visitor center and fill up with water and use bathrooms.

    We then headed into the park and stopped at:

    Windows Arch

    We headed into the first stop having by-passed a couple of turnoffs. The Windows Arch is actually several arches all in a small area and you can do about a mile walk if you want to do it. (North Window, South Window and Turret Arch.)

    North Window Arch

    Some of our friends saw a snake, so there are definitely rattlesnakes in the area, but I (thankfully) didn’t see or hear any!

    We walked around the corner to see South Window Arch and then over to Turret Arch. All of these are within the same parking lot. Enjoy the beauty!

    Double Arch

    Across the parking lot, down a short trail past the toilets, is another short trail to see Double Arch.

    We climbed up in there and explored around. The rocks look steep but are easy to climb if you have decent traction on your shoes.

    We then drove down the road to Delicate Arch!

    Delicate Arch

    This is a tough 3ish mile hike up to see this arch. There are viewpoints down below that you can drive to, but we didn’t go to those. As tough as it was to get to, it was worth the effort. I struggled because it was day 8 of a hiking trip and my stamina was waning by that point.

    You may recognize this arch if you’ve ever seen a UT license plate. This is the arch featured for the state. It’s pretty iconic!!

    Most of the trail up was on slickrock (which isn’t slick when dry!!) and easy to walk around. If you’re afraid of heights, this may be a decent test of your resolve.

    This trail is very exposed, so make sure you have water with you and are wearing proper sun gear.

    Final stop on this day was at the end of the road. The group went out to Landscape Arch, but I stayed in the car and snoozed. I was exhausted by this point. Mr. LSH & I plan to go back to this area in the future, so I know I’ll get to see Landscape Arch another time.

    Fiery Furnace

    The next day, we went back to the Fiery Furnace. Permits are required. Permits are available at 8AM MT the week prior to going. If you intend to go on Wednesday, then log into the recreation.gov site early the Wednesday prior to get permits.

    We picked up the permits the day before at the visitor center and watched the required video. We spoke with the ranger before heading who had some really great information. They allow 75 people total per day which makes it a wonderful experience to be able to explore without constantly running into masses of people.

    View coming out of the Fiery Furnace

    The Fiery Furnace is a rock playground. You’re allowed to explore anywhere in this area as long as you stay in a sandy wash or on rock. There are delicate areas that you aren’t allowed to step, but there is plenty of ways around these areas to explore.

    Again, the slickrock is easy to walk around and maneuver on with decent traction on your shoes.

    The park has small signs with arrows posted pointing to the loop that help to keep you moving in the right direction. There are plenty of side trails (or ‘routes’ as trails are a relative term when you’re on sand or rocks) to explore. We found the Kissing Turtle Arch and Surprise Arch, crawled into a cave, found a huge hole in a rock formation that was similar to the Golden Cathedral and saw plenty of lizards.

    After many days of direct sun, I relished the shade that these rock formations created. In spite of its name, it was cool and shady and comfortable to be able to spend hours exploring.

    Stay tuned for the last installment of this Southern Utah “Away From Home” series which will feature Canyonlands National Park.

  • Use Up – Rotisserie Chicken

    Who doesn’t love a $4.99 Costco Rotisserie Chicken?

    I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked into Costco for the sole purpose of getting dinner via a rotisserie chicken and strawberries or a salad.

    But, often so much ends up going in the trash. Here’s a few little things to use up as much of that bird as possible!!

    First, eat dinner! When I was single, I could get up to 4 dinners out of a chicken. Now that I’m married, we usually can get a good dinner and plenty left over for a lunch or two. The dogs end up getting some chicken too.

    Second, pick the rest of the meat off the bones. In our house the breast meat is preferred over thigh and leg meat. That meat is great for soups or casseroles later on. It gets picked off and either frozen or freeze dried (affiliate link).

    Lastly, throw that carcass in a crockpot with some onions, carrots, celery, salt, pepper, sage and whatever other spices you want and turn on low for 36+ hours and make bone broth. Homemade bone broth is so delicious and VERY nutritious. Once you let the broth cool in the fridge and skim off any fat, if it looks like Jello, congratulations, you have all the goodness out of those bones!

    To keep your bone broth for later use, you can either can it (pressure can it), freeze it or freeze dry it. (I freeze mine in a silicone muffin pan which makes it easy to pop out and then its easy to estimate how much each ‘puck’ measures)

    Once you’ve literally taken all of the good stuff off this bird, what is left can now be thrown in the trash (or yard waste if your town does that). (Don’t throw that in your backyard compost unless you have a very hot compost bin, meat and dairy will attract 4-legged pests I wouldn’t want to have to deal with)

    Happy Chicken eating!