Little Susie Homemaker

Category: Homemaking

Different areas of the home – life hacks, favorite tools

  • 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!

  • Reducing food waste – Freeze Drying

    *some links below may be affiliate links which means if the item is purchased through the link, I may make a small commission

    Have you ever seen those foods/meals you can buy that are supposed to last up to 25 years? Those are freeze dried meals!

    Why would you want a freeze dried (FD) meal? Do they even taste good?

    Well, let me tell you!

    First the why – preppers prep, gardeners preserve (tired of canning or ran out of freezer space) or backpackers want to eat in the back country without needing a mule to carry the cooler.

    My husband & I fit into the 3rd option above (although I fit into a bit of all three). Ultra-light backpacking. WITH water, my pack is usually about 25 lbs. My husband’s pack is a bit more at around 28 lbs. (We have friends who do this with 45 lb. packs – no thank you!!)

    One way our packs stay light, making backpacking more enjoyable, is bringing along freeze-dried food. Freeze drying taking the water out making the food feather light.

    Two weeks after we got married is the first time I went backpacking and I fell in love with being out in the back country. Wanting to control the ingredients consumed, I knew I didn’t want to eat the store-bought FD’ed meals.

    The investigation into freeze-drying began! Buying a machine is expensive! Then I did the math. Based on what we were paying for meals at REI (breakfasts – $9-$13 each, dinners – $13-$16 each), it would take 40 nights for the 2 of us (80 nights total) for a machine to pay for itself.

    That math made sense to both of us that buying a machine was worth it. A medium Harvest Right Medium Freeze Dryer was purchased during the Christmas sale at the end of 2022. Harvest Right changed the configuration shortly after I bought ours and the medium now has 4 trays, not 3 like what I have.

    ***Harvest Right will be having their May Mega Sale May 1-21st, 2024 and machines will be up to $500 off!!! If you’re in the market, take advantage. Black Friday is their only other sale of the year!!

    After the first season of having the machine, it is half paid off by backpacking a total 35 nights between the two of us. In addition to full meals, there are individual ingredients and snacks available not include in that total. I consider this a big win!!

    FD’ing our leftovers allows for extremely lightweight food to pack. We take a Jetboil to boil water which we then pour into either a mylar bag or a titanium cup to rehydrate the meal.

    By making and taking own meals, we know what to expect and we know exactly what went into these meals. There is also a much bigger variety of meals than what are sold in the stores.

    To answer the second question, YES, they taste good!!! There have been a couple of things that we didn’t care for (Asian flavors – I think it’s the soy sauce that I don’t like). The most surprisingly delicious meal was fish tacos. We tried it on a whim and were VERY surprised at how delicious it was when rehydrated!!!

    The other two reasons listed above (prepping and gardening) have been a side benefit of having a freeze dryer. Having grown up out in the country, my desire to be prepared has not left me in spite of city and suburban living. (umm, multi-day power outage???) And now that I’ve started a garden, I like having the option of FD’ing some of the harvest! (FD’ed blueberries anyone!?!?!)

    There was more than one evening this past winter that I didn’t want to go to the store. Instead, I shopped the pantry and used FD’ed ingredients (carrots, celery, onion, chicken and chicken broth) into a delicious soup.

    You’ll notice in the picture above that most of my FD’ed stuff is stored in mason jars. I like being able to quickly see what and how much I have. And we’re also not wasting other materials if we have to repack something to fit better before we head out backpacking.

    I use the “accessory” button on our Foodsaver machine along with these mason jar vacuum sealer tops to seal the jars. The thing with FD food is to keep moisture away until time to use it. It slowly rehydrates from the humidity in the air and get soft and squishy and will eventually go bad.

    How does this reduce food waste you ask? It gives another option of what to do with leftovers to ensure they get eaten and not thrown out. It also is a wonderful tool to have when finding amazing deals on food (like the apple grower in Wenatchee that sells their Honeycrisp apples in the off season for $1/lb or less!!)

    It was an investment worth making for us. Freeze drying for the win!!!! 🙂 Hooray for HarvestRight!

    For more ideas on how to reduce food waste, you can read more in my previous post about Cleaning out the Fridge.

  • A day in the life – April 2024

    Today is a rainy April Monday with some typical activities of my retired life!

    After coffee & breakfast, I headed to barre class. If you’ve not tried Barre, it’s a fantastic workout! When I was introduced to it several years ago, some co-workers asked if I wanted to join them for bar class. I said “sure, like learning how to mix drinks? Sounds fun!” Their eyes got big and they just shook their heads and said “no, Barre workout” Oh, ok, I’ll try it! Boy, am I glad I did, although I wasn’t too happy after my first class. I couldn’t move well for about 4 days after. If anyone ever takes you to a Barre class and you’ve been before, do yourself a favor and take a walk later that day or the next day. You’ll be able to move a LOT better a LOT quicker!

    After class, I ran a couple of errands to pick up a hold at the library and then pick up a couple of items at Sprouts for a granola recipe.

    Had lunch once I got home, and relaxed while eating playing a silly game on my phone while watching a bit of TV. (real productive, I know!)

    I then mixed up the stuff for a loaf of sourdough bread. From start to finish, the recipe I follow takes about 7 hours, so I try to plan accordingly. (I fed the starter yesterday and again this morning to it was nice and active in time to get started)

    Since I had some discard and more in the fridge, I also mixed up the dough for a double batch of sourdough crackers. That dough sits in the fridge for several hours (if not overnight) so I’ll roll out that dough and bake them tomorrow.

    I then strained my latest jar of kefir and got another jar started. Then realized I don’t remember when I did my last batch of kombucha, so I checked that and it is ready to go. I bottled up the kombucha and started the next batch.

    I have plans to make up a batch of granola, but that may wait for tomorrow too.

    We’re heading on a hiking trip by the end of the weekend and I’m looking at what to make to take along for snacks without buying a bunch of junk food or not very good for me bars at the grocery store.

  • Reducing food waste – Fridge Clean-out

    *links included may contain affiliate links which means I may make a small commission on any product purchased from that link

    Wednesdays are my at-home day. (I work out the other days, so my mornings are broken up.) I usually do a variety of tasks throughout the morning and decided that today, there were some things in the fridge that I needed to use up before they went bad.

    I had 1/2 an onion, more than half a bag of cauliflower and an old pear.

    I have this handy-dandy food chopper, slicer thingamabob and I LOVE IT!!!! (The official name is “vegetable chopper“. I think I like my name for it better!)

    (I had a great set of photos for this blog post but for some reason, they won’t save and upload properly, so sorry for just words.)

    I love that it has different sizes available for a dice/chop, multiple shred options and a slicing blade. (I used the slicing blade like a mandolin slicer the other night for dinner when I needed chopped cabbage for fish tacos.)

    I used the small dice to chop the onion and freeze it. I also used it to make cauliflower rice. I blanched the cauliflower and then riced it and put it on a small baking sheet in a thin layer to freezer before bagging it up. If I don’t freeze it that way, then it will be a solid mass of cauliflower rice and not easily used in smaller servings.

    I used the larger dice for the pear which I used to make a double recipe of a single-serve apple cinnamon muffin that I adjusted to make into a pear ginger muffin instead.

    I still have a couple of things in the fridge to use up or put up (freezer or freeze dry), but I will work on that throughout the rest of the day!

    No need to throw money down the drain by throwing out perfectly good food. Getting it taken care of ahead of it fully going bad makes a huge difference in spending, but also prevents filling up the landfills. (If it has already gone bad, then put it to good use by composting it – either in your backyard, yard waste bin or a community composting arrangement.)

  • A day in the life – Feb 2024

    *none of my links are affiliate links at this time!

    Today was a day of domesticity. (I would say domestic bliss but didn’t sleep well last night so if I’m honest, I wasn’t all that blissful. The dog woke up at 3:45, I took him out and then couldn’t go back to sleep for over an hour)

    My Morning:

    I started with cleaning a couple of bathrooms and throwing in a load of laundry. I checked my seed starts and had planned to throw out the ones I started in milk jugs as they haven’t done anything. Or so I thought!

    The spinach seeds I planted on Jan 31st finally have 2 sprouts! Still nothing in the two types of lettuce though. I think I’ll give them another week and then use that soil for something else.

    The tomato seeds I started in milk jugs also seem to be doing nothing, except when I went to throw them out, I checked one last time to find that I have several beef steak sprouts!! All is not lost, and I’ll let them all continue on their little journey!

    I also have quite a few onions and marigolds sprouting, a couple of cauliflower, and it seems that a couple of pepper seeds might be starting to try to break through. As with all gardening, time will tell!

    I threw dinner into the crockpot to have it ready tonight. I’m making “wicked white chili” from the Trim Healthy Mama cookbook!

    My Afternoon:

    When I got home from a chiropractor appointment, I decided that I needed to do something with all of the sourdough starter in the fridge.

    I made a loaf of lemon huckleberry quick bread (recipe is lemon blueberry, but we have huckleberries in the freezer), a batch of chocolate chip cookies and the dough of a double batch of crackers.

    I fed my started to work on getting a loaf of bread started tomorrow. And after all of that, I still have over 3 cups of started to use up. I guess I’ll have to decide what else sounds good!

    As I follow Trim Healthy Mama, I use Glenda Groff’s “All About Sourdough” cookbook which sticks to THM plan.

    That’s been my day of domestic bliss! I LOVE that I get to live this life and experiment and try things!

  • Housewifeyness

    It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but since my last post, I got married and am fully embracing (and LOVING) being a housewife. I was able to join my husband in retirement back in April. In retirement, I get to try whatever housewife’y’ whim that comes to mind!

    So far, I’ve done sourdough (its a learning curve and thankfully on the up curve), kefir, kombucha (also a learning curve and still on the down – time for more learning), gardening, and most recently embroidery.

    "Happy Camper" pattern from Bareroots.com
    "Coffee Please" kit purchased from Joann's

    I want to embrace being as frugal as possible and make things myself as much as I can. I had someone ask if I was becoming a prepper and no, I’m not. I’m a “preparer” meaning, I want to be ready in case something should happen (a bad storm and we lose power) or get the whim to do a no-spend period of time. Plus, I want to save any money I can so we have more money available for travel! (I think travel is the real reason for wanting to be frugal – priorities!)

    For food items, I want clean, few ingredients, hopefully homegrown, healthy, nourishing food. For other household things, I’ve been thinking through what we buy from the store and whether I can make it myself. So far, I have replace cotton balls with cotton/flannel make-up remover squares. These did not turn out very cute, but they are quite functional. Because its only me using them, I don’t yet feel the need to make pretty/cute ones yet. But, one day, I will make some more and make them look nicer.

    I look forward to finding more ways to be a frugal housewife. With spring on its way, I am looking forward to getting back into the garden. Pruning has started and seeds are going to be put in dirt inside here in the next week or so.

    Lots happening and lots more to come!