Cheesey Scalloped Potatoes

 

 

 

 

I put some mild blue cheese, about a quarter cup, along with a half cup of smoked gouda cheese, and one cup regular gouda cheese in with the white sauce.  I have to say that this was one of the best batches of scalloped potatoes we've made ever!

 

Dinner 031112

Cuban Black Beans and Rice served with Lime Roasted Pork Loin and Roasted Hatch Chili Pepper and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.

Roasted Lime Pork Loin Roast - seasoned, after searing, with cumin, salt, pepper, and 2 limes.  Roasted in a dutch oven for two hours.

Lime Sauce from the roast.

Roasted Hatch Chili Pepper and Roasted Red Pepper salsa that also has cilantro, sauted onion, garlic and my home canned tomatoes.

Dyeing with Onion Skins

I take my skins cover with water bring to a simmer for about 15 minutes and then allow to sit overnight. Next day I bring to a simmer and let simmer for about an hour before adding my fabrics, fibers, etc. I allow the fibers to simmer for an hour, shut off the heat and allow the dyebath and fabric to sit overnight. This has yeilded me the best color to date that has been quite lightfast.

French Onion Soup

I forgot to put the sherry in the soup - oh well makes it less calories this way ;-) It doesn't look all that appetizing in the pan this way does it? Good thing it tastes much better than it looks.

French Onion Soup

We didn't have any of the fancy cheese so we used the three cheese pizza cheese on top of the soup - it turned out to be a most excellent choice! That's a slice of toasted whole wheat baguette you seen in my bowl.

A close up.

Six pints of French Onion Soup for future dinners~!

Bean Soup

Dh and I made Bean Soup tonight, canned up 14 quarts to be exact. I'm anxious for it to be done as I hear something cracking inside of the canner and I'm worried one of the jars has broke, this could be interesting.
One third cup of beans in the bottom of the jars.

A mix of red beans and kidney beans - I mixed together one pound of each type in a large bowl.

I chopped up two larger onions, they were the size of a large orange.

Place a handful of chopped onion on top of the beans - about a half cups worth.

Looking good!

Cubed pork butt roast and juice.

One half cup of cubed pork plus a little bit extra to make a hearty soup.

Pork, onions, beans , now the jars are ready for the broth.

Plenty of pork juice/broth left over to top off the pork and beans - added flavor.

Jars topped off with broth water mixture the yellowis color is from the ham broth concentrate we added to the jars.

The jars are filled, cleaned, and the lids put in place and are ready to be pressured canned - 10 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes.

Layered Chicken Vegetable Soup

1 Cup Chopped Potato - we used Russets

Fresh Chicken Broth made from cooking the chicken hind quarters.

1/4 Cup Cooked Chicken

1 Cup chopped Carrot.

2/3 Cup. Corn

2 T. Chopped Roma Tomatoes

2/3 Cup Chopped Green Beans

A tablespoon of chopped onion is added to each jar. Dh wanted to know where the garlic was???

Each jar gets half chicken bullion cube which is placed in the jar first on the bottom.

We experimented with the layering trying to find one that was visually pleasing.

In the AA and ready to be pressure canned - 90 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.

Layered Chicken Vegetable Soup Recipe

Wow this is very popular so here is the recipe and the next post will be pics of what we did.

The potatos, carrots, tomatoes, and onions were raw (I soaked the cubed potatoes for four hours with a bit of vinegar) The corn and green beans were frozen.

Amounts are approximations for a quart jar:

1c cubed potatoes
1c sliced/cubed carrot (depended on the diameter of the carrot most ended up cubed)
2/3c corn
2/3c green beans
1/4c cooked chicken meat
T Onion
2T chopped fresh roma tomatoes
1/2 Chicken bullion Cube

Cover with the broth you made when you cooked the chicken meat. PC 90 minutes.

I arranged it in layers so that it would be pretty!Potato, carrot, green bean, chicken, corn, tomato, onion.

Cucumber Salad

Cut one peeled cucumber into quarters and slice thin. Add sliced/minced onion. Mix together with one eight cup of red wine vinegar. Season with salt and pepper mix well and enjoy!

Dyeing With Onion Skins

Fall is an excellent time to dye with onion skins as Onions are being harvested now!

Materials List:

Wool
Onion Skins

Alum

Stainless Steel Pot

Water

Heat Source

You will need to mordant your wool with Alum first to ensure that your color is permanent.

Onion Skin Dye Bath

• Take onion skins and place in stainless steel pot, make sure this is a studio dedicated pot, and cover with hot or boiling water.
  
• Allow to sit overnight.


• The next day bring dye pot to a simmer and leave for one hour.


• Remove onion skins if desired - leaving them will create a mottled yarn or fabric.


• Place wet rinsed mordanted wool into dye bath and simmer for two hours.


• If using the cold dyeing method leave wool overnight in the dye bath.


• Remove wool from dye bath, rinse snd dry


• NOTE: wool may have a slight onion smell this is normal with natural dyed goods.
  

Your wool is now ready to use!

Got Pickles???

Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath and your done! Consult the Ball Blue Book for more specific directions.

The color of the pickles changes from bright green to that cooked pickle look with which we are all familiar.

The boiling spice solution is then mixed in with the newly drained and rinsed cukes and onions and brought to a boil.

Spices are mixed together with sugar and vinegar and brought to a boil.

You start with some pickling cukes, and a whole lotta onions, they are soaked in some pickling salt for awhile to draw the water out of the fruit.

Dh helped me put together three batches of Bread and Butter Pickles tonight. I do the pickle making around here, as everyone loves the way they taste ;-) Here's some pic's of how it all went together.

Onions

I'm not sure why my onions are above ground, AGAIN, suggestions?