domestic goddess
for real.
that's me.
i am a total domestic goddess.
and to prove it... i had my first adventure in canning yesterday.
that's right. i totally canned.
i was inspired by canadian living magazine... and my own boredom.
i love love love canned peaches and pears and cherries, like what my mom used to do when i was a kid... but i am not a pickle person.
i don't like anything pickled at all.
so this one was purely for my husband.
i made spicy dill beans for caesars (that's the canadian bloody mary for you americans)
the recipe:
2 lbs or so of green and/or yellow wax beans
4 small hot peppers (i used 8 because we like the spice)
4 heads of fresh dill (we didn't have heads, so i just used a bunch of dill)
4 cloves of garlic
4 tbsp mustard seeds
2 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups white vinegar
2 tbsp picking salt (i used kosher salt)
the how to:
you need 4 x 500ml canning jars
trim the beans to 3 1/2 inches, discarding the cut stem end.
cut the hot peppers in half.
in each jar, put in dill, 1 garlic clove, 1 tbsp mustard seeds, 1 hot pepper and 1/4 of the beans. tightly pack in beans, cut side up.
in a saucepan, heat the water, vinegar and salt to a boil, simmer for 3 minutes. pour into jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace.
cover with prepared lids and boil in the canner for 10 minutes.
the results:
not too shabby, if i do say so myself.
i didn't quite have 2lbs of beans, so i only got 3 jars out of it... but i think that will be enough.
my man is pretty excited about them.
and i probably won't touch them, since i don't like pickled things and i don't like caesars either.
so now i have 9 more canning jars sitting in my pantry.
and my brain is churning.
i would love to can some fruit, but it is a lot of work, and pretty expensive for all the fruit.
i was thinking of maybe salsa... but again, it wouldn't be done to save money, it would more be for a fun project (and because i make good salsa)
so i might get crazy. what if i canned spaghetti sauce? i assume you can do that...
i mean, big companies sell it in jars, basically the same as canning jars... so it must work.
i'm going to do some research into this.
anyways, i do have to say that yesterday i went to town on dinner.
we had lamb chops, purple and yellow potatoes on the bbq, carrots and snap peas and corn on the cob.
and then we made a mint oil for the lamb and a chive garlic butter for the corn
delightful.
that's the butter and the mint oil... because they're still sitting out on my kitchen counter from last night, lol.
but it was delish.
for dessert we had angel food cake, french vanilla ice cream and cherries, blueberries and white peaches.
it was a fine meal.
we also had guest over for dinner... clearly violating the "no people over for dinner" rule that was instituted last week.
we are not good at rules.
all in all, it was probably a $60 dinner... for 4 people.
so still a better deal than going out for dinner.
but it works out, because the folks that came for dinner, are the ones we're going camping with this weekend... so they said they will bring the food for saturday night dinner because we did dinner last night.
awesome.
that means we are fully going to only bring burgers, dogs and beans for the camping food. so we'll keep it in budget.
i'm stoked about the camping... we bought inflatables yesterday.
ya baby.
i am excited about laying in a lake for two days straight.
it will help ease the pain of not being at pemberton festival.
i had dreams that maybe in exchange for all the free tickets that i gave to people over the last couple years, i might have earned some concert karma and somehow i would have been able to go.
but alas. the dream is dead.
everyone i know that's going is bringing other people.
all tickets are claimed.
sadness.
i'll admit that i have been feeling a little "poor me" about it...
it's sad to be missing most of my favourite bands playing over one weekend...
and especially since i've been depressed and out of work and broke... it would have been a nice little injection of happiness.
but i'm looking on the bright side...i get to camp. and lay in a lake.
so i'll have a great weekend and totally block out that 90% of my friends are at pemberton.
and then i'll just ignore every facebook album and chatter about it for the next couple weeks... and eventually it will go away.
yes.
so this is where i will be this weekend.
in my inflatable lounger.
relaxing.
drinking.
enjoying life.
that's me.
i am a total domestic goddess.
and to prove it... i had my first adventure in canning yesterday.
that's right. i totally canned.
i was inspired by canadian living magazine... and my own boredom.
i love love love canned peaches and pears and cherries, like what my mom used to do when i was a kid... but i am not a pickle person.
i don't like anything pickled at all.
so this one was purely for my husband.
i made spicy dill beans for caesars (that's the canadian bloody mary for you americans)
the recipe:
2 lbs or so of green and/or yellow wax beans
4 small hot peppers (i used 8 because we like the spice)
4 heads of fresh dill (we didn't have heads, so i just used a bunch of dill)
4 cloves of garlic
4 tbsp mustard seeds
2 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups white vinegar
2 tbsp picking salt (i used kosher salt)
the how to:
you need 4 x 500ml canning jars
trim the beans to 3 1/2 inches, discarding the cut stem end.
cut the hot peppers in half.
in each jar, put in dill, 1 garlic clove, 1 tbsp mustard seeds, 1 hot pepper and 1/4 of the beans. tightly pack in beans, cut side up.
in a saucepan, heat the water, vinegar and salt to a boil, simmer for 3 minutes. pour into jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace.
cover with prepared lids and boil in the canner for 10 minutes.
the results:
not too shabby, if i do say so myself.
i didn't quite have 2lbs of beans, so i only got 3 jars out of it... but i think that will be enough.
my man is pretty excited about them.
and i probably won't touch them, since i don't like pickled things and i don't like caesars either.
so now i have 9 more canning jars sitting in my pantry.
and my brain is churning.
i would love to can some fruit, but it is a lot of work, and pretty expensive for all the fruit.
i was thinking of maybe salsa... but again, it wouldn't be done to save money, it would more be for a fun project (and because i make good salsa)
so i might get crazy. what if i canned spaghetti sauce? i assume you can do that...
i mean, big companies sell it in jars, basically the same as canning jars... so it must work.
i'm going to do some research into this.
anyways, i do have to say that yesterday i went to town on dinner.
we had lamb chops, purple and yellow potatoes on the bbq, carrots and snap peas and corn on the cob.
and then we made a mint oil for the lamb and a chive garlic butter for the corn
delightful.
that's the butter and the mint oil... because they're still sitting out on my kitchen counter from last night, lol.
but it was delish.
for dessert we had angel food cake, french vanilla ice cream and cherries, blueberries and white peaches.
it was a fine meal.
we also had guest over for dinner... clearly violating the "no people over for dinner" rule that was instituted last week.
we are not good at rules.
all in all, it was probably a $60 dinner... for 4 people.
so still a better deal than going out for dinner.
but it works out, because the folks that came for dinner, are the ones we're going camping with this weekend... so they said they will bring the food for saturday night dinner because we did dinner last night.
awesome.
that means we are fully going to only bring burgers, dogs and beans for the camping food. so we'll keep it in budget.
i'm stoked about the camping... we bought inflatables yesterday.
ya baby.
i am excited about laying in a lake for two days straight.
it will help ease the pain of not being at pemberton festival.
i had dreams that maybe in exchange for all the free tickets that i gave to people over the last couple years, i might have earned some concert karma and somehow i would have been able to go.
but alas. the dream is dead.
everyone i know that's going is bringing other people.
all tickets are claimed.
sadness.
i'll admit that i have been feeling a little "poor me" about it...
it's sad to be missing most of my favourite bands playing over one weekend...
and especially since i've been depressed and out of work and broke... it would have been a nice little injection of happiness.
but i'm looking on the bright side...i get to camp. and lay in a lake.
so i'll have a great weekend and totally block out that 90% of my friends are at pemberton.
and then i'll just ignore every facebook album and chatter about it for the next couple weeks... and eventually it will go away.
yes.
so this is where i will be this weekend.
in my inflatable lounger.
relaxing.
drinking.
enjoying life.
Yoink.
Did you hear that? That's me, stealing your recipe and giving cans to all of my caesar lovin' friends. Thank you, Santa.
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haha!
all yours lady... that's why i post full recipes.
i was thinking of xmas pressies too...
maybe i'll make a little caeser kit... like with a homemade rimming spice blend and a hot sauce and jar of pickled beans.
err... so act surprised if anyone reading this gets one for xmas.
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Can you come to the easter side of US and show me how to make can? Then I will make you a nice lunch, sit on my porch and watch puff the magic dragon in my sky!
Seriously love to do shit like that! I'm not canning, but I am currently knitting a little sweater for one of the babies, one of my friends had. I have to choose one... too many to chose from. Maybe my own? Naaaa. not yet.
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I. Love. Those. Dishes.
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oooo, thanks!
i got them in gibsons.
they had all these serving platters and stuff with the same patterns... i wanted everything.
i have a thing for serving plates and such.
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