FERMENTING JAR A NEW ADVENTURE

In addition to canning, I think I'm going to try a new adventure now that we are out here.

I've been seeing these in the store and I would stand there and think "hmm, should I get one?"

Hey, it was only $15, what the heck, why not try something new.

It's all glass, except the fermentation lid of course, but the jar and the weight are both glass.

The instructions seem pretty straightforward...

...but just in case, I ordered a couple of cookbooks off of eBay just to get some ideas.  This is a small jar, so starting small seems like the best way to get a foot in.  2nd Man wants me to make some hot sauce first so I guess we have some fermented hot sauce coming soon (once I learn all the ins and outs, ha).

Anyone ever done any fermenting?

PUTTING UP SMOKED TURKEY

Forgot to post this.  After the holidays, I found some smoked turkey legs on clearance.  We like using the meat in a pot of beans, as it's a much healthier option than ham.  They are precooked since they are smoked but we like to boil them for a couple of hours.  It lets us skim off any fat and makes the meat fall apart tender.

Though they had the wings, we like the legs, seem to get a bit more meat for your money.

The pot filler comes in handy!

After they have boiled for a couple of hours, we pour out the water.  It's literally falling off the bone tender. 

Took about 10 minutes to get all the meat off the bones (those tendons are a pain, ha).

We ended up with 6 cups, divided into 2 cup packages, vacuum sealed and put in the freezer for future use (three big pots of bean soup).

PUTTING UP ROLLS INTO BREAD CUBES

2nd Man made some rolls recently and we ate a few but then we had a lot leftover.

That was by design because ultimately, we wanted to make them into bread cubes.

We cut them into cubes (more or less, ha).  I put them onto a couple of parchment lined sheet pans and popped them in the freezer overnight.

The next day, I took them off and put them in a gallon size freezer bag.  We didn't vacuum seal these because we didn't want to smash them...plus they'll be easy to pull out to use just a few at a time.

We had a salad the other night and 2nd Man threw a few in the air fryer after spritzing them with some avocado oil and some garlic and onion powder.

They were SO good.

TURKEY BONE STOCK CONCENTRATED

With our two turkeys, we decided to make some concentrated turkey stock to freeze for future use.

We put the bones from the two after we had stripped off the meat, into the fridge overnight.  The next morning, we put them into the pressure cooker.  Even had some juices that had already congealed.

We added 8 cups of water...

...and put the lid on.  We pressure cooked it for a few hours (two cycles).

This is what it looked like.  Beautiful bone stock.  All of the flavor possible has been extracted.  We strained it and put it in a large bowl, covered it and popped it in the refrigerator overnight.

This is what it looked like after that process.  That thin layer on top is all the fat left.

A flat edge spatula got it all off.

Look at this!  It is literally turkey jello, ha!  We tasted it and wow, so good.  

The eight cups of water gave us seven bags of liquid gold!  We packaged them into one cup amounts because it's so concentrated, when we are ready to use it, we can add some water and get two cups of delicious turkey stock.

Now that we have the space to prep, store and put up, we LOVE planning ahead like this.

This weekend, it's chicken time!

PUTTING UP CHICKEN STOCK

 We save our chicken carcasses when we get some rotisserie chicken or when we roast our own and toss them in the freezer.  Then, we get them out and boil them.  2nd Man did this the other day but I wasn't there to get before photos.

He puts them in a stock pot and covers with water and boils for about 3 hours, on low.

Then he pours it into a container, covers with plastic wrap and puts it in the refrigerator overnight. This lets the fat congeal on the top. Then we take it out and, as you can see above, it's easy to take out the fat.

Look at this wonderful, almost jelly like, chicken stock.

Then it's time for me to put it up.  I ladle in about 2 cups per baggie.  Here, I'm using my cool bag stand given to me by a coworker.  You extend it to the size of your bag and then clip it and it holds it open so you can easily put/pour things into a bag.

We ended up with about six bags of a little over 2 cups each.  I didn't used the vacuum sealer because it's easier to just push out the air.  Popped these in the freezer and we're good to go whenever we need some really good homemade chicken stock.

PUTTING UP NECTARINES

Nothing like some plump, juicy, fresh nectarines!

 We had a half dozen, and you know me, since they were super ripe, my first instinct was to put them up for future use!

First, I pitted them and sliced them up.

Then I put them in the freezer overnight (on parchment so they wouldn't be stuck to the pan) and popped them off the next morning.

Then I vacuum sealed them and put them back in the freezer, ready for the next time.

Nectarine cobbler?  Anyone have something cool to do with nectarines or do you just use them as you might if you had peaces?

WEEKEND OF PUTTING UP

This past weekend was a bit of a washout.  Saturday we had an appointment that we couldn't miss (it was a good one, more on that in a future post) and so my plan was to go out on Sunday.  But as we left our appointment Saturday afternoon, it was getting darker and darker and sure enough, the rains came...

...this was the radar at the farm at midnight Saturday  when the storms in Houston woke us up.  2nd Family said that we got about 2 inches of rain and on Sunday it was standing water.  So no need to go mow and I took the break and made myself useful, ha.  I decided to put some stuff up for future use.

First up, really loved the quick pickled onions that I've been making.

I got out some jars and put all the ingredients in.

Now they are ready to go for use over the next couple of weeks in our meals (and snacks!)

I went to Costco at lunch the other day to buy some things and picked up a couple of their famous rotisserie chickens (huge, delicious and only $4.99!).  I took the meat off and made a few bags for the freezer.

I divide them into about 2 well packed cups each and one chicken gives us...

...three bags for future use!

Also picked up a bunch of zucchini and yellow squash at the farmers market last week so I sliced them up, froze them individually while laid out on a sheet pan and then mixed them up and vacuum sealed them for future use.

Our local grocery store had pork loins for 99 cents a pound.  That's too good a deal to pass by. This was an 9 pound loin so it was $8.91.

After slicing it up, we ended up with two pork loin roasts and six thick cut pork chops.  That's five meals for us, seven actually since we eat the pork roast over a couple of days.

Rainy days are productive!

HOW TO ROAST GARLIC IN THE OVEN

.Since we didn't plant garlic last year, we don't have our usual good supply.

So, we got a 2lb bag (that's a lot of garlic, ha) and decided to roast some so we can enjoy the added flavor with our new diet of healthier cooking.  Plus garlic is SUPER heart healthy.

Cut off the top 1/4 or so, to expose as much surface area of the garlic as you can and leave the tighter paper skins on (some just fall off naturally).  Other people just cut it in half but that's wasting too much garlic, ha.  

I like to make a little foil packet, you can put it in a dish and cover with foil, whatever you prefer.

Then drizzle them with olive oil.  You want the oil to really get down in there so I drizzle it in a small stream and let it get into all the nooks and crannies.

You can also add herbs here, salt and/or pepper, etc.  We aren't doing added salt so we just used the pure garlic and olive oil flavor.

When we cook with foil, if foil comes into contact with the food, we like to put a piece of parchment over the food so that's what I did here but again, not necessary, you do whatever you like!

Seal it up and pop in a preheated 400 degree oven for 45 minutes...

At the end of 45 minutes, take it out, carefully open the foil (remove the parchment if using) and leave them exposed and put back in for 15 more minutes...

...or until you like the color, we feel this is a good place to stop, so we always do a total of one hour at 400.  It has always worked well.

Then you just squeeze them out one by one.  If you are trying to keep them intact, you will have to be gentle as you remove the papery skin and the usually pop out pretty easily.  A few get squashed when I do it but it's OK, they are going to get spread onto bread or stirred into a dish so it's all good.

We put them in a small jar (Mason/Ball of course, ha) and keep them in the fridge.  They will keep a few days in the fridge without oil, or you can pour olive oil over them and they'll keep about a week.

*note: they will spoil and garlic in oil without oxygen can actually run the risk of botulism...so be safe!

They are delicious this way.  Here are a couple of bagels spread with just a touch of heart healthy butter and a couple cloves of roasted garlic...

OH MY.  SO DELICIOUS!