Happy Anniversary, Mike and Diane! Enjoy your steak.

Happy Anniversary, Mike and Diane!

I made chicken broth on Sunday from the bones of three roasted chickens that I had in the freezer. I plan to use it for soup tomorrow.

For Sunday dinner, I made Salmon and Couscous with Penzey's Greek Seasoning. We had it with microwaved fresh green beans from our garden.

I made a big pot of soup on Monday. I used the chicken broth that I made yesterday and added carrots, celery, yellow bell pepper, garlic, and mushrooms sauteed in olive oil and browned ground turkey and 1 ½ cups of Bob's Red Mill Vegi-Soup blend (red and brown lentils, split green and yellow peas; barley) dehydrated onions, and Penzey's Ozark seasoning. After it cooked for 40 minutes, I added a chopped large zucchini, and then some kale, along with a splash of cider vinegar. Although my husband keeps telling me we are headed for a warm spell this week, the forecasts do not appear to be correct so far.

Happy Anniversary, Mike!

On Sunday I made brats and boneless pork chops on the grill. Today I made a large salad with slices of pork chop on it.

You are eating a lot of hot dogs, Joan. Maybe that is why I am suddenly wanting one, or maybe it's nostalgia. Now, I wonder how it will taste with zucchini relish....

On Tuesday, I made and canned four jars of Zucchini Relish. I used the recipe in the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving (p. 89). I am not sure how well it went. The vegetables were floating in the sugar-vinegar mix after simmering at 180F for ten minutes. In the jars, they were at the top, and the liquid was at the bottom. I was expecting it to be thicker. I followed the directions, except that I used all red bell pepper rather than half green bell pepper. They are cooling overnight, and I will look at them and check the seals tomorrow. I used a large zucchini, and I am wondering if smaller ones might have worked better.

I have also decided that any future canning projects that require a stove will need to be done in my house kitchen rather than the Annex/Guest Quarters kitchen where I do my jam. (For jam, I have the automatic jam maker that does the stirring.) I do not think that the large electric burner is functioning correctly, as it was hard to stay at the temperature I wanted. I am used to gas burners in the house, but I also think that the large burner (other three are small) on the electric stove in the Annex has been used the most and is likely no longer working as well. Perhaps this is the time to talk my husband into a separate induction burner for out there, as canning in the house kitchen takes over the whole place.

BakerAunt ,Yes I'm eating a lot of hot dogs ,I love them and I've been trying to lose some weight and have taken off 26 pounds since my husband died.Today has been 13 weeks since he passed.I've stayed busy doing so much that I never had to do before and going through stuff and getting rid of clothes.Plus the yard is still not right since the storm.The big cedar trunk is still in the front yard waiting on the guy that wanted it.I'm about ready to get one of my friends cut it up and move it.

Chocomouse--the recipe called for 2 Tbs. pickling salt to be sprinkled over the cut-up vegetables, then ice water poured over to just cover. After two hours, the water is drained, and the vegetables rinsed and drained. They are then added to the simmering sugar, vinegar, and spices. The recipe does say to use pickling salt. I did not have the Ball brand of pickling salt, but I did have the Morton brand. I'll report tomorrow on whether the vegetables are still separated. I did have about 1/2 cup of mostly liquid left after filling four 1-pint jars.

Re: hotdogs: someone was selling them at the farmers market about a month ago, and if it had been lunch time, I would have had one. I will check at the store next time I am there to see if there are that fit my current mode of eating. And yes, grilled would be good. I'm also craving baked beans.