So Many Tomatoes........and Hurricanes.

Hi there everyone.....hope you all are having a good week. Yesterday Habitat for Humanity came to put up our fence.....I sure do love it. I took a lot of "before" and "after" pictures of the fences. That will be my next post in a few days.

So yes....I have been busy this past week....cleaning things up in the back yard to get it ready for the new fence. This Saturday, the Habitat people are going to paint the floor of my front porch. So I have to clean the porch of the lawn chairs, tables and fountain. I will probably spray the porch down to get the dust off. So just a little bit more work to go.

In between the cleaning, my tomato plants have been producing an abundance of tomatoes....I have been amazed.

In this picture I am drying some tomatoes....my first batch, I seasoned the tomatoes with salt and pepper. The second batch was a sandwich seasoning.....the third batch....just salt. Oh my, the tomatoes are delish....like candy. I might dry some more tomatoes tomorrow.

In the picture below is some salsa....chopped up tomatoes, peppers, onions, 1 teaspoon cilantro, 1 teaspoon taco seasoning and mixed together. I added some cheese to the salsa which was good too. Sooooo good. I just may make some more salsa this weekend. I should can some too.

Here's a peek at the tomatoes in different stages of ripeness.

I still want to make some canned spaghetti sauce, along with canning just plain tomatoes. I am having lots of fun with my tomatoes. Tonight I had a plain tomato sandwich with mayo on toast. So good. A tomato Quiche is on the agenda to make yet....maybe tomorrow for breakfast.

I am so sorry for and have prayed for those that suffered in Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. So much devastation. I can't imagine what it was like. Tornado's are scary, but a hurricane sounds even more scarier. To lose everything, no money, water, electric, housing, food.....sad.  Leaving your home to evacuate and not know if you will have a home to come back to. I don't know, so hard. Maybe Wisconsin is not so bad when it comes to weather....snow and cold, I will take it.

Well time to close. The weather is supposed to be really nice this week....summer has come back. 85 degrees on Saturday....I will let the Habitat volunteers paint the porch....maybe I will pull a few weeds around my rose bushes.

Have a great week and talk to you soon. Keep looking up....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

MAN!!!! These Beans Were GOOD!!!

Hi there everyone. Hope you are having a good day. We had a storm go through a couple of hours ago....tornado warnings...time to go hide in the basement. Guess it was pretty bad all around us. A roof few off one of the buildings on College Ave. with lots of debris on the street. 60-70 mph winds. Lots of trees were up-rooted and blown down. Will have to watch the news tonight to see which building, it was a warehouse. College Ave is the business area of Appleton....with lots of tall buildings many bars and restaurants. I very seldom go shopping there. Not even sure there are stores to shop anymore.

Last night I made "No Soak Pressure Cooker Baked Beans" Guys......these were the best beans I have ever made!!! And boy did they do a good job with the creation of gaseous emissions. I am sure I added to the "Climate Change!!"

If you have a "Pressure Cooker XL" or any other one of those cookers that cooks with pressure....this is the recipe for you. I wanted to make beans....but every recipe I found, the beans had to soak over night. I just knew there had to be a recipe that I could use without having to soak the beans. So up popped this recipe.

2 cup pinto beans (I used 3 cups Navy beans)
4 cups water (6 cups water)
1 cup diced onion
4 strips bacon, chopped
1 can 16oz diced tomatoes
1/2 cup brown sugar (not packed)
1/4 cup HONEY - SORRY forgot to add this ingred.
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. prepared mustard
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
salt to taste
2 cups chicken stock

I left out: 1-6oz can tomato paste, 1 Tbsp molasses, 1 Tbsp distilled white vinegar and 1tsp salt. Only because I had no molasses or white vinegar.

I shall be adding baking soda to this mixture, maybe that will stop the gaseous emissions...lol!

Rinse beans and place in pressure cooker with 6 cups water and 1 Tbsp. salt. Cover and lock in place, closing steam vent. Press the bean selection and set timer for 30 minutes. While the beans are cooking mix the sauce together except the bacon and onions. Set the sauce aside.

When the beans are done, release the steam and remove the beans, strain and discard the liquid. Set the beans aside, they should be soft. If not, the next 30 minutes will soften them.

In the cooking pot, over the stove, I sauteed the bacon until slightly browned then added the chopped onions and sauteed for 2-3 minutes. Added the combined ingredients and the beans to the pot and stirred well. At this point, I added two cubes of frozen tomato paste.

Replace the lid and lock, close the steam vent and press the beans option and adjust the timer for 30 minutes. When the timer goes off, carefully release the steam, remove the lid, stir and serve. You can leave the beans in the pressure cooker on the keep warm mode to allow the sauce to thicken for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Enjoy.....I did freeze a container for later use. Best beans I ever made, just wish they agreed with me a bit more.

Thought I would add a picture of today's storm. It was really raining hard here. There were high winds and the sirens were blowing. According to the news reports, there were trees going down all over Appleton.

We had the car in yesterday to get fixed. Exhaust was getting a bit loud and the air conditioner was not working. This year I decided it was going to get fixed....not going through another warm summer without the air. So it was $514.00 to get fixed. I should get that paid off by Sept. then we need to get a new battery and 2 new tires before winter.

I might be going to a "Garden Walk" on Saturday, it will cost $10 and one canned food item. Not sure yet, as it depends on the weather mostly. We will see when the time comes. I am still working on our yard....still want to get some cucumber plants and of course there are still lots of weeds to pull....never ending is it???

Well time to close here....have a good night and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

My New Cooking Toy

Hi there everyone, how are you doing this fine night??? Hope you all escaped the bad weather they were talking about tonight. The people north of us had wind damage and a few tornado's were sighted and touched down. I guess tonight the temperature will get down in the 40's and in the 60's tomorrow. Pretty cool...huh!!

Well, last week I bought this new appliance at Shopko. It's the Power Pressure Canner XL. Here is the sight. I am really liking it a lot. Tonight I did a roast with onions, garlic, cabbage, potatoes and carrots with onion soup. I picked up a pressure canner cookbook at the library today. Saw so many recipes I would like to try. 

You can saute your vegies and meat in oil in the pot...then add extra water for the pressure cooking. After the meal I made tonight went through the pressure cooker.....I turned it down to do slow cooking till JP gets home from work. Looking forward to tasting the end product. It's nice to know....dinner is all cooked for JP, just have to dish up the meat and vegies and his fruit and dinner is served!!!

Friday night we took JP to the ER. His right cheek was all swelled up and he looked like a chipmunk. He has a couple of bad teeth....the swelling was not going down. Turns out he has an abscess. They gave him penicillin and Tylenol with codeine. By Sunday night the swelling was gone. I called the dentist this morning and we got him in.

So tomorrow, JP has an appointment at 11am and they will do x-rays and probe around and see what else needs to be done. My appointment is at 12pm and I will be getting the 2nd deep cleaning on the left side of my mouth....yeah, "Happy Gas" here we come!!! So, we will be busy for a few hours tomorrow.

Also on the agenda for me this month is cataract surgery on my right eye with 1 pre-op and 2 post-op visits. Then August 5th the right eye will be done with the pre-op and post-op visits. For me....work on my teeth will have to be put on the back burner for a few months till JP's teeth get taken care of.

Well time to close here for awhile, keep looking up!!
Cheers ~ Louise

Bloggers Block?????????

Hi there everyone......how are you all today???? I am having "bloggers block" right now. Can't think of a thing to write. It has been so dreary and rainy outside and as usual the ceiling is leaking. I don't even like to cook in the kitchen when the ceiling is leaking. I swear, someday the ceiling will cave in.

But one things for sure....I could be in southern Ill where tornado's hit today and through out the midwest. 65 tornadoes were reported today. I could be in the Philippines and lose everything to the typhoon. Yes, we cry in our sorrows so much...not thinking that others have it worse. A leaking ceiling some how does not look so bad right now. BUT...I will be forever "Looking for a City" A city of gold where the roses never fade and we are forever young, it will be worth it all when we see Jesus.....yes there is a place like that and far much better then this world has to offer.

Hope you enjoy this little segment of Jimmy singing..........I like his music, always calms my soul!! Jimmy started playing piano at age 8, never had a lesson. He asked God to give him the talent to play the piano. His father asked him where he learned to play like that, did his aunt teach him? Jimmy said no, he just asked God to help him. Jimmy sat down and started to play a few chords and here he is today. Amazing what God will do, if we just ask with the faith of a little child.

Well, so much for today, guess I am not much into blogging today. You all have a great rest of the day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.

Taking pictures of some of the Christmas cards I have been working on, so stay tuned for the next issue of  "cards4ubylouise"  Have a great rest of the evening and Cheers - Louise