My Poor Cukes & Garden Update, HBO's "Newsroom" Intro, Money Tips Learned

I had great cukes, both lemon and pickling. I went out this week and all the leaves were gone! I know it wasn't the chickens as I had the same problem last year, outside the chicken area. I don't know if it's squirrels, bugs or what. The blossom are still set, so I'm leaving them and hoping for fruit... this stinks...

Tomatoes are doing great! Nice, big and healthy-

Blackberries are starting to turn black, but still tart, another week or so! Then it'll be baking, freezing and canning time!!! Yum!

Beans, Great Lakes and Italian, by the side of the house.

Still small, but here's hoping!

Various flowers around the back yard-

Bamboo by the pond-

 HBO's "Newsroom" Intro-

We have Dish Network and subscribe to HBO since we don't go out much. I know, I'm bad watching TV, but I'm very selective, so I don't watch that much. I was waiting for the new show Newsroom to start since it had a great cast, timely topics and Aaron Sorkin produced it. This opening scene sets the tone for the show- a fed up newsman (think likable & don't-rock-the-boat) finally gets honest about his view of America. Warning- there's some R rated language, so no young ears please. Watch til the very end :)

Money Planning Tips-

We recently did some retirement/financial planning, so here's a few ideas I thought I'd share-

*We pay our mortgage every 2 weeks, which adds quite a bit to paying it off early.

*We refinanced our 3 year old car and saved 3 pts. We'll pay it off a year earlier.

*We eliminated most of our remaining credit card debt the last few years. We put the balance recently on a low interest signature loan thru a credit union, so we're almost done there!

*DO NOT start a college fund, if you have kids, plan your savings and retirement funds FIRST. We helped 3 kinds thru college and only took out 1 small loan, and co-signed 2 other small loans. Kids should use student grants & loans FIRST. If they are responsible for their own education if makes them much more invested (excuse the pun) in doing well, keeping their grades up and finishing. If you put them thru college and it breaks your bank, where does that leave you? Not in a good place. And teach them (if you haven't already) how to create a good credit history. Our kids took a basic "how to use a checking account" class in high school. WE sat them down and taught them about establishing credit, and to get 1 credit card for emergency use, and keep it paid off. They had a few bumps, but in their mid 20's they all have good credit! Can't buy a home with it...

*Save, save, save. We had 2 hospitalizations, one emergency, and one for hubby's shoulder surgery. The costs were really tough. If we'd had more savings, it would have really taken the mental load off us. I'm grateful we HAD savings, small as it is.

*I buy most of my household goods/clothes, etc. used, and we don't live the same urban life as most BUT we're happier and don't have the $$$ worries of most either :) 

*I feel so bad for the rural areas, including  in my state, in drought and with fires. I also worry about what this will mean for US in terms of coming food prices? We don't eat beef much, but what about grains, beans, etc? I'm stocking up and canning more this summer. We all do what we can, while we can...



Anya sleeping next to me while I read on the computer. She has to be where I am.

We've bonded :)

      

Don't tell anyone- I'm plowing my way thru all 3 seasons of Roswell this summer (free from the local Library) since I missed most of it back in 1999-2001 when it was on. It's my guilty pleasure!

1932 Long’s Peak Orange Pie Recipe

1932 Long’s Peak Orange Pie Recipe-

I found this in my cookbook “The Lost Art of Pie Making Made Easy” by Barbara Swell. I was in the mood for something orangey tonite, so I made it! I love the book as it has so many OLD recipes and great stories...

Ingredients-

       1 baked 8″ pie shell

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup granulated sugar

4 tablespoons of flour

1 cup fresh orange juice (I used frozen)

2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons of butter

1/2 teaspoon pure orange extract (my addition)

Beat the yolks with the sugar til creamy. Add the flour, orange and lemon juice, zests, and salt. Cook in a double boiler until thickened (about 20 minutes) whisking constantly. I used a small pot and it worked fine, as I don't own a double boiler and can cook :) Once thick, take off the heat and add the butter, whisking it in. Pour into a baked shell and cover with meringue:

3 egg whites room temp

3 tablespoons of sugar

Beat room temperature egg whites with an electric mixer til fluffy, then slowly add the sugar. Beat the whites until stiff, where they can hold a peak. Spread the meringue all around the top of the pie and seal it, as it helps the meringue not weep. Put pie in the center of a preheated oven at 350F for about 15 minutes until golden brown. Chill before serving!!!

This was my first attempt at a meringue-topped pie and it came out great! Dave and I each had two slices:) It was thin, so next time I might double the filling and meringue.

Enjoy!

More Canning- 1st Jam Attempt, Homemade Laundry Soap, Rain's Coming!

More Canning Yesterday-
I use the recipes I posted a couple of days ago, and did the pickled dilly beans first-

It was nice yesterday morning as it rained really hard for at least 15 minutes the night before. I went to bed to the sound of pouring rain, what a nice sound.... I used the steam canner for the beans. I usedthe inversion method for the jam- cooked/boiled, then poured into hot jars, inverted for 5 minutes, and pinged a little later! I've read only to use this for jams/jellies. The jam was something new so I had to use the "sheeting test" for it. It took an extra 10 minutes more to "sheet", but it jelled!  I had a 1/2 pint leftover of the spiced version, so it went into the fridge and had some on toast this morning. It was good, so I'm happy! I was afraid I'd have peach syrup! Here's the peaches cooking down, with a blob of butter to prevent foaming-

I saw that my chokecherry bush I planted has a good crop ripening, so I'm going to try making some jelly from that soon...

Yesterday my canning total was-
4 qts. and 5 pints of dilly beans, 1/2 were "spicy"
1 qt. dilly carrots and beans- spicy
7 1/2 pints peach jam, with 1/2 of the jam "spiced" with a little vanilla and cinnamon.
I cut the sugar 1/3 in the recipe,a little too sweet IMO, but not bad for a first go at it.

Homemade Laundry Soap-
I made my first batch of Tinygardener's Laundry Soap recipe. Talk about easy, it took me 5minutes tops! I had read that Zote and Fels Naptha soaps have a lot of toxic chemicals. I liked this recipe because it used coconut-based Castile soap. The supplies were pretty cheap at the grocery store too, maybe $8.00. That price included 3 bars of soap, so it would make about 6 gallons of laundry soap, with some powders leftover. I cut the recipe in 1/2 since there's only two of us, and we use a front load washer, which uses less soap...

First I grated the castile soap-

Then I mixed some boiling water to the soap to "melt" it, then put cold water in a 1 gallon recycled vinegar jug. I then added the hot mix, added the borax and washing soda. Shake, shake, all done!

All done...

Rain's Coming!-

I think we're going to get some more rain soon! We get these late afternoon thunderstorms, but sometimes, no actual rain on the ground. I hate those storms, ick! I've learned to read the read fairly accurately after living here a while, and I can see these storms also "split" and miss us completely. They go left and right, and zippo down the middle to Boise. it's just the topography of the place. At least I did a bunch of front yard work a bit ago- weeding, pruning, dead heading and general clean up, since it was a bit cooler and windy. Then I got hot fast, as I didn't realize it was 90, so I came in. All done and it looks much better out there! And now it's getting cooler, rain's coming!