The kids are getting so big and grown up that I decided it was time to get some really nice pictures of all of us. I wish the kids cooperated better.
Here is our family pictures:
I am so blessed to have such a beautiful family. There really isn’t anything better in this world than them.
Time to get back to the same ole routine.
Monday ~ chicken & rolls
Tuesday ~ clean out the freezer night
Wednesday ~ grilled ham & cheese with fries
Thursday ~ pork chops, potatoes, carrots & celery (pressure cooker night)
Friday ~ date night out (Harry Potter here I come)
Saturday ~ raviolis
Sunday ~ taco cornbread casserole
I love going shopping and filling up our pantry full of food for our food storage. And this is the best time of year to do it. 
You may wonder why I think it’s the best time of year, but think about it what is about to happen in just 4 days from now, Thanksgiving of course. And what do you do for Thanksgiving? EAT OF COURSE. So now you know why this is the time for shopping and storing your food.
You might not be able to see clearly what I have stored here, so here’s a quick run down of what I just bought: lots of cake mixes, rice a roni, French’s fried onions, baking soda, baking powder, flour, stuffing mix, peanut butter, cream of mushroom and chicken soup, green beans, corn, cream corn, cherry pie filling, chicken broth, evaporated milk, baby formula, juice, chocolate chips, pudding and lots more. All in all I had two carts for to the brim and even over flowing at times.
I know that Wal-Mart has the best prices for the foods I was looking for so I went there first. I filled up one cart and then took another to the check out with me and moved the stuff over as they were rung up. The best part was having coupons for the juice, baby formula – which saved us just over the price for one container – French’s fried onions, chicken broth, cream soups, pie filling and pam cooking spray. That is an approximate coupon savings of $40. Yes I did spend a lot more than that too though. I figure though when you figure in that a can of cream of mushroom soup is usually $1 to $3 any other time of year and I was able to get mine for $0.63 a can instead I saved $10.45 a year on just that one item.
(My math if you were wondering 12 cans of soup for $0.63 were $7.56. The same 12 cans for $1.50 were $18. Then I figured out the difference $18 minus $7.56 was $10.44, so I rounded up a penny.)
Now think about this, I wonder how much I saved on everything else that I bought for our food storage.
The best part of doing all of this shopping was coming home and watching my sweet dh unload and put it all away for me. He’s the one that lined everything up made it like a grocery store.
Now when next year comes around at this time of year are you going to remember to stock pile those coupons and fill your pantries too? I sure will be out there again.
I have been really intimidated with canning for a really long time. I’ve always wanted to can some of our own foods but was always so scared. And I always thought it was too hard, too long and the kids would get in the way in take my time away from me.
I was so wrong.
For the last 10 years or so, off and on, I would buy pumpkins at Halloween time with the intentions of canning the pulp or freezing it. Last year I finally decided it was time to stop talking about it and wanting to do it and froze a whole bunch of pumpkin. This year I decided it was time to get the pressure canner and can the pumpkin how I always wanted it.
So last week I finally got out my pressure canner, brought the 
pumpkins in the house and turned 2 good sized pumpkins into 5 quarts of canned pumpkin.
Do you want to know how I did it? Well too bad, here it is anyways. 
Start preheating the oven at 350o. I cut a side off the pumpkin and then cleaned out the strings and the seeds. Then put on a cookie sheet with sides as the pumpkin will lose some moisture (water) while cooking. The first time I put the pumpkin in the oven I used a cake pan but I don’t think it worked out as well. The pumpkin will take several hours too cook to get it ready but still keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn. I burned a little of the pumpkin and the dish on the first try.
Next I took a spoon and started scooping out the pumpkin pulp. I then squished the excess water out in the strainer and filled my quart jars. (But what I forgot to mention is don’t forget to sterilize your jars and lids first.) I then wiped off the tops of the jars and put the lids on and screwed them down hand tight but not too tight.
Now it’s time to fill the pressure cooker with water (2 quarts or 10 cups) and place the jars inside.
And then you can start cooking!!! Yay!!! The cooking took the longest time of all in this whole process.
The pressure cooker took 10 minutes to get up to pressure. Then the 15 lb. weight was added and cooked again for 75 minutes.
The pressure cooker then took another 60 minutes to release the pressure. Once all of the cooking was done and pressure was released the jars were taken out and set on a towel on the counter.
The pumpkin wasn’t completely put away in the pantry until the next morning.
Overall this whole experience was great and made it so we are ready to do more canning. In fact we may be looking at canning applesauce this weekend. We’ll see!!!
Two great websites that I used to help me were a You Tube Video by Nancy Today and Pick Your Own.
