What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Sometimes when I start to write a blog post, I stop because I feel like the way I do things is not normal, at least by today’s standards. My grandma did things this way but, with so many of us rarely even eating at home, I wonder if those who still read my cooking posts...

This morning I was looking for something on the blog and came across this picture of my Texas garden. Briefly I missed having such a large garden but then I remembered how much time I spent in the garden to keep it weeded, watered and bugs under control. There’s truly a time and season for...

The garden . . well, some of it, has taken off and while I’ve been picking things that need to be picked, I haven’t been doing much with preserving the bounty. It’s ok if you think I’m lazy but I’m cutting back on some of the canning. Instead of canning the potatoes, I’m freeze drying...

This is probably the fourth year I’ve made eggplant salsa and it is, hands down, my favorite thing to can. You’re probably sick of reading about it but trust me . . you do, right? 

Everyone is probably tired of hearing me talking about this eggplant salsa but we really love it. I’m not much of a red sauce fan but I do like this. Yesterday I picked 7 or 8 more eggplants and opened one of the previously canned jars of salsa and fixed it for our dinner. Here’s...

Yesterday while eating breakfast, I was telling Vince where all the food came from. The eggs came from a friend less than a mile away. The potatoes came from the garden. The sausage came from a farmer/butcher a few miles away. I milled soft white wheat for the biscuits. I love eating this way. Last...

Don’t ask me why I love this Eggplant Salsa because I really shouldn’t since I don’t like red sauce and I don’t like oregano but I love fennel seeds and I love eggplant and I definitely love this stuff. In this post, I mentioned my favorite way to use it. I had 5 or 6...

It was in September, 2022 that I harvested all the eggplants as the season was coming to a close and made a big batch of eggplant salsa. I wrote this blog post about it. I’m having a hard time believing I used 32 cans of tomatoes but maybe I did. I’m also having a hard...

It seems that every year, when I’m in the middle of canning, freeze drying or dehydrating veggies from the garden or things I buy at the farmers’ markets, there are always things I wish I had canned ahead. This year, I’m determined to can as much as I can ahead so all of my canning...

This is not meant to be political so please do not make it that way. If you’re not interested in canning or preserving, this will likely be not worth your time. Yesterday we were in town and I only needed a few things. Of course, Vince had to stop by Walmart so I ran in...

Vince loves biscuits and sausage gravy. I don’t think I had ever eaten those together until I met him. I had seen them and seen other people eat them but that’s not something my family liked. I’m learning to like it but I usually eat the gravy on top of my eggs and have my...

Not my backyard but my friend down the street – her backyard eggs. It was so nice to have an omelette from eggs that were about 24 hours old! I’m back to loving breakfast again. Here’s everything set up assembly line style, which seems to work great for me and my absent mindedness. Not virtue...

I understand that many people have no desire to can anything. I understand that if you want to start canning . . as in never canned before . . it can be expensive to get started. There are now some decent electric canners. I have two and I will use those when I have a...

These days, I would much rather cross stitch than cook. That’s not good because we have to eat, neither of us want to go out to eat, but . . I have a lot of cross stitching to get done and 2025 is going to be a big year of finishes . . that’s my...

First, thank you all so very much for noticing the “V” missing on For the Love of Nature. Please don’t ever feel bad about pointing out a mistake. Every now and then, someone will point out a mistake that was actually in the chart and I’m happy to explain why I stitched it that way....

Carter from Grow & Preserve (YouTube) comes up with the best recipes. While some of the recipes she shares are not tested and “approved”, she knows what she’s doing and she is careful about the ingredients she uses and she tests the pH on dishes that need to have the correct acidity for water bath...

Got the red beans with sausage and ground beef canned. 17 quarts! See the second one back on the second row from the left? When I took the picture, it had not sealed and I was halfway hoping it wouldn’t and we would have it for dinner tomorrow but it sealed. I had planned to...

The plan was to get the ham broth canned so I started on that before breakfast. It was an easy project because the broth had been in the roaster all night. All I had to do was scoop it up, pour it into the jars, straining it as I poured it. I really need to...

Note: That’s different from Pork & Beans!

The American Beauty berry is one of my favorite plants. When I was a child, they grew wild in the woods behind our house and we pick the berries and make all kinds of make believe concoctions with them – nothing that we ever really consumed. Many years later when we lived in Nevada, MO,...