Catch Up

 

Saturday

I managed to score two medium sized pumpkins for £2 each.  The first of I hope to be a couple of batches of pumpkin to be preserved for the Pantry shelf. I also want to make some Pumpkin Marmalade as well. First things first though, I intend to chunk the pumpkins I have for use in soups, pies etc. I have never been able to do this in the past as did not have the right instructions.  If I had a freezer I would also be blanching and freezing it in wedges to roast up and serve with a roast lunch.  You do not have to defrost them as they can go into hot fat straight from the freezer.  Does spit a bit, but you do need the hot fat for roasts.  I have found keeps its shape better this way round.  If I get a chance I will also be making some soup as well.

I also scored 6 x 1lb bags of carrots reduced to 31p a bag.  Would have seemed rude not to have bought them home.  Plans are to water bath these also for the Pantry shelf so that I have a little stock of veggies available to me on the Pantry shelf that can be used in stews, casseroles and other meals. I also intend to do some jars of Swede and Parsnip.  I can then mix up a jar of the carrots and a jar of the swede and use it to make crushed carrot and swede or other root veg mixes. I have plans to look out for reduced veg and then put this up where I can.  I am worried about veggies generally. I also thought that it might help with feeding us towards the end of the month when the pennies get a bit tighter (before pay day), and make sure we have something edible available to us. Even if it is only a chicken stew with a few peas and then root veggies you can still  make a warming cheap meal. Even if this only done a bit at a time and when I can afford it anything is better than nothing. Preserved Broccoli can be used as a vegetable, turned into a Broccoli cheese, used as a base for Stilton/Blue Cheese and Broccoli soup.  There are all sorts of ways you can use the preserves to turn them into a useful meal from a preserved Pantry ingredient, which in turn means you can prepare a good tasty meal when time is limited and you are on the run, but still need to eat.

On speaking with the veg shop owners today, much of the prime smallholding land between Spalding and Boston is apparently not being planted with veggies like it normally is for a variety of reasons.  Farmers cannot get the pickers if they do set the crops and many are opting not to sow because of this and the high prices of the fertiliser and the widening gap of earning a good living wage for growing in the first place.  It is about time a lot of the supermarkets were bought to heel as earning obscene profits from other people's misery is certainly immoral.  Bringing in supplies from other countries if the farmers cannot provide is also leaving this country very vulnerable and exposed especially if that supplier then has problems in its own country as it stands to reason they will not supply us in order to feed their own country.  We do not have a workable Food supply system in this country. It is disjointed and does not provide the food cover that this country needs.  The last time that happened was during the second world war where all sorts of special regulations were brought in to help increase productivity of food and also fining people for wasting food.  By the end of the war we were in a better position than before even though it took some 10 years after the war for the country to recover totally.  We have never been in that position since.

We had a stew for tea on Saturday; I added onions, leek, carrots, parsnip, swede and then served it with mashed potato.  Oh it was good.  Been craving this for the past couple of weeks. We have another good meal out of it for tomorrow and possibly one meal for Monday. Depends if he goes back for seconds. We have big pasta bowls full. I prepped the rest of the first swede up and the rest of the parsnip,  Plans at the moment are that I will either use the remains in a "Branston" style pickle or I will water bathe that as well as the carrot.

I also have 2kilos of Shallots, 2kilos of pickling onions, 6 kilos of apples, plus some eating apples and tomatoes to process.  A bowl of Lemons, two punnets of small oranges which are going to be turned into Spiced Orange rings for preserving; I use these on a Gammon joint after the rind has been stripped off and then add brown sugar and ginger and then cover with the orange slices to caramelise, give a bit more flavour and to keep the meat moist. All will be useful additions to the Pantry shelf at the end of the day.  

A little bit of an update.  The oranges were gorgeous sweet with a lot of flavour so this lot are going to be eaten and I am going to see if I can get a load more to preserve in syrup whole.  The flavour of them was like the little oranges you get commercially in a tin.  Lots of flavour.

The Christmas pudding and cake were made a while ago as was the Mincemeat.

I am also considering preserving some pears in mulled wine, spicing some in vinegar as well as bottling some more in syrup.  This might change as with everything else.  Still have pickled cucumbers, pickled eggs and pickled red cabbage to sort out. Will probably do the eggs next, then the cukes and finally the cabbage.  All the latter items are needed for the Christmas table.

Saturday Evening

I ended up doing some research on some recipes. Initially I was just looking for some new to me recipes to pop on my Pinterest board in order to expand the preserving portfolio a little more.  I found quite a few that I was interested in and I have found a load more to have a look at.  I ended up writing up a load of recipes for my folder which I am pennies permitting hoping to do over the next month or so.  In any event if I do not get to them this year there will be next.  It is not always possible to do everything in one year, and sometimes I make a big batch of say a chutney and carry it across to the following year so that I can make something different inbetween as otherwise you end up making too much chutney. It all gets used up though. In effect therefore I am making a batch every second year.  You can do that quite safely with a lot of preserves such as chutney because of the vinegar and the sugar content which preserves the fruit.

Sunday

A cold quiet day, one to reflect on things that have happened so far this year and just simply be.  Often it is the body that needs rest, but sometimes the soul really needs to recharge and you have to go with the flow as it were. Murky mist, rain, clouds all part of the cycle of mother nature closing down to conserve energy for the growing season yet to come.  A time to rest.  A time for quiet reflection and grace.

I had decided to do some work in the kitchen but something came on the TV that I was interested in. What I did not appreciate was that there were about seven parts to this programme and all were being shown at the same time so no work done, but rest given.

On the work front some things have been accomplished, but the cold, fatigue and tiredness have stopped play.  I do so hate it when am like this as I have just so much to do.  So back to the drawing board for the time being.  Catch up on this in a few days or so.  Not happy but it is what it is.

Catch you all soon.

Pattypan

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