Kitchen Canning Duty ...

 

First thing this morning ... in the kitchen ...
made a Peach Streusel Cake ...
to take to the neighbours after I finished my canning ...
It was a token of appreciation ...  for all the vegetables ... I was given ...
from their garden ...

 

First on my list was to make the Tomatillo Salsa ...
while this batch was processing ...
I decided to continue canning ....
since I already had the kitchen set up ...

 

Next to be canned was another salsa ...
"Fresh Vegetable Salsa"
was the perfect recipe to use up the fresh tomatoes ...
 and the rest of the produce ...

 

What a rewarding feeling ...

seeing all the jars displayed ...

ready to be stored ...

and enjoyed when the craving for Nachos and salsa arises ...

Funny thing ... it didn't take long to get the craving ...

wanted to try out the Tomatillo Salsa ...

Nachos chips and Salsa ... with some Smoked Kokanee ...

was the perfect lunch ... 

before delivering the cake ...

and visiting with the neighbours ....

mmmmmmmm

Another Job Completed ...

 

I started this job back in June ...

still had a large pile of trees to deal with ...

well today was the day ... it was a beautiful out there ...

spent the afternoon ...

limbing the trees ... stacking the logs ... for firewood next year ...

and cleaning up ...

using the "Trusty Tractor" ...

to push all the debris and branches ... 

into a large pile ...

to be burned later into the fall ...

Feels great to have it done ... !!!

No Holding Him Back Now ...

 

Little Nixon is on the move ...

crawling around and getting into everything ...

helping mommy with the dishes ... 

(I have to find the picture of Ian when he was a baby ... Nixon looks like his daddy ... )

and playing out in the sand pit in the field ...

with his brother and the little girl from next door ...  Megan ...

Nixon loves Daigen's dump truck ... 

and has the sound affects with it ...

brrrrooooom ... brrrroooom ...

Love the picture of Daigen doing his little happy dance ... !!!!

Canning Season ...

 

Today I decided to do some canning ...
peaches were ripe and ready ...
so I gathered all the essential equipment ...
and spent my morning in the kitchen ...
then I received a call from our neighbour ...
wondering if I would like some vegetables ...
from her garden ...
and this is what showed up at my door ...
Oh My Goodness ...
I really have my work cut out for me now ...

 

Tomatoes ... onions ... garlic ... parsley ... cabbages ...
hot peppers and a box full of tomatillos ...
I continued canning my peaches ...
and then figured since I had everything out ...
I would can a few jars of tomatoes ...
have a some for sandwiches and salads ...
then with rest I will make some salsa ...
and the Tomatillo Salsa again too ...

 

Fruits of my labour ...

21 jars of peaches and 7 jars of tomatoes ...

only the beginning of stocking the cold room ...

to enjoy a taste of summer ...

during the long cold winter months ...

Oma's Recipe ...

 

Boiled potatoes and prune plums in the fridge ...
perfect ... just what I have been craving ...

Zwetschgenknödel ... (Plum Dumplings) ...

 

Grated the potatoes in the food processor ...
added an egg ... salt ... and baking powder ... flour ...
mixed it up to form the dough ...

 

Rolled the  dough in the form of a log ...
cut sections ... flattened to a disc ...
placed a plum in the centre ...
folded over the dough over ...
pinched the edges ... and rolled into a ball ...

 

Placed them in a pot of boiling water ...
cooked them about 8 min ...
in the meantime ... mixed together breadcrumbs ... sugar ... melted butter ...
browned the mixture in the oven ...
to give it a golden colour ...
removed the cooked dumplings and rolled in the breadcrumb mixture ...

Oh ... my mouth was watering ... couldn't wait to taste them ...

not sure if it was break time or lunch time ...

didn't matter ...

a cup of coffee and a few ... Zwetschgenknodel ...

was exactly what I needed today ... 

Yummy ... !!!

(oh yes  ... and boys ... I will make you some the next time I see you ... )

I'm thinking these ones are going to disappear rather quickly ... !!

Last Day of Summer Outing ...

 

After visiting with Oma ... Johanna ... Burk and Rose ... talking about the the Kokanees ...

they decided to go for a drive to the creek ...

where the Kokanees were spawning ...

(a few in the pool in the bottom lefthand corner of the picture)

unfortunately being a week later than when Mike and I went ...

there weren't as many in the water ... 

they had a lovely time out in the wilderness anyway ...

They also went for lunch at the Pub ...

then made their way up to our house ...

for a quick visit ...

(and pick up Oma's iPad) ...

It was another beautiful ... warm sunny day ... 27 degrees ... !!!

Jerky For Nathan ...

 

Well this was definitely a new adventure for me ...
Nathan had given me packages of frozen deer meat ...
hoping I would take the challenge ...
and make some Deer Jerky ...
And I did ...
 

It took quite awhile to find a recipe online ...
watching YouTube videos ...
learning the process ...
mixed up the brine ingredients ...
put in the deer meat ...
and placed it in the fridge to marinate overnight ...
 

Took out the batch of marinated meat in the morning ...

laid them on trays to drain and dry a bit ...

before they were put in the smoker ...

about 7hrs later ...

took out the smoked ... dehydrated jerky ...

amazed at how much they had shrunk ...

some of them were a little well done ...

due to the thickness of the slices ...

and darkened by the marinade ...

think I will remove the excess next time ...

all in all when it came down to the taste test ...

they were incredibly delicious ...

packaged them up and are in the freezer ...

Hope Nathan will be happy with the result ...

because there is another batch marinating (different brine) in the fridge ...

to be smoked tomorrow ...

now that I have an idea of what I am doing ...

and getting some tips from our neighbour ...

the butcher ... !!!

Beauty of Sunflowers ...

 

 

 

Went to visit the neighbours ... after picking up my mail ...

saw her sunflowers and just had to get a few pictures ...

this is only one of them ...

used three different borders while editing ...

I couldn't decide which one to choose ...

hence all three are being posted ...

Closing Up ...

 

Summer is over for the pool ...

although we still have had 25 -27 degree weather during the day ...

 the nights are much cooler ... it is time now for ...

treating the pool for winterization ...

shutting things down ...

draining the water to a lower level ...

putting on the winter cover ...

protecting it until next spring ...

We had a great summer season ...

 swimming and play in the pool ... !!!!

Fire Up The Smoker ...

 

This was the first time that I used the fillet knife ...
on the Kokanees ...
to get them ready for smoking ... actually wasn't that difficult ...
was less work for removing the bones before ...
rather than after the process ...
 set here on the trays to dry ... from being in the marinade overnight ...
before I put them on the racks ...
in the smoker ...
 

A couple hours later ...

using Hickory and Apple chips ...

for the smoke flavour ...

ended up with over 4 lbs of delicious smoked Kokanee ...

packaged and stored in the freezer ...

Yum ... !!!

Red In The Water ...

Since it was getting late in the season for fishing Kokanees ...

and after a day on the lake fishing on our way home ...

we decided to stop at the creek ...

to see if the creek was ablaze with red fish ...

and sure enough the Kokanees ...

were heading upstream to spawn ...

 

 

  

It was an amazing sight ... one everyone should experience ...

we spent quite a bit of time ...

walking up and down the creek ...

watching the fish ...

For more information on the Kokanee ...

please go to 

Fish Facts Here

:

Our Picnic Spot ...

 

After fishing for a few hours ...
we headed to a quiet little picnic spot ...

 

It was a beautiful sight ... to watch the kayaks ...

floating on the water ... while having out lunch ...

later back out in the water ...

caught a glimpse of a Blue Heron ...

on the edge of the lake ...

then capturing geese ... taking flight over the water ...

it was a beautiful day ... spending it on the boat ... 

fishing and relaxing ...

In The Fog ...

September 14, 2012
 

 

 

 

We decided to go fishing one last time ...
on Lake Koocanusa ...

early morning left us in the fog ...

it took a few hours before ...

we were blessed with a sunny day ...

reaching a temperature of 27 degrees in the afternoon ...

"N" Is For Nixon ...

 

So adorable in his Monkey hat that Kendall had made for him ...
giving his sock monkey a hug ... !!!

 

Nixon is a happy little boy ...
and he is on the move now ...

 

This is tub time without the splashing ...

 

Just love those chubby little toes ...