More Cabbage Used

Dealing with 14.68 pounds of cabbage is a challenge! I started with cabbage soup - 2 containers are in the freezer. This morning my goal was to make a small batch of sauerkraut. I sliced 2 1/2 pounds in the food processor, added salt, mixed well and let it sit for about 2 hours. The cabbage was soft and water/brine had formed (what I wanted to happen). I then put the cabbage into a quart canning jar and the little bit that didn't fit went into a jelly jar. Right now they are sitting on my kitchen counter doing their thing. The anticipated result is fermentation and then sauerkraut. I'm to skim any scum off every day or so. I'm not sure how long this will take as temperature of the kitchen controls the speed. (spent some time this morning reading in canning books and on line. I don't intend to can - will just refrigerate.   Because there was still quite a bit of cabbage left, I shredded some more and after steam blanching and cooling, filled several trays of my dehydrator and am drying it. I've not done cabbage before but I have dried other veggies so this should not be a problem. I'm so pleased with myself I took a picture!

The red jar is 2 red peppers I put in the dehydrator yesterday. As you can see, the cabbage is packed into the large jar. It should bubble and maybe spill over, thus the plates. 

It was a successful day!

Some pictures for Mike

Here is the new car! It is quite nice and beeps as a safety feature if one gets too close to something when you back up. It also has this neat light that flashes on the dashboard by the window on both sides to tell the driver someone is in their blind spot. I haven't driven it yet but it is comfortable!

B was blowing the leaves on the driveway while I took these pictures. If you look back you can see where he had been and where he was going. It will look good for about an hour as it's windy and the leaves are really falling!

Cabbage Soup

We were shopping earlier this week and purchased a head of cabbage - all 14 pounds of it. Yes, one head, 14 pounds!

One VERY large head! Clearly too large to put in a pot to loosen the leaves for stuffed cabbage. So I went to my box of recipes to try and located a recipe from the local paper for "Sally Beckering's Cabbage Soup". Of course I made some changes but it's basically her soup.

First off, cut the cabbage - so I took about a fourth of it.  

I decided to first chop the onions and celery and start them cooking in 6 cups of water. Diced about 3 stalks of celery and then a rather large onion. I use coffee liners to hold this type of thing as it makes it easier to add to the pot when cooking.

I then cut the cut the piece of cabbage into rather large slices and then chopped it into small pieces. Since the recipe called for a medium head of cabbage and I was cutting back on the water, I went with 10 cups of chopped cabbage. I added this to the simmering water and cooked 1 pound of 85% hamburger in another pan while I stirred the simmering soup every so often.

After simmering the cabbage, onion and celery until tender (about 20 minutes) I added 2 8 oz cans of tomato sauce, 1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes with juice and a teaspoon of beef base and the drained ground beef.  I also had some tomato slices left from last night's dinner so I chopped them and added to the soup. Stirred well and after bringing up to a boil, I turned the soup down and had myself a glass of wine!

I let it summer about 20 minutes.

I then added 1/3 cup of catchup, stirred well and let it simmer while I cleaned things up and set the table. The recipe also had you adding some brown sugar which I did NOT do.

It was very good - a filling soup for a cold fall night. 

Since it was cool out last night I just plopped the lid on the pan and set it out on the deck (fenced in and up rather high)

This morning I brought it in and filled 3 freezer quart containers. I think I'll freeze two and we will have the third for lunch sometime over the next few days.

This was good and would have even been better had I served freshly baked bread (dream away).

At this point I'm not sure how I will use the rest of the cabbage.

Good Bye Summer

One of the clear indications of summer ending is the docks coming out. Since the docks come out this weekend, the boat needed to come out this week. B had scheduled it for today - with the understanding that weather would be the determining factor. At first the forecast sounded good but by yesterday they were calling for fog. They were right - fog on the lake but not really heavy. So, off we went. As First Mate, my job is the lines - tying up, casting off, so on. So while the Captain started the engines, I untied the lines totally removing the ones in the front as well as the spring line. However, due to the shortness of the dock (or the length of the boat) the aft lines went with the boat to be removed on land. It started to drizzle as B backed out of the slip. I walked down the dock and drove off to meet B at the public ramp where the marina would pull the boat. 

He made it! Here he lines up to be pulled out

And here is the boat on the trailer. They clean the bottom then shrink wrap it for the winter.

While I'm sorry boating season is over, fall is a lovely time of year. Our leaves have been turning and as you look around you can see yellows, reds and orange as the leaves change and then drop. 

Here I looked down - one of many leaves on the driveway. B has to get the blower out almost every day due to the leaves and acorns that fall at this time of year.

The trees you go through to get to the docks. You can just about see the road. 

The day has turned muggy and we should be warm tomorrow also with temperatures in the mid 70s. Then rain and cooler temperatures next week. At least it isn't snow!!

Happy Birthday Honey!!!

Today was Honey's birthday - she is 2 years old. It is amazing how much she has grown both in size and behavior. There was a time we were not sure we would make it - such a little stinker. She ate several Cable remote controls during the phase of eating electronics. Pillows, toilet paper, shoes, pens, magazines - so much was eaten, chewed and played with. I'm just starting to leave a pillow on the bed and we still move TV clickers and phones when we leave the house. She still will grab a sweater left on the chair or a sock if left on the floor. We can now leave shoes on the floor when we sit in the living room and while she checks them out, she doesn't eat them. She still barks way too much - at many things that move outside the window. I often get an order from Amazon delivered by UPS. Honey hears the truck before it turns into our road and is up on the chair barking. She is ecstatic when the UPS guy pulls into the driveway. Several neighbors wave as they pass as you can see Honey in the window on one of the two chairs. She keeps us active as we take her for walks around the property. Sometimes for a potty break and other times just for a walk about. She gives great kisses and often sleeps in Bs lap on beside me on the sofa. She makes funny noises when she sleeps and at times you can tell she is having a nice dream. She is good at night and very rarely needs to go out unless she is sick. She loves raw carrots, special treats, eating and just being our girl. Happy Birthday, Honey!!