Freezer

 Joe and Glenda are on their way here to spend a few days to visit and play cards and have a cocktail or three.  We are always glad to see them and look forward to lunch under the pergola.  We will have BLTs and home made fruit cobbler, fresh tomatoes from Andy's garden with mozzarella cheese and a breakfast pie.  Tonight we will gather at the grill for steaks.  Company always encourages cooking to my way of thinking.

Freezer slaw

2 pounds cabbage
1 large green pepper
3 large carrots
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. celery seed
1 cup vinegar
1/2 cup water

Shred cabbage, green pepper and carrots.  Add onions.
Sprinkle salt; let stand for 1 hour.  Drain.
Combine remaining ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil; 3 minutes.  Cool. Ladle liquid over cabbage mixture; let stand 5 minutes. Stir well.
Pack slaw into plastic freezer jars or freezer containers, leaving 1/2 inch head space.  Seal. Label and freeze.

Peach freezer jam

3 cups of crushed peaches about 2 pounds or 8 medium
6  1/2 cups sugar
2 pouches (3 ounces each) Ball Real Fruit Liquid Pectin
1/2 cup lemon juice

To prepare: Peel and pit.  Cut into slices. Crush slices one layer at a time using a potato masher.  For best results, use fully ripe peaches.
Combine prepared fruit with sugar in a large bowl, mixing thoroughly.  Let stand 10 minutes.
Add entire contents of both pectin pouches and lemon juice.  Stir for 3 minutes.
Ladle freezer jam into clean freezer jars leaving 1/2-inch head space.  Apply caps and let jam stand in refrigerator until set but no longer than 24 hours.  Serve immediately, refrigerate up to 3 weeks or freeze up to one year.

 Blueberry pie filling

12 cups blueberries
3 cups sugar
3/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1/4 cup lemon juice.

Wash and drain blueberries.  combine sugar and corn starch.  stir in blueberries, let stand until juices begin to flow about 30 minutes. Add lemon peel and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken.  Ladle pie filling into plastic freezer jars or plastic freezer containers, leaving 1/2 inch head space.  Cool at room temperatures, not to exceed 2 hours.  Seal, label and freeze.

'Like' enough already~

I love words but like  I enjoy conversation without certain words.  I lose the trail of thought as I like count the number of times the word like is like used in a sentence...like it is too much.  I want to like wish the word like away to its once meaningful mind picture. Just as I wanted awesome to be thrown into the word bone yard like I would like the word like to join it. Over use and sing song Valley Girl sentences drive me insane, like it is time to grow up.  I have also heard like used as a punctuation mark, a pause to see how one reacts to an idea or sentence, and even as a tentative question as the voice rises near the end of a declarative sentence. (Many times I hear it like all in one sentence.) Like use your like adult vocabulary and people will like take you more seriously. Americans are not the only people riding the over used word train.  The British over use the word brilliant.  I cannot for the life of me see how it is applicable in some contexts, but use it they do and for years it has been the cool adjective of choice. (Cool is another old and over used word.) Notice  I am not even like going to the 'f' word which is like so offensive and totally out of hand  and tiresome. The shock value has passed; move on. Oh, how about the superfluous 'for'?  For free.. it isn't for free, it is simply free or free of charge. That one didn't bother me until my neighbor pointed out that flaw. I have held my tongue for a long time on this subject, but today I pulled out my soap box and like climbed aboard.

She Sheds

"She Sheds,"  a woman's answer to The Man Cave. I have a she cave just off our master bedroom.  We have been back and forth on what to call this new room--well new about 2000.  Now we know.  These lady retreats once were called Morning Rooms; a place where a lady would retreat after breakfast to write her letters and take care of paper work.  A place to read and reflect away from the hoopla of the family. My cave would be a great nursery or a massive California closet fit for the real housewives of Orange County. (That's for the next owners of this house to decide...when they pry it out of my cold dead hands.)  For now and for as long as I live, this will be my room.  It has a small washer and dryer, a small refrigerator, a counter for a coffee maker and toaster oven and a chaise lounge for when I have the vapors, an easy chair for watching TV or reading, several pieces of favorite antique tables and stands and a computer.  Mine is not rustic as the pictures below, it fits well tucked in its space in this home.

These are adorable, don't you think?
 

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