Garden goings on

What kind of things are you growing in your garden?  I'm not a brilliant gardener, but I'm learning on the job ;D.

 This is a zucchini I picked last week.  I had to self pollinate, which involved picking the petals off a male flower "He loves me, he loves me not..." (hehehe), and using the stamen as a paintbrush on a female flower.  So much easier than having to use a cotton bud.  This zucchini only took a week to grow.  It was used in a zucchini slice we devoured.

 Mushrooms on special at Aldi for 99 cents a tub.  My children love mushroom chips.  I spray the mushrooms slices with oil, then do a very light sprinkling of salt.  Dry until they are crispy.  You don't have to add the salt, but it tastes great and is a healthier alternative to deep fried potato chips.  I did 6 trays of dried mushrooms and used up two tubs.

 Purple climbing beans thriving.  These are amazing beans that turn green when you cook them.  I picked a dozen of them to use in Shepherd's Pie last night.  Yum!  My tomato plant is a giant one with cherry tomatoes all over it.  I was silly and put straw on the dirt to slow down the slugs, but I don't think the tomato plant appreciated the gesture.  It is still hanging in there though.

Some shallots I pulled up this morning.  They're now in the sun drying out until the roots go crunchy.  I'm planning on using them soon rather than storing them for a length of time, so they don't have to dry out very much.  If I wanted to be all fancy I could braid them all together and hang them up to dry, but this is the first time I have successfully grown them to this point :D

Week 48 of the 2011 Food Storage Challenge

$10 Challenge
Store 4 cans soup and 1 can spaghetti

$20 Challenge
Store 8 cans soup and 2 cans spaghetti


Soup

I know a lot of you are clever enough to make your own soup, and I personally love the taste of my home-made chicken soup, but when you don't have the resources (financially or food-wise) to be able to make your own soup, the canned variety is great! 

Spend your extra energy making bread (or better yet, put the kids to work on that;D )

Not to deter anyone from this challenge, but there also needs to be moderation in all things.  I came across this article today on elevated BPA levels in a study of some people who ate canned soup for 5 days straight: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/11/23/High-BPA-levels-linked-to-canned-soup/UPI-26961322067158/

I just have to add though that I have my food storage there as an emergency.  I don't eat from cans every day but when I have had to rely on my food storage, boy have I needed it!  Not even all of that was canned either.  Rotate with pasta and sauce (bottled sauce, not canned) and frozen foods if you can.

Spaghetti

Canned spaghetti on toast is cheap and easy.  It can be eaten cold straight out of the tin if it's a desperate situation.

You can add extra things to it to make it more of a meal, like frozen peas and corn, bacon and tomato, even fresh herbs.

Christmas Countdown with stories

I recently pulled out 24 Christmas Stories I printed out many years ago.  I love to read these to my children in the lead up to Christmas, and will do so again this year.  The stories are gorgeous, and include 'The Little Match GIrl', 'Angel on a Doorstep' and 'The Cobbler and his Guest'.  Tissues may be required for some ;D

They can be found here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/43003269/A-Story-a-Day-Until-Christmas

I do a lolly countdown too in an Advent Calendar my Mother-in-Law made, but the stories help to remind my children what Christmas is really about.

What do you do with your family at Christmas time?

Week 47 of the 2011 Food Storage Challenge

$10 Challenge
Store 2 kgs powdered milk

$20 Challenge
Store 4 kgs powdered milk

I'm not keen on powdered milk, but that may be because I'm not fond of milk in general.  I used to be highly allergic to cows milk and any soy product.  I remember wandering up the street with my brother with some glass milk bottles to ask an older gentleman if he could supply us with goats milk, which he would happily do.

I'm not sure if my mother paid him money or with veggies from the garden, but he was a lovely elderly man.  That was the only milk I could have.  Sometimes we would have it warm.  I shudder to think what that was like...

I digress.  I still like to use milk and milk products in my cooking, and powdered milk is definitely necessary in the bread I make.

Here is some information on powdered milk on a previous post of mine: http://denleydiaries.blogspot.com/2011/01/powdered-milk.html

And this one, with some useful 'uses' for powdered milk: http://denleydiaries.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-to-do-with-powdered-milk.html

The biggest hint is to check the use-by date on your powered milk.  You don't want off milk.  It's nasty!

Week 46 of the 2011 Food Storage Challenge

$10 Challenge
Store 2 bottles Vitamins (100 tablets each)

$20 Challenge
Store 4 bottles vitamins (100 tablets each)

I guess the main reason for this challenge is that if you have to life off your food storage, and you have very limited access to fresh fruit and veggies, you may need some extra vitamins in your diet to keep you healthy.

I have heard some vitamin tablets are better than others.  Some will go straight through your system and not be absorbed - kind of defeats the purpose.  There are so many different brands and varieties.  Store them if you will use them.

November 2011 Monthly Challenge

This month's challenge is to purchase bleach, disinfectant and vinegar.

Bleach
For hard core cleaning.  Here are some ideas, found on the Reader's Digest website: http://www.rd.com/home/12-smart-ways-to-use-bleach/

I have heard that it definitely comes in handy in extremely humid weather, or to assist in cleaning up after a flood.  It kills lots of nasties.

Disinfectant
There are a few different types of disinfectant, so store the type that you would use.  There are the cream types for First Aid for topical use, or there are the bottles of disinfectant concentrate you would use e.g. to clean your toilet with, or your kitchen benches.  So depending on your need, is what you would store.

Vinegar
This one is an interesting one.  It also can be used as a cleaner.  I listed some uses, and some links in a previous post: http://denleydiaries.blogspot.com/2011/09/week-37-of-2011-food-storage-challenge.html  

Week 45 of the 2011 Food Storage Challenge

$10 Challenge
Replenish the Kitty Tin

$20 Challenge
Replenish the Kitty Tin

If you have been using a jar or tin to put your leftover money in, you get to top it up this week, as we have another vitamin week coming up.  Vitamins are rather expensive.

If you don't want to store those, think of something else useful you would like to store instead.