Dilly beans (pickled green beans)

Last weekend at the farmers market, I picked up a bushel or so of green beans.  Miss S and I sat down and snapped them.  She loves snapping and shelling beans. She is such a little country girl.  Then it comes down to what are you going to make.  Well I have put up, 13 pints and a quart of green beans the regular way by cold packing and pressure canning, had a meal of green beans and potatoes from my garden, then I turned to dilly beans.  A friend turn me on to these a few years ago.  They are delish and easy for even a beginner as they are done by water bath canning.   You can water bath these because they are done in vinegar which the acid will prevent bacterial growth.  I looked through my canning books and recipes online out of curiosity.  There are tons of recipes listed but they are all the same and none of them are the same recipe I have so I thought I would share. They are a delicious little treat to eat just like pickles.

There are 2 recipes I have 1 for regular dilly beans and one for spicy.  I am posting both.  I hope you enjoy as much as we do.

 Dilly beans

• enough fresh green beans to fill a pint jar (snapped and washed) 
• 1 1/2 c vinegar 
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp dill weed
• 1/4 tsp dill seed
• 1/4 tsp tumerac
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes

Put your vinegar in a large sauce pan to boil.  Boil your jar/s to sterilize them.  Then pack raw fresh snapped green beans in the jar.  And in the clove of garlic and all the seasonings.  Then carefully poor the vinegar in the jars leaving 1 inch of head space.  Lid and boil for 15 minutes in a water bath canner.
Leave sitting for at least a week to let the flavor develop properly.

Spicy Dilly beans

• enough fresh green beans to fill a pint jar (snapped and washed) 
• Half of a fresh japeleno pepper ( no seeds for a milder burn seeds for good burn)
• 1 1/2 c vinegar 
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp dill weed
• 1/4 tsp dill seed
• 1/4 tsp tumerac
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp red pepper flakes

Put your vinegar in a large sauce pan to boil.  Boil your jar/s to sterilize them.  Then pack raw fresh snapped green beans in the jar.  And in the clove of garlic and all the seasonings.  Then carefully poor the vinegar in the jars leaving 1 inch of head space.  Lid and boil for 15 minutes in a water bath canner.
Leave sitting for at least a week to let the flavor develop properly.  

I hope you like these dilly beans.  They are so Yummy! 

MRCs Meals ready to cook.

I have been today.  1/2 pound of cheddar and 1/2 of mozerella cheeses waxed for storage. Then I put up 6 breakfast MRCs (meals ready to cook).  In this case they were more Oatmeals.  I figure oatmeal is a healthy and very hearty breakfast.  Today I did 3 sugar free cinnamon raisin oatmeal MRCs and 3 sugar free spiced oatmeal MRCs.  Add water and cook.  Awesome for camping trips and SHTF situations.  When without power you can easily start a fire and use a cast iron dutch oven to cook.  Awesome right?! I think so.  I bottle mine up in serving sizes for 5 people which is the size of my family.  You can adjust to your family size.

Many people ask why I use plastic PET bottles (soda bottles).  Well they are cheap, reusable, and they store really easily.

This is from a couple of months ago.  Now it is all 16 and 20 oz bottles all my 2 liters are in another cabinet.

sugar free Spiced Oatmeal MRC 

1 1/2 c oatmeal

1/4 c evaporated milk

3 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

3 packets of stevia

oxygen absorber

Layer and seal.

5 servings

17 carbs per serving

Recycle, reuse, and Pea soup.

I read an article yesterday about the Amish.  It is not uncommon to find an Amish millionaire.  Well, I am impressed.  In the article it talks about they buy things with multiple purposes, and they reuse things that most of us throw away.

I got to thinking about it.  I do this quite a bit, I use soda and food bottles for food storage.  I have read some articles and blogs that say things like, "soda bottles are okay if you are on a budget, but.."  I don't see it that way.  They are made to be water tight, air tight, and to hold food and drink.  Gee in my book that makes them more than okay for food storage.  And the big plus for me, they are free.  I mean I am reusing what I would have thrown away.  So I get my soda, I get a place to store food, and I am saving it out of the landfill.  I think that is a win, win, win situation.

This morning I got to work bottling up some meals in a bottle.  These are cheap and easy.  I made french onion pea soup.  When you get ready to prepare it, boil water and dump.  That is easy in a stressful situation, like a storm and no power, or worse.  Anyways, here is the recipe to feed 5:

French onion pea soup:
1 1/4 c split peas (you can use whole peas if you want)
1 package of onion soup (not brand specific)
1 packet of ham flavoring
1 oxygen absorber

Combine in a bottle (I used a 12 oz bottle)

To make bring 5 c water to a boil and dump the bottle and cook until peas are the desired softness (personal taste)

There are 24g carbs per serving in this.  So it is fairly low carb.  If you have a diabetic this is a great meal.

Enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  We have all heard it, but do we practice it?  I try to most days, I get up and fix a breakfast meal not just cereal.  Well this oatmeal recipe will get you a nice hearty start in the mornings fairly easily.  This recipe also has about 15 g carbs per serving and oatmeal is heart smart.

Apple Cinnamon  Oatmeal
serves 5          15 carbs per serving

2 cups oatmeal
1/2 c evaporated dry milk
3 packets of Stevia
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 c dehydrated or freeze dried apples

Combine in a bottle and add an oxygen absorber

To mix add 1 1/2 c water.


I hope you enjoy this.


Leave some feed back!

Black Eyed peas ready to make.

Ready to make black eyed peas.

These are easy to make up and store for later.  We all know that we are supposed to eat black eyed peas for New Years.  Make these up in summer when your peas come in and for later.

Black eyed peas

2 c black eyed peas

1 ham  seasoning packet

tsp salt

tbsp pepper

2 tsp pepper flakes ( adjust to your taste)

Layer in a clean dry bottle add an oxygen absorber and seal. 

To cook add 4 c water and enjoy.

This has 5 servings about 18 grams carbs per serving.  So it is Diabetic friendly. You can adjust the seasonings to what your needs and taste.  When I cook black eyed peas fresh, I add a whole jalapeno, so I substituted it with Red pepper flakes.

Its Chili Baby

Who doesn't like Chili on a cold day?  I am no stranger to Frito Chili pie on a cold day.  I made it last week well, except I didn't have Fritos I made do with Doritos.  They had been on sale.  Those of you that don't know me will learn I am a couponer and I am cheap.  

Back to the Chili...This is easy to make with a little prep work.  First things first, you will have to make some dehydrated hamburger meat or buy some FD hamburger meat.  Here are some great directions to make your own.  This is how I do mine too.

http://www.endtimesreport.com/hamburger_rocks.html

Chili recipe for storage.

1/2 c red beans

3/4 c hamburger rocks (dehydrated hamburger meat)

1/4 c freeze dried tomatos

2 cubes of tomato boullion

1/4 dried minced onions

1 cube of beef boullion

1 tsp of garlic

2 tbsp of chili powder

1-3 tbsp of chili flakes (depending on your taste)

1 tsp of cayenne pepper

salt and pepper.

Layer in a bottle, add an oxygen absorber, and seal.

To make 3-4 cups of water and cook.

This is the Tomato Boullion I buy.  

A little hint,  I use a funnel I bought from automotive department for $0.99 as opposed to $5.99 in the kitchen department.  I take a wooden spoon to help get the ingredients in the bottle.  Sometimes it takes a lot of force.

Serves 5 and has about 10 g carbs

Tomato Barley Soup

Yesterday I was packing meal bottles.  When I was done I had just a little bit of barley left, I hate that.  I want to have all done and neat.  So I started searching the internet for a barley recipe that could be converted for food storage.  I wasn't thinking I would find anything low carb, it is barley.  I found a recipe for Tomato Barley Soup, and when I got it made for food storage, I crunched the numbers so I could write the carbs on the bottle.  WOW, 6 carbs per serving Seriously only 6 carbs.  For those of you that are diabetic that isn't even enough to give S a shot being her scale is 1/20.  That would cut down on the amount of insulin use in hard times.

Tomato Barley Soup

1 c pearled barley
1 c chopped dried onion
1 cup tomato boulion (4 cubes) 
salt and pepper to taste
2 cubes of chicken boullion
I added a 1/4 c of lentils but you can do dried carrots

To cook 4 c water, and it serves 6 with 6 carbs each.