Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Living My Life with Relish


This past weekend we went down to Burger's farm stand.
It's a nice drive on country roads and the weather was wonderful.
We put the top down on Sonic the Hedgehog and rode off.

Other than being full of out-of-state tourists(our bad for going on a weekend!)it was a nice visit.


Beans, mums and fall squash.


 Lots of onions.



Sweet Italian peppers by the load!

Hubs even let me stop on the way home at the cemetery to snap some more photos to put on Find A Grave(aka F.A.G.).


Here's what I brought home from the farm stand.....



A couple of zukes, a red cabbage and acorn squash for $3 total.



25 lbs. of sweet onions for $10.....


And a bushel of peppers for $15. 
I got 37 peppers in this bushel so they cost me less than .50¢ each and they were HUGE!

Some of those peppers are destined for Stuffed Peppers and some are getting cut into strips and frozen for Fajitas this Winter.

As for the rest, add a few more ingredients and 2 days of cutting, chopping, stirring and processing and I now have this.....



14+ quarts of my Family Secret Recipe Pepper Relish.

My sister in-law is Jones-ing for some but she needs to return all my jars first!
Every year I give her some and she NEVER returns the jars.

This may be my last year making the relish however.
Even with getting the veggies cheap-ish it's expensive to make!
Having to pay for new jars each year is just one part of the expense but it's just not that.
It just takes so much out of me now physically to make this.
Two entire days of work alone.
If I had someone to help make it I would continue.


But it does look pretty and I have a feeling of accomplishment for now. 8-)

Now I need to find a place to put all this!

And then turn my attention to these.....


The tomatoes we picked this past weekend.



And these too that I found later because they were hiding under my Morning Glory vines. lol

I probably won't can the tomatoes as there isn't enough to make it worth the while.  I'll just cook em down into sauce and put it all in the fridge.
I had hoped Burgers had bushels of seconds for cheap that I could process and can but no such luck.

Tonight's dinner will be stuffed peppers with some of the peppers I didn't use in the relish.  I'll make a double batch for planned leftovers.  I'll also make a few more for the freezer.

Plus I need to cut the other leftover peppers into strips for the freezer.....if I can find room in there for them.

And I got a big order on Etsy this morning so I need to take a box up to the PO to get it weighed since my scale only handles up to 10 lbs.  The box weighs about 40 lbs. so I hope I can carry it!

Then it's off to grocery shop for the week.
Busy, busy day here.

Catch y'all later,

Sluggy

11 comments:

  1. If I lived close to you, I would help make the relish! Sounds delish!

    Rebekah

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  2. The pepper price is the cheapest I have seen anywhere except a backyard. And, they ARE huge. That is quite a haul you brought back. I know what you mean about the work and not getting jars back.

    Every year this guy gives me figs. I give him a jar of fig preserves. Now, he owes me almost a dozen jars. I can buy figs with that $10 and not be beholden. I keep tabs in my head as to who needs to return jars.

    When hubs retires, he can help you! So, now you have a plan. lol I am still a few years from needing help canning, but I can feel that day coming. Small batches is all I can handle anymore.

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  3. I wish we lived close to veggies like that. Here in Texas, you would think we would have lots, but it gets too hot in the summer and everything burns. The soil is not great for growing, so we get lots of greens, some tomatoes. That is about it. That relish looks delish!

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  4. Hold out for those jars!!!! Yum...

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  5. That is really mean of you to post the picture of these delicious cans and not to share a recipe :)....

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  6. WOW! That is all!

    Peace <3
    Jay

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  7. Holy peppers - that was a sweet deal. The onions too, they never get that cheap here!

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    Replies
    1. The onions were a great deal as well. But they are sweet onions(not Spanish ones)so they won't keep long. I'll have to slice/chop or dice and freeze some probably to keep them all.

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  8. And now I'm hungry!!!!!
    Do stuffed peppers freeze well? My little wheels are a turnin'.

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    Replies
    1. I freeze them precooked, but make sure you protect them well from freezer burn.

      Delete

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