Busy Morning

I had alot to get done this morning so we could travel two hours away to see a granddaughter's volleyball game later in the day... you only live once, right?

So I got the canning gear out and got the jars to boiling. 

Next up, I needed to shred our zucchinis. It was cold and foggy this morning and only 32 degrees. Our furnace was turned on to take the chill out of the air. It hasn't been used for 6 months and it was not happy. At first we thought someone was loudly singing opera in the back mudroom. So, I tiptoed to the back of the house to find the furnace moaning. We turned it off and lit a fire in the wood stove. Thank goodness for preparing for winter.  The repair man came out and gave us the verdict, the furnace was old and dead. Hmmm. do we buy a log splitter or a new furnace? A lot to think about in the next few days. 

Anywhooo, I was glad I picked the zucchini the night before just in cased it froze. 

I picked six of them and they needed to be taken care of. 

So I shred it all to freeze. 

I was getting ready to make split pea soup so I threw a cup of zuc in it. Good stuff. 

Throw in the crock pot... 

a package of split peas

a couple of ham hocks

3 chopped carrots

2 chopped celery

a chopped small onion

3 chopped garlic cloves

a cup of shredded zucchini

5 cups of chicken broth 

a bay leaf

salt and pepper

Add all the ingredients, stir, set at 8hours and forget about it. 

Back to the zucchini....

I ended up with 25 - one cup bags to go into the freezer of zucchini.  These will go into breads, soups, chilis, eggs, whatever might sound good at the time.

Next up I wanted to try a new recipe I found at Canning Granny.  It is her Thai Dipping Sauce and it turned out fantastic! I was able to use some of the garlic we grew this year.

You can find the recipe HERE

You start with apple cider vinegar and sugar. 

Adding chopped garlic and 1/2 cup of hot pepper flakes... ohmy she did a great job writing this recipe. I LOVE it !  You can use it for spring rolls, egg rolls, rice, over fried cabbage, salads... the sky is the limit with this sauce.  

After canning and cleaning the kitchen we head to the volleyball game two hours away. 

We returned from our trip at 11pm dog-tired. It was great to have a hot crock of split pea soup ready for us! 

peace, health and happiness!