The Damsel in Dis Dress
Posted in preserving on Friday, August 14th, 2009 01:24 pm GMT -6
The Damsel and her sister went completely insane and bought 40 pounds of turkey meat from a farmer. It had been cut off the bone, in great slabs of quivery raw meat. The Damsel is a tentative carnivore. She eats meat happily, but doesn’t like to think about it too much. She likes it cut [...]
Posted in preserving on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 11:22 am GMT -6
If you have herbs growing in your garden and want to preserve some for later, yes, it’s very “old school” to dry them as we did in this lesson. But dried herbs are one thing, and fresh herbs another. Here’s one method of preserving more of that fresh taste: freezing. This method works with most [...]
Posted in preserving, thrifty on Friday, July 31st, 2009 10:10 am GMT -6
Y’all know about this, right? “This” being putting whole bananas in the freezer? Sometimes the Damsel is enticed by banana displays at the grocery store. They look so perfectly perfect, and the Damsel buys them for her sprog. Who sometimes eat them. And sometimes the bananas get looking, well, less pristine. And no matter how [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, preserving on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 11:34 am GMT -6
It is the Damsel’s wish that you know how to preserve food. It’s one of the basic skills of becoming more self-reliant. When you put stuff in glass jars and seal it, it’s called “canning” or “bottling” or “putting up.” And the easiest thing to “put up,” in the Damsel’s humble opinion, is apricots. So [...]
Posted in preserving on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 05:35 pm GMT -6
The Damsel has had several questions on how to fix freezer jam that didn’t set up. Without cooking it, she knows of only one thing that can be done. Well, two, if you count calling it “fruit syrup” and eat it on pancakes and ice cream. There are two products on the market–Instant Clear Jel [...]
Posted in preserving on Monday, July 20th, 2009 10:13 am GMT -6
The Knight in Shining Armor thinned the onion patch, and brought the Damsel these: There were just too darn many onions crowding the patch. Since he wants BIG onions, something had to give. When the Damsel saw these, it reminded her of jars she’s seen of pickled onions, and thought she’d give it a go. [...]
Posted in cooking, preserving on Friday, July 10th, 2009 03:53 pm GMT -6
The raspberries in the Damsel’s garden are going gangbusters, and she’s in heaven. Her arms are scratched but it’s oh so worth it. Raspberries—yum. Freezer jam is nice because it preserves more of the natural, fresh flavor of the fruit you’re using. Plus, it’s great that you don’t have to cook it, and when it’s [...]
Posted in gardening, preserving on Friday, June 19th, 2009 02:24 pm GMT -6
If you have lavender in your garden, maybe it’s flowering for you now like it is here in the mountains by the Damsel’s cottage. Lavender has a strong, fresh scent that’s been used for centuries. Very old-school. It’s used in soap, candles, lotion–pretty much anything scented has a lavender rendition. Some people even eat it. [...]
