We made it to 2017 - Woo-Hoo!! 
Happy New Year, All!!
How are you folks going to spend this wonderful day?
Hubby worked last night (poor guy - NYE is not a fun time to be the booking officer!) so will likely drag in the door around 8, have breakfast, and haul himself upstairs for a shower and a nap. While he's napping, I plan to prep for our traditional New Year's dinner - I'll grab a corned beef brisket out of the freezer and put it in a pan of cold water to thaw; then rinse the black eye peas that I boiled and set to soak overnight and put them in the crock pot with some onions and other seasonings (including a little bit of chopped hot peppers), and set them to cooking. When Hubby is about ready for supper, we'll toss the corned beef in the pressure cooker and cook it; when it's done, we'll lift it out and add some potatoes and carrots to the broth; then top it with wedges of cabbage and cook them while the corned beef cools enough to slice. A pan of cornbread slid into the oven will be all we need to accompany the meal
The dishes are soaking in the dishpan - my hands will be happy to be soaking in the hot dishwater here in a bit! Once I'm done with that, I need to go out and fill my birdfeeders and hang the suet feeder I picked up yesterday when I got off work early. I need to carry out the compost, take the trash to the bag in the shed; and while I'm in the shed, I need to look for a small bag of potting soil that I'm sure is there - if I can figure out where Hubby stashed it
I've got a rosemary plant and a poinsettia that need repotting; plus I want to take some cuttings of thyme and see if I can get them to root - it's stayed alive and green through temps down to 2*F but I want some fresh in the house to use during snow season.
Once I get the black eye peas out of my big pot and get it washed up (my daughter makes fun of me for 'warshing' the dishes lol!), I want to pick over the three bags of Great Northern beans I snagged at Aldi on my way home yesterday - not only did we somehow run out of tuna, we ran out of home canned pork 'n beans as well!! I'll bring them up to a boil, then let them sit overnight to soak before canning them tomorrow. My pork 'n bean canning recipe is hit and miss -
fill the jar 2/3 of the way full of beans and add a heaping teaspoon of dried onions (or dried onion and pepper mix; depends on what comes to hand first in the cabinet lol!). Then mix some homemade or store bought catsup in the with the soaking water from the beans that's been brought up to a boil; add a few heaping spoonfuls of season salt and stir it up well before pouring it over the beans in the jars. Top with a chunk of salt pork or bacon before wiping the rim of the jar and adding lid and ring band. I can the pints for 70 minutes; quarts for 90 minutes.
Sometime while Hubby is napping, I need to run to town to drop off the boys' thermal swimsuits as daughter and family are leaving on vacation tomorrow and will need them. I'm wondering if I won't come back home with two little boys in tow so that their Mama can get the laundry and packing done with minimal 'help' from them While I'm in town, I'll stop at the local chain grocery store that my work Buddy gave me a store coupon book for and pick up a few of the sale items - Smithfield bacon 12 oz for $1.99 (guess it'll be bacon going in those jars of beans), Skippy peanut butter 15-16 oz jars for $1.49, limit 2; and I have 75 cents off 2 coupons, so $1.13 jar after coupons.
Aaand now it looks like I have to go sort through the tubs of summer boy clothes that I put away last week - daughter needs shorts to take on vacation!
Take care, All - wishing you all a wonderful 2017!!
Happy New Year, All!!How are you folks going to spend this wonderful day?
Hubby worked last night (poor guy - NYE is not a fun time to be the booking officer!) so will likely drag in the door around 8, have breakfast, and haul himself upstairs for a shower and a nap. While he's napping, I plan to prep for our traditional New Year's dinner - I'll grab a corned beef brisket out of the freezer and put it in a pan of cold water to thaw; then rinse the black eye peas that I boiled and set to soak overnight and put them in the crock pot with some onions and other seasonings (including a little bit of chopped hot peppers), and set them to cooking. When Hubby is about ready for supper, we'll toss the corned beef in the pressure cooker and cook it; when it's done, we'll lift it out and add some potatoes and carrots to the broth; then top it with wedges of cabbage and cook them while the corned beef cools enough to slice. A pan of cornbread slid into the oven will be all we need to accompany the meal
The dishes are soaking in the dishpan - my hands will be happy to be soaking in the hot dishwater here in a bit! Once I'm done with that, I need to go out and fill my birdfeeders and hang the suet feeder I picked up yesterday when I got off work early. I need to carry out the compost, take the trash to the bag in the shed; and while I'm in the shed, I need to look for a small bag of potting soil that I'm sure is there - if I can figure out where Hubby stashed it
I've got a rosemary plant and a poinsettia that need repotting; plus I want to take some cuttings of thyme and see if I can get them to root - it's stayed alive and green through temps down to 2*F but I want some fresh in the house to use during snow season.Once I get the black eye peas out of my big pot and get it washed up (my daughter makes fun of me for 'warshing' the dishes lol!), I want to pick over the three bags of Great Northern beans I snagged at Aldi on my way home yesterday - not only did we somehow run out of tuna, we ran out of home canned pork 'n beans as well!! I'll bring them up to a boil, then let them sit overnight to soak before canning them tomorrow. My pork 'n bean canning recipe is hit and miss -
fill the jar 2/3 of the way full of beans and add a heaping teaspoon of dried onions (or dried onion and pepper mix; depends on what comes to hand first in the cabinet lol!). Then mix some homemade or store bought catsup in the with the soaking water from the beans that's been brought up to a boil; add a few heaping spoonfuls of season salt and stir it up well before pouring it over the beans in the jars. Top with a chunk of salt pork or bacon before wiping the rim of the jar and adding lid and ring band. I can the pints for 70 minutes; quarts for 90 minutes.
Sometime while Hubby is napping, I need to run to town to drop off the boys' thermal swimsuits as daughter and family are leaving on vacation tomorrow and will need them. I'm wondering if I won't come back home with two little boys in tow so that their Mama can get the laundry and packing done with minimal 'help' from them
While I'm in town, I'll stop at the local chain grocery store that my work Buddy gave me a store coupon book for and pick up a few of the sale items - Smithfield bacon 12 oz for $1.99 (guess it'll be bacon going in those jars of beans), Skippy peanut butter 15-16 oz jars for $1.49, limit 2; and I have 75 cents off 2 coupons, so $1.13 jar after coupons.Aaand now it looks like I have to go sort through the tubs of summer boy clothes that I put away last week - daughter needs shorts to take on vacation!
Take care, All - wishing you all a wonderful 2017!!
