Leaves are beginning to change, plastering my car so that my wipers have a job to do every morning that I go somewhere. The fall rains have begun...almost three weeks before their regular time, and things in the garden are showing that fall die-off look pretty early.
I almost dont know what to think. I love fall........its my favorite time of year. But I am most certainly not ready for cuddling up on the couch and listening to the wind howl in a snowstorm around the house. I am not even sure I am ready for the warm cup of coffee while wrapped in a blanket out on the porch on a crisp fall morning. Give me a couple weeks, and I will be there. I promise.
But normally this time of year is sweltering hot, things are producing like crazy in the garden, and I am hard pressed to keep up with it.
The dehydrator is sitting silent.
The canner is empty.
And I am wondering what the year ahead holds for us here at The Welcoming House.
Anyhow, as many of you know, our dear Grandma Bea passed into the arms of the Lord on Saturday evening. I found out right after I got off the air from the radio show. My heart still aches as I think about all the days ahead of us that we will be going through without her smile, or her laugh, or her questions. I want to cry for my mother-in-law who is celebrating her birthday today as best she can, only days after the death of the only parent she had left.
It is always hard to lose someone you love. You can be thankful if you knew they loved the Lord, because God is clear in His word that their names are written in the Book of Life, and they will be with Him in Heaven when all is said and done.
But you still miss them here on earth. SO much. I am so incredibly thankful for the way that God took a young woman with no extended family that she knew, and placed her in a family such as the one I am blessed to be a part of now. Grandma Bea was always a delight, and so much fun to have around. She turned 89 on Friday, and went home a day later. I am thankful she is no longer suffering. Thankful that whatever are in the days ahead for our nation and our world, that she is safe from all of it. She remembered the Great Depression quite well, and talked about it, always was wrapping her leftovers in napkins and taking them home, telling us how they lived, scalping a few of the jams and jellies off the tables in restaurants, or saving packets of condiments for the future.
Those hard times are behind her, and I am thankful she is at peace now. We will be gone for funeral stuff from Wednesday through Friday, so you will only get one more post this week, dear readers. I am sure you understand and will pray for us as we lay her earthly body to rest.
Love you, Grandma.
With the cool air, and perhaps a bit of nostalgia (Grandma Bea was always amazed and supportive of my canning habit) I just wanted to leave you with a couple of the recipes that I love to pull out for quick meals when I am looking for something on a quick afternoon. They are both soups, easy to make, and so easy to jar up. I pray that you will find them as easy to make and as filling as our family does on crisp fall afternoons. Each recipe gives the amounts of ingredients by the jar, so you can make as few or as many as you like. We tend to make about 14-20 of each kind each year to enjoy later. I have many more recipes like this I will be sharing over the coming weeks for you, as meals on the shelf are a great and quick idea if you have a pressure canner.
If you did not get a chance to listen to the radio show on Saturday evening, I pray you will take a little time and listen On Demand by clicking the link below. We had a lot of fun, had a silly "man in the can" incident from a live caller, and I really enjoyed just chatting with Vickilynn Haycraft as the host of the show. I hope that you get a chance to listen!
Many Blessings to you and yours,
Heather
Recipes:
Lydia's Green Bean Soup
In each Quart jar place the following ingredients in order:
1 tsp sea salt/ sprig of oregano and 2 basil leaves
3/4 cup of ham chunks
1/4 cup of onion dices
1 cup of potatoes, diced
1 cup of green beans or mixed green beans and wax beans
Top with boiling water to the bottom thread of the jar and process 90 minutes at whatever pressure you need to use for your elevation. The ingredients cook inside the jar and make their own delicious broth. I serve this with either homemade biscuits from my Biscuit Master Mix, or top with croutons from slices of homemade bread. The Hettorite folks that we got this recipe from top it with a type of Old World German noodle called spaetzle.
Turkey Rice Soup:
In each Quart Jar place the following ingredients in order:
1 tsp salt/ oregano, tarragon and thyme sprigs
1/2 cup brown rice
3/4 cup turkey cubes
1/4 cup onion dices
3/4 cup carrot slices
1/4 cup of celery pieces
1/2 cup of cut corn
This will not totally fill the jar, but that is just fine. Top with boiling water until it reaches the bottom thread of the neck, which is 1" head space. Again ,it will make its own broth as it processes. Dont use white rice as it will turn to mush. Brown rice is the only one we have found so far that holds its integrity while being canned for so long. This is a great soup to serve with Farmer Bread, especially if you add cheddar cheese shreds to the bread while making it. Click HERE for that recipe.
I will be posting a couple other soup meals tomorrow for you, so check back again for those. I hope you all have a wonderful week and that you are understanding as to why the blog will be pretty inactive as of Wednesday. Click below for the link to listen to the radio program that aired on Saturday evening.
Thanks for stopping by today!!
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~Heather @ The Welcoming House