Super Dill Dill Beans

Mmmmm, Do you enjoy the crunch of a good Dill Pickle?? How about Green Beans? Do you think that maybe they sound a bit strange sharing the company of the Classic Dill Pickle? We were a bit hesitant when we began this process last year. D.H. and I approached the idea of Dilled Green Beans with curiousness as well as a small pinch of doubt. Would this be a thing our family would really enjoy? Or maybe just an okay way to use up part of a bountiful harvest of green beans?? Last year we canned 34 Pint jars of Dill Beans and by Spring were literally rationing them so that we would have 3 jars left to share with visiting family for the 4th of July! 

Green bean season this year has started off decent and I decided to can considerably less of our "Savory Beans" and WAYYY more Dill Beans, with a few alterations to the recipe to cater to our families tasties! I've changed the name up to "Super Dill Dill Beans" because we are adding a kick of hotness that last years beans lacked. I will make notes in the recipe because I am still going to can some jars of last years recipe for the younger taste buds in the family that are note quite ready to be singed by flaming hotness! 

Clark Family "Super Dill Dill Beans"

You'll need (per. batch):

4 lbs green beans (2 lbs for pints and last years recipe aka:"lyr")

4 fancy "hot" peppers, we are experimenting with some recommendations that we aquired at the Farmers Market that were sold to me as "Hot" Peppers... (No peppers for lyr in pints.)
2 t. red pepper (1 t. red pepper for lyr in pints)

12 cloves garlic (6 cloves garlic for lyr in pints)
4 large heads of dill (same)
5 cups white vinegar (2 1/2 c vinegar)
5 cups water (2 1/2 c water)
1/2 cup pickling salt (1/4 cup pickling salt)

Alum, pinch pr. jar no matter which size

1. Wash and stem beans
2. cut into lengths for jars. I am canning them in wide mouth quarts this year, instead of wide mouth pints....
3. pack beans into sterilized jars
4. to each jar add: 1/2 t. red pepper, 3 cloves garlic, 1 head dill, add a pinch of alum to each jar to aid in crispness :P  and 1 of your fancy Hot Peppers!(1/4 t. Red pepper, 1 1/2 cloves garlic, 1 head dill, no extra pepper for last years recipe done in pint jars)
5. Measure vinegar, water and salt and bring to a boil
6. pour over beans to 1/2 inch head space
7. process for 15 minutes for Quarts, (7 minutes for Pints)


If you need help with learning how to "can" your Beans, comment below or see my "Strawberry Preserves" recipe for step by step basic water bath canning instructions. I will try to get into pressure canning later on as well. But for now, you just need to know how to water bath can. 

Lastly- I need to let you all know that it has been a HUGE stretch for me actually writing my "changes" down. I am NOT a recipe follower, but know that people should be able to "do" what I do to make something that they like.... I am definitely a "ratatouille" style chef-ess.... (I stole that from a friend of mine because it fit so PERFECTLY, and I love that movie!!) I like to fly by the seat of my pants, am not afraid of trying something new....on the spot, and my family is quite accustomed to being known as my guinea pigs!! I do, however differ from Tami, because I like to keep a sink of hot soapy water going to throw dirty dishes into as I go.... I HATE eating a delish meal and then having to get up and spend an hour "working" for what I just ate by cleaning a dirty kitchen. I like to get a majority of my clean up done before I eat :P Happy Canning All!! :D

Don't hate the players, hate the game...

I read Psalm 16 as part of my bible study today and found it very comforting. I know that all that I have is because of the goodness of God, and I seek to find contentment with the Lord as my perfect portion, seeking no more or no less than he desires for me. He gives me council and and when I manage to walk consistently speaking to Him throughout my day, my days are filled with so much joy and peace. And when I am faced with adversity, I know that my heart instructs me to a correct and gracious response. I pray that I will be able to listen with a fever and a desire to always respond correctly. 

Through our journeys we will all come across people in our lives, walking as fellow brothers and sisters as well as nonbelievers and pagans. All of us, if we do not rely on the strength of Christ, can fall and be used by satan himself, or merely to our own carnal and human desires and free will.  Me must be wary and diligent in our walk with Christ, listening carefully. We must learn to not hate people because of what they do, or the choices that they are making. We cannot expect to make their choices for them. But if we are truly walking in Christ, and following his lead, he will make them ready to hear what he has to say through us, or not. Everyone on earth is capable of wicked and evil deeds, but it is the forgiven who have the relationship with our Lord, Jesus, who will prevail and rise back up after falling. 

On another note, viable fruit should be visible as proof of a persons walk with Christ. If we don't see fruit, it allows us to question their very salvation, and perhaps that is what we need to be praying for after all. I know that there are many many Christians in the world who are walking in a false security of their salvation, having prayed a prayer, but not with meaning, walking a path where no fruit is evident. All of us have kinks and desires that God needs to work out and smooth over, but if we keep falling back to the same old responses and desires, and cannot control our hearts and voices nor our actions, then perhaps there is a greater issue at hand. Our hearts and our minds have to be aligned as one with our faith in the ONE TRUE GOD! 

If you see a brother or sister that consistently falls and repeats the same mistakes over and over again, they may be drowning. They may not be leaning on the strength and council of Christ. We need to be fervent in our prayers and petitions to the Lord. Pray continuously with all kinds of prayers and requests, for this pleases the Lord!

Truly you are all the good that is in me, without you I would be no good at all. Lord you are enough for me, you hold my life in your hands, and by trusting in you my paths have traveled through pleasant places, indeed you have blessed me with a beautiful family, a loving church of brothers and sisters and a home that is above and beyond what I know is possible without you. Without you, I would have no reason to go on. You are my comfort, my grace, my salvation, my entire reason for being. I try to walk and seek your council, my heart listens for you at night. In you I have confidence that no one can shake me. My heart is glad, my soul feels solace in you Lord. My life is safe in your hands, and I know that you will never forsake me. You reveal your purpose and path for me in your awesome time, and let me see glimpses of the path ahead and the possibilities and promises of joy. I know that through you I will be blessed, and in times of turmoil you will never be silent or leave me alone. You are who you say you are. 

Psalm 16

You Will Not Abandon My Soul

A Miktam of David.

16:1 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”

3 As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.

4 The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.

5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.

11 You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Slice!!

 

This really doesn't do it justice, the ice cream was still pretty soft from all my hurried hot torture!! Tomorrow it will be easier to slice :P But still super yummy!!

Cake Continued....

 Right after I put the last layer on....

Now, this cake is not for the faint of heart, or any one who is watching calories for sure!!

You should now have a spring form pan with your brownie crust and a tub of Ice cream in the freezer.....

Pull out your tub of ice cream, after it has ripened, and scoop about 10-12 scoops (not huge) better to do smaller scoops onto your crust. If your ice cream is pretty hard, let it sit for a few minutes so that you can work it smoothly over entire crust. You don't want to crush your crust. Once you get it smoothed over the crust, cover pan with foil and put in freezer careful to keep it flat. Let freeze over night.

Now, pull out your jar of caramel sauce that you made from the previous recipe, you can use either one... but if you are like me, the chocolate one is about gone because I have been USING it and choose to save the regular one!! :)  Put your jar in a sauce pan full of warm water, and turn a small burner on low heat and gently warm your sauce. It will take about 15-20 minutes, you don't need to baby it, just don't heat too fast. Pick it up every now and then to see if it has softened so that it will pour out of jar onto your ice cream. When it has, remove it from heat and pull out cake from freezer. Carefully pour caramel (about 2 cups worth) over ice cream layer. Try to cover as much of the ice cream as you can just by pouring evenly around, when the sauce hits the ice cream, it doesn't take long for the sauce to re-harden, and it's kind of hard to move it around once is has cooled back off and the ice cream is all mushy! As soon as you get is spread over ice cream, cover and put immediately back into freezer until caramel and ice cream are hardened back up.

Lastly you'll need to make your fudgy sauce for the topping layer..... This recipe I stole and adapted to my needs from a DELICIOUS Peanut Butter Luster Pie that I used to make for hubby and his Dad for Fathers day, back before we had peanut butter allergies and diabetes in the family....

Fudgy Topping for Ice Cream Pie

You'll need:

2 Cups Semisweet chocolate chips
4 Tbs. butter
3-4 Tbs. milk
2 Tbs. Corn Syrup

1. Melt all ingredients in sauce pan over low, stirring until smooth. Start with minimun amount of milk and add more milk if necessary to reach good spreading consistency. Let cool for a few minutes.
2. Pull out frozen cake and pour fudge over top, spreading with frosting spatula makes it a little easier. Should glide over caramel easily, though. 
3. Immedialty re-freeze and let freeze for an hour or two.

To eat your cake!!

Take out of freezer, remove Spring form side, and let sit for a few minutes to thaw just enough to slice cake. Slice, serve and enjoy!!
I'll put up a slice piece when we slice into it!!

Husband pampering

Today is Jason's Birthday!! so.... he loves coffee right? I made him coffee added a little of the caramel sauce from my caramel sauce recipe and then topped it with some fresh whipped chocolate cream. To do this I used the remaining 1 cup of Heavy Whipping Cream that I had after I made his ice cream yesterday.... 

Chocolate Whipped Cream

1 Cup Heavy Whipping cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 Tbs. Sugar
2 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Whip all ingredients until stiff peaks form. Yes, you can over whip... makes it not easy to dollop off your spoon, more of a plop, but doesn't hurt the cream.
Tip: I like to chill my bowl and mixer whisk in the freezer for about 15 minutes before I want to start the recipe, it makes it whip up faster.

Now for the Cake..... I have to admit, I caved for lack of time and used box brownies even though I have a really yummy brownie recipe... usually, though, I like to make mine home made :P

Homemade Fudgy Brownies (for cake crust)

1/2 cup canola oil

3 ounces unsweetened bakers chocolate coarsely chopped, (or cocoa/shortening substitute if in a pinch read your cocoa container and it should have the directions for doing this)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2/3 cup all P. flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1. in saucepan melt bakers chocolate and oil over low heat stirring constantly. Remove from heat and let sit while preparing remaining ingredients.

2. Grease 8X8 pan for regular recipe. For your cake crust, however, bake in a 10" spring form pan. set aside. Stir sugar into Chocolate mixture.Add eggs, 1 at a time to mixture, mix with wooden spoon until combined. Stir in vanilla.

3. In small bowl stir together flour and baking powder. Add four mixture to chocolate mixture, stir just until combined. Add nuts if desired. Spread batter in pan.

4. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Cool on rack, or grates on gas stove top work well too.  Brownies will look moist when you pull them out. They finish cooking as they cool, and I like them almost doughy in the middle! This is not a Cake style brownie recipe!!

Now that you have your crust, time to make ice cream! Unless you don't have an ice cream maker, then just go pick out your fav. flavor of ice cream and call it good! Or, hubby says, go buy ice cream maker (cause it's a sin not to have one.... he says....) :P

This Year he choose Mocha Chip Ice Cream, okay, so I encouraged that decision a little bit... So shoot me??

Mocha Chip Gourmet Ice Cream

You'll need this much to make 2 Quarts of ice cream:

1 1/2 Cups whole Milk

1 1/3 Cup Granulate Sugar

4 T. Instant Coffee of espresso powder I used plain old Nescafe Suave....

1 ounce unsweetened bakers chocolate (makes "chips" in the ice cream but you can use 3 T.                     Unsweetened cocoa instead, it will just be chocolate, no little pieces.)

3 cups heavy cream

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

In small pan with wire whisk mix together milk, sugar, cocoa, coffee/espresso powder until sugar and powder are dissolved, about 2 minutes on low. Stir in Cream and vanilla. Freeze according to your machines directions. Mine takes about 25 minutes to freeze to a soft serve texture, then I put the ice cream in an air tight tub and freeze for 4-5 hours until I put on top of Brownie crust.

Next...... completing your cake!!

Time to Talk

 This book can be found on Amazon as well as the others I mention....

Wow, I can't believe that my kids are getting so big.... and have so many questions. We have goats know, 4 does and a buck, and have had chickens for a while now both hens and a rooster...  My kids have a limited understanding of why you need both kinds but I know that they need to know more. And I very much desire them to have a biblical understanding of why God made them who they are and what they are. About a year ago I was researching books on the touchy subjects of purity, god's desires for our bodies and his design for sex. I have found a few that I have ordered and should get in a few days. I will blog about it after we get the chance to read through them both as the parents, and then when we read them with our kids. There is one book I ordered for my eldest boy, "Facing the Facts: The Truth About Sex and You" its a Focus on the Family recommended book for pre-teens and teens. I also got a devotional book "His Mighty Warrior: A Treasure Map from Your King" for us to read through with both of the boys. For the girls I found a few I was interested in. First I found "His Little Princess: Treasured Letters from Your King (His Princess)" which is a devotional book that I can read through with the girls together. And then I found something aimed more at Charity Ann's age, but may read it to both as well "Princess & the Kiss: A Story of God's Gift of Purity," there is a devotional that goes along with that as well. I may save a few of them for Christmas Presents to them, but really see the need to get started on a few of them.

This year we are also going to begin studying Zoology using Apologia's Zoology Curriculum. We have another student that is going to join us once a week or so to do the experiments and lab stuff. It's going to be great! We also decided to use Rod and Staff for our Core Subjects of English, Reading, Spelling, some History, Bible Study, Math for Cayleb and Charity Ann and Penmanship for Noah and Charity Ann. I also got their "Art Packs" for each of them, which have a study designed to teach them beginning art skills like grid drawing, shading, working with different mediums etc. The kids are very excited about those as well!

With all these new books that God has blessed us with, we are sure to have LOTS to talk about this coming year. And I really am feeling so positive that we are not missing anything. Last year, I know that they kids were learning, and they were interested but just felt like there were holes in what we were doing. Now I feel much more certain that we are covering all the basics and the rest will just fall into line. We are taking fewer classes at Home Connections this semester, I have it whittled down to one-single-half day! From 12:30-4:15!! WOW. I have never had that small of a class load outside of our work here. The boys will also be continuing their music lessons, and all of us are indulging in Karate twice a week.

Speaking of Karate, I LOVE it. I have been having so much fun working on my Kata's and skills. I am a 2nd Degree Green Belt now, and will potentially be testing for Brown the end of September. We'll see if I can get everything mastered for it by then.

The goats are doing great. We have little man "Humphrey" who is beginning to feel his oats and is finding the girls to be quite pretty. I am hoping that he will be "ready" this Fall, so that we will have some cute little Humphrey babies this Spring. I need to take some pictures and post them on the Farm Site on Face Book. It's raining today, so prolly tomorrow, K.

Quickly

We are having a great beginning to our week. I have a huge list of things I want to accomplish: weeding, getting my SLP's in for the year, canning some preserves, some grocery shopping, and working on a few crafty things. I hope that I can get to all of them, but to do that, I have to get off of here! So, there it is!

Beef Stroganoff

Easy Beef Stroganoff

You'll need:
1 lb. Ground beef
1 onion chopped
2 tsp. garlic minced or crushed
2 Tbs. flour
2 Tbs. butter
sea salt and pepper, to taste (I use about 1/2 tsp. sea salt and 1/4 tsp. ground pepper)
1 cup water
4 Tbs. worchestershire sauce
2 tsp. beef boulion
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper
1 cup Sour Cream
1 can sliced mushrooms
1 package pasta (fettuccine, wagon wheels, macaroni, pretty much whatever you like, OR make 4 cups brown or white rice, sometimes we even do both!)

1. Bring water in large pot to boil and cook pasta according to package.
2. Brown your meat in skillet with onion and garlic, salt and pepper. Drain off fat.
3. Add butter and flour, mix over medium high heat until bubbly, add water, and remaining seasonings. Bring to a boil.
4. Lower heat to low, add sour cream and mushrooms with juice. Stir occasionally until pasta is done.
5. Serve with cooked veggie and home made Artisan Bread. Or fresh salad. I use the 5 minutes a day bread recipe, great pizza crust, dinner rolls, kaiser rolls for hamburgers and sticky buns!! Click on the link for the master recipe!

A Government in turmoil

Yes, this one is about God....

We need to pray for our government. A government that is being influenced to allow people to be lead farther astray. We do need a government that will continue to respect our freedoms, but we also need a government that will continue to adhere to the very morals and ideals of our founding fathers. George Washington stated, "It is the duty of all the nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God." Abraham Lincoln declared, "All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated through this book. But for the Bible we could not know right from wrong." John Quincy Adams wrote, "The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one dissoluble bond, the principals of civil government with the principals of Christianity." John Adams stated, "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." James Madison said, " We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government according to The Ten Commandments of God." Thomas Jefferson asked, "Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed the conviction that these liberties that are the gift of God?" Andrew Jackson urged, "Go to the Scriptures! The joyful promises it contains will be a balm to all your troubles." Christopher Columbus admitted "For the execution of the journey to the Indies I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps. It was the Lord who put it into my mind."  

That time has come; the people that our constitution was written for are few and far between. Most of the incredibly smart men of God that I quoted above helped to guide our country. But now without reverence for God in the hearts and minds of the majority of our countries leaders look where we are going....

I find it so hard to believe, and yet I know it has all already been written, that people can turn their noses up to Christ. They argue that he want's too much, or is selfish. Well, perhaps they are right, but not in the ways that they think. He want's everything for us, and gave it for us, his life. He is selfish because he wants us to be strong in Him and not rest on any other gods or idols of this life. He want's us to accept Him, and trust Him completely. He gives us this one life to get it figured out, and it is so sad that the world is so far gone that many will never even get the chance to hear His name! And for those that have heard His name and have turned away from his call, or think he couldn't possibly be talking to you, you are so wrong. People choose to believe in self serving gods, gods that allow them to do what they want to and apparently don't care that their followers are "loyal" God's that are part of a religion that says what they want to hear, because they don't want to comprehend giving their lives to a religion that asks for everything. Your heart, your soul, your very existence on Earth. First He must reach us, then we are to reach out to the world.

I belong to the One True and Living God, a God who desires the best for my life, but allows me to make my own choices, right or wrong. When I seek His will for my life I am happier than when I try to plunge onward on my own. Who better to know what's best for me, than the one who created me? Humanity is kind of like the teenage and 20's culture. They are living every day trying to separate themselves from their parents, pushing so hard to stand on their own showing the world that they can be better than the person before them. Well, finding Christ is like a conversion from that mental state of mind to a place where I am not threatened by my parents affect over my life. I feel like I can go home and not be lectured about the bad choices that I made, or the things I should have done. Getting to that place, knowing that Christ has my back, and that He can doing ANYTHING. I know that when I make a mistake or do the wrong thing, all I have to do is tell Him about it and feel that it was wrong in my heart. I do my best to move on, trying to not make that mistake again. He throws my wrongs and mistakes as far from Himself as the East is from the West. He will NEVER bring it up again, it's my own human brain that holds on to things to torment me with. I know that God has made everything n my life possible, my family and I are where we are at today because we have tried our best to follow His lead for our lives. From the beginning of our marriage we have struggled but trudged on in Christ. It hasn't been easy, some of it was down right scary! But looking back, we always knew that we were safe in Him. I pray that any couple out there that isn't of the same mind regarding this crucial issue will be blessed by Christ with softened hearts and minds willing to understand and allow Christ to lead them. If you are there, but your spouse isn't keep praying. Don't push, pray. Let Christ do the pushing. He can do ANYTHING!! Just plant your seeds, and watch for God to reveal the plant when it is time.

I would love prayer for a special person in my life, that this person will remain strong in their journey to the arms of Christ. This special person is actively seeking Him, but has lots of questions. Pray that God will put people in that path who can answer truthfully and thoughtfully so that this special person can find the love and safety that only Christ can offer.  Prayers for God to soften the heart of this person's spouse so that it will feel Christ knocking are also needed.

I want prayer for the special kids that I had the privilege to teach during our VBS week as well as a few other kids in my life. I know that there are seeds planted in their hearts. Please pray that God will protect those seeds. They may not be allowed to grow for a long time, but God's love has no expiration, protect those seeds and wrap a cocoon of love around those precious hearts.

And please, pray for our government.

Quotations are taken from a Book titled America's Lost Dream- One Nation Under God, written by: Tom Dooley

tobyMac "City On Our Knees"

Yellowed Brown Rice, Bok Choy and Fennel

Yellowed Brown Rice, Bok Choy and Fennel

What you'll need:

2-3 Baby Bok Choy, or one larger head, sliced

1 Fennel bulb with greens, sliced

4 Tablespoons Butter (or olive oil) plus 2 Tablespoons Butter (or olive oil)

3-4 Cloves Garlic

Sea Salt

4 cups cooked brown rice (great use of leftover rice)

1 tsp. Curry powder

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. ground red pepper

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

2 cups cooked black beans or 4 (2 ounce) portionsgrilled salmon, Ahi or Mahi Mahi Tuna

If using Fish, additional Cajun Seasoning is great for sprinkling on top as you cook it. (My concoction is immediately following this recipe)

1. Saute Bok Choy, Fennel and Garlic in 4 Tbs. Butter until tender

2. Season with Sea Salt as desired. I tend to put about 1/2 tsp.

3. In separate pan heat rice in 2 Tbs. Butter, Curry powder, Cumin, Ground Red Pepper, cinnamon. Add Additional Sea salt to taste..

4. Add black beans to rice and mix gently. Or grill, broil or pan fry fish with desired seasonings.

5. Put rice on plate first, top with veggies. Serve Fish on side or broken up over the top. 

Tify's Cajun Shaker

What you'll need:

1/4 cup  Paprika

1/4 cup Dried Minced Garlic

2 Tbs. Oregano

2 Tbs. Thyme

2 Tbs. Dried Minced Onion

2 Tbs. Ground Red Pepper
2 Tbs. Ground Cumin

2 Tbs. Ground Black Pepper

2 Tbs  Ground Sea Salt

Just mix all ingredients and store in an air tight container. You can omit things if you don't have them, or substitute, but I try to stay as close to this as I can. Change according to your families taste. We like things pretty spicy!! And some families may be watching their salt intake, so you can just leave the salt out and season with it separately. Use within 4 months.... Spices like Oregano and Thyme loose considerable amounts of flavor within the first 6 months of their preparation.... Using home grown herbs and veggies adds the extra "Love" ingredient that we all need so much!!  But we all have to start somewhere!! :)