I am wishing you, the best of days for this day. North Florida is cloudy and muggy for this day of the year, but I can see and hear the sights and sounds of Fall! So, I am happy that it is near.
I just wanted to pop in and share a little recipe that goes along with this seafood dinner.
Shrimp Cocktail Sauce
Just use ketchup and a TBSP or two of Horseradish sauce. I used two, with 1/4 c of ketchup.
As for the cornbread disks, the next time I will use only cornmeal and water to make a very runny batter and cast iron-fry with a tiny amount of lard. They will be thinner and crispier, that way.
The fish and shrimp were just cleaned and battered with flour/cornmeal mixture with seasoning in the dry mix.
This meal hit the spot with me. So I hope that you like it.
Today I want to talk about being frugal at the produce store for your fruits and vegetables. This is a good way to keep these items in your diet as they can be on the costly side. But when you know how to shop for these it is so nice to always have around.
On the way to the beach last week, I stopped off at a Produce store and they had two shopping carts full of fruits and vegetables in gallon sized bags for $1 each. As I was not on my way home I chose two bags of okra that I could keep in the refridgerator in my hotel room until I got back home so the okra went along on the trip with me. And I kept it cold coming back home. This is the frugal way to have your fruits and vegetables! You do have to use the fruit right away though!
To prep the okra all you have to do is wash well in sink and then cut off the ends. Forgive me if it’s a little freckled(spotty) looking. It was on markdown but still very cookable. I use lard in my cast iron frying pan as I know whats in lard but am not to sure about other oils except for olive oil. I also only use real butter nothing else will do. Sorry if you disagree with me.
So the lard is getting hot, and in a medium bowl I have cornmeal to use for batter. I have to start on #7 heat on my stove dial and then when some okra is batterred and frying, I turn it down to #5 heat setting.Don’t overfill the pan with okra as you want it to cook and be lightly browned for 8 minutes each pan that you do. As you put in each new batch turn to #7 and then after a couple of minutes turn to #5 to finish cooking. Just roll each piece over at half time.
There is nothing worse than burned grease smell and taste so keep working with your settings. This $2 was very well spent and was such a frugal deal. I also put up my tomatoes and other fruits this way too, which I will cover in other publishings. Hugs and Love to you all! #Vegetables
Cast iron skillet with corn-meal.Some of the fried okra.
As for the seasoning while cooking the okra as it was done and moved over into a bowl I just very lightly sprinkled accent and salt over each batch that went into the bowl. Very lightly or you will get it too salty!
I have never canned boiled peanuts before but I have wondered just how do you do it! So here’s the recipe! These are to die for, right out of the jar the peanuts have great taste and texture. Just like you stopped off at a roadside produce stand!
I do believe that canning peanuts is the easiest now thing that I have ever canned and I have been canning for many years now as it is a passion of mine and also a thing of the past pretty soon if our younger generations do not pick this up and carry it on to teach their children to continue this wisdom from our elders from way on back in time. It is my pleasure to teach you how to do this!
I got 5lbs of green peanuts at a produce stand for around $1.89 a pound. High price but they are just coming into season now, so later they will be cheaper. These looked pretty clean without much dirt on them but I washed them through several sink loads of water just to be sure..I had also washed my quart jars with rings and lids. And my hands as I am a hand washer all day long-everyday. I put the peanuts into an extra-large pot and just coved them with water and added 1 cup of salt and just let everything come to a boil so that everything was heated up.
I had my quart jars ready with hot water in a few jars so that as I filled one jar with the peanuts, I just poured the water into an empty jar. (just so the jars were warm) to put hot stuff into them. After each jar was filled with peanuts, then I finished filling it with the (Canning salt or kosher salt) water. Debubble time now. This means use a long chopstick as I do or a wooden spoon to push down all around the inside of your jar to release air bubbles from the jar (so it will not spoil).
Next step is to use a paper-towel dipped into white vinegar to wipe rim of jar off and then put on lid with the band going on next(just finger tight) do not tarzan tighten the band ever! Air has to escape in the canner from your jars.
Oops forgot to tell you to add 2 inches of water to your pressure canner and have heating on medium heat at the begging of this whole process! You can not waterbath can peanuts(as they are a low acid food) you have to use a pressure cooker canner(there is a pressure cooker also but not for canning) that is for fast food cooking, like a frozen beef roast in about 30 minutes from freezer to table! I will talk about this one of these days!
Put the silver tin disk in the bottom of the pot and add your jars using a jar lifter and a hand towel for the bottom as these are hot and heavy. Put your lid on pressure canner without the jiggly thing. After you see steam coming out the jiggly thing spout for 10 minutes, then put the jiggly (pressure valve) on top of the pot. Set timer for 115 minutes for quarts or 90 minutes for pints, with keeping 10 lbs of pressure throughout cooking time.
Now here is how I regulate the ten pounds of pressure. You have to keep a watch on this the whole time to keep it right. To begin with I use the number 6 setting on my stove when I am getting the steam to begin and go for 10 minutes. Then I stand and watch the pressure dial untill it goes up tp 10 (this takes a long time). Now I set the timmer for 115 minutes for quarts. The pressure dial with the numbers on it will try to keep climbing past the #10 towards #15, you do not want to go over 10 so I turn my dial to #3 right when it gets to number 10(the first time) and keep checking back every ten minutes to see that it is on 10 and not lower or higher. If lower then barely bump up your stove knob. Or if higher then barely bump down(which mine will be right on or lower) never higher on my #3 stove knob setting.
When timer goes off, just turn off the stove and walk away. Do Not Open the pot now! If you do it may explode from the pressure and you will be scalded all over your body! The pressure dial on the poy has to say zero for the number. My pot has two other safety pressure valves one tin and one rubber and they will go down also when pressure is all out. But the number dial will let you know it is safe to open. Open lid away from you as the steam will burn you if opened towards your face.
Now have a kitchen towel folded double beside the stove to put jars on as you lift each one out with the jar lifter. Doesn’t hurt to hold a thick pot-holder on bottom of each lifted jar as these are heavy! Now listen for the sweet sound of each jar sealing with a pinging sound, just a short time later. Try to push down on lids if one pops up and down it is not sealed and you have to eat today or recan the entire time again.
Label and date your jars. I use a permanent marker on lids. I keep up to three years but some say longer. I rotate and use latest dates first when I open a jar. These items are all totally cooked and just need to be heated up for dinner. PS. do not use the lids on arbour or harbor canning jars, I did and not one sealed so I had to re-can a bunch of quarts! I got these at Walmart! But the lids I do buy come from Walmart and say USA on the lids or the cheap white box that says Universal Metal lids. Mad in the USA! As for the rings you can use the same box over and over for years until they rust. But if you take off the bands after you hear the PING and wash and put away they will last forever.
I am truly sorry that this post is so long! But I want the newest generations of canners to have the know-how and feel safe to become the next generation of canners to preserve the best foods and know how to save tons of money by doing your own. Also you know what’s in your food too. Hugs and Love from me to you! #Canning
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