Big Universe, Small World... ©2013-2020

I made clove oil last week. We have used it this week for topical pain application. It was effective and it worked well. I wish I had known of the uses of oils AGES ago!! Some of the pictures are sideways, but you will get the general gist of what to do. :)  Crush fresh cloves.  Use a coffee strainer and a string.  Place crushed cloves in the coffee strainer.  Tie up with string.  I did trim the excess of mine off.  Use EVOO - does no have to be this brand. :)  Place oil in jar and submerge clove sachet. It does want to float. I used a wooden spoon handle to push it in a bit. This is a jelly jar.  Place a small square of tin foil over the top of the jar.  Shape the foil concave to the jar lip.  I firmed it up to the lip for better sealing and trimmed excess foil away. This will allow any oil steam to not escape, but to stay in the jar. It keeps all the goodies where you want them.  Set up a double boiler situ...

I had a friend at produce co-op ask me the other day how we recycle onions for regrow, so I decided to post this. In another note, I also reuse the skins and onion waste to keep with things like potato skins and the like when I make bone broth. Back to recycling/reusing onions... When cutting up onion, save the bottom inch or so. Place in a shallow dish with water and wait for the roots to grow.  These have been in water for a few weeks now and have started to sprout, so it was definitely time to plant them.  You plant the onion start like you would any other plant start and leave the new leaves exposed.  This is one planted previously by the garden wall.  There is one onion in the foreground here and three more in the background. One of them is very small.  And, three more planted before along the garden wall.

This recipe was an instant hit...  :) Things that make a mommy smile....   Bell pepper boats were made and put onto a buttered dish for the oven. Ground sausage and beef were combined with minced onions and garlic, sage, basil, egg, and cheese. Boats were stuffed and baked at 375* for about thirty to forty minutes.  The peppers were sweet and the dish was yummy!

We melted the chocolate and mixed the peppermint pieces with it. It was then spread out on wax paper.  Bark clean-up with the child!!  Things that bark!!  Hahahaha!!   Things that bark!!  Hahahaha!!   Things that bark!!  Hahahaha!!  The bark cooled after an hour and was broken into bite size bits.  ...all ready to go...

 Bones were added to deep pot and veggies added as well. The pot here contained chard, kale, onions, garlic, bay, oregano, peppers, apples, mushrooms, some other stuff, and bones. :)  After 48 hours on the stove, the liquid was strained and separated from the leftover veggie and bone parts. This was fed to the chickens...recycle, reuse!!  The broth or stock was poured into pint jars.  Each jar was filled - four in all.  Three were placed in the pressure canner. One was refrigerator. These are the three pressure cans of stock or bone broth.

I bought this new kitchen gadget, because I have been using a veggie peeler to make veggie noodles...this new gadget is supposed to make the noodles for you. I was skeptical, but after one use, I am sold! (This is the first review I have written, without being asked, and where I bought the product first just because I wanted it.)     It is some type of German product I think...maybe not...who cares? I think it is nifty. For dinner tonight, we had chicken with a homemade cream sauce and goat cheese. I added onions, garlic, mushrooms, carrots, and zucchini noodles made from this gadget.                      Dinner was yummy tonight!