Giving Up Paper Towels...

Is it possible to give up paper towels? I think so. A few weeks ago, I read a gals blog that I follow. She wrote a post about giving up paper towels. I honestly can't remember which blog it came from but I wish I could so that I could give credit where credit is due for the idea. It was one of the blogs that I follow or follow along on Facebook. The post was about making non-paper towels and giving up buying paper towels. Now, I am always looking for ways to cut back, save money and natural resources in the process so, I was curious.

After reading her post, I decided this just may be a neat thing to try. I ordered a few yards of diaper cloth from Fabrics.com and got to work. It took me about an hour to make about 30 towels. The measurement is very close to an 11X11 when finished. I measured out a yard of fabric, folded it in half and made two cuts, one at the 12" mark an another at the 24" mark on the cutting board. This gave me three strips of fabric that were 12 inches wide and almost 36 inches long. I proceeded to cut each strip into 12 inch blocks. The fabric is a little shy of being able to make it a true 12 by 12 inch block but it is no big deal. 

Once the blocks were cut and tossed in a pile near my serger, I  loaded it up with multi-colored thread and set out to serging the edges. I tossed them all in a pile and when finished. I used a large eyed needle and tucked the end threads back into the stitching. I then washed them with a load of bath towels.   I added a cup of vinegar to help improve the absorbability.

When they came out of the dryer, Papaw and I folded them long ways and tossed in a basket on the kitchen counter. I still have paper towels on the counter. I had  a large store of them in the pantry but I am retraining myself to grab one of the fabric ones most of the time. I revert to using the paper towels when cleaning bathrooms and wiping down the toilets. I am sure, I will always till have a few rolls of paper towels on hand for cleaning our bathrooms in the future.

The cloth towels made from the diaper fabric are thin but more durable and absorbent than a regular paper towel. I used a single layer of diaper cloth. I suppose if you wanted to have more absorbent towels for cleaning, you could serge a couple of layers together.

We are folks that pull off paper towels and fold them for our dinner napkin so, having fabric replacements for our everyday dinner napkins is a bit of a treat for us.

Little by little, I guess we can all do a few things here and there to scale back. I am all about going green as long as going green makes real sense and does not use more natural resources in the long run. So many times when looking into what seems like a great idea for going green with some things, in the long run really isn't helping the environment, such as solar energy. When one really looks deeply into solar, it is easy to see so much pollution to our planet is happening in the process of making solar panels and batteries and in the restoration of batteries. Going green for us has to make sense all the way around for us. So far, we are thinking that the reusable non paper towel is a good thing. They are small and many can be tossed into everyday loads of laundry without adding too much bulk. It really seems like a smart and economical thing to do for us.

Many blessings,

Mamaw!

Olives Anyone?

Curing olives is certainly a lesson in patients. In November of last year, Papaw and I decided to order fresh green olives and crack and cure them ourselves. We have never tried this before but thought, why not give it a try? We love trying new things. We enjoy time spent together researching the process, harvesting and canning. Curing our own olives sounded like a no brainer and it was. 

I had considered writing a post back in the fall when we started but decided to wait until the olives were ready for storage. I had no idea, for our taste, the curing process would be so lengthy. Curing olives takes patiences. Ripe, green olives are bitter. Removing the bitter flavor can take quite a while, as we found out. For our taste, our curing process took about 5 months which now makes me laugh to think how many blogs I read, suggested their olives were perfectly cured in a few short weeks. Maybe some people really like a bit more of a bitter bite to their olive than we do. For us to develop the flavor we desire, it took quite sometime.

After reading many other’s posts, blogs and info on curing olives we really wanted to give this a try. We ordered our olives from Chaffin Family Orchards. 

Our olives arrived in about 4 to 7 days after placing the order. They came in a set price shipping box. When opening the box, it was a treat to experience the fragrance of fresh olives. 

We spent a short time picking through and removing olives that maybe were dried out or should not be processed. We didn't really have many of those. 

We did a bit of researching on learning how to process olives. There are two methods. One way is using lye. From what we understood, curing with lye is a quicker method. For us though, the thought of using lye just wasn't so appealing. 

The other method is a brining method using salt. Salt brining sounded simpler and safer to us. 

We found a lot of useful information on processing on the Chaffin Family Orchard website. One of their suggested resources for processing and storing olives was from the University of California. You can read all about the different methods from the university here http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8267.pdf

It is pretty simple using the brining method but cracking or splitting the olives does take a bit of time. We decided since the olives were smaller olives, we didn't want to waste any by pitting them first. We don't mind chewing one then tossing the pit. 

We had read that we would need to use a food grade plastic bucket or container for the brining. We happened to have a fermenting bucket that we had purchased at a local wine maker's shop.

Using sea salt and water, we prepared our brine. We split the olives on each side using a knife. Some folks use a small mallet and give them a whack to crack them. The olives have to be split or cracked open a bit to allow the brining liquid to seep inside.

It took us a bit to split them all but we just put on a good movie and went to work on splitting them. Our fingers were a bit discolored when we finished. The olives did stain our fingers and took a few days to fade. You may want to wear rubber gloves during this step if you wish to avoid the staining. 

When finished with all the splitting, we placed a plate on top of the olives to hold them under the brine. We topped the container off with the lid and placed a piece of tape on the top with the date started. 

We left the brining bucket sitting in the kitchen so we wouldn't forget to change the brining solution often. Most things we read suggested doing it daily for the first couple of days. After the first few days, two to three times a week would be fine. We did this for several weeks, tasting each time we rinsed and re-brined the olives. Each time we tasted, we were surprised to see how much of the bitterness was still in the olive. 

Finally after many weeks, the flavor started to mellow a bit. We noticed that the olives had finally stopped floating and were staying under the brine fine without the plate holding them down. A few times when going to change the brine water, we would notice a tiny bit of mold floating on the top of the solution. We always dumped our olives into a strainer, washed and cleaned the brining bucket each time we changed the brine. 

A few weeks ago, we had delicious olives ready to be stored. For storing the olives, we used pickling salt, white vinegar and water to cover the olives. From the process information from the University of California, it suggested that the olives would need to be kept in the refrigerator and could be stored for six months or so. We have a lot of olives to eat in the next few months.

Blessings!

Uses For Gigantic Zucchini...

Who hasn't missed a zucchini or two hiding in the garden and before long, you've tripped over a few? Well here is an idea for you, make pasta with it. Most have been trained to think, zucchini that has gotten so big just needed to be fed to the hens, or tossed into the compost pile. You may just want to give it a second though.  If you haven't made it to your garden quick enough to get those zucchini when they are perfect size, not to worry.

 A couple of weeks ago, we found a tool for making noodles from veggies at a local Asian supermarket. It cost about $2.99. We purchased one and brought it home to give it a try. We peeled a large zucchini and cut in half. Laying the flat side of the squash to the cutting board. We stripped the zucchini down and around until we started hitting the seeds and center. We just tossed seeds and centers into the compost bucket.  

We placed the zucchini noodles in a glass dish and microwaved for 2 minutes. It was the was perfect consistency for spaghetti. We could still twirl it onto our fork perfectly, just like traditional pasta. It is so delicious. Honestly, I think from now on we will be using zucchini as our pasta.  We loved it so much, when we popped back in the Asian market, we bought several of the tools to give to family when we shared squash with them. We are so sure that the family will be as hooked as we are on this.

Papaw, with all his muscles spent an hour or so this evening cutting zucchini and I bagged it for the freezer. We froze about 7 to 8 quart sized bags from about 4 oversized squash.

Here is what the noodles look like.

I know many people think zucchini should be picked when small but we are finding that letting a zucchini get larger, just yields more food and it isn't tough. We have taken some of the larger ones and cored them, scraped the seeds and centers out, and tossed into the compost bucket. Then cube it and put it in vacuum sealed bags and freeze. No blanching is required. I have pulled out bags almost a year later, opened and sautéed in a skillet and it is perfect. When blanching, I have found it makes the squash mushy. I do think the Food Saver/vacuum method is perfect for saving squash. We also love the larger cubes. They are perfect for tossing in soups and sauces. We are convinced that washing well and leaving the peelings on just adds nutritional value.

Another idea for oversized zucchini is, stuffed zucchini boats. They also freeze well. I'll post the recipe for those soon.

My reason for sharing this is, maybe when you think a veggie is past its perfect picking time frame, there still may be good uses for it. One thing that is for certain, if it isn't perfect for us, our hens will be grateful. Those gals will eat just about anything from the garden that we need to toss.

So, if you have some overgrown zucchini, give this a try. I have also learned, slicing it lengthwise about 1/8 inch thick, makes a perfect substitute for lasagna noodles. If you want a healthy alternative to lasagna and a twist on flavor, check out my post using sweet potato as the filling instead of lots of unhealthy ricotta and cheese.  http://tnmamaw.blogspot.com/2013/01/healthy-and-delicious-yes-it-is-possible.html

I did make this using zucchini for the noodles just this past week and it was awesome. It does take about 45 minutes to an hour to bake. I covered it with foil for the first 35 minutes then removed the foil to finish for about 15 to 20 more minutes. It is such a delicious and healthy alternative to traditional lasagna. 

Just wanted to share our tips and hope you all find good uses for veggies that may be just a bit larger than ideal size.

Many blessings!

Confessions of a Neglectful Gardener

I have a confession to make...OK, here goes... I totally let the summer get the best of me and things have gotten out of hand around here. I honestly would love to say, I have no idea how this happened but I can't. We got off to a great start in the spring. We tilled, brought in compost and set out our gardens, started seed. I really worked so hard...in the beginning.

We started a new herb garden this year. I have always wanted an herb garden. I gave it careful thought and did a lot of planning. When the time came, I put all of the energy and effort into laying it out and getting it ready to plant. I decided not to use any type of ground cover under the mulch. I WAS GOING TO DEVOTE MY MORNINGS TO WEEDING and a bit of meditation! I was certain that I would keep the grass and weeds under control.  OK so, here are my excuses as to why things got so out of hand.

First, we have had an unbelievable amount of rain at the beginning of summer, which prevented some of the weeding opportunities. I know there still were many mornings that I could have gotten up and got out there to get some of it done but I didn't because the mosquitoes seemed horrible in the mornings because of the rain. So, that was my second excuse.  

At the end of May, my granddaughter’s summer break began and it seemed as if all my good intention regarding gardening went downhill from there.   She and I do not get to spend very much time together anymore since she is back in public school so, when her summer break started, I think I just went on vacation with her. We have been biking, hiking, swimming and when it started getting really hot, we started ice skating, going to the movies and just having fun. So, there you have it. There are my excuses. I know we can all find excuses much more easily than getting the work done. 

Now let me describe the condition of my herb garden because honestly, I am ashamed to photograph it at this point. I can use one word to describe its’ current state, “jungle.” Most things around here seem as if they were growing in a tropical rainforest. Out of control due to the rain, including grass and weeds.  Not to worry though, I have a plan. Below is a photo of what it looked like in the beginning.

A couple of weeks ago when instead of weeding, I was surfing around on the computer. I ran across a very cool gardening tip or suggestion on killing off weeds and grass without using Roundup or one of those products that would linger or you certainly would not want use in a garden or herb garden. The tip was using white vinegar, undiluted as a grass and weed killer. Even if the ph of the soil was a bit out of balance after the fact, adding a bit of lime would solve that problem.

I got busy one evening and dug out my strawberry plants and the other few herbs that I had planted. I treated the areas with the vinegar a few days ago. The article that I read said that it may take a few treatments; however, after the first treatment and waiting a couple of days, I do see it is working.  The grass is dying. Once I do manage to get it all killed off and under control, I am going to lay down a ground cover blanket and re-mulch and then set the plants back into the garden.

So, the moral of my story or the lesson that I am sharing with you is, "listen to your mom." I should have listened to my mother.  Yes mom, you were right! OK, I am certain she would like for me to repeat that again. YES MOM, YOU WERE RIGHT! *grin* She told me when she was up for a visit and helping me with the project, “you should think about putting down a ground cover blanket before mulching.”  I think my response was, “nah, I think I will be able to keep it weeded and under control.” WRONG!!!

On a lighter note, our veggie garden is really doing well. We have a lot of grass growing in there as well but the veggies are still growing great. I am certain it is going to be an awesome year for tomatoes, squashes and okra. We planted corn this year also and it is doing well. I will post a few photos of the garden soon.

I hope you all are having a wonderful summer and your gardens are growing well. I hear here in the south we are in for some really hot days ahead. I hope our gardens all survive.

Many Blessings!