Italian Sausage and Bread

I made some partly whole wheat bread (more white flour than whole wheat) today and while it was raising I wondered what to make for supper. I had thought of spaghetti but that just did not sounds that good to me. Humm what to do with too much bread dough... So our supper was homemade  Clazones (sp?) I grabbed a jar of spaghetti sauce out of the cupboard and some shredded cheese out of the freezer and then wondered, what kind of meat. I had a lone package of ground pork and I thought Italian sausage!

I thawed the 1# of pork and added to my trusty old electric coffee grinder reserved only for spices:
1 t fennel seeds
1/2 t salt
1 t seasoned salt
1/2 t ground sage
1.25 t sugar
1/4 t pepper
1 T parsley flakes
Grind for a few seconds in the grinder then mix well with the meat and place in the fridge for an hour or more. This is nice to freeze too. Shape into small meatball size and freeze on a cookie sheet, remove from the sheet once frozen solid and place in a zip bag. This makes it nice to do just a few at a time or you can use the whole bag.

I rolled out pieces of bread dough as round as I could make them and placed a good tablespoon of spaghetti sauce  in the center of the dough,  next added about 1/3 c of the browned meat, topped it off with cheddar and mozzarella cheese. I folded the one side over the other and pinched sealed the edges and then rolled the edges up  once and pinched again. I baked it at 400 degrees for a good 12 minutes and served it with the left over sauce from the jar.

Supper was Delicious, even Daisy our dog gladly ate some leftovers. Both loafs of bread turned out nice and light, will have some toast with jelly in the morning with my coffee before I go and meet my mom at her old place.

Tomorrow I have to get some shopping done, not my favorite job but a much needed one.  Turn your eyes upon Jesus and have a good night!  Kimi

Kraut

Today was such a lovely day I decided to make a batch of kraut in my outdoor kitchen. My outdoor kitchen consists of a long table, lawn chair, the hose and my trusty 2 burner wood cook stove. I had my lovely assistants helping me.


Making kraut is fun and easy. I like to make a verity of krauts such as the ones I made today. Carrot and onion kraut and Apple onion kraut. There are endless things you can add to your kraut such as caraway seeds, peppers, Dill, fruit and herbs.

To start I peeled 2 # of onions from my garden.

I cut them in half and sliced them thin. Now there is a myth out there that the cabbage needs to be sliced as thin as a dime, not true. You can chunk, slice or dice your cabbage. I just like to have nice sized pieces, not too big and not too small.


I next peeled and shredded 2 # of carrots.


Next I cut 2 large heads of cabbage into quarters and remove the core.
For this batch I sliced the cabbage into thin strips.



As I finished slicing each quarter of cabbage I added it to my pot and tossed in a handful each of the shredded carrots and onions and about 2 t salt over it all. I repeated this layering with each quarter of one head of cabbage then I mixed well.


Once I had one cabbage worth done and in the pot I mixed well with my hands. I slice and layer the remaining cabbage using the same method. Once I have the last of the cabbage, onion, carrots and salt in the pot I mixed well again.

Once mixed well cover with a cloth and let it sit a good hour or two. At this point it will be moist and you can squeeze water out of it easily.

While I let the cabbage mix sit, I peel and shred 8 apples. I add a couple of teaspoons of salt to the apples and mix well, cover and set aside. Now it is time to start packing the cabbage mix into the jars. I add a couple of huge handfuls of the mix to the jar and then push down firmly with my fist. This releases lots of juice. I add in a couple more handfuls of the mix and press down firmly again. I repeat this till I have used half the cabbage mix.

By this time there is a lot of juice on top of the cabbage. This is what you want.

I add the apples to the remaining cabbage mix and mix well.
I do the same method of packing this batch as the previous one.
I now fit a quart sized zip lock bag so the bag is in the jar and the top is open. I add 2 teaspoons of salt to this bag and 2 cups of water. I zip it closed removing as much air as I can and then smooth the bag over the top of the cabbage. This will help to weigh the kraut down during the fermentation process as it tends to like to rise and needs to remain under the brine.

The bag is weighted down with a glass of water.


I cover a cookie sheet with sides on it with plastic garbage bags. This is in case the brine over flows during the fermentation process. Not a fun mess to have, much easier to toss a bag then do all the scrubbing.


I cover the jar and glass of water with a gallon food bag that you use a twist tie with and secure with a binder of sorts. I use a rubber band.
The finished jars are placed on the covered cookie sheet and then covered with a towel to keep light out ( I have thicker towels under the light weight one)

This is left for 2 weeks to ferment. At that time you can place it in the fridge and it just tastes better with age (6 months is wonderful!) or you can can it.

To can heat kraut in a stainless steal pan until l nice and hot (add water if there is not much brine). Ladle and lightly pack into sterilized jars. I use pint sized jars as it is just me and hubby here. Process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

Recipe I used:
9.5# cabbage
2# onion
2# carrots
about 8 T salt
8 apples

I'll do a picture post of the canning process in two weeks! LOL

Life and Hypo

Lots has happened since I was last here. First my Dad was DX with Small Cell Lung Cancer. Just a few days before Christmas he went home to be with Jesus! I am so happy he is with Jesus and healthy!!! I do miss him very much though.

My 50th birthday is the first one I have had that he will not be here. There were years that he did have to work and such so he was not there on my birthday but he always wished me a happy birthday. That is not to be this year. Plus Mom will be in Florida too and not here for my birthday. So it will be even more strange. We are going to supper with her tomorrow night and knowing her, she will call.

Last week when I saw my normal Endocrinologist Doctor to check on how things were going for the thyroid cancer, he said my TSH thyroid levels were too low. This means I was getting too much thyroid replacement hormones. So I had to go a couple of days with out any thyroid meds and then only did 2 half doses. Monday I saw the new Endro and he took me off of all meds for at least 4 weeks in order to do a Whole Body Scan (WBS) to see if there is any thyroid cancer in my body. So now I get to enter the gates of HYPO HELL.

Hypo Hell is what us Thycan's (thyroid cancer survivors) call the time of getting hypo thyroid for our scans. So far the symptoms I have been experiencing are: tiredness, cold, (any one who knows me well knows I am always hot!) headache, legs feel like lead and dizziness. Oh and emtional! Ugh, not fun.

I plan on posting here as I go through the hypo hell experience. I did this last time I had to do this over 5 years ago. It helped me get through some of the rough days. I am also going to be more open with family and friends and let them know when and if I need help. Some times I go through this with out many symptoms but other times I feel like I have been hit by a truck.

This weekend between birthday activities I will be making meals to freeze for the low iodine diet I have to go on in 3 weeks. I want to do it now while my mind is still kinda sharp. Hyponess really makes me dull and dim witted. I get so bad at times I can not drive and I even slur my words almost like some one who has been drinking.

Time for me to get my self to bed. I am nearly ready to drop my head on the keyboard and sleep right here. But those square dents on the face the next day are really hard to explain to people. So I am off to get pillow sleep lines instead.

Night all, remember God is right there, waiting for you to turn your hears to him.
Kimi