Hadassah is shadowing at Faith High School today. She was a bundle of nerves this morning but I'm sure once she meets Courtney and then Mariana there, she will be fine. I drove her to the school this morning and she jumped out to met her cousin Ryan. I remember how it was going to high school and meeting all those new faces and not real sure how the high school life is. Not real sure at all! But I loved high school and I hope Hadassah will too. We are praying and thinking about which school would be the best choice for her!
Matthew only has a half day at Linville today. He will be home soon for some warm soup for lunch!!! That's what we have on cold days!!! And that is why I made another batch of soups last week!
I cooked a ham on Thursday night. The kind that has a bone in it. They are the best kind of hams in our option. Then on Friday mom came up to help me make some soup. She cut the ham up into small pieces while I mixed a batch of vegetable soup. We jarred that and canned it. I wasn't thinking when I decided to do two different kinds in one day because I only have enough of canning space for on kind. So, on Saturday, I mixed the ham and bean soup ingredients and then canned that! I loved doing it in our new garage. I had a few jars that didn't fit in my canner, so I brought out the old big gray canner and cooked it on my kitchen stove! I never canned did canning in my kitchen because it took so long to get water boiling on my flat top stove. But now with a gas stove, it was a blast working and chopping in my spacious kitchen!!!
Vegetable Soup I canned:
2 1/2 gal. tomato juice
1 qt. corn
1 qt. peas
1 qt. chopped carrots
1 qt. chopped onions
2 qt. chopped potatoes
2 Tb. parsley flakes
2 lb. hamburger, fried
1/2 c. sugar (I also added some brown sugar)
salt to taste
1 28 oz. pork and beans
2 cups alphabet macaroni
1 pk. meat loaf seasoning mix
1 pk. beef stew seasoning mix
1 pk. sloppy joe seasoning mix
Cook carrots, celery and potatoes in salted water. Drain. Fry onions with hamburger. Cook alphabet noodles. Mix all vegetables, meat, macaroni and seasonings with tomato juice. Put in jars and cold pack for 2 hours. Makes about 18 qt.
Ham and Bean Soup:
8 cup cooked, diced ham
4 c. chopped potatoes
4 c. chopped carrots
2 c. chopped onions
4 c. celery
1 gal. water
1/2 gal. tomato juice
4 lb. Navy beans (I used a gal. of the Northern beans)
3 c. ketchup
2 1/2 Tb. salt
2 1/2 Tb. pepper
3-4 c. brown sugar
Cook vegetables just till soft. Mix everything together and cold pack for 3 hours in prepared jars.
18 Quarts.
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And this is what we do on cold, snowy days. Ipad time, games, puzzles, coloring pages and eat snacks! So cute. We thought we were going to Bible Study this morning but because it got canceled again ... we stay in our pjs!
Ginger sits right beside her side and watches.
My window views of the snow falling!
We will be so ready for Spring time!!! I'm gonna try to forget about all my friends and family that are heading south this coming weekend. Oh how some of that good ol' sunshine would feel so good!!!
Winter is cold and snowy here. I'm grateful for a warm house and hot water and a healthy family!!!
