Conquering my Fear

This year, one of my New Years Resolutions was to make sure my family was eating as healthy as possible.  You know, fresh fruits and vegetables that are as local as they can be, limiting preservatives and trying to make sure that we eat meals instead of snacking all day.

This has been a much harder task than I first imagined.  I tried to solve the local produce issue.  I grew lettuce in my backyard, and have a small garden, but aside from the obvious, there are no local bananas and that is the only fruit the Little Man will eat... stinker!

Not sure if you can tell, but he is rotten...all the way to the core!

As for the eating less processed foods and fewer preservatives, that has been a little tricky too.  It seems everything you buy is processed in one way or another!  I am more aware of the things I buy and what we are eating.  Pickles has adapted well, but we did have to find hot dogs with no nitrates or preservatives.  Not that nitrates are a bad thing, they are usually derived from plant material, but it makes me feel like I am doing a little better on the Mommy part.  I think deep down, there is nothing really wrong with a plain hot dog, but the marketing behind the no nitrates or preservatives definitely hit on my Mommy guilt.

The beauty of limiting the amount of processed foods is that your palate becomes accustomed to fresh fruits and vegetables.  Pickles is adventurous.  She is willing to try things and push the limits, but it has to be on her terms.  I have found that we have had to be more adventurous with food.  It has helped to bring her into the kitchen and let her help.  Within the last week, I learned that a five-year-old is plenty capable of using a sharp knife to help with meal prep.  I have an eight-year-old I won't let use a sharp knife.  That has now changed.  Much to my chagrin, she is very careful and eager to help!  She cut cucumbers for pickles like she was an old pro!



Pickles and Makenzie with their cucumber sandwich creations...Who would have thought a strawberry on top would be anything but color. They loved the flavor combination because it was all their own!

 The last few weeks, we have eaten green beans at every meal.  Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with green beans, but it is time for a new vegetable!  So, I pulled out my little canning book, and green beans have to be pressure canned because of their natural inclination to harbor botulism.  I don't see what is wrong with an extra dose of Botox, but I guess it can wreak havoc on your internal organs.  Anyway, one of my favorite kitchen tools is my pressure cooker.  I have an electric one that is like a crock pot on steroids.  It is the best thing I have ever splurged on!  It will make a pot roast fall-apart tender in 45 minutes! 

Anyway, back to my story, I have a real fear of putting glass in a pressure cooker to can anything!  There is something about shards of glass flying through the house that have me a little on edge.  I am not really scared of the pressure cooker itself, just when the jars are added.

I must say, that fear has now been conquered!  Yesterday I put up two pints of green beans!  They were so easy, Pickles could have mastered this one by herself.  Let me share this with you just for giggles. All you do is wash the whole beans, snap the ends.  Place the beans in clean jars and add 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  Boil some water on the stove and fill the jars with water.  Place the lid on and put in the pressure cooker with the canning plate in the bottom.  Add water to 2 to 3 inches and put the lid on.  I set the timer on mine and off to the pool we went.  We we got home, they were all cool, and I opened the lid to find...

two perfect pints of green beans!  No glass shards here. 

If you would like to try your hand at canning anything, I have a contest running on my blog.  All you have to do is tell me what you would like to can.  Maybe it is grape jelly made from juice out of the freezer...that is the simplest homemade ever! 

I actually purchased one of the canning kits for myself, and made fig preserves with it.  It worked beautifully and any stockpot will now become a canning pot. What this means to me is that I don't have to go outside on the grill to boil the giant pot of water!

Now, if I could only conquer this mess that I call a house.

Until next time, keep adventuring and looking for joy in the small details of life!

Sarah