Wednesday was a cooking day. Sir Old Man served as assistant chef. He wanted to act like the "behind the scenes help" that are not seen on TV cooking shows! He is an excellent stirred, grater, mixer and cleaner-upper. None of this would be possible without him.
I wanted to make chutney like we had from Honey Baked Ham....the cherry-cranberry chutney is wonderful mixed with the Unexpected cheddar cheese from Trader Joe's on crackers. It is good with ham and figured it would be good with pork too. So he went shopping for the cherries and both sweet and tart! He usually does go overboard when I make a special request.
We ended up with 3 of the small half pint jars--I think--and half of of the larger. Anyway, it turned out good, a little thinner than I wanted, but very good. Into the refrigerator it went.
And on the remainder of the cherries. Easiest thing to do was refrigerator cherry jam. Since they were pitted I just halved some of them and chopped up the rest.
Just a little over 3 jars.....the little leftover was gone this morning on biscuits. A little bit tart but good.
Since cherries are good for inflammation and auto-immune issues, I hope to enjoy these. I get the cherry juice when we find it, but this past year there has been not to be seen.
One more thing to put together....soup for dinner. Chicken spinach with tortellini. The spinach kick I am on is in an effort to raise my iron levels. Lab test came back and looks like another deficiency has developed. I fear it is really an absorption issue rather than diet. I will see what the doctor says tomorrow.
One more thing....I pulled out crochet hooks, ordered a couple of cakes of cotton yarn and started crocheting this past week. My hands and fingers are stiff and hurt, but keeping them working is better than losing all use of them. I pulled out the knitting bag stand that my girlfriend, Doreen, bought me years ago. I got everything in it to begin.
Then I looked at that cake of yarn.....no way I wanted to rewind it. I found a long enough dowel to slip thru the center of it. The dowel ends rest on the side of the bag. I could pull yarn off and begin....but the dowel kept slipping off and making a mess.
Crocheting for short spells is ok, and the pain is not bad. The good thing is the fingers are less stiff. So hoping I can get better tension on the stitches now. I am making a masterpiece but trying to keep moving.
Happy stitching!
16 comments:
I never tried making my own jam but one of my favorites from the grocery store is cherry preserves. You are lucky to have the helper in the kitchen.
Cherry-cranberry chutney sounds delicious, and I suspect it would be wonderful with turkey or chicken too. Not sure we'd find any fresh cherries in the markets around here, I'll have to freeze my cranberries and wait until cherry season to make it for next year. Have fun with your crocheting, you're right in keeping those fingers exercised a little each day. I figure my evening hand quilting accomplishes the same goal. Never was very good with knitting and crocheting.
MMm.. that chutney sounds delicious.
I would have thought the yarn cake would be a center-pull put-up. When I wind yarn into cakes like that I alway leave a nice tail hanging out the center and bury the outside end.
But your way of dealing with it is brilliant.
I made a cranberry orange dish this year for Thanksgiving and I used it on everything since. Good for you persevering to figure out how to keep stitching. Helping the grandkids with remote learning has taken up most of my time and energy.
The cherry-cranberry chutney sounds delicious. Happy you are able to use your hands some. Merry Christmas!
All these cherry concoctions sound good! We love cherries, fresh and in pies so I'll have to remember this for next year.
Really good idea to work on the hands! I find my hands get sore after an hour or so, but it is great exercise for them.
Wow! You've really been busy lately. That chutney sounds so good. We've never had it but a client of my DD makes a Serrano Jelly that's absolutely delicious with cream cheese on crackers. I love how y'all think out of the box. The milkshake straws for the cherry pits sounds perfect & your little bulldog clips for your yarn was a brilliant idea. Don't you just love it when those light bulb moments happen? I do! Can't wait to see what you are crocheting!
Here's a link to a cute, fast Christmas ornament:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gD4hOfPWus&feature=youtu.be
Merry Christmas!
don't throw away the pits!!! Clean them and make ice packs. I use one every night for my back. I now make them but it's hard to gather enough pits. They hold cold for a long time.
LeeAnna
The chutney sounds delicious. This will be a nice addition to Christmas dinner. Good to hear that crocheting helps your fingers.
Perfect yarn problem solving - it looks like such a nice yarn, too, with its pastel variegation.
I think the last time I did cherries, I found putting the cherry on top of a bottle (wine, or whatever) and then poking the seeds thru into a wine bottle with a chopstick worked pretty well but I'm not sure there's any method that's not tedious (we did have cherry pitters growing up because we had a trees but they didn't work all that great). The soup sounds yummy--we have quite a few soups we put spinach in. I hope the crocheting is enjoyable and relaxing!
I've never made jams or even canned anything. Yours sounds yummy. The crocheting will help, in short spurts. Keep those hands moving.
Sounds like so many good things have been whipped up in your kitchen! Oh, I wish you lived closer--there is a Cherry farm about 40 minutes south of us and they sell tart cherry juice and frozen cherries year round. My MIL used to get the juice there, and I have purchased the pie cherries from them. Stores don't carry tart cherries around here.
Such a smart work around to hold your yarn. Good for you, keeping your fingers flexible!
I have started taking a prebiotic (NOT probiotic) to aid absorption of nutrients--specifically calcium, as I have osteoporosis. I have the word of two close friends who say their osteoporosis meds started to do a much better job for them when they added the prebiotic to their meds. In fact, they were both very low in Vitamin D and were taking large daily doses. When they added the prebiotic they both went septic on the high absorption of Vitamin D they suddenly had, and had to adjust their doses down. So I am giving it a try. Just something to consider.
I was highly anemic during my third pregnancy so did a bit of research on iron...this was a number of years ago mind you, but to increase iron absorption, you need to watch combinations of items. For example, if you consume wheat, dairy or eggs with any iron source, they bind to the iron and it is not bioavailable. Iron is more readily absorbed in the presence of vitaminC. You might want to do some browsing since nutrition is not always a key skill of doctors- there are so many, many things for them to know! Tk for for the inspiration on making preserves....might become my holiday project ( I have the basic tools, just need the fruit and the time...would love to have a kitchen helper to assist with prep and, more importantly cleanup)
Debbie I must have missed this post, so sorry! I always like to see your banner come up on my screen and read how your are. Your preserves look and sound delicious especially when the cherries will certainly help with the health issues. Sadly I hate spinach but husband loves it and has it often and I know it is a good healthy food. Lightbulb moments are are very welcome when hands are painful so good for you coing up with the idea for managing the crochet dilemma.
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