The food mill arrived yesterday. Today I went to the produce stand and spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen. My taste for hot pepper sauce has been ramping up over the past year or so. I figured it was time to learn to make it myself and it would be a great project for the new food mill.
A quick aside here... why make a condiment that I could find in a multitude of varieties in any grocery store? There are a number of reasons, but for me the primary reason is to be more connected to my own food supply. I appreciate knowing exactly what goes into what I am eating beyond a list of ingredients that include chemicals that I have to look up what they are and how to pronounce their names and can't find in any store. I like knowing (and being able to control) just how much sugar, salt, fat, etc. is going into my food (and my body, and my family's bodies). It's rewarding to learn how to make things like condiments and maybe even tweak the recipe to make it better. I am able to use fresh ingredients, know their origin, and deal with waste responsibly (i.e. chicken food and compost). On top of all of that, by doing it myself I take a lot of excess out of the equation such as the processing plant, warehousing, distribution, and advertising. Ultimately, I am able to produce a superior product that is healthier for me, my family, and the planet, and save money. The downside is that I have to take some time out every now and then and do it. It's worth it to me.
Back to today's project: hot pepper sauce! The produce stand had approximately seven pounds of various peppers on the discount table, so I bought them all, along with a couple heads of garlic (they were 2 for $1 and I know we'll use it). At home I cleaned the peppers, cut them up, and started trying to process them through the food mill. I thought I could process them through the coarse plate and then process the mash a second time through a more refined plate. It quickly became evident that I had not properly prepared the peppers for the food mill.
I decided to run the chopped peppers through the food processor first, then through the food mill. That worked out well, though it added a step I had hoped to eliminate. Once all the peppers (and a couple cloves of garlic) had been reduced to liquid, I added an (approximately) equal amount of vinegar and seven teaspoons of salt. After stirring the solution well, I gave the spoon a conservative taste test and was very happy with the result! I brought the sauce to a gradual boil while I sterilized some pint jars and lids.
I ultimately ended up with five pints of hot pepper sauce. Every recipe I read said that it needs to ferment for at least two weeks, up to three months (or more). At this point the jars have cooled and the vinegar and pepper juice seems to have separated, but a quick shake appears to solve the separation.
I'll follow up on the pepper sauce experiment as it progresses. I think I might try steaming them first next time. I am really looking forward to making spaghetti sauce when the local tomatoes start coming in!
Showing posts with label effciency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label effciency. Show all posts
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Charging Stations
In the course of rearranging and reorganizing over the past couple days, one thing we needed to deal with was our charging stations. These are areas we've designated for charging our phones, game controllers, laptops, etc. (I know, I know, people think I want to drag humanity backwards two-hundred years. The truth is, I just want to take the real wisdom and truth from the past and apply it to the wisdom and truth of the present. I'm all for technology, innovation, and efficiency, just not at the expense of ourselves or Ma Nature. But I digress...) We have tried to set up convenient locations to charge things without having vampire power constantly running up our bill.
We have a HYmini with four small solar chargers (the solar chargers our ours, the HYmini is actually borrowed, but that's a whole other story). We can charge our phones and anything else that has a USB power connector. That sits in one of the south-facing windows in the living room and usually works great for one phone at a time.
For game controllers and/or two or more phones, we have a single power strip (with a surge protector) with all the various chargers plugged into it. The catch is, you have to remember to turn the power strip on when you want to charge something (not too difficult) and then remember to turn it off when you're done (a lot more difficult, it turns out).
While reorganizing I was faced with the question of what to do with a one-foot tall, light-up Las Vegas sign. The sign is plastic and a little tacky -- it lights up just like the real thing -- but my wife and I got married in Vegas and this was a wedding present from some dear friends who were there for the celebration. Be it what it may, it will always possess a place in our hearts and our living space.
How do we remember to turn off the power strip when stuff is done charging?
...and where should we display the Vegas/wedding sign?
*BLAM*
Two questions solve themselves. I set the Vegas sign up on the charging station power strip so that it lights up and flashes whenever the power strip is on. Testing so far has proved the solution to be solid. Don't get me wrong -- the Vegas sign holds sentimental value that continues to make it a part of our lives. It just happens to also make a great visual cue that can't be missed.
Re-wiring the office / music room / studio will be a whole other story...
We have a HYmini with four small solar chargers (the solar chargers our ours, the HYmini is actually borrowed, but that's a whole other story). We can charge our phones and anything else that has a USB power connector. That sits in one of the south-facing windows in the living room and usually works great for one phone at a time.
For game controllers and/or two or more phones, we have a single power strip (with a surge protector) with all the various chargers plugged into it. The catch is, you have to remember to turn the power strip on when you want to charge something (not too difficult) and then remember to turn it off when you're done (a lot more difficult, it turns out).
While reorganizing I was faced with the question of what to do with a one-foot tall, light-up Las Vegas sign. The sign is plastic and a little tacky -- it lights up just like the real thing -- but my wife and I got married in Vegas and this was a wedding present from some dear friends who were there for the celebration. Be it what it may, it will always possess a place in our hearts and our living space.
How do we remember to turn off the power strip when stuff is done charging?
...and where should we display the Vegas/wedding sign?
*BLAM*
Two questions solve themselves. I set the Vegas sign up on the charging station power strip so that it lights up and flashes whenever the power strip is on. Testing so far has proved the solution to be solid. Don't get me wrong -- the Vegas sign holds sentimental value that continues to make it a part of our lives. It just happens to also make a great visual cue that can't be missed.
Re-wiring the office / music room / studio will be a whole other story...
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
New Washer!
My wife and I were going over the finances the other day. When I expressed excitement about paying off the next loan on our list she reminded me that we had agreed to buy a new washing machine when we paid off all the credit cards. I was momentarily disappointed because I was looking forward to making a dent in that debt, but she was right.
Ten years ago when my mother handed down her old washer and dryer it was a score for a new family with an infant. Both the washer and dryer were in great shape and we could not have been able to afford anything close to this fantastic gift. Today the dryer works fine -- of course we only use it one or two times a month. The washer still works, but the upper part of the agitator has worn to a point of not really working. In addition, it's an older unit that uses an embarrassing amount of water and electricity. If it were only for the worn parts I would try to find replacement parts and fix it, but with advance in efficient washing machines it feels a better move to upgrade.
We had made plans to look at new machines tomorrow as my wife was out of town today. This morning, though, I got online and started shopping around and found that one of our local stores was having a sale that ended today. Not just that, they had a model with the lowest price I had found so far, all the features my wife was looking for, and had the best energy rating of every unit I had looked at thus far. I contacted my wife and relayed the information and she gave me the go ahead.
When I arrived at the store they didn't have the exact model on the floor, but a similar model and I discussed the differences with the sales clerk. I had already done a lot of research online, so it was really just a matter of making sure it had a solid build and was going to do what I expected. When the clerk informed me that there was no delivery available for a couple days I asked if it would fit in my pickup.
"Sure", he said.
Sold.
I was really counting on the delivery because it included taking away the old machine, but I had laundry waiting to be done. The worst part was not having anyone handy to help with the whole process (that's not exactly true, my ten-year-old son helped out several times). It took me about an hour and a half to pull the old washer out and get the new washer from the truck to it's place in the pantry and set up.
The new washer is a front loader with allergy and sanitizing cycles. It is unbelievably quiet and uses a very small fraction of the water that our old washer used. According to the energy tag it's annual cost is about $11, based on eight loads a week. We would have to work to average half that. It also spins out the clothes so well that they dry much faster -- a huge plus for us since we hang dry almost all of our laundry!
The wife and I agreed to try and sell the old washer for a small price. Hopefully we can find it a good home.
Ten years ago when my mother handed down her old washer and dryer it was a score for a new family with an infant. Both the washer and dryer were in great shape and we could not have been able to afford anything close to this fantastic gift. Today the dryer works fine -- of course we only use it one or two times a month. The washer still works, but the upper part of the agitator has worn to a point of not really working. In addition, it's an older unit that uses an embarrassing amount of water and electricity. If it were only for the worn parts I would try to find replacement parts and fix it, but with advance in efficient washing machines it feels a better move to upgrade.
We had made plans to look at new machines tomorrow as my wife was out of town today. This morning, though, I got online and started shopping around and found that one of our local stores was having a sale that ended today. Not just that, they had a model with the lowest price I had found so far, all the features my wife was looking for, and had the best energy rating of every unit I had looked at thus far. I contacted my wife and relayed the information and she gave me the go ahead.
When I arrived at the store they didn't have the exact model on the floor, but a similar model and I discussed the differences with the sales clerk. I had already done a lot of research online, so it was really just a matter of making sure it had a solid build and was going to do what I expected. When the clerk informed me that there was no delivery available for a couple days I asked if it would fit in my pickup.
"Sure", he said.
Sold.
I was really counting on the delivery because it included taking away the old machine, but I had laundry waiting to be done. The worst part was not having anyone handy to help with the whole process (that's not exactly true, my ten-year-old son helped out several times). It took me about an hour and a half to pull the old washer out and get the new washer from the truck to it's place in the pantry and set up.
The new washer is a front loader with allergy and sanitizing cycles. It is unbelievably quiet and uses a very small fraction of the water that our old washer used. According to the energy tag it's annual cost is about $11, based on eight loads a week. We would have to work to average half that. It also spins out the clothes so well that they dry much faster -- a huge plus for us since we hang dry almost all of our laundry!
The wife and I agreed to try and sell the old washer for a small price. Hopefully we can find it a good home.
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