Miz Judi convinced Deb and I about a year ago to start Ridin Out the Recession in Miz Judi’s Kitchen, and we’ve had a lot of fun with it. Better yet, we’ve met so many good people that it’s amazed us both. It was, and still is just a hoot to be involved in!

While we’re on the subject of cookin this morning, I just want to say that up until just recently, the last couple weeks or so, we’d forgotten what a young man could eat like. Then all of a sudden we had the chance to once again witness such a feat…with TWO of em!

Mark had gone on vacation, so I utilized the two guys that help him in our business out here on the place.

Now I gotta say that I’m very impressed with them both. They’re absolutely great kids, excuse me, young men, they’re both good workers, and very polite, and respectful. Traits we don’t see nearly as much as we should these days.

All this bein true, but dad-gum, we fed those two the last couple weeks at lunch, and good night a livin, those guys…CAN EAT! They’re bottomless pits, I ain’t kiddin!

Corey, who has been with us over a year, is 21, and Elmo who has been with us a couple-three months, is 20 or 21. At one meal, Deb served them meatball subs with chips, TWO subs each, and after finishing Elmo asks, “Got any more subs?” I was like, “Get your rear-end back out there and get to work!!” LOL!

They ate like that every time they sat down for lunch. Two growin boys…man I’m glad ours are grown now!! Really, Deb and I could care less how much they ate, we actually got a kick outta watchin em shovel it down, but it was amazing since we hadn’t been around kids of that age very much anymore at mealtime. PHEW!! LOL!

I just thought I’d share that with you guys today, it tickled us both, and I had a ball pickin at em over it.

Next, let’s take a quick gander of a joke my Aunt Ann sent to us…

Three Holy Men & a Bear

A Catholic Priest, a Baptist Preacher, and a Rabbi all served as chaplains to the students of Northern Michigan University in Marquette .

They would get together two or three times a week for coffee and to talk shop.

One day, someone made the comment that preaching to people isn’t really all that hard, a real challenge would be to preach to a bear.

One thing led to another, and they decided to do an experiment.

They would all go out into the woods, find a bear, preach to it, and attempt to convert it.

Seven days later, they all came together to discuss their experience.

Father Flannery, who had his arm in a sling, was on crutches, and had various bandages on his body and limbs, went first.

‘Well,’ he said, ‘I went into the woods to find me a bear. And when I found him, I began to read to him from the Catechism. Well, that bear wanted nothing to do with me and began to slap me around. So I quickly grabbed my holy water, sprinkled him and, Holy Mary Mother of God, he became as gentle as a lamb The Bishop is coming out next week to give him first communion and confirmation.’

Reverend Billy Bob spoke next. He was in a wheelchair, had one arm and both legs in casts, and had an IV drip. In his best fire-and-brimstone oratory, he claimed, ‘WELL, brothers, you KNOW that we don’t sprinkle! I went out and I FOUND me a bear. And then I began to read to my bear from God’s HOLY WORD! But that bear wanted nothing to do with me. So I took HOLD of him and we began to wrestle. We wrestled down one hill, UP another and DOWN another until we came to a creek. So I quickly DUNKED him and BAPTIZED his hairy soul. And just like you said, he became as gentle as a lamb. We spent the rest of the day praising Jesus..Hallelujah!

The priest and the reverend both looked down at the Rabbi, who was lying in a hospital bed. He was in a body cast and traction with IVs and monitors running in and out of him. He was in really bad shape.

The Rabbi looked up and said: “Looking back on it, …….circumcision may not have been the best way to start.”

Well, once we finally fire off the cook stove this morning we have some “good groceries” to share with you guys today. All these come from my “Mama Ruthie’s” cookbook she’d gotten from some of her “buddies” in Apopka.

It was put out by the Presbyterian Women from the First Presbyterian Church, Apopka, in 1990. Let’s take a look…

Pressure Cooker Stew

• 1 tablespoon fat
• 1 lb. round steak cubed, in 1 inch squares
• 1 large onion, sliced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• ½ cup water
• 4 small white potatoes
• 1 cup green beans
• 4 small carrots
• 1 cup canned tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon flour
• ¼ cup water

Heat pressure cooker and add fat. Brown meat and add onions, salt, pepper, and ½ cup water. Place potatoes, green beans, carrots and tomatoes over meat. Close cover securely.

Place pressure regulator on vent pipe and cook 10 to 12 minutes at 15 pounds of pressure. Let pressure drop of its own accord. Make a paste of flour and ¼ cup of water. Stir into stew to thicken.

Joe Connelly

Pan-Fried Cabbage

• 2 tablespoons bacon drippings
• 1 small head of cabbage, shredded (4 cups)
• ¼ cup vinegar
• ¼ cup water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Dash cayenne

Heat drippings in skillet. Add cabbage, vinegar, salt, water, sugar and cayenne. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until cabbage is lightly browned, but still crisp. About 10-12 minutes.

Marvin Bridges

Carrot Nut Bread

• ½ cup corn oil
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1-3/4 cups un-sifted flour
• 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup shredded carrot
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup chopped nuts

Stir together oil and sugar. In large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; stir into corn oil mixture. Stir in carrots. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in nuts. Turn into a greased 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 x2-1/2 inch loaf pan.

Bake on 350 for 55 to 60 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean.

Cheryl C. Hoffman

Granny’s Relish

• 11 cups ground green tomatoes
• 4 cups ground green peppers
• 2 cups ground onions
• 4 tablespoons salt
• 3 cups vinegar
• 6 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1 tablespoon celery seed

Mix tomatoes, peppers, onions, and salt together and let stand for 1 hour. Drain and transfer to large kettle. Add vinegar, sugar, mustard, and celery seed. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes. Seal in sterile jars.

Sis Pitman

Shoot, even Brian of the Canada Free Press suggested my login name to be… “imadummee!” So, one sees pretty quickly ole Dub probably ain’t “the sharpest knife in the drawer!” Even this is an understatement of considerable truth, because in regards to many, many, things…I am a dummy!

But first…congratulations to all those LSU “Tiger” fans out there. You guys took my Gators to the toolshed. This followed up a visit to the toolshed the previous week applied by the “Crimson Tide” folks.
Two weeks…two big losses, with those dern Auburn Tigers up next. Woe is me?

Today we’ll talk about canning peas. Deb and I enjoy doing it, but when they start coming in, you have some work cut-out for you. You simply have to get em while the getting’s good! It is time consuming, but well worth the effort. Those little jewels taste so good anytime actually, but especially during the winter months when there is no fresh supply available.
In reality, I know of only two people that don’t like peas, and they’re both neighbors who live just down the road from us. I told Deb that we sure know how to pick a place to live, don’t we? Having neighbors who don’t eat peas is “right up my alley!” MORE FOR US!! LOL!!

Deb and I have been canning about 4 years now, but honestly, Deb wants NO part of the pressure cooker, and believe it or not, my Mother doesn’t either. They were both around pressure cookers blowing off the lids.

So, the pressure canning duty was handed to me. How is it that I’m always the “lucky one?”

Seriously though, I talked with my Aunt Ann who has been around canning all her life with no mishaps, and she convinced me there was no issue at all to canning, besides simply paying attention to what you’re doing. Her oldest son Danny grows a BIG garden every year and cans extensively too.
Yeah, if you’ve been reading us for very long, Danny IS the dern cousin of mine who used to bite me when we were just small children. It got to the point that guy would walk by me and smile, showing them dern canines of his, and I’d be headed the other way!
In my opinion, you need to start off canning something pretty simple, which after just a short period of time, canning as a whole is indeed pretty simple stuff. But peas are a good place to start, so here we go…
We can our peas mainly in quart mason jars. We do a few in pints, but most times if we run out of quarts, or doing some for a meal for just Deb and I. A pint is just about right for this.
First off we put the peas to be canned in a large pot, and bring them to a boil, turning the burner off after them coming to a boil. They sit in this hot water until ready to put them in a jar to can.
While this is taking place we put water in our pressure cooker to the first line nearest the bottom of the cooker and allow this water to start boiling too. We also boil a large pot of water that we “scald” our jars with. This by setting our 7 quart jars (the amount our pressure cooker holds) in the sink, and then pouring the hot water into them.
This disinfects our jars, plus has them hot when we’re ready to add our peas in them, as their water is hot as well.
We then pour out the water in our jars, and start filling them with peas with as little liquid as possible, to a level about 1 inch below where the lids sit. Once our jars are full of peas we add one teaspoon of salt per jar.
At this point we then dip out water from the pea pot, and fill our jars, but once more leaving about a 1 inch gap below where the lids sit. This also serves to breakdown the salt you’d just added, and distributes it throughout the peas.
We then wipe the rims down with a clean rag, add the rings (lids) and seals, and start putting them into the pressure cooker. Once this is done we put the cover on the pressure cooker and wait until steam starts streaming out of the vent pipe. This makes you aware to go ahead and place the **three-piece pressure regulator onto the vent pipe. Shortly after adding this, the air vent/cover lock, I call it the stem, will pop out of the pressure cooker cover letting you know…the cooker is now under pressure.
Once the regulator starts rocking hard, I call it jiggling, we then turn our burner down to about 5-1/2, or medium heat. The whole time prior to this taking place our burner is left on high. Again, once the regulator starts rocking, or jiggling hard, turn your burner down.
The cook time for fresh peas is 40 minutes. The time doesn’t start UNTIL the pressure jiggler is rocking hard. Then set your timer, and the canning process actually begins!
I then allow it to remain on this heat setting until the cooking time has been reached, and the pressure cooker is removed from the stove and set on several towels on the countertop.
At this point you just leave everything alone and wait for the pressure to bleed off. I’m guessing this takes anywhere from 40 to 50 minutes. Once you see the air vent has dropped down back into the cooker cover, you may take off the pressure regulator.
I do this as one more precaution prior to removing the cover of the cooker insuring there is NO more pressure in the cooker. THEN, and ONLY THEN, do you remove the cover.
We then remove the jars, set them on towels as well, and wait to hear the pinging noise of the jars sealing. Once they’ve “pinged,” you know the jars have vacuum sealed. Once they’re cooled, you test once more to make sure they have in fact sealed properly.
This is done by taking a finger and pressing down on the lids. If sealed properly, your finger will meet solid resistance, or they won’t give. If, in fact you do feel a give in the lid, this means the jar HAS NOT sealed as it should have…SO DON”T PUT IT AWAY AS FOOD STORAGE!! It will not keep…it WILL spoil! So, take that particular jar, and heat them back up for supper. Use it in the next day or two, and keep it refrigerated until you do use them.
That’s about it. ***The three-piece pressure regulator has weights. These are used to pressure cook in different elevations across the country. In Florida as an example, we pressure cook using ten pounds of pressure. But this varies as does the altitudes nationwide.
If you purchase a pressure cooker, it will come with a book telling you what weight to use on the regulator depending on your elevation in your area. Simple stuff…
I hope this helps you out some if you’ve never canned before. Deb and I both find it a good, safe way to put food up, and love the taste and convenience it provides us of having a good fresh meal that has already been cooked, and just needs to be warmed up a little to be ready to eat!
We’ll try and do you guys a step by step video of this process the first of the week, but today I have a couple for you to look at if you’d like. They just kinda touch base on this subject, but will at least allow you to “get your feet wet,” in the canning process.


Also, a video of the cows laid up under an oak by the house…life is good! They just ate a gator full of pea hulls.

Thank you for droppin by, and God Bless.
Once more Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!
Dub and Deb

A couple of people have asked if I had a pea sheller, and I replied that yes, we do. They then asked what type, and I told them it’s an older model. Well, you know how people are, and they wanted to know all about it…
So, I’ll take the opportunity now to fill everyone in about our sheller, okay?

Unlike many of the newer models, this sheller will do ANY type of pea or bean, no matter. One of the main reasons we like ours so well is the fact that it mashes NO peas or beans. Not the first one…zero! This in itself is really pretty unusual, and I looked at quite a few prior to deciding on this model.

It cost a little more in the end, but as time has passed by, I felt I made a pretty dern good decision. Looking back now, I can’t say the same in regards to many of the decisions I have made in my life, but this is one I can take a little credit for.

Some other things I looked at that impressed me with ours, are its appearance, it’s lightweight, no electricity needed, and the toughness it has shown throughout the years. Just a good, well-built sheller. Anything with all these plusses today are either hard to find, or non-existent!

It’s actually 54 years old, but again, you’d never know it. Its shelling capacity today is just as good, and might even be better than the first day it came home with me. It needs no oiling, and has never broken down, or “throwed” a belt, and the best thing of all…it’s made in the USA! In my opinion, it can’t be beat!

I guess the only negative about this particular model is that from time to time…it gets a little “lippy!” I’ve learned through the years though, that I can put it outside for a night or two, and once it comes back inside, it works even better, and the only thing you hear out of it then is simply…peas hittin the bottom of the pan! I just love mine!

The model name…DEB. With these first few paragraphs this morning, I may have just lost the “best pea sheller” I ever had! LOL!!

Seriously, Deb and I are fixing to be busy as bees getting these peas picked, shelled, washed up good, and canned. Our pressure cooker holds seven pints so when you can up 100-150 quarts, it is a little time consuming.
We use a Presto pressure cooker, and as I just said it has a seven quart capacity. This model seems to hold up very well, and hasn’t caused us one minute’s worth of problems. It works well, and although this is our third season canning with it, it has canned A LOT of different things. In other words, we’ve put it “through the mill!”
With this being said, our next purchase, if and when, will also be a Presto model.

When shelling, we use two pans that hold almost “to a tee,” two cooking’s per pan. With that being the case, this will give us about 28 quarts put up per these two pans. So…we shell two pans full, then shell again during each cook.

We’ll pick and shell today too, so I hope in the Wed. column we’re able to put up a video or two showing us canning some peas for the ones who haven’t canned before. I know when we first started canning, I wish I’d have looked around more for some canning videos. To me, if I can see something being done first hand, I seem to grasp a hold of it better.
We picked our purple hulls first, and got a bucket and a half off them, and we started the black-eyes next. We also picked about a bucket and a half from them to, before it started getting too dark to see. We have 5 more rows of them to pick today, and we’ll start shelling again.
Our crowders aren’t ready yet, possibly another week, and our cream 40’s will be ready in the next couple of days for a first pick. Deb loves those little peas but they’re harder to shell than the other types, BUT they are really good tasting peas. We ain’t looking forward to shelling those guys, but we ARE looking forward to eating them!
Our okra is coming on now, but I’m concerned with the fact we MAY have planted it a little late, so our yield overall may not be as good as if we’d have planted it a little earlier in the year. The last couple of nights have been in the fifties here, but we still have plenty of good hot days ahead unless we have an unusual fall and winter.
These cooler nights also mean our pasture grass won’t grow as well either, so supplementing the cows with hay isn’t too far off in itself. We keep mineral out for them year round, but watch it much more closely as the days become colder.
The days becoming colder means little to no nutrients in the grass, so they have to get it from other ways. These are through range mineral, mineral blocks, and molasses blocks too.
After the first frost or two, the cows begin foraging, and this means they aren’t too choosy in regards to what goes “down the hatch” at this point! Palmetto’s, oak leaves, cabbage palm fronds, or just about anything that makes a belly feel full becomes part of their diet.
This kinda sounds like me, cause if I’m hungry, I’m GONNA find something to eat, and this means just about whatever looks filling to me!
Winter coming will soon have an effect on our bees too. We checked the hive Saturday, and it looks as if they’ll have enough honey, to keep them over the winter. With little to no blooms appearing during the winter months, these gals need to store enough honey to get them by.
Once spring hits, we’re hoping to be able to make a split, and increase our hive, plus start getting some honey for our use. We kinda got a late start hive-wise, on account of our first queen that hatched not coming back to the hive, but the second queen did, and she’s doing a really good job. The hive is plentiful, and is in good shape.
So, winter is just around the corner, even for us here in Central Florida, and this means no fresh vegetables again until spring, once our okra and peas are done that are in the garden now. But, through our canning, and what freezing we do, Deb and I will still be enjoying our garden’s bounty, even though there happens to be no garden again until spring!
For those out there who don’t grow a garden, we’ll throw out there once more that it would be a good idea to start gardening. Fresh vegetables, better tasting vegetables, and more importantly, better quality vegetables are grown in your own backyard garden than you could possibly hope to get from the grocery store!
Once starting your garden, then you’ll be able to see firsthand the pleasure derived from simply working it, and then the fulfillment of seeing it grow, and then start bearing its harvest. These are some things we feel you guys will be able to grasp once you take that first step, and put some seeds in the ground!
Not only just the benefits of fresh, nutritious, and good tasting produce, but also you’ll be able to reap the benefits of good, quality family time. Gardening does “soothe the soul!”
Speaking of gardening, I’m gonna have to get up and get started this morning. As I said, the weather has turned a little cooler, and with this being the case, every once in a while my pea sheller has a hard time getting started up.
So, let me go on and get going already because sometimes I literally have to “kick start it” on mornings like this. If you purchase the same model as mine be very careful kick starting them, because mine has a tendency to “kick back” from time to time! LOL!
We hope you all have a wonderful day, and God Bess you! Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!
Dub and Deb