Canning Sausage and Lentil Soup

It’s back! So far, here in the south, we’ve had a pretty mild winter with 70 degree weather and near spring like days. While I knew it wouldn’t last, I was thankful for every warm day. Well, that eventually had to end. We’ve seen no snow yet, but all last weekend we had an endless, cold drizzle. It was one of those weekends that make you want stay indoors, enjoy a warm kitchen and savor a hot, home cooked meal.

A perfect weekend for making soup!

My family’s favorite soup is sausage lentil. It’s made with Italian sausage and herbs, fresh vegetables and just enough red pepper to give it a kick. Whenever I cook this I double my recipe and can the leftovers. This is a great addition to our food storage although it really doesn’t last long. I like to can this in pint size jars for quick, single serve meals, and then throw in a few quarts for dinners. Feeling a bit ambitious, I quadrupled my recipe this time. I don’t know that I would that again! That’s a lot of soup and a lot of work! In the end it paid off though and I put up 14 pints and 6 quarts in addition to having dinner for the night. I’m hoping that will last until the spring when I’m looking forward to harvesting the veggies for this soup out of my own garden.

Sausage Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

1lb Italian sausage

1 large onion

1 stalk celery

2 large carrots

1 zucchini quartered and chopped

6 cups chicken broth

2 (14.5 oz) cans dices tomatoes with juice        

3 cloves garlic              

1 tsp garlic salt

2 cups dry lentils

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp basil

1tsp oregano

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp thyme

½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Directions:

Brown and drain sausage, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and let simmer for at least an hour or until lentils are done. The longer you cook this the thicker it gets. This is great served with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top!

Dixie Classic Gun Show

There’s NOTHING quite like a Gun Show to get the juices flowing! A WHAT you say?!? Yes, you heard me right… a Gun Show! Here in Raleigh, NC, we are fortunate to have the facilities to host The Dixie Classic Knife and Gun show twice a year. And, this weekend was the first of the year. As usual, the parking lots were overflowing with gun enthusiasts from all walks of the life and socio economic backgrounds. Though I’ve been to my share, I still find myself surprised at the people who attend these shows (No doubt, someone could possibly say the same of me and my husband). Anyway, on to the good stuff… As with many shows over the years, the selection of firearms and accessories continues to grow in selection and variety that seems to be orchestrated by master marketers. For

example, what would an antique firearms collector, a 21 year old young man, a retired FBI agent, hunter, or beginning/seasoned prepper (you know who you are!), just to name a few… have in common, or more specifically, find at one of these shows? Simple! Most anything they are, or are NOT, looking for… and at a reasonable price. Which reminds me… don’t forget to haggle a bit… especially when looking at accessories. While you may be tempted to wait until the last day to better your odds of securing a “Great Deal,” the truth of the matter is… most venders want their wares gone “yesterday,” so to speak, so haggle away, but please, keep it within reason.  Also, do your homework! If you’re looking for a specific item, be sure to understand features, availability, quality, and price so you’ll know a great deal be it the original product or alternative.

Of course, it’s always good to have a plan before attending one of these shows. For example, my husband and I were going to look at three specific CC handguns for me to consider as well as a tactical sling bag for me, an IWB and OWB CC holster for my husband, and 27 round clip for his Glock 30SF. In addition, my husband came upon a deal in the form of a very nice “Oil Poly Cotton Outback Style Hat with Shapeable Brim,” as pictured below. The hat was $35, but he managed to haggle the merchant down to $25. J  We checked the price for the exact same hat online and they were selling for $35, so we did indeed get a great deal. BTW, the $25 included all taxes! The hat seems a bit too lite as there was too much flash. The color is a darker and richer, brown.

While we didn’t make any large purchases, I was excited about my new tactical sling bagJ; however, I was equally disappointed in the selection of carry and conceal purses for ladies. There was only one vendor who carried them… and let’s just say… they were less than stylish. Humn…. Maybe that will make a great future project. 

Food Storage Baked Cranberry Oatmeal

This post really goes back to buying what you eat for your food preps. When we first started prepping, I read all these articles about people going to the cannery and buying pounds of oats. So what did I do? I went to the cannery and bought fifty pounds of oats. The only problem is, I'm a grits girl. Other than the chocolate no bake cookies I make at Christmas, we don't eat oats. It didn't take me long to realize that unless I wanted to eat a lot of cookies, I had to find something to do with all these oats.

On a recent trip to West Virginia, my husband and I  stayed at a wonderful B&B. For breakfast, the owner made a delicious baked oatmeal. It was served warm and crispy and was laced with nuts and chewy cranberries. We sprinkled it with brown sugar and then topped it off with rich cream. After one bite, I was hooked. This is my version. Enjoy!

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk(I used powdered milk mixed as directed on package)
2 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients. Add eggs to milk and whisk together. Stir in extract and butter then add liquid mix to dry mix and beat. Stir in cranberries and nuts and spread in a greased 9X13 inch baking dish. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. serve warm with brown sugar and cream.

<a border=”0″ href=”http://frugallysustainable.com/” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XDZ2dzJ8kHA/TsEtvzW6vPI/AAAAAAAAAbA/YZb-BQ4EQPo/s1600/frugaldaysad1.jpg” border=”0″ /></a>