Hawaiian Meatballs - a real treat- a small trip to Paradise

Yes, I'm from Hawaii and love pineapple. When I decided to add  crushed pineapple to some lean, ground beef, oh joy! Major delicious. I love rice, too. Any type of rice! Making a fruity sauce to drizzle over the meatballs and rice is pure heaven. So here's how to make these bad boys:

1 can - 8 oz crushed pineapple in juice, divided
1 cup barbecue sauce

1 pound ground round beef (85% lean) grass-fed pastured2-1/4 cups instant brown rice, uncooked,divided 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper PAM® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray or extra-virgin olive oil

Stir together half the pineapple and 3/4 cup barbecue sauce in small bowl; set aside.

Mix remaining pineapple, remaining 1/4 cup barbecue sauce, beef, 1/4 cup rice, salt and pepper in large bowl until well blended. Shape mixture into 24 meatballs, about 1-1/4 inches each. Place in large skillet sprayed with cooking spray; spoon sauce mixture over meatballs.

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir gently and cover. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 16 to 18 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through (160°F).

Meanwhile, prepare remaining 2 cups rice according to package directions, omitting salt and butter and adding bell pepper. Serve meatballs and sauce over rice.

So, defrost or buy some really good ground beef, crushed pineapple and make yourself a treat. You're probably staring at a lot of white stuff and need a mental trip to the tropics. Just the yellow color of the pineapple will cheer you up. :)

Douglas Fir Trees

We had 5 Douglas Fir trees as of 7 am this morning. By 11:30, they were downed, chopped up and done for. Two were damaged, the other 3 were close to being toppled in future wind storms. Sadly, and also, cheerfully I watched the crew who leveled them. They'll be back to do the stump grinding. My two large ash and maple trees will benefit by having more sun. We will also see our beloved Olympic Mountains. Not today, rain and fog prevail. My living room which faces west is filled with light. I remember these things from years ago when the firs were little. We could see the mountains, our room was always full of light. Three of these trees were almost 100 feet tall.

Tomorrow, our two cedar trees will be thinned. They'll be able to breathe better. Our three large apple trees are being shaped and trimmed. Looking forward to better crops. One tree is a wild one. It grew from a seed dumped in the yard eons ago. It took me a couple of years to realize to pick the apples when they are fully shaped and green. The moment they turn a bit of yellow, they're mushy and tasteless. Green, they make super tasting apple pies and sauce. I can a lot of applesauce. Both of my children and now grandchildren have grown up eating those apples, one way or another.

And, speaking of canning, my search for a large canning pot lead me to a Graniteware 33 quart. Ordered it from Amazon, it came quickly, was on sale but arrived damaged. Did a return, reported the damaged, asked for better packaging, got another. It is now waiting to be returned. Damaged due to not enough packaging. Getting a refund and hip hip hooray, found a local source for this canner. Joy comes to us FarmGirls when we realized our little dreams of great equipment which we use to make sure our families are fed healthy food. I don't mind investing in equipment for my kitchen. This particular pot has been on sale. Makes things even sweeter. It actually fits quite well on my largest burner on my stove. It'll do 9 quarts, same for pints and 13 half-pints. Stainless steel pot covered with enamel. Both pots that have gone back had the enamel chipped off inside. Once that starts, it doesn't stop. Hopefully Amazon figures out the shipping issue. They are a great company to deal with.

My 21 quart canner spews water when I use it to do quarts. It's just not tall enough. I don't even have the 1" requirement going for me. So this bigger bad boy should do the trick. So off I go into canning land feeling much better. It was getting tricky dodging the boiling hot spews of water and wondering if I was canning properly. The new pot has a stainless steel rack with dividers. Love that!