{"id":47889,"date":"2014-03-13T00:09:18","date_gmt":"2014-03-13T07:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=47889"},"modified":"2014-03-13T00:09:18","modified_gmt":"2014-03-13T07:09:18","slug":"self-sufficiency-merit-badge-intermediate-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/47889","title":{"rendered":"Self-Sufficiency Merit Badge, Intermediate Level"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<span style=\"color: #800080;\">The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.farmgirlsisterhood.org\/\">Sisterhood Merit Badge program<\/a>,<span style=\"color: #800080;\"> now with 5,788 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20148,160 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #339966;\">Wondering who I am? I\u2019m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/10477\">former life<\/a> \u2026<b>\u00a0<\/b><b>\u00a0<\/b><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>For this week\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.farmgirlsisterhood.org\/badges-fk-self-sufficiency.asp\">Farm Kitchen\/Self-Sufficiency Intermediate Level Merit Badge<\/a>, I got out my beloved collection of Mason and Bell jars. Why, you may ask?<\/p>\n<p>Are you crafting, Jane?<\/p>\n<p>Making a chandelier?<\/p>\n<p>Organizing your buttons?<\/p>\n<p>Filling them with homemade bath salts?<\/p>\n<p>Giving DIY brownie mixes away to the neighbors?<\/p>\n<p>Well, I could be (and I do, because let\u2019s face it, these purty glass jars have <i>endless<\/i> possibilities), but no. I am actually\u2014gasp!\u2014using them for what they were intended for: canning.<\/p>\n<p>I know.<\/p>\n<p>Shocking.<\/p>\n<p>First up: spaghetti sauce. Yum! Who doesn\u2019t love a big bowl of noodles, covered in marinara? Gosh, you could even skip the noodles part and eat a big bowl of marinara.<\/p>\n<p>Call it Italian Stew. Who\u2019s with me, farmgirls?<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, though, for my most favoritest spaghetti sauce in all the land, I called up Gramma Barbie. Her newest Chihuahua, Puddles (a name she found endearing, but which turned out to be oddly prophetic), was making a real ruckus in the background, so I hope I got it right.<\/p>\n<p><b>Gramma B\u2019s Sketti Sauce<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Brown 1 lb ground meat of your choice with several cloves of minced garlic and 2 T of anise or fennel seeds that have been ground in a coffee grinder.<\/li>\n<li>Add a big pinch of oregano and two big pinches of basil, and whatever leftover wine you have opened in the fridge (even sweet wines work well).<\/li>\n<li>Add 1 can each of organic diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste, plus 2 cans of water.<\/li>\n<li>Simmer, along with a nice big beef bone if you have one (if not, add a couple teaspoons of brown sugar for some sweetness and depth).<\/li>\n<li>Taste and adjust seasonings. Can according to your canning equipment\u2019s instructions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>My fingers licked and my tummy happy (hey, somebody had to lick the bowl), I moved right along to my next feat of gastronomical genius. (Don\u2019t you enjoy my humility? I know I do.)<\/p>\n<p><b>Pickled Jalape\u00f1os<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>8\u00a0jalape\u00f1os, sliced (For spicy, leave the seeds; for very mild, remove them. I suggest gloves. Little life lesson from moi to you.)<\/li>\n<li>1\/2\u00a0cup\u00a0soy sauce<\/li>\n<li>3\u00a0garlic cloves, sliced paper thin<\/li>\n<li>3\/4\u00a0cup\u00a0rice vinegar<\/li>\n<li>3\u00a0T granulated sugar<\/li>\n<li>2\u00a0T fresh lime juice\u00a0(from 1 lime)<\/li>\n<li>1\u00a0T fresh lemon juice\u00a0(from about 1\/2 lemon)<\/li>\n<li>1\/4\u00a0cup\u00a0lemon-lime soda, like Hansen Blue Sky Lemon-Lime<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the soy sauce, garlic, vinegar, and sugar to a gentle boil and let it bubble for a few minutes. Remove from heat. Add the citrus juices and soda and let cool until no longer piping hot, about 5 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>Pour the warm soy mixture over the jalape\u00f1os. Tightly seal the jar with the lid. Immediately refrigerate the pickled jalape\u00f1o peppers for at least 1 day and up to 2 weeks if you don\u2019t complete the canning process, or follow the directions for canning for a longer-lasting treat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,788 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20148,160 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ Wondering &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/47889\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/47889\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gladsome_sisters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}