Canning or procrastination?

I have three shows to curate, one long essay, one art blog, one extended artist interview, and two big art projects to start researching, I'm moving provinces in three weeks, and my apartment is a constant mess. I'm overwhelmed, and can't seem to get things going. When I'm at my worst, I do all the regular self-care stuff, the bath salts, the yoga, the cleaning, the going to bed early, the giving myself a little break once in a while. But when that's not enough, I try my hand at doing something nice for someone else. It's cheesy, but it really makes me feel better.

A good friend of mine's mother passed away a couple of months ago. He lives out of the city and I feel helpless so I thought I'd put together a little care package to stand in as a hug. The trick is that I have to be able to send it via mail, and it has to last at least a couple of weeks in a box just to be sure. I decided on a really random package of Nova Scotia Oatcakes (we lived in Nova Scotia together), and a few preserves of appetizers (he likes fancy little things like nice little home made apps, ect): sweet pickled beets and green onions, pickled mushrooms. I added a little Chinatown special in there for him too. Who doesn't like Pocky sticks!!!???

A little random care package, but if I know him, I think he'll really appreciate it. I also made myself some pickled swiss chard since I hate waste and those beautiful swiss chard shoots are too good to just steam the color out of them. I adapted a few pickled recipes depending on what ingredients I had. I'll get to taste my own batches in a week and I'll update on the taste.

Pickled Swiss Chard Stalks

2 1/2 C chard ribs, trimmed of dirty ends and cut to desired length
3/4 C red wine vinegar
1 C water
1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp whole black peppercorn 1/4 tsp red chili flakes
3 ea whole cardamon pods (I cut them in half with scissors) 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp thyme

Prepare a bowl of ice water, set aside. Chop up the swiss stalks, in a large pot boil water and throw the stalks in for 1:30minutes. Strain the stalks and throw them in the iced water to "shock" them. Set aside in glass mason jars.

VERSE: This is a popular method for freeze-drying your vegetables if you then want to freeze them. It preserves and lightly cooks the veggies so that all the nutrients stay in the veggy, and then you can just steam them lightly from frozen to cook. I do this with beets, any greens like broccoli, spinach, etc.

Put rest of ingredients in saucepan and bring to boil. Then pour to cover over swiss chard stalks and close mason jars tightly. When the jars cool, the lids will seal and voila, you've got canning!

CHORUS: the same bring to boil then pour over veggies, then close tighlty method applied to pickled beet recipe below.

Pickled beets with green onions

2 bunches COOKED small beets – ends trimmed and scrubbed (RESERVE LIQUID FROM BOIL)
2 long green onions – sliced once the long way and then chopped in wide chunks
1/2 cup liquid from boiled beets
Left over swiss chard stalks but optional
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup raspberry red wine vinegar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamon pods (I cut them in half with scissors)

Pickled mushrooms

One small package of button mushrooms
4-5 Cloves Garlic finely chopped or squashed
3 Tbs spoons lemon juice
1/2 cups raspberry red wine vinegar
2 Tbl spoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp peppercorns

Put rest of ingredients in saucepan and bring to boil. Then put mushrooms in and simmer for 10 minutes. Then put in mason jars tightly. When the jars cool, the lids will seal and voila, you've got canning!

Nova Scotia Oatcakes (for some reason, oatcakes are specific to Nova Scotia. Something about the Scottish cookie tradition.... Make this, eat them, you'll love 'em. Also, I made these plain, but you can add all kinds of yummy things like nuts and seeds and make them to your taste.)

Nova Scotia oatcakes

3 cups rolled oats
3 cups flour
1 cup of sugar (I thought the oatcakes were too sweet so I'd reduce that to 3/4 cups)
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of shortening (I know. I put in 1c of shortening and 1c of butter. Still. I know.)
1/2 cup of cold water

Combine all dry ingredients and then cut in the shortening with the pastry cutter that I showed you how to use in this post. Only add a LITTLE bit of water to MOISTEN the dough. You do NOT want to add a lot. Try 1 tsp at a time. Once the dough is moistened enough to roll into loose ball, spread out on counter in 1/2 inch thickness (use oats on counter so it doesn't stick). cut into desired shape (I chose heart-shaped), place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 C for 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

Lastly: how's THAT for procrastination.