Archive for the 'Food' Category

December 11th, 2008 - Simplifying the holidays: Cookies

One of my treasured holiday traditions from growing up is cookie baking (and eating). I haven’t done it very much as an adult, however, because I’ve previously thought about doing it the same way. We baked dozens and dozens (probably a few hundred) cookies and bars. Each batch was huge and/or complicated. I adored the results, but didn’t have the time to duplicate these efforts or in some cases the equipment.

My three favorites: Spritz–we had a cookie press but it didn’t work for us so I gave it away. Aunt Chicks–need their recipe and cookie cutters (Michael: I want to inherit these! If I don’t buy my own set soon.). And painting them takes forever, even with two older kids helping. Ausukes: Lithuanian “little ears.” Which Dad always helped make because the dough has to be rolled thin enough to see through and took forever. Plus they are fried and I don’t have an electric frypan (my little fryer would only fit two at a time). And they make at least a hundred if not more. We’d store them in the canning kettle!

So what to do? Well, why not make fewer cookies for starters? Small batches take less time and can even be done between work and dinner. And why not try some other favorites as well as some new recipes? Right now is the perfect time to try new ones because if we don’t like them, there will be something else around. And that’s exactly what I’ve done. Here’s what I have so far (all sitting on the front porch, freezing till the Solstice comes ’round [nice side effect of celebrating the Solstice is we get holiday treats a few days early. We do also celebrate Christmas in this house.]):

pebbernodder: Different from every recipe I found online, this is my Danish uncle David’s family recipe that I loved as a kid (they often visited for New Year’s and he always brought these). Intimidated because the recipe makes 1000. So I made 1/4, got about 100, and plan to make lots more because they are little and yummy! I so should have made these before. They are easy. Oh, and I also make another similar kind from an online recipe, but they aren’t as good.
Mint snowcaps I adapted the recipe since I don’t like mocha and used mint flavoring oil instead. Yummy. May make more of these.
Chocolate shortbread: These were from a mix I bought after Christmas last year. The chocolate didn’t melt like it should have, the orange peel isn’t noticeable, pretty lame. But at least the box is out of my pantry.
my shortbread: I loved shortbread as a kid but figured it was difficult to make. Until I tried it here in Oshkosh back when we lived in the apartment. It’s my favorite dessert to make and is the EASIEST thing I made this year. I tried an oatmeal one and a regular one. These are Eric’s favorites, too. I cut them smaller than usual, to assist in the losing weight effort. But now I’m afraid I’ll eat more because “oh, but they are so small, I can have 4!”
cranberry slices: I’ve been going through all my printed and copied recipes trying to pare them down to things I’ll actually make or have made and really liked. I have a tendency to copy more than I’ll ever actually do. One of those was for a cranberry dessert bar, so I decided I had to try it now, or get rid of the recipe. (I have three bags of fresh WI cranberries in the fridge to use.) I halved the recipe to fit in an 8×8 pan. They are good and it’s a keeper!
Raspberry fudge Another recipe from LorAnn Oil (snowcaps from there, too). Very delish, but didn’t come out right. The raspberry layer didn’t cook up the first time (note: Add the powdered sugar slowly, not all at once, and use less). The second time, it was so dry it hardened before I could move it around the entire bottom layer (but yet was warm enough to melt some of that layer). And it’s hard and dry while the chocolate part is soft so they don’t stick together well. I don’t know how to solve it, but I’d love to make these again, despite the hassle. Because I love raspberry. You can make them in any flavor (if you figure out the favored layer’s cooking). So glad to have extras in the pantry, as I couldn’t have had a second chance at the middle layer if I didn’t have another can of sweetened condensed milk there. But now I have to make something with 12 ounces of SWC!
chocolate covered Chex mix: I’ve gotten some white chocolate chex mix in the past and loved it. Except I’m not a big fan of white chocolate (or almond bark or such) and I’d have to but it special just for this. So I decided to cover it in melted chocolate chips. I’ve tried two batches so far, one with semi-sweet and one with milk. The latter tastes better, but both of them melt quickly in your fingers. Glad I’ve tried 1/4 recipes. I found online recipes for dipping chocolate with chips that call for 1 Tbs of shortening per cup of chips. I’ll try a third batch soon. I also tried it with mint chocolate chips, which also didn’t go over well. They are larger than regular ones, so don’t go as far and are overpowering the rest of the flavor.
regular Chex mix: For whatever reasons, I only have this around the winter holidays. Family tradition, I guess! For the last two years, I purchased it (along with the white chocolate Chex and caramels at my church’s auction fundraiser. It wasn’t on the list this year plus I got sick and didn’t go. So have to make my own. Actually, Eric and Maggie made it. I fiddled the recipe since I don’t like wheat Chex so drop the amount of that, but I add in pretzels, Cheerios, and peanuts. I intentionally didn’t adjust the seasonings, since there’s a lot of butter. But it wasn’t enough; Eric says he thinks the butter is an okay amount, but the dry seasonings and Worcestershire sauce could be increased. Will likely make a second batch. Almost had him make a double batch–over 30 cups!–so glad I changed my mind. We have plenty of the cereals–bought 8 boxes for some store specials. Plan to also make a ranch cheese variety.

Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? But each one–except the Chex–was a small batch. (One batch of shortbread only makes a 5×10 piece). Even the Chex fits in a 5 qt ice cream bucket. And having the variety also make it a snap when our neighbor blew out the of our drive and our sidewalks yesterday–the day our snowblower wouldn’t start. The same day we got 8″ of snow. (It’s the spark plugs and should be replaced for Eric to pick it up this morning.) I quickly fixed up a variety of desserts to take over to him as a thank you. (Now if only we could catch him at home!) And–with the exception of the boxed shortbread–everything on the list is something I really wanted to make!

I’ve been inspired, too, by simplfying. I could make Aunt Chicks, but make just a couple dozen. Or just wait until Maggie is a little older (like, say, next year!) and she does the painting! Similarly, if I get a new (to me) cookie press like Mom’s for spritz, just make a small batch so I’m not overwhelmed. Ausukes aren’t in the picture yet.

I wrote this post early this morning because I don’t get to eat breakfast and I needed to keep busy. Strange to write about all these goodies while avoiding food, but it kept me occupied and until now, I wasn’t even getting hungry for them! (I’m having the annual blood test to make sure everything’s fine, with a 12 hour fast.) Time to go read the paper and keep occupied until time to go to work.

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December 9th, 2008 - Bread, wonderful, wonderful bread (and the Winter Market)

I very, very rarely rave about things I buy except those I really, really, really love. I will commence raving now (actually, I haven’t stopped since Saturday!): I have discovered an artisan bread maker from the other side of the lake, RealBread. I love bread. I make a few loaves a week at home. And I would buy his bread a few times a week if it were sold in Oshkosh. I have been raving about it since I tried it Saturday and bought a loaf at the indoor Winter Farmer’s Market up in Appleton. Mostly, just to Eric and Maggie since they are the ones around when I eat it LOL, but I just can’t say enough about how fantastic it is–it’s dense and flavorful and savory and complex. I never understood what that meant in terms of bread but I’ve seen/read it. Now I understand. This is complex bread.

And the coolest thing is that he is starting a bread share–like a CSA but with bread. And he’s going to deliver to Oshkosh (I think the NDC downtown but that’s not confirmed) starting in January. He’s willing to deliver for just a few of us this first time, but needs 10 to keep it going beyond that, so I’m trying to drum up business for him with the few folks I know around town. Right now, I wish I were more connected, especially with green folks who might be into this sort of thing like me. I’m a bit stuck with a few folks on campus and my Covenant Group from church. And this is the last week of classes, so I’m not sure how much interest I’ll get here. But I’m going to try. Already told Peter about it, and maybe he’ll share it with others over there. Especially if I get some bread to hand out. (The baker hopes to get some to me, but with the weather, I’m not sure he’ll get to Oshkosh this week.)

So, I tried his honey whole wheat and something else. And then I didn’t even buy either one of those, I got a 40% rye instead. See, he always makes the flaxseed ones, and the honey one will be around until he runs out of the barrel of honey he traded for a bread share, but the 40% rye was a first-run trial and it might never appear again. It was yummy, however, so I hope it does. And it just goes to show how great a bread maker he is if he can make up something and it’s completely yummy and he can sell it without even having tried it himself! I was tempted by the sourdough baguette as well. Actually, everything is sourdough, but not a strong sourdough, just like the ones I was making. (The only similarity–not a strong sour taste.) I ate the bread for lunch Saturday; breakfast, lunch, and a snack Sunday; lunch Monday; and lunch again today. That will be the end of it. ::sigh:: It only lasted this long because of the diet. Otherwise, I could have eaten the whole thing on the weekend.

And the Winter Market! I’ve known about it for a year, but never went. Almost didn’t go this year, with the whole cutting down on driving we’ve been doing. I found out Stephen goes, and made vague plans to go with him some time. Then I mentioned it to Eric and he reminded me he needed to make an exchange at the mall. So we did both errands on Saturday morning. The market took far more time–and money–than I’d expected! There’s meat [bison, Cattleana farms, elk, sausage guy], goat cheese and milk, caramel corn, a whole grains baker, crafts, cheese, canned goods (from pickles to syrups to sauerkraut) and farmers (mainly root crops plus at least one person with eggs). It was far more than I was expecting from it and I so wish it were down here in Oshkosh! But this bread alone (and the feta cheese from the goat farm is fantastic with it) is worth the trip to the Market, frankly.

We bought: a bison chuck roast (made yesterday in the crockpot), Cattleana meats (that’s the place where we’ve regularly bought meat), feta cheese, fresh cheese curds (they squeeked!), jalapeno pickles (since Eric didn’t like mine, we’re trying someone else’s), a whole grain chocolate chip cookie (when Maggie got hungry and I didn’t think of the curds), tomato sausage and brats (had them Saturday night; good, but not organic), Jerusalem artichokes (I wanted to grow them last summer, but only found them at my usual places in 5# bags which is far more than I needed), and eggs (green ones! and speckled brown ones! They are so pretty. I have to show them to Maggie.)

Darn, writing down that list has just made me even more eager to go back again…except it’s a long drive just to get eggs, bread, and cheese each week. Maybe once a month.

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December 5th, 2008 - Turkey soup

Last night, I roasted veggies in the toaster oven (beet, potato, rutabaga, onion, carrot, garlic, with some sage and sea salt) that were just delightful. And wonderfully filling! I will definitely make them again. I simply diced everything (fairly small to make them cook faster), coated them with a tablespoon of canola oil (will use olive next time if I think of it, and I should have put some on the pan first), sprinkled a bit of salt, and crumbled two sage leaves. 425 toaster oven for 45 minutes. (Original recipe said an hour for 4# of veggies.) I stirred it every 15 minutes. Making a small batch–enough for two servings–made it a quicker prep than trying to do a big batch.

Tonight, I finally made turkey soup from the broth I canned last weekend. (I’ve been eating other leftovers before.) I used the broth (including meat), the leftover roasted veggies, and some kugelis. I added some more sage (didn’t have enough to taste it last night) and kosher salt. Something wasn’t quite right in it–I’m guessing the kugelis since it has eggs, but who knows. The beets made the broth a lovely, though strange, red.

And it took only about 15 minutes start to finish to make! Woohoo!

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December 1st, 2008 - The holiday in review

I was still under the weather Thursday, so we cooked the turkey Saturday instead. Eric picked up some sliced turkey for sandwiches Thursday morning. And a special bread for me, which I am still enjoying. We cooked the turkey Saturday. At 20#, it required both of us for much of the work (mainly, Eric for lifting it). But thankfully, it was still small enough that I was able to lift it, as it finished nearly an hour before I expected it to, while Eric was gone to the gym!

We had just a little bit of it for lunch, along with my cranberry jelly. I’m not sure I mentioned it–Eric is a huge fan of jellied cranberries. I have never been able to eat the stuff, finding it absolutely horrid as a kid and not touching it since. But we always get fresh cranberries every winter (since the majority of cranberries grown in the US come from about 100-200 miles east of here). So I decided to try making my own jelled cranberries for him this winter. Unfortunately, some of the seeds remained after pressing it through the food mill, so he didn’t like the mouth feel. He did like the taste, however, so I will be making it again, this time employing the jelly bag. And, even better, Maggie and I like it. She adores it; I think it’s a bit sweet for a meal. I think it would be lovely on toast! And since I was having apple cider with the meal, it overpowered the sweetness of that and made the cider disappointing. But it was yummy with the turkey. Now I understand Eric’s great love of turkey + jellied cranberries sandwiches!

In the afternoon, we dissected the turkey and pressure cooked the carcass, fat, drippings, and skin for stock. We chopped up the bits and pieces and Eric saved slices for sandwiches. We were smart this year: The slices were bagged up in 2-sandwich allotments, instead of piled in a few boxes. (I know, quite a bit of wasted plastic bags, however. But they wouldn’t have worked in any of the plastic boxes we have. And take up a whole lot less room than a dozen boxes would.)

On Sunday, I pressure canned the broth–which is stock + the chopped up bits of meat. My first time time pressure canning went smoothly, except that I over-pressured it. Had trouble keeping it at exactly 11, and when I thought I was fine, I left the room, only to have to jump up. But that’s better than under-pressure. I bought the pressure canner specifically for soup, so I’m thrilled. It’s not quite soup yet–they don’t recommend including the veggies. Nor did I salt it. But it will still be pretty easy to heat up the broth plus some frozen veggies quickly. I’m so looking forward to deciding to have soup and opening a jar, instead of defrosting a box from the freezer. In fact, I plan to do so with one of the jars tomorrow for dinner. Have to try it right away to see how it came out, after all.

Oh! I almost forgot the best part of Thanksgiving: We made kugelis! That’s an old family recipe, on the Lithuanian side. Eric helped–he grated the potatoes and onions and squeezed the water out of the taters. It’s just as good as I remembered, especially reheated the second day. (I should have brought it for lunch today.) We baked it in two 1.5qt dishes, in the toaster oven. I put one in the freezer. In the future, we’ll just do a half recipe. Mom though the full recipe was about 8 servings. I was overfull with 1/12 and later tried 1/24th–and that was plenty! (With some sour cream, of course.) Maggie’s not too into it–probably because it’s a new food. But then again, she might be just like Moms: I couldn’t stand it as a kid. Didn’t like sour cream either. Then something changed as a teen and I fell in love with both!

We didn’t actually make it for Thanksgiving, as I learned from Mom, because we always had stuffing. But I prefer it to stuffing (and to mashed potatoes) so I believe we have a winner for a family favorite for holidays. This is delightful to me, as we haven’t had many family traditions and we’re still working on what we’ll do. I’m not into the big family meals, but Eric would like to do it. I realized this year that if we figure out the traditional foods we’d like to have, I’d be more interested. I was thrilled with the turkey/homemade jellied cranberry/kugelis meal, for instance. (Plus pumpkin pie from the store. Next year, I’ll make my own. If I’m not sick again.) And I have to get the cardamom bread recipe from Mom for a special breakfast.

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November 10th, 2008 - Weekend update

A few things from the long weekend. I took Friday off work because Eric was sick. That also meant I had three days in a row in charge of Maggie. That’s something I usually don’t like…but the older she gets the easier it is for me. We had a wonderful three days full of things getting done.

Inspired by another blogger, I moved some things downstairs from the kitchen. The narrow cabinet next to the stove has always been a thorn in my side, as it doesn’t fit the things we have it in very well. Or, it does, until you want to take something out. But most of what’s in it are things we rarely, rarely use, like pie plates. So I moved the pie plates, bread pan, and French onion soup bowls to the basement! There’s plenty of room down there and I can easily get a pie plate when I bake a pie. Now there’s room for the cutting boards, which makes a lot of sense since they will now be right below where they are used AND there’s plenty of room, unlike their original place on the other side of the stove. On Thursday, Eric also rearranged the pots and pans cupboard, leaving just one item to be moved. Which ended up fitting nicely on the little shelf at the back of the cupboard I rearranged. Delightful!

A week ago, I attempted to make strawberry jam. I started with a s’berry butter recipe. But the berries, from the freezer, had so much liquid with them I thought it was a shame to have to cook it all down. So I switched to jam. A microwave jam recipe. For which I didn’t really have a large enough dish. And it made me use part of my only box of pectin. And it totally didn’t work like the recipe said (1 minute cooking to jelling stage, and I spent at least 10 minutes–at 1-minute intervals–cooking it). Such a hassle. And then it made 50% more than I expected. So I had three jars of jam/ice cream topping in the fridge. Which will take forever to eat up, as I don’t want to eat solely s’berry jam for the rest of the winter.

So I canned it Sunday morning. Added the rest of the pectin, and put it in four smaller jars (keeping one pint in the fridge since I’d already dipped a knife into it). Later, I saw the recipe for re-doing jam that hasn’t set, but oh well. Even if it stays a bit soft, it did work as jam and would work as ice cream topping as well (next summer!).

On Friday, Maggie and I made granola. Put half in the freezer. I wish I could eat more of it; 1/2 cup serving with milk is over 300 calories which is what I aim to eat for breakfast. But it is so yummy I want to have twice as much!

Throughout the weekend, I made unleavened bread, wheat sourdough bread, and pumpkin bread–which smelled oh so very heavenly. I made it with a squash from the farmer. I can’t wait to make more; it’s been a long time since I made it with fresh squash instead of dried. I have at least 6 more squash, and each should be about 1.5 cups, and the bread takes 1 cup.

The farmers brought me two unripe pumpkins to scavenged seeds from. (I wish they’d brought more.) So yesterday I roasted them all up in the toaster over. With that many, it took way too long in the toaster over. Works okay for a small batch, but this took three large batches and each took at least 10 minutes, plus stirring time. But still worth it since roasted squash seeds are oh so very yummy!

I made, to my amazement for early November, a fresh salsa, including tomatoes, cilantro, and peppers. All fresh! Except, sadly, the tomatoes weren’t actually very flavorful, having ripened in the basement. I also put a lot of garlic in it and the whole fridge smells like it. LOL But I had an entire bag of tortilla chips from a month or more ago (the last time I made salsa, with outside ripened tomatoes), so I’m glad I made it. Also have added some beans and corn. And sour cream smooths out the taste, too. The rest of the tomatoes I’ll cook or make soup with as they ripen. No more salsa.

Also made beans, rice, and veggies for Eric. And stuffed peppers Thursday night. So lots of time in the kitchen!

On Saturday morning, Maggie and I also went to the holiday parade with Ruth and Sequoia. The weather was nasty–rain and wet snow for most of the morning. We dressed in many, many layers and stayed pretty warm until near the end. Maggie had fun watching everything, and getting candy (most of which has been given away here at work). She got bunches of candy canes, most of which were broken when thrown on the street. I’m thinking about making some kind of cookie or candy with them for the holidays. (We were right at the end of the route, and folks either had a ton of candy left–like the canes–or nothing at all.) Despite the weather, we had fun and already made a date for next year. Sequoia was in the parade with her Girl Scout troupe and likely will be next year as well. We were at the end of the route so that Ruth could pick her up–she was in the 5th group so she was with us for almost the whole parade. That was nice for Maggie because she really couldn’t get much candy and Sequoia helped her. (They split the candy at the end, making no distinction amongst who picked it up.) Sequoia also held her hand on the way back to the car. Maggie was thrilled to pieces about that and sharing the backseat with her. Not something she gets to do. It was really sweet. (Sequoia is about 8 and has a little sister who is 5.)

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November 1st, 2008 - A most productive day

Today was every so productive. At the end, I was tired but oh so happy. Today was the first day of appling! I started with 100 apples (although a few were too wormy to use). I ended up with 9 quarts of cider and 11.5 pints of applesauce. Maggie also drank about one cup of cider. I forgot to drink any myself! I was going to keep a quart of cider out, but it fit into two more quarts (7 fit in the canner) so I only had the one remaining cup. Oh well.

I started at about 6am. The juicing was done around noon–an hour longer than last time. It didn’t feel neverending, however. For starters, I cut the apples in two large batches. And because I didn’t carefully read last year’s notes, I thought it was all one big batch. Nope, that many apples will not fit in the juicer, even when added after the previous addition has baked down. So I did one major batch with lots of additions and one small batch that didn’t quite fill the hopper. Canning didn’t take as long, however, since I could do 10 pints of sauce at once (or even more–the pints can stack double, recall). I had 11 pints, but I didn’t want to put enough water for a second layer for just one jar. We use it pretty quickly so I put it in the fridge instead.

The last canning was done around 4. I worked pretty steadily, without large breaks. Except that I had a break while it was juicing and while the canner was running, so it didn’t feel as bad as when I’ve had to sit and watch everything in past years when I didn’t feel confident of what I was doing. And thank goodness for Maggie. While the last batch was heating up to boil for canning, I forgot about it. She heard it boiling away and came and told me, “It’s making a lot of noise in the kitchen, Mommy.” Whew!

While the juicer was starting up, I also made peach butter. I had some peach puree from making nectar. I just cooked it like apple butter on the stove, stirring almost constantly–while cutting apples, too. I had it on very low heat. I added a bit more sugar (I put some in before freezing, too), plus all spice, cinnamon, and something else. About 1/8tsp of each, and a little ore allspice at the end. I would have used nutmeg, but I couldn’t find my nut, and I didn’t search far (it’s probably in with the unused nutmegs, but I was distracted).

I’m not done yet! I recently ran across a recipe for apple cider vinegar made from cores and peels. So I filled a gallon jar (which I didn’t remember I had) with the cores of about 85-90 apples. Then I covered it with 2 quarts of water in which 1/2c sugar was dissolved. It will site in the kitchen, covered with thick cheesecloth, for a week. Around that time, it should darken and I will then strain out the cores. Then it will sit for another 3-4 weeks to become vinegar. I plan to try this with the rest of the batches, too (I expect to spend a day juicing at least twice, maybe three times. I bought a LOT of seconds this year). I’m not sure how to store it, however. If I can it, I will destroy the beauty of unpasteurized vinegar, I believe. Can I just let it sit in the basement, or will it ferment? Need to do some GoodSearching (like Googling, except ad revenue is shared with your favorite charity).

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October 29th, 2008 - Pumpkins

When I got home yesterday, we started in on carving pumpkins. That’s a link to Maggie’s blog, with pictures, including me in my two sweaters + flannel in 58 degree house. (And surprisingly, Maggie decided to wear a sweater yesterday. Maybe Eric insisted she wear it to preschool.) I gave Maggie the choice of three designs; no surprise that she chose the cat over the frog (actually a toad and a skull) or the bat.

We put them out on the porch, lit up with candles, last night. I ran outside to check that they were in a good spot. What a mistake! I already had on my slippers and it was far too cold to be outside in such thin protection. My feet didn’t warm up for hours. I went to bed with them cold, despite sitting for an hour with a hot pack on them.

We’re delighted with the seeds–huge and plentiful. Even if we don’t carve the other two pumpkins, the $4 was worth it for the seeds. My seed recipe comes from Mom and is 1 tsp seasoned salt, 1 tsp salt, and water. I think this is for about 1 cup of seeds, or the amount from your average winter squash. The original recipe is for 1/2c of water, but I just put in enough to cover (be careful; seeds float so don’t put in too much). I like to put the salt on the seeds first and stir it up, then put the water in. If you dissolve the salts in the water first, the seeds don’t get as much flavor or salt as they don’t absorb that much of the water.

Bake in a 425? oven for I forget how long. I will update tonight. If you use a toaster oven, it will take less than 5 minutes. (To my great surprise this weekend. Burned half the seeds from the small winter squash I put in the roasted veggie stock.)

Roasted seeds are one of my favorite snacks. Maggie’s too!

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October 21st, 2008 - It’s been a long, long time

Sorry for the quiet. Feels like not much is happening on the simplicity front, but here are a few updates anyway:

Still biking to work, despite highs in the low 50s (meaning probably in the 30s or 40s when I ride at 6:40am). I’m just hoping for no rain since I don’t want to bike in that, especially at these temps. I started wearing my long johns, sock liners, and winter coat last week. I’m hoping to bike through the end of the week, which will have added an extra month to my normal biking season. Then, if I can get started in April next year, that will be an extra 2 months!

Still haven’t had frost advisories, except for the one a few weeks ago. However, there was definitely frost on the ground and the cars this morning. A bit nervous about my tomatoes and peppers now. Will bring them in today after work, instead of making soup stock. This probably means no more ground cherries–there are tons on the plants but I don’t think they ripen well indoors. But may try anyway–can’t hurt and maybe they’ll ripen just like tomatoes do.

It’s going slowly but surely on the weight loss front. I’m down below 145, but wasn’t feeling a strong urge to get a massage so I bought a 6-qt pressure cooker instead. Made soup in it last night–took longer than I expected, however so we ate late. LOL because pressure cookers are supposed to reduce the time to cook! It did, I just estimated much less time than necessary for preparing the food and for depressurizing. Next time, I’ll add 15 minutes for prep and I’ll quick-release (running cold water over the cooker) so that we can eat in about 45 minutes start to finish instead of 90 minutes. This definitely means we can have soup for supper (assuming I find some good recipes–I just don’t have much luck with seasoning soup) without me having to set it up before leaving for work in the morning. (I know, Eric could set up the crockpot during the day, but there are two problems. 1. Have to remember to start it at the right time. 2. The end time is so variable that we seem to always end up with it done too early or too late. Oh, and we have a really big crockpot and I always make too much soup then someone doesn’t like it. The pressure cooker is smaller!) Did I mention before my new goal is 135#?

I used the pressure canner for the first time on Sunday, canning 6 qts crushed tomatoes. The only problem is that you have to let it slowly depressurize, so I wouldn’t want to can more than one batch in a day as the process can take about 2 hours total (heating the jars, boiling the water, coming up to pressure, canning, depressurizing). But you can fit two stacks of jars in there, so I can can 14 qts at a time, even more pints. I’m hoping to find a good soup recipe to can this winter. May also can some of our beans for quick and easy use.

On Saturday, I made roasted red pepper spread for the first time. Took far longer than expected to roast the veggies in the toaster oven (about 45min instead of the 15 in the recipe). Came out quite yummy and I will definitely make it again. It’s a canning recipe, so next summer I can buy a whole bunch of peppers and make a large batch. Oh, you also need plum tomatoes, so maybe I’ll have to plant more of those, too. (I have some this year, but they are really small, just a bit larger than decent sized cherry tomatoes, so a hassle to work with on a large scale.) Twice, Maggie and I had grilled RRP and cheese sandwiches over the weekend.

Speaking of which, we also bought a cast iron skillet. We’ve both longed for one for ages, but had been told over and over they shouldn’t be used on glass top stoves (except the ceramic coated ones, which are lame as the entire surface is coated, including inside. What’s the point of a cast iron skillet if you don’t get the cast iron to cook on?). The last time I was at Fleet Farm, I saw a sign on their Lodge display that the company says you can use them on these stoves, with care (don’t drag and don’t drop, unlike on a computer). I used it three times in two days, also making fried rice (which didn’t work so well, as much of the egg stuck to the bottom, but it came off easily after soaking). Maggie almost burned herself, as she has been allowed to hold pot handles when we cook together. I didn’t think of telling her not to touch this one. Luckily, it was just warm when she did so. I totally understand the little “handle mitts” they sell right next to the skillets; I almost forgot to pull out the hot pad when cooking as well.

My biggest problem these days is that there aren’t enough meals in the day. There are all these good things I’m COOKING. FROM SCRATCH. WITH FRESH VEGGIES (and beans and rice). The fridge is crowded with leftovers and veggies, and there’s just not enough time to eat it all. Tonight I also need to get the broccoli and cauliflower (from the final farmer’s market of the year last Saturday) into the freezer. Maybe tomorrow–as long as it’s not raining, I’m taking the day off and we’re going up to the apple orchard.

Hmmm…I could have made at least seven posts over the last week if only I’d done updates daily instead of waiting. Sorry about that and I’ll try to do better.

Posted in General, Garden, Food | 4 Comments »

October 9th, 2008 - Mint tea

I have searched long and hard and multiple times to get good advice online about making mint tea. I can NOT find it. So I have had to cobble together what I think works and present it here for your benefit. And mine if I forget next winter.

Use boiling, not hot, water. This advice came from Mom and has definitely made a difference.
Use far more mint than you think you need. Currently, I’m using about 1/2 cup loosely packed leaves in a teapot. I have reused it for at least 4 cups of tea over 2 days, and will try more later today. UPDATE: It’s really quite weak today. Even after steeping for 15+ minutes, the water is barely green.
Let it steep at least 5 minutes. If you leave it even longer, it will get darker and stronger. But if you are trying to make your mint last for multiple cups, 5 minutes seems long enough to get enough flavor.
It will be a rather subtle flavor, nothing like, say, peppermint toothpaste. However, this is with last year’s mint. I’ll update this once I finish it off (now that I know how to make it work).
You need a large tea ball or a teapot with a built-in strainer. A single-cup te strainer spoon will not hold enough mint to have any effect on the taste (as I discovered last winter, and why I’m still using last year’s mint).
Chocolate mint doesn’t affect the flavor much. At least, not my chocolate mint. But it barely even smells of chocolate and when I ate leaves this summer, I couldn’t tell they were chocolate either.

My office area has been quite chilly lately, since the heat isn’t turned on till mid-October (whether we need it then or not). Cocoa runs about 100 calories for an 8-ounce cup…but tea has 0 (I don’t use sweeteners). So I really wanted to be able to use my mint, since it’s free. But even if I got boiling water, I had the problem of only have a single-serving tea strainer. Then, cleaning up the basement, I ran across my tea set. Many years ago, possibly even before we were married, I won a tea set in a drawing from the grocery store. It’s green! I never used it, but couldn’t get rid of it, because, well, it’s the perfect color. And finally, I had the perfect use for it, although I would need to buy a large tea ball.

Until I unpacked it and discovered it has a built in strainer at the base of the spout. It has relatively large holes for a strainer, but my mint leaves aren’t finely crushed and there are a lot of them. It works fairly well, although some leaves do come through. I just dump them (and the last bit of liquid) back in the pot after drinking the cup.

Meanwhile, the microwave at work broke, which meant I wouldn’t have anything to heat water with. My first thought was to buy a new microwave for home and bring the old one in here for everyone. Then, when I ran across the teapot, I also ran across my old hotpot, something I haven’t seen in years. The perfect combination!

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October 5th, 2008 - Beans and rice

Thanks to a number of reasons, Eric and I have spent the past two weeks eating a lot of beans and rice (sometimes together, sometimes not). I’d like to give credit to some of the influences:

The blog Lentils and Rice is not a direct influence but I’ve been reading for a couple months now and it’s nagged me to think about more legumes and rice. Let’s say it watered the seed (I can’t say planted since I’ve long known beans and rice are good to eat, hence the rice in the freezer I had Eric get 6 weeks ago that we didn’t eat right away).

L&R recently pointed me to Simply Living Smart which I finally looked at Friday (it’s mainly about stocking up and storing foods long term, but also has tips for eating that food!). After registering (free and simple), I was able to view the section on beans. One tip was to add beans to tuna, chicken, or ham salad. Ding ding ding! Last week, I pulled ham out of the freezer for ham salad. (The first salad I made with light mayo. I’m not doing that again!) With the second pressure cooker of beans, I threw in the last of last year’s scarlet runner beans. Eric didn’t care for the texture (they may have been undercooked, as they were actually larger than the kidney beans, and they never split like the kidneys did), so picked them all out. They have dark purple skins (and white interiors), so are perfect for ham salad. I added them in. And, as Anitra promised, you wouldn’t know they were there! The purple skins (I chopped them with the ham in the mini chopper or you could puree them) just look like bits of well cooked ham skin. There’s no taste at all. And they made the ham salad with mayo worth about the same calories as the ham salad with light mayo! Part of that is that their creaminess meant I could put in less mayo (about twice the ham and I used the same amount of mayo).

Another piece of it is that beans and rice both store well. We want to build up our stored foods a bit more–we generally don’t keep a whole lot of extra food around. More than the average family perhaps, but not a ton. If the power goes out, for instance, or the flooding had been worse, it would be nice to know we had plenty of good food for a few weeks. Plus, the more food we buy now, the less it will cost since prices seem to just be going up (if only we’d bought more a year ago, or the year before!).

And finally, Eric was looking for something with a lot of protein and few calories. Beans fit the bill nicely!

I’ve had less beans than he but more rice I think. I’ve made Spanish rice twice. Tonight, Maggie adores it so much that I think she’s eaten at least half of what I made–meaning I won’t have the leftovers I was hoping for! (And she’s still eating….) I’ve often thought I’d like Spanish rice, but I just never made it. Since I was pulling rice out to go with the beans, it came to mind and I said “I’m going to do it!” The first time was a little funny: I had only ONE ripe tomato! (So I used a couple not quite ripe ones.) It was during the cool weather last week when things just slowed down in the garden. Tonight, I had plenty, all from the CSA since mine are still slow to ripen.

But we’re nearly out of rice, so Eric will need to head back to the Red Radish–or perhaps to the store here in town–to pick up some more and make a bulk order. Oh, and I forgot something important: It’s all brown rice. No non-nutritious white rice for us! This is also great as I don’t think Eric’s ever had brown rice before. Far as I can tell, it tastes the same, but I was never much into rice so I’m not sure.

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October 2nd, 2008 - My new pressure canner

While on vacation, I bought a pressure canner, Presto 23 quart. Coolest thing: It’s made here in WI! Other cool things:

Can be used for water bath canning, meaning I can get rid of my old one
Works well on glass stove tops; others are too large (including most water bath ones, like the one I had)
Can put 2 layers of pints or 3? of half pints–as the site says, 7 qts, 20 pints, 24 half pints
For small jars, they can’t fall through the wire rack, because it’s not wire, it’s a rack–a mostly solid piece of metal with large holes in it. I would like to have another one for stacking jars, but they say it’s not necessary. I’d have to order it and am not sure I want to pay for shipping for it. Maybe if I need other items in the future I’ll get them all at once.
It’s also a pressure cooker

I’ve used it for water canning the grapes, peppers, pickles, etc. I’ve pressure cooked beans twice–that’s worked so slickly that we’re thinking about getting a smaller one, since I don’t actually make more than a few cups of beans at a time. I’m sure it would go faster if pressure didn’t have to build in all 23 quarts. In addition, it just barely fits in the sink and is difficult to clean since it’s so large. A smaller cooker would be much handier for beans. Even with the large one, they are done in about 45 minutes, enough time to cook them after getting home from work (or up from naps) in time for dinner. And the same amount of time brown rice takes in the steam cooker. They complement each other nicely. And about the same time to make and cook cornbread in the toaster oven. (You can guess what our dinners have been this week.)

I was rather nervous the first time pressure cooking. I didn’t do it until Eric and I were both home. I watched it like a hawk and wouldn’t let Maggie stay in the kitchen after pressure was hit until it came off the burner. I believe I have actually used a pressure cooker before; I made beans and cornbread quite often down in Kentucky and pressure cooking seems vaguely familiar. The second time, I was much less nervous, and left the kitchen except for checking on it. And Eric wasn’t home. It was a BREEZE! Maggie was quite helpful, too, as she noticed the pressure regulator bopping around when the 15# pressure was hit and came and let me know. She’s going to be a cook one day (and a vet, don’t forget).

If you’ve considered buying a pressure cooker and have things you’d cook in it, I strongly rec’d getting it. It’s not scary at all! And if you can, get a large one and give away your old water bath canner.

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October 2nd, 2008 - Grape jelly

I called The Farm Phone and talked about my grape jelly recipe, so I have to post the recipe so Geek Farm Life can link to it from their grape jelly podcast:

Pure Grape Jelly from Joy of Cooking: All About Canning

Use Eastern Concord, Muscadine, or Scuppermong grapes. (Elsehwere, I’ve seen the comment “use high pectin grapes.” Including the stems in the juicing will add to the pectin.) Make juice. Let sediment settle for 24 hours. Pour off juice, leaving sediment behind, straining through a jelly bag to eliminate tartrate crystals.

Use 1 cup sugar for each cup juice.

Boil rapidly, stirring frequently, to the jelling point. Pour into hot sterilized jars leaving 1/4″ headspace. Process in boiling water canner for 5 minutes. [Read directions in a canning book for more info about making jelly in general.]

The recipe is also good for wild berries, particularly blackberries, boysenberries, loganberries, marion berries, and olallieberries (whatever those are!), using 3/4c sugar per cup of juice.

****
Geek Farm Life is one of my favorite podcasts, as I’ve written before.

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September 26th, 2008 - Great galloping grapes

I took a 6 day vacation and should have written a bunch in here whilst doing so (it was at home). Instead, I didn’t and felt like I had all sorts of things to share that I never got to so I procrastinated more and more. ::sigh:: Sorry for my absence. Let’s get back on track with grapes!

Last Sunday, I picked something over a bushel of grapes at Moes. She had grape vines on the house she bought and can’t keep up with them. I also got some a few years back but not last year. I should just go ahead and email her each fall. Whenever I run into her, she always welcomes me over! It took only about an hour–not bad at all! I had two bushel baskets about half full. Wish I’d weighed them, but forgot. I believe these are Concord grapes. They aren’t sweet enough to eat plain (except the occasional lucky one) and have seeds. Maggie liked them, however!

My grape jelly recipes said that including the stems and green grapes was a good idea for extra pectin, so my first batch in the steam juicer just was dumped in. I them realized that it would be a LOT of batches and started stripping grapes off the stems. Not too carefully, however, as I didn’t care that much, just wanted to fit more in the juicer. (It was over 23 quarts of grapes, as I nearly filled the pressure canner with grapes waiting for the juicer.) Ended up with three batches in there. Each took at least 30 minutes till steam came out, then 60 minutes of juicing.

Put it all in the fridge to settle overnight. Monday, I made grape jelly. I may have scorched it as I thought the three tests would appear in a row, and I never got to the sheeting stage, so I never even tried the “in the freezer to see if you can run your finger through it” stage. I finally gave up and decided to have grape syrup. After filling the jars, I discovered that the bit left in the pan had jelled in those few minutes of putting jars in the canner! Aaaaack and aaaargh. I’d wasted quite a bit of time that wasn’t necessary. Now I know to go with “when it boils check it in the freezer.” It’s a bit sticky and a little scorched flavor, but livable. I have 6 half-pints of jelly.

I bought a jelly bag for straining the juice since I always made quite a mess with cheesecloth. The jelly juice had no sediment to speak of.

Tuesday, I stayed home and canned juice. The juice–just a tiny bit of sediment. I hope it really did all get out, because the juice I froze before always had crystals and sediment in the bottom (I didn’t know about straining to prevent that.) This time, I added sugar right away. In the past, I’d add it when drinking it, and you always get sugar at the bottom of the glass, which I don’t like. The recipe suggested 1-2 cups per gallon or to taste. I added about 2.5 cups. It’s still on the tart side, just like grape juice should be. (Actually, I had to ask Eric that question. I don’t recall the last time I had commercial grape juice.) I made 9 quarts of sweetened juice along with 3 more quarts unsweetened to make jelly again later. Counting the jelly juice from Monday, I got about 14.5 quarts of juice from the one hour and one+ bushel! Not sure why, but the 1/4″ headspace turned into about an inch, although there was no loss of juice to the canning water. Maybe the jot juice takes up more room than room-temp juice?

There was just a bit of unsweetened grape juice that didn’t fit in the jars, so I added a bit of sugar and Maggie and I drank it Tuesday for a snack. It can definitely be cut with water! Which means I actually have more than 9 quarts of sweetened juice to drink. (I found the same thing the last time I juiced it. It’s great to have it concentrated for preserving because it takes less space than if it were full strength.)

I’m very tempted to go get another bushel of grapes tonight or tomorrow, but I really need to concentrate on taking care of other things I already have to around the house like hot peppers, carrots, potatoes (the later two still need to be dug out of the garden, for instance!).

Grape juice: Heat to 190F. Add 1-2 cups of sugar per gallon of juice, or to taste. Fill hot jars to 1/4″ headspace. Boiling water canner for 15 min, quarts or pints. (Every canning book.)

Grape jelly: 1 c sugar to 1 c juice. Prep and cook as for any jelly, boiling rapidly to the jelling point. 1/4″ headspace, boiling water canner 5 minutes, 1/2-pints. (Joy of Cooking: All About Canning)

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September 10th, 2008 - Revising my thoughts on jam

I recently realized that a tablespoon of jam will cover as much bread as a tablespoon of butter…and has about half the calories! I think I’m going to make some small batches of jam, starting this weekend. Or maybe I’ll work on the fresh produce this weekend, since I have some jam in the fridge and the pantry and save jam making for when the garden is done. But still, I’m getting inspired and delighted by jam again!

Of course, this means you can’t butter the toast THEN put jam on. It’s one or the other. And half a tablespoon of jam appears to be the perfect amount for my sourdough bread (which is higher than my whole wheat bread, so one slice is much larger). I thought it wouldn’t be nearly enough to taste as good as butter but it is! And saves me about 40 calories on breakfast.

One of the jams in the fridge I made last fall. It was supposed to be apple syrup, made from apple cider. But I cooked it just a tad too long and it appeared to have turned to jelly. All winter, I kept thinking that I should try microwaving it and see if it would soften enough for ice cream…but I never did. So I finally pulled it out yesterday and realized it was indeed the perfect consistency of jelly. And it tastes really quite yummy! (Cooked down apple juice can replace pectin in many jam/jelly recipes, so it makes sense that I ended up with jelly instead of syrup.) Perhaps I shall have to make more this fall–I didn’t use any sugar at all so it’s healthier than other jams, but it also made very, very little. I don’t recall how much cider I started with but I think it was 2 cups. There’s less than half a cup (maybe even only 1/4 cup) of jelly.

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September 8th, 2008 - 14 quarts of dill pickles

Saturday, I bought about 16# of pickler cucumbers (the little ones) for $10 and made 14 quarts of dill pickles, with the addition of the 3 big cukes from the farmer. Somehow, I had the idea that 8# = 8 quarts but that’s not in the recipe (at least not as I put it in the blog) so I’m not sure where that number came from. Anyway, I wanted 14 quarts–or two batches of the canner–so I figured 15 pounds would be good. The seller had baskets of cukes for $5 each–and each was more than 8#. It was a LOT of cucumbers. But it wasn’t too difficult to process them since pickles are oh so terribly easy.

At the tail end, when I realized I would not quite fill the last jars, I remember the 3 huge cukes from the farmer, so I put them in the last 3 jars. Turns out they are squishier (since they were halved then quartered) and made the jars easier to pack than when I just had the picklers. May use a mix of sizes for all batches next time.

Eric thought the pickle from the fridge (extra cukes put in leftover brine last week) was too salty. We’ll have to see how they come out after a few weeks in the jars in the basement. I love the saltiness myself!

I also make 7 half-pints of mild salsa, using the Ball Canning Traditional Salsa recipe. I replaced all the hot peppers with green and used 1/2 the hot sauce (2 drops instead of 4) and it was just barely not too hot for me. Unfortunately, Maggie and I used up the last bits of tortilla chips to have the salsa for lunch and I forgot to buy more. (Saved a cup or so of salsa in the fridge and I want to eat it!) Will make up a hot batch for Eric to try one evening this week. It was a less complicated recipe than the one I’ve made before, and from a canning company so no worries about whether or not it’s appropriate to can. Did a lot of research online to find out that it’s acceptable to replace the hot peppers in a recipe with green peppers as long as the proportions remain the same. ::whew:: ALL the recipes I was finding had hot peppers in them, and I’m pretty much a mild salsa person. Well, not all the recipes. Ball’s mild one called for buying the company’s salsa mix from the store. I wasn’t interested in doing that.

Also tried yet another tomato sauce Sunday. Once again, way too acidic. Dumped it, along with last week’s that I’d saved, in the compost. I’m done with tomato sauces. Maybe…got another canning book from the library and it has a good sounding sauce in it.

I always say I don’t like to cook, but I’ve been thinking maybe I can’t say that anymore. I certainly do a lot of cooking to preserve the harvest!

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September 5th, 2008 - Found a use for cauliflower

I mentioned that when making the pickles, I put some cauliflower and carrots into the leftover brine. I’ve already enjoyed the ones I put in the Zing Dill Beans and they tasted just like the dill beans do, except with a different texture. In other words, lovely since I adore the dill beans. For lunch today, I’m eating the ones I put in with the dill pickle brine.

The cauliflower is awesome! The carrot I just tried doesn’t work so well. Maybe it needs to sit longer since it’s a harder vegetable. Not sure. Will try again in another few days. I have another head of cauliflower in the fridge that will be cut up tonight and brined. I’m so delighted as it just wasn’t tasty, even with dip, this summer.

I had been wondering if any nutrition was lost by pickling. Given that fermentation is a far longer tradition than canning or freezing is, I suspected it would be fine. But I had to know. Surprisingly, it’s rather difficult to find anything about this. I ended up at Nutrition Data and compared 100 grams of Pickles, cucumber, dill or kosher dill to 100 grams of Cucumber, with peel, raw. Their numbers are pretty close, although the pickles have more calcium (why?), Vitamin A (?), Vitamin K, and sodium (obviously). The cukes have more Vitamin C and a bit more of some of the B vitamins.

Now I just need to see if anyone advises against canning dill pickles other than cucumbers and beans. I’ve never actually seen a recipe for pickled cauliflower or carrots, but I have for a lot of other veggies (green tomatoes, onions, asparagus, corn, and don’t forget watermelon rind!). They all seem to use 10 minutes processing time, so I feel pretty comfortable using that with cauliflower and carrots. Especially since I will not be making an entire jar of either one; they’d just be additions to jars of beans or cukes.

I’m also having an actual dill pickle with lunch. I tried one this morning and it transported me back to childhood, just like tasting the dill bean did the other day. I am so thrilled about this I hope to buy a few pounds of cukes at the market tomorrow and will be planting my own next spring! (My lemon cucumbers didn’t germinate this year, and I didn’t mind at first since I only eat a few on salads anyway.) I didn’t realize how pickles are far easier than everything else I’ve tried canning since the cooking is just of the brine and that’s really simple!

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September 4th, 2008 - I’ve been lying about my pesto

I just learned that I don’t make pesto, I make pistou. What’s the difference? Pistou doesn’t have nuts, and sure enough, I never put nuts in my pesto…I mean my pistou.

I’ve already made quite a few batches of pistou this year, even though I’ve not mentioned it much. I’ve made a few changes since last summer:

After great frustration with the blender, I switched to the stick blender. Woohoo! It works so much better I can easily make a double batch without problems and tons faster than with the blender. I credit Eric with the idea; he credits me.
I’m freezing it in small jars instead of cubes. The problem with cubes is that it was never quite the right amount. I always wanted a little more or a little less, but I was stuck with whatever cubes I pulled out. They also got quite icy by the end of the year. With the jars, I can pull out a jar at the beginning of each month (or so), let it defrost in the fridge, and then use just however much pesto I want each time we have pasta (or other delights with pesto. Ooops, I mean pistou!) I bought a case of 4-oz (1/2 cup) jars and have used them all up, plus two taller “jelly” jars I had downstairs. I’ve considered doing this before, but had read that you should only use jars specially made for freezing. None of the jars sold in stores every mentioned freezing so I avoided them. A few weeks ago, I looked up Ball’s website and discovered a list of which of their jars were safe for freezing (PDF). I also bought a case of the wide mouth Half Pints (why don’t they call them 1-cup?) which I think will be good for herbs.
As mentioned, I’m making smaller batches instead of a great big one that takes 3 hours to process. It’s been much easier and I’ve done it three times already. I’d have done a fourth last night, but I was out of cheese. Tomorrow’s will be my last batch as I’ll have more than one jar a month ready. I still have plenty of basil outside but I need to resist the urge to make too much. I still have some from last year after all!

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September 4th, 2008 - Strawberry preserving

We don’t eat much jam/jelly/preserves, so I’ve only once made jam and twice made apple butter. I gave away most of the jam and half the apple butter is still in the freezer. I’ve been intentionally making pb & j sandwiches just to use up the four partial jars of jam in the fridge (I threw out one that was mostly crystallized).

However, I’ve just been inspired to make some strawberry preserves by My Daily Dollars. First, she describes her process, with lots of helpful tips then she wrote about other ways to use jams to save money. I particularly like the ice cream topping idea (not that we are eating much homemade ice cream this summer–but next summer I will again!). It would also be good on waffles, although I do just love them with butter and cheese.

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September 2nd, 2008 - About apples

Somehow, in two or three years of getting apples from a local orchard, I have managed to not once write up my apple buying. All I’ve managed to do is write making and drinking apple cider, even calling the orchard by the wrong name at least once!

So here’s a start, as I haven’t actually bought them this year. I was hoping to find out how many I bought last year, as it was just about the right amount.

Orchard: Spranger’s Orchard. I like to get Fireside, Spartan, and Mollie’s. They are open 9-6 7 days a week. It’s a few miles east of my church, so I go Sunday after the service. (I always wonder if I can go beforehand, but nope.) the first apples are available mid-August, but I never remember until September. I hope I remember sooner next year, as I’d love to start eating fresh apples in August! I’ve almost run out of applesauce–would have but I wasn’t sure my 3 pints would last long enough so I haven’t eaten any plain, plus I stopped making fruit bread due to other things to eat. (Oh, and as usual, I horded the apple cider and we still have 2 quarts left. I should go ahead and drink one this week!)

I plan to get apples this Sunday, which means it’ll soon be time to make sauce and cider again! woohoo!

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August 31st, 2008 - Some more canning

Doing some more canning on this long weekend. Yesterday, I picked up 2# of green beans at the farmer’s market–this time from the known organic farmer. They were $1.50/# and in far better shape than the beans I bought last week. The only problem? I should have written down how many I wanted before I went. I couldn’t remember and actually wanted about 4#, in order to make a fully kettle (7 pints) worth. Oh well. I also planned to make dill pickles, so I figured I’d do them at the same time to fill up the kettle.

After the market, we went to St. Vinnie’s to see if I could buy more pint jars–I usually use at least 13 for applesauce, I didn’t have that many left! I recently read someone who paid $1/jar at her thrift store, so I was hesitant. For her, it was cheaper to buy new, since you’d also get a lid and ring with it. To my delight, pints are only 25 cents at St. Vinnie’s, so I was in luck. (Quarts are 50 cents; blue jars–pint or quart–are $1.) I got 24 jars, including one wide half pint and about 8 wide mouths. I thought maybe those would work better for the dill pickles and I don’t have any. I also have a whole bunch of wide mouth lids and rings (bought at garage sales or inherited from Grandma/Grandpa Frost). I got all the wides they had, and all but 4 of the regulars. Unfortunately, my quick glance at each missed two with chips. The other blogger was figuring out how much money she spent canning, but even at $1/jar I wouldn’t figure the jar price into it because they can be used for years and years and years. I have canning jars that are decades old that are still usable! At that rate, they cost pennies. The real cost is the fruit and veggies if you don’t grow them yourself and the lids which can’t be reused.

And frankly, I don’t count the cost. It might not be cheaper (except for dill beans) to buy veggies and can them, but the taste is incomparable! I rarely buy pickles, never buy dill beans, never buy applesauce or apple cider, etc. The taste of the ones I make are simple impossible to find in stores. (In particular, I made chunky applesauce with no sugar, a rarity.) I think my ingredients are likely fewer in number and of better quality as well. Speaking again of applesauce, I leave the skins on which I doubt any commercial a’sauce does.

I also got lucky that a box was sitting next to the canning jars so I had a handy container for getting them home. Next time, I should be sure to bring my own box just in case. I had meant to, but just like with the pounds of beans, I didn’t think about it as I left home so it was forgotten.

So this morning, I made 4 pints of dill beans. One of them hasn’t sealed yet, so it might go in the fridge. Not terribly disappointed in that as I didn’t have any leftover beans this time (in fact, could have used a few more in the last jar). I absolutely adore these pickles but I would probably save the canned ones for the middle of winter, so having an unsealed jar to eat would be lovely! :)

And I made 6 pints of dill pickles. I realized that I easily could make more than 3, so I processed them separately. With pint jars, it took more cutting as none of my cukes were short enough. But I think I’ll prefer opening pint jars–unless Eric ends up loving these. Which I hope he does! But I tend to eat a few pickles for a few days, then forget about them. So a pint jar will easily last a few weeks or a month.

There were a few pieces left over and plenty of brine, so I tossed them in an empty jar along with some carrots and cauliflower. I also did this to the brine from last week’s dill beans. If I enjoy these flavors, I’ll make other dill pickles with excess veggies. Not that I ever have excess carrots–I love them too much. But I’m not a huge cauliflower fan and haven’t been eating up what we got from the farmer. I take them to work, but only like them with dip. But I’d eat them pickled straight up.

It takes 30 (pints)-45 (quarts) minutes for my canner to come to a boil before sterilizing jars. I never remember this year to year, despite having written it down a few times. Hopefully, this summer’s work will keep it in memory!

It would be far easier and faster to have a helper (I remember helping Mom as a kid!). For instance, once a jar is packed, someone else could put in the liquid and on the lid while I packed another jar. With just one person, you are doing all the steps!

I have a glasstop stove and have no problems canning with it (the reason I didn’t try for the first few years we lived here) despite warnings elsewhere. I have never tried pressure canning, but may this winter.

If you are thinking about maybe trying canning, I recommend jumping in. It’s not nearly as intimidating as I thought. And pickles are REALLY easy since you don’t have to cook the main ingredients first. I’m finding pints easier as well. For starters, they take less work and require fewer ingredients to get a good number of them. They also take less water to cover!

My recipes are similar to what you’ll find online and in books. But here they are from my relatives.

Garlic Dill Pickles Rita Frost (my Grandma)/ Ellen Bilstein Hamlein
Bring to a roiling boil:
2 c vinegar
1 c salt
12 c soft water (I just used my tap water)

Pack jars with one head of dill (dry or fresh) and one clove of garlic top & bottom. Fill with cucumbers and pout boiling solution to cover. Leave 1/4″ headspace. Seal 15 minutes in boiling water bath. Makes 8 qts (or 16 pints?)

I used wide mouth pints, took about 10 4″ quartered cukes per jar.

Crisp Dill Beans Rita Frost/Violet VanDeest EDIT: I think I’ll call these ZING! Dill Beans as they are really, really zingy, or at least the ones I put in the fridge w/o processing them are!
2# small tender green beans
1 tsp red pepper flakes/cayenne powder
4 cloes garlic
4 large heads dill
2 c water
1/4 c salt
1 pt vinegar (why it says pint instead of 2 c I have no idea!)

Stem green beans and snap to size if necessary. Pack uniformly in hot, sterilized jars. To each pint add 1/4 tsp red pepper, 1 clove garlic, and 1 head dill. Heat together water, salt, and vinegar. Bring to a boil and pour over beans. Seal in boiling water bath 15 min. Makes 4 pt. (Note: 1qt jar packed fairly well takes 1.5c liquid.) Notes: Due to time spent boiling, I ran out of liquid for 4 pints.

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My Adventures in Simple Living

Archive for the 'Food' Category

December 11th, 2008 - Simplifying the holidays: Cookies

December 9th, 2008 - Bread, wonderful, wonderful bread (and the Winter Market)

December 5th, 2008 - Turkey soup

December 1st, 2008 - The holiday in review

November 10th, 2008 - Weekend update

November 1st, 2008 - A most productive day

October 29th, 2008 - Pumpkins

October 21st, 2008 - It’s been a long, long time

October 9th, 2008 - Mint tea

October 5th, 2008 - Beans and rice

October 2nd, 2008 - My new pressure canner

October 2nd, 2008 - Grape jelly

September 26th, 2008 - Great galloping grapes

September 10th, 2008 - Revising my thoughts on jam

September 8th, 2008 - 14 quarts of dill pickles

September 5th, 2008 - Found a use for cauliflower

September 4th, 2008 - I’ve been lying about my pesto

September 4th, 2008 - Strawberry preserving

September 2nd, 2008 - About apples

August 31st, 2008 - Some more canning

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