Frustratingly enough it has been many months since my last post. Life changes affect what we eat and how we eat. I have had many life changes since Novemeber. Lots of eating setbacks. Oh wait everyday for the last two years has been an eating setback causing me to gain 25 lbs, loose 15 lbs and gain back 15 lbs. I started a new job with the public schools in the kitchen. I cannot begin to tell you how frustrating this new Michelle Obama eating program is in the school system. I am sure she envisioned something different when she decided to take it upon herself to put all school children on a forced diet, but honestly the school system I work at needs a nutritionist making the menus. First of all 800 calories in a meal does not seem like a good idea to me, but I need to research it further. I might be off the mark on that so don't take my word for the calorie count. What it has turned into at least at the high school is that they are getting about 2 oz of protien like shredded chicken or taco meat and then noodles on top of mashed potatoes and a dinner roll to sop it up with. Then they can eat all the fruits and veggies they want. Ok, well whatever happened to limiting carbs and especially the wrong kind of carbs that break down quickly and what about tempering that breaking down with the use of adequate protein so the kids are not starving an hour after they eat. Again I have to do the propper research, but honestly all us cooks are eating more than we are giving the students for portions and we are all starving an hour after we get done lunch. I don't know how students are supposed to study for 3 hours after lunch with their stomachs growling. I will have to get back to you on this.
Another source of my frustration for a long time is I don't know where my place is in the world I am living in. I moved in with someone and I am trying to not make huge changes in their home, but honestly I feel like I have no part of myself anymore. I have finally found a place where I can be creative and work to my hearts content and I feel like I have even managed to carve out the much needed time to do so. I am however extremely frustrated about the lack of sleep which causes my metabolism to slow down and then I store fat which negates all the weight loss tactics. So I bring up my creative spot because in clearing my work space this evening I found some recipes from an old friend who I would love to be close to again but she married a man who treats her badly and she refuses to leave him so I had to walk away. Anyway these recipes came from a time when we were single mothers trying to raise our children and were living on food stamps. We often shared meals so that we could afford to get through the month. I was going to cooking school and so this friend of mine gave me the family recipes I could use for class as long as I didn't let the school claim them. There were 3 of them that I absolutely love. I doubt she knows I have a blog since we have not spoken in years and even if she does manage to find it I guess she will find issue with me. I hope you enjoy these they are amazing for poor people food.
NO PEEK CHICKEN
9x13 baking pan
8 thighs (1 1/2- 2 lbs cut chicken)
1 Cup of rice
1 Can of cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup
1 soup can of water
1/2 cup of milk
optional-1 can of mushrooms
1 pkg lipton dry onion soup mix
Mix everything but chicken. Pour into 9x13 pan. Put chicken on top Sprinkle with Lipton dry onion soup mix. Cover with foil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 2 hours.
NOODLE HAM BAKE
3 Slices of ham, diced
1 can of tomato soup
1 cup of sour cream
1 cup of cottage cheese
1-2 cans of mushrooms
minced onion
garlic salt
1/4 tsp or so of black pepper
1-2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
1 large bag of wide egg noodles, boiled and drained
Mix all ingredients except the noodles. Grease an 8x10 pan with shortening.
Layer noodles, half of ham mixture, layer of noodles, half of ham mixture, layer of noodles, shredded cheddar cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Thursday, October 4, 2012
END OF THE CANNING SEASON
I cannot believe that it has been 10 days since my birthday and since I last wrote. An update on my birthday cake. I have to admit when it first came out of the oven I immediately cut a piece and poured myself a cold glass of vanilla soy milk. I am not lactose intolerent but my boyfriend is and when I realized that this creamy thick milk had 10 fewer calories than my skim milk I decided that I would now be a soy milk drinker. I was not crazy about the soy milk with my chocolate cake, maybe it was the vanilla, but it was cold and it was milk so the desired effect was achieved. I also felt that the cake was a bit dry, I am not sure why. It took awhile to bake the mousse-like batter, maybe I should have put a pan of water in the bottom of the oven to add some humidity to the dry heat. Once I cut into the center or about an inch in from the edges it was very moist and the chocolate chips melting on top were inspired. I cannot imagine topping this cake with anything else. Ok, well, now that I think about it maybe some of the german chocolate frosting would be divine or even a thick layer of fudge frosting. I initially felt that it was not very chocolatey (sp?) I think that is because I used the unsweetened chocolate squares I had available in my freezer. I think next time I will use sweetened chocolate. The funny thing is that we ate on it for a week and about the second day it sat out on the counter it began tasting fantastic. It seemed moister and more delectible. I actually threw it out yesterday because I could no longer take any more of it. It did make a 9x13 pan and that was way too much for two people. We were actually eating double sized pieces.
Today is the last day of my garden as it is supposed to be our first frost of the season and I have tons of green tomatoes outside I need to pick and do something with. The thing I am dreading most about this is that today the wind is blowing fiercely and it feels like 40 degrees. I know... in a few weeks 40 degrees is going to feel warm, but right now I do not feel like going outside and standing in a garden with no shelter to speak of in the wind.
The question is what am I going to do with all these tomatoes. I resorted to my old stand by ask.com which gave me several variations of how to ripen them using bags and boxes and bananas. I was originally looking for a green tomato salsa recipe and then I started wishing I could make something other than salsa and found a recipe for green tomato apple pie. This was on emeril's page of the foodnetwork.com there is a note at the bottom that a guest or some non-cook celebrity gave him the recipe and that it had not been tested. I am thinking first of all if it made it to the page he has to have some confidence that it will work well. I am still on the fence if I will try it or not.
If you remember a few weeks ago we had to pick our apples early and I sliced some into pie slices and then I put others into storeage under the cupboard. Well, the ones under the cupboard lasted about a month longer, but we started to lose them so after throwing 9 of them in the garbage I sliced them up into pint bags with my 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon and froze them for pies.
Potato update. A few weeks back we picked a hill and put them in a dark colored pillowcase and placed them under the cupboard. As of yesterday only one small one was getting soft. About 3 weeks ago Don dug up tons of potatoes and gave about half of them to his brother next door. IN my mind the ones I get in the grocery store last forever so it should be a no-brainer that the ones fresh from our garden should also. I think it is just because we had them in a box and on the dryer in the laundry room.. maybe too much light ? Anyways we noticed that they were getting a bit soft so we decided to can them. We cleaned them and cut off any green toxin-parts, quartered them and boiled them for 10 mins before putting them in the prepared jars. I think next time we will just cold pack the potatoes into the jars and not boil them. I read that if you cold pack them then a lot of the water will be absorbed by the potatoes and while it will be ok, there will not be as much liquid in the jars. I don't know why, but I felt there should be more liquid in the jars so I decided to hot pack them and boiled them 10 mins. then put boiling water in the jar to fill in the cracks around them. as we were packing them into the jars don commented that they were a lot like mush; so I think next time I will put them in the jars hard and cold, then add the boiling water then process the 40 mins at 10 lbs of pressure. They look really nice in the quart jars, I am proud of them and it will take next to no time to prepare them.
At the beginning of the week I finally made the basil jelly I have been talking about for months. It is quite similar to the jalapeno jelly and went relatively quickly. I was trying to use up all the basil that I have been collecting in my freezer all summer and ended up having about 2 cups too much liquid for the amount of dry fruit pectin I had on hand so I saved the liquid knowing that I should have more basil on friday or saturday or sunday morning. Well... with the freeze expected tonight I am going to have to go pick what is left and hope it is enough. The plan is that I have 19 half pint jelly jars. The strawberry jam that I made back in june that I was trying to hide because I didn't think it turned out right turned out to be a big hit amongst don and his grandkids and his son in law so I am hoping strawberries are a good price tomorrow when i go to the store because I want to make enough strawberry jam to use up the last of the half pint jars. my goal is to have no jars sitting in my kitchen or in storeage when this weekend is over. I want the salsa done, the peppers chopped and all jellies made. I have put off almost everything (scrapbooking which I love love love... and my son's quilt for his wedding is now on hold til I can get it done for christmas) so .... I want it all to be done this week. DONE DONE DONE! I have 82 days til christmas and I have gift baskets to make out of all the jams and justards and salsas I have been making all summer and I am psyched to get started. If I can ever figure out when the thrift store is open I think I can find some amazing baskets for my sisters. I don't wnat to spend a fortune because I am wanting to spend the bulk of my money on my daughter and don's gifts. I don't want to put a lot of time into these gifts because I need the time for dj's quilt.
today's recipes are the basil jelly, strawberry jam and a pot roast recipe that is my absolute favorite. I found it by accident one time in a book I somehow ordered from one of those cookbook clubs where you could buy like 4 and get one for 99 cents or so. They never give you a description of the books so you have no idea what you are getting. I was in my first year of chef school and was all excited thinking I would need to acquire tons of cookbooks because most chefs take their own recipes to the kitchens as they are not provided for you. So I ordered this book, "What's For Dinner" to my knowledge this is the only recipe I have ever made out of this book. This recipe is worth the price I paid for the book even if I never make anything else out of it. It was not traditional to me, but the chef writing it, Michael Roberts, put it in the comfort foods section in the 1950's era recipes. I had never had a roast that just used a rich broth instead of immersing it in a gooey gravey but I am very in love with this recipe. I was nervous about using the instant coffee because it was back in the days when I was being the good latter-day saint woman who didn't drink coffee. I also never developed a taste for coffe because when i was growing up, my father worked in a body shop. Back in the 1970's and early 80's in the part of colorado where I grew up it was apparently not a problem for the shop to house a refrigerator that held beer beer and more beer. Any time of day when we stopped in to visit the guys would be drinking a beer while they were working. Whether at work or home I remember my dad with a cup of coffe in his right hand a beer in his left and a cigarette haning out of his mouth. These scents mingled with body sweat from working in the shop or mowing the lawn has influenced how I feel about the taste of beer and coffee. I cannot drink either one or smell cigarette smoke without experiencing the sickening memory of all of them mingled. So I followed the recipe to the letter and it turned out to be the most amazing pot roast I have ever tasted.
POT ROAST AND SWEET BAKED CARROTS
2 TBs flavorless vegetable oil
1 2lb beef chuck roast or eye-of-round roast
1 medium onion, roughly chopped, plus 1 (peeled) onion stuck with 3 cloves
2 TBs instant coffee powder
1 TBs tomato paste
2 1/2 cups chicken stock, canned low sodium chicken broth, or water (I only had 2 cups of canned broth and no instant coffee, but I had made coffee for don that morning so I had a bit in the pot. I added 1/2 up of the prepared coffee to the broth ..a bit nervously... but it turned out perfectly)
3 bay leaves
salt
1/2 tsp black peppercorns (I am used to being able to go to super walmart and getting anything I could imagine including spices most people don't have so black peppercorns should be a no brainer.. but not so in our local walmart, or the grocery store ..so (sigh) I had some pickling spice at home that I have not hardly used and there are peppercorns in it so for 5 minutes I stood at the counter picking out 1/2 tsp peppercorns, but it was worth it for this taste)
3 cups thinly sliced carrots (about 10) ... I bought a 32 ounce bag of baby carrots because I didn't want to go thru the work of cleaning and slicing.
2 TBs butter or margarine.
Preheat oven to 325. (I didn't want to use a lot of propane on a warmish day so I planned to use the crockpot).
Heat the oil in a dutch oven or oven proof cassarole over high heat. Add the beef roast and brown well on all sides. Remove the roast and pour off the oil. (I used a skillet and did not pour off the oil because there was not that much and since I was going to transfer the roast to the crockpot I didn't feel like the grease was going to be an issue sitting around the roast while it baked).
Place the pot over medium heat, add the chopped onion, and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the instant coffee and tomato paste, then add the broth, 1 1/2 tsp salt, bay leaves,and the peppercorns and bring to a boil. Return the roast to the pot, add the whole onion, cover, and transfer to the oven and cook for 2 1/2 hours, or until very tender. (I ended up getting the roast into the crockpot at 2:30 p.m. and we didn't actually try it until around 9 pm but it melted in my mouth. We did not eat it til lunch the next day so it sat over night in the fridge but it was not compromised taste-wise in any way whatsoever).
Meanwhile, place carrots in a baking dish. Season with salt and pepper to taste and dot with the butter. Covefr and bake for 45 minutes. (YOu will not believe how sweet these carrots are!)
Remove the meat from the pot. Skim the fat off the cooking liquid and strain (I do not do this) Arrange a bed of the carrots on a serving platter, ( I just serve mine from the dish I baked them in). Slice the roast and arrange the slices on the carrots. spoon some of the cooking juices over the meat and serve.
Since I had so many delectable fresh potatoes I cut some up when I put the roast into the crock pot (just quartered them) and let them sit on top of the roast and steam (mmmmmm!)..so delectible with a bit of margarine and some of the beef juice on them!
BASIL JELLY
4 Cups water
2 cups firmly packed fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
1 pkg (1-3/4 oz) powdered fruit pectin
3 drops green food coloring, optional
5 cups sugar
In a large saucepan, bring water and basil to a boil. REmove from the heat; cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Strain and discard basil. REturn 3 2/3 cups liquid to the pan. Stir in pectin and food coloring if desired. Return to a rolling boil ovr high heat. Stir in the sugar. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; skim off foam.
Carefully ladle hot mixture into hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. REmove air bubbles, wipe rims and adjust lids. Process for 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.
Yield 6 half-pints
FRESH STRAWBERRY JAM
(Makes about 8 cups jam)
4 1/2 cups crushed fresh strawberries
(wash and stem before crushing)
1 box (1 3/4 oz) powdered fruit pectin
7 cups sugar
Place berries and pectin in 3 quart cassarole. stir well. Cover. Place in microwave oven and cook (high power) 8 to 10 minutes until mixture is at a full rolling boil.
Add sugar to boiling mixture and stir well. Return uncovered to microwave oven and cook mixture 8 to 10 minutes stirring after 5 minutes, until mixture reaches a full rolling boil. Then, time for 1 minute of boiling. REmove from oven and skim off foam with a metal spoon stirring jam about 5 minutes before ladeling into prepared glasses. Seal. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.
Wow! I have been working on this since 2 pm and it is now 5:15 p.m. Don is going to come home from swathing and think I have done nothing with my day. Anyone who does any cooking knows that to do a day of canning or cooking like it seems like always happens with me. It seems like I can't just make a grocery list or walk in and make a meal .. it always involves menu planning and organizing like I would in the restaurants or catering it is just second nature with me. I do feel however that if I take today to find the recipes and make the lests and organize what I want to do when then everything just flows. You will see when thanksgiving comes .. I will start 24 hours before and start the preparations and make a chart of what to do first and when to put what in the oven and when everything comes out it is like a play or some sort of production.. all working in harmony. So tomorrow when i roll out of bed I will be all organized and know what I am shopping for and get home and just start cooking. I think a lot of this is because of my ADD to deal with not taking medication I have learned to make lists. If I have taken the time to map out my day I am focused and everything gets done and then some. NO list and I am lost. Ok I am off to the garden to gather the green tomatoes and pick what is left of the basil. hopefully there will be enough basil to finish the jelly. I really wish I had more time to write. I really want to post the green tomato apple pie recipe and the green tomato salsa. I am hoping to write sooner and more regularly now that the garden is about to be destroyed and I am ending things. I see I have 9 people reading regularly, if anyone has anything that might help me figure out what to do with all these green tomatoes I would love to hear from you. I do not know why in the 25 years of professional cooking I have only made fried green tomatoes. I cannot believe these are the only green tomatoes I have come in contact with, but honestly I have no idea what I am going to do with them. Ok, have a great time in your kitchen, I know I will!
Today is the last day of my garden as it is supposed to be our first frost of the season and I have tons of green tomatoes outside I need to pick and do something with. The thing I am dreading most about this is that today the wind is blowing fiercely and it feels like 40 degrees. I know... in a few weeks 40 degrees is going to feel warm, but right now I do not feel like going outside and standing in a garden with no shelter to speak of in the wind.
The question is what am I going to do with all these tomatoes. I resorted to my old stand by ask.com which gave me several variations of how to ripen them using bags and boxes and bananas. I was originally looking for a green tomato salsa recipe and then I started wishing I could make something other than salsa and found a recipe for green tomato apple pie. This was on emeril's page of the foodnetwork.com there is a note at the bottom that a guest or some non-cook celebrity gave him the recipe and that it had not been tested. I am thinking first of all if it made it to the page he has to have some confidence that it will work well. I am still on the fence if I will try it or not.
If you remember a few weeks ago we had to pick our apples early and I sliced some into pie slices and then I put others into storeage under the cupboard. Well, the ones under the cupboard lasted about a month longer, but we started to lose them so after throwing 9 of them in the garbage I sliced them up into pint bags with my 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon and froze them for pies.
Potato update. A few weeks back we picked a hill and put them in a dark colored pillowcase and placed them under the cupboard. As of yesterday only one small one was getting soft. About 3 weeks ago Don dug up tons of potatoes and gave about half of them to his brother next door. IN my mind the ones I get in the grocery store last forever so it should be a no-brainer that the ones fresh from our garden should also. I think it is just because we had them in a box and on the dryer in the laundry room.. maybe too much light ? Anyways we noticed that they were getting a bit soft so we decided to can them. We cleaned them and cut off any green toxin-parts, quartered them and boiled them for 10 mins before putting them in the prepared jars. I think next time we will just cold pack the potatoes into the jars and not boil them. I read that if you cold pack them then a lot of the water will be absorbed by the potatoes and while it will be ok, there will not be as much liquid in the jars. I don't know why, but I felt there should be more liquid in the jars so I decided to hot pack them and boiled them 10 mins. then put boiling water in the jar to fill in the cracks around them. as we were packing them into the jars don commented that they were a lot like mush; so I think next time I will put them in the jars hard and cold, then add the boiling water then process the 40 mins at 10 lbs of pressure. They look really nice in the quart jars, I am proud of them and it will take next to no time to prepare them.
At the beginning of the week I finally made the basil jelly I have been talking about for months. It is quite similar to the jalapeno jelly and went relatively quickly. I was trying to use up all the basil that I have been collecting in my freezer all summer and ended up having about 2 cups too much liquid for the amount of dry fruit pectin I had on hand so I saved the liquid knowing that I should have more basil on friday or saturday or sunday morning. Well... with the freeze expected tonight I am going to have to go pick what is left and hope it is enough. The plan is that I have 19 half pint jelly jars. The strawberry jam that I made back in june that I was trying to hide because I didn't think it turned out right turned out to be a big hit amongst don and his grandkids and his son in law so I am hoping strawberries are a good price tomorrow when i go to the store because I want to make enough strawberry jam to use up the last of the half pint jars. my goal is to have no jars sitting in my kitchen or in storeage when this weekend is over. I want the salsa done, the peppers chopped and all jellies made. I have put off almost everything (scrapbooking which I love love love... and my son's quilt for his wedding is now on hold til I can get it done for christmas) so .... I want it all to be done this week. DONE DONE DONE! I have 82 days til christmas and I have gift baskets to make out of all the jams and justards and salsas I have been making all summer and I am psyched to get started. If I can ever figure out when the thrift store is open I think I can find some amazing baskets for my sisters. I don't wnat to spend a fortune because I am wanting to spend the bulk of my money on my daughter and don's gifts. I don't want to put a lot of time into these gifts because I need the time for dj's quilt.
today's recipes are the basil jelly, strawberry jam and a pot roast recipe that is my absolute favorite. I found it by accident one time in a book I somehow ordered from one of those cookbook clubs where you could buy like 4 and get one for 99 cents or so. They never give you a description of the books so you have no idea what you are getting. I was in my first year of chef school and was all excited thinking I would need to acquire tons of cookbooks because most chefs take their own recipes to the kitchens as they are not provided for you. So I ordered this book, "What's For Dinner" to my knowledge this is the only recipe I have ever made out of this book. This recipe is worth the price I paid for the book even if I never make anything else out of it. It was not traditional to me, but the chef writing it, Michael Roberts, put it in the comfort foods section in the 1950's era recipes. I had never had a roast that just used a rich broth instead of immersing it in a gooey gravey but I am very in love with this recipe. I was nervous about using the instant coffee because it was back in the days when I was being the good latter-day saint woman who didn't drink coffee. I also never developed a taste for coffe because when i was growing up, my father worked in a body shop. Back in the 1970's and early 80's in the part of colorado where I grew up it was apparently not a problem for the shop to house a refrigerator that held beer beer and more beer. Any time of day when we stopped in to visit the guys would be drinking a beer while they were working. Whether at work or home I remember my dad with a cup of coffe in his right hand a beer in his left and a cigarette haning out of his mouth. These scents mingled with body sweat from working in the shop or mowing the lawn has influenced how I feel about the taste of beer and coffee. I cannot drink either one or smell cigarette smoke without experiencing the sickening memory of all of them mingled. So I followed the recipe to the letter and it turned out to be the most amazing pot roast I have ever tasted.
POT ROAST AND SWEET BAKED CARROTS
2 TBs flavorless vegetable oil
1 2lb beef chuck roast or eye-of-round roast
1 medium onion, roughly chopped, plus 1 (peeled) onion stuck with 3 cloves
2 TBs instant coffee powder
1 TBs tomato paste
2 1/2 cups chicken stock, canned low sodium chicken broth, or water (I only had 2 cups of canned broth and no instant coffee, but I had made coffee for don that morning so I had a bit in the pot. I added 1/2 up of the prepared coffee to the broth ..a bit nervously... but it turned out perfectly)
3 bay leaves
salt
1/2 tsp black peppercorns (I am used to being able to go to super walmart and getting anything I could imagine including spices most people don't have so black peppercorns should be a no brainer.. but not so in our local walmart, or the grocery store ..so (sigh) I had some pickling spice at home that I have not hardly used and there are peppercorns in it so for 5 minutes I stood at the counter picking out 1/2 tsp peppercorns, but it was worth it for this taste)
3 cups thinly sliced carrots (about 10) ... I bought a 32 ounce bag of baby carrots because I didn't want to go thru the work of cleaning and slicing.
2 TBs butter or margarine.
Preheat oven to 325. (I didn't want to use a lot of propane on a warmish day so I planned to use the crockpot).
Heat the oil in a dutch oven or oven proof cassarole over high heat. Add the beef roast and brown well on all sides. Remove the roast and pour off the oil. (I used a skillet and did not pour off the oil because there was not that much and since I was going to transfer the roast to the crockpot I didn't feel like the grease was going to be an issue sitting around the roast while it baked).
Place the pot over medium heat, add the chopped onion, and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the instant coffee and tomato paste, then add the broth, 1 1/2 tsp salt, bay leaves,and the peppercorns and bring to a boil. Return the roast to the pot, add the whole onion, cover, and transfer to the oven and cook for 2 1/2 hours, or until very tender. (I ended up getting the roast into the crockpot at 2:30 p.m. and we didn't actually try it until around 9 pm but it melted in my mouth. We did not eat it til lunch the next day so it sat over night in the fridge but it was not compromised taste-wise in any way whatsoever).
Meanwhile, place carrots in a baking dish. Season with salt and pepper to taste and dot with the butter. Covefr and bake for 45 minutes. (YOu will not believe how sweet these carrots are!)
Remove the meat from the pot. Skim the fat off the cooking liquid and strain (I do not do this) Arrange a bed of the carrots on a serving platter, ( I just serve mine from the dish I baked them in). Slice the roast and arrange the slices on the carrots. spoon some of the cooking juices over the meat and serve.
Since I had so many delectable fresh potatoes I cut some up when I put the roast into the crock pot (just quartered them) and let them sit on top of the roast and steam (mmmmmm!)..so delectible with a bit of margarine and some of the beef juice on them!
BASIL JELLY
4 Cups water
2 cups firmly packed fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
1 pkg (1-3/4 oz) powdered fruit pectin
3 drops green food coloring, optional
5 cups sugar
In a large saucepan, bring water and basil to a boil. REmove from the heat; cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Strain and discard basil. REturn 3 2/3 cups liquid to the pan. Stir in pectin and food coloring if desired. Return to a rolling boil ovr high heat. Stir in the sugar. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; skim off foam.
Carefully ladle hot mixture into hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. REmove air bubbles, wipe rims and adjust lids. Process for 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.
Yield 6 half-pints
FRESH STRAWBERRY JAM
(Makes about 8 cups jam)
4 1/2 cups crushed fresh strawberries
(wash and stem before crushing)
1 box (1 3/4 oz) powdered fruit pectin
7 cups sugar
Place berries and pectin in 3 quart cassarole. stir well. Cover. Place in microwave oven and cook (high power) 8 to 10 minutes until mixture is at a full rolling boil.
Add sugar to boiling mixture and stir well. Return uncovered to microwave oven and cook mixture 8 to 10 minutes stirring after 5 minutes, until mixture reaches a full rolling boil. Then, time for 1 minute of boiling. REmove from oven and skim off foam with a metal spoon stirring jam about 5 minutes before ladeling into prepared glasses. Seal. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.
Wow! I have been working on this since 2 pm and it is now 5:15 p.m. Don is going to come home from swathing and think I have done nothing with my day. Anyone who does any cooking knows that to do a day of canning or cooking like it seems like always happens with me. It seems like I can't just make a grocery list or walk in and make a meal .. it always involves menu planning and organizing like I would in the restaurants or catering it is just second nature with me. I do feel however that if I take today to find the recipes and make the lests and organize what I want to do when then everything just flows. You will see when thanksgiving comes .. I will start 24 hours before and start the preparations and make a chart of what to do first and when to put what in the oven and when everything comes out it is like a play or some sort of production.. all working in harmony. So tomorrow when i roll out of bed I will be all organized and know what I am shopping for and get home and just start cooking. I think a lot of this is because of my ADD to deal with not taking medication I have learned to make lists. If I have taken the time to map out my day I am focused and everything gets done and then some. NO list and I am lost. Ok I am off to the garden to gather the green tomatoes and pick what is left of the basil. hopefully there will be enough basil to finish the jelly. I really wish I had more time to write. I really want to post the green tomato apple pie recipe and the green tomato salsa. I am hoping to write sooner and more regularly now that the garden is about to be destroyed and I am ending things. I see I have 9 people reading regularly, if anyone has anything that might help me figure out what to do with all these green tomatoes I would love to hear from you. I do not know why in the 25 years of professional cooking I have only made fried green tomatoes. I cannot believe these are the only green tomatoes I have come in contact with, but honestly I have no idea what I am going to do with them. Ok, have a great time in your kitchen, I know I will!
Monday, September 24, 2012
Remember when you were a child and would come home from school on your birthday and there was a cake. Usually a homebaked cake, sometimes a bakery cake, but someone made you a cake. Now we are grown up and nobody makes us cake. Heck most of the time I don't even get cake. I don't even remember buying myself cake for my birthday.
Today is my birthday and there was no cake in the house. Not even an outdated cake mix that has been in the cupboard for who knows how long. I decided I wanted cake. I had zucchini in the freezer so I decided zucchini cake was better than nothing. I searched the interweb for zucchini cake and on kraftfoods.com I found 2 recipes for chocolate zucchini cake. I really wanted to make the first one I found but I lack sour cream. Normally I would just substitute vanilla yogurt, but the only yogurt I have is flavored...i.e. strawberry banana and banana cream pie. So I made the second recipe, but had to make a couple substitutions. The recipe called for 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder so I used what cocoa I had (short about a tablespoon) and added 3 squares of melted unsweetened bakers chocolate. It could have been chocolate over-kill but it turned out well. The recipe also called for 1/2 cup of oil, but I only had 1/4 cup so i substituted 1/4 cup extra of butter. Yes I used full butter and not the oleo that the recipe called for. when i mixed up the batter it resembled chocolate mousse and was already fluffy and tall when i put it into the oven. I was kind of afraid it would over-flow but it did not by some magic. The cake turned out alright, feel like it might need a bit more sugar and some moisture i.e. the sourcream or the other 1/4 cup of oil, but over all it turned out well. It took one hour to bake at 325 degrees F.
The original recipe says 1/4 C cocoa, maybe someone used regualar drinking cocoa which would make it sweeter. I did not have buttermilk today so I used regular powdered milk reconstituted to 1/2 cup and put in 1 tsp white distilled vinegar and let it sit for a few mins. Items in parenthesis are things I changed otherwise this is the original recipe I found on kraftfoods.com posted by lshook81.
KIM'S KOBBLED DOUBLE CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE
2 1/2 cups of flour
1/4 cup (1/8 +1 TBS) unsweetened cocoa powder
(3 squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted)-maybe should use sweetened
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup oleo (+1/4 cup)
1/2 cup cooking oil (I used 1/4 cup)
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups grated zucchini
6 oz. chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (I did not use walnuts)
Today is my birthday and there was no cake in the house. Not even an outdated cake mix that has been in the cupboard for who knows how long. I decided I wanted cake. I had zucchini in the freezer so I decided zucchini cake was better than nothing. I searched the interweb for zucchini cake and on kraftfoods.com I found 2 recipes for chocolate zucchini cake. I really wanted to make the first one I found but I lack sour cream. Normally I would just substitute vanilla yogurt, but the only yogurt I have is flavored...i.e. strawberry banana and banana cream pie. So I made the second recipe, but had to make a couple substitutions. The recipe called for 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder so I used what cocoa I had (short about a tablespoon) and added 3 squares of melted unsweetened bakers chocolate. It could have been chocolate over-kill but it turned out well. The recipe also called for 1/2 cup of oil, but I only had 1/4 cup so i substituted 1/4 cup extra of butter. Yes I used full butter and not the oleo that the recipe called for. when i mixed up the batter it resembled chocolate mousse and was already fluffy and tall when i put it into the oven. I was kind of afraid it would over-flow but it did not by some magic. The cake turned out alright, feel like it might need a bit more sugar and some moisture i.e. the sourcream or the other 1/4 cup of oil, but over all it turned out well. It took one hour to bake at 325 degrees F.
The original recipe says 1/4 C cocoa, maybe someone used regualar drinking cocoa which would make it sweeter. I did not have buttermilk today so I used regular powdered milk reconstituted to 1/2 cup and put in 1 tsp white distilled vinegar and let it sit for a few mins. Items in parenthesis are things I changed otherwise this is the original recipe I found on kraftfoods.com posted by lshook81.
KIM'S KOBBLED DOUBLE CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE
2 1/2 cups of flour
1/4 cup (1/8 +1 TBS) unsweetened cocoa powder
(3 squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted)-maybe should use sweetened
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup oleo (+1/4 cup)
1/2 cup cooking oil (I used 1/4 cup)
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups grated zucchini
6 oz. chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (I did not use walnuts)
Sift flour, cocoa, soda, and salt. In large mixing bowl, cream oleo, oil, and sugar. Mix with electric mixer until fluffy. (Melt the baking chocolate and cream with the butter, oil and sugar, add the extra butter in place of the oil at this step also).
Beat in eggs, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternating with the buttermilk. mix until all is blended together, and add zucchini.
Pour into a greased 13x9x2 pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Bake @ 325 for 40-50 minutes or until done.
Beat in eggs, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternating with the buttermilk. mix until all is blended together, and add zucchini.
Pour into a greased 13x9x2 pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Bake @ 325 for 40-50 minutes or until done.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Por Tenderloin Sandwich & Jalapeno Mustard & Zucchini Recipes
When I last wrote, I was off to make the banana pepper mustard. I have to say that it is the most amazing mustard I have ever eaten! I do think that I could have achieved the same results without using all my banana peppers from the garden. I can tell that there are chunks of peppers in the mustard, but I am not sure there is any more flavor from them than there would be with just the mustard, vinegar and sugar. It might be a worthy experiment to try one of these days if I am ever wanting to waste some time and energy.
How does it taste? Like I said AMAZING!!! I could not imagine what I was going to put it on, but as you will recall I was also anxious to make a pork sandwich that I saw made on the food channel. I have to say if you need a sandwich that makes your tastebuds do the happy dance of joy and your stomach so full you don't need to eat for hours and hours, this is the sandwich for you. I do not remember eating a sandwich I have ever liked so much. On a scale of 5 stars I would give it a 7.5. I started with chibata rolls purchased at Walmart then buttered the top and bottom insides with some of the banana pepper mustard, placed a slice (or 2) of swiss cheese on top of that then a slice (or 2) of ham on top of that and then two (or 3 ) slices of the left-over pork tenderloin from the night before then I put the top bun on and buttered both sides of the bread and put it on a cast iron griddle to grill like grilled cheese. The woman on the food network had placed a baking sheet with a heavy cassarole dish on top of the sandwich to press it down onto the griddle but I did not do this mine cooked rather quickly I am assuming because of the cast iron. Maybe it would have been better if I would have used the non-stick skillet. I felt it grilled rather quickly and my cheese melted but the meats were not hot, merely warmed. That was fine with me, but if I was serving it to someone else, I think I would want to present it hot all the way through. The flavors danced on my tongue. I tried to add of the calories and it seems that it came in at about 800. Not what I recommend for a meal. I tend to freak out if my meals go over 250 calories so this is a totally crazy number for me. I do have to say I didn't get hungry til about midnight.
What else have I been up to? Processing zucchini...I mostly grate it and God bless Don who is so sweet that he ground like 20 lbs of it for me while i sliced like 10 lbs of it and blanced it and then plunged it into ice water. Then we both put our zucchini into quart freezer bags. I believe we ended up with 13 bags between the two of us. I have finally admitted to Don that it is possible to have too much zucchini and have allowed him to pull 5 of the 6 plants. I swear every day we pick 6 of the things. I have 6 of them in my kitchen to process not counting the 3 of them i picked an hour ago.
We have also been pickling cucumbers. I think we have way more pickles than the man can eat in a year. I am not a pickle eater. Oh... wait I put some of our bread and butter pickles we made onto the pork tenderloin sandwich. We have even make pickles out of zucchini. WE have even made relish out of zucchini as well as the cucumbers.
We are finally getting a decent crop of tomatoes. As soon as I finish blogging for the night I am going to make a batch of salsa. I am going to cheat and use the Mrs. WAges prepackaged mix that Don talked me into buying at the beginning of the summer. We made amazing salsa previously, but as much as I want to repeat that taste, I do have 2 packages of this mix and I do not like to waste money. Also I am lazy this Labor day and just want to sit about and do nothing. I am just going to get this project done and overwith. I should probably make the basil jelly. I planted what I wanted to be an herb garden on mothers day. I got 3 amazing basil plants that produce about every 3 days. I found a recipe for basil jelly. Like the jalapeno jelly, I have no idea what it is supposed to taste like and I cannot imagine what one does with it. I suppose I might try it with the cream cheese, but mostly it is going to round out my holiday gift baskets. I am hoping I will be motivated enough to do that tonight. I purchased 2 more cases of jelly jars at the dollar general today which I intend to be the last of my jelly making for the summer. I am ready to put that part of the season behind me. My son gets married in 2 weeks. I am imagining coming home from a 3 day vacation to more tomatoes than we can handle, but I am looking forward to coming home to them all fresh and ready to take them on. Don wants tomato juice for chili. I would like to have about 104 pints of tomatos. I don't think we would have trouble using 2 pints a week in cooking.
With the abundance of zucchini, I have been trying to figure out what the heck I am going to use it all for. I have found some recipes I think I will try. ONe is a zucchini burger using shredded zucchini which I have tons of in the freezer. I think this sounds amazing. I don't think I will ever get donald to try it, but I am thinking it can't have that many calories and one of my goals is to become a stronger, healthier person. I am so sick of all the heavy food we have been eating lately I am honestly thinking about eating as much vegitarian as I can. I love a good salad, but I have given up buying greens to take home because we get so busy or don is home the week I have tons of salad stuff so since he don't eat salads I end up wasting the ingredients and eating the foods he likes.
I also found a zucchini recipe using the french fried onions we use for the beloved green bean cassarole. I have joked with donald that this may be our new thanksgiving tradition. He thinks I am kidding. I am honestly thinking about making it and putting it on the table and seeing if anyone but me tries it. Heck it is a way to use up some of the blanched zucchini. I am not sure about the stuffed zucchini logs. unless I do it in the very near future because our zucchini plant that is left is about to be pulled; if ever there is a morning don goes out and there is no zucchini on it it is done with. I just hate to purchase zucchini when i have some at home, but I guess I don't know how to preserve them whole. I am including the recipes here and maybe tomorrow I will make a couple of them. I am excited to try the burger and the cheesey zucchini with the french fried onions.
One of my favorite things to do with zucchini is to slice it, dip it in egg white then italian seasoned bread crumbs. Normally I put it on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, turn it over, sprinkle it with parmesan cheese and continue to bake an additional 10 minutes. Don has this thing about me using too much propane using the oven and since we have used 50 gallons on canning in the last 2 months I feel the need to comply. I have turned to the george foreman grill. I spray it with cooking spray, then put the squash on (dipped and breaded). It still takes about 10 minutes total but cooks on both sides at the same time and tastes just like the oven baked. After I remove it from the george foreman, i sprinkle with parmesan and toss it in the microwave for about 30 seconds. I like the shredded parmesan, not the grated kind in a can, but I have used the grated can kind when i baked it in the oven and it works fine. not sure if you need to nuke the can kind after sprinkling, since I have gone to purchasing the shredded kind almost exclusively.
EXPERT ZUCHINI PATTIES
These little treats make a great appetizer. They're easy to throw together and even easier to pop in your mouth!
Ingredients
2 medium zucchini (grated)
20 Ritz crackers (crushed)
1 egg
1/4 C. chopped onion
1/4 C. chopped green pepper
1 tsp. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
Directions
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Form into about 6 patties. Fry in butter until golden brown.
STUFFED ZUCCHINI LOGS
Ingredients
8 zucchini, cut lengthwise
1/2 lb. chicken sausage, casings removed
1/4 C. plus 1/4 C. grated cheese
1/4 C. Italian flavored breadcrumbs
1/4 C. reduced-fat shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 C. reduced-fat ricotta (optional)
1/4 C. cooked rice (I use brown rice)
1 sm. onion, chopped
1 Tbs. oil
4 grinds black pepper
Pinch salt
1 tsp. parsley
Drizzle of Oil
Directions
Slice zucchini in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, remove just the seeds. Place zucchini on a microwavable casserole dish, upside down, with 1/4 C. water and drizzle of oil and place in microwave and cook for about 4 minutes. Remove from microwave (watch out they are hot!) and let cool in another plate or platter without juices (set aside juices).In skillet, sauté sausage with 1 Tbs. oil until browned. Add onion and cook until tender. Drain liquids. Add rice, salt, parsley, pepper, ricotta (if using), 1/4 cup grated cheese and mozzarella and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine breadcrumbs and remaining grated cheese. Stuff zucchini logs with meat mixture and sprinkle with breadcrumb mixture.Place zucchini logs in greased (cooking spray) casserole dish with some of the reserved liquids in preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes covered. Remove foil, check for liquid and add more if too dry and broil until golden. Remove to serving platter with spatula to avoid breaking.
DIVINE CHEESEY ZUCCHINI
Ingredients
5 med. zucchini or yellow squash, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 1/3 C. FRENCH'S® Cheddar or Original French Fried Onions
1/2 C. shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. canola oil
3 Tbs. melted butter
Directions
Saute zucchini with 1 tsp. butter and 1 tsp. oil until lightly browned. Set aside. Mix French Fried Onions and Parmesan cheese in a plastic bag. Crush onions with hands or .rolling pin. Layer 1/3 of the zucchini with 1/3 of the French onion mixture in serving bowl. Drizzle with 1/3 of the butter. Repeat layers twice. Cover with foil. Place in 425-degree preheated oven and bake about 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes.
1/3 C. Cornflake crumbs
2 Tbs. grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
Dash garlic powder
4 small unpeeled zucchini, cut in 1/2 inch strips
1/4 C. melted butter
Directions
Combine crumbs, cheese and seasonings; place in a plastic bag. Dip zucchini strips in butter and shake in the crumbs to coat. Place on a baking sheet; bake 375F for 10 minutes or till crisp.
Mix together cornflake crumbs and parmesan cheese with a dash of garlic powder and cover all over your zucchini to get a great appetizer to serve before your big meal. This goes very well with marinara or peppercorn ranch for dipping sauce.
Ingredients
1/3 C. Cornflake crumbs
2 Tbs. grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
Dash garlic powder
4 small unpeeled zucchini, cut in 1/2 inch strips
1/4 C. melted butter
Directions
Combine crumbs, cheese and seasonings; place in a plastic bag. Dip zucchini strips in butter and shake in the crumbs to coat. Place on a baking sheet; bake 375F for 10 minutes or till crisp.
How does it taste? Like I said AMAZING!!! I could not imagine what I was going to put it on, but as you will recall I was also anxious to make a pork sandwich that I saw made on the food channel. I have to say if you need a sandwich that makes your tastebuds do the happy dance of joy and your stomach so full you don't need to eat for hours and hours, this is the sandwich for you. I do not remember eating a sandwich I have ever liked so much. On a scale of 5 stars I would give it a 7.5. I started with chibata rolls purchased at Walmart then buttered the top and bottom insides with some of the banana pepper mustard, placed a slice (or 2) of swiss cheese on top of that then a slice (or 2) of ham on top of that and then two (or 3 ) slices of the left-over pork tenderloin from the night before then I put the top bun on and buttered both sides of the bread and put it on a cast iron griddle to grill like grilled cheese. The woman on the food network had placed a baking sheet with a heavy cassarole dish on top of the sandwich to press it down onto the griddle but I did not do this mine cooked rather quickly I am assuming because of the cast iron. Maybe it would have been better if I would have used the non-stick skillet. I felt it grilled rather quickly and my cheese melted but the meats were not hot, merely warmed. That was fine with me, but if I was serving it to someone else, I think I would want to present it hot all the way through. The flavors danced on my tongue. I tried to add of the calories and it seems that it came in at about 800. Not what I recommend for a meal. I tend to freak out if my meals go over 250 calories so this is a totally crazy number for me. I do have to say I didn't get hungry til about midnight.
What else have I been up to? Processing zucchini...I mostly grate it and God bless Don who is so sweet that he ground like 20 lbs of it for me while i sliced like 10 lbs of it and blanced it and then plunged it into ice water. Then we both put our zucchini into quart freezer bags. I believe we ended up with 13 bags between the two of us. I have finally admitted to Don that it is possible to have too much zucchini and have allowed him to pull 5 of the 6 plants. I swear every day we pick 6 of the things. I have 6 of them in my kitchen to process not counting the 3 of them i picked an hour ago.
We have also been pickling cucumbers. I think we have way more pickles than the man can eat in a year. I am not a pickle eater. Oh... wait I put some of our bread and butter pickles we made onto the pork tenderloin sandwich. We have even make pickles out of zucchini. WE have even made relish out of zucchini as well as the cucumbers.
We are finally getting a decent crop of tomatoes. As soon as I finish blogging for the night I am going to make a batch of salsa. I am going to cheat and use the Mrs. WAges prepackaged mix that Don talked me into buying at the beginning of the summer. We made amazing salsa previously, but as much as I want to repeat that taste, I do have 2 packages of this mix and I do not like to waste money. Also I am lazy this Labor day and just want to sit about and do nothing. I am just going to get this project done and overwith. I should probably make the basil jelly. I planted what I wanted to be an herb garden on mothers day. I got 3 amazing basil plants that produce about every 3 days. I found a recipe for basil jelly. Like the jalapeno jelly, I have no idea what it is supposed to taste like and I cannot imagine what one does with it. I suppose I might try it with the cream cheese, but mostly it is going to round out my holiday gift baskets. I am hoping I will be motivated enough to do that tonight. I purchased 2 more cases of jelly jars at the dollar general today which I intend to be the last of my jelly making for the summer. I am ready to put that part of the season behind me. My son gets married in 2 weeks. I am imagining coming home from a 3 day vacation to more tomatoes than we can handle, but I am looking forward to coming home to them all fresh and ready to take them on. Don wants tomato juice for chili. I would like to have about 104 pints of tomatos. I don't think we would have trouble using 2 pints a week in cooking.
With the abundance of zucchini, I have been trying to figure out what the heck I am going to use it all for. I have found some recipes I think I will try. ONe is a zucchini burger using shredded zucchini which I have tons of in the freezer. I think this sounds amazing. I don't think I will ever get donald to try it, but I am thinking it can't have that many calories and one of my goals is to become a stronger, healthier person. I am so sick of all the heavy food we have been eating lately I am honestly thinking about eating as much vegitarian as I can. I love a good salad, but I have given up buying greens to take home because we get so busy or don is home the week I have tons of salad stuff so since he don't eat salads I end up wasting the ingredients and eating the foods he likes.
I also found a zucchini recipe using the french fried onions we use for the beloved green bean cassarole. I have joked with donald that this may be our new thanksgiving tradition. He thinks I am kidding. I am honestly thinking about making it and putting it on the table and seeing if anyone but me tries it. Heck it is a way to use up some of the blanched zucchini. I am not sure about the stuffed zucchini logs. unless I do it in the very near future because our zucchini plant that is left is about to be pulled; if ever there is a morning don goes out and there is no zucchini on it it is done with. I just hate to purchase zucchini when i have some at home, but I guess I don't know how to preserve them whole. I am including the recipes here and maybe tomorrow I will make a couple of them. I am excited to try the burger and the cheesey zucchini with the french fried onions.
One of my favorite things to do with zucchini is to slice it, dip it in egg white then italian seasoned bread crumbs. Normally I put it on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, turn it over, sprinkle it with parmesan cheese and continue to bake an additional 10 minutes. Don has this thing about me using too much propane using the oven and since we have used 50 gallons on canning in the last 2 months I feel the need to comply. I have turned to the george foreman grill. I spray it with cooking spray, then put the squash on (dipped and breaded). It still takes about 10 minutes total but cooks on both sides at the same time and tastes just like the oven baked. After I remove it from the george foreman, i sprinkle with parmesan and toss it in the microwave for about 30 seconds. I like the shredded parmesan, not the grated kind in a can, but I have used the grated can kind when i baked it in the oven and it works fine. not sure if you need to nuke the can kind after sprinkling, since I have gone to purchasing the shredded kind almost exclusively.
EXPERT ZUCHINI PATTIES
These little treats make a great appetizer. They're easy to throw together and even easier to pop in your mouth!
Ingredients
20 Ritz crackers (crushed)
1 egg
1/4 C. chopped onion
1/4 C. chopped green pepper
1 tsp. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
Directions
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Form into about 6 patties. Fry in butter until golden brown.
STUFFED ZUCCHINI LOGS
Ingredients
1/2 lb. chicken sausage, casings removed
1/4 C. plus 1/4 C. grated cheese
1/4 C. Italian flavored breadcrumbs
1/4 C. reduced-fat shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 C. reduced-fat ricotta (optional)
1/4 C. cooked rice (I use brown rice)
1 sm. onion, chopped
1 Tbs. oil
4 grinds black pepper
Pinch salt
1 tsp. parsley
Drizzle of Oil
Directions
Slice zucchini in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, remove just the seeds. Place zucchini on a microwavable casserole dish, upside down, with 1/4 C. water and drizzle of oil and place in microwave and cook for about 4 minutes. Remove from microwave (watch out they are hot!) and let cool in another plate or platter without juices (set aside juices).In skillet, sauté sausage with 1 Tbs. oil until browned. Add onion and cook until tender. Drain liquids. Add rice, salt, parsley, pepper, ricotta (if using), 1/4 cup grated cheese and mozzarella and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine breadcrumbs and remaining grated cheese. Stuff zucchini logs with meat mixture and sprinkle with breadcrumb mixture.Place zucchini logs in greased (cooking spray) casserole dish with some of the reserved liquids in preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes covered. Remove foil, check for liquid and add more if too dry and broil until golden. Remove to serving platter with spatula to avoid breaking.
DIVINE CHEESEY ZUCCHINI
Ingredients
1 1/3 C. FRENCH'S® Cheddar or Original French Fried Onions
1/2 C. shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. canola oil
3 Tbs. melted butter
Directions
Saute zucchini with 1 tsp. butter and 1 tsp. oil until lightly browned. Set aside. Mix French Fried Onions and Parmesan cheese in a plastic bag. Crush onions with hands or .rolling pin. Layer 1/3 of the zucchini with 1/3 of the French onion mixture in serving bowl. Drizzle with 1/3 of the butter. Repeat layers twice. Cover with foil. Place in 425-degree preheated oven and bake about 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes.
2 Tbs. grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
Dash garlic powder
4 small unpeeled zucchini, cut in 1/2 inch strips
1/4 C. melted butter
Directions
Combine crumbs, cheese and seasonings; place in a plastic bag. Dip zucchini strips in butter and shake in the crumbs to coat. Place on a baking sheet; bake 375F for 10 minutes or till crisp.
Mix together cornflake crumbs and parmesan cheese with a dash of garlic powder and cover all over your zucchini to get a great appetizer to serve before your big meal. This goes very well with marinara or peppercorn ranch for dipping sauce.
CHEESE ZUCCHINI CRISPS
Ingredients
2 Tbs. grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
Dash garlic powder
4 small unpeeled zucchini, cut in 1/2 inch strips
1/4 C. melted butter
Directions
Combine crumbs, cheese and seasonings; place in a plastic bag. Dip zucchini strips in butter and shake in the crumbs to coat. Place on a baking sheet; bake 375F for 10 minutes or till crisp.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
BREADS & REE DRUMMOND RECIPES
Happy Sunday to you all. For me it is early morning (I stayed up til 5 a.m. and slept till 11 when Don's job called him to work and we both got up to start navigating our universe for the day). It is noon-thirty and I am sitting on the front porch enjoying the not so hot yet day, a cup of coffee and a plate of last night's peach cobbler. OMG! The cobbler is so much better today after being in the fridge overnight then heated in the microwave for one minute. Still no ice cream or whipped topping, but it is so much more amazing today. It is funny that I am sitting on the porch drinking coffee for a couple reasons. Two summers ago I would sit on my porch drinking a diet dr. pepper and tapping away on my computer. I am a big fan of outdoor rooms. I don't really have one but I try to create them out of what I have. I would love to create a checkerboard floor and hang some whispy sheer white curtains to dance in the wind... well maybe not here on the farm, i rather like how he has the porch screened in. It is pretty much perfect just needs a bit of sprucing up and me to spend more time there. Anyways I would pull my dining room table out to the porch sometime in late spring and an old rocking chair I used to nurse my daughter in and a couple throw rugs, and old end table and eventually i ended up with an old cast off love seat. It was a great room. I spent a lot of time out there after walks at night or just taking pictures from my porch. I loved to drag out my $10 table-top bbq and make my supper or have the kids over (well it happened a couple times at least). I enjoyed writing out there (yes I am also a frustrated writer) and Ocassionally talking to my sisters on the phone or reading one of my books. I lived a block from the town square and there were constant festivals of one sort or another all summer long so it was quite fun to sit on the porch and people watch or smell the enticing aromas of the street vendors and the cotton candy and later in the evening listen to the music for the street dances. I knew I was living in a magical place and I honestly never took it for granted. I never thought I would ever leave there.
This little trip down memory lane started because I mentioned that I was sitting out here with a cup of coffee and my cobbler. A year ago, the man I love invited me to come live with him on his farm in NorthWEst Ks. If you would have told me I would ever leave nebraska and a job i intended to do for the rest of my life to come to Kansas, live with a man on a farm of all places and work in a sandwich shop I would have laughed you off the planet. Yet here I am. and not only am I loving every minute of it (if I have any say in it I will never leave), but suddenly I am drinking coffee. I have never liked the taste of coffee. When I was a kid, my dad always had a cup of coffee in one hand and a can of budwiser in the other and a winston cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He was a bodyman (fixed the dents on wrecked cars) and it was not unheard of for the men in the shop to keep beer in the fridge and drink all day long while working. So the smell of hard working sweat mingled with the essence of beer and coffee peppered with cigarette smoke just made me hate all those things. I tried over the years to like coffee and beer and I even tried smoking, but for me I never could enjoy any of them. I guess that is a good thing, because honestly who sets out to try to get an addiction and there are 3 of them there I didn't need.
The oddest thing happened a few months ago. I had this migraine from hell. I get bad ones but never one that lasted 3 weeks and got worse everyday. At some point it came to me that perhaps my blood pressure was up cuz nothing I would do would control the migraine or make it any less. I was popping some pretty potent pill coctails and it was not touching the pain. It really is a wonder I didn't kill myself. So about that time I suddenly could not stand the taste of pop anymore. I have tried them all trying. I can occasionally stomach a little root beer or a swallow of regular coke, but for the most part sierra mist is the only thing i can handle on my taste buds. Don started making me coffee. with splenda packets and caramel creamer and lo and behold, I love a morning cup of coffee with him and occasionally without him. I am far from a coffee addict, though. If he is not having a cup or forgets to make me a cup or he is not home, I don't even think to have coffee. The only reason I thought about it now is because i walked past the pot and realized that he had made a fresh pot before he walked out the door.
I have a pork tenderloin in the crockpot; i put it in at 5 a.m. when we went to bed thinking we wud have it for sunday dinner before he gets called to work with some au gratin potatoes and some green beans, but alas as you already know he was called to work early. so I turned the pot down and am working on other things. I am trying to eat left overs out of the fridge. It is funny cuz I make large batches so we have left overs for the week, but he seems to have an aversion to eating leftovers. Neither of us really are home to eat, but it seems that he is always thinking the food is old and wants to throw it out and I am saying it is just fine and we are not wasting food, so I find myself eating leftovers over and over and over. good thing I love what I cook. So my breakfast today was a cup of beef stew warmed in the microwave. I really want to make the zucchini chocolate chip scones i fouund in the diabetic magazine last week. I have enough zucchini to make scones for the population of the maiden voyage of the titanic but i only need a cup for these scones. I was going to find out what exactly the history of a scone is and give a little back ground here, but then i realized I don't really care that much and probably neither do you and if you do you will go google it for yourself anyways. That and I turned on the foodnetwork. I am obsessed with the food network. There was a woman on there today Ree Drummond on a show called Pioneer Woman. I almost turned it off because I didn't want to watch little house on the prairie or one of those "Love comes softly" Jeannette oak stories they play over and over on the hallmark channel. But then I realized it was a cooking show and is a writer, a blogger and lives on a ranch so the food has to be approved by working men and her family I was like...'ok, i'm interested now.' I got a couple good recipes from here today so I am going to post them. I have not tried them and not sure if I ever will but they seem like recipes I should try. It is hard for me to find things don will eat. He is a traditional farm boy and likes the old fashioned fat laden foods his mom and aunt used to prepare. I used to cook like that before I lost 82 lbs and learned to eat chicken and fish and tons of fresh veggies. The trouble is don does not eat how I eat so the pounds are starting to creep back up on both of us and I find myself giving in and saying what the hell I will just weigh 300 lbs again and cook all the yummie stuff I want to eat. The interesting thing I found about Ree DRummond this morning is that the olive cheese bread she prepared, with i am sure enough calories to put the devil in a coma, she served it with a spinach salad and that was the meal. If I served a salad as a meal don would look at me and say where is the rest? I get it in my head to eat how I am supposed to and buy all the right foods but then they tend to go to waste. I wish I could find the happy medium.
So today I really need to process zucchini. I should go out to the garden and check and see if there is more before I start so i can do it all at once, but honestly I don't want to know the answer to that; as if I didn't already know. also I know there were 2 garter snakes out there yesterday and frankly it will be a cold day in hell when i get in the garden if i think there is a snake. I need don to verify a snake free garden before i go in there today.
I picked all those banana peppers yesterday to make my pepper butter so that needs to be done. and I have basil growing that needs to be picked. I also want to make herb butter and basil jelly with that. I planted a few herbs on mothers day and since then. What I have learned is that I can grow dill and basil and apprently it don't matter if you harvest them or not they continue to grow.
I learned the basil.. if you pinch the leaves off the plants grow as fast as you pinch off the leaves. I can make the plants totally bare and two days later I have more leaves. I really need to use it for some stuff. right now i just have it in the freezer. I take it in the house, don't even wash it, just drop it in a freezer bag and freeze. I figure I will wash it just before I use it.
I think it might be too hot outside to heat up the house for scones, but man oh man do I want to make them.
I see the computer only has 14 mins of battery time left out here so I need to get down to business and post these recipes.
Combine the butter, mayonnaise, cheese, olives and green onions in a mixing bowl. Stir together until thoroughly combined.
Spread the mixture onto the French bread. Bake until the cheese is melted and browning, 20 to 25 minutes.
Cook's Note: The mixture can also be refrigerated (up to 2 days) and used as a dip. Great with crackers
I don't know how I will like this recipe bec I am not a fan of green olives, but I really do want to try it. It reminds me of a cheese bread recipe that my mother got from one of those monthly mail order recipe card clubs. She made very little from those cards and I have yet to find the recipe for myself, but I have just adapted one of my own over the years.
KIM'S CHEESE BREAD
3 Cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 TBS parsley flakes
1 tsp oregano flakes
1 tsp sweet basil flakes
1 loaf french bread
In a double boiler, melt the cheese, add the parsley, oregano and sweet basil. when cheese is melted and all is blended, cut the bread into slices, but do not cut all the way thru the bread. spread the cheese mixture evenly over the slices and put the left over across the top of the loaf. place loaf on aluminum foil and wrap foil, tenting it a bit above the bread so the cheese topping does not stick to the foil. Or you can spray the foil with some pan spray. This is supposed to keep cheese from sticking, but I have not tried it. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes until loaf is crusty and cheese is melted into the bread.
Another recipe from Ree Drummond this morning.
For the sauce: Cook the pasta for half the recommended cooking time; the pasta should still be very firm.
In a skillet, cook the garlic in the butter and olive oil for a few minutes, and then pour in the wine. Allow this to reduce for a couple of minutes, and then pour in the tomatoes. Stir the mixture together, season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, and allow to cook for 10 minutes.
For the seafood: In a separate skillet, heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Sear the scallops, then the shrimp, until they're nice and black/brown.
Meanwhile, grab 2 large sheets of heavy duty aluminum foil and overlap them in a platter with a little depth. It should be large enough to hold the entire pasta dish.
Mix the drained pasta with the sauce and tip it onto the foil. Then arrange the sauteed seafood on top. Tightly wrap the foil into a package.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and keep warm until serving.
To serve: Open the foil package right before serving. Drizzle warm cream over the top and sprinkle with torn basil and parsley.
ZUCCHINI-CHOCOLATE CHIP SCONES
1 1/2 CUPS all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat lour
3 Tbs sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter cut up
1/2 cup refrigerated or frozen egg product, thawed or 2 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk or fat free sour milk (to make sour milk, pour 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice or vinegar into a glass measure and add milk to equal 1/2 cup)
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup semisweet mini chocolate pieces
1. preheat oven to 400 degrees. in large bowl stir together all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in center of the flour mixture. ( I personally do not use a pastry blender. I think fingers are better. I believe you should feel the textures of food and not be afraid to touch it. I feel this helps you know if the product is turning out right or if you need to change something. do not be afraid to get messy with the food. It really is part of the pleasure of the food if you touch it and enjoy it while you are making it and you really do have much more control over what size or shape or amount of stickyness,etc this way).
2. In a small bowl, combine eggs and buttermilk; stir in zucchini and chocolate pieces. add the buttermilk mixture all at once to the flour mixture. using a fork, stir just until moistened.
3. turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. knead dough by folding and gently pressing it for 10 to 12 strokes or until nearly smooth. pat or lightly roll dough into an 8-inch circle. cut dough circle into 12 wedges
4. place dough wedges 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until edges are light brown. Remove scones from baking sheet; serve warm.
This little trip down memory lane started because I mentioned that I was sitting out here with a cup of coffee and my cobbler. A year ago, the man I love invited me to come live with him on his farm in NorthWEst Ks. If you would have told me I would ever leave nebraska and a job i intended to do for the rest of my life to come to Kansas, live with a man on a farm of all places and work in a sandwich shop I would have laughed you off the planet. Yet here I am. and not only am I loving every minute of it (if I have any say in it I will never leave), but suddenly I am drinking coffee. I have never liked the taste of coffee. When I was a kid, my dad always had a cup of coffee in one hand and a can of budwiser in the other and a winston cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He was a bodyman (fixed the dents on wrecked cars) and it was not unheard of for the men in the shop to keep beer in the fridge and drink all day long while working. So the smell of hard working sweat mingled with the essence of beer and coffee peppered with cigarette smoke just made me hate all those things. I tried over the years to like coffee and beer and I even tried smoking, but for me I never could enjoy any of them. I guess that is a good thing, because honestly who sets out to try to get an addiction and there are 3 of them there I didn't need.
The oddest thing happened a few months ago. I had this migraine from hell. I get bad ones but never one that lasted 3 weeks and got worse everyday. At some point it came to me that perhaps my blood pressure was up cuz nothing I would do would control the migraine or make it any less. I was popping some pretty potent pill coctails and it was not touching the pain. It really is a wonder I didn't kill myself. So about that time I suddenly could not stand the taste of pop anymore. I have tried them all trying. I can occasionally stomach a little root beer or a swallow of regular coke, but for the most part sierra mist is the only thing i can handle on my taste buds. Don started making me coffee. with splenda packets and caramel creamer and lo and behold, I love a morning cup of coffee with him and occasionally without him. I am far from a coffee addict, though. If he is not having a cup or forgets to make me a cup or he is not home, I don't even think to have coffee. The only reason I thought about it now is because i walked past the pot and realized that he had made a fresh pot before he walked out the door.
I have a pork tenderloin in the crockpot; i put it in at 5 a.m. when we went to bed thinking we wud have it for sunday dinner before he gets called to work with some au gratin potatoes and some green beans, but alas as you already know he was called to work early. so I turned the pot down and am working on other things. I am trying to eat left overs out of the fridge. It is funny cuz I make large batches so we have left overs for the week, but he seems to have an aversion to eating leftovers. Neither of us really are home to eat, but it seems that he is always thinking the food is old and wants to throw it out and I am saying it is just fine and we are not wasting food, so I find myself eating leftovers over and over and over. good thing I love what I cook. So my breakfast today was a cup of beef stew warmed in the microwave. I really want to make the zucchini chocolate chip scones i fouund in the diabetic magazine last week. I have enough zucchini to make scones for the population of the maiden voyage of the titanic but i only need a cup for these scones. I was going to find out what exactly the history of a scone is and give a little back ground here, but then i realized I don't really care that much and probably neither do you and if you do you will go google it for yourself anyways. That and I turned on the foodnetwork. I am obsessed with the food network. There was a woman on there today Ree Drummond on a show called Pioneer Woman. I almost turned it off because I didn't want to watch little house on the prairie or one of those "Love comes softly" Jeannette oak stories they play over and over on the hallmark channel. But then I realized it was a cooking show and is a writer, a blogger and lives on a ranch so the food has to be approved by working men and her family I was like...'ok, i'm interested now.' I got a couple good recipes from here today so I am going to post them. I have not tried them and not sure if I ever will but they seem like recipes I should try. It is hard for me to find things don will eat. He is a traditional farm boy and likes the old fashioned fat laden foods his mom and aunt used to prepare. I used to cook like that before I lost 82 lbs and learned to eat chicken and fish and tons of fresh veggies. The trouble is don does not eat how I eat so the pounds are starting to creep back up on both of us and I find myself giving in and saying what the hell I will just weigh 300 lbs again and cook all the yummie stuff I want to eat. The interesting thing I found about Ree DRummond this morning is that the olive cheese bread she prepared, with i am sure enough calories to put the devil in a coma, she served it with a spinach salad and that was the meal. If I served a salad as a meal don would look at me and say where is the rest? I get it in my head to eat how I am supposed to and buy all the right foods but then they tend to go to waste. I wish I could find the happy medium.
So today I really need to process zucchini. I should go out to the garden and check and see if there is more before I start so i can do it all at once, but honestly I don't want to know the answer to that; as if I didn't already know. also I know there were 2 garter snakes out there yesterday and frankly it will be a cold day in hell when i get in the garden if i think there is a snake. I need don to verify a snake free garden before i go in there today.
I picked all those banana peppers yesterday to make my pepper butter so that needs to be done. and I have basil growing that needs to be picked. I also want to make herb butter and basil jelly with that. I planted a few herbs on mothers day and since then. What I have learned is that I can grow dill and basil and apprently it don't matter if you harvest them or not they continue to grow.
I learned the basil.. if you pinch the leaves off the plants grow as fast as you pinch off the leaves. I can make the plants totally bare and two days later I have more leaves. I really need to use it for some stuff. right now i just have it in the freezer. I take it in the house, don't even wash it, just drop it in a freezer bag and freeze. I figure I will wash it just before I use it.
I think it might be too hot outside to heat up the house for scones, but man oh man do I want to make them.
I see the computer only has 14 mins of battery time left out here so I need to get down to business and post these recipes.
Ingredients
- One 6-ounce can black olives, drained
- One 6-ounce jar pimiento-stuffed green olives, drained
- 2 stalks green onions
- 1 stick butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 12 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated
- 1 loaf crusty French bread, sliced lengthwise
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Roughly chop both the black olives and pimiento-stuffed green olives. Slice the green onions into thin pieces.Combine the butter, mayonnaise, cheese, olives and green onions in a mixing bowl. Stir together until thoroughly combined.
Spread the mixture onto the French bread. Bake until the cheese is melted and browning, 20 to 25 minutes.
Cook's Note: The mixture can also be refrigerated (up to 2 days) and used as a dip. Great with crackers
I don't know how I will like this recipe bec I am not a fan of green olives, but I really do want to try it. It reminds me of a cheese bread recipe that my mother got from one of those monthly mail order recipe card clubs. She made very little from those cards and I have yet to find the recipe for myself, but I have just adapted one of my own over the years.
KIM'S CHEESE BREAD
3 Cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 TBS parsley flakes
1 tsp oregano flakes
1 tsp sweet basil flakes
1 loaf french bread
In a double boiler, melt the cheese, add the parsley, oregano and sweet basil. when cheese is melted and all is blended, cut the bread into slices, but do not cut all the way thru the bread. spread the cheese mixture evenly over the slices and put the left over across the top of the loaf. place loaf on aluminum foil and wrap foil, tenting it a bit above the bread so the cheese topping does not stick to the foil. Or you can spray the foil with some pan spray. This is supposed to keep cheese from sticking, but I have not tried it. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes until loaf is crusty and cheese is melted into the bread.
Another recipe from Ree Drummond this morning.
Ingredients
Sauce:
- 1 pound linguine
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- Three 14.5-ounce cans diced (or whole) tomatoes
- Salt and fresh ground pepper
- Red pepper flakes
Seafood:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound jumbo or large shrimp, peeled and deveined, rinsed and dried
- 1 pound scallops, rinsed and dried
To Serve:
- Warm cream
- Fresh basil leaves, torn
- Fresh parsley leaves, torn
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
For the sauce: Cook the pasta for half the recommended cooking time; the pasta should still be very firm.
In a skillet, cook the garlic in the butter and olive oil for a few minutes, and then pour in the wine. Allow this to reduce for a couple of minutes, and then pour in the tomatoes. Stir the mixture together, season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, and allow to cook for 10 minutes.
For the seafood: In a separate skillet, heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Sear the scallops, then the shrimp, until they're nice and black/brown.
Meanwhile, grab 2 large sheets of heavy duty aluminum foil and overlap them in a platter with a little depth. It should be large enough to hold the entire pasta dish.
Mix the drained pasta with the sauce and tip it onto the foil. Then arrange the sauteed seafood on top. Tightly wrap the foil into a package.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and keep warm until serving.
To serve: Open the foil package right before serving. Drizzle warm cream over the top and sprinkle with torn basil and parsley.
ZUCCHINI-CHOCOLATE CHIP SCONES
1 1/2 CUPS all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat lour
3 Tbs sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter cut up
1/2 cup refrigerated or frozen egg product, thawed or 2 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk or fat free sour milk (to make sour milk, pour 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice or vinegar into a glass measure and add milk to equal 1/2 cup)
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup semisweet mini chocolate pieces
1. preheat oven to 400 degrees. in large bowl stir together all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in center of the flour mixture. ( I personally do not use a pastry blender. I think fingers are better. I believe you should feel the textures of food and not be afraid to touch it. I feel this helps you know if the product is turning out right or if you need to change something. do not be afraid to get messy with the food. It really is part of the pleasure of the food if you touch it and enjoy it while you are making it and you really do have much more control over what size or shape or amount of stickyness,etc this way).
2. In a small bowl, combine eggs and buttermilk; stir in zucchini and chocolate pieces. add the buttermilk mixture all at once to the flour mixture. using a fork, stir just until moistened.
3. turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. knead dough by folding and gently pressing it for 10 to 12 strokes or until nearly smooth. pat or lightly roll dough into an 8-inch circle. cut dough circle into 12 wedges
4. place dough wedges 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until edges are light brown. Remove scones from baking sheet; serve warm.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
KIMS KOBBLED KOBBLER
There is the most mouthwatering smell coming from the oven right now. Remember those peaches Don brought home from his friend's tree? Remember how they sat on my kitchen table almost a week then I shoved them in the refrigerator? I found out the other day that I should not have done that. I turned to ask.com to find an outstanding recipe for peach cobbler and found the following:
So how can you tell if a
peach will ripen sweetly when they are rock-hard at the store? I will let you in on my little secret. Look at the stem end of each peach. If it is red to the stem, it will ripen in a few days and be sweet left on your kitchen counter (don’t refrigerate fresh peaches). If the stem is yellow, put it back. Oh yes, use your nose, too; you should be able to smell a fruity aroma. No smell, put it back. This method also works for nectarines.
If you are lucky enough to be in peach growing country, no doubt the peaches will be available tree-ripened and at their best. So after you have made that delectable peach pie, shortcake, and ice cream, you’ll probably want to keep some peaches for later on in the year.
To freeze peaches, you need to plunge them in boiling water, then chill in ice water. Peel, stone and thickly slice. They go brown in freezing, so you’ll need powdered ascorbic acid to keep their color. It’s not rocket science; just a crushed 500 mg. tablet of vitamin C! Dissolve it in water and toss the peaches with it, then pack the slices in sealable airtight bags or containers.
After the early fall, fresh peaches never are good again until the next summer. Their texture is off, and even with my secret, they just don’t taste peachy. So my advice: savor the season while you can!
I just now typed in "what is the propper way to store fresh peaches?" and was led to a site called stilltasty.com. I have added the link to this post and it is supposed to open in a separate window when clicked on. It worked when I tested it so I am hoping it will if anyone else does.
Well, heck, looking at the info apparently I did preserve the peaches properly. it says once peaches are ripe place in a plastic bag and refrigerate. Granted I put mine in a walmart bag, but it was plastic and I did put the ripe peaches in the fridge. Ok, well maybe more knowledge will come later.
Are you asking, "why does a chef need to look for a recipe? why doesn't she have cookbooks and why is this knowlede in her head?"
First of all I have tons of cookbooks, everything from international cooking (my specialty) to pastry books that tell you how to make croissants from scratch ( a very tasty, labor intensive process involving rolling pounds of butter into huge sheets of dough, folding them into thirds then refrigerating for several hours before repeating the process 3 more times)...just in case you care.
I am finding that i am turning more and more to the world wide web to get info on everything. It seems I am in such a hurry to find the answers I get impatient and just point and click. It would have taken me hours to find the recipe I was looking for if I was to look through all my cookbooks. Well maybe not I am pretty familiar with them and I have my old standbys. I was just too lazy to go out to the washhouse where they are being stored and climb the step stool to get them out of the cabinet they are stored 3 deep in.
It kind of saddens me that I do not take the time to go to my books because I love the feel of a book in my hand. Like I love writing letters. I think letter writing is a lost art. I really only know a couple people who still do it.
These days we are reading books on kindle (well I am not because I fit in the category of the 'working poor' meaning i work 2 or 3 jobs often and still don't make enough to pay the bills. If it was not for Don's generosity not demanding that I help with more bills I would be working 2 jobs. I have gotten many applications to fill out for a second job, but everytime Don sees them he says "now we will really never see each other." I agree so I give in hoping that we will indeed strengthen our relationship by having time together rather than strain it because I don't feel I am pulling my weight financially. I don't buy nearly the books I used to buy nor do I read as much as I would like. What I have to do is cook to survive and it has become a hobby so I am lucky that I get to do the work I love at work and at home.
So back to my cobbler recipe...most likely if I would have just consulted betty crocker or better homes and gardens or food for 50 or any of the tons of books I have I would not have had to cobble together a recipe to get what I wanted. What I ended up using for a recipe is a conglomeration of 3 or maybe more recipes. I knew what i wanted the cobbler to look like and taste like. I knew I like the taste of the oats and brown sugar streusel topping in apple crisp, but oddly there are very few peach crisp, cobbler recipes. I don't know if that is because people don't like peach cobbler or if most people don't have access to fresh peaches (why this would be I don't know since we are in the year 2012) but that was the case. One of the great things about being a chef is that I spent hours in class learning how foods react with other foods and what ingredients interact with what chemicals to make the desired effect. I have been cooking professionally for so many years that I can picture what I want to taste and then I can find recipes to use as maps to create the finished product. I wish I could say it is always successful, but I do always learn something everytime.
I used to get crazy frustrated when I would tell my grandmother I wanted her recipe for something. she would say, "Oh its just a little of this and a little of that til it tastes how I want it to taste." Technically she was right, I understood that, but I wanted to know how much of this and that it took to make it taste how she wanted because I wanted it to taste like hers. I feel like once our grandparents leave this earth, their ways of life, including the cooking, will go with them and be forgotten. My grandparents were newly weds when the depression started the women in that generation had very little to cook with. They could take dirt and add some flour and water and some salt and pepper and make sunday dinner. This is the food I miss. The food that she continued to cook in better days when all us grandkids would stay the summers with her and learn how to process food from the garden and learning the confidence to trust my own tastebuds combined with the experience of my 47 years of life. All of this is what has brought me to Kim's Kobbled Kobbler.
KYM'S KOBBLED KOBBLER
About 14 small peaches - clean and drop into a pan of boiling water for 2 minutes (no longer), then plunge into a bowl of ice water. I let them sit about 10 minutes in the ice water while I prepared the streusel topping. I don't think it matters if you peel them right away or not. I do know that no knife or peeler was needed i just took my thumb and ran it over the loose skin to make a hole then the sking practially came off in one piece... easy as pie. Slice the peaches into bite-sized slices, remove the pits and any of the hard center part that is going to be hard to chew. This would probably be a good time to toss some ascorbic acid (vitamin c) or fruit fresh into some water and then soak the fruit in it while slicing, but I did not do this. I did put some lemon juice over the peaches and tossed before adding the sugar and cinnamon. Put the peaches in a pan with 1 cup of sugar and 1/8 cup of flour and 1 tsp of cinnamon. The original recipe called for nutmeg, but I hate nutmeg so I wanted the taste of cinnamon. Bring this mixture to a boil over medium high heat then reduce heat and simmer for about 5 miutes. pour this into a greased pan and put the streusel topping over it. Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes. I read 400 degrees in one recipe for 15 mins. then I got confused and baked mine at 350 for 35 mins. I think the topping could look better, but it looks pretty amazing anyway. The important thing is that the topping is golden brown and the peaches bubbly.
STREUSEL TOPPING: 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 Cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 stick of unsalted butter, cut into pea sized pieces ( I don't know why it has to be cut into these pieces because I used my hands to mix everything and i broke it all up with my fingers into crumbs)
1/2 cup sliced almonds ( I did not use these; most recipes i found called for 1 cup chopped pecans. Nuts are way out of my budget right now so i left them out)
1 to 2 tablespoons water (I didn't use this, not sure if my topping would be more round and crumb like if i did. I didn't leave it out on purpose, just forgot to put it in).
MMMMMM! Just finished a bowl of the kobbler. It is amazing. It would be even better with some cold vanilla ice cream or whipped topping, but since it is still warm and sweet and peachy... it is pretty much as perfect as it can
get without any accompanyment.
So how can you tell if a
peach will ripen sweetly when they are rock-hard at the store? I will let you in on my little secret. Look at the stem end of each peach. If it is red to the stem, it will ripen in a few days and be sweet left on your kitchen counter (don’t refrigerate fresh peaches). If the stem is yellow, put it back. Oh yes, use your nose, too; you should be able to smell a fruity aroma. No smell, put it back. This method also works for nectarines.
If you are lucky enough to be in peach growing country, no doubt the peaches will be available tree-ripened and at their best. So after you have made that delectable peach pie, shortcake, and ice cream, you’ll probably want to keep some peaches for later on in the year.
To freeze peaches, you need to plunge them in boiling water, then chill in ice water. Peel, stone and thickly slice. They go brown in freezing, so you’ll need powdered ascorbic acid to keep their color. It’s not rocket science; just a crushed 500 mg. tablet of vitamin C! Dissolve it in water and toss the peaches with it, then pack the slices in sealable airtight bags or containers.
After the early fall, fresh peaches never are good again until the next summer. Their texture is off, and even with my secret, they just don’t taste peachy. So my advice: savor the season while you can!
I just now typed in "what is the propper way to store fresh peaches?" and was led to a site called stilltasty.com. I have added the link to this post and it is supposed to open in a separate window when clicked on. It worked when I tested it so I am hoping it will if anyone else does.
Well, heck, looking at the info apparently I did preserve the peaches properly. it says once peaches are ripe place in a plastic bag and refrigerate. Granted I put mine in a walmart bag, but it was plastic and I did put the ripe peaches in the fridge. Ok, well maybe more knowledge will come later.
Are you asking, "why does a chef need to look for a recipe? why doesn't she have cookbooks and why is this knowlede in her head?"
First of all I have tons of cookbooks, everything from international cooking (my specialty) to pastry books that tell you how to make croissants from scratch ( a very tasty, labor intensive process involving rolling pounds of butter into huge sheets of dough, folding them into thirds then refrigerating for several hours before repeating the process 3 more times)...just in case you care.
I am finding that i am turning more and more to the world wide web to get info on everything. It seems I am in such a hurry to find the answers I get impatient and just point and click. It would have taken me hours to find the recipe I was looking for if I was to look through all my cookbooks. Well maybe not I am pretty familiar with them and I have my old standbys. I was just too lazy to go out to the washhouse where they are being stored and climb the step stool to get them out of the cabinet they are stored 3 deep in.
It kind of saddens me that I do not take the time to go to my books because I love the feel of a book in my hand. Like I love writing letters. I think letter writing is a lost art. I really only know a couple people who still do it.
These days we are reading books on kindle (well I am not because I fit in the category of the 'working poor' meaning i work 2 or 3 jobs often and still don't make enough to pay the bills. If it was not for Don's generosity not demanding that I help with more bills I would be working 2 jobs. I have gotten many applications to fill out for a second job, but everytime Don sees them he says "now we will really never see each other." I agree so I give in hoping that we will indeed strengthen our relationship by having time together rather than strain it because I don't feel I am pulling my weight financially. I don't buy nearly the books I used to buy nor do I read as much as I would like. What I have to do is cook to survive and it has become a hobby so I am lucky that I get to do the work I love at work and at home.
So back to my cobbler recipe...most likely if I would have just consulted betty crocker or better homes and gardens or food for 50 or any of the tons of books I have I would not have had to cobble together a recipe to get what I wanted. What I ended up using for a recipe is a conglomeration of 3 or maybe more recipes. I knew what i wanted the cobbler to look like and taste like. I knew I like the taste of the oats and brown sugar streusel topping in apple crisp, but oddly there are very few peach crisp, cobbler recipes. I don't know if that is because people don't like peach cobbler or if most people don't have access to fresh peaches (why this would be I don't know since we are in the year 2012) but that was the case. One of the great things about being a chef is that I spent hours in class learning how foods react with other foods and what ingredients interact with what chemicals to make the desired effect. I have been cooking professionally for so many years that I can picture what I want to taste and then I can find recipes to use as maps to create the finished product. I wish I could say it is always successful, but I do always learn something everytime.
I used to get crazy frustrated when I would tell my grandmother I wanted her recipe for something. she would say, "Oh its just a little of this and a little of that til it tastes how I want it to taste." Technically she was right, I understood that, but I wanted to know how much of this and that it took to make it taste how she wanted because I wanted it to taste like hers. I feel like once our grandparents leave this earth, their ways of life, including the cooking, will go with them and be forgotten. My grandparents were newly weds when the depression started the women in that generation had very little to cook with. They could take dirt and add some flour and water and some salt and pepper and make sunday dinner. This is the food I miss. The food that she continued to cook in better days when all us grandkids would stay the summers with her and learn how to process food from the garden and learning the confidence to trust my own tastebuds combined with the experience of my 47 years of life. All of this is what has brought me to Kim's Kobbled Kobbler.
KYM'S KOBBLED KOBBLER
About 14 small peaches - clean and drop into a pan of boiling water for 2 minutes (no longer), then plunge into a bowl of ice water. I let them sit about 10 minutes in the ice water while I prepared the streusel topping. I don't think it matters if you peel them right away or not. I do know that no knife or peeler was needed i just took my thumb and ran it over the loose skin to make a hole then the sking practially came off in one piece... easy as pie. Slice the peaches into bite-sized slices, remove the pits and any of the hard center part that is going to be hard to chew. This would probably be a good time to toss some ascorbic acid (vitamin c) or fruit fresh into some water and then soak the fruit in it while slicing, but I did not do this. I did put some lemon juice over the peaches and tossed before adding the sugar and cinnamon. Put the peaches in a pan with 1 cup of sugar and 1/8 cup of flour and 1 tsp of cinnamon. The original recipe called for nutmeg, but I hate nutmeg so I wanted the taste of cinnamon. Bring this mixture to a boil over medium high heat then reduce heat and simmer for about 5 miutes. pour this into a greased pan and put the streusel topping over it. Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes. I read 400 degrees in one recipe for 15 mins. then I got confused and baked mine at 350 for 35 mins. I think the topping could look better, but it looks pretty amazing anyway. The important thing is that the topping is golden brown and the peaches bubbly.
STREUSEL TOPPING: 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 Cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 stick of unsalted butter, cut into pea sized pieces ( I don't know why it has to be cut into these pieces because I used my hands to mix everything and i broke it all up with my fingers into crumbs)
1/2 cup sliced almonds ( I did not use these; most recipes i found called for 1 cup chopped pecans. Nuts are way out of my budget right now so i left them out)
1 to 2 tablespoons water (I didn't use this, not sure if my topping would be more round and crumb like if i did. I didn't leave it out on purpose, just forgot to put it in).
MMMMMM! Just finished a bowl of the kobbler. It is amazing. It would be even better with some cold vanilla ice cream or whipped topping, but since it is still warm and sweet and peachy... it is pretty much as perfect as it can
get without any accompanyment.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
BANANA PEPPERS
In my search for what to do with all the banana peppers we are harvesting, I have turned to the internet. The following recipes/ideas I found by clicking on ask.com and typing in 'what do I do with banana peppers.' I just copied and pasted a few of the ideas/recipes that I thought we might use at our house. I am not taking credit for any of these I am simply posting them on my blog to say look what I found to try.
A Southern favorite:
FRIED BANANA PEPPERS
Banana peppers, sliced in half and seeded
1 c. milk
1/4 c. flour
1 1/4 lb. cracker meal, unseasoned
1 1/4 tbsp. red pepper
Oil for deep frying
Cut peppers in half; soak in milk and flour. Combine cracker meal, flour and red pepper to make breading mixture. Remove peppers from milk and roll in breading. Deep fry at 350 degrees until golden brown.
1. Finely chop the pickled banana peppers and use them in turkey burgers or meatloaf
2. slit up the side and pull out seeds using the back of an Asian soup spoon. Stuff with goat cheese and chorizo or a good blue cheese, cover in egg bath and panko and deep fry.
Serve with a sweet and sour.... oh so good
3. Brown bulk sausage and drain thoroughly. Either melt a soft cheese product or make a quick white sauce and add your favorite cheese to it. Mix the cheese (or cheese sauce) into the sausage. Slice the top of the banana pepper off and make a slit down one side, seed the pepper. Spoon the sausage and cheese mixture into the pepper. Cover the entire pepper with store-bought canned crescent rolls to seal them up ( Large peppers may take up to 3 crescents, but with this , the more the better). Bake according to the crescent roll can. These are simply delicious. I usually make 6-8 peppers and refrigerate the leftovers. A friend of mine gave me the recipe, but she uses hamburger instead. If you freeze your peppers whole, you can thaw them out and fix this any time of the year.
I tried this with goat cheese and puff pastry. It was really good! Thanks for the idea!
I basically did as instructed but because I’m a real home cook (and not a chef) I improvised with what I had. I used one pound ground beef and one pound Italian sausage. For the cheese sauce I made the white sauce (rue: butter, flour and milk) and then mixed in about ½ pound or so of Monterey Jack Cheese. Oh Yum….then I mixed it with drained meat and stuffed the filling in the peppers and stated and so forth in the above post.
I doubted the tenderness of the peppers to cook in the crescent rolls for only 8-12 minuets (It seemed as though it took about 15 minuets to start to brown out crescents) but the Pepper wasn’t hard and crunchy, it was nice and tender….so good. I had left over filling and later in the week I used some of our red bell peppers and quarter them long ways like a boat, filled, wrapped and baked…Still Delish! We served ours with Spanish rice and guacamole…then ate the leftover chilies as a snack during a movie…I have to say…These are Addicting! 4. Cut the tops off, and take the seeds out. Put in a zip-lock bag, add salt, pepper and a little olive oil. Close the bag, and coat the peppers with the salt, pepper and oil, by shaking the bag. Remove peppers from zip-lock. Grill on a medium-high grill (with the cover shut), for 2-3 minutes on each side. Take off grill, add slices of good feta cheese, and gently place back on grill for a few minutes without turning, to melt the cheese. These have been a favorite of ours this summer, either as an app., or side.
5. It wouldn't be a problem with me. I eat them raw just clean them and eat them with salt. I'll eat 3 or 4 day if I have them in the house
Cheesy Grilled Banana Peppers
Mild banana peppers, creamy Gouda cheese, a bit of bacon for a smoky richness, and tomatoes to offer a bit of freshness. Grill them to add another layer of flavor to the dish.
Serve these as an appetizer or unexpected side dish at your next barbecue!
Uses panko, or Japanese breadcrumbs in this recipe. You can substitute whatever breadcrumbs you have on hand.
15 Minutes to Prepare and Cook
Ingredients
4 banana peppers, fresh
2 slices bacon
1 tomato, diced
3 oz smoked Gouda cheese, diced
1 T parsley or cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
Directions
Preheat the grill to medium heat. Wash and cut the stems off the peppers. Using a fork or vegetable peeler, scoop out the seeds.
Cook bacon until brown but not crisp; drain and crumble. Combine all remaining ingredients and stuff them into the peppers. Wrap each pepper in a piece of aluminum foil, taking care to cover the tops tightly.
Place foil packets on the grill so they stand upright, keeping the filling inside the peppers. Cook with grill lid closed for 10 minutes.
Number of Servings: 4
6. For a quick snack we like to split in half, wash and clean the stuff with cream cheese or pimento cheese. Great to take to work for lunch, too.
7. tried to freeze some last year in air sealed bags and when I thawed them they were soggy and lost their "crunch". Do you have to blanch them first?
The best way I've found for freezing peppers is to cut them into pieces and lay them on a cookie sheet in the freezer. they freeze evenly and completely, then after frozen, move to a ziplock freezer bag.
Thanks, I'll try that way as I'm about to get way more than I can eat. Last time I just put them in there whole, but ended up throwing them out since they weren't crispy like peppers.
8. I really like this Hot Pepper Butter. It is a good condiment on lots of things. Or mixed into hot dips.
Hot Pepper Butter
36-40 hot banana peppers
1 quart vinegar
1 quart prepared mustard
6 cups sugar
1 cup flour
water
Chop peppers VERY finely or process in food processor.
Cook peppers, vinegar, mustard & sugar in a large pot & cook until pepper is translucent).
Make a paste of flour and cold water and add that to mixture in pot, stirring
constantly. Cook until thick and smooth. Pour into hot jars, seal,
boiling water bath fifteen minutes
9. I threw some on the grill the other day with other vegetables. We really liked them grilled.
Today is kind of a lazy day for me I am having a heck of a time getting moving today; at least in the line of cooking. I just feel a bit burned out, but I know I need to keep going. I have the weekend off so I am hoping that I will feel more in the mood to cook for the week or at least process what is likely to coming from the garden by then. I just counted my banana peppers in the fridge I have 16. Since I am planning to use a lot of the jalapeno and apple jelly I have created this harvest in christmas gift baskets, I am thinking of making the above hot peper butter, I don't find our banana peppers very hot but I will follow the recipe to the letter and see what happens. I should have close to the required 36 peppers by Saturday. I am also going to include the bottled hell I made the other day and probably some pickles and relish. I was thinking last night while I was at the sandwich shop breaking down boxes for the trash that we have many strong appropriate sized boxes for these gifts. Given the fact that I am kind of finanacially challenged, perhaps I could start getting my baskets purchased and start loading them up and bringing home boxes and getting everything addressed then at Christmas, all I have to do is drive them to the post office. I wonder if I can possibly be that organized.
I am also thinking seriously that I will try number 3 above... I have everything on hand except the monterey jack cheese and this involves actual cooking like I miss as a chef instead of all this canning I have been doing. I would really like to make something we can eat now like a meal out of these things.
Speaking of a meal, there is sweet corn in the fridge that I guess i need to get cooked today. I am honestly craving a tomato sandwich and grilled cheese for lunch. I am thinking of inventing the grilled cheese/tomato sandwich and I know it is just more carbs but am thinking of making the sweet corn too since don is at work and we are not likely to have a meal together for some time.
Don brought home peaches from a friends farm the other day. at this time they are still just hanging out in our fridge expiring. I had one this morning and they are very juicy so we are talking about making a nice peach cobbler. I am going online now to find that recipe.
A Southern favorite:
FRIED BANANA PEPPERS
Banana peppers, sliced in half and seeded
1 c. milk
1/4 c. flour
1 1/4 lb. cracker meal, unseasoned
1 1/4 tbsp. red pepper
Oil for deep frying
Cut peppers in half; soak in milk and flour. Combine cracker meal, flour and red pepper to make breading mixture. Remove peppers from milk and roll in breading. Deep fry at 350 degrees until golden brown.
1. Finely chop the pickled banana peppers and use them in turkey burgers or meatloaf
2. slit up the side and pull out seeds using the back of an Asian soup spoon. Stuff with goat cheese and chorizo or a good blue cheese, cover in egg bath and panko and deep fry.
Serve with a sweet and sour.... oh so good
3. Brown bulk sausage and drain thoroughly. Either melt a soft cheese product or make a quick white sauce and add your favorite cheese to it. Mix the cheese (or cheese sauce) into the sausage. Slice the top of the banana pepper off and make a slit down one side, seed the pepper. Spoon the sausage and cheese mixture into the pepper. Cover the entire pepper with store-bought canned crescent rolls to seal them up ( Large peppers may take up to 3 crescents, but with this , the more the better). Bake according to the crescent roll can. These are simply delicious. I usually make 6-8 peppers and refrigerate the leftovers. A friend of mine gave me the recipe, but she uses hamburger instead. If you freeze your peppers whole, you can thaw them out and fix this any time of the year.
I tried this with goat cheese and puff pastry. It was really good! Thanks for the idea!
I basically did as instructed but because I’m a real home cook (and not a chef) I improvised with what I had. I used one pound ground beef and one pound Italian sausage. For the cheese sauce I made the white sauce (rue: butter, flour and milk) and then mixed in about ½ pound or so of Monterey Jack Cheese. Oh Yum….then I mixed it with drained meat and stuffed the filling in the peppers and stated and so forth in the above post.
I doubted the tenderness of the peppers to cook in the crescent rolls for only 8-12 minuets (It seemed as though it took about 15 minuets to start to brown out crescents) but the Pepper wasn’t hard and crunchy, it was nice and tender….so good. I had left over filling and later in the week I used some of our red bell peppers and quarter them long ways like a boat, filled, wrapped and baked…Still Delish! We served ours with Spanish rice and guacamole…then ate the leftover chilies as a snack during a movie…I have to say…These are Addicting! 4. Cut the tops off, and take the seeds out. Put in a zip-lock bag, add salt, pepper and a little olive oil. Close the bag, and coat the peppers with the salt, pepper and oil, by shaking the bag. Remove peppers from zip-lock. Grill on a medium-high grill (with the cover shut), for 2-3 minutes on each side. Take off grill, add slices of good feta cheese, and gently place back on grill for a few minutes without turning, to melt the cheese. These have been a favorite of ours this summer, either as an app., or side.
5. It wouldn't be a problem with me. I eat them raw just clean them and eat them with salt. I'll eat 3 or 4 day if I have them in the house
Cheesy Grilled Banana Peppers
Mild banana peppers, creamy Gouda cheese, a bit of bacon for a smoky richness, and tomatoes to offer a bit of freshness. Grill them to add another layer of flavor to the dish.
Serve these as an appetizer or unexpected side dish at your next barbecue!
Uses panko, or Japanese breadcrumbs in this recipe. You can substitute whatever breadcrumbs you have on hand.
15 Minutes to Prepare and Cook
Ingredients
4 banana peppers, fresh
2 slices bacon
1 tomato, diced
3 oz smoked Gouda cheese, diced
1 T parsley or cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
Directions
Preheat the grill to medium heat. Wash and cut the stems off the peppers. Using a fork or vegetable peeler, scoop out the seeds.
Cook bacon until brown but not crisp; drain and crumble. Combine all remaining ingredients and stuff them into the peppers. Wrap each pepper in a piece of aluminum foil, taking care to cover the tops tightly.
Place foil packets on the grill so they stand upright, keeping the filling inside the peppers. Cook with grill lid closed for 10 minutes.
Number of Servings: 4
6. For a quick snack we like to split in half, wash and clean the stuff with cream cheese or pimento cheese. Great to take to work for lunch, too.
7. tried to freeze some last year in air sealed bags and when I thawed them they were soggy and lost their "crunch". Do you have to blanch them first?
The best way I've found for freezing peppers is to cut them into pieces and lay them on a cookie sheet in the freezer. they freeze evenly and completely, then after frozen, move to a ziplock freezer bag.
Thanks, I'll try that way as I'm about to get way more than I can eat. Last time I just put them in there whole, but ended up throwing them out since they weren't crispy like peppers.
8. I really like this Hot Pepper Butter. It is a good condiment on lots of things. Or mixed into hot dips.
Hot Pepper Butter
36-40 hot banana peppers
1 quart vinegar
1 quart prepared mustard
6 cups sugar
1 cup flour
water
Chop peppers VERY finely or process in food processor.
Cook peppers, vinegar, mustard & sugar in a large pot & cook until pepper is translucent).
Make a paste of flour and cold water and add that to mixture in pot, stirring
constantly. Cook until thick and smooth. Pour into hot jars, seal,
boiling water bath fifteen minutes
9. I threw some on the grill the other day with other vegetables. We really liked them grilled.
Today is kind of a lazy day for me I am having a heck of a time getting moving today; at least in the line of cooking. I just feel a bit burned out, but I know I need to keep going. I have the weekend off so I am hoping that I will feel more in the mood to cook for the week or at least process what is likely to coming from the garden by then. I just counted my banana peppers in the fridge I have 16. Since I am planning to use a lot of the jalapeno and apple jelly I have created this harvest in christmas gift baskets, I am thinking of making the above hot peper butter, I don't find our banana peppers very hot but I will follow the recipe to the letter and see what happens. I should have close to the required 36 peppers by Saturday. I am also going to include the bottled hell I made the other day and probably some pickles and relish. I was thinking last night while I was at the sandwich shop breaking down boxes for the trash that we have many strong appropriate sized boxes for these gifts. Given the fact that I am kind of finanacially challenged, perhaps I could start getting my baskets purchased and start loading them up and bringing home boxes and getting everything addressed then at Christmas, all I have to do is drive them to the post office. I wonder if I can possibly be that organized.
I am also thinking seriously that I will try number 3 above... I have everything on hand except the monterey jack cheese and this involves actual cooking like I miss as a chef instead of all this canning I have been doing. I would really like to make something we can eat now like a meal out of these things.
Speaking of a meal, there is sweet corn in the fridge that I guess i need to get cooked today. I am honestly craving a tomato sandwich and grilled cheese for lunch. I am thinking of inventing the grilled cheese/tomato sandwich and I know it is just more carbs but am thinking of making the sweet corn too since don is at work and we are not likely to have a meal together for some time.
Don brought home peaches from a friends farm the other day. at this time they are still just hanging out in our fridge expiring. I had one this morning and they are very juicy so we are talking about making a nice peach cobbler. I am going online now to find that recipe.
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