Blueberry Nectarine Freezer Jam

It's blueberry season!  I never really appreciated how good blueberries are until we moved to NJ.  The blueberries I buy here are FRESH!  Unlike the blueberries you get in UT that have been shipped across the country, probably from NJ.  And you can't beat it when they go on sale 6 pints for $7.  So what do I do with all those blueberries, other than eating them like popcorn?  Homemade jam, of course!  My favorite is the blueberry butter recipe from my Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, but today I thought I'd try an easy freezer jam recipe that caught my eye from the same book.  One tip, measure the fruit after crushing/chopping.  Happy preserving!

Blueberry Nectarine Freezer Jam
1 cup crushed blueberries
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 pouch (1.59 oz) freezer jam pectin
3 cups finely chopped pitted peeled nectarines
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp lemon juice

1.  In a glass pie plate, heat blueberries in a microwave oven on high, stopping the microwave several times to stir and crush the berries, until the mixture reaches a boil, about 2 minutes.
2.  In a medium bowl, combine sugar and pectin, stirring until well blended.  Add blueberries, nectarines and lemon zest and juice.  Stir for 3 minutes.
3.  Ladle jam into plastic or glass freezer jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Apply lids tightly.  Let jam stand at room temperature until thickened, about 30 minutes.  Serve immediately, if desired.  For longer storage, refrigerate for up to 3 weeks or freeze for up to 1 year.

Aren't they beautiful?

Cookies

My younger ds made chocolate chip cookies today!

I've put together some "adult skills" courses for the boys, and the first one is baking.  In a nutshell, they learn to bake several things independently and when they 'graduate' they throw a party for their friends and serve some of their favorites.  (There's also meal preparation, grocery shopping, and home maintenance classes, but that's another post.) 

Anyway, he choose to make the cookies for his first lesson so I told him that it was the very first recipe I learned how to make from my mom.  He thought about that a bit then said maybe he could teach it to his kids and did grandma learn it from her mom?  I didn't know the answer to that.  But I'm excited that he's excited about baking/cooking.

Making the cookies with him and then having creamed egg on toast for dinner got me thinking about learning to cook as a child.  Those two recipes are the oldest of the handful I can make from memory.  What I like to cook has changed a lot since then, but I'll never forget my first lessons.  I feel very fortunate to have had a mother who took the time to teach me.  Oh, and those first chocolate chip cookies are still the best.

What about you?  What was the first thing you learned to cook/bake?  What recipes can you cook from memory?  Who taught you?

Bobotie and Sambal

Saturday night is 'international night' at our house, for dinner at least. I use a 4 week rotating calendar to plan our meals, so that's 4 different international dishes each month. We've got the usual stuff (stroganoff, curry, stir fry) but I wanted something else a little more exotic. When I ran across a recipe for bobotie in our "Around the World Cookbook" I knew I'd found what I was looking for. But it needed a side. Foodnetwork.com is the first place I go to find recipes and that's where I found this recipe for South African Sambal.

Of course I've modified it, though this time it was a serendipitous mistake rather than an intentional change. First, it turned out that I didn't have enough apples so I added some sliced grapes I had on hand to make up for the missing sweetness. Then I accidentally added the salt after the soak and squeeze rather then before. But it turned out to be a really nice combination of salty and sweet so I kept it along with a few other changes. Here's my version:

Ingredients
2 cups grated carrots
2 cups grated apples
1/4 cup bottle lemon juice (it just gets discarded so no sense using the good stuff here!)
Kosher salt
1 cup black grapes, halved
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 (scant) tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
Juice of one lemon (works out great as the bobotie calls for zest but no juice)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions
Toss carrots and apples with lemon juice and 1 teaspoon salt, let sit 1/2 hour (about, I usually only manage 15 minutes), then squeeze with hands and discard any excess liquid. Add the grapes and cilantro. Combine remaining ingredients plus 1/2 teaspoon salt in a small bowl and mix well. Add to the salad and toss. Allow to sit refrigerated for several hours before serving (I almost never have time to do that!)

I've used blackberries (see photo) and other types of grapes, but black grapes are my favorite, if I can get them. Altogether it's a nice salty, sweet, sour, and spicy side and a vast improvement on the typical carrot/raisin/mayo salad, IMHO! Enjoy!

How do you plan your meals? Does this sound like something you'd like to try?

Vegetarian Recipes

A friend of mine recently asked for vegetarian recipies on her blog. Here's my contribution! These are some of my favorites. I've been toying with going vegetarian for Lent for a few years now, but haven't actually done it. Good luck to you!

Spicy Lentil and Bean Chili

Heat In a large pot:
1 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup diced carrots

Cook, stirring frequently, 3 to 5 minutes til softened.

Add:
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. dried oregano

Cook and stir 30 seconds.

Add:
2 cups vegetable stock
½ cup brown lentils

Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 25 minutes.

Add:
1 (10 oz.) can diced tomatoes with chiles
1 (14 ½ oz.) can red kidney beans, drained, rinsed.
¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper

Cook, covered, 10 to 15 minutes or until lentils are tender. Spoon into bowls with sour cream or rice, if desired. Serves 4 (with leftovers).

=============================

I found this next recipe in a vegetarian magazine. Yummy! Makes a lot of toppings, so unless you want leftovers, I'd half the recipes. IMHO, the one with tofu isn't quite as good as the other two, though tofu might be a good cottage cheese replacement instead.

Baked Sweet Potato Bar

Cook until tender:
4 medium sweet potatoes

Tofu-Apple Topping
Combine in a bowl:
1 cup silken tofu, drained and crumbled
1 apple, diced
½ cup granola
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
½ tsp. ground cinnamon

Cottage Cheese and Spinach Topping
Combine in a bowl:
1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup chopped baby spinach
½ cup golden raisins

Maple Yogurt Topping with Bacon Bits (my favorite!)
Combine in a bowl:
1 cup greek yogurt
2 Tbs. maple syrup
¼ tsp. (or less!) ancho chile powder
1 Tbs. chopped chives
¼ tsp. (or less!) cayenne pepper
⅛ tsp. salt
6 oz. vegetarian bacon, crumbled

Thanksgiving Leftover Shepherds Pie

Need something new to do with all those Thanksgiving leftovers? This shepherds pie is super easy and super good. Make it as big or as small as you want!

Combine in casserole dish:
Leftover turkey, shredded
Leftover stuffing

Leftover veggies (or frozen mixed, heated)

Leftover gravy

Top with:

Leftover mashed potatoes
Cheddar cheese, shredded

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until heated through. If desired, put it under the broiler for 30 seconds to give the cheese a brown, crispy crust. Serve with salad and leftover cranberry sauce.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

So no regular post yet, but I thought I'd better play catch-up since there are a few loose ends in my blog to tie up. So, here's my recipe for broccoli cheese soup, finally! (Sorry Becky!)

Broccoli Cheese Soup

In large saucepan, bring to boiling:
3 cans (14 ½ oz each) chicken broth

Add:
2 packages (16 oz. each) frozen cut broccoli
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp bottled minced garlic (or 1 clove fresh garlic, minced)

Return to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until broccoli is tender. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Transfer half (or so) of vegetable-broth mixture to blender or food processor; cover. Blend until desired consistency. Return to saucepan. Or if you have a hand blender, like I do, just stick it in the pot and blend away! Don't get carried away though, you still want some identifiable broccoli pieces left.

Stir into soup:
1 ½ cups dry milk (could also substitute potato pearls or pureed cooked green garbanzo beans for some of the milk)
¼ cup all-purpose flour (if you are afraid of lumps, add the flour to the blended mixture)
Salt and pepper to taste

Add:
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Stir over low heat until melted. Sprinkle with additional cheese. Serves 6.


Stay tuned for my 'real' post!

Alberta

Cooking Beans the easy way

As per Amy's request, here's the recipe for cooking beans in the crock pot. So easy!

1 (16-oz.) package of dried beans, rinsed and picked over
5 cups very hot tap water

1. In a 3-1/2 quart crock pot, combine the beans and hot water.
2. Cover and cook on the high heat setting 3 to 4 hours (or on low heat for 5 to 7 hours), until the beans are tender but not falling apart.
3. Drain the beans into a colander and rinse with cold water. Drain well before using.

The cooking time can vary depending on the size and age of the beans.

If you don't want to use the cooked beans all at once, you can put them in ziploc bags and store them in the freezer. Then just pull them out and toss them in your soups, salads, whatever!

There you have it! I'll post a regular update soon, but until then you can read my dh's blog and find out about our CRAZY weekend!

Musically,
Alberta

Life in SoCal

It's the season of vacationers! My dh's sister and her family visited us last week and some of my family are visiting us this week. Whew! And I'm sure our primary will have many visitors on Sunday, though not as many as if we were still at the 11am block. And, of course, our dizzyland passes are blacked out for the next two weeks because of vacationers. So it seems that everyone is on vacation except us! Actually, I don't want a vacation so much as I want to MOVE..... but that's a post for another day.

We actually took our vacation a month ago to Utah, and while we were there my bil asked about my favorite bread recipes. I thought I'd post my favorite here. It's for my bread maker and he doesn't use one so I'll just post the ingredients without instructions.

"Bran Bread"
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. butter
3 3/4 flour (divided however. I like 2 cups whole wheat, 1 3/4 cup white or white whole wheat)
1 1/4 cups bran flakes cereal (Kashi "Good Friends" or AllBran "Buds" have the most fiber)
2 Tbsp dry milk
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast OR 2 tsp. bread machine yeast
I also like to add a 1/4 cup or so of flax seed meal for flavor and texture.

For more great bread recipes visit breadworld.com and join the "Bread Brigade"! Once a month they'll send you an email with four recipes to try, one for each week.

Resolution Update:

1. Keep up with my exercise routine
I did okay. I missed several days due to visitors, but that's pretty typical of my routine. ;)

2. Eat more legumes.
Great! I added beans to all the soups and they were very good. The best was the green garbanzos in the broccoli cheese soup. They thickened the soup nicely and added a vibrant green color. I am right now cooking some garbanzos in the slow cooker to freeze and add to soups later. Next I want to find this book so I can hide beans in my meals and the kids will actually eat them.

3. Write in my journal once a week.
Very bad! I missed three weeks in a row! But I did write yesterday, so this month is starting off right.

4. Write in my blog once a month.
Perfect! I even had an extra post last month.

5. De-clutter one room a month.
Last month's room was easy. I cleaned and organized the cupboards under the sinks and even found some stuff to get rid of. I've started Freecycling it too. For April I'll be organizing the porch. Yikes! It's a mess out there. But it's a good time since I've been thinking about using my grow light to start some seeds and it's sitting out there. There are also two of my younger ds' old bikes out there that need to be freecycled. Unless any of you want them!

As far as "The Compact" is concerned; I still haven't completed our official exception list but we have done very well at not buying "stuff", even things that could be considered exceptions. It has not been easy, but it's easier then I thought it would be. And actually liberating! But then I don't like shopping in the first place. I may actually buy some stuff this week. The boys are growing out of their Sunday clothes and I figure sales will be good for Easter. (Kids clothes are on the exception list, within reason of course.)

And finally whale watching pics! They are still sitting on my camera! Sorry! Maybe I'll do a mid-month post....

It's all good,
Alberta

I won!

Actually, I got first place in the cherry tomato division of the Farm and Garden competition at the OC fair. It's my first placing at the county fair! Sadly the day to pick up my ribbon was this morning from 7am to 9am and I didn't hear about my placing until this afternoon. :( I don't even have a picture of the tomatoes because we completely forgot to visit the farm and garden competition display and take one. They go off display as of today and are now property of the OC fair to probably throw away, including my ribbon! There is one more pick up day for the next round in the competition, so maybe I'll go and see if they still have it. I hope! I entered a new variety of cherry tomato just sold this season from Burpee called "Black Pearl". Not as tasty as I'd hoped, but they do look quite striking. I have more than I know what to do with, so I think I will try to sun dry some of them, or maybe freezing. I could even make jam out of them! I wonder how that would taste. Hmmm.

Speaking of too much produce, I also have tons of zucchini (surprise). And since many of my readers are in Utah, I know you have extra zucchini too (or will soon). So with that in mind, here are my best zucchini recipes! Enjoy!

The best cake recipe I've found is in the Richey family cookbook "Nearer Home" on page 273, 'Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake' (for those of you who have it). There are also tons of zucchini bread recipes in that cookbook on pages 208-210. But the very best zucchini bread I've made is from the "Best Ever Banana Bread" recipe below, just substituting 2 cups of shredded zucchini for the bananas.

For something more main-dishy, I really like my mom's 'Zucchini Boats' (see below). And I just discovered a zucchini recipe that my boys, who WILL NOT eat zucchini, actually like! It's a zucchini pancake recipe, though I like to call them "Zucchini Patties" to avoid confusion.

I am also in the process of trying 'Quick Zucchini Pickles'. They are like the familiar cucumbers in vinegar water we all know.

Even with all these recipes at my disposal, I still have to give some of my zucchini and summer squash away! And unlike most Utahans I actually try to pick my zucchini while they are still small! However, since the zucchini are the same color as the leaves they are sometimes hard to spot, so often I am surprised by a giant after I thought I had picked them all! They are VERY prolific plants! I'll have to check into preserving them. Then I can have zucchini bread all winter!

Happy to have a garden,
Alberta

================================================================= Best Ever Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 bananas, mashed
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugar and eggs. Mix sour cream and soda in a separate bowl; let stand until foamy. Add vanilla, bananas, salt and flour; mix well.Place in 2 greased, floured 9x5x3"loaf pans or one bundt pan. Bake 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Freezes well. ================================================================== Zucchini Boats

Cut in half lengthwise:
4 medium zucchini

Scoop out pulp, reserving:
1 cup pulp

Place zucchini cut side down in a large casserole dish with:
1/2 cup water

Microwave on high for 3-5 minutes, or until zucchini becomes slightly tender

Mix in separate bowl:
Reserved pulp
1/2 lb. ground sausage, cooked
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 egg
1/2 cup saltine crackers, crushed
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp salt
Some of your favorite herb, fresh or dried
1 clove minced garlic

Drain water from zucchini and place cut side up in casserole dish. Spoon mixture from bowl into the boats. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Serves 4 to 8. ================================================================== Zucchini Patties

Shred on the large holes of a grater:
2 1/2 lbs. green or golden zucchini

Sprinkle lightly with:
Salt

Mix together in a bowl:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (or medium firm tofu)
1/2 cup dry unseasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup flour
1 bunch scallions, slivered
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
Salt and pepper to taste

Quickly rinse the squash, then, using your hands or a towel, squeeze out the excess liquid. Add the squash to the batter.

Heat in a large skillet:
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Drop in the batter, using 1/4 cup for 4-inch cake. (Flatten if needed). Fry over medium heat until golden brown on the bottom, about 4 minutes. Turn and brown the second side (I like to sprinkle them with cheese here). Keep the fried patties warm in the oven while you fry the remaining batter, adding more oil if needed. ================================================================== Quick Zucchini Pickles

Cut zucchini in thin slices and place in a colander. Salt generously, rubbing the salt into both sides of the zucchini. Let it drain over a sink for 30 minutes, squeezing the excess water out every few minutes. Rinse well in cold water. Transfer to a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 Tbsp dried dill, and enough water to cover. Refrigerate for an hour. Enjoy! ===================================================================