Hot sweet chile-garlic sauce - the new ketchup...

I cannot believe I haven't posted this recipe yet.  Made this sauce last fall with some of the last hot peppers from the garden and after opening the first jar, we decided to ration it so we wouldn't run out before we could make more this summer.  We're using it as a dipping sauce, like ketchup, for fried potatoes, meats and wraps like spring rolls (fresh or fried) plus brushing it on grilled vegetables and meats and any other way we might use a sauce with a little kick. 

My niece posted a FB photo of their homegrown chicken wings (photo above) prepared with this sauce. She wrote "decided we need the recipe. They were perfect." So here it is.

Hot Sweet Chile-Garlic Sauce
1 cup vinegar (5% acidity for canning - I use white or apple cider vinegar)
1 cup water (or fruit juice -- see note*)
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup minced garlic
1-1/2 cups hot red peppers, stemmed and seeded (save the seeds)

Briefly blend peppers in a food processor or blender so peppers are reduced to small bits but not liquified.  Drop seeds in and blend for a short burst or two at the end, just till seed clumps are broken into individual seeds.  Seeds should remain whole.

In a large, heavy saucepan, bring vinegar, water (or juice/fruit, if using), sugar and salt to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt.  Reduce the heat and boil gently until the mixture thickens slightly, about 30 minutes.

Stir in the peppers and garlic.  Increase heat to medium-high and bring the sauce to a rolling boil.  Let it boil for several minutes, until temperature on a candy thermometer reads 230º or a drop of sauce in cold water forms a short thread.

Pour into canning jars (pints or smaller) and process 10 minutes in a BWB or store cooled jars in refrigerator where the sauce should keep well for at least a year.

*Note:  Excellent with pureed peaches or nectarines.  Maybe applesauce or plums?

Notes from 2011-09-29 batch:
Pureed nectarines left from batch of nectarine vinegar (made with 2 quarts white vinegar, 1 quart chopped nectarines, 1/2 cup sugar - let sit in cool, dark cabinet for 6-8 weeks, strain off fruit) subbed puree for water in recipe above.  Yield was 4 cups of pureed fruit so all ingredients, except sugar, were quadrupled.  To offset sweetness of fruit (even though vinegar-soaked), sugar used was closer to 6-3/4 cups than the 8 cups called for when recipe X4.  Peppers were a mix of hot red peppers including hot banana, cayenne, jalapeno and cherry peppers.

Yield for X4 was 5-1/4 pints so as recipe is written above it should yield around 2-1/4 cups sauce.

Adapted from The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich

A savory bread saver

I went to a homeschool convention earlier this month and stayed at a hotel where I could take advantage of the in-suite mini-kitchen to prepare my solo meals.  I brought some favorite homemade foods like thick yogurt, nutty granola cereal and nectarine kombucha along in a cooler but stopped at the C'ville Great Harvest Bread Co. on my way over the mountain to pick up a loaf of their sliced honey-whole wheat bread since I didn't have enough time to make bread before I left.  Of course, as soon as you enter the bakery, someone offers a slice of just-baked bread -- this time it was a crusty slice of  a savory spinach feta bread.  Since it was a little heartier than plain, I picked up a round loaf to take with me for my dinner.

When I got back home a few days later, I still had about half a loaf of the spinach feta bread.  Cubed and dried in the dehydrator for several hours, it went into a jar on the pantry shelf.  Then yesterday, I had a package of pork chops and a can of apple pie filling (recently found at the back of a pantry shelf...) which I wanted to turn into several freezer meals DH could take to work, the dried bread cubes became the basis for homemade stovetop stuffing that was out of this world!

I used a very simple recipe from Kraft which called for browning chops in a little oil and then putting apple pie filling in an ovenproof casserole, topped with the pork chops and prepared stuffing.  The spinach feta bread made this recipe.  I'm going to have to remember to make savory breads like that just for the purpose of using as a base in the stuffing!

Pork Chops with Apples and Stuffing

• 4 pork chops
• tablespoon or so of vegetable oil for browning the chops
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (20-oz.) can apple pie filling
• 3 cups dried, cubed bread (I used the spinach feta bread from Great Harvest)
• pinch each of sage, thyme and celery salt
• 2 tablespoons minced onion or 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 3/4 cup chicken broth or water
• 2 tablespoons butter

Brown pork chops in a little oil in a heavy skillet.  Season with salt and pepper.  Spread apple pie filling in the bottom of an ovenproof casserole dish which is large enough to hold the four chops in a single layer. 

Bring broth, butter, and onions to a boil in a saucepan.  Pour in seasonings and bread cubes and toss to moisten.  Put the lid on the pan and let it stand for a few minutes till bread's completely absorbed the liquid.

Put chops on top of apples and mound stuffing evenly on each chop.  Cover casserole with a lid or aluminum foil and bake at 350ºF. for 45 minutes.  If desired, remove lid for last 5 minutes of baking time to allow stuffing to dry slightly.

Note:  I'm unlikely to have a can of apple pie filling the next time I want to make this so I plan to either substitute fresh apples or canned tart cherries packed in water which I'll quickly stew with a little sugar and maybe a dash of cinnamon before spreading in the bottom of the baking dish.

Cleaning out the freezer. . . again.

I love the way food keeps without developing freezer burn in our manual-defrost freezers.  But I'm not too fond of the day, and it always comes, when they must be defrosted.

This weekend it was the big chest freezer that had to be turned off, then quickly unloaded, blow-dried out and re-packed.  We're getting better, though, as I only found two fruit juice popsicles and a lone mini-muffin (where did its packaging get to I wonder?) which had to be discarded.  But there were a couple packages of chicken, a package of pork chops and one chuck roast which needed to be used soon so I cooked a pot roast with vegetables for Sunday's dinner and thawed the chicken and chops in the refrigerator in covered containers of buttermilk.

Buttermilk seems to refresh even the oldest frozen chicken.  (And it's not too bad as a marinade for frozen pork either.)  One package of chicken was boneless, skinless chicken breasts and those went straight on the grill when they'd thawed.  I'll use them sliced on a garden salad and in quesadillas for lunches later this week.  The other package was bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts which I turned into seven pints of spicy pineapple chicken.  (The recipe, found on the Canning2 list a couple of years ago, is supposed to be a PF Chang copycat but I've never tried the original so can't vouch for that -- just that it's easy to make and tastes good when we need a meal in a hurry.)  I cut the meat from the bone and used the bones and skin to make the quart of broth called for in the recipe.  (Because I thawed the meat in buttermilk, I rinsed it before throwing the scraps in the pot for the broth.)

The photo below shows the jars right before I added the liquid to fill.  Pints like this are perfect for two but don't quite stretch when we're all three home.  But since I had the canner out I did a fast soak of 5 pounds of pinto beans and put up 7 quarts of beans when I'd finished the chicken.  (Sort beans and add to enough boiling water to cover by several inches, boil for 2 minutes, cover and let soak for 2 hours.  Drain and reserve soaking liquid, fill jars half-full with soaked beans.  Top with reserved soaking liquid, brought back to a boil, and process for 75 minutes at 10-lbs pressure. Altitude adjustment, if necessary)

The last couple of years I've made more meal-in-a-jar batches than my old freezer-style oamc.  There are still things I make ahead and freeze, of course, but for space-savings and ease of use, a meal-in-a-jar can rarely be beat.


PF Chang Spicy Pineapple Chicken

• Chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces (I started with 3-lbs of bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts)
• 2 (20-oz.) cans crushed pineapple
• 1 (8-oz.) can pineapple tidbits, drained and juice reserved (optional)
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon chopped onion per jar
• 1 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce per jar
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic per jar
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce per jar
• 1 teaspoon sugar per jar
• 1 teaspoon vinegar per jar (I used apple cider vinegar)

Stir fry the chicken.  Meanwhile, divide the crushed pineapple and pineapple tidbits among the jars.  Add seasonings. 

Divide cooked chicken pieces among jars.  Combine chicken broth and reserved pineapple juice, use to fill jars.  Leave 1" headspace.  Process for 75 minutes at 10 lb pressure. Adjust pressure for altitude if necessary.  (Refer to NCHFP website for directions.)

To serve: Add thickener such as cornstarch or arrowroot to sauce while heating and serve over rice.

More dehydrated carrots

Two years ago I posted about buying 10 pounds of marked-down organic carrots and how I diced, blanched and dried them.  I even dried the peelings (but did not blanch) and used them when making stock or ground them to powder and used for seasoning blends.  I've continued to dry any extra carrots I have on hand.  They are very handy to toss into soup or rehydrate for a casserole.

Before Christmas I did a program for my Garden Club on garnishing.  Like most of our programs, it was a hands-on workshop so everyone brought their favorite sharp paring knife and went to town making carrot flowers, apple swans and more.  Garnishing is a lot of fun and especially nice to try when the garden is in full swing as you can just grab what you need and not worry about how many tomatoes you may ruin on the way to producing a perfect tomato tulip.  In the winter, the cost can add up.

To help contain the cost of the program, I planned to work with some vegetables we had from the winter garden.  Turnips and onions, both green and bulbing, make great garnishes and readily take up food coloring if you want to go that route.  Apples are another thing we keep in cold storage so I knew I'd have them available.  But I ended up buying a 25-pound bag of what's often labeled "organic juicing carrots" -- really big but still sweet and flavorful carrots.  They were perfect for cutting into garnishes and we've been eating the rest.

But they were beginning to sprout feathery greens and since I didn't want to lose the last 10 pounds or so, I determined to dry them.  This time I opted to scrub them rather than peeling and then shredded them in the food processor.  I spread them out on the papery lining because I didn't want the shreds slipping through the plastic mesh as they shrunk during drying.  I'll use them mainly for baking -- carrot cake or carrot-orange muffins are the first things that come to mind but I can also see using them in cornish pasties, meatloaf or spaghetti sauce and I'm wondering how they'd work in cha gio.

Preserving in a great Christmas present

Yesterday I made marmalade in a maslin pan my mom gave me for Christmas.  It wasn't the first time I've used it since December but it was the first time I'd used it for it's intended purpose: preserving.

I'd already made several large batches of pudding and tapioca in it over the last few weeks. That's one of our favorite ways to use up the last half-gallon of milk left before we pick up the new week's share.  And the maslin pan's shape seems to contribute to the process by allowing me to heat the milk even faster than I can in the large heavy-bottomed pan I usually use.

But the citrus needed to be used and marmalade is great on its own and as an ingredient in food prep (on its own to glaze chicken, added to a little salsa for a good sauce for chicken or pork, sandwiched between cookies or gingerbread, heated slightly and drizzled over ice cream).  So this was my first opportunity to use the maslin pan as it was intended.

I used my standard marmalade recipe and started the process the night before when I put the chopped fruit pulp, thin-sliced peel and water in the pan, heated it to boiling and simmered for 5 minutes.  Then I put the lid on the pan and let it sit on the back of the stove till the next day.  So yesterday morning, I brought the fruit mixture back up to a boil and simmered it quickly till the peel was tender.  Then I measured the mixture and added 1 cup sugar for each cup of fruit.  The recipe I use comes from an old Ball Blue Book and is listed below but there are many marmalade variations available.

Once I add the sugar and stir to dissolve, I have to be prepared to devote my whole attention to the process for 30-40 minutes or until the mixture is brought to jelling temperature (8ºF. above the boiling temperature of water for your altitude or around 220ºF.)  I don't rely on the thermometer as much as I do testing the sheeting action and quickly chilling a few drops on a saucer to test for jelling.  Maybe I was just excited to use a cool new pan, but I thought the process went faster (timing was 28 minutes from start to jell) and while I couldn't walk out of the kitchen and I did manage to step away from the stove several times during the process without risking a boil over which has happened to me with other pans.

When it came time to put the marmalade in jars, I opted to use 23-ounce recycled applesauce jars with the plastisol-lined metal lids that feature a pop-up button seal.  This, of course, is NOT the recommended jar/lid type.  (Refer to the National Center for Home Food Preserving for approved canning information.)  Because I had doubled the recipe (again, NOT recommended) I ended up with 5 full jars and one three-quarters full which, upon cooling, went straight into the fridge for immediate use.  DH was already eyeing it this morning...

 

Orange-Lemon Marmalade
[Adapted from Ball Blue Book, year unknown]

2 cups thinly sliced orange peel
1 quart chopped orange pulp
1 cup thinly sliced lemon (including peel)
6 cups water
Sugar, as needed

Combine orange peel, orange pulp, lemon and water in a large preserving pan. Bring to a boil, simmer 5 minutes. Cover and let stand 12 to 18 hours.

Bring to a rapid boil and cook over high heat till peel is tender, about 30 minutes. Measure mixture and add 1 cup of sugar for each cup of mixture.

Stir well to dissolve sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture reaches jellying point, about 30-40 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon butter to reduce foaming, if desired, and skim any foam from surface of mixture as it develops.

Pour hot into prepared jars, leaving 1/4" head space. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath (see National Center for Home Food Preservation for detailed BWB directions). Yield: about 5 half-pints.

My notes: I added a lime to the mix because I had one and I like lime in marmalade. As long as I keep the ratio of fruit to liquid, then to sugar, the same as listed above, I've found I can use whatever citrus I have on hand, even grapefruit. And, when I have it available, pineapple juice is an excellent sub for some of the water called for. It adds a piquant tropical touch to the marmalade that's very tasty.

A yard is enough

Sometimes I buy a yard of a fabric I just can't pass by.  It's only a yard and I can find a way to use it up, right?  Well, yes, most of the time. (And that's what I tell DH...)  But sometimes I just can't find the right project to commit it to.  In the case of the yard of cotton I used for my latest quilting project, the design was too big to cut up neatly and I couldn't bring myself to cut it up in small pieces to utilize it for just the bright colors -- I wanted a project that would take advantage of the design and the colors.  I really liked that yard.

Then when I was searching for just the right design for a baby quilt intended as a gift for a friend's adoption, I came across a book at the library, Joan Ford's Scrap Therapy: Cut the scraps and a project she calls "Once Upon a Scrap".  As soon as I saw the picture, I knew I wanted to make that quilt and I knew exactly which piece of fabric I wanted to use for the three main sections. 

As often happens once I decide on a "dream project" (one that incorporates and builds off favorite fabric, fiber, color, and/or design), the other bits came together without much effort.  I used odd bits of cottons I had on hand to cut out almost all of the 180 2-inch squares required for the two patchwork sections.  It was a lot of fun searching out blues, greens, reds, yellows in my fabric stash.  And I even found a couple of orange prints to use.

Because my mind usually tries to organize things I'm working with into patterns even when I don't want it to, I laid the stacks of colorful squares out on the ironing board and began to play with their layout.  I wanted to keep the patchwork section colorful and free without a discernible color placement order.  To aid that I purposely cut no more than 10 or 12 squares of any fabric so I wouldn't be able to fall back on a coordinated presentation.

I did end up buying a black, horse shoe-patterned fat quarter that jumped out at me on a trip to the local fabric store where I also found the perfect mottled blue cotton used for one of the borders and the soft flannel print used for the backing.  (And what I actually went there to purchase!)  Also, I used a wide green double-fold bias tape for the binding because I think it wears better than the straight-cut quilting cotton which the directions called for and while my best wish for this quilt is that it's worn to tatters by the little one it's intended for, I don't want it to be in tatters due to shoddy fabric or workmanship!

The cotton batting recommended quilting or tying at least every 4" or so and since I used flannel for the backing I planned to hand-quilt.  (I don't machine-quilt when using flannel for backing as I always have trouble with it "ruffling". YMMV)  The simple design encouraged me to just "quilt in the ditch" but the large landscape sections and the long blue border required more coverage. 

DH suggested I do a simple block pattern across those areas but when I attempted that, the white quilting thread didn't look right to me.  Usually I love a simple, primitive quilted design like that but it seemed to distract from the colorful quilt.  The fabric I couldn't bring myself to cut was instead cut up by little white stitches.  Well, not that little -- I average 6-8 stitches to the inch when quilting.  My grandmother, who hand-quilted all her work, considered anything less than 10-12 stitches to the inch to be a hazard as, in her words, "you could get your toenail caught in stitches that big!"

So this quilt features hand-quilting and tying.  I used embroidery floss, blue for the border and green for the design print, to tie the layers together that were deemed not suited to quilting.  DH asked me why I didn't consider hand-quilting with colored thread but I couldn't bring myself to use anything except my usual white cotton quilting thread for the hand-quilting.  Traditions are hard to break, you know?

One lost turkey yields quite a few current and future meals

Trying to clear out the chest freezer before we defrost it later this month and found a turkey. Yes, a 22-lb turkey, in fact. I don't know where it's been hiding but I spotted it under bags of frozen nectarines and strawberries intended for smoothies.

What's worse than admitting I lost a turkey in a large chest freezer? Admitting I haven't bought a frozen turkey in at least 2 years, maybe longer.

The turkey didn't show any signs of freezer burn but our manual-defrost chest freezer will hold well-wrapped meats and most produce in good condition for a long time. Drawbacks? It needs to be defrosted every 12- to 18-months and, if you're short like me, plan on standing on your head to retrieve anything that falls to the very bottom.

Because the outside temperature stayed in the 30s during the day (lower at night), I let the turkey thaw outside for several days. Instead of taking up (a LOT of!) space in the refrigerator, it sat (still sealed in plastic) on the deck in a large enamelware dishpan covered by a laundry tub. When it had thawed enough to allow the giblets and turkey neck to be retrieved from the cavities, DH plunged the turkey into a 5-gal (food-grade) bucket of brine (recipe here), enough to cover the turkey completely and set the covered bucket outside in the cold. Overnight temp was well below freezing but the high concentration of salt and sugar in the brine keeps it from freezing. I swear by brining -- it does wonders for a turkey, especially an aged one.

After brining overnight, I drained the turkey and soaked it in buttermilk for several hours. I did this because I've found with this step the skin will turn the most gorgeous perfectly-roasted brown color, even in a roaster oven, and, perhaps more importantly, the buttermilk soak lessens the saltiness of the pan drippings. Before I started taking this extra step, I didn't like using the pan drippings to make gravy or add to stock.

Rather than use a rack, I put carrots, onion wedges and celery stalks on the bottom of the pan under the turkey. They add good flavor. When the drippings are cooled in the refrigerator, it's easy to lift off the solidified fat that rises to the top. The gelled liquid goes back in the roaster along with the bones, skin and other bits and pieces plus water to make rich turkey stock.

This time, I cut up the roast turkey immediately, while still hot, and readied about half of it for canning immediately. I heated (home-canned) seasoned chicken broth in a pot and added the turkey to it as I carved. Then transferred the hot chunks of turkey to pint jars (ended up with 8) and added the hot broth to cover. Processed for 75 minutes while we had dinner: turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, butternut squash and peas. The rest of the meat went in the refrigerator destined for several days worth of hot turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy, cold turkey sandwiches, turkey hash and, one of DS's favorites, turkey vegetable soup.

As soon as it was stripped, the turkey carcass went into the roaster oven which still contained the warm drippings and roasted vegetables. I added the roasted skin, the still-raw turkey neck and the gizzard from the giblet pack along with some fresh thyme, rosemary and sage leaves and about 3 gallons of water. The turkey stock simmered on a low setting (200ºF.?) for several hours while the canner was going and I cleaned up the kitchen. By then it was nighttime and I was ready to call it quits for the day. So DH helped me strain out the bones, skin and vegetables and set the covered roaster oven outside under the laundry tub till morning.

It was definitely cold enough overnight to chill the turkey stock thoroughly and I lifted off almost 3 cups of white turkey fat the next day. It's great for making pastry or biscuits to top a pot pie. The turkey stock I brought to a simmer, still in the roaster oven, and then jarred and processed in the pressure canner for 25 minutes. I really love the tall AA canner we have as it lets me stack jars so I could do all 11 quarts of turkey stock in one batch -- a definite time-saver.

I used part of the turkey fat to make potpie crackers which we ate with, naturally enough, turkey pot pie made from part of the leftover turkey. DH and DS also like the potpie crackers in their turkey vegetable soup instead of oyster crackers or crushed saltines but I've never been one to put crackers in my soup (served alongside, yes!) so I can't recommend that personally but even plain, as a snack, they're pretty good...

Potpie Crackers
(adapted from Doris Janzen Longacre's More-with-Less Cookbook and attributed to Doris Brubaker, Mt. Joy, PA)

3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup turkey fat, other shortening or lard, or butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk, kefir, yogurt or buttermilk

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in fat. Add eggs and milk, stir lightly and form into a ball. Divide dough into 3 or 4 parts. Roll each out on a lightly floured board, as for thin pie crust.

Either cut and transfer each 1" square or lift dough and lay in cookie sheet before cutting into small squares. Bake at 375ºF. for 10 minutes or until crackers are lightly browned. In my oven, the bottoms brown long before the tops -- check carefully.

Crackers keep well in tightly-covered container so can be made in advance. Except at my house the fact that they will keep is no guarantee that I can keep them. See note above regarding snacking...

Serve with creamed turkey or chicken, soups, anywhere you might think to serve dumplings or saltines.

Creamed turkey or chicken (like a potpie filling)
(adapted from Doris Janzen Longacre's More-with-Less Cookbook)

1/4 cup turkey or chicken fat or butter
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped (optional)
1/4 cup flour
2 cups turkey stock or chicken broth
1 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
2-to-3 cups diced, cooked turkey or chicken
1 cup frozen peas or peas and carrots (optional)

Melt fat in heavy saucepan. Add onion, and celery if using, and sauté until translucent. Sprinkle flour over all, stir, and cook until bubbly.

Add liquids. Cook, stirring constantly, until smooth and thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add frozen peas and turkey. Heat through and serve with potpie crackers.

Instead of peas, try adding a cup or two of any favorite leftover cooked vegetable you have on hand -- chopped broccoli, diced potatoes, or green beans are ones we like to add.

Last year it was felted hearts,

This year it's stockings -- elvish-styled stockings.

I don't know if it was DS's insistence that I read all four of Paolini's Inheritance Cycle books in late November or just one of those things, but when I sat down to make an ornament for my guild's annual exchange an elf bootie is what I kept coming back to no matter how many other ideas I tossed around. That's pretty much the same thing that happened last year when I made Grinch-styled hearts, from the same felted wool sweater...


Used a stocking template I found in a book, Sweater Renewal by Sharon Franco Rothschild, but have since run across Rothschild's original template in a November 2009 post on the Etsy blog. You can find her version and a link to a pdf including the template at this link.

Even though I think I was channeling elves this year instead of Grinch hearts, I couldn't seem to let go of the color combos that still remind me a bit of Dr. Seuss and the Grinch...

So far I've made three, one for the guild ornament exchange, one for the local homeschool support group exchange and one for my aunt.  Each is a little different as I played with the embroidery stitches but they all share the same overall shape and the feather-stitching (plus beads down the front) following the seam lines.  I used a combination of regular DMC embroidery floss and pearl cottons.

And perhaps it's more than just Paolini's books influencing the elfish choice this year. It also could be I was influenced by these little guys who live in my corner china press. They were my mom's when I was little and she gave them to me a few years ago -- I still like them.

They were always so cheerful-looking when I'd spot them under one of her flower arrangements or just hanging out on a shelf somewhere. I couldn't pass them up when she offered.

Bierrocks for now and for the freezer or another idea for an extra head of cabbage...

DH brought in a couple of heads of savoy cabbage from the garden when I'd asked for one.  He does that a lot.  Sometimes it's a push to use up what's ready in the garden.  One extra head doesn't seem like enough to run through the dehydrator and what with all the other garden produce flowing through the kitchen, it can get lost in the chaos.

So I decided to make a batch of bierrocks for the freezer.  Sort of kills two birds with one stone as we always need quick meals when the garden's growing and the outdoors is calling.

I took three pounds of ground beef from the freezer and a couple of red onions from the garden, and started them to cooking in a big skillet.  I never bother thawing the ground beef first.  Just put a teaspoon or so of oil (our beef is really lean) in the pan, add the frozen meat and put a lid on the pan over low heat.  I check it every few minutes and break off the cooked meat, stirring everything together.  Then put the lid on and let it cook a few more minutes.  In a half hour or less, the meat's cooked and broken apart, while I've been able to work on the rest of the dish.

Homemade dough came together pretty fast, though I use the sponge method to get it off to a good start.  And one could always use frozen bread or pizza dough if need be.  The fresh-ground whole wheat dough I used this time is pretty light and the same one I use to make sandwich buns but a good pizza dough would make a great bierrocks' bread, too.

Once the meat and onions were done, I added the whole head of cabbage, shredded, to the pan and let it cook for another 8-10 minutes or so, until the cabbage was tender but still slightly crisp.  Rolling out a piece of dough, a little smaller than a tennis ball, into an oval was the next step.  I mounded a tablespoon or two of shredded cheese on each oval of dough and topped that with 2-3 tablespoons of the meat-cabbage mixture.

I like to fold half the oval over and leave enough of an edge on the bottom section of dough that I can overlap the bottom over the top edge and crimp them together with a fork.  That's the best method I've found to contain the filling so little to none will leak out while baking.  I do have a neat little plastic pocket-looking thing that supposedly lets you prepare the works in one step, then folds over to crimp the edges together.  It works about half the time.  Doing it by hand works all the time plus I don't have to worry about extra filling poking out the open hinge area of the plastic thing when folded.  Overall, that kitchen tool is a good idea but not truly effective.  Still can't bring myself to toss it, though.

So one extra head of savoy cabbage, three pounds of lean ground beef, two red onions and a batch of fresh ground whole wheat bread dough yielded three dozen small-hand-sized bierrocks or 33 for the freezer.  (After all the hard work, we each had to have one for supper...)

Bierrocks for now or for the freezer

3 pounds ground beef
1  head cabbage, chopped or shredded
2 onions, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
12 ounces shredded cheese or sliced American cheese
1 batch of  Wholegrain Hamburger Bun dough
   OR 3 pounds frozen bread dough
1 egg, beaten (optional)
                  
Brown ground beef in a large skillet with the onion.  Drain grease, if necessary.  Add cabbage and continue cooking 5-8 minutes or until onion is soft and cabbage is tender but still slightly crisp.  Season with salt and pepper.  Let cool while preparing dough.

After dough has risen the first time, roll out balls of dough into thin ovals about the size of your hand.  Place a couple tablespoons of shredded cheese or half a slice of American cheese on one end of dough oval and top with meat-cabbage filling.  Fold over and seal like a turnover.  I like to use a large meat fork to press the edges together and fold the bottom edge over the top edge, then crimp to make a good seal.

Place on a baking sheet and brush with egg.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve immediately or cool and freeze.  To reheat frozen, simply bake until hot.  May also be frozen before baking and baked from frozen state.  Will require longer baking time.  Plan on at least 30 minutes.

Yield: about 30

Bistro Salad with homemade creamy Italian dressing

Using up garden produce is sometimes a challenge.  When faced with a bountiful harvest of sugar snap peas again, I find myself wondering how to prepare them.  So far we've had them steamed, stir-fried, included in fried rice, as an ingredient in a green salad, tossed in a light chicken soup just before serving, and raw with dip.  Some of those have appeared on the menu more than once -- not so much that I couldn't squeeze another one by the family but often enough I want to try something different.

So I rummaged in the fridge and found some cold roast chicken plus, thanks to a trip to the newly-opened Friendly City Food Co-op, there were a couple of tomatoes, a bell pepper and a cucumber.  Since it's the Year of the Onion here, the garden could provide an onion, too. But our lettuce has started to turn bitter and bolt (go to seed) so if we were going to have a salad it would have to take a slightly different form from the usual lettuce-tomato-cucumber one.  Green sugar snap peas could be the basis instead of lettuce.  And the dressing would have to be homemade as that's one thing I've cut from my grocery list -- homemade dressing tastes better and I control the ingredients.  This is what I came up with -- and we all loved it.  Can't beat that kind of meal.

Bistro Salad with Creamy Italian Dressing

Makes 4 main dish servings

2 cups cooked cannellini or great northern beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 cup cooked chicken, chopped
1 small bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 small cucumber, diced
1/3 cup diced sweet onion
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup creamy Italian dressing (recipe follows)
12 oz. sugar snap peas, optional
3 small tomatoes, optional

Combine first five ingredients in a large bowl and toss to combine.  Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat.  (I start with a 1/4 cup, add more if needed, then serve extra on the side for those who really like to drown a salad.)  Taste and add salt and pepper if desired.  Serve on a bed of raw sugar snap peas and sliced tomatoes.  Crusty bread makes a good partner.

Creamy Italian Dressing
(adapted from Jim Long's excellent book, The Best Dressed Salad: World Famous Salad Dressings & Their Origins)
Makes about 1-1/4 cups

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dry marjoram
1 teaspoons dry parsley
1/4 teaspoon dry basil
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon liquid lecithin, optional

Combine all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.  Recipe may be halved or doubled.  Will keep several weeks in refrigerator.

Canning ham or smoked picnic shoulder plus making ham salad with or without puff shells

Earlier this month I canned ham I bought on sale prior to Christmas.  Hams are often on sale before the Christmas and Easter holidays so that's a good time for me to can a few jars.  We don't eat a lot of ham so a couple of hams each year go a long way -- a little diced ham in a frittata, in scalloped potatoes or macaroni and cheese can make the meal.  And, as I mentioned before, ham salad is another great way to use up ham.  When I make ham salad, my mom always expects me to send a little bit over for her, too.  It makes a quick meal with crackers, stuffed in a garden tomato or as a sandwich.

I can western ham and sometimes smoked picnic shoulder (picnic ham).  Sometimes it says semi-boneless.  And even though the ham I buy these days is always labeled Ready-to-Eat, which means it's already cooked,  I like to cook it in the roaster oven (regular oven would work, too).  That way it's hot and ready to go straight into the canning jars as fast as I can get it cut off the bone.  How long I cook it depends on the size of the ham -- the package has directions as to temperature and how many minutes per pound as well as recommended internal temp.

Once the ham is cooked, I lift it out onto a cutting board and trim away all skin and fat.  That goes into a stock pot along with the bone when I'm done.  Makes great ham stock for canning beans or cooking potatoes for potato soup.  The ham gets cut into chunks.  I try to cut the meat into even-sized pieces about an inch thick.  Since I'm never sure just what I'll want the ham for when the jar's opened, I go with large pieces overall -- I can always slice, cube or dice it as needed later. 

Hot jars are packed with  hot ham to within an inch of the rim.  Wipe rim of jar clean.  (I use a clean cloth dipped in vinegar as it seems to help cut any grease that may be on the glass jar.)  Place lid on jar and tighten ring.  Using a pressure canner, process pints and half-pints for 75 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes at the appropriate pressure for your altitude.  If you've never canned before check out the latest Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving or the USDA-funded website, National Center for Home Food Preserving, for detailed directions. The ham will yield a little juice so when you remove the jars from the canner you'll often see an inch or two of liquid in the tightly-packed jars.  That's normal.  If you don't take care to trim away all fat, there will be a bit of that in there, too.  It will harden as the jar cools and form a white layer on top of the liquid or ham.

When I told DH I was going to post my recipe for ham salad, he just rolled his eyes and said "what recipe?  You just throw it together and taste as you go!"  And he's right.  I have four ingredients that I combine to make ham salad but I don't measure any of them.  One reason is because I rarely have the exact same amount of ham each time because ham salad is a favorite way I use up leftover ham -- after we've eaten it hot from the oven and in cold slices on a sandwich we have it ground up with mayonnaise, mustard and sweet pickles added to make ham salad.  But I can give you what I start with and then suggest you let your taste buds lead you on.

Ham Salad

2 cups cold, cooked ham
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sweet pickles or 1/3 cup sweet pickle relish
1 to 2 tablespoons yellow mustard

Using a food processor or meat grinder, process ham and pickles.  You want them to be finely chopped but not pasty. 

I scrape the ham and pickles into another bowl before adding the mayo and mustard as I don't want to risk processing to much.  Texture is important here. 

Add mayonnaise and the smaller amount of mustard, then taste and adjust mayo or mustard till you have the right combination for you.  I don't want to add so much mustard that the salad turns yellow but I definitely like to have a little tang to the salad -- it offsets the sweetness of the pickles, I think. 

This is ready to eat at this point but it's even better if you can give it an hour or so in the fridge to chill and let the flavors meld.

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If you're tired of sandwiches or crackers, try making little puff pastries to fill.  They're pretty easy and they look impressive on a plate. They're also good filled with chicken salad.

Puffs for Filling
(adapted from Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, 1976)

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup flour
dash salt
1 egg
1/4 shredded Swiss or Cheddar cheese (optional)

Melt butter in 1/4 boiling water.  Add flour and dash salt; stir vigorously.  Cook and stir till mixture forms a ball that doesn't separate.  Remove from heat and cool slightly.  Add egg and beat vigorously until smooth.  Stir in cheese.  Drop dough onto greased baking sheet, using 1 level teaspoon dough for each puff.  Bake at 400ºF. about 20 minutes.  Remove puffs from oven; cool and split.  Fill each puff with 2 teaspoons of ham or chicken salad.  Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 4 hours.  (They are actually still tasty the next day but will eventually soften in storage so best not to plan on storing too long.)

More felted fleece-lined mittens -- for Christmas

Christmas was two weeks ago, I know.  But DH insisted I make felted fleece-lined mittens for his sister and brother-in-law after seeing the first pair.  Now, where they live averages less than 20 nights a year with temps at or below freezing and no snow other than a rare dusting every few years so I'm not sure they'll get much use out of felted mittens but, hey, I heard on the news last week that they were experiencing a freeze with the nighttime temperature hitting 28º -- mittens may be just the thing they need!  And I had a lot of fun making these.  Plus, finally found a use for a pair of those leather buttons I can't resist stashing away.

Felted fleece-lined mittens for Christmas

I've had the hand-drawn pattern for these mittens for awhile but finally got around to making a pair late last month -- Christmas morning, in fact.  Actually, I cut out the pieces on Christmas Eve so I wasn't as late as I could have been in making this present.  But I was tired and put off the sewing part till after DS (and DH and I) checked out our stockings early Christmas morning.  Then I had to rush because we were due at my mom's for our usual family gathering complete with a late-morning Christmas breakfast and opening lots of packages piled high under the tree.

With just three pattern pieces plus cuffs, it only took a turn on the sewing machine for the outer mitten (cut from two wool sweaters previously felted in the wringer washer) with a repeat for the fleece lining cut from yardage, then sewing the cuffs to the lining and turning the wool mittens right-side out and the fleece-lining wrong-side out so they fit together correctly -- they were almost finished.  A quick search through my buttons produced a couple suitable for attaching to the rolled cuffs so the mittens and their lining stay connected and I was done. 

Now I know what I'll be making for a few presents next Christmas...  Here's a link to the pattern I started with in case you're tempted to make your own.  If you think you'd like them, don't put off as long as I did before trying a pair -- they really are very easy and even fun to make.  I'm making a pair for myself right now.

Ham and beans

Just because I haven't posted doesn't mean we haven't been busy.  Why, last week I canned 13 pints and 1 half-pint of ham plus 14 quarts of pinto beans with broth from the bone and trimmings.

I bought the ham in a pre-Christmas sale with the intention of canning it.  I discovered we liked canned ham as well as when the extra is frozen and I don't have to worry about freezer burn or freezer space when it's canned. Baked ham is great when it's just prepared and we like ham sandwiches, of course, but ham is something I use in small amounts for cooking.  When layered in scalloped potatoes and macaroni and cheese or included in a frittata, a cup or so of ham goes a long way.  Half-pint jars would have been plenty big for most uses but that's not a size I had available.  So I used pints and probably will be forced to make ham salad with the extra each time I open a jar.  (Forced?!  Hah!  A little ham salad on crackers is a perfect quick lunch.  And I guess I'll share if I have to.)

As for the beans, I had planned to make ham broth with the bone and trimmings from the ham and then can it.  But when I thought about it, the ham broth would be used to cook dried beans.  So I thought why not go the next step? 

After carving the hot ham, I put the ham bone, skin and usual trimmings in a big stockpot and covered it with water.  I also threw in one of the bags of vegetable parings (carrot peels, onion skins, and celery trimmings) which I had collected in the freezer.  Let that simmer for several hours and then strained it.  Cooled the ham broth in order to remove the layer of fat that always rises to the top and brought it back to a boil.  Filled quart jars with 1-1/8 cups dried pinto beans which I'd sorted and rinsed to clean.  Then filled the jars to the 1" mark with the boiling ham broth.  (Added a small amount of plain boiling water to two jars as I ran out of ham broth before all the jars were filled.)  Processed the jars in the pressure canner for 90 minutes and now I have 14 quarts of ready-to-eat pintos on the shelf. 

(his) small heart grew three sizes that day

 
When I wanted to make felted Christmas ornaments this year, hearts were what I thought of.  And as soon as I started folding paper to cut out a heart pattern, I remembered the line from one of my favorite Christmas videos -- "Well, in Whoville they say that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day."  From there it was easy to see what I was going to make.


For the fabrics, I chose a heathery red wool sweater and a poison green wool blazer I'd fulled in the wringer washer.  I wanted to layer another heart in order to fulfill the quote's prophecy but couldn't come up with a third color from my stash that worked and refused to change the first two.  (Sometimes my muse is very stubborn.)  So the photo above shows my first attempt.  Unfortunately no matter how I changed the lighting I couldn't capture the true nature of the green.


Compared to choosing the fabrics, the process of making the ornament was easy.  I pressed a medium-weight iron-on interfacing to the wrong-side of the two wools before cutting out two large red and one small green heart shapes.  Then, because the white stabilizer showed along the edges, I tore off a thin piece along the borders of each before attaching them.  The blanket stitching affixing the green heart to one of the red hearts as well as the other embroidery and beading were finished before I blanket-stitched the two red hearts together.  For a hanger, I whip-stitched a loop of ribbon between the two layers of red wool.  Eh, voilà, the first heart was done.  More to follow.

Cajun Cowboy Candy Pickles

Is that a mouthful to say or what?  But they taste good and are a sort of by-product of another session of canning.

A few months ago I posted about a tasty hot and dill pickle recipe a friend had shared called Cajun Pickles.   Then, last weekend in anticipation of our first frost, DH pulled up all the pepper plants in the garden.  So I've been busy putting up serrano, jalapeno, thai dragon and Fooled You peppers.  Some went into a ristra, some were spread on trays for drying, some were canned for later use in salsa or crockpot Italian beef, some went into more hot sauce and some went to another friend because I'd run out of ideas.

But I still had about 8 pounds of jalapeno peppers.  And peppers are like anything else we produce, I hate to waste any.

Earlier this summer I had filed away a hot pepper relish-type recipe (attributed to Galen Gann) from the Canning2 list as it sounded like something we would like -- Cowboy Candy.  Hot jalapeno peppers, sliced, and onions, diced, simmered together till just tender in a vinegar brine which is then drained off.  Sugar and spices are added and the result was billed as a "tasty and spicy addition to almost any meal."

 So I used the recipe (posted below) to make 9 pints of Cowboy Candy.  One of the reasons I like the Canning2 list is most posters hate to waste anything, too.  So the original recipe recommended saving the vinegar-water brine to make hot pepper jelly.  But nothing was suggested for the heavy syrup that remained after canning the peppers.

Luckily DH had been asking when we were going to have another batch of Cajun Pickles which made me consider that while they start with a jar of dill pickles, the additional sugar and vinegar called for seemed a possible solution for what to do with the leftover sweet syrup from Cowboy Candy.  So I made a batch of cajun pickles using some of the leftover syrup and an additional two cups of sugar which I estimated would approximate the original sweetness called for in the cajun pickle recipe.  Instead of adding hot sauce, I relied on the heat left in the syrup after simmering the jalapenos plus the jalapeno seeds and almost 1/2 cup of jalapeno and onion bits left after bottling the cowboy candy.  And since the cowboy candy recipe included garlic, mustard seeds and other spices I didn't worry about not using tarragon vinegar or the other seasoning called for in the cajun pickle recipe.

Yes, this makes something slightly different from the original cajun pickle recipe.  Is it very new and different?  No.  It's just a little tweaking, no different than I do on a sometimes daily basis to modify recipes in order to use what's on hand.  Do we like this version?  Yes!  The sweet hot dill flavor is still predominant.  Can't tell too much difference from the original version -- tho the addition of mustard seeds gives it a slightly more "sweet pickle" flavor, if that makes sense.  We like them so much I'm saving the rest of the pickling syrup left from the cowboy candy to make another batch of cajun pickles when these are done.  I love a happy ending.

Candied Jalapenos (Cowboy Candy)
Recipe by: Galen Gann

This makes a very tasty and spicy addition to almost any meal.

First process
4 lb. fresh jalapeno peppers, sliced
2 lb. onions diced
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup water
Second process
6 to 8 cups sugar
2 Tbs. mustard seed
1 tsp. turmeric
2 tsp. celery seed
1 Tbs. garlic powder
1 tsp. ginger

Slice Jalapenos into thin slices and dice onions.  Place in pan with water and vinegar, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat & simmer about 10 min or until tender. [Note: You could start with canned pickled sliced jalapenos and skip this step.]

Pour off most of the water-vinegar mixture (reserve for making hot pepper jelly, if desired), add the sugar and spices bring to soft candy temperature to completely dissolve sugar (about another 10 min.).  Place boiling mixture into pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space. (Reserve extra sugar syrup for making Cajun Pickles, if desired.)  Put on 2-piece lids.  Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

If you've never canned before check out the latest Ball Blue Book of Preserving or the USDA-funded website, National Center for Home Food Preserving, for detailed directions.

Menu plan for week of Feb1/10

Forgot to do a menu plan last week but we survived. It is easier for me with a written menu, tho, so here's another attempt at making this a habit. The recipe for Monday's soup is included at the bottom of the post.

Monday, Feb 1
Tortellini Italian Vegetable Soup in the crockpot
No-knead wholegrain bread

Tuesday, Feb 2
Roast chicken
Broccoli
Mashed potatoes

Wednesday, Feb 3
Broiled fish (whatever's in the freezer - flounder or tilapia)
Potato cakes (made with Tuesday's mashed potatoes)
Peas

Thursday, Feb 4
Oatmeal Blender Pancakes w/blueberry syrup

Friday, Feb 5
Chicken & cheese quesadillas (using Tuesday's chicken)

Saturday, Feb 6
Black olive & mushroom pizza (crust recipe)
Carrots & celery
Rhubarb-ade

Sunday, Feb 7
Swiss steak over noodles
Green beans
Fruit cup (canned or frozen)

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Crockpot Tortellini Italian Vegetable Soup
12-15 servings

1 quart whole tomatoes
1 quart tomato juice
6 oz tomato paste or 4 oz dried tomatoes, powdered
1 quart green beans
1/2 to 1 pound ground beef or venison, optional
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped or 1/2 cup dried, chopped bell pepper
1 carrot, chopped or 1/4 cup dried, chopped carrots
1 quart chicken, beef or vegetable broth or water *See Note
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon dried basil leaves or 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon garlic granules or 2 cloves, crushed
1 pound fresh or frozen cheese tortellini or 9 oz. dried tortellini

Brown ground meat in olive oil. Add onions, cook till they're translucent.

Combine whole tomatoes and tomato juice in 6-qt crockpot. Use large spoon to break apart tomatoes. Add chicken broth, green beans, tomato paste, chopped carrots and peppers, salt, basil and garlic. Add cooked meat and onions.

Cook on HIGH for 2 hours or LOW for 4-8 hours. About 30 minutes before serving, turn crock to HIGH if on LOW, and add tortellini. Monitor cooking as frozen tortellini may be cooked in as little as 10 minutes, dried will take longer. If preferred, tortellini may also be prepared by boiling in a separate pot of water (4 minutes for frozen, 10 minutes for dried). Drain then add to soup mixture. I do it all in one to save a step and a pan...

Note: If using dried tortellini and cooking it in the crockpot, add an additional 1 cup liquid (water or broth).

Embroidered felted wool trivet

I've been playing with felted wool sweaters again and had a nice thick piece of felt that wasn't big enough for a bag. Instead I cut it into a circle (used a small plate as a pattern) and embroidered it with vintage embroidery floss. (The skein labels said 5¢ -- that HAS to be vintage, right? LOL)

The design isn't my own. I found it in Kristin Nicholas' Colorful Stitchery. The book has several other designs I'd like to try including a paisley figure I want to work on another piece of felt.

I had a little difficulty when I tried to transfer the pattern to the wool. My fabric markers didn't mark well on the felt. So I measured the design area and cut out a paper circle the size I needed to maintain the design's proportions. Pinned it to the wool and stitched around it. Once I had the initial circle on there I could work the other parts of the simple design by sight without having to rely on a marked layout.
An article in an old Threads magazine suggested backing felted trivets with cork but this felt was so thick I didn't find that necessary. And, unlike embroidery on other fabrics, I didn't take the needle through to the back of the felt. The wool was about a 1/2-inch thick so I just ran the needle through the top half of the wool and back out on top. It's well caught and won't work loose without being clipped.

I used the embroider stitches recommended in the book but if I use the same design for a potholder or napkin -- something subjected to rougher handling than a trivet in normal use -- I'd opt for a different stitch to make the flower petals. Those long floats would be too easy to snag, I think. Maybe a chain stitch? Or a stem stitch?

Pineapple vinegar

For Christmas a friend sent us a pineapple in a box of assorted organic fruit. We enjoyed every bite of the fruit -- the pears were ripe and juicy, the apples crisp and tart. DS especially liked the dried mango and kiwi; he's ready to try drying our own in a couple of years when the kiwi vines are bearing. But I was eyeing the pineapple. We ate it in a mixed fruit cup but the parings went into a 1/2-gallon jar with a little sugar and water.I've wanted to make pineapple vinegar ever since I read of it six years ago in "Wild Fermentation: the flavor, nutrition and craft of live-culture foods" by Sandor Katz aka Sandorkraut. I waited all this time to try it because I only wanted to use an organic pineapple since I wanted to make it using the parings rather than the edible fruit. You know, part of the making-something-from-nothing or use-it-up mindset so prevalent around the ol' Walnut Spinney homestead.

We've been making other infused vinegars with fruits and herbs we grow and so know what they've (not) been sprayed with. But pineapples aren't easy to grow in this part of Virginia though I did see at least one pineapple in fruit at Edible Landscaping last fall. In their greenhouse, that is. And while I can find a selection of organic fruit at the local grocery, organic pineapple hasn't been available. Plus, there's the whole "how far did it have to travel"-thing that's been nagging at me the last few years. But, this pineapple, this was a gift! And I was very happy to be able to make use of every last bit of it, right down to the peel.

The sweet pineapple scent and flavor of the sample I tasted today when I decanted it into a bottle already have me thinking of how a cabbage slaw will taste if I use pineapple vinegar instead of my regular apple cider vinegar in the dressing. And I'm wondering if I could sub it for (some? all?) the lemon juice in the Apple-Carrot Salad from Simply in Season. And the next time I have fresh mung bean sprouts, I'm going to try making Outrageous Dressing with pineapple vinegar. Oh, and a chicken or pork marinade with pineapple vinegar? I think the possibilities are endless. Wish my flask of pineapple vinegar was bottomless...

Pineapple Vinegar

1/4 cup sugar
Peel and core of 1 pineapple
water *See Note
thin cotton kitchen towel or cheesecloth

Dissolve the sugar in 1 quart of water. Coarsely chop and add the pineapple peel. Cover with cheesecloth to keep fruit flies out, and leave to ferment in a dark spot at room temperature. I used a small glass plate and a small sealed jar of water set on top of the parings to keep them below the level of the liquid. (Same as I do when making pickles.) Otherwise, any peel that extends above the water may grow a bit of mold.

When you notice the liquid darkening, after about 1 week, strain out the pineapple peels and discard. (compost!)

Ferment the liquid 2 to 3 weeks more, stirring or shaking periodically, and the pineapple vinegar is ready to use.

*Note: You may also start with white vinegar instead of water. The vinegar will be ready after you discard the peels. (Too Hot Tamales does it this way.)

Menu plan for week of Dec 28/09

Working out a menu plan is so helpful when I bother to do it that I'm trying to make it a habit. Since I'm planning to implement an Austerity Plan for the first quarter of 2010, this head start on accountability seemed like a good idea.

We have our main meal at lunch when DH is working so that means I put today's crock pot meal together by mid-morning and we sat down to a hot dinner at noon. Kind of nice to have it over and done with -- both the planning and now the meal itself. Hope the rest of the week will go as smoothly.

Monday, December 28

Crockpot turkey and dressing (made from leftover turkey frozen in meal-sized portions - recipe below)
Fruit salad (blend of canned fruits)

Tuesday, December 29

Beef stew (potatoes, carrots, celery and onions)
Applesauce (HM)
Lettuce and spinach salad from coldframe w/viniagrette

Wednesday, December 30

Chili (make extra for freezer lunches
Cornbread
Clementines

Thursday, December 31

Steamed shrimp with Old Bay seasoning
Hummus with cilantro and jalapenos (Trader Joe's)
Baked pita chips (HM)
Carrots and celery sticks
Yogurt dip (HM)
Pound cake with lemon curd (HM, home-canned)
Rhubarb punch (home-canned and spiked with rhubarb liqueur for the adults)

Friday, January 1

[delayed Christmas meal at Mom's - will be assigned dish(es) to take later in week]

Saturday, January 2

Shrimp curry (made with leftover shrimp from Thursday)
Peaches or nectarines (home-frozen)
Pound cake (leftover from New Year's Eve)

Sunday, January 3

Potatoes au gratin with ham bits
Green beans
Pickled beets
Baked fruit compote (peaches from Saturday, dehydrated apples and pears, etc.)
Hot rolls

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Crockpot Chicken or Turkey and Dressing

4 cups cooked chopped chicken or turkey
1 box stove-top stuffing mix or a M-I-Y version with dried bread cubes and seasoning
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup water or chicken broth
1-1/2 cups milk, half-and-half or heavy cream
1 cup frozen peas, optional
butter or cooking spray

Grease 1-1/2 or 2-quart crock pot with butter or cooking spray. Combine stuffing mix and chicken in crock. Toss to blend.

Combine eggs and liquids in a bowl and stir to blend. Pour over mixture in crock pot and cover with lid. Cook on High for 2 to 3 hours. Pour peas on top of mixture about 30 minutes before end of cooking time. Replace lid and finish cooking. Serve.