Sweet Pickle Relish

I used the recipe strainght out of the BBB and boy is it ever tasty! Part of the cucumbers I chopped up in the food processer, and the other part I did in the grinder attachment on my Kitchen Aid mixer. can't say for sure which turned out better but they are really pretty.

Sweet Icicle Pickles

These started today and will sit under the brine for only one week. I love these pickles! It seems like every large container I have currently has something "brewing" in it! I like to use a dinner or salad plate to weight the cukes but I didn't have one that would fit inside the glass container so I cut part an odd sized plastic plate and then used a Ziploc bag filled on top of it. I usually use a canning jar on top but this recipe calls for the lid to be on the jar and it would not have fit if I used jars to weight.

Pickle Season Has Begun!

I started a 20# bucket of cucumbers brining last week (5/25 for reference sake). There is a nice scum starting to form on top of the brine which is a good sign. Also, there are nice little lacto-fermented bubbles starting to come to the surface. Won't be long before we will have pickles. This process will take between 4 and 6 weeks. Then I will de-salt the cukes and then make the pickles.

Memorial Day Grill

We went to a Memorial Day service downtown this morning. It was very nice but we had to leave before it was over. It was close to Eliza's nap time and she really started whinning. The boys walked right up front and sat down so they could see everything. They thought it was great and had lots of really good questions. We had a few of the usual routines after that and then headed home for a cook-out.

Menu

Grilled Grass-Fed Beef Patties

Grilled Vidalia Onions with Mustard Tarragon Sauce

Grilled Corn with Pecan Butter

Sliced Tomatoes

The Best Ever Baked Beans

Mustard Tarragon Sauce

1/3 cup olive oil

2 TBS dijon mustard

2 TBS white wine vinegar

1 TBS or so dried tarragon

salt and pepper

Wisk it all together. Let it sit for a bit so the flavoers come together.

The Best Ever Baked Beans

I just eye this so I will "guess" the best I can. My Aunt Nancee taught me to make these and they are oh so good!

2 large cans baked beans

about 1/2 cup ketchup

1 pound bacon cut in pieces

1 medium onion diced

1/2 cup (maybe a bit more) brown sugar, packed (light or dark)

Mix everything together in a large baking dish. Cook at 350 degrees for a really long time...Maybe 2 or three hours. Just stir it every now and then and when it starts to get really thick, sticky, and black around the edges then you know it's ready! It's just as good if not better reheated.

Muffins, Banana/Pecan/Chocolate Chip

2 1/4 cups fresh flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp fresh ground nutmeg (less if not fresh)

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg slightly beaten

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup honey

3 medium mashed bananas

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped pecans (you could toast them first)

Mix dry together. Mix wet together in a seperate bowl. Mix together lightly. Standard muffin tins will cook for 15 min at 400 degrees. yield about 15.

NOTES

-The kids just love these!

-I need to try making this savory sometime when I don't want to make rolls or cornbread.

Pancakes

I get asked a lot for my pancake recipe. This is the basic starting point. I like to liven them up with lots of fun seasonal or home canned yummies.

Basic Whole Wheat Pancakes

courtesy of The Bread Beckers Recipe Collection

3 cups freshly milled flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup oil (I use melted butter)

4 eggs

3-4 cups buttermilk

Mix together dry ingredients. Add liquids. Stir just until mixed. I let it sit for about 30 minutes prior to cooking. I fry them on a griddle with melted butter.

Dehydrated Strawberries

I think there is no way I could have made enough of these. Eliza loves them and eats them like most kids do candy.

Notes

-The larger berries seem to do better, look nicer. The bigger berries are at the beginning of the season, so I will be better off doing lots of drying early on in the season and then doing soft spreads later in the season.

Strawberry Jelly

Thanks to my friends on the Canning 2 yahoo group, I bought a steam juicer. This is the most beautiful jelly I have ever seen and it tastes like biting into a fresh ripe strawberry.

Notes

-I used the Linda Amendt recipe and went with the liquid pectin. It tooks several days before it was completely set. I might try some later this week with powdered pectin and see what the difference is.

Leftover Beef Tenderloin

Well there was this whole thing with us having people over for our celebration of a Christian Passover Seder. Well, I made a beef brisket but I burned it! Ugghhh, at the last minute I ran to the store and picked up a beef tenderloin. Ironically, I ended up overcooking it! Over the years, whenever I have made a tenderloin we have always had lefteovers and this is just what I started doing with it. Years ago there was a Juilia Child recipe that I would make that was similiar to this but this is nowhere as complex. Here's what I do...

Cubed the leftover beef. Chop an onion (or a couple). Saute the onion in a little butter and olive oil until translucent, then add some chopped garlic. Don't let the garlic burn. Remove the garlic and onions to a plate. Add the beef to the skillet and brown it just a bit. Add some concentrated chicken or beef stock, return the onions and garlic and let the mixture simmer for a few minutes. Add some fresh herbs if you like and check the salt and pepper. Then, add a splash of heavy cream, just before serving.

I serve it over browned skillet potatoes or brown rice. Just garnish with some fresh parsley.

NOTES

-This is really good with mushrooms in it.

-Make sure not to add too much stock. You don't want this "soupy". I guess you could use plain stock without reducing it first but be careful not to get too much liquid in there.

-Don't return to a boil after you add the cream or the sauce will break.

Chops and cabbage

This is one of Ralph's all time favorite things for me to make. I don't know when or where I started making it but it is tasty. All I do is season the chops with salt, pepper, and ground celery seed. The celery is the important thing here. Brown them off and set to the side. I then put chopped cabbage (sometimes with onions or even apples) on the bottom of the pan and stir it around in the left over drippings from browning the chops. I put the chops on top of the cabbage and then (very important) cover the pan. I finsih them off in the oven at 350 degrees. It works better with thicker chops because they don't get over cooked.

NOTES

-The celery seed is what makes this dish. I have tried to grind my own with little success. They are so fine the electric grinder doesn't pick them up, even if you add salt to them. A mortar and pestel works but this is one of those times that buying it ground is the way to go.

-I have made this with an open iron skillet before but you need to steam the cabbage first or it won't have the right texture.

Nathaniel's 5th Birthday

We had a swamp party for Nathaniel's birthday. The recipes for the cake and the icing were from The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. The White Chocolate Whisper Cake did not turn out as well as it could. I will say that it was me and not the recipe. I had to make a couple of substitutions and they, I believe affected the outcome of the cake. I also used the Neoclassic Lemon Buttercream and the Winter Blueberry Topping. They both were spot on perfect!!

Field Day

Our dear friends Jim and Renee had a field day on their farm. I helped their friend Curtis with the bar-ba-que. It was so much fun, no to mention how good the food was!! I think I have BBQ fever now!

Tangerine Marmalade

"Blue Ribbon Preserves"
Linda Amendt

Tangerine Marmalade

makes about 6 half-pint jars

1 cup zested or thinly sliced tangerine peel (do not pack)
1 cup water
1/2 strained fresh tangerine juice
3/4 cup water
1/8 tsp baking soda
2 3/4 cups supremed and finely chopped fruit plus enough reserved juice to equal 3 cups (18 to 24 tangerines)
5 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon unsalted butter
1 (3-ounze) pouch liquid pectin

In a small bowl, combine the peel and 1 cup water. Drain the peel and discard the water.

In an 8-quart pan, combine the peel with the tangerine juice, 3/4 cup water and baking soda. Over medium-high heat, bring to a full boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the fruit. Cover and simmer 10 minutes more.
Remove the cover and stir in the sugar and butter. Heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the entire contents of the pectin pouch. Return the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat. Skim off any foam.
To prevent floating fruit, allow the marmalade to cool 5 minutes before filling the jars. Gently stir the marmalade to distribute the fruit. Ladle the marmalade into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe the jar rims and threads with a clean, damp cloth. Cover with hot lids and apply screw rings. Process half-pint jars in a 200F (93C) water bath for 10 minutes, pint jars for 15 minutes.

NOTES

-It really took a while to supreme that many tangerines!

-This is really a fantastic marmalade.

-My yield ended up being exactly 7 half pints.

Altamaha Apiaries

I love this building and I always say I am going to stop and take a picture of it. Last weekend on the way to Atlanta, we pulled over and I took a couple of shots. Last spring when we were going to Baxley to pick strawberries, it was covered in beautiful purple wisteria. This picture just doesn't do it justice. I would have loved to have tried their honey...

Sourdough Chocolate Cake with Orange Frosting

Sourdough Chocolate Cake
(adapted from the King Arthur 200th Anniversay Cookbook)

1 c sourdough starter
1 c milk
2 c flour (I used freshly milled hard white whole wheat)
1 1/2 c sugar (I used succanat with honey)
1 c vegetable oil (I used melted unsalted butter)
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 c cocoa
2 eggs
Frosting

Combine starter, milk and flour. Let work 2-3 hours.

Preheat oven to 350.

In another bowl, cream sugar, oil, salt, vanilla, baking soda and cocoa. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Combine the creamed mixture with the sourdough mixture. Be gentle but make sure it is well blended.

Grease two 9" cake pans (I used one large bundt pan). Bake for 40-45 min, cool on a rack.

NOTES

-Less moist than when made with vegetable oil

-I made one of the frostings out of the same cookbook and it turned out to be a glaze instead of a frosting. It was still very tasty, just not the texture I was looking for.

Monster Truck Jam (aka Life Lessons)

Just in case you are ever in doubt--Do NOT eat the nachos at the Georgia Dome...

Every little boy should get to go to a show like this once in their lives. I decided that I would embrace the experience. I had a good time, but once is enough for the rest of my life!

There were many more life lessons learned from this experience last weekend but this is a kitchen blog. Really, don't eat the nachos...

Roasted Green Onion Soup with Spicy Farm Sausage

I had this enormous bunch of green onions that I had no idea what to do with, so this is what I did. Cleaned and dried them, then tossed them in olive oil and roasted them in a 400 degree oven. I brought some roasted turkey stock to a boil, added the roasted onions, salt, and pepper. I boiled it for just a few minutes and then pureed it with the immersion blender. A little heavy cream at the end, and topped it with some browned sausage. It was a really tasty lunch. When in doubt...make soup! (The color on the picture makes it look really disgusting, but it was super good!)

A Birthday Party and the Sad Truth

Our daughter, our youngest of the three, turned 3 yesterday. We had a nice little party planned for her with one other family coming over. I put some thought into what I should make. We were planning on a Princess and Pirate Party. Everything was great but one thing...the food...It was awful...I am sad and disheartened. Why?

It turns out that we have changed more than I guess I ever knew. I took some short cuts and the food was not lousy, but it certainly was not good.

The Menu

Nutella Rollovers
Apricot-Cream Cheese Uncrusties
Egg Salad on Pumpernickle
Palmiers 2-Ways
Mini Quiche Lorraine

Shirley Temples

Strawberry Shortcake Torte

We started on this journey of increasing the quality and nutrient density of our food several years ago. It has led us to feeling healthier, strong and robust children, and on most occasions, very tasty food. The other side of that is that now it is so had to take any kind of short-cut. Our tastes have changed and that is a good thing but at the same time it makes it rather difficult.

NOTES

-I did not like the taste or the texture of the cake, Strawberry Shortcake Torte from the King Arthur Whole Grains Cookbook, and I will not make it again.

-Frozen Puff Patry does not taste very good anymore

-The mini quiche cups that you buy frozen are not very good anymore either

-Nutella, no matter how bad it is for you, rocks!

All about the Brine

I pulled together an email today for an internet friend who needed some brine recipes. I thought I would post the email here since it is all my best brine information all together in one area...

The most basic-no frills brine is a 1:1 ratio of kosher salt to water. So, it would be 1 cup kosher salt to 1 gallon of water (not a true 1:1 but you know what I mean). You can make as much or as little of it as you need. Just dissolve the salt in the water and put your meat in. I put a plate on top with a canning jar with water and a lid on it to keep all of the meat under the brine. Keep it in the fridge, brining away, for up to about 12 hours. Take it out and cook as you would normally.

Now, that was the basic. You can add just about anything to this brine in the way of spices and herbs.

This is the holiday brine that I use. It is pricey to put together but I do it once a year for Thanksgiving and it makes the most amazing turkey ever! It is a Wolfgang Puck recipe. As a matter of fact because it was expensive, this is the brine that I put the extra turkey parts in after I got the Thanksgiving bird out just so I could make it a little more cost effective.

Brine:1 gallon water
1/2 ounce ground cloves
1/2 ounce ground ginger
4 ounces cracked black peppercorns
12 bay leaves
1 pound kosher salt
24 ounces honey
24 ounces maple syrup

In a large stockpot, bring the water, cloves, ginger, black peppercorn, bay leaves and salt to a boil. Lower to a simmer and stir in the honey and maple syrup until well blended. Turn off heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Rinse the turkey inside and out with cold tap water. Reserve the neck and specialty meats for pan gravy. Set the turkey in the brine, making sure that the turkey is fully immersed in the brine. Place a weight on top of the turkey to make sure it is always covered with brine. Marinate for at least 4 hours to overnight, depending on the weight of the turkey, in the refrigerator.

This one from Alton Brown is also very good for turkey.
For the brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon iced water

Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.

Basic Bread

We had company last night and I made rolls and ended up making 2 braided loaves with this recipe. The kids love to help shape the three balls for each of the cloverleaf rolls.

Cynthia--These are the rolls I made the last time yall came over. I added chives to the dough and used all white flour.

Basic Bread

adapted from King Arthur 200th Anniversary Cookbook

16 rolls or

2 loaves

1 egg PLUS

enough milk to equal 2 cups

1 Tbs instant yeast

2 1/2 whole wheat flour

3 c unbleached flour

1 Tbs salt

Mix it all together and knead (hand or machine). If the humidity is really low you might need another 1/2 to 1 cup flour. Lightly grease the bowl and the dough. Cover. Let rest until doubled (1-3 hours depending on weather conditions). Deflate and shape into final form. Turn oven on to 400 degrees 15 minutes before dough is finished rising. It will need about an hour to rise, again, depending on weather and kitchen temp.

Rolls-400 for 15 to 20 min

2 braided loaves OR 2 loaf pans-400 for 15 min then 350 for 20 min

NOTES

-This is the most flexible of recipes. You can use an egg wash, cream, or melted butter on the top prior to baking. You can add seeds, nuts,herbs, or dried fruits while mixing the batter. Top it wih salt, sugar, sprinkles of what ever kind you want.

-This is not all whole grain so I don't make it that often. Mostly I make this when we have company who are not accustomed to the whole grains that we normally eat. You can make this with up to about 4 c of whole wheat or you can make it totally with white bread (unbleached) flour.