Cucumber Sandwich Pickles

And the pickle marathon continues here at the Nirvana household! This time we made cucumber sandwich pickles for Little BBQ. These sweet pickles use brown sugar to add some richness to the pickles. I think the blend of celery seed, mustard seed, and turmeric is one of my favorite spice combinations. Mustard seed is one of my favorite spices, so a pickle using mustard seed is always a good thing in my book. The celery seed reminds me of the beach, so I associate these pickles with a hot day out on the beach. These are the perfect pickles to take camping with you. They make a great snack by themselves or they can be put on a sandwich.


For Little BBQ the best part about these pickles was that he did not need to wait a few weeks before the full flavor was in effect. You can make these pickles and eat them right away. No aging required which is a great for an inpatient little boy. These pickles take a full day to make so you will want to plan on making these pickles when you plan on staying close to home for the day.

Ingredients (yield: 3 pints) from Blue Book Guide to Preserving p 48

2 pounds 3- to 4-inch cucumbers, cut into ¼-inch slices
½ cup canning salt
3 quarts water, divided
5 cups vinegar, divided
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
½ tsp celery seed
½ tsp mustard seed
½ tsp turmeric

Directions

Put cucumber slices in a clean pickling container. Combine salt and 2 quarts water; pour over cucumbers; let stand 2 to 3 hours. Drain; rinse and drain thoroughly. Discard liquid. Combine 3 cups vinegar and 3 cups water; bring to a boil in a large saucepot. Add cucumbers, simmer about 8 minutes. (Cucumbers should not become soft.) Drain well, discarding liquid. Combine 2 cups vinegar and 1 cup water with remaining ingredients in a large saucepot; simmer 10 minutes. Add drained cucumbers. Bring to a boil. Pack hot pickles and liquid into hot jars, leaving 1/4 –inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Bread and Butter Pickles

I think this is the year of the pickle for me. I am making lots of different pickles for Little BBQ this year. So far Little BBQ has not eaten a sweet pickle that he has not liked and this pickle was no exception to the rule. I was surprised that he liked these bread and butter pickles because they have onions in them, but these pickles were a hit with him. Perhaps I should change his nickname to Little Pickle.


These bread and butter pickles are easy to make and do not require days of brining. The pickles come out nice and crunchy. The spice blend with these pickles plus the onion gives the pickles a lot flavor and the sugar adds a little sweetness without being super sweet like sweet gherkins. These pickles have a really complex flavor. For me, I taste the onion in the pickles first then I taste the spice blend. These are the kind of pickles that taste good on a meaty sandwich.  The only downside is that you need to let them age about 4-6 weeks before you crack open the first jar to get the full complex flavor of these pickles.  I promise the anticipation will make you enjoy these pickles even more.

Ingredients (yield about 7 pints) from Blue Book Guide to Preserving p 49

4 pounds 4- to 6-inch cucumbers, cut into ¼-inch slices
2 pounds onions, thinly sliced (about 8 small)
1/3 cup canning salt
2 cups sugar
2 tbsp mustard seed
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp peppercorns
3 cups vinegar

Directions

Combine cucumber and onion slices in a large bowl, layering with salt; cover with ice cubes. Let stand 1 ½ hours. Drain; rinse; drain again. Combine remaining ingredients in a large saucepot; bring to boil. Add drained cucumbers and onions and return to a boil. Pack hot pickles and liquid into hot jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Dip

It is pumpkin season! The cooler weather means sweaters, fresh pumpkins, and parties galore. I am not sure what it is about fall, but our social calendar always seems to expand during fall. This means that I am always looking for more fun dips and appetizers to bring with me to social gatherings and parties. I try to stay away from bringing cheese balls or bean dip and chips because there seem to be plethora of them at every party we attend. One thing that I do not see at every party is pumpkin appetizers. For me pumpkin is the symbol of fall produce. People put real and fake pumpkins in their front yard during fall. People put mini pumpkins in cornucopias. Some people put pumpkins on their fireplace mantle to decorate for fall. Pumpkins are everywhere during fall! However, I think pumpkins are under utilized in the kitchen. Everyone is familiar with a pumpkin pie, but pumpkin can be more than just a desert. I wanted to make a pumpkin appetizer that was sweet but not as sweet as a fully fledged desert.


This pumpkin dip was amazing. It is like pumpkin cheesecake without all the work. I whipped this recipe up in less than 5 minutes on the fly using ingredients I already had sitting around in my kitchen. Plus I got to use some of my freshly roasted white pumpkin. Everyone at my sewing group enjoyed the pumpkin dip. I served it with graham crackers, but you could easily serve it with a butter cookie or apple slices.

Ingredients (serves 10)

2 cups of roasted pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin puree
1 8 ounce package of cream cheese, room temperature
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ cup brown sugar

Directions

Blend all the ingredients together. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour before serving. Serve with crackers or fruit.

Posted on Gooseberry Patch

Almond Pear

I was really fortunate this year when a generous mom posted on my mom’s group that she was giving away free pears to anyone who came by and picked them from her trees. Being a canner I can not resist free fruit. I was not planning on canning any pears this year, but I can not let them go to waste. In the end, I am actually really happy that I ended up with pears because I got to try several new recipes. One of my favorite new recipes this year is almond pears.

I love almonds. They are my favorite nut, so I was so excited when I found a recipe using almonds when canning pears. However, I was skeptical of using almond liquor. I did not want to have pears that tasted like a bottle of alcohol. I am not a big alcohol person. I love red wine and champagne, but I have never been big on liquor. Fortunately, the pears were awesome! The almond flavor complemented the pears well without tasting like a giant bottle of cheap alcohol. The only thing that I was not super excited about was the odd red color of the almond liquor. I would have preferred clear colored almond liquor, but they did not sell clear colored almond liquor at my local liquor store. Despite the funky red color, I would highly recommend these pears to anyone. I think they will make a great winter time treat with a bowl of yogurt.

 

Ingredients (yield about 5 pints) from Blue Book Guide to Preserving p 85 my notes are in []

7 pounds pears
2 cups sugar
4 cups water
½ cup blanched almonds
½ cup almond liquor

Directions

Wash pears, drain. Peel pears, cut into halves and core [I chose to slice my pears.] Treat to prevent darkening [I soaked my pears in a 10% solution of lemon juice for a few minutes.] Rinse and drain. Cook pears in water one layer at a time until hot throughout; set aside, keeping hot. Combine sugar and 4 cups water in medium saucepot, stirring until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Pack hot pears into hot jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Add 1 tablespoon almonds to each jar. Remove syrup from heat; stir in almond liquor. Ladle hot syrup over pears, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two piece caps. Process 20 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Daring Bakers: Autumn Leaf Cookies

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This month Mandi from What the fruitcake?! challenged us to decorate sugar cookies with royal icing. We had to make our sugar cookies with a recipe from Peggy Porschen’s book, Romantic Cakes. We were allowed to modify the recipe to incorporate different flavorings, so I substituted some of the flour for cocoa and cinnamon to make the cookie look like dirt. Then, we were challenged to decorate the cookies with the theme September. For me September is all about fall foliage. I love when the leaves turn bright orange, red, and yellow. It just makes me want to curl up with a blanket outside, a good book, and a cup of hot chocolate. It also makes me miss the Blue Ridge Mountains. There is something majestic about fall in the mountains. Perhaps it is the chilly mountain air or the tall mountains that makes time stand still for moments at a time as your eyes focus on all beautiful chromatic effects.

Once you have taken in the beauty of the leaves, it is time to rake them again and again and again. Between all the falling leaves and kids jumping in all the piles of leaves there are always leaves that need to be raked. This is the quintessential September day to me. I wanted my cookies to look like a stack of leaves that you would rake up and let your kids jump into. I made my royal icing designs on wax paper using this site as my inspiration. After the designs dried, I carefully peeled them off and began to stack them on top of the cookies. Once I finalized my design I carefully used a single dot of royal icing under each leaf to hold it in place. I am really proud of how well these cookies turned out. I have never used this technique to decorate cookies before, so it was a lot of fun to try something new out. I also modified this month’s challenge for Little BBQ here.

Ingredients for Chocolate Sugar Cookies modified from Peggy Porschen (makes 36 four inch cookies)

½ cup + 6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/4 cups + 3tbsp All Purpose Flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat until just becoming
creamy in texture.

Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during
baking, losing their shape.

2.  Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the sifted flour, cocoa, and cinnamon and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.

Tip: I don’t have a stand mixer so I find it easier to switch to dough hooks at this stage to avoid
flour flying everywhere.

3. Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.

4. Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch)

5. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.

Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an
hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and
then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.

6. Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.

Tip: use cocoa powder instead of flour on chocolate cookies

7. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife. Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.

Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking.

8.  Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.

9. Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.

10. Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.

Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in some cookies being baked before others are done.

Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.

11. Leave to cool on cooling racks.

12. Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.

Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decorated
cookies can last up to a month.

Ingredients for Royal Icing modified from The Joy of Baking

2½ - 3 cups Icing / Confectioner’s / Powdered Sugar, unsifted
2 Large Egg Whites
2 tsp water
1 tsp Almond Extract, optional

Directions

1. Beat egg whites with water until combined.

Tip: It’s important that the bowls/spoons/spatulas and beaters you use are thoroughly cleaned and grease free.

2. Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps and add it to the egg whites.

Tip: I’ve listed 2 amounts of icing sugar, the lesser amount is good for a flooding consistency, and the larger amount is for outlining, but you can add even more for a much thicker consistency good for writing. If you add too much icing sugar or would like to make a thinner consistency, add very small amounts of water, a few drops at a time, until you reach the consistency you need.

3. Beat on low until combined and smooth.

4. Use immediately or keep in an airtight container.

Tip: Royal Icing starts to harden as soon as it’s in contact with air so make sure to cover containers with plastic wrap while not in use.


Posted on Pastionately Artistic.

Daring Bakers: Kid Style

This month Daring Bakers focused on decorating sugar cookies. Mandy from What the Fruitcake?! challenged us to make sugar cookies and decorate them with royal icing. I posted my results for this Daring Bakers challenge here, but this post is about how I modified the challenge for my 3.5 year old son. We made the sugar cookies as I explained in my last post. However, piping is not a realistic expectation for my son. His fine motor skills are not developed enough to hold a piping bag and gently squeeze frosting onto a cookie to make a design, so I decided to improvise.


I flooded some cookies with the royal icing from the last post and allowed it to dry. Then, I gave my son the cookies along with diluted food coloring and a clean paint brush. I had him paint his cookies. While he was painting he told me the three primary colors and recited the shapes of the cookies. In the end, he had fun time both decorating and eating his cookies. I think I am going to keep this activity in my bag of tricks for play dates or kids parties. It was really easy to do and a lot of fun.

Homeschooling: Tibetan Prayer Flags

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Preserving Summer: Canned Peaches

Peaches are Dr. Lazy Palate’s favorite fruit. For him it is the one and only fruit suitable for eating after a volleyball game. He will not eat oranges, bananas, or apples. His snack has to be a peach. That is all fabulous except for the fact that he is also very picky about his peaches. They must be soft, sweet, and juicy. Dr. Lazy Palate will not eat a hard peach. This means that he likes peaches that are available for two weeks out of the year here locally.


I am also a big proponent of health food unlike Dr. Lazy Palate. The deal is that if we can him peaches, then he will eat the peaches for a snack instead of Pop Tart®. We canned over a 100 lbs of peaches this year. The idea is that he will eat the peaches as his morning snack when other fruits that he likes are out of season. So far the method has worked well. It took us 12 hours to can approximately 100 lbs of peaches. We canned them in half pint jars which are perfect for snacks.

I made 40% sugar solution to preserve the peaches. I would have preferred to use less sugar, but it is not recommended by Ball to can peaches in lighter syrup. The peaches peel really easily after being dipped in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds and then submerged in cold water. The only downside to canning peaches is that they accumulate a lot of air bubbles, so you really have to smash the peaches with the inside of the jar to get all the air bubbles out.

The final product is amazing! I am not a fan of canned peaches that you get at the grocery store. To me they taste like sugar water and not like peaches. Plus I cannot stand the gritty texture of canned peaches from the store. These home canned peaches tasted like peaches and the texture was much smoother than what you get at the grocery store. We took some of these peaches camping with us and they made a wonderful snack. Dr. Lazy Palate enjoys his peaches at work, and we are all happy.

Ingredients from Blue Book Guide to Preserving p 16 and 20 my notes are in []

2 to 3 pounds of peaches per quart
3 ¼ cups Sugar
5 cups Water

Directions

Hot Pack: Wash peaches; drain. Peel peaches; cut in half and pit [we sliced our peaches.] Treat to prevent darkening [I treated mine in a 10% solution of lemon juice and water.] Make a medium syrup. Drain peaches. Cook peaches one layer at a time until peaches are hot throughout. Pack hot peaches, cavity side down, into hot jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Ladle hot syrup over peaches, leaving ½-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process pints 20 minutes, quarts 25 minutes, in a boiling water canner [we processed our half pints for 20 minutes.]

Note: To peel peaches dip in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds. Immediately drain and place peaches in cold water. Slip off peel. Cut in half, pit and scrape cavity to remove fibrous flesh.

Chorizo and Vegetable Soup

There has been a plethora of peppers at the farmers market lately, so I decided to make a soup that uses some of my peppers. I have been wanting to make a soup that takes advantage of all those wonderful late summer crops. I chose to make another recipe from the book Cooking at the CIA. This vegetable soup uses just enough chorizo to add a wonderful spicy and meaty flavor to the soup without adding a lot of grease. I really love the red color of the broth in the soup. This really is a pretty looking soup.


I eat this soup for lunch with a roll when I want something light and healthy. It keeps me full until dinner time, so for me this soup is excellent. Shockingly Little BBQ also eats this soup. I did not know he would eat this soup because it is a bit spicy, but he likes it too. Dr. Lazy Palate did not like the soup. He thinks that the vegetable flavor is too strong. Dr. Lazy Palate prefers his soups to be meatier and less vegetables. He said, "it was like eating a garden!" I like vegetables, so eating a garden for lunch is fine by me, but Dr. Lazy Palate is a more meat and potatoes kind of guy, so he gave this recipe 1 star while I gave it 5 stars.

Ingredients (serves 4) from Cooking at the CIA p 118

2 ½ ounces chorizo, casing removed, diced
1 ½ tsp olive oil
¼ cup diced onion
2 tbsp diced celery
1 tsp minced garlic
¾ tsp cumin seeds
2 ½ cups chicken broth
2 cups peeled, seeded, and diced tomatoes
1 medium white or yellow onion, peeled and diced
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 small green pepper diced
1 tbsp tomato paste
½ bay leaf
1 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley
¼ tsp chopped dried oregano
¼ tsp salt
1 cup corn kernels
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

Saute the chorizo: Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo and sauté until browned, about 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer the chorizo to paper towels to drain, and discard the fat from the pan.

Saute the aromatics: Add the oil to the pan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, garlic, and cumin seeds and sauté ntil the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

Simmer the soup: Add the chorizo, broth, tomatoes, potato, peppers, tomato paste, bay leaf, half of the parsley, the oregano, and salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Discard the bay leaf. Stir in the corn and black pepper and simmer until heated through.

Garnish and serve the soup: Ladle the soup into warm soup bowls and garnish with the cilantro and remaining parsley.

Tandoori-Style Chicken on the Grill with Yogurt Masala

Every time I go to Indian restaurants I get tandoori chicken. I love the complex flavors of tandoori chicken. I have always wanted to recreate this dish at home, but I do not have a little clay oven that is heated by fire that gets extremely hot like they do in India. The closest thing that I have is a grill that produces flames, so I found a recipe from the book Cooking at the CIA that has a tandoori chicken recipe on the grill.


The flavors from the chicken were excellent. The chicken was spicier than you can get at most Americanized Indian restaurants which were wonderful since I had wanted spicy food for awhile now. The coriander, garlic, and cayenne pepper all complement each other well. Like the tandoori chicken that you get in restaurants, this chicken does not have one dominant flavor because all the spices are in perfect harmony together. The downside is that the tandoori chicken did not take on the pretty red color of tandoori chicken that you can get in India. The turmeric in the marinade did give the marinade a pretty red color, but the red color did not transfer over to the chicken.

This tandoori chicken also calls for ghee (pure golden fat) which is missing from many Americanized Indian tandoori chicken recipes. I found the ghee surprisingly easy to make if you make a large enough batch. At first I tried making only 2 tbsp of ghee because I did not want to waste butter, but I found it too hard to ladle off the pure ghee. I seriously wanted my pipettes from the lab! I found the ghee is easy to make with a whole stick of butter, so don’t skimp on the butter to make ghee. I have posted some links on how to make ghee below along with a recipe for ghee.

Based upon flavor, both Dr. Lazy Palate and I give the chicken 5 stars, but if you are looking for a pretty red chicken that looks amazing on the dinner plate, then I would pass on this recipe.

Ingredients (serves 8) from Cooking at the CIA page 4 and 47 my notes are contained in [ ]

Three chickens, about 3 pounds each
Juice of 1 lemon
1 ½ tbsp salt
1 cup plain yogurt
¼ cup water
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground turmeric
3 tbsp ground coriander
2 ounces fresh ginger, grated
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 tbsp ghee (see information below)
3 limes, cut into quarters
Assorted chutneys

Directions:

Prepare the chicken: Remove the skin from the chickens, leaving the birds whole. Cut the chickens into 4 serving pieces each, making 12 breast portions and 12 leg-thigh portions. [I cut the backbone out of my chickens otherwise I left them whole and left the skin on.] With a sharp knife, cut a few 1/8 inch deep slits in the breasts and thighs. In a bowl, mix the lemon and salt. Rub the salt mixture over the chicken, pressing the mixture firmly into the slits.

Make the yogurt masala: In a bowl, mix the yogurt, water, cayenne, cumin, cardamom, turmeric, coriander, ginger, and garlic until blended. Spread masala (marinade) over the chicken and place it in a baking dish. Cover the dish and refrigerate for a minimum of 12 hours. [I marinated my chickens for 48 hours.]

Grill and serve the chicken: Preheat the grill to high (450-500+ degrees F for a gas grill or until low flames should be visible within the coals for a charcoal grill). Remove the chicken from the dish, place it on the grill and cook, turning, for about 10 minutes, or until cooked through. The internal temperature should be at least 180 degrees F. Baste the chicken occasionally with ghee. Accompany the chicken with lime wedges and chutney.

Information on ghee from Cooking at the CIA page 47

“Ghee, also known as clarified butter, is a common ingredient in Indian cuisine. It is actually butter from which all the milk solids have been removed, leaving a pure, golden liquid fat. Since all of the impurities have been removed, ghee can be cooked at a much higher temperature than butter without smoking. You can find ghee in jars in Indian markets or specialty food stores, but it is easy to make at home.”

“To make ghee: Place pieces of unsalted butter in a heavy saucepan. Melt the butter over low heat, without stirring, until it separates into layers; the milk will sink to the bottom. Skim the foam that rises to the top as the butter melts. Carefully pour or ladle the clear golden fat into a storage container; discard the solids and the milky liquid that remains on the bottom of the pan.”

Video on how to make ghee

Posted on Life as Mom

Homeschooling: Field Trip to the Indianapolis Museum of Art

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Daring Cooks: Apple Butter and Roasted Roma Tomatoes

This month John from Eat4Fun chose to do home canning as our Daring Cooks challenge. I was excited about the challenge because I have already been doing a lot of canning this year. In fact, I actually started teaching some of my friends how to can this year. My friends wanted to learn how to make apple butter and this month’s challenge was apple butter and roasted Roma tomatoes, so there was no extra planning involved in trying to figure out when I will complete this month’s challenge!

Both the apple butter and roasted Roma tomatoes came out wonderful. I love Roma tomatoes, but tomatoes did not grow well here this year, so I was unable to can as many jars of tomatoes as I would have liked. I still managed to buy a half of peck off of one farmer who kindly sold it to me. My canned tomatoes will last me all winter, but I will not be able to eat tomato soup as often as I like. Hopefully next year will be better.

The apple butter is sweet, flavorful, and gooey. It tastes wonderful on toast. The roasted Roma tomatoes are rich and flavorful. The roasted garlic is amazing with the roasted Roma tomatoes. Taking the garlic out of the paper skins can be a little messy after it is roasted, but it is well worth the amazing flavor. If you have not roasted your tomatoes and garlic before, then I highly recommend giving this technique a try. Your tomatoes and garlic will taste much richer. The garlic will have an amazing smooth texture that blends well into any recipe. It is just one of those things that every cook should try at least once.

Ingredients for Apple Butter (yield about 3 pints) modified from Blue Book Guide to Preserving p 30

4 pounds apples (about 16 medium)
4 cups sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cloves
½ tsp ground ginger

Directions

To Prepare Pulp: Wash apples. Core, peel and quarter apples. Combine apples and 2 cups water in a large saucepot. Simmer until apples are soft. Puree using a food processor or food mill, being careful not to liquefy. Measure 2 quarts apple pulp.

To Make Butter: Combine apple pulp, sugar and spices in a large saucepot. Cook slowly until thick enough to round up on a spoon. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Ladle hot butter into hot jars, leaving 1/4 –inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece capoas. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Note: If butter becomes too thick, add water or apple juice for desired consistency.

Ingredients for Roasted Roma Tomatoes (yield about 4 quarts) from Blue Book Guide to Preserving p 82

12 pounds Roma tomatoes
4 bulbs garlic
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 ½ cups chopped onion
1 tbsp minced fresh oregano
1 tsp salt
½ tsp coarsely ground black pepper
Bottled lemon juice

Directions

Roast tomatoes on a grill or in a broiler until skins begin to wrinkle and become lightly blackened in spots, turning to roast evenly on all sides. Remove from heat. Place roasted tomatoes in a paper bag and close tightly. Cool until tomatoes are easy to handle, about 15 minutes. Slip skins off tomatoes, cut in half and remove seeds. Cut off ½-inch chunks; set aside. Place garlic on aluminum foil and drizzle olive oil over garlic. Wrap foil around garlic, sealing edges tightly. Roast garlic at 350˚F until tender, about 30 minutes. Cool garlic until it is easy to handle. Separate cloves of garlic and remove papery skins. Add garlic to tomatoes. Stir in remaining ingredients and cook over medium heat until hot throughout. Add 2 tablespoons bottle lemon juice to each quart jar. Ladle hot tomatoes into hot jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two piece caps. Process quarts 1 hour and 25 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Posted on Eat at Home Cooks: Tomatoes

Homeschooling: Box Assemblage

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Tabbouleh Salad with Corn, Chickpeas, and Mint

I saw a recipe for tabbouleh on the blog Oishii, and I knew I needed to whip me up tabbouleh for my moms’ group tasting this week. The theme for this week is items that you can take in a lunch box. Tabbouleh is perfect because it can be eaten cold or at room temperature and can be made ahead of time. In fact, the secret to good tabbouleh is letting the flavor meld together by simply giving them time to mix together. I modified the recipe to include only things that I had on hand. I used dried parsley and green onion since they are already past their prime here locally. Likewise, I used frozen mint in the recipe because mint peaked a few weeks ago. I ate all my cucumbers that I bought at the farmers market this week, so I substituted corn for the cucumber. Lastly, I added some crumbled goats cheese to the recipe for some additional flavor. In the end, I was left with an amazing dish. The lemon with the mint and olive oil is fantastic. The lemon juice makes the dish taste very fresh and zesty while the olive oil complements to earthy taste of the bulgur. During winter when tomatoes and corn are out of season I can substitute the fresh tomatoes for dried tomatoes and frozen corn and still be left with an amazing lunch during winter.


I also love that this recipe is very healthy. Bulgur is a whole grain, and it is higher in protein and fiber than white rice and it has a lower glycemic index than rice. Bulgur has a wonderful nutty taste to it and a texture that is more pleasing to me than oatmeal. The addition of chickpeas packs in some protein to help keep you full longer and chickpeas are a great source of phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium.

Little BBQ and Dr. Lazy Palate also like the tabbouleh. Little BBQ ate some tabbouleh during lunch today. His favorite part of the tabbouleh is the corn. Dr. Lazy Palate said he was surprised that the tabbouleh did not taste like dirt like most vegetables taste to him. Overall, this dish is a wonderful addition to our lunch rotation.

Ingredients inspired from the blog Oishii who was inspired by Bon Apetit (makes 4 lunch servings)

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup bulgur
1 ½ cups boiling water
a couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes, halved
½ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley or ¼ cup dried Italian parsley
2 large green onions or ¼ cup dried green onion
2 tbsp frozen or fresh mint, chopped
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 ears of cooked corn and kernels removed or 1 can corn, drained and rinsed
¼ cup crumbled goat cheese

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine the bulgur with the boiling water. Cover and let stand until bulgur is tender and water has been absorbed, about 20 minutes. (Alternatively you can add the bulgur to 2 cups of cold water, bring to a boil, and simmer, covered, for 12-15 minutes. Drain and transfer to a bowl).

3. Add the tomatoes, parsley, green onions, mint, chickpeas, corn, and goat cheese to the bowl of bulgur. Add the olive oil/lemon juice mixture and gently mix with a wooden spoon. Taste and season with salt & pepper to your liking.

4. Let sit for at least 30 minutes so that the flavors can blend. Serve cold or at room temperature.


Posted on Life as Mom, The Local Cook

Hoosier Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

Since moving to Indiana we have enjoyed a lot of small town festivals. We enjoy experiencing the local culture and tasting all the local food. One food item that we see and get at every festival is a pork tenderloin sandwich. The tenderloin comes out super thin and much larger than the bun. It is kind of shocking the first time you get it because you can't help but wonder if they gave you the wrong bun. Apparently that is how Hoosiers like their pork tenderloin sandwiches with giant tenderloin and a tiny bun. I prefer to make mine with normal sized tenderloin on a wheat bun, but you can smash your tenderloin to whatever size you want because the flavor will be conserved either way. At the different festivals we have found a lot of variation in the type of breading on the tenderloin. We have had tenderloin with a tempura batter, flour batter, bread crumb batter, and a cornmeal batter. In my opinion, the cornmeal batter tastes the best. The cornmeal adds the right amount of crunchiness while still keeping the breading light.


To reproduce our festival tenderloins, I used a recipe from grouprecipes by user bondc. This recipe provides the perfect amount of crunch to the tenderloins while keeping the tenderloin nice and juicy. Dr. Lazy Palate loves this recipe so much that he actually eats his tenderloin on wheat bread (and he usually hates wheat bread.) Little BBQ is also a big fan of the sandwiches. Overall, this recipe is a real family winner.

Ingredients (makes 4 sandwiches)

4 boneless butterfly chops, cut about a half inch thick, or 4 boneless loin chops, cut an inch thick

1 c. flour
1/2 c. cornmeal
1/2 c. milk
1 t. salt
1 t. black pepper
oil

Directions

1. If you bought regular loin chops, butterfly them. With a sharp knife, cut them almost all the way in half, then open them. Beat the butterflied chops with a meat mallet until a quarter inch thick.

2. Mix the flour and cornmeal and put on a plate.

3. Heat about a half inch of oil in a heavy skillet until a one-inch cube of bread browns in about a minute, and turn the oven on warm. Dip the first tenderloin in milk, then dredge on both sides, making sure every bit is covered. Place the first in the hot oil (only do these one at a time), and fry until the bottom is golden brown, then turn, and fry until golden brown all over (this should only take five minutes if your oil is the right temperature). Drain on a paper towel, then start frying the second one. Place the first on a rack in the warm oven. Repeat the process until all four are done.

Canned Whole Tomatoes

I am so sad that this season has been terrible for tomatoes. Usually tomatoes are a cheap and wonderful fruit, but this year there were hardly any local tomatoes available. I had to break down and buy my favorite Roma tomatoes from a vendor that brings in produce from another state because I could not get enough locally to can this year. I love canned tomatoes for sauces and soups. Canned tomatoes are a winter time staple in my house. Homemade canned tomatoes taste better than store bought tomatoes.


Canning whole tomatoes is by far one of the easiest canning projects that you can take on because they don't require a lot of mindless chopping like salsa and they don't require a long cook time like fruit butters. If you are new to canning, then I reccomend getting the Blue Book Guide to Preserving because it is a great resource for recipes and tutorials for how to can. They have a two page spread on how to can tomatoes from start to finish with every step included from how to inspect your jars for quality to how to smash the tomatoes to get the air bubbles out. Another thing that I recommend for new canners is the ball utensil set that includes a jar lifter, bubble remover, lid lifter, and funnel. All of these items really help make canning a lot easier. Trying to lift a quart size jar out of a boiling water task is nearly impossible without a good set of thongs that snugly fit around the jars.

Ingredients (2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds of tomatoes makes 1 quart) from Blue Book Guide to Preserving page 22, 24

2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds of tomatoes per quart
Bottled lemon juice
Salt (optional)

Directions

Hot Pack: Prepare tomatoes. Select fresh tomatoes at their peak of quality and flavor. Use firm tomatoes free of cracks, spots, and growths. Prepare only enough for one canner load. Wash tomatoes. Drain. Place tomatoes in a wire basket and lower into a large saucepot of boiling water. Blanch tomatoes 30 to 60 seconds or until skins start to crack. Remove from boiling water. Dip immediately into cold water. Slip skins; trim away any green areas; cut out core. Leave tomatoes whole or cut into halves or quarters. Place tomatoes in a large saucepot; add enough water to cover tomatoes. Boil gently 5 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking. Add 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice to each pint jar, 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice to each quart jar. Pack hot tomatoes into hot jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Ladle hot cooking liquid over tomatoes, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt to each pint jar, 1 teaspoon salt to each quart jar, if desired. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process pints 40 minutes, quarts 45 minutes, in a boiling water canner.