Whole Wheat Buttermilk Key Lime Muffins

I have been frustrated with many muffin recipes in the past because I like my muffins to have that perfect dome shape on top and not the flat running over the edge of the muffin compartment look. Then, I remembered that buttermilk muffins always have that perfect look that I was seeking, so I played around with using buttermilk as my liquid in muffins. I also increased the amount of flour that I generally use in muffins from 2 cups to 2 ½ cups to give the muffins a lot of lift. I have also grown accustomed to substituting applesauce for the oil to make them healthier.

When zesting the key lime, use a micro plate zester. When I took a cooking class this winter, my only quest when entering the class was to figure out how to zest without getting any of the white part of the peel into the zest. As it turns out I had good technique, I would gently zest the lime and turn it as I am zesting to ensure a nice even zesting, but I was using the wrong tool. According to the chef who was teaching the class most zesters that have holes in it were not sharp enough to do the job well causing you to press hard of the fruit. You can see in this Gordon Ramsay video his awesome technique. The only difference is that the chef that I worked with suggested using a zester like this:

Since I have started using a micro plate zester I have had no problems zesting. My zest is not bitter because the white part of the peel is gone. In these muffins, the key lime zest is essential to get the nice subtle key lime flavor that makes these muffins delicious.

I used fresh homemade buttermilk which is thicker than store bought buttermilk, so I ended up about 1 more tablespoon of buttermilk than I called for in this recipe, so you may find that you need to add more buttermilk to your muffins if your buttermilk is thick like mine. The other trick to these muffins is to make sure that the baking soda is fresh since it is essential to help achieve the pretty dome shape.

Ingredients (makes 12 muffins) from my own kitchen

2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
¾ cup brown sugar, divided
2 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
Zest from 1 pound of key limes
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Pulp from 1 pound of key limes
¾ cup buttermilk, plus more if needed
2/3 cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350⁰F. Line the muffins with cupcake liners.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, ½ cup brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and zest from key limes.

3. In a second bowl, combine the egg, pulp, buttermilk, applesauce, and vanilla. Stir well.

4. While stirring, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. I stir with a spatula. An electric mixer is not necessary for this recipe if you make sure to stir well.

5. Add more buttermilk if necessary to make a smooth mixture that resembles a thick pancake batter.

6. Ladle the batter into the cupcake liners. Fill each compartment to 1/8 inch from the top.

7. Sprinkle the rest of the brown sugar on top to give the muffins a nice light crust on top.

8. Bake the muffins for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

9. Allow the muffins to cool a few minutes in the hot pan before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

10. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Posted on Full Plate Thursday, Life as Mom, Strut Your Stuff, House of Hempworths, Prarie Story, Simple Lives Thursday, Catch a Glimpse, It's A Keeper

Strawberry Lemon Marmalade

I have been on canning spree this with strawberries because strawberries have been amazing this year. I feel so lucky that we had such a good strawberry crop in our area this year although it was a later than usual crop. Still it has been amazing. I also have a lot of lemon peels from all the lemon juice that we have been using lately for canning. I use fresh lemon juice for all of my canning adventures, and I hate wasting, so I decided to try a strawberry lemon marmalade. I have never made marmalade before, so I was excited to try something new.

The flavor of the marmalade was wonderful. I loved the combination of lemon and strawberry. However, the peels all floated to the top, and my strawberries were very juicy, so I had marmalade on top and strawberry jelly on the bottom which isn't tragic and still tastes great, but it was not what I was expecting. Does anyone have any idea on how to prevent this phenomenon? My Ball Blue Guide to Preserving makes it look as if all marmalade are filled from top to bottom with peels. Perhaps I did something wrong or perhaps this is normal. Leave me a comment if you have any ideas. Maybe I have a marmalade expert that follows this blog.

Ingredients (makes approximately 7 half pints) from Blue Guide to Preserving p 39

1/4 cup thinly sliced lemon peel
4 cups crushed strawberries
1 package powder pectin
1 tbsp lemon juice
6 cups sugar

Directions

1. In a small sauce pot, cover the lemon peel with water, and boil for 5 minutes. This will remove the bitterness from the lemon peel. Drain the water.
2. In a large heavy bottom pot, combine the lemon peel, strawberries, pectin, and lemon juice. Bring the mixture to a boil slowly.
3. Slowly add sugar while stirring.
4. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute.
5. Remove from the heat and ladle the hot marmalade into sterile, hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head space.
6. Place the lid on top and screw on the screw cap finger tip tight.
7. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Posted on These Chicks Cook, Whatever Goes Wednesday, What's Cooking Wednesday, Penny Pinching Party,

Pickle Me Up: 10 Great Pickle Recipes

Cucumbers will be coming into season soon here, and that means it is almost time for pickle season. Last year I made enough pickles for 2 years that way I would focus my canning efforts in other areas. Canned pickles last 2 years when stored in a cool dry place. Perhaps you are want to make some pickles this year. Here is a compilation of the ten best pickles that I made last year.

1. Sweet Gherkins: These beautiful sweet pickles were my family's favorite last year. Little BBQ bragged to everyone that knew that his mom made him pickles, and when he bragged he was specifically referring to these sweet gherkins. I canned them in little half pint jars that were perfect for him to open with his little hands. Next year I will be more of these pickles again.

2. Pickled Runner Beans: Last year I had tons of runner beans. I had so many that my freezer could only hold so many gallon size bags of runner beans, so I decided to pickle some of them. I so glad that I did. These were surprisingly good and sweet.

3. Sweet and Spicy Pickles: These were beautiful pickles that looked stunning inside of a jar, and they tasted excellent. The sweet and spicy aspects were nicely balanced. If you prefer spicier pickles, then you can always add more peppers.

4. Hamburger Dills: If I eat hamburgers, then I have to have hamburger dill pickles. Dill pickles are my favorite type of pickle, and these hamburger dill pickles tasted great on grilled hamburgers.

5. Bread and Butter Pickles: I love that the bread and butter pickles also have onions in them. I think it is the onion that makes them special. The onion compliments the cucumbers really well. This pickle is good on top of salads.

6. Cucumber Chips: I love the combination of cinnamon and ginger in these cucumber chips. Even though I am not a big sweet pickle fan these pickles always find a way to hit the spot when served beside a slice of Havarti cheese.

7. Sweet Icicle Pickles: I love how these pickles are cut into little spears, and my kids love these pickles for a snack or with their hamburgers. These are simple and basic sweet pickle for people who like the flavor of a traditional sweet pickle that grandma used to make.

8. Cucumber Sandwich Pickles: The turmeric in these pickles makes the brine a yellow/orange color, but don't be put off by the odd brine color. The pickles are sweet and have a great turmeric and mustard flavor that is irresistible.

9. Sweet Cucumber Pickles: These nice pickles contain cloves, mace, and ginger giving them a warm and aromatic taste similar to the warm and aromatic taste that defines the traditional taste of pumpkin pie.

10. Pickled Pears: Are you in the mood for something exotic? Then try a pickled pear. The pickled pears come out sweet and have a nice crunch to them.

What is your favorite type of pickle? Leave me a comment and tell me your favorite type of pickle.



Posted on Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday,  Tasty Tuesday, Delectable Tuesday, Tutorial Tuesday  , These Chicks Cook, Ingredeint Spotlight: vinegar

Strawberry Almond Baklava and Maple Pecan Baklava

I was super excited when I found out that Erica from Erica's Edibles challenged us to make baklava. I adore baklava, but I have never made it myself. Part of the challenge was to make homemade phyllo dough which I have never done either. I generally don't bake with phyllo dough because I do not care for the taste of store bought phyllo dough. However, homemade phyllo dough is amazing! It is flaky and buttery.

For this challenge I decided to make two nontraditional baklavas because there are a several Greek restaurants in town where I can get baklava, and I wanted to experiment with some new flavors. In particular I wanted to experiment with maple syrup since there is an abundance of maple syrup here in the Midwest, and this is one ingredient that I have under utilized since moving here. Second, I wanted to experiment with strawberries since strawberry season is just ending here. I made a fantastic low sugar strawberry syrup that I thought would make an excellent sauce for the baklava, and I was right. Both baklavas were amazing. The strawberry almond baklava was sweet, buttery, and had a great strawberry taste. The maple pecan baklava was simple yet perfect. Maple syrup and pecans are made for each other and when you add in buttery phyllo dough you have an excellent combination. I made two small round strawberry baklavas in two cup round pyrex containers, and the maple pecan baklava was made in a rectangle 3 cup pyrex container. By doubling the phyllo dough recipe, I had enough phyllo for both baklavas.

Ingredients for phyllo dough
1 1/3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup less 1 tbsp water, plus more if needed
2 tbsp oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 tsp cider vinegar

Directions
1. In a bowl, combine the flour and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the oil, water, and vinegar.
3. Add the liquid mixture to the solid mixture and mix well. I mixed by hand, but you can mix with an electric mixer. If the dough appears too dry and does not stick together, then add a little more water.
4. Once the dough is combined and sticks together, knead the dough for 20 minutes by hand or 10 minutes with a dough hook.
5. Shape the dough into a ball and coat with oil. Then, wrap the dough in plastic wrap.
6. Let the dough rest for 1.5-2 hours in the refrigerator.

Rolling the Phyllo Dough
1. Unwrap the dough and cut off a small piece of phyllo to roll. Cover the rest of the dough so it doesn't dry out.
2. Flour the working surface, rolling pin, and your hands well.
3. Roll the dough to flatten it out.
4. Wrap the dough around the rolling pin.
5. Roll the dough back and forth on the rolling pin.
6. Unwrap the dough off the rolling pin. It will be a lot thinner. Lift the dough to stretch it some more.
7. Keep rolling and stretching the dough until you have a nice big thin sheet of phyllo. Continue to do this with each piece of dough. Place lots of flour in between each sheet or begin to assemble your baklava.

Assembling and Baking the Baklava
Ingredients
phyllo dough, rolled into thin sheets
1 cup melted butter

For Strawberry Almond baklava
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 pint low sugar strawberry syrup

For Maple Pecan Baklava
1/2 cup ground pecans
1/2 pint maple syrup

Directions
1. Brush the baking dishes with butter all over the bottom and sides, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Add a thin sheet of phyllo dough to the bottom of the baking dish. Cut the excess dough.
3. Brush butter on top of the phyllo dough.
4. Add another peice of phyllo dough on top of the buttered phyllo dough. Cut away the excess dough.
5. Brush butter on top of the phyllo dough, and continue with this pattern until you have five layers.
6. Place a layer on top of the phyllo dough. You want to use half of your nut mixture for  the first layer and half on your second layer.
7. Continue adding layers of phyllo dough and butter on top of the nuts until you have 4 layers of phyllo dough.
8. Add the rest of the nut mixture.
9. Add more layers of phyllo dough and butter for another 4 layers.
10. Butter the top of phyllo dough layer.
11. Bake baklava for 15 minutes.
12. Cut the baklava into triangles, and add another layer of butter on top.
13. Return the baklava to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes or until gold brown.
14. Remove the baklava from the oven and add the syrup to the baklava while it is still hot. The syrup will take several hours to soak up. Leave the baklava to cool to room temperature over night.
15. Baklava can be stored in an air tight container for 2 weeks at room temperature. The baklava gets juicer and chewier as the days pass. The baklava can be frozen and set at room temperature to thaw.

Posted on Midnight Maniac Meatless Monday, Your Recipe, My Kitchen, Made By You Monday, A Southern Fairytale, Market Yourself Monday, Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Making Monday Mavelous,  Mangia Monday, This Week's Cravings

Buttermilk Chocolate Cookies with Chocolate Chips

I made a quart of homemade buttermilk the other day, and I ended having some leftover buttermilk, so I decided to do a quick internet search for buttermilk cookies. I came across a fantastic looking buttermilk chocolate chip cookie recipe that I knew I had to try. I have been searching for an excellent chocolate cookie recipe with chocolate chips. Most chocolate chip cookie recipes are all right in my opinion. They seem to be nothing spectacular. My family never complains if I make a chocolate cookie recipe, but they still prefer chocolate chip cookies.


However, these chocolate cookies with chocolate chips were different. Everyone in the house raved about them. The buttermilk chocolate cookies are soft but not cake like. They are rich and chocolaty. I found them to be the perfect chocolate cookie with chocolate chips. I am convinced that the secret lies in the buttermilk. They help make the cookie perfect. I will definitely be making these cookies again. Since I still have some leftover buttermilk, I think I am going to make another batch and roll the dough into a tube and wrap in plastic wrap and place it in my freezer. Then, when my family wants cookies again, all I have to do is unwrap the cookie tube and cut the cookies onto a cookie sheet.

I got the recipe from baking bites. At first I followed the directions exactly as written, but the dough was not coming together. I even double checked to make sure that I wrote down the recipe correctly. I did indeed write down the recipe correctly, so why was my dough not coming together correctly? I think the original recipe is missing eggs. Eggs help bind things, and my cookie dough was not binding together at all. I modified the recipe and added two eggs. At this point, the dough was much easier to work with. The dough is a bit sticky for a cookie recipe, so I placed the dough in the refrigerator for 3 hours to help firm it up. Some of the stickiness was also due to the humidity that we have been having over the past month. It has rained here a lot, so my house is very humid causing anything I bake to absorb moisture in the air. Despite the sticky cookie dough, these cookies were amazing. I used a cookie scoop to place the cookies on a cookie sheet, and the chocolate cookies with chocolate chips spread nicely. When you first take the cookies out of the oven, you might notice that they are very puffy and look very cake like, but don’t worry they will deflate a little and become a delicious soft cookie that is not cake like. The recipe made exactly four dozen cookies when I placed 1 inch size dough balls on the cookies sheet.

Ingredients (makes 4 dozen cookies) modified from Baking Bites

2 cups all purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup butter, room temperature
¾ cup cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 cups chocolate chips

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt.

2. In another large bowl, combine the butter and cocoa powder. Mix well. Add the sugar, vanilla, eggs, and buttermilk while stirring (I used a small electric mixer).

3. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture. Stir using a spatula at first to gently combine the ingredients, and then mix with an electric mixer to make sure the dough is well combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix well.

4. Place the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

5. Preheat the oven to 350⁰F and grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.

6. Make 1 inch cookie dough balls, and place them on the cookie sheet (I used a cookie scoop). Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies smell done.

7. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to completely cool. The cookies can be stored in an air tight container for 1 week, or they can be frozen to be enjoyed later.

Posted on Sweet Tooth Friday, Hodgepodge Friday, Fun with Food, Friday Flair,  

Strawberry Key Lime Jam

Key lime season is so short, so I was excited to see some key limes in my local grocery store. I picked up one bag of key limes while having no idea what to make with them. Then, strawberries came in season locally, and I had an epiphany. Why not combine the key limes and strawberries together to preserve both of their short seasons together?

The end product was amazing. The sour key limes complimented the strawberries perfectly. I added both key lime pulp and zest to intensify the key lime flavor and offset the super sweet strawberry flavor. The jam was very easy to make and set easily because of the powdered pectin. I would recommend this jam recipe for even a beginning canner.

Ingredients (makes about 8 half pints) modified from a basic strawberry jam recipe from Ball Blue Book Guide to Canning p 34

2 quarts strawberries, hulls removed
¼ cup key lime pulp (about 8 key limes)
Zest from 8 key limes
1 package of powder pectin
7 cups sugar

Directions

1. Crush the strawberries. I used an immersion blend on the lowest setting for about 15 seconds to crush the strawberries.

2. In a large sauce pot add the strawberries, key lime pulp, key lime zest, and pectin. Bring this solution to a boil while stirring.

3. Slowly add sugar while stirring until completely dissolved.

4. Boil the jam hard for 1 minute.

5. Remove the jam from the heat and skim the foam. Ladle the hot jam into sterile hot jars.

6. Place the lids on the jars and adjust the two piece cap until fingertip tight.

7. Process the jars for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Posted on This Chick Cooks, Gooseberry Patch, Whatever Goes Wednesday, What's Cooking Wednesday, Penny Pinching Party,Full Plate Thursday, House of Hempworth, Strut your stuff, Prarie Story, Catch a Glimse, It's a Keeper    

No Bake Granola Cakes

 

I am always seeking recipes that make good quick snacks for the kids. I like things that will make enough snacks for a week, so I don’t have to stress about what to give the kids during the long stretch between lunch and dinner. When I saw these no bake granola cakes on Prevention RD’s blog, I knew I had to try them. I loved that the recipe could be easily modified for things that I already had in my pantry. There are endless variations for this recipe. My advice would be to use things that you like and have on hand. There is no need to stress about the specifics.


For example, the recipe in Prevention RD’s blog calls for almond butter, but I used peanut butter instead. Peanut butter has higher oil content than almond butter, so I cut back on the amount of oil that I added during the melting phase. I also made the no bake granola cakes irresistible by adding ¼ cup of chocolate chips. From there I just added some pantry staples that I had on hand like pumpkin seeds, oats, peanuts, and dried cranberries. The no bake granola cakes came out wonderful. They reminded me of no bake cookies that my college cafeteria used to serve only these were probably much healthier.

Ingredients (makes 12) modified from Prevention RD

½ cup smooth peanut butter
1 tbps honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp coconut oil
¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips
¼ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup peanuts
¼ cup almonds
¼ cup pumpkin seeds
2/3 cup old fashioned oats
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg

Special Equipment

Muffin tin and paper liners

Directions

1. In a small saucepot combine the peanut butter, honey, vanilla, oil, and chocolate chips. Heat the mixture until melted and smooth.

2. Meanwhile, combine all the other ingredients together in a large bowl.

3. Add the peanut butter sauce to the oats mixture. Mix well.

4. While the mixture is still warm, place the granola in the paper lined muffin tins. Make about 12 equal sized cakes. Press the cakes together firmly.

5. Refrigerate the cakes for 3 hours. Serve cold. The cakes will keep for one week in an air tight container.

Posted on Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday,Tuesday Blog Hop, Tutorial Tuesday, Somewhat Simple  

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Last year was the first year that I got the pleasure of trying rhubarb. I love this tart vegetable that reminds me of a fruit, but my family has not fallen in love with this vegetable. Dr. Lazy Palate will not even try anything with rhubarb in it because he hated it as a child. Little BBQ finds rhubarb too tart which is not surprising for a young child. I decided to sweeten up rhubarb and add it to strawberries which our family loves in strawberry rhubarb jam.

The strawberry in the jam definitely hides the tart flavor of the rhubarb making it more palatable for the rest of my family. The jam is not as sweet as strawberry preserves which I like a lot since I find jelly to be too sweet at times. The rhubarb chunks make it a bit awkward inside of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (Little BBQ’s favorite way to enjoy jelly), but it does fine inside of a thicker biscuit or inside of a scone. I think this is a great way to sneak vegetables into a child’s diet if they are reluctant to eat vegetables.

Ingredients (makes about 6 half pints) from Ball Blue Book Guide to Canning p 35


2 cups crushed strawberries

2 cups chopped rhubarb

1 package powder pectin

¼ cup lemon juice

5 ½ cups sugar

Directions

1. Put strawberries, rhubarb, and pectin in a heavy bottomed saucepot. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat.

2. Slowly add the sugar while stirring constantly.

3. Once the sugar is dissolved, bring the solution back to a boil. Boil hard for 1 minute.

4. Remove the jam from the heat and quickly ladle into hot, sterile jars leaving ¼ inch headspace.

5. Place the lids on the jars and adjust the two piece cap until finger tip tight.

6. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

7. Remove the jam from the canner and allow to cool completely. The jam may take several days to set completely. Mine took 48 to completely set and have an actual jam texture.

Posted on Frugal Friday, Hodgepodge Friday, Fun with Food Friday, Seasonal Recipe Round Up

Homemade Gjetost Cheese and Gjetost Potato Salad

This month in Daring Cooks, Jami challenged us to make a healthier potato salad. I was really excited about this challenge because I hate traditional potato salad. My mother makes a deceant potato salad that has lots of bacon fat in it causing the potato salad to taste like bacon which makes me want to eat a slice of bacon instead of the potato salad.


I decided to make some homemade gjetost (pronounced yay-toast) as a base for my potato salad. Gjetost is a Norwegian whey goat cheese. This cheese is a labor of love, but it tastes amazing. You have to use very fresh goat whey. Then, you have to reduce the whey for 6-14 hours depending upon how thick you want your gjetost and if you want it sliceable or not. I reduced my whey for 6 hours to leave the gjetost very smooth and creamy. I also added 1/2 cup of heavy cream in the final stages to give the gjetost a creamy texture that would be pleasant in a potato salad. The gjetost tastes a lot like a cultured butter. Outside of the potato salad my favorite way to enjoy the gjetost was on corn on the cob in place of butter with a little smoked paprika on top. The gjetost also tastes great as a pasta sauce with vegetables. I used whey from one gallon of goats milk and I ended up with about 2 ½ cups of gjetost. If you reduce the cheese longer, then you will end up with less gjetost. If you reduce the gjetost for 14 hours you can place the gjetost in a cheese mold and make the cheese sliceable.

For gjetost potato salad, I added small red potatoes, small yellow potatoes, gjetost, ricotta cheese, ground mustard, and strawberries. The flavor was amazing. The strawberries added a nice touch of color and sweetness to the potato salad. The combination of two potatoes was nice. The red potatoes were a lot more bland and went with the flow while the yellow potatoes added a super buttery taste. I added some ricotta cheese for texture, but it got lost in the potato salad and can be left out if desired. The ground mustard I used was from the United States so it was not spicy and added a great flavor. If you use English mustard, then the ground mustard will be spicy and would add a fun twist to this potato salad recipe. I think I will defientely make the potato salad again for picnics.

Ingredients for Gjetost cheese simplified from The Complete Guide to Making Cheese, Butter, and Yogurt at Home: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply pp 220-223

Fresh whey from 1 gallon of goat’s milk [whey should be less than 3 hours old] (I used whey from a chevre cheese)

¼-1 cup heavy cream (optional but makes the cheese more creamy)

Equipment

Heavy bottom saucepan
Food processor or blender
Ice water bath (I put ice and cold water in my sink)
Cheese mold (optional)

Directions

1. Place the fresh whey in a heavy bottomed saucepot and heat over medium heat until boiling.

2. Lower the heat to medium-low. Cook the whey for 6 to 14 hours, stirring often. You want to end up ¼ of the total volume that you started with. After 6 hours my whey was about 50% curdles and 50% yellow liquid. This mixture will make a saucy gjetost that is about the texture of thick gravy. If you want sliceable gjetost or thicker gjetost then keep reducing.

3. If you want creamier gjetost, then add the heavy cream. I added ½ cup heavy cream and my gjetost ended up being very creamy.

4. Add the cheese and whey to a food processor. Process the cheese for 45 seconds on medium speed. You may have to do this in batches.

5. Place the processed cheese back in the pot and heat on low heat. Keep stirring the gjetost otherwise the cheese will become grainy.

6. Once the cheese is at the desired thickness, then place the pot in an ice bath for 10 minutes to cool the cheese.

7. If you want sliceable cheese and you mixture is thick enough, then add the cheese to the molds for 10 hours. Otherwise you can start using your cheese immediately.

8. The cheese will keep in the refrigerator for 1 month or 4 months frozen.

Ingredients for Gjetost potato salad (serves 4 side dish servings)

8 small potatoes (I used 4 small red potatoes and 4 small yellow potatoes)
½ cup gjetost cheese
2 tsp ground mustard
¼ cup ricotta cheese (optional)
10 strawberries, hulled and sliced

Directions

1. Boil a small saucepot of water. Once the water is boiling add the potatoes. Boil the potatoes until they are tender. My potatoes took about 10 minutes to become tender because they were small.

2. Remove the potatoes from the water and allow them to cool for 30 minutes.

3. Cut the potatoes into quarters.

4. Mix the gjetost cheese, mustard, and ricotta cheese together in a small bowl.

5. Gently mix the cheese mixture with the potatoes.

6. Gently fold in the strawberries. Add more strawberries on top for garnish and serve at room temperature or cold.



Posted on These Chicks Cook, Whatever Goes Wednesday, What's Cookin Wednesday, Penny Pinching Party, Full Plate Thursday, It's a Keeper,  Simple Lives Thursday, Somewhat Simple, Recipe Swap Thursday, Catch a Glimpse 

Sweet Potato Fly: Fermented Sweet Potato Drink

Like many cheese makers, I keep finding myself with an abundance of liquid whey, so I am always looking for new and creative uses for liquid whey. By far the most creative use of whey I have found is to use it to start a fermentation reaction. In the book, Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz, the author provides many recipes for fermented foods, but when I saw his sweet potato fly, I knew I was in love. I adore sweet potatoes, and the sweet potato fly really called my name.


The sweet potato fly recipe makes about 1 gallon of this delicious drink, so you are going to need a large plastic bowl or crock to make this delicious treat. Sweet potato fly takes a mere three days to ferment. I stored my sweet potato fly in a warm oven for the fermentation reaction. You can either make your oven warm by turning on the light or if your oven does not have a light like mine, then I just turn the oven on to the lowest setting. Once the lowest temperature setting is reached, I turn off the oven and let it cool for about 5 minutes before I place the fermented drink in the oven. After three days, I strain out the sweet potato fly in a coarse strainer and then a fine mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth to produce a clean, spicy, and sweet fermented drink.

If you are unfamiliar with fermented foods, then understand that they are generally strong tastes. Most people find that they have to ease their way into fermented foods before they get used to the pungent flavors of fermented foods. If you are new to fermented foods, then this is a good place to start because the drink is sweet. The closest thing that I can correlate the taste to is ginger ale. My sweet potato fly probably tastes more like ginger ale than the original recipe because I changed around the spices to suite my tastes and I added a piece of ginger since I love the clean spicy taste of ginger. I encourage you to change the spices around to suite your tastes as well.

Ingredients for Sweet Potato Fly (serves 8) modified from Wild Fermentation p 88

1 gallon water
1 tsp powdered mace
2 large sweet potatoes
2 cups sugar
½ cup liquid whey
2 limes
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
¼ inch piece of ginger, bruised
1 eggshell, crushed

Directions
1. Mix 1 cup of water with the mace. Bring the mixture to a boil. Remove the mixture from the heat and allow it to cool.

2. Using a coarse grater, grate the sweet potatoes. Rinse the sweet potatoes under cold water to remove the starch. Volume wise this will look like a lot of sweet potato once it is grated.

3. In a large bowl or crockpot, combine the grated sweet potatoes, the rest of the water, sugar, whey, the juice from the limes and the grated peel of the limes, the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and eggshell.

4. Add the boiled mace.

5. Stir the mixture gently. Cover the mixture and store in a warm place for three days.

6. Strain the mixture with a coarse sieve to remove the sweet potato. Then, strain again with a fine mesh sieve lined with a double layer of cheesecloth. Place the strained sweet potato fly in jars and refrigerate. Shake or stir before serving. Serve cold. The sweet potato fly will last about 1 week in the refrigerator.



Posted on Mangia Monday, Delicous Bites, Market Yourself Monday,  Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Meatless Monday

Homemade chevre cheese and pectin free strawberry preserves

This year at our farmers market we have been enjoying a new dairy farmer that has been coming to market. They are sweet Amish family that sells cow milk, goat milk, and other products. The farmer is a big goat milk advocate. He told me that his family drinks 1 gallon of goat milk during dinner! Granted they are a large family, but I am still impressed that his family can drink that much milk at one meal. I bought a gallon of goat milk about two weeks ago because I have always wanted to try and make some chevre. I like how chevre spreads on a piece of bread. Plus, chevre can be made with both sweet and savory dishes making it really versatile. On a health note, goat cheese is lower in fat and calories than cow cheese and goat cheese is higher in protein and calcium than cow cheese1. Plus, goat cheese is easier to digest than cow cheese. The fantastic taste, health benefits, and new local source for goat milk have inspired me to make chevre this year. Cheese making is surpsingly easy. I ordered a chevre packet from New England Cheese Making Supply Company. Five packets of chevre chees culture are $5.95 making this an economical investment. Five packets will probably last me one year. Making chevre is just as easy as making yogurt, and chevre freezes beautifully, so I make a large batch and freeze most of it for later.


This we have also been enjoying fresh strawberries from a local you pick farm. I love strawberry season, but June bearing strawberries do not produce strawberries for very long, so we have to pick them and then quickly eat, freeze, and can them up before they go bad. This year I decided to make some pectin free strawberry preserves. The preserves came out thinner than my champagne blush jelly but thicker than strawberry syrup. I felt that this was a nice middle ground. It is nice a spreadable to put on top of a piece of toast with chevre or the strawberry preserves could easily be spread on top of some crepes. Either way the preserves were fantastic, and it was nice to not have to use pectin. The downside is that the recipe does take longer to prepare than strawberry preserves with pectin, but I think it was worth the effort. The ruby red berries taste great preserved in sugar, and I am sure we will be enjoying those preserves in the middle of winter this year.

Ingredients for Chevre cheese (makes about 2 pounds of cheese)

1 gallon goat milk (I use grass fed antibiotic free goat milk)
1 packet chevre cheese culture

Equipment
Heavy bottom saucepot
Strainer and cheese cloth or chevre cheese mold (I used the strainer and cheese cloth)

Directions

1. Heat the milk to 86⁰F in a heavy bottom saucepot.

2. Allow the milk to cool to 72⁰F. Add the cheese culture to the milk and allow the culture to rehydrate for 2 minutes by stirring the cheese culture in with the milk.

3. Hold the temperature of the milk at 72⁰F for 12 hours. I placed my cheese in a cool oven for 12 hours.

4. Line a fine strainer with a double layer of cheese cloth and pour the cheese through the strainer. Let it hang for 12 hours. Or prepare a chevre mold and allow the cheese to hang for 12 hours.

5. The cheese can be refrigerated for 1 week or frozen for up to 4 months.

Ingredients for Pectin Free Strawberry Preserves (yield about 6 half pints) from Blue Book Guide to Canning p 41

1 ½ quarts strawberries, hulls removed and chopped
5 cups sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice

Directions

1. Place the strawberries and sugar in a large sauce pot. Allow the strawberries to stand for 3 to 4 hours.

2. Bring the syrupy strawberries to a boil. Stir the strawberries frequently until the sugar dissolves. Add the lemon juice. Rapidly boil until the strawberries are transparent and the syrup thickens. Transfer the strawberries to a shallow pan. Pour the strawberry syrup on top of the strawberries. Allow the strawberries to stand uncovered in a cool place for 12 to 24 hours (I let mine stand 12 hours).

3. Transfer the strawberries back to a saucepot and heat the strawberries until hot all the way through. Ladle the strawberries into hot sterile jars. Leave ¼” headspace. Place lids on top of the jars. Screw the bands on top of the jars until fingertip tight. Process the jars for 20 minutes in a boiling water canner.

1 Belle Chevre. Why Goat Cheese. Accessed June 8, 2011



Posted on These Chicks Cooked, What's Cooking Wednesday, Penny Pintching Party,Full Plate Thursday,  Strut Your Stuff, Recipe Swap, Simple Lives Thursday, A glimse inside, It's a keeper,   

Canning Low Sugar Strawberry Syrup

Little BBQ has requested that I make strawberry syrup this year for his pancakes. Last year I made blueberry syrup, and that was a great success. However, I think Little BBQ was in the mood for a little change, so we will probably make both strawberry syrup and blueberry syrup this year. The biggest thing that I have learned about making syrup is that you have to strain the syrup well. Strawberry seeds are very small, and you don’t want to open up a jar of strawberry syrup in three months to discover lots of little tiny strawberry seeds sitting at the bottom of your strawberry syrup. To combat this problem, I strain my strawberry syrup with a fine mesh strainer lined with a double layer of cheese cloth. This ensures that I get pure ruby red syrup.


Strawberry syrup for canning is thin unlike the commercial syrups found in the grocery stores, so if you want thick syrup, then heat the syrup on the stove and mix in a little cornstarch before serving. I don’t mind thin syrup. I prefer to use syrup to lightly coat my pancakes with a little flavor and sweetness without drowning them in the gooey mess. This recipe is even thinner that a heavy sugar recipe, but again I am not a fan of giving my kids tons of sugar. A little sweetness on pancakes is fine, but feeding them a bowl of white sugar in the morning is not good in my opinion, so we made low sugar strawberry syrup this year for Little BBQ.

Ingredients modified from Pick Your Own and Blue Book Guide to Canning (yield about 6 half pint jars)

6 ½ cups strawberries, hulls removed and crushed
5 cups water
2 tbsp lemon juice
4 ½ cups sugar

Directions

1. Place the strawberries water in a large saucepot over medium heat. Boil the mixture for 5 minutes.

2. Strain the strawberries with a fine mesh sieve lined with a double layer of cheesecloth or with a jelly bag. My strawberries took about 5 minutes to fully strain since they were small.

3. Place the strawberry juice back in a clean saucepot. Add the lemon juice and sugar to the strawberry juice. Boil the strawberry syrup for 5 minutes.

4. Place the strawberry syrup in hot sterile jars. Leave ¼” headspace. Place lids on the jars. Adjust the bands around the jars and lids to fingertip tight.

5. Process the strawberry syrup for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.


Posted on This Week's Craving, Your Recipe My Kitchen, Made By You Monday, Market Yourself Monday, Melt in Your Mouth Monday,  Mangia Monday, Meatless Monday  

Pressure Canning Asparagus

One of my goals for this year was to pressure can. I didn’t specify what I wanted to pressure can because I knew when the right opportunity presents itself that I would know that it was time to try my hand at pressure canning. Last year I borrowed a pressure canner from a friend. It was a very large pressure canner that required a lot of water. My poor little burner in our last house could not heat the water enough to get the pressure high enough to actually can anything. My little rickety stove was not cut out for that hard of work.


For Christmas my mom bought me a pressure canner! I was excited that it smaller than the jumbo sized pressure canner that my friend loaned me, and I was even more elated after I read the instructions to find out that the pressure canner required a fraction amount of water that the other pressure canner required. As it turns out newer pressure canners require less water than older pressure canners making them faster to heat and much more energy efficient. I also found that my newer pressure canner made less hissing noises and did not shake like the older pressure canner. The thing that I appreciated most on my new pressure canner was the emergency plug. If for some reason or another the pressure builds up too high inside the pressure can instead of exploding, the emergency plug will pop open and the pressure inside the can will be released. If you are standing near the pressure canner when the plug bursts open, you will probably get burnt from the steam, but this is a far less serious injury than being hit by a piece of metal. The little emergency plug gives me the peace of mind that I need to comfortably pressure can. I am generally all for buying things used to save money, but in this case I would buy a new pressure canner or buy a used newer model to get the added safety features of the newer models.

Low acid foods such as asparagus have to be pressure canned. A boiling water canner is not sufficient. The first and most important rule of canning is to be safe. You don’t want to take short cuts that could potentially harm you later on down the road. With that said I love to can. I am really excited that readers seem to be interested in my canning projects this year. I remember posting canning projects last year, and I would get maybe ten readers. This year more people seem to be interested in canning or perhaps my blog has finally found the right audience; either way I am really grateful for all of my readers both my old readers who have been with me for a while now and my new readers who have recently found my blog. Thank you! I hope you enjoy watching my canning adventure this year. I have included a tab at the top of my blog for my canning inventory. I plan to post all of the recipes that I can this year. I also plan to continue to post my other kitchen adventures that I have like great tasting meals, cheese making, and wine making. Lastly, I plan to finish my 10 cooking goals for 2011.

Ingredients (makes about 1 quart or 2 pints) from Ball Blue Book p 66

3 ½ pounds asparagus per quart, washed and cut into 1” pieces and scaled removed
Iodine free salt (optional but this enhances the flavor of the asparagus later)
Water
Pressure canner

Directions

Bring a saucepot full of water to a boil. Add the asparagus and bring the water back to a boil. Boil the asparagus for 3 minutes. Put the asparagus into hot sterile jars leaving 1” headspace. If you would like salt in your asparagus, add ½ tsp of salt to each pint jar or 1 tsp of salt to each quart jar. Add boiling water to each jar leaving 1” headspace. Remove any bubbles and add more water if necessary. Place a lid on top of each jar and adjust the band around each jar until fingertip tight. Process pint jars for 30 minutes or quarts at 40 minutes under 10 pounds of pressure.

Posted on Grocery Cart Challenge

Canning Strawberries in Red Wine

My family has made a concerted effort to can more strawberry things this year because we love strawberries, and I did not can anything last year with strawberries. Needless to say I am changing that this year. Those ruby red gems will now linger in my pantry in the middle of winter as way to remind us of the wonderful strawberry season that we have experienced this year. The berries this year have been very small, but they are very flavorful and have been worth all the extra effort to pick and remove the hulls.


I decided to can some strawberries in red wine. The recipe is something that I made up on my own. I was inspired by many different sources including John Besh, and Pam Corbin of River Cottage. Both have recipes involving canning with red wine. I read The River Cottage Preserves Handbook last year, and I was really inspired by the breath of recipes included in the book. While I was really inspired by John Besh for his ability to take recipes that he saw in other cultures and adapt them to his local climate in, My New Orleans: The Cookbook. Now I am taking my turn and developing my own set of recipes for my kitchen. This recipe for canning strawberries is sweet and spicy. The orange compliments the strawberries well while the anise adds a bit so liquorice flavoring. The strawberries taste great straight out of the can, or they would be great on top of chocolate panna cotta.

Ingredients (makes about 4 pints)

3 cups dry red wine
3 cups sugar
1 inch piece of orange rind
1 inch piece of cinnamon stick
2 star of anise
6 pounds strawberries, hulls removed

Directions

1. Prepare a boiling water canner including sterile hot jars, and lids.

2. In a large saucepot, heat the wine and sugar together. Bring the solution to a boil. Add the orange rind, cinnamon, and star of anise to the wine solution. Allow the solution to boil until reduced in half (about 15 minutes.)

3. Remove the orange rind, cinnamon, and star of anise. Add the strawberries to the wine solution. Bring the solution back up to a boil. Boil the strawberries for one minute.

4. Ladle the hot strawberries and wine into hot sterile jars. Leave ¼” headspace. Place lids on the jars and screw on the bands.

5. Process the strawberries for 20 minutes in a boiling water canner.

6. Remove the strawberry jars from the canner and allow to cool for 24 hours. Check the seal after 24 hours. The middle of the lid should not be able to be pressed up and down. If the lids are not sealed, then reprocess for another 20 minutes and check again in 24 hours.

Posted on Strut your stuff, Recipe Swap, Simple Lives Thursday, Catch a Glimpse, It's a Keeper,Hodgepodge Friday