Canning Attempt Take 2: Concord Grape and Apple Jelly

Good news!  This time around I only slightly scalded myself and found the process a lot less painful in general.

I followed the recipe in my new favorite book, but I used Cortland apples since Granny Smiths haven’t been harvested yet this season.It is a pretty time intensive process to make jelly since you have to strain the mixture after boiling, chill it overnight, and then can it the next day. Since I’m finally getting the whole hang of this canning thing, it was really satifying and ALMOST enjoyable rather than stressful.  I am optimistic that canning will eventually be an enjoyable experience!

It is so satisfying to hear that little popping noise when the lid seals.  Even if it does startle me sometimes.

Happy Canning!

Love,

Jeanette

Jeanette’s first (mis)adventure in canning

I’ve been telling myself that I was going to start canning at least 3 years in a row, but this is finally the year! Now! Right now!

I think my CSA, in conjunction with volunteering on the farm, definitely gave me the final push to start canning.

You probably surmised from my title that I was a bit over confident with the whole canning endeavour, but I learned some great lessons that I will use in my next round…which will be Concord Grape and Apple Jelly!

I didn’t want to spend a fortune on a pressure canner until I had proved that I will actually pursue this new hobby, so I bought a few tools and a Ball discovery kit (which is obviously meant for beginners).  I don’t regret purchasing the tools, but I don’t think I’m a big fan of the Discovery Kit.  I will admit that maybe I wasn’t using it properly, but I can’t imagine there are many ways to use it.  The handle of the basket is actually a separate component and it would kind of fall over in the water and submerge itself…therefore making it harder to pull out the basket.

So, Mo-mo came over (aka Morgan Stew-Heff) on Sunday evening during the Stillers game to join me in the process.  We prepared a salsa from my new book on canning, which I’m pretty obsessed with at the moment.  Every single recipe speaks to me.  I want to find time to make everything in this book.  You should buy it!

Towards the end of prep, I started to get the water boiling and then I came across my first roadblock in my canning mis-adventure…Neither one of my pots were the right size to fit the discovery basket.  One was too narrow and the other was too short (your jars should be covered by at least 1 in of water to can properly).  I was obviously disappointed but at least I had prepared the salsa, with a great sous-chef, so that it would be ready to go once I finally go the pot situation taken care of.  I wrapped up the salsa and decided to purchase two 20 gallon pots the next day.

Cut to the next day:

The discovery basket was too small for this gigantor pot, but that’s better than it being too big, so I brushed that off pretty quick.  I very meticulously read the directions/steps at least 5 times before I finally took the plunge, BUT then I hit another road block.  I firmly placed the tops with the rubberized rim on the jars and used the jar tongs to lower my first jar into the water.  The lid did not stay on and water IMMEDIATELY started entering the jar.  I naturally panicked since at that exact same moment I accidentally lowered a few of my fingers into the rapidly boiling water.  I managed to get the jar back onto the counter without making a huge mess but during that process, which involved a lot of swears, I knocked the cover to the pot clear across the kitchen with a HUGE clattering sound.

Ok, so the first jar didn’t seal, but that doesn’t mean the second one won’t seal, right?!? Wrong.  I tried to lower the second jar into the water and I most definitely scalded a couple of my fingers again, and water immediately started filling the jar.  Needless to say I was pretty discouraged by my blatant failure and I tried to regain my strength while submerging my hands into large glasses of ice water.

I knew that I would can some salsa! Even if it was just ONE JAR!  I was determined! Round Two turned out to be less terrible because I decided to screw on the bands of the jar cover rather than just the lid to secure the seal.  So, the steam wasn’t great for my newly burned finger tips but I wore some oven mitts, that were very awkward to use, to protect them as I submerged 3 new jars into the water.   40 minutes later I removed the jars, set them on a towel, and hoped that all my work would not be in vain.

Guess what??  12 hours later I checked on my 3 little salsa jars and the seals were secure!!  It wasn’t all for nothing!  Especially because I will learn from my mistakes in my next round of canning.   Coming soon!

Happy Canning

Love, Jeanette

Lettuce wraps with Smoked Salmon and Fresh Beets

So, do you love smoked salmon as much as I do?  Chances are…probably not?  (Vegetarians and Vegans please disregard this question)

During the summer I find all types of ways to use it, and this year I have become particularly fond of wrapping things in lettuce so here is the lovely combination:

This is a simple combination to throw together that looks pretty fancy. It could seriously impress some friends if you brought it to a potluck.

I sliced some fresh beets and tossed them in balsamic and goat cheese and then finished everything off with some cracked pepper.

The crunch of the beets and the texture of the salmon went so well together, and the flavor of sweet and savory really complement each other.

Love,

Jeanette

Ashley’s Three Summer Salad night with Jeanette! Featuring… Seviche!

Thanks to Jeanetter’s tasty salsa and bean dip, we made a meal out of my GREEN HERB SEVICHE. Rich in protein, fiber, and iron, this light Peruvian seafood dish is sure to meet your savory summer cravings.

Ingredients:

1 half garlic head, skins left on

2-3 serrano peppers or 1-2 jalapeño peppers

1 cup packed parsley

1 cup packed cilantro

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup lime juice

1 1/2 lbs tuna, halibut, salmon, or yellowtail, raw, cubed

1 cup summer squash, cubed

2 ripe avocados, cubed

Directions:

heat garlic and peppers in a non-stick pan on medium for 10-15 minutes

peel skins and stems from garlic and peppers

toss garlic, peppers, parsley, cilantro, olive oil, and salt in the food processor

blend!

take out 1/2 cup of green herb mix and whisk in lime juice, remaining herb mix can be saved for later fancy

cube fish, veggies and avocado

gentle mix fish, veggies, avocado, and green herb mix in a large bowl

serve!

TASTE!

*even more amazing when paired w/ Jeanetter’s homemade margaritas

Star balls! ashley

Heirloom Tomato Salsa

Did you know that the tomato’s origin is South America?  Neither did I until today!

Tomatoes also have high amounts of antioxidants!

Miss Melody Joachim brought me over some free heirloom tomatoes from the Pittsburgh Project yesterday!!  I got a couple of beautiful squash as well.  She’s the best one!

So I thought I would take this unexpected surprise delivery and turn it into a really colorful and mouth watering salsa.

I make salsa almost the same way every time, but these tomatoes are amazing and really made the salsa taste unbelievable!

So here is my tried and true process.

Ingredients:

4 tomatoes

1/2 bunch of cilantro

1 jalapeño  (YES, I am still attempting to use up the supply)

1 small onion 

2 tsp salt  

2 cloves garlic

Put the following ingredients into the food processor:

1. Cilantro Leaves

2. Chopped jalapeño

3. One of the tomatoes  (diced)

4. Garlic  (roughly chopped)

5. Salt

-Blend until the texture is smooth

Dice up the rest of the tomatoes and the onion and toss with the jalapeño/cilantro puree.

How beautiful is that?!?

Love,

Jeanette

Stuffed Patty Pans

Cute!

I’ve gotten a patty pan every time for the last 3 weeks with my CSA and I realized that it was time to take the plunge.  I had never cooked with them before and although they are not necessarily intimidating I knew I had to look up a few recipes before I started to tinker.

I browsed quite a few different recipes so I won’t bog down my post with that…I will just give you what I came up with after the collaboration of information.

For this recipe you will probably need about 8 patty pans to use up the brown rice stuffing, but you can also just save the rice mixture and eat it as is.  It’s pretty tasty on its own.

THE FILLING:

1 cup short grain brown rice (before cooking- yields about 2 1/2 cups cooked rice)

-I made mine in the rice maker with free range chicken broth instead of water

1 cup tomato sauce  – I had a bunch of  heirloom tomatoes from the farm roasted with garlic and onions so I used those.

1/2 bunch of radishes

2 large carrots

2 cloves of garlic

6-8 baby portabella mushrooms

2 tsp Sea Salt

– Combine all ingredients EXCEPT THE RICE and blend in a food processor until smooth.

Pour mixture over the rice and blend thoroughly. 

Cut off the tops of the squash and scrape out the seeds.

I put little dabs of goat cheese in the squash before I stuffed them with the rice mixture, and then topped them off with a bit more goat cheese before baking.

-I also had a Zucchini, so I went ahead and stuffed that as well…
Bake them at 350 for 25 minutes.

YUM!  Final Product!

Love, Jeanette

Jalapeño White Bean Dip

I bought some jalapeños at the farmer’s market 2 weeks ago and I have been struggling to use them all up.  I thought it wouldn’t be too difficult since I love spicy treats, but I am still chipping away at my supply.

That is what prompted me to make this White Bean Dip, and it is going to replace my hummus making craze for quite a while I think.  It’s much creamier than the hummus I make, and it could easily be used as a spread on a sandwich or cracker.  It’s obviously a perfect dip for tortilla chips.

I made something similar with scapes for the notorious Gatsby birthday party a couple of weeks ago, but the jalapeños really do something special for it.

It’s a very simple recipe and you could use all types of variation to switch it up a bit.  Maybe if you aren’t into spicy you could use some fresh basil or cilantro.

So here is what I used:

2 cans Great Northern Beans (Cannellini Beans)

1 Jalapeño  (leaving in as many of the seeds as you wish-according to taste)

3 cloves garlic

Juice of 2 limes

1-2 tsp of Sea Salt

1/4 – 1/3 cup of olive oil (watch the consistency as it blends and add more if it looks too chunky)

Throw them all into a food processor and blend until creamy.

*This is a pretty big batch, so you might want to half it if aren’t taking it to a party, or if you don’t forsee consuming as much of this stuff as I do*

Love,

Jeanette

It is time to resurrect this blog with some Creamy Avocado Pasta!

So, as you may have noticed, our blogging took a serious hiatus.  I could give you a hundred excuses as to why this happened, but I won’t bore you with the details.  As we all know, sometimes life just gets in the way of what we would like to do with our free time.

I am really excited to get things rolling again and I hope everyone else is ready to get back on board as well!

My first post is going to be a warm up.  It’s simple, summery, and super delicious.

I found the recipe on the blog listed below… and I made some adjustments to it.

http://ohsheglows.com/2011/01/31/15-minute-creamy-avocado-pasta/

I used a the juice of a whole lemon and I omitted the zest, and I had to drizzle it with some siracha (I need to address my addiction to this stuff).

I used my new favorite type of  gluten free pasta: quinoa.

Also, the recipe is meant to be served hot, but I decided to rinse the pasta in cold water and make it more of a summery pasta salad.

Love,

Jeanette

Pistachio and Raspberry Macarons

Macarons. I hope I’m not the only one who thinks these are just fun to look at; sweet and sugary, but so light that they must be good for you. This was my second attempt, the first was a lumpy, cracked and frightening-pink affair which I think is a combination of impatience, incompetence, really strange food coloring and bad piping. I used this wonderful little book and made one recipe which I split into pistachio and raspberry.

The basic method is to mix the ground almonds and icing/powder sugar in a food processor, and then whisk egg whites and add caster/superfine sugar. These two mixtures are then combined and piped into rounds, left to dry and then baked. For the pistachio macarons, whole shelled nuts are required as well. Sadly, my tiny blitzer refused to finely grind them, so I ended up sieving all the pieces out again and chopping them by hand!

I felt spoiled for choice when it came to filling ideas, but decided to sandwich the raspberry macarons with jam and fresh berries. For the pistachio, I made dark chocolate ganache – which I broke! as the cream was too hot, but managed to repair with some butter.

Tina

Spinach, Onion, Tomato and Romano Cream sauce over Gluten Free Pasta

So this post is gonna be a quickie!

I made some dinner a couple nights ago and I wanted to share it!

I decided to just throw a few delicious things together…and it turned out to be…well…delicious!

I sauteed some onions and garlic, added almost a bag of fresh spinach, and then threw in some little tasty tomatoes.  I let those simmer, then turned down the heat to low.  Then I added some heavy cream and some Romano Cheese and let that simmer for about 10 min.  I tossed it with some gluten free pasta (Tinkyada is my fave) and basically devoured it!

Enjoy!

Love,

Jeanette

 

By the way!!! We will be posting pics from the second monthly dinner within a week or so!   Just wait, it’s going to be mouth watering!