Vyxxan's Virtual Venture

Archive for the ‘Cooking’ Category

I made it up myself. :)

Recently I found out that I still had 3 gallon bags of blackberries in the freezer. They really needed to be used up… so I took them out to thaw on Friday.

Yesterday I got out my new food mill and washed all the bits. It puts together a little differently than the one I borrowed from my mother, but it’s basically the same. The screen is better made, though.

I put the thawed berries through it without cooking… they were completely thawed so I knew it would be okay. Lot of squirting going on, I was happy that I’d put newspaper down all around, including the floor. Dang good thing, actually… the food mill started dripping from the handle! Right onto my feet and the newspaper underneath.

After I’d run the berries through, I got the waste… and ran that through again. I like to squeeze out every bit of pulp and juice. Then I stirred the bowl to redistribute the pulp and ladled it into some freezer containers. 12 cups of juice/pulp, but there was still some in the bowl.

So, I’m all done processing the berries and I think… all those apples that I know we aren’t going to eat… I should cook those up and mill those, too. So I did. Squeezed out applesauce right into the last couple cups of blackberry juice. Between the last bit of juice and the apples, I had a bit over 6 cups, too much for most jam recipes.

Well, I’m not going to let that stop me. Apples set up really well without adding pectin… most apple jelly recipes from fresh apples use a lot more juice than another fruit recipe would. Twice as much, actually. I figured it would be fine. Looking at the recipes I decided that 2 cups more sugar than fruit would work just fine, too.

So, I sprinkled the powdered pectin into the fruit mix and started cooking. Sugar gets measured out into a separate container. Didn’t add any lemon juice or anything… it wouldn’t need it with all those apples.

After I boiled, added sugar and boiled again, I started filling jars. I wash em in the dishwasher and leave em in there until I need them. That’s the way I learned to do it, and it works for me. First I filled a quart jar. Then three pint jars and finally poured the last bit into a clean half pint jar that was handy. Didn’t fill that last jar all the way, so that one just got a plastic cap and went into the fridge.

They tell you these days to process jam and jelly in a boiling water bath. I don’t. I pour boiling jam into hot jars, wipe and cap them… and turn them upside down. Boiling sugar is freaking hot, there aren’t going to be any germs left in there. I let them sit upside down for 5 min, then turn them right side up. I’ve never had a seal failure, and that’s good enough for me. Heck, they also tell you to use up jars once opened within 3 weeks. That’s not happening around here, and the jam in the fridge doesn’t go bad, either. That only applies to jam made with sugar, though. The stuff made with sugar substitute WILL get moldy in the fridge. Gross.

Anyhow. Blackberry Apple Jam tastes faintly of apples and a lot like blackberries. The applesauce really enhanced the blackberry flavor in my opinion. Ron hasn’t tasted it yet… we’ll have to see if he likes it.

The big quart jar is earmarked for a friend of my son. Amos raved about my jam, but said the little jars didn’t last very long. I figure he’ll love getting a whole quart jar, lol!

Oh, also… I got new jars at Walmart on Friday. Better Homes and Gardens brand, they were on clearance for $5 a case. They are a completely different shape than most jars, but the lids seem to be standard. I got 3 cases of them… you can never have too many jars in my opinion. :) Of course as soon as I get them home Ron tells me that there are probably =hundreds= of canning jars in the shed at his Mom’s place. Oh well…

…and this is all for now….

hugs,
Vyx

I’ve got a seed order in. I went with Gurney’s, but just because they are so desperate that they were offering 50% off everything. That meant that I could buy a new food mill for half the normal price. Those things aren’t cheap… so 50% off was a pretty good deal. Normal price is in the $60 to $90 range, among various retailers.

I use a food mill to remove the seeds from the blackberries when I make jam. It’s also useful for getting the skin and seeds out of grapes, but you need a grape spiral, so I bought one of those, too. I also have used it on the wild plums… after I pitted them. Separates the pulp from the skins very nicely.

Speaking of blackberries… I still have 3 gallon bags in the freezer! Yikes, and I didn’t pick a single berry last year. I need to pick up some jars and turn all that into jam sometime before summer and berry picking season starts again. I’ll make at least one quart sized jar… my son has a friend who loves my jam but a little jar only lasts him about a week. He’ll be delighted with a whole quart of the stuff. :)

Back to gardening. I’m planning a bigger garden this year. Usually we concentrate on tomatoes. This year I’m going to have squash, green beans, bull horn peppers, cantaloupe, and sweet corn along with the usual tomatoes. It’s going to be awkward tilling… I’ve got 2 artichoke plants right in the middle of last years row of tomato plants. Well, awkward if they survive the winter, that is. If they don’t it will make for easier digging, but that will mean I’ll have to start over with artichokes again. I had 6 or so plants that survived me starting them (burned up a couple with the grow light) but the spot I picked for most of them was too hard to keep watered. After most of those died I moved the survivor next to the one I’d stuck in among the tomatoes. More regular water meant they were both doing really well right up until the frost.

It’s still too early to start plants… some people put their gardens in early, but that’s a good way to lose everything from a late freeze. Early or middle of March is a more likely time to start the seeds. Heh. One year my mom and I decided to start stuff extra early. We were starting tomatoes in January! We ended up with plants so big I could hardly plant them when it was time. Silly, because pretty soon even the smaller plants we started later were caught up. The reason I had trouble planting larger plants is because of the way the garden is set up at my mom’s house. We’ve always planted on black plastic, and the holes are the size of a bulb digger. That means that anything grown in larger than a 6 oz or so styrofoam coffee cup is going to be hard to get in the ground. We had stuff in ginormous 20 oz cups. (or larger, I can’t remember now) You can’t really dig a deep enough hole when the opening of the plastic is only 3 inches across!

I use plastic mulch here, too, but since the giant 30 mil thick rolls of it are no longer available I have to use the stuff I buy at Lowes. The thickest black plastic they sell is pretty tough: I haven’t had to replace any of it yet. I don’t use the full sheet, though… I cut it into long strips and put it down after the plants are in the ground. Really, it’s more handy to do it that way… get the plants in, let them settle a bit. Put down the soaker hose, and then the plastic in 3 ft wide strips goes down on both sides of the row. I snug it right up to the stems of the plants and pin it with garden staples. Chunks of wood here and there also help to keep it from flapping about in the wind. We tend to run over some edges with lawn mowers, but it doesn’t hurt it much. Best of all, though, is that it keeps the bermuda grass from strangling everything. It warms the soil but also helps the ground retain moisture. It may get a little hot, but unless your tomatoes are laying right on top of the plastic it doesn’t hurt them a bit. Some people put mulch of some kind down on the plastic when the weather gets super hot, but I’ve never bothered. Sun scald is more of a problem than the heat from the plastic, although I =have= had tomatoes cook right on the vine. Seriously, I could see them boiling in their skins! Fortunately that isn’t something that happens every year. :)

Along with the vegetables that need starting early, I’m going to start some flowers. I really liked how the Euphorbia (snow on the mountain) looked last year, and just in case it doesn’t reseed itself I will start more. Hopefully I didn’t use up all the seeds… need to check that, so I can order more in time to plant them. One of the best seed catalogs I got this year is from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. If you are growing stuff for a local market, this is probably the best catalog to have. Lots of varieties of vegetables, most of the catalog is veggies. Flowers are mostly types grown for cutting or planting in hanging baskets to sell. They have the Euphorbia seeds, but mostly their flower selection isn’t that great… except for sunflowers that are the cutting kind rather than the ones grown for seeds. They have over 4 pages of those! I’ve got some sunflower seeds left over from previous years that I’ll plant, and also some new ones coming. I’d love to plow a big strip on the edge of the field and do a mass planting of sunflowers… it would be so pretty! Maybe I will.. Ron’s tractor is working again, and he’s got a discer plus what he calls a new ground plow. We could put a strip right on the edge towards the road… will have to think about it! I don’t know how I’d keep it watered, although it is within reach of our hose.

Well, I think this is about it for today. I’m home because it snowed this morning and I don’t drive in the stuff. Going to be even worse later on as they have forecast freezing rain on top of the snow. Yuck! I just hope it can all melt off by tomorrow.

hugs,
Vyx

Bought myself an amaryllis at Walmart back in October.  It was a special Pink Ribbon package.  The pot that came with it was as usual too small  but I had another one so that was okay.

Anyhow… it decided to bloom just in time for Thanksgiving.  Two GIANT blooms opened up:  they were larger than my face!

Everyone that came over did double-takes at the thing… is that a REAL plant?  Yep…  and pretty awesome.

Those blossoms have now wilted and been cut off, but it had 2 more buds…  So I’ll have flowers for at least another week.

Pies I made last week.  Yep, the blackberry pie on the left overflowed.  Made a big mess in my oven before I stuck a cookie sheet under it.  I forgot to take photos of the apple and pumpkin pies…. oh well!

This is all for now…  It’s daylight out now and commuter traffic should be easing up… I have shopping and errands to do.

hugs,

Vyx

Thanksgiving this year is going to be all about pie.  Some years I do a big dinner and then try to schedule all the family to come to eat it.  This year I decided that I won’t bother trying to get everyone here for dinner… just dessert!

I make a pretty darn good pie.  Heck, even when I use store bought pie crust I make a good pie.

Pie is my favorite.  Favorite dessert to eat, and make.  Fresh fruit is the best, but custard pies are also good.   Even stuff out of a jar, like mincemeat…  pie is good.  Savory pies, too…  I have a recipe for a tomato pie that is just lovely!

It’s time to share my pie crust recipe.  This was handed down to me from my mother… and my mother got it from a neighbor when I was a child.  I’ve known this recipe by heart since I was a child!  I’ve had to write it down a few times for friends… but I never have to look it up for myself.

I don’t remember what the original recipe was named…  I think it was just Diane’s Pie Crust.  I call it Never Fail Pie Crust.  It’s never failed me, not even when I made it with Crisco and Self rising flour!  LOL, that’s a story I’ll have to tell…

The BEST Pie Crust Recipe Ever.

5 1/2 cups flour

1 lb. lard

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 tablespoons vinegar

water

Using a pastry blender, cut the lard into the flour until finely crumbled.

In a one cup measuring cup beat the egg, vinegar and salt.  Add water to make one cup.

Make a well in the flour and lard mixture and pour in the egg and water mixture.

Mix gently until it all holds together.  Turn out onto a floured pastry cloth and give it a couple good turns with kneading and adding a bit more flour until it quits sticking to your hands.  You can over mix this, but you’d have to knead it like bread for 10 min before it would get tough.

This recipe will make at least 5 single crust pies, and maybe more, depending on how thin you roll it.  I’ve gotten 3 single crust and 2 doubles from it.  You can roll out and freeze the crust for later use, which is best… or just smash the extra into a baggie and freeze that.  It thaws pretty quick, but will be sticky… so if you have extra pie pans it’s really just better to go that route.

Now, I know using lard is supposedly not healthy…  but a bit of fat in your diet is actually good for you.  How often do you eat pie anyhow?  Do you want yucky pie crust that everyone scrapes the filling off of and throws away?  Or do you want pie crust that everyone eats every bite of because it’s that good?  Even for a sweet pie, the crust should be crispy, flakey and slightly salty…  and for a savory pie, it’s even more important.   You can substitute vegetable shortening for the lard, but I don’t recommend it… flavor is why we use the lard.

My sister Val, who reads here and comments… she loves pie like I do.  Well, I think she does…. because I remember she wrote a poem about pie when she was age 5 or so.  ”I like pumpkin pie.  1,2,3,4, popeye”.

My daughter Sarah loves pie, too.  Her birthday this year is right on Thanksgiving… and pumpkin pie is her favorite.  I have actually made her a giant 10 inch pumpkin pie and told her it was all for her… lol!  We even put candles in it.  Birthday pie.

I can take or leave pumpkin pie.  Some years I try something different…  but mostly I stick to basic recipes.  Easier and no worries about oh… someone  can’t eat that.  I made a pumpkin cheesecake type pie one year and another year it was a combination pumpkin and pecan pie… with layers that magically worked out… you got pumpkin pie and pecan pie all in one bite…  but hey, simple pie is best.

Make your favorite pie with this crust… and then tell me about it.  Oh, and if you make this crust using lard and everyone hates it… let me know and well, I won’t pay you, but I’ll put your family on the DNPC list.  ”Do Not Pie Crust”  :)  Some people hate pie crust no matter how nice it is, and they won’t eat it just out of habit of avoiding bad pie crust.

As for me… well, I like apple pie, and pumpkin pie…  and I found out when I was 20 something that I LOVE pecan pie… who knew?  I hate walnuts and I thought pecans were the same as walnuts…  and I love cherry pie and tomato pie and blackberry pie if someone takes all the seeds out, lol….  Oh, and I love chocolate pie and banana cream pie and lemon meringue pie.  ANY fruit pie is good….. and those are my favorite even if I have to use canned stuff to make em.  Custard pies… very yummy…  well, I like pie!

hugs,

Vyx

 

 

 

 

I seem to be about a once a month blogger.

Well, that’s about what it’s come to these days.

The sad thing is that it’s not that I don’t have anything to say… it’s that I’ve been too lazy to sit and write it.  Not really lazy… but I’m not a fast writer.  I can and do spend hours writing about simple stuff.  I just don’t have time most days to sit here at the computer for all those hours.

Anyhow, I’ll try to catch up on some of it…

First a simple recipe.  I was browsing around some of the blogs I sometimes bother to read and came across a meringue recipe.  Well, howdy!  I’ve got a tub of 8 egg whites in the freezer needing to be used.  I looked around at some other cooking sites to make sure I wasn’t heading into a disaster, and then I went for it… with all  of the egg whites!

Easy Chocolate Meringues  (adapted from http://www.bakerella.com/chewy-chocolate-meringues/ )

1 cup egg whites (7 or 8 large)

2 cups sugar

5 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder

4 ounces  finely chopped baking chocolate (or skip this, I will next time)

On very low speed beat the egg whites with the sugar until the sugar is dissolved.  This can take a while… no need to stand there,  I left the mixer running and did chores.   Line your baking sheets with parchment, and get out your cooling racks.

When the sugar is dissolved, switch mixer to high speed and beat the mixture until stiff and glossy.   If you have a good stand mixer with a whip, this will probably go fast.  If you have an ancient Kenmore mixer with just beaters, this is gonna take a while, too, so go do some more chores.  Oh, but you might want to turn the oven on now.  Heat it to 350 degrees F.

Finally, those egg whites are beat into stiff peaks!  Now sift the cocoa powder into the egg and tip in the finely chopped chocolate, too.  Fold that in gently with a spatula or spoon.  Mix it up!  You might even get away with using the mixer, but I didn’t… used a spatula and folded gently.

Now, get out your big cake decorating bag and a big star tip.   Put the tip into the bag, then fill the bag with meringue… that’s the stuff we just mixed up for the last 45 min.  :)   Make pretty little flower shaped poofs about an inch apart on the parchment lined baking sheets… I think I ended up using every baking sheet I own.  Make the poofs a nice size…  say, 1.5 to 2 inches across, and about 1/2 as tall.   Have the bag clog up repeatedly with bits of chopped chocolate that weren’t chopped enough.  Decide to leave that ingredient out next time because you’ve just bent all to hell your brand new tip.

Bake one sheet in the oven at a time for 15 min or until they look like tips are starting to get brown.  You are going to be baking these for hours if you use all the meringue and make them just slightly bigger than bite size.

I didn’t count how many I actually made, but I took a gallon bag bulging with them to work.  Oh, and we still have some left, even Ron is getting tired of them.  1 cup of egg whites makes a LOT of freaking meringues!  So, because I’m nice, I am recommending that normal people use one of the smaller recipes to be found…  like HALF as much.  Seriously, I had to dump some of the meringue out, I wanted to live the rest of my life, not be forever stuck in the kitchen making cookies…  lol!

Sealed up in an airtight container, these seem to keep dang near forever.  They bite really fragile, but they carry pretty tough… and probably if you tried to ship them somewhere the recipient would just get a box of crumbles.  Still, they are mostly air with chocolate flavor, they feel like you are eating nothing much at all.  The big bag I took to work lasted only a couple days… but we have a lot of women where I work.  Some of those gals really liked the cookies.  Some said “ugh, meringues!”   And one said she doesn’t like chocolate…. huh!

Okay… so… on to the next post…

hugs,

Vyx