Windfall... part 2

 

Isn't the color amazing?



 

 

 

The purple color of the grape skins did not emerge until I added the skins to the warm pulp.

 

 

The pie was delicious.  So much so, I forgot to take a picture of the finished pie.

Now, I did use a store bought pie crust.  I have learned, over the years, I just can't make a pie crust.  I have tried and I do not have that ability.

DH and I ate the whole pie in two days.

Here is the recipe, below, that I used exactly and we loved it and I will make it again.

Concord Grape Pie I

In fact, one of the reviewers said that she made the filling and then froze it, so I have five more pie fillings in the freezer.

The cooler made seven pie fillings.  One we ate, one I shared with the gal who gave me the grapes and then five are in the freezer for winter.

I liked that you only use 1 1/2 cups of sugar and the pie is tart, it's not real sweet.  You taste concord grapes, not the sweetness, like welshs grape juice.

I hope that if you have concord grapes that you will try out this pie and see how good it is.

Windfall.....

I was so lucky.  A friend called me and said that her husband didn't have time to make jam with their grapes this year, would I like them?

 

SURE!

 

I had no clue how to make jam, or jelly.  But, I thought, I am not going to refuse free fresh fruit!

 

 

 

 

I had never even had Concord grapes before.  Just Welsh's concord grape juice.  BOY! Is there a difference in taste.

 

 

 

 So, I brought home a whole cooler FULL of grapes.  Pounds and pounds of grapes.  That smelled heavenly, by the way. 

 

I went to my preserving books and they all said SUGAR!  Some were 5 cups of grapes, to 5 1/2 cups of sugar.

 

I don't know about where you live, but sugar here anymore is becoming expensive AND they've reduced the package size, but not the price.

 

Then, I went to allrecipes.com, one of my favorite places and found a recipe for Concord Grape pie.

 

 

 

Yes, I said pie.  Interesting.

 

So, I began to "pop" the flesh out of the skins.  What an interesting thing.  The skins just pop right off, very easily.  Too bad apples weren't so easy.  Or tomatoes for that matter.

 

Anyway, I popped the flesh into a measuring cup and the skins went into a bowl.  I needed to save those to add back in to the pie.

 

 

 

 

Then you put the flesh into a pan and you slow heat them and mash them a bit as you go to release the juice.  You bring them to an easy boil and the flesh just kind of melts and then the pits fall to the bottom.

 

 

 

Next, you strain everything.  I used my strainer and a potato masher to get as much of the juice and pulp as I could.

 

And, because I want to keep your interest, please wait for the next post to see the out come!

Banana Cake

Well, every week, when I get Dear Darlings lunches prepared, I always try to have bananas for him.

Last week, he had five bananas and he wrapped them in his sweatshirt and LEFT THEM IN THE CAR!  Which, thank goodness it was cold and not hot!  But, to say the least, he forgot them until he came home, and it was only three days because of the snow, but they were frozen solid.  So, he felt bad about not eating any and having them freeze, so of course when he brought them in, he thought they shouldn't go to waste, surely they could be made into CAKE!

His grandmother always had baked goods at her house when he was growing up. My mother always had baked goods at her house when she was alive.  I, on the other hand, DO NOT keep baked goods in the house all week, every week because WE EAT THEM!

Remember, there are a lot of things going on here.  We are trying to eat real food.  We are trying to eat healthy food.  Plus, we are trying to cut the fat and cholesterol out of our diets, or at least down a bit.

So, while I don't have his grandmother's recipe for banana cake, I do have a "Fanny Farmer's Baking Book"by Marion Cunningham, that my brother got for me in 1987 for Christmas.  There are lots of good recipes in there that we've enjoyed, so, off the shelf it came.

 

It is called a neighborhood cake, which is neither time-consuming nor expensive to bake.  They aren't fancy.

Banana Cake

Baked in a 9 x 13 cake pan

Use only bananas that are soft and sweet.  This is a moist cake that keeps well for at least four days.

1/2 c vegetable shortening (1/4 c unsweetened applesauce)
1 1/2 c sugar
3 egg, separated (2 egg whites)
1 c mashed bananas-about 3
1/2 c buttermilk
2 c all purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 c chopped walnuts (1/2 c chopped walnuts)
(my changes to the recipe are in italics)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour cake pan.
Cream shortening (applesauce) with sugar and mix until smooth.  Beat in egg yolks. (I just put the egg whites in now), then the mashed banana and buttermilk, and mix well.
Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, add to banana mixture and mix til smooth.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they are stiff but moist.  Plop the beaten whites on top of the batter and begin folding them in.  When the whites are almost incorporated, sprinkle on the nuts, continue folding until blended. (I did not do this part as I only used egg whites and put them in as the eggs.  I like simple and the less bowls the better!)
Spread evenly in prepared pan and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of a cake comes out clean.  Let cool and frost.

Frosted with homemade White Icing

Do I dare tell you that we ate this 9 x 13 cake by Friday evening?  I made it on Thursday.  And then, I made another one on Saturday, and ONLY four of those pieces got packed for lunch.

Now do you see why I don't keep baked goods in the house all week!

New Year's Crab Dip!

I bet, by now, you think all I do is eat!

 

I am lucky enough to have a Dear Darling who likes to cook, experiment in the kitchen and try things without an actual recipe.

 

New Years eve I was just going to do simple and easy.  I went to our local Wegman's and got some of their already cooked Garlic Shrimp and I was going to make some angel hair pasta and a salad and BAM!, dinners on the table.

 

My Dear Darling had other ideas.

 

"Why don't you go get some crab meat? We'll make some dip."

"Oh, and pick up some spinach while you are there."

"Do we have cream cheese?"

 

So, back out to the store, now the third one that day, to pick up some crab meat.  I've, we've, never made crab dip before, but I always buy Lump crab when I am making crab cakes, so that is what I bought for this dip.



 

 

 

 

Above is the mix, cream cheese, Lump crab, spinach, some chopped onion, some chopped red pepper, shredded mozzarella and I think there is some shredded jack cheese in there as well, and maybe even a tablespoon or two of Hellman's.



 

 



 Next, he put it all into a glass pie plate.  He wanted to put it into a 4 quart casserole dish, but I didn't think it would cook evenly in that.  (My thinking, it's an "expensive" dip to burn)

 Below, is the finished product.  It was wonderful!  It was filling with Corn chips.  It was TOO much for two people and too rich!

 

 

We ate about half of the pie plate and we had no shrimp dinner that night, we were STUFFED!!!  The shrimp dinner became New Years Day dinner and the other half of this we vacuum packed and put into the freezer.

Never be afraid to try something you've never done before or that you don't have a recipe for.  Yes, at times, it can be a gamble, and in this case, an expensive one, if it didn't come out edible, but most often times, you may find a new favorite!

Swedish Meatballs

This weekend, I asked Dear Darling what he would like for dinner.  I really struggle with this, as I do like to cook, and I do like to eat, but I HATE figuring out what to fix!

 

So, he said he wanted:

Swedish Meatballs

I have not made them in years, so I went to AllRecipes.com, which is a favorite recipe site of mine, and found the above recipe.

I did follow the making of the meatballs to the T, but I did use more meat with the same amount of spices.  In the past, it's been probably 10 years since I made them, I no longer remember the recipe, I know I did not use allspice or ginger, but I did use nutmeg.

Anyway, I cooked them as directed, but since I have issues with fat content and additives, I used water instead of canned or powdered broth.  They came out of the oven just fabulous!  I used some of that liquid to make "the gravy" and them put them in the crock pot to keep warm until dinner time.

I did forget to purchase egg noodles, so we used angel hair pasta from the pantry and I cooked up some frozen broccoli and dinner was a hit.

I will definitely make them again, just as the recipe is written.

Rice Pudding

Here is the rice pudding recipe I use from allrecipes.com

Creamiest Rice Pudding

They say when you get older that your tastes change.  Well, I've found that to be very true.



 

 

 

My mother will be gone 7 years this month. 

 

I never liked rice pudding when she would make it.  When my oldest brother was alive, she would make it for him, because he loved it, and she did too. 

 



 

After my mother died, one of my godmother's brought over her rice pudding for us to have at the house.  I tried some, and it was love.

 

Now, was it just that I loved "her" recipe for rice pudding?  Was it simply that I was hungry?  Or was I trying to connect with my mother?  I will never really know.

 

After a while, I called my cousin, my godmother's daughter, and asked her if she had her mother's recipe.  She sent it along, via snail mail and when I received it, I thought "I could never make THAT".  It was SO calorie laden and full of fat, my gallbladder would surely object.  Plus the quantity it would make, and I'd be the only one to eat it.

 

So, that recipe when to the bottom of the pile and was forgotten.

 

One day, while surfing through All recipes . com, I decided to look for a rice pudding recipe, and the one above, is the one I found and that I use and love.

 

I do half of what is called for, as I am still the only one who eats it, and I use 2 % milk, and one egg.  I have also tried using one cup of heavy cream and three cups of 2% and that comes out even nicer, if you can afford the calories and the fat.

 

I learned that making rice pudding is a slow process, you have to constantly be getting up to stir it, you can't really do much else, or it will burn, and you have to "look" at what you are doing to be sure the consistency is what you want.

 

When I make this, I let it cool in the refrigerator, and when I eat it, it's usually a meal and I add cinnamon to the top. 

 

 

I now have many memories of my rice pudding.  While it isn't my mothers, or my godmother's, it is the one I use and think of them, and I wanted to share it with you.



When life gives you lemons

Or rotten apples.

Recently, Dear Darling, picked up one of those 3 or 5 pound bags of apples at the grocery store.  I hate those.

I worked in a grocery store, I know how "the kids" handle those bags.  They get tossed and thrown and dropped like crazy.  What do kids care?  When no adult is watching them, they don't.  They want to have fun and they don't care if the apples get bruised and then rot before selling.

So, when we got home, I felt the apples in the bag and about half were soft or rotten.  Before, I would just throw them out.  That would have been more than 30% food waste going to the landfill.  Instead, I let them sit on the counter while we put away the rest of the shopping order.

The apples still "looked" nice. It was as if they were just asking to not be thrown away.

I could put them into the compost pile, or feed them to the worms, were my initial thoughts.  But then, I remembered that my mother used to make a snack type cake with apples and a box of cake mix, and I knew I had a box of yellow cake mix in the pantry. 

My mother is not around to ask for this recipe, so I went to allrecipes . com and put apples into the search and got the following recipe.

Apple Snack Squares

I followed the recipe, but I did use all the apples, which were Macoun, and on the smaller side, so I ended up with about 2 to 2 1/2 cups of chopped apples.

It came out WONDERFUL! and we both loved it.

Dear Darling mentioned that this was something that his grandmother would have done, she never wasted anything.  For me, that was a great compliment.

Next time that life gives you lemons, or rotten apples, take the time to look at them from a different angle and see what you can do with them.

Eating Creatively

 

I am often left with the thought of "what am I going to eat for dinner?"

 

I truly wish that we didn't have to eat, it would make life SO much easier.

 

On this night, I decided to look inside the refrigerator and try to find something to eat.  Now of course, there is food in there.  There is always food in there.  But what do I FEEL like making?  Better yet, what do I FEEL like eating?

 

I found some left over potatoes.

 

I LOVE potatoes and because I do, I try not to eat them very often.  But, we had some for dinner earlier in the week and there was a small amount left.  I don't like to throw food away, so I saved them.  I could make SOMETHING out of them.

 

Now, what else was in there........

 

I know, eggs.  If only I had a good cast iron frying pan.  My dad made THE BEST ever fried potatoes when I was a kid for breakfast in the cast iron pan he had.

 

Anyway, I took the potatoes and an egg out and here is what I came up with.

 



 

 

A little butter went into the pan as it heated, then I put the potatoes in and waited a few minutes for them to brown, but they didn't really, not like in the cast iron pan, but they would be okay.

 

 

 

Then I scrambled the egg in a bowl and dumped that in on top. 

 

Now that I think about it, I probably should have fried some onions first and maybe some peppers that I keep handy in the freezer, then put in the potatoes and then the egg.  I'll have to remember that for next time.

 

Anyway, that was what I had for dinner.  I can at least say there was a protein in there, as well as the carbs.  I did put on some salt and pepper.  I think potatoes are the only thing I actually put salt on.

 

I just wanted to share this with you to hopefully inspire you to look and see what you have in your refrigerator tonight, that needs to be eaten up, so it isn't thrown out or forgotten.

 

I know that I mentioned recently that I have been trying to look at the food we eat and the amount we eat and to use up what we fix so that there isn't so much food going to waste and being thrown out.  Give it a try.  You'd be surprised what you come up with!

 

BUTTER

 

I made my own butter!

 

 

 These two photos show all that you need.  I used my Kitchenaid mixer, the wire whisk attachment,  a quart of Heavy cream purchased from our local dairy, a measuring cup and ice water.

 

 

I also saw this on the website below.  The blue strainer is the strainer that I use to drain my tuna.  I found it a few years ago in the grocery store and I never would have thought to use it in this way.  You need ICE cold water to wash your butter with and this allows you to have it ready to use without fiddling with a strainer or worrying about fishing out ice cubes before proceeding with the washing.

 



 

 

Taking pictures while the mixer is running isn't easy, but I tried.  First your heavy cream will turn into whipping cream.

Then, you will need either a splatter shield, which I didn't have, or a towel.  When it begins to break down and the buttermilk begins to form it will begin to splatter.  Be careful where you put your hands and fingers.

 

 

Here you can see, it actually did do what they said!  It was like magic when it happened.  This is after about 5 minutes of mixing at the number 10 speed.  Because it was the first time I made butter, I had to keep stopping it to "check" it.  And to take pictures to share.

 



 

 

I'm sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the rinsing.  Once you feel you have all the buttermilk out, you drain that and save it.  Then you begin the washing with the ice cold water.  This could take 3 to 5 times where you change the water.  You want to get the water as clear looking as you feel you can.

Now for me, this was the most difficult part, getting out all the water.  You need to be sure to get out all the water you just washed with because it will make your butter spoil more quickly.  You don't want that.

 

 

And here you see my first batch of butter!  Isn't it lovely?

 



 

The picture below shows you the second batch of butter, so I got two containers of that size and the pint jar of buttermilk from the quart of heavy cream.

 



 

 

I am so thrilled that I was able to make the butter.  The second batch didn't take as long as the first.  The first batch was about an hour, the second one was about 45 minutes.  Keep in mind, there is always a learning curve when doing something for the first time.  I am sure in the future I will be able to get prep and clean up down to 30 minutes.  Plus, I won't need to keep stopping to take pictures and looking to see if it is working or not.

 

This is the link I used to help me make my first batch of butter.  It was perfect. Has a video and written directions.  You have to love the internet!~

 



How to make butter in your kitchenaid mixer

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will give making your own butter a try if you haven't already.

Applesauce in the Crock Pot

 

Yes, I make my applesauce in my crock pot.  These apples were purchased at one of our local apple farms.

 

Both Dear Darling and I love to have homemade applesauce.  SO much better than what you buy in the store and made in the crock pot it is SO easy.

 

 

 

 

I like to mix up the kinds of apples that I use in my apple sauce.  Here there are Gala, Macoun, and Ginger Snap (I believe).  I was only able to fit five apples into the crock this time.

 

 

 

Here are the wonderful peeling that will go into my worm farm and onto my compost bed.  Nothing is wasted, which is nice.

 



 

 

I sliced all of the apples right into the crock pot and then added 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of white sugar.  You could add less sugar, or no sugar and then taste it as you go.

 

This will cook on high for a while, then I mash it down with a potato masher, or you could use a fork and break up the pieces.  It's nice making your own, as if you like chunky applesauce, you can do that.  If you like pureed, you can do that.  If you want cinnamon, you can add that.  I had a friend who would add "red hot" candies into hers to give it a red color.  (Don't know for sure if she still does that though.)  You can add other fruit into the mix as well.

When all is said and done, you have wonderful, local, homemade applesauce to serve fresh, hot or put into containers to put in the refrigerator or to freeze.

How simple is that?

Chicken soup

We all start our cooking journey somewhere, right?

 

Here is the short story of my first chicken soup.

 

Almost 30 years ago when we got married, I did not know how to cook.  If it didn't come out of a can, or it wasn't cereal, I didn't know how to make it.  With the exception of stuffed cabbage.

 

Anyway, being the new wife I wanted to impress my husband and make chicken soup.  So I called my father and asked him how to make it.

 

 

 

 

 

He told me to buy a chicken or chicken parts, put that into a deep pot with carrots, celery, onions and to cover it with water, cook it all day and then strain out the chicken and the vegetables.  Then, cut up the chicken, new vegetables, heat it up and it was good to go.

 

 

 

 SO, I went to the store and bought some chicken and followed his instructions.  Cooked it all day on the stove and when I went to taste it, it tasted like hot water with chicken and vegetables.

 

I called dad up and told him that my chicken soup tasted like hot water with chicken and vegetables.

 

He asked what I did and I told him almost exactly what he told me.  He asked if I included any spices and I told him that while he didn't tell me to, I did add some salt and pepper but that was it.

 

As we talked he asked me what KIND of chicken I used.



 

Broth is in the yellow bowl and plastic square, throw away meat is in the pie pan and meat for the soup is in the smaller plastic square.

 

I told him, "The kind I always use.  Boneless, skinless breast."

 

BOY, did he laugh.

 

That was when I was first married.  I didn't touch chicken for NOTHING!  Let alone with skin on it, and bones!  YUCK!!!

 

Now, as you can see from the pictures, I make chicken soup a bit better than I used to.  But even that took some practice.

 

I use my crock pot now. 

 

On a night when we've had roast chicken, I will take off any of the meat that I can for sandwiches for the week, then I will put the carcass into the crock pot with water to cover.  Spices were already put on the chicken for roasting in the oven, so I don't add anymore at this time.

 

It cooks overnight on low, then in the morning I turn it off and let it cool a bit, then I begin "picking".

 

You need to be careful when you pick the meat from the bone and skin, it's a messy job and there are tiny bones.  You have to feel the meat as you pick it as the crock pot does a wonderful job of making the meat fall off the bone.

 

After the picking, I put the meat for the soup into a container for the freezer, then I put the broth back into the crock pot, this time with some carrots, onion and celery and let that cook for a few hours.

 

I will strain out the vegetables and put them into the compost and then put the broth into containers for the freezer.

 

When I go to make the soup, I will put the broth, some of the meat, carrots, onions, celery and chopped cabbage, plus some fresh parsley into the crock pot to heat through and cook a bit.  Sometimes we have egg noodles or a small pasta or rice will be added to the bowl before serving the soup.

 

If you have never had chicken soup with cabbage, I suggest that you try it.  A very dear friend taught me this trick.  She said, "Cut it up smaller so that your family won't know what it is.  They'll love it."  and they did.  She's gone now, yet every time I make chicken soup, I always think of her.

 

What story do you have about your first chicken soup?

Green Tomato Cake?

 

Here are just a few of my green tomatoes from the garden.

 

I hadn't really thought much about what to do with them, but since I've taken on the idea that we should not waste anything, especially food, I went to allrecipes.com which is my favorite website to hunt for recipes.

 Here is the recipe that I decided to try:
Green Tomato Cake
Submitted by : Glenda

4 cups of chopped green tomatoes
1 Tablespoon salt
1/2 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts.

Place chopped tomatoes in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon of salt.  Let stand 10 minutes.  Place in a colander, rinse with cold water and drain.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C).  Grease and flour a 9 x 13 baking pan.
Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs and beat until creamy.
Sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Add raisins and nuts to dry mix., add dry to creamed mixture.  Dough will be very stiff.  Mix well.
Add drained tomatoes and mix well.  Pour into prepared 9 x 13 pan.
Bake 40 to 45 minutes in preheated oven until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

I did not have regular raisins, so I used golden raisins and I had no walnuts so did not use them.  Otherwise, I followed the recipe as written.

Here are the tomatoes once chopped.  Small pieces, not puree.

 

As you can see, it doesn't look very pretty at this stage,

 

 

 

 

I am very lucky that Dear Darling will try anything, at least once.  But I knew that if I told him right away it was green tomatoes it might cause him to have a preconceived idea of what it would taste like.  So, I decided to ice the cake with a white, homemade icing, like his grandmother used to make. Recipe to follow.



After dinner, I served the cake and spoke about making the icing and how I had not gotten it quite right, but that I was on the right track and that it tasted good.

After he had finished his piece and asked for more I told him what the cake actually was.

He liked it.  Said he never would have known, thought maybe it was apple cake.

Now, I can't wait until next years green tomatoes arrive to make more of these to put in the freezer for winter treats!

White Frosting
Submitted by Sierra

1/2 cup milk
2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, combine the milk and flour.  Cook over medium high heat until boiling.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

When the milk mixture is cool, add the butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla.  Beat with an electric mixer for 10 to 12 minutes, scraping the bottom of the bowl occasionally.  Keep frosted cake in refrigerator until half an hour before serving.

(I actually halved the originally recipe, which is what I posted above, because I was doing a 9 x 13 cake and the original recipe was for a layer cake)

Now my tips about the icing.  You want the milk/flour mix to be smooth so you have to try to get all the lumps out.  Add the flour slowly to the milk.

Don't let the milk mix cool too much, you need some of that heat to melt the sugar, and yes, it's white sugar, or your icing will be gritty.  But you don't want it so warm that you melt the butter and the shortening.

And yes, you beat it for 10 to 12 minutes because you are using the white sugar and not powdered to help break down the grittiness of the white sugar.

It's not overly sweet and a nice addition to any cake.

They say you need to keep your cake refrigerated because of the milk.

I hope if you give it a try that you'll let me know your thoughts.