07-20-2012

Peach Jam (no pectin)

It’s Canning Week at Simple Bites, so I’m linking up there and sharing a recent canning experience…

Having two young kids in our house = A LOT of jam & preserves consumption…

And while we could keep Smucker’s in business for the next eighteen years, I figure they’ll do just fine without us, and so, I make our own jam.  I much rather prefer the taste of my homemade preserves, and this way, I get to control what goes into them.

So a few weeks ago, I had a 1/2 bushel of organic peaches show up at the front door from our local grocer, love KTC!, and they were so yummy and delish, juicy and fresh!

But, I had no fruit pectin in the house and to be honest, I was bound & determined to not buy any. The first ingredient is typically maltdextrin or dextrose. Now granted, those are not the worst types of sugars to put into your body. But sometimes, a girl just wants it au natural! My grandma didn’t have artificial pectin to put in her peach jam, so I was pretty sure I could find a way to make do without. And girl, did I ever! You simply need time. Not something we always have on our side these days, but its pretty neat to make something the same way your grandparents did.

(And, I simply KNOW you are wondering…pectin is a naturally occurring substance found in fruit which is what makes the jam ‘set’ or reach the desired gelling consistency. Foregoing artificial pectin (for fruits with very low natural pectin) requires more cooking time prior to canning, but it also reduce the amount of sugar called for. So really, a plus plus scenario! No artificial crapness & less sugar!)

Okay, now back to reality and a simple recipe you can make at home yourself!

Peach Jam

Ingredients
1/2 bushel ripe peaches
3 cups organic sugar
1 cup honey

Yields ~ 9 half pints

First off, you’ll need to peel the peaches first and I promise, its not as hard as you may think. Simply score an ‘x’ on the underside of each knife and place into a roiling boil of water. After 30-60 seconds you’ll see the skin start to peel away from this ‘x’. Plunge peaches into ice cold water and the peel will be super easy to remove.

I need a video here to show you how easy it is, but just trust me!

Place quartered peaches into a food processor and blend until slightly pureed.

This is where I begin to fall in love, all over again, with my NINJA processor. Oh wait, I never fell out of love with it! It is my go-to kitchen appliance. I LOVE IT!!!

Now add your sugar & honey. And then pour yourself a glass of chilled white wine.

You’ll need the wine, since this next process takes an hour plus, but once again, worth it to not have to use store bought pectin. When you begin the process the consistency looks pretty soupy and runny.

Foam will begin to appear but after 15-20 minutes the foam will begin to disappear. You can also skim off if desired. That is too much work for me, so I just leave it!

In about an hour and fifteen minutes, you will have a thick and gelled consistency. Notice, it’s so thick that it has a hard time getting through the slots in the spoon. This is the consistency you are looking for.

Ladle into hot jars, leaving 1/4″ headspace. Cover with lids & rings. And then process for 10 minutes in a hot water bath.

For complete canning process tips, I recommend Ball’s online guide.

Thanks for humoring my no pectin kick! I definitely use pectin at times but sometimes it’s neat to do something the oooolllllld school way.

So what’s been your favorite canning recipe this summer?

Happy Canning!

Jess

~~~

Peach Jam
Yields ~ 9 half pints

Ingredients

1/2 bushel peaches
3 cups organic sugar
1 cup honey

Preparation

Fill a heavy stockpot with water and bring to a roiling boil. Nearby, place a large bowl filled half full with very cold ice water. Score an ‘x’ on the bottom of each peach.

Blanche peaches for 30-60 seconds in boiling water and then plunge into the ice water. Once slightly cooled, remove skin from peach, pull apart from the stone pit, and place into a food processor or blender. Once all peaches have been peeled, chop the peaches, in processor, until chunky or slightly pureed.

Place chopped peaches into a heavy stockpot, adding sugar and honey. Bring to a slow boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for approximately one hour and fifteen minutes; until jam has reach desired gelling ‘set’ consistency. Stir every few minutes while it cooks. Also, approximately ten to fifteen minutes into the simmering process, you can (optional) remove foam from the top of mixture with a metal slotted spoon.

Once desired consistency is reached, ladle hot jam into hot, sterilized half-pint canning jars, leaving a 1/4 inch headspace.  Wipe jar rims and cover with lids & rings. Process filled jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

*Note* I was extremely exhausted when I began this recipe and ended up only getting 1/2 of the peaches peeled and chopped before calling it a night. To retain the bright peach color overnight, I put a few teaspoons of asorbic acid (vitamin C powder) in with the pureed mix and refrigerated until I could begin again the next morning. I am happy to report, the color stayed beautiful and the taste was unaltered. 

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07-09-2012

Tomato, Caramelized Onions, and Gorgonzola Pie

Happy (late!) 4th of July!! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and indulged in lots of food, laughter, and relaxation. Fisherman was on vacation and we had a wonderful Staycation. I feel like it was Christmas in July considering the copious amounts of food I ate over the last week.

So what have I been eating??? I’m so glad you asked! Fresh mahi mahi, roasted corn salad, pasta salad, BBQ, hmmmm….there isn’t a lot I haven’t consumed this past week. But my favorite dish was a Tomato Gorgonzola Pie that I adapted from a Gourmet Magazine Cookbook.

I probably shouldn’t admit this, since I am so proud to be Southern, but up until I made this tomato pie, I had never eaten one in my life. Crazy, isn’t it! And there’s no holding me back now.

The best part was that it took me no more than 45 minutes, start to finish. That includes the lets find where I hid the gorogonzola in the fridge and let me go pick some tomatoes and get side tracked into watering the garden. Sorry, this may be a long blog post….its just been a while since I’ve posted and I have all these thoughts I want to share with ya’ll, but I get distracted with kids and life and blah blah, okay back to the pie…

~~~

So to start, you’ll need a pie crust, Gorgonzola cheese, onions, and tomatoes….pretty simple, right!

After placing crust into your pie pan, place pie weights…or dry beans…onto the pie with aluminum foil to keep the middle of the pie from rising while you pre-bake the crust. You need to bake the crust beforehand since you only put it under a broiler once the ingredients are added.

Add some olive oil and your onions into a heavy pan and start the caramelizing process. I just LOOOVE caramelized onions! Even Fisherman loves & appreciates them and he isn’t the biggest foodie on the block.

Also, don’t be afraid to try caramelizing red onions. I did half white & half red the second time I made this and they tasted great. (And yes, I did make & eat this pie TWICE in the past week! Shows you how good it is!)

Good advice for caramelizing onions is to turn your back to them. Find something else to do, you don’t need to stir constantly, just every few minutes.

Now see all those brown bits of good onion residue? Scrape those bad boys up and stir in with the onions. They have all sorts of good flavor! And yep, this picture was from Pie #1 when I only used white onions.

Your piecrust should now be finished baking, so place caramelized onions in first…

…then your cheese, tomato, cheese layers…

…broil for a few minutes until cheese slightly browns, garnish with fresh basil and…

…Voila…Eat that pie up!!!

I hope you like as much as I did!!!

Jessica

Tomato, Caramelized Onions, and Gorgonzola Pie

Ingredients
1 9″ prepared pie crust
2 large onions (yellow or red), very thinly sliced
1 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
5 medium sized ripe tomatoes, thinly sliced
Handful of fresh basil for garnishing

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place pie crust into a glass pie pan. Line pie pan with aluminum foil and fill with pie weights/dried beans/or raw rice. Bake approximately 20 minutes until pasty is pale golden brown around rim. Remove weights and bake another 8 minutes until golden brown all over. If edge of crust looks to dark, place tin foil around the edges for remaining bake time.

While crust is baking, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat and cook onions for approximately 20-25 minutes until they are caramelized in color. Sprinkle the onions with kosher salt a few times while cooking and stir every few minutes. As the onions begin to soften and brown, there will be residue at the bottom of the pan; stir these brown goodie bits into the onions.

Preheat oven broiler.

Spread caramelized onions over bottom of pie shell and top with 3/4 cup of the cheese. Arrange tomatoes, slightly overlapping, in circles over the cheese. Sprinkle tomatoes with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of cheese over the tomatoes and drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil over the top.

Broil the pie until the cheese slightly browns, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Garnish with fresh basil if desired.

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06-14-2012

Sharing the inspiration…

FS Nominee for Excellence in Storytelling (150x172)

I am humbled, and so excited, to have been nominated for the Food Stories Award for Excellence in Storytelling by Janet at trkingmomoe. Thank you so much Janet, you have some neat looking recipes on your blog that I’ll have to try out.

To complete the nomination I need to provide you a random tidbit about myself and share with you some of my favorite blogs….

For my random tidbit, I’ll share a secret confession… I easily get intimidated when I read other blogs. I wonder how these people have it all together, their sites look amazing, they make daily posts and their pictures could win numerous photo awards, etc. etc.

But more often than not, they probably are just like me…have preschoolers running around pretending to be transformers and yelling at the top of their lungs, their dishes are piling up in the sink, and it remains to be seen when their mound of clothes on the recliner will be put up.

So you see, its simply all about perspective and where one chooses to focus its attention.  I remind myself often, I shouldn’t be looking at their site, or a person, for comparison, I should be looking for inspiration!

So here are some of the sites that inspire me, although it was very hard to limit it to just the following….and I give a huge shout-out for food bloggers everywhere because until I started this blogging journey, I had no idea how long it took to write & compile recipe posts.

In Sock Monkey Slippers

Our Best Bites

In Her Chucks

Eat the Roses

Smitten Kitchen

Joy the Baker

The Pioneer Woman

Momastery

A Work in Progress

A Holy Experience

So scroll over to these other sites to check them out, I’m sure you’ll be just as inspired as I am!

Happy Thursday,

Jess

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06-13-2012

The Tomato Sandwich

Today, I pay homage to my most favorite food. One day, hopefully long away in the future, when I breathe my last breath, I pray I have just finished A TOMATO SANDWICH, made by Southern hands.

I simply think there is no better creation than some fine mayo slathered on some thick bread loaded down with too many to count slices of tomatoes; and of course, lets not forget….way too much salt & pepper on those things. Hmmm….

Fisherman looks on in disbelief as I eat my piece of heaven and cannot believe there are two tomatoes worth of slices on that bad boy, or that there is no bacon or lettuce anywhere to be found. OF COURSE THERE ISN’T. BLT’s are good – but they aren’t a tomato sandwich. There is a vast difference. And in my mind, to be truly Southern – 1. You need to be born in the south and 2. You need to relish a pure & simple tomato sandwich.  (I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on my Southern comments!!!) 😉

So how do I create such a delectable sandwich?

First, you must start with the proper ingredients….good, real Mayo….not Miracle Whip…the real deal.

Second, thick crusty bread…think day old bread to sop up all that juice.

Third, so many tomato slices that they are falling out of the sandwich.

And lastly, a VERY generous helping of kosher salt & fresh ground pepper. (Yes, I will probably pass from too high blood pressure, but life without some salt would be very sad indeed.)

You’ve got to sprinkle the salt & pepper two times on each side to reach the desired amount. And getting the spice all over the bread adds some special umpf!

Now eat that summer goodness and wash it all down with some Southern style sweet tea.

Love ya’ll,

Jessica

P.S….don’t even think about trying this in the winter or any other time when fresh off the vine tomatoes aren’t available!

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06-09-2012

Blackberry and Blueberry Crumble Pie

I just have to say…I LOVE berry crumbles! They have to be one of the easiest desserts to make…Whip together a few ingredients, and voila! Today I used fresh from the farm berries but even in winter, crumbles taste great with frozen berries.

To try something different though, I added a pie crust which soaked up some of the juices and was still flaky and delightful.  And the ginger in this recipe adds a spicy kick for a little something more.  Hmmm…life is good!

Recipe Cost
Since most of the ingredients are on stock in my pantry, I only added the price of berries and a pie crust to come up with a total of $8 for this amazingly delish dessert. To buy a dessert this yummy at your local bakery, you’d spend close to $20. Quite the savings to make at home!

Ingredients
For the Pie Crust:
Knock yourself out making one from Grandma’s scratch recipe, or do as I do and buy refrigerated dough. One of these days, I’m going to figure out how to make a crust but for the moment, I am pretty intimidated on that front and blame it on my baking roller.  If you are just as intimidated with the daunting task of dough rolling, make sure to buy refrigerated not frozen pie crusts. Frozen pie crusts in those tin pans produce mushy crust; whereas a refrigerated one placed in your glass pie plate will produce a flaky and delectable crust.

For the Filling:
4 cups fresh blackberries and/or blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons lemon juice (~1/2 of a lemon)
1/2 Tbsp fresh minced ginger or 1 1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh mint

For the Crumble:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup coarsely chopped hard nuts (almonds, walnuts, hazelnut, etc.)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 ounces butter, at room temperature
dash of kosher salt

For the crust ~ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place pie crust in a glass pie plate and add dry beans to the top for a weight. Blind bake the pie crust for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove beans or dry weights and allow to cool.

Don’t do like me and forget to add the weights/dry beans…the middle will puff up and the sides collapse into the middle!

For the filling ~ In a large, non-reactive bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, lemon juice, ginger, and mint. Next, gently mix in the berries and allow to sit for at least 10 minutes.

Pour into crust once crumble topping is made.

The berries took on a shiny sheen all by themselves. No matter the lighting, the photo looked like steam was rising.

For the crumble ~ In a mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients and then whisk in the butter.

You can also use a fork or your fingers. Basically, as the name implies, you just want the mixture to be crumbly looking. Place crumble mixture on top of berries in pie dish.

Bake in preheated oven for approximately 40 minutes, until golden brown.

ENJOY!!!

XoXo, Jess

Printable Recipe

Ingredients
For the Pie Crust:
9″ refrigerated pie crust

For the Filling:
4 cups fresh blackberries and/or blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons lemon juice (~1/2 of a lemon)
1/2 Tbsp fresh minced ginger or 1 1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh mint

For the Crumble:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup coarsely chopped hard nuts (almonds, walnuts, hazelnut, etc.)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 ounces butter, at room temperature
dash of kosher salt

For the crust ~ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place pie crust in a glass pie plate and add dry beans to
the top for a weight. Blind bake the pie crust for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove beans or dry
weights and allow to cool.

For the filling ~ In a large, non-reactive bowl, gently mix together the sugar, flour, lemon juice, ginger,
and mint. Gently mix in the berries and allow to sit for at least 10 minutes. Pour into crust once crumble
topping is made.

For the crumble ~ In a mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients and then whisk in the butter. Y ou
can also use a fork or your fingers. Basically , as the name implies, you just want the mixture to be crumbly
looking. Place crumble mixture on top of berries in pie dish.

Bake in preheated oven for approximately 40 minutes, until golden brown.

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04-30-2012

Do you CSA? Part 2

In case you missed my post, Do you CSA, click here, so the following will make more sense!

So I’ve finally made my decision…shopping at the Farmer’s Market from a plethora of vendors is just too much fun to pass up!

I know I could still buy from other vendors even if I have a CSA, but I’m on a budget here. If I spend my $20 with one farmer, then I’ll not have any MULA for the golden beets from Owl’s Nest or no fresh berries from Maple Ridge Farms. And it’s so much fun, each week, to speak with the different farmers, buy some baby crookedneck squash here and a fresh off the vine tomato there. (No, its not tomato season here at all, I am just anxiously awaiting the day!)

Thank you to EVERYONE that shared your comments, your thoughts, and feedback. I thought everyone would push me to the CSA so it was great to see all the varied opinions.

I’ve been working on recipes a lot lately so hopefully I can get some up soon. Think…swiss chard and ground pork stew, chicken & pork bolognese, quiche, pesto….hmmm…I love me some food.

Have a great day!

Jessica

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04-20-2012

Plant a lettuce box for Earth Day

Want to celebrate Earth Day (Sunday) with your kids? What about…

Growing lettuce is so easy & simple and you get rewarded fresh food pretty quickly! Instant gratification seems to be a need of the kids I know.

You can either keep your lettuce small (above), which would then be called microgreens. Cut them at the very bottom every few days. You get more intense flavor this way.

Or allow to grow larger, as we’ve done with our romaine (Cinnamaron variety) below.

This is the first year I’ve tried micro-greens and they are tasty! You start these from regular seed but are just harvesting a lot more early & frequently.

And perhaps throw in an extra veggie besides the lettuce? I’m trying to grow cucumber (Green Apple variety) upside down this year – and it appears to be working!

ENJOY your weekend outside with family, friends, and nature!

Love,

Jess

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04-19-2012

Do you CSA?

Hello Father,

I have a confession. I love gardening, I love farmers, I love dirt. But I just can’t imagine joining a CSA. I want freedom of choice, to pick my veggies just the way I want, when I want. You see, God, signing up for a CSA requires commitment. And, I have come to realize that I don’t necessarily enjoy commitments. (I can’t even keep up with once a week pilates.) I do go to the Farmer’s Market faithfully and I shop at the local grocer each week. But I still feel unfaithful to the farmer by not participating in a CSA. Does my selfishness of wanting to choose my veggies each week mean I’m not really supporting the farmer? That rain or shine, drought or flood, he’ll have money to keep his farm afloat no matter how the produce turns out?

Help me out,

Jessica

****

I really am serious. Even though I encourage all my friends to participate in one, I have a huge commitment issue with CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture). And until this past Tuesday I kept telling myself that if there was a farm that had a pick-your-own veggie CSA that I would participate. But then you find that ‘answer’ and realize, you’re still hesitant.

You see, I love going to the different vendors at the market and choosing a tomato here, a carrot bunch there, and a pile of lettuce greens at the next one. And my worry is this, if I commit to spending my $20/week with only one vendor – will I regret it? I definitely won’t regret the quality – its the best there is, but will I regret not getting to spend my $ with lots of vendors in lieu of spending it with one?

What do you think? Do you like your CSA? Do you have one where you choose your veggies or do you get an exciting surprise bag each week? Should I just go for it and try it out? And if you are a farmer…I’d love to know your thoughts on CSA participants versus farmer’s market buyers? Do you get as much $ from going to the Farmer’s Market or would you rather have it all in CSA participants?

Thanks for helping me with my dilemma! Jessica

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04-18-2012

What to do with all these strawberries???

(You’ll probably think I’m crazy after you read the following first sentence, or maybe you already think I am!, but I promise….there are many uses for strawberries!)

I just got back from picking 35 pounds of strawberries!!!!!! Yes, I’m sure you are thinking….what in the world would make someone pick that many and how in the world will she eat them all???

Well, here goes… Last summer we picked about 20 pounds of strawberries and they lasted us about 8 months. So this year, I’m trying to get enough to last us the whole year through. Think I have enough??

The reason I do this, is because U-Pick farms have strawberries at a much lower price, you get more nutrients from the fruit because there is minimal time from farm to table, you get dirt in your toes (have you figured out yet that I really like dirt?), and it provides a great outdoor activity for the kids!

So how much lower is the price?? Maple Ridge Farms, the U-pick farm I LOVE, has their strawberries at $1.50/pound and if you buy more than 20 pounds, the price is $1.25/pound! So its’ a no-brainer for me! Pick away!!

But what to do with all of these strawberries? By the time we get home I am seeing red, red, and more red, and I begin to ponder…maybe I really am crazy?

#1. Berry Jam…the best part about making jam is that the berries do not have to be fresh, you can use frozen. So just freeze, see below for notes on that, and then save making jam for a day when you have more time.

#2. Fruit Smoothies…we make fruit smoothies all the time. We just throw in whatever berries and fruit we have on hand, add some yogurt, and 100% juice, and puree away.

#3. Eat them frozen, straight from the bag…(blaming a little sister for going through the strawberries so fast last year – she  probably ate 2 gallon size bags by herself in the 6 weeks she lived with us!)

#4. Let defrost and eat with a fork….yes, they will be mushy and your kids might protest but why not start early teaching kids about the seasonality of eating local produce and if they want to eat strawberries in December, then there has to be a compromise….they’ll still get that same flavor but the consistency will be different.

#5. Berry Muffins

#6.  Top homemade Belgium waffles with them and icecream

#7. Cobbler, Pies, Scones, the dessert list could go on & on

#8. Strawberry soup perhaps??? Not really sure of any other ideas at this point!

To preserve the fruit, you first rinse off in a cold water bath in your sink, then you hull them with a magic strawberry huller and then slice to desired size and place in a gallon sized ziploc freezer bag.

And yes, we do have a stand alone freezer in our garage that we use for storage.

If you live in the Lowcountry and have a strawberry craving, I suggest Maple Ridge Farms in Canadys, SC…they have the perfect soil for growing sweet fruit and their strawberries are not dusty & dirty because they do not have the sandy soil you find on the islands around Charleston. The farm is in Colleton County, about an hour drive from Charleston, but I think its well worth it. Fritz and his wife are so down to earth and enjoy talking to you about how they farm the land.

The strawberries should be around for another month and at this point, near the end of the season, they are sweeter!

Other U-Pick Farms in the Charleston area…Ambrose Farms and Boone Hall Plantation.

For U-Pick Farms throughout the US, check out the Pick Your Own website.

You may have decided I’m crazy for picking 35 pounds, but hopefully this post will inspire you to pick some berries this summer!

And if you have any suggestions of how I can use up all these strawberries, I’d love to hear!!!

Happy Fruit Eating Season!

Jessica

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04-05-2012

April is Eat Local Month

Looking to do something new with the family this month or a fun event centered around really fresh food? Then check out Lowcountry Local First’s Eat Local Month. From farm tours to an all you should eat breakfast, there is something for everyone. Take the kids to visit a farm and see a chicken up close and personal or enjoy a date with your significant other at the Chef’s Potluck. All of these events promise lots of fun, a bit of education, and perhaps – even some dirt on your toes.

I volunteer with Lowcountry Local First and simply love all the work they do. They obviously keep it all local!

If you plan to be at any of these events, please let me know. I know I definitely will be at Chef’s Potluck ~ Jessica

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