Category: cooking

Yesterday, I made my 1st batch of Christmas cookies. Dan had come home early from work due to the inclemental weather (sleet, freezing rain and snow) and was able to help me. By help, I mean he was the official taste-tester. He vetoed my 1st attempt (too tart), but gave the thumbs up for the amended version.

Cranberry Cookies
I used this recipe, but after baking off a dozen cookies, I doubled the batter, leaving the amount of cranberries unchanged.

It made a boatload of cookies, which is a good thing. The list of people who request my cookies grows every year. Even my own sister, who knows perfectly well how to make the traditional family cookies, complained when I didn’t send her any. I just assumed she was making a batch for her family. Come to find out, she had assumed that I would send her cookies every year so she didn’t have to!

More cookies to come: Gingerbread Men, Buttermilk Sugar cookies, Candy Cane cookies, Shortbread Pecans, and Springerle.

I made apple jelly last night.

I had found a recipe for it in perhaps my favorite recipe book: Home Made by Sandra Oddo. This book has saved my pride more than once. You see, I have the will of a wet noodle when it comes to fresh, local produce. I typically buy enough to feed a small army. Occasionally, Dan has asked me what I plan to do with all the produce I just brought home. My answer involves listing several childhood recipes, blindly certain that I will use it all and might even need more. Then, I start to root through my traditional recipe books and am slightly unnerved that all the recipes only call for 1 or 2 pieces. I’m staring down pounds of the stuff. Home Made has a wide selection of recipes for getting rid of a lot of produce in one fell swoop.

Admittedly, I did not follow Oddo’s recipe for Apple Jelly. Instead, I cheated. I used pectin. It’s so fool-proof that it hardly makes sense not to use it. After 10 minutes of processing in my canning pot, the jelly was done.

My next stove, if I can ever bear to part with this oldy-but-goody, will have an area large enough for my canning pot. Right now, the pot straddles two burners. Worse, it has stained the white coating. I’ve tried everything to get it off. How the original owner managed to keep the stove in immaculate condition and I ruin it in a short 3 years is beyond me.

On a personal note, I’ll be out of town for the next few days. Dan and I are headed down to Talbott, TN. Unfortunately, his grandfather passed away earlier this week. 

Don’t forget to root for the Phillies. Game 1 starts tonight!

Hanna rolled through this weekend. Weathermen were forecasting strong winds. I wasn’t about to lose any of my tomato crop to it. So, I picked everything that was even remotely close to being ripe.

What bliss!

From My Cooking

I spent all day Saturday cooking and canning the tomatoes. I finally turned in at 1 am the next morning.

The round tomatoes from my Big Boy plant were either roasted or made into salsa.

The roasted tomato recipe was borrowed from Smitten Kitchen.

The salsa recipe was taken from one of my cookbooks: Southwestern Cookingby Jo Richardson. I altered it ever so slightly to accommodate Dan’s and my quirks. You see, he doesn’t like raw tomatoes (I keep telling him that he is living in the wrong house) and I don’t like raw onions (they taste so much better sauteed in butter).

Salsa Recipe:
8 fresh tomatoes (medium sized), diced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, finely chopped and seeded (or leave a few of the seeds in for more heat)
1 tbsp olive oil (it goes better with tomatoes than butter)
red wine vinegar, a splash or to taste
pepper and salt to taste

Heat the olive oil on medium heat. Cook the onions and jalapenos until tender but not brown. Add the tomatoes and cook until the desired consistency is obtained. Add vinegar, pepper and salt to taste. Let cool. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Warning: Please wear gloves when cutting the jalepeno. If you forget, you might think that you are stuck inside the Dune movie. Like Paul, you will be forced to insert your hand into the box. Your hand will start to tingle and then slowly heat up. Soon, it will feel like it is on fire.
I spent a good hour dunking my hand in ice cold water. As soon as I pulled my hand out, it felt like it was on fire again. I got desperate. Surely, there had to be some old wives’ tales about how to cure the burn.
The answer, if you should ever find yourself in the same predicament, is vinegar.
Soak your hand in vinegar for a half an hour. It will continue to burn. Keep it in the bowl of vinegar for the entire time. Then, wash your hands with Dove or another dish washing liquid. Sweet relief.

Back to the story of the tomatoes: The rest of the tomatoes were from my 5 Roma plants. After boiling them for about 30 seconds, I peeled, cored, and diced every last one. Afterwords, I separated them into quart jars, filling them almost full, but not quite. I then poured boiling hot water over the tomatoes, leaving a 1/2 inch head-space. Finally, the jars were boiled for 45 minutes.

My arm left arm was so sore the next morning from holding and turning all the tomatoes. It was worth it though. I ended up with 4 quarts of canned tomatoes.

From My Cooking

This weekend, we hosted a mini get-together to celebrate a friend’s birthday. I was supposed to cook a chocolate cake.

Saturday morning, just back from my walk with Jake, I decided the last thing I wanted to do was bake a cake. Cakes aren’t cool and refreshing. It wasn’t even 10 am and I was already searching for a bucket of ice water to dunk my head in. Jake was laying next to me panting. He couldn’t believe I was thinking of turning the oven on.

So, I compromised and dyed my hands red in the process.

I bought 2 lbs of Washington red cherries (sweet) and made a cherry pie based on Martha Stewart’s recipe.

I made a few changes. I swapped out arrowroot for the cornstarch and apple cider vinegar for the lemon juice. I eliminate the egg wash and extra sugar because I prefer the natural look. Plus, since my cherries were ripe and very sweet all on their own, I used a little bit less sugar than called for, probably about 2 tbsp less.

It was yummy.

Now, truly, I have so much more to tell you. For starters, I received a super cute apron in the apron swap I’m participating. Next, I ordered and received a new purse designed specifically for knitters. Then, I can’t wait to show you the lovely, raw, alpaca fleeces I purchased. Finally, I have to introduce you to the friendliest cat I’ve ever met. (Thankfully, Jake wasn’t with me. He thinks cats were put on this earth to be chased.)

His name is Sammy.

I’ll post pictures and an explanation later this week. Hope you are having a great day!