Strawberry Wine: Take 2

It's been about 3 years since we last made a batch of strawberry wine! I can't believe it's been so long. I was just craving it and happened to get a batch of strawberries for free. They were the kind that you 'use or lose now' from a food bank. So I worked them up and let them sit for a couple of months. The end result is some beautifully delicious strawberry wine!

Want to make your own batch? I wrote how to make some in 2010 and the instructions are still the same. Hop on over HERE to check it out!

Canning 101: Plum Jam

It's been awhile since I shared a canning recipe! This is a plum jam that I made this fall. 

Begin with about 8 cups pitted and peeled plums. Put them in a large saucepan with a half cup water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and boil gently until the plums are softened, about 5 minutes.

You can crush the plums but I wanted something a little more consistent so I pureed them with my stick blender. This gives you about 6 cups of pulp.

Now add 1 package of (1.75 oz) regular powdered fruit pectin and whisk it in really well. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently.

Add 8 cups of granulated sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off foam.

Prepare your jars and lids. See HERE for further information of preparing your jars and lids.

Ladle hot jam into the hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Remove any air bubbles and add more jam, if needed. Clean the rims with a damp towel and put on the lids. Screw band down until finger-tip tight.

Place your jars in a water-canner, making sure they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

 This recipe is so easy! I hope you give it a try! Happy Canning! :)

New Spice Rack!

Lookie what my hubby made me! :) My spices have been a mess for awhile. My shelves are tall and hard to see into and it just wasn't working. My husband came up with this little spice step shelf and built it to fit. Now everything looks nice and neat! I put the little-used items in the top at the back and the things that get used more often down in front. No more searching or knocking over half of them. lol He used some cedar fence boards and screws to put it all together. He's so handy and talented! :)

Before

The new spice rack is complete!

Spice rack side view

After... so much better!

Homemade Chicken Stock

Last week I wrote about how to roast a whole chicken. The process is simple with some delicious results! You can find the tutorial HERE.

Today I'd like to tell you hot to make chicken stock from the left-overs. Homemade chicken stock is so much more wholesome then what you can find in the stores! You can flavor it however you like, make it low or no sodium/salt, and save a ton of money too! The stock can be used in any recipe that calls for it: soups, stews, etc.

• 1 (5 lb) chicken carcass (or any size)
• Vegetables (use what you like)
• 1 large onion, chopped into large chunks
• 1 large leek, trimmed and rinse, chopped into large chunks
• 3 carrots, unpeeled, ends trimmed and chopped into large chunks
• 3 parsnips, unpeeled, ends trimmed and chopped into large chunks
• 3 celery stalks, chopped into large chunks
• a handful of parsley
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme and dill
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Place the chicken carcass in a large stockpot. Add about 2.5 quarts of water (your chicken should be submerged). Add all the vegetables, herbs, and seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer uncovered for about 4 hours or until liquid is reduced by half.

Strain the entire contents of the pot through a fine sieve and discard the solids. Pour liquid into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, use a spoon to remove the layer of fat that has solidified on the top of the bowl of stock. The stock itself may become jelly-like when it's cold. Once it's room temperature or heated, it will turn back to a liquid state.

Keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 6 months. Divide usable portions into mason jars, leaving enough room for expansion during freezing, or freeze in ice cube trays and transfer to a freezer bag later.

That's it! Pretty easy, huh? Enjoy!

Whole Roast Chicken

Occasionally I like to make a whole chicken. It's delicious and I can use the left overs in another meal the next day or so. Prep time is about a half hour and cooking time is about an hour. It's really simple and I can work on other things while it cooks. :)

For this recipe you need a chicken that is approximately 5 lbs. You can season the chicken any way that you like. Some ideas are: butter, garlic, and bacon; butter and herbs; lime and coconut; the possibilities are endless!

1. Begin by putting a 5-quart Dutch oven in a cold oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. After the oven has preheated, continue to heat the oven and pan for 20 more minutes.

2. While everything is heating up prepare your seasoning. Clean your chicken, remove the skin (unless you like it on), and pull out the gizzards, etc. Cut slashes along the legs, breast, and back and rub your seasoning on, pushing some into the slashes.

3. Carefully place the chicken, breast side down, in the hot pan. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, away from the bone, registers 165 to 170 degrees F. About 60 to 75 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven and let cool for awhile. If you wish, carve and arrange. If you're like my family, just dig in and enjoy!

6. Save those chicken bones! I will be posting next week on how to make a delicious and nutritious chicken stock that you can use in all your cooking needs!

Wordless Wednesday: Home Canned Carrots

Here is a finished 'project' from Monday!

Want to learn how to can your own carrots?

I've got a tutorial for that right HERE! :)

Pear Sauce

I got a bunch of pears from the food bank awhile ago. I always get the perishable left overs that no one wants and these were almost at the toss-them-out stage. So what to do with them when no one wants to eat them? Make pear sauce!

Pear sauce is basically applesauce made with pears instead. You could even make pear butter with this. You can find my applesauce/apple butter recipe HERE. And while your at it can it and save it for those frozen winter months when you're dreaming of fresh foods. MMMmmmm....

Carrots

Have you ever seen such huge carrots before? I haven't! I'm not sure what variety they are.

I received these as 'unwanted left overs' from the local food bank recently. I took a morning and cleaned them up, sliced them, and canned them. Now we'll have fresh home canned carrots in the middle of winter!

You can find my recipe and instructions on canning carrots HERE in my Canning 101 Series. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: I Heart Muffins

Tastey Tuesday: Apple Butter

I recently got a nice big batch of apples and decided that it was time to make some yummy apple butter!

This is one of the easiest things to make but it takes quit a while. The end results are so worth it though. :)

You can find my recipe and instructions on how to can the apple butter HERE.

Enjoy!

Tastey Tuesday: Honey Mustard Glazed Ham

I made this YUMMY ham for the Labor Day weekend. It was great to snack on all weekend long and the glaze is the best I've tried so far. Mmmm!!!

Honey Mustard Glaze

5 Tbs. French style mustard

2 C. packed brown sugar
1 C. honey

Mix all ingredients together until smooth and apply glaze 30 minutes before ham is finished cooking. Cut recipe in half if the ham is small.

Homemade Meatballs

Homemade meatballs are a tasty and cost effective alternative to buying frozen meatballs. Make up a big batch for the freezer and always have them on hand for Spaghetti night. These are a big hit in my house!


Ingredients:

• 9 slices of bread, crusts removed
• 2 cups water
• 3 pounds ground beef
• 2 medium onions, chopped very fine; or 1 Tbs. onion powder
• 2 Tbs chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup Parmesan
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 Tbs salt
• 1.5 tsps pepper

Directions:

Soak bread in 2 cups water and mash with fork. Squeeze out excess water. Crumble ground beef into large bowl. Add bread, onion, parsley, Parmesan, eggs, salt and pepper to beef. Mix well and shape into 1-inch-diameter balls.

Brown in batches in skillet, turning frequently, until cooked through. Remove with a slotted spoon to paper towels. Allow to cool and package servings into freezer bags. Freeze. Makes about 120 meatballs.

Enjoy!

Bulk Cooking- Mashed Potatoes

I wasn't really taught how to cook. I mean, I got to stir the gravy for Thanksgiving dinner and bake cookies to my hearts content but I wasn't ever really taught how to cook, let alone how to cook in bulk to make things easier for me.

For our family, having me be a stay at home wife and mother means we can't eat out every day of the week. We might eat out once or twice a month. But eating at home has opened up a new avenue to me that I never knew was there before. I've had many trials and errors in the kitchen. My poor family! I am getting better though and I hope I can pass on some of my knowledge here. I've learned so much from the internet!

Long ago, I learned that homemade mashed potatoes were much tastier then the boxed flaky version. The problem was that I didn't have the time or energy to peel, cook, or mash potatoes every time we wanted them. That's a lot of work hence the boxed version for convenience. I knew that you could buy frozen mashed potatoes but for the price they aren't for a family on a budget! Instead, when I was learning about freezer cooking I came across a homemade mashed potato frozen version.

It's very simple!

Just peel, cube, and cook a whole bag of potatoes.

After they are cooked, drain the water and mash them. I used my Kitchenaid Mixer and I added sea salt and a whole stick of butter.

When it's all mashed scoop some into your muffin tins and freeze overnight or for 24 hours.

Don't forget to have a taste too. That's the best part about cooking, right? Mmmmmm…….

After that pop them out and put them into a freezer bag. Each muffin cup size of mashed potatoes is about a serving size.

When we want some, I'll pull out about 6, put them in a microwave safe bowl and microwave them for 2 minute intervals, stirring in between, until hot. These are much tastier, I've done less work, and we are still able to eat homemade by mom!

Day 27: What's For Dinner?

Day 27. What's for dinner?


Is it 6pm and you haven’t thought about it yet?

From now on, I want you to think about what's for dinner as part of your Morning Routine. Or if you don't have time in the morning then put it on your Bedtime Routine for the night before.

If you haven't started yet, then it's a good idea to plan a menu. This should already be part of your Basic Weekly Plan on Wednesdays or whatever day is right before you go grocery shopping. I menu plan every 2 weeks and write my grocery list to go along with it. You might want to plan for only a week at a time and some people like to plan for a whole month at a time. This will save you unnecessary trips to the grocery store and probably save a lot of money too.

I keep a separate 3-ring notebook in my kitchen. In it I keep what I've developed as a basic menu plan, keep extra menus & grocery lists, and keep favorite recipes. My basic menu plan consists of left-overs (or BBQ, if my husband feels like cooking) on the weekends and the main dishes (Monday- beef; Tuesday- chicken; Wednesday- fish; Thursday- pasta; Friday- Fun Night (a lot of times I'll cook breakfast)). Having it set up like this is a time saver. I don't have to make as many decisions and it's all in one place and ready to go.

On my menu planner I write the date, the name of the recipe, what I need to thaw, and when I need to start the meal to have it on the table at 6pm. Then the completed menu gets put in a plastic sleeve protector along with the recipes for the week and put in plain view on the frig. Every morning I'll look at it and pull out whatever needs to be thawed for that night.

I hope that gives you some help in developing your menus!

Don't forget to check over your Routines!


~Heather~

Day 1: Baby Steps

I am lost in the craziness and clutter of my home and as I stated in my previous post, it's time to regain my focus.


To do this I'm returning to an old favorite, Flylady.

She helped me keep it together in the past and I thought I was ready to fly alone but like the mama bird who too anxiously and too early pushes her baby bird out of the nest I fell hopelessly to the ground. Sorry, I'm being overly dramatic. :)

Day 1 starts with a great pep talk.

And today's first habit is to go shine your sink.

Today my sink was amazingly already clear of dishes so all I had to do was disinfect it and scrub it clean. Usually dishes get left in the sink for me to take care of. I don't mind this because I don't have to run around the house gathering dirty dishes. In the past I've tried to get my husband to put his dishes in the dishwasher but it's more trouble then it's worth and I don't know why he refuses to do this little thing to help me out. I think I will try again and take Flylady's suggestion and put a sticky note on the window that says 'put your dirty dishes in the dishwasher'. Just like in #10, they will think I've gone crazy. But I thought I already was so it's no big deal.

So who is with me in taking baby steps to a cleaner, happier home? I dare you!

I can already see my smiling face in my shiny sink…

~Heather~

Canning 101- Strawberry Syrup

I started out this recipe fully intending to make strawberry jelly. Somewhere along the line I mis-read the directions and added to much fruit. Fortunately, I ended up with some very yummy syrup. It's really great on ice cream, pancakes, in milk, & on cheesecake. You can see the full recipe I used at the very bottom.

I started out by going through my canning books. The 'Ball Blue Book' is a fairly new book that I purchased 2 summers ago. The 'Kerr Home Canning Book' is a garage sale find from a friend and the copyright is from the mid-1960's. The other 2 books came with my canning equipment and have some really good canning recipes in them and they are from the 1980's.

Once I found the recipe I wanted I started preparing my strawberries. I had some saved in the freezer and I took them out to thaw. All of these strawberries came from my garden.

Next I set up the strainer. You put the fruit in the top, turn the handle, and it deseeds them. This strainer is a must for any seedless jams, jellies, or syrups. My dad gave me this one.

The strained strawberry juice goes down to the one bowl and the seeds come out the end into the other bowl. We didn't through away the seeds but put them in our strawberry wine mix.

Here is all the fresh strawberry juice! Doesn't it look yummy?

Now I put the strawberry juice, sugar & pectin in the pot and stir, stir, stir. It will take a while but the syrup will begin to come to a boil & grow, so constantly stirring is a must. Stir for a minute longer & turn off the heat before it boils over! If you are making a jelly, dip a spoon in, if the juice gels & comes off in a sheet (doesn't drip off) then the jelly is set and ready. Here is where I realized I messed up my original measurements & I was too tired to try to figure out how to fix it so I continued on to the canning phase. In hind sight, I could have probably added another package of pectin and re-cooked it.

To can the syrup, I set up all my equipment. My stove top isn't really big enough for all these pots! All my jars were clean and I put them in one of the pots with water just covering them to heat them up to boiling. I did this to help sterilize them and so that when the hot syrup touches them they won't break (hot liquid + cold jar = bad news). Put your lids and rings in another pot and heat up but don't boil them! Boiling could result in melting off the sealant on the lids which will then result in your jars not sealing properly. That's not good either! I'll be using the water bath method for this so I'll begin boiling water in the black pan too.

After everything is set up and nearly ready to go you need to skim off the foam that has settled on top of your syrup. The foam has lots of air bubbles in it & isn't meant to be canned although it's quite yummy and if you aren't careful your little one might run off with the bowl and get a sugar high and you will let him just because you're a cool mom.

After that fill the jars leaving the correct amount of headspace. Place on the lids & screw on the rings. Don't screw them on too tight, just enough to hold everything in place. Then put the jars in the water bath and let the water begin boiling again before you start your timer for the correct processing time. (Tip!) I have hard water so I add about a tablespoon of vinegar per quart of water to the boiling water so my jars don't get a chalky film on them. This just keeps me from having to clean it all off later.

After the time is up, remove the jars and set them aside overnight to cool. Sometimes you will hear the lids 'POP!' down in place & sometimes you won't but after the jars are cool check that all the lids are properly sealed. If any of them aren't sealed you should either use what's in the jar, put it in the frig or freezer (transfer it to a freezer safe container), or re-process them immediately.

All the books I've read have said to remove the rings (to prevent rust or contamination) and then store in a cool dry place (we have several shelves in our basement out of direct sunlight where I can put everything until we're ready to use it). But I have blackberry jelly that I canned in June of 2008 & never removed the ring & they are still good. Also, I've heard that you're supposed to use up the jellies, jams, syrups in a year. I made a gigantic batch of that black berry jelly in 2008 & we are still using it up. I haven't bought any jelly since then for my sons pb&j's for his school lunches. I have no idea how much money I've saved! Anyways… My suggestion, is to use you best judgment. If it doesn't look right, smell right, taste right, then don't use it.

The recipe I used was from the 'Ball Blue Book'.


*Strawberry Jam*
Yield: about 8 half-pints


Ingredients:
2 quarts strawberries (I used 2 quarts of strawberry juice which probably threw off my measurements. I should have used 2 quarts of whole strawberries. Lesson learned.)
7 cups sugar
1 package powdered pectin (I actually bought mine at Walmart)
1/4 cup lemon juice (I don't think I added this.)


Directions:
Wash strawberries; drain. Remove stems. Crush strawberries one layer at a time. (Here is where I used the strawberry juice instead of the whole fruit. I didn't even think about how the volume is different!) Combine strawberries, powdered pectin and lemon juice in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return to a rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Although, I messed up the recipe we ended up with something really yummy! I learned that next time I better follow the recipe a little better and that if I don't then all is not lost!

I hope you enjoyed & learned something too!

~Heather~