Applesauce

Seriously! I can't stop canning over here! I made my first batch of applesauce last week. I had loaded up on some gorgeous apples at the store that begged to be made into applesauce for the winter months. Molly and I really enjoy it with bratwurst and sauerkraut! 

This is a seriously easy recipe. Basically you take your apples, peel and core them, cook them up and then plop them in the water bath. I added some cinnamon and nutmeg because yum but you could leave the spices out or sub with your favorites. Also if you have a food mill, you can skip the peeling portion and just core them before cooking. This is a great recipe to use up the plethora of Fall apples. I'm planning on taking Molly apple picking just so we can make more applesauce! 

Applesauce
Makes 6-8 1/2 pint jars

Ingredients
1/2 cup water
2 Tablespoons bottled lemon juice
3 pounds of apples, peeled and cored
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Directions
1. Pour the water and lemon juice into a large non-reactive pot. Chop the apples and add them to the pot. Bring to a boil and cook at a simmer until apples are tender for about 10-20 minutes. 
2. Using an immersion blender, blend the applesauce to your desired consistency. Stir in cinnamon and nutmeg and remove from heat. 
3. Ladle the applesauce into your clean half int canning jars. Wipe the rims clean and place lids on jars. Screw on jar bands and process in boiling water for 10 minutes. After letting the jars rest in the hot water for 5 minutes, remove and set on a towel for 24 hours. Check seals and store in a cool, dark place for up to a year. 

Canning for Winter - Salsa Verde

The canning obsession hit me HARD this year and I think I'm going to blame some of it on nesting. I want us to have good food when Chicken Nugget is born which means prepping NOW! The best way to prep good food, months in advance, is canning.

I made this Salsa Verde a few years ago and then I also made the delicious Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas listed directly after the Salsa Verde recipe for dinner a few times. The taste has lingered with me. I also remember them being fairly easy to make which will be a huge bonus when there is a newborn nugget taking up all of my cooking time.

I wanted to get my tomatillos at the farmer's market because they taste better! Also I love supporting my local farmers but alas, it was not to be this time. I spotted some at Fred Meyer's and cleaned out their inventory. I may have scared the cashier with my 6 lbs of tomatillos or maybe I swayed her into canning?

I doubled this recipe to make 6 1/2 pint jars of lovely green salsa. I'm already planning out when I'll use them for delicious enchiladas. 

Salsa Verde 
adapted from Canning for a New Generation 
(Makes 3-4 pint jars of salsa)

3 1/2 pounds of tomatillos, husked and cleaned
1 medium onion, cut into one inch cubes
5 large serrano chiles
5 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 cup of roughly chopped fresh cilantro
2/3 cup lime juice (bottled)
1 tablespoon kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 500F. 
2. Place all the vegetables (tomatillos, onion, serrano chiles and garlic cloves) on baking sheets and place in the oven for about 30 minutes. You'll know the vegetables are doing when the tomatillos are soft and juicy. 
3. Remove the vegetables and place in a food processor with the cilantro. Carefully process until blended. 
4. Add the salsa to a non reactive pot along with the lime juice and kosher salt and bring to a boil. 
5. Ladle the salsa into pint jars, leaving a 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe the rims and place lids on the jars. Process the jars using a hot water bath canning method for 5 minutes. 
6. Store for up to a year in a cool, dark place. 

Figgy Jam

I'm deep in canning mode. This time of year calls out for all the fresh produce to be either eaten or preserved and I like to answer the call. I eat my fill and then preserve the rest for the dark months of winter when the only fresh produce I can find are winter squashes, kale and potatoes. Luckily I love all of the winter produce but sometimes my taste buds cry out for some summer goodness. 

This past weekend, after a night of god-awful, horrible sleep, I climbed out of bed at 6:30 a.m. and started jamming. I was fuming from the neighbor's dog barking all night (which he never does!) and needed to calm down. While the rest of the house slumbered, I made Fig Jam and breathed. 

Making jam really does bring one into the moment. You can collect your thoughts while the fruit and sugars bubble together. 

Here is the Fig and Lemon Jam recipe I used to make 4 lovely half pints of jam on Saturday morning. I felt calmer once my jam was processed and I could hear the lovely ping of the jars. 

Fig and Lemon Jam



by Rebecca Mongrain

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Keywords: Canning summer 


6051950



Ingredients (2 pints)

1 medium lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice (commercial)
2 cups sugar
2 pounds black figs, stem ends removed




Instructions

1. Prepare your jars for canning, using your preferred technique.

2. Remove the tip of the lemon and quarter it. Discard any seed and cut the quarters in half. Place in your food processor with 1 cup of the sugar. Process until very fine. Add the figs and process until coarsely chopped, do not fully puree.

3. Put the contents of the food processor into a large nonreactive pot and add the remaining sugar and lemon juice. Make sure to use commercial lemon juice to achieve the proper acidity.

4. Bring the jam to a low simmer over medium heat. Stir until the temperature reaches 200°F on your thermometer. I used a candy thermometer but an instant-read one would work just fine here. It took about 30 minutes for my jam to reach 200°F but yours might take as little as 15 minutes so keep an eye on it.

5. Leaving a 1/2-inch of headspace, ladle the jam into the jars. Wipe the rims clean with a clean towel before placing on the lids.

6. Process your jars in a hot water bath, making sure the boiling water covers the tops of the jars. Boil the jars for 10 minutes. Move to a clean dishcloth and leave for 24 hours. You should hear the delightful ping of the jars as they seal. Test your jars after 24 hours to see if they have sealed. If they have not, store in the fridge and use within a month. Otherwise store the sealed jars in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year. Refrigerate after opening.


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Peaches For You, Peaches For Me!

On Saturday morning, Meg and I decided to head back to the Mercer Slough without our toddlers. We really wanted to get some fresh blueberries and well, our kids don't understand that running back and forth down the blueberry aisles, do not get blueberries in one's bucket.  I mean, the girls are cute and all but sometimes Mamas need to do things alone.

We picked blueberries for about an hour and then headed in to pay for our goods. The farm has a great produce stand with tons of fresh, local fruits and veggies. I've been wanting to can some peach jam for a few weeks but was told to hold off by the farmers at my local farmer's market. I knew this was the week and when I saw that the stand had 20 lb boxes of peaches for only $15, I jumped on the deal. I gave a few peaches to Meg and loaded up my HUGE box of peaches. As I drove home, I sang some Presidents and giggled to myself. I had plans!

The peaches were not quite ripe enough for canning so I decided to hold off until Monday to start my canning adventures. On Monday, I gathered my supplies and started canning. I started with Vanilla Bourbon Peach Jam before moving onto Peach Pie filling. 

On Tuesday, I sat back and marveled at my hard work and then sighed when I noticed that I still had more than half the box to get through. I started pouring through my canning books for more recipes. I asked people on Facebook and my Grandma Sherry suggested that I just can the peaches in light syrup. 

I pondered this situation through Thursday before deciding that Grandma Sherry was right. I set Molly up in her learning tower and got to work. I blanched the rest of the peaches and cut them into slices. Then I started my simple syrup. It took awhile to boil which gave me time to sterilize my jars. 

After a few hours of work, with a bit of Elmo watching on the iPad for Molly, I finally saw the bottom of the box. In the end, I ended up with six jars of peach jam, 3 jars of peach pie filling and 6 jars of peaches. Whew! Next time I think about getting 20 lbs of peaches, I might think again. Of course now we'll get to enjoy peachy goodness all winter long. 

Vanilla Peaches in Light Syrup
Makes 4 Quart Jars
adapted from Canning for a New Generation by Liana Krissoff

Ingredients

8 lbs of peaches, freestone
1 Tablespoon bottled lemon juice (NOT fresh)
2 quarts of water
4 cups of sugar
2 vanilla beans, cut in half and split OR whole cinnamon stick

Directions

1. Fill a large bowl with cold water and stir in the lemon juice. 
2. Blanch, halve, pit and slice the peaches before placing in the prepared lemon water. This helps keep the peaches from turning brown. 
3. Prepare your jars for canning using your prefered method. 
4. In a large dutch oven, bring the sugar and water to a boil. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and remove from heat. 
5. Pack the jars with peach slices, leaving about an inch below the rim. Place either a vanilla bean or a cinnamon stick in with the peaches. Make sure to really pack your peaches into the jars. 
6. Pour the simple syrup over the peaches. Use a chopstick to release any bubbles and add more syrup as necessary, filling up to an 1/2" below the rim. 
7. Use a clean towel to wipe any syrup off the rims and top each jar with a sterilized, new lid and tightened ring. Process the quart jars in your boiling, water bath for about 25 minutes. Make sure the jars have at least an inch of water covering them. Place the jars on a folded towel and allow to sit for 24 hours. Do not disturb the jars. Check the seals after an hour and place all unsealed jars in the fridge. Use the sealed jars within a year and the unsealed jars within three weeks. 

If you are new to canning or obsessed with it like I am, I have to highly recommend this book! It's full of fantastic canning recipes by season and even has recipes that feature all your delicious canned goods!

Jammin' - Blueberry Jam

After our blueberry picking adventure last week, I got canning fever! I do this every few years. I announce to Scott that I am going to CAN EVERYTHING! I make lists and then I move into the kitchen to can. Through the steamy mist, Scott comes in to check my progress and mumble comments about how one can buy jam at the store or that salsa is great when fresh. I push on with my obsession and in the Winter months, Scott and I are quite pleased with our canned goods. Scott usually mumbles under this breath that the jam is better than store bought and that the salsa verde is really delicious. 



This year, I wasn't sure the obsession was going to hit between being pregnant and chasing Molly, the energetic toddler around. But it hit and it hit hard! I have plans to can five more different recipes but this past weekend, I decided to make Blueberry Jam. 



Molly spent her time running around the kitchen while I was making the jam. Luckily she understands the word, "danger" and stayed to the far end of the kitchen when the jam really got boiling. Some friends happened to drop by right as my jam was hitting gel point so they watched me finish up the process. 



Blueberry Vanilla Jam
Makes 4 cups

Ingredients
8 cups blueberries
1  vanilla bean, split in half
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup bottle lemon juice (do not use fresh lemon use as the acid levels are not balanced)

Directions
1. Add the blueberries and vanilla bean with about 1/8 cup of water to a medium nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a boil while stirring and crushing the blueberries.  Stir in the sugar until it dissolves. Add the lemon juice and continue to boil until the jam  reaches gel point. This took me about 20 minutes. 
2. Remove from heat and let the jam rest for 5 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean at this point. Skim any foam. 
3. Using the boiling-water method, add the jam to half-pint canning jars. Leave a 1/4 inch of headspace. Wipe the rims clean and add the lids to the jar. Screw on the jar bands and process for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let jars rest in the water for 5 minutes. Remove jars from water and set them aside on a clean towel for 24 hours. Check the seals and store in a cool, dark place for up to a year. If you do not have a strong seal, place in the fridge and use within 3 weeks. 

It's almost Christmas and as I finish wrapping all the presents while singing Christmas carols at the top of my lungs, I've also been cooking.

Last night I whipped up a batch of Meyer Lemon Curd. It's bright yellow color was the perfect antidote for the shortness of the Winter Solistice.



This recipe is quick to make. I started making this at 10 p.m. and was snuggly in bed by 10:45 p.m. I even washed the dishes before heading to bed. The curd does require at least 4 hours to set and produces an amazingly sunny curd.



I think this would be wonderful as a tart or as Christmas presents to loved ones. I know that a few special people are getting these jars as part of their Christmas presents.

Meyer Lemon Curd from Gifts Cooks Love
Makes four (½-pint) jars

Ingredients
6 large egg yolks, at room temperature
6 large eggs, at room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
1 cup freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
2 tablespoons grated Meyer lemon zest (from about 3 lemons)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed

Directions
1. Wash the jars and lids in hot, soapy water and dry thoroughly.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, eggs, and sugar. Whisk in the lemon juice. Transfer to a double boiler. Cook over barely simmering water, whisking constantly, until the lemon mixture thickens and reaches 170°F on an instant-read thermometer.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the lemon zest and butter.
4. Using a wide-mouth funnel and filling one jar at a time, ladle the sauce into the prepared jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. Wipe the rims clean. Seal the jars and refrigerate until the lemon curd is thickened and completely cold, at least 4 hours.

Pantry Royale

A few weeks ago, Meg and I took a Pantry Royale class from Amy Pennington at Cupcake Royale. It was amazing. In a short hour and a half, Amy entertained us with stories of her first canning experiences, tales of gardening and taught us how to small batch preserve. Amy recently wrote a delightful book, Urban Pantry which is full of great urban pantry tips and recipes. I highly recommend it. My copy is dog-eared with many a successful recipe tried out and loved.



I come from a long line of canners on my father's side. In fact, my Grandfather cans with the best of them and his wife is a Master Canner. So I've always thought about canning as being a BIG DEAL! First you must pick so many tons of fruit for many, many hours (sometimes over an entire weekend) that you can barely get it home. Then you must can for days and days before storing your 300 jars of jam in a cool, dark basement.



Well I don't have a basement, nor do I think that Scott and I could ever consume 300 jars of jam in a year so when Amy said that she puts up 4-5 jars at a time, I was HOOKED! I mean, I'm seriously HOOKED but that tale is for a future post. Let's just concentrate on Amy's class in this one.



Amy, like me, does not have a large kitchen so she showed us how to small batch preserve with a small set-up. You just need a heavy-bottomed dutch oven (I prefer Le Creuset, but I'm biased), a stock pot, a set of jar lifters (tongs won't do as they slip and could drop your precious jars), jars and 2-part lids.



Amy made Raspberry Orange-Flower Jelly for our class. It looked so simple that the next weekend, I made simple Raspberry preserves. If you live in Seattle and are interested in learning from Amy, take a class at Cupcake Royale. Not only do you learn a lot, you also get Amy's book, cupcakes and a goodie bag. Not bad for $38.