Baby It Is Hot In The Kitchen!!

 

Well I don’t about where you all are, but it is HOT and Humid here!

We live in the New River Valley,in South west Virginia. It is not supposed to be 90*  here! With all the canning I am doing, I am not cooking big meals! So it is salad time here at the Farm. I thought I would share with you some of my favorite summer salads.

Italian Summer Salad

Chopped romaine lettuce (however much you need for how many your serving,about 1/2 cup per person)

Tomato, chopped

Red onion, chopped

Small pepperoni

Chopped ham

Mozzarella or Provolone,cubed 

Black Olives,chopped

chick peas

Croutons

Top with your favorite Italian dressing ( I like Newman's Own olive oil and vinegar)

This is very light and refreshing. The nice thing about it is you can have all of these things already chopped and in containers and ready to make individual  servings, for a quick fix!

 

Mexican Chef Salad

1 lbs. of ground beef

1 onion chopped (divided)

chopped black olives

chopped lettuce

chopped tomato

chopped avocado

shredded cheddar cheese

corn chips

sour cream

salsa

 

Brown ground beef with 1/2 onion and drain off fat, season to taste with salt  and pepper. I like to cut everything up and let everyone put on their salad what they would like. I love this salad !  We eat this quite frequently. There is no right or wrong order, but I put the lettuce in the bottom and then the tomato,onion,olives,hamburger chips(I like mine crushed) cheese,and top with salsa and sour cream. You can add what you like,make it yours!

The orzo salad from a prior post is great to keep made up in the fridge. It is great to grab and go,because it has no mayo in it ,it travels well. Add cooked chicken to it or shrimp and  toasted pita bread you would have a complete meal .

 

 

Another favorite to keep made up in the fridge is good old cottage

cheese.

 

 

add,chopped red onion,

chopped cucumber,

fresh tomato (I don’t mix it in, just chop and add to my bowl,as it will make it runny)

You can add green pepper if you like ,or jalapeños, Mix all together in a bowl and keep in fridge to eat on through out the week. I like to serve it with chopped lettuce in the bottom of the bowl and top with cottage cheese mixture and add tomatoes on the side. It is quick and so refreshing!

Most of the salads you can make up ahead, or all of the components of them and put them together as you need them. Even the hamburger can be cooked ahead and just heat up a portion in the microwave for your salad.

Steve, my DH is performing a wedding this weekend and the  young couple is so nice I wanted to do something special for them. I whipped up a batch of Almond Strawberry Biscotti, put some of my jams and a set of pot holders and dish towels in a basket and gave as a gift.

I love Biscotti and it is really easy to make here is my recipe:

 

Strawberry Almond Biscotti

 

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 fresh strawberries ,chopped fine
1 cup finely chopped almonds
3  cups confectioners' sugar
Combine the flour, eggs, margarine, sugar, vanilla,  and chopped almonds to form a smooth dough. Stir in the chopped strawberries.

Divide dough into 3 equal parts and roll each portion out into a cylindrical log shape. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC).
Place refrigerated rolls of dough onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool then slice into 1/2 inch thick slices. 
Put cookies onto greased baking sheet and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.The cookies are very crisp when done.

 

These are delish with a cup of coffee!! Enjoy!

Stay cool, until next  time!

Lanita

The Canning Adventures Continue!

 

 

Have you ever tried peach salsa?

I think it is really good,It has that sweet hot thing going on! Imagine it on grilled chicken or on pork roast! It was really good just on chips !

It turned out really pretty in the jar.

 

 

The are very few ingredients :

6 cups Peaches and  2 Jalapeños chopped

1 Red onion chopped

 

1 bunch cilantro chopped & 1/2 cup lime juice

2 to 3 Tblsp  honey

 

2 tsp cumin

Salt and pepper. I had some juice from fresh raspberries that I added about 1/4 cup. Combine everything in a medium size pot and bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Then place in prepared pint jars and water bath for 10 minutes. Yum!

 

I canned apples and they are so convenient to have on hand!

  They turned out nice and white in the jar. This year I added fruit fresh and lemon juice! Canned them in a medium syrup. They are ready to use in a pie or with pork for fried apples. I like to use them in a savory way by adding garlic and rosemary red onion ,salt and pepper. It really pairs well with chicken or pork.

One quart will make one apple pie, just make your crust (My favorite is in the prior post) drain apples and put in large bowl add about 1/3 cup flour and some cinnamon if you like and a pinch of salt, 1 tsp vanilla and mix all together and put in pie crust and dot with butter and then top with pie pastry and crimp and put slits in it and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake @ 425* for 40 minutes or until you see the fruit bubble.

I wrap the outer crust with foil before baking and then take it off for the last 15 minutes so the crust does not brown too much.

You could make a apple crumble or a cobbler as well. It really cuts the work in half to make a dessert.

I also made some Black and Blue jam! It was really good! I mixed black berries and blue berries and ran them through a sieve,

It was really kind of a messy job but well worth the effort! Look at that color!

Black and Blue jam

9 cups of berries evenly divided(black berries/blueberries)

run through sieve and and have 3 3/4 cup pulp from berries

6  3/4 cups sugar

1/2 tsp butter

1 pouch liquid pectin

In large stock pot mix berry pulp and sugar together and cook on medium heat until sugar is melted . Add butter and melt . Bring  to boil, so that when stirred it does not stop  bubbling. Add the pectin and cook for 1 minute siring continually.  Take off heat and stir occasionally for 5 minutes. Dip into prepared jelly jars and place 2 piece lids and water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and place on counter to cool and seal. Enjoy!

 

At this point I have canned 28 pints and 21 quarts of green beans!

I am sure well will get at least 2 more pickings off of the bushes.

 

 

Keep cool ! Until next time!

Lanita

Had a Long break and I am Back!

 

 

I have taken a break from blogging ,but I am back!

I have been canning Jams,

  relishes and green beans.

I canned 15 pints and 7 quarts of green beans and that was just the first picking.

The corn is looking good this year and the tomatoes are almost ripe. That means the salsa making and sauces will be coming up! The cilantro is going crazy I have frozen 30 bunches of it and there is more to be harvested. I am going to try my hand at drying my oregano and basil this year, since  my darling daughter and son-in-law got me a dehydrator for my birthday.

We have kept our grandsons for 2 weeks this summer and had a blast!  Always have a good time with them.

Our grandson Ryan reached another milestone of  turning 3 !!!! He has Lissencephaly,http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/lissencephaly/lissencephaly.htm ,So for him to turn three is quite an accomplishment!

He is such a joy, I love that little boy!

My family jokes that we  run a Bed and Breakfast,so this week we have my sister staying at Nana Nita’s B&B. Tonight for dinner I fixed Greek Bistro chicken and Greek orzo salad and for dessert Raspberry cream cheese Crostata ! Yummy I had some pastry in the freezer and some left over raspberries for jam making and I just had this moment of inspiration ! It turned out wonderful.

 

Greek Bistro Chicken

 

4 chicken thighs

juice of one lemon

1 tsp chopped fresh oregano

1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

1 clove of garlic grated

salt & pepper

2 Tblsp  olive oil

Put everything in a galloon sized ziplock bag and let the air out then squeeze all ingredients to coat the chicken well. Let marinate for 3 hours.

Now, I put the chicken in my rotisserie basket and cooked it for approximately 1 hour. If you don’t have a rotisserie then you could grill it or bake it in the oven until crispy.

 

 

 

Greek orzo Salad

 

 

1/2 cup red onion chopped fine

1 small cucumber chopped fine

1/2 cup black olives chopped fine

1 small clove garlic grated

1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese

1 Tblsp chopped fresh oregano

1 tsp rosemary chopped

salt & pepper

Juice of lemon and the zest of half of it

olive oil

 

Cook about 1 1/2 cups of orzo according to directions   then drain.

In bowl put in the lemon juice and zest, stir in olive oil to make dressing ,just enough to make an emulsion.

Add remaining ingredients and stir and the taste for salt .

You may add tomatoes if you like but I don’t like to because it will not keep as long . It will get  a little soggy.

 

 

 

Raspberry Cream cheese Crostata

 

Pastry for one pie (recipe for pastry at the end)

1 8 oz cream cheese softened

whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla or almond extract

2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen) If frozen thaw and drain,If fresh mash and drain

1/2 cup strawberries chopped

1/3 cup almonds sliced

sugar

1 egg white beaten

preheat oven to 425*

Roll crust out in a circle and place on  parchment covered cookie sheet

( here is my trick on how to get pastry from counter to pie plate or cookie sheet)

 

Place rolling pin at the top of rolled pastry,

Then roll pastry up on to rolling pin,

after you get the pastry rolled onto the pin you then can pick up the pin and move it to where you need it.

In stand mixer whip cream cheese and slowly add cream until you get a (not runny) creamy texture , add flavoring of your choice,add sugar until you get it to your desired sweetness.

In small bowl put drained raspberries and strawberries and taste for sweetness add sugar accordingly .

In the center of the pastry spread out the cream cheese mixture and leave a 2 inch ring on the outside edge.

On top of cream cheese spread the fruit and then sprinkle with some of the almonds. Fold crust up an over fruit and cream cheese,you may have to kind of pleat it around to have it be a circle around it. Brush crust with egg white and sprinkle with sugar and remaining almonds. Bake in preheated oven  for 25 minutes or until bubbly .

This was divine!!!!

You could substitute blueberries or any other berries and it would be just as good!

 

Pie crust recipe (makes for a two crust pie)

12 Tblsp (1 1/2 ) sticks very cold butter(cubed)

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp kosher salt

1 Tblsp sugar

1/3 cup very cold shortening

6 to 8 Tblsp ice water

 

Put flour,salt sugar in bowl of large food processor and pulse to mix. Add cubed butter and shortening and pulse until it resembles peas. With machine running slowly pour in water in the tube until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on floured surface and roll in to a ball and cut in half. Flatten both out to disks and wrap separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. You may freeze at this point and use as needed.

Well I Finally Made Them!

 

I had been putting it off, I don’t know why. I researched and found a good recipe . I read all of the comments on it and took all of that into consideration, then procrastinated about making them. The task seemed daunting ,I don’t know why. But I finally made the English Muffins Steve had been craving.

They are good, they are tasty, they are time consuming. I’m glad I have had this experience.  I might make them again….or not.

 

 

English Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup Buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1/4 cup melted shortening
• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in 1/2 of the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast,baking soda and the other 1/2 sugar  in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast mixture, shortening and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add salt and rest of flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise.
3. Punch down. Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick.
4. 
5. Cut rounds with biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or empty tuna can . Put some cornmeal on a plate and gently rub muffin on each side in cornmeal. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.
6. Heat greased griddle.
7. 
8. Cook muffins on griddle about 10 minutes on each side on medium heat.
9. 
10. Keep baked muffins in a warm oven until all have been cooked. Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage. To use, split with a  fork and toast. Don’t cut with a knife, it will mess up the nooks and crannies.
11. Great with orange butter, or cream cheese and jam.
12. 
13. They were really good toasted and buttered! Crispy and crunchy!
14. 

My notes on this recipe….

I grilled them on each side until I had them the desired color and then put them in a 350* oven for 8 minutes each side. I read several comment on this and most people said that this worked better than doing them on the griddle the whole time, so that you did not have to monitor them the whole time. They don’t have a lot of nooks and crannies, but they had some.  I don’t think I rolled the dough out quite thin enough,so they were a little thick, heavy. If I had rolled them out more I think they would have had a better texture.

 

Well until next time…. I’m thinking about Pita Bread…..

we’ll  see!

I Found It!

 

 

Last year I found a fabulous noodle recipe, and then I lost it! Don’t you just hate that!!! Those noodles were tender, flavorful and easy to make. I found another recipe not long ago and I made some chicken noodle soup with them , well suffice it to say they were not good. They were rubbery,somewhat tuff and they ruined my soup!! So I started out on a quest to find the perfect noodle recipe. I have done the hard work for you, so here it is.

 

 

The Perfect Noodle

 

2 eggs

3 Tbsp butter melted and cooled

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 cup  flour

1 tsp salt

(You could add pepper or herbs)

 

In bowl, mix eggs,butter,whisking well, add all other ingredients and stir together until soft dough forms.

Dust counter with flour and gently knead until smooth (DO NOT over work dough)

Divide dough ball into 3rds and cover the dough you are not working with a damp towel.

Roll one ball of dough out to 1/8 thickness

Then slice noodles into thin strips,

What is that cool tool? It is a herb cutter, but I do not use it for that. The blades are spaced just perfect for noodles and pasta! Separate the noodles and put them on a cookies sheet and let them set and dry out some . Repeat with remaining dough.

You can make these in advance and dry them or you could freeze them to have on hand.

When ready to use put big pot of water on to boil and put noodles in,stir gently to separate but don’t break them up.

It does not take but maybe 5 minutes for them to cook, check to see if they are tender. Drain in strainer.

So simple so easy!  The possibility of these are endless,add a bit of butter and sprinkle with herbs  and eat as is or  put in soup….You can’t go wrong!

I made chuck steak and cooked in the slow cooker and served over the noodles like stroganoff! Yummy!

Here is the recipe for Steak:

 

Chuck Steak and Mushroom Gravy

 

4 pieces of chuck steak

2 cloves garlic (chopped)

1 to 2 cups sliced mushrooms (how much do you like mushrooms?)

1/4 cup flour

2 Tbsp olive oil

salt ,pepper

1 can Beefy mushroom soup

1/2 can of water

1/4 C  Sour Cream (optional)

In large skillet put olive oil and heat over medium heat.

Salt and pepper steak on both sides and dredge in flour on both sides. Place steak in skillet and brown on both sides.

Put meat in slow cooker

And sauté mushrooms and garlic  in same skillet as you browed the  meat adding more oil if needed.

Place  mushrooms on top of meat and pour soup over   top of meat. Using the soup can,fill about 1/2 full and deglaze pan getting all the bits and pieces and pour over everything. Cover and cook for 4 hours on low. When done with fork break up meat into pieces. If desired at this point you may stir in Sour Cream. I did not, but it would have been heavenly. We are trying to cut back on the fat a bit so I left it out.

 

 

I made scones for breakfast this morning,I love scones.  Like the noodles, I went on a quest for the The Best scone recipe. I had a raspberry scone at Starbucks one day and thought, man I need to learn how to make these! What I learned was that all scone recipes are not equal! It is hard work  but some one had to do it. So after much flour and many trials and ten pounds…. This is the Best scone recipe, I can say that because it is the name of the recipe!

So here my friends is the fruits of my labor… I do it for you!

 

The Best Scones

 

2 1/4 C flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp sugar (plus extra for sprinkling on top)

1 Tbsp orange peel or lemon

1/2 Real butter cold (cut up small)

1 C fruit ( Blue berries,strawberries,raspberries,raisins,cranberries* see note)

1 C plain yogurt

1 Tbsp milk

In food processor place first 7 ingredients ,(*You will notice in this picture I put my dried cranberries in with the flour ,I did this because I find that the cranberries are a bit big when not chopped up some so ,I let the food processor do the work for me.) Pluse until it has a crumbled texture. Put in yogurt (This morning I used Vanilla yogurt because I accidentally picked it up rather than plain. I added a bit more vanilla to the mix and yum!  ) You will want to be very careful at this point not to over work your dough so on pulse ,do it just until dough comes together.

It will be a little sticky .

Flour your surface,

turn out dough,if you want to add fruit do it now . Just kind of pat dough out and put fruit on top and fold over a couple of times to incorporate it in, Then roll out to a disk,

about 1/2 inch thick,cut into triangles And place on parchment lined cookie sheet. Preheat your oven to 425*

Brush with milk ( I have used orange juice ) and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. These are so light and fluffy but delicately crunchy on top. A perfect complement to a cup of coffee or a cup of tea.

I only baked half of the recipe, I flash froze the other 6 and put in Zip lock bag.   You can defrost and bake as directed . These are great to have in the freezer for snacks or when you find yourself with unexpected company.  I love These combinations,Blueberry and lemon,Orange and Cranberry topped with cinnamon and sugar, Raspberry and lemon. The possibilities are endless! Tell me your favorite combinations!

 

And finally my Sarah~Noelle Came today! You don’t know what that is? Well check out  my friend Joni Horn’s website out to find out!   Sarah~Noelle

The best  all natural skin care products!

Well until next time…. Maybe Steve will get lucky and I’ll tackle those English Muffins he asked for??