Peppermint bark

On the fifth day of Christmas my kitchen gave to me, peppermint bark!
I have a confession to make: I've never made peppermint bark...until last week.  Maybe it was because I end up eating too much of it at other people's house, maybe its because I'm scared of melting white chocolate, or maybe its because I usually don't have time for experimenting around Christmas time.
Well this year peppermint bark and I never met each other at other people's house. White chocolate turned out to be a disaster until I researched how to properly melt it, and well, I felt like experimenting.
Warning: If you have already made peppermint bark, you can stop reading.

1) Melt one bag of dark chocolate chips in a double boiler.  Note: you can also add peppermint extract at this time for a stronger flavor.

2) Spread out onto wax paper.

Note: When melting white chocolate, be careful to not heat the water in the double boiler too much or else

 

 

3) Carefully melt one bag of white chocolate chips in a double boiler.

4) Spread out the melted white chocolate over the dark chocolate.

5) Crush up a couple of candy canes and spread over white chocolate.

  Allow to cool completely, break apart, and enjoy!

Cranberry Sauce

On the fourth day of Christmas my kitchen gave to me, Homemade Cranberry Sauce!

A while back I went to Costco and I saw a 3lb bag of cranberries for pennies.  Since I'm addicted to canning I bought two bags and came home ready to conquer the world (well, the cranberries that is).  I had never made cranberry sauce but it seemed simple enough, and in the end I concluded that it was way easier than the Hot Pepper Jelly and requires no pectin!
Cranberry Sauce

1) Wash cranberries.  Discard the unripe cranberries (they will be almost completely white in color).

2) Put the 48oz of washed cranberries in a pot and add: 4 cups of sugar, 4 cups of orange juice (you could use water too), a splash of rum.

It should look something like this when the sauce is done.

3) Cook until the cranberries start to pop (about 10 min)! Note: you can cook longer and blend up the cranberries to remove chunks if that is what you prefer.

4) Pour cranberry sauce into jars, clean the rim of the jar to insure proper sealing, add lid and ring, and process in a boiling water bath.  If using pint size jars, precess for 15min.  If using quart size jars, process for 20min.  If you're above 1,000 ft, add 5 min.
5) Remove from boiling water and allow to cool.

Note: 4 cups of sugar made the cranberry sauce sweet enough to add to a muffin recipe, scone recipe, or to a turkey sandwich after thanksgiving.  However, it still had a very tart flavor to it so if you're the type to eat it by itself in large quantities, I would advise you to add a little more sugar.

Jalapeno Jelly

On the 3rd day of Christmas my kitchen gave to me, Jalapeno Jelly!
Since I'm on a canning kick, I'd thought I'd share about a great appetizer made from all the different kinds of peppers that I had in my garden.  For those of you who don't know, I have a secret garden that explodes with all sorts of goodies throughout the summer.  However, my peppers this year decided to continue growing well into November.  As my sister and I were trying to decide what to do with all these peppers at various stages of hotness/ripeness, we decided to make Jalapeno Jelly (well, Hot Pepper Jelly since we didn't actually have any Jalapenos).  We didn't really follow any recipe, but more like mixed a couple of recipes together and used past canning experience to make something that turned out delicious!
Warning: This was actually very easy (at least compared to the Orange Marmalade)
Hot Pepper Jelly
1) Gather all the peppers (jalapenos, Anaheim chilies, bell peppers, etc).  Wash, cut open to remove all the seeds and what not, and place in a blender.  The goal is to get about 4 cups of pepper (blended) and 1 cup of either apple cider vinegar or lemon juice (I used a half cup of each).
Note: Since its hard to tell how many whole peppers will blend down to 4 cups, I started out with a blender full of peppers and 1/2 cup of liquid.  There is probably a more scientific way to do it but I'm not a scientist. 
2) Mix together 1 box of pectin (plus a little more since my jams/jellies have a mind of their own) and 1/2 cup of sugar.
3) Cook together: 4 cups pepper mush (which should be 5 cups since there should be 1 cup of either lemon juice or apple cider vinegar already in it), 4 cups of sugar, and a pinch of salt.
4) Simmer for 10min.
5) Add sugar/pectin mixture and bring to a rolling boil for 1 minute.
6) Pour into sanitized jars, screw on lids and place in a boiling water bath, and boil for 10 minutes.
7) Remove from water and let allow to cool.
Serve pepper jelly over a block of cream cheese with a side of crackers, spread onto a sandwich, or give away as Christmas presents, birthday presents, or as a hostess gift.

Orange Marmalade

On the second day of Christmas my kitchen gave to me, Orange Marmalade!
I love canning! I love collecting empty jars and having them fill up my husband's garage.  I love finding people who have too much fruit on their trees and would love to get rid of some.  I love tasting the delicious liquid before it has been canned.  I love the "POP" sound that the jars get when they seal.  And I love the look on people's faces when I give them a jar of gold when they were least expecting it.

Recently, I was graciously given several bags of oranges (just in time for Christmas).  Since I love canning, my first (and only) thought was to make orange marmalade.  I was told it was easy.  I was told that its like canning any other thing. And I was lied to.  It is not easy when you need to make 8 batches of marmalade (totally 50 jars-some 8oz, some 16oz) to use all the oranges.  It is not easy when you have a tiny little cut on your finger which stings all day long from the oranges and lemons.  Its not easy when the sticky orange mess gets cooked on your stove and it takes 3 hours to get it off.  Its not easy when you follow the recipe and it doesn't gel, thus requiring you to open all the jars to add more pectin and then sealing them all over again.  However, after tasting the homemade orange marmalade it was all worth it.

Orange Marmalade (yield 7-8 16oz jars):
-4 C. chopped oranges
-1 1/2 C. chopped lemons
-4 C. water or orange juice-divided (I did 2 C. of each)
-1/8 tsp. baking soda
-4 C. sugar
-1 box low-sugar pectin (plus a little more if you want to save yourself the trouble of another day to re-can everything)
-jar grabber
-mid-sized pot for cooking the orange marmalade
-BIG pot for canning your jars (I don't have a special caner or anything, a big pot works just fine)

-Before preparing fruit, put clean jars in the dishwasher on a sanitize cycle (or you can boil your jars if you don't have a dishwasher).  Start boiling water in a big pot so it is ready when you're ready.
-Using a peeler, peel just the orange part off the orange (white equals bitter), chop and place in pot with 2 cups of water (or orange juice) and baking soda.  Bring to a boil, cover it, and let simmer for 20min.
-In the meantime, discard the outer white part and the middle white part of the oranges and chop them up until you have 4 cups.  Peel and chop lemons as well (discarding as much of the white part as possible) until you have 1 1/2 cups.  Note: Be careful to save all the precious juice as you are chopping everything up.

-In a bowl, mix 1/2 cup of sugar and the pectin together. Then add the chopped oranges (with any juice that tried escaping), the chopped lemons (with any juice that tried escaping), and the remaining 2 cups of water (or orange juice).
-When the pot of peels are done simmering, add the fruit/pectin mixture to the pot and bring to a boil for 10min.
-After 10min, add the remaining 3 1/2 cups of sugar.  Bring it to a full hard boil, and boil for 1min.
-Take the hot, sterilized jars out of the dishwasher or boiling water and fill with orange marmalade until it is 1/4 inch from the top.  Using a clean damp towel or paper towel, clean off the top of the jars.  Apply flat lid and ring (tighten lightly), and place in pot of boiling water.  Make sure that there is 2 inches of water covering the tops of the jars.  Boil for 15 minutes.

-Now comes the fun part:  Remove from boiling water and set on a towel to cool.  Let a smile creep onto your face every time you hear a "POP" (although, don't sit around and wait for it because sometimes it can take several hours).

Variations I did:
-added some cinnamon (before boiling it for 10min)
-added some vanilla bean (before boiling it for 10min)
-left out the peel to make it less bitter (skipped the peel part but still made sure to add a total of 4 cups of water (or orange juice)


Fixing your Orange Marmalade if it is too runny:
Note: don't fix more than 4 quarts (or 8 pints) at a time
Things you'll need (for 4 quarts):
1 cup sugar
6 Tbsp.  powdered, low sugar pectin
1 cup white grape juice
1/2 cup bottled lemon juice and bring to a boil.
new flat lids (the jars and rings can be washed and reused)
-Mix the sugar, pectin, white grape juice and lemon juice in a pot and bring to a boil (be careful not to let it burn)
-Add the runny marmalade and bring to a full hard boil for 1min.
-Fill clean, sterilized jars, wipe off jar with clean towel, place new flat lid, screw on ring, and boil in a pot of water for 15min.
-Remove from water and listen for the "POP"

Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

On the first day of Christmas my kitchen gave to me, Raspberry Thumbprint cookies!

One of my favorite Christmas cookies are these Raspberry Thumbprint cookies.  They are easy to make, look pretty, and can be very addicting.

Whip or Blend:
3/4 C. unsalted butter (softened)
2/3 C. white sugar (plus more for rolling)
Add:
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
Then add:
1 3/4 C. white flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cookie sheets with either silicone mats or parchment paper.
Make 1 inch balls from dough and roll in sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet.  Press a thumbprint into the center of each ball and fill with a little raspberry jam (or whatever kind of jam that suits your fancy).
Bake cookies until the edges are slightly golden (about 15min.)  Remove from oven but allow to cool on cookie sheets to avoid breakage.
Enjoy!

Cheesy Potato Soup and Dinner Rolls

When trying to think of what to write for my first post, I got a little overwhelmed. Should I post about the amazing sour dough pizza I just made? The jalapeno jelly that had no jalapenos but instead every other kind of pepper that was in my garden? Or the sourdough crackers that taste like cheese-its? Or the Kombucha I'm planning on bottling when I have a moment of free time? Or the orange marmalade that finally turned out to be a success? And I could go on and on. Instead I'll tell you what I made last night for dinner. 
 Sundays are usually my days to take a break from the kitchen. However, when you have company for dinner, you're forced to cook.  Creamy potato soup and rolls are the easiest thing I could think of so here are the recipes

Dinner Rolls: this recipe is actually the Pioneer Woman cinnamon roll recipe made into dinner rolls (I know, I'm super creative).  I just followed the recipe until I had a big lump of workable dough.  Formed a bunch of dough balls and placed them in the pans.  Since I was running out of time, I let them rise in the oven while the oven was heating up to 375.  When the were almost done (maybe 20min but I never use a timer in the kitchen so who knows exactly how long they cooked), I brushed a little oil over the top (you can use butter or whatever).  Let them cook another 5 min, take them out, and serve.  


Here is the Cheesy Potato Soup recipe (serves 6-8): 
1 onion (chopped)
couple of cloves of garlic (chopped)
some chopped celery (as much or as little as you'd like)
4 carrots (chopped)
6 potatoes (peeled and chopped)
Simmer above ingredients with about 3 cups of water until potatoes and carrots are soft.
Add 2 C. milk, 2 TBSP of Better than Bouillon, and salt and pepper to taste (I also ended up adding some garlic garni).  Bring to a soft boil.
Take another cup of milk and mix 3 TBSP of flour into the milk until there are no lumps.  Then add to soup.
Cook until slightly thickened.  Turn off heat and add 2/3 C. Greek Yogurt and 1 C. of grated cheese (I used a little sharp cheddar and Romano).
Enjoy!

Hey Everyone!

Welcome to my blog. Can you believe it!?! I finally have my very own blog after so many people have been bugging me about starting one. My hope is to keep people up to date on the trials and errors of what happens in my kitchen, craft room, garage, and garden.
Wish me luck!