Sunday, March 10, 2013

Salsa Amigo!

When I bought strawberries to make jam, I also got a big ole honkin' bag of tomatoes, 3 jalapeƱos, a bunch of cilantro and a big sweet onion.  I didn't follow a recipe, just dipped the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds and then an ice water bath to peel them.  Next, I cored and squeezed out the seeds and chopped them up. Chopped the onion and cored and seeded the peppers before chopping them pretty fine. I cut up the whole bunch of cilantro with some kitchen shears.  It didn't seem tomatoey enough so I stirred in two small cans of tomato paste, a cup or two of water, and about a half cup of vinegar.

Once hot, I filled the hot jars (they were in the canner pot) and once lidded - back into the hot water to boil for 15 minutes. Slosh in a couple of ounces of vinegar to keep the exterior of the jars from clouding.  Oh the satisfying pop-pop-pop when the jars start to cool and seal.  Seven pints is almost a gallon...Looking good!

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Runny Jam/Preserves Fix



Every now and then, perfectly followed directions end up being a runny failure instead of set jam.  It may be the humidity, but there is just no rhyme or reason.  This may never happen to you, but if it does, here's the fix:
You can redo up to 8 cups of runny jam at a time. The portions are PER CUP of runny jam.  FYI - a 1.75 oz box of pectin measures out to 6 teaspoons.
1 tablespoon water, 1 1/2 teaspoon powdered pectin, mix and bring to a boil.
Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 cup of jam and bring to a boil over high heat while stirring constantly. Boil 1/2 minute. Skim any foam, fill your jars and reprocess.
I did 8 cups, so I used the following proportions: 8 tablespoons of water, 12 teaspoons of pectin, 16 tablespoons sugar. 
It was a pain in the neck, opening all those perfectly sealed jars and (sigh) dumping jam back into the pot, then washing and reheating all the jars.  I had to buy new lids, as the seals are a one-time thing. And I had to buy four more packets of Sure Jell.  NOW my jam is perfect.  It was so good syrupy, I kept a couple of half pint jars to use as pancake or ice cream syrup.  Yummy!

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Strawberry Preserves

Plant City (near Tampa) is the strawberry growing mecca of Florida and the fruit is at their peak in early March.  Yesterday I got the great news that our house is under contract and we will be moving to Jacksonville and away from Apopka in Central Florida with the most wonderful fruit stand on earth, Maters & Taters Produce, who always gets hundreds of flats of Plant City Goodness.  Here is their FaceBook page.

I watched this video by Bobby Hughes with HP Firearms on how to make and can strawberry preserves.
It is exactly the recipe I was looking for!  For those of you that don't want to watch a 20 minute video, Pioneer Woman has a two-part instructional, but I prefer Bobby's recipe (add PW's pat of butter though). I hull my fruit with a knife, but I prefer to do PW's style of mashing the strawberries with a potato masher, but not as finely) instead of Bobby's cutting into chunks, which seems too much like work to me.
Pioneer Part I - Making strawberry jam/preserves and Pioneer Part II - canning
10 cups diced or mashed strawberries (4 lbs)
9 3/4 cups sugar (4 lbs)
9 T Ball brand pectin (1/2 C + 1 T)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 T butter
3/8 cup water (that's 1/4 C + a half of 1/4 C)
12 half-pint jars, lids, bands
1 Canning pot of water
2 T vinegar

  • Start heating canning pot of water with 12 half pint jars standing upright and with just enough to cover the rims of the jars.  Bring to almost a boil while you make the preserves.
  • Put strawberries in a large pot with heat on 6 (medium).
  • Add: water, lemon juice, and pectin (half at a time, stirring it in well)
  • Add a pat of butter so you won't end up with a big pile of foam.
  • Bring heat up to 8 to boil.  
  • Reduce heat  to 6 and slowly stir in the sugar.  It will start to thicken and darken.
  • Take heat back to 8 and stir every 30 seconds or so to keep sugar from sticking to bottom of pot.
  • Bring to a boil and boil hard for 1 minute.
  • Remove from heat and stir for 3 minutes, then let it rest
  • Skim off foam with a teaspoon. (It's great on toast!)
  • Pour a jar of boiling water over lids and rims.
  • Reduce water heat and remove half of the jars to a towel near the stove.
  • Add 2 T vinegar to the water so the jars won't come out cloudy.
  • Ladle strawberry and juice into the jars, leaving 1/4 to 1/2 inch headroom
  • Clean jar rims well (sticky strawberry juice will prohibit the lids from sealing).
  • Place lids and finger tighten (snug but not tight) bands
  • Put the filled jars in the hot water and remove the empties to fill. Once you have all twelve lidded jars in the water, it should just cover the tops by just under an inch of water
  • Bring heat back up to 7-8 so the water will boil.
  • Once the water is at a continuous rolling boil, set your kitchen timer for 10 minutes 
  • Remove from heat and set timer for 5 minutes of "sitting in the water to calm down" time.
  • Finally, gently and upright, move jars to a towel to sit overnight to cool.  After a few minutes of cooling, you should hear the pop-pop-pop of lids sucking in (sealing).  Listen for 12.  You can test the tops by pressing a (cooled jar) lid in the middle and if it pops back, it didn't seal.  Those jars should go in the fridge (and gifted to friends) to be used first.  The rest can sit on a pantry shelf for up to five years, but in reality, they won't last that long!
One flat of strawberries and five pounds of sugar produced just over 10 pints (20 cups) of jam.
My house smells delicious!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

AWESOME STRAWBERRY BUTTER-CREAM FROSTING




3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, a bit cooler than room temp. (not mushy)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sweetened sliced strawberries, thawed and drained pretty well
  • Chop strawberries in small food processor until pureed.  I don't have a processor so I mashed mine up with the back of a fork until they were in really tiny pieces.  Mine was not watery, but I didn't do anything to dry it either.  Set aside
  • Beat butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners' sugar; beat until well combined and looks like thick icing. Add vanilla and the strawberry puree,  and mix on med or low.  They say not to over-mix or frosting will incorporate too much air, but I don't see a problem with that at all!
  • Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.  It comes out pale pink with wonderful little red strawberry bits throughout.

I baked a box cake mix, strawberry of course, and topped with this icing.  It was just enough for a double layer 8" cake.  This is a birthday gift for my son's new mother-in-law, Sweet Miss Lori.   I didn't get a piece, but a taste of the icing verified what I already knew - - YUM YUM YUM !

Search This Blog

Search Labels

15 bean soup almond milk apple waldorf salad Aunt Louise's Lemon Supreme Cake avocado avocado smoothie baking list banana bread banana cake bbq chicken bbq pork ribs bbq short ribs bean soup beans and rice beef Beef fajita on rice beef ribs Beef Shank beef shanks and eggplant beef short ribs in pressure cooker beef stew beef stew kale mushr barley bell peppers beverage BISCUITS black Black and White Chili black-eyed peas and rice blueberry blueberry basil vinegar blueberry citrus concerve blueberry-strawberry jam bok choy bratwurst/chicken breakfast breakfast bar breakfast hot egg breakfast simple brocolli cheese soup brown sugar & pecan pound cake browned burgers browned butter frosting browned butter icing Brownie Mania buffalo chicken wings burgers butter melt away cookies Butternut Squash Soup cabbage and sausage Cabbage and Straw Italiano cabbage boil cake Candy canning canning salsa canning strawberry preserves caramel cake carnival food carrot cake casserole cast iron cookware cauliflower mac n cheese cereal cheesecake cheesy hash brown chili cherry blueberry dump cherry cream cheese bake cherry pie chicken chicken baked chicken bbq chicken breasts chicken brown rice tomato corn chicken cheddar ritz chicken cordon bleu chicken creole chicken fajitas chicken fettucini alfredo chicken hen bake chicken in the pressure cooker chicken kiev chicken leggies chicken parm chicken pot pie from Costco chicken stuffing bake chicken/brat chili chocolate chocolate cake chocolate cocoa icing chopped steak chowder Christmas Christmas 2013 baking list Christmas Baking christmas cookies Christmas Crack collard greens Cookie Icing cookies cooking lesson - baked chicken corned beef and cabbage Costco Meal cream cheese pound cake crock pot datil pepper sauce. crock pot turkey crockpot bean soup crockpot curry chicken stew crockpot sizes curry stew with root vegetables and chicken datil pepper datil pepper jelly datil pepper sauce datil recipes Del Frisco's steak desserts deviled eggs deviled eggs colored Diet dill pickles dump cake Easter Dinner egg egg yolk removal eggplant eggplant parmesan eggs steamed to hard boiled failure Failures fair food fair sausages fast meal father's day pound cake fettuccine fifteen bean soup fish fix and freeze chicken fix syrupy jam flank steak with tomato and onion freezer meals frosting garlic dill pickles ginger ale carrots gingerbread men greens grilled pork chops Ham ham dinner hamburger hamburger hashbrown casserole hamburger patties hamburger patties with gravy hamburgers and hot dogs heart attack chicken heart attack chicken 2 honey garlic chicken hot dogs hummingbird cake ice cream ice cream - cinnamon ice cream - peach icing italian sausage Italian Wedding Soup Italian Wedding Soup with kale jam failure repair kale kettle cork Key Lime Pie kosher greens lantana in a pot laundry detergent leftovers lemon supreme cake lemons lima beans limoncello limoncello simple syrup liquer lonely roast beef low carb blueberry omlette low carb creamed shrimp and veggies low carb popsicles low carb snack drink low carb soup mac n cheese n cauliflower macaroni and cheese margaritas mayonnaisse meals meatballs meatballs in gravy meatloaf with salsa Mennonite Girls Can Cook menu list menu monday 2-8-10 mexican Mexican Chicken Mexican restaurant MnM Cookies molasses cookies moose poop Mother's Day mushburger soup mushel-burgers My Fridge Food navy bean soup in crockpot oatmeal breakfast bar oatmeal cookies okra onion pepper sausages orange baked chicken oreo brownie bar oriental oven baked chicken fajitas Paleo Pancakes pasta pasta puttanesce pasta puttanesce mushrooms pb and cocoa and coffee drink peach butter peach cobbler peaches peanut butter Peanut Butter/Flax/Oatmeal Protein Balls Perkin's pickled peaches pickles pie pie cherry pineapple upside down cake polynesian pot roast popcorn pork pork chops pork chops and corn flakes pork neckbones and gravy pork purlo pork ribs pork roast pork roast in the crock pot Pot Roast pound cake pressure cooker beef short ribs pressure cooker pork pot prostitute meal Pumpkin bake Pumpkin Ice Cream pumpkin latte coffee creamer quinoa quinoa veggie salad ratatouille veg dish raw cow's milk re-canning syrupy jam recipe finder red refrigerator cookie Ribs ribs and organics ribs in pressure cooker ribs/steak roast beef in a pot roll and cut out cookies salad Salmon Salad salsa Sangria sausage sausage chowder sausage spaghetti sausages scalloped potatoes seafood separate egg yolk shake shepherd's turkey pie short ribs short ribs of beef shrimp shrimp farfalle calabrese skateland pickles sketti slow cooker chicken smoked meats soup sour cream pound cake southern pound cake spaghetti spaghetti meat free spinach phyllo spinach swiss quiche spritz cookies squash steak stew strawberry cake and icing strawberry cheesecake strawberry frosting strawberry jam strawberry preserves strawberry-banana jam stuffed bel peppers stuffed pork chops sugar cookie superbowl 2012 superbowl steak sushi swedish almond slices sweet taco pasta tandoori thai grilled eggplant Thanksgiving. tilapia Toffee tortollini with spinach trifle turkey dinner turkey greens turkey wings twice-toasted toast Uncle RP's London Broil Uncle RP's London Broil Marinade Veg-All Casserole vegetable vegetable soup vegetables veggie mac n cheese wedding cookies weekly menu white chili winter soup yolk removal