It's Raspberry Time!

Our raspberry patch on the farm is on strong right now. I suit up in long pants and a long sleeve shirt every third day or so to walk among the bramble and pick ripe berries.

My dog, Harvey, usually likes to stop by for visits while I'm picking- he loves to eat fresh raspberries! He has figured out that the red ones are the ripe ones and will walk along and snack on them right off the cane... 

when he's not getting them from me, that is! 

Raspberries are, of course, delicious eaten plan or on cereal or with ice cream. I've also been trying to incorporate them into some cooking. One evening I made a delicious salad inspired by THIS ONE from Cooking Light Magazine.  It's called "Grilled Balsamic Chicken Chicken Salad with Spiced Pecans." I changed the recipe by marinating the chicken breasts in raspberry vinaigrette and some fresh berries, then grilling them. I served it on a bed of fresh greens from our garden, rather than arugula. I did use the spiced pecans the recipe called for. I also added fresh raspberries and feta crumbles to the finished salad. We just used more raspberry vinaigrette rather than mixing up the dressing that the recipe called for, too. End result was really good! Jeff and I both really liked it. 

Raspberries are delicious showcased in baked goods, too. Carol made a raspberry jello pie in a graham cracker crust that we all enjoyed. I made lemon pound cake and threw some berries in the batter before baking. I also made a traditional raspberry pie...

 The recipe is from Jenna Weber, who used to host a lovely blog called Eat, Live, Run. I found her recipe for raspberry pie on the PBS website (via Pinterest). It was the perfect recipe and a fitting showcase for raspberries! Here's a link to the recipe I used: FRESH RASPBERRY PIE.

 The crust was exactly how a pie crust should be. If you're a pie baker, you likely have a preference as to the ratio of butter to shortening-- this one was all shortening, but I used butter flavored shortening, which seemed like a nice compromise. I loved how this crust turned out! Might become my new go-to crust.

The filling recipe was great, too. Fairly simple- just berries, sugar, lemon juice, and a bit of cornstarch to thicken. Again, the end result was lovely. I was happy that the filling wasn't runny but the sugar and cornstarch didn't overpower the raspberry flavor. Definitely a winner. I have been trying to practice my pie baking over the last few years and I feel like this one was a home run, so I'm happy! Credit the good recipe from Jenna!

Plus, the berries were picked the morning I made the pie. From on the plant to in the pie in only a few hours. Can't beat the freshness and use of local ingredients here on the farm! Delish!

What are your favorite ways to eat, cook, or bake with raspberries? Let me know if there's something I should try!

The Peach Post!

Today it's raining and we're neeeevvveerrr going to be done with harvest, it seems, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to post about my peachy endeavors of late. :)  WARNING: THIS POST IS PEACH-PACKED, AND IS VERY LENGTHY. IT MAY INDUCE SUDDEN CRAVINGS FOR ALL THINGS PEACH! Read with caution!

Who loves peaches out there!?

It is totally peach season right now and I am loving it! And to think I went most of my life without knowing I liked peaches at all?! Now, it's probably my favorite summer fruit. There's really almost nothing better than a fresh peach, perfectly ripe. Tastes like summer and sunshine. Can't beat it.

This love of peaches inspired me to purchase a case of the sunny golden fruit in my last Bountiful Baskets order. I've been working my way through eating, cooking with, and preserving them ever since! Read all about how I've been putting my peaches to use! Oh, and just try not to start humming that song by the Presidents of the United States of America as you read this!

What?! You don't know that song? You haven't seen the video? Lucky you...

Pretty delightful, right?

I was not attacked by ninjas at any point in my peachy adventures, but they're not gone yet, so there's still time! I'll have to re-watch the video to pick up some of the Presidents' defense techniques.

Anyway... moving on.

Peach Pie 
The very first thing I did the day I brought the peaches home was make a peach pie. Lattice-top peach pie has become a once-a-year tradition for me during peach season. Last year, I had Stennie here to help and give me plenty of much-needed pie making tips. We referred to a giant cookbook I have called The New Best Recipe, from the editors of Cooks Illustrated, for that pie and many other baking endeavors. This cookbook is always right and is loaded with tips and information. We came to lovingly call it The Cooking Bible. This year, I wanted to try something different. I found a different crust recipe to use and then researched online for a filling recipe that I thought would do great. Here's how it turned out:

Lattice top peach pie.

This was the first use of the peaches from my case and to be honest, they were underripe at this point. This was a blessing in that it made them very easy to peel with a standard vegetable peeler, but not as good for cooking uses because they weren't as sweet yet. The filling recipe did not use as much sugar as other recipes, so the filling in this pie was not as sweet as one may have liked. It also didn't thicken at all. The crust was great, though. I was really happy with how the crust turned out and I'd definitely use that recipe again. All in all, it was a peach pie. I mean, come on, it would have to be pretty bad to not be excellent, right? Next time, I may refer back to The Cooking Bible for the filling recipe, though. ;)

Fiery Peach Salsa
While my peaches were still underripe, I thought it would be a good time to put them through the slice, dice, and cooking process of canning them into a salsa. I have made and canned peach salsa before, but I was ready to try a new recipe. I found one in one of my many canning books, this time from Southern Living's book Little Jars, Big Flavors. I knew for peaches, trusting a southern cookbook would be a great start! I used the recipe called "Fiery Peach Salsa," only I had to adapt it just a tad because I didn't have any habaneros on hand. I just used more jalapenos. This recipe was really easy and didn't take a ton of ingredients- pretty much just peaches, peppers, onion, and cider vinegar plus a few other things. I did all my dicing before leaving for work in the morning, then when I got home, I was ready to can. Super simple.

Cooking down the peach salsa a bit before packing it into jars.

 I had a bit left over that didn't fit in a jar, so I enjoyed it with some chips as an afternoon snack. Like many canned salsa recipes, you can taste the cider vinegar and the acidity, but it wasn't bad. It was actually not spicy at all. As a sidenote, I think jalapenos are becoming less spicy all the time. I used four in this recipe and I'd classify it even less spicy than "mild." This would be a really great marinade for fish, chicken, or pork!

Peachy pepper salsa- finished product in half-pint jars!

Peach Bellini Dessert Sauce
Next up, another canning recipe. Again, this one was SUPER easy. Just peel and dice up a whole bunch of peaches and add some lemon zest, lemon juice, and... CHAMPAGNE! Then, just cook it down for a while, and process in hot water bath. I didn't know if I'd even get that far because I kept having visions of dunking my head into the simmering peach reduction--the smell was soooooo good! Jeff and I opened a jar that very night and had some on our ice cream. Delicious! It also made an appearance the next morning with my yogurt for breakfast, and at lunch time on buscuits and... This stuff is the best! Summer in a jar.

Top: Simmering the peaches.
Bottom: After they've cooked down, just prior to filling jars.

Peach Bellini Dessert Sauce- finished product. YUM!

Whiskey-Peach Upside Down Skillet Cake
It was time for another baked peach treat! After a Pinterest search for "peach cake," I found several recipes I ended up combining to make what I'm calling Whiskey-Peach Upside Down Skillet Cake. This may have been one of the most delicious dessert items I've ever made. It turned out absolutely perfect. I think I could have eaten the entire thing on night one. I made this in my cast iron skillet and started by making an easy caramel sauce with butter and brown sugar. Then I arranged my peeled and sliced peaches in the pan and splashed some whiskey over the whole thing before pouring the cake batter over top and baking. It inverted out onto a plate nicely:

Whiskey-Peach Upside Down Skillet Cake

Again, phenomenal with ice cream. Best eaten warm right out of the oven. With the heavy caramel sauce, I think this one would be really good as a fall or holiday treat, if one could find ripe peaches... Just tasted very decadent. So good.

Peach-Raspberry Pie Filling
This one is a long story. I'm going to spare you the details and just say that this was a recipe I had intended on canning but the magazine I was following had a mis-print, so I had purchased the wrong ingredient. Turns out there's a big difference between regular clearjel and instant clearjel. They're NOT interchangeable, and you should NOT can with instant clearjel, which is what I now have four cans of. *humph* In the end, I made the filling as the recipe suggested, but packed it into freezer bags instead.

The pie filling before adding in the fruit. 

 The Instant Clearjel lives up to its name as it jels INSTANTLY and is VERY thick. It looked and felt like stirring petroleum jelly...

After adding fruit into the filling.

 It was impossible not to crush the raspberries when trying to get an even stir of the filling. I also don't think a person would need to pre-cook the peaches if intending to freeze or use this filling recipe right away. I think you'd cook the sugar and water just to melt it, then add in the instant clearjel, then stir in raw fruit. Anyway...They look pretty, right?

Four freezer bags full of extra thick Peach-Raspberry pie filling. 

 They froze for about a week before I made my first pie with one of these pre-made filling bags. This past weekend, with Katie, Josh, and Brandon here was the perfect time to thaw out a bag of the filling and try it in a pie. Everyone really liked it, and I did too, but I could pick up on the extra flavor of the Instant Clearjel. I think if I follow this filling recipe again intending for immediate use or for freezing, I'll use less of the Instant Clearjel. No one else seemed to notice, however. It's another case of the baker being the harshest critic. ;) Overall, I thought it was really tasty and so handy to have a ready-made filling all set to go in the freezer!

Does anybody know what time it is? har har har...

 Turns out I'm not a graceful pie slicer, so this doesn't look photo-perfect, but that's OK because it tastes great!

Just look at that delicious pie... 

 As a sidenote, anyone know any great uses for instant clearjel?


"Summer Mess" Fresh Peach and Veggie Salsa and Spicy Beef Tacos
After so many sweet uses for peaches, I was craving something a bit more savory. On a whim, I plugged "peaches and beef" into my Pinterest. There wasn't much. People seem to think I meant to type "peaches and pork," as there were TONS of recipes for peaches and pork. But no, I have a freezer full of beef and I'd like to use it, thankyouverymuch! So, when I saw "Spicy Beef Tacos with Summer Mess" I thought it might be worth a try! I mean, it's fresh salsa with peaches, tomatoes, corn, jalapenos, onion, cilantro and lime juice--all things that I love--slopped over grilled flank steak, which I also love! I didn't follow the recipe for the beef exactly, opting to use a simple spice rub I had on hand rather than the barbecue sauce recipe they used. It turned out great! I skipped the taco shell and just sliced my steak up and piled the salsa on top. It was all great the next day too as sort of a salad bowl with spinach and a side of cottage cheese. This was so simple and so good! Also, a perfectly balanced recipe that features beef in a healthy diet. Excellent for a beef-fueled run! :)

Grilled steak with peach "summer mess" salsa and spinach. Delicious!

What are your favorite peach recipes? Do peaches give you a warm and fuzzy feeling?

Image source: www.fruitycuties.com

Thanks for hanging on through the entire peachy post of power! Have a peachy day!

Thankful Thursday ~ Celebrate what you have

Happy Thursday, All!

Can you believe it's Thursday and I'm actually posting my Thankful Thursday post ON THURSDAY?  That hasn't happened in a few weeks! Yay me!

I was doing some research yesterday at work on coming up with age-appropriate thought provoking questions to get teenagers to think and I came across the blog post/website whose link is listed above this photo. I really did think the images were nice and the questions really did make me think. Click on the link below to see the whole thing. I'm probably going to start subscribing to that blog because I'm always on the lookout for more positive-thinking messages.

Anyway, I thought the image below was particularly apt for a Thankful Thursday.

25 Beautifully Illustrated Thought Provoking Questions---
http://www.marcandangel.com/2010/03/29/25-beautifully-illustrated-thought-provoking-questions/

Image from www.marcandangel.com

So... Do you celebrate the things you have? (Or do you bemoan the things you don't have?)

I have a really wonderful husband, the best dog ever, wonderful family and friends, a nice place to live, a good job, excellent health... the list could go on and on. Sometimes thinking about what we wish we had or wish we had done differently really only serves to downplay what we already DO have that really is pretty good. This strain of negativity can come from comparing ourselves to others, or simply failing to recognize the good that already is all around us. Today, challenge yourself to make a list or to think about what's going really well in your life and be glad for those things. Practice gratitude.

A few other things I want to specifically call out and say Thanks for--

1) Hospitality
Jeff and I have been crashing Tom and Carol's house for the past six weeks or so during the calving season. We've been lounging on their furniture, working out in their basement, eating all of their food, using up precious internet bandwidth, and just generally taking up space. I'm sure they're ready to have the house to themselves again. But I've never heard any complaints. In fact, it's been nothing but hospitality, fellowship and generosity from T and C. I thank them for hosting us, and for getting the coffee ready each night or morning.

2) Friendship
As always, I appreciate the friendship of Stephanie, even in this time when she's figuring out what's next. She always has a smile on her face and a welcoming comment.  I know that all of our days are brightened by having her around. She certainly is a hard worker, and Jeff and Tom have both commented on her positive attitude and can-do spirit. And her pies are outstanding.

This is a slice of coconut cream pie that Stennie recently made.  So good!

3) Peace Pilgrim.
Lastly, again while doing some research for an activity at school, I came across this quote:  "If we knew how powerful our thoughts were, we would never again have another negative thought." ~ Peace Pilgrim Her methods might be a little out there for most of us, but her message and purpose is clear. That quote is something that resonated with me because, well, I don't need any help being negative, and I've seen the effect negativity has had on my own life in the past. That's why I started doing Thankful Thursday. I'm trying to change my own thought patterns for the better. I hope that you keep checking in on Thursdays and I hope that you're making efforts to be more positive, too.

Have a great weekend, everyone! What are you thankful for this week?

How Do You Like Them Apples?

After ordering a case of Honeycrisp apples with my Bountiful Basket, I spent significant time on Sunday processing the apples. The case was 40 pounds of apples for $32, which makes them about eighty cents a pound. Pretty good deal, if you ask me!

Opening up the case of apples. Product of Washington!
I have never been disappointed with the quality of Bountiful Baskets fruit.

See, I had ordered a case of apples in the past and never went through them all. This year, I am determined to make sure no apple goes to waste! To that end, Sunday was Apple Day in my house, as I spent time in the kitchen putting up apples. So far, I have dehydrated a few batches of apple rings, baked an apple pie, and also canned some apple butter. I also made pumpkin soup over the weekend that used apples in it! Not to mention, Honeycrisps are DELICIOUS as snacking apples!

BIG, shiny, and delicious!

Right away upon opening the box, it was hard to miss how HUGE the apples are! They are bigger than grapefruit, and range in weight from .75-1.1 pounds! Holy cow! For me, to eat one whole apple was a bit much as a snack. In terms of canning and processing, however, the large size is welcome because it means less effort in peeling. Peeling, slicing, and coring is what takes the most time when working with apples. Furthermore, often with small apples, by the time you get them peeled and cored, there's not much left to work with and, well, it's more challenging to peel a small apple.

Not so with these behemoths.

The apples were actually too big to fit through my slicer. 

Apples washed and ready for use!

Let's take dehydrating as an example. With small or average sized apples, I'd fit 5 or 6 apples in the dehydrator, once they've been cored and sliced. With these, I fit exactly two apples, and spent MUCH less time washing, coring, and slicing the apples. Perfect!

I started a batch of apples in the dehydrator right away, since that was pretty hands-off after the initial prep. If anyone is looking for a gift idea for me, a food mandolin would be GREAT during apple season. I'm often *this close* to chopping off finger tips with my knife when I make apple rings!

Do you prefer skin-on or skin-off for your apple rings? I like to leave the skin on because I like the texture and color the skin adds in the finished product. Plus, it saves the step of peeling the apples. Not to mention, the skin adds extra good-for-you fiber, which I love! Then, it's just a dusting of cinnamon and into the dehydrator for about 5 hours.

Before entering the dehydrator.

Next, I started on the canning process for the apple butter. The recipe I was using called for four pounds of apples. I ended up using almost 5 pounds because of the weights of the apples, and not wanting to use partial apples. Four apples was like 3.75 pounds and 5 ended up at 4.6. (Sidenote: I LOVE my food scale and use it all the time!) Plus, I figured a little extra apple butter wouldn't hurt anyone, would it? If I'm going to go through the effort of canning, might as well make a little more!

Apple butter is so easy to make. It's a great beginner canning recipe to try because it calls for only a few ingredients, and usually they're readily available or things you have on hand already. Basically, you just peel and core the apples, then give them a rough chop and toss into a large pot. I love my dutch ovens for preparing canning recipes because they cook so evenly. Then, most recipes call for use of apple cider or apple juice to simmer the apples in for a while. This was the one ingredient I did not have on hand and had neglected to pick up on a recent trip to the store. Instead, I just used plain old water and threw in a few cinnamon sticks. I decided the only thing I'd really be missing was extra sugar from the cider.

This is the apple butter--after blending but before it had cooked down much.
As it cooked down, it became thicker and more brown in color. 

After simmering the apple chunks for about 40 minutes, I removed the cinnamon sticks and processed the apples and water in batches through the blender. If you had an immersion blender, this is where you would use it. (Again, another great gift idea!!!) You could also use a food mill.

After blending the apples, it's just a matter of returning the puree to the pot, adding some lemon juice, sugar and spices (I like cinnamon and nutmeg) and letting it cook down for a long time. The recipe called for about an hour and a half, but I think I let mine simmer for at least 2 hours. You'll know it's ready when it doesn't leach liquid out when you dab a bit on a plate or spoon. Then, you just hot water bath can. I processed mine in the canner for 10 minutes, due to being at a slightly higher altitude than sea level-- at about 3500 feet.

Now let's talk about pie. Who doesn't want to talk about pie!? Who doesn't LOVE pie?! And what could be more classic in the fall than a delicious apple pie!

Thanks to some efficient baking and fun time spent together in the kitchen when Stennie was here, I actually had two pie crust discs waiting and ready in the freezer. Since I knew I had apples coming, I pulled them down into the fridge to thaw on Friday morning. By Sunday, they were ready to roll. (har har har! Pun intended!)

While the apple butter was in it's long stages of waiting and simmering, I rolled out the pie crusts and prepped the filling. For the filling, I used a mixture of apples. I had one Granny Smith left in the fridge, three Galas that also came in this week's Bountiful Basket, and to round it out, I used one Honeycrisp.

From left to right: Granny Smith, Gala, Honeycrisp, Gala, Gala

For the filling recipe, I consulted my favorite all-knowing book for cooking and baking, The Best New Recipe, from the makers of Cooks Illustrated Magazine, or as I like to call it, The Cooking Bible. It's thick, filled with all the classic recipes, and some good twists. It also explains in great detail why each cooking decision was made and makes good, thoroughly researched suggestions as to what ingredients to use and which to skip.

Stennie and I also got a big kick out of some of the creative writing that went into the Cooking Bible as well. The apple pie recipe included this gem, referring to the recipe author's preferred thickness of apple pie filling:

"A bit of tart, thin juice gives the pie a breath of the orchard, whereas a thick, syrupy texture is dull." - The New Best Recipe cookbook, from the makers of Cooks Illustrated.  A breath of the orchard? Seriously!?

Don't those apples look like they have "a breath of the orchard?!" haha

Awaiting the top crust.

Anyway, just for fun, with the top crust, I decided to emulate a pie I had seen recently in a magazine that used cookie cutters to cut out shapes of leaves and layer them over the top, rather than a standard, vented pie crust or lattice-top. I don't have much selection for cookie cutters, but decided, in honor of our cows shipping in a few weeks, to use a cow-shaped cookie cutter. And because I thought as a non sequitur, it would be kind of funny. I did get a mild chuckle out of my husband, so it was worth it.

Top crust all rolled out...

Cows! 

The pie baked away and the canning process complete, I still had time to watch most of the Bears game on TV, and start a second round of dehydrated apples during half-time. Jeff and I sampled each of the creations as the day went on. Overall, I was really satisfied with each project and felt good about the work I'd put in.

Can't really tell their cows unless you look closely.

The only problem now is... I still have about 30 pounds of apples to go through!

So what's next? Probably more apple rings, since they're so easy and delicious. I'm thinking about another batch of apple butter, and maybe just some plain old applesauce, since that's even easier than apple butter. Maybe some apple muffins or apple cake... Sauteed apples and brats? Caramel apples? DEFINITELY some Apple Brandy!

All in a day's work! 

Do you have a favorite apple recipe? If so, I'd love to hear all about it!

The Food Post

I know I have been writing a lot about food and baking lately on the blog, so I wanted to take a post here to show some photos and share a little bit about what I have been up to. Some projects have been solo endeavors and others with either Stephanie or Carol. There is something very satisfying about making a home-cooked meal from scratch, especially when using ingredients one has grown oneself. 

Again, as a disclaimer: I'm no food photographer! I'll try to get better if I keep posting food images, but... no promises! 

One of the first things Stennie and I did when she got here was mix up a batch of pie crusts. We made four crusts and formed them into discs. Three went into the freezer and one was made into a crust for this delicious pie:

Wishing I had taken a photo of a slice of pie so you could see the key lime part... 

This pie is a key-lime pie topped with fresh raspberries. The limes came from my Bountiful Basket and the berries were from Carol's raspberry thicket. Stennie and I did the crust together, but I whipped up the custardy lime filling on my own. I had never made anything custard-like before, and was really pleased with how it turned out.

It was a big hit at dinner that night, too. I carried it over to Tom and Carol's in this wonderful food carrier:

Made by Nancy |Olson

This was something I received at my bridal shower up here on the Hi-Line about three and a half years ago. It was made by a local woman who has since passed away. It's a perfect carrier for harvest-time meals, potlucks, or any time one is taking food to and fro.

Another plentiful garden vegetable right now is green beans. A few days after Carol returned from her vacation, we picked and canned these green beans as bean pickles, or dilly beans as some people call them. The contents are simple: green beans, dill heads, garlic, red pepper flakes, sugar, salt, cider vinegar. Canned using the hot water bath method, they are pretty simple and very delicious! I like bean pickles on grilled brats especially well in the summer, but they're also delightful eaten plain. 

The beans, garlic, pepper flakes, and dill have been packed into jars and are awaiting the hot cider vinegar solution, then to be processed. 

Carrots are also plentiful in the garden this year. I am really loving these rainbow carrots we planted. I think the colors are very beautiful. They look like a sunset in carrot form, some of them. We have been noticing that they vary in strength of carroty flavor depending on the color. The white ones are very mild, yellow is slightly stronger, orange tastes like a normal carrot, and the red ones are even more carroty. They are all delicous!

With the most recent Bountiful Basket, I also ordered a case of peaches. I have had a few questions from people as to the quality of the peaches, so I thought I'd answer those here. The peaches came from Washington. They were very sweet and lovely flavored. They weren't too big or too small in size. There was not a single unusable peach in the box. The whole thing was great in every aspect. 

Including, baked into peach pie! 

This was another tag-team effort between me and Stennie. We pulled two pie crust discs out of the freezer ahead of time and rolled one into the bottom crust and the other into a top-crust, destined to be a lattice crust. We had a lot of fun cutting the strips for the lattice top and weaving them together. It can be a bit tedious to accomplish, with several trips back and forth between countertop and freezer to keep the butter in the crust cool, but.... 

In the end, the pie turned out so beautiful and delicious, that it was well worth the effort! 

We shared the peach pie at a neighborhood dinner with some dear friends and family. It was a nice treat, especially with a little ice cream! 

My recipe made 9 pint jars of peaches in a light simple syrup.
I used those two books as references. 

With the remaining peaches from my case, I decided to tackle another canning project. I had never canned fruit straight-up before, so this was a fun process. I was delighted at how simple it was, too, especially contrasted with making marinara sauce, which is highly involved and usually takes me about two days to get through all the steps. The peaches only took about two hours, including blanching and peeling, packing into jars, making simple syrup and filling the jars, and processing. Stennie's help is also another big reason why the canning process went quickly and smoothly. I can't wait to open a jar on a cool fall or winter day for a little bit of canned sunshine and love from summer!

We've had many other delicious meals and baked goods, from homemade pizza to canned meat dinner. Stay tuned to the blog for updates on all our culinary adventures!