Amanda's Oven Baked Jalapeno Poppers

Amanda decided to come up with her own recipe for oven-baked jalapeño poppers today after we picked up a couple dozen jalapeños at the farmer's market this morning.  They were amazing.  The salty chewiness of the parmesan reminded me of bacon-wrapped poppers, but without all the grease!

 

 

 

Amanda’s oven-baked jalapeño poppers

 

10 jalapeño peppers
3 oz cream cheese (brought to room temp)
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
Salt & pepper

Cut jalapeños in half lengthwise, stems left on.  Remove the membrane and seeds (or not, if you like them extra spicy!).

 

Mix cream cheese, dash salt and pepper.  Spread on jalapeños.  Sprinkle parmesan over top, pressing slightly down to hold it on. 

 

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Arrange jalapeños on pan.  If they don’t lay upright, cut a thin slice off the bottom for stability. 

 

Bake 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees.
 

Canning Tomatoes

The next night, I decided to try canning the rest of the full-sized tomatoes.  This is my first attempt at canning tomatoes, and only my third attempt at canning, period.  Previous efforts with pickles and pear butter were somewhat disappointing.

 

I turned to the internet, and found some instructions that seemed reasonable from the National Center for Home Food Preservation.  I reviewed their instructions on Using Boiling Water Canners, along with the instructions at the beginning of my Ball Home Canning Basics book.  Then I followed their instructions for Canning Crushed Tomatoes.

 

The longest part of this whole process is getting the big canner full of water to boil.  Maybe next time I should try putting smaller pots of water on all four burners to boil, then combining them in the canner.  It took what seemed like hours to get that thing going. 

 

In the meantime, I started preparing tomatoes.  I had never blanched tomatoes before.  I thought it was kind of fun.  I used a fine mesh strainer to dip about five tomatoes at a time into boiling water for a minute or two, then into cold water with a few ice cubes for another minute.  Since I was doing them only five at a time, this was pretty time consuming, too.

 

 

Blanching was followed by peeling and quartering.  I wasn't sure if I should seed them, so I mostly left the seeds in, whenever they didn't just fall out.

 

 

At some point I had boiling water in the canner and all my tomatoes cut and ready.  I boiled my jars and lids for 10 minutes, and got the tomatoes started cooking on the stove.  When it was finally time to fill the jars, I took a few liberties.

 

First, I'm not 100% sure I had the exact correct amount of head space.  Here's hoping I got close enough.

 

Second, the folks at Ace Hardware up the street (where I had picked up my jars earlier that night) had assured me that I didn't need to add extra lemon juice or citric acid to get to the required level of acidity.  Since they didn't have these thngs and I didn't want to make an extra trip to a grocery store, I decided to believe them.  They told me the worst thing that could happen is that I'd smell that a jar had gone bad and have to throw it out--I was in no danger of accidentally eating botulism-laced tomatoes.

 

Finally, I processed the jars for 35 minutes according to the recipe.  I gave a few extra minutes for good measure.

 

Here's my final product.  Several hours of work, and what seemed like a massive bounty of tomatoes, cooked down to four and a half jars of crushed tomatoes and one freezer bag of oven-roasted cherry tomatoes.  (For the professionals among my readers, don't worry, that half-jar didn't get processed, it's sitting in my fridge to be used this week).

 

Oven-dried cherry tomatoes

With all this bounty at once, some preserving needed to be done.  I decided to oven-dry the cherries.  I've never had good luck oven-drying full-sized sliced tomatoes. I loosely followed some instructions on a blog called "Our Best Bites."  I didn't bother with any garlic, just sliced the tomatoes in half, tossed with some olive oil and a little salt, and placed them skin-side down in a non-stick foil-lined cookie sheet. 

I roasted them at 325 degrees for somewhere around two hours.  Some of the bigger ones were still pretty moist, but it was after 10pm and I needed to go to bed (also my excuse for no photos)!

I made the mistake of dumping all of the varieties together.  If I had kept them sorted by size and then roasted each size on a different cookie sheet, I could have removed each sheet from the oven at exactly the right level of dry but not charred.

I let them cool on the cookie sheet overnight, then dumped them into a freezer bag and froze them in the morning.

Recipe: Grandma Rita's Frozen Sweet Corn

12 cups corn, cut from cob (uncooked)

1/4 # (1 stick) margarine

1 T. sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup water



Mix all together. Bring to a boil on high. Reduce heat and simmer for 5-8 minutes.  Cool on cookie sheets. Put into Zip-Loc freezer bags, removing all air from bag. Freeze bags flat on cookie sheets.

Nostalgic Summer: Putting up sweet corn

Maybe it's because Amanda and I have been to Iowa several times this summer, but I've been feeling very nostalgic lately.  I've been itching to take on a very nostalgic activity ever since Mom gave us two bags of fresh-from-the-farm sweet corn.  So today I took the plunge, and endeavored to put up the corn.  By myself.  (Poor Amanda's been so sick this week!)

I picked up a couple of extra ears of Minnesota-grown corn to supplement the bounty from the farm.  In all, I had 23 small ears from the farm and six bigger ears from the store.

First, shucking the corn.  Good idea to do this outside.  Side note: I had no idea when I decided to compost that it would give me such satisfaction to dump stuff like this in there!

Next I set up my cutting station inside.

After cutting the corn off one ear, I realized I better come up with a better plan for containing the mess.  I pulled all the extra chairs out of the way and threw an old sheet down to catch stray kernels and sprays.  This is such a messy job!

Come to think of it, in all my nostalgia, I remember a very specific occasion when I was pretty young.  My grandma, several aunts, and several cousins came to our house for a day of putting up corn.  I think there was an outside shucking station.  I was sitting at a picnic table in the garage cutting corn of the cob.  Then it would be sent inside, where Grandma Rita took the hot job of cooking it.  Mom was smart to put the cutting outside.  I wonder if she just hosed out the whole garage afterwards.  I kinda want to hose out my kitchen.

I distinctly remember my aunt Lori giving me lots of positive feedback.  "You're really good at that."  She was such a teaser.  She always used to tell me I was really good at chores that she wanted me to do.  Note to future self.  It works like a charm on kids.

Here's all the corn, before cooking.  I started with six large and 23 smaller ears. I got 20 cups of corn.  I wonder if my table will ever be not sticky again.

Corn on the stove.

After it's cooked, you spread the corn out on cookie sheets to cool.

It cools pretty fast.  Now I gotta figure out how to get it in the freezer bags with minimal mess.  I bet Grandma Rita or Mom could have given me a better plan than this.  Probably the best answer is four hands.

In the end, I got five quart-sized freezer bags full, plus I saved a couple of servings for us to eat tonight.  My taste test gives it an 8 out of 10.  It's a little chewy.  Not sure if that's because it was in the refrigerator for a few days before I cooked it? 

All done, and most of the dishes cleaned, too.  I'd love a cocktail, but I'll settle for a Diet Coke.  Still need to head outside for some garden work.  Cocktails later!

Instead of going to the Farmer's Market, we went to the Farmer

Amanda and I have a weekend tradition of going to the farmer's market and loading up on fresh veggies for the week.  This past weekend, we skipped the farmer's market and went straight to a farmer.

The photo above doesn't really do this garden justice.  It's massive.  And prolific.  I remember when this area was all hog lots.  I guess 30+ years of pig poop will leave some really fertile ground!

One highlight was the red potatoes.  My mom gardened when I was a little girl, and I vaguely remember learning about planting potatoes: cutting up a potato, planting the pieces eye-up.  By the time she had four children and a lot of for-money farming to do all day every day, she scrapped gardening for a couple of decades.  I'm glad semi-retirement has brought back the love of gardening!

Reagan and Adrian thought the potatoes were really cool, too.  I'm looking forward to trying to plant some next year.  I think I'm willing to give up zucchini and yellow squash to make room.  I grow them because I know they'll produce, but I get pretty bored of eating them.

Best of all, Mom's garden has no shortage of tomatoes.  They were a joy to behold, since our tomatoes have provided nothing but disappointment this year.  I think the hot hot summer has been hard on the garden overall, but the tomatoes are especially sad.  I've noticed more squirrels eating what few green tomatoes are there.  I'm told the squirrels are eating them for the moisture, since they are thirsty from the lack of rain.  Go figure.

Here's the awesome caprese salad we made tonight with Mom's tomatoes and our basil.  The other half of dinner was a beet salad with beets from last week's farmer's' market.  Delicious!

Recipe: Laura's Hominy Corn Chowder

from Jacques Pepin

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 Tablespoons chopped garlic
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup minced green onion
1/2 cup green hot salsa (or less for a milder soup)
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes in sauce
1 28-ounce can white hominy (about 3 cups kernels and juice)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
4 cups vegetable broth
About 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 can corn (drained)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Directions

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add the garlic, onion, and scallions.

Cook for 3 minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients, except for the corn and cilantro.

Bring to a boil, and cook for 15 minutes.

Stir in the corn and cilantro, return to a boil, and serve.

Recipe: Mark's Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Ingredients

4 Tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
6 cups chicken broth
2 12-oz jars roasted red bell peppers preserved in water, drained
1 russet potato, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 Tbsp sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepper
16 3/4-inch thick baguette slices, cut into 1/2 to 3/4-inch cubes
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese

Directions

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrots, garlic, and thyme and saute until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the broth, bell peppers, potato, wine, and sugar. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Decrease heat to medium-low. Partially cover and simmer until the potatoes are very tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Cool the soup slightly.

Using an immersion hand blender, puree the soup in the pot until it is smooth. Alternately, working in batches, puree the soup in a regular blender, taking care while blending warm liquids. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining two tablespoons of oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the bread cubes and saute until they are crisp and golden, about 8 minutes.

Ladle the soup into bowls. Dollop a tablespoon of mascarpone in the center of each bowl and top with croutons. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.

Recipe: Trevor's Pumpkin Chipotle Sausage Soup

Ingredients

8 cups chicken stock
1 29 oz can pumpkin puree
1 15 oz can black beans
1/2 lb chorizo
1 4 oz can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 bunch cilantro
1 poblano pepper
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 Tbsp garlic, diced
1/2 lb raw pumpkin seeds
4 limes
olive oil
cumin
salt
ground chipotle
ancho chili powder

Directions

Heat oven to 350. While waiting for oven, lightly drizzle pumpkin seeds with olive oil and mix with salt, cumin, and ground chipotle until evenly coated. Put the seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Watch closely, look for a medium roast. When the seeds are done take out of the oven and let cool. Place the poblanos in the oven at the same time as the seeds (on the rack works fine). The peppers are done when the outer skin starts to bubble and looks slightly charred. Remove from oven and place in a paper bag for 10-15 minutes.

Brown chorizo in a large heated, oiled pot. Remove from pot, set aside and save the oil. Turn heat to medium. Add onions, garlic, and 1/2 Tbsp each salt, cumin, ancho, and ground chipotle. Saute until onions are transparent. Next add pumpkin, half the stock, half of the cilantro, the juice of one lime, and 2 chipotle peppers with some of the sauce. Blend with an immersion blender (or wait if using a blender to mix). Continue to add stock until you reach the desired consistency. Take poblano peppers from bag then remove skin and seeds. Add the poblano flesh to the soup. Blend with the immersion blender or mixer. Once all the soup is blended, add chorizo and black beans.

You can add more chipotle peppers with the sauce, lime juice, or seasoning at this time. Once the soup is to your liking, let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Serve with lime wedges, chopped cilantro, and pumpkin seeds for garnish.

Recipe: Simon's Pork Chili Verde

Ingredients

Spice Rub

2 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

3 lbs pork shoulder or butt, cut into 1 1/2 to 2 inch cubes
4 Tbsp vegetable oil or lard, or more as needed
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 7-oz can whole or diced roasted green chiles
1 14-oz can plum or fire-roasted tomatoes
2 10-oz cans Mexican green tomatillos, drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander (cilantro), plus additional for garnish
1 cup meat or poultry stock
1 to 2 Tbsp red or white wine vinegar (optional)
Sour cream (optional)


Directions

In a small bowl, combine the oregano, coriander, cumin, cayenne, and cinnamon.

Place the pork in a large non-aluminum container and rub with the spice mixture. Cover and marinate overnight in the refrigerator or for one to two hours at room temperature.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large saute pan over high heat. Add the meat in batches, sprinkling with salt and pepper, and cook until brown, adding oil as needed, 8 to 10 minutes per batch. Set aside the browned meat.

In a stew pot or dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat and add the onions. Saute the onions until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for two minutes longer. Add the reserved pork to the onion mixture.

In a blender or food processor, puree the green chiles, tomatoes, tomatillos, and fresh coriander. Stir this puree and the meat stock into the pork and onions. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil, reduce heat to low, and cover the pot. Simmer until the pork is tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Chili and Soup Cook-Off

Amanda and I hosted our second annual Chili and Soup Cook-Off party last weekend. We raised $800 for my favorite nonprofit and ate a lot of awesome chili and soup. Lots of guests asked for people's recipes, so I'll be posting those over the next couple of days. I also promised donors of $50 or more that I would knit them something fabulous, so those projects will be featured over the next couple of months. Enjoy!

Aunt Lola's Quiche Recipe

I went on a long quiche-making kick this fall. Quiche every weekend! But it took some time to perfect the process. Search the internet for quiche recipes and you'll find hundreds of widely varying opinions on the ratio of eggs to milk/cream to crust. Here's what I ended up with.


Aunt Lola’s Quiche Recipe

2 frozen pie crusts (deep dish)
1 dozen eggs
3 cups half & half
1 bag baby spinach (or any other combo of veggies, bacon, etc.)
1 brick shredded Swiss cheese (approximate)

1. Heat spinach in large saucepan, stirring often, until wilted. Roll in paper towels to wring out extra moisture.

2. Beat eggs. Beat in half & half.

3. Pour egg mixture into pie crusts. Drop in spinach and cheese (I usually use about a half a brick of cheese for each pie. I just go until the pie crusts are getting full).

4. Bake at 350⁰ for 45 minutes or until knife inserted in center
comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Tomato Risotto

Yesterday my weekly email from ReadyMade linked to this blog post about making risotto with a garden abundance, and it couldn't have come at a better time. I was getting a little bit bored with my traditional uses for tomatoes, and certainly running out of good ideas for zucchini. I had to hit three stores before I found arborio rice. Why was that so hard?! Anyway, Abby and I adapted the recipe to suit our supplies and tastes this evening. It was freaking fantastic. Even Amanda the Tomato-Unsure loved it. We all dove in before I remembered I should take a photo, so this is round two. Our version of the recipe is below.

Tomato Risotto

2 T olive oil
1 T butter

2/3 cup dry white wine

3 plum tomatoes
3 heirloom tomatoes (can use more or less depending on how juicy they are and how tomato-y you want it)

1 small leek (white and light green parts)
1 green onion (white and some green part)
(recipe called for 1/2 of a regular onion, no leeks)

1 lb arborio rice
1 quart of vegetable stock (give or take)

2-3 cups diced zucchini

1 sprig fresh rosemary, finely chopped (recipe called for 2 T rosemary and 2 T fresh thyme)

1 c parmesan

2 T fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Warm the olive oil and butter over medium heat in a deep saute pan. Add the diced onion and a dash of salt and stir to combine. When the onion is just starting to get translucent (about 2 minutes), add in your rice and stir to coat.

2. Add wine. When absorbed, add stock and handfuls of tomato a little at a time, stirring near constantly, adding more when liquid is absorbed.

3. When rice is near done, add in your squash. Keep stirring and adding liquid as you need it.

4. When the rice is done (a little al dente, but mostly soft), stir in the rosemary, basil, and parmesan. Turn the stove off, put the lid on the pot, and let it rest for about 10 minutes so that the flavors combine. Serve topped with Parmesan and fresh ground pepper.

Pear Party

Back in late July, Simon came over for a pear party. He climbed a ladder and picked a massive bucket full of beautiful little pears from the backyard pear tree. We may have been a little early for fully ripe pears, but we beat the squirrels and crows, so if they weren't totally ripe, it was still worth it to be able to do something with them besides pick half eaten ones up off the lawn.

We had purchased a Ball starter canning kit, and pulled a recipe for pear butter from the book that was included. Peeling and coring pound after pound of tiny pears was tedious.

The recipe turned out to be a bit too sweet--the sugar nearly covered the pear flavor. Still, the pear butter is nice on toast in the morning. Simon set aside some of the pear puree before it was sweetened, and turned it into a spectacular pear sorbet.

I also put a few pears to work in a bowl full of vodka. The pear-infused vodka was a big hit a few weeks later mixed with 7-Up and a twist of lime.

I cobbled together some loose instructions from the internet, which basically said to infuse vodka, put something in it and let it sit for a while. So I placed about six pears, sliced in half, into a glass container full of vodka and stored it in a dark place for a couple of weeks. I didn't refrigerate it. I think that worked out okay. When it was time to drink the vodka, I strained it through a coffee filter and funnel back into its original bottle.

And finally, we sent a bucket of pears home with Trevor, who is bottling pear beer this week! Looking forward to tasting the fruits of his labor as well!

Valetine Muffins

Kids, your Aunt Lola's in love. Love makes you do crazy things. Things you never thought you'd do. Like purchase and use a heart-shaped silicone muffin tin.

Holiday Dinner Recipe: Roasted Winter Vegetables

(adapted from Simon)

3 carrots, cut in 1-inch pieces
3 red potatoes, peeled and cut in 1-inch pieces
1 red onion, peeled and cut into eighths
3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
(parsnips and turnips are also good, but I didn't use them this time).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place vegetables in roasting pan and splash with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, enough to coat vegetables. Stir in a dash of thyme, rosemary, and two cloves minced garlic. Bake approximately one hour, stiring every 15-20 minutes.

Holiday Dinner Recipe: Christmas Ham

1 fully cooked bone-in ham (5-7 lbs)
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp mustard
1-3 T cider vinegar

Score ham 1/2" deep with a sharp knife. Place ham on a rack on a shallow pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 2 - 2 1/2 hours (20 minutes per pound). Combine brown sugar, mustard, and enough vinegar to make a paste. During the last hour of baking, brush glaze on ham every 15 minutes.

Yield: 10-14 servings.

Holiday Dinner Recipe: Christmas Wassail

1 gallon apple cider
1 quart orange juice (pure)
1 cup lemon juice
1 quart pineapple juice
24 whole cloves
4 sticks cinnamon
1 cup sugar

Mix all ingredients and simmer over very low heat for 1 to 2 hours. Serve warm.

Yield: 1 1/2 gallons (too much for my biggest stock pot!)

Holiday Dinner Party

A week before Christmas, I had a few friends over for a holiday dinner party. We started the evening with roasted chestnuts and wassail, then had a dinner of Christmas ham, roasted winter vegetables, asparagus with parmesan, and spinach and gouda gratin.

A rousing game of Quiddler was followed by homemade ice cream and Christmas cookies.

Recipes posted separately for those who are interested.

Roasting Chestnuts

A couple of years ago, I went to a holiday season fundraiser where hot cider was served and chestnuts were roasted on an open fire. I had never tasted a chestnut before, and fell in love. I've thought about that fundraiser every year since, and this year finally got up the nerve to try roasting chestnuts myself.



At the event, the hostess was actually roasting them on a grill. And I have a fuzzy memory of her telling me that they required some sort of soaking preparation before grilling. So, I turned to the internets for advice.



Like everything I search on the internet, I came up with as many different ways to cook chestnuts as there are websites out there. I recently searched for quiche recipes when I wanted to try my hand at quiche, and decided the American Egg Board people probably have the greatest stake in making sure my quiche turns out beautifully, so I went with their recipe. Sadly, my search didn't turn up any definitive chestnut growers association.


Additionally, I went to fire up the grill, and realized, as with the last two winters in my house, the deck door had frozen shut. Alas, I decided it was too much work to go around from the front door, so I decided to settle for an indoor chestnut roasting recipe. I settled on this recipe from ezinearticles.com, a website I've certainly never heard of and have no reason to believe is reliable.


Here's the condensed version:

1. Sort chestnuts and throw out any icky ones. I didn't find any.
2. Use a paring knife to cut x's into the rounded side of each chestnut. Apparently they explode when cooking if you skip this step. One website advised against letting your knife go deep enough to actually cut the meat of the nut. I can't see why this would matter.



3. Rinse the nuts well. Apparently this cleans them and softens the shell.



4. Place cut side up on a baking sheet.


5. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.



6. Remove from oven, wrap in a towel and crunch them a bit to give crack the hard shells.



7. Enjoy!

And that's it. Delicious. And apparently quite nutritious. I love how they look like brains when you remove the skull. I mean shell. And I love how they taste--almost like a potato, but a little sweeter. Can't wait to host a holiday party and serve roasted chestnuts!