Even More Christmas

Last night a larger subset of our family got together for gift giving and dinner. There were 10 of us in total, and we had a lovely afternoon of appetizers and presents. Then for dinner I roasted a beef tenderloin, Mom made baked stuffed shrimp which we baked after the tenderloin came out of the oven, and I made Persian rice. Apparently, I had not yet made Persian rice after I got my new pots, which are thicker, so my usual timing to make tadiq didn't work out, and the tadiq did not form properly. At least the rice tasted good! I guess I'm going to have to practice.

For dessert, I made individual trifles from this recipe; it was fun to assemble everything in wine glasses but it definitely took up too much space in the fridge....

It was great to get together with my family, some of whom live far away so we don't see each other often enough. Merry Christmas!

Digging Out

The finally tally is 24 inches of snow at my house, and more expected on Friday (hopefully, not that much).   My husband spent the morning getting the driveway and the sidewalks cleared.  I used this day to haul out the pressure canner and get various things canned, getting more things out of my freezer in the process.  First I made a batch of vegetable stock using the frozen vegetable scraps in my freezer.  This made 8 pints of vegetable stock, which were processed for 30 minutes in the canner.  Then I moved on to the beef and barley soup I made yesterday.  After taking some out for lunches, I canned 5 pints (75 minutes at 10 pounds).

Lastly, I made a batch of chicken noodle soup from the chicken I roasted yesterday.  First I made the chicken stock with the chicken bones and some frozen onion/celery/carrot scraps and a bay leaf.  Then I strained it, sauteed carrots, celery and leeks (from the farm, which had been chopped and frozen) and added the stock back in.  I chopped up about 3 cups of chicken meat and put that in the soup.  Just before I serve it for dinner tonight, I'll add a package of egg noodles.

The bread I made yesterday is gone, and there are very few cookies left!

Upping the Ante

I see you, Blizzard of 2015.  I see you conspiring to trap me at work for three days (unsuccessfully), to make all my plans for the next few days completely meaningless.  You may have buried my house in two feet of snow, but I was prepared.  I raise you:

Two loaves of whole wheat bread, 1 batch of beef and barley soup, 1 batch of chocolate chip cookies, 1 batch of yogurt, and a roasted chicken.  And that's just today.  I even got all the laundry done before you buried the dryer vent.

The soup used a 2 pound beef roast I had in the freezer, plus some frozen "osso buco" leftovers from 2 separate occasions, and a little more frozen steak leftovers, with 2 pints of tomato sauce provided from our mason's wife.  I even pre-cooked the beef in a vinegar and water solution to make it more tender.  I am debating whether or not to can it. We ate one of the loaves of bread with the soup for lunch, and will have the other loaf tonight with the chicken.

As far as the cookies go, I had shortening but not enough butter, and they came out tasty but flat.  I'll go back to butter next time.

Tomorrow I expect to work on chicken soup and maybe vegetable stock.  Then the freezer will have more room in it for other things!

Rats!

It's the first batch of soup in ages, and one of the jars broke in the canner!

I really hate it when that happens, it's such a mess to clean up.  But I still have 13 pints of beef and barley soup anyway.  I made it basically like the last batch but left out the wine and the tomato paste (and the last minute veggies) and used extra celery and carrots (the carrots, at least, are from the farm share).  I also had leftover "Slow Cooker Osso Buco" in the freezer to add, so that replaced the tomato paste.  The other part that was different was that I didn't really cook the barley before I put it in the jars, since that way the barley would cook up but not thicken up the soup as much as previous batches.  This was processed in the pressure canner for 75 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.  I am pretty sure I heard the jar break at the beginning of the processing time.  At that point, there is just nothing to do but wait until it's all done and deal with the mess.

The freezers are progressively getting emptier.  Which is a good thing.  I've been slowly working on this for a while because we've been having technical difficulties with our ice maker and so have had to defrost the kitchen freezer once already.  I discovered all sorts of things hiding in there so made a plan to start using up what I have.  Then I can start fresh when things go on sale and I'll have space to put it all! 

Best Burgers Ever

It's been a tough May and my cooking activities have been pretty stagnant. No one is more unhappy about that than I am!  Between work, and the 11 year old's play, and the weather, and some travel (we finally took the kids to DisneyWorld) and just plain old exhaustion, I haven't had the energy to forage, create, can or do anything fun like that.  I think it's going to change soon, though.  Strawberry season is starting in a few weeks, the mulberry tree around the corner has a ton of little unripe berries, and the farm share is starting in 2 weeks as well.  I'm hoping to make another batch of that ginger apricot mulberry jam I made last year, which was one of the best flavor combinations I think I've ever come up with.

However, last night I made hamburgers that everyone felt were the best I'd ever made, so I wanted to make sure I wrote down what I did.  Usually when I make burgers, I just take the ground beef, add some salt and pepper, and make patties for the grill.  Boring.  This time I felt like trying something new.  I put 1.3 pounds of the 85% lean ground beef in the mixer with 1 egg, some salt, about a teaspoon of maple pepper, about half a teaspoon of garlic powder, and a generous amount of shredded mexican blend cheese.  This made 4 patties of awesomeness!

The other day I watched a woman forage for dandelion leaves near the subway stop and it made me smile.  She wasn't trying to hide it at all.  It made me wonder why people don't do it more.  I mean, there is food out there, all around us, and we don't take advantage of it as a society.  Perhaps the general trend is changing?

Lastly, in a couple of weeks I will be preparing a basket of canned goods for an auction at our stable's Open House.  I plan to tuck in a voucher for a free canning lesson.  There should be a report on that soon, if all goes well.

All or Nothing

Winter is always a slow time for canning but this year has been exceptionally slow.  Between work and everything else, my cooking time hasn't been what I wish it could be.  This afternoon I seem to be making up for it!

I wanted to make an Irish Soda Bread today for St. Patrick's day and I tried this recipe a week or so ago and we all really liked it.  Well, the 7 year old would have preferred it without raisins.  So I went to Whole Foods to get buttermilk and clotted cream and saw... Meyer lemons.  (Danger! Danger!) Anyhow, I figured I had some time and bought a bunch.  Enough to make three batches (6 half-pint jars) of Meyer lemon curd.  Yum.

Then I made a double batch of beef stroganoff for dinner (I know, not very Irish, right?) and am currently putting up 2 quarts of stroganoff for later dinners.  These are in the pressure canner at 10 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes while the rest of the stroganoff simmers and waits for dinnertime.  This time I used just shy of 4 pounds of stew beef, regular button mushrooms and a small package of baby bellas, shitake and oyster mushrooms, a couple of onions, some red wine, and 2 jars of Heinz mushroom gravy.  I usually use Dawn Fresh gravy, but the grocery store I have to use now (the one I liked closed, boo...) doesn't carry it.  Don't get me started on the grocery store thing...not only is my favorite store turning into a Whole Foods, which puts one within a mile of my house (remember? Danger!), but the more standard grocery is just a nightmare.  I avoid it whenever possible.

Lastly I made 2 loaves of the Irish Soda Bread - one with raisins and one without.  That ought to please everybody.

Blizzard!

Well, not yet, but it is snowing, and sometime in the night it is supposed to transition to a blizzard.  We are expected to get somewhere in the vicinity of 2 feet of snow.  Maybe more.

School was canceled today.  The governor declared it illegal to be on the road after 4 pm unless you are an emergency worker of some kind.  I am actually in that category, but only if I'm going to work.  I'm not, having convinced one of my coworkers that he really wanted to stay overnight after his shift and work Saturday in my place.  I do have to be there Sunday, provided the roads are passable.  I have sand and salt, shovels strategically placed about the house, firewood aplenty indoors, lots of water, and lots and lots of food.  Of course I do!  All those soups, stews and baked beans are there if I need them.  And I have two freezers full of things:  meat, fish, sausages, various veggies, breads, and so on.

Since I suddenly have a lot of time on my hands, I'm cooking a lot.  I've made a batch of yogurt which is doing it's thing on a heating pad in the basement.  I'm making a big pot of beef and barley soup as well:

2 packages oxtails

chopped onion

2 ribs celery, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

2 quarts vegetable stock

red wine, about a cup

Worcestershire sauce, about a tablespoon

1 small can of tomato paste

salt, pepper, bay, thyme, parsley

pearled barley

Currently everything but the barley is simmering.  In a few hours I'll take the meat off the bones and then add the barley and let it cook.  I plan to let it sit overnight and then eat or can (or both) the whole lot tomorrow.  When it's going to be worse outside.  Brr!

Soup in a Hurry

Well, the soup isn't really in a hurry, but I am.  I threw together a batch of beef and barley soup this afternoon, but I have to leave for work before the pressure canner will be done, so I will be instructing my husband in what to do before I leave.

When I make beef and barley soup, I generally start with a slow-cooker "osso buco" - beef shin slices browned and cooked in a slow-cooker with tomato sauce, bay leaves, salt and pepper, and sautéed carrots, celery and onion.  This one also had leeks.  Once we have dinner, the bones and whatever meat is left is saved with all the liquid and this serves as the base for the soup.  To that I add more sautéed onions, celery and carrots, along with garlic, 2 quarts of stock (chicken this time, since I had some in the freezer from the last time I made stock a week or so ago), a cup of red wine, about a cup of pearled barley, some worcestershire sauce, parsley, salt and pepper.  This simmers for about an hour and a half.

After taking some out so I have dinner at work for tonight, I put 5 pints in the pressure canner and the rest will get eaten by the family either tonight or tomorrow.  This one is popular, and it goes fast.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast Soup

The other day, I made a pot roast in the slow cooker.  It was a 3 pound roast, with sauteed leeks, carrots and celery, a couple of bay leaves, parsley, salt, pepper, and water.  And it was really good.  I saved the leftovers, skimmed off the fat, and made soup today - another variation on the beef and barley theme:

2 leeks, chopped

1 T. minced garlic

5 carrots, diced

3 small celery ribs, diced

1 celeriac root, diced

8 cups water

1 cup red wine

1 T. Worcestershire Sauce

8 ounces pearled barley

2 bay leaves

1 can tomato paste

pot roast leftovers, cut into bite sized pieces, fat removed

kosher salt and pepper to taste

The leeks, garlic, carrots, celery and celeriac were sauteed in olive oil until soft and then the other ingredients were added, including the leftover liquid from the pot roast (minus the fat).  This simmered for an hour.  We had some for dinner and then I canned the rest while I watched The Sound of Music with the 6 year old - which meant that every once in a while I had to leave to tend to the pressure canner.  I tried to only leave at the dialogue parts; fortunately the canner didn't need too much tending!  (6 pints, 75 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.)

I'm getting close to the end of the farm share veggies I've stored up.  This used up the carrots and I only have one leek and one celeriac bulb left.  I still have 5 squashes and some turnips, but that's about it.  We even finished the popcorn - how can you watch The Sound of Music without popcorn?

A Whole Lot of Cooking Going On

Sometimes I take on too many things.  ("No!" you say, incredulously.  Or is that sarcastically?)

We had lunch at my friend's house and I brought a stepstool so we could get more of those crabapples.  We specifically picked those which had no holes, rotten spots, or anything that looked remotely like a bug had been at it.  I was canning these ones whole.  We picked a little over 4 pounds.  I used the Spiced Crabapple recipe in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and made 2 quarts and 2 pints.  I will give a quart to my friend and I expect to give away 2 more of the jars.  It has cinnamon, allspice, and clove in it.  They smell lovely!

If that had been the only canning/cooking project for the day it would have been plenty.  But I had a few other things in the works.  I had set up a double batch of stroganoff in the slow cooker this morning.  But, since the slow cooker isn't big enough for 2 batches, I put the meat, onions and half the liquid in and cooked it all day and when we got back at 5 pm I put it in a pot with the mushrooms and the rest of the liquid and let it simmer.

Then I made chocolate zucchini bread - finally tamed the last of the monster zucchinis.  It makes 2 loaves.  I probably could have left them in the oven a little longer - they are soft on the bottom.  That's OK.  It's amazing.  The 6 year old gobbled up a slice.  Shhh!  Don't say anything!

THEN I made the spiced crabapples.  I got distracted doing laundry and they overcooked a little so some of the apples burst.  But overall most of them are still apple-shaped.  While they were processing I got the pressure canner ready and heated up 2 more quart jars.  After the pot was cleaned I cooked the noodles for the stroganoff.  Then when I had room on the stove for the pressure canner I started warming that up and filled the 2 quart jars with stroganoff (take it out before you put the sour cream in) and got them going in the pressure canner.  They're now going strong.

We had dinner, we had the zucchini bread, and now I'm going to go play Blokus with the family.

Whew!

Dinner in a Jar

When I have to work in the evening which, unfortunately, happens often, my husband looks in the fridge and says, "So, what am I supposed to cook?" If I've had time to go shopping, I try to have a meal planned for him, so he doesn't have to go to the store after he gets home from work. Lately, I have hardly had any time to do anything useful like get groceries or sleep or even breathe, I've been working so much.

Tonight was my one night home for dinner out of the week so, since I was going to cook, I made a double batch of Beef Stroganoff. This recipe comes from my mother-in-law, and is one of my husband's favorites. After everything had simmered for a hour I put up 2 quarts and processed them for 90 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure. Now there will be a couple of meals, at least. Just add sour cream and serve over noodles. The 5-year-old eats the noodles, anyway.

Day O'Frustration

We've all had these days, right?

This weekend I had plans. The kind of plans that involve cooking a lot of unrelated things all at the same time because I have lots of different things on my mind. Today's plans revolved around canning soup, making bread, and making cookies. All double batches, mind you.

The only thing that worked as planned was the soup. Somehow I killed the yeast in the bread and the loaves didn't rise, and we ran out of brown sugar for the cookies and the texture was off - probably partly due to using regular sugar and molasses in the place of the brown sugar, and partly due to the "light butter" that has replaced my usual butter blend in the store. NOT buying that again. It's lousy for tadic, too. I couldn't salvage the bread but the cookies are at least edible, even if they don't look the same.

Here's the soup recipe:

Beef, Broccolini and Rice Soup
1 thick slab of prime rib
1 package stew beef & bones
2 leeks, sliced thinly
2 shallots, minced
5 ribs celery, diced
2 cups chopped cooked broccolini
1 package crimini mushrooms, sliced
kosher salt, pepper, bay, thyme
Worcestershire sauce (about 1 T.)
1 large can whole pack tomatoes in puree (about 3.5 cups)
17 cups water
3-4 cups of rice

I browned the stew beef, shallots, leeks and celery in oil and added the tomatoes, water, Worcestershire sauce and spices. This simmered for about an hour and then I removed the bones. I added the prime rib, cubed, and the broccolini and mushrooms. After about another 30 minutes I added the rice, cooked it through, and then canned it. This yielded 14 pints, the maximum the pressure canner holds, and 1 bowl for later. Processed at 10 pounds of pressure for 75 minutes.

They all sealed. That's one food thing that went right. After all that work, we ordered a pizza for dinner.

"B" Soup

Beef. Beans. Barley. Beer.

It's an experiment, as are most of my soups. I have been holding on to a pound of Calypso beans I bought last year at a Farmer's Market in Cleveland. They are from Alta Mae Farm, in Middlefield, Ohio. They are such pretty beans, I could not resist. I love the patterns. I think they look like little orcas:
Anyway, I have been waiting for the right time to make something with them. As this is my last free weekend for a while, and it got cold again, it seemed like a good day to make soup. I had leftover pot roast in the fridge, with its tomato based sauce, and it was about a pound and a quarter of meat with about 2 pints of sauce. I rinsed the beans and boiled them for 2 minutes then let them sit, covered, for an hour. They aren't as starkly black and white but they are still pretty!Here's the recipe, all measurements are estimates...

1 leek, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red onion, chopped
4 large carrots, chopped
1 bunch celeriac stems, chopped
6 pints water
1 pound Calypso beans, quick-soaked
leftover pot roast plus sauce
2 bay leaves
1-2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 bottle Killian's Irish Red
1.5 cups pearled barley
kosher salt and pepper to taste

Bring to a boil, then simmer for a few hours until the barley and the beans are tender. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to can this one or just let us eat it over the next few days!

Soup!

Finally, for dinner, I tackled the frozen beef/tomato leftovers from previous "slow cooker osso buco" dinners. I sauteed one leek, 2 onions (one red, one white), 4 carrots and 5 celery ribs with some of the leaves. Then I browned cubes of beef and added the frozen sauce, meat and bones. I added 2 c. red wine, 16 c. water, worcestershire sauce, 2 bay leaves, and some pearled barley. I also threw in some frozen peas. This simmered for about 2 hours and we had some for dinner, mmm!

I put up 7 pints with the pressure canner (75 minutes, 10 lbs of pressure) and still have about 2-3 quarts of soup left. However, I'm out of pint jars again. I am seriously in danger of running out of space in my pantry again. The rest of the soup is in the fridge; likely we'll have some for lunch tomorrow.

The Kitchen Smells Really Good Right Now

Yesterday I made osso buco in the slow cooker, since I knew dinner time was going to be rushed (I had 20 minutes between getting home and needing to leave again) and the meat was so tender and yummy! Here's the recipe:

3 beef shin slices, bone in, dredged in flour with salt and pepper and browned
onion, celery, carrots, chopped and cooked in oil
1 large can crushed tomatoes with basil
1 bay leaf

All that went into the slow cooker and simmered all day. Mmm.

Today I'm using the leftover sauce, bones, and meat (not that there was much) to make soup. To what was left I added: another bay leaf, about 1 tsp. of worcestershire sauce, 1 c. red wine, 6 c. water, kosher salt and pepper to taste, pearled barley, garlic, and more onions, celery, and carrots fried in olive oil. After an hour I took out the bones and added another 2 cups of water (the limitation here is the pot is too small, so I had to wait until I made some room). It smells heavenly. But that's not all!

I also have enough time to make a double batch of baked beans, with the intention to can one batch and serve the other. This recipe comes from my classic Pilsbury cookbook. I've had this cookbook for about 20 years now. It's such a great, basic cookbook. This recipe is the kind with molasses, brown sugar, and mustard powder. It calls for a pork shoulder but I use salt pork instead, cut up into little cubes. That's baking in the oven right now for another hour and then I'll take out half and can it. I've done a little research and seen times ranging from 75 to 95 minutes, I think I'll just do 90 since that's the same as the soup. I managed to get all the jars in at once: 6 pints beans, 6 pints soup.

While I was picking up the 8 year old from the bus I found out one of my neighbors is sick, so I brought over 2 of the pints of soup. I'm told it's her favorite soup. Maybe it'll help her feel better.

My in-laws are taking the beef bones home to their dog, who will be a happy dog indeed with such savory bones! How nice that this soup has something for everyone. Except the 5 year old. Who just says, "no."

Hilltop Soup

Today's recipe utilizes leftovers from last night's dinner at the Hilltop Steak House. When I was little, we would drive up to Saugus, MA, from RI, go to the butcher shop and fill up a few ice chests full of meat, then eat dinner and go home. I don't remember what I used to order, but I do remember drinking Shirley Temples every single time. Then we'd drive all the way home and form an assembly line of sorts to package the meat in freezer paper, label it, and put it in the big freezer. This event occurred a couple of times a year and I always looked forward to it. Ah, childhood.

Now we live closer, but it still takes us at least 40 minutes to get there....so it's not often we get there for dinner. However, eating the salad with the house dressing makes me feel like a little kid again.

Hilltop Leftovers Soup
Leftover roast beef and grilled beef
Leftover cooked carrots, chopped up
1 onion, chopped
4 ribs celery, chopped
1 leek, sliced
1 T. oil
1 1/2 c. pearled barley
1 pint of potatoes, quartered, with the liquid
1 bay leaf
worcestershire sauce
kosher salt
pepper
5 pints of water

Simmering away...

After dinner, I added 1/2 c. of red wine to the rest (seemed like the right thing to do) and I am not(!) canning it - 10 c. of soup into the fridge this time.

Happy New Year!

We're having a slow, low-key kind of day. We stayed up until well after midnight, woke up late, and had pancakes for breakfast. After the breakfast clean-up, I got to work on another soup project I'd been meaning to do - beef and barley soup. It's actually just beef marrow, since there wasn't any leftover meat to put in. I'd made a beef stew about a week ago with shin bones, tomato sauce (the last jar of the plain sauce), carrots, celery and onion. We saved the liquid, bones and veggies with the intention of turning it all into soup.

Beef and Barley Soup

2 beef bones with marrow
beef stew: liquid and veggies, fat removed
5 pints water
3 carrots, chopped
1 leek, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 t. worcestershire sauce
kosher salt
bay leaves
1 1/2 c. pearl barley

This simmered for about 2 hours. The 8 year old devoured a bowl of it for lunch, then I put up 6 pints and we had the rest for our lunch (at 1:30 in the afternoon. It's a slow day, as I said.). Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention to the canner so the pressure dropped. Since I have no idea for how long the pressure was down, I brought it back up to 10 lbs. and reset the timer for the whole 75 minutes. I'm sure it will be fine.

Branching Out

Legumes. Haven't really used them much. Until recently, I only ever used canned beans in chili. But I've had a few requests for thicker soups so decided to try adding them in.

The story behind today's soup began 2 days ago. I was so excited to make a prime rib roast for Christmas eve dinner, and had checked with Mom for details on cooking it. It was less than 4 pounds and, according to her directions it should have taken about an hour. Keeping on the schedule was very important to me, as we had presents to open and bedtimes to enforce. Well, as you might imagine, the roast took longer than expected. An HOUR longer. I was frantic! And the peas...sigh....fresh peas. From Whole Foods, even. They tasted like dirt. How disappointing.

My wonderful husband insists the roast tasted fine, but I am not convinced. All I know is that I need a new oven. Maybe two. But I digress. We saved the rest of the roast, almost half, really, to make soup this weekend.

Today I used my soup cookbook, 1001 Delicious Soups & Stews, and made the Rich Beef and Lentil Soup. I ran to the store to get leeks, but amazingly I had all the other ingredients. For Christmas I got the New England Soup Factory Cookbook but didn't have all the ingredients for the beef soup in there. Will have to plan ahead for those! The only change to the recipe is that I added red wine instead of white. After having lunch (mmmm) I canned 3 quarts in the pressure canner (90 minutes, 10 lbs of pressure) and saved a little for maybe dinner, maybe tomorrow.

Hmmm. Double ovens. I could totally use 2 ovens....

Soup Season Has Started

This morning we overslept. It's raining, and dark, so that is no surprise. The weather just cried out for a soup. So I pulled out the frozen leftover prime rib roast bones and bone-in steaks we just couldn't finish one night, and put them in the big pot with 7 pints of water. All the vegetables are from the farm share (yay!). Here's the full recipe:

5 beef bones with meat left on
7 pints water
kosher salt and pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
1 T. soy sauce
1 package of frozen bok choi/joy choy
1 pound of small potatoes, cubed
1 onion, diced

This simmered on the stove for several hours and when the beef was no longer frozen I took it out, cubed it and put it back in the pot with the bones. I only took the bones out when I was ready to can the rest of the soup. My parents joined us for lunch. I made heart-shaped Bisquick biscuits and, in my opinion, the soup was yummy! (Those of you who were at lunch may comment if you wish...) The leftover soup fit into 3 quart jars and 1 pint and are in the pressure canner for 90 minutes at 10 lbs of pressure. I still have a to do list for canning, as I have 3 bags of apples in the fridge and also 3 celeriac roots, 2 turnips, and a bunch of carrots which I was hoping to turn into another soup. Anyone out there have an idea for how I can take those 3 ingredients and make something soup-ish?