Almond Crisped Peaches… and More…

Smitten Kitchen posted a recipe for these Almond Crisped Peaches yesterday and since I already had set aside some peaches for making pie I gave it a try last night.  Picture above is ready for the oven.

It was so easy… wash & half the peaches, make the topping and put in the oven!  I used her suggestion of adding the oats and cinnamon and I will make this again and again… it would surely be wonderful on apples! 

It was so yummy with a topping of ice cream and it’s nice that the portion size is pre-determined… but I was so tempted to go back and add another piece to my bowl.

Muffins…

I found this recipe for Muffins for 2 from the Minimalist Baker.  I will need to spend more time checking out her blog as she’s got interesting ideas there… like these Boozy Pecan Pie Bars… which I’m thinking could be made using coconut rum instead of bourbon… I have a 4 year old bottle in the china cabinet – that stuff doesn’t go bad does it?  I could be easily talked into getting a bottle of Kahlua – that would work right?

Back to the muffins… being lazy someone who needs to change things up - I decided to pre-mix the dry ingredients and store it in small mason jars so that all I needed to do was mix and add the wet ingredients and be done with it.  You see - I am back to getting up at 4 something god awful in the mornings to make my husband his breakfast and lunch before he leaves at 5 something still dark in the the morning.  Please hold your applause… it’s not all that noble… he works outside the house (and a good drive from here) and I’m basically here loafing everyday… really I’ve got loafing down-pat. 

Yesterday I measured out the dry ingredients for 4 mixes.  This morning I used one and we were quite satisfied with the end results.  I did use a gluten free flour mix (we choose to eat gluten free when we can as we just feel better) and almond milk (I don’t use cows milk) but since I’m not hardly a vegan I used real butter and egg.  I could see my throwing in some cinnamon and using chopped apple & walnuts in this instead of the blueberries.  You could easily use a regular flour and milk.

This recipe says it makes 2 muffins in ramekins or 4 in regular muffin tins.  I had this vintage 4 cup tin and it made 4 nice muffins.  Since I had divided it into 4 muffins I set the timer for 20 minutes rather than the 25 and that worked out perfect.  Since it does take 20 minutes to cook I’ll probably pre-mix the wet ingredients the night before and then warm it in the morning to melt the butter before mixing the batter.

This morning I scrambled up a few eggs with some spinach and called it breakfast!

 

Oh and Nancy… I found this recipe via Pinterest… If I ever figure out how to really use the site… you’re going to be in trouble for enabling me…

Kale…

In all honesty – I had not eaten Kale until just a few short months ago… like maybe 5.  Really – I have been missing this wonderfully nutritious veggie all this time!

My daughters have each been making and eating Kale chips for a couple years now I think… so it was always one of those things I wanted to try.

The first time I cooked it was when my daughter was still here – I just sautéed it in olive oil and sprinkled parmesan cheese on it and served it as a side dish.  Yum!

Since then I’ve been cooking it up with other veggies and adding a Serrano Chile Honey Balsamic Vinegar at the end… ooooh what a lovely sweet hot kick that adds to the dish.  Add some chicken and serve it over rice or pasta…. mmmmm, mmmm, good.

I’ll sauté some onions, red peppers and kale and add to my scrambled eggs for breakfast.  I’ve used it in quiche as well instead of either broccoli or spinach.

But one of my favorite uses this chilly spring has been in soup.  I make about 2 quarts of chicken or vegetable stock, add in some Costco Meatballs and a bunch of cut up Kale.  I’ve been known to shred up a zucchini and throw that in as well – I don’t think there are any right or wrong additions (my daughter added garbanzo beans when she made it).  Heat it up and serve it with brown rice or even pasta if you have it…

My daughter and grand kids called last week and wanted to “Facetime” with me while the kids were all sitting down to their lunch (helps to keep them in their seats for a few minutes).  I was heating up my lunch as well – so we all had lunch together.  They wanted to know what Granny’s soup was and since they had liked other soups I had made while they lived here they pestered their Mom to make them some of Granny’s Kale Soup later in the week.

What I’ve been doing the past couple weeks is buying a couple bunches of Organic Kale at a time, steam blanching it, and freezing it so that I always have some on hand.  I buy ‘organic’ because Kale is listed on the “Dirty Dozen” list because of high pesticide residue… doesn’t seem to make much sense to eat healthy and then have that healthy food be loaded with toxins!

Wash the leaves

Pull leaves off the stems

Steam for 3 minutes

Ice water bath to stop the cooking

Spin the excess water out with salad spinner

Pack in plastic containers for freezer

I packed one 1.5 pint and two 1 pint containers. 

I always wondered why people had to blanch produce before freezing it… well the short answer as I understand it is that briefly heating it stops the growing enzyme action and your product last longer.  Since this was a leafy item I figured steam was suitable – other denser items would need to be blanched in a pot of boiling water.

For dinner I’m going to use some of this to sauté with zucchini and onion to eat with a few leftover ravioli…

Let’s Go For A Walk…

Join me…

Oh no… we aren’t stopping here – although I could use a little help cleaning out the rest of the tomato plants… I am so over the tomatoes.

Out here a little further in the yard - here is where we are going… isn’t she a lovely tree?

The Stayman Apples are ready… they are a late variety so we will be picking for a couple weeks.

Mostly just picking up the ones that fall.  Some will fall with no damage but many will bounce on a limb on the way down… I’ve even had to pick bark out of some of them.  I was out here earlier (on Sunday) to pick up around the tree – these two just fell so I’ll take them in and add them to the ones I’ll salvage by cutting the bad parts out.

These are the ones that have ended up in the mulch pile on Friday… damaged by the fall and or munched on by the bugs.  Once picking season has begun it’s easier to keep things cleaned up around the tree on a daily basis.  I know we could have salvaged a good portion of many of these apples by cutting out the bad parts… but on Friday (when we cleaned up) my sister took home approx. four 5 gallon buckets of apples to make sauce with.  I also unloaded gifted a 5 gallon bucket to the quilt shop…

These are sitting in my kitchen doorway… I picked them up on Sunday when I took these pictures…

And I cut up the damaged ones I picked up to make Apple Crisp.  Assembled and ready for the oven – boy this sure is good – especially with ice cream.

There are lots of apples still up there…

I’ll be taking some with me when I head up to the A Quilters Gathering this week up in Nashua NH - dropping off some with my daughter in MA as I go by.

Two Days in Pictures…

Sunday Evening - remember I said I thought the next Cherry Tree would be ready soon… turned out it was ready right then.

So I called my sister that night and told her she needed to come out if she wanted any of these cherries… and so she did.

Monday morning - we started picking… see those red cherries in the picture below… those are from a different tree – they aren’t ready - yet.  Seems there are two trees planted together… or I guess it could be that the black cherry tree was grafted onto a different root stock and the root stock grew a tree as well.

 

I finally reached the top of my ladder…

I picked all I could reach and said that was enough!

Some of my pickings… everything got put in the refrigerator Monday because I was too tired after a morning of picking cherries and an afternoon spent working in the garden.

Tuesday Morning… Let’s see – first a trip to the store for more canning jars.  This is the book I worked from – a Mothers Day gift from my daughter last year.

This sounds good…

 

Wash and drain the berries…

Then I used this cherry pitter… one cherry at a time… 3 cups worth of cherries took me 1 1/2 hours.  Can you say tedious?

  

Then I decided to use this antique cherry pitter I had hanging in the kitchen.  I picked it up last year poking around antique shops.  You roll some cherries in the top… turn the handle…

The pits come out here…

 

and the cherry come out below…

 

Now tell me please why there isn’t a modern stainless steel version of this guy around?  I had 5 cups of cherries pitted and ready to use in 30 minutes.

 

Sure is a shame you can’t smell this… or better yet taste it!

I made 2 batches of the Black Forest Preserves… one per the recipe and one I used orange extract instead of the almond and added some cinnamon – yum!  Then I made a batch of Cherry Jam using the same recipe I used on Sunday when I canned the other cherries we picked.  A 4 cup batch of cherries for more jam and a 3 cup batch for more preserves are in the freezer… for some day when I have nothing better to do.

Not a bad day – 3 batches of jam/preserves canned… and a couple of tired feet.

Making Sauerkraut

Let's make some sauerkraut...

You'll need some equipment - which my neighbors Mr. & Mrs. B have.  This is a crock and a stomper...  

I think the 10 on the side of this crock means it's a 10 gallon.

 

Mrs. B picked up 9 heads of cabbage... they are huge!  That's my Big knife and those are quart size jars.

Mrs. B had already cleaned off the bad leaves and then peeled off some of the outer leaves to use when we are finished... she was all business with her knife.

This is a wonderful old 3 blade mandolin to shred the cabbage.

Mrs. B and I got started but we were sure glad to see Mr. B come home.  I don't think either of us could have shredded those last 3 heads.

Shred the cabbage - put it in the crock...

 

Add salt and mix around the first layer

 

Then you 'stomp' with the stomper... which breaks down the fiber of the cabbage - releases juice which mixes with the salt... which helps draw more liquid from the cabbage... and on it goes.... shred, fill, salt, stomp...

 

You can see the puddle of juice...

 

When you are finished filling the crock and stomping it's time to top it off with the cabbage leaves you saved.

 

 

I layered the leaves around - tucking them in around the edges and pushing the cabbage down into the juice as I go.

 

This is a big flat stone that they use on top - yes everything has been well sanitized (they've used these rocks for years)

And then a big heavy stone to keep the cabbage under the liquid.

Then we tied two layers of cheese cloth around the top to keep bugs out...

 

This will sit for 6 weeks fermenting...

There was about a 1/4 of a head left that we didn't shred - so that came home with me.

It got chopped up and cooked down with some onion and Smoked Sausage and we called it dinner!  Yum!

 

In six weeks... we'll have sauerkraut!