Butter and Sugar!!

What was in my Texas sheet white cake?  No not butter and sugar, Vanessa.  Go here

 http://www.food.com/recipe/easy-mousse-cake-filling-any-flavor-215952

I put in 3 cups cream  and one package pudding to have enough for the sheet cake.  Glad you liked it.

This one is for Pam

Pam is my second subscriber and chocolate hound buddy.  This will not have a picture, cause taking pictures of sourdough waffles with chocolate spread is impossible.  You can't find the camera before you have eaten it.  So Pam, take a Tablespoon of the chocolate stuff we made, add a teaspoon of butter and honey or maple syrup, mix it up and spread on waffles or toast.  It is very yummy, and makes you perky.  Now that you are hungry go cook!

Tortilla Soup

This is a recipe from World Wide Recipes by California Home Economics Teachers 1994.

Tortilla Soup with my adjustments to make it cooks choice

1/2 lb cooked pintos or chopped cooked chicken
small can enchilada sauce or 4 red chili pods soaked
4 corn tortillas
1 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
3 cups assorted veg (zucchini, corn, cabbage, carrots, celery, etc) pick 3 or 4
2 cups fresh or canned tomato

2 cups chicken broth
1 T chili powder
4 t cumin

2 T salt (check broth for salt)
Garnish:
1 T lime or lemon juice
1/2 c cilantro chopped
1 c green onions chopped
sour cream
olives, sliced
Fresh fried tortilla chips or bagged chips

Blend tortillas with enchilada sauce or soaked chili pods and soaking water, blend till smooth.  Combine broth, tomatoes and 3 cups water with onions, garlic, vegs, and tortillas from the blender and cook 30 min. Add chicken or beans and the chili powder and cumin, check for salt. If this is to thick add more chicken broth and cook at least 15 more minutes. Serve very hot with the garnishes

Optional garnishes would be fermented salsa, spanish pickle, and homemade yogurt or kefir. 

Looks bigger.

I like Pauls picture but this looks like more Jars! I made canned tomatoes, spiced pickled peaches, dill pickles, peach/pear jam, peach jam, tomato jam, spiced tomato jam, tomato marmalade, peach syrup, peach nectar, green chile sauce, 2 kinds of red enchilada sauce, and peach pie filling,  

You have not had jam until you have had tomato jam. 

Cold pack tomatoes

Mia filmed while I squished tomatoes in to jars.  I boiled the jars 40 minutes in a boiling water bath. 

Finally canning

Here is a short video to show you how I can.  Everything is out and the Jars sanitize in the dishwasher. Everything I know about canning I learned from books.  I really like the recipes in the very old books, but post war books and pamphlets have safer processing times.  So I combine the two.  

The thing that takes the longest is feeling like you are ready to can, that you picked out the recipes, you found the ingredients, you have the time, cleaned the kitchen, and told everyone they will have to get their own dinner.  See, it takes less time to actually can than do all that. 

Fermented things

I made some fermented salsa, fermented peach chutney and fermented Worcestershire Sauce.  The salsa is really really good.  Here is where I got my recipe http://www.cookinggodsway.com/lacto-fermented-roasted-tomato-salsa/ .  Left out the spices and chopped everything in small chunks.  

Okra for all.

this is the last dinner I remember, I have been canning a bunch of stuff.  The okra faerie came and we have had a lot of okra to eat, here is how I make it.

Ferment this today

Here is the Spanish Vegetable Pickle:

Veruras en Escabeche

2 heads finely chopped cabbage

18 cucumbers sliced and drained

36 small pearl onions, whole

7 new mexico chilies, chopped

2 oz mustard seed

1 oz celery seed

1 oz turmeric

2 lb brown sugar

8 oz of ground mustard

1/2 Gallon pineapple vinegar

Mix all the above together and bring to a slow boil and cook for 30 minutes.  

So I did not do this, I cut the receipt in half, used a regular onion and anahiem chilies.  I found a pickling spice in the mexican food spice section, no ground mustard or sugar.  I added salt and fermented this for 2 days.  Very yummy & crunchy -  great with meat.  This is from Mission cookery by Mark Preston.

You missed dinner

Marinated and cooked these country style pork ribs in my fermented tomato juice very yummy.  receipt here http://www.food.com/recipe/beer-n-bbq-braised-country-style-pork-ribs-88486.  No beer though.  The spanish pickles were great with it.  Andrew catch up.

  I got some smooth skinned pickling cucumbers, they seemed a bit watery, and I did not think they would ferment well.  So I made the kosher dills off the Morton Salt web site.  Just used dill seed, who has fresh dill heads?   Also very exciting news there is a real veg farmer in Ahwahnee and I got 25 lbs of tomatoes.  She has 8 to 10 foot fences, Paul.

Started tomato jam tonight and I know you are all green with envy.  There is nothing better than tomato jam on a bagel with cream cheese and sausage.  Here is the Kerr receipt from 1946.

5 lb tomatoes

5 cp brown sugar

2 1/2 cp vinegar

3 cp raisins

1 T whole cloves, allspice & stick cinnamon

Cut tomatoes in pieces after peeling. Add supar and viegar, and spices in a cheesecloth.  Boil slow for 2 hours, add raisins, chopped, and boil 1 hour longer.  Remove spices and pour into Kerr Jars and seal.

I think I will skip the raisins, and some of the vinegar for lemon slices and lemon juice.     

Clean house

Didn't get much cooking done.  Made a Tortilla Espanola for Paul and Nick to tell me it did not taste like the ones in Spain.  This is Spanish Pickle and it is really good.  I will post the receipt tomorrow.  

So the tomato stuff.  It is always a surprise how good it tastes.  I save the watery part for drinking, soup and marinade.  Put the pulp in the food drier, when it is pasty I pack it in a jar & put some oil on top and keep in the fridge.  Sadly I have yet to make enough to last more than a week, it is very yummy and adds a big flavor boost to anything you put it in.  I am picking up more tomatoes tomorrow so I am working on getting a few jars for the winter.  I will post the original receipt for this, in case you can find a roof to dry your paste on.

The last thing you do.

 

After getting your husband to pull the meat off the bones, by making promises you may or may not keep, throw the bones, the skin, any left over veg and 1 to 2 T vinegar and salt.  Cook overnight or in a crock pot.  No your house won't burn down.  It is never the chicken broth, its cigarettes and Christmas lights.  So make your bone broth and stop buying those ridiculous glucosamine tablets.  

Californio Style Chicken Pie

 

Made this after reading California Mission Cookery.  

12 fried tortillas

1 1/2 c chopped cooked chicken

sliced olives

2 ortega chilies chopped

1 T fat

1 1/2 large tomatoes

2 T minced onion

1 smashed clove garlic

salt and pepper

1/2 c broth or more if this gets dry add small amt of water

Line the pan with 6 tortillas, chicken, olives, and chilies.  Boil up the rest for 5 to 10 minutes and take out tomato skins.  Blend with stick blender and pour over chicken. Cover with rest of tortillas and the following sauce:

1 /2 to 3/4 c cream cheese

1/2 cream

Blend with the stick blender and pour over pie.  Bake at 350 till hot (160 F)  20 - 30 min. Please go buy an instant read thermometer, they are $12 at the grocery and cook your food to the correct temp.  

Apricot Bars

I am so happy to be making things to pack in Lunches for the kids to eat at school.  These are out of the Nourishing Traditions cookbook.  I added more coconut oil and more flour.  I don't know how the original would have had enough to cover the pan.  For the fruit I just grabbed any dried fruit I had and some jam.  I use a mix of coconut, sorghum, oat, rice and potato flours.  I have a problem with the sugars in wheat flour, not the gluten. 

Red Currents

Raleys has Red Currants.  They are really sour and the seeds are bitter.  But they are super flavorful.  I cook them up for a few minutes with some water and mash them through a sieve.  Add sugar equal to the juice.  I use it to flavor selzer or my Kombucha.

You should eat more.....

LIVER YEA!!!

This is my favorite Liver Pate

1/2 lb Liver
4 large mushrooms chopped
3 slices bacon chopped
1/2 C minced onion
1 T butter
1/2 C white wine
big pinch Thyme
Salt and pepper
several Tbsp broth to process

Saute liver, mushrooms, bacon, onion and butter about 10 min.  Add wine and cook while you get out your food processor.  Cool liver a bit and then process with some broth until very smooth.  This keeps in the fridge for a week and eat it with toast, crackers, or on a sandwich.

Go here to see the nutrition http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beef-products/3470/2.  I don't count calories or fat.  I don't eat many grain products or sugar.  I need the fat to stay full between meals and the fat soluble vitamins .

Look I got back into my blog!

This is my latest fermenting project.  Spanish Pickle on the left.  I am fermenting tomatoes to make tomato paste.