Canning Figs, and Kosher Dills

I manage some times to even impress myself, when i am able to come home from work and put up some deliciousness. On Monday one of my coworkers gave me some Figs, I have never seen a real fig before, as far as I knew a fig came wrapped in a cookie! So I managed to can up some Fig Jam! I also got some pickling cucumbers from a farm down the road from me and put up some Kosher Dill Pickles, I cheated though I just used a bag of seasoning!

Fig Jam

3 pounds fresh figs, washed, stems removed

2 cups granulated sugar

Juice and finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Preparation:

In a large saucepan, combine the figs, sugar, and lemon juice and zest. Bring to a simmer over medium low heat, stirring constantly. Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Remove the cover and continue simmering, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens. When the mixture gets quite thick, begin to stir constantly to keep from scorching.

While figs are cooking, prepare the jars and lids. Fill the jars with the hot fig jam mixture, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims and threads with a wet paper towel. Add hot lids and rings. Process in water bath at a full boil 10 minutes.

Makes 4 half-pint jars.

From www.sbcanning.com 

Extracts and a Homemade Christmas!

Hello Blog World! Hope everyone is keeping their sweaters and flip flops near! Much like the weather in Texas should be we are switching between warm and cold weather. None the less the holiday season is vastly approaching starting with Halloween today. This is the perfect time to start thinking about some home made gift ideas for Christmas. One of the things that has started to interest me are home made extracts.

Here is a list below of somethings you can try!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

20 Vanilla Bean Pods

1.75 Liters of Vanilla or Rum

Good Sharp Knife

Split Vanilla Beans in half with knife stuff into liqour bottle. Let stand for 2 months shaking once a week. 

 

Here is a picture of the start of mine, only 3 days later it has a beautiful caramel color and a wonderfull smell of vanilla! I cant wait to see what it will look like in 2 months! All of this cost me around $20, if you think about it a 8 oz bottle of McCormick is $9.00. Package into nice glass jars with a homemade label! 

Here are some other extracts that I am going to be trying in the coming days! 

Mint Extract

1/4 - 1/2 Cup fresh Peppermint leaves

1- 2 Cups decent Vodka

1 glass jar with tight lid

Bruise mint leaves add vodka store in container for 30 days shaking every couple of days. When done strain out leaves. 

Almond Extract

1 cup Vodka

3 T. finely chopped Almond

Using a food processor or chopper, process the almonds until they are ground, but not so much that it becomes butter. Add the almond to a 1/2 pint jar and then add the vodka. Clean the rim and add the lids and rings. Store the jars in a dark cool place and shake the jar every day for six weeks.

After six weeks, strain the almonds through a fine mesh strainer or coffee filter and put the liquid back in the jar. The extract will last indefinitely.

Lemon Extract

1/2 cup vodka (see above)

1 large lemon cleaned and peeled with a vegetable peeler making sure you avoid the pith (white part)

Add the lemon peel to the vodka in a sterile glass jar with a lid

Place in a cool dark place (pantry) for 1-2 weeks and shake once daily.

It will be ready for use at this time, but unlike the vanilla extract you must remove the peel.

There are probably a load more out there, anyone have recipes or ideas for other things? Let me know! 

Happy Halloween!

-Goldie

Canning and Veggies

Wow it has been a busy few weeks, with the Holidays approaching quickly, changes to diets have been put into place. Mid terms for school have been passed out, work is never ending and the harvests are coming to an end. I have taken a interest to canning lately, and have been working on several projects that you will see below. 

My Apple Pie Filling

 

Apple Pie Filling

Use cooking or baking type apples to make homemade, canned apple pie filling.

10 pounds tart apples - peeled, cored and sliced
5 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cup Clearjel

1 T. cinnamon
2-1/2 cups cold water (2 1/2 qts water if you omit apple juice)
5 cups apple juice

1 tsp. nutmeg

3/4 cup bottled lemon juice

Preparation -
For fresh apples, place 6 cups at a time into 1 gallon of boiling water and boil one minute when it comes back to a boil. Drain but keep fruit covered in a bowl.

In a stockpot, mix the sugar, Clearjel, cinnamon, nutmeg together. Add the water and apple juice, stir to mix well. Bring to a boil and cook until thick and bubbly, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Add the lemon juice. Fold apples into mixture.
Pack the apples into hot, sterilized quart size canning jars, about 3/4 of the way. Fill the jars with the prepared hot syrup to fill to 1" headspace. Using a rubber or plastic spatula run through the contents of each jar to remove the air bubbles. Fill again to 1" headspace with syrup. Wipe the rims and place the hot lid/rings on the jars. Process in a water bath canner for 25 minutes at a full rolling boil. Wait 5 minutes, remove and place on dishtowel overnight undisturbed. The next day remove rings and clean jars and label with recipe name and date. Store in a cool, dry, and dark place.  This recipe will make 6 - 7 quarts.

How about some cowboy candy? This is dangerously hot and sweet at the same time. It tastes amazing served on crackers with some cottage cheese! 

Small Batch Cowboy Candy
(pickled jalapenos)

1 lb fresh jalapenos

2/3 cup cider vinegar

2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons mustard seed

1/4 teaspoon tumeric

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Slice jalapenos. Mix cider vinegar, sugar, tumeric, celery seed, garlic, and cayenne to boil. Reduce for 5 minutes to a simmer. Add jalapenos at the simmer for 5 minutes more. Load sterilized jars with jalapenos first and add liquid filling the jars leaving a 1/4 headspace. Process in a water bath for 15 minutes. Makes 2 pints

Also put up several bags of cauliflower, and broccoli!

Then this was the offering for this week in bountiful baskets!

A big thanks goes out to SB canning for sharing the canning recipes, they sure do taste really delicious! 

-Goldie

Fun Things Happening Around here!

Well fall is upon us, and with fall comes the semi annual garage sale which will take place this weekend. Let me just go ahead and tell you that my house is a mess! There are things every where that I need to put in boxes and haul over for the garage sale. 

In an effort to eat healthier we have found Bountiful Baskets, if you have not heard about them you need to run now and get your order in for this week! For $15 you get 2 baskets, one filled with fruits one filled with vegetables. This is what ours looked like this past week. I can not emphasise on how great of a deal this was! It is a co-op so all the money gets pulled together to buy vegetables and fruits and wholesale prices! 

I am so very thankful that the drag racing season has come to an end. We only have 2 more races to photograph before we will be packing the camera gear away for the Winter. It has been a long season full of traveling and has been a blast for sure. We get to meet so many amazing people going around to the races. I am thankful for each one of them.

One of my favorite things about the Fall and Winter time is the cooking, I love to be in the kitchen whipping up something really good and filling! So I will leave you with the drop cookies my Grandmother used to make for my Father, My father used to make for me and my two sisters, and now I have made for my son! Instead of using peanut butter try Nutella!

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 4 ounces butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

Preparation:

Combine sugar, milk, cocoa, and butter in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly; boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla, and peanut butter. Add oatmeal and stir to blend thoroughly. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper. Makes about 4 dozen no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies. 

 

Goldie-