Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Health, Homemaking, Photos, Recipes

Pear Butter

Posted on October 4, 2011October 4, 2011 by Katharine

: Bumper Crop

Oh, to bring back the days of sweet, crunchy pears! What memories of delicious fruit we would have forever!

We cannot bring them back, but we can prolong those days by helping the harvest last longer, by canning those pears.

If you are coming into the lovely problem of too many pears, here is how we deal with them–mmm!

1. Core and remove stems, but do not peel pears. Remove bad spots. Drop into 1 gallon water with 1 vitamin C tablet crushed in it.
2. Drain pears. Bring to boil in non-reactive pan (stainless steel or enamel) over medium heat with 1/2″ fresh water in covered pan.
3. Allow pears in water to simmer, stirring, until fruit is soft, adding water if necessary, to prevent scorching.
4. Mash pears or press through colander.
5. Return pulp to pan and season to taste with brown sugar, and if desired, cinnamon.
6. Reheat until simmering and hold at simmering for a few minutes. Keep at simmering, stirring, during entire process. Add water if needed.
7. Meanwhile, estimate number of pint or smaller canning jars you will need to contain all the pear butter. Wash carefully and rinse these jars. Count the same number of canning lids (flats) and heat in small saucepan of water as directed on box. Set aside and keep hot. Be sure to have one screw band for each lid. Lay one or two jars down in another large pan with 2″ water in it. Cover and bring to boil. Bring to boil another covered pan large enough to hold all the jars at once, with water enough to cover all the jars and rack in bottom of pan to keep jars from direct contact with bottom. (This pan should be a bit larger than your largest burner, and at leat 16″ tall, like a spaghetti boiler. The perfect pan is often called a “water bath canner”. If you lack a lid, a pizza pan works fine.)
8. Using jar lifter, carefully remove one jar from boiling water, emptying into boiling pan, and set it upright onto thick towelling.
9. Using canning funnel and long-handled measuring cup, carefully ladle simmering pear sauce into jar, within 1/2″ of top. Wipe rim clean and dry. Remove flat from hot water with tines of fork. Apply flat and screw band to filled jar, using thick towel to protect hands from heat. Use jar lifter to set lidded jar into tall pan of boiling water.
10. Repeat until all sauce is in jars, in boiling water bath. Time boiling from this time, for 15 minutes. Remove jars and set on clean, DRY towelling. Cover with light towel and allow to cool away from drafts. Do not disturb until completely cooled.
11. Remove screw bands from all sealed jars. (Sealed jars will be indented on top.) Place any unsealed jars in refrigerator and use very soon. Place all others in cool, dark place to keep for at least a year and use whenever you miss those crunchy pears!

We use this in place of jam on buttered toast.

Sometimes I only add white sugar and no spices to this recipe and we eat it like applesauce. Sometimes the pears are so sweet, I skip the sugar, too.

It’s all good!

I do hope these directions were clear. I ‘d be happy to answer all questions here. Remember, the only dumb question is the unspoken one! 🙂

Believe it or not!, Coffee-ism, Homemaking, Photos, Recipes

One Good Pie!

Posted on September 17, 2011November 21, 2014 by Katharine

As Promised:

Pie, Recipe, and Photo!

I said I’d post this. Now here it is!

My mother found this recipe somewhere and shared it with me about 30 years ago. It’s a sort of cross between sour cream raisin pie and pecan pie. With coconut. Since I started making it as a family favorite, I have seen it in many collections.

Still, when I bring it to a public function, someone is always amazed.

I feel certain someone out there has perhaps glossed over the recipe and never, ever tasted its wonderfulness.

Have fun.

Good Pie

1 stick butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. top milk
2 Tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup coconut
1, 9″ unbaked pie shell

Mix butter and sugar thoroughly. Add eggs and blend in completely. Beat in flour, thoroughly. Stir in milk, vinegar, and vanilla. Add remaining ingredients and stir well. Pour into pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

This will rise up but will not overflow. As it cools, it sinks.

For the top milk, I’ve also used either canned evaporated milk or else cream, with equal success.

A pie this rich can easily serve ten or twelve, but we serve it cooled, cut into eighths, and topped with whipped cream. Oh, and with coffee, of course.

My mother used to line muffin tins with pie dough and bake it that way for special events. In that case, the temperature is the same, but probably it would be done in about 20 minutes, or when browned.

ENJOY!

Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Home School, Inspiring, Recipes, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom, Womanhood

Postaday Challenge – January Favorites – 2

Posted on August 23, 2011January 20, 2015 by Katharine

I look out my window and see dead trees, grass that’s brown and crunchy like Wheaties, cat dish always needing water . . . with all the heat we’ve had, isn’t it hilarious to read these old posts! Enjoy!

DAY OFF #2

Repairmen of streets, wires, and buildings will get our roads safe and everyone back in their places eventually.

In the meantime, we play in the snow.

The day begins with Dad shoveling snow and bleary-eyed offspring wandering into the kitchen to ask, “What is that noise?” We so seldom have the pleasure.

Now our snowman stands watch. Our cars are decorated with snow objects. Lots of hot cocoa has slipped away. I enjoyed the crazy antics of our two home-bound adult kids, playing in the snow as if they were grade-schoolers. How thankful I am for the snow! Realizing they can still find joy in each other’s company is bliss to this mom.

ALSO (here comes the fun part) THEY CAN PUT ON AND REMOVE THEIR OWN WRAPS!

THEY CAN HEAT THEIR OWN WATER AND STIR UP THEIR OWN HOT COCOA!

THEY CAN HANG ALL THEIR WET THINGS TO DRY!

THEY REMEMBER TO SHUT THE DOOR!

THEY THINK ABOUT NOT TRACKING THE HOUSE WITH SNOW AND MUD!

I get all the same fun as when they were younger, with none of the work.

Another amazing thing: No one grumbles today that the Internet is “down-ish”. We all have decided to do traditional snow-day fun and forget about the rest of the world. I love it. Board games, non-electric musical instruments, laundry hanging on wooden racks by the wood stove, homemade food, and wild birds have risen to the top of our most-selected interests list and everyone is content.

And I wonder: How is it in other homes? I hope you and yours enjoy a great day, today. I pray God grant you peace and contentment.

And snow.

Believe it or not!, Health, Herbs, Photos, Pre-schoolers, Recipes, Who's the mom here?

Just Like B’sketti! – A Recipe of Sorts

Posted on August 17, 2011March 17, 2016 by Katharine

Homemade spaghetti How to cook. How to cook. How to cook for little ones who may not like my cooking . . .

Part of me felt like the character in No Reservations played by Catherine Zeta Jones, who was accustomed to satisfying finicky eaters by scrounging for ever more obscure ingredients, and faced with the dilemma of feeding a small child who did not feel like eating at all.

And part of me felt like just doing my thing and if there was a problem, they would eat once they got hungry. That part of me won out.

The children had expressed curiosity when we were shopping. I selected mushrooms, and they had not ever noticed raw ones before so asked what they were. When I told them, they made faces.

My turn.

For supper, I fixed the best marinara I could imagine and used some of those mushrooms, sliced and sautéed in olive oil, along with a large clove of wild garlic from our field, also sliced. We still have tiny onions left from our overheated garden, and I included a few of them, sliced. As all these paper-thin slices were beginning to brown, I added small chunks of a bell pepper a friend had brought me, along with one of her jalapenos, whole.

While some of the oil in the pan was still available, I tossed in freshly-crushed basil and oregano, and stripped a few leaves off a fresh stem of rosemary. All was sizzling along nicely when I remembered the soup base. I actually made soup base this year, which is merely whole tomatoes, washed and cored, and tossed into a blender, skins, seeds, and all, to be liquefied for a thicker sauce than we can obtain from just juice. I prefer the muskier taste the seeds lend and the redder coloring the skins contribute. It is the only way I will deal with only a gallon of tomatoes. Cleaning out my Victorio tomato strainer just kills me, if it’s for only a few quarts of juice.

Once the fresh rosemary had softened a bit, I tossed in a quart of the soup base. It sizzled just a bit, as it landed in the pan. Perfect. Since one of us cannot eat many foods without some Worcestershire sauce, I dolloped some of that in, too. And a bit of catsup for sweetening.

I slowly brought it to a boil.

Lastly, I added a whole bag of Great Value frozen 5-cheese ravioli. Yep. You may cringe at that, but I have read labels, and it has nothing in it but foodstuffs, all pronounceable. Probably not very organic, though.

Once it returned to simmering, I turned down the heat and covered it. Then I prepared a small lettuce, tomato, and carrot salad. The children had been impressed that the grape tomatoes I had bought had come “all the way from MISSOURI!” That seemed so exotic to them. I figured they’d at least eat the tomatoes.

After all was dished out and cut to bite-size, the littlest one sampled the ravioli and looked up at me so sweetly to comment:

“It tastes just like b’sketti.”

Kudos to the cook, I suppose.

Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Homemaking, Inspiring, Recipes

You CAN Can – The RECIPES!

Posted on July 22, 2011July 21, 2011 by Katharine

These are not mostly canning recipes, but mostly hints about getting out from under a pile of vegetables on the counter. Of course, the solution is to eat them, but did you know:

It is perfectly fun and delicious to eat a cheese and mayo sandwich with a whole tomato on the side to eat like an apple?
Carrots, are irresistible sliced lengthwise and fried in butter, with a dash of onion, until soft and caramelized?
Grated zucchini keeps well in the freezer, and in recipe-sized batches would be ready for bread in the winter in a short time?
Bitter cucumbers, sliced and soaked in the refrigerator in vinegar/salt water will lose their bitterness in a couple days? And are yummy?
If your onions are not keeping well, you can still save them by slipping one into each jar of green beans before canning them at the same pressure?

Okay, now for the recipes!

Summer Squash Patties

3-4 c. grated summer squash
1 egg
¼ c. chopped onion
¼ c. self-rising flour
¼ c. powdered milk
¼ c. corn meal
salt and pepper
oil
Mix all together well. Fry in 2” patties in ½ inch oil over medium-high heat until well-browned. Drain on paper towel. Serve hot.

Cucumber and Onion Marinade

3-4 cucumbers, sliced thin, peeled or not
1 onion, sliced and separated into rings
3 Tbsp. salt, non-iodized
2 c. cider vinegar
Place onion rings over cucumber slices in large serving bowl. Add vinegar and salt. Add water to cover. Serve well-chilled; we like a few ice cubes in ours. Some people add black pepper, but I do not. If cucumbers are bitter, hold for 3 days before serving. If sweet, these are grand served immediately.

Green Tomato Minced Meat Pie

2 c. chopped green tomato
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 Tbsp. melted butter
½ c. brown sugar
½ c. raisins
½ t. salt
¾ t. cloves
¼ t. nutmeg
1 two-crust pie shell
Cover tomatoes with water. Bring to a boil. Drain. Add rest of ingredients. Bake in pie shell at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Green tomatoes may be frozen in 2-cup batches, in summer, for use in this recipe, in winter. Just chop, package, and freeze. No need to thaw, first.

“No-tel” (Tastes just like the R-real thing.)

1 pt. peeled, raw tomatoes
1 jalapeno pepper
1 pinch rosemary leaves
½ t. canning salt
Place the above ingredients into each pint jar until you run out of ingredients. Cap with hot lids. Process at 5 lb. pressure for 10 minutes. To peel tomatoes, dip into boiling water for 1 minute. Dip into cool water. Slip skins off. Core.

This final recipe is for handling all the garden scraps such as vegetable peels, old pea vines, etc., IF you do not have chickens:

Compost

1 bushel clipping, leaves, vegetable waste, etc.
1 handful balanced fertilizer
1-2 pints good garden soil
Sprinkle to moisten, if needed. Mix well, using hoe in wheelbarrow. Seal in large plastic bag. Tie shut. Stack bags anywhere (barn, garage, etc.) and store for 3-6 months at 70 degrees or so. Open and apply to garden.

Oh, there is so much more, but we’ll change subjects for a while! See ya’ tomorrow!

Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Homemaking, Inspiring, Recipes, Who's the mom here?, Womanhood

You CAN Can – Six Tricks More!

Posted on July 20, 2011July 21, 2011 by Katharine

To continue the tricky list from yesterday’s post:

7. To rinse the spines off cucumbers without cutting your hands, use a washcloth, which protects you and is faster and gets them cleaner.

8. In an emergency, apples, bell peppers, and tomatoes may be frozen whole and raw (untreated). They must be perfectly spotless, unwashed, and in an airtight bag or container. They must be used within six months and they should be used for cooking only. Thaw tomatoes one at a time under running water for a few seconds. Skin should slip off easily, then core and pop it into your chili or whatever. For apples, thaw slightly at room temperature, peel or not, slice off of the core for pies, sauce, etc. Open, clean and chop bell peppers, frozen, or stuff and bake.

9. If you have plums galore, try freezing them whole and unwashed. Teach your children to love “plum-sicles” (and to wash them before they eat them.)

10. If you end up with more fruit juice than you have sugar or time, boil it, cool it, and freeze it in clean milk jugs, ¾ full. The jugs should have securely fitting lids. I made jelly with juice that had been frozen for a couple years and it was absolutely as wonderful as fresh. Allow about 24 hours for a gallon jug to thaw at room temperature.

11. To tell if apples and pears are ripe, cut one open. If the seeds are white, it is too early. If they are black, the fruit is ready.

12. The eensy fruits off your flowering crab apple tree make wonderful apple jelly and incredible, rosy, tart applesauce. I love it to serve with meat instead of cranberry sauce.

Tomorrow: Gardening, Canning, and Children!

Blessings of Habit, Homemaking, Inspiring, Recipes, Womanhood

You CAN Can – Six Tricks!

Posted on July 19, 2011July 19, 2011 by Katharine

Six Tricks

In case you face canning–or freezing or drying–with more dread than cheer, here are some tips that will brighten your day and lighten your load:

1. Greens can be washed in the washing machine. Do not overload it, use the gentle cycle, cold water, NO SOAP. They will tear a little, but we’re going to cook and chew them, right? you needn’t spin them; they float. And the sand sinks. Yea!
2. To keep fruit from darkening, try using a Vitamin C tablet crushed into the holding water instead of expensive fruit preserving preparations from the store. One 500 mg tablet is enough for one gallon of water. It keeps pears, apples, peaches, etc., just as pale and fresh as the moment they were first sliced. For hours.
3. When cutting the core from quartered fruit, start at the bottom end of the slice (blossom end) and cut toward the top. You will have significantly fewer broken quarters.
4. To separate halves of drupes (plums, peaches, etc.) slice to the pit along the naturally occurring crease all the way around the fruit. Then twist the two halves in opposite directions. Voila!
5. Chop fruit for jam in the blender. Briefly. It is so much faster.
6. For quicker sun-drying, place fruit between two framed screens and set on top of the luggage rack of your car, parked in the hot, hot sun.

Tomorrow: Six MORE Tricks!