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In , on July 4, 2014 with No Comments

Canning 101: Pickled Beets

I’ve been watching the beets growing, slowly by my book, in the garden and have been waiting and waiting for them to be big enough to do something with. We’ve had a few beets here and there already, but there haven’t been enough ready at the same time to do anything with. Until today.

I picked an overflowing dishpan full of dark red beets today….finally! My family enjoys them best simply canned and then cooked with a little bit of butter. While that’s all well and good, I love pickled beets. I think Kevin will eat them, but the boys merely sniff at them. They like traditional dill pickles and will usually pass on any other kind.

So I drug out my trusty Ball Blue Canning Book and found a recipe for pickled beets. While I’ve canned beets before, I’ve never had enough extra beets to make any pickles until this year. Before I started, though, I called Mom. Mom is the queen of pickled beets. She makes them. I eat them. I never needed to make any for myself, so I figured it was about time I did. I am sure glad I called her and quizzed about the recipe before I did anything, though. Hers is not the same as what is in the Ball book. I’m sure their recipe is fine and dandy, but if I was going to go through the work, I wanted them to taste like Mom’s. Come to find out, she’s been using my Grandma Wilson’s pickled beet recipe all these years! Double treat for me today!!

Here’s my Mom’s (and Grandma’s) pickled beet recipe:

Pickled Beets

This recipe uses approximately 3 quarts fresh beets (about 24 small). Make sure you scrub the heck out of the beets (you’ll see why later in the recipe). You must leave at least 2 inches of the tops on plus leave the root on. This will help to keep the color in the beet and not so much in your water.

 

 

Place beets in a large stockpot and cover with water. Cook until the beets are tender when pierced with a fork (mine took about half an hour). Drain beets and reserve the cooking water as you’ll use a little of this in the brine.

Trim the tops and roots and peel the beets.

In another large stockpot, combine 2 cups of the beet cooking liquid, 2 cups white vinegar, 2 cups sugar, and 2 cinnamon sticks (optional). Bring to a simmer and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add the beets to this brine mixture. You can leave the beets whole if they’re small, but I usually cut them into quarters or bite-sized pieces. When everything is nice and hot, pack beets and brine into hot pint jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Remove any air bubbles. Adjust caps.

Process pints in boiling water bath for 30 minutes.

Yield:  Approximately 5 to 6 pints depending on the size and quantity of beets

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In , , on June 14, 2014 with No Comments

It’s Jammin’ Time: Strawberry Balsamic Jam….Plus Baking Powder Biscuits!

I’ve been craving strawberry jam all winter, and I finally got my hands on some strawberries yesterday. Going through all the different jam recipes I’ve accumulated, I decided to try a strawberry balsamic one that I’ve seen on a couple of different blogs. Balsamic vinegar really adds sweetness when heated…I use it all the time when I roast veggies, so it made sense that it would add sweetness to the strawberries, and boy did it! I think I’ve found my most favorite strawberry jam recipe 🙂

Strawberry Balsamic Jam

(This recipe is for 1 batch of jam….I doubled it, and it turned out awesome.)

2-1/2 pounds strawberries (about 7 cups), sliced
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon good balsamic vinegar

Rinse and trim strawberries. Toss with lemon juice and then stir in the sugar. Let fruit macerate for about an hour or so until the juices start to run.

Place the berries in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. The strawberries will begin to break down as they heat up. (I used a potato masher to help speed up the breakdown process.)

Keep stirring over moderate heat until the mixture becomes translucent and has a nice rolling boil. Add balsamic vinegar and black pepper. A jell test on a spoon will let you know if the mixture has thickened enough, but this will not set up into a firm jam.

Skim off any foam and ladle into prepared half-pint jars. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Yield:  6 pints

 

 

And what good weekend breakfast is complete without some homemade baking powder biscuits to try out these jams on??

Baking Powder Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, cold
3/4 cup milk, cold
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Place flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt into mixer bowl with flat beater. Stir dry ingredients about 30 seconds to evenly mix together.

Cut cold butter into cubes and add to the bowl. Combine until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs about the size of a pea.

Add milk and combine until the dough starts to cling to the beater. Avoid over-mixing.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently pat the dough to 1/2-inch to 1-inch thickness. Cut with a 2-inch biscuit cutter (or your favorite way). Place on greased cookie sheet and brush with melted butter, if using.

Bake at 425 degrees F for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Yield:  Approximately 12 biscuits.

I had to try out both the spiced rhubarb jam (on the left), as well as the strawberry balsamic jam…both are delicious!!

 

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In , on June 12, 2014 with No Comments

It’s Jammin’ Time: Spiced Rhubarb Jam

Our rhubarb has done exceptionally well this year for only being 2 plants. We have started a new patch simply because I can’t get enough of it, but that will be a year or two down the road before harvesting. I can usually get 2 to 3 rhubarb crisps a year from our 2 plants before something starts picking at it or it bolts and dies back, but for some reason this year I’ve had 5 crisps and even had some leftover to do something with. I’m definitely not complaining!

My first thought was to do something with strawberries, a natural choice, but as we haven’t yet made it to the U-pick place, that will have to wait. I’ve been searching on Pinterest for yummy-sounding rhubarb recipes and came across a jam recipe on www.foodfanatic.com. It was a straight rhubarb jam…no lemon or orange, etc. I had pectin and I had sugar, so this was the ticket.

As I was making the recipe, I realized that it might be a bit bland for our tastes. When I make rhubarb crisp, I always put in cinnamon and nutmeg. So, I thought why not add the same spices to the jam? It should turn out tasting like rhubarb crisp in a jar….and it did! It’s so delicious I hope I can get one more big picking from my rhubarb because I want to make another batch.

Here’s the recipe:

Spiced Rhubarb Jam

6 cups rhubarb, cut into bite-sized pieces
3/4 cup water
4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1-3/4 ounces powdered pectin

 

 

 

 

In a large sauce pot, cook rhubarb in water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the rhubarb breaks down and becomes soft. You can a potato masher at this point to help break it down further, but leave some junks. It’s jam, so you want some texture. Add the cinnamon and nutmeg. Let this simmer, stirring occasionally, while you get your jars ready.

 

When your water bath canner is simmering nicely and ready to go, add the pectin to the rhubarb mixture and stir until completely dissolved. Bring mixture back to a boil. Add sugar and boil hard for 1 minute. You’ll need to stir constantly here to keep the mixture from sticking and scorching on the bottom. The color will change just a little here…mine got more rosy colored when I added the sugar.

 

 

Fill hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Add lids and rings. Process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.

Yield:  7 half-pints

 

 

 

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In , on June 11, 2014 with 2 Comments

Canning 101: Green Beans

It’s not quite time to can green beans here in Iowa, but I’ve gotten some questions on how to can veggies, and for me, one of the easiest vegetables to start canning is green beans. The process itself is extremely easy, although if you grow green beans like we do, it will be time intensive. We usually grow several 75-foot long rows of beans, and by the time you pick, stem/snap, and wash them you’ve put in several hours (unless you have a buddy help you)….and you have yet to process them. But once you get to this stage of the game, the rest is just a matter of getting the beans processed and waiting.

 

As it’s too early here for me to have taken pictures of my own canning station, I have borrowed pictures from http://www.simplycanning.com/canning-green-beans.html  This is a terrific site with so much information on canning, and I highly recommend adding this blog to your reading list.

To get your green beans ready for processing, snap off both ends of the bean. Inspect the bean for any blemish (bug bites, rust spots, etc.). Snap beans into bite-sized pieces and wash to remove any dirt and debris. Try to only work up how many beans you can do in one canning session. You can put the remaining beans in the refrigerator for another day to finish them, but once you snap them, they’ll dry out if you don’t get them processed.

 

When your beans are ready to can, here’s what you do: 

 

Step By Step Instructions For Canning Green Beans (Raw Pack Method)
Carefully inspect all the canning jars you’ll be using. No matter how careful you are, you’re bound to have jars that develop nicks and chips. These are only good for display now…never use an imperfect jar to can with. Also on that note, while your mothers and grandmothers may have used whatever jars they had on hand when they canned, chances are they were using an open-water boil canner (and boiled the food for hours). Do NOT use noncommercial jars in a pressure canner. They will not take the pressure, and you’ll have a huge mess on your hands. Or if they seem to have survived the process, they may not seal properly, putting you and your family at risk for botulism, etc. While you can technically use other types of jars if using a water bath canner (and I have in the past), I’ve decided my family’s health is too important to not use the proper equipment, and that means commercial-grade canning jars.

Wash jars and closures (the rings) in hot soapy water. Rinse. Leave jars in hot water until you’re ready to use them.

 

Loosely pack green beans into hot jars, leaving 1-inch head space (measure down 1 inch from top of the jar to see where this is). Do not shake or press down. Add canning salt to each jar:  1/2 teaspoon of salt to each pint jar or 1 teaspoon salt to each quart jar.

 

raw packing green beans

 

green beans removing bubbles

 

Cover beans with boiling water, leaving a 1-inch head space. (You need this head space for expansion as the beans process.) Remove air bubbles using plastic spatula or other utensil (don’t use metal…you could damage the jar). Wipe rims with clean cloth.

 

green beans covered with water

 

Apply lids and adjust caps until finger tight.

Process in a pressure canner, pints for 35 minutes and quarts for 40 minutes, at 10 pounds of pressure.

You’ll want to have a constant pressure during the time required. I have a 22-quart Mirro canner, and if you’re new to pressure canning, the 35 minutes or 40 minutes is the time that the canner is at the pressure you need, not from the time you close the canner lid until you pull the jars out. All canners will have their own instruction booklet, but for my Mirro, when I start the canner on high heat, I have to wait until the pressure builds up (without my weight being used on top) and steam is released from the vent for a good 5 minutes. Then I put on the weight…and wait. When that weight starts to jiggle, I then turn down the heat on the canner until the weight is jiggling about 4-5 times per minute and stays at that level. It will take a little practice, but before long you’ll know where that setting is on your stove and how far to turn down the heat. If the weight jiggles too much, you have too much pressure and could end up with broken jars. If it doesn’t wiggle enough, the pressure is too low, and you probably won’t end up with a good seal.

When you’ve processed the beans, you’ll turn off the heat and wait again. Depending on your canner and the number of jars, you may wait 30 minutes to an hour for the pressure to come down before you can open the lid and remove your beans. Use a pair of canning tongs to remove the jars, and set them in a draft-free place ( I put them on a towel on the table.)

You’ll need to let the jars sit for at least 12 hours (overnight is fine) before you test your seals. If you keep count as you hear the lids seal (I call it a “ping” sound), that will make it easier to tell if everything sealed properly, but it’s not necessary to listen all night for them. When you go to check the seal, carefully press down on the lid…if it doesn’t spring back at you, it’s sealed. You’ll be able to see the center of the lid “bubble” and not be flat like the rest of the lid if it’s not. Put the jar in the refrigerator, and eat it as soon as possible. The seal isn’t good, and you’ll risk illness if you put it on the shelf and forget about it. Yes, you can re-can the beans if you like (I’ve done it before). Just use a different jar and new lid, and process with your next batch of green beans. Never reuse a jar lid…they’re only made for a one-time use (I’m talking about the traditional Ball and Kerr canning lids, not the ones that can be reused.)

Remove the rings. Wash and label your jars, and put them on a shelf that will be cool and dark to store.

See…that wasn’t so bad was it? You’ve just canned green beans! Wait until you taste them, if you haven’t before. I swear you’ll never ever buy canned green beans from the store again. 🙂

 

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In on June 10, 2014 with No Comments

Last of the Spinach Harvest…For Now

I picked more spinach today, and it’s just about done for the spring crop. We’d had a short heat burst last week, and it really bolted fast this year. Will try to do a fall spinach planting…but since we’ve said this many years and haven’t ever, will see if we get this far. Usually when it’s time to plant a fall crop, I’m knee-deep in green beans and tomatoes, and I just don’t have the time for more spinach.

Kevin got in the squash this week….he planted zucchini, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, cashaw, and pie pumpkins. I have lots of new pickle recipes that I want to try with the summer squash, as well as the usual and traditional quick breads and baked squash.

He’s also busy rebuilding our wooden tomato cages. We’ve been using these things for years, and they have just about given up in being useful after so many years in the weather. Good news, though, is Kev found an idea using old cattle panels and bending them into tomato cages. He’s getting to them as he can, but when they’re all done, we won’t need to worry about rebuilding any cages for a long time!

 

 

I kept busy weeding the peas and cucumbers, and then we put up the pickle fence for the cukes to grow up. Really does make picking cucumbers that much easier…and less back breaking!

 

 

 

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In on June 8, 2014 with No Comments

Tending the Garden: Kale #2

Today I was able to get into the gardens for the first time in a week. Last Saturday I’d picked the first of our kale, which is a new crop for us this year. I’d fully intended to get back to the garden last Sunday to pick the rest of it, but, of course, here in Iowa wait a few minutes and the weather will change. And it did…starting last Sunday and continuing through most of the week, we ended up with 4 inches of rain total. Way too wet in the gardens to do anything but sink in…..so both the weeds and the kale had lots of time to grow!

I definitely can see what the advantages are to having raised garden beds. Not only can you reduce weeds, but if you have a week of wet weather, you can still harvest your crops when they need it. Maybe someday, for a few crops anyway, I’ll try my hand at raised gardens.

It really turned out to be nice kale. We planted Dwarf Siberian kale, not knowing anything about kale on how to grow, etc. I’ve been impressed so far. It’s producing well so far, and while I’ve heard lots of people say that kale will grow straight through until frost, I’m still waiting to see how it will do if we have drought-like conditions. Our soil has a lot of clay in it, and while we’ve improved it over the years with organic material tilled in….it is still a clay-based soil and that can get rock-hard in a drought. I also am thinking about trying some of the full-sized varieties….if you have a favorite, please share what it is. 🙂

I ended up with 4 large dishpans overflowing with the kale, and while I did use some tonight for dinner in a kale slaw, I still ended up with 8 pretty full freezer quart bags. Definitely takes some time to de-rib all the large leaves that had too much time to grow this week…..will be watching closer and pick if I think it’s going to be wet for a few days in a row.

 

 

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In on May 31, 2014 with No Comments

Spinach

Yesterday I picked spinach for the first time this summer. We planted 3 small rows this time, although I’m sure it won’t produce enough for our family. Believe it or not, our sons’ favorite meal would be liver and onions, mashed potatoes, and spinach! It was really nice spinach too, although the bugs are starting to chew on the leaves….time to get out the natural bug spray Kevin!! I haven’t seen what’s doing the chewing yet, but we use a spray that has cayenne in it, and the critters don’t seem to like that too much. I use spinach in so many things, when the boys don’t eat it all. Spinach lasagna is one of my favorites, although I usually use it fresh and not from the freezer. Spinach salad with hot bacon dressing…yum! Fresh spinach on sandwiches in place of lettuce (although I could go out and pick that to use too).

Here’s a spinach recipe that I can’t wait to try. I found it on thekitchn.com

 

Spinach Lasagna Roll Ups

Makes four 2-roll servings

 

6 lasagna noodles
2 cups finely chopped baby spinach, about 3 ounces
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (or your favorite)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/2 tsp. salt Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup spaghetti sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Light grease a 9×9-inch baking dish. Cook the lasgana noodles in plenty of salted boiling water according to the package directions. Remove when they are al dente and lay out on a clean towel to dry and cool. Mix the spinach, cottage cheese, 1/3 cup shredded cheese, Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, and generous amount of black pepper. Divide the spinach and cheese mixture evenly between the noodles, spreading the mixture over the entire length of each noodle. Roll up the noodles from the bottom to top and place in pan, side by side, touching. Pour the spaghetti sauce over the rolls and sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup shredded cheese over the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until headed through and the sauce is bubbling.

Today I’m off to pick and work up the kale. First time we’ve grown it, so I’m curious to see how it turns out…will let you know 🙂

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In on May 29, 2014 with No Comments

Update On The Gardens

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend…we had beautiful weather here in Iowa! We had a nice, quiet weekend here at home with Cody, Travis, and Kelsey….was nice to have everyone here for a long weekend!

We’ve definitely been busy around here the past few weeks in the garden. Since Memorial weekend was so nice, we got a good bit planted. We put in cucumbers (both for fresh eating and pickling), more radishes. The green beans and the lima beans were planted. Kevin planted a few ground cherries and the celery. I got in more garlic, hot peppers (jalapeno, ancho, Anaheim, cayenne, and habanero) and some bell peppers, although the bells aren’t looking too good yet.

We’ve also been eating a ton of asparagus, and I made a huge rhubarb strawberry crumble for supper on Sunday night…yum!!

Thought I’d post a few pics of how the garden looks after the weekend…as Kevin says, as soon as we finish hoeing and weeding, we quick take some pics while it looks nice….it definitely doesn’t look this way all the time  lol 🙂

This one shows the potatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower. There’s a new rhubarb patch, horseradish, and chives to the left of the cauliflower (out of the picture).

 

This picture is of the “big garden”…I think it’s 75′ x 75′. On the far left (out of this picture) are two 75′ foot rows of asparagus, green and lima beans (newly planted), garlic and more radishes (newly planted), and hot/green bell peppers. This shows a small portion of the tomatoes we have in plus the cabbage and onions.

 

 

 

Closest garden has lettuce, garlic, kale, brussel sprouts, more onions, carrots, beets, spinach, and 4 tomatoes that we planted way back in April….and 2 of them have on blooms finally 🙂  The farther small garden patch has peas, kohlrabi, and newly planted radishes. In the black tubs on each end, I have my herb garden….really small this year, but if it turns into anything, maybe I’ll convince Kevin to till me up a big patch for next year 🙂

 

 

I also came across a canning inventory sheet on http://www.sbcanning.com/  (fabulous website), and I thought I’d share it with you. I’m going to try to remember to record everything I can and freeze this year just to see exactly how much we do. I did this one other year a long time ago, and I think I used something like 650+ canning lids and forgot to count how many freezer bags we went through. Anyway…here’s the link for the inventory sheet:

Canning Inventory Sheet

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In on May 15, 2014 with No Comments

Spring Gardening

Spring gardening is well underway at the Wood household. We started earlier this spring starting seeds…some of which we’d never started from seed before. I spent the winter looking at seed catalogs and finding companies who only sold heirloom, non-GMO seeds. I firmly believe our health is at stake, and the first step in becoming healthier is to start in our garden. Plus, it was just plain fun again to be picking out seeds 🙂

Kevin and I have been gardening for over 20 years now, ever since we were married. Both our families had gardened and canned every summer, but I was never overly interested when I was growing up. But as we started our family, I became obsessed with making sure I knew where our family’s food was coming from.

This year we are back to our huge gardens again, after taking a couple years off when we really had no time due to us having a quilt shop…and boy do our cupboards show it! So, my goal this year is to fill up all the shelves (and maybe a few more!) with home canned goodies to cut back on our food bill.

So far we have established some grape vines…I actually wanted the grapes for the leaves, as I use them when I make dill pickles, but this year they’re finally setting on some grapes! We have Concord and Niagara varieties, so we will hopefully have some grapes to munch on this year, and maybe even some jelly if I’m lucky!

Our strawberry patch bit the dust a few years ago thanks to the resident deer population, although I did see a few straggler strawberry blooms in the patch this year. We’re not planning on replanting them (have tried 3 different times) as the deer always seem to get to them before we do. I have found a nearby pick-your-own strawberry patch, though, so we will not be going without them!

The fruit trees are all in bloom, and even our newest trees (Stanley plums and Northstar cherry) have blooms this year….I see pies in my future! We also have several apple varieties, pears, peaches, and apricots in the backyard that all produce yummy fruit. Our black raspberries also have sent up new canes, so I’m looking forward to them this year.

New additions to our “orchard” this year include dewberries (Kevin’s favorite), huckleberries, blueberries, gooseberries, and elderberries. Of course, after the gooseberries arrives, Kevin tells me that we have tons of wild gooseberries growing on our place….a fact I never knew! One day he took me around to show me all the gooseberries, and he’s right….if they all produce a small amount, I will be overflowing with gooseberries!! Anyone have any favorite recipes they would like to share??? I have a feeling I’m going to need a few.

For the veggies, we have quite a bit in the ground so far, with the later crops yet to be planted when it’s a bit warmer. Peas, radishes, kohlrabi, spinach, beets, kale, carrots, onions, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, and tomatoes are in and doing pretty well (even after the hail storm this afternoon). We’ve been enjoying our asparagus and rhubarb too. Yet to be planted are cucumbers, butternut squash, zucchini, spaghetti squash, pumpkins, bell peppers, hot peppers, ground cherries, pole green beans, lima beans, and bush green beans. We have grown popcorn in the past but don’t need to this year, and we don’t plant sweet corn because of all the deer and raccoons around. We do buy massive quantities, though, from a farmer friend who has the most absolutely sweetest corn there is so we can freeze a bunch of it. I’m sure I’ve forgotten something and will have to squeeze it in the garden somewhere!

I’ve also planted a big (for us anyway!) herb garden. I use a lot of herbs when I cook and when I can spaghetti sauce and salsa, so why not grow my own to use fresh? I put out lots of garlic, rosemary, basil, oregano, thyme, chives, parsley, and cilantro. I tried growing from seed some medicinal herbs too, but those didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped. Maybe I’ll try again next year, as I really want to establish a medicinal herb garden. I do still have calendula and echinacea seeds to put out when it’s warmer, so hopefully they will turn into something yet.

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