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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 22, 2014 with No Comments

Roasted Beet and Kale Salad…and Late Night Single-Serve Chocolate Cake

We picked the first few beets today, and aside from the usual canned beets and pickled beets that I plan to make, I wanted to try roasting a few of the beets. I’ve never tried them roasted and had been looking forward to it if we had extra…and we do. 🙂

Adding to the fun of cooking, this past week we had a wind/electrical storm that took out the electronic motherboard on my kitchen stove…..so as we await the arrival of a replacement board, we are minus a stove. The burners still work (gas stove), but no oven. So…roasting these beets would mean using my microwave.

Four years ago when we remodeled our kitchen, I bought a Sharp Carousel Convention microwave. The intent of this purchase was that I would use the microwave to bake, roast, etc., during the summer so as not to heat up the kitchen when it was so hot. Of course, convention would take hold, and I’d use the oven and heat up the house. But with no oven available, it was time to test out this convection microwave.

I trimmed the beets and scrubbed them as usual. Then I found a glass pie pan and placed the beets in it along with about 2 Tablespoons of water. I microwaved the beets at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes until they tested soft when pierced with a knife. I let them them cool until I was able to peel them and proceeded with the roasted beet and kale salad recipe.

 

 

Roasted Beet and Kale Salad

6 medium-sized beets, trimmed and roasted
2 cups kale, washed and trimmed
1 tablespoon honey mustard
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Combine roasted beets and kale in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Combine apple cider vinegar, honey mustard, honey, and olive oil in a small bowl. Whisk until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste. Adjust flavors if needed.

Pour dressing over beets and kale and stir to coat vegetables completely. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to let flavors meld together.

After dinner, the boys decided to go fishing, and Kevin and I sat down to watch a movie. As is usually the case, my sweet tooth went into overdrive. I searched through my Pinterest recipes and came across a single-serve microwavable chocolate cake recipe. I’ve never baked a cake in a microwave before, but as the oven was out of commission, I decided to give it a whirl. Wouldn’t you know….as soon as I’d pulled out my cake from the microwave, the boys returned home from fishing! And I had 2 more cakes to make  lol…..but they were definitely worth it. I found the recipe on www.chocolatecoveredkatie.com

 

One-Minute Chocolate Cake

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 stevia packet (or 1 tablespoon more sugar)
2 to 3 teaspoons coconut oil or vegetable oil
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla

Combine dry ingredients and mix very, very well. Add liquid; stir. Transfer to a little disk, ramekin, or coffee mug. Microwave 35-40 seconds (center will be soft like a lava cake center). If you don’t want to eat your cake straight from the cup, be sure to spray your dish first (and then cool before trying to remove it).  Edit:  If you want a more cake-like texture, microwave each cake for 1 minute.

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