Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Split Pea Soup with Spicy Italian Sausage

Here's a hearty and fast Split Pea Soup Recipe - don't skimp on the ham...

I have used the traditional ham before and the canning process seems to leach the flavor out of the ham, leaving chunks of meat without any flavor to chew on.
I wanted to try something different. I like this a lot, DH thought it was too spicy.


2 lbs dried green split peas (rinse and pick out any strange looking peas)
10 cups water (I used part chicken stock)

Bring to a boil and while boiling cut into chunks

5 carrots
5 potatoes
3 spicy italian sausages (about 9 inches long each)

then add to the liquid

1 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt
1 tsp powdered garlic
1/2 tsp black pepper

I then added the cut carrots, potatoes and sausage to the boiling liquid
and waited for it to come back to a boil and ladled into 5 quart canning jars
added water to the jars to the fill line,and cooked at 11 lbs pressure for 90 minutes.

I took about and extra 20 minutes letting my canner get to 11 lbs.
When the timer went off I turned the burner off and waited until there was no
pressure left in the canner.
I had no liquid loss when I opened the canner to remove the jars.

In this recipe and almost any recipe you can add or take away veggies.
I tend to use whatever I have on hand and make liberal substitutions.

Any soup with meat needs 90 minutes for quarts and 70 for pints.Posted byCynat12:23 PM

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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Green Sauce for Soups, Dips etc.

Another quick and tasty recipe...

5 lbs tomatillos washed and cut into small hunks
2 lbs anaheim chili's roasted and prepared or 1 lg can roasted green chili
6 jalapenos chopped
3 large onions chopped
1/4 cup lemon juice or to taste
2 cups water
8 cloves garlic chopped
1 TBS Lawry's seasoned salt, or to taste
2 TBS Cumin or to taste

Bring all to a boil and boil covered on low for about 20 minutes.
I then took my stick mixer (immersion blender) and blended all.

Pour into jars, wipe rims and I pressured this at 11 lbs for 25 minutes.

This sauce may have to have some thickening before using. I will be using it as
a sauce for enchiladas and as a soup base. I really like the color and the flavor.
You can add tomatoes if you want as well. If you like spicier add more jalapenos
or a pinch of cayenne powder. I have made this using lime juice insted of lemon and
really liked it as well. The tomatillos keep this sauce mild. I shop at ethic markets and love it. My tomatillos were 3 lbs for a dollar.


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Enchilada Casserole Experiment

Who among us is not experimental when cooking at times?
Onward intrepid cooks...

I have leaned to make only 3 to 4 jars of anything I experiment with. This is not really a recipe as much as it is an idea you can change as needed.

I stir fried cut up chicken pieces, no bone or skin.... until lightly cooked.
I cut up corn tortillas into small squares.
I used green enchilada sauce and some whole beans I had canned, some onions, corn and
green chilis.

I put 1/8 cup enchilada sauce in a quart jar and added a few squares of corn torillas,
then added chicken, a bit more sauce, more corn tortilla squares, then onions and corn, more sauce
then more corn tortillas, then green chilies and beans.  I layered this using a lot of sauce and then when through layering, filled the jar to the top fill line with sauce and used a wooden
spoon handle to get the bubbles out and added more sauce.

The verdict?   I used way too many corn tortilla squares and it mushed up a lot.
I will do this again and use less tortillas.  When I took this out of the canner it was full of liquid and bubbling, later it sort of congealed into this mushy mass that was delicious.  I like it!

DH does not like the green enchilada sauce so next time I will make it with red sauce and with beef.

I used to make a casserole a bit like this when I had kids at home, I used stale corn tortilla chips instead of corn tortillas and think that flavor would be a bit better and easier to make.  You would just smash the chips.

As I said above, this is my personal experiment.  Can at your own risk. 


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Monday, November 21, 2011

Pupusa Recipe

From Wikipedia:

pupusa is a traditional Salvadoran dish made of thick, hand-made corn tortilla (made using masa de maĆ­z, a maize flour dough used inLatin American cuisine) that is usually filled with a blend of the following: cheese (queso) (usually a soft cheese called Quesillo found in all Central America), cooked pork meat ground to a paste consistency. Nixtamal is basically the same corn dough, but it has undergone a preparation process involving an alkaline solution before cooking, which contributes to peel the grains while preserving valuable nutrients. This process was developed in Mesoamerica around 1500 - 1200 BC. Early Mesoamericans used quicklime or slaked lime and ashes as the alkaline solution. Dried nixtamal is now commercially available.


This is not a canning recipe.  I will be canning again soon.  I ran out of ideas and now have a few.
This recipe is great.  It's a leftovers recipe.  Mine are not pretty like the pupusas' I Googled.
You could make a bunch and freeze, and even cover in enchilada sauce to serve.
...

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How to Can Rose Hip Jelly

Rose hips are extremely high in vitamin C. In fact, since the British were cut off from their supply of citrus fruits during World War II, they used rose hip syrup to ensure their intake of vitamin C.

To make either rose hip syrup or jelly, you start out by making rose hip tea. I find that as little as 1 cup of rose hips makes a decent batch of jelly, but 2 cups will work better. I left the quantity vague to accommodate those who may not have a lot of rose bushes. Personally, I think that wild rose hips make a wonderful jelly.
...

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Sunday, November 20, 2011

Frozen Berries are Great in Recipes.

This is a great time of year to take advantage of berries - which truly are great in recipes even when frozen...

One of my Brothers is rather fond of Mulberry Jam so I was at his house this weekend making jam with the berries that he and his wife froze last summer. I mentioned before, that frozen fruit makes good jam, but I thought I would take a moment to mention some reasons why you might want to use frozen fruit.

This weekend was an example of being able to time the canning so it was convenient for me. I did not have to be at his home at the time that the berries were actually ripe. The timing was also nice because it was cold out and the heat from the stove was much more pleasant than it would have been in June or July.

Timing is also an issue if you want to use two fruits that don't become ripe at the same time. Just freeze one of the fruits and it is ready when the other fruit becomes ripe.

It is also handy if you want to use a fruit that you don't grow yourself. I don't grow blueberries, but that certainly doesn't stop me from making blueberry jam. Frozen blueberries work just as well as fresh ones.
...

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Old Time Corn Cob Jelly

The older the recipe, the more fun it is to make...


This old fashioned recipe recalls a time when people couldn't afford to be as wasteful as we often are today.

When I mention people often wrinkle their nose as if I must be talking about something poisonous. Some of the finickiness that our society has developed is unfortunate because, quite frankly, tastes good.

I always make it with the red cobs that come from dent corn (the type of corn that is fed to cattle and squirrels). As an Iowa girl, I have fields full of dent corn all around me. If you are not lucky enough to have a corn field outside your back door, you can get some corn that is sold for squirrels and shell it.

I have seen recipes that call for the cobs from sweet corn, but I have never tried it. I imagine that it would still have the hint of corn taste in it, but I am not sure what color it would be, since sweet corn has white cobs. Perhaps I should try it some time and see what it is like.


This is based on a recipe from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Cooking.


(Yield is about 4 half-Pint Jars)
(Printable Recipe)

12 red corn cobs
6 cups water
3 cups sugar
1 package powdered pectin

Break cobs in half. Add water and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain in a damp Jelly Jelly Strainer. If necessary, add enough water to make 3 cups of liquid. Add sugar and bring to a rolling boil. Add pectin and return to a rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute. Fill hot canning jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Add lids and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes

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