Quick Drying herbs from the garden

To dry your freshly harvested herbs from your garden, don't turn on the oven or invest in an expensive food-dehydrator--use your microwave! Drying takes just a couple of minutes, if you're careful.

Line a diner plate with 3 paper towels. Loosely cover the towel with the herbs. In the picture, I've got some basil I grew. Make sure you get rid of most of the stems.


Put in the microwave on High for one minute. Make sure the turntable is working and the herbs are moving. Fold the corners of the towel under, to prevent them from hanging up on the inside walls of the oven. Take the herbs out and transfer to another plate covered with paper towel.

Spread the damp towels out to dry while you've got the next batch in the oven. Keep repeating this process until the leaves are crumbly and before they burn!



Once the leaves are dry enough, you can store them in a jar, or run them through a grinder to put into a little spice jar.

Dilly Beans

Here's an alternative to pickles made from cucumbers. Try pickling some beans! This works well on old, late-season beans that you don't want to throw away.

First, mix up a good quanity of the "pickle" or solution:

3 quarts water
4 c vinegar
1 c non-iodized salt

Boil.

In your canner, add enough water to cover your jars and boil them for at least 20 minutes.



Wash the beans and trim the ends. Cut any long beans so they fix nicely in the jars. Peel a couple of garlic cloves for each jar.



Once the jars are sterile, remove them one at a time and fill. Throw in a couple of garlic heads, fill with beans, and neatly put a dill spring or head or two on each side of the jar. Do a nice job so the jars come out presentable.



In a small pot, boil some water to sterilize the lids. Don't bother with the rings because they don't come in contact with the sterile contents of the jars.



Once you have filled all your jars, carefully use a canning funnel to fill each of the jars with pickle. The pickle should come to within 1/2 and inch of the tops. Put a sterile lid on each jar and hold in place with a ring.



Now, return the jars to the canner and start boiling. The water should cover the jars by an inch. The jars need to boil for 15 minutes for pint jars and 30 minutes for quarts.



After time's up, carefully remove the jars, letting the water pour off the tops. Let cool on the counter on a folded bath towel. You should start to hear the lids pop down after a couple of minutes. Resist the urge to check if the popped with your finger!!! After the jars have completely cooled, put them in the cupboard for at least 6 weeks so the flavors can come out. Any jars that don't "can", need to be stored in the 'fridge.

How to Can Pickled Peppers

I wanted to make Pico de Gallo, but all my tomatoes rotted on the vines. So, I decided to pickle the pepper crop instead.


Rinse the garden off the peppers. Wearing gloves, slice the peppers into rings. I kept my pepper varieties separate, but there's no reason why you can't mix them together.
While you're chopping peppers, fill your canner with water and clean jars. Get them boiling. You want to make sure your jars are clean AND sterile. Clean means there's no leftovers in them. Sterile means leaving them in boiling water for 20 minutes.


In a small pot, boil some water. This will be used to preheat the lids. Just before putting the lids on the jars, heat up the seals for 2-3 minutes in the boiling water.

Mix together your pickle. This is my Dad's ratio of vinegar to water. It's not too vinegary so it doesn't overpower you.

1 quarts water
1 c vinegar
1/4 c non-iodized salt
8 cloves garlic (or more) peeled

This is enough for 4 pint jars. Make sure you have enough or extra. Mix this up in a pot and get in boiling.

Using some tongs, retrieve the jars from the boiling pot, drain and fill with peppers. Add a couple of garlic cloves to each jar. Leave about 3/4" "headroom" in each jar. Pour the boiling vinegar solution to within 1/2" of the top of each jar.

Using a magnet or a fork, carefully get the lids out of the preheat pot and put on each jar. Make sure there's no seeds or anything on the rim that will interfere with the seal. Screw on the rings. Hand tighten. They're only used to keep the lids in place.

Put the jars back in the canner. 15 minutes for pints. 25 minutes for quarts. The boiling water should cover the lids by 1 inch.


Using a jar lifter, remove the jars from the canner and let rest on a folded towel. Resist the temptation to touch the lids before they seal. As the jars cool, you'll hear the lids start to pop down.



If they all pop down, you've successfully canned peppers. If they don't pop, keep them in the 'fridge--they're not safe to store in a cupboard. But you can just have "Refridgerator Pickles"

Gougères

A gougère, in French cuisine, is a savory choux pastry with cheese. Grated cheese may be mixed into the batter, cubes of cheese may be pushed into the top, or both. Gougères are sometimes called cheese puffs in English.

2 cup milk
1/2 C. butter
2 tsp. salt
Pepper to taste
2 C. flour
8 eggs
6 oz. Swiss cheese

Scald milk. Just before it boils, add the butter, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and all at once add flour. Stir over heat until it forms a ball. Remove from heat. Beat eggs in one at a time. Stir in cheese. Drop by "spoonful" onto greased pan. Bake for 45 minutes at 350.


Here's some pictures, for the visually oriented:


Scalded milk, ready for butter.



Once the butter's melted, dump in the flour. Add the eggs, ONE AT A TIME. You really have to beat the daylights out of it!



OK. I've got the flour and the eggs in. This looks good. If you're not too tired, beat it for another minute or two, to "dry" the pastry. It gives it a better "puff". We're ready to add the cheese to the party.















Once you've got the cheese incorporated, drop the batter out on greased cookie sheets. I use a 1/4 cup measure. Put them in a 350F oven for 45 minute. Keep your eye on them, but don't open the oven door!!!




Success! Take them to a diner party and WOW all your friends.

Homemade Granola

1 lb Rolled oats
1 c Wheat germ
1 c Almonds
1 c Cashews
1 c Raw sunflower seed kernels
1/8 ts Salt
1 c Honey
2/3 c Water
2 ts Vanilla
2 ts Cinnamon
1/3 c Oil
3/4 lb Raisins
1/2 lb Shredded coconut

Toast the coconut in the oven separately. 300 degrees for 10-15 minutes watching and stirring.

Combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine remaining ingredients and pour over first. Mix well. Spread out on a baking sheet and bake 15 minutes. Turn mixture over and repeat until cereal is almost dry and nicly brown. Remove from oven and stir in raisins and coconut. Turn off oven and leave door ajar. Allow cereal to dry in warm oven for another 6-8 hours.



PS. This is my Mom, not me!

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds are easy too make and much tastier than the lumps of salt that come from the supermarket. If you're making Pumpkin Pie or Jack-O-Lanterns, Save the Seeds!


First, dump the seeds in a big bowl and cover with warm water.


Add a handful of salt.

Squeeze out the fibers and goo.

Soak for about an hour.


Spread out in a baking pan (metal works better)

Bake at 400F, using a spatula to loosen the stuck seeds from the bottom of the pan.


When lightly browned, remove and cool. Store in an airtight container.

Welsh Cookies

3 1/2 C flour
3/4 C sugar
1/2 t salt
1 T baking powder
1 t nutmeg
1 egg
3/4 c milk
3/4 C shortening
1/2 box currents
1 tsp vanilla

For the shortening, you can use any combination of Crisco, butter, margarine, or lard. I use equal parts of butter and lard.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Rub in the fats and add the other dry ingredients. Beat the eggs lightly and add milk to make a firm paste. Roll out on a floured board to a thickness of 1/4 inch and cut into rounds with a glass or a cookie cutter.

Rub a cast iron frying pan with shortening. Arrange the rounds in a circle without one in the middle to ensure they cook evenly.

The tops of the cookies will melt and begin to look shiny.

The cookies will puff as the middle cooks.

Once the bottoms are nicely browned, flip them and cook for about half the time to brown the tops.