Since I am new to canning, I hadn’t really thought about canning dry goods. In fact, I didn’t even know you could! But, I was turned on to this post by CakeWalk about dry canning rolled oats she bought at a discount. Brilliant!
This is a great way to store local, dry goods for up to 8-10 years. Now to find the space…
In the past week, I have had two people ask me for a good slow cooker recipe – and I really couldn’t think of anything I had made lately. So, I pulled out the ol’ crockpot and got to thinking…
What I came up with is a dish that is easy (crockpots make things so easy!), versatile, and yummy. Salsa chicken!
I took some green tomato salsa from my pantry – one that I find to be a bit salty, but an overall good salsa.
I added half the jar to the crock pot along with a half a diced onion, two cloves of minced garlic, and a teaspoon cumin.
I set the machine on low for 8 hours and went about my business – constantly distracted by the wafting smells coming from the kitchen.
After 8 hours (6 would have been perfectly fine too), I took off the lid and shredded the chicken with two forks. Mine needed a bit of something, so I added a bit of hot sauce.
Then, I tried to take a picture, but the dish was clearly too hot!
(This steamy picture did make me chuckle – especially since I kept trying to take a clear one and finally gave up.)
You could serve the chicken over some rice or over a salad, but we made burritos with sauteed onions and peppers, avocado, cilantro, sour cream, and of course, more hot sauce.
Sidenote: Remember when I only showed you recipes made with only local ingredients? Well, this one is close – homemade salsa, New Season’s Northwest chicken, onions from Washington, cilantro grown in Oregon, and the sour cream from Eugene. But, the avocados and the peppers? Eh… Not gonna lie – I just wanted them! Bad locavore!
Crockpot Salsa Chicken
Serves 4
2 chicken breasts
1 cup of salsa
1/4 cup of white wine (I didn’t use because my salsa had so much vinegar, but this might be helpful if you are using store-bought salsa. Also, try a bit of beer!)
1/2 diced onion
2 minced garlic cloves
1 teaspoon of cumin
salt, pepper, hot sauce to taste
Add chicken breasts, salsa, white wine, diced onion, garlic cloves, and cumin to crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Shred chicken and add salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste. Serve!
Read More 1 Comment »So, imagine this: yesterday, I am just eating my lunch, perusing one of my new favorite blogs, Food in Jars. I love Marisa from this blog even though I don’t know her… but her canning is beyond impressive. One might say she is my canning idol.
Anyway, as I was scrolling down, I noticed she highlighted some images from a flickr group she started. One where people send in their photos of their canning.
And I found this one:
Mine! I had posted this picture to the group a few weeks ago, languishing over the thought that mine would never be chosen in the mess of hundreds of beautiful pictures. And, lo and behold, it was!
I talked about making those fridge pickles a few months ago – and almost cutting off my finger – you can read the full, enthralling story and recipe here.
In case you were wondering, I am happy to announce that my finger totally grew back normal. I was pretty sure a chunk would be missing forever. Thank goodness, because my finger beauty is all I have.
Anyway, I am so happy to found Marisa’s blog and am honored to have my delicious fridge pickles showcased. In fact, so honored, I considered just eating pickles for dinner last night – until my stomach started a vinegar-only diet protest, complete with grumbling and demands for non-acidic food.
Read More 1 Comment »I can’t remember the last time I was at the store and chose to buy applesauce. For a purpose that didn’t involve sickness or maybe someone’s baby. It just isn’t a food I consider eating – especially when I could just eat that whole apple sitting in my fruit bowl.
Then, I made my own.
It changes it when you make it yourself – the applesauce tastes, for lack of a better (non)word, more apple-y. Plus, you can control the sugar (in my case, just a touch of honey), spices, and consistency.
First, you have to find the best apples for sauce. I went to the farmers’ market on Saturday with my friend, Ellen (hiiiiii!), and we tasted a few before landing on some special apples. They were tart and tasty… And I would tell you the type of apple, but I immediately forgot. Sorry, guys. But, there are so many apples out there! I am sure your grocer will recommend a good one for sauce.
The next day I invited over my canning buddy/friend, Rebecca (hiiiii to you, too! Anyone notice Erik is out of town and I am trying to squeeze in as much human interaction as possible?)
She brought some Granny Smith’s, so we made two batches, or 10 pints, of applesauce.
Making sauce is very easy, but there is a lot of time standing around and stirring occasionally. Having a friend there just makes it better. But, when doesn’t it?
If you want to make some at home and not can them, do it! You can keep it in the fridge for at least three weeks. You may want to half the recipe, but it will be worth it.
Honeyed Applesauce
Slightly adapted from Well Preserved: Small Batch Preserving for the New Cook
Makes 5+ pints
6 lbs of apples, cored, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces
2 cups apple cider
1 cup water
1/4 cup of lemon juice
1/4 cup of honey (more to taste)
1 tsp of cinnamon
Add apples, cider, water, and lemon juice into a non-reactive pot and bring to a boil over medium. Reduce to medium-low, cover and continue cooking for 30 to 45 minutes, until apples are very soft. Remove from heat and stir in the honey and spices – mash with a potato masher until desired squishedness. Simmer for another 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
If canning (please follow proper canning procedure – this is not a guide for new canners), fill sterilized jars to 1/4 inch from top and release air bubbles. Wipe rims and seal according to the manufacturer’s directions. Process jars in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.
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In select cities across the country, we are lucky to have a Chinook Book. For those who don’t know, it is a coupon book for local, sustainable businesses – like Entertainment Book for urban yuppie hipsters.
This year (and maybe last year, but I didn’t realize this), they have a mobile app. All $3000 of savings are now accessed by your phone – with one-time use, digital coupons. The app has a section to save your favorites, how much you saved, and the best feature is that you can search what is “near me”.
Interested? They are available in Portland, Seattle, Denver, Bay Area, and Minneapolis.
Go to the website, chinookbook.net or find a local retailer.
Read More No Comments »I turned to Erik last night, interrupting him for the catrillionth time from reading a book, and said, “Hey, aren’t you glad that we are so much more prepared for eating local this winter?” He stared at me for a second and then went back to reading his book. I take that silence as a definite yes!
One of the places we are saving all that local goodness is in our freezer.
It is at the point where when you want to put one thing in, you have to pull everything off the shelf and repack.
Like a freezing game of tetris or, more accurately, jenga – because at some point everything comes tumbling out.
So, the other day, I got really excited when I received a newsletter from where I buy happy meat, Full of Life Farm. They are offering freezer space for $2 per month for bulk orders. I could save up to 30% on buying sides of meat versus individual cuts and I can empty the freezer of it’s current meat supply before loading it up again. Plus, if we organize, more than one family could purchase a quarter cow and not bring home 150 pounds of meat (a quarter of a 500 pound cow is still a lot!)
Live in the Portland area and interested in buying local, grass-fed beef and then keeping it with the farmer? Check out the prices and let me know if you are interested – I think I could buy 50 pounds of meat and last quite some time (and at around $300, it better last!). I am also into buying a part of a pig… Especially the bacon part. Oooh, or a 10 pack of chickens!
(This is not a sponsored post, I just really like this farm and getting the most for my money.)
Read More 2 Comments »I needed a Saturday like today… One where I woke up and didn’t have anything to do – no work that I couldn’t finish on Friday, no pears ripening and needing to be canned, no bicycle races to attend, no commitments. Nada.
Then, I remembered that I can’t put anything else in my pantry because of my massive amounts of canned goods I made the last few months.
Yep, I am talking to you, colorful mason jars full of summer’s bounty (and this isn’t even all of them…) So, I emptied everything out of my pantry and went to work.
I started to put the canned goods away first and some of them had to hide in my cupboard, sandwiched between casserole dishes and coffee cups. I keep all the sweet things together: strawberry and lemon preserves, blackberry jam, raspberry jam and nectarine preserves.
But, the rest found a new home in the pantry. After a month 12 jars of pickles living on my counter-top, I was very glad they fit.
What you can’t see in this picture are the 8 rows of canned items to the left. I like having a deep pantry for this very reason. I organized them by type: pickles (sweet, then dill), beets, salsa, green tomato salsa, pickled artichoke hearts, spicy red pepper ketchup, roasted red peppers, beet and cabbage relish, peaches, green tomato sweet pickles, applesauce, and pear sauce.
One thing I hope to highlight is how I use these canned goods all winter. Canning is actually one of the best ways to eat locally – it doesn’t cost much, you can preserve produce at its peak, and it doesn’t require energy to store (like freezing). I started canning high-acid food (fruits, jams, pickles – the safest of things to can), and it wasn’t until my, oh, I don’t know, 25th jar before I thought, “Hey, what am I going to do with all this stuff?” I don’t usually eat toast, so it seems I have a lot of preserves and jams to spread. And pickled vegetables are good to crunch on, but how often do I pull a jar of pickles out of the fridge and just start eating?
So, I want you all to see how this is going to work. I know you might not be able to duplicate it exactly at home, but maybe next summer you will join my canning revolution.
Read More 5 Comments »Want to know the hardest thing about having a blog? Writing it. Not so much thinking of things to write about – I do that all day long. But, actually finding the energy to stare at my computer screen and write. Lately, I have been working more hours and when I am done, the last thing I want to do is spend more time in front of the computer.
You know what I do with my spare time?
Can! I can’t stop. It is an obsession that won’t end until the harvest is done. Each weekend, I say to myself, “Self. No canning. Do something else with your time on Saturday. Sleep in! Don’t anger your boyfriend by not allowing him in the kitchen! Stop the addiction!” Then, I accept an invitation to go out to a farm or I spy perfect pears at the farmers’ market and it’s over. Once I figure out one thing to can, I easily justify two. Or three… And my whole weekend is blown.
This past week I was basically restrained. I just canned 12 jars of pickles and some pear sauce (think applesauce, but with a little zing from ginger).
In the honor of canning restraint, I decided to make something else. Something to freeze. Freezing takes a lot less time and basically has the same results: perfectly ripened, local food in winter. These roasted Roma tomatoes fulfilled my squirrel tendencies and took very little hands-on time. Due to the pitiful summer in our fair region, Romas are the only “big” tomato with any sort of flavor this year and the they are really brought alive through roasting.
The roasting process couldn’t be easier: cut, season with salt, drizzle olive oil, roast for a looonnng time. I then froze them for tomato-less days. I can’t wait to defrost some of these juicy guys in the dead of winter and use them in salads, mixed with canned tomatoes in sauces, in stir fry, or on toasted baguette slices smothered in goat cheese.
Roasted Tomatoes
Roma Tomatoes: Lots of them!
Salt
Olive Oil
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Cut tomatoes in half, lengthwise and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (or I use a silpat pad). Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with olive oil. Place in oven for 10 hours. Allow to cool and, if freezing, place cookie sheet in freezer for 2 hours. Transfer tomatoes to ziplock or other freezer-safe container.
Read More 3 Comments »Last weekend, on my trip to the farmers’ market for more produce to fill my canning desires, I stopped by a booth to find this:
Glacier lettuce.
This isn’t the first time I have seen this strange, sour lettuce. Erik and I once shared a salad with glacier lettuce, peach, and crispy speck at EVOE (delicious, if you are wondering) and I have been hoping I would see the lettuce again.
Glacier lettuce, or ficoide glaciale, is a native South American plant gaining popularity with French chefs and, luckily, grown here by Viridian Farms. The leaves are juicy, acidic, and covered in these ice-like crystals that add an interesting texture (sort of like a cat’s tongue, but it would probably serve you better to think of a reference that is less weird and gross. I just couldn’t think of one.)
To balance out the acidity of the leaves (think fresh lemon juice), the farmer mentioned that this lettuce pairs really nicely with the sweetness of Dungenuss crab. I am down with any reason to buy crab meat (especially a tenth a pound of crab meat, that stuff is expensive)!
We tossed our glacier lettuce with balsamic and olive oil, and then topped with the crab and sliced strawberries.
On every bite, I tried to get a taste of all three things. The flavor combination was incredible! If you see this lettuce, shake up your salads with something new.
Glacier Lettuce Salad
1 box of glacier lettuce (about 2 cups)
1 tsp of balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp of olive oil
2 ounces of crab
1/2 cup of sliced strawberries
salt and pepper to taste
Whisk together the balsamic and the olive oil. Lightly toss the lettuce in the dressing and taste for seasonings. Top with sliced strawberries and the crab meat. Yum!
Read More 2 Comments »I was talking to my mom the other day and she said she was tired of her meat options for dinner and I thought, “Me too!” I serve the same things throughout the month: roast chicken, steaks, slow-roasted pork, some sort of ground meat product (chicken or pork sausage, beef, etc…), pot roast or short ribs, and maybe some fish. I like meat a lot, but I am not sure I am the best at cooking it. Sigh.
I decided if I am going to try something new, I better find a fool-proof recipe. For me, recipes that are cooked slowly are generally pretty safe. It’s those high-heat, temperature-has-to-be-perfect-or-it’s-dry meats that are tricky. (See: steak, chicken breasts, pork chops, shrimp, scallops, and much more). I decided to cook a lamb roast from Alice Water’s Book, The Art of Simple Food, which is like the slow food bible. This book is wonderful, if you haven’t heard. She encourages buying local, whole foods and then describes how to cook them with relatively easy, yet fantastic recipes. Nothing fancy, just simple, wholesome, and delicious food.
See? How good does that look?
Anyway, so I went to the store in search of a lamb shoulder roast, which only brought strange looks from the butcher as they don’t carry that cut. I walked out with 4 lamb blade chops, which I was assured could be braised. (I am glad the butchers help me sometimes, because, I swear, half the time I have no idea what I am supposed to do when it comes to meat.)
I think the key to braising consists of a few things. 1. Salt and pepper before (up to a day before) 2. Browning- make sure the meat gets a nice brown sear. 3. Delicious braising liquid, without it, your meat will lose flavor.
This recipe had me cook the lamb with onions, carrots, white wine, chicken stock, hot dried chilies and some herbs. It smelled wonderful before I even put it in the oven.
And, then when it came out… I blended the sauce, served it over polenta, and topped with gremolata (which every time I see on a menu, I have to ask for a definition. Maybe now that I have made it, I won’t have to ask!).
The result was so good. I think I might have to add this to our monthly rotation. The lamb wasn’t that expensive ($5.99 a pound) and it made enough for 5+ meals. If you are looking for something new to make, try this!
Braised Lamb
Adapted from Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food
4 bone in lamb shank cuts (I used lamb blade, but other arm cuts will work)
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups of chopped onion
2 carrots, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 small dried chili pepper
5 black peppercorns
3/4 cup of white wine
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 cups of chicken broth
3 Tbsp of chopped parsley
1 teaspoon of lemon zest
2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
If you have time, salt and pepper the shanks the day before. If not, do it as much ahead of time as possible.
Preheat the oven to 325. Heat a oven-proof, heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Warm the oil and add the shanks, browning them well on all sides. Remove the shanks from the pan and pour out most of the oil. Add in the onion, carrots, garlic, chili pepper, thyme, and bay leaf. Cook for 5 minutes, until the vegetables soften. Then, turn up the heat to high and add the white wine, scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. After a minute, add the tomatoes. Bring to a boil and allow to cook down by half. Add the shanks back to the pan along with the 2 cups of chicken broth. Cover and place in the oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
While the lamb is cooking, make the gremolata. Combine the parsley, lemon zest, and garlic cloves. Set aside.
When the lamb falls off the bone, remove from oven. Take shanks out of pan and throw away the bones. Place the sauce in a food processor and pulse to create a rough puree. Pour over the lamb meat. Top with a tablespoon of gremolata.
I served this on top of polenta, but it would do just as well on a bed of mashed potatoes, braised greens, or in a bowl with a nice piece of bread to sop up the juices.
Yum!
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