almond butter molasses cookies

I've never blogged from my phone before but I had to share about the cookies I made today. I didn't have much in the cupboards but wanted something warm and yummy. So I found almond butter and molasses and thought they would go well together. I searched a bit online but couldn't find anything. So this is what I made:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup almond butter
1/3 cup each white sugar, brown sugar and molasses
Cream these together then add 1 TBS vanilla and 1 egg
Then add 1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt.
Mix until just mixed and then put rounded tablespoons of dough on ungreased cookie pans. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.
There is something about the almond butter and molasses combo that tastes kinda chocolatey. Yum.

fall fun

Tie-One On wrap with my beautiful gift yarn.

Isn't it lovely?

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Cornbread Peach Cake

Recipe:
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Mix together in a bowl and then add:
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil.
Pour into a well greased cast iron pan.
Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.
For the peaches:
Drain the syrup from the peaches into a sauce pan. Add 1 Tbsp vanilla and cornstarch. Start with 1 Tbsp. You might need more. Whisk like crazy while it heats up and keep whisking until thick. Spread this over the cornbread. Then slice the peaches and layer over the top. Add a few pats of butter to make the sides nice and brown and crisp. Put back in the oven for 5-10 minutes.

stubborn pesto

My mom gave me a big bag of herbs, mostly basil and parsley, and I had big dreams of making pesto. But when I got home, I realized the cupboards where bare. I didn't even have olive oil! But I had my mind set on pesto pasta for dinner so I got my thinking cap on and this is what I came up with:
In the food processor I put in 5 cloves garlic, 1/2 red onion, 2-3 big handfuls of basil, 1 handful of parsley, 1/2 cup peanuts, 1 jar mostly drained light red kidney beans, 1/8 cup nutritional yeast and some salt to taste. I whirled it around until saucey. And was thrilled to find out it was good!
I mixed it with a box of cooked pasta, lightly cooked zucchini and fried tofu. And everyone loved it! Even the 9 year old boy! Wow!!

baking with summer bounty

Our freezer is still on the fritz so I had a tub of blueberries that needed to be used up. I made a very simple pie- just sugar and a little bit of butter to temper it. It was perfect. Absolutly perfect.


Today my chickens gave me enough eggs to feed the boys scrambled eggs and also make some muffins. Again, I had freezer bounty that needed to be used so I made strawberry jam muffins. Oh my goodness, they rock.

xo

Egg Taste Testing!!

A double yolk! Bonus!!

It's pretty obvious which is which, isn't it.

I couldn't believe what a difference there was. Maybe I might actually enjoy scrambled eggs now.

pictures from my walk last weekend

Biscuits, Watermelon Juice, Salsa Verde

Buttermilk Biscuits


Watermelon Juice. I wish I had more jars, I would totally make more jam!



I'd been saving my tomatillas for a little over a week and finally had enough to make into salsa. I used (and midified a bit) this recipe from Stitch and Boots.
Ingredients:

5 1/2 cups husked, cored, and chopped tomatillos
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped jalapenos
1/2 cup white vinegar
4 tbsp lime juice
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt

Prepare canner, jars, and lids.
In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine all of the ingredients. Bring to a boil over a medium high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes.
Ladle hot salsa into jars, leaving 1/2″ headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if necessary by adding more hot salsa. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight.
Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered by at least 1″ of water. Bring to a boil and process both 8 ounce and pint jars for 15 minutes.

how big is your pickle....

....cupboard??



Freezer: Strawberry freezer jam, Strawberries, Blueberry freezer jam, Blueberry Lemon jello jam, Blueberries, Raspberry freezer jam, Peach freezer jam.



Yellow squash pickles, Zuchini pickles, Dill, Bread and Butter, Hot and Sweet...



Pear Vanilla jam, Watermelon jam, Chow Chow, dilly beans, Gardina pickles, basil pickles...

I'm a very happy squirrel this summer :)

headband instructions

I've been making these headbands for everyone. Just thought I'd share how they are made.

The headband itself is pretty simple. You can size it in multiples of 4. I usually use 48 stitches in the round, knitting it k2 p2.



The bow starts with being a knitted rectangle. Depending on the size needed, I use 10 or 15 stitches.



Then I stitch up the ends. I suppose you could knit it in the round, but I like using that stitching to help me keep track of the center.



Then I wrap yarn around the center to make the bow. It's pretty simple, but you have to hold it really tight or it will look messy.



I stitch the bow onto the headband and I also stitch the sides so it's not floppy.



Then I tuck in the yarn ends and trim any loose bits. And that's it!

chow chow- part 2

Here is the finished Chow Chow. I had a ton of green tomatoes in the garden so this was a perfect project for me. I think there isn't quite enough sun for the tomatoes to ripen all the way. It smelled fantastic and tasted a million times better.

pickled watermelon rind part 2, basil pickles and chow chow part 1

I had no idea what to expect with the watermelon rinds. It is a mix of cinnamon stick, cloves and lemon in vinegar and sugar over top. It smelled like Christmas. And it's pretty tasty. I'm glad I just did a little and in little jars. I can see it making a good condiment but not something you'd need a lot of.


Basil pickles sounds like they will be good. I made them just like dill pickles but with basil; red onion, garlic, black pepper, vinegar and salt brine.


This is part one of the chow chow that is cooking right now. I got the recipe from a Lallybroch friend: Mairghread Murray. This is from a cookbook called 'Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens' (Nimbus Publishing) -

15 pounds green tomatoes
5 pounds onions
1/2 cup salt
...1 qt. vinegar
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp allspice
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp dry mustard
3 cups sugar
cayenne pepper (if desired)

Prepare vegetables and sprinkle with salt. Let stand overnight. In the morning, drain. To 1 cup vinegar add the spices, mustard and sugar, Add to the remaining vinegar and pour over vegetables. Boil for two hours or more and then bottle.

I didn't have just the right spices to I used turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, cayenne, mustard seeds and just a little red pepper flakes. It smells fantastic.

Peach Freezer Jam, Watermelon Jam, and Pickled Watermelon Rinds- part 1

I was hoping to get good local peaches, but summer is tick tocking along so I just used what they had at the grocery. It is made just like the other freezer jams and tastes just as yummy.



My mom and I were talking about how we wished there was a good way to can the yummy-ness of summer melons so I began searching. I found this recipe for Watermelon Jam on Foodinjars.com. I didn't have a thermometer so I just boiled and boiled the watermelon puree. During the boiling, I skimmed off the few seeds that were in it and any bigger chunks of melon. I didn't get it perfect, but I like the imperfections of homemade goodies.

A few people in the comments mentioned pickleing the watermelon rinds, so I looked into that. I'm curious what it will be like. It's an odd combination of spices. The rinds have to soak in a brine overnight so I will finish this project tomorrow.