I have never used any of these products but reading the ingredients, they claim to use red peppers and 4 kinds of onion. I would buy red peppers, Spanish onion, yellow onion, vidalia onion and a silver skin white onion since they are the most readily available, chop them up fairly finely and then dehydrate then in a commercial dehydrator. I still use the one I bought years ago and I use it to dry tomato slices, a vegetable soup mix, green and red peppers, all sorts of stuff. I package them in recycled glass jars and then they are in my pantry when I am making a braised steak or whatever. Add a few and it is a different dish. Try dehydrating. I am sure you will begin to see the uses for the products you store. ... View related article.
My family's Christmas pud came from a recipe handed down through the generations. It seems to be pretty well unchanged since I have checked it with "ye olde cookery bookes" and there is little difference. Compared to the above one, Nana emphasized not to use flour - only to "Dry clean" all the glaceed with flour in a tea cloth - i.e. put the fruit in a tea cloth, add flour and rub off the stickiness using the towel in your hands. Then the rest of the added starch was breadcrumbs, not flour. The fruit was glaceed pineapple, cherries, citron, peel, I believe a grated apple, and some lemon zest and juice all marinated in brandy of course - and she used some dandelion wine that she made every summer. Nuts were pecans and almonds. Flavouring was almond extract and vanilla as well as spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and mace.
Please use real vanilla, not the imitation - it makes all the difference - if you can't afford it, you can make your own with vodka and a vanilla bean in a jar and leave it for a few weeks - add some sugar. Share cost with a friend and it is really reasonable. There were quite a few eggs. Two sauces - one a brown sugar caramely sauce and one an icing sugar beaten with butter and brandy and rum -- good all on its own! The pudding was boiled - to boil a pudding without having everything go into the water, lay out the cloth and put a lot of flour on it, then the pud. Tie it up and into the boiling water. When the cloth hits the boiling water, the flour instantly turns to a cooked hard dough, preventing the flavourings from leeching into the water.
I made these with my Nana when I was a teenager. I didn't know then that it would be her last year with us - it was a very special time for us to be together and I will cherish the memories forever. I know I'm vague about the exact recipe but I recently moved and can't put my hand on it right now. But you talented cooked out there, and there are so many of you. You should be able to come up with a more than passable pud just from my notes. Enjoy and Merry Christmas to each and every one of you. ... View related article.
Your husband is going to know you love him if you go to all the trouble of making this. You can can it - and I have frozen it. DOn't thank me, thank Lena -- there are so many people on the internet who have been so free with sharing what they have learned in their lifetimess. Truly our earthly angels to help us like this. Lena's Home Made Sauerkraut by Lena Sanchez
My husband grows a very large garden every year and I have to preserve the it to last through the winter. Since we both love sauerkraut I make sauerkraut each year. After several trials, I found this to be the best and most certainly the simplest sauerkraut recipe around!
You will need a very large crock, glass or enamel container Minimum of 2 heads of cabbage Kosher salt Heavy duty food-grade plastic bags or 2 gal freezer bags Wooden spoon
Some tips here to prevent problems with your sauerkraut:
1. Never use aluminum utensils! 2. Absolute cleanliness is necessary for a healthy brew!
I have a very old 5 gallon crock that I use to make my sauerkraut. But you can use a glass or enamel coated container. Clean and scald the container well! (I put mine in the dishwasher, but if you wish you can simply scald by pouring boiling water into the container and swishing around for no less than 30 seconds) To prepare the cabbage, remove and discard the outer leaves. Wash and drain and then cut the cabbages into halves or quarters while removing the core in the process.
Step 1) Shred Cabbage - I use my food processor for speed and ease. If you shred by hand, make sure the shreds are no thicker than a nickel or dime!
Step 2) Mix, with wooden spoon or very clean hands, 5 pounds of shredded cabbage with 4 tablespoons of Kosher salt (pickling salt will do but changes the flavor a bit - do not use table salt) and toss and mix thoroughly until kosher salr dissolves! (You can make as much as you wish as long as you use the ratio of 5 lbs. cabbage to 4 Tbs. salt.)
NOTE: If you plan on refrigerating and not canning use 3 tbs of salt not 4!
Step 3) When juice starts to form on cabbage from tossing - Pack the cabbage firmly and evenly into a clean crock, glass or enamel container. Press firmly to encourage juice formation. Fill the utensil no closer than 5 inches from the top.
Step 4) Make sure juice covers the cabbage completely! (This does not always happen unless the cabbage is fresh from the garden) I prepare additional brine by putting 1 1/2 Tablespoons of kosher salt into 1 quart of boiling water. Dissolve salt and cool brine to room temperature before adding to the pot of cabbage.
Step 5) Once cabbage is immersed in brine water, place a large food grade, plastic bag filled with brine water and lay on top if cabbage... (I use 2 large bags, one inside the other - sometimes a 2 gal freezer bag - with a couple of quarts of cooled brine water inside - this if the bag breaks it will not water down the cabbage into a tasteless mess)
The cabbage must be well sealed all around with the bag, so no air can get in and contaminate the sauerkraut with unwanted yeasts or molds!
Step 6) Now cover the container with plastic wrap, then a heavy towel or cloth and tie securely into place. Do not remove this until fermenting is complete!
Step 7) Put in an area where the temperature will not be above 75 degrees. Fermentation will begin within a day, depending upon the room temperature.
Step 8) If room temperature is 75 degrees allow 3 weeks for fermentation. If temperature is 70 degrees allow 4 weeks. If temperature is 65 degrees allow 5 weeks. If temperature is 60 degrees allow 6 weeks.
NOTE: If temperature is above 75 or 76 degrees, the sauerkraut may not ferment and could spoil!
Step 9) Once fermented taste to see if your required tartness exists. Tartness will weaken as you process in canning so make sure it is a wee bit more tart than you like!
Can be eaten immediately if you desire!
(I sometimes mix in 1/2 teaspoon caraway seed into 4 cups, enough for a couple of pints or 1 quart. This makes a tasty variation.)
NOTE: if you refrigerate only rinse and toss with cold water to attain the tartness desired!
Lena Sanchez is an Internet Great Grandmother who has her own Home Based Internet Business Center at http://www.envirodocs.com and is Editor of "Natural Environmental Health & Business Facts" newsletter. ... View related article.
You can do anything with canned chicken that you would do with leftover cooked chicken - sandwiches, casseroles, add it to a fritata (wonderful for brunch!. Good luck - you shouldn't find much in the way of leftovers from a good chicken casserole. ... View related article.
Hi Are you asking about how to make Devonshire Cream? Well, the short answer is that you can't, unless you have access to unpasteurized milk from a farm. Not everyone in North America knows the heavenly flavour and texture of Devonshire cream. I found this on the net from the Joy of Baking: (Sorry it is long).
Devonshire (or Devon) Cream is a clotted cream produced commercially in Devon Cornwall and Somerset England. It is a thick, rich, yellowish cream with a scalded or cooked flavor that is made by heating unpasteurized milk until a thick layer of cream forms on its surface. The milk is then cooled and the layer of cream is skimmed off. Clotted cream has 55-60 percent fat content and is so thick it does not need to be whipped.
Now this technical description may tell us what it is and how it is made but it does not adequately describe its wonderful sweet flavor or how it makes the perfect accompaniment to scones with jam. If you haven't tried it I would recommend hunting it down as, unlike years gone by, it can now be found in specialty food stores and even some mainstream grocery stores are stocking it. You can also buy it through mail order below.
If you have access to unpasteurized cream, the 'Joy of Cooking' tells us how we can make our own clotted cream. (I have never tried this as I cannot seem to find unpasteurized cream in grocery stores.) Begin by taking unpasteurized cream and letting it stand for about 12 hours (during the winter months) or 6 hours (during the warm summer months). Then to sterilize the cream; place the cream over very low heat (do not boil) until rings form on the surface of the cream. Store in a cold place for at least 12 hours and then skim the thick clotted cream from the surface of the cream. You now have homemade Clotted Cream.
Barring the fact you cannot make your own or buy the real thing, this recipe makes a nice substitute to go with your scones. It consists of beating mascarpone and whipping cream with a little sugar and vanilla extract. For those who are unfamiliar with Mascarpone, it is a soft unripened cheese that belongs to the cream cheese family. It comes from Switzerland and Italy and is a thick, rich, sweet and velvety, ivory-colored cheese produced from cow's milk that has the texture of clotted or sour cream. Its delicate and mild flavor is great with fresh fruit and is probably best known for its use in Tiramisu. Produced mainly in the fall and winter it is sold in plastic tubs and can be found in specialty food stores and in the deli section of some grocery stores.
Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and beat until the mixture holds its shape and looks like softly whipped cream. Use right away or cover and refrigerate the cream until serving time. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.
Recipe:
4 ounces mascarpone 1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 or 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar Zest of lemon or lime (optional)
Actually, to cook a steak, it IS put into a very hot frypan or onto a very hot grill. That's how the best chefs do it and I will take their advice any time. And for popcorn, I heat the oil first and put the popcorn in when it is hot. I don't heat the oil and popcorn together. I get very few unpopped kernels. It starts popping right away and it doesn't absorb the oil because the other kernels are popping up too. Most microwave type popcorn is made with coconut oil and that stuff is an instant artery clogger. ... View related article.
That's damp off -- and you can buy a treatment to put in the water you are using to control it. I used No-Damp - add drops in the watering can and it keeps it at bay. Damping is a fungus and can be in soil -- use a commercially prepared soiless mix for growing seeds, use No-Damp, make sure there is enough light and you should keep the loss of seedlings to a minimum. Good luck! It is so discouraging to lose plants - and can be heartbreaking when the seeds are very special, rare ones. ... View related article.
Turn a carrot upside down, cut the tapered tip off so that the carrot if about 3 inches long (use a big carrot), hollow out the carrot like a vase so that you can fill the hollow with water, suspend the carrot with string in a sunny window and keep it filled with water. This is great for preschoolers - they love to keep it filled with water. The carrrot will sprout all over in long fronds and will eventually look like a large green-leaved ball in the window. It's very pretty and your children will love looking after it -- they all love water! ... View related article.
I swear by Paderno. But I also have some non-stick pans that I like --- just as long as the stainless steel is heavy duty. Most of the sticking comes from a lightweight pan. And for those who think oil isn't healthy -- olive oil is about as healthy as you can get and you don't need much - maybe a tablespoonful or so. It is just to fill the microscopic holes (pores) in the bottom of the pan. That's where the sticking comes from. ... View related article.
My understanding is that spraying water on it will soften it and allow it to be scraped away. If it is oil based paint though it might be more difficult. But you just have to take it more slowly and get a start to it any way you can and then spray the edge of the popcorn, not the actual surface, thus getting water UNDER the surface of the oil based paint. Messy messy job and not at all easy on the arms and neck. You are to be commended to even start. Sometimes the popcorn is there for a good reason, i.e. a bad drywalling job in the first place. Putting up firring strips and then a thin and therefore light in weight wallboard to begin anew is not a bad idea. Good luck! ... View related article.
