In a Jam

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that this would become a canning blog, but I guess for the month of October, it has. I have always dabbled with a few jars of salsa from the garden tomatoes and made many attempts at pickles that just didn't quite do it for me, but I have never considered myself the kind of cook that straps on an apron and sets in to fill the pantry for winter.

The endless production of tomatoes (not only from my own garden, but also the garden at the farm) has changed that. I have found myself with so many tomatoes that I just didn't know what to do with them all. One can only use so much salsa, pasta sauce, plain sauce, pizza sauce, and tomato soup. I found myself searching for something else to make use of these glorious, red orbs and landed on Tomato Jam.

I will admit that I was a little leery of the unknown (to me) Tomato Jam. I have seen it featured in recipes as a topping for gourmet burgers (instead of ketchup), but had never tried it myself. However, with a mountain of tomatoes threatening to topple from my table and bury me (flashback to a crazy episode of Hoarders that is burned into my brain), I decided to give it a try. The result? Of course, I loved it, or I wouldn't be blogging about it. :-)

The flavor of this Tomato Jam is reminiscent of chili sauce. It is a little sweet, a little sassy with the cinnamon and ginger, and then the pow of the red pepper flakes hits you and your mouth grins in happiness. I loved it with cream cheese on bagels, but plan to try it on my favorite turkey burger recipe, as well. I also think it would be a good addition to a plate of sharp cheddar cheese and crackers for snacking. Nobody is in a jam with Tomato Jam On My Plate.

 Tomato Jam

(from Food In Jars)

5 pounds tomatoes, finely chopped (DO NOT peel or seed)

3 1/2 cups sugar

8 tablespoons lime juice

2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon red chili flakes

Combine all ingredients in a large, non-reactive pot.
Bring to a boil and then reduce temperature to a simmer.
Stirring regularly, simmer the jam until it reduces to a a proper jammy consistency (about 1 to 1.5 hours).
When the jam has cooked down sufficiently, remove from heat and ladle into jars (I used the tiny 4 oz jars, but 1/2 pints would be good, too.), leaving 1/4 inch of head space.
Process in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes.
Store jars in a cool, dark place for up to one year. (Yield: 4.5 - 5 pints)

M'm! M'm! Good!

My fall has been blessed with a bountiful harvest of tomatoes. Last year, I had jalapeno peppers coming out my ears and ventured into the world of Candied Jalapenos. This year I am searching out canning and preserving recipes for tomatoes. I have canned salsa, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, plain sauce, and juice. Quarts, pints, and half-pint jars filled with liquids in various shades of red line my basement pantry shelves. And now, I am adding more with some M'm! M'm! Good! Tomato Soup.

Hubs isn't a fan of tomato soup, but I love a grilled cheese sandwich dipped into a steaming bowl of tomatoey goodness. Those commercials with the snowmen defrosting into little kids are spot on. Nothing warms you more completely from the inside out than a warm bowl of soup. It will be so nice this winter when I can toast up some bread and melty cheese On My Plate and fill my bowl with M'm! M'M! Good! Tomato Soup.

M'm! M'm! Good! Tomato Soup

10-12 pounds tomatoes, chopped (I just chopped enough to fill my 7 1/4 quart dutch oven...seeds, skins and all.)

2 yellow onions, chopped

1 head garlic, minced

1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

1-2 tablespoons kosher salt

fresh cracked black pepper

2-4 tablespoons sugar (optional)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup flour

plus 3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped finely

Chop tomatoes and place in a large, heavy pot over medium heat.
Add the onions, garlic, and 1/2 cup of chopped fresh basil.
Season with salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until tomatoes have cooked down and flesh has released from the skins.
Remove from heat.
Process tomatoes through a food mill/cone colander with pestle/sieve/or similar utensil to strain the seeds and skin.
Return pulpy juice to heavy pot and bring to a simmer.
Add sugar, if desired.
With mixer, cream together the room temperature butter and the flour.
With mixer running, slowly add a ladle of warm tomato juice to the flour mixture.
Repeat with 4 or 5 more ladles of soup until the flour mixture is warm and thoroughly combined with a good portion of the juice.
Add the warm flour mixture to the pot of simmering juice, stirring constantly to combine.
Add the 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil.
Heat thoroughly.
Ladle into prepared jars (I use pints) and secure lids.
Process in hot water bath for 20-30 minutes. (Yield: 6-8 pints tomato soup concentrate)
TO PREPARE SOUP: Mix one part jarred soup mixture with equal part of milk and heat thoroughly.

Grapes of Wrath

I think that Hubs thought I was punishing him when he first came home to a Chicken and Pesto Pizza that had sugary red grapes scattered under the gooey, melted cheese. Grapes? On Pizza? WARM grapes on PIZZA??!?? One taste calmed his indignation. It is good. Damn good. This isn't any ordinary pizza. It is the difference you have been searching for among the goopy, red-sauced, pepperoni pies. Don't be trapped with the ordinary. Try it. There is absolutely no wrath for Chicken and Pesto Pizza with Red Grapes On My Plate.

 

Chicken and Pesto Pizza with Red Grapes

pizza crust (refrigerated, frozen, or homemade...your choice)

1/3 cup pesto (refrigerated works, but homemade is best)

1 1/2 cups seedless red grapes, halved

1 cooked chicken breast, shredded (rotisserie chicken or leftover grilled/roasted, whatever is in your fridge)

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1/2 - 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

3 tablespoons grated Romano cheese

fresh cracked black pepper

1/4 cup green onions, sliced

Preheat oven to 425°.
Prep dough for pizza (pat, spread, unroll, whatever you have to do).
Spread pesto evenly over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border around edges. 
Arrange grapes evenly over dough; top with chicken and garlic.
Sprinkle with mozzarella and Romano.
Top with fresh cracked black pepper. 
Bake at 425° for 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden brown. (If you use a premade crust, this bake time will be reduced until the cheese is melty and toppings are headed through.)
Sprinkle with onions.
Slice into 12 wedges. (Serves 6 average servings, but just Hubs and I usually eat an entire pizza alone.)

Some Like It Hot

Some like it hot. I don't. I usually shrink from arguments. I might state my opinion, but I don't try to force it upon others. I might have some choice words for someone that is being an arrogant jerk, but I have to be pushed pretty hard before I will let them spew out into an ugly argument. I tend to try to stay out of the fire. I don't like the heat, but some like it hot. That is their choice. I don't have to be a part of it.

Some like it hot in food, too. I do like spice flavoring up my dishes, but I am not a fan of heat that burns off my taste buds. I think that there is a balance to properly seasoned food. Some cooks get it; others don't. Heat just for the sake of heat isn't good flavor; it is just another episode of Man Versus Food. (Which honestly, makes me feel ill if the remote lands there. I can't watch that man stuff his face with one gastric disaster after another.)

When I canned up some of my garden tomatoes into salsa, I tried to find that proper balance. We like really flavorful salsa. I love the melding of sun-ripened tomatoes and spicy jalapenos on my tongue. I like the smokiness that almost comes across as heat in the back of my throat when I add a little cumin to the mix. Chopping and stirring and simmering and processing vegetables into beautiful jars of salsa to carry some of the wonderful summer heat into winter is such a satisfying task. I like it. It is a heat that I really enjoy to put Basic Salsa for Canning On My Plate.

Basic Salsa for Canning

8-10 jalapeno peppers, chopped finely (I don't seed or pull out the spines. We like that kick.)

12 cups chopped tomatoes (I don't peel, but you could, if you prefer.)

2 cups chopped onions

2 cups chopped green peppers

6 cloves garlic

1 (5 ounce) can tomato paste

3/4 cup vinegar

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon salt

Combine all the ingredients in a large (heavy) pot, bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes.
Ladle into sterilized pint jars; seal.
Process in hot water bath for 20 minutes. (5-6 pints)

In a Pickle

It seems that I left you high and dry for the month of September. Even though I attempted to revive my posting momentum with a supposedly weekly feature (Fridge Fridays), I still found myself in the pickle of life taking precedence over blogging. Maybe it is time that I quit apologizing for my absences and just take them in stride. I blog when I can and not necessarily when I want. Isn't that true of so much of life? Why would this online journal of what is On My Plate be any different?

The month of September was filled with out-of-state visitors, delivery of my new fridge, my first cycling event in 2 or 3 years, a milestone birthday, a wonderful birthday gift, canning and preserving, and daily sighing and repentance because I was neglecting the blog. September has been a pretty good month, but I am going to give up the sighing and repentance. This blog is what it is. I don't need to feel that I am in a pickle if I don't have time to post something. That's life.

It is the same life that brought me a bounty of pickling cucumbers from a friendly neighbor lady. Last year, I had made a ton of refrigerator pickles that we liked, but found impossible to use in the proper time frame. This year, I decided to hot water bath with another recipe and make shelf-stable pickles with most of the cukes. I haven't yet tried them, but they look very pretty. I will have to report back if they are fabulous, as my last attempt at canning pickles didn't produce the flavor or crispness that I wanted. *Fingers crossed for this one.*

Of course, one pickle recipe wasn't enough.  I had to try another small batch of refrigerator pickles. I only stuffed 2 pint jars full of sliced cucumbers, onions, and a few red peppers from my garden to play with Alton Brown's Refrigerator Pickle recipe. They are slightly sweet...like a bread and butter pickle would be...but dill, garlic, and hot peppers kick them up a lot. We have been enjoying them on burgers, sandwiches, and straight from the jar. Nobody is in a pickle with My Version of Alton Brown's Refrigerator Pickles On My Plate.

 My Version of Alton Brown's Refrigerator Pickles

1 onion, thinly sliced

4-5 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced

2-4 cloves garlic, peeled

2-4 small hot peppers

2-4 sprigs of dill

2 cups water

2 cups cider vinegar

3 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

1/2 teaspoon pickling spice

Drop a clove or 2 of garlic into each of 2 pint canning jars. (I use wide-mouth for ease of packing.)
Layer onion and cucumber slices in jars, adding a couple small hot peppers and sprigs of dill between the layers.
Combine the remaining ingredients in a non-reactive saucepan and bring to a boil. 
Simmer for 4 full minutes to meld the flavor.
Slowly pour the hot pickling liquid over the onion and cucumber slices, completely filling the jar. 
Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.
Use within 2-3 months. (Yield: 2 pints)

Muffin Top

I tried on my jeans today for the first time in a couple of months. I have been enjoying the summer in shorts, capris, skirts, and sundresses. Jeans have not been a part of my wardrobe. Maybe, they should have been. Maybe, I should have forced my thighs into the unforgiving denim a few times just as a means of checks and balances. I really wasn't happy as I sucked in my flab to zip up my favorite pair of jeans and revealed a blubbery muffin top. Gross.

The only muffin top that I want is on a real muffin, like a Spiced Zucchini and Walnut Muffin. Fragrant with cinnamon, dense with shredded zucchini, packed with the crunch of walnuts, these muffins are anything but gross. But, if I want to fit back into my jeans, I might have to pass on the Spiced Zucchini and Walnut Muffins On My Plate for awhile.

Spiced Zucchini and Walnut Muffins

3 eggs, well beaten

1 cup Canola oil

2 cups sugar

2 cups grated zucchini (peel if you must, but I don't)

3 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325.

Mix first 5 ingredients.

Sift together rest of ingredients.

Add to the first mixture.

Coat 24 muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.

Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups. (I use an ice cream scoop.)

Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until top springs back with light touch and pick comes out clean.  (24 muffins) 

NOT Fridge Friday

Yesterday, I missed Fridge Friday. I am going to blame it on the fact that I no longer have a fridge in my kitchen. Yes. That's right. I don't have a fridge...sort of.

I do have a fridge...but, it is in the basement. For the past week, every time I have needed a chilled item, I have had to go out into the back entryway and down some steep, old-house basement stairs...and then back up again with whatever I needed...and then back down again for whatever I forgot...wash, rinse, repeat as necessary.

You see, back in May (or so, I don't exactly remember), the fridge that was originally in the basement died. Everything (cheeses, butter, produce) that I had hoarded stashed there had to be transferred to the upstairs fridge. At that time, it was decided that we wouldn't just purchase another plain, utilitarian, white refrigerator for the basement. We would temporarily get by as a one fridge household, and when extra funds were available, we would invest in the stainless-steel, french-door, freezer-on-the-bottom, ice-and-water in the door baby that I had been dreaming about forever.

My dream came true a month ago...sort of. We purchased an awesome stainless-steel, french-door, freezer-on-the-bottom, ice-and-water in the door GE Profile (to match my GE Profile stainless, gas range...and that purchase is another story entirely). I was in heaven...except the store didn't have any in stock. They were on order. We were promised that within 2 weeks, the beautiful, shiny cold box could be delivered to my home. My Plain Jane fridge was moved from the kitchen to the dungeon basement in anticipation of the delivery of this new purchase. (And my daily stair running workouts began.) Fast forward to today, and I am STILL waiting. The refrigerator was supposed to be transferred to an area sister store for final delivery. However, nobody knows where it is. Nobody can tell me when it will be delivered. Nobody knows how close to going postal this makes me. 

So...I missed Fridge Friday because I don't have a fridge, but I do have zucchini. Oh yes, it is that time of year again. Gardens are overflowing with the green squash. How about a Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake to ease the pain of my missing fridge? This is a recipe that I have seriously been making for over 20 years. It was in a cookbook that I received as a shower gift before Hubs and I were married. I love the addition of cinnamon and cloves. Chocolate chips and walnuts on top make frosting totally optional (and I usually don't bother). The cake is dense and rich and makes use of the abundant zucchini without any refrigeration needed. If I can't have my new fridge, at least I can have Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake On My Plate.

Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup Canola oil

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 1/2 cups flour

4 tablespoons cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

2 cups zucchini, grated (I leave the skin on; peel if you feel the need.)

chocolate chips

chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325.
Cream butter, oil, and sugar. 
Add eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk. 
Stir in dry ingredients and beat well.
Stir in zucchini.
Pour into a 9x13 pan that has been coated with non-stick cooking spray.
Sprinkle chocolate chips and nuts over the top.
Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. (beware of melty chocolate chips on your testing pick)

REMEMBER: The recipes are now printable. Just click on the title to open the printable page. I hope to edit the archives to make all recipes printable in the future.