Beet Experiment

Super King has beets for 49¢ per pound.  A 15 oz can of them in the store is well over a dollar.  I decided to cook up some to figure out if I was up to making a canner load.  I wanted to find out how hard it was and if I liked them enough to make half a dozen jars.

Despite every recipe online telling you to boil them, I decided to roast the whole beets in the oven.  375º for 90 minutes, oiled and wrapped in foil.  The skins still didn't slip off without the help of a peeler, and one slice I tasted was crunchy.  Fine, I boiled them for another 20 minutes and made the huge mess I was trying to avoid by roasting them.  They still were too firm to cut with the side of a fork and had to be cut with a knife.

After all that, I decided I prefer the texture of canned beets.  They're almost like a firm jelly.  Do I prefer it enough to go through the trouble of canning them myself?  Not at the moment.  I have enough grocery rewards to get three cans of vegetables for free, and I'm currently out of commercially canned veggies.  The beets can be one of them.

I'm not ruling out canning them in the future.  The two pounds I bought would have filled about two pint jars, so 5-6 pounds would make a small canner load.  I could see myself doing that when I have more bandwidth and it isn't 90º outside.

Almond Apple Crisp

I should make crisps more often.  They're easy if you use canned fruit, and go in the oven in less than ten minutes.

This one was inspired by the jars of apples I canned last Fall.  The way I made it, it's lower in sugar than a typical dessert.  Since apples canned in light syrup aren't a thing in the grocery store, I'm going to assume you're using pie filling.  It will be sweeter than what I made.

Once again, I'm putting the vanilla protein powder to the test.  It is not an essential ingredient.  In my case, it replaced the sugar.  I'm really amazed that my sense of how much sugar counts as "sweet" has been slashed after a few years of eating less of it.  I know, multiple studies say the same thing.  Seeing it in action is not what I was expecting.

*1 20 oz can apple pie filling
1/4 C flour
*1/4 C almond flour
1/4 C rolled oats
*1 scoop vanilla protein powder or 2 Tb brown sugar
pinch of salt
2 Tb butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon 
sliced almonds for garnish

1.  Grease or pan spray a standard loaf pan.  Preheat oven to 350º.

2.  Pour pie filling into the loaf pan.  Sprinkle in the cinnamon and stir a bit to distribute.

3.  In a small bowl, stir together flour, almond flour, oats, salt, and protein powder or sugar.  Cut in butter to make a crumbly paste.

4.  Sprinkle crumb paste evenly over apples.  Scatter almonds on top.

5.  Bake until bubbly and starting to brown, about 40 minutes.  It's going to look like a liquid mess.  Allow to cool, when it will firm up.

6.  Scoop into bowls and serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Difficulty rating  π

Beef Pupusas

I only canned a modest amount of chuck this time because I'm still figuring out how to use it.  Canned meat other than tuna was not a thing in my life growing up.  And now it's too expensive to screw up.  Seasoned pulled beef in a pupusa sounded really good.

If you aren't into pressure canning, this recipe works just fine with store-bought canned beef or any leftover shredded beef you have.  Leftover taco or neutral ground beef can also work.  The key is that it should be pre-cooked.

I was hungrier than I expected to be coming home from work.  These are not pretty.  Somewhere around #3 I gave up and just made them edible.  I had made the curtido in the morning and the beans were my pre-seasoned ones that just needed warming.  I dumped the last half cup of filling that I didn't use into the beans and called it a day.  I really need to figure out a new cooking-day schedule that does not include any closing shifts or changes those to slow cooker or cold meals.

1 C masa harina
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/4 C water
1 12 oz *can beef, or 1/2 lb cooked chuck or ground beef
taco seasoning or 1/2 tsp each paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper
oil for the griddle

1.  Stir together masa and salt.  Add water and stir into a slightly dry paste.  There will be moisture in the meat, so you don't want the dough to be wet.  Set aside.

2.  In a skillet on medium, warm beef with seasonings.  Cook until fragrant and excess juices have evaporated.  Allow to cool slightly.

3.  Lightly oil a skillet or griddle and preheat over medium while you shape the pupusas.

4.  Divide the masa into 8 balls for small pupusas or 4 for large.  Shape into a disc.  Place meat into the middle and close back into a ball.  Flatten again into a disc 1/2" thick.  Place on heated griddle.

5.  Cook pupusas until lightly golden, about five minutes, then flip and cook the other side.  Re-oil between batches and repeat until all are cooked.  Serve warm, with curtido, salsa, and/or sour cream.

Difficulty rating  :)

Mini Tomato Crisis

For anyone who has gone to buy fresh tomatoes recently, yes they really have gotten expensive.  There have been poor harvests in the southern U.S. and northern Mexico, where we get our tomatoes this time of year.  The wholesale prices have skyrocketed, and the quality is not always great.  I did an invoice at work, and it was $95 for 20 lbs of slicing tomatoes.  At Smart & Final, it was $83.  The case of Romas I bought last year to can for $15 is now $45.

This is kind of like the year eggs were expensive due to bird flu.  Now you can find them for 99¢ on occasion.  It's supply and demand.  I fully expect prices to normalize within a month, as more tomato crops start to come in.

Meanwhile, I'm popping open those jars I canned last year.  I'm eating 69¢ per pound tomatoes, when Romas are $2.49 today.  Ok, yes, they're canned and it isn't exactly the same thing, but they still taste good in salads and burritos.

There's the possibility that this current shortage will show up in canned product prices in six months.  It may not happen, if back supplies are sufficient.  Commercially canned tomato products have a shelf life of close to two years.  The problem is that, unlike many other vegetables, tomato products aren't sold frozen.  Your choices are fresh or canned.  There is freeze-dried tomato powder, but you might as well just get canned tomato paste for that.

The lesson from this is to know your supply options.  When eggs were pricey, I experimented with egg replacer powder.  In a tomato shortage, I'm finding other vegetable workarounds.  Beef is expensive, so I'm eating less red meat.  I'm supposed to limit it on my current diet anyway.  There's plenty of food in the stores.  You just have to learn to cook with what's available at the price you're willing to pay.

Canning Seasoned Beans

All right, after that whole post about not having to can foods, I did some canning.  I was making a Mexican-themed meal and was out of canned pintos, so I figured I'd can beans and use whatever didn't seal.  Of course, they all did.  Murphy's Law, if I hadn't needed some that day, they would have all failed.

You can add up to half a teaspoon of dried herbs and ground spices to a pint jar, one teaspoon to a quart, for safe pressure canning of low acid foods.  Plus any salt or acid you may choose for flavoring purposes.  Those don't affect the safety equation.

I wanted to make two jars of white beans with herbs to use in salads, which isn't enough for a canner load, so they were sneaked into this batch.  I added a quarter teaspoon each dried parsley and tarragon to each jar, then 1/8 tsp each garlic powder, canning salt, and citric acid.  The acid was for flavor this time.  I'm calling them Provençal white beans, being themed to the south of France.

Out of five jars of pinto beans, I made two plain and unsalted, and three pre-seasoned.  Those can be served as is, or turned into refried beans.  I added paprika, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and canning salt to each jar for those.

The canning procedures I followed can be found on the NCHFP website.  There was a lot of siphoning, but all of the jars had sufficient liquid remaining.  I know there aren't enough beans in the two white jars; I was guessing the dry amount.  The important part for those is that the water was up to the 1" headspace mark when they went in the canner.

And now that my annual physical bloodwork came back that I have to reduce sugar and meat, having ready to go beans will help me to get back on track.  I knew that I was having way too much sugar recently, but there's something about seeing the actual numbers to make it a priority.

Sweet Potato Cornbread

Starring, the last jar of sweet potatoes!  I was going to make arepas to go with some sort of "Mexican" black beans, then saw this concept.  The beans became a version of Caribbean Black Bean Curry, to use some condiments and freezer seasonings.

I found a cornbread recipe I liked on Butter Be Ready.  Basically, it used the quantities of ingredients I wanted to put in it.  Only downside of this recipe is it makes three times what I needed.  Knowing that going in, I made it in three mini loaf pans (plus 3 muffins) and froze the other two.  I could have made a dozen muffins instead.  I was in the mood for less crust, so sliceable won.  If I don't have this as a starch for dinner, it could be toasted with butter for breakfast, with a side of cheese for lunch, or as a tea snack.

Like most quick breads, it takes longer to assemble the ingredients than to mix it.  I did a few workarounds to use powdered buttermilk and egg replacer for one of the eggs.  I need to use that stuff more often.  All that liquid vs powder math made it take a wee bit longer than if I had just followed the recipe.  If you're using canned or pre-cooked sweet potatoes, you should be able to mix it in the time it takes for the oven to preheat.

*1 C cornmeal
1 C flour
1/4 C brown sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs, room temperature 
*2 C buttermilk
*1 C mashed sweet potato (or 1 15 oz can, drained and mashed)
6 Tb unsalted butter, melted

1.  Preheat oven to 400º.  Spray or line a 9x9 baking dish, 12 muffin tray, or one loaf pan.  I may have over-sprayed my loaf pans.  The muffins popped right out of the silicone tray.

2.  In a medium bowl, sift together the cornmeal, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  I don't always sift, but in this case it made it easier to get rid of the clumps in the brown sugar and baking powder.

3.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and mashed or puréed sweet potato.  Make sure your melted butter is somewhat cooled, but still pourable.

4.  Add liquid mixture to dry and stir gently until about half combined.  Add butter and finish mixing.  A few small lumps are ok and will bake out.  Just get the big ones.

5.  Pour batter into prepared pan.  This will not rise as much as you think, with so much leavening.  You can fill 3/4 full.  Bake time will depend on choice of pan, so use the toothpick test to be sure.  Muffins, 18-20 minutes, 9x9 35-40 minutes, and loaf pan start checking at 40 minutes.

6.  Let rest in pan 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.  Quick breads often taste better after a day in the fridge.  Wrap before storing.  Can also be frozen once cooled for up to 3 months.

Serves 8-12

Difficulty rating  π

Apple-Scrap Jelly

I'm finally dealing with the apple cores and peels from canning day, plus the cores from all the apples I've eaten since then.

I've never made any kind of jelly, so it was an interesting process.  First, you make the juice by boiling the scraps with some water.  Then, after straining out the solids, you boil the juice with pectin and sugar.  That's the whole thing.  If you use store-bought juice, it's way less effort, but the whole point of this exercise was to make something out of garbage.

The recipe I'm using is from the UC Extension master canner site, which I didn't know was a thing.  The course isn't available locally, which is super annoying.

I did make a couple of tiny changes.  I added a touch of lemon juice for contrast.  Adding additional acid is never a problem for water bath canning.  It makes it even safer.  I decreased the sugar content slightly.  With pectin, you can get away with that and still have a set.  And I made the last little jar and a half into mint jelly by adding peppermint extract and a touch of green water-based food coloring, so I could tell it apart.  Maybe a little too much food coloring, but the jelly was rosy from the red apple peels and I didn't want it to look brown.  What I am posting is the tested and approved recipe.

*about 4 lbs apple cores and peels or 4-1/2 C apple juice
5 C sugar
*1 box (3 Tb) powdered pectin

1.  If canning, prepare water bath canner for a 5-6 cup yield.  Sterilize jars by boiling for 10 minutes, or increase end processing time to 10 minutes to compensate.  Recipe only has times for half-pint or 4 oz jelly jars.  Do not make in pint or larger jars.

2.  To make the apple juice, put apple scraps and 4 C water in a large pot.  Bring to a boil for one minute, then lower heat to a simmer.  Cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3.  Run the contents of the pot through a jelly bag.  I don't have one, and used a cloth produce bag.  You could also line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth.  The goal is to get all the particles out.  You should have about 4-1/2 C of juice.

4.  Pour the juice back into the pot and stir in the pectin.  Bring to a boil over high heat for one minute, stirring constantly.

5.  Stir in the sugar to dissolve.  Bring to a hard boil that cannot be stirred down for one minute.  The mixture should feel thickened from the pectin, and you will see some cling to the sides.  Remove from heat.

6.  If canning, ladle hot jelly into hot jars.  Wipe the rims clean, place warmed lids on, and screw bands down finger tight.  Process 5 minutes for sterilized jars or 10 minutes for washed.  For not canning, portion into clean, non-reactive containers and refrigerate or freeze.

Makes 5-6 cups

Difficulty rating  :)

Apples in Syrup (Canning)

There was a sale on five pound bags of apples.  I brought home one Granny Smith and one Pink Lady.  Realizing that was more than I could eat or bake with before they turned, I decided to can some of them.

Apples can be preserved in more ways than I realized.  What I decided to do was hot-pack fruit in syrup, to use in baking, with yogurt or oatmeal, or mash it into applesauce.  Every source I trust had instructions for it, and the nchfp even had pressure-canning directions.  I went with water bath instead so I wouldn't have to pre-sterilize the jars.  You only have to do that for times under 10 minutes, and these would have been 8 in a pressure canner.

I used wide mouth jars because I thought it would be easier to fill them, but the apples get so soft that it isn't an issue.  If you're cutting wedges or slices instead of quarters, a regular mouth jar is big enough.

If you aren't into canning, just use the apples after the cooking part.  You likely won't be making anywhere near as much as I did.  You can also do them as poached halves, maybe adding some white wine to the syrup.

For quantities here, I'm using the Ball book.  They give them for canner loads.  I did slightly less, and ended up with 7 jars instead of 8.  It's a lot of apples to peel.

10 to 12 lbs apples, stemmed, peeled, cored, and quartered or sliced
6 cups hot syrup, sweetness as desired

1.  Set up canner for an 8 pint or 4 quart yield.  Get the water started, because it's going to boil around the time you finish preparing the apples.  Set up a large bowl of water with an acid in it such as ascorbic acid or lemon juice.  This will prevent browning.  Set yourself up with a podcast or movie, because it's going to take at least an hour to prepare the apples.

2.  Wash the apples in hot water to remove the waxy coating every orchard puts on them after harvesting.  As you finish peeling, coring, and slicing the apples, toss them in the acidic water.  I kept the cores and peels to make apple jelly later.  Not today.

3.  Once all the apples are prepared, set up a large stock pot with 6 cups of water and how much sugar you want in your syrup.  I did a very light one of only a cup of sugar, in case I turn them into applesauce.  I can add more sugar if I make a cobbler or pie.  Bring to a boil until all the sugar is dissolved.

4.  Drain the apple slices and add to the syrup pot.  Return to a boil, stirring often.  Boil the apples for 5 minutes.  Hot pack replaces the air in the fruit with syrup through boiling and allows you to pack more fruit into each jar.

5.  Ladle hot apples into hot jars to 1/2" headspace.  Add cooking syrup, debubble, and adjust headspace.  Wipe rims, center lids, and screw on bands finger-tight.  Process 20 minutes for both pints and quarts.

Difficulty rating  :-0

Harvest Chicken Salad

I took off for the High Holy Days, as I generally do most years.  There are so many commitments and services, plus staying up late for most of them.  What that meant to my eating schedule was that I would be having lunch at home 5-7 days a week, instead of two.  For two days, I like toasted cheese bread and an apple.  More than that, I needed a bit of variety and got out the last jar of chicken until I decide to can another batch.

For me, a summery chicken salad is what I already posted.  Going into the fall, I like to add more flavors to it.  The herbs change a bit.  Also, it was all items I had on hand.  The point was something easy to have ready to eat while doing a dozen projects and adulting things between the services that had been postponed during a hard month at work.

*1 10-14 oz can chicken, or 2 C cooked shredded
*2 green onions, finely sliced
*2 ribs celery, small dice
*1 apple or pear, diced
*2 Tb sliced or slivered almonds
*2 Tb dried fruit such as cranberries or chopped figs
*1/2 tsp orange zest
*1 Tb dried parsley flakes (or 1/4 C fresh)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
*1/4 C mayonnaise 
*1 tsp mustard of choice

1.  Drain chicken.  In a bowl, combine bite-sized chicken pieces, green onions, celery, apple, almonds, dried fruit, orange zest, and parsley.

2.  Stir in mayo and mustard until everything is evenly distributed.  Add salt and white pepper gradually, tasting and adjusting amounts.  You may use more or less.  Chill until ready to serve.

Difficulty rating  π

Chicken Gravy for Biscuits

If I don't home-can chicken again, it will only be because I don't use it as much as I expected.  I really thought I was opening a can per month, but I'm not quite done with the ten jars I made last July.  Or, I could just make smaller batches.  Maybe five pounds instead of nine.  The taste is fantastic, and the texture is much better than commercially canned meat.

This chicken and biscuits recipe was one of the alternate breakfast ideas I had when eggs were super expensive.  I didn't get around to making it until now.  It's just like making sausage gravy, except you have to add more herbs and spices to make up for them not being in the meat.  You do benefit from not having to spend time cooking the meat, and you can adjust the seasonings to your taste.

*1 10-12 oz can chunk chicken
1 Tb flour
1 Tb margarine
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp each sage and thyme
1 C milk, or less for thicker sauce
*biscuits for serving

1.  Add chicken and its juice to a saucepan and heat over medium-low.  Add margarine and let it melt, then sprinkle with flour and stir until it cooks and starts to thicken the pan juices.

2.  Stir in some salt and pepper and the herbs.  Begin to add the milk a few tablespoons at a time, stirring and allowing each addition to thicken the sauce.  Continue until you reach a desired consistency.  Taste and add seasonings if needed.

3.  Spoon over split and toasted biscuits.  (I used some sweet potato biscuits I forgot were in the freezer.)  Serve hot.

Makes a generous 2 C of gravy

Difficulty rating  π

Tomato Canning Day

Like with the sweet potatoes, I patiently waited for Roma tomatoes to hit a price that made it worth canning them myself.  Smart & Final had 25 pound cases for $15 the same week that it was announced tomato prices would be rising soon.  I've never bought a case of tomatoes for myself before, only for work, but it was coming home.  Also, the timing meant that anything which didn't seal would be easy to use with what was on the meal plan for the rest of the month.

I was not looking forward to peeling half of them.  You have to peel canned tomatoes.  Fine, 50 peeled tomatoes.  I was just glad that the ones being turned into sauce could be cooked with them on.

They had condensation on them from being refrigerated, so the first thing I did was lay them all out on a towel on the dining room table.  The intention was to put the more ripe ones on the left and the ones that needed some time in a paper bag on the right.  None of them were really unripe, so I just put another towel over the less-ripe ones for two days to get everyone to the same point.

Tomatoes can be water bath canned or done in the pressure canner.  I decided that the volume of product I was making would be easier in the pressure canner because I could stack them and do a single run.  The USDA book and NCHFP have charts for both types and varying pressures.  Both types of processing require the addition of citric acid or lemon juice.  Technically, tomatoes are acid foods, but they're on the border and there's no industry standard of acidity for variety or ripeness.  It's a blanket requirement of just barely enough acid to ensure safety.  Even commercially canned tomatoes contain citric acid.

I buy no salt, petite diced when I pick up cans.  There is no safe, tested method for diced tomatoes at home, but you don't have to add salt.  I'm doing quartered and will chop them up as needed before using.  

This really was one of the things on my list when I first bought the pressure canner.  A fifteen minute processing time, even with all the other procedures that go into pressure canning, still beats 35 minutes in water that took over an hour to get to a boil.  Also, the tomato guidelines are more forgiving.  There's a five-pound time, so if the canner falls below 10 pounds you can just add five more minutes and it's still safe.  It also uses far less water and isn't as messy to clean up if jars siphon.

I probably shouldn't have done this on a work day.  I started a little after 1pm and finally pulled the jars out shortly before seven.  A lot of that time was peeling the half case of tomatoes, reducing the tomato sauce, and at least half an hour running the sauce pieces through the food mill.  I reduced it too much, and only got three jars.  I have re-branded them unflavored pizza/pasta starter and will season them when I open one.  The one that didn't seal is going in the next post.  All the quartered tomatoes sealed, so there's my year's worth of canned tomatoes.  I finally ran through all my Ball/Kerr regular mouth lids and opened the ForJars.  They seem of good quality.  The one fail was probably over-filled or not wiped well.

I stopped with about a dozen tomatoes left in the box.  I was out of room in the two stock pots I had going.  They turned into oven-dried tomatoes.  The pulp left from milling the sauce is in the freezer.  I'm going to try dehydrating it and turning it into tomato powder, which can then be reconstituted into tomato paste.  I have seen it done, but never tried it myself.

So, was it worth the $15?  If you're counting the value of what's on the shelf and in the freezer, I did save money compared to buying cans and jars of product.  The six hours of work and utilities to process the tomatoes is where it would have been cheaper to buy cans.  I'm glad I have this skill, and six hours a year isn't that big a deal when you think about it.  It probably gets easier after you've done it a few times.

Plums in Syrup

I didn't learn my lesson from the cherries and bought plums the next week.  Only five pounds this time, and way fewer pits to remove.  The recipe on NCHFP is easy to follow and doesn't require any additional acid.

If you're not into canning, this is still a recipe for you.  Everything up to the putting it in jars point can be done if you're keeping them in the fridge or using them immediately.  Think of it as poached pears, but with plums and not having to peel anything.

Frankly, it works better if you just poach them.  I didn't expect them to disintegrate, but it does explain why you can't buy canned plums.  While disappointing, I quickly realized that what I was using them for did not require firm plum pieces.  Mostly, they're going in yogurt or the popsicle mold.  I have a vague idea of stirring them into gelatin or vanilla pudding.  Maybe spooned over ice cream.  I didn't feel like opening a new jar of cranberry sauce and had some with the last of the leftover turkey from Passover.  There was some pivoting of expectations, and I probably won't can halves again, but the jars won't go to waste.

6 pounds ripe plums (makes 4 pint jars)
1/2 C sugar, or less for a lighter syrup
2 C water

1.  Wash fruit well.  Cut plums in half.  Remove stems and pits.  If canning, prepare jars, lids, and water bath canner for four pints.  It's going to take longer for the water to get to a boil than anything else.

2.  In a large saucepan, stir together water and sugar.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium.  Place plums in a single layer in the water and boil 2 minutes.  If necessary, do this in batches and remove the cooked ones to a separate bowl.  When all pieces have been boiled, return all of them to the hot syrup, turn off the heat, and allow to sit 20 minutes.  If not canning, allow to sit only 5 minutes, call it a day, and refrigerate.  You're done!

3.  For canning, fill hot jars with hot plums and syrup to 1/2" headspace.  De-bubble and adjust headspace if necessary.  Wipe rims, center lids, and screw down rings finger tight.  Process 20 minutes for pints and 25 minutes for quarts.

Makes about 4 pint jars

Difficulty rating  :)

Repurposing Leftover Fruit Syrup

I bought seven pounds of cherries when they were $3 per pound.  I attempted to make seven pints of canned cherries, but two didn't seal.  Those got frozen with the others I had set aside to freeze.

I wasn't sure how much syrup to make for hot pack pitted cherries (yes, I pitted seven pounds of cherries in one day), and ended up with more than a quart left over.  It was four quarts of cherries (including blanching the ones to be frozen).  I thought I would need far more per jar than I did.  It felt like a waste to just pour it out, so I went looking for other things to do with it.  Then I realized this is also a frugal way to make use of the syrup or juice in store-bought canned fruit and started a section topic post.

The first idea was to add lemon juice to cut the sweetness.  I have way too many overly ripe lemons on the tree right now, so that worked two problems at once.  Cherry lemonade is pretty good.

Next up was popsicles.  I had to go buy some popsicle molds for that one, but I think I'll be using those several times a year.  I actually bought two sets.  The one from The Container Store cost three times as much as the one from Home Goods, but it's higher quality and I expect it to last three times as long.  I want to experiment with unexpected things like freezing chai tea.

There was yet more juice to play with, so I made gelatin desserts.  The box of plain gelatin says one packet will set one cup of juice, so I just made two half-cup servings.  I did find that too firm, and will probably do 1-1/2 C of juice per packet in the future.

All of these projects can be done with the juice or syrup in a can of fruit.  It can also be used to sweeten iced tea if you opened something like pears or peaches.  Marinate chicken or pork in it.  A frugal home finds ways to use every bit of what has been purchased.