Drool. Go Ahead and Drool!

Men's inventions. They're wonderful. This particular item may be pretty simplistic in its design but it is one cool kitchen tool. The apple peeler. (click) If you're a gramma and don't have one of these in the house you need one...it'll impress your smaller grandkids! And inspire them to help next time you make apple crisp or pie.This handy gizmo both peels AND slices! How cool is that! You can prepare a dozen apples in no time flat. There is an older version that clamps to the edge of a table but I like this one with its suction cup bottom...just turn the lever and it sits anywhere on your countertop.
Here's a close-up of the peeling/slicing.


I like Jonathans for apple crisp or pie. This particular bunch have a sharp, tangy, apple taste. There's nothing worse than digging in for that first bite and finding a bland apple with practically no taste to it except sugar.
Apple crisp...a fall treat. Sometimes I search for a recipe online. This time I used the recipe in my vintage Betty Crocker cookbook which is practically falling to pieces...I've referred to it many times over that past 47 years! (Click on photo for a closer view) You'll notice the recipe is for an 8-inch square pan. I doubled it for the 9x13 pan.


Go ahead. Drool! It's permitted.

I want to leave you with a quote:
“There are but two lessons for Christians to learn: one is, to enjoy God in everything; the other is, to enjoy everything in God.” - Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

I think that means you can enjoy apple crisp most thoroughly...acknowledging God as the giver of all good things...including a sweet apple treat.

P.S. I have no association with the website for the apple peeler...it's simply the first one that popped up when I googled.
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Today I Ate GREEN! It Tasted Weird! But Good.

I'd forgotten about green smoothies. Last year I made several after reading about them on the net.

Our garden contributed to today's lunch. (If you can call this lunch.)

Chard, collards, cucumber, beet greens, asparagus, a couple leaves of basil, one large tomato, half a frozen banana, and a half cup or more of cranberry juice. Blended into a Green Smoothie.

There is no "real" recipe. You simply dump whatever you have on hand into a blender, making sure there is some juice to juice things up a bit. You could add more fruit to make it more fruity. Or, a dill cucumber. Or tabasco. Celery. Apple juice is good. Whatever.

I'll admit two things. First...each concoction tastes different that the previous. Secondly, they all taste a bit "different". As in "weird". But if you have an open mind, most of them taste surprisingly pleasant. You get a ton of fresh veggie vitamins plus the fiber.

DISCLAIMER: A green smoothie of raw veggies is not recommended for those readers who are currently undergoing chemo and whose white blood counts may be low. With low white counts, the immune system is not working well. Raw veggies may contain bacteria, etc., that a normal person handles very well, but persons with a compromised immune system are usually advised by their doctor/nurse to eat cooked foods only.
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She Sets a Dangerous Precedent and Expects Us to Follow!

Now and then I check out Ree Drummond's blog, The Pioneer Woman. Ree lives in Oklahoma with her hubby and four adorable children. And she's not bashful about sharing their ranch life with the entire world. Reading her blog lets one experience vicariously "livin' on the ranch", so to speak. But she sets a dangerous precedent when she cooks like she does for her man. I mean, life is tough enough, without having to attain to her level of "wonderful food on the table!"

Today's post on cooking was particularly dangerous and because of that I realized that I can NEVER, EVER tell Hubby about her blog...if he spots today's recipe for Caramel Apple Sticky Buns (yep, you can click for the recipe, but don't tell hubby) he will never again let me out of the kitchen...and then I'll gain 150 pounds and no longer be the slim, trim (oh, dream on!) woman of my youth (at sixty-some? who am I kidding!). So, no, I am not telling Hubby about Ree's blog site. No, sirree! Nope. Not gonna do that!
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Cucumber Slices Like My Mom Used to Make Them

We grew up on a small farm in western Iowa. Each year we planted plenty of tomatoes, beans, peas, sweet corn, cabbage, cucumbers, carrots. The potatoes were in a larger area in the nearby field. By fall the cellar would be full of canned vegetables while a large wood bin held the potato crop.

One of my favorite garden foods (along with fresh sliced tomatoes with sugar sprinkled on top) was cucumber slices in vinegar. Oh, Yum!

Today I picked a handful of cukes and sliced them for this delicious treat. If you'd like to try them, here's a simple dish. You will want 2 to 3 medium cucumbers. (I used about five smaller ones.)

First, wash the cukes. Then peel with a parer that peels paper-thin. (If your cucumbers are too mature, they will be seedy. Small immature seeds are okay. The older ones are hard and you will want to remove the seedy core and just slice the leftover flesh. But if the seeds are still tiny and chewable, leave them.)

Slice the cukes thinly and sprinkle with salt. No water. Just sprinkle with salt. About 2 tablespoons or more. Mix the salt in so the salt is dispersed throughout the slices. Let sit for an hour or so while the salt causes the slices to wilt down a bit. They will become juicy.

After an hour, rinse thoroughly to remove as much salt as possible. They will still retain a bit of salty flavor but you do want to rinse them to remove the excess salt.

At this point add a small amount of thinly sliced onions.

Then add the following mixture:

1/4 cup vinegar (I used cider vinegar)
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Mix together. This does not seem like enough liquid for the cucumbers but they will juice up a bit overnight. Put them in the fridge overnight to let the flavors blend. (If you really do need more liquid, just increase the amounts a bit.)

By the way, I love these old pyrex bowls with glass lids. They are perfect for storage in the fridge and I much prefer them to plastic ware.

Today's scripture for your reflection is James 1:17 where James writes this... "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

Yummy Black & White Cookies by Yiddle

Yiddle over at yiddle.net spent yesterday baking cookies. Not just plain ordinary cookies, mind you! No! These are fabulous Black & White Cookies! Think of these when you want a special treat at your next fun event.

And these would also be a great project for your kids. Her secret "how-to" is simple and so easy that anyone could make them. Of course, they take a teensy bit of hands-on effort but the process is much simpler than I thought.


These are so cool I think you will definitely want to jump right over there and see how she makes 'em. Yiddle gives a link to the recipe she used as well as written instructions on how to make 'em.


Yumm!

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Snow, Inventions, Betty Crocker, and KAMUT

It snowed last night. A quiet 3 to 5 inches of snow. The air was still enough that the storm left a smooth surface. Very few drifts.

Our small snowblower did a nice job of clearing our drive...then the two of us lifted it into the back of the pickup to go do two more on the other side of town. We made several observations this morning...

1) The lady who drove straight through the intersection in front of us without looking to the left or right, must have been thinking "if I don't look, I won't feel the pain when some car slams into me crosswise". Driver denial.

2) When I call a side street a "main street" I mean that it is a "direct route" to some main area of town. Being a native I know, for instance, that even though Diamond Street is a "side street", it is nevertheless the main thoroughfare from the southeast end of town to the center of town. Spouse, being a relative newcomer (having lived here a mere fourteen years), still arrives at intersections expecting the person to the right to have the right-of-way. It doesn't compute with him that drivers on Diamond have the right-of-way regardless of whether they are on the right or the left of the other car. It's local custom. It has nothing to do with legality. You just know that they see themselves as being on the main drag and you, on the other hand, are on a "side street" so to speak. So you'd best pay attention and keep out of their way.

3) Someone could make a fortune with my new "invention". Today I dreamed of a mechanism that would make sweeping/scooping snow from a deck obsolete. Think venetian blinds...the deck boards could be rotated sideways to dump the snow underneath the deck. Or they could rotate a full 180 degrees to place the snow/icy surface underneath and the dry surface atop. All this of course would require a sturdy mechanism to do the rotating and to properly support and lock the boards in place. (This is MY invention and if someone develops it and sells it to rich folk -- of which there aren't too many right now -- I expect a ten percent cut of the profit. I can dream, can't I?)

4) Pancakes for breakfast are a good followup to shoveling snow. Especially Kamut Pancakes. And here's the recipe!

KAMUT PANCAKES (adapted from my almost antique Betty Crocker cookbook)
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk (use 1 cup milk and 1 T lemon juice or vinegar)
1 T oil
1 cup Kamut flour (or use regular white or whole wheat flour)
1 T sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

In a medium bowl, Slightly beat egg, milk, oil.
In a separate bowl stir together the dry ingredients. Then add to the liquid. Stir only until mixed together. A few lumps is good. Over-stirring is not good.

Pour an appropriate amount of batter into a heated skillet that has been sprayed with veggie spray. Or swipe with a bit of butter. Turn when pancakes are puffed and full of bubbles but before the bubbles break. Flip and cook other side. If you're an old hand at pancakes, you can skip this last paragraph. If you're new, you'll soon get the hang of having the skillet at just the right temp.. Too cool and the pancakes will be pale. Too hot, and they'll burn.

This recipe makes a very small batch...enough for the two of us with no leftovers. If we have a hungry grandson in the house, I always double the recipe.

Serve with butter, syrup, applesauce or other fruit.

The BEST Pancakes in the World!

When my grandchildren stay overnight we often have pancakes the next morning. Pancakes made from scratch. Pancakes made from whole grain. Pancakes made from KAMUT! And I tell them (just in case they don't notice) that "Nobody makes better pancakes than Gramma!" (Somebody has to keep reminding them!) You can find my recipe for Kamut Pancakes here.

I'm posting my Secret here for all the world to see. It's the Kamut! Here's an excerpt from this website!...Kamut "is an ancient relative of modern durum wheat, two to three times the size of common wheat with 20–40% more protein, higher in lipids, amino acids, vitamins and minerals, and a "sweet" alternative for all products that now use common wheat. Nutritionally superior, it can be substituted for common wheat with great success. Kamut brand wheat has a rich, buttery flavor, and is easily digested."

Look at this photo! The hard red winter wheat is on the left and the Kamut on the right. Look at the difference in size of grain as well as color. (Remember, you can click on the photo for a closer view.)

Kamut grain and the resulting flour have a more golden hue and a flavor that is sweet and nutty. Kamut Pancakes! Ummmm! The Best! And now you, too, can make the "best pancakes in the world". And don't forget to show those grandbabies how good pancakes can be when topped with applesauce or peaches or fruit of any kind. (HINT - To make breakfast a bit easier I like to make my own 'Pancake Mixes'...simply toss all the dry ingredients for a single recipe into a baggie and toss it in the freezer. When it's time to make breakfast, just stir up the liquids, add the baggie contents, and you're ready to go.)

You can google 'Kamut' to find sources online. Or if you are a member of a food co-op, check their catalog for either the whole grain or for Kamut flour.

P.S. Kamut makes great whole-grain bread, too!

Old Fashioned Made for Today

Today's "how-to" is about Oatmeal, that heart-healthy whole-grain cereal that you probably don't cook because you think it takes too long to prepare. Instead you buy the instant or the microwave variety.

We prefer the texture of the Old Fashioned cereal, the kind that takes 5 minutes to cook. Five minutes is only a short time. Really!

For a long time I've cooked a few raisins into the oatmeal to sweeten it. But lately I've taken to adding fruit. First peaches. Now I'm using apples.

For two or three people: Bring 1-1/2 cups of water to a boil. Add one peeled and sliced apple, a Tablespoon of coconut flakes, a few raisins, and a pinch of salt. Stir and let simmer for half a minute or so, just to get the apple cooking a bit. Then add 3/4 cup of Old Fashioned Oats. (The basic recipe is two parts water to one part oatmeal...cook more as needed.)

At this point I turn off the burner, put the lid on the pan, and let the residual heat of the stove finish the cooking...which takes about five minutes. Make sure the heat does not cause the cereal to boil over...otherwise you can just set the timer for five minutes and putter around the house in your jammies until the timer lets you know your breakfast is ready.

Cooking oatmeal is really so easy. Add your preferred fruits, dates, other dried fruits, raisins, slivered almonds, whatever you want to toss in the pan. A touch of cinnamon is great with the fruit.

Did you notice the pan I'm using? I've recently discovered that Corelle glass pans work very well on this flat surface stovetop. The Corelle heats more quickly than metal pans and I can see what's cooking. Thanks to yard sales this summer, I've acquired a set of four with three lids.

Here's an important hint with oatmeal. Never let the residue oatmeal dry in the pan! You'll be Sorry! As soon as the pan is empty, fill it with cool water. (With the glass pan I let it cool down a bit before adding cool water). The cold water dissolves the starchy residue and it's a breeze to swish the pan clean with a clean dish cloth.

I'll bet Obama and McCain both eat oatmeal for breakfast. Let's take a vote on it!!! And did you know that Starbucks is now serving oatmeal?
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Today We're Cooking Brown Rice with Home Grown Tomato Sauce! YUMM!

I've posted once before on how to cook brown rice easily using a large stainless steel kettle with steamer insert and a Pyrex glass bowl for the rice itself. You can click here to read that post. I love this method because once the water comes to a low simmer, I can turn down the heat, set the timer, and go about my daily tasks without worrying about the rice burning or scorching. (You will need a lid for the kettle, but not for the bowl.)

Today I'm cooking brown rice this easy way and also using up garden produce that has been sitting forlornly on my kitchen counter waiting for someone to Enjoy!!! (Summer is almost over and I want to enjoy summer produce as long as I can!)

This recipe uses onion, garlic, zucchini (I can't believe I had to look up the spelling!!), baby carrots, tomatoes, fresh oregano and thyme, banana peppers, kale, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Choose whatever veggies you have on hand. Chop veggies. (Mushrooms or a bit of balsamic wine vinegar would be good additions.)

First, I sauteed the onion and baby carrots. Then because my skillet was rather small, I removed them to a dish while I sauteed everything else except the tomatoes, herbs, and cheese.

Tomatoes need to be skinned before chopping and the simple way to do that is to drop them for 30 seconds or so in simmering temp water. Cool in cold water. Then just slip the skins, cut out the core, and chop. (Fresh tomatoes from the garden will be very juicy! Use juice and all!) Add to the skillet. Put the set-aside onion/carrot combo back into the skillet along with everything except the rice and parmesan cheese. Simmer for perhaps 10 minutes.

Serve the sauce over a healthy spoonful of cooked rice. Add parmesan.

The sweet potato? I set it in the steamer alongside the bowl of rice and it was nicely done when the rice finished cooking.

In the photo with the herbs you will see that I'm using a santoku knife. While I like it's sharp cutting ability, I'm always extremely careful that the cutting edge never touches my skin. This baby is sharp! I barely skimmed my knuckle with it once and as a consequence, needed a small bandaid!! For safety sake, when I finish using it I rinse it, dry it carefully, and put it in its slot in my knife drawer. Consider this a larger version of a razor blade and handle it accordingly.

Yumm! Want some!!! My kitchen smells very, very yummy!
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In Spite of the Work I Think I'm In Heaven!

This week we purchased three cases of Rainier cherries. These babies are so beautiful it's almost a shame that you can't keep them forever simply for their beauty. However, they're fragile and in spite of having eaten as many as we can personally eat, and having given them away to friends and family, we still had plenty left to can.

I've never canned cherries before. So I got out my Ball Blue Book, checked the instructions, and began work. I packed the first batch with whole cherries but my Beloved suggested we pit them. He helped which was a big factor in changing my canning methods.

It was pretty easy, really. Pull the twigs. In the case of the whole cherries, prick them slightly with a knife as I dropped them into hot syrup. And in the case of the pitted cherries, two pair of hands made work fairly quick.

I do have a cherry stoner (or cherry pitter), one of those hand-cranks. I've used it before on smaller sour cherries but the size of these beauties made it impossible to use the crank. So back to the quad-hand method we went.

A large bowl of fresh cherries is in the fridge and we'll eat them for a couple days more. The rest are lined up in a row on a basement shelf. Aren't they beautiful!?
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GET RID OF THE PLASTIC!!! BUY GLASS!!! Or Why I Love Pyrex Stacking Storage Bowls

I've recently become averse to using plastic for food storage. Instead I've begun collecting these Pyrex stacking bowls. They come in several sizes and styles. Sometimes I find them at yard sales or thrift shops. They're a popular item on eBay, too, but I don't like to pay today's shipping costs. Better to be patient and find local bargains.

One of the things I like about these bowls is their stackability. If the lid is placed on the bowl upside down it provides a nifty and safe platform for a second bowl. I can stack three bowls on the top shelf in my fridge in a single space. I like that the glass lids allow me to see the contents. I like the fact that I can heat leftovers in my microwave without worrying about plastic. And I like the various colors and designs. The bowls are ovenproof as well and work nicely for small casserole dishes.

Pyrex! Toss the plastic! Buy glass! Yayyyy!

How to Cook Up Some of Those Extra Pears

We're eating away on that box of pears I mentioned earlier. There are only two of us and you can only eat so many pears a day! But here's a recipe I tried tonight that is easy and tasty. The recipe uses minimal sugar and is actually from a pear pie recipe but I wanted to avoid eating the crust and figured, "Aha! This should work well in a casserole bowl!" And it did. I think next time I'll double the lemon juice to add a bit more tartness. Otherwise, this is a tasty pear sauce.

I called it Oven Pears.

5 or 6 pears peeled, cut into chunks.
1/3 to 2/3 cup sugar (I used 1/3)
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1-1/2 T quick-cooking tapioca
3 T orange juice
1 tsp lemon juice
1 T butter.

Put pears in pyrex baking dish.
Mix dry ingredients and sprinkle over pears.
Mix orange and lemon juice and pour over.
Stir gently with spoon to mix.
Dabble with 1 T butter, cut in pieces and placed over top of pears.

Cover with lid, bake at 350 about 1 hour.

Cooking BROWN RICE the EASY WAY without Resorting to an Electric Steamer

Here's a simple and perfect way to cook brown rice. I've tried several ways of cooking it. I've used a basic saucepan atop the stove and I once owned and used an electric steamer. The saucepan leaves too much to error for you have to simmer it on very low heat and on my electric range it is difficult to adjust to just the right heat. That method requires careful watching and its a nuisance of a way to cook the rice.

I also used to use a plastic steamer and when it quit working I decided I no longer wished to use plastic in cooking. (I don't use plastic anymore to either cook or store foods.) I purchased one of the larger units that looks somewhat like a crockpot in shape. Steam and starch fizzled up around the edges of the lid, making for a messy cleanup. Took that unit back to the store.

Then I stumbled upon this method. Its soooo easy and the rice cooks to perfection. You will need a large stainless steel pot or pan with a steam insert deep enough to place a glass pyrex bowl in the steamer and still get the lid on the pan.

Put about 1.5 inches of water in the pan and bring to a simmer. In the bowl place 1 cup of rice and about 1-1/3 cups water. Simply place that bowl in the steamer, cover with the lid. Set the timer for 45-55 minutes and let the gentle simmer produce steam that will cook that rice to perfection. Towards the end you can stir the rice with a fork.

This works also if you want to flavor your rice with chicken stock or with a few choice veggies. Or you can replace the water with canned tomatoes or salsa. Just be sure this provides enough liquid by adding water if necessary to the mix.

Enjoy!

Bosc Pears! Great Dessert!

Friends gave me the opportunity to purchase a box of bosc pears. Yep, you read it right, an entire crate. The pears were brought direct from the State of Washington and are in beautiful condition.

I've cooked, canned and frozen apples and peaches but have never had the opportunity to do up a bunch of pears! Nor have I ever cooked with pears! Google to the rescue! I found a recipe for baked pears and modified it a bit. We don't like to use a lot of sugar so I just sprinkled the quartered pears with a dab of brown sugar and cinnamon. Baked at 350 for half an hour in an uncovered dish. Then added a tablespoon or two of water, covered the dish, and baked another half hour. The water and sugar formed a small amount of syrup in the bottom of the dish. Yumm!

Thank you, Mrs. Anderson!

I bake pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas and maybe now and then through the year. I hate making those foil trims to place on the crust through part of the baking time to prevent burning. So when I discovered Mrs. Anderson's pie crust shields I knew these were the perfect solution. It was months before I had an opportunity to try it out -- remember, I only bake now and then. I loved it! No battling with shaping several pieces of foil into a piece long enough to circle the edge of the pie and trying to make it stay atop the pie. This was easy to put on and to remove and my pie turned out perfect. The only drawback is that if I decide to make a smaller pie sometime I may need to buy a second ring in the smaller size. But still it is much easier to use than foil and I can use it over and over again.