Canning!

Our garden has been producing abundantly this year! I think our blueberry bushes have produced at least 2 dozen gallons of berries this year... so many for eating fresh, freezing, giving away, and canning.

 

 

The twins have loved picking and eating blueberries. They quickly learned which berries were not so good for eating. This guy would pick a berry and if it wasn't dark blue, he'd offer it to his brother.

 

Queenie helped me make jam. It was fun for her to ladle the lava-hot jam into the jars.

                                   Our cupboard filled up quickly with the summer bounty.

We made our usual favorites - peach, blackberry, and blueberry jams, pickles (both dill and bread & butter), tomatoes, marinara sauce and green beans. And we also tried a few new ones, like blueberry syrup, blueberry pie filling, elderberry jam, corn cob jelly, peach salsa and pickled peppers. Some were a hit, some not so much - like the corn cob jelly. It has a bit of a weird, tangy flavor. It was fun trying something new though. :)

Homeschool Cake Decorating

I've wanted to learn how to do real cake decorating for a long time. Sugar Baby is interested in learning, too. So, a couple of days ago, I looked online for tutorials showing how to make icing roses. I made a batch of buttercream icing & we whipped out a tray full of roses, blobs, roses and more blobs. A couple of the other ducklings tried their hand at making icing roses, too. We were all surprised to find how much hand and forearm strength was needed to make these pretty little creations. Or maybe my icing was too thick?

Chocolate Pie

To celebrate Superhero's first day of first grade, we made a chocolate pie. Chocolate has such a way of motivating people.

Superhero rolled out the crust all by himself.

Yummm...

The pie is very easy to make. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 crust, baked

1 1/3 cups sugar

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder (I prefer Hershey's)

3 Tbs butter

1 1/2 cups milk

Combine the sugar, flour & cocoa in a pot. Beat the egg yolks with the milk and slowly add to the sugar mixture. Cook & stir until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the butter until melted. Pour the filling into the crust & chill until served.

I always whip some cream with sugar and spread that over the pie, too.

Bread Machine Challah

Sugar Baby purchased a bread machine from the thrift store for $3 last weekend. She loves to cook and we all love to eat, so it was a great purchase!

The best recipe she's made so far is Bread Machine Challah. It is soooo simple and yummy!

Recipe Review: Hot Fudge Ice Cream Bar Dessert

This is our new favorite dessert! Sugar Baby made it for us a few nights ago. It tastes like a giant Nutty Buddy or Drumstick ice cream cone.

The recipe is can be found here at allrecipes.

It also makes a ton. One recipe made enough for our whole family to have it twice, with a little leftover. (That's saying a lot!)

Recipe Review: Baked Oatmeal

Allrecipes.com allows you to upload pictures of the recipes you make from their website. I've submitted three so far & figured I'd put the pics here, too, as well as a review of the recipe.

We've been trying really hard to stick to our grocery budget lately, and it has been challenging! Buying cereal is no longer an option - it is so expensive, and it requires a lot of milk which is also expensive. My ducklings don't eat a normal "serving size" when they eat cereal. It takes several bowls to fill most of them up! We can easily go through two boxes of cereal in one meal.

So... I've been making just about all of our breakfasts from scratch & have been using a lot of oatmeal. It is hard to beat because it is so healthy, inexpensive and filling.

I looked for the highest rated baked oatmeal recipe at allrecipes.com and found this one. It was very simple and pretty tasty, although I do recommend having it with a splash of milk or yogurt because it's a little dry.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day has passed, but I thought I'd post pictures of what went on here.

I found a really cute idea online for Mother's Day cookies. We decided to make them for my mother-in-law.

First,the ducklings and I came up with a list of adjectives that described her. Then I wrote them in icing on sugar cookies.

Lastly, I packed them in a jar & voila!Meanwhile, Queenie is learning to be a good mother to her baby, Jaime.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Today, I made another one of our favorite seasonal treats: sweet potato biscuits. I don't remember ever eating or even seeing these biscuits until I married Daddy Duck. His mom is a reeeeally good cook & I had them for the first time when I ate Thanksgiving dinner at her house. She usually serves them with thin slices of salty country ham and they are beyond delicious! Many of our favorite recipes have come from my Mother-in-law, and this is one of them...

First, bake some sweet potatoes. It usually takes about an hour at 350 degrees. Then, peel each potato (careful, they're hot!) and measure how much you have. For each cup of sweet potato, add 2 Tbs shortening, and 1/4 cup of sugar.

Mash/mix it all together, then add 1 cup of all purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp of salt for each cup of sweet potato. Mix it all together until a fairly stiff dough is formed. Chill it for an hour or so in the fridge, and it will be easier to handle.

Pat the dough onto a floured surface, until it's about an inch thick. Dip a small biscuit cutter (smaller is better - preferably one that is about 1 1/2" across) in flour and cut out biscuits.

Place the biscuits on a lightly greased baking pan, about 1/2" apart. Bake them for around 20 minutes at 350 degrees. They are done when they spring back after being poked by your finger.
Mmmm... serve with butter, ham, or even apple butter. The ducklings eat them like cookies. I love the flavors of fall!

Apple Butter

Fall around here means colorful, crunchy leaves, brilliant orange pumpkins, and lots of jars of apple butter! Mmmm... just take a whiff of all that warm, cinnamony spiciness...Some years, we've gone apple picking for the apples. Other years, we've bought "seconds" from a local orchard. This year, we got them on sale at the grocery store. This is Daddy Duck's favorite way of eating them: on saltines. (My favorite way is straight from the jar.)

Usually I make apple butter in the crockpot, but I was in a hurry yesterday, so I cooked it on the stove. I peeled, cored and sliced 15 pounds of apples, put them in a pot with 2lbs + 2 cups of brown sugar, about 1/4 cup of cinnamon and a sprinkling or two of ground cloves. I let them simmer (stirring occasionally) until the apples were really mushy (about 2-3 hours?). Then, I blended the rest with my stick blender & it was done. (I canned it too - it made about 8 1/2 pints.)

Rainy Day Activity: Candy Making

We have this wonderful book called 365 Things to Make and Do. I highly recommend it for rainy days. The cover is nearly falling off from being looked at so much. Sugar Baby found a candy recipe in it that she wanted to try today. The recipe was great, because the only "cooking" it required was to melt chocolate. Basically, it is about a cup or so of powdered sugar mixed with an egg white, peppermint flavoring & green food coloring. Mix it to dough like consistency (adding more powdered sugar if necessary), roll it into balls, and dip the balls into the melted chocolate chips. Allow to harden & voila!




Before we got started, we decided to invite a few friends over to help. After all, the more the merrier!

These guys were in the area, so we asked them. They began by reading the recipe. Turns out, they weren't much help at all. They just kind of sat there, staring. This guy was afraid he'd get his sweater dirty.This guy was too busy showing off how flexible he was. He must be double jointed or something.This guy would not be quiet. He kept making rude comments about how candy making was for girls and how the other guy's sweater made him look like a sissy. We ended up having to gag him.Despite how unhelpful our friends were, Sugar Baby was able to make a delicious final product: cute little mints that tasted like extra sweet peppermint patties. Next time, we'll have to be a little more selective about who we invite over to help us.

Bombarded by Cucumbers

The cukes are coming in full force. They were taking over the kitchen. We had no choice but to make pickles.

Monkey Man & Mr. C were very helpful & cut most of them for me. (Anything to get to use a knife!)Bread & Butter pickles. We ended up canning 16 jars.And it looks as though there are many more to come.

Soft Pretzels!

I found another winning recipe from allrecipes.com yesterday. The ducklings were eager to help out & it ended up being lots of fun. I was amazed at how yummy these pretzels were! This recipe is definitely a keeper.

I snapped this picture & when I looked at it on the camera, I discovered Queenie nibbling on her piece of dough. I hadn't noticed her doing that until then... the sneaky little rascal:) Rolling & shaping was fun and required no flour, so it wasn't as messy as most of our family cooking experiences.

Here they are in the oven before they browned. Mmmmm...

Mall Pretzels

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/8 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup bread flour
2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 tablespoons baking soda
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons coarse kosher salt

DIRECTIONS
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast, brown sugar and salt in 1 1/2 cups warm water. Stir in flour, and knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover, and let rise for one hour.

Combine 2 cups warm water and baking soda in an 8 inch square pan. [I added 2 Tbs sugar to this and kept it boiling in a deep skillet.]

After dough has risen, cut into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 3 foot rope, pencil thin or thinner. Twist into a pretzel shape, and dip into the baking soda solution. [I let them simmer for a minute.] Place on parchment covered cookie sheets, and let rise 15 to 20 minutes. [Oops, just noticed we forgot to do this!]

Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with coarse salt, garlic salt or cinnamon sugar.

Enjoy!

It's time for some Smoothie Moves!

Mmmm.... the ducklings and I are on a smoothie kick. Here is the one I am slurping up this very minute. To make it, I blended frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, fresh spinach, a banana, a few grapes, crushed ice and a little milk to make it thinner. It is pretty good.

Here is what was left from one of the ducklings' smoothies from lunch. The recipe came from allrecipes.com. It is called Groovy Green Smoothie and it is actually very good.

At first, the ducklings weren't too enthused about the idea of smoothies (especially ones that contained spinach). I started making them for myself at first, sipping and mmmmmming while drinking it and not letting them even have a tiny sip. Then, I started letting them have a sip here and there. Then, I made them one (adding extra yogurt & sugar), and now they are hooked! Heh, heh, heh...

Here's the recipe for the Groovy Green one:

INGREDIENTS

1 banana, cut in chunks
1 cup grapes
1 (6 ounce) tub vanilla yogurt
1/2 apple, cored and chopped
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach leaves

DIRECTIONS
Place the banana, grapes, yogurt, apple and spinach into a blender. Cover, and blend until smooth, stopping frequently to push down anything stuck to the sides. Pour into glasses and serve.

Enjoy!

I could eat these everyday and never get tired of them.

Whenever Daddy Duck lets me escape from the circus & have time by myself on a Saturday, I try to swing by the store where these yummy delights are made fresh and have some of them for my lunch. The ones I make at home are a cross between california rolls and korean kimbap. Mmmmm...

First, I slice & dice yummy things, like avocados, cucumbers, carrots, imitation crabmeat, kimchee, and pickled daikon radish if I have any. Don't the carrots look so pretty?

Then I roll them up. Sometimes with the rice on the bottom, and sometimes with the seaweed on the bottom.

Then, I slice them.

Then I eat them. Many of them. Mmmm... I can't wait for Daddy Duck to get home so we can go ahead and have dinner! The ducklings like them, too. Some of them will pick out the avocado, though.

Little League

Monkey Man is playing baseball this year! He loves it.

He has a game tonight & it is my turn to bring the snack. I made these:

Do they look like baseballs? They are supposed to. They are rice crispy treats dipped in white almond bark with the lines painted in chocolate candy coating. The hardest part of making them is keeping all the ducklings' eager fingers and tongues far, far away.

Lookee what we made...

Crafty Sugar Baby made this beaded butterfly yesterday.

I made these mini-cupcakes this morning, but they didn't turn out quite as cute as I had hoped. Still tasty, though!

We have a winner!

Three cheers for allrecipes.com! That is my favoritest website ever! I found a recipe there recently called Perfect Sesame Chicken, posted by Doreen P. Thankyou, Doreen, wherever you are! I made the dish tonight and it was a big hit.

These are the ingredients:

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy
sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 dash sesame oil
1 pound skinless, boneless
chicken breast meat - cubed

1 cup chicken broth
1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons distilled white
vinegar
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon chile paste
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup water

1 quart olive oil for frying
2 tablespoons toasted sesame
seeds

I fudged on some of the ingredients, because I didn't have them. But it was still good. Here's a picture of my sesame oil and my chili paste together. That's soy sauce in the background (I think he was feeling a little camera shy.)

Make a thickish sort of batter with the first 9 ingredients. Then add the chicken. Fry it in the oil until it is brown and begins to float. Then take it out and let it drain on paper towels. This is mine when I first put it in (I fried it in several batches, because I tripled the recipe):

If you're coordinated enough and the ducklings are spellbound by a Magic Schoolbus DVD, go ahead and make the sauce now. Stir the next 7 ingredients in a pot and bring them to a boil. Mix the cornstarch and cold water and stir them in until the sauce gets thicker. Set it aside until you're done with the chicken.

After you're done frying the 23 pounds (well, almost) of chicken you cut up, stir the sauce into it so that all is coated evenly. Then, go settle a fight that erupted between Magic School Bus episodes involving several hoodlums wearing boxing gloves, er.. uh...oven mitts.

I was sorely regretting not having any broccoli on hand, because it would have really gone well with this dish. I ended up cutting up and sauteeing some carrots & onion and adding them at the end with the sauce.

Man, it was soooo good! I'm not exaggerating. Two of my toughest critics gave it 2 thumbs up!

Black Bean Salsa

THIS is one of my most requested recipes. I got it from my sister-in-law several years ago and have wowed many potlucks/gatherings since. It is goooooood. You can serve it with chips for dipping, as a relish for meat (think grilled chicken) or eat it as-is as a sidedish! Mmmmm...

Begin by dumping 1 can of black beans, 1 can of corn and 1 medium jar of diced pimientos into a large sieve. Rinse to get some of the black beany juice off of the black beanies.

Next, chop a large bell pepper (any color will do), and a small onion.

Then, whisk together 3/4 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of vinegar, 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, a couple of dashes of hot sauce, and a dash of salt & pepper.

Combine the marinade ingredients with all the other ingredients. Chill for a couple of hours & enjoy!

Mojo Chops

How often do you come across a delicious recipe that only requires 2 ingredients? Following is my favorite way of cooking and eating pork chops. All you need is pork chops (I used a pork loin, because it was on sale at Food Lion.) and a bottle of Goya Mojo sauce. Mmmm, that stuff is simple and delicious! You can usually find the sauce in the mexican food section of your grocery store.

Slice the pork fairly thin - maybe no thicker than 3/4". Don't trim the fat. I actually went looking for a ruler to measure how thick I was slicing them, but couldn't find one. Imagine that.

Marinate the chops in some of the mojo sauce - for as long as you like. I only let them sit for a few minutes because I wanted to get them done before it got dark. (I had a picture of this step, but for some reason, my camera refused to upload it to the 'puter.) Be sure to shake the sauce well, because it has lots of yummy sediment that you don't want to leave behind. See?

Oh, and if you want to be like me, be sure to pick the coldest and windiest day of the year to make these.

Go ahead and start grilling them. Or better yet, see if your significant other would like to grill them for you. He's much better at it, anyway.

Fight off the salivating 8 year old boy who is about to chew your arm off at the thought of having pork chops for dinner and is repeatedly asking you if you are planning on cooking more of them. He cheers when he finds out you are.

Hurriedly wash and cut up potatoes for mashed potatoes because you just know the chops are out there burning to a crisp.

Go check on them and find that the wind has blown out the grill.

Finally, whenever they're done (sorry I can't be more specific) remove them from the grill and drizzle some more mojo on them. We're having ours with mashed potatoes, green beans and cheddar-garlic biscuits - oh my! You could also slice them and serve them with sauteed onions, peppers and warm tortillas.

Mmmm... I just love the charred fat. Daddy Duck dutifully slices away and discards the fat from his chops. Not Mama Duck. We are a little like Jack Spratt and his wife.