Viva Pesto - Mix and Match Ingredients for Non-Traditional Pesto

Probably one of the most popular herb dishes out there is pesto. I started making pesto after I began planting herbs in my garden. Even though I was cooking with them - they were multiplying in my garden so quickly that I didn't know what to do with them so I stumbled into making pesto. This led to a few problems though. First, I didn't always have the ingredients I needed to make a traditional pesto, (How many people reaaaaaly keep pine nuts in stock at all times?) Secondly - not that I had all this pesto, what was I supposed to do with it?

First I started with a basic pesto recipe. The trick is you can mix up and switch out nearly any of these ingredients. It's as easy as picking an ingredient from each column. Bonus ingredients are optional.

Here's a couple of match-ups I made recently.

Pecan Romano Basil Pesto

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup basil

1/4 cup pecans

1/4 cup Romano cheese

1 small clove garlic

Start by adding the nuts and cheese to the blender and grinding up well. You can add all your ingredients at once, but I find if I do this I don't get the find ground on my nuts and cheese that I want. Add garlic and blend. Add basil and begin blending - drizzle in olive oil until pesto blends smoothly at your desired texture (about 1/4 cup).

Purple Basil Almond Pesto

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup purple basil

1/4 cup almonds

1/4 cup Romano cheese

Purple basil is one of my favorites - it adds such fabulous color to my garden and my food!

Start by blending the almonds and Romano. Add basil and begin blending - drizzle in olive oil until pesto blends smoothly at your desired texture (about 1/4 cup).

Personally I love pesto so much that I'll eat it plain over pasta or spread on crackers, but you can also try some of these ideas:

Pesto Mayo - just mix pesto into plain mayonnaise for a great sandwich spread

Cold Pesto Pasta Salad - mix in with a bit of mayo and your favorite pasta, chill and serve

Pesto Grilled Cheese - spread fresh bread with pesto, add your favorite cheese and grill

Pesto Salad Dressing - add vinegar and additional olive oil - whisk and serve

Pesto can also be frozen for later use. Most folks I know that freeze pesto use ice cube trays. Once frozen, pop out the cubes and place them in a Ziploc Freezer bag to use later.

So get out there - pick some basil (or parsley, or oregano or...) and enjoy!

Pressure Canning Green Beans

My second crop of green beans is ready to harvest. This gives me a great chance to try out my new pressure canner - a birthday gift from my hubby!

I started by cutting the ends off my beans and cutting into bite sized pieces with a paring knife.

Once all cut and rinsed, I packed tightly into clean, sterile pint mason jars.

Top the beans off with boiling water, leaving 1 inch of head space. Process in a pressure canner for 10 minutes.

A Week of Bounty - and the easiest way to freeze corn.

Our freezer runneth over this week! Last week, we went to pick up our fresh pig from the butcher. Good friends of ours purchased a pig and were willing to split with us. My freezer is packed full of meat as well as the pork fat (which the hubby and his friend will use for venison sausage during deer season!) I see a lot of pork chops in our future.

Among our pork treasures is fresh bacon. The hubby put a nice batch of this right in the smoker - we can't wait to try it! I also got some nice ham slabs which I can't wait to try curing. If anyone has any tips for a first time ham curer let me know!

Several friends have asked me how I store meat in the freezer. To me purchasing meat is a big investment into future meals from my family - I don't want to leave anything to chance or freezer burn. I'm normally not a brand conscious person, but I wrap my meat in freezer paper and then store in Ziploc brand freezer bags. I haven't had as much luck as any other brand. Using this method, I typically can even get several extra months for anything that I freeze without sacrificing quality.

If the pork wasn't enough, our good friends also came into 12 dozens of free corn from a neighbor farmer who was about to toss it.

Our friends had never preserved corn before so I was happy to have them over and show them the easy method for freezing corn I grew up with. I can remember growing up - my father, a dairy farmer who always planted plenty of sweet corn in the summer - bringing home at least a dozen ears every night for dinner when corn was in season. My mom would boil them all up and anything not eaten at dinner would get processed and frozen. By the end of corn season we always had enough corn frozen up to enjoy through the whole winter!

I always start my corn by husking and getting off as much of the "hair" as possible. The husked ears go into a clean sink full of cold water. This helps get any remaining tassel off the corn.

On the stove bring a large pot of water to a boil. Adding the corn - a half dozen ears or so  at a time - and blanch in the boiling water for about 6 minutes. Transfer the corn to a sink or clean plastic tub full of cold water. Once cool enough to handle, cut the corn away from the cob.

Scoop the corn into plastic bags in whatever serving size your family will normally use for 1 dinner. Freeze for up to 6 months.

When ready to serve warm on the stove top or in the microwave with a bit of butter and salt.

Now if only I could decide what to make for dinner tomorrow - pork chops and corn anyone?

Home Canned BBQ Sauce

In my house, we absolutely LOVE barbecue sauce and go through lots of it. So what better to do with a batch of extra tomatoes than make our own home canned sauce.

Home Canned BBQ Sauce
15 medium/10 large tomatoes
1 hot pepper (choose your pepper to match your desired heat)
1 sweet bell pepper
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1 cup chopped onion
1 tb dry mustard
1 tb paprika
2 tb hickory smoke salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper




Once you've assembled your ingredients, you'll want to start be peeling your tomatoes and removing as much of the water and seeds as possible. I use the same method to peel tomatoes for all kinds of uses (this works well for peaches also). First you'll want to start with a large pot of boiling water.

I call this the three station method. Fill your sink with cold water. You'll also need a large bowl to hold the seeds, juice and peel and another bowl to hold your prepped tomatoes

To easily remove the peel, drop your tomatoes in the boiling water. Let boil for about 1-2 minutes - you'll likely see the peel begin to lift. Transfer the tomatoes from the boiling water into the cold water in your sink to make cool enough to handle. The skin should easily pull away from the tomato flesh with a little encouragement from a paring knife. Cut out the core of the tomato and remove as much of the seeds and water as possible. 

Once you've process all your tomatoes, transfer to a large pot on the stove. Add your other ingredients. Add remaining ingredients to your pot.

Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to a simmer and boil for 30 minutes. Transfer all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.

Return the blended sauce to your pot. At this point, you have a nice consistency - similar to a chili sauce - and could go ahead an can now. However, I was really looking to get a lot closer to that smooth BBQ sauce consistency. To do this, simmer on low heat for an additional hour stirring occasionally. Run through the blender a second time. 

To can the sauce, transfer to clean pint or half pint jars. Process in a boiling water bath for 25 minutes. You can also process in a pressure canner if desired for 20 minutes with 10lbs of pressure.

Enjoy!

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Rosemary Sage Herbed Vinegar

My passion for herbs and functional gardening leaves me with a lot of extra herbs. One of my favorite ways to use up extra fresh herbs - whether leftover from a recipe or not recently harvested and needed a little love - is to make homemade herbed vinegars. These vinegars make an amazing base for homemade salad dressings and are so easy - if you haven't done it before , you won't know why.

What you'll need:

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

1 sprig fresh sage

2 cups white vinegar

1 pint mason jar

Start by placing your herbs into the mason jar. I like to use large pieces of the sprig to give the finished jar a pretty look.

Pour your vinegar over the herbs and top with your canning lid. Let the herbs seep in the vinegar at least 24 hours before using. Use to make our own vinaigrette or give as a gift.

Quick Tip: Make you Own Baking Mix

I can't tell you how many times I've run out of store bought baking mix and had to make a quick replacement from what I already had in my pantry. This has gotten so popular in my house, that I make my own all the time. It's extremely easy to make and store!

Homemade Baking Mix

10 cups flour

1 1/2 Tb Salt

1/4 cup baking powder

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil (or shortening)

Mix all together in a large bowl until crumbly texture. Store in airtight containers - I use clean mason jars which I have no shortage of around the house. Use it just like you would those store bought mixes!

Labor-Freeish Day - Home Canned Applesauce and Hickory Brown Sugar Rib Rub

Happy belated labor (or hopefully labor-free) day to all! My husband and I had a wonderful day together and got lots done around the property.

The day started with a surprise from my husband - he insisted that he had found a wild cherry fruit tree near our home with nickle sized fruit. A quick ride confirmed my suspicion that what he had found was a huge crab apple tree. Despite being literally surrounded by wild apple trees, these is the first real crab apple tree we've found. I can't wait to try making some crab apple jelly once the fruit ripens fully. In addition we found wild pear and elderberries that should be ready soon.

Not one to disappoint with unripe "cherries" my husband recommended taking a short walk to pick apples. While we are working to cultivate our own home orchard most of our trees are not fruit bearing yet. Luckily for us, we are literally surrounded by wild apple trees. I ended up picking 2 large buckets of fresh sweet apples while sampling several trees that should be ready in the coming weeks.

Fresh apples beg to be made into all kinds of delicious baked goods - pies, breads, cakes and the like. I quickly put these to work making one of my favorites - homemade apple sauce!

Apple Sauce

15 lbs Apples

5 cups water

10 Tbs lemon juice

4 cups sugar

2 Tb cinnamon

Before you get started, pour your water into a large, heavy bottom pot. Add lemon juice. Peel your apples. If you have a apple peeler and corer - this is a great way to put it to use. The rest of us will have to be satisfied with our paring knives.

Cut and core the apples. Rough cut into chunks - no need to be perfect here.

Drop chunks into your pot of lemon water to help minimize browning. If you still get a little bit of browning - no worries - it won't hurt your finished product - I promise!

Once you've peeled your full amount of apples, transfer your pot to the stove. If you plan to can your finished sauce, this is a good time to also put your canning pot on to boil to sterilize your jars. 

Bring your apples to a boil over medium heat and then reduce to simmer. Simmer 10-20 minutes, until your apples are tender. How long it takes will depend on how small you cut your apple chunks. Take your apples off the heat and run through a food mill to soften. If, like me, you don't have a food mill - improvise! I used the grinder attachment for my stand mixer. You could also just smash up the apples with a potato masher!

Return your applesauce to your pot. Add sugar and cinnamon and over low heat, stir until sugar is fully dissolved. From here, your applesauce can be eaten as is or stored by either freezing or canning.

To can your applesauce, ladle hot sauce into sterilized pint jars. 

Process via boiling water method for 10 minutes. 

Turn off heat an allow to sit in the water for 5 minutes before transferring to a towel covered counter or table to cool and seal. Let sit for 12 hours, check seals and store in a cool, dry place. Makes 9 pints.

If the apple picking wasn't enough, it was also time for one of our treks through the woods looking for dead trees that need to be cut to cull out the woods, avoid falling trees and get wood for our home for the winter. My husband and I walked through marking trees for friends and family to help us take down and gather.

Athena couldn't wait to get up to the woods. As you can tell - she was way ahead of us and pretty impatient for us to get there!

I got to play with some spray paint marking trees to come down.

I found a toad hiding out in a log - how neat is that?

I think these logs with the rotted out center have a very cool look - the wheels are turning on a mini furniture project!

Athena was thoroughly tired out when we got back home!

As a reward for our work in the woods, we celebrated with another star of our day - these delicious smoker ribs with homemade rub. We're still fairly new to smoking, but I think these rub combination turned out excellent!

Hickory Brown Sugar Rib Rub
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 Tb Hickory Smoke Salt
1 Tb paprika
2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp dried Oregano

The key to this rub is the hickory smoke salt. I have just recently discovered this and couldn't wait to incorporate into a rib rub. I buy mine at a bulk spice place, but now that I've started using it I've noticed it in several of my local grocery stores. This batch should provide enough rub to do a half rack of ribs. If you have extra rub, you can store it in a mason jar with your other spices.

Slather your ribs with your prepared rub, and cook in your smoker to your manufacturer's specs for ribs. We used apple and hickory wood chips in the smoker to highlight the sweet and smoky already present into the rib rub. The final ribs came out extremely tender with a nice crust.

After a such an eventful day including some excellent food, there's little to do to top it. I settled for a cold microbrew, a long soak in the whirlpool tub and a good book. Happy Labor Day All!

Jammin Blackberry Style - No Fail Blackberry Jam

I can't tell you how excited I get every year for blackberry picking time. I absolutely love suiting up and heading out to our "secret" blackberry spot where huge fresh ripe berries can be found in every direction. This past weekend, my neighbor and I headed back on our 4 wheelers to get our hands on some of these sesasonal treats.

Trekking back home a couple hours later, I can't help but think of all the amazing things I will make with my berries - cobbler, muffins and the like. However, none of these beat a nice big batch of blackberry jam!

No Fail Blackberry Jam

8 cups fresh blackberries
6 tsp lemon juice
9 Tbs pectin
6 cups sugar

Fill a large canner pot with water and bring to a boil. Add canning jars (I use half pints for this recipe) and boil for about a minute to sterilize jars. Retrieve jars with kitchen tongs and invert on a clean towel. Add additional water to pot if needed to return to original water level and turn down to a simmer while jam is being prepared.

Rinse your berries well. If you've picked them fresh you'll need to make sure you haven't got any stems or stray critters in the mix. Once well rinsed and strained, pour into a heavy bottomed pot and add lemon juice. Place on the stove over medium heat. Stir in pectin. Bring berry mixture to a rolling boil stirring constantly.

Add sugar to boiling berry mixture. Stirring constantly, bring back to a rolling boil.  Boil hard for 1 minute. Turn off heat.

Ladle hot jam into the sterilized jars. Be sure to keep rims of jars clean - wiping with with a wet cloth as needed. Place lids on top of the jars and tighten rings.

Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and allow to sit in water for another 5 minutes. Remove and allow to cool before storing.

Makes about 8 half pints.

I find that homemade jams make excellent frugal christmas gifts for co-workers, neighbors and friends!

If life gives you sunshine..make sun tea!

We're scheduled to have four 90 degree days in a row here in Western New York. Though I'll be working through most of it, I still need to take advantage of at least a little bit of the sunshine. Sun tea is one of those things that really screams of summer and tends to bring about warm summer evenings of sitting, sipping and chatting on the back porch. This is such a staple in my household that I've often amazed by how many of my friends have never heard of, much less made sun tea. It doesn't get much easier than this!

This method makes one of my husband's favorite beverages. He loves it so much that even though he's usually not a big kitchen helper, he is always offering to help with this one.

Though you can certainly make the tea in just about any clear container, I've found the best method for us is to use Quart sized mason jars. They're easy to prep and store. 

Start with a few clean jars or a large pictcher. I typically make 6 mason jars at a time. Add tea bags of your choice to the jars. I use 2 bags per quart jar of tea. 

As you may know, I recently started my own mint garden and am growing 5 different varieties of mint.

Chocolate mint and sweet mint seem to go the best with my sun tea. A friend recommended Lemon Balm as well which I hadn't though of previously. I have such an abundance of this in my garden this year, I'll have to try it in another batch.

If you happen to have fresh mint or another herb you'd like to try, add a few sprigs to each jar prior to setting them out to "brew".

Add enough water to fill each jar. Place the lids on the tops of the jars and tighten to close.

Once you have filled and covered each jar (or your pitcher), move outside to a sunny spot. I like to use the railing of the upper section of our back porch as it gets sunlight nearly all day.

At this point, the sun will do all the work. The length of time it will take to "brew" your tea, will depend on your personal preference of how strong you like it. I've found however, that 6-8 hours on a sunny day is usually sufficient.

Once the desired strengthened is reached, remove the tea bags and mint. At this point, I usually add about a 1/4 cup of sugar per jar to sweeten as well. Refrigerate to chill until ready to serve.