Homemade Shake & Bake Chicken

Anytime we have a traditional or family favourite especially those from the days of being a young bride, I look for ways to improve it while still keeping the favour and feeling of the dish. Our fancy Sunday dinner when I was a young bride was Shake & Bake® chicken, mashed potatoes and niblet corn. I've talked about this before on this blog. This meal is still considered comfort food even though I have made a few changes. Quite often I serve this meal with baked potatoes because the oven is already on so making baked potatoes saves energy. The biggest change made was making my own coating mix for a fraction of the cost of store bought!

The Mix & Storing

Shake & Bake® is a simple, ready to use coating mix that comes with two packets of the mix and 2 plastic bags. When it first came out in the original flavour for chicken it immediately became quite popular. The concept was very simple - pour the mix into one of the bags, add the chicken pieces then shake to coat and bake the coated chicken.

The last time I looked and it has been quite some time ago Shake & Bake® was $2.49 for about 2 cups of mix or $1.25 per cup. The Bulk Barn sells a chicken coating for $1.49 per lb or 37¢ per cup. But if you make your own using homemade bread crumbs the cost per cup is 7¢ per cup. Not only is homemade chicken coating cheaper you can easily adjust the sodium and do a bit of tweaking to get exactly what you what. You are also eliminating any artificial flavourants, colourants and preservatives. The best part is whipping up a batch of this coating mix takes less than 10 minutes on a slow day! This coating mix is every bit as good if not better than store bought!

I use my KitchenAid® stand mixer to mix the ingredients thoroughly (1). This recipe makes 9 cups but for most uses only 1 - 1½ of the coating mix is needed so I vacuum seal in a 1.5 L mason jar (2) using my FoodSaver. This will keep the coating mix fresh until needed. The rest is put into a 1 L (quart) mason jar (3) for immediate use. About 1/3 of this jar was used for dinner but that could have been cut back just a little. I don't measure just pour a bit into a Ziploc® container then add as much chicken that will comfortably fit. Then I shake to coat well and remove the coated chicken to a waiting Silpat® lined baking sheet (4). I repeat this if needed adding a bit more coating mix if necessary.

Homemade Shake & Bake Chicken Coating
source:  Garden Gnome

4 c dry bread crumbs
4 c unbleached flour
2 tbsp sea salt
2 tbsp organic cane sugar*
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp dried parsley
3 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp pepper
¼ c vegetable oil

Place all the ingredients except the oil into the bowl of a KitchenAid® stand mixer. Set to setting 1. Stir 1 minute. With the mixer still on setting 1 drizzle the oil into the mixture. Allow to mix well. Pour into jars for storing and vacuum seal.

Yield: 9 cups

*I have not tried this recipe using a sugar substitute but it should work fine although the substitute may not cause the same degree of caramelization.

Chicken Dinner

I use the coating mix just as you would store bought coating mix except I use a re-usable container to coat the coating in place of a disposable plastic bag. Anytime you an eliminate something disposable in the kitchen you save money and you lower your carbon footprint. Once the chicken is coated, I bake at 375ºF for 40 minutes or until juices run clear.
This mix is ideal for chicken (bone in or boneless) or you can use it for chicken fried steak.

Pictured is our updated shake & bake chicken using the homemade coating mix and served with baked potatoes instead of mashed for Wednesday's dinner. Occasionally I still serve this dish with mashed potatoes for old time sake. One thing that hasn't changed is the niblet corn although that is no longer store bought either. My husband gave the meal another thumbs up while enjoying this family favourite from our early married days.

Bell Peppers

We live in an area where local produce is quite abundant and often priced well below the grocery store prices. This is an ideal way to get produce for preserving if you don't grow that particular fruit or vegetable or if your garden didn't produce enough. If you have been following this blog and my gardening blog you know that the focus this year continued to be ripping out in the gardens and starting new raised beds with no vegetable garden other than that planted in containers. Still container gardening is better than not growing any vegetables.

Bell Peppers

I knew I would have to buy bell peppers this year. We use a lot of sweet peppers in cooking so freeze them for use during the winter months. Pre-cut and ready to use the packets of frozen peppers are nice convenience ingredients to keep on hand. Oh sure I can get green peppers in the grocery store year round (and for fresh during the winter I'm force to) but home grown and locally grown are superiour in flavour and size!

My husband brought home 15 lovely, large bell peppers bought from the same farmer as the sweet corn. The price was a reasonable $5. As their name implies these peppers are sweet in the sense they do not have any heat to them. Sweet peppers are green but will ripen to yellow, orange, purple or red depending on the variety. Green bell peppers are unripe so are less sweet with a slight bitterness. When fully ripe they have a sweeter, mellow flavour.

A bell pepper is a bell pepper, or is it? Did you know that some bell peppers are better for eating raw while others are better for cooking even within the same variety? It's true! Look at the bottom end of the pepper and count the bumps. A pepper with three bumps is sweeter so is best used for eating raw. A pepper with four bumps is firmer and not quite as sweet. They are better for cooking.

Cutting

Use a sharp knife for this type of food prep. I cannot stress this enough! More accidents happen in the kitchen as a result of trying to cut with a dull knife than with a sharp one. A knife sharpener is an inexpensive yet essential piece of kitchen equipment. While on the topic of knives, your food prep knives should never be put in the dishwasher. They should be hand washed and dried after each use then placed on a magnetic rack or in a knife block to protect the blade. Keep them sharp and honed so they are ready to use.

Bell peppers are quite easy to prepare for freezing. Prepared this way they are suitable for cooking. I cut from the stem on one side around to the stem on the other side then cut around the stem and pop the pepper in half. After lifting the stem and core out, I cut away and of the pith and tap to get any remaining seeds out. With the pepper cut side up, I cut into strips then cut across the strips to form pieces. Then I gather the cut pepper into a pile and work the knife with a tip to heel motion without lifting the tip from the cutting board from one side of the pile and back. The pepper pieces are then ready for packaging into freezer bags.

Vacuum Sealing

As you know just about everything I freeze with the exception of bulk meat purchases that come wrapped in butcher's paper is vacuum sealed using a FoodSaver® (model V2480). Vacuum sealing is the number one method for preventing freezer burn. Eliminating freezer burn extends the freezer life of your foods as well as having to toss a food because it is freezer burnt.

I vacuum sealed the pepper pieces in pint size bags ending up with 6 bags. Two green bell peppers went into the fridge for an event we are hosting this weekend. Four partially ripened bell peppers were set aside to continue ripening for use on a vegetable tray for the event.

Ripening

Bell peppers that are entirely green will keep that way for several days in the crisper. If there is colour changes as pictured indicating ripening, set the peppers on the counter out of direct sunlight until they fully turn to the ripe colour depending on the variety. This should take a day or two. Once ripened put the peppers in the crisper to keep for a few more days if desired. To shorten the ripening time place a well ripened tomato, apple or banana by the peppers. The natural ethylene given off by the ripen fruit will help hasten the ripening of the unripe peppers.

Freezing Cauliflower

Edited Aug. 5, 2008 - My sincere apologies. It would appear this entry somehow was published partially without the remainder of the entry or pictures. I don't know if this was because of Blogger's recent problems that took this blog and my garden blog down or what caused it. I have corrected the errors for the entry. Enjoy!

I am in the what some would say enviable position of having both chest freezers and the freezer component of the side-by-side almost totally stuffed. There is very little room for anything which is not a desirable position to be in this time of year. There are some good deals on produce and local produce is becoming increasingly available. Some vegetables do not can nicely so freezing or drying are the other options. What I am going to be forced into doing is pulling out every bag of bones and that isn't going to be a lot and can up stocks not a good thing to be doing when the temperatures are soaring!

I stock up on cauliflower when it comes into season. The going price per head for local cauliflower ranges from 69¢ to 99¢ compared with off season prices as high as $2 or more. One large head of cauliflower will yield a bit over a quart of flowerettes. Cauliflower freezes nicely and is very easy to freeze with minimal prep work. It can later be used for cream of cauliflower soup, cheesy cream of cauliflower soup, as a side or as an ingredient. I recommend preparing no more than 5 or 6 large heads of cauliflower at a time because more than that will cause your freezer to work harder until the cauliflower is frozen.

Method: [note: the lemon juice keeps the cauliflower nice and creamy white; it does not affect the flavour of the cauliflower] Choose firm heads of cauliflower (1). Fill the sink with cold water about half way and add 2 tbsp salt. Soak the heads upside down in the salt water for 20 minutes. Remove from water and let drain. Cut the green leaves away from the stem. Break or cut the cauliflower in to flowerettes (2) and place them in a very large bowl. Bring a large stockpot with collander insert filled about half full of water and splash of lemon juice to a boil. At the same time fill the sink with cold water, generous splash of lemon juice and ice about a quart of the way full. Working in batches, place enough cauliflower in the boiling water ensuring all is covered with the water. Blanch 3 minutes (3). Immediately raise the collander out of the pot allowing the cauliflower to briefly drain. Pour into the ice water (4). By the time the next batch is almost blanched the prior batch will be cooled. Spoon it into a collander to drain. When the next batch is in the ice water pour the first batch into a large bowl.

Bagged

Once all of the cauliflower has been blanched, iced and drained I package it into quart vacuum sealer bags. If you look closely you will see my bags differ from the brand name bags in that there is only a channel panel on the back of the bag. This ensures a good vacuum each and every time. I discovered these bags while looking for a cheaper solution to the brand name vacuum bags that cost about 54¢ per bag. I buy these bags online from The Sweet Attack for as low as 28¢ per bag depending on the quantity and size including shipping costs.

When filling the bags it is essential to leave a 4 - inch headspace so they will fit in the vacuum sealer properly. When the bags are filled, fold the tops over and place the bags in the freezer. When the cauliflower is frozen remove from freezer and vacuum seal. Label.

Vacuum Sealed

If you have been following this blog you will know that my preferred and most recommended method for storing foods in the freezer is vacuum sealing. This method is the most cost effective way of ensuring your food dollar investment is protected. The normal storage time in the freezer at 0ºF for vegetables with the exception of onions is 12 months or roughly from one harvest season to the next. After that period of time the vegetables will lose both flavour and nutrition. Vacuum sealing will extend the freezer life by 3 to 4 months which is handy when you froze a bit more than your family could use within a year. Freezer burn may occur at any time during freezer storage. Not only do foods store longer when vacuum sealed that nasty freezer burn is eliminated.

Watermelon

I love fresh watermelon! I have very fond memories of watermelon. As a child spitting the seeds was the only form of spitting I could get away with. We always had and still have watermelon on my birthday because I seldom eat cake and when I do it is a small forkful as a taste test. Local watermelon is viewed as a summertime fruit to be eaten mainly in season. The fruit is shipped in when not in season and while the flavour is not as nice as local watermelon, it is available year round. The most often recommended methods of preserving watermelon is as a wine or pickles using the rind. I have done neither although I plan on making a small batch of the pickles this summer. Despite watermelon having such a high water content it does dry nicely. A few years back I found an old recipe for making watermelon jam. I made a small batch that was never impressive enough to make again. It was horribly sweet so we ended up using it as a topping for ice cream. Now that I'm using Pomona's Pectin for my jams and jellies I plan to make another batch of jam. Pomona's doesn't rely on sugar for gelling so the amount of sugar can be greatly reduced or even substituted with other sweeteners. I will make entries on the results of both as I do them.

Watermelon

Not only does watermelon taste good and quenches your thirst on hot summer days it is a fun food that is good for you. One cup of diced watermelon contains
51 calories, 1.0 g ptotein, 11.5 g carbs, 3 mg sodium, 0.6 g fiber, and 0.7 g fat, 0 g cholesterol [source: Dr. Art Ulene, The NutriBase Complete Book of Food Counts, 1996, New York. Pp. 720.] However, watermelon is rich in Vitamin C as well as being a good source of Vitamin A and beta-carotene. These are powerful anti-oxidants that neutralize damaging free radicals in your body. Watermelon is also a good source of Vitamins B6, B1, potassium and magnesium. However, it also contains a high level of lycopenes, even higher than tomatoes. Lycopenes lower the risk for many types of cancers especially prostate, lung and stomach but is also beneficial in reducing the risk of other types of cancers. Watermelon also helps reduce inflammation that contributes to conditions like asthma, arteriosclerosis and arthritis. With all of these benefits, watermelon is definitely a health food!

Cubed

Several years ago we discovered fruit smooties. These healthy drinks are great for a summer or quick breakfast as well as an after school or anytime snack. I like to keep a lot of fruits on hand including frozen fruits. Frozen cubed watermelon works lovely in fruit smooties adding not only to the flavour but the texture. The seedless watermelons are easier to prepare for this otherwise you will have to remove the seeds but that isn't as much work as it sounds.

Method: Wash the watermelon rind well and dry. Cut the watermelon into 1 - inch thick slices. Lay a slice on a cutting board. Go around the slice just into the red with a sharp knife to remove the rind. Reserve rind if making pickles otherwise compost. Cut across the slice at 1 - inch intervals. Turn the slice and cut across at 1-inch intervals to form 1 - inch cubes. [Note: cutting does not have to be precise; just guestimate] Spread the cubes onto a large, sided baking sheet. Place in freezer until frozen. Package into freezer bags. Label and freeze.

Vacuumed Sealed

Zipper style freezer bags can be used but as always, vacuum sealing with give better results. Watermelon has a tendency to get ice crystals on it even during the flash freezing stage leading to freezer burn. Vacuum sealing prevents the freezer burn. I package into quart sized vacuum sealer bags then vacuum and seal. This is roughly the amount watermelon that we would use for 6 to 8 smoothies. To use: open the bag and place as many cubes as desired in the blender with other ingredients. It is essential that any left-over cubes be resealed by placing the original vacuum seal bag with cubes into a zipper style freezer bag and removing the air with a straw. Although this method could be used initially I find it is only good for short term freezer storage. The vacuum bags tend to be heavier than zipper style freezer bags.

Catching Up from Chrismas

One of the best parts about Christmas aside of family is the wonderful abundance of food. It is everywhere! There's all kinds of foods that only seem to come out at holidays. I've done minimal cooking yet am surrounded by an excess of food so needed to preserve. At the same time I wanted a couple of lighter dishes because a lot of the holiday meals this time of year are rich and heavy.

Kibby

One of our Christmas traditions is kibby. Traditionally this is made with lamb but our family makes it with thrice ground extra lean ground steak. The meat is always fresh ground the day of making it. This is very important because the majority of it is eaten raw usually served in pita bread with a little olive oil and cumin. Making kibby is more of a knack so I don't have an actual recipe. It is passed down from mother to daughter or daughter-in-law in our family. I used 5 lb of meat to make the kibby this year. The following evening I baked it as kibby will not keep longer than a day. Because it is so lean I pour a bit of olive oil over the meat before baking. After baking I let the meat cool then slice thin and freeze.

Vacuum Sealed

Our traditional meat for Christmas dinner is turkey with all the fixings. This year's turkey was 22 pounds served with stuffing, gravy, fancy mashed potatoes, home canned green beans and home frozen corn nibblets. I didn't make an official dessert because there were so many cookies and sweets already out on trays. Despite nine for that meal there were a lot of left-overs. I left enough out for snacking and dinner the following day then packaged up the rest for the freezer. I ended up with a good sized turkey breast (1), turkey in gravy (2) and turkey slices (3) so that isn't too bad. I also vacuum sealed the kibby slices (4). Vacuum sealing is really the way to go but if you've been reading this blog you already know that.

Turkey Stock

Turkey stock is a given anytime I roast a turkey. Again I don't have an actual recipe.

[Method] What I do is put the carcass in a large stock pot then cover with water. I add a couple of carrots and celery stocks cut into large chunks along with a large unpeeled onion cut in half. Then I bring it to a boil and reduce to simmer for about 3 hours. The resulting is then either canned or froze.

This turkey stock batch resulted in 9 L of stock. Doing the math that works out to 15 cents per litre so to all those who ask if cooking from scratch or canning is worth it, my cost says definitely. Homemade also can be salt and preservative free so you end up with a better quality product. Now, many foods look wonderful in the jar but most stocks aren't. There will be a bit of a fat layer and more of one if you don't defat. However by carefully pouring the stock you can eliminate any of this fat.

Garlic Pasta with Shrimp

I've been doing rather simple meals to break up the monotony of turkey. I've posted how I make garlic pasta with shrimp before. This time I took advantage of extra shrimp on hand for the holidays. So the shrimp was larger but the effect was the same. Garnished with Parmigiano Reggiano and parsley flakes and served with a tossed salad it was a delightful change from some of the heavier holiday meals.

What I did differently this time was to purposely cook and season enough angle hair pasta for left-overs for the following night's meal. Purposely creating left-overs sounds different but I do this quite a bit because the planned left-overs give me a basis another meal. To me this simply makes good sense.

Spaghetti Pie

Spaghetti pie is oh so simple to make! All you need is left-over spaghetti or in my case angel hair pasta and something to fill it with. Basically you end up making the pasta into a crust. Cut into wedges for a lovely presentation. I used garlic buttered pasta for this pie but you could plain pasta. A bit of butter will help.

The end result is a wonderful dish that is served in wedges. I used home canned barbeque pork topping home canned green beans. Then I topped with home canned mushrooms and three cheeses. This really is a simple meal that just doesn't taste simple.

Method: Beat two eggs and blend into the pasta. Form the pasta into a nest coming up the sides of a round baking dish. Fill as desired (see above). Bake then cut into wedges and enjoy.

Buttery Peanut Brittle and Eye of Round Roast

The Christmas season is always filled with a wonderful assortment of foods! The tantalizing aromas of cookies baking wafts through the house. Bowls of oranges and nuts join the never empty fruit bowl. Jars of homemade candies are added to the pantry ready to refill the candy bowl as needed.

Buttery Peanut Brittle

Homemade candy is perfect for gift giving. Buttery peanut brittle is a Christmas favourite. I seldom make it any other time of the year. The rich, buttery candy is sure to please. It's very easy to make too so be sure to make a lot.

Buttery Peanut Brittle
2 c granulated sugar
1 c light corn syrup
½ c water
1 c butter
2 c roasted peanuts
1 tsp baking soda

Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a large sauce pan. Cook and stir until sugar dissolves. When the syrup boils, stir in the butter. Stir frequently after the mixture reaches 230ºF (110ºC). Stir in the nuts when the temperature reaches the soft crack stage (280ºF/138ºC). Stir constantly until the temperature reaches the hard crack stage (305ºF/152ºC). Remove from heat and quickly stir in the baking soda. Pour onto two cookie sheets. Allow to cool. Loosen from pans as soon as possible. Break into pieces. Store in an air tight container.
Yield: 2 ½ pounds.

Eye of Round Roast

Roast beef is the perfect cold weather meal! I slow roasted an eye of round roast topped with sliced onions, Worcestershire sauce and Diana sauce (original flavour) at 250ºF (120ºC) for 4 hours. I increased the temperature to 350ºF (177ºC) for the last 10 minutes of cooking. The result was a tender, medium rare, nicely browned roast (1). I served the roast with golden potatoes (2). Golden potatoes are rich and creamy while being low fat.

Method: Wash and peel potatoes. Cut into cubes. Wash and peel two large carrots. Cut into chunks. Combine potatoes, carrots, two cloves garlic and one half chopped onion. Bring to a boil and cook until vegetables are tender. Drain. Pour about 1 cup of defatted chicken stock. Mash to desired consistency.

The left-over roast beef was refrigerated over night then thinly sliced (3) and divided into three equal amounts. Two of the amounts were vacuum sealed for freezing (4) with the rest used for sandwiches.

Grilled Cheese & Roast Beef Sandwich

During the busy holiday season it is nice to rely on simpler meals as well. Roast beef slices between two slices of Ziggy's Internationale^® medium cheddar cheese on 7 Grain bread then toasted makes for a tasty and quick meal. I don't actually grill these sandwiches. What I do is assemble them the butter the two outer sides then toast on each side on medium heat in a non-stick fry pan until golden brown and the cheese in melted. Actual cheese slices rather than American processed cheese gives a nicer result. Serve with a bowl of steamy, homemade tomato soup for a frugal, comforting winter meal.

Canning Tip and Preserving Onions

The heavy canning season is in full swing here. I've already processed three hampers of tomatoes and have one sitting ready for processing today. However, there are also things like onions, peaches, grapes and apples to preserve so it will be quite busy here for the next couple of months.

I can foods year round so my pressure canner is in use at least weekly except during the heaviest canning season (May to October) when it can be in use as often as three times a day. A good rule to follow is always test your pressure canner before the heaviest canning season and any time you have even the slightest concern over the canner's performance.

Method: To test the pressure canner, follow your manufacturer's recommendation for the amount of water in the canner. Check the gasket, vent and pressure release. Prepare at least three 500 ml (pint) jars by sterilizing then fill with boiling water leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Adjust the two piece caps. Place them in the canner. Place the lid on, bring to a boil then vent as per your manufacturer's recommendation. Place the regulator on the vent and bring to pressure. Process for 15 minutes at 10 lb pressure. Turn off the heat and allow the canner to depressurize. Remove the jars and allow to cool undisturbed. Check for a good seal then label and store.

Note: Since you are testing your canner's performance, do not leave it unattended. You need to observe if the seal (gasket) is failing or if the canner is doing any number of things that is not normal. Any abnormalities should be corrected before using again.

Vacuum Sealed Onions

My rule of thumb for anything I'm preserving is use more than one method. The reason for this is if for some reason the electricity or even freezers failed to the point of spoiling the food, I would have at least two (canned, dried) longer term storage back-ups. I think this is the frugal approach to home preserving. I also follow the rule of using home preserving to make things convenient for my style of cooking. Making my own ready to use convenience foods means that I can still put a nice meal on the table with little effort on the days I don't feel like a lot of prep work.

My husband picked up a 50 lb bag of Spanish onions. A good portion of these will be used during the canning season with another bag stored in the pantry to be used fresh. I keep several pints of chopped onions in the freezer. Not only are these convenient but they are very easy to prepare. A large Spanish onion will yield a bit more than a pint bag for vacuum sealing. I coarsely chop the onions, place it in the vacuum sealer bag, vacuum seal with the FoodSaver then freeze.

Carmelized Onions

Onions will keep for quite sometime when properly stored but I came across a method for canning carmelized onions that I just had to try. We have carmelized onions quite often so the idea of canning them was interesting. I only made six 250 ml jars and will likely use them to blend into mashed potatoes. It was more of a can I do this and novelty recipe.

The end result was a gorgeous and versatile product for the pantry shelf.  I was quite pleased with the results!  The carmelized onions looked rather pretty in the jars as well.

Pickled Onions

Pickled onions have always been one of my favourite pickles so I make a batch each year. It is important to use the small white pearl onions. Sometimes they are labeled as pickling onions. Pickling onions is a two step process involving an overnight soak in salt water so do plan extra time for this.

Pickled Onions
adapted from: Jean Paré, Company's Coming, Preserves, Pickled Onions. Pp. 75

4 c small white pearl onions
boiling water to cover

4 c boiling water
1/2 c coarse pickling or sea salt

1 c granulated sugar
1 c white vinegar
3/4 c water
1 tbsp mixed pickling spice

Wash onions then cover with boiling water in a large bowl. Cover and let stand 4 minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water and peel. Place into large bowl. Pour salt and boiling water over the onions. Cover and let stand on the counter overnight. Drain. Rinse with cold water and drain again.

Prepare the brine by combining the last three ingredients in a saucepan. Place the pickling spice in a tea ball or make a small bag using a double layer of cheesecloth. Put into the mixture and bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes. Discard the spice. Add the onions and return to a boil. Fill hot, sterilized jars with onion leaving 1 inch headspace. Ladle the brine over the onions leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims. Adjust the two piece lids. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath canner.

Yield: 4 - 250 ml (half pint) jars

Tomato Season is Starting! Zucchini & Cabbage Casserole with Quick Cheese Buns

This is the time of year I go through the pantry to use up any left-over jars of tomato products from last year's harvest. The tomato harvest is beginning here but the weather has turned cool and blissfully rainy so an improtu casserole embarrassing fresh garden goodies will be wonderful tonight!


I am going to be needing the help of the gnomes and other magical beings to be able to things going for the tomato season. I haven't quite got the flow of the new kitchen and if you recall it is still undergoing renovations. I have a hand cranked food mill but this year I will be using KitchenAid attachments to speed up the sauce making. Still any help from gnomes and other magical beings will be greatly appreciated.

I'm working on my last few jars of roasted tomato sauce products and have been out of whole tomatoes for a month or so

Husked Corn

I did as my mom used to say "make hay while the sun shines" yesterday and froze up three dozen ears of yellow corn. The farmer gave us extra so it was a few more ears than that which is always a welcomed bonus! For those following our new kitchen remodel, no the installers have not arrived for the new coutertop despite several promises. We are toying with going right to ceramic tile as it appears it will be at least another two weeks before they can get out and yes I am rolling my eyes big time! So we might actually end up doing a DIY project instead. We know how to tile so the project itself is not daunting and had we known the installers were going to be this way we could have had the tile installed in time for our party the first week of August. At any rate we have to work with what we have for the moment and harvest season is not going to wait for a more convenient time.

I've made a few entries about freezing corn and my preferred method so search for vegetables or FoodSaver in the archives. I've been adding labels to earlier entries to make searching a bit easier for those interested. I've also been mirroring this blog given the latest nonsense from blogger regarding another one of my blogs. So watch for more information on that shortly.

Zucchini & Cabbage Casserole

I don't have a lot of home canned tomato sauces left to use up before the new season starts. With the weather turning cooler and rainy, tonight was a great opportunity to experiment. I took the flavour for this casserole from a family favourite, cabbage rolls then expanded on it to use up a few more bounties from the garden as well as using last year's preserves. This casserole would freeze well.

Zucchini & Cabbage Casserole

1 1/2 c cooked long grain rice
3 c lean ground beef, browned and drained
1 c blanched corn niblets
1 1/2 c shredded zucchini
1 1/2 c shredded cabbage
1/2 lg Spanish onion, chopped
2 pints home canned roasted tomato/zucchini sauce*
1 c extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 c medium cheddar cheese, shredded

Prepare rice, ground beef and vegetables. Cut the kernels off of two cobs of corn and blanch for 3 minutes. Drain. Layer the casserole: beef, rice, vegetables. Pour the sauce over top of the casserole with just enough water to clean out the jars. Top with cheeses. Bake at 250ºF for 30 minutes or until warmed through. Increase heat to 350ºF until cheeses bubble. Remove from oven. Cut into squares for serving.

*substitute tomato sauce of your choice but it will change the flavour

Quick Cheese Buns

Quick breads and buns are a nice companion to casseroles. Bisquick or a homemade baking mix should be considered a pantry staple. Adding a few simple ingredients like cheese and seasoning turns plain buns into something special. The only limitation when adding extras to the mix is your imagination. These buns are so quick and easy to make so you will be tempted to make fresh buns often.

Quick Cheese Buns

2 c Bisquick or homemade baking mix
3/4 c sharp cheddar cheese
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1 - 1 1/2 c milk

Mix ingredients together adding just enough milk to make a lumpy batter. Spoon onto lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 350ºF for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Pickerel Done Two Ways

During the nicer weather I like to fish. The most often caught fish here are perch, bass and pickerel although other fish are caught as well. I'm able to stock the freezers with fish for the winter as well as serve fresh fish on a regular basis during the other months.

To freeze: Clean and fillet the fish. Rinse. Dip in water and flash freeze on a baking sheet. Repeat twice so the fish is covered with a nice glaze of ice. Package into vacuum freezer bags. Vacuum seal.

Simple Beer Battered Pickerel

I don't often prepare deep fried fish. This time I decided to use a simple beer batter to coat the pickerel then deep fry. A simple beer batter consists of a pre-made mix such as complete pancake mix and beer. In this case I used Bisquick but I've used the homemade version of baking mix successfully. Don't laugh as this does result in very nicely English style battered fish despite the simple ingredients.

Of note is the yellow corn! I have been begging the farmer's market to grow yellow corn for ages. The norm here seems to be peaches & cream corn but yellow corn is better for freezing, canning or making corn relish. This year the farmer's market has yellow corn so I am going to be doing up a lot of it.

Simple Quick Beer Batter (for fish)

2 c Bisquick or homemade version
1 can/bottle light beer (preservative free eg. Sleeman's)
2 c unbleached flour
seasoning salt (optional)
fish fillet of your choice
vegetable or peanut oil

Pre-heat deepfryer to fish setting (375ºF). Peanut oil is best but vegetable oil works as a substitute. Mix the flour and seasoning salt in a shallow baking dish. In another baking dish mix the baking mix and beer. Dredge each fillet in flour then the baking mix mixture. If you want a thicker coating, repeat. Fry until golden brown then remove from fryer and drain.

Draining

I drain deep fried fish in a strainer lined with a layer of paper towels. Traditional English style fish & chips are drained in newspaper. This draining step is necessary to prevent the coating from becoming soggy as well as removing excess calories for the oil. Once drained, the fish is ready for plating.

Malt vinegar or lemon juice are the perfect accompaniment for fish prepared this way. A light sprinkle of salt is nice too but avoid the heavy tartar sauces.

Pan Fried

Pickerel is also wonderful simply pan fried. A small amount of oil and seasoning of choice is used for this method but no coating. Coatings range from very lightly coated to the more heavily coated English style fish. More often than not we fore go the coating to let the taste of the fish shine through.

Method: Heat a fry pan (preferably cast iron) with a small amount of extra light olive oil. Add the pickerel fillets and sprinkle oh so lightly with seasoning salt. Allow to fry about 5 minutes or until the side facing the pan is no longer translucent. Turn the fish and repeat. Fry the fish only until it turns white and no longer.

FoodSaver® VS2480 Advanced Design Vacuum Sealer

Dazey Seal-A-Meal^® came on the market in the 1960's. While it did not vacuum seal foods, it was and is still a very effective way to seal foods in bags. The bags were boilable increasing the convience for busy cooks. I have one of these sealers that is still in use. Food sealers evolved to include vacuuming capabilities. The food is placed in special bags then the air is removed eliminating freezer burn and extending storage times. If I recall correctly, the original Tilia was first marketed on television. On the heels of the popularity of these appliances several companies came out with less expensive vacuum sealers. I have a DCI that is one such vacuum sealer. It does a nice job sealing and a reasonable job of vacuuming. It is still in use but more for sealing than vacuuming. With the y2K scare the popularity of the food sealers gained momentum as people stored more foods. However, I think two of the main factors driving the renewed popularity of the vacuum sealers is the increasing cost of food coupled with the decreasing cost of the vacuum sealers. Uncertain job security and recent natural disasters have certainly played as factors in the increasing popularity of these appliances. At such low prices, the pay back for a vacuum sealer can easily be as short as a month! It is one of the most important appliances I have in my kitchen.

FoodSaver^® VS2480 Advanced Design

An appliance has to really impress me in terms of quality, design and function before I will endorse it. I bought a different brand of vacuum sealer in August but less than three months, the drip tray cracked and it decided to function only sporatically so I took it back. I now have a FoodSaver^® Advanced Design VS2480 purchased from Sam's Club for $108.99 US. It came with the vacuum appliance, two canisters (one shown), an attachment hose and the larger of the mason jar sealers. I bought the standard mason jar sealer separately for $8.98 at a kitchen outlet. I also bought three additional canisters in various sizes and have three of different brand. This FoodSaver^® is very easy to use. I use the roll bag material, pre-made bags, canisters and mason jars.

Vacuum Sealed Bags

Pictured here is left-over turkey and stuffing from Thanksgiving. These packs were froze to be enjoyed later for a quick to put together meal. The re-heated turkey can be seen in the previous entry on pantry cooking.

Specialized channel bags are used for the FoodSaver^® appliance. The channels are designed to aid with the quick removal of air. To vacuum seal in bags, simply place the food in the bag leaving 3-inches of space at the top. Place the top in the sealing channel then shut and lock the lid of the vacuum sealer. Press vacuum and seal. The motor will shut off when the vacuum in achieved. Remove the bag when the seal indicator light goes off. Once vacuum sealed the food is then ready for the freezer, refrigerator or pantry shelf depending on the food. When vacuum sealing soups or liquids freeze first then seal. Moist foods like meats and fish should be flash froze first then vacuum sealed.

Now one of the biggest complaints most users have with the bags is the cost. There are three ways to reduce this cost. First are the canisters specifically made for the vacuum appliance or you can modify the adapter to be used with other brands. From other comments the canisters are a case of you either love them or hate them. I love them for short term storage in the refrigerator but where they really excell is for saving dried and crushable foods like left-over homemade bread. Since homemade bread is preservative free it simply doesn't keep well but in a canister it will keep two to three days longer. That can be a real plus! Second, the mason jar sealers are worth their weight in gold as far as saving money on bags. Mason jars can be bought used at yard sales or resale stores and can be used over and over as can the lids. The best thing about sealing dried foods in mason jars aside of the fresh aspect is this keeps insects and rodents out of your food. The final way you can save on the bags is to buy online through other sources than the manufacturer's website. I found bags on an eBay store that ended up being excellent bags and considerably cheaper. The for me works out to be 10¢ less per bag when factoring in the shipping bringing the cost very close to that of the brand name zipper freezer bags. While I have no affiliation with this store other than being a very happy repeat customer so recommend them when I can.

Cheese Vacuum Sealed

We have been experimenting with cheeses. Now cheeses can be relatively expensive so vacuum sealing just makes sense. Freshness and flavour are preserved considerably longer than using other methods. This eliminates hard spots, molding and cross contamination of flavours.

This is one application where I will open and use some of the cheese then reseal the bag. While the bags are washable and re-useable unless used for meats and poultry, I seldom do this. Most of the bags I use are for freezing meats, poultry and cheeses.

Sealed Mason Jar

A vast majority of my dried foods, herbs and spices are sealed in mason jars. The glass eliminates rodent problems! This is a standard mouth mason jar that has been vacuum sealed to keep the bay leaves fresh. To seal, one end of the attachment hose is placed into the standard mason jar sealer and the other end is attached into the port on the vacuum sealer. If you look near the top you will see the end in the vacuum sealer port. The food is placed in the mason jar and the lid is centred. Then the standard mason jar sealer is placed over the lid with a slight push down and the vacuum sealer is turned on at the canister setting. The motor stops automatically when all air is removed from the canister creating a vacuum. Remove the attachment hose from the jar sealer. You will hear a slight air release but that is fine. Remove the jar sealer and the mason jar lid is now sealed tight. Place a ring on the lid and store.

Note: Vacuum sealing mason jars is not a substitute for heat canning methods. Vacuum sealing mason jars is meant for dried food or refrigerator storage.

Canisters

Canisters have a special top similar to the mason jar sealer. Simply place the food in the canister leaving at least 1-inch headspace. Place the lid on the canister. Attach one end of the attachment hose in the port of the lid and the other end in the attachment port on the appliance. Lock then press canister. The motor will stop when the canister is vacuum sealed. Remove the attachment hose from the lid and store the food. To unseal press the grey release button. They can be resealed if needed. The canisters are ideal for crushables like cereals, crackers, cookies and bread. The canister are for refrigerator or cabinet use only. The bottoms are top rack dishwasher safe but lids should be wiped only with a damp wash cloth.

The recommendation is to keep the FoodSaver^® on your counter for easy use. However, this is not practical in smaller kitchens. This is an appliance that will see daily use, often many times throughout the day so having it in a place easily accessible is a benefit. Mine sits on top of a small chest freezer when not in use. Another good space for this appliance when not in use in smaller kitchens is on top of the refrigerator. At any rate, you will not regret keeping FoodSaver^® within easy reach!