Foodie Road Trip on the Shores of Lake Erie

We are incredibly blessed to live in beautiful southern Ontario, home to an amazingly diverse culinary opportunity.  There is an abundance of locally grown and produced foods in our region.  In fact, eating locally within 100 miles of our home is exceedingly easy.  The vast majority of our food is actually grown and produced much closer to home!

Cherries are in season so I decided to take a foodie road trip to the shores of Lake Erie.  Highway 3 (Talbot Trail) runs along the Lake Erie shore between Niagara Falls and Windsor.   It meanders through small little towns, home to various annual food festivals, homestyle restaurants, and quaint shopping.  There are countless orchards and vineyards, a few mushroom farms, fisheries and so much more.  The rich fertile sandy loam produces some of the best fruits, berries, onions and carrots that you can find.   It is common to see food trucks along the route especially during the summer months.   Highway 3 really is a gorgeous route with stunning eyecandy and lots to explore.

I left the house early in the morning to make a shorter version of my normal foodie run route.  This time I made a couple of stops before heading to the lake to enjoy a bit of the beautiful scenery while enjoying a cup of coffee.  The sky was so blue!  The air was already turning warm so I headed onto a couple of orchards to the east.  My stash of goodies grew with each stop!  On the way home, I stopped at the mushroom farm.  I have been buying my mushrooms from them for about 30 years!  At one time they were less expensive than store bought but now are about the same price.  The big difference is they are fresh picked.  I only bought two 5 lb boxes this time.  My final stop was at the Dutch Market for coffee and fresh baked goodies.  I came home with a lot of fresh produce - apples, plums, blueberries, green beans, strawberries and mushrooms.  I even bought a bottle of sparkling apple cider.  All-in-all it was a very successful foodie road trip!

Peaches, Pears & Mushrooms - Oh My!

No, I haven't forgotten that I was telling you all about our great road trip/camping adventure.  As life goes, the busy canning season is upon me and for whatever reason it is proving difficult to juggle the many demands on my time.  At any rate, I shall finish the story of our road trip/camping adventure shortly but here are just a few things that has side tracked me :)

I had to drop of my husband at a golf course near one of the mushroom farms so stopped in.  I reasoned that we were having an end of summer party featuring steak, lobster, scallops and shrimp so stuffed mushrooms would be a nice appetizer.  I made my standard purchase of 20 lb of mushrooms, 2 boxes each of firsts and seconds (left).  A little further down the road I stopped for large peaches (right, black bin) despite the fact we had just finished picking over 3 hampers of pears and two good sized boxes of small peaches from our trees (right).  Only some of the fruit from our trees are pictured as I gave some to our neighbour and an couple of friends.

When we moved into this house in 2011, I was ecstatic to discover 3 peach trees, a pear tree, a gooseberry bush and several herbs.  Imagine my dismay when two of the peach trees had to be removed as they were damaged enough that last year's frost that resulted in almost no fruit also was the last straw for those trees.  So we are left with a peach tree and a pear tree for fruit trees.  This year, the peach tree looked to be doing quite good then all of a sudden, the branches drooped heavily to the ground.  The tree is over laden with small fruit and we don't know if it can be saved with a good pruning or not.  The pear tree definitely needs pruning but the fruit is large and abundant!  Both the peaches and pears are deliciously juicy.   I don't use any pesticides or synthetic fertilizers on foods I grow so this is just one example of how I save on the cost of organic foods.  Of note, one of our kids lives in the GTA with a postage stamp size front lawn about 7' x 7' if that.  They planted a small peach tree instead of the normal ornamental tree and it produced nicely this year too.  They also grow a few potted edible plants on their small balcony.  This is proof positive that it doesn't take much space or effort to grow a few fruits, vegetables or herbs to supplement your grocery purchases.

At any rate, I've been busy quite busy in the kitchen...

Asparagus Fusilli with Pork Balls in Mushroom Sauce

It really is amazing how versatile some foods are.  Take corn for example.  I read where 99% of everything produced (edible, non-edible) is in some way connected to corn.  A quick walk through the grocery store will show that corn is in many products as an ingredient, in packaging, and so much more.  Other vegetables appear in products that you would least expect.  Our kids gifted us with a very lovely basket filled with food products with asparagus as an ingredient over the Easter holiday.   Asparagus is one such vegetable that I would not have expected to find in a lot of food products yet surprisingly, Barrie's Asparagus in Cambridge, Ontario makes several products using asparagus. 

Last night, I decided to cook the asparagus fusilli that came in the gift basket.  This is an enriched pasta made from 100% durum semolina and fresh Ontario asparagus.  Fresh asparagus pasta would be quite easy to make if you have a pasta maker attachment for your Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  I wanted a rich, creamy sauce for the asparagus fusilli.  I started with fresh ground pork loin then built the dish from there.

When I make meatballs, the method used is determined by the meat.  If beef, I don't season the meat and the binder is milk.  That's it.  Ground pork is rather mild flavoured which is fine if cooking in a rich tomato based sauce long enough to absorb the flavour.  These meatballs were destined for a mushroom sauce, cooked over a shorter period of time so I lightly seasoned the ground pork with garlic pepper, mixed well with 2 eggs, then added dry bread crumbs.  I formed the meatballs with a meatball shaper then browned in heated olive oil in a ceramic coated skillet.  Once the meatballs were browned, I stirred in two cans of Campbell's condensed mushroom soup, a half can of milk and a half can of half & half.

This is one of the very, very few mass produced condensed soups that I do buy.  The reason being, it is ideal as a quick sauce.  Homemade cream of mushroom soup is easy enough to make but cannot be home canned and it is next to impossible to keep enough on hand in the freezer. 

I brought the meatball and sauce mixture to a low boil then reduced the heat to a low simmer.  The low simmer allows the meatballs to finish cooking while absorbing flavour from the sauce.  It also reduces the sauce to a thicker, richer consistency.  The lactose in the milk and half & half caramelizes to give a richer flavour while the lactic acid in both keep the meatballs tender and juicy. 

Local fresh asparagus will be in season here shortly.  I can't wait!  Asparagus is best lightly cooked (steamed, sautéed, grilled) until just tender (al dente) while retaining the beautiful bright green.  If overcooked asparagus takes on a drab olive colour with a mushy texture.  Dried asparagus is closer to a brown than a green so it did not surprise me that the asparagus fusilli while more of a drab olive colour dry, turned closer to tan when cooked.  Aside of the colour, there really isn't much asparagus flavour in the asparagus fusilli. 
Fusili is a nice thick pasta with lots of nooks to hold thick sauces, like the mushroom sauce used for this dish.  I topped the asparagus fusilli with the pork balls in mushroom sauce, sautéed fresh asparagus and sliced mushrooms, and chopped fresh green onions and tomatoes with just a light sprinkling of sesame seeds.  One of my favourite ways to serve any pasta is to include some type of chopped fresh vegetables on top.  Raw vegetables added this way add both an element of flavour and texture that pairs nicely with many pasta dishes.   It's a great way to add a bit of extra nutrition as well as eye appeal.  The asparagus fusilli with pork balls in mushroom sauce was a delightfully delicious and sinfully rich meal with the flavours blending nicely yet fairly low in fat. 

Baked Pizza Penne

After a busy holiday season right on the heels of returning from our vacation home only a day before the holiday festivities started for us, I have been relying on tried and tested home cooked meals.  At the same time, I am anxious to try out a few new dishes always in the hope of finding that next family favourite.  The new Foodland Ontario calendar arrived just before we left in late November so I didn't have a chance to go through it.  Last week I had a chance to read through the recipes for 2013 and immediately decided to make the Baked Pizza Penne (March) for dinner that night.

The calendar specifies Ontario is several of the ingredients which is great since they are promoting our beautiful province but you can get the same results by using local produce from your are if outside of Ontario.  Both my home canned tomato products were made with Ontario tomatoes but then the vast amount of the foods we consume are grown or produced in Ontario.  A wide variety of produce during the winter months.

Reading through this recipe I quickly realized it would be very easy to modify to include your favourite pizza toppings while leave the base flavours.  I modified the recipe because as always a recipe is just the starting point and I'm a firm believer in using what's on hand.  The original recipe can be found in the calendar and on the Foodland Ontario website.  My version follows below.

The baked pizza penne just out of the oven smelled delicious and it looked very much like the picture in the calendar so I was rather pleased.  I baked it in the largest stoneware casserole dish (9" x 13") of my KitchenAid 5 piece set bought at 70% off at Canadian Tire shortly after we moved here. Canadian Tire is the store to watch the sale flyers, one day sales and clearance bins as kitchen items are often on sale 40% to 70%.  I find that the stoneware gives nicer results for most casseroles in comparison to my ancient but still very function glass casserole dishes.

I used bulk sausage in place of the pepperoni as I had some left-over from holiday entertaining that I wanted to use up.  I used home canned tomato paste and crushed tomatoes.  There is a flavour difference using home canned over store bought.  I also used organic raw coconut oil in place of the vegetable oil and used grated Guyere in place of the Parmesan as I had run out.  It was a cold, wet day with high winds that I didn't feel like walking to the store.  I omitted the hot pepper flakes and reduced the salt.

The baked pizza penne certainly did not disappoint!  It had nice mild pizza flavour and I did like the texture.  This is a casserole I would tweak just a bit more the next time I make it.  My husband said it needed more cheese to mimic the extra cheese we like on our pizza.  I thought it could have a bit strong pizza flavour.  What I really like about this recipe is the versatility!  You could use one or more meats of your choice to mimic a meat lover's pizza, you could eliminate the meat for a cheese pizza flavour and add anything that strikes your fancy as a pizza topping.

Baked Pizza Penne
modified from:  Foodland Ontario, 2013 Calender, March

1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red sweet pepper
2 tbsp organic raw coconut oil
3 c (750 ml) home canned crushed tomatoes or 28 oz store bought crushed or diced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1½ tsp dried basil
1½ tsp organic granulated sugar
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp sea salt
2 c browned mild bulk sausage
2½ penne pasta
1 1/3 c shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ c shredded Guyere cheese

Cook the pasta in boiling water 8 to 10 minutes until al dente.  Drain well and return to pot.  While the pasta is cooking chop the onion, mince the garlic and dice the sweet pepper.  Brown the sausage, breaking up the pieces well.  Drain.  Heat the oil in a deep frypan then stir in vegetables.  Cook over medium heat 5 minutes.  Stir in tomatoes,tomato paste, herbs, sugar, salt.  Bring to a boil then stir in sausage.  Simmer 15 minutes.  Pour the sauce over the pasta and mix well.  Pour mixture into baking dish.  Top with cheeses.  Bake at 400°F/200°C for 20 minutes or until cheese is golden brown.

Easy Way to Cook Acorn Squash

As newly-weds  my husband would not eat sweet peas, squash or eggplant but he loved rutabaga.  I, on the other hand would eat any vegetable, except eggplant and I have to tell you rutabaga was something I almost had to choke down.  Other than that, any vegetable was fair game for both of us and to this day, while our tastes have changed a bit, vegetables play a large role in our diet.  Honestly, the only vegetable neither of us eats is eggplant.  That may be because I don't cook it right.  I don't know.  At any rate, any vegetable other than eggplant is fair game in our home.

Squash comes in two varieties, summer and winter.  Summer squash (eg. zucchini) has a thin, edible skin whereas winter squash has a thick, inedible skin that needs to be removed.  The seeds of both varieties are edible as well with summer squash seeds being small and tender compared to the larger, tougher skinned seeds of winter squash.

By far my favourite winter squash is acorn squash which gets it's name from its shape that resembles an acorn.  It is rich in Vitamins A (beta carotene) and C as well as a good source of potassium.  It has a bit lighter flavour than some of larger, darker fleshed winter squashes.  In season, large acorn squash will be as cheap as 5/$1 or 20¢ each but even off season, they are still quite inexpensive.  The beauty of acorn squash is it can be baked, grilled, steamed or microwaved without removing the hard outer skin.

Simply cut in half and scoop out the seeds with connective tissue.  The squash is now ready to prepare for baking or grilling.  Don't discard the seeds!  Place the seeds in a colander and rinse well to remove the connecting tissue.  Place the seeds on a mesh tray to dry.  The dried seeds can be saved for next year's garden or they can be roasted in the oven for a delightful, nutritious snack.

Some folks like to add brown sugar to their squash and the worst concoction I've ever seen with squash was adding marshmallows!  I see no need to mask the flavour of squash.  Instead, I add a little butter and sea salt to the cavity of each half of the squash.  This is just enough flavour without overpowering the wonderful flavour of the squash.

That is just how quick and easy it is to prepare acorn squash for baking, microwaving or grilling.  The same prep without the butter and salt is used when steaming except the squash is turned cut side down in the steaming basket.

If baking or grilling, I cover the prepared acorn squash with tinfoil.  This retains the steam produced by the cooking squash, keeping it tender and flavourful.  If cooking the prepared squash in the microwave oven, I recommend using wax paper to wrap the squash in.

Acorn squash baked or grilled takes about the same amount of time as baked potatoes, usually about 45 minutes.  If cooking on the grill, the prepared squash should be put on the top rack of the outdoor grill.  I place the prepared squash on a Silpat lined baking sheet when cooking in the oven to prevent any leakage onto the floor of the oven.

The squash is cooked when it gives when slightly pinched between fingers and thumb.  I remove the squash from the oven (grill or microwave) and let sit a couple of minutes.  I then carefully remove the covering.  It is important to open from the side furthest from you to prevent steam burning you.  The soft flesh is easily scooped from the harder skin which has softened somewhat during cooking.  I simply scoop the flesh out into a serving bowl, mash lightly with a fork to mix the butter and salt, then serve.  The empty skin is destined for the compost bin.  It really is that easy to prepare and cook acorn squash without ever having to peel it!  It is a no muss, no fuss method to enjoy acorn squash.

Venison Cottage Pie

We spend most of the month of October at our vacation home in Florida.  The day after returning No Frills had a great sale on potatoes, beets, carrots and onions at $1.88 for a 10 lb bag each so of course I had to take advantage of that.  The week after returning home, my husband left for hunt camp with the guys.  He doesn't hunt himself so along with another good friend they are chief cook and bottle washer.  The guys have a lot of good old fashion fun and always share the rewards of any catch.  This year they took down a five point buck, so there was each of them brought home a little over 20 lb of venison each.

I've talked about making rustic potatoes in the previous posts.  Rustic potatoes have a lot of flavour and nutrition and because the skins are left on the potatoes, extra fibre.  Now, the carrots add sweetness, colour and texture but cabbage is a must.  A lot of folks turn their nose up at cabbage or only relate cabbage to coleslaw, but cooked cabbage takes on a mellow sweetness.

I like to steam the vegetables when making rustic potatoes.  In fact, I prefer steamed vegetables to those boiled.  Steamed vegetables lack the sogginess that comes with boiling vegetables.  They are higher in nutrition as well plus steaming vegetables are an eco-friendly way to cook vegetables because they use less water and energy.  Oh and if all those benefits weren't enough, they are very, very inexpensive and beyond easy to make, something every frugal cook loves to hear.

Once the vegetable mixture is tender, I pour it into the bowl of the KitchenAid stand mixer.  Then I add cream cheese, sour cream, milk or stock, a little butter, seasonings (garlic powder, onion powder, white pepper).  I don't add salt so while the dish is higher if fat, it is low sodium.  Low fat sour cream and cream cheese can be used if desired because it really is the flavour that counts in these potatoes, not the fat.  I always use 2% milk if using milk or de-fatted chicken stock depending on how the potatoes will be used.  Then I lightly whip the mixture leaving slightly lumpy but not starchy, adjusting the liquid if needed to get the consistency I want.

Rustic potatoes are ideal as a side dish and topping cottage pies or other casseroles.  They can be used as a pierogi or hot pocket filling as well.  I have also used rustic potatoes as a filling for rolled meatloaf.  A rolled meatloaf has a spiral effect.  The rustic potatoes look lovely when used this way while getting more nutrition into the finished dish.  These potatoes freeze nicely so make up a large batch then make a few dishes for the freezer for a bit of homemade convenience.

I made a venison cottage pie using the rustic potatoes.  A cottage pie is basically the same thing as a Shepard's pie except it is made with with ground meat other than lamb.  Lamb is traditionally used when making a Shepard's pie. Semantics (vs nomenclature) aside, the resulting dish consists of ground meat with some type of gravy topped with a layer of corn or mixed vegetables and a final layer of mashed potatoes then baked until warmed through and bubbly.   I added a thin layer of shredded extra old cheddar because I had a piece I wanted to use up.  Any shredded cheese can be used but is optional.

I used a covered glass casserole dish for the venison cottage pie.   At this point, I could have froze as is then popped out the frozen casserole and vacuum sealed it or instead of using a glass casserole dish, an aluminium baking tray is what I normally use for casseroles destined for the freezer.  If freezing in aluminium trays, I cover the top of the casserole with wax paper then seal tightly with aluminium foil.  Venison cottage pie can also be frozen in individual serving sizes using large muffin tins to freeze then pop out and vacuum seal.

The venison cottage pie using up some of my Ontario produce purchase was destined for dinner that night.  Venison is an interesting meat to work with.  It is very low fat and what fat it does have has a poor mouth feel if the meat gets luke warm.  The solution to this problem is to add ground pork to ground venison in about a 1:2 ratio (ground pork:ground venison).  The abattoir that processed the venison actually did this when he ground it but most abattoirs don't.  The ground venison can also be browned in bacon fat.  Once the venison is browned, I drain it and use the drippings to make a gravy seasoned with a bit of Worcestershire sauce.  The pan can be de-glazed with red wine if desired then thickened to make a gravy using a roux but can be made gluten free by simply reducing somewhat and stirring into the meat.  If the corn is substituted with a gluten free vegetable, the venison cottage pie can easily be converted to gluten free if desired.

The venison cottage pie just out of the oven looked delicious and smelled divine   The rustic potato topping is a perfect  match for the rich flavour of the venison.  This was a good sized casserole that gave a yield of six to eight generous servings.  The cooked venison cottage pie reheats nicely.

Shepard's or cottage pie is usually shown plated as a square as the common restaurant presentation much the same way lasagne is plated.  However, when I serve it, the result is anything but a square.  Neither is my lasagne.  The reason being, both are served piping hot so it does not hold a firm shape.  The cream cheese in the rustic potato topping and gravy added to the meat means the cottage pie will not hold a firm shape.  At the same time, the addition of the gravy and cream cheese gives nice moist results eliminating the need for topping with separate gravy.  Homemade bread and a garden salad rounded out the meal.

Roasted Beets

I recently posted about a few great deals I got on Ontario produce only a day after returning home from our fall vacation.  No Frills had 10 lb bags of beets, onions, potatoes and carrots on sale for $1.88 each.  When I come across a deal like this, there is no way I am not going to take advantage of it.  I do a lot of home food preservation so it would take me very little time to home can or freeze 40 lb of produce but I have a bit of a system.  I tend to preserve 25% to 50% of this type of deal and use the rest fresh for very inexpensive, frugal meals.  This is a very frugal method for keeping your pantry and freezers well stocked while using fresh produce.

This meal seriously was about as cheap as you can get with the most expensive item being chicken breast baked in homemade shake and bake coating mix.  I baked a couple of potatoes, roasted a couple of beets and steamed carrots all from my frugal Ontario produce purchases.  That isn't sour cream on the potato either, it is homemade yogurt which is lower in fat and calories than sour cream.  It is butter on the steamed carrots.

Roasted beets have a deep rich flavour.  It rather surprising that you don't often see beets served at restaurants given their delicious flavour element combined with very low price.  In fact, even on the food channel, I seldom see them cooking beets.  Anyway, roasting beets is simple.  Scrub the beets well and trim only the top leaving about 2 - inches.  This prevents the beet from bleeding.  Place the whole beets in a baking dish and bake uncovered at 350°F until the beets are tender, about 45 minutes.  Remove from baking dish and let sit 5 minutes.  Trim both ends and slip the skins.  The roasted beets can be halved or sliced for serving.

This was a very simple, frugal meal yet rich in antioxidants, beta carotene and fairly high in tryptophan.  It was low fat as well even though I did add butter to my steamed carrots.  It was very low sodium.  The most important thing though, it was a delicious meal that took almost no effort.  It was low prep, toss in the oven except the carrots that went into the steamer basket.  Not bad if I don't say so myself !

Ontario Produce

Ontario is a mecca for an abundance of locally grown produce.  There are farm stands, orchards, farmer's markets and foodie events galore pretty much year round.  Even during the winter months,  locally grown Ontario produce grown in greenhouses is available in the grocery stores.  The best time to buy produce is when it is in season.  That means produce like apples, cabbage, root vegetables, onions and winter squashes are at rock bottom prices.

We returned from our fall vacation to our vacation home in Florida on October 23, a Tuesday but in reality it was into the wee hours of October 24 before we actually got home.  On Thursday, the new flyers arrived.  Oh my gosh, No Frills had 10 lb bags of carrots, beets, potatoes and onions on sale for $1.88.  I picked up one of each.  For this time of year, this really isn't the best price if you want to drive to get the produce but for an in town price it is rather good especially for the carrots and beets.  I have managed in the past to get 50 lb of potatoes for $3.99 (in store special) and they routinely go for $7.99 but No Frills doesn't carry the 50 lb bags very often.  If they do, it is usually as an in store special.

Now, I was beyond exhausted from our vacation partly due to the extensive home canning I had done prior to leaving home combined with my husband's health problems that had him hospitalized for five days just as tomatoes were starting.  I had just wound up the tomato canning for the season at over 200 jars of home canned tomato products.  The price for the carrots, onions and beets was really good though so I could not resist the sale.  Here I am, exhausted from before our vacation, exhausted from our vacation (lots of company, flight delay) so getting right back into preserving food only a day after getting home was not the ideal plan but when opportunity knocks you can bet I will answer regardless of how exhausted I am.  So for, $7.52 I ended up with 40 lb of gorgeous Ontario produce to enjoy!

Canning Peaches

I am in high gear doing a lot of home canning.  The produce is coming in fast, back to back right now.  I just finished up doing cucumbers just in time to start peaches.  I'm a bit disappointed this year in that we have two peach trees and a pear tree at our new home but due to a very abnormal heat wave back in March followed by heavy frosts, we won't see much in the way of fruit.  Local peaches are very small because of the adverse weather.

The kids went to the Niagara area so picked me up a bushel of peaches.  These were gorgeous looking peaches but a bit pricey ($45 per bushel) and they weren't cling free.  A cling free variety like Red Haven is a lot easier for pitting and less time consuming when home canning a lot of peaches.  However, beggars can't be choosers so I was happy to get these lovely peaches to work with.  The price simply meant making a few products that would ensure I recouped the cost and then some.  That's always the way it goes when buying produce.  In all honesty, there are some foods that you will just break even if home canning but others end up being almost free.  So, in the big picture over a year's worth of home canning there is no doubt that the savings are substantial.  Rest assured you are getting a better product than store bought, free of preservatives and artificial flavours and/or colourants.

Quite often when I am switching produce for home canning I start with something simple.  That is because I tend to work from the easiest to most complex when home canning.  I started the peaches by canning 7 - 500 ml jars of sliced peaches in a light syrup.  Don't they look gorgeous?  Now, when canning plain peaches there is a very low margin of cost savings over store bought but again you end up with a superior product.  Watch for all the nice home canned peach products I made coming up this week.  It's a peachy time...

Cheery Spring Salad

Raw fruits and vegetables are rich in nutrients, fiber and beneficial anti-oxidants aka they're good for you.  Salads are one of the easiest ways to serve raw foods.  We eat a lot of salads because every meal should include raw foods.  The brighter and deeper the colour of raw fruits and vegetables the better they are for you so I like using salad blends with a lot of colour and then add more colour. 

I make this cheery spring salad using a baby garden blend.  This blend consisted of baby lettuces (green romaine, red romaine, red oak, green oak, tango, lolla, red leaf, green leaf) and baby greens (muzura, arugula, tatsoi, mache, red chard, green chard).  I sprinkled in snow peas, onion slices, raspberries and almond slices drizzled with raspberry vinaigrette.  The beautiful red raspberries shone against their bed of green!

Raspberries are always expensive because they are a very delicate fruit that is difficult to ship and spoils quickly.  I paid $3.97 for a pint of raspberries used for this meal.  About half were used for the salad.  In season I pay $2.25 per pint from the raspberry U-pick.  This year I have finally decided it is time to invest in my own raspberry canes.  They should grow nicely here [if we decide not to move] even in partial shade giving me several locations [and at the new house if we move] where I can plant them.  Each cane will cost about $8 and give a yield of 4 to 6 pints in the second season. 

President's Choice - Grown Close to Home - Ontario

Ontario is home to many farms like the one in the video owned by Phil Tregunno of Tregunno Farms from Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario. Phil is one of five growers featured in a national broadcast campaign with Galen G. Weston Jr. executive chairman and spokesperon for Loblaw Companies. Galen great grandson of George Weston, founder of George Weston Bakeries Limited. Loblaw Companies is the parent company to the following grocery store chains in Canada: no frills, Real Canadian SuperStore, Zehrs, President's Choice, President's Choice Financial, maxi & cie, maxi, independent, Fortino's, and Dominion®.

Loblaw Companies has started a campaign for grown close to home aka buying locally. Buying locally is less expensive and eco-friendly. It reduces the transportation costs by reducing the distance food has to travel from the farmer to the consumer. The produce is fresher, picked when ripe rather than underripe that happens when produce must travel a longer distance. Local produce is more nutritious. From the moment produce is picked it begins losing nutrition. The shorter travel distance ensures greater nutrition. Buying locally is socially responsible as well by supporting local growers in your community. It is nice to see larger corporations practicing eco-friendly, socially responsible practices like buying local produce. Here is one of the commercials Loblaw Companies have been running, encourganing buying locally.

Bon Appétit!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

Cod with Organic Vegetables (Low Fat)

I use organic growing methods for my gardens so when I buy produce out of season I like to buy certified organic if at all possible. Last weekend one of our kids picked up a basket of organic produce for us from Pfenning's Organic Farm in Baden, Ontario. The basket contained Jona Gold apples, blood oranges, rainbow carrots, blueberries, English cucumber, yellow onions, red leaf lettuce, red potatoes and button mushrooms. The cost for all this great organic produce was $17. In comparison to fruits and vegetables that are not grown using organic methods, this produce is more expensive. However, more grocery stores are now carrying organic produce so as the demand grows, the price will decrease somewhat. Why is buying organic produce important?

Organic Produce

Organic growers use no chemical fertilizers, herbicides or fumigants so there are none of these residues remaining in the food. The food is free of toxic chemical and growing organically keeps toxic chemicals out of the air, soil and water. In addition to this, growing organically provides a safer working environment for field workers. Growing and/or buying organic produce is:

• eco-friendly
• socially responsible
• healthiers, free of toxic chemicals
• supporting sustainable farming practices

In some but not all cases, buying organic produce will cost a bit more. The reason for this is two fold. There is less demand for organic produce. Organic methods are more labour intensive. For example weeds are manually removed when growing organically rather than using a chemical herbicide. Organic farms tend to be smaller with lower yields. In addition to this, organic produce is not always blemish free and perfect looking contrary to what consumers have come to expect. As a result the uninformed consumer doesn't buy organic produce on the basis of looks and cost even though it is a healthier choice.

Ingredients

Pictured are the organic vegeatables (top) and cod (bottom) used to make an easy, low fat meal. Rainbow carrots are carrots that have been selectively bred to red, purple, yellow and white. Each have their own unique characteristics and flavours. When used as a blend they have a nice eye appeal as well as interesting flavours, quite gourmet. Rainbow carrots can easily be grown in the home garden so this will be one of my new varieties to try growing this year. Red potatoes are always a delight! We love them steamed.

Our butchershop has Highliner brand cod fillets on sale for $5.99 per pound, a $4 per lb savings. We bought 10 fillets which is enough for 2 meals for 2 adults. Cod is a lean white fish with a mild flavour and firm texture that can be baked, steamed, poached, pan fried or coated English style in batter then deep fried. It can also be used in chowders. Cod has 105 calories per 3.5 ounce (about 1 pictured fillet) serving making it a health conscious choice. It is also an economical choice in terms of price. As with all fish, it is important not to over cook cod.

The Meal

We coated the cod fillets with Krusto Fish Batter mix then pan fried until just golden. This is a fish coating that can be used dry as we did here or can be made into a batter for deep frying. We steamed the red potatoes and rainbow carrots together. Notice the contrasting colours of the carrots. The bag we got only had yellow and 2 shades of orange carrots so I will be looking for one with both red and white carrots. Adding in a few regular carrots would give a bit more contrast as well. Rounding out the meal was a small spinach side salad making for a healthy, low fat meal.

Starting Tomatoes

[The poll results for the recipes my husband used for the He Said/She Said contest are posted. His winning recipe was the Texas Style Barbeque Chicken Legs. Please take a moment to vote for your favourite recipe in the She Said entries.]

The tomato season is a bit late here by about a week with respect to the hampers of tomatoes I use for canning. My husband brought home 2 hampers of tomatoes Wednesday night for me to process on Thursday. It marked the beginning of tomato processing season for me. However the weather is already threatening to turn much colder At the same time the garden is producing nicely so I've been picking tomatoes daily especially the Sweet Millions cherry tomatoes.

I have mentioned roasted tomato sauce on this blog quite often. It is one of our favourites. There is no recipe only a method and that is to roast the tomatoes on an outdoor grill (1). I add a little fresh garlic, fresh basil, green pepper, onion and drizzle of olive oil. Then the mixture is slow roasted adding more as it cooks down. The tomato mixture is ready when there is a good indication of caramelization (2). This is a must! It is the caramelization process resulting from this slow outdoor grilling that cannot be duplicated in an oven.

Once the caramelization process is completed I use a stick blender to smooth the mixture. Then the sauce is ladled into hot jars and processed in a pressure canner at 10 lb pressure for 20 minutes. When the jars are cooled the rings are removed and the jars washed. The jars are then ready for storage (3). This roasted tomato batch gave a yield of 10 - 500 ml jars.

Crushed Tomatoes

Crushed tomatoes are always a useful product on the pantry shelf. Plain and unseasoned, these tomatoes are very versatile for many dishes. I slipped the skins using the boiling water method, cut the tomatoes into quarters then across the strips forming larger chunks. The chunks were raw packed into hot jars. To raw pack simply put the tomatoes into the jars, packing as tightly as possible leaving 1-inch headspace. The tomatoes are then pressure canned at 10 lb pressure for 25 minutes. Pictured are the 13 L of tomatoes as they came from the canner (4). Initially there were 14 L but one of the jars broke (5).

Jar breakage is something every home canner will encounter at one time or another. There is always the chance of breakage due to dropping a jar but dreaded type of jar breakage is in the canner. The primary reason for jar breakage in the canner is themal shock. This happens when a cold jar is placed into the hot water of the canner stressing the glass to the point it breaks. This is why it is important to pack food into hot jars then place in the canner and bring the canner to temperature. This is also why it is important to use mason jars for canning not recycled mayonnaise and similar jars. Mason jars are thicker and tempered to prevent breakage especially under pressure. Another cause of breakage is old age. Glass gets brittle as it ages making it more susceptible to breakage. Using metal utensils in glass jars can cause scratches on the interior surface of the canning jar. This causes a weak spot that may cause the jar to break. Finally some jars have minor flaws such as bubbles that occur during the manufacturing process. If you fail to notice one of these bubbles the jar could break especially if pressure canning. In this case the jar that broke was a Canadian Mason so likely about 30 years old. Breakage was likely due to age and/or interior scratches. It was a clean break yet still a mess to clean-up.

Velveeta Dinner

The month of September always means long canning days. This particular day 2 hampers of tomatoes were cleaned. One was peeled and chopped so that's a fair amount of prep time while the other was turned into a sauce so there was a fair amount of prep work. The canner ran 3 times with one run spanning the dinner hour. These are the days that something quick and easy to prepare for dinner is very much appreciated.

I like to keep Velveeta cheese on hand as part of my pantry stores. Velveeta cheese is a shelf stable, processed cheddar cheese that requires no refrigeration until it has been opened. It won't keep as long as powdered cheeses in the pantry but cuts and looks more like a block of cheese. It also is rather versatile. While the canner was running we made a quick Velveeta dinner. It was nothing fancy but it was easy, tasty and frugal. I used homemade salsa and home canned jalapeno peppers for this dish.

Velveeta Dinner

1 lb extra lean ground beef
2 c elbow macarroni
¾ c Velveeta cheese
½ c chopped onion
½ c salsa
canned jalapeno peppers

Bring water to a boil then add pasta and cook to al dente. While the pasta is cooking, brown the ground beef. Drain beef and pasta. Return pasta to sauce pot. Stir in ground beef and Velveeta cheese. Place lid on pot and let sit 5 minutes until cheese is fully melted. Stir and plate. Top with salsa, onion and jalapeno peppers.

She Said (2) - Farm-Style Green Beans

I just realized I'm behind getting the He Said/She Said posts up. Don't worry they will all be up before the end of the month. If you recall my husband and I are having a bit of a contest with each of us using a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens® New Grilling Book to create a meal. In total there will be 12 recipes, 6 of his choosing and 6 of mine. The contest ends August 31 so the first week of September I will post a poll where you can vote for the meal you liked best. The rules are all the ingredients must be used but the amounts can be altered.

Frying Bacon

I found a method for chicken I wanted to try that called using bacon grease. It only needed some of the grease. Now when I frying bacon I really like frying up a lot at one time then putting some aside in the freezer for use in salads and other dishes. Looking through the Better Homes and Gardens® New Grilling Book I found a rather interesting yet easy to prepare side dish calling for 3 tbsp of bacon grease and 4 slices of bacon. Just what I needed! This would give me a couple of meals from the bacon plus bacon pieces in the freezer.

I took a package of frozen bacon from the freezer and cut it across the strips. Once fried this gives lovely sized homemade bacon bits for Caesar salad so is handy to have a few packages on hand. I drained the bacon pieces then reserved 2 dessert spoons of them for the dish I was currently making. The rest of the grease was spooned into a heat proof bowl reserving about 3 tbsp of the grease in the pan.

Tomato Mixture

This dish consists of a two step process in which you make the sauce in one pan and cook the beans in another then combine them for the finished side dish. It would be possible to cook this on the side burner of an outdoor grill. The only two changes I made to this recipe is I did not peel or seed the tomatoes and I steamed rather than boiled the beans.

Farm-Style Green Beans
source: Meredith Corporation, Better Homes and Garden New Grilling Book, 2005. Pp. 136

4 thick slices bacon, cut up
2 medium onions, sliced
3 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped.
½ tsp salt
1 lb green beans

Wash and trim green beans. Cook bacon until crisp. Spoon out the bacon using a slotted spoon and drain. Stir the sliced onions into the bacon grease and cook over medium heat until onions are tender. Stir in the tomatoes and salt. Cook uncovered for 5 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Place the beans in a small amount of salted water. Bring to a boil. Cook until tender crisp. Drain. Transfer the beans to a hot serving dish and top with the tomato mixture.

Farm-Style Green Beans

We grilled pork steaks for dinner. Unfortunately there is only one recipe in this book for pork steaks which is really a shame. Pork steaks are larger and just as tasty. The pork steak was grilled then lightly caramelized with Diana Sauce®. Sides were steamed potatoes with fresh chives and Farm-Style Green Beans.

The Farm-Style Green Beans quite tasty and easy to prepare. It was a nice way to serve green beans. The tomato mixture itself would pair nicely with meats, rice and potatoes as well. I think the tomato mixture would be nice kicked up a notch with the addition of a splash of hot sauce.
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Freezer Pickles, Plum Sauce and Chocolate Raspberry Sauce

Continuing on with preserving all the great produce I bought on my foodie road trip Sunday was a very busy morning to late evening processing day. The end result was a lot of great food put up. I actually started the canning day with the Black Cherry jams and ended with the freezer pickles so there was a lot of produce processed.

The Goodies

Raspberries are one of my favourite fruits! I stop at the raspberry U-pick a couple of times a week while they are running. This raspberry U-pick has both early and late raspberries. I usually only get 4 pints at a time because they are quite delicate and won't keep in the refrigerator very long.

My garden was delayed getting planting this year as we are still in the massive rip out mode. I feel very lucky to have any kind of vegetable garden this year other than containers. So I had to buy pickling cucumbers this year. Still the price wasn't bad and they were quite lovely looking.

I don't have a plum tree but am considering planting one or more fruit trees as part of my big garden plans so I might possibly have a plum tree next year. For now I have to buy plums. Usually the price is quite good so I don't mind. These plums were smaller but quite tasty!

Pictured from left to right: freezer pickles, plum sauce and chocolate raspberry sauce. One of the nicest things about home food preservation is you can make various products you won't be able to find in the regular grocery stores. Two examples here are the freezer pickles and chocolate raspberry sauce.

Freezer pickles are about the easiest and tastiest pickles you can make. I use 2 of the 4 quarts of pickling cucumbers to make the pickles. After their brining period I ladled the pickles into mason jars leaving 1-inch headspace then filled with brine leaving 1-inch headspace. I then wiped the rims and capped with 2 piece lids. This is one instant where you can re-use lids because these pickles are not canned. Then I popped the filled jars on to the freezer shelves. Note: While the pickles are in mason jars they are not shelf stable and must be frozen for storage. Cost per 500 ml jar was 80¢ each with no electricity costs for prep and re-using lids.

Plums are not only great for snacking on they make a wonderful dipping sauce. I set aside a few of the plums for fresh eating then made a half sized batch of plum sauce. The yield was 4 - 250 ml (half pint) jars so I will have to pick up more plums to have enough plum sauce to last a year. The recipe called for 4 lb of plums so a half batch is 2 lb of plums. If you don't have a kitchen scale 4 quarts of plums is approximately 2 lb. Be warned that this sauce smells ever so yummy when it is simmering down! Cost per jar including lids and electricity was $1.22.

Plum Sauce
modified from: Alltrista Corporation, Ball Blue Book, 2001. Pp. 80.

2 lb plums
1 c brown sugar
½ c organic granulated sugar
½ medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp mustard seed
1 tbsp jalapeno pepper, chopped
pinch powdered ginger
½ tbsp sea salt
½ clove garlic, minced
½ c cider vinegar

Wash, stem and pit the plums. Cut into quarters then rough chop in food processor. Set aside. Combine the other ingredients in a large saucepan. Mix well. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Stir in the plums. Cook until thick and syrupy while stirring often. Remove from heat. Ladle into prepared jars ¼ - inch headspace. Wipe rims. Adjust 2 piece lids. Process 20 minutes in BWB at altitudes below 1,000 ft above sea level. At higher altitudes refer to the processing times on the altitude adjustment chart.


I was browsing through one of my favourite blogs, Canning Jars Etc. when I spotted a recipe for Chocolate Raspberry Sauce. Her chocolate raspberry sauce recipe was modified from the Ball Complete Guide to Home Canning. Well I just had to make this sauce but I decided to modify the recipe as well to make it low sugar. Recipes are just starting points! A canning recipe can be modified providing you do not change it enough to go from high acid to low acid which would change the processing method. Any food with a pH higher than 4.6 is considered low acid so must be processed using a pressure canner. I used 3 of the 4 pints of raspberries. The resulting sauce was quite tasty and it did smelly quite yummy while cooking. I can't wait to try in on some homemade vanilla icecream! Cost per jar including electricity and lids was $2.40.

Low Sugar Chocolate Raspberry Sauce
source: my creation

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2½ c crushed raspberries
2 tbsp lemon juice
1½ tsp Pomona's pectin
1½ c organic granulated sugar
2½ tsp calcium water

Wash the raspberries. Place in large saucepan and crush. Stir in lemon juice and calcium water. Mix cocoa powder, pectin and sugar in separate bowl. Bring the berries to a boil. Stir in sugar mixture. Return to a boil. Remove from heat. Ladle into prepared jars ¼ - inch headspace. Wipe rims. Adjust 2 piece lids. Process 10 minutes in BWB at altitudes below 1,000 ft above sea level. At higher altitudes refer to the processing times on the altitude adjustment chart.

Black Cherry Jams

If you recall one of the goodies I picked up on my foodie road trip was black cherries. My husband absolutely adores cherry jam! Cherry jam made with sour cherries is good, with sweet cherries is better but made with black cherries it is delectable!

Sink Full of Cherries

Cherries grow on trees so if you are going to a U-Pick wear sturdy shoes and comfortable clothing as you may be going up and down a ladder. Cherry U-Picks will provide the ladders and baskets. You will be picking 3 to 4 feet off the ground so it's not a high distance bu still you will be picking from a ladder so do dress accordingly.

Black cherries when ripe are a deep purplish black. Even the flesh is dark compared to other berries. They have a very rich, deep, sweet flavour. The nice thing about cleaning black cherries is there isn't a lot of work to them as far as bugs go. They need to be washed and the stems removed which is a rather simple process. Once the cherries are washed and de-stemmed they need to be pitted.

Cherry Pitter

Pitting cherries can be the pits :) Seriously there are several manual cherry pitter models out there that rely on a significant amount of thumb action and they do one cherry at a time. The down side to these cherry pitters is the strain it causes to your hand. Somehow in the move I lost my beloved cherry pitter so found myself looking for a new one. I actually found a real beauty during my foodie road trip!

One of my last stops was at Home Hardware. I knew I had 11 qts of black cherries to pit, no cherry pitter in sight and the two stores I thought would have one (Dollarama, Canadian Tire) did not. By the time I hit Home Hardware I was getting despirit! Lo and behold they had a KitchenValue cherry pitter! Now this is one of the neatest manual cherry pitters I've ever seen. The cherry go into a shoot then with a quick pumping action using the palm of hand so it doesn't cause a lot of hand strain. Hand stain is a common problem with the repetitive chopping motion for preparing many foods for canning so when you find a product that eliminated this it is always a blessing!

Cherry Jams

I used the entire 11 qt basket of tomatoes to make cherry jams. My husband loves cherry jam and it is the only jam he requested I make that isn't low sugar. Sugar adds not only sweetness but bulk to jams so any time you reduce the sugar you reduce a bit in terms of texture and bulk. I made black cherry jam using regular pectin (1), black cherry jam using Pomona's pectin (2, 4) and low sugar black cherry jam (3). Recipes follow.

Black Cherry Jam
source: Ball Fruit Pectin insert

4 c finely chopped black cherries
¼ c lemon juice
5 c sugar
1 box Ball fruit pectin (dry)

Prepare cherries. Measure the cherries into a large sauce pot. Stir in the pectin and add up to ½ tsp butter to reduce foaming. Bring mixture to a full boil that cannot be stirred down. Add the sugar stirring to dissolve. Remove from heat. Ladle into prepared jars ¼ - inch headspace. Wipe rims. Adjust 2 piece lids. Process 10 minutes in BWB at altitudes below 1,000 ft above sea level. At higher altitudes refer to the processing times on the altitude adjustment chart (here).

Black Cherry Jam (Pomona's)

4 c chopped cherries
5 c sugar
4 tbsp lemon juice
4 t calcium water
2 t Pomona's Universal Pectin

Combine cherries, lemon juice and calcium water in large saucepan. Mix sugar and pectin in separate bowl. Bring the cherry mixture to a boil then stir in the sugar mixture and return to a boil. Remove from heat. Ladle into prepared jars ¼ - inch headspace. Wipe rims. Adjust 2 piece lids. Process 10 minutes in BWB at altitudes below 1,000 ft above sea level. At higher altitudes refer to the processing times on the altitude adjustment chart (here).

Low Sugar Black Cherry Jam

5 c chopped cherries
5 tbsp lemon juice
2½ c granulated sugar
5 tsp calcium water
1½ tsp Pomona's Universal pectin

Combine cherries, lemon juice and calcium water in large saucepan. Mix sugar and pectin in separate bowl. Bring the cherry mixture to a boil then stir in the sugar mixture and return to a boil. Remove from heat. Ladle into prepared jars ¼ - inch headspace. Wipe rims. Adjust 2 piece lids. Process 10 minutes in BWB at altitudes below 1,000 ft above sea level. At higher altitudes refer to the processing times on the altitude adjustment chart (here).

A Blueberry Day!

Saturday was a blueberry day! I started a bit early working on the blueberries I picked up on the foodie road trip. The kids were arriving shortly with the grandbabies so I knew there would be little time to spend on canning. It's always such a pleasure when the grandbabies come as the are all turning out to be real foodies not that we could expect anything different. For those who do not know we have 3 grandbabies, the oldest is 30 months, the second is 16 months and the youngest is almost 4 months. The oldest and youngest are sibs and the second is an only. All are just as cute as a they can be, simply adorable! Ok, so onto blueberries. Oh I should mention the two oldest grandbabies love blueberries!

Blueberry Field

I mentioned in one post about U-picks. Pictured is a U-pick blueberry farm. Blueberries grow on bushes about 4' - 5' tall. As U-picks go this is rather nicely laid out with nicely grassed paths. Don't let that fool you. Sturdy shoes preferably with socks are a must. As you move through the paths picking your berries you will encounter dust and insects. You may even spot the occasional snake or toad. When you arrive at a U-pick you park then register to get your baskets. This does vary from U-pick to U-pick as some will simply weigh your pail then calculate the weight of what you picked and charge based on kilograms rather than L. You will notice from the picture there is no actual shading which means you will need sunblock and hat. I always advise carrying a refillable water bottle with you when you pick to prevent dehydration. The netting above the blueberries is to keep the birds from enjoying a free meal.

Fresh Picked Blueberries

When blueberries are ripe they are a deep bluish purple with a dusty blue haze. They are firm to the touch with a sweet, almost tangy taste. Blueberries will keep well for several days after picking. For best canning results process the berries as soon as possible after picking for optimal nutrition.

Cleaning blueberries is quite easy. When you pick blueberries the stem may stay attached to the berry. Remove this while cleaning. Do not use any unripe blueberries that are more of a red colour. Any over ripe or squished berries should not be used either.

A bit of a warning should come with blueberries. The juice stains! I advise wearing an old t-shirt that you don't care about when processing blueberries and keep plenty of wet dishcloths on hand to clean-up any spatters as you go.

Blueberry Products

Pictured are 3 of the blueberry products I made. They are blueberry syrup (3), blueberry juice (2) and blueberry pie filling (1). You will note the jars are arranged from last to first batch meaning the blueberry syrup was the last batch out of the canner. There is a reason for this. The last batch is always closest to the canner to save on the distance I have to move jars. The jars are always arranged in rows according to what they are. I know what they are but using this method ensures that they are kept straight prior to labelling. As you can see in the jars these 3 products look quite similar!


The blueberry pie filling (1) is one you really will want to keep a few jars on hand. It's easy to make and tastes delightflur! As always please read the notes at the end of the recipes.

Blueberry Pie Filling
source: Bernardin Ltd. Bernardin Guide to Home Preserving, 2006. Toronto, Ontario. Pp.43.

7 c blueberries
1⅔ c granulated sugar
⅔ c Clear Jel® starch
2 c water
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon peel (optional)

Wash and stem blueberries. Bring a large saucepan of water to a rolling boil then add blueberries. Blanch 1 minute. Drain the blueberries [reserving the liquid*] and keep warm. Combine sugar and Clear Jel® in a large sauce pan. Whisk in the water and bring to a boil. Cook and stir until the mixture thickens. Stir in lemon juice and peel. Cook 1 minute. Fold in the blueberries mixing well. Ladle into prepared jars leaving 1 - inch headspace. Wipe rims. Adjust 2 piece lids. Process 30 minutes in BWB at altitudes below 1,000 ft above sea level. At higher altitudes refer to the processing times on the altitude adjustment chart.

*My Notes: reserve the liquid to make blueberry syrup

I canned one jar of the reserve blueberry juice to use for baking. Then I used the remainder to make another batch of blueberry syrup modified from the recipe in the Ball Blue Book. If you recall the last batch of blueberry syrup I made was from Jean Paré's Preserves. As always when canning you may want to try two or three recipes to see which one you prefer.

Blueberry Syrup
source: modified from Alltrista Corp., Ball Blue Book, 2001. Pp. 76

5 c blueberry reserved juice (from pie filling)
2½ c sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

Combine juice and sugar in large saucepan. Bring to a boil then boil 1 minute. Stir in lemon juice. Ladle into prepared jars ¼ - inch headspace. Wipe rims. Adjust 2 piece lids. Process 10 minutes in BWB at altitudes below 1,000 ft above sea level. At higher altitudes refer to the processing times on the altitude adjustment chart.

Come on a Food Road Trip With Me in Southwestern Ontario

Friday I decided to do a larger produce run to one of my favourite produce hot spots following the Talbot Trail along the shores of Lake Erie. This scenic historical route was completed in 1820 overseen by Colonel Thomas Talbot. It stretches almost 500 km (300 miles) between Amherstberg, Ontario and the Niagra region. You would be hard press not to find good produce in this area rich in orchards, commercial green houses, smaller agriculture and even wineries.

My first stop was a resale shop where I picked up 20 canning jars for 75¢. She said they get one or two boxes of canning jars a week so I told her I would take all she could get so she is setting them aside for me. My husband iss going to stop next week to see what she has. Onto the day long shopping trip. I carried along my digital camera, lots of water and a homemade lunch. It was a hot, humid day so I decided against doing any actual picking although I knew there would be ample opportunity. All the produce purchased was locally grown.

I dropped off my husband then set off stopping at a nursery where they had flats of greenhouse plants on for $10. I bought a flat of impatiens (not shown) then stopped just a couple of block away to pick up pickling cucumbers, beets, radishes and mini zucchini (1). I headed west to a small greenhouse operation but they were closed. By then it was obvious the day was going to heat up a bit more than expected so I decided to take my purchases home so I could change. On the way home I stopped at my favourite raspberry U-pick (2). This U-pick is practically within walking distance of our house so I stop there quite often. I bought 4 pints of ready picked knowing that I would not be able to fit picking into my day's plans. This bit of backtracking cost me a bit in both time and kilometers but in the end it was a good decision.

On the way to my destination I stopped at Bulk Barn (4) where I picked up white chocolate chips, white Belgian chocolate, loose leaf tea, xanthum gum, sunflower seeds, organic pastas, 2 small bags of candy (5). Then I headed out into the bliss of a beautiful drive in the country.

Orchard stores are unpretentious and wonderful to shop in. My first orchard stop on the Talbot Trail was Greenview Orchards in Cedar Springs, Ontario (6). This is a lovely orchard that offers the produce they grow ready picked in a great little store at very reasonable prices. They also offer U-pick for some of their produce. I bought 11 qt sweet cherries, 4 qt blueberries, 4 qt new red potatoes, 2 qt green beans and 3 qt yellow plums (7).

With my purchases safely tucked in the car I headed south of the Talbot Trail towards Lake Erie (8) to enjoy a bit of photo opportunities. Lake Erie like all the Great Lakes is just pure eye candy! I drove along into Erie Beach enjoying the peaceful drive then backtracked to Talbot Trail where I stopped at Delhaven Orchards (9) where I picked up 4 qt yellow string beans, 3 beefsteak tomatoes (10).

I just love the scenic drive along the Talbot Trail! On both sides of the highway there are rows and rows of fruit trees (11) with the lake peaking through to the south and an endless expanse of farmland to the north. The highway is well maintained with wide shoulders that makes it quite easy to pull over to enjoy the view and take pictures.

Less than about a kilometer I stopped at Pardo's (12) another orchard with U-pick. They were extremely busy with people coming to pick raspberries. I didn't buy anything but took a few pictures. Along the Talbot Trail there are orchards after orchards and farms after farms with many of them offering U-pick (13). The pick your own opportunities are practically endless in this area!

The next stop was at the mushroom farm where I bought 15 lb white mushrooms (14). There are at least 3 large commercial mushroom farms in this area all with excellent prices if you buy directly from them. On the way home I stopped to pick up 2 bags potting soil and the most amazing cherry pitter I've ever seen (15)!

I hope you enjoyed coming on a food road trip with me. I'm tired but content so canning began tonight. The bean have already been canned. So stay tuned the next few days as I do a few things you've already ready about on this blog but also a few new things.

Blueberry Syrup

Ontario blueberries are now in season! They will be available from now until late summer but I plan on getting the blueberry products I'm putting up within the next week. The reason for this is other produce is simple time management. As the growing season progresses, the days get hotter, boating beckons and my gardens are producing it is a little more difficult to get out to the U-picks. I ever love to get my hands on some wild blueberries! They would make a beautiful syrup!

Preparations

Blueberries should be picked in season when they are blue with a powdery hue (1). They can be frozen as is without washing for later use or rinsed well for immediate use. While washing remove an reddish coloured berries that will not ripen after picking or wrinkled berries that are a bit over ripe. Combine the ingredients for the syrup then bring to a boil (2). Reduce the heat to simmer then cover and simmer for 10 minutes. The blueberry mixture is now ready for straining to separate the remaining berry pulp from the syrup.

I use a fine mesh strainer inside a colander set in a metal bowl (3) for straining the blueberry mixture. Then I lined the fine mesh strainer with two layers of cheesecloth (4). I moistened the cheesecloth before straining the blueberry mixture. If you don't moisten the cheesecloth it will act as a hungry wick absorbing the syrup.

Blueberry Pulp

The easiest way to transfer the mixture into the strainer is simply pouring. Do not be tempted to do this unless you want to clean your kitchen! The splatters will go everywhere. I used a ladle to transfer the mixture into the strainer (5). Once the syrup was separated I was left with a good amount of pulp very much the consistency of jam. I originally planned on drying this but decided to can it as well. I brought both the syrup and pulp to a boil (6) then proceeded with the canning. Don't throw out the soiled cheesecloth as it is made from cotton so can be put in your compost bin.

Out of the Canner

Blueberry products always look dark and regal when canned. The picture really does not do justice as to how pretty they look due to learning how to use my new camera. I ended up with 3 - 250 ml (half pint) jars of blueberry syrup, 1 - 250 ml jar of the blueberry pulp jam and a 125 ml baby food jar of the jam. The baby food jar is only for short term refrigerator storage as it was not processed. Baby food jars cannot safely be used in canning because the sealant on the lid has already been used so will fail. I like using them for storing that little bit of extra left over from canning that won't fill a regular mason jar.

Blueberry Syrup
modified from Jean Pare, Company's Coming Preserves (1994), Pp. 137

6 c blueberries
1 c granulated sugar
1 c water
1/2 c corn syrup
2 tbsp lemon juice, fresh or bottled

Rinse and drain blueberries. Measure ingredients into a large saucepan. Heat on medium high until mixture boils while continuously stirring. Cover then simmer for 10 minutes. Strain the mixture though a moistened cheesecloth lined strainer. Bring the syrup to a boil. Divide the syrup equally into 2 - 3 hot 250 ml (half pint) jars. Add boiling water if necessary to leave 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rims. Adjust two piece caps. Process in BWB 10 min at altitudes 1,000 ft or less above sea level. If above 1,000 ft refer to altitude chart. Remove from canner at end of processing. Let sit undisturbed 24 hours. Check for seal then store properly.

Yield: 2 to 3 - 250 ml jars

My Notes: 6 c of blueberries is roughly 2 lb or 2 quarts. I used organic cane sugar and bottled lemon juice (standardized) adjusted to 2 tbsp as per BBB. The corn syrup gives a silkier texture to the syrup while adding a bit of flavour. I processed the jam at the same time in keeping with current USDA recommendations for soft spreads.