Zesty Bread 'N Butter Pickles

Locally grown pickling cucumbers became available about mid July.  I bought 2 quarts to start on my quest to find at least one good dill pickle recipe.  That was quickly followed by another 4 quarts of cucumbers an finally a hamper.  I spent a total of $30 on pickling cucumbers.  In perspective that would have bought me 6 - 1 gallon (3.8 L) jars of kosher dill pickles but store bought dills have sodium benzoate (a preservative) and yellow dye 5 (allergen), two ingredients we are avoiding wherever possible.  To break even on pickles I needed to have a total yield of 22.8 L of homemade pickles but only if I made all dill pickles.  Other store bought pickles, like sweet bread and butter pickles are as high as $3.89 for a 500 ml jar.  I decided to make a variety of cucumber based pickles to ensure I realized a savings.  Over the next few days I will share what I made with you. 

The first cucumber purchase was used to make Zesty Bread 'n Butter Pickles (left) and  freezer pickles (right).  Both are a sweet, tangy bread and butter pickle.  One is canned and the other is partially pickled before packing into jars then put in the freezer.  I used Tattler reusable lids on the canned pickles as pictured.  The bands are still on them because the jars just came out of the canner.  I used Bernardin storage caps on the jars for the freezer.  I have found that metal bands will rust in the freezer.  Note the difference in the colour of the two pickles.  The freezer pickles retain a brighter green colour.  Both are very flavourful pickles well worth having on hand.  My yield was 10 - 250 ml jars or 2.5 L.  At store bought prices this yield would have cost about $19.45 regular price and as low as $9.95 sale price depending on where purchased.

The Zesty Bread 'N Butter Pickles was a new recipe I decided to try this year from Bernardin Guide to Home Preserving, the Canadian equivalent to the Ball Blue Book.  I did a half batch rather than the full batch that would have given a yield of 7 - 500 ml jars.  I was quite pleased with the initial flavour of the pickles.  They looked quite nice in the jars as well.  There were no seal failures with the Tattlers so that was rather nice as well.

When making pickles, it is important to use a kitchen scale.  Most of the recipes are in pounds or kilograms with respect to the cucumbers and some additional vegetables.  Be sure to tare the scale with the bowl or container before weighing the produce.  To tare the scale, place the empty bowl on the scale and set to zero.  Now add the produce a little at the time until you reach the correct weight called for in the recipe.  Remove the filled bowl and prepare as called for in the recipe.  The scale should be tared each time you use it with a bowl or container.

Zesty Bread 'N Butter Pickles
source: modified from Bernardin Guide to Home Preserving, 2006, Pp. 73.

3¼ lb pickling cucumbers
½ lb onions
8 tsp pickling salt
2½ c white vinegar (5% acetic acid)
⅔ c granulated sugar
¼ c pickling spice
1 tbsp celery seed
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground turmeric

Wash cucumbers.  Cut a thin slice from each end of the cucumbers and discard.  Slice cucumbers and onions ¼ inch thick.  Layer the cucumbers and onins in a large glass or stainless steel container, sprinkling each layer lightly with salt.  Cover and let stand 15 minutes.  Combine remaining ingredients in large stainless steel saucepan.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and boil gently 15 minutes.  Drain the vegetables.  Add to pickling liquid.  Mix well.  Return mixture to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Ladle into hot jars leaving ¾ inch headspace.  Wipe rim.  Place two piece metal snap lids (or Tattler reusable lids or glass inserts) on jars.  Apply screw band according to type of lid being used.  Process 10 minutes in BWB at altitudes up to 1,000 feet above sea level.  At higher altitudes refer to altitude adjustment chart on Canning FYI page.  Remove from canner.  If using Tattler reusable lids or glass inserts, immediately tighten bands.  Do not tighten bands if using metal snap lids.    Allow to cool 24 hours.  Remove bands and check for seal.  Wash jars and bands.  Bands can be stored separately or replaced loosely on jars as desired.

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.

Fermented Dill Pickles

This past summer, much of my focus was on restocking the pantry.  Our house had been on the market for almost 19 months before it finally sold enabling us to buy our new home with a move in date of September 1, 2011.  We completed our move on September 12, signed the final papers on September 15 and flew out to our vacation home on September 18.  I had reduced my home canning to a considerably lower level for two years to accommodate the house sale and move.  It didn't help that the move and fall vacation coincided with the 2011 tomato harvest!  As a result, we were completely out of some of our home canned staples like pickles so I knew as soon as the busy canning season started that I would be quite busy.  This year I made zesty bread 'n butter pickles, best bread and butter pickles, dill slices, fresh pack dill pickles, fast favourite garlic dill pickles, freezer pickles, and fermented dill pickles that gave me a total of 31 jars (24 L total) of pickles in the pantry and 3 jars (0.75 L total) of pickles in the freezer.

Fermentation gives a distinctive tangy flavour foods like pickles and sauerkraut.  It is a long process that requires consistent monitoring and attention to detail for a 3 to 7 week period.  The food to be fermented is prepared and placed in the fermenting container.  I used an 11.4 L (3 gallon) ice cream bucket to ferment the pickles.  The cucumbers were then covered with the brine and weighted down so they stayed under the brine for the fermentation process.  The container was placed in the lower level of our home where it remained at 21°-24° C (70°-75°F) for the duration of the fermentation process.  It is very important that the temperature remains consistent throughout the fermentation process.  Once the fermentation is complete, the pickles are drained.  The brine is strained and heated to a boil then poured over the pickles that have been packed into hot, prepared jars.  The pickles are processed in a BWB canner for 15 minutes.  Some do not process fermented pickles as it destroys the probiotics but rather store them in a large container in the refrigerator.

I started the fermented dill pickles on July 20 but didn't can them until September 21 as the fermentation process took a bit longer.  Once the fermentation begins, small bubbles form on the surface of the brine.  After that, a scum forms on the surface.  This scum must be removed daily.  Clearly, I needed to tend to the pickles daily during most of the fermentation period meaning this is not a process that has to be planned ahead so as to not be interrupted via impromptu overnight trips or going to our vacation home.  Fermentation is definitely not something I can do during the autumn months because we spend two extended periods of time at our vacation home.

I ended up with 6 - L of fermented dill pickles which is a fairly good yield from 4.5 kg (10 lb) of pickling cucumbers.  I was a concerned that the brine was just a bit cloudy when I was filling the jars.  Brine can turn cloudy if table salt is used or from minerals in the water, however it can also be a sign of spoilage.  I had used Windsor pickling salt so knew that wasn't a problem and there were no obvious signs of spoilage (eg. mold, foul smell, slimy feeling) so I went ahead and processed them.  During the cooling period the brine returned to crystal clear.  In this case it must have been minerals in the water I used for the brine.  Next time, I plan on using filtered water even though our water is soft.  All in all, I was rather pleased with the results!

Freezer Pickles

Cucumbers are just beginning here although my vines don't have any yet. I make a small batch of freezer pickles each year. These are a bread and butter style of pickle.

Freezer Pickles

The recipe is rather easy. The pickles have an excellent flavour without the work of canning. The result is a tasty, crisp pickle. Unlike other pickle recipes "no" cooking is necessary. The recipe can be halved or doubled if desired. I like to freeze in the 14 oz (414 ml) zip loc containers. This is a nice size that tends to get used up within a meal or two. To use, simply defrost the container in the fridge and serve. Here's the recipe. I've included a note at the end of the recipe since I prefer to do the pickles that way.

Freezer Pickles

7 c pickling cucumbers
2 c diced onions
2 c green peppers
1 tbsp coarse salt
1 tbsp celery salt
1 tbsp mustard seed
1 1/2 c white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp tumeric
3 1/2 c white sugar
1/2 tsp alumn

Slice cucumbers into containers*. Mix together the rest of ingredients. Pour over cucumbers. Let sit for 3 hours. Freeze.

* Note: My preferred method is to mix everything in a large plastic bowl. Do not use metal. After the waiting period, I stir well then divide into the freezer containers. I find this is a lot easier.

Baked Pollock, Freezer Pickles & Starting Party Planning

With the move, settling in and renovating in time for our party on August 6, I have been relying on the grill and simpler meals. Yesterday I made a batch of freezer pickles for the party. I'll post more about the party preparations this week as we fine tune the menu. Watch for tomorrow's post as I finally found yellow corn! As taste tester extraordinaire, a few ears will be sampled tonight with beer battered pickerel. The rest are being either canned as corn relish or froze depending on how busy I get. I'm also making a batch of sweet pickle relish so watch for that recipe as well.

In my spare time, I will be: painting, caulking, organizing and killing gigantic spiders and other critters that would rather be indoors ;) Oh, I should tell you about our resident skunk too. That will have to wait as produce is ready to be preserved.

Freezer Pickles

Freezer pickles are my standard, dependable, no fail bread & butter style of pickle. It is as easy as mixing the ingredients together, letting them sit then pack into one or more freezer containers. I keep several of these containers in the freezer. I think it is best to use smaller, fresh grown pickling cucumbers for this recipe.

I made a larger batch and froze them in a 1660 ml (7 cup) freezer container. They will go nicely as an accompaniment for the party menu. I'll thaw them the night before in the refrigerator ready for the following day.


Baked Pollock

Meals as mentioned have been rather on the simple side. Last night I baked pollock for a quick, easy meal.

Ingredients:

680 g thawed pollock fillets
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 lime, thinly sliced
1 tsp lemon pepper (salt free)
1 tsp lime pepper (salt free)
extra light olive oil
1 tbsp melted butter

Place the thawed fillets on a double broiling pan that has been brushed with extra light olive oil. If desired to prevent the juices from burning place a cup of water in the lower pan. Lightly brush olive oil over the fillets. Sprinkle with lemon pepper. Place two lemon slices and one lime slice on each fillet straggling as needed. Sprinkle with lime pepper. Bake at 350ºF for 15 minutes or until fillets feel firm to touch and lightly golden brown. Brush with melted butter.

Pickling Spice Blend

I normally don't do much in the way of canning pickles other than the specialty pickles like pickled beets, pickled cauliflower and pickled onions.  I don't know what the problem was with dill pickles as I tried the same recipe every year with the same results, limp pickles.  I make freezer pickles each year that are a very nice, easy to make bread and butter style pickle and I resorted to buying dill pickles but they contain sodium benzoate and yellow dye 5 two food additives we are trying to avoid.  We do a lot of entertaining and one of our guests who cannot have gluten mentioned he can have pickles.  During one of our regular monthly get togethers, I put out a dish of dill pickles.  They were gone in an instant!  I refilled the dish and those went as well.  So I am determined to conquer making cucumber pickles.

Over the past few days, I have made Zesty Bread 'N Butter pickles, kosher dill pickles, dill slices, bread & butter pickles, freezer pickled and set up a 5 gallon pail of fermented dills.  So today, I went to can the fresh packed dill pickles that has soaked overnight only to find myself running low on pickling spice.  We live in a small community of about 11,000 and have just lost Sobey's so only have No Frills and Walmart for groceries.  About a year ago a small bulk food shop set up and we have M & M Meats for specialty frozen foods as well as a butcher shop and tiny artisan bakery.  Home canning is rather popular here especially for jams and pickles.  I have always been able to buy pickling spice at No Frills.  They are no longer carrying it.  I went to the small bulk food shop where I did find pickling spice then hurried home to get my pickles processed.  Lesson leaned, I will be stocking up on the ingredients to make my own pickling spice.  Here is the recipe.

Pickling Spice Blend
source: Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard, Small- Batch Preserving, (2001), Pp. 141.

Combine 2 tbsp (25 ml) each:

• allspice berries
• cardamom seeds
• coriander seeds
• whole cloves
• mustard seeds
• peppercorns

Add 2 bay leaves, crumbled; 2 cinnamon sticks, broken' 2 small pieces dried gingerroot, chopped, and 2 dried red chilies, drushed or 1 - 2 tsp (5 - 10 ml) hot pepper flakes.

Store in a tightly sealed container until ready to use.

Homemade Kosher Dill Pickles (video)

Jams and pickles are processed using a boiling water bath (BWB) canner all you really need is a stock pot tall enough to cover the jars by 1 - inch, a rack in the bottom, mason jars and 2-piece snap lids.  The equipment is very inexpensive and chances are you already have the pot.  However,  I often run across the question of how to preserve foods like jams and pickles without the necessary canning equipment.  In this case turn to your freezer and refrigerator.  One of our family favourite pickles that I make every year is freezer pickles.  I recently came across this video showing how to make Kosher dill pickles in the refrigerator that I am planning on trying as soon as my pickling cucumbers are ready in the garden.  What is nice about this is the recipe is per jar so you can tailor it to fit your needs making one or two jars as the cucumbers become available.  I will post my results later.  I've written out the recipe for you below the video.  Kirby is a variety of cucumber.  Don't worry if you don't have Kirby as any pickling cucumber will work in this recipe.

Homemade Kosher Dill Pickles
source: About.com video
note: recipe is per quart jar of pickles

5 pickle sized Kirby cucumbers, quartered
9 oz water
5 oz white vinegar (5% acetic acid)
¼ tsp sugar
2 dill heads and stems
1 lg clove garlic
1 small onion (golf ball size)
1 tbsp Kosher salt
handful peppercorns
handful mustard seed

Wash and quarter or slice cucumbers as desired or you can leave them whole.  Chop onion and place in container.  Add sugar, garlic, salt, peppercorns and mustard seed.  Add chopped dill.  Tightly pack pickles into container.  Pour vinegar and water into sauce pan.  Bring to to just barely a boil.   Pour over cucumbers to cover.  Place the lid on the container.  Let sit for one day then refrigerate.  The pickles will be ready to eat in 10 days but the longer they sit the more dill flavour they will have.

Shopping at Sam's Club

Many frugalistas take the approach that paying any type of membership to shop anywhere is not frugal.  Now I have had this argument with many who claim that paying to shop somewhere is not frugal.  I clearly take the stance that not only is it frugal in that the membership fee can easily be recouped in one shopping trip but also membership can save you on other fringe benefits like gasoline purchases, prescriptions, eye care, insurance and even travel.  We joined Pace ages ago when our kids were quite small.  With a growing family and business we needed every break we could get.  At that time you had to be a member of a union or a business owner to join.  A few years later Pace was taken over by Sam's Club.  We kept our membership and continue to maintain it at $35 per year so we can enjoy the lower prices.  We shop at the closest Sam's Club (US) near our home in Ontario, Canada and we shop at the Sam's Club near our vacation home in Florida.

Sam's Club is a warehouse style store that does have special perks for business members.  There is nothing fancy in the layout, no bags but lots of free boxes and no high pressured sales personnel but the prices are considerably lower than in general department and grocery stores.  Contrary to many beliefs, you do not have to buy in bulk for all food items.  Sam's Club has a wonderful selection of clothing, office and gift items as well.  Here are a few of my purchases on our last trip to Sam's Club.  We did re-coup the cost of our membership that trip.

I bought a Keurig single serve coffee maker almost a year ago.  We absolutely love this coffee maker that is in daily use.  The problem with K-cups is the expense ranging between 38¢ (online) to 79¢ on sale per cup of coffee.  So we have a My K-cup filtering system with two extra filters that allow us to use our regular ground coffee at 9¢ per cup.  However, K-cups are nice for entertaining giving guests more options especially with respect to flavoured coffees.

Sam's Club carries the 80 K-cup package for $39.98 which works out to 50¢ per cup of coffee.   The main downside is the selection is limited and it does vary based on availability.  This time they had Caribou Blend 100% Arabica coffee K-cups.  This is a medium roast coffee that is 100% Rainforest Alliance Certified.    This means the farm workers were fairly compensated, their communities were supported and the environment was treated properly.

I do a lot of canning which ultimately means during any canning session I can easily go through six or more T-towels.  At the same time many of the foods (eg. raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes) permanently stain T-towels.  Several years ago, I turned to using 100% cotton bar mops in place of T-towels.  I get them in a 24-pack at Sam's Club for $12.88 which works out to about 54¢ each.  At that price they are less than the price but higher quality of T-towels in the dollar stores and more than pay for themselves in reducing the amount of paper towels used.  I buy a package about every 18 to 24 months.

These towels are used as regular T-towels, for canning and home food preservation, cleaning up spills and much more.  They have replaced about 40% of my paper towel usage with another 50% of paper towel usage replaced by plain white 100% cotton wash cloths.  I no longer worry about staining.  If a bar mop gets too stained it goes into the cleaning pile and then eventually will make it's way to the garage.  If one goes missing, it doesn't bother me and I have no problem donating a few here and there if need be. 

Nachos are a huge hit with our monthly games night, special events and even our own snacking.  I buy restaurant quality tortilla chips at Sam's Club.  A box of 2-3lb bags of tortilla chips is $7.26 which is considerably higher priced than what they used to be but still a very good deal.  It works out to about the same amount as you would get in 6 large bags at the grocery store at about $3.50 per bag ($21).  I go through two to three boxes per year but our kids take some home too.

This can be a great savings for anyone.  I usually break down one bag into three extra large zipper style bags.  Each bag is enough for a games night.  The bags could be broke down into any desired size but cost per ounce will still be a lot lower than that in the grocery stores.

Since I do a lot of home preserving, we don't buy a lot of groceries the way a normal family would do.  We discovered Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce at a ribfest.  Ribfests are definitely the place to go to find delicious, unique and award winning sauces.  The ribbers managed to get their award winning sauce into the commercial market.  A 2 pk of 40 oz bottles of Sweet Baby Ray's costs $5.98 or 7¢ per ounce, about half the price of BBQ sauces in the grocery stores.

I home can 24 L (quarts) of dill pickles as well as make 6 - 500 ml (pint) jars of freezer pickles.  When I run out, I have no choice but to buy pickles.  Basically, I need to make more pickles!  A 1 gallon jug of pickles costs me $4.28 at Sam's Club.  If I had to buy cucumbers to make pickles, I could not make them for this price.  It is a rather good deal especially if you don't make your own pickles and don't want to pay the higher prices of the smaller jars of pickles.

Last May we had a scare with my husband who ended up being hospitalized.  While we still don't know the actual cause of that problem, additional testing revealed he is considered diabetic, manageable by diet for the time being.  I am considered pre-diabetic with high cholesterol levels so we start most days with Cheerios.  Seriously, we don't buy a lot in the way of dry cereals but Cheerios has been a long time family favourite!  This cold breakfast cereal is perfect for gluten free treats, cereal bars,  lowering cholesterol and it it heart friendly.  I bought Whole Grain Honey Nut Cheerios (3 lb) for $6.68 at Sam's Club.  This is about a third of the price in the regular grocery stores.

Sam's Club is the perfect place for substantial savings on food preservation products like wraps and freezer bags.  I honestly do not use a lot of the zipper style freezer bags so this box will last me a good year.  Ziploc bags (gallon size) in the grocery store cost 54.7¢ per bag but buying the large package at Sam's Club reduces that price to 8¢, well under the 30¢ per freezer vacuum bags I buy.

The aluminum trays are another real bargain.  I use a lot of these throughout the year in my bulk cooking sessions.  The Sam's Club price comes in at 22¢ each for a package of 30.  The same sized tray is $1.25 at the dollar store and $1.49 at the grocery store.  So buying at Sam's Club is a substantial savings!

I use aluminum foil for bulk cooking sessions.  That means I need heavy duty and enough to get through one or more bulk cooking sessions at a reasonable price.  Aluminum foil at Sam's Club comes in at 3.2¢ per foot or about half the price of heavy duty foil in the grocery stores. 

One of my biggest savers at Sam's Club is Simple Green.  This is a concentrated non-toxic, biodegradable all purpose cleaner.  A 1 gallon jug costs $8.78 but when used on the general strength will make 40 bottles, considerably less that what would be spent on the equivalent on commercially prepared cleaners.  This time I got a free spray bottle which was an added bonus.

Simple Green is a must have in our home.  We use it for a lot of cleaning and I do make various dilutions all in convenient spray bottles.  I use it undiluted for tough cleaning jobs (eg. toilets) and degreasing, cleaning floors, all hard surfaces AND my husband uses it outdoors for washing the care and siding.  This gallon of Simple Green will last us about 18 months making it a very frugal purchase.  The annual saving from buying this gallon of Simple Green will more than pay for our membership!

Club stores that charge a membership can indeed be very frugal places to shop.  The membership ensures you are getting that item at the lowest price possible.   Just as in regular grocery shopping or bulk buying it is very important you know the unit price elsewhere to be sure you are getting the best value for your dollar.  Never buy any food product you will not use regardless of the price.  Other than that, I highly recommend shopping the warehouse style stores even though they do charge a membership.

The Issue of Preservatives

If you have been following this blog you will know it is very much about making it at home if possible.  In most cases homemade is cheaper and in many cases the homemade product is healthier through less artificial flavours, colourants and preservatives.  So by all means and given the amount of home canning I do on a regular basis and given that home canning results in a healthier, less expensive product I am hesitant to to say that there are sometimes commercially canned may be the most frugal choice.

I grow a descent sized garden and what I don't grow I buy from local farmers, usually organic.  The past few years has been iffy with respect to pickling cucumbers.  At best I've managed to grow enough to make a good sized batch of freezer pickles. I've managed to siphon off enough for a batch or two of dill pickles but it has been really hard.  The real catch comes if I buy pickling cucumbers enough for 4 L jars I will pay around $8 which doesn't sound all that bad.  Except I can buy a 1 gal (a little over 4 L) for about $4 at Sam's Club.  In this case it makes sense to buy the jar from Sam's Club or does it? 

The Sam's Club jar contains sodium benzoate as a preservative.  Since the pickles will not be heated that isn't a concern but if they were heated sodium benzoate reduces to benzene, a known carcinogen.  The commercially canned pickles also contain polysorbate 80 (an emulsifier) and yellow 5.  While polysorbate 80 is not carcinogenic I question why it is there in the first place.  Yellow 5 is the food dye tartazine, an azo dye.  The problem with tartazine is it does cause allergic reactions especially in those sensitive or allergic to aspirin.  Tartazine is an asthma trigger and can cause outbreaks of hives.  As a person with allergies including food allergies suddenly that $4 jar of pickles does not look so appealing.  Well the jar looks rather good for later storage and the pickles will be used for those not sensitive.  In this case though the pickles were not a frugal choice.  Even though making my own would have cost more they would have resulted in a significantly safer product for those like me that are sensitive to food dyes and preservatives.

Sam's Club also sells premium olives in a two pack of 21 oz jars for about $5.  Since I have absolutely no ready source for raw olives I have no choice but to buy them.  The only preservative in the olives is potassium sorbate, the salt of sorbic acid.  Sorbic acid is an unsaturated carboxylic acid that occures naturally in some berries.  Potassium sorbate is a preservative used to inhibit molds and yeasts in cheese, wine, yogurt, dried meats, apple cide, dried fruits and baked goods as well as many personal care products.  It is aluse used as a wine stabilizer.  Potassium sorbate is non-irritating and non-sensitizing with allergic reactions being quite rare.  The olive contain no additional dyes or preservatives.  In this case the olives are a frugal choice for me. 

Now this is something to keep in mind.  If a product like the dill pickles have the potential to cause food related allergies they are best avoided entirely.  In this case the homemade version is the more frugal choice even if it ends up being more expensive.  On the other hand a product like the olives that is rather benign the commercial version is the frugal choice.  As a bit of an aside, many people experience side effects specifically from commercially canned foods than they realize.  Consider the person sensitive to tartazine, a couple of pickle slices might give a slight rash while a whole pickle might give a greater reaction BUT with allergies each exposure will give a stronger reaction.  So if you are looking for possible solutions to unexplained rashes, hives, or something similar start checking those food labels!

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.

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Condiments

Typically, condiments are used to enhance the dining experience by adding a punch of flavour or even a contrast in flavour.  Condiments include soy sauce, ketchup, relish, pickles, mayonnaise or Miracle Whip, horseradish, mustard and some sauces (eg. old fashioned chili sauce, guacamole, salsas).  However, caramelized onions, chopped onions, bacon bits, fresh grated parmesan cheese and seared mushrooms could be considered condiments depending on their use.  Store bought condiments can be either a bargain or rather expensive.  For the most part, making your own condiments is less expensive than store bought.  The nice thing about homemade condiments is you can tailor them to your needs getting a product you can't buy in the grocery stores.  Here are a few tips for saving on condiments.

• soy sauce -  Soy sauce is high in sodium and it is one food where brand name does seem to matter as far as taste.  I have never found a store brand that taste as good as the brand name.  
• ketchup - By far the cheapest, tastiest ketchup is homemade especially if you grow your own tomatoes and homemade doesn't contain HFCS.  If buying ketchup in the grocery store, buy the largest size possible based on unit price.  Some brand names are available in institutional sizes that usually are less expensive than smaller containers.  When you get home, divide the ketchup down into smaller sized containers then freeze all but one.  Some have asked if they can home can store bought ketchup in smaller sized mason jars.  The answer is yes BUT I don't recommend it.  The end result is fine but you still have all the preservatives, artificial colours and HFCS in the product, something I feel is contrary to the ideals of home canning.
• relish -  Relish is incredible cheap and easy to make.  They are processed in a BWB canner meaning you don't need an expensive pressure canner to process relish.  Cucumbers are easy to grow but if you don't grow them, the grocery stores often put field cucumbers on sale.  Four or five cucumbers make a lot of relish so even if cucumbers are bought in the grocery store, it is still cheaper to make your own.
• pickles - Homemade pickles are simply delightful.  I make freezer pickles (a bread and butter, no muss pickle), pickled beets, pickled onions, pickled beans and dill pickles.  I also buy dill pickles when I run out and by far the large 1 gallon jars are the cheapest at about $3 per jar.  Really they are even cheaper than homemade but they do contain artificial colour and preservatives.  Both dill and bread & butter pickles are available in the gallon jars.
• mayonnaise or Miracle Whip -  If you have 2 minutes of time you can easily make your own mayonnaise or Miracle Whip at a fraction of the cost of store bought.  The taste is incredible!
• mustard - By far the most common mustard is the generic yellow.  Buy this in the institutional size and refrigerate.  It will keep for ages.  You can make a cheaper and tastier mustard using mustard powder and most gourmet mustards are less expensive if you make your own.  
• horseradish - Unless you grow your own horseradish it is easier to buy prepared horseradish in the grocery store.  As soon as horseradish is made it begins to lose potency so by it as fresh as you can and in a small enough size to use up fairly quickly.  Use horseradish to make homemade horsey sauce and seafood sauce or use it in dips.
• sauces - Quite often sauces are used as a condiment.  Make these yourself for unique and inexpensive condiments.

Thanksgiving 2009 Highlights

The Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October. We normally have our big family Thanksgiving meal on Sunday before on years we are at home. If you recall we arrived home the previous Wednesday after being away for 6 days. The following couple of days I was busy processing corn so I had Saturday to do the menu and prep work for the meal. The meal highlights were the roast turkey and apple pie.

Roast Turkey

I decided to keep the menu simple relying on my freezer and pantry supplies since this was going to be a smaller family gathering. The turkey had already been taken out to thaw and I had plenty of potatoes on hand. The stuffing as in most turkey meals tends to take the place of bread even though I usually make a loaf. Saturday was quite cold and rainy so grocery shopping didn't sound like a very appealing endeavour to either of us so shopping the home supplies worked well.

The star of the show was the turkey accompanied by baked potatoes, niblet yellow corn, stuffing, gravy and freezer pickles. It was a simplified version of our normal Thanksgiving meals but still quite enjoyable. That bird tasted every it as good as it looked!

Apple Pie

The kids brought an apple pie from Chudleigh's in the spring so I pulled it from the freezer for dessert. These homemade style pies simply need to be reheated in the oven. Pictured is the ready to serve warm pie sitting safely in the homemade ceramic pie keeper.

There are pies and then there are pies. Homemade pies are wonderful! Places like Chudleigh's are selling homemade-style pies that really are about as close to homemade as you can get. They use fresh fruits to make the filling and the pie crust is made from scratch. Just like most homemade pies they can be frozen until you want to use them. This is an excellent and tasty alternative for those who don't like making pies or find themselves in need of a quick homemade quality dessert but don't have the time to make them.

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Estimating How Much Food Home Can

Home canning is the most frugal activity possible.  Even if you only home can high acid foods (eg. jams, jellies, pickles, fruits) you can save a significant amount on your food costs.  Add canning low acid foods (eg. vegetables, meats, poultry, soups, dried beans) greatly increases your food cost savings.  Keeping a well stocked pantry that relies heavily on home canned foods requires a bit of planning.  The ideal goal is to put up enough produce to last until the next growing season with a bit extra as reserves and for gift giving.  There are three approaches to home canning.  The first approach is to simply can whatever possible.  This approach is the one used most often by new home canners.  The problem is it can lead to too much of one product and not enough of another but it is a good way to get started in home canning.  The second approach is to use a canner's planning guide based on the number of servings per week as recommended by Canada's Food Guide.  This approach can be quite overwhelming for new home canners as it would result in 824 - L jars, 72 - 500 ml (pint) jars and 160 - 250 ml (half-pint) jars for a total of 1,056 jars of food for a family of four.  The third approach and the most versatile is a combination of the first and second approach.  It also takes into account your family's actual food usage while giving you the flexibility of preserving your garden harvest as well as taking advantage of fresh local produce and meat or poultry sales.  I use the third approach which is, in my opinion, the frugal and cost effective approach.  Here are a few tips to help you estimate how much food to home can.

• basic calculations - amount used per week X 52 = amount required per year OR # jars used per dish X number of times the dish is made per year
• take stock - Go through all of your food cupboards, your pantry and your freezer.  Make a list of the foods you use on a regular basis.  If there is a food product like relish that has sat in the cupboard for over a year that is a strong indicator that you should not be home canning relish.  If there is a product you use a lot of like tomato sauce that is what you should be home canning.  Make note of the size jar or can you are currently buying as that will be very similar to the size you will want to use for home canning.
• focus on what you use -It is nice to experiment and each year I always try a few small batches of a new product to home can but my main focus is canning what I know we will use.  We use a lot of tomato product, green beans, kidney beans and meat/poultry stocks so that is the focus of a good portion of my home canning.  I can other foods in lesser quantity.  For example, we have green beans at least twice a week.  That means I need to can at least 104 - 500 ml jar.  Another example, we use home canned carrots not as a side but rather an ingredient.  I use 1 - 500 ml jar about once a month in the cooler weather.  November through March is 5 months so I need a minimum of 5 - 500 ml jars carrots.  I usually round this up to 8 so I can run a full half canner load. 
• don't go overboard - If you are the only one in the house that likes pickles, don't can 40 jars of pickles.  Do a small batch or two of whatever pickles you like.  This will give you 2 to 7 jars of pickles depending on the size of the jar used.  The average small batch recipe gives a yield of 4 - 500 ml jars.  Any new product that you have never canned before but like the sounds of it so would like to try should be canned in a small batch size.  This reduces waste in the event you do not like the food.
• think convenience -  Some home canned foods are convenience foods (eg. kidney beans) while others are great quick meal starts (eg. meatballs in sauce).  I use 6 - 500 ml jars of kidney beans per batch of chili (huge batch).  I make about 6 batches this size per year and the resulting chili itself can also be canned for a ready meal.  At minimum I need to can 36 - 500 ml jars of kidney beans (#used X times made). 
• break up canning sessions - I use a lot of meat stock, upwards of 4 - 500ml jars per week.  The basic calculation would mean I need to can 4 x 52 = 208 jars of stock BUT meat and poultry stock can be canned year round and is canned when the bones are available.  That means I can stock as I have the bones throughout the year.  Tomatoes are a horse of another colour.  Our garden starts producing tomatoes by mid-July but the bulk of the tomato harvest here is September through mid-October or first frost.  Over that time period I will do multiple canning sessions focusing only on tomato products and usually one or two tomato products per session.  Depending on the product each session will give a yield of 12 to 48 jars of food.  The pre-determined number of jars of each product determines how many canning sessions I need to do for that particular product.  For example, if I need 24 - 500 ml jars of roasted tomato basil sauce with each batch giving me a yield of 6 - 500 ml jars, I need 4 batches total.  Since this is a long cook sauce, I would make one batch per session in addition to whatever else I was canning during that session.  I would need 4 canning sessions to complete what I needed for the roasted tomato basil sauce but at the same time would be running another tomato product like whole tomatoes while the sauce cooked.
• keep records -  I keep detailed records of what I canned, the cost of the raw ingredients, any problems encountered and the yield as well as the inventory for any product in the pantry when I am ready to a canning session for that product.  This information helps me form my canning plan for the following year.  For example, if I made 12 jars each of mild, medium and hot salsa (total jars 36) but have only 2 jars of mild salsa left, it would mean I have to increase the amount of all three salsas  Chances are good, I ran out of the medium and hot, then stretched the mild to get to the next canning season.  I would increase the total number of jars by 12 then track whether it was enough or not.  On the other hand, if I canned 12 jars of cherry jam and my inventory was 8 when cherries were ready that would mean there would be no need to can more or I could do a small batch of cherry jam to replace the 4 jars used, which is likely what I would do.  If I find like last year there is a higher demand for something I usually don't make (eg. dill pickles) I note that so that I can include that product in the following year's canning plan.
• be flexible - Some years are good gardening years with plenty of local fresh produce at reasonable rates.  Other years it can be harder than heck to keep the garden going or find the fresh produce you want to can.  This is why I always add a 10 - 20% margin on what I am canning unless it is a new test product but if it is something I just have a feeling about I will make a two year supply.  For example, if I need 12 jars of peaches I would round it up to 14 jars which would be two canner loads of 500 ml jars BUT if peaches were expensive the year before yet abundant and inexpensive that year with predictions of adverse weather conditions that may drive the price of peaches up the following year, I would can 28 jars.  I always take into consideration the availability of what I'm growing plus what is available locally for purchase.  At the same time if there is a good sale on produce, meat or poultry I will take advantage of it.  It's usually for produce that isn't grown locally (eg. citrus, mangos) but again I follow availability and our usage.

Festive Spring Salad

Despite serving salads almost daily as part of our lunch and dinner few seem to be featured on this blog. Sometimes the entire meal is a salad. This really is an oversight on my part mainly because most of our salads are of the tossed greens variety that really are so simple to make no further explanation is needed. That being said even tossed salads can be interesting and refreshing. I decided to use a spring theme for dinner when the kids and second grandbaby were home for Easter.

Festive Spring Salad

If you look at most salad bars the offerings tend to be iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, imitation bacon bits, croutons and a limited choice of dressings. Larger salad bars also offer a limited choice of prepared salads, cottage cheese, green peppers and sunflower seeds. Some even offer fruits like melon cubes, grapes and strawberries. If you order a garden salad chances are good it comes with tomato, cucumber and onion on a bed of lettuce with a choice of dressing. Salad greens do form the basis of many salads but think outside of the box!

I love playing with colour when it comes to food presentation. The colours in this beautiful spring salad makes your mouth water in expectation. I used an iceberg and leaf lettuce blend for this salad. The toppings included English cucumber slices, red onion slices, shredded carrots, shredded red cabbage, fresh raspberries and walnut pieces. I made a raspberry vinaigrette for the dressing. It was a wonderful taste of spring!

Raspberry Vinaigrette

1 tbsp green onion, chopped
¾ c fresh raspberries
¼ c frozen apple juice concentrate
¼ c raspberry vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
pinch sea salt
honey to taste

Place all ingredients except honey in blender and puree until smooth. Refrigerate 1 hour before serving. Shake well.

Ham Dinner

Putting a quick yet tasty meal together is always easy with quick starts in the freezer and fresh vegetables. I used a package of spiral ham leftovers from the freezer paired with baked potatoes, steamed asparagus, homemade bread & butter pickles and festive garden salad. The steamed asparagus was lightly buttered then garnished with sesame seeds. I like topping potatoes with sour cream or homemade yogurt but other than that the meal was rather low fat.

Ham is one of those meats that a lot of people don't think to freeze yet it is one I like keeping packets in the freezer for quick meals. Ham freezes nicely in a large piece or as slices and cubes. Since the ham is already cooked it can be used simply by thawing for sandwiches and salads or heated as the meat component for a meal. Ham pieces can also be added into soups, casseroles and egg dishes so do keep a few packages in the freezer.

Roasted Chicken (Whole Chicken Sale)

A few years ago when the threat of swine flu (renamed H1N1) was at it's peak and misinformation ran amuck, many Canadian pig farmers gave up raising pigs.  This resulted in the price of pork products plummeting.  Concerned consumers misinformed that they could contract the flu via eating pork hastily switched to other meats causing their prices to rise considerable.  Pork roasts were going for as low as 99¢ per lb but chicken pieces with backs attached that normally went on sale for 49¢ per lb increased to a new low price of 69¢ with the sales becoming less frequent.  It has been virtually impossible to get whole chickens here for a decent price for a couple of years now.   Of course, whole chickens are what I've been trying to find on sale for grilling.  Finally, I found whole chickens at a stock up price.

The local Wal*marts (Canada) are currently running a sale of two whole chickens for $10.  The surprising part is regardless of the size of the prepackaged two pack the price is $10.  This means a frugal shopper will search through the packages to find the heaviest weight ones.  My husband picked up a 3.46 kg package.   The chickens are packaged on a foam tray wrapped with plastic (not my favourite packaging).  They have been cleaned so no necks or giblets but they are trussed with twine for easy roasting.

A nice sized whole chicken will make two to four dinners.  At the sale price that ends up being between $1.25 and $2.50 for the meat portion of the meal.  I can stretch it a bit further if I make soup or stew.  In addition to that depending on what I make, the carcass can be used to make chicken stock furthering the savings.  In comparison to other meats it is still a rather good deal.

I put one of the chickens in the freezer and roasted the other.  I roast chicken very much the same way I roast a turkey, low and slow then increasing the temperature towards the end for browning.  I usually stuff the birds.  That is I make stuffing (in the bird) rather than dressing (outside the bird).  Stuffing is an excellent substitution for bread or rolls for the meal.  My stuffing is about as simple as you can get, exactly the way my Mom made it.  I use day old bread, chopped onion, poultry seasoning, sea salt, fresh ground pepper and butter.  Then I stuff the bird in both cavities (breast, neck) as full as I can get it.  After roasting I remove the bird from the oven and scoop out the stuffing into a serving bowl.  I use the pan drippings to make gravy.

Roasted chicken is not a meal that needs to be restricted to weekends only.  It is quite easy to make during the week as well.  It's even easier if you keep the sides simple like baked potatoes that can be cooked during the last 45 minutes of the chicken roasting time.  I served the chicken with baked potatoes, home frozen niblet corn and freezer pickles.  This really is a comfort meal during the winter months.

My husband is going to pick up a couple more packages of the chickens before the sale ends.  So far this year the sales seem to be focusing on chicken so perhaps that will be the bargin meat of 2011.  All food sales are cyclic and they are usually triggered by external forces.  It will be interesting to see if the chicken sales continue.  Chicken will be a nice change from pork that has held the cheap meat crown for the last couple of years.

My Husband's Grilled Ribs

During the summer months we eat a fair number of ribs.  We each have our different styles of cooking ribs so ribs tend to be different each time we serve them. After our vacation my husband headed right to the grill where he managed to grill a lovely meal of T-bone steaks.  He had to fix our grill before we could use it again as the burner was beyond being able to use.  Replacing a burner in a grill is not expensive or difficult but it is a dirty job! 

The kids emailed to say they would be down on the weekend so I took one of the large packages of ribs from the freezer.  It turns out they weren't going to be here for dinner but the ribs did not go to waste as friends came for dinner.  My husband baked the ribs covered at 150ºC (300ºF) for 3 hours then finished them on the grill, mopping them with Diana Sauce® in the last 15 minutes of grilling.  It is important when using a mop (wet sauce) to not put it on the ribs too early or at too hot of temperatures as the sugar in the sauce will burn.  The mop should be brushed on 15 to 20 minutes before the meat is to be served.  Let it slightly caramelize on the first side then flip, mop again and let the sauce slightly caramelize.

I served the ribs with grill baked potatoes topped with sour cream and garden fresh chives, bean and carrot mixture and freezer pickles (not pictured).  It was a simple summer meal served outside on the dock enjoying the good company of friends with the sights and sounds of the water.  The ribs were nice and tender, melt in your mouth and packed full of flavour.  The real trick with cooking ribs is long and slow!  Most recipes call for pre-cooking ribs in the oven or on the grill in a covered roasting for a period of time usually 3 hours or more at a low temperature then following up by finishing on the grill at a higher temperature using a rub and/or mop.  Ribs using a dry rub sometimes are not pre-cooked but I don't find those as tender.  Done properly with a long-slow pre-cooking then finished on the grill gives lovely, mouthwatering, fall-off-the bone, melt-in-your-mouth ribs.

Our Christmas Dinner 2011

We spent this past holiday season at our vacation home in the sunny south.  It was a very different Christmas not being surrounded by family and friends.  We have only been away from our home on Christmas day on one other occasion when we took the kids south one year.  It was hard then and it was hard for use to be away this past year.  Prior to leaving we knew a couple of our kids would join us for the holidays but we had arranged to have our big Christmas celebration on January 22, 2011. 

My husband and I were up bright and early full of anticipation.  We sipped on our coffee while getting the turkey ready for the oven.  Then we moved on to making the many appetizers we would enjoy throughout the afternoon (eg. kibbeh, crabmeat dip, hummus, crudites, and etc.) First to arrive were parents of oldest and youngest grandkids.  The kids were extremely excited to see us so there were a lot of hugs and kisses.  Next to arrive were parents of middle grandkid who was excited to see Grandma and Papa as well as cousins.  It is so cute to see these three little ones interact!  We chit chatted enjoying an abundance of snacks while waiting for one of our kids with significant other to arrive for the magic present opening time.  We were all saddened a bit that one of our kids with spouse could not make it.  We had stopped by their place to stay a couple of days before returning home so brough well wishes for the sibs home with us.

I kept the dinner quite traditional this year.  We had turkey with stuffing (not dressing, stuffing), gravy, peas, corn, and home canned cranberry sauce.  I put out freezer pickles and pickled beets in Depression glass pickle dishes.  We had fully planned on making Swedish potatoes, a family favourite but we were enjoying simply being with the family so much that my husband decided to put potatoes in to bake during the last hour of the turkey roasting.  We brought down the large fold-up table to adjoin the dining table so we could all sit together.  In total there were 12 of us.   It was a wonderful dinner filled will lots of laughter and good memories!  That is what it's all about :)

A Busy Preserving Weekend

It has been a busy preserving weekend thanks to the foodie road trip. Friday night I canned up the wax and yellow beans. The kids were here yesterday with all three grandbabies then we went boating when they left so I didn't get as much canning done as I should have. I managed to get blueberry pie filling and blueberry juice canned. So far today I've canned blueberry syrup, chocolate raspberry sauce, low sugar cherry jam, regular cherry jam with one batch using regular pectin and the other using Pomona's pectin. The plum sauce is simmering so will be next in the canner. The freezer pickles will be ready to put into containers around 11 pm. Tomorrow I will be canning mushrooms and pickled beets. I will also be drying mushrooms if the humidity level stays low enough. Starting Tuesday I will begin posting pictures and recipes of this weekend's canning.

Sourdough Crackers

Sourdough discard is inevitable with maintaining a sourdough starter.  It is never ending but can be controlled or reduced if necessary.  There are a lot of great ways to use up sourdough dough discard.  Basically work it into any recipe using water and flour.  I don't even measure when using in certain recipes but others are a bit more precise.

Sourdough crackers are a perfect way to use up sourdough discard.  This recipe only takes three ingredients, has no rise time and the dough will keep for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.  So you can always have a ball of dough ready for another batch.  It is also very, very versatile in that you can use any seasoning desired on top or simply sprinkle on a little sea salt.  We prefer these sourdough crackers topped with Za'tar seasoning and just a wee sprinkle of sea salt.

The secret to a good soughdough cracker is to roll the dough out to the thickness of a sesame seed.  One half of the dough will be enough to cover a 13" x 18" cookie sheet.  It's best to roll out the dough on a Silpat or parchment paper.  Once rolled, the dough is cut into the desired size.  I like using a pizza cutter for this purpose.  I also use a straight edge but that isn't necessary.  

These crackers are beyond delicious!  Don't let the thinness fool you as they are very filling.  They are a perfect snack tray item that pair nicely with a multitude of other offerings.  I made a quick snack tray using peameal bacon , freezer pickles and smoked chipotle cheese from Stonetown Artisan Cheese.  Delicious!

Roast Beef Dinner

Last summer I canned a few jars of tomato stock.  Tomato stock is the clear golden liquid that separates out of tomato purée.  It has a wonderful mellow tomato flavour so is ideal for adding a subtle flavour to soups, gravies, dressings and marinades.  The stock is slightly acidic so acts as a meat tenderizer as well.

I decided on a small (just under 4 lb) outside round roast cooked low and slow in the countertop roaster for dinner a couple of nights ago.  I seasoned the roast with Montreal Steak seasoning then added sliced onions and splashed on a little Worcestershire sauce.  Instead of adding a little water to the bottom of the roaster I added a 250 ml (half-pint) jar of tomato stock.  I set the roaster to 130ºC (250ºF) for about 3½ hours.  Then I removed the roast from the roaster to rest while I made the gravy.  Here's where things got a bit interesting.

The sliced roast beef was topped with creamy beef gravy then served with steamed potatoes, niblet corn,  freezer pickles and yogurt bread.  The creamy beef gravy got a lot of compliments.  It was just a bit different than plain beef gravy, quite rich and tasty.  The meat was tender, juicy and flavourful.  I really like the way the tomato stock enhanced the flavour of the meat and gravy.

Creamy Beef Gravy
There was about 2½ c tomato stock based reserve liquid from roaster.  I poured this liquid into a sauce pan then added 1 tsp Grace's browning and stirred in ½ c heavy whipping cream.  Then I brought this mixture to a low boil and stirred in a flour slurry and cooked until the gravy was thickened.  I strained the gravy before serving.