Dandelion Jelly

I don't spray my lawn.  Do you?  I have chickens and dogs and kiddos that like to play/eat/romp on my lawn so lawn poisons are not my friend.  As a result, my lawn was covered in lovely yellow blossoms on Mother's day.  That's when I remembered that you can "do stuff" with dandelions.  Happy Day.

When I went outside on Monday, ready to pick dandelions by the handful, they had turned to puff balls - only a few spots of sunny yellow left.  Since I had my 3 year old and 1 1/2 year old helpers, and I had told them that we could make jelly out of the flowers, we went on a dandelion quest.  After scouring and picking in some good friends yards we had enough - more than enough - flowers to make a sunny, floral jelly.

Here is what I did.  It made 9 3/4 half-pint jars.

Dandelion Jelly

1 quart of lightly packed fresh dandelion flowers (you will need about 1 gallon of flowers with the bottom green which you will cut off)

2 quarts water

juice and rind of one lemon

1 Tablespoon dried lavender flowers (food quality) - optional

1 teaspoon vanilla

7 cups sugar

2 packages (6 Tablespoons) low-sugar pectin

coffee filters

The first part (after picking the flowers) is the most labor intensive part.  You need to clean each flower.  To do this, grab the petals and cut or pinch (I started out cutting and ended up pinching) the bottom green off of the flower.  The green parts turn bitter if you leave them on.  Trust me.  

A little bit of green is fine.  Keep going until you have about 4 cups of processed flowers. You'll make it, but your fingers will be a little discolored.  Cool.

Using a stainless steep pan, boil the dandelions and the lavender in the 2 quarts of water for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Add the lemon juice and the rinds into the liquid.  Let cool completely.

When the mixture is cooled, strain the mixture through a wire sieve with a coffee filter in it. (I did this part the night before and made the jelly the next morning.)

Prepare your jars, lids and boiling water bath.

Add the flower infusion to a deep jelly kettle.  Add the vanilla and the pectin.  Bring the mixture to a rolling boil. 

 Add the sugar all at once.  Stir to mix well.

While stirring, bring the jelly to a full rolling boil, again.  Boil for 1 minute.

Remove from heat.

Pour into hot, prepared jelly jars.  Wipe rims and place lids and rings.

Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Remove from water and set on towel covered counter.  Wait for the melodic "pings" of your jars of sunshine sealing.

Granola

I am on a journey.  An "I want to be healthy" journey.  I have been in the process of steering my family away from processed foods.  It hasn't been easy, but it is totally worth it.  At the same time, I am very overweight. Yep.  It's true.  I treat food as my drug of choice.  It's good - but it is not something that you can quit cold turkey.  A girl's gotta eat!  Amiright? 

Me and my beautiful sister, Mary.

Anyway.  Right now I am choosing to not eat carbs.  I can have anything I want.  But, today, I am choose to not eat carbs and I am choose to watch my sodium and fat, too.  I have also chosen to follow the Medifast plan.  I have lost 19.8 pounds in two weeks.  Wow.  My 18 year old daughter has lost 19 in 3 weeks (she started this eating transformation) and my 13 year old daughter has lost 6 in two weeks (she's on a teen program that encourages healthy carbs).  We are all feeling better and have more energy.  It is amazing what a little change in cooking will do for the whole family.

However, I  do have a family.  This includes 3 teenagers who DO eat anything and everything and a husband that does choose to eat carbs.  My barely 17 year old 6'4" boy - also the healthiest eater of us all (he doesn't like junk food or processed food.  I, on the other hand love fat and sugar like I love my own children.  Hence the problem.) - is hungry ALL THE TIME.

sigh

One of his favorite snacks is Greek yogurt with granola.  Here is my favorite recipe for it.  You can leave out the M&M's if you want (I know that they are not healthy.)

Granola

4 cups rolled oats
1 - 1 1/2 cups mixed grains (wheat germ, oat bran, flax)
2 cups nuts (pecans, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup (the real deal, not flavored corn syrup)
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 - 1 1/2 cup dried fruit (raisins, craisins, dried cherries, etc.)
M&M's or chocolate chips (optional)

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine the oats, grains, nuts and salt in a big bowl.  Mix it up.

Combine the sugar, syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon and vanilla in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

As soon as the sugars start to boil, remove from heat and pour over the oat mixture.  Stir it up.

Spread the oat mixture on a baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.  Stir once during baking.

Let the granola cool completely.

Stir in the fruit and chocolate.

Store in an airtight container.

Blood Orange and Grapefruit Marmalade

I had a few blood oranges and two grapefruit getting older on my counter. I hate to waste fruit.  Really hate to waste any kind of fresh food.  I think that is why I like canning so much.  You preserve your fresh stuff for later.

Happy day.

This marmalade was an experiment.  It turned out just how I like my marmalade - sweet with a slight bitterness from the grapefruit and the peel.  Yum.

Blood Orange and Grapefruit Marmalade

2 grapefruit

4 - 5 blood oranges

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups water

6 1/2 cups sugar

1 package low sugar pectin (3 tablespoons)

Pat of butter (optional)

Jars and lids (this made 7 half pints)

Prepare jars and lids. Get your boiler started.

Wash your fruit and zest the fruit.

Place the zest, baking soda, and water in a large pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.

While the peel is simmering, cut the remaining white pith off of the fruit. Slice and chop the remaining fruit, trying to catch any juice.  You should have about 4 cups of fruit and juice. Don't forget to remove the seeds.

Measure out the sugar and set aside.

Add the fruit to the zest and water.  Sprinkle the pectin over the fruit.

Bring the fruit to a rolling boil.

Add the sugar all at once.  Bring to a full rolling boil. When it is at a full boil, boil exactly 1 minute.

Remove from heat. Ladle hot jam into hot jars. Wipe the rims and place hot lids and rings on jars.

Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Remove from water and place on a towel covered counter.

Listen for the jars to ping.

Maple Balsamic Pork Chops

I am a pretty good cook.  But, it has been a while since I made a meal that pleased everyone at dinner, where all of the planned leftovers were eaten - even fought over, where the hubbie already was asking when we can have this again.

 By unanimous vote, all of my family insisted that I post again, even though I posted today already.  They want me to write down what I did with this dish.  It's that good.

About 3 weeks ago my youngest kiddo went "sugaring".  That is where, here in New England, you gather sap from the sugar maple trees and boil it down to maple syrup.  Pretty cool.

As a result, we have some yummy maple syrup.  I have been brainstorming ways to use it.  This recipe is a result of one of those brainstorms.

I served the chops with mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus.  To roast the asparagus, just cut off the woody end.  Place the asparagus on a baking sheet/jelly roll pan.  Drizzle the veggies with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoned salt OR salt and pepper OR whatever you want.  Stick it in the oven with the pork chops.  It will be done at the same time.

Maple Balsamic Pork Chops

6-8 pork chops, thick cut (or as many as your family will eat)

salt and pepper

1 Tablespoon canola oil (just eyeball it)

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1 Tablespoon brown mustard

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 Tablespoon butter

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2-3 Tablespoons cold water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Into a frying pan, heat the oil.  Season each chop with the salt and pepper.  Brown each pork chop in the hot oil, about 3 minutes per side.  You will probably need to do this in batches.

Place all of the browned pork chops in a roasting pan. (Don't clean or put the frying pan in the sink yet.  You will need this to thicken the sauce.)

Mix the maple syrup, vinegar, mustard and garlic in a measuring cup.

Pour over the chops.

Place the chops (and the asparagus if you are roasting that) in the preheated oven.  Bake for 15 minutes.

Mix the cornstarch and cold water.  Set aside.

Remove the chops from the oven and place them on a platter and tent them.

In the frying pan that you used to brown the chops, melt the butter.  To this, add the sauce from the roasting pan.  Bring to a boil.

While whisking the sauce, add the cornstarch.  Whisk until thickened.

Serve over pork chops.

Jam Bar Cookies

           

My oldest kiddo has peanut allergies.  This is a severe allergy.  One that could kill him.  When we discovered this allergy - just a few weeks before our second kiddo was born - we swept through the house, removing all items with the trace of peanuts.  It was rough.  Things I never imagined having peanuts had traces.  Needless to say, I never bought a granola bar or products made by elves since then.

One of the things he could have was Nutri-grain bars.  I bought them.  We loved them.

Now, I am trying to stay away from products with ingredients that I can't readily identify or purchase myself.  Here is the ingredient list for our favorite bars.

Ingredients

CRUST: WHOLE GRAIN OATS, ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, VITAMIN B1 [THIAMIN MONONITRATE], VITAMIN B2 [RIBOFLAVIN], FOLIC ACID), WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, SOYBEAN AND/OR CANOLA OIL, SOLUBLE CORN FIBER, SUGAR, DEXTROSE, FRUCTOSE, CALCIUM CARBONATE, WHEY, WHEAT BRAN, SALT, CELLULOSE, POTASSIUM BICARBONATE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, SOY LECITHIN, WHEAT GLUTEN, NIACINAMIDE, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, CARRAGEENAN, ZINC OXIDE, REDUCED IRON, GUAR GUM, VITAMIN B6 (PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE), VITAMIN B1 (THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE), VITAMIN B2 (RIBOFLAVIN), FILLING: INVERT SUGAR, CORN SYRUP, STRAWBERRY PUREE CONCENTRATE, GLYCERIN, SUGAR, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, SODIUM ALGINATE, CITRIC ACID, DICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, METHYLCELLULOSE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, CARAMEL COLOR, MALIC ACID, RED 40.

*sigh*

Here is my attempt to make a cookie bar like the Nutri-grain bars that we have given up.  The recipe is based on one I found on Ree Drummond's website (love her.)  These bars are really good.  I use my own jam, whatever flavor I want.  My oldest likes apple pie jam, I like any berry or apricot.  I used strawberry for the pictures (that jar was already opened.)

A plus for those with allergies - there are no eggs in this.  You could also make them gluten free, just substitute the all-purpose flour for any other kind of flour that you like.  I even made these for the Nursery class that I teach at church (18month to 3year olds) and they approved.  Happy day.

Jam Bar Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups oatmeal (not instant or flavored)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups jam (whatever kind you want)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cut off 1-2 Tablespoons of butter.  Use this to butter a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a food processor, put in the remaining cubed butter, flour, oats, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Process and pulse in the food processor until it is mixed and will press together.

You can do this by hand if you don't have a food processor.  Just cut the butter into the ingredients.  I didn't do it this way because I am lazy.

Press half of the oat mixture into the buttered pan.

Spread the jam over the pressed oat mixture.

Sprinkle the other half of the mixture over the top and pat it down.

Bake until light brown, 30-40 minutes.  I use the longer time on this one, otherwise I find that they fall apart.

Let the bars cool completely before cutting them. ( I actually like them better the next day.)

Strawberry Mango Balsamic Jam

I like the color of this jam - the vinegar makes it kind of burgundy

I have been a slacker in writing down my recipes.  I have taken some pictures of things that I have made, but I didn't write down what I did.  *sigh*  I will probably have to make the recipes again, and hope I can recreate each dish. 

I said this same thing to my family.  I thought I would get groans as they shared my frustration.  Oh, no.  Instead, I got, "I hope you didn't write down the jam bars!  I really like those!"; "I didn't see any paper for the Tres Leche Cake!  When do you think you can do that?";  "Does this mean we get clam chowder again really soon?!?"

Yep, a lot of support.

As I contemplated the contents of my fridge (come on, you know that you do it, too), I noticed strawberries quickly ripening yet not enough for a batch of jam. That was the initial purpose for the strawberries, but I have kiddos and I didn't label them for their purpose.  Okay, I like to see the kiddos eat healthy  snacks, so I didn't say anything.  Same thing for the mangoes.  Hmmm.

Strawberry Mango Balsamic jam was born.

Here are a few words of advice, if your sugar doesn't say "pure cane", it isn't.  It is probably corn and beet sugar.  That will make your jam runny.  Not good. Also, I use good Mexican vanilla.  I order it by the case.  You can get it here.  http://www.globalgoods.com/mexicanvanilla.html

If you only have Mc....ck vanilla, just skip it.  Really.  It is not worth using.

Strawberry Mango Balsamic Jam

jars and lids (this made 5 half pints and 2 pints of jam)

crushed strawberries and mangoes to make 4 1/2 cups of fruit

1 package (3 Tablespoons) low-sugar pectin

2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon good vanilla, or 1 vanilla bean - split and seeds scraped

1 small pat of butter

5 1/2 cups sugar (make sure it is cane sugar)

Prepare jars and lids and get your boiling water bath going.

Hull your strawberries, cut them up and crush them with a potato masher.

Slice and dice your mangoes.

Add the fruit to a large pot.  Add the vinegar, lemon juice and vanilla or bean and seeds.  Sprinkle the pectin around and stir it up.

Turn on the heat to med-high and stir frequently until it is boiling.  Add the pat of butter here.  It keeps the jam from foaming as much.  You don't have to, though.

Add the sugar all at once.  Stir frequently until it begins to have a rolling boil.  Boil for 1 minute.

Remove from the heat.

Ladle into the prepared jars.  Wipe rims. Place lids and rings on jars.  Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.