How to Dry Parsley in the Microwave
It's very easy to dry herbs using the microwave; it's almost magical. Carefully lay out the leaves, slide them into the microwave, nuke, beeeep, beeeep, beeeep... VOILA! Dried herbs. Microwave-dried herbs retain excellent color and potency. Start by laying the herb foliage in a single layer on a paper towel, either on the oven rack or on the glass insert. Cover the leaves with another paper... More...
By Jill | 5 comments | Full Recipe...How to Preserve Peeled Garlic Cloves
Have you ever purchased one of those large containers of peeled garlic from any Buy-In-Bulk-Warehouse to save yourself time and money? BUT THEN, after you got home you learned the garlic has an expiration date and you only have 3 weeks to eat 3 pounds of garlic! YIKES. Well, that happened to one of my dear friends. She called me up and said, "help me eat this garlic!" She sent over a large... More...
By Jill | 8 comments | Full Recipe...Home Canning Bread and Butter Pickles
Home canning is not hard and it's really not labor intensive. I'm sorry I didn't start canning YEARS ago. The key is having all the tools, pots, jars and lids ready and understanding the flow of the recipe. Home can one time and you'll have it down to preserve ANY food you like. The steps are pretty much the same. The only differences between recipes are the measurements of the ingredients... More...
By Jill | 0 comments | Full Recipe...Preparation of Fruits for Home Canning
Apricots: Peel or leave unpeeled; halve and pit. Berries (Except Strawberries): Wash, hull, sort over, using smaller and imperfect ones for juice. Cold-pack or precook if the berries are the kind which tend to float. To precook, sprinkle 1 to 2 cups of sugar over each quart of berries, depending upon their sweetness; let stand awhile to draw out the juice. Place in the kettle, bring to a boil,... More...
By Jill | 0 comments | Full Recipe...Canning Fruits – An Approximate Guide For Pounds Per Quart
This is only an approximate guide given to the amount of fresh fruit necessary to produce the amount of canned fruit desired. To yield 1 quart of canned fruit use: Apricots — 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 pounds Cherries — 1 1/2 pounds Peaches — 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 pounds Pears — 2 to 2 1/4 pounds Pineapple — 2 medium Plums — 1 to 2 pounds Rhubarb — 1 1/2 pounds Strawberries — 3 to 3 1/2 pounds Read More →
By Jill | 0 comments | Full Recipe...Preparing Sirup or Syrup for Canning Fruits
To 1 cup of sugar add the amount of water indicated below for the kind of sirup desired. If desired fruit juice may be substituted for part of all of the water. Thin Sirup calls for 3 cups of water to yield 3 1/2 cups of sirup. Medium Sirup calls for 2 cups of water to yield 2 1/2 cups of sirup. Thick Sirup calls for 1 cup of water to yield 1 cup of sirup. Read More →
By Jill | 0 comments | Full Recipe...Fresh Blueberry Spread Recipe
This fruit spread recipe is a sister to the Homemade Blueberry Syrup recipe. I took notice that the syrup recipe did not spell out to discard the fruit after it was drained. I tasted the berries and thought they just needed a little extra sugar and they could easily to be converted to a spread. I couldn't bare to throw them out, it didn't seem fittin'. HERE'S WHAT I DID 8 cups cooked &... More...
By Jill | 0 comments | Full Recipe...Homemade Blueberry Syrup
Think of a blueberry syrup that you would use to make fresh fruit sodas or stir into a milkshake, yogurt or ice cream. This recipe makes a thin, flavor packed syrup, not a thick pancake syrup. Now with that being said, let me just say this stuff is GRRRRR-EAT! The kiddos and I have been enjoying blueberry sodas made with 1 part blueberry syrup and 2 parts club soda on ice. They LOVE mixing... More...
By Jill | 0 comments | Full Recipe...Roasted Garlic Paste and Oil
Inspired by Michael Chiarello's book Flavored Oils: 50 Recipes for Cooking with Infused Oils. I have, rolling around my head, the idea to make a loaf of garlic bread. Not the bread with garlic spread on it's slices. Garlic stirred into the dough itself. Is your mouth watering just thinkin' about it? But first, I need to roast a few heads of garlic. And while I'm at it, I may as well make garlic... More...
By Jill | 3 comments | Full Recipe...Ruth Macy’s Apple Butter
For anyone has met my friend Ruth Macy, check out this video. She's known as the Apple Butter Lady during the annual Heritage Folk Festival, here in Sulphur Springs. Her recipe is easy to bring together and it's wonderful on hot biscuits or whole wheat toast. This recipe is for making a large batch to share and put up. HERE'S ALL IT TAKES 1 gallon apple sauce 1 quart of sugar 1 tablespoon nutmeg 1... More...
By Jill | 0 comments | Full Recipe...Meet My Friend, Linda
I met Linda T. through my dear friend, Kim. Kim said we would get along great and I just HAD to meet her. So she hooked us on a blind date phone call and the rest was left to me and Linda. Linda has YEARS and YEARS of experience "puttin'up" food. I have none, zilch, zip, notta. So see, we're perfect for each other already. I asked Linda if she would teach me about canning and allow me into her... More...
By Jill | 4 comments | Full Recipe...
