GZ Tai-Tai

Black n’Blueberry Jam

We thought we would do a mixture of blackberries and blueberries. This is a delicious combination, I am so glad we did it!

4 1/2 cups mixture of crushed blackberries and blueberries

4 Tbsp. lemon juice

7 cups sugar

2 pouches 3oz each liquid pectin

Using a prepared canner and clean, sterilized, jars and lids. For more info on this you can go here to the Ball website and they have step by step for all your canning needs I did the water bath method of canning.

In a large stainless steel pot, combine the fruit, lemon juice, and sugar. On high heat stirring constantly bring the ingredients to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Now stir in the pectin. Boil hard, while stirring constantly, for one minute. Remove from heat and skim off the foam.

Ladle the hot jam into your prepared hot jars, leaving 1/4 of an inch head space. Remove air bubbles and add more jam if needed to acquire the correct head space. Wipe the rim of the jar. Center lid on the jar. Screw the band on the jar until fingertip tight.

Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water 1 – 2 inches.  Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes with lid on canner.  Remove canner lid and wait 5 minutes then remove jars, cool and store.

Soup and a Hug

We have been under the weather since New Years. I am not sure if that is an indication of the year 2012 or not.... I guess we will celebrate 2012 over Chinese New Year, I am hoping we will all be well soon.  The virus started with myself, then my son still struggling with it and not well enough for school yet. Now my daughter has it. Hopefully hubby won't get it, knock on wood.

We have had a lot of soup during this virus that we are battling, the kids have said, "No more soup Mom". 

I made soup home made a few times, we had canned soups and the instant noodle soups. The canned and the noodle soups not being the most healthy so high in salt. There is just something about soup that is comforting when you are not well. Like a grandmother that holds you in her lap and comforts you after a fall.

Despite what my family have said, I will be making more soup today. It is just needed, with the kids staying home, another school day missed, to climb back in bed and hope that the chills, coughs, sore throats, headaches, body aches, nasal congestion, will all recede and the illness will pass soon. The weather outside is deciding whether it will snow and stay or not... as the weather men on the local television stations gaze into their crystal balls and try to give us a prediction of the weather to come. As I look out my window this morning and gaze at the snow that is falling and  the grey bleakness of the sky, I decide that we need some warmth and comfort.

Soup it will be, and a nice warm hug.

 

 

 

Pear Mincemeat

We made a couple of versions of mincemeat using the Pear Mincemeat recipe in this book as a guide. The other versions we made were, apple mincemeat and a combination apple-pear mincemeat.  They taste wonderful in pastry, phyllo or straight from the jar.

1 cup dried currants

1 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped

1 lemon the juice and the zest

1 orange the juice and the zest

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

a pinch of salt

10 cups of pears, peeled, cored. (treat to prevent browning drain liquid before adding)

1 cup almonds, slivered and blanched

1/4 Myers’s Jamaican rum

In a large stainless steel pot, combine the currants, raisins, apricots,lemon zest and juice, orange zest and juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. Add the drained pears to the pot and fold gently into the dried fruit and spice mixture. try not to bruise or break the pears. Bring to a boil over a medium high heat. Lower the heat  and cover, boil gently for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until slightly thickened. Uncover and cook until it is thick enough to mound on a spoon about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the almonds.

Ladle hot mincemeat into hot jars leaving 1/2 headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace by adding more hot mincemeat. Wipe jar rims. Center lids on jars. Screw the jar bands to finger-tip tight.

Place the jars into prepared canner. making sure jars are covered with 1-2 inches of water. Bring to a boil and process for 20 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Peach Jam made with Stevia

My daughter was a huge help this Fall with the Jam making and canning. It was great fun the two of us had in the kitchen! We decided to make jam diabetic friendly. It just happened that our daughter was diagnosed with diabetes and some other health issues during jam making this Fall.  We tried making jams with Stevia/Truvia and with Splenda We found after making them them that we like the jams made with Stevia/Truvia the best. The jams made with splenda had an aftertaste. The jams made with Stevia/Truvia did not have an aftertaste, which made daughter very happy.

We used Real Fruit Pectin from Ball  for Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin . I had never used powdered pectin before and found this product easy to use and we got great results. We used the instructions and amounts from the package as a guide for the Jam made with Stevia. We decided that 2 Tbsp of Stevia was perfect for our fruit. The packaging pretty much leaves it open to you on the amount of sweetener up to a half cup. 

This amount is for 2 (8oz.) half pints of jam

2 cups peaches, peeled, pitted, and  finely chopped

1/3 cup water

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 1/2 Tbsp Ball RealFruit Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin

2 Tbsp. Stevia/Truvia

 

Using a prepared canner and clean, sterilized, jars and lids. For more info on this you can go here to the Ball website and they have step by step for all your canning needs I did the water bath method of canning.

In a large stainless steel pot, combine the fruit, lemon juice, water and pectin powder. Over high heat, bring mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Stir constantly.

Remove from heat, stir in the Stevia/Truvia , return mixture to full rolling boil. boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off the foam.

Ladle the hot jam into your prepared hot jars, leaving 1/4 of an inch head space. Remove air bubbles and add more jam if needed to acquire the correct head space. Wipe the rim of the jar. Center lid on the jar. Screw the band on the jar until fingertip tight.

Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water 1 – 2 inches.  Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes with lid on canner.  Remove canner lid and wait 5 minutes then remove jars, cool and store.

Spirited Peaches

I wanted something a little different in my peaches, so I opted for adding a touch of rum to them instead of just the sugar syrup.  The rum gives a tropical flavor to the peaches and make them a delight to have on their own. I used this book to guide me.

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

7 cups peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced. treated to prevent browning.  I used 3 Tbsp lemon juice to 2 liters of water that I sliced the peaches into to keep them from browning. You could use a browning agent and follow the manufactures directions.

1 Tbsp Myers's Jamaican rum added to each 8oz (250 ml) jar.

Prepare canner, jars and lids. For more info on this you can go here to the Ball website and they have step by step for all your canning needs I did the water bath method of canning.

In a large stainless steel pot combine the sugar and water over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add peaches, stirring constantly, and return to boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes.

With a slotted spoon pack the peaches into the hot jars, leaving a generous 1/2 inch headspace. Add 1 Tbsp rum to each jar. Ladle hot syrup into the jars to cover the peaches, leaving a 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if necessary, by adding more hot syrup. Wipe jar rim. Center the lid on the jar and screw jar band finger-tip tight.

Place jars in canner, making sure that jars are covered with 1-2 inches of water. Bring to a boil and process in canner with lid on for 20 minutes. Remove canner lid and wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Advent Calendar

The kids put goodies in their advent calendars every year, usually chocolates and other candies. Our daughter went shopping for her goodies to put in the calendar.  She did pretty good making it diabetic friendly for herself. Her younger brother's calendar is not as healthy he has chocolates but, he did put in some raisins and dried cranberries too. 

Peach Jam

4 cups finely chopped, pitted, peaches

4 Tbsp lemon juice

7 1/4 cups sugar

1 pouch - 3 oz size liquid pectin

Using a prepared canner and clean, sterilized, jars and lids. For more info on this you can go here to the Ball website and they have step by step for all your canning needs I did the water bath method of canning.

In a large stainless steel pot, combine the fruit, lemon juice, and sugar. On high heat stirring constantly bring the ingredients to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Now stir in the pectin. Boil hard, while stirring constantly, for one minute. Remove from heat and skim off the foam.

Ladle the hot jam into your prepared hot jars, leaving 1/4 of an inch head space. Remove air bubbles and add more jam if needed to acquire the correct head space. Wipe the rim of the jar. Center lid on the jar. Screw the band on the jar until fingertip tight.

Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water 1 – 2 inches.  Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes with lid on canner.  Remove canner lid and wait 5 minutes then remove jars, cool and store.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

We started off the canning season this year with Strawberry Freezer Jam. My favorite since I was a kid! If you want the taste of fresh picked strawberries in the middle of Winter you need only go to the freezer pull out a jar and spread this jam on toast, scones, bagels….or just have a spoonful and you are transported to a fresh early Summer day.

 

Strawberry Freezer Jam

2 C of prepared strawberries  about 2 pints unprepared berries. Prepare berries by washing, hulling, and crushing. I use a potato masher to crush the berries so that I will have some pieces of the fruit in the jam.

4 C granulated sugar

1 pouch of liquid pectin I use Certo liquid pectin.

2 Tbsp of lemon juice, fresh

Clean stem and crush berries. Measure out two cups of berries into a large bowl. Add the sugar, mix thoroughly. In a small bowl or measuring cup mix the lemon juice and the pouch of liquid pectin together, then add this pectin mixture to the strawberry and sugar mixture. Stir until sugar is dissolved and no longer grainy.

Fill clean freezer containers with the jam, clean the edges of containers and seal with lid. Let sit on counter for 30 minutes then freeze the jam for up to 1 year. When ready to use thaw in refrigerator.

Refrigerate remaining thawed jam after use.

Still here

I have been away from the blog for too long.  A friend asked me what happened ? Answer…. it is way too easy here at times. I can go anywhere and have a great dinner or lunch of any cuisine. I know, a bad excuse.  I have missed the cooking, perhaps I just needed the break, while settling back into our life in the states. I don’t know?  I hope to be a bit more active on the blog though in the future. Recently finding out our daughter has type 2 diabetes may be the inspiration to get going on this blog again. I want her to be able to enjoy the food she eats, as well, as make sure that it is healthy for her.

Let me tell you what we have been up to most recently. Hubby has been on sabbattical for several weeks this summer. We have been doing a lot of work around the house and in the garden. Hubbies latest project was to build a new pool shed, that houses the heater, pumps and various other pool equipment. Thanks to the help of my Dad and his skills the two of them have it complete. The electrician was here wiring and fitting new boxes and a light inside the shed. Everything is as it should be now all up to code. My next big project is to paint it.  The roofers will be here later this week, putting a new roof on the house and they will roof the shed too.

We have been working, hard but we also have taken some time out to have a little vacation. We went to Victoria BC in Canada for a week. The last time hubby and I were there was for our honey moon 26 years ago. It was cool to see it again after so many years. While we were there we took a whale watching excursion on a Zodiac a tiny boat that seats 13 people including the captain. This was very cool! We saw several whales and one even swam under our boat and popped up on the other side! The whales are beautiful creatures. If you have the chance to visit that area  definitely do the whale watching, you won’t be disappointed. We used Orca Spirit for our whale watching excursion. We also visited The Butchart Gardens and had a lovely, Afternoon tea for lunch. This was very girly, but the boys enjoyed it too. Another must see if you are in Victoria BC.

We have been enjoying the abundance of fresh berries that our local farms grow. We have made several batches of jams this Summer.  Strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, black and blue berry some sugar free and some with sugar. We have also been freezing the berries so we can enjoy them over the winter months ahead.

Here are a few photos of jam making and our trip to Victoria BC.

My helper

Hard at work mixing the berries and sugar.

 

Strawberry freezer jam

There be whales here!

lots of whales!

 

Butchart Gardens

The legislative assembly building

another part of Butchart Gardens

Onion Gravy

 
This recipe originally comes from The British Food Bible. I have used the recipe on several occasions with good results. I think, I like it best, made with Port.  I have tweaked the recipe on occasion  using a spoon of marmite or vegemite with some boiled water when I was out of liquid stock.  The recipe below has my adaptations in italics.

Onion Gravy

adapted from The British Food Bible

3 onions, sliced thinly - I use two softball size red onions

70g butter  - I use 50g I find the full amount is too much

125ml Marsala, port  - I like port best it is not as sweet as the Marsala.

125ml vegetable stock  - My family likes it best with Marmite or Vegamite mixed in boiled water to make stock.

salt and pepper

Brown the onions in the butter on medium heat until soft and caramelized. Pour in the port or Marsala and the stock. Stirring occassionally let the liquid reduce to a lovely thick sauce. Season with salt and pepper to your taste.