Ok, so the stars practically aligned the other day when we just happened to have neopolitan ice cream, cool whip, bananas, and hot fudge in the house all at the same time.
Please forgive the poor lighting~ I really need personal lessons on how to use my camera. Or how to edit pics.
Grab your biggest crockpot. Add a ham bone (you never throw those away, right?) and add split peas according to your family's size and water to cover the peas by at least 1 inch. You may need to add water halfway through the day depending on the heat of your slowcooker.
By the day's end, those peas will be nice and tender and the ham bone will have given your soup tons of flavor and you'll have those delicious bits of ham floating in your soup that my kids practically fight over.
We LOVE this really cheap meal on cold, blustery nights topped with a drizzle of good extra-virgin olive oil and salt and pepper.
A really big griddle. Why? Because I feed an army. Or a rugby team. Maybe both. And I will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. My new gigantic griddle has taken pancakes and french toast (and many other things) to a whole new level! I can make a dozen at a time and actually eat at the same time as the rest of my family. This is huge.
I have always loved making breakfast for my family, but now it's heaven! Seriously. Thank you so much, Mom and Dad!
Many of you know the great influence that Alton Brown has had on my kitchen (second only to Mom) so I thought I'd post a genius video that about cooking eggs that has helped me immensely. I tried to imbed the video here, but it won't let me.
Through the work of a few families in our church, our church body receives donations from a local grocery store and Panera Bread. These donations are intended for single moms, the unemployed, underemployed, and finally, the church at large (in that order). Some weeks there are not a lot of donations to go around, and sometimes there are boxes and boxes and boxes and everyone goes home with food. As it happens, we Giedds had quite the collection of bagels in our freezer from this situation. However, bagels for us are more of a bonus. I don't generally buy bagels when I buy groceries so it wasn't exactly a "savings" in our budget. But I want to be a good steward of what God has given to us, so I set out to make these bagels fit into our menus, and more than just bagels and cream cheese (which is a treat now and then, but not exactly healthy for everyday). I wanted to make food that would fill in meals and would therefore save us money.
First, I had two bags of blueberry bagels. For these we decided to make Blueberry Bagel French Toast. Just take your bagels and slice the bagel halves in half once more so they're just around 1/4" thick. This helps tremendously so the bagels can soak up the eggs. Also set out your bagels to dry for a few hours or overnight and that will also aid in soaking up the goodness. Use your own french toast recipe and have at it. It helped very much that we made these for breakfast on a very snowy morning. The husband and kids devoured these and since I had many bagels, I made extra and stashed them in the freezer for a fast breakfast later.
Next up, cinnamon sugar bagels from Panera. As you can see, we had plenty of these for the purpose, but I think you could also use Cinnamon Raisin bagels. I suppose I cheated with these since this next one is a dessert recipe, since we don't often plan dessert menus. However, this would be totally acceptable for a hospitality dessert (yes, it's that good) and that would save you money. I give you Cinnamon Bagel Bread Pudding. I used this recipe from Allrecipes for the custard (which I doubled for 6 bagels) but also set out these bagels for a few hours so they would soak up the custard well. Just use the recipe and swap out bagels cut or torn in pieces for the bread. Of all the recipes I came up with, this was my family's favorite.
Lastly, I used onion bagels. These Onion Bagel Pizzas were lunch or a light dinner for us, but you could also add things like pepperoni or sausage and make it heartier for your family. I added some leftover lasagne tomato sauce (you could also use spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce, but I used what I had on hand) and mozarella cheese and sprinkled some oregano over the top. You can bake these in your conventional oven (I used my parents' toaster oven though) until they're heated through and the cheese is melted. The kids thought these were great. Also, the portion size for them was just perfect.
So there you have my first three meals with bagels (I might be posting one more if my idea pans out) But I didn't even touch into Bagel Sandwiches! Use plain, onion, or everything bagels for the bread in turkey sandwiches or tuna salad or homemade Egg McMuffins, etc. (I'd probably cut the bagel halves in half again for sandwiches.) When you start to think about it, the possibilities are really endless.
I think buying canned tomatoes in warehouse stores like Sam's and Costco are some of the best deals in the entire store. However, using the entire can in one cooking session is usually out of the question. Generally, when I open a can of diced tomatoes or tomato sauce I generally seal the remainder up in a freezer bag and tuck it into the depths of the deep freeze, but I've recently found a better way for tomato paste. I found that I have a spring loaded disher that will hold exactly one ounce of tomato paste. (Yeah, I had to use my kitchen scale the first time I did it.) I scooped out an entire gigantic can of tomato paste onto two sheet pans and froze it just like you see it above. Once they're frozen, I seal them up in a freezer bag and pull out perfect 1 ounce portions of tomato paste whenever I need them.
P.S. Small cans of tomato paste equal 6 ounces, and large cans of tomato paste equal 12 ounces.
Um, this picture is awful. On top of not being a photographer, this was a spur of the minute photo towards the end of the last Bible study hosted at our home. I had been meaning to post this recipe, but by the time I remembered to take a picture of the cake, there was only one last lonely piece left. I'll try to post better picture when I make it again. I am in love with this cake. It is on my list of "Top 5 Things I love about Autumn".
Although I live in Colorado, I grew up in the Delaware Valley and this cake reminds me of home. The cooling days and the crisp nights, especially after Daylights Savings Time. I love to remember our gorgeous crabapple tree and the most extraordinary yellow mums you've ever seen lining the front of our house. Remember the night we went to that community meeting in that ancient Shaker Church to learn about the history of New Garden Township, Mom? So much fun. I thought for sure we'd see the headless horseman on the way home on those back roads. Ah, my beloved Landenberg.
Anyway, I digress. Back to the cake. You will be so happy that you've baked this cake. It will fill your home with the smell of comfort and warmth. Your kids will smell it's goodness from down the street and be so thankful that they live in your house. Your husband will take a bite, sigh and tell you that he loves you.
It's possible to make the cake without the caramel sauce but I wouldn't recommend it.
1.5 c vegetable oil 1.5 c sugar 1/2 c light brown sugar 3 eggs 3 c flour 2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp nutmeg (fresh, of course) 1/2 tsp salt 3.5- 4.5 c. apples, peeled cored and chopped 2 tsp vanilla 1 c. chopped walnuts (opt.)
Mix together oils and sugars well in a stand mixer. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Sift all dry ingredients into a bowl, then add to the sugar and egg mixture. Mix well, the batter will be very stiff. Fold in apples, vanilla, and walnuts (if you wish). Bake in a 325 degree oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes in a 10" tube pan.
Caramel Sauce Combine 6 Tbsp butter, 6 Tbsp brown sugar, 6 Tbsp white sugar, 6 Tbsp heavy cream, and 1/2 tsp vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir constantly. Boil 2 minutes. Allow to cool and pour over cake, or slice the cake and pour over the individual slices.
I am a fall food fanatic. I admit it. When that hint of chill in the air hits my senses in late August or beginning of September, I immediately begin thinking of food. Apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin, kale, squash. Before summer is even over, I get itchy just thinking about apple and pumpkin picking at our favorite orchard. I get the urge to make huge vats of soup and hearty stew and stash it in the freezer for my family. I guess it's another form of nesting for me.
So the other day I had Tim pick up a few good whole butternut squash on his way home from work. I was craving this soup, and since we had snow on Monday and Tuesday, I felt entitled to some warm fall food simmering on the stove. This soup is easy and delicious and healthy and delicious. In fact it might be my favorite soup ever. Here's how you make it.
Split open 2 butternut squash (about 2 lbs each). Scrape out the seeds and place cut side down on a sheet pan drizzled with olive oil to prevent sticking. Quarter 2 onions and peel, core and slice 2 good firm apples and also place on said sheet pan. Roast these vegetables in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour, until the squash is easily pierced with a knife. While it's roasting, add 4 cans of chicken stock to a large stock pot and add 3 bay leaves and 1/2 tsp thyme. Keep it warm until the squash, apples, and onions are ready. When they come out of the oven, add the onions and apples to the stock. Peel the squash skin away and also add the squash to the pot in small sections. Boil on the stove for 30-40 minutes. Let the soup cool for a little while, and remove the bay leaves, then process in your favorite food processor in batches until it is smooth, velvety and delicious.
There you have it. An abundance of gorgeous, easy, seasonal, and very healthy soup with no sugar, butter, oil or preservatives. Go put a pair of socks on and enjoy!
So, I've begun the freezer stash. I'm slowly packing freezable food away in the large basement freezer for after baby arrives. On Saturday, on a trip to the grocery store, I came across bags and bags of bananas that weren't as yellow as the others for $0.35/ lb. Of course I grabbed a lot because we go through a ton of bananas and I had muffins on my mind. I used some for the recipe below and still had quite a few to keep in the freezer. Muffins are a great kid breakfast or snack food because after they're done baking, they require no heating or milk (unlike cereal) or spoons, etc. Toss them a good muffin and they're very happy. I made these mega muffins with my extra large muffin pan so they can split one and be satisfied. As almost always, I experimented with a few good banana muffin / bread recipes and put the best parts together for my recipe. I had my exceedingly honest test panel (Tim) give me the hard truth and the panel said that he was very impressed. So here you have it, my new favorite banana mega muffin recipe. (I doubled this recipe and it made 22 mega muffins.)
2+ cups mashed bananas
2 cup sour cream
1/2 C applesauce
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs, slightly beaten
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine the bananas, sour cream and applesauce. When combined, add in the the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda and baking powder and salt with the wet ingredients and make sure it is well incorporated, but don't overmix. Pour into muffin cups and bake about 20 mins. Let them cool if you can, but these are great warm from the oven too.
It's that time again here in Colorado. The time of year that you pour yourself a second cup of coffee just to feel the warmth from the mug and smell the silky deliciousness. The time of year you when check on your sleeping children just to make sure their toes are covered in warm socks. The time of year when you stock up on hot chocolate for the pantry. I even brought in my citrus trees and my blooming standards last week to preserve them from the danger of frost and they are now happy and settled in for the winter in close range to the sunlight. So, when my family turned up exhausted at the end of a long stressful week and with the beginnings of sinus problems, I knew just what to do. I'm not sure how this recipe came to my kitchen, but it is my standard for warmth, comfort and liquid love. This recipe has made it into my 'greatest hits' cookbook, so I thought I'd share it with you.
Chicken Noodle Soup
1 lg onion 1 chicken 1 gallon of water 2/3 bunch of celery 1 lb carrots 3 bay leaves 10 peppercorns 1/4 c chicken soup base 1 lb carrots (yes, another one) 1/3 bunch of celery 8 oz egg noodles
In a large stock pot, boil together chicken with roughly chopped onion, roughly chopped carrots, roughly chopped celery (2/3) bay leaves and peppercorns in the gallon of water. Boil 1-2 hours. Remove chicken and set aside to cool. Strain stock through a cheesecloth lined sieve, then add stock back to the pot. If you wish, you can run the broth by the ladle-full through your fat separator . Add soup base and remaining carrots and celery all sliced thin on the mandoline. [These can be expensive but I have a cheap plastic version I got for around $10 at Bed Bath and Beyond years ago. It's fast and it makes you look like a professional.] Take the chicken off the bone and add it back to the pot. Boil the egg noodles separately (Seriously, do this~ otherwise the noodles will absorb all of that wonderful chicken broth and that would be a tragedy) and add to the soup. Wrap yourself in a warm sweater and enjoy!
Ok, the pear butter is really wonderful on it's own, but I also wanted to tell you that I use it as an ingredient in my kitchen as well as on toast, etc..
This recipe originated from the back of a bag of something or other but I've tweaked it quite a bit over time and now I call them my White Chocolate Pear Treats.
1/2 C. butter 2c. white chocolate chips, divided 2 lg. eggs 1/2c. sugar 1 c. ap flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1 1/2 c. pear butter
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and sugar a 9" square pan. Melt butter in your microwave for 1 minute. Add 1 1/2 c. white chips but do not stir. Beat eggs until foamy in a mixing bowl. Add sugar and beat 5 minutes or until lemon colored. Stir in the chips/ butter mixture. Add flour, salt and vanilla. Mix at low speed until combined. Spread 2/3 of the batter into your pan. Bake 15-17 minutes, until golden around the edges. Spread your pear butter over the crust and add the remaining chips to the remaining batter. Drop spoonfulls of batter over pear butter. Bake 25-30 mintues more or until edges are browned. Cool completely and cut into bars.
Also last week, I also added the pear butter to our daily oatmeal. Usually we add water, cinnamon and brown sugar to our rolled oats and then pop it in the microwave for about 90 seconds, but we discovered that if you substitute the brown sugar with about 2 Tbsp of pear butter, stir it up and cook it, your kids will love their oatmeal just as much if not more, and you will be subtracting some sugar from their diet and adding more fruit. And it's delicious.
I am an East Coast girl, and I grew up eating something called apple butter on my toast. Apple butter is like jam but fruitier and less sugary. It's very much like pureed, cooked fruit. When I learned to can in high school with my mother, she made this amazing pear butter and I've been smitten with it ever since. This recipe is straight from the Ball canning book. Besides the pears (about 20) you will need:
Cute canning jars~ I like using many different shapes and sizes but you don't have to. They must be impeccably clean.
You also need canning rings and 1 time use canning lids (not pictured). Also necessary is a heavy duty straining machine (ours is from an Amish store) and a giant canning pot and general canning tools~ a wide mouth funnel, canning magnet, jar lifter, etc. You probably remember a lot of this from last year.
So, wash your pears, take the stickers off, quarter them, then cook them until very tender in your stock pot. Yes, I know the cores and stems are in there too. Trust me. You can add 1/4 c. water as you cook if you must to prevent the pears from sticking and burning.
Run all of your pears through your lovely strainer.
Return the silky smooth pears (sans stems and cores) back to your stock pot, and add 4 c. sugar, 1/2 tsp. fresh nutmeg (yes, fresh is definitely worth it~ I don't have any of the bottled stuff in the house actually) and if you wish, 1/4 c. fresh orange juice and 1 tsp. orange zest. I didn't add any of the orange this time. Cook it all until it's thick and you can mound it on a spoon.
As your pear butter cooks, sterilize your jars and lids for 10 minutes in boiling water.
Like my ladle, James? I happen to love it.
Ladle the hot pear butter into the sterilized jars using your canning funnel. Place the lids on top and secure with the canning rings. The jars go back into the canning pot and when the pot begins to boil again, set your timer for 15 if you are living at sea level. I, however, live quite a distance above sea level, so I must process my home canned goods for 25 minutes.
Set out your jars to cool on a cutting board lined with a kitchen towel to absorb any drips. This is the best part of canning: if you've done everything correctly, throughout the evening you will hear all of your jar lids spontaneously "pop" and this tells you that they are now vacuum sealed and ready for storage in your pantry for a long time to come. But, in my house, when the kids hear the words "pear butter", they line up with spoons~ with or without bread. See? I've already got one in line!
Dabney wanted to decorate one of Joshua's cupcakes, so after I finished a few I handed her an extra cupcake (or "pupcake" as David calls them) and the piping bag and showed her how to hold it and squeeze. Halfway through her first cupcake, she giggled and exclaimed, "I love this!"
Russian Tea Cakes, but Dabney renamed them Pecan Cookies. (And FYI, it's "pea-can" not "pea-khan")
Here's Martha's recipe:
Ingredients
Makes 24 cookies.
FOR THE DOUGH
1 cup pecan halves
1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
FOR THE GARNISH
1 cup confectioners' sugar
Directions
In a food processor, pulse pecans, flour, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt until mixture resembles coarse meal; add butter and pulse until a dough forms. Shape dough into a disk, and wrap tightly in plastic; refrigerate until firm, 30 to 60 minutes.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Pinch off and roll dough into balls, each equal to 1 level tablespoon. Space 1 1/2 inches apart on two large baking sheets. Bake, switching sheets from top to bottom halfway through, until cookies are just golden around edges, 20 to 25 minutes.
Cool 5 minutes on sheets; transfer to a rack to cool completely. Place confectioners' sugar in a bowl. Roll cookies in sugar twice to coat thoroughly, tapping off excess.
It's been a productive week, but I still feel a day late and a dollar short. On Monday I had a full scale baking/ cooking day. I filled a shelf in the downstairs freezer with a few casseroles and some other goodies. I love going down to the basement freezer and choosing which dinner would be great for tonight. The best part about it is that even though it’s convenient, it’s still homemade!
Have I mentioned that I get to have company next month? I. AM. SO. EXCITED! I still can’t believe it. My favorite people (outside my immediate family) are coming to stay with us! I’m seeing lots of laughs, good conversations, loads of sweet tea, and a 1st birthday party in our future.
So I’ve taken the bull by the horns and begun the food prep. After all, how fun is it to have company and not get to fellowship because you are working in the kitchen? So I figured if I’m going to make cookies, I might as well save my valuable time and make 2 months worth of cookies with the same time and effort as just 1 batch.
So, since Monday I’ve added to our freezer stash:
Waffles for the freezer {2 batches}
Ham casserole for the freezer {1 for this week, 1 for later}
Cookies for the freezer {~5 dozen}
Whole wheat crackers {2 batches}
Lasagne for the freezer {2 large pans}
Taco casserole {one for this week, one for later}
(And I’m hoping to add a few banana breads to the list before the week is out.)
Also, yesterday, I had the extreme pleasure of completing most of the June Daring Bakers challenge. This month was a great challenge and I’m so excited about sharing it with you all~ look for it here on Sunday.
Baking is my passion but it’s also a special treat when I use real vanilla beans. Now I know that quality vanilla extract can be quite expensive, much less buying the real beans, but I’d love to show you how a small investment can reap huge vanilla flavor rewards and last a long time.
First off, get yourself some nice beans. I know you’ve seen them at the grocery store and even at Walmart, but beware. What you’re buying is the fruit of an orchid plant. A seed pod to be exact, so please don’t buy anything dry and shriveled. I've seen a lot of beans that rattle around in the jars. Hmm. Makes me wonder how long they've been in there. What you’re looking for is fresh and plump and moist~ like fruit should be.
As for me, I buy my beans online. On eBay to be exact. I buy them by the dozen from a reliable seller that ships them to my door fresh, plump and vacuum sealed. I cut open the package and take a big heavenly sniff of vanilla goodness. Ahhh. After that, I plunk all of them into my vodka bottle. Yep, vodka. Keep it in a dark place and shake it every now and then and in 6 months you’ll have real vanilla extract.
Now when you have a recipe that calls for a vanilla bean, it usually says a vanilla bean “split and scraped”. Fish a bean out of your vodka and slice it lengthwise. Then, using the tip of the knife you just had in your hand, scrape the teeny tiny black seeds from the pod and put them where ever your recipe specifies.
Most people leave it at that. But, if I’ve shelled out good money for good quality beans and good quality vodka, I want to use every iota of flavor that I’ve paid for. I place the spent pods in a cute jar of plain white sugar and shake it up. And there you have vanilla sugar (great for coffee and tea) in a week or two.
This is my "old reliable" bottle. She's getting kind of low.
When my vanilla extract runs low, I top it off with vodka and plunk in a few more beans. Keep up this cycle and if you’re patient, you have great quality extract and beans ready for your best recipes forever.
As many of you know, I love to learn about food. You know about my Martha Stewart Living collection and how serious I am when Alton is on TV. I have cookbooks on my nightstand. Traditional food is also particularly exciting to me and Passover is the top of traditional feasts in my book. I’ve always been somewhat fascinated by Passover, after all, the very first Passover began with Moses in Egypt. And we remember even more poignantly God’s judgment passing over us now as Christians. This feast has been celebrated for thousands of years. Thousands! But, I’m not Jewish by blood so I’ve never seen it up close or in person. The closest I’ve come is reading articles in food magazines.
So imagine my excitement when we were invited to attend a real Passover Seder celebration last Saturday night with a Messianic Jewish family in our church. We learned about the elements of the Seder and we ate Matzos and Kosher things (not lamb like I had thought) and we sang ancient Hebrew songs and drank the traditional wine. It was especially wonderful since the Messianic elements had been added to the old traditions and we saw even further how Christ has been the ultimate fulfillment and how His life dovetails beautifully with the prophecies and requirements of the Messiah. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the camera to show you pictures of our feast, but you can learn all about the Passover traditions and elements of the Seder here.
Tomorrow is Good Friday and the stock market is closed (and that means that Tim is off) so we are going to have a sweet family from church over for a nice lunch. I’m quite excited about this because apart from entertaining during the week, it also means our Saturday is left wide open and we will have our Easter celebration, just the 5 of us. We’re going to have a ham and rolls and potatoes and strawberries and all the deviled eggs we can handle (eggs finally went on sale) and a nice red wine. I even changed out our snowflake dishes for our Pfaltzgraff flowered ones~ fitting I think for Resurrection weekend. Anyway, I wanted to share Friday’s entertaining menu and a recipe or two with you.
I wanted to have a nice light appetizer so I chose Fruit Salsa with cinnamon chips .
Then for lunch we’ll have pizza, (Philly cheesesteak, pineapple and ham, margharita & our version of meat lovers/ supreme), along with our favorite tortellini soup and parmesan breadsticks.
Last month, I told a reader that I’d share the recipe for the Philly cheesesteak pizza so here it is. I love cheesesteaks (real ones from Gino’s~ not Pat’s~ in real Philadelphia) and I think this recipe comes close~ barring the fact that I don’t use Cheez Whiz on my pizza. Going to Philly with my family and getting cheesesteaks is one of my favorite memories. I’m kind of winging it~ this is based on the most delicious pizza I tasted from California Pizza Kitchen. It’s not regularly on the menu, it was a monthly special a few years ago. Saute in a small amount of butter or olive oil: a half of an onion (sliced), and a few sliced mushrooms (canned or fresh) and a few steak-ums steaks. I used my own pizza tomato sauce, and topped with the sauted ingredients and green bell pepper and finished it with provolone cheese and some mozzarella (more provolone than mozzarella).
Then for dessert I’m making Tiramisu (for the adults) and our favorite brownies for the kids.
I’ve got to go for now, hopefully I’ll finish all of the ironing tonight, napkins included. Happy Spring!
(*hint*)
(closer...)
I have always loved making breakfast for my family, but now it's heaven! Seriously.
Did you see that girl?
It was her birthday morning.
It helped very much that we made these for breakfast on a very snowy morning. The husband and kids devoured these and since I had many bagels, I made extra and stashed them in the freezer for a fast breakfast later.
I used this recipe from Allrecipes for the custard (which I doubled for 6 bagels) but also set out these bagels for a few hours so they would soak up the custard well. Just use the recipe and swap out bagels cut or torn in pieces for the bread. Of all the recipes I came up with, this was my family's favorite.
You can bake these in your conventional oven (I used my parents' toaster oven though) until they're heated through and the cheese is melted.
I think buying canned tomatoes in warehouse stores like Sam's and Costco are some of the best deals in the entire store. However, using the entire can in one cooking session is usually out of the question. Generally, when I open a can of diced tomatoes or tomato sauce I generally seal the remainder up in a freezer bag and tuck it into the depths of the deep freeze, but I've recently found a better way for tomato paste. I found that I have a spring loaded disher that will hold exactly one ounce of tomato paste. (Yeah, I had to use my kitchen scale the first time I did it.) I scooped out an entire gigantic can of tomato paste onto two sheet pans and froze it just like you see it above. Once they're frozen, I seal them up in a freezer bag and pull out perfect 1 ounce portions of tomato paste whenever I need them.
Lovely, lovely pears. They speak fall to me.
Cute canning jars~ I like using many different shapes and sizes but you don't have to. They must be impeccably clean.
You also need canning rings and 1 time use canning lids (not pictured). Also necessary is a heavy duty straining machine (ours is from an Amish store) and a giant canning pot and general canning tools~ a wide mouth funnel, canning magnet, jar lifter, etc. You probably remember a lot of this from last year.
So, wash your pears, take the stickers off, quarter them, then cook them until very tender in your stock pot. Yes, I know the cores and stems are in there too. Trust me. You can add 1/4 c. water as you cook if you must to prevent the pears from sticking and burning.
Run all of your pears through your lovely strainer.
Return the silky smooth pears (sans stems and cores) back to your stock pot, and add 4 c. sugar, 1/2 tsp. fresh nutmeg (yes, fresh is definitely worth it~ I don't have any of the bottled stuff in the house actually) and if you wish, 1/4 c. fresh orange juice and 1 tsp. orange zest. I didn't add any of the orange this time. Cook it all until it's thick and you can mound it on a spoon.
As your pear butter cooks, sterilize your jars and lids for 10 minutes in boiling water.
Like my ladle, James? I happen to love it.
Ladle the hot pear butter into the sterilized jars using your canning funnel. Place the lids on top and secure with the canning rings. The jars go back into the canning pot and when the pot begins to boil again, set your timer for 15 if you are living at sea level. I, however, live quite a distance above sea level, so I must process my home canned goods for 25 minutes.
Set out your jars to cool on a cutting board lined with a kitchen towel to absorb any drips. This is the best part of canning: if you've done everything correctly, throughout the evening you will hear all of your jar lids spontaneously "pop" and this tells you that they are now vacuum sealed and ready for storage in your pantry for a long time to come. But, in my house, when the kids hear the words "pear butter", they line up with spoons~ with or without bread. See? I've already got one in line!
Here's Martha's recipe:
Part of the freezer stash
Last month, I told a reader that I’d share the recipe for the Philly cheesesteak pizza so here it is. I love cheesesteaks (real ones from Gino’s~ not Pat’s~ in real Philadelphia) and I think this recipe comes close~ barring the fact that I don’t use Cheez Whiz on my pizza. Going to Philly with my family and getting cheesesteaks is one of my favorite memories. I’m kind of winging it~ this is based on the most delicious pizza I tasted from California Pizza Kitchen. It’s not regularly on the menu, it was a monthly special a few years ago. Saute in a small amount of butter or olive oil: a half of an onion (sliced), and a few sliced mushrooms (canned or fresh) and a few steak-ums steaks. I used my own pizza tomato sauce, and topped with the sauted ingredients and green bell pepper and finished it with provolone cheese and some mozzarella (more provolone than mozzarella).
