Pioneer Woman at Heart

  Winner recipe!  New recipe tried! I had just enough cashews to use up, and the oven was already on, so..... Of course I used my homemade garlic powder in this recipe. Perfect for a chacturie board for any occasion. Delicious  as a snack. The recipe is free online with The Southern Lady Cooks. A bit sticky for a travel snack, but pack it up and enjoy it at your accommodations with cheese/crackers and a bottle of wine. It would make a nice gift too, along with some other creatively made food items, a bottle of wine, or specialty cheese/crackers.  The ideas are pretty endless. I've been experimenting with our frozen garden green beans.  I recently just tossed a bag full (maybe 3 cups) into an 8 x 8 baking dish, added 1/2 tsp. homemade garlic powder, and drizzled it with some organic olive oil.  Gave them a toss with some tongs, and baked them at 400° for 30 minutes.  I then sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top of them.  Oh my gosh!  Deli...

Pears are about ready to be picked.  Hubby brought in 5 or 6 and some were hard as a rock, so we have time yet to pick them.  Thank goodness. Two of them were ripe however, so I used one to can carrot cake jam for the first time.  Using our homegrown carrots, a home grown pear, and a few purchased ingredients.  I used this recipe:  Carrot Cake Jam. It uses the same amount of sugar that most recipes online require, but a mix of white granulated and brown sugar.  I have wanted to try this recipe for years, but put it off.  We didn't get any carrots last year either.  I can't remember why, but we didn't get beets or carrots.   Anyway....

Our pears have been sitting in a bag in this brewing bucket for 6 weeks now.  Just the other day, Hubby had a conversation with a co-worker who makes wine.  We got some tips. He asked questions, we got answers.  We explained that the two locations we can purchase supplies as, would not provide recipes.  They said, we provide a kit, you find the recipe "there are tons on the internet."  We knew this.  We found one, and well, we found another store that provides a recipe with full instructions.  Do your research folks.  Or just follow blogs like mine, wi th trial and error, h a ha.  So far, no error. He said we needed an acid to keep this from turning into vinegar.  We removed the bag of fruit.  Squeezed it and poured it into our 3 gallon carboy (glass).

This is how we began our pear wine - pears were seeded and stems removed.  We purchased a wine sieve bag to place in our 6.5 fermenter.  We had just enough pears to fill this half-way , which was about 23-24 lbs. of pears.  We added one cup of su gar f or every poun d of pears (approximately) , then poured boiling water over, with enough water above pears.

The pears are ripening before I want them to , so I canned Pear-Star Ani se Butter (Ball recipe).  It's a first time recipe for me.  I can't wait to taste it. Anise intrigue d me, so I started researching it too.

Even though it's November, we are still seeing some color in our flower beds.   "Huh, I haven't heard you say, I'm going out to the garden today, in a long time.  I think I could get used to that," said my 11 year-old early this morning. Speaking of garden, my fitbit is reading 3,000 less steps per day, now that I'm not outside doing any outdoor work.  However, we haven't figured out our heating situation yet, so  that may change with splitting wood.  I'm going to have to do something to continue to get more exercise.  This may mean heading back to the gym, with a 5am workout.  Hubby needs it anyway.  They are warning employees about weight.  They are at a point now where they will not hire anyone that is over a specific weight, and will start looking for ways to fire employees, that weigh over a specific weight.  More and more employers are taking this route.

Pear Berry Gingerbread Loaves 3 cups all-purpose flour 2 tsp. baking powder 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 2 beaten eggs 1/2 cup molasses 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce 1/2 brown sugar 1/3 cup milk 1 1/2 tsp. grated ginger root 2 med. pears, peeled, cored, and finely chopped 1/2 cup dried cranberries Pear Frosting 1 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar 2 Tbsp. Pear Liqueur 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract For bread: Preheat oven to 350°F, and grease 2 loaf pan. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  Set aside. Combine eggs, molasses, applesauce, brown sugar, milk, and grated ginger root in a medium mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, and pour the eggs mixture in, all at once.  Fold in pears and cranberries.  Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pans for about 10 minutes before removing, and continue cool...

I adapted this recipe from a few other bread recipes.  It's family approved.  I used my homemade vanilla, locally grown walnuts, and our very own pears and eggs.  Yum.  Last year I canned organic applesauce as well.  I haven't yet this year however.  I sprayed my pans with organic canola oil spray.  I think the 3 pears I cut up, amounted to about 2 1/2 cups.

When I had a difficult time locating pear liqueur in our area, I decided to make it myself .  With all the pears from our trees this year, I was excited to experiment with new recipes.  I'm not even sure what type of pear we have.  These trees were here prior to moving here. I searched books and the internet and found this one: Pear Liqueur I filled my quart jar with pears, cardamom and a lemon peel.  I could not find cardamom pods, so I used ground (I know the flavor would be much better with the pods).  I gently shook my jar, and placed it in a dark, cool closet for a week. My plan is to use it to make a pear liqueur frosting to go over homemade Pear Berry bread.  I will have that recipe to share soon as well, if it indeed rates high with the family. Other than using the liqueur for baking, you can also simply drink it.  There are many mixer recipes it could be used with, including a pear martini. Pears have so many possibilities. . . ch...

Conversation between me and hubby: "Uh, honey? Did you know you can use a zucchini stalk like a recorder? You know like an instrument?" (Me) "Honey, you are just not normal." (hubby sighs and lowers his head with a smile, shaking his head from side to side) Crazy as it sounds, it's true.  If you still have zucchini in your garden give this a try.  According to this page in my book Log Cabin Cooking, Pioneer recipes and Food Lore" you can.  It's a ramble kind of day today.  Grab a cup of tea or coffee for this one. Yesterday I changed up my day.  I actually cooked dinner.  The family is so used to seeing me standing at the stove canning, or out in the garden.  I was not driving out for supplies, so I surfed the net for recipes.  Allrecipes is always a nice one.  I can search for recipes by the ingredients I have. I made Cheesy Sausage Zucchini Casserole , but changed some of the ingredients - used cream cheese and cottage cheese ...

At the end of last year's season, I invested in my dehydrator and this Marcato Pasta Maker.  It came with only one attachment, so I am using the above cut, for noodles.  Hopefully, by next season, I will have attachments for lasagna, ravioli, and more.