{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see. Created by SouleMama
You can download the recipe to print and take to your kitchen here.
Seven Step Nut Bars
Growing up, apple jelly on a toasted English muffin was one of my favorite breakfasts. When I discovered a recipe for apple cider jelly on the internet a few years ago I knew it was going to be my new favorite. I bought a gallon of fresh pressed cider and got to work. It took me several tries to get apple cider jelly right, and we ate a lot of ice cream with apple cider topping (code for jelly that didn’t set up). Apple jelly from the crab apples on my ancient tree was much easier. I couldn’t figure it out.
A neighbor came to pick apples and we talked about my apple cider jelly problem compared to the simple, dependable apple jelly. “Do you simmer peels in the pot,” she asked? I didn’t. I learned that day that there’s a lot of pectin in apple peels. I peel two apples, simmer the peeling in the cider, and remove the peels before pouring the jelly into jars. Problem solved.
Waiting for the jelly to come to a boil
4 cups apple cider of good quality
3 cups sugar
2 oz pectin
Peelings from two medium apples
(Optional) 1-2 teaspoons apple pie spice or a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom
Add the peels to the cider at the start.
Mix spices into sugar if you’re going to make spiced apple cider jelly.
Methods of making jelly and jam vary between brands of pectin. Follow the directions provided in your pectin. Remove peels before pouring the jelly into jars.
Hot water bath
Old school canning told us to fill the jars, cover the jelly with paraffin wax and allow to cool before adding a cover. Another formerly accepted method didn’t use paraffin. We tightened the jar lid and turned the jars upside down until they sealed. We know now that these aren’t the best methods. You’ll find great information including how to hot water bath your jelly in Preserving With Pomona’s Pectin by Allison Carroll Duffy.
Apple cider jelly
A homemade biscuit or English muffin with a pat of homemade butter and jelly or jam is one of my favorite breakfasts in winter.
Butternut squash, so fresh it’s still in the field
The first and second killing frosts came last week, first on Thursday and then on Friday mornings. Some of the winter squash and pumpkins weren’t quite ready to be picked but nothing goes to waste on the homestead. The pigs and poultry are happy to eat the unripened squash. The plants, nearly black a few days later, will feed the micro herd in the soil.
One of my favorite ways to use butternut squash is in soup. It’s creamy and rich, has a hint of nutmeg, and can even be a little spicy. If there’s a winter squash you like more than butternut you can use it instead. A variety that isn’t stringy works best.
Saute two cloves of garlic and one medium onion in EVOO
Peel and seed two pounds of butternut squash, and cut into two inch pieces
Peel and core one medium apple, sliced
Simmer the butternut squash and apple in four cups of chicken stock until squash is cooked. Add onions and garlic, and puree in a blender or with an immersion blender.
Sauteed diced onion and garlic until golden. Add cider and simmer five minutes. Sautee apple in butter until tender. Add chicken stock and squash, cover and cook until squash is tender. Add apple to the pot. Puree either in a blender or with an immersion blender until smooth. Stir in 1/2 cup of cream and nutmeg to taste. Serve warm.
This stores in the fridge for up to a week.
For variations, you can add apple or pumpkin pie spice in place of nutmeg. To add a bit of spiciness, slice a four inch piece of Chirico or Linguica into 1/4″ pieces and pan fry to remove some of the fat and improve flavor, and add to the soup before pureeing.
A cup of butternut squash soup
Winter squash is simple to grow. You’ll need space enough in the garden for the vines to spread, and that amount of space depends on the variety of squash you grow. You can start seeds indoors three weeks before the average last frost date for your area and transplant the seedlings, or start the seeds in the garden. Plants should be from three to six feet apart. The longer the vines grow the further apart the plants should be placed. The soil should be rich with compost and as weed free as possible. The vines will grow together by mid summer and help control the weeds.
Watch for pests such as squash vine borer, cucumber beetles and flea beetles, and treat as necessary.
Butternut Squash
Harvest mature squash before first frost or cover the plants with a heavy sheet or blanket the night before expected frost. Wait until the sun has warmed the cover before removing.
Cut the squash from the vine and store out of direct sun and rain for 10 days. Most varieties of winter squash will store in a cold cellar, cool closet or even under the bed for several months. Check the stored squash every two weeks while in storage for signs of soft spots or spoiling, and use squash starting to go by first. If necessary, winter squash can be frozen.
It’s apple cider season! Not the apple cider that’s been stored somewhere for who knows how long before put out on the store shelf. It’s the season of picking, crushing and pressing fruits to make cider. We offer a variety of fruit presses!
Apple & Fruit Crusher
Let’s start with the Apple & Fruit Crusher for hard fruits. Before you press your apples or pears you should break them up. If you have just a few you’ll be fine cutting them into quarters or halves depending on size, before you put them into the press. More than that and you’ll spend a long time cutting.
The Crusher mounts easily on a table top. I’ve seen it mounted between two saw horses. Whatever works for you is great. It’s that simple.
I love the old-timey look of the Crusher with its bright red color and old fashioned handle.
Apple & Fruit Crusher Hopper
The Apple & Fruit Crusher is easier to load when you add the wooden Hopper. It’s sturdy, easy to put together, and holds a peck of apples at a time. Pouring the apples into the Hopper will save you time and a lot of bending to pick up fallen fruit.
We offer Fruit & Wine Presses from a reputable company called TSM. They’ve combined the old time feel of hand cranking and beautiful presses with modern technology. The baskets are made of oak grown in the USA! Each press comes with a filter bag except for the Deluxe Stainless Steel Press which doesn’t need one.
The Harvest Deluxe Fruit & Wine Press is my favorite. It holds 4.7 gallons of fruits. It’s sturdy, mounts to a wooden base for added stability, and has padded hand grips. You’ll be able to press your hard fruits as well as grapes and other soft fruits. The juice drains from its spout into your container.
We also have the Harvest Apple Fruit & Wine Press that holds 4.7 gallons of fruit, and its larger model that holds 8 gallons of fruit. If you prefer a ratchet model you’ll find it here.
You can drink your juice fresh or turn some of it into cider. We love to cook with cider. One of our dishes is pulled pork that has been slow cooked in apple cider.
4 pound pork butt
2 cups apple cider
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon apple pie spice
Add everything together in the slow cooker, set it on low, and let it cook for at least eight hours. It will pull apart with a fork as you take it out of the slow cooker.
Mid-July, raspberry time. The canes are loaded, it’s been a good year for raspberries. Picking gallons at a time barely makes a noticeable dent in amount of berries to be picked. It’s time to make raspberry jam.
You’ll need:
Lightly mash raspberries, one cup at a time. You’ll have five cups of mashed berries when you finish.
Stir in pectin.
Move mixture to an eight quart pan and heat to a simmer over medium heat. When simmering, stir in sugar. Bring to a boil that can’t be stirred down and continue to boil for 60 seconds, stirring constantly.
Ladle into hot, sterile jars. Wipe the rim clean with a damp cloth. Place sterile lids and rings, leaving a 1/8″ air space, and hot water bath as recommended.
If you’d like to make jelly you can use one of our juicers to speed the process.
Omega VERT Juicer
If you’d like to do this by hand, freeze the berries, let them thaw, and strain the seeds out. Frozen berries are much easier to juice than fresh.
There are so many things to do this time of year that being able to freeze the berries and make jelly later is a great convenience.
After thawing the berries you can heat them to around 100*. Don’t cook, just heat. Remove the juice you can pour out easily, then hang the remaining berries in cheese cloth to drip into a pan. When the dripping slows to an unproductive rate, give the cheese cloth a gentle squeeze to get the last of the juice.
Lightly mashed raspberries
Raspberry Jam. Imagine a warm biscuit and jam this winter.
This recipe is different than the jam recipe in a major way. This recipe doesn’t use pectin. You might need to make it a few times to get it just right. If it’s too thin you can use it as pancake syrup, on ice cream or in smoothies. It won’t be what you were aiming for but it won’t go to waste.
4 cups raspberry juice
1 1/2 pounds sugar
Mix together. Heat to a gentle boil. Skim off any foam that settles at the top. Continue to boil for 20 to 30 minutes. When your spoon is lightly coated the jelly is ready to be jarred. Ladle into hot, sterile jars, leaving a 1/8″ head space. Wipe the rim clean, place lids and rings on, tightening the rings to “finger tight.” You want it tight enough to keep water out but loose enough to let air escape during the hot water bath.
Mary asked about picking and prepping garlic scapes in our last blog. “I’m sure. I’d love a few pointers regarding picking (how low down do you pick them?) and prepping (the flower bud goes in the trash, correct?)”
Don’t pick this much of the plant. I picked this to get a better picture.
A scape is garlic’s flower stem. On this stem, the flower is still developing and is closed. The scape is young and pliable. You might be able to pull the scape from the plant but usually you’ll need to snap it off. Snap or pull it from just above the last frond. If you pick early enough the entire stem is soft. If the bottom is woody you’ll need to cut it off and use only the pliable portion.
Pick garlic scape here
If I’ve picked them early enough the flower bud is tiny and I use it in my pesto and pickled scapes. If they’re larger, like the one in this photo, I use one or two for looks. They are edible but a bit more fibrous. This jar went into the fridge to be eaten first because it doesn’t have a cover that seals.
10-20 garlic scapes, depending on size
1/3 cup nuts (walnut, pistachio, pine nut, almonds; may also use sunflower seeds)
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup olive oil
Remove flower buds from scapes. Chop scapes into one to two inch pieces that won’t get pushed to the outer edge of the blender or food processor.
Process scapes and nuts or sunflower seeds until smooth, adding olive oil as you go. Stir in Parmesan cheese by hand.
Garlic scape pesto is excellent on Bruscetta, pasta, crackers and even as a spread in your sandwich. Want to spice up your spaghetti sauce? Add some pesto, either garlic scape or basil. If you have leftover basil and garlic scape pestoes you can mix them together. It doesn’t matter whether the nuts match, it will be tasty.