White Chocolate Macaroons

I made up these macaroons after I had someone die on me at work.

I was too upset to sleep, so I stayed up and baked.

These are really, really easy and

really, really good.

When I took them to work they disappeared in less than 5 mins.

I love macaroons and these are the first homemade ones I have found that are soft, chewy and full of coconut flavor.

White Chocolate Macaroons

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2 large/jumbo eggs OR 4 small/banty eggs

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk

12 oz bag of white chocolate chips

14 oz bag of shredded coconut

Whip eggs in an electric mixer for 5 minutes, then add 1/4 tsp cream of tartar. Whip for another 5 mins. until the eggs are frothy.

Then mix in 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk.

Next mix in the coconut and chocolate chips.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

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Now this is the fun part!

To get the eggs to bind to the coconut you need to press the batter together...

So take walnut sized portions of batter and with wet hands press the mixture to form a ball.

Place ball onto a greased/parchment/silpat covered baking sheet.

Repeat with the rest of the batter.

Bake for 10-15 mins until the macaroons are toasted golden brown.

If you cook them for too long - don't worry - they are still soft and delicious.

Garden Update: October

The garden this morning.

Whaaa! My tomatoes are dead!

I was just getting to know them.

Poor squashies.

Some more sad garden.
The pond was even frozen over,
but the stream kept a piece open for the fish.



The flower garden.

Pure Gold Marmalade

This is my own secret recipe, so shhhhhh.
Keep the secret and make it for yourself.
One taste of this and you will know why it's called pure gold.
If you sold it, you would make pure gold!

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Pure Gold Marmalade

You will need oranges, lemons, mangoes, peaches and passion fruit.

Now, you can do this however you want, but this is what I do: take 4 whole oranges and 1 whole lemon.

Grind up 2 of the oranges and the lemon in a food processor until finely minced.

Next take the 2 remaining oranges and peel them, discarding peel. Add the peeled oranges to the finely minced orange/lemon.

Next finely mince 4 cups of peaches in the food processor. I used frozen peaches from this summer's bounty.

Then the secret ingredients: Goya frozen fruit puree. This time I used 1 thawed bag of mango and 1 thawed bag of passion fruit.

You can use any amount of the above fruit you want. Mix it up!

I ended up with 12 cups of fruit pulp. With a traditional marmalade recipe you would add 12 cups of sugar to this amount of fruit pulp!

12 cups?!? No way I'm doing that!

I added half the sugar.

So 12 cups fruit pulp = 6 cups sugar

Stir pulp and sugar over med. heat in a large pot until the sugar dissolves.

Then bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly.

Cook rapidly almost to the gelling point.

As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking.

This is going to take a while.

Like an hour.

Now if you what it to thicken quicker - add more sugar.

When it is thickened-

Remove from heat.

Skim foam, if necessary.

Ladle hot marmalade into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.

Adjust 2 piece caps.

Process 10 mins. in a boiling water canner.

It's A Blizzard

This was taken from my back porch. The garden. Snow garden.

I just drove home from work

and it is not just snowing - it is blowing and really, really snowing.

There is already a 1 1/2 inch accumulation on the ground.

The roads are still fairly warm, so the snow isn't accumulating on them as much, but it was really hard to see the road with all the snow blowing around.

*sigh*

I guess our 3 weeks of Fall are over.

Snowing Tonight

It is snowing outside.

That is all I have to say.

Long, long winter ahead.

And I haven't even raked my leaves!

Dried Onions

This is right up there with dried lemon peel - a must do for any food preserver.

Slice the onions and place them on your dehydrator sheets.

Dry for 8-10 hours, until crisp and transfer to a Ziploc or jar for storage.

4 huge 1lb. onions made a scant 2 cups dried.

I use them in everything.

Sprinkled into the pan before adding eggs for scrambled eggs,

added before re-heating canned soup,

to casseroles,

to brownies (Ok, not brownies! I was just checking to see if you were reading!).

Add them to ALMOST everything!

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Note: I tried dicing some and they turned pink.

Yes! Pink!

Some chemical reaction?

The Garden Died Today

The 2009 gardening season is officially over for me.

Sad.

We had a hard, solid frost last night.

Everything is D-E-A-D.

But, it's Ok.

Don't cry for me gardening people!

I'm ready for a rest.

And there is always the gardener's mantra: "Next year, it WILL be BETTER!"

I still have to clean everything up, dig my sweet potatoes, plant garlic, ect., ect.

You get the idea.

It never ends!

Pear Chutney

My mother and I love Indian food.

It probably has something to do with the fact that my great-great grandmother was (supposedly) from India.

She married my Scottish great-great grandfather and emigrated to New Zealand.

However, I have seen pictures of her and she looks, ummm..... very British.

That's Ok.

We still love Indian food.

It's the complexity of flavors that I love.

The layering of sweet, sour, salt and probably some of that umami (or whatever).

The buttery feeling of the sauce and the spices, oh the spices!!

Yum!

Ok, so here is a recipe for Pear Chutney.

My mother and I had a chutney taste off last week.

She won with her tomato based chutney, but I still like mine.

Her flavors were just more mature and melded better.

Some day, I too will make perfect chutney!

Pear Chutney

1 cup chopped onion, 2 dried chilies, 2 Tbs candied ginger chopped.

Sauteed in 2 Tbs olive oil for about 5 min. until onion is golden/translucent.

1 cup finely chopped green chile - about 2 or 3 chilies

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup fruit juice

1 clove garlic minced

2 tsp salt

4 Tbs mustard seeds

1/2 tsp curry powder
Saute for a few minutes.

Add 5 cups vinegar and 4 quarts chopped pears - about 20 med. peeled/cored pears.

Simmer until thick.

This can take up to 3 hours,

so be prepared.

Thick pear chutney.

Ladle hot chutney into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.

Remove air bubbles.

Adjust 2 piece caps.

Process 10 mins. in a boiling water canner.

Yummy!

Good with a sharp white cheese on

toasted bread.

Minestrone Soup

Minestrone Soup

For a period of time, when I was a toddler, I would only eat Progresso Minestrone soup.

My mom would feed it to me and tell me the name of each bean and vegetable on the spoon.

It's still a family joke every time we eat minestrone soup.

Unfortunately, a few years ago, Progresso Soup changed their soup recipe.

The broth is way too thick and garlicky.

It's NOT the same soup, so now my souping mission is to find the perfect minestrone soup.

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This is my latest effort.

First I started with several pounds of red tomatoes from my garden.

I cored them and then blended them up in the food processor, skin, seeds and all.

Then I cooked them down for about 10 hours until they were thick and saucy.

I used 6 cups of this tomato broth.

The rest of the tomato broth was used in Chocolate Black Beans.


Then saute 2 cups chopped onions (about 2 med)
in 2 Tbs of olive oil, until the onion is soft and slightly golden.
Turn off heat, to prevent the garlic from becoming bitter, and add 3 finely minced garlic cloves.



Roughly chopped 2 cups greens beans
and 3 cups roughly chopped carrots.

Add 2 cups chopped swiss chard or other green (kale, beet greens or cabbage) to the onions and garlic in the pan.

Plus 1 cup chopped celery.

1 can of butter beans.

Add 2 cups roughly chopped summer squash.

To the vegetables add 6 cups tomato broth.

You will need to add more broth to make it soupy.

This is what I do, but feel free to use canned broth -

I take 8 cups of water, boil it and add 1 or 2 bouillon cubes or 1 Tbs. Better Than Bouillon

Then I add the broth to the soup.

Now to season and can:

To season add (to taste) salt, pepper, fresh or dry basil, oregano, thyme, savory and a bay leaf.

Simmer for 10 to 15 mins.

Add more broth if needed.

Ladle hot soup into hot jars, leaving 1 inch headspace.

Remove air bubbles.

Adjust 2 piece caps.

Process pints 55 mins and

quarts 1 hour and 25 mins, at 10 pounds pressure in a steam-pressure canner.

September Giveaway Winner(s)

I drew number six for the September giveaway and that was Anonymous!

However, since there were only 7 people that entered the giveaway.....

I've decided to give everyone that entered a prize!

Send me your address catalinagrey@hotmail.com and I will, as my grandma says, "Pop it in the Post."

So, that is aromatic, Gail, Jennifer, Lana, Callista and Texas Boss Lady.

Dried Lemon Peel

This should be titled: How To Ruin Your Fingers

Who knew that peeling lemons

could be so painful?

I bought a bag of organic lemons and

oranges last week and, as anyone who buys organic knows,

they go bad very quickly.

So, I had to find recipes to use them up.

First I peeled the lemons and placed the peel on

a plastic wrap covered dehydrator sheet.

Then I made a salt/sugar syrup and canned the peeled lemons

with cinnamon and cloves.

Lemon peel after 8 hours in the dehydrator.

Nice crisp lemon peel.

Quickie Giveaway - September

This is a quickie giveaway!

You have until Midnight

on Sept. 30th to leave a comment

and be entered to win.

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What's the prize?

First - a note pad with a chicken painting by a local artist.

And second - 2 - 1/4 pints of my very own canning.

1 of White Tomato Jelly

1 of Pure Gold Marmalade - my own recipe

a combination of peaches, mango, passion fruit and oranges.

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Enter now!