Christmas Cookies

Grannie's Recipe for Shortbread

1 pound of butter
1 cup of fine berry sugar
3 to 4 cups of flour
Mix flour in slowly kneading with your hands  and when it comes together away from bowl it is ready to roll out.
Use the rest of the flour for rolling ... 
Bake at 325 till lightly browned, about 20 mins. For large cakes 1 hour.




Grannie's shortbread!

Here are a few more ideas for shortbread,
I like to make some rounds and put homemade jam in the middle and ice with a cherry on top.

Cinnamon Buns

I am hiding these on you know who.

Pizza Appetizers

Ingredients

• 1 recipe of dough
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped seeded tomatoes
• 1/2 cup preserved red peppers  
• 1/3 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• Fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
• Roll out pizza dough
• Make long strips of the dough
• Layer above and roll
• Sprinkle parma over just before you put in oven
• 
  
  

 Bake at 375 about 10 minutes.

Appetizers for over the Holidays

Stuffed Mushrooms

 


You can do many different combinations.
Cream cheese bacon bits , chives

Sprinkle walnuts crumbs on tops
Asiago, Blue or Parmesan are a few
to try.

Cream cheese, salsa, basil parsley
garlic crushed into the cheese

Pineapple upside down Cake

White Cake

So quick and easy.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter 2 eggs beaten
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup milk

Butter pan generously 
Add :
brown sugar with some maple syrup on the bottom of pan.
spread pineapple rings, put cherries in circle of pineapple
Pour batter over
Bake at 350 for 30 to 40 mins.

Apple upsidedown Cake

So easy to make.

I use some brown sugar and maple syrup,over the apples on a buttered pan. A simple white cake poured over the apples. Serve warm or cold

Marmalade

The oranges and grapefruit 

are very sweet right now.

I use 3 oranges 2 lemons 1 grapefruit

Tarts

 A variety of tarts add to make a plate look Delicious

I usually make my own pastry, but the frozen ones will suffice over the busy holidays.

Asiago Dip

2 cups grated Asiago cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream or 1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves
6 -8 ounces marinated artichoke hearts
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3 tbs. marinated red pepper

Directions:
1
Mash up the artichoke hearts in a bowl along with the minced garlic.
2
Add the other ingredients.
3
Mix it all together and refrigerate until using.
4
All the proportions can be tweaked according to personal preference. You can also serve this recipe hot!

Black Velvet Caramel

A must for over the holidays.

Smooth toasted caramel flavor with a hint
of whiskey.
Great in coffee or hot chocolate, as this is more like a liqueur.
Flambe, bananas or peaches, serve over ice cream.
Add a bit to pecan pie in the whipping cream. 
Or plain over ice.

Desserts for Thanksgiving

Dessert after turkey?

 

    A few examples and ideas.
For your pecan or pumpkin pies,
       or strawberry short cakes or fruit trifles,
or just ice cream sundaes.
You can always wait a bit
after dinner, then add a special coffee
 to finish off the meal.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Bob's Thermate

Well we opened the first jar and it certainly lived up to what we thought.
HOT HOT................and HOTTER.
Great on chicken legs, so far so good.

Cranberry Season

Heading out to the farm in Pitt Meadows on Friday to get my ten pounds of  Cranberries. They are being picked Thursday, how fresh can you get and only two dollars a pound. 

I will make cranberry sauce and preserve more this year as we ran out this winter. Always use them whenever chicken or turkey is on the menu.
Good for you too.

Plant your Garlic

Plant your garlic now for summer 2014

Always use the largest bulbs, breaking them into cloves. 
Plant them 4 to 5 inches apart and 2 to 4 inches deep. Keep the soil moist.
Rooting will begins in a couple of weeks.

 Harvest in July or August, hang to dry in a warm spot for a couple of weeks.



In June the tops will form tiny flowers, they should be removed. They are called scrapes and can be used in many dishes.

 Russian garlic is my favorite

A.J's Homemade Pizza

Ready for the oven, or freeze for another day.

Thermate

You too can invent your own delicious products, Thermate ® is one of ours. 
The hottest sauce we make, by Dirty Uncle Bob's Smudge. And we bill it as 'steel cutting, war starting, nuclear capability, incendiary gourmet hot sauce!' Not for the feint of heart but oh so good. Based on Auntie Jane's Red Rocket Salsa, we take it up to the next level. 

Carry permit required to take it home. Waiver must be signed to eat it. If bottle lost notify Homeland Security. No guns at the table, please.

Have fun, invent your own food stuff!

AJs Mustard

So easy to make and many variety's to choose from.

Mustard Beans/ Cauliflower/ Onions

I made some dilly beans this morning then  decided to try some mustard and cauliflower and onion beans too.

I added some hot pepper and some Russian garlic to both.
My kitchen was filled with a great smell, and certainly cleared my sinuses.

Russian Garlic

A friend put me on to Russian garlic last year, he grows it in his yard, its expensive but really worth the extra money when you buy it.

Picked up some more today at Lepp farm on the Mission /Abbotsford highway.
I am going to grow some myself this November. That is when you plant it, and if you are planting in a container use a large deep one. The flavor is far superior and stronger than the lily white  bulbs you buy in the super market.

Larder getting full

Waiting for labels

Hint hint Bob.

Tomatoes

I like to preserve tomatoes each summer when they are at their peek
of the season.

Bring the tomatoes to a boil for 5 mins.The skins come off easy then,
Set out how many jars you plan to use and add:
fresh basil, rosemary,oregano, and garlic
To each jar add a tbsp. lemon juice 1/2 tsp pickling salt
Cut up tomatoes to the size you like, stuff the jars and top with boiling water.
Insert a knife in jars and get all the bubbles to the top.

Seal and process for 40 minutes.

Vegetable Antipasto

• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 2 cups of vinegar, I use 1 cup white 1 cup cider  
• 2cups brown sugar
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tbsp pickling salt
• 3 cans (5-1/2 oz/tomato paste
• 2 tsp hot pepper sauce
• 2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced

    
  Put in a large pot bring to a boil for a couple of minutes, add the carrots to the pot.

      I used 11 cups of veggies, pick which ones you like best.

•  2 cauliflower florets
• 1 cups chopped onions
• 1 cups chopped yellow peppers
• 1 cup small hot peppers. Red green mix
• 2 cups (zucchini, unpeeled
• 1-1/2 cups chopped carrots
• 1-1/2 -cups chopped celery
• 1 cup green beans cut

Add all the vegetables and continue to boil gently for another 5 minutes.

Put in jars and process for 25 mins.

AJ's Pineapple Hot Jelly

 I pineapple
3 hot green peppers
4 hot red peppers
1 yellow pepper

1 large garlic clove
2 shallots
Grind in a blender
3/4 c of white vinegar
3 cups of white sugar
Bring to a boil boiling hard for 1 minute
take off stove and add 1 pkg certo
put in small jars and process for 10 mins.

Molasses Cringles

 







This is one of the few recipes for cookies that I do not use butter.




2/3 cup of oil
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
4 tbsp. molasses
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ginger fresh or powdered
1/8 tsp. cracked pepper

Roll into balls then into sugar
Bake on parchment paper at 350 for 10 to 15 mins.

Pahoehoe Sauce

This pineapple sauce is so tasty over Chicken, Ham, or Pork


2 1/4 c pineapple juice
1/4 c lemon juice
4 1/2 c sugar
1 pkg. pectin

Blend in mix well bring to a boil for 1 minute stirring constantly.
Add pectin boil another minute.
I always add a tsp. butter to keep the foam down.
process 5 mins.

Pahoehoe Sauce waiting for labels

Chocolate Sauce

1 ½ cups of water

3 cups of sugar

1 ½ cups of cocoa

1 tbsp. vanilla

¼ tsp. kosher salt

2 tbsp. corn syrup

Heat water and sugar to a boil whisk in cocoa, vanilla, salt and corn syrup.

Stir till sugar is dissolved reduce heat and cook for about ten to fifteen mins. Until thickened.

Process  for 15 mins.

Labour of Love

Getting full again this year, had to get another shelf

Winter rewards

for over load. Let it snow all winter. We are ready.

Maple -Rosemary Glazed Hazelnuts and Walnuts

Pic from Pinch my salt blog

I had some hazelnuts left that Bob picked
last year so put 1 cup of each to try
 
1cups walnut halves 1 cup of hazelnuts
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
pinch of kosher salt
In a small bowl, stir together maple syrup, rosemary, and a pinch of salt.  Heat a dry skillet (I used nonstick) over medium-high heat.  Add walnuts to the hot skillet and pour in maple syrup mixture.  Cook, stirring frequently, until maple syrup has caramelized, about 3 minutes.  Spread walnuts out on a sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle with a bit more salt if desired.  Let cool.

Bread and Butter Pickles

The pickling dills are perfect for canning right now.

Pickled Onions

These are spicy and good,

made with malt vinegar and garlic