Sunday, September 7, 2014

Bean Soup with & without Ham :)

My daughter is a vegetarian so I make this soup with & without ham.  I tweeked the original recipe from the Ball Blue Book. I doubled the amount of spices from the original recipe.  Doubling gave it the flavors I was looking for.  I was unable to find summer savory so I used thyme instead.  I added carrots too. I also added more salt to the batch that didn't have ham in it.  I may add potatoes next time.

Makes about 6-7 quarts

Ham & Bean Soup
1/2 c dried black beans
1/2 c dried kidney beans
1/2 c dried navy beans
1/2 c dried pinto beans
1/2 c dried Great Northern Beans
1/2 c dried blackeye peas
1/2 c dried split peas
1/2 c dried chick peas
1/2 c dried lentils
8 carrots cut into bite size pieces
4 bay leaves
2 T tarragon
2 T thyme
Salt & Pepper to taste.

Optional
Approximately 2 1/2 pounds ham steak cut into bite size pieces. I added the bone while boiling too.
**If not adding ham I add 4 vegtable bullion cubes

Put dries beans in large dutch oven or stock pot, add water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to boil, boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat & let beans soak for 1 hour. Drain beans in colander, return to pot add water to cover by 2 to 3 inches.  Add ham & spices. Bring to a boil, cover and boil 30 minutes.  Remove bay leaf & ham bone.

Ladle hot soup into hot jars leaving 1 inch head space. Remove air bubbles wipe off rim & apply 2 piece lids. Process 1 hour 30 minutes at 10 pounds pressure

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Honey Lavender Lemon Jelly

 
I bought some dried lavender from the farmers market because I wanted to make tea with it.  I kept forgetting to make it. 

One day while making coffee I seen the dried lavender in the cabinet,  next to honey.  I thought, I should make honey lavender jelly.

  After searching the internet for a recipe I finally found one I liked. Of course I made a few adjustments.   I used a very dark amber honey, next time I will either use a light amber honey or add more lemon zest.  Don't get me wrong, this jelly is the bomb as is. I just feel the dark amber honey is over powering the lemon.  Which makes me laugh because I almost omitted the lemon zest.

Honey Lemon Lavender Jelly

2 cups honey
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
2 cups water
1/4 cup dried lavender
3 oz. liquid pectin

Bring the water and lavender to a boil, cover with a lid. Lower heat, and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and steep for 1 hour to overnight.

Strain and measure 1/2 cup of the lavender brew, and place in a tall pot. Add honey, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest to your preserving pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in pectin, and continue to stir frequently until it reaches a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Boil hard for one minute

Remove from heat and stir. Pour the jelly into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.Wipe the rims, and seal the jar. Process in a hot water bath for ten minutes. Makes 2 pints.


Monday, September 1, 2014

More Jalapeños

The veggies are starting to wind down, I feel like they just got started. It's been a crazy summer. Snow in May & 80° the next day, rain, rain & more rain. We didn't really hat too many hot days, not that I'm complaining.

I had more tomatoes that we could eat (in a few days) and what seems to be the last of the jalapeños & sweet heat peppers. I decided I would make salsa. I did have to buy onions, mine didn't do so well.  I forgot to plant cilantro so I had to buy that too.

1 cup chopped peppers
1 cup chopped & deseeded tomatoes
1 small onion chopped
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of cumin

I simmered all ingredients for 10 minutes, spoined into prepared canning jars and processed in the water bath for 15 minutes.

I think I will add a bit of minced garlic to the next batch. I still have some tomatoes but the peppers are just about done.  I think just 1 or 2 more are growing.