Raspberries & Garlic

Not in the same recipe, but all in the same week.  Two recipes, put up for the year ahead.  Berry Jam & Garlic Scape Pesto.  It felt so good to get back into the canning groove.  To dust off the water bath, to sterilize the equipment, to put on some James Taylor and happily work in my kitchen.  

This is my second year canning, and getting back to it felt refreshing.  Summer is truly here.

I wanted to do the usual batch of strawberry jam, but that didn't happen.  The big juicy red fruit came and went within two weeks.  I totally missed it, and i was so bummed.  Looking back now, I'm glad it happened, because it forced me to try a different jam.  I didn't pick quite enough berries for the jam, so i improvised with some blueberries off of our own bushes, and that did the trick. 

Raspberry Jam:  1 quart & 3 pints of fresh raspberries, along with 1/2 a pint of blueberries.
Yield: 8 jelly jars along with 1 small jelly jar i found in my stash.

Garlic Scape Pesto:  30 garlic scapes, 1 cup Parmesan cheese, dash of pepper, some toasted pine nuts and some olive oil.

Yield: 2 jelly jars & 1 pint.

I had never tried this before, but boy, do i love a new recipe!  Suroweic's farm had garlic scapes so i tried it out.  Next year i will try adding a bit of basil in, as i didn't realize how intense the garlic would be.  The great part about this?  We can use it in place of minced garlic.  Yes!  Yet another item i can take off our grocery list :) 

Happy Monday Friends

Bloom

Throughout a person's life, they meet many people.  People smiling behind a service counter, teachers, fellow workers, hikers, campers and the list goes on.

Some people have an profound influence, an effect on me.  Some people look at me, listen to my thoughts and value my opinions.

My husband is one of those people. I met him fresh out of college, ready to take on the construction world.  I met him exactly when i was ready.

I have seen myself do a three-sixty since being in his presence.  I'm now excited to show my suppressed interests and inspirations.  I no longer worry about how i will fit in, or who i am supposed to be in this one beautiful life.  I just be myself, one hundred percent.  I am now doing and feeling the things i was interested in as a child, a time when i was my true self.

He has let me find myself and feel strong & beautiful in whatever i do.  He tells me every single day how much he loves that i am his wife.

He is my happy, and i am totally his.

Today is his very, very special birthday.  Happy birthday to my life-long companion.

Thank you huni, for letting, and encouraging me, to bloom.

"Take, for joy's sake, from these hands of mine a little honey and a little sunlight."

                     

                                                                                                             - Osip Mandelstam

(All photos above taken in mid-may 2012 at Bean Hill Farm & Home.)

Maple Banana Muffins

A few Sunday's ago, while i began gathering my ingredients to put together my mother's banana muffins, i decided to forgo the usual route.

You see, we are maple farmers, my husband & I.  We make syrup in late winter, early spring.  This task of splitting wood to fuel our boiler, of tapping, collecting, boiling & bottling is so very much a part of our family.  Maple syrup is surely a treat, but it is also a natural resource for us.  A pure sugar that we have at the ready, at all times.  After the spring rush of our regular & wholesale buyers, we almost always make sure we have enough to get us through the year.  

Yet i still find myself buying white sugar.  And every single time i ask myself why am i doing it?  

In my mind, i have wanted to make the switch for awhile now.  Over the past few years i have begun compiling recipes that use honey & syrup.  I have thinned the 'usual' cookbooks and switched them out for new & refreshing recipes.  To my great relief, some of my really well worn cookbooks from the early 19th century, already use syrup & honey, once again making me love them that much more.  

I can see us using maple syrup and honey more than white sugar.  However, i am by no means a purest, so i do realize that there will be the need, now & again, for some old fashioned chocolate chip cookies :)  

My goal is to feed our family a balanced diet.  One of mostly local & homegrown foods.

On that wonderfully warm Sunday morning, i started the switch.  

Maple Banana Muffins

1 stick of butter

1 cup of maple syrup (i usually use grade A, dark amber or B for baking to enhance the maple flavor)

2 fresh eggs

3 mashed bananas

scant over 2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking power

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cream butter and syrup.  Add eggs & bananas.  Sift all dry ingredients into wet mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. 

Enjoy.

This.

This year, spring came early.  We began tapping our sugar maples in the middle of February.  One of the wonderful things that this business brings is the unknown.  In our annual edition of "Maple News" we read as old-timers predicted what the season would bring.  Some said it would be short, some said it would be the best.  Others said, "we'll just have to wait and see..."  Sugaring depends on a very particular weather pattern.  From year to year, you simply cannot predict what the season will bring.  This spring came in strong & fast.  We were greeted with 40 degree days in the beginning of February.  Although i welcome the sun and the warmth that comes with it, i do depend on it coming in the middle of march, not the middle of February.  Yes, this season was short & sweet.  So each time we boiled, we took it all in.  The company of neighbors & friends.  The kids getting muddy in the brook.  The hikes along the lines to check for leaks.  The sweet steam filling the sugar-house to the brim.  And finally, the pure maple syrup we taste & enjoy.  There is nothing like this time of year.  The natural changing of the seasons is something we rely on.  Something that we can trust and count on.  Yes, Spring came early, so we tucked away our winter nighttime routines and greeted the sugar-house with snacks, stories, beverages & bluegrass. 

This?

This is what spring is all about in our family....

2011 Preserving Review

This post i have been meaning to document for some time now.  2011 marked my first year preserving the harvest for my family.  Oh how i truly enjoyed the hot summer days, canning in my kitchen.  Growing up, helping my mother preserve, i learned at a young age the beauty and craft of canning & preserving.

Disclaimer: The pictures in this post are pre- DSLR camera.  Have i mentioned how much I love my new DSLR Canon?  So anyways, please excuse the poor quality :)

Put up for Winter:

Carrot & Tomato Soup- find the recipe here: Soule Mama
Preserving method: Freeze- 2-cup portions

Fruits-  Our friends we make maple syrup with every spring, also grow and sell blueberries and raspberries.  

Preserving method:  Freeze.  Lay your fresh fruit in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Pop that in the freezer for about 0.5 an hour.  Remove and put into storage bags (i used zip-lock).  Doing this keeps the berries from sticking together.  Freezing fresh berries from the summer has made some delicious treats this winter; berry crisp, berry cobbler and a nice addition to accompany my morning yogurt.

Strawberry Jam: Although i took no photo's of this, i produced about 15 jam jars.  My first time making jam without my mama by my side.  It actually came out very well!

Preserving method: Hot water bath- canning.

Dilly Beans: A old family recipe from my Nana.

Preserving Method: Canning.  I used pint sized jars in a hot water bath.  This is one of our family favorites! 

Tomato Sauce & Stewed Tomatoes:  I started out using  This recipe, then tweaked it a bit to fit our family.  

Preserving method: Canning.  I started out with one batch (i only had six fresh tomatoes).  It produced 5 pint sized jars.  I was bummed after the 5 hours i put into it.  That wasn't the yield i was expecting, especially at 10:30pm on a work night.  At the end of the season, the farm up the road had 1/2 bushel's of Tomatoes for sale for $10!  Perfect for canning!  I was so excited.  I hopped up there, came home and buried my hands in the sweet red juices for the rest of the day.  That produced twenty pint sized jars!  Yes, that felt much better and certainly filled up our shelves for the winter.  Six of the mentioned twenty jars were stewed tomatoes.  To prepare, simple drop your whole tomatoes in boiling water for 3-5 minutes, until the skins crack.  spoon out, peel off skins, place in pot with garlic and oil.  Simmer for about 40 minutes or until tomatoes fall apart easily. 

Applesauce: Made from my mother's family recipe.

Preserving method: Canning in a Hot water Bath.  One sunny, crisp beautiful fall day, we ventured up to the farm and picked all the Macintosh apples we could muster.  Applesauce is one of the easiest homemade things to made.  Cut up your apples in big chunks, remove the stems (middle section).  Place in pot with desired seasonings.  Bring to a low boil and simmer until apples are tender.  Process through food mill to break up skins.  Process in hot water bath.  

                                                       

Zucchini Relish:  I decided to make this simply out of need.  I had mounds of zucchini, ready to go bad.  I needed to save it, to use it.  I did slice up a few and put them in the freezer for some dinners this winter.  I also shredded a few in my food processor for zucchini bread & "Summer Linguine" from Heidi Swanson's book: Super Natural Every Day (awesome book with a fresh, inspiring recipes!).  But back to the relish.  While visiting my Nana one day, on our way home from the beach, she had me try some zucchini relish she bought at a local farm stand.  It was amazing.  Thank you Nana, once again, for the inspiration!  I found This Recipe on a blog i stumbled upon.  It turned out fantastic.  This zucchini relish was a part of our family & neighbor gift baskets during the holidays.  Everyone loved it.  I can see this becoming a yearly tradition :)

This picture above was before my talented husband built my "preserves" shelves.  Also before the zucchini relish was made and my second attempt of tomatoes sauce.  The mini maple syrups were from our 2011 maple season, left over guest-gifts from our beautiful wedding.  

Other ways we preserved this year: 

• Anything that we made and had way too many leftovers, went into the freezer for quick, healthy meals in the winter.
• In June we began buying all of our beef and pork from a local & natural farm.  I have never tasted such tender beef before in my life.  We have loved supporting our local farms, while also knowing that the meat going into us is pure and without antibiotics or hormones.  In November we purchased a package of different cuts of meat, that we figured would get us through the winter.  So far it has been perfect for the two of us.  Here is the farm we are using:   Miles Smith Farm.

And finally, here are some picutures (with my new camera) of my preserve's shelves! 

I can't tell you enough all the satisfaction that comes from making dinner, using vegetables that were fresh from the garden in August, and knowing all the love and labor that went into preserving them for this cold February night.  Not to mention the savings throughout the winter!