Cheese Biscuits

Cheese Biscuits

1 cup flour (plain)
3 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
½ cup grated cheddar cheese
½ cup milk

Sift flour, and then sift together with baking powder and salt. Work in butter and cheese with two spatulas or tips of fingers. Add milk. Mix quickly and lightly. Drop by teaspoonfuls on well-oiled cookie sheet or use parchment paper. Bake at 450°F for 10 to 12 minutes.

Beer Battered Fish

Beer Battered Fish

6 cups (MOL) peanut oil
8 fish fillets (your choice)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 (12 oz.) can beer
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt

Combine the flour, cornstarch, beer, egg, and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes, or up to 3 hours.

Heat oil to 375ºF. While oil is heating, wash and pat dry the fish fillets. Dip fillets into batter, then into oil with tongs. Hold fish, with the tongs, a couple of seconds to set batter. This prevents sticking to the bottom of pan. Cook until golden brown (about 5 minutes), then transfer to platter, lined with paper towels.

Simple Syrup

Simple (Sugar) Syrups

When canning or freezing some fruits, the recipe may call for a “Simple or Sugar Syrup”. There are basically three types of syrups: Light, Medium or Heavy.

Light – 2 cups sugar, 4 cups water = 5 cups syrup
Medium – 3 cups sugar, 4 cups water = 5 ½ cups syrup
Heavy – 4 ¾ cups sugar, 4 cups water = 6 ½ cups syrup

Bring water to a boil, add sugar. Simmer until sugar is completely dissolved. For canning, keep syrup HOT. For freezing, let syrup cool completely.

Peach Salsa

Peach Salsa


6 cups peaches, diced
1 ¼ cups red onion – chopped
4 jalapeno peppers – chopped
1 red pepper – chopped
½ cup fresh cilantro – chopped and loosely packed
½ cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
3 cloves garlic – chopped fine
2 teaspoons cumin
½ teaspoon cayenne

Simmer all ingredients on low for 5 minutes. Pack in hot, sterile jars. Water bath process for 10 minutes.

Sweet N' Sour Pork

Sweet N’ Sour Pork

STEP ONE
In a bowl combine and beat until smooth:
1 beaten egg
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup chicken broth
½ teaspoon salt

Use 1 pound boneless pork, cut into 1” cubes; dip pork into batter. Fry in deep hot cooking oil (365º) for 5 to 6 minutes or until golden. Drain; keep warm.
STEP TWO
In a skillet with 2 tablespoons hot cooking oil, cook, until tender (but not brown):
1 large green pepper, chopped
½ cup graded carrot
1 clove garlic, minced

STIR IN:
1 ¼ cups chicken broth
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons soy sauce
Bring to boiling; boil rapidly 1 minute.

Blend ¼ cup cold water into 2 tablespoons cornstarch. Stir into vegetable mixture. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 or 2 minutes more. ****
****THIS IS WHERE I ADD MY PINEAPPLE CHUNKS!
It is optional, I use ¼ cup.
Step Three
Serve over hot cooked rice.

Overcoming fear of Canning

Over coming fear of Canning

The worst part of learning to can is getting over the fear of trying. Don’t worry; it’s just like any other new project which new and strange for anyone. The first thing to do is to decide what you what to try first. We recommend canning tomatoes and they are easy for a first-timer. First pick what kind of tomatoes, some are better than others, for the type of cooking you will be using at a later date. Tomatoes are so versatile in everyday cooking, you will welcome having a supply on hand.


Talk to your family and friends – do you want help or make it a group activity. Gather your ingredients, equipment, and set aside time enough to complete the project. IF you are tackling your first time by yourself, ONLY plan to fill a canner one time (7 to 8 pints or quarts). I strongly recommend that you watch our video on canning tomatoes. It is listed on the right side under videos, just click on the link and it will bring it right up. The video will walk you through a small batch. Check back as there will be several more informational blogs as we come into the canning season.



Good luck and we hope this is the beginning of many years of successful canning. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact us.

Special Diets

Special Diets

If you have a health problem that requires a ‘Special Diet’, home canning can be a solution to your problems. Some health problems call for a low-sodium diet. You are canning your own food, if it calls for salt to be added, in most cases, the salt is optional. Don’t put it in or cut down on the amount you use. Either way you can control your sodium intake.

If you can’t have sugar because of a health problem, but love your morning toast and jelly, the problem can be solved with home canning. Controlling sugar in jams and jellies is easy, use pectin that calls for no sugar. When you are shopping for your canning supplies, notice that the pectin companies manufacture sugar-free pectin. The instructions inside the box will walk you through preparing your jams and/or jellies. This is an easy way to control your sugar.

I never realized how much salt and sugar I was eating until I began reading the content labels. And there was no way to get around it, except through home preservation. Sometimes when you are at the store, or get up now, and go look at the content on any of you commercially canned foods (including jams and jellies). I know you will be as surprised as I was. Frankly I don’t know what some of the words that I read are.

Lemon Nut Bread

Lemon Nut Bread
½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
3 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup milk
2 ½ cups unsifted flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
1 tablespoons lemon peel
Topping:
2 tablespoons lemon juice
¾ cup unsifted confectioners’ sugar

Combine butter; gradually beat in sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add 1 teaspoon lemon juice to milk. Blend together flour and baking powder. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk mixture, beating well after each addition. Blend in nuts and lemon peel. Pour into 2 greased and floured 8 ½” x 4 ½” x 2 ½” loaf pans.

Bake at 350°F, about 45 minutes, or until done. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans and place on wire cooling racks. Combine confectioners’ sugar with remaining 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Spoon over loaves. Cool. Makes 2 loaves.

Bubba Egg Casserole

Bubba Egg Casserole

7 slices of cubed bread
7 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups of milk
16 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups ham, cubed

Preheat oven to 325º F. Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Pour into 9” X 13”, greased glass baking dish. Put 9-10 Ritz crackers in a baggie; roll into crumbs; spread on top of egg mixture. Pour ¼ cup of melted butter on top of cracker crumbs. Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight, then bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top is slightly browned.

Chicken Casserole

Chicken Casserole

3 cups cut-up boneless chicken
1 small can sliced mushrooms
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
1 box of Stove Top Stuffing

Preheat oven 350˚F. Grease 2 quart casserole.

Make stuffing according to package directions and set aside. Mix chicken, mushrooms, and soup in a bowl. Add sour cream and mix thoroughly. Pour into casserole, fluff dressing and place on top. Bake 40 minutes, or until mixture bubbles.

Gifts, Inexpensive and really Appreciated

Gifts



Even in today’s society, a hand-made gift is appreciated by everyone. But, when someone gets homemade jams, jellies, pickles, etc. they are thrilled.



One year, one of our daughters came down and we taught her how to make Strawberry Jam. We used the ½ pint, decorative jars. I told her how I give them as Gifts at Christmas time. Because of the economy she was laid off, and was very upset because of it being Christmas time. I suggested that for the friends that she still wanted to do a little something, GIVE THEM A JAR OF HER JAM. She is very close to these friends and wanted the gifts as special as she could afford. So she got a gift bag, purchased a small gift, and placed a jar of her jam in the bag. A few days after their ‘Christmastime Get Together’, she called us. She told me what a good time they had together…BUT…she was blown over by the response to the jam. They were all so happy to get something which she had made herself. Then they went home and started eating the jam and calling to ask if she had more. They told her that next year, “Forget the store bought gift, and either give them a bigger jar or may maybe 2 small jars”.



Other suggestions for gifts are teachers, mailmen, trash collectors, doctors, nurses, etc. the list could go on forever. I will share my experience. As I have told you in other blogs, we are retired and live on a fixed income plus we have our health problems. We make numerous doctor visits in the course of the year. For years, I have always taken my doctors and nurses something we baked or canned. They always remember that and one or the other always mentions it or tells me how wonderful to receive a gift like that.



If and when you began to do jams and jellies, remember to can a few small jars. Give them as a gift and set back and watch the response you get. Remember that we are here to help you if you have any questions or comments. Also checkout our other blog, http://nannypeepawsCandy.blogspot.com/ for videos and free recipes. Thanks for returning, have a Merry Christmas and a really good New Year. Nanny, (Becky Plank)

Saving Money

COST SAVING



As we said earlier, you can save money by preserving food through home canning. Whether you are purchasing or growing your produce, you can save money. Especially if you find a particular item you can’t find in stores. We put up an “Old Fashion Pickle”, and have NEVER been able to find any that taste like them.



We purchase our produce at a local market and performed some cost comparisons. For instances, we make and preserve our own ‘Apple Pie Filling’ (recipe at http://nannypeepawskitchen.blogspot.com/). This year we priced canned Apple Pie Filling at the store, it costs almost $4. We were able to make and can ours at a cost of a little over $2. We did the same thing with ‘Pickled Beets’ and other things we enjoy eating. Then we decided that it was the taste MORE than the cost that we enjoyed.


We hope you enjoy the blog and will visit our other blog with videos and recipes which will help you in your new projects. If you have any questions or need help, feel free to contact us. AFTER ALL…THAT’S WHAT GRANDPARENTS ARE FOR…ISN’T IT?
From Nanny's Kitchen

The taste of home canning

Simply the Taste

After you have canned some you will see the difference in the taste…between commercially canned and home canned produce. The longer you wait to can any fresh produce it will lose not only taste but vitamins as well. We heard the other day that vegetables start losing their vitamins from the moment it is picked. By growing your own or purchasing from a local farmer or market, you can expedite the canning process.

We have a friend that will not eat green beans (recipe at http://nannypeepawskitchen.blogspot.com/) unless they are fresh or some of our green beans! She cares nothing about cooking, but likes to eat our greens beans (along with other items we can). Whenever we are at a function or gathering which everyone brings a covered dish…her first question is “Miss Becky, are those your green beans”?

Be sure to check our other blog http://nannypeepawskitchen.blogspot.com. We want to able for you to have the success with your canning as we have experienced. Remember, you can send comments or ask us questions any time.

Cookies

More new videos and cookie recipes have been added to our Cookie Blog.
http://NannyPeepawsCookies.Blogspot.com

Recipe for canning Pickled Beets

Pickled Beets

7 lbs. of 2 to 2 ½ diameter beets
2 cups vinegar (5%)
1 ½ teaspoon Canning or pickling salt
2 cups sugar
4 cups water
2 cinnamon sticks
12 whole cloves
2 to 3 sweet onions (optional)

Trim off beet tops leaving 1 inch of stem and roots to prevent bleeding of color. Wash thoroughly. Place in large pot. Cover with boiling water and cook until tender (about 25 to 30 minutes). Drain and discard liquid. Cool beets in ice water (lots of ice). Trim off roots and stems and slip off skins. Slice into ¼ inch slices. Peel and thinly slice onions. Combine vinegar, salt, sugar, and fresh water. Put spices in cheesecloth bag and add to vinegar mixture. Bring to a boil. Add beets and onions. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove spice bag. Fill jars with beets and onions, leaving ½ inch headspace. Add hot vinegar solution, allowing ½ inch headspace.

PROCESS in boiling water canner for 30 – 35 minutes after the water comes to a boil, based on your altitude being under 1000 feet. If your altitude is over 1000 feet add 5 minutes, over 3000 feet add 10 minutes and over 6000 feet add 15 minutes to the canning time.

NOTE: This is one of Peepaws favorites. The first time I made them, I didn’t account for the volume “AFTER” the onions were added. We started out using a big Dutch oven, graduated to two Dutch ovens, then finally had to use a BIG stock pot. Remember to have water boiling before pouring over beets first time. This will make the process quicker.

Canning Tomatos

Canning Tomatoes
(Whole, halved or quarter)
2 ½ to 3 ½ pounds tomatoes per quart
Lemon juice
Salt
1 Bay leaf per jar

Wash and peel tomatoes *** Have a large pot of boiling water on stove. Dip tomatoes in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds, immediately dip in cold water. The skin will slide off**** Cut tomatoes in half. Use your finger to remove seeds and gently squeeze sides. Save juice. Leave tomatoes in halves or cut into quarts or pieces.
Add to quart jars: 2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
Or
Add to pint jars: 1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
Pack tomatoes tightly in jars, add juice, salt and bay leaf. Fill jars with saved tomato juice from earlier (may have to add water to juice to have enough). Leave ½” headspace. Remove air bubbles with wooden spoon handle (I use a wooden skewer like the ones for kabobs).

Process 40 min. for pints & 45 min. for quarts in a boiling water bath canner. Start timing after water comes to a boil. If over 1000 feet altitude add 5 minutes and over 3000 feet altitude add 15 minutes to the boiling time.

NOTE: These tomatoes can be used in ALL recipes calling for canned tomatoes. Peepaw likes to help me with dipping in hot water and peeling. He also does all of the carrying of the hot jars. We both have pride in our canned goods.

Intro to Nanny and Peepaw