"Heavenly Blueberry & Cream Angel Dessert" ~A Kitchen Post

This recipe is from:
http://www.melskitchencafe.com/heavenly-blueberry-and-cream-angel-dessert/

Although I see that it is posted in various places online, so I can't say for sure where it originated from.  I found it b/c a lady in my Sunday School class, Paula, brought it to a BBQ this past Saturday, and then kindly remembered to bring me the recipe on Sunday, b/c I had asked for it.

I think I'm a sucker for trifles.  They are just SO pretty!  I don't own a trifle bowl, but I have one that's very like a trifle bowl & it is good enough.

This dessert has plenty of fatty, yummy ingredients & of course it's sweet- but it doesn't over-do it on the sweetness.  The blueberry filling only has 2 T of sugar and the whipped cream just 3 T of powdered sugar.

Blueberry filling:

• 12 oz. frozen blueberries
• 2 T sugar
• 2 T cornstarch
• 1/4 c. cold water
• 1/2 T lemon juice

Cake & Cream:

• Baked, cooled & cubed angel food cake, (may not need all of it.  I used a mix, but I think you can use any type of angel food cake- homemade, mix or purchase one that has already been made.)  
• 16 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2/3 c. half and half or evaporated milk
• 2/3 c. sugar

Whipped Cream:

• 1 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 3 T powdered sugar

Directions:

1. For the blueberry filling, in a medium saucepan, combine the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, water & lemon juice.  Bring the mixture to a simmer & cook until thickened, 5-7 minutes, stirring often.  Remove from the heat & let cool to room temperature.
2. For the cake & cream layer, in a blender or with an electric mixer whip together the cream cheese, half-and-half or evaporated milk and sugar until smooth and creamy.  Transfer the mixture to a bowl if you use a blender.  Fold in the angel food cake cubes.  Keep in mind that you may not use all the cake cubes, especially if using an angel food cake mix.  Add cake cubes unti they are all thickly coated with a layer of cream.  If making this in advance, it can dry out if there is too much angel food cake added.
3. For the whipped cream, beat together the heavy cream and powdered sugar until peaks form.  
4. To assemble, in a trifle dish or in a large glass blow, spread half of the angel food cake mixture.  Top with half of the blueberries, spreading evenly across, and then spread half of the sweetened whipped cream.  Repeat the layers.
5. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.  Serve chilled.

 

Frozen Banana Treats ~A Recipe Post

This is so easy, I'm not sure it can be called a recipe! 
It is a favorite of ours.  Kids love them.  It's a fairly healthy treat.  Plus, kids like to help 'make' them.  (More like 'assemble' them!)  Today is one of the warmest days we have had yet this year.  A perfect day for a summer-ish treat!

You will need:
Firm bananas
popsicle sticks
Yogurt
Sprinkles  (optional)

Added bonus:  This snack is kosher, (at least if you use these sprinkles.)  When one has a friend who is Jewish Orthodox, one starts to notice when something is kosher or not!

Note:  These days we typically buy whole milk, plain yogurt.  And I could have used that, with or without some agave nectar, but I chose to go with flavored yogurt.

Peel bananas & cut them in half. 
Insert popsicle sticks. 

(Sometimes I accidentally break a banana or push the stick in too far.)

Roll in yogurt. 
Add some sprinkles.

Place in freezer until frozen.

Enjoy!

Cooking an Egg-Laying/ Non-Meat Bird/ Rooster - A Kitchen Post

Our chickens have a purpose.  We have them so we can have fresh eggs.

As an added bonus, we really do enjoy our chickens, and especially our chicks!

The last purpose they have is meat.  

Therefore, we don't need roosters at all.  In fact, when we first got chickens, we didn't even get a rooster.  Kevin is a light sleeper & didn't want one & maybe I was scared of them, I'm not sure.  Then, we were given a beautiful Ameraucana rooster & he was the grandpappy of all the chickens we've had since.  We've also had at least one rooster ever since.  Now that we've had broody hens hatch out chicks themselves, I am even more motivated to keep a rooster around.

Even though I don't need more than one rooster, half the chicks that hatch out are usually male, so this gives us a chance to have some great crockpot meals.  Feed is expensive and I don't want to feed any chickens that aren't being productive.  (Although in the summer I 'free range' them a lot so they have a chance to have lots of greens & bugs.)

It takes me about 4 months to determine if a pullet is male or female.  One year, for whatever reason, we kept 3 roosters all year long because they were all kind & got along really well with each other.  Typically we keep only one rooster.  I really like the one I currently have because it is kind and also because it is white, which makes for some good coloring with my chicks.  So I plan to keep him as long as I can.

A word about mean roosters.  In my opinion, there is absolutely no need to put up with a mean rooster.  I've heard all kinds of ways people have dealt with them.  We kill a rooster, as soon as we realize it's mean.  Out of all the roosters we have had we have had more nice ones than mean ones.  I'm not sure why some are mean.  But they can be very aggressive when they are.

The above photo shows 2 of my chickens from the end of June hatch of this year.  They were both roosters.  I would have gotten rid of them anyway, but they were both mean, so we ate them quite some time ago!

The first time we killed a rooster we didn't eat it.  It seems that the 'chicken people' we knew didn't eat roosters!  No one said why and we just followed suit.

However, we eat all of our roosters & unwanted hens now, and my purpose in this blog post is to share the best way we have found to prepare a non-meat bird for eating.  

In case you aren't aware:  When buying live poultry you can buy meat birds or egg layers.  The purpose for meat birds is to fatten them up in a short period of time & kill them for meat.  They are quite different from egg layers.  Egg layer chicken is even more different from what you might find at a grocery store.  If you were to just try baking it, (I speak from experience!), it will be so tough that it is basically inedible.

Back to the killing!  We don't have a lot of chickens, so we simply cut off the head with an axe.

The first time we killed quite a few chickens at once, we plucked them.  That's what I grew up doing.  

However, since we don't really eat the chicken skin anyway, and because it is much, much faster & easier, we now just skin it and skip the plucking altogether.  I had never heard of anyone else doing this, but a couple of months ago when Mom & I were visiting her Amish friend, Laura, that was how she did it as well.  

We cut the wings & the feet off short, as that is easier as well.  

(just an added bonus:  What this chicken was eating!!)

After skinning it and cleaning out the innards, and then rinsing out several time, I am left with a fresh, good bird.  Today we killed two because one really isn't enough to feed our growing family!  

And here is the recipe which is the whole purpose of the post:

Take your clean bird and brine overnight in:

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1 T lime juice

1 t ginger

salt & pepper

1/2 t oregano

1/2 t parsley

In the morning I follow this recipe, taken from Fix It & Forget It:

1 lb. bag baby carrots

1 small onion, diced

14.5 oz. can green beans

(I often add potatoes or whatever veggies I have.)

2 t salt

1/2 t pepper 

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup white wine

1/2-1 t dried basil

Put veggies on the bottom of the slow cooker.  Add chicken.  Top with salt, pepper, broth & wine.  Sprinkle with basil.  Cover.  Cook on low 8-10 hours or high 3-5 hours.  

(This is a bird I did a few weeks ago, using just potatoes & onions for veggies.)

Enjoy!

Low Sugar Strawberry Jam, (Pomona's Universal Pectin) - a Kitchen Post

I am no expert in low sugar jam recipes.  In fact, today I made my first!  I found this recipe here:
http://www.commonsensehome.com/low-sugar-strawberry-jam-and-strawberry-banana-jam-sweetened-with-honey/
You can make no sugar jam, but I chose to use some sugar & honey.  You can use agave, xylitol, fruit juice concentrate, stevia, or any other sweetener.

I am also no jam-making expert.  However, I have been making strawberry jam, blackberry jelly & sometimes raspberry jam for about 12 years, so I feel like I've got the basic hang of it!  I was excited to branch out & try something new!

The first thing I needed was to buy some Pomona's Universal Pectin.

This was a product I was unfamiliar with, as I have always used Certo.  We have a great store, The Natural Living Center, in my area.  However, due to it being berry season, they have been sold out all week!  Ahh! Today, after picking late-season berries, I thought of one other store, Central Street Farmhouse, which might carry it.  PTL, they do.  I picked it up & was ready to go!

I have learned some interesting things today that maybe you'll find interesting too!
Regular jam contains more sugar than it does fruit.  I'm sure this isn't a big surprise to anyone and if you have ever made jam it is certainly not a surprise.

A regular batch of Certo jam, even if you get 8.5 cups out of it, as I usually do, contains nearly .85 a cup, (so, more than 3/4 but not quite a cup), of sugar per CUP of jam.  Regular fruit pectin, like Certo, requires your jam or jelly to be 55%-85% sugar, in order to set firmly.  

This particular low-sugar recipe, however, contains only 1 cup of sugar & 1 cup of honey and it made almost 9.5 cups of jam.  Even if you decide that honey = sugar, that is still only .21 cups of sugar per cup of jam.  Very different than traditional jam.

Here is what I learned about Pomona's:  It is pure citrus pectin with no dextrose & no preservatives.  Its jelling power is activated by calcium, (included in the box), not by sugar content.  Interesting.

I usually use the inversion method for my jams & jellies, and it has worked out just fine.  This involves putting the jars upside down for sealing.  As I read the directions for this particular jam, I couldn't quite figure out whether or not I should do this, or do the traditional hot water bath method.  I saw on the directions that Pomona has a "Jamline"!!  So, I called it!  What the lady said to me really makes sense!

I told the Jamline Lady that I have great success with the inversion method and asked, "Would it be okay for me to use this method making low-sugar jam with Pomona?"  The short answer was, "No."  Don't use the inversion method!  Here is the why:  Sugar has a preserving quality.  My traditional Certo jam was not a good food source for mold.  Even if there were some airborne mold spores that got in the jar and survived the inversion method of sealing, with the amount of sugar that is in traditional jam, they just weren't going to grow.
...much like how the "healthy" food in your fridge will mold long before they food full of preservatives.  
Pomona's Pectin jam, however, IS a good food source for mold to grow.  Because of this, a true canning must take place, (much like when I am canning tomato sauce, applesauce, pickles, etc.)

Anyway, that may seem obvious to you, but I found it very interesting!

So...

I've got my berries.  Nice, small, flavorful ones.

Sidenote:  I'm always trying to make sure that I am not "jipping" the farmer, so I don't round my boxes up majorly, but try to make it fair for both of us!!  (I know - I'm weird & I think too much!)

I make the calcium water according to the package directions.  One Pomona's Pectin box can make 2-4 recipes of jam/jelly.  There are 2 packets of powder inside.  One is the pectin & one is the calcium, which you mix with water.  The extra can be stored in the fridge.

I mix the pectin with the sweetener, which in my case was sugar & honey.
Of course, while this is happening, my lids & bands & jars are prepared.

Next, I prepare my berries.  That is another major difference between low-sugar and regular jam.  Low-sugar jam uses about twice as many berries as regular jam does.

Sidenote:  Every, single time I use this little cutting, masher tool, I think of the dear lady who gave it to me:  my Grammie Boone.  She wasn't my "real" Grammie, but she was still my Grammie & she and Grampie Boone were very dear to me & my life is better because of knowing them.

Moving on...

I make the jam according to package directions.

I ladle the jam into my prepared jars.  (So neatly too!)

Sidenote:  My Grammie Sjoberg died last year & this glass canning funnel was hers and so of course I think of her every time that I use it!

I finished processing my jars of jam by 10 minutes in the boiling water bath & Voila! I have 9.5 cups of low-sugar jam!  Yay!  I found it helpful to read hints & tidbits both on the company's website & from the instructions, as I was so unfamiliar with the product.

Is the low-sugar jam different than traditional jam?
Sure, it is.
But I have a hunch that I am headed in this direction for more & more of my jams & jellies!
I would love to hear what your low-sugar jam & jelly recipes are!!

** please note - as of 9/1/13 I have now made low-sugar raspberry, blackberry, blackberry jelly & more strawberry, both w/ Pomona's Pectin & with Ball No-Sugar/Low-Sugar Pectin.  I will not be going back!  Love it!**

Quick Little Recipe - A Kitchen Post

This blog will not be ones of recipes, however I do so love that sort of thing!  This isn't even a recipe, really - Just a Make-At-Home Taco Seasoning.  I like this so much that sometimes I've even given it as a gift:

You will need:

1/4 c. instant minced onion
2 T salt
3 T chili powder
1 T cornstarch
1 T dried minced garlic
1 T crushed hot pepper flakes
2 T cumin
2 t oregano, crushed finely

Just mix!  I substitute 2 T of this mixture for a packet of taco seasoning.  I made this batch today & it yields a little over 14 T, so a good 7 "packets" for taco seasoning.

Enjoy!