Today at the Dackel Princess house we spent the day cooking. Our big project was the preparation, cooking and canning of our very own Plum Jam!
As you know, Emily is here, and today her boyfriend, Ben came over as well and the four of us set about putting it all together.
In the end, we had eleven half pints of Jam, and it came out very well! Best of all, we had fun doing it!
Cut the stem end from the tomato and cut into quarters. Place in a large pot, cover and bring to boil. Turn down and simmer tomatoes for 1-2 hours, until very tender.
While tomatoes are cooking Chop up:
Put tomatoes through a food mill to separate the skin and seeds from the pulp. Reserve all liquid and pulp.
In large kettle add 2-4 tablespoons of olive oil. Heat and add the vegetables you have chopped. Sauté for several minutes, until the onion is translucent.
Add:
Stir, breaking up meat, and browning, until it is completely cooked. Drain any fat you may have.
Add:
Allow this to simmer very slowly for 1-2 hours, covered.
Then add:
If your sauce does not thicken to your taste after 20 minutes, take the lid off and cook down a little.
Makes approximately 3 quarts of sauce.
I’ve been growing out my hair for a while now. It’s gotten so much longer and I thought I would like that, but…after a few months of not being able to just scrunch it into place I was going nuts.
So I called Margarita, and went in to get my hair cut! I wanted it all layered up so I can scrunch and go.
Margarita is an amazing stylist. She knew just what I needed and worked quickly and efficiently and I am back to being able to scrunch and go!
Isn’t it amazing how the little things in life can make all the difference?
I also made three quarts of spaghetti sauce! My freezer is getting so full.
Soon I will be making green Tomato Relish also known as “Chow Chow”. Now that will be interesting as I have never made that before!
Oh yes. And best of all, Emily arrives tonight for two days with us and the pups! We’re really looking forward to that!
Lest I start to sound like a cooking blog rather than a dog blog, let me preface this post by saying that when I feel depressed or sad, I cook. Unfortunately for my waistline, I also tend to eat what I cook! Anyway, on Monday I made a Zucchini Lasagna. I wasn’t sure how that would work out, but it came out surprisingly well! Here is the recipe:
I started by slicing up 3 pounds of zucchini. The key here is to get several zucchini that are the same length, then slice them about a quarter of an inch thick.
Then you place the slices in boiling water for just 5 minutes.
Then drain them on paper towel to get out all the moisture. While they drain, mix up 2-16 ounce containers of ricotta cheese (I used fat free) with 2 tablespoons of parsley and 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of egg whites.
I got out the spaghetti sauce I made yesterday (I know, I have been cooking a lot) and got that ready to use.
You start by preparing a 9×13 pan, spoon a thin layer of tomato sauce. Sprinkle with a quarter of the bread crumbs. Arrange layer of zucchini over this. Spoon half of the reserved ricotta mixture on top of the zucchini. Sprinkle with half the mozzarella and romano cheese. Arrange the rest of the zucchini over this, layer more tomato sauce and the rest of the bread crumbs and top with remaining ricotta mixture. Top with remaining mozzarella and parmesan.
Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 1 hour or until top is brown. Let stand 30 minutes before serving. (I mean this, as it will be terribly gooey!)
Cut, serve, and enjoy!
It was great and even my husband, who was skeptical, loved it! A nearly vegetarian meal!
In other news, Anneliese was de-lambed today. Hubby brought her outside and then hid the little lamb we gave her two weeks ago. She has not missed her and is now completely back to being her old playful self! I am so thankful!
Yes, and in the end, life does go on.
Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend!
Today was a big cooking day here at The Dackel Princess House. Actually Hubby departed early on to go work in the forest again, and that left me with the Dackels, zucchini and more tomatoes than I knew what to do with!
So when all else fails, one must cook, yes?
I started by clearing the shelves and making sure everything was nice and clean. I’m quite lucky to have a big island counter top in my kitchen where I can spread out and work.
You can just see Greta enjoying the sunshine on the left side of the picture.
Then I got out all the equipment and ingredients to make the zucchini bread.
See my beautiful zucchini?
After this I used the food processor to shred it.
Then I mixed it all together and put it in pans.
And when I was done I had eight loaves of zucchini bread.
Seven of them went into the freezer, and one stayed out.
Meanwhile, during the time I was working on the zucchini bread, I had the tomatoes cooking so I could make spaghetti sauce. After a couple of hours cooking down the tomatoes, I put them through a food mill to separate the seeds and skins from the pulp.
I sauteed up some onions, peppers, celery, garlic and Italian Sausage and ground beef to make a nice thick meat sauce. After a few hours of simmering it slowly, it was done. I divided it up and froze half and kept half out. I’m thinking of making a zucchini lasagna with the sauce.
Later in the day, because I hadn’t cooked enough, I got to work on a beautiful Rainbow Trout that was given to me by my friend, Dave. This was an enormous fish and fed both Hubby and I completely!
I still want Dave to teach me how to cook this fish the way he described. Somehow I don’t think I got it right. Still we both enjoyed it, and so did Greta, Fritz, and Anneliese. They got the scraps. Arnie, funny little guy that he is, didn’t like it! I was shocked. I tried giving him the skin, but no. He didn’t like it!
So my day is ending, all the cooking is done and I am finally able to put up my feet and relax.
Tomorrow it’s zucchini lasagna!
Right now I find cooking eases my mind. So, I am cooking a lot. Tonight I cooked Julia’s Baked Chicken. Mmmmm, was it good! Here is a picture and the recipe below.
* 1 (3 1/2 to 4 pound) chicken
* 1 small yellow onion, quartered
* 1 lemon, thinly sliced
* 1/2 cup celery leaves
* Salt and black pepper
* Butter
* 1 small onion, chopped
* 1-4 carrots, chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
* 2 cups chicken broth
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Wash the chicken in water and dry thoroughly. Season the cavity with salt and black pepper and stuff with the onion, lemon, and celery leaves. Rub the chicken lightly with softened butter and season all over with salt and pepper. Tie the drumsticks ends together and set the chicken, breast side up, in an oiled v-shaped rack or on an oiled roasting pan in the oven.
Roast for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees, baste the chicken, and roast for 15 minutes. Add the chopped onion and carrots to the pan, basting them and the chicken. Continue roasting the chicken until the juices run clear, for a total of 45 minutes plus an additional 7 minutes for each pound. (In other words, a 3 1/2 pound chicken would take a basic 45 minutes plus an additional 25 minutes, for a total 70 minutes or 1 hour and 10 minutes of cooking time.)
Remove the chicken and spoon the fat out of the roasting pan. Into the pan, stir in the herbs and blend in the broth and, stirring constantly, boil for several minutes on the stove top to concentrate the flavor. Correct the seasoning and strain the sauce into a warm sauce boat. Carve the chicken and serve with the warm sauce.
Check your veggies and if they need to cook more you can toss them into the stove top saucepan and simmer for a few more minutes on there.
I’m here to announce that my attempt at making Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon, went very well. It was not, however a meal that one can just throw together. I had to go to the grocery store in town and ask for pork fat. It seems that this makes the sauce even more flavorful, and nothing burns when you use it. Of course now that I have asked for pork fat in town, I’m sure they will label me as eccentric! In case any one is wondering, they did not charge me for the pork fat.
There is a lot of preparation from the cutting of the meat into cubes, to the drying of the meat before one browns it in the rendered pork fat.
After drying the meat I tossed it into the very hot pan to saute.
It takes almost no time at all to do this part.
Then after you have browned all the meat and removed it to the dutch oven, you put the onions and carrots into the pan and saute until they are browned.
Then, after 3 hours in a low oven I pulled it out, added the braised onions and sauteed mushrooms, and stirred them in. Then dinner was ready!
It was delicious, but very labor intensive and after I got done with the cooking I had to pull my kitchen apart and clean everything! (Sauteing the meat in the pork fat sent the grease flying! Quite a mess!)
Was it worth it? Oh yes, very much so.
Will I do it again? Absolutely!
It’s really easy and actually fairly low-fat (if you leave off the whipped cream!). You can use almost any kind of fruit you like, fresh or canned - the amount will depend on the size of your pan. I’ve used peaches with great success and I’m sure apricots would also be lovely. I fiddled a bit with the streusel recipe and added a bit more butter along with some flour until I got a consistency I liked. The glaze is optional. I prefer a thinner cake so I made mine in a 10-in flan pan.
Peach Kuchen
1/4 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup granulated sugar (I also used Splenda)
2 eggs, separated (I used 1/2 cup egg whites)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk (fat free)
2 cans (each 14 oz/398 ml) peaches, drained, or 2 cups fresh sliced peaches
Streusel Topping:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (Splenda Brown Sugar)
1 Tbsp soft butter or margarine
1 tsp cinnamon
Glaze:
1/4 cup icing (confectioner’s) sugar
1 tsp milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
Grease 9-in/2.5 L square cake pan. (or use greased 9 or 10 in. springform or flan pan with removable bottom).
In large bowl, cream together butter, sugar and egg yolks until fluffy. Combine flour and baking powder; beat into egg mixture alternately with milk. In separate bowl, beat eggs whites until stiff but not dry; fold into batter. Turn into prepared pan. Pit peaches and arrange over top.
Streusel topping: In small bowl, combine brown sugar, butter and cinnamon; mix well and sprinkle over fruit.
Bake in 350°F (180°C) oven for 45 to 55 mins (depending on size of pan used)or until top is golden and toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.
Glaze: Combine icing sugar, milk and vanilla; mix well. Drizzle over cooled cake.
I have been trying to make zucchini bread and it fell flat. Really, flat! The taste was okay, but it never rose very high. So I am asking. Please send me your favorite zucchini bread recipe.
Wednesday, when I arrived home from Weight Watchers, Hubby handed me a peach. A peach from our very own Reliance Peach Tree. I bit into it, and the juice drizzled down my chin! Yes folks, it’s peach season here in New Hampshire!
We have a bumper crop and Hubby has already sold 35 pounds of peaches, with another 45 pounds ready to go tomorrow! I’m planning to make 2 batches of my Heavenly Peach Jam, but the rest will be given to neighbors and sold to the local farm stands.
I have another big batch of cucumbers and plan to make pickles again this weekend. I’m not sure which kind I’ll make. Moonglow or Bread & Butter. Probably the Moonglow.
Anneliese is uncomfortable, and I think she is ready to have this baby and be done with it! She sleeps a lot, and also tries to stretch out to give her belly and the baby some room.
Her constant companion these days is her brother, Arnie. He seems to sense that she is with puppy, and he snuggles up in an attempt to make her feel good.
Since her temperature is still normal I’m guessing it will be another couple of days. Last time her temperature dropped to 97 degrees and 36 hours later the puppies were born. So, I will keep taking her temperature (much to her dismay), and let you all know when it drops!
Ingredients
