Bread and Butter Pickles

I took a preserves class at Loyalist College in Belleville last year. It was a very informative and fun class and that made me even more excited to preserve all things!

This recipe for bread and butter pickles was a huge hit at home last year so this year I planted my own pickling cucumbers with the intent of making pickles.

I was out in our veggie garden last night and picked the four cucumbers that were ready and rushed into the house to make pickles.

We begin.

If you are new to canning do not fret, it's easier then it looks and hopefully I can get your started here.

You're going to need a big pot. You can buy a canning kit at Walmart or Canadian Tire if you like.  I just use a big pot with  a small cooling rack at the bottom this is so your jars don't jump around too much while they boil, they may break.  A pair of tongs will also come in handy.

Get your big pot of water to a boil and while you're waiting grab another pot and start making the pickling liquid. This is an easy 1 to 1 to 1 ratio, which makes it easy to adjust depending on how many cucumbers you have.

With my four cucumbers I started here, with the pickling liquid

Pickling Liquid
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup vinegar

You can double, triple and quadruple this if you need to. If you make too much you can store it in the fridge for up to 6 months.


Pickles
Pickling Cucumbers
Pickling spice  (1 tsp per 500ml jar 1 tbsp per 1L jar)
Fresh dill
2 cloves of garlic per jar

Stir and heat the pickling liquid in a saucepan until the sugar has dissolved.  You want the liquid to hot when you pour it over the pickles.

Now your big pot O water is boiling. Gently place your jars, lids and screw tops in the pot. Don't over crowd the jars, if you have a lot do them in stages. Boil the jars for about 10 minutes making sure the tops are covered with water. This will sterilize your jars.

While you wait for the jars to sterilize you can cut the cucumbers.  Cut them to the thickness you prefer. I made mine a little thick last night, mostly because I had a little helper and I was more concerned about not having bread and butter fingers.

Using a pair of tongs, take your jars, lids and screw tops out of the boiling water and set them on a dish towel.

Keep your water boiling for later.

In the bottom of the jars place in your fresh dill (as much or as little as your like), pickling spice and garlic. Then pack in those cucumbers. Once the cucumbers are in pour the hot pickling liquid into your jars,  leave about an inch to half and inch of room at the top of the jar.

Wipe the rim of the jar with a dish towel or paper towel that has been dipped into boiling water. We want to keep things as clean as possible. Put on your lids and gently screw on the rings.

Now we're going to place the filled jars back into the pot of boiling water and process them for about 10 minutes. If you have to do this in stages don't worry, the jars can wait, you don't have to put them all in at once.

After you've processed your jars take them out of the water, place them on the kitchen counter and let them sit for at least 12 hours. You may hear the joyful 'pop' we canners love! That means your jars have sealed. Your jars won't all pop at once, it may take several hours for certain jars to seal. If you're worried you can put sealed jars back into boiling water and process them again, if they still don't seal just eat your pickles right away. They should be good in the fridge for at least 2 weeks.

I hope this recipe is helpful to those of you who are new to canning and tasty for those of you that LOVE pickles!

Good luck and enjoy!

A Tisket a Tasket a Biscuit in a Basket

Tea Biscuits.

I have an affinity for a certain kind of tea biscuit. One that I always post pictures of on my Instagram account that either has friends jumping into the kitchen to make their own, or people asking me for the recipe that I use.

So for those of you who have asked for the recipe today, I am making good on my promise to get off my butt and post this much loved recipe.

This is a variation of the Canadian Living Cheese Tea Biscuit recipe and I've just thrown some add ins to it.

2 1/4 cup of flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt (I usually skip this because I buy salted butter, up to you)
1/2 cup cold butter
1 cup old cheddar (or whatever cheese your prefer)
1 cup of milk





Add ins of your choice 
bacon
chives
ham
rosemary
whatever floats your boat


Combine flour baking powder and salt (if using) into a large mixing bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly.

There are a few ways to make this 'crumbly' that the recipe is talking about. One was is with a pastry cutter and some elbow grease and mash away. Another is to use your kitchen aid mixed with the paddle attachment and just stir in the butter until you're crumbly or there is a kind of time consuming way that I prefer which is to just rub the butter and flour mixture between your fingers until the aforementioned crumbly has happened. 

Moving on.

Stir in cheese

Pour milk over top of flour mixture and stir with a fork until sticky and ragged.

On a lightly floured surface kneed the dough about 8 to 10 times. (not too much because we want to keep the butter cold so the biscuits can be nice and flaky)

This is when I usually add the bacon or chives. I gently kneed the bacon in until it's incorporated through.

Pat or roll the dough until it's about an 1" to an 1" 1/4 thickness depending on how thick you want the biscuits to be. Cut your biscuits out with a circle cutter or a soup can, whatever you have on hand.

Arrange on a parchment lined baking pan. I like to group mine together, you can also cook them an inch or so apart if you like.

Bake at 425 degrees F  for 15 minutes

I usually make a double batch and depending on who is asking for biscuits I may make a few variations so everyone is happy. Or I will freeze the extras.

If you are going to make extra and freeze them, which I highly recommend you can just toss the baked biscuits in a freezer bag and freeze them for up to 3 months. When you're hankering for a treat take them out of the freezer, let them thaw and toss them in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes. A good friend of mine told me to put a dab of butter on the top of each biscuit before putting them back in the oven (Thanks Kristina). You should do it too!

Okay now your turn! I want to see your biscuits! (hee hee)

I'll show you mine 

If you show me yours!

I Think I Want To Sew

When I was a kid my Mom signed me up for sewing lessons. I loved them. I learned how to make clothes, actual clothes. Pants, shorts a really cute puffy blouse (I was 11). I'm not sure why I stopped taking the lessons but to this day I wish I hadn't.

About 8 years Anthony bought me a sewing machine, a very nice one, and I had every intention of taking classes and learning how to sew my own clothes and household items.

As soon as I could I went to Fabricland, I bought sewing patterns and fabric and was ready to have all that lost sewing knowledge flow into my brain and I would be off!

I am sad to report that I didn't get very far. I have very little patience, very very little patience. Following a pattern bored me but when I tried to do things how I wanted to I ended up with a mess. I didn't throw in the towel though, I just made curtains. Yes, I sewed two fabric rectangles together and hung them up proudly in my windows.

Flash forward 8 years and I have one very dusty sewing machine that I really want to take advantage of. Since I knew I could sew rectangles I thought, I can sew squares. So I found a simple pattern online and I made cloth napkins with fabric I found at a second handstore for super cheap.

 With my confidence at about a 7 I found a great tutorial for fleece mittens. I took Jack to Fabricland and had him pick out a fleece fabric he liked, which just so happened to be on sale (win) and I made mittens! I made mittens that he LOVES and wears everywhere!

Today I made placemats  for the kids. Again thank heavens for the world wide web! Another easy pattern, one that included fusible interfacing  (eep) which lead to a quick tutorial and then placemats!

One of the things I've learned from my journey towards the sewing hall of fame is if you don't have time to take lessons start small, take advantage of online tutorials and take your time. I'm still trying to take my time.  If I could wave fabric in from of my sewing machine and have it turn into a circle skirt that would be AWESOME, but I don't.

For now I will stick to the easy to handle patterns and hope that one day I will be able to take lessons and really take my sewing machine out for a spin!

Splish Splosh Apple Sauce

I loved apple sauce as a kid. As a matter of fact I still do. My kids on the other hand, they don't love it as much as I do. Max will have a bowl here and there but his life won't end if he doesn't eat any.

So why am I going to share my apple sauce recipe today? Because even though we don't eat apple sauce on its own we do go through it pretty fast. Apple sauce happens to be one of the main ingredients in the fruit roll up recipe that I use. It can also be a stepping stone if you choose to make your own baby food.

 This recipe is so easy, you don't have to add anything to it but a little bit of lemon juice and cinnamon, which, now that I'm writting this I totally forgot to add today! I still got the thumbs up from Max so all is not lost!

Here's what you will need

Apples, a bunch of apples
I used the Macintosh apples. The ones you can get already in a bag
Lemon juice
Water
Cinnamon

First thing to do is to peel, core and cut your apples.

Place your apples in a large pot, add about 2 tbsp of lemon juice and 1/2 cup of water and cook partially covered on medium low stiring here and there until the apples are soft.

Once the apples are cooked you can either mash them with a potato masher until it isn't so chuncky (unless you like it that way) or you can put the cooked apples through a food mill if you have one. I was lucky enough to be gifted a food mill for Christmas so that's what I have been using.

After you have mashed or milled the apples you can add the cinnamon to taste or forget it all together like I did.

I jar my apple sauce just so it doesn't take up room in the fridge.

You can do this if you like but it's usually fine in the fridge for a couple of weeks depending on how much you make. You can also freeze it in ice cube trays if you are using it as baby food.

I ended up with about 11 cups of apple sauce.

The great thing about this recipe is that it's incredibly simple and easy to play with. If you don't want 11 cups of apple sauce, don't use so many apples.  If you would like it a bit sweeter then add some honey or brown sugar. The possibilities are endless!

Enjoy!

Pancakes for breakfast anyone?!

Pancakes.  Pancakes are a very serious business in our family and have been since I was a kid. There's nothing better then a fluffy pancake to start your day off or to end your day with. Who doesn't love breakfast for dinner?

Over the years I've tried a lot of boxed mixes from the store then a few from scratch always in search of the best tasting pancake.

I found that the boxed mixes were very handy and quick but they always left me feeling like I had a big lump in my tummy. Making the pancakes from scratch,  like anything, always taste better but takes a bit more time and effort.

This left me wondering. How I could get the best of both worlds?

Pinterest will know!

I went online and looked at all of the homemade pancake mixes I could find. The general mixes were pretty much all the same, it's what you do with the mix when you are ready to make pancakes that's the trick.

 Here is the mix recipe

12 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

6 tbsp baking powder 

4 tap baking soda

2 tsp salt

 This is the recipe doubled because we do really eat a lot of pancakes 

Give everything a quick whisk and store in an air tight container.

Okay, now you're standing in the kitchen, your kids are whining for food. Don't panic, here's what to do!

Take out your trusty homemade pancake mix.

In a mixing bowl add

2 cups pancake mix

2 cups milk

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Whisk all the ingredients together. Don't be worried if it's a little lumpy.

A quick note...I use soured milk instead of regular milk. In this case in a 2 cup measuring cup add 2 tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar then fill up the measuring cup to 2 cups and give it a few minutes to curdle. I usually do this step first and get everything else ready. Usually by that time the milk is ready.

Now just make your pancakes like you normally would and top with your most favorite toppings! We are partial to homemade strawberry jam but, to each his own.

This recipe usually makes 12 good size pancakes.

If you have homemade mixes that are a staple in your home please share! It's always nice to take one thing off the grocery list!

Lollipops to Help a Cough

Candy making is something that has always intrigued me and scared me at the same time.

 I’m not afraid to say that I have an extreme lack of patience. So when it comes to heating up boiling sugar to a VERY specific temperature I usually stand at the stove wanting to turn up the heat past medium high to move things along and I look like a kid staring at the pot saying ‘is it ready yet is it ready yet?’

Let me start by saying, a candy thermometer is a MUST have for making candy. I have a cook book that says you don’t need a thermometer and goes on to explain testing the sugar for a certain stage in the candy making process.  Let’s just say, putting a drop of boiling sugar in a glass of cold water to see if it forms a ball then spreads out when it hits the bottom is not a good way to test for soft ball stage. Trust your candy thermometer and the little tick on it that says soft ball stage!

The reason why I wanted to make candy last week and specifically lollipops is because Max had a terrible cold and was coughing up a storm. This is why honey lemon lollipops were on the top of my list for the day.

I found the recipe here I’ve also pinned the link to the recipe in the 'Home Remedies' board on Pinterest, there is another recipe for flavored lollipops in ‘The Candy Man Can’ board on Pinterest so if you follow me there that's where you will find them.

The recipe is super easy and takes no time at all. Which surprised me because sometimes making candy it quite the commitment.  

All you have to do is start with the very small list of ingredients. I did have to go out and buy lollipop sticks, which you can find at the bulk barn.

Mix all your ingredients together in a pot and let it come to a boil on medium high ( I held myself back and didn't turn up the heat) until you get to the hard crack stage. 

 Then pour your very very super duper hot hot hot syrup carefully onto a parchment lined baking sheet. I was scared of burning myself but I can out unscathed, but please be careful.

You have to work fast because once the syrup starts to cool it gets really thick and hard to pour. But if it's too hot you will have a hard time pouring perfect circles. This picture is of my second batch of strawberry flavored lollipops. I did a better job on these. The honey lollipops were crazy looking shapes but tasted very good!

And there you have it kids! Homemade lollipops! 

They are a little different then store bought but that really goes without saying. They are crunchier and I would like to play with the flavoring a bit but they seem to be a hit here. You can always get kids to try candy creations without anyone turning up their noses! 

Now that I have a little more confidence with candy I may try something else.  Christmas is almost here so stay tuned who knows what I might get my hands into!

Rice Krispie Square vs Rice Krispie Treats

I'm sure I'm not the only mother who has tasted a Rice Krispie Treat and shuddered at the artificial too sweet flavor.

That's not the case with our kids though. I don't know if they like the waxy sprinkle like topping or the sweetness, but my kids want them and that is all there is to it.

I have never purposely bought a box of Rice Krispie Treats for the above reasons but Jack has come across them honestly, be it in his Halloween bag or at a birthday party.

I decided one day that I was going to try something just a little different with the old school Rice Krispie Squares and hope that it would be something I could add to Jack's lunch box without him asking me why we can't just buy the ones at the store.

I took your basic Rice Krispie Square recipe;

1/4 cup butter
40 large marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispie Cereal
1 tsp vanilla
And the secret...regular run of the mill sprinkles!

Make your squares just like it says on the box, and once you press them into your pan...wait for it....sprinkle your sprinkles on top and push them down.

I wouldn't recommend mixing them in because depending on the sprinkles you use the colour may mix in with the melted marshmallow and make for a not so good looking treat.

I'm pleased to say these were a hit, with not only Jack but the whole family and they are now a weekly staple that we can't live without.