Thursday - Pleasantly disturbed

Random, so random my thoughts will not settle

so instead I'm eating cinnamon toast ala The Pioneer Woman

yes.. it's bread (at least I'm using multi-grain flax bread)

yes- it's butter (and no small amount at that)

yes- it's sugar

and cinnamon.. I drift on the aroma alone, let alone the taste

Because my refrigerator was void of yogurt, my routine breakfast

partnered with sensible cereal

I have broken free

and found delight
my taste buds dance

rejoicing

and leave me wanting more

But there is yet One

Who leaves an even sweeter lingering

and ache for abundance

Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him. Psalm 34:8 The Message

Are you disturbed? Are you hungry? Stop by Duane Scott's Scribing the Journey for more tastes of Pleasantly Disturbed Thursdays and maybe some cheetos too.

Lemon Garlic Chicken

This lemon garlic chicken is a wonderful dish to prepare when having a couple of friends in for dinner. It's simple and delicious and all of the work is finished before it goes in the oven to cook for 2 hours. I have no doubt it tastes so good in part because we have home raised birds from a neighbor and I use garlic that Rick grows in our own garden, but I think it will be almost as good when you make it yourselves.

1 chicken cut up
2 lemons
1 head garlic unpeeled
(yes, 1 head, not 1 clove)
a few sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped
3 Tbsp oil
2/3 cup white wine
(I used de-alcoholized wine)
pepper

Place chicken pieces in a baking dish. Slice lemons into 8 pieces each. Cut root end from garlic and separate cloves and add to chicken with lemon and rosemary. Drizzle the oil over and toss with your hands to coat evenly. Turn chicken skin side up and spread out evenly in pan. Pour in the wine, sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and cover tightly with foil.

Bake at 325F on centre rack of oven for 1-1/2 hours. Remove foil, increase heat to 400F and continue to cook an additional 30 minutes until chicken skin is golden and lemons begin to caramelize.

Don't worry if there seems to be too much liquid left in the pan, it would taste wonderful over mashed potatoes, although I serve this with oven roasted potatoes.

Enjoy. And if you're ever nearby, ask Rick for a head of his home grown garlic, I think he'd be more than willing to share.

Chanukah Doughnuts

Tomorrow evening we are hosting another couple for dinner and a Chanukah celebration. With the Christmas tree lights twinkling, we will light the menorah and let it remind us of the miracle of the oil that lasted eight nights instead of one. Perhaps we shall read aloud from the book of Macabees in the Apocrypha.

This is the time to feast on foods fried in oil to celebrate the miracle. I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the taste of fried foods, but I don't relish the lingering smell of deep frying in my home. When my friends asked what they could cook, as they are always eager to try new recipes, I asked them to prepare the potato latkes (panckaes). I am cooking a traditional fruited pot roast.

Sufganiyot are the doughnuts that are enjoyed for Chanukah, but again, I didn't want to deep fry. I was very happy to find a recipe for baked doughnuts. The smell of the yeast, nutmeg and cinnamon warmed my kitchen on this cold winter day.

My verdict? I agree with the comment at the end of the recipe "They taste as doughnuts should."

If you want to try these at your house, you can find the recipe by clicking here.

Christmas Recipe Link-up

There's a Christmas recipe link-up over at the Family Channel of Exemplify Online.

One of my favourite cookies to serve or to give away as gifts packed in pretty tins is

Fresh Lemon Squares

Crust:
2 c flour
1 c chilled butter cut in small pieces
1/2 c icing sugar
1/2 c sweetened shredded coconut

Topping:
2 c sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 c fresh lemon juice*
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 c flour

Preheat oven to 350.
Butter 13x9x2 inch baking pan.
Combine 2 c flour, butter, icing sugar and coconut in food processor.
Process until moist clumps form.
Press onto bottom of prepared pan.
Bake until edges are golden, about 20 minutes.

Whisk 2 c sugar, eggs, lemon juice, baking powder and
1/4 c flour until well blended.
Pour over hot crust.
Bake until topping is set and light golden brown, about 25 minutes.
Cool in pan on rack.
Cut into 36 squares.

*I have used a combination of lemon, lime and orange juice for a
fresh citrus taste. Fresh juice is essential to the great flavor.

Now it's your turn. Come visit us here at Exemplify Online and share one of your Christmas recipes.

Enough tomatoes

I was seeing tomatoes in my sleep last night. Pails of tomatoes. Pots of tomatoes. Piles of tomatoes. I feel a bit guilty complaining about having too much of something when so many have so little, yet I am ready, more than ready for our tomatoes to be gone.

Today I am using all that are ripe or nearly ripe in a homemade pasta sauce for the freezer. I created this recipe to use lots of tomatoes quickly, for while my salsa and chili sauce require peeling the tomatoes, they go into this sauce simply washed and chopped with skins on.

FireFly's Homemade Tomato Sauce

8 quarts washed and rough chopped tomatoes
6 medium onions rough chopped
6 cloves garlic minced
4 stalks celery chopped
13 ounce can tomato paste
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1/8 cup salt
pepper
oregeno
basil

Saute onions, garic and celery in oil until limp and fragrant
Add chopped tomatoes and cook until soft
Puree (with immersion blender, blender or food processor)
Add remaining ingredients and simmer until thick
Check for taste and add more sugar, vinegar or seasonings as desired
(I leave this on the stove for hours when I have time)

I freeze this in 1 litre containers.

I will be serving this sauce on 4-cheese tortellini this evening while doing the "only 2 pails of tomatoes left to ripen" happy dance!

You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. Psalm 65:11 NIV

Pumpkin day

We didn't grow pumpkins this year, but dear friends had more than they could use and gifted us with a few when we were visiting them on Thanksgiving Day.

Yesterday was pumpkin day. I made pumpkin puree for the freezer. I roasted pumpkin seeds two different ways, with garlic salt and with a salt/cinnamon combination. Both varieties were a hit with Rick. I also made the pumpkin chocolate chip muffins Kristen wrote about at A Day in the Life and they were delicious.

Finally, for dinner I cooked up the following pumpkin soup. I enjoy making up recipes as I go!

FireFly's Pumpkin Soup

bunch of scallions - white and green parts chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 can sliced mushrooms
(fresh sauteed would be better but there were none in the house)
2 cups fresh pumpkin puree
3 cups water
1 tablespoon chicken broth powder
black pepper
garlic powder
cumin
1/2 cup cream
toasted pumpkin seeds

Saute green onions in butter until limp
Add mushrooms, pumpkin, water and broth powder
Season to taste with pepper, garlic and cumin or spices of your choice
Cook slowly until thickened and hot
Stir in cream
Serve topped with toasted pumpkin seeds

Is it pumpkin pie?

I have not shared many stories about the almost six years I worked for the Alzheimer Society, and I'm sure more will leak out as time moves on. My time there had many challenges but there were also blessings.

One of the greatest of these blessings was Janice. I rented my office space in the back of her trophy business. She quickly became so much more than a land-lady. Janice was someone to share a cup of coffee with and a sounding board while problem solving. Her heart provided me both a comforting place to weep and a joyful space to laugh. She became a true friend, and we have maintained that relationship even though I no longer see her each day.

This is a recipe I received from her, so I shall call it Janice's Carrot Pie - the best pumpkin pie you never ate!

Janice's Carrot Pie

3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1-1/2 cups mashed carrots
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup cream
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp mace
1/4 tsp nutmeg
(I use 1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg and no mace)
1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt

Blend together all ingredients.
Pour into unbaked pie shell.
Bake at 325 for 35-50 minutes.
Cool.

Enjoy with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. And don't forget to thank Janice.

Chilly days - Chili Sauce

While I was away Rick spent his early evenings in the garden, picking tomatoes and peppers before frost could harm them. There are boxes of green tomatoes in the basement that get checked for ripening progress daily.

Yesterday there were enough ripe tomatoes for me to cook up a batch of chili sauce, using the last of our garden onions and celery. What a great feeling to know that all of the veggies for this recipe were grown chemical free on our own land.

This is a fantastic sauce to have on hand for cooking chicken, pork, sloppy joes and more. I know you'll enjoy it.

FireFly's Chili Sauce

3 quarts peeled & coarsely chopped tomatoes (ice cream pail)
3 cups chopped celery
3 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped peppers (3/4 sweet & 1/4 hot)
¼ cup pickling salt
2 cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1-1/2 tsp pepper
1 1-1/2 tsp pickling spice wrapped in cheesecloth
1 cup vinegar
½ - 1 tsp cayenne

Combine veggies – sprinkle with salt – cover – let stand over night
Drain but don’t press
Place in large pot – add remaining ingredients
Bring to boil & cook slowly for 1-1/2 hours – stir frequently
Ladle into jars and process in hot water bath for 15 minutes
Makes about 5-1/2 pints

Pickled Peppers

Yesterday I was checking our hot pepper plants and noticed how beautiful and varied were the colours of the fruits. The hot bananas in particular were bright shades of yellows and oranges. I thought they would look spectacular in jars mixed with the dark greens and reds of the other peppers, so this morning's job was pickling peppers.

FireFly's Pickled Mixed Hot Peppers

2 quarts assorted hot peppers
(I used banana peppers, hot portugals, big chilis and jalepenos)
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
1 tablespoon salt

Remove stems and slice peppers
Combine water and vinegar and salt, heat to a simmer. Do not boil.
Pack peppers tightly into clean hot jars.
Pour hot vinegar solution over peppers leaving 1/2 inch head space.
Seal
Process in boiling bath for 10 minutes.

Makes 4 pints

I suggest wearing gloves from the start until the jars are sealed, and avoid wiping your eyes, nose or any exposed skin. The pepper oils can be quite volatile.

These are great for nachos, egg dishes, casseroles and for the very brave, on their own.

Relishing our harvest

This is one of the two pails of cucumbers Rick brought in yesterday evening. In this inside out season, our harvest is late but certainly bountiful. Many of these beauties are too big to make pickles, so it's time to pull out the relish recipes.

Today I decided to make a recipe that also uses our producing like crazy assortment of hot peppers. I thank God for our Cuisinart food processor that makes easier work of all the chopping that needs to be done this time of year.

FireFly's Sweet Fire Pickle Relish

8 cups finely chopped cucumbers

(since these were huge, I seeded them before chopping)

4 cups finely chopped onions

1 cup finely chopped sweet pepper

(I used sweet bananas which are somewhat hot this year)

2 cups finely chopped hot peppers

(I used a mix of portugal, hot banana, big chili and jalepeno)

1/2 cup salt

7 cups sugar

4 cups vinegar

2 tablespoons celery seed

2 tablespoons mustard seed

Combine the vegatables in a large bowl, sprinkle with salt and cover with cold water. Let sit for 2 hours. Drain well, pressing out extra liquid. This is what the mixture looked like after draining, I like the flecks of red, orange and dark green from the hot peppers.

In a large pot, mix sugar, vinegar and the celery and mustard seeds. Bring to a boil. Add the drained vegetables and simmer for 10 minutes.

Pack into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Put on fresh lids and screw rings on. Process 10 minutes in boiling water. This made 9 pint jars.

Quente e doce

Here's what became of yesterday's peppers. The combination of red hot peppers and yellow sweet banana peppers created a stunning orange result. Since what I used were hot portugals I am giving this jelly a Portugues name - FireFly's Quente (hot) e Doce (sweet) Jelly.

Rick's plants are filled with abundant fruit, so more pepper jellies are ahead.

Hot & Sweet

There are things I could sit and fret over today.

My mother has appointments with the surgeon who performed her last biopsy and also with the medical oncologist. Perhaps she'll learn results of last weeks MRI and if her adrenal gland is also involved.

Communication seems to be strained and breaking between myself and my oldest brother and sister-in-law.

Yes, I could sit and wonder, and worry, and work myself into a state of anxiety. Yes, I could do that quite easily, allowing the enemy of my soul to speak lies and fear directly into my spirit.

But I choose to remain deaf to his voice today, to trust in my Lord and busy my hands with the work of autumn.

Today's task is turning these lovely peppers into Hot Pepper Jelly. You can find my recipe here.

If you're passing by and hear singing, that will be me, worshipping the only One Who is worthy, as I work.

"She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31:27 NIV

Life is just a bowl of pickles

If life is just a bowl of pickles, our bowl will be overflowing! I have made 18 quarts of garlic dills since yesterday morning to go with the 9 quarts made last week. And.. and.. there are still cucumbers on the vine and more blossoms just beginning.

I'm not really complaining, even though I pretend to scream in horror when Rick comes in from the garden with another full pail. I have a recipe that's very simple. The most time consuming part is washing the cukes and rubbing off the spines.

FireFly's Garlic Dills

Wash all cucumbers, removing as many spines as possible
Cut a thin slice off each end
Leave whole or quarter or slice -- whatever you prefer

Brine is made of equal parts vinegar and water with 1 tablespoon pickling salt for every 2 cups liquid. Bring brine to a boil

Pack each hot, sterilized quart jar with 1-2 cloves (depending on size and your taste) of garlic (Rick's homegrown garlic is the very best), 2 heads fresh dill, and as many cucumbers as you can cram in. Fill jar with hot brine, remove air bubbles, wipe rim, place fresh lid on and twist on ring securely but not too tight.

Process jars in boiling water for 15 minutes. Cool on counter overnight and check to be sure jars have sealed. Any unsealed jars must be refrigerated.

Label and store jars in a cool, dark location. We are blessed to have a cold storage room in the basement. The longer they sit, the better they get.

Place in refrigerator to chill well before serving. This makes them crisp!

Next I think I'll let some of the cucumbers grow large and turn them into relish as pickle mania continues.

Celery Soup

Image via Wikipedia

Each spring, Rick plants celery, hoping for a harvest. Most years, what has emerged from the garden hasn't been worth the time it takes to wash. Hard and skinny stalks with a bitter flavour.
Maybe it's the unusually cool weather, or the abundance of moisture, but this year's celery is large and crisp, unlike anything we've ever grown.

This celery would be perfect in my home canned chili sauce, but we don't yet have tomatos. I didn't want to just freeze the first fruits so I thought about making celery soup. I googled recipes, but those I found called for flour or others thickeners, which I'm not at all fond of. To me they give soup an odd, almost slimey texture.

I often cook without a recipe, going by instinct and taste, so I boldly ventured into the kitchen this morning to prepare my own version of creamed celery soup. I was so pleased with the results that I am going to share the recipe with you as best I can, realizing that, as usual, I did not measure. It's soup, after all, just throw things in, cook and enjoy!

FireFly's Creamed Garden Celery Soup

2 - 3 onions chopped

large bunch celery 2 - 3 pounds

vegetable oil to coat bottom of soup pot

(I would have used the leaves, but they were too large and tough)

3-4 large potatos peeled and chopped

3 tablespoons chicken broth powder

3 quarts water

dried minced garlic

handful of chopped parsley (mine was from the freezer)

pepper

Cook onions and celery in oil until fragrant and soft but not brown. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer until all veggies are soft. Puree with an immersion blender (regular blender or food processor work too). I like to leave some of the soup unprocessed for added texture.

That's it. Simple as can be, and believe me, this was better than any canned cream of celery I've ever eaten. I had a hard time not serving myself a bowl for lunch.

I might try adding some light cream (1/2 & 1/2) when I serve it tonight with toasted tomato (first ripe one's from the garden) sandwiches for dinner.

Milk & Honey Bread

I spent the better part of the late morning/early afternoon baking bread, an activity I didn't seem to have the time for last winter. Rick and I much prefer home baked to store bought bread. I like to experiment adding more whole grain flours and reducing the amount of refined white flour. When the recipe produces multiple loaves, one loaf stays out to be eaten fresh and the rest get wrapped, labeled and put into the freezer as soon as they cool to be savoured at a later date.

Todays recipe was called Milk & Honey Loaf eventhough it contains no milk! I added to the amount of rye and whole wheat flours in the original recipe succesfully. Here is the resulting recipe:

1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/3 cup honey
2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup rye flour
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour


In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Allow yeast to sit until it begins to form bubbles.
Add honey, butter, and salt to the yeast mixture. Stir in flours one cup at a time, beginning with the rye. When the dough begins to stiffen, turn it out on to a well floured surface. Knead for 5 minutes, adding flour as needed. Place into a greased bowl, and turn once to oil the surface of the dough. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise in a warm place until doubled, approximately 1 to 2 hours.

Punch down dough, and knead again until smooth. Split into 2 loaves, and knead for a few more minutes. Place loaves in two oiled pans. Allow to rise until double, 1 to 2 hours.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto counter or wire rack to completely cool.

The name of this bread was speaking to my spirit all through the day as I meditated on God's promise to His people:

But I said to you, "You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey." I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations
Leviticus 20:24

I have been praying about what my promised land is to look like. Am I already here? At times it seems so, at other times, that land seems quite distant. I pray that the Lord will reveal to me what steps He desires me to make to possess the inheritance He has in store for me. I don't want to be content with yesterday's bread when I can feast on a fresh word each day!

Recipe as requested

FireFly’s FireCracker (Hot Pepper) Jelly

½ cup hot peppers ground or chopped very fine
½ cup bell peppers ground or chopped vey fine
6 cups sugar
1 -1/2 cups white vinegar
6 ounces liquid Certo
Few drops red or green food colouring

Mix sugar and vinegar, bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and add Certo, peppers and food colouring. Stir for one minute. Ladle into hot sterilized jars. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Makes 8 or 9 half pint jars.

If using red peppers, use red food colouring, or green food colouring for green peppers.

Cafe - Holiday Recipe Bazaar

This week we're sharing favorite holiday recipes, and the one that first came to mind for me was Fresh Cranberry Relish. I was never a lover of cooked cranberry sauce, whether jellied or not, but when I found this recipe on an OceanSpray cranberry bag I had to try it. It is ridiculously simple to prepare and goes well besides meats, over ice cream or even mixed into vanilla yogurt for a heathy snack!

Take 1 bag fresh cranberries, 1 orange (with peel) cut in quarters, 1/2 cup sugar and mix in food processor. Add more sugar to taste and mix again.

That's it. Couldn't be any easier could it?

I'm sorry that I don't have any pictures, so you will just have to imagine the sparkling ruby colour of this tasty delight. Or make it, and see for yourself!

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