Jalepeno Jelly

Something new to try from your garden this year.

Jalapeno Pepper Jelly


3 Green bell peppers
2 (4 oz.) cans diced jalapeno peppers or
1 cup fresh jalapeno peppers
1 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
6 1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 t. cayenne pepper
1 box liquid pectin

Chop pepper ( blend in a food processor works best )
Combine with vinegar, sugar and cayenne in pot.
Stir until boiling.
Stir in pectin, boil 5 min. longer. Skim off foam.
Ladle into prepared jars. Process in boiling water
canner for 5 min.

Definitely worth a try. Bring it to a gathering along with a block of cream cheese and some of your favorite crackers. Guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser!

Digsby

IM, Email, and Social Networks in one easy to use application!

http://digsby.com

Read more at http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/mormon_jalapeno_jelly#JmkJEZ8FLff7BJrc.99

Strawberry Zucchini Jam

AAH Yes...

SUMMER, and ZUCCHINI

The following Content was Provided by www.Budget101.com "Digging yourself out of debt, when all you have is a spoon"

Strawberry Zucchini Jelly is wonderful concoction which utilizes that bumper crop of zucchini! This "mock" strawberry jam does contain fruit- but it also gives a delicious serving of veggies, shhhhhh.... don't tell anyone, they'll NEVER know!

You'll Need:
3 c. peeled and grated zucchini
3 c. sugar
1/2 c. lemon juice
8 oz. crushed pineapple
6 oz. strawberry Jell-O

In a large saucepan cook the grated zucchini and sugar over low heat until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture starts to boil, stirring often. Add the remaining ingredients and bring it back up to nearly a boil, continue simmering for about 5 minutes more, stirring constantly.

Ladle the jam into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4" head space, add lids/bands and seal. Process in a water bath for 10 minutes.
By the way, you can use any flavor of Jell-0 that you prefer.

Use Raspberry Jello to Make Raspberry Pineapple jam

This delicious jam recipe is an old favorite for hiding veggies, it's great for sending the kids to school with Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches!

http://www.budget101.com/canning-preserving/strawberry-zucchini-jelly-4219.html

 

Canning Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate

I remember as a Young adult going to the homes of my farming and provident cousins and seeing jars of juice concentrate on their shelves, that they had extracted and canned. I Loved this idea! They used grapes, but you could use whatever fruit you would like I guess.

This mixture sounds especially delicious to me.

Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate

Makes 6-8 pints or 3 quarts of canned concentrate

6 cups strawberries, cleaned and hulled
4 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 cups sugar

In a food processor, blender or bullet puree strawberries in batches.  

Transfer strawberry puree to a stainless steel saucepan over medium-high heat. DO NOT BOIL. Add lemon juice and sugar and stir to combine.

Using a thermometer heat to 190 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring occasionally. Because this recipe has sugar it will get to temperature rather quickly so keep your eye on the thermometer. Remove from heat. 

Ladle mixture into jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. Wipe rim, add hot lids and tighten rings just finger tight. Process in water bath canner at a boil for 15 minutes.

To reconstitute, mix one part concentrate with one part water, tonic water or ginger ale. Adjust concentrate to suit your taste.  Some have reported a ratio of 0ne concentrate  to 3 or 4 water and loved it.

You can use bottled lemon juice for this recipe as well!!!

**If you do not want to process this concentrate in canning jars, freeze the concentrate in 1 to 2 cup portions.

 

 

This amazing recipe, info. and picture came from this website with our many Thanks!

http://www.sbcanning.com/2012/04/strawberries-and-summer-strawberry.html

Sweet Corn with Peaches Soup

Not sure what to think about this recipe. But when I saw that it had 2 of the leading cast members of Summer,

I thought I would let you decide.

What does this recipe have to do with food storage or provident living you may ask.
Well anytime fruit and vegetables are in season and you find yourself with a bounty.
Then it only makes sense to use it or lose it.

 

Sweet Corn Soup with Peaches Recipe

 

 

 

INGREDIENTS

• 6 ears sweet corn, husked
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon white miso paste
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• Pinch of cayenne
• 3 large ripe peaches
• 1 1/4 cups unsweetened almond milk
• 12 basil leaves, sliced, for garnish

DIRECTIONS

With a sharp, heavy knife, cut the kernels from the corn cobs and place cobs and kernels in a soup pot. Add the broth, water, miso, onion, garlic, and cayenne. Peel, pit, and finely chop 2 of the peaches and add to the pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the corn and peaches are very tender, about 30 minutes.
Use tongs to remove and discard the corn cobs and cool the soup to room temperature. Purée half of the soup in a blender and return to the pot. Stir in the almond milk. To serve the soup hot, reheat gently over medium heat, stirring frequently but do not allow to boil. To serve cold, refrigerate until chilled.
Halve, pit, and dice the remaining peach. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the peach and basil.

Low sugar Strawberry syrup

I am a HUGE fan of Canning.

I Love to see bottles of fruits, vegetables, and condiments over flowing on my storage shelves.

So I thought this was a MUST pass on recipe that I found on Pinterest.

I have made boysenberry syrup many years ago and LOVED it,

 however I don't remember straining the seeds at all.

So read the recipe and decide for yourself how you would like to make it.

I for one, will DEFINATLEY be giving it a try.

 

A Big part of Food storage to me is the simple things.

And pancakes and waffles are simple!

 

Canning Low Sugar Strawberry Syrup

Isn't this such a pretty jar of goodness?!

recipe found here:

 http://creatingnirvanatoday.blogspot.com/2011/06/canning-low-sugar-strawberry-syrup.html

(Text below is straight from the blog Creating Nirvana Today)

 

 The biggest thing that I have learned about making syrup is that you have to strain the syrup well. Strawberry seeds are very small, and you don’t want to open up a jar of strawberry syrup in three months to discover lots of little tiny strawberry seeds sitting at the bottom of your strawberry syrup. To combat this problem, I strain my strawberry syrup with a fine mesh strainer lined with a double layer of cheese cloth. This ensures that I get pure ruby red syrup.

Strawberry syrup for canning is thin unlike the commercial syrups found in the grocery stores, so if you want thick syrup, then heat the syrup on the stove and mix in a little cornstarch before serving. I don’t mind thin syrup. I prefer to use syrup to lightly coat my pancakes with a little flavor and sweetness without drowning them in the gooey mess. This recipe is even thinner that a heavy sugar recipe, but again I am not a fan of giving my kids tons of sugar. A little sweetness on pancakes is fine, but feeding them a bowl of white sugar in the morning is not good in my opinion.

Ingredients modified from Pick Your Own and Blue Book Guide to Canning (yield about 6 half pint jars)

6 ½ cups strawberries, hulls removed and crushed
5 cups water
2 tbsp. lemon juice
4 ½ cups sugar

Directions

1. Place the strawberries water in a large saucepot over medium heat. Boil the mixture for 5 minutes.

2. Strain the strawberries with a fine mesh sieve lined with a double layer of cheesecloth or with a jelly bag. My strawberries took about 5 minutes to fully strain since they were small.

3. Place the strawberry juice back in a clean saucepot. Add the lemon juice and sugar to the strawberry juice. Boil the strawberry syrup for 5 minutes.

4. Place the strawberry syrup in hot sterile jars. Leave ¼” headspace. Place lids on the jars. Adjust the bands around the jars and lids to fingertip tight.

5. Process the strawberry syrup for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Refreshing blender treat

 

 

AWWW so refreshing!

 

I Love the slushy drink that they have at Dairy Queen,

especially during the Hot days of Summer.

My favorite is the lemon lime (with ice cream in the middle like a float)

 

I was craving something cool and refreshing and had the thought...

At dairy Queen all it is, is ice and syrup.

So I pulled out my blender and went to my freezer.

 

During time of plenty I had bagged some ripe bananas,

I also had some fresh pineapple that was bagged and froze.

It just so happened that I had some orange juice in the refrigerator too.

 

So I threw it all in the blender and had a "Healthy" cold one!

 

Just think of all the combinations you could make this summer.

Either use fresh fruit and add some ice,

Or use frozen fruit and then no ice is needed.

 

 

 

Peach Salsa

 

 

 

 

 

GOT PEACHES?
If you are lucky enough to have access to a peach tree or purchase some on sale in the grocery store (I have found them several times for .99 cents a pound lately). Then you have a great excuse to make yourself some of this delicious goodness.



I have read a ton of recipes for Peach salsa recently.
You may have a favorite already.
I cant think of many things I like better then some summer time fresh salsa.
The next Best thing would be to see shelves full of some bottled salsa waiting to be enjoyed!

 

Peach Salsa

½ cup white vinegar

6 cups chopped pitted and peeled peaches

1-1/4 cups chopped onion

4 jalapeno peppers, seeded (if desired) and chopped

1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

½ cup loosely packed finely chopped cilantro

2 Tbsp. honey

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1-1/2 tsp. ground cumin

½ tsp. cayenne pepper

In a large, stainless steel saucepan, combine vinegar and peaches. Add onion, jalapeno peppers, red pepper, cilantro, honey, garlic, cumin, and cayenne. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Ladle hot salsa into hot jars, leaving a half inch head space. Remove air bubbles and adjust head space, if necessary, by adding more salsa. Wipe rim. Tighten hot lids onto jars to fingertip tightness.

Process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

Cool and let seal.

 

 

 

..........OR TRY THIS ONE..........

 

 

http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/peach-salsa/

 

Fresh Peach Salsa

Yield: Makes about 2 cups salsa

Ingredients:

4 large peaches diced, pitted and skinned removed
1/2 of 1 red onion, diced
1-2 jalapenos, diced
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
Juice of 1 large lime
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, add the peaches, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro, and fresh lime juice. Stir well.
2. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Serve with tortilla chips or with chicken, fish, or any Mexican dish.
 

 

..........Hear the word SALSA, But wonder where the Tomatoes are?.......... 

Maybe you would prefer this recipe... 

http://ahandmadelife.blogspot.com/2010/09/tomato-peach-salsa.html

Tomato Peach Salsa

3 1/2 pounds ripe, Roma tomatoes (blanch, peel, and chop)

1 1/2 pounds peaches  (peeled and chopped)

3 large bell type peppers

several hot type peppers (maybe 6 jalapeno type then add more depending on your taste)

1-2 large onions

fresh crushed garlic (1 head is nice but can use less)

1 small can tomato paste

3/4 cup white vinegar

1 tbsp. coarse salt

2 tsp. paprika (optional)

Put all ingredients in large pot.  Bring to boil uncovered and then turn down heat and simmer for 1 hour.  Keep an eye on it and stir every so often otherwise it can burn on the bottom as it thickens.  Then process in sterilized canning jars.  I use the hot water bath method and process 10 minutes for pint jars.  When I quadruple this recipe I get approx. 14 pint jars.

Enjoy the Goodness of Summer.

Eat Fresh and Bottle some for later.

Dirty Dozen VS Clean Fifteen

Do you need a Good reason to grow a garden?

 

Here is an email that I received a few weeks ago that I think everyone need to consider.

 

First ask yourself this simple questions...

Do you know how the food your family consumes was grown?

Are you eating poison?

 

Read it, go to the links and watch the videos.

Then see if you don't have a heightened desire to grown your own food.

 

Oh my gosh - I was shocked to find HOW MANY pesticides and chemicals are on the foods I eat and I give to my grandchildren ... Did you KNOW there is an organization that tests grocery store produce for us?  Check out the VIDEO and LIST ... be AWARE of which foods have the highest levels of pesticides even IF they are washed!  Wise men have said we need to know how to grow gardens - I thought it was a self sufficiency thing; never thought I would be poisoned.  Be smart in your choices, grow your own, buy organic when necessary or find LOCAL resources and LOCAL farmers that will sell to you.


Environmental Working Group

 

DIRTY DOZEN

Apples

 

Celery

 

Cherry tomatoes

 

Cucumbers

 

Grapes

 

Hot peppers

 

Nectarines - imported

 

Peaches

 

Potatoes

 

Spinach

 

Strawberries

 

Sweet bell peppers

 

Kale / collard greens +

 

Summer squash +

 

CLEAN FIFTEEN^TM

Asparagus

 

Avocados

 

Cabbage

 

Cantaloupe

 

Sweet Corn

 

Eggplant

 

Grapefruit

 

Kiwi

 

Mangos

 

Mushrooms

 

Onions

 

Papayas

 

Pineapples

 

Sweet peas - frozen

 

Sweet potatoes

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/health/2010/05/31/gupta.produce.pesticides.cnn#/video/health/2010/05/31/gupta.produce.pesticides.cnn


Strawberry - Peach Smoothie

Couldn't resist another drink option for your consideration.

With the heat turning up, gardens growing and fruit soon to ripen on the trees, it's a good time to make some tasty healthy choices.

Strawberry-Peach Smoothie

 Ingredients

• 2 medium-size ripe peaches
• 1 cup strawberries, rinsed and hulled
• 1 cup skim milk
• 3 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder
• Sugar, as needed
• 1 cup ice cubes

Directions

1. Peel, pit, and slice peaches. In a blender, combine
   peaches and strawberries, milk, milk powder, and 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar (depending on sweetness of fruit).
2. Add ice cubes. Blend on high speed until smooth. Pour into two tall glasses, and serve immediately.

Now as you probably already know this drink can be revised to work with most any fruit you have available to you. It becomes a food storage drink when you use the powdered milk as your liquid. You can also use fruit juice in place of the milk. If you don't have to rely totally on what you have stored in your pantry or garden, then adding some good yogurt would make a nice addition as well. Pretty much any fruit with ice and a liquid taste so good and refreshing. Canned or bottled fruit works too.

 

Give it a try this summer.

 

Food Storage Milk Shake

 

For the Month of MAY we are adding drink mixes and water to our arsenal.

Along with a very cool Life Straw. These are amazing. You can drink water from any source and it will purify it right through the straw.

 

So along with the, "add water" kind of drink we are offering, I have tried a few food storage worthy drink recipes we can make easily.

 

 

Food Storage Milk Shake

 

I found this recipe and gave it a whirl. It said Food Storage, so I was in.

 

Now you may be wondering how it could be food storage with fresh fruit.

Those cans of Freeze Dried bananas and strawberries you have sitting on your shelf...

Yep they would work.

But I have fresh, so fresh it is.

Oh and the milk. Obviously powdered milk would work just as well.
So see, it really is food storage!

 

 All you do is put the milk, box of pudding, banana and strawberries

into a blender and blend for 1 min.
 

There ya have it.

It was called a make ahead milk shake.

So I guess it gets better after refrigerating for awhile.

Here is the full recipe.

 

Food Storage Make Ahead Milk Shake

 

3 1/2 cups Milk (powdered milk will work)

1 small package of vanilla instant pudding

1 medium banana

1/2 cup strawberries OR can of fruit

Blend for 1 min.

Refrigerate until ready






Dips

Desperate times call for desperate measures. I just realized that I didn't have a post scheduled to come out on Thursday like I have for the past year. I have been trying to have a new post with a new idea come out every Monday and Thursday. Not that anyone even noticed or reads them, but I still felt bad.

So, I hurried and found these recipes that I recently did for our Young Women in Excellence night.

It was a fabulous evening, All about the girls and the "special" people that they are. Then we finished off with a little taster table of fruit dips, vegetable dips and dessert dips.

It may not have anything to do with food storage, but it's all about being prepared for the evenings activities as I work pretty much full time out side of the home, and I needed to have this all ready to go once I got home from work.

There you have it, rationalizing, my way to getting rid of the guilt (of no post ready for Thur. and it not being about food storage)

Although if you really think about it....fruit and vegetables fall into the garden category, and preparing it for an event (my calling) falls under service. So guilt free now....enjoy!

Vegetable dip #1:

I intended to make the dip below, however when I went to purchase the ingredients, Wal -Mart was out of the Knorr vegetable mix. So I purchased a jar of spinach dip found in the chip aisle.

1 package Knorr Vegetable mix

½ cup Mayo

16 oz sour cream

Chopped water chestnuts

Chopped green onions

Mix together and serve with bread chunks, and , or vegetables. Hallowing out a Artisan works well for putting the dip in.

Vegetable dip #2

2 cups mayo

2 cups sour cream

2 cups shredded cheese

½ packet dry ranch dressing mix ( I added the whole package of mix)

Great with all kinds of vegetables.

Fruit Dip #1

1 block cream cheese

½ cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together and serve with fruit. (I doubled the recipe)

So good, and SO easy.

Strawberry fruit dip

8 oz. strawberry cream cheese

7 oz jar of marshmallow cream

Mix together and serve with fruit.

Dessert Dips:

Pumpkin Dip

1 16oz cool whip

1 5 oz instant vanilla pudding

1 15 oz can of pumpkin

1 Teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Serves well with graham crackers, ginger snap cookies, vanilla wafers and fruit.

Addictive!

Cherry cheese cake dip

Box of no bake cheese cake (mix according to instructions)

Add 1 container of cool whip (I only added ½ of the cool whip)

Pour a can of cherry pie filling over top before serving

Serves well with graham crackers, ginger snaps, vanilla wafers and fruit.

 

So there you have it. Perhaps there is something here that you would like to try this holiday season as your family gathers around.

Pomegranate Tip of the Day

Tis the Season for Pomegranate's.   I remember as a youth sitting outside on the curb in an old T Shirt to eat the pomegranate's. They were good and fun, but they were messy!   Then I discovered a trick...maybe you all know about this already. Please pretend that it is an aah ha moment for you and the best news you have ever heard.   To seed your pomegranate, all you have to do is open it up and put it into a large bowl filled with water. Then start to remove the seeds from the core thing.   It is so FAST and EASY. Not to mention clean. The white membrane floats to the top and the seeds sink to the bottom.   Last year I must have done @7 or more in no time at all. Then I put them in baggies and froze them for later. You will probably want to make jelly with yours.   I was going to include a video for you to see. But seriously. That's all there is to it. A big bowl Water Done ENJOY



Real Fruit Roll Ups

With the opportunity latley to pick up some fresh fruit for a pretty good price, I thought it would be a good time to share this recipe. Thanks to someone else who already figured it all out for us. I found it at this site http://www.loveumadly.com/2012/04/100-pure-love-for-100-real-fruit-snacks/

 100% Real Fruit Snacks

 

Take a look at the ingredient list in General Mills Fruit Roll-Ups: pears from concentrate, corn syrup, dried corn syrup, sugar, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, citric acid, sodium citrate, acetylated monoglycerides, fruit pectin, dextrose, maltic acid, ascorbic acid, natural flavor and the following food coloring: blue 1, red 40 and yellows 5 and 6.

 

Here is the ingredient list for Homemade Fruit Roll-Ups: organic fresh, dried, and frozen fruit.

100% Real Fruit Roll-Ups
From Green Kitchen Stories

This recipe is pretty flexible. You have the freedom to pick one fruit or mix different kinds. You can use fresh, frozen and dried fruit. Below the recipe are some fruit combination suggestions, but feel free to try out your own combos too. I suggest making a few different trays of fruit at the same time because these won’t last long in your house and though they are VERY simple to make, they do take a long time to set.

1. Warm the fruit in a pot on the stove and mix it into a puree. If there are seeds in the puree you can pour it into a sieve to get the seeds out (I didn’t).

2. Spread the puree on a oil-sprayed silpat baking mat (my baking love!) or parchment paper (BE SURE to spray! If you don’t it will stick!). 1 1/2 cup of fruit puree is enough for 1 baking sheet, and put in the oven on 140°F (or as low as your oven can go. my stove’s lowest temperature is 170). Leave the oven door open a little bit to let the moisture out.

3. They are done when the puree isn’t sticky anymore, you normally need between 5-8 hours depending on the oven and your fruit choices. (If you live in a warm climate, you can just leave the pan in the sun for the day).

4. Use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut them and roll them with wax or parchment paper when they are still warm. Enjoy this healthy alternative.

Fruit combination ideas:
Yellow: 1 fresh mango, 200 g dried apricots, 1 orange (the juice) (these came out the best in my opinion!)
Purple: Frozen raspberries, frozen blackberries and 1 banana (these were very seedy, you could replace the raspberries with blueberries)
Green: Kiwi, mango and mint leaves
Blue: Blueberries and grape juice
Red: Strawberries and banana

You can also add spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla pods or mint leaves.

Spread the puree into a square