Orange Spiced Syrup

We came across this recipe from Martha Stewart for Orange Spiced Syrup. It's perfect for winter pancakes.  We had some with pumpkin pancakes the other day--it was even better!

1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 pinch of ground cinnamon
1 pinch of salt
1/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 In a small saucepan, mix brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in corn syrup and orange juice. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally; cool until slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Let cool; stir in vanilla.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

Violet Jelly

Sometimes when I see or read an idea, I know instantly: I will do that. I latch on to it and become determined to make it happen. That's how it was for me when I first heard of wildflower jelly.

Last year I made dandelion jelly first, but was sad to have missed the wild violet season. This year I was determined to make the violet jelly, so I did that first and next I'll do some more dandelion jelly. I got some blossoms from my backyard for my first batch. But I didn't have very many so later we went foraging through the neighborhood for more. I knocked on a neighbor's door and she was surprised but more than happy to let me help myself to her patch of violets.

To make violet jelly you pour boiling water over the blossoms to steep them like tea.
I always strain it through a flour sack towel to keep out all the dirt. (See what got left behind?)
The violet water is a deep blue color, but when you add lemon juice (the acidity is necessary to preserve the jelly) it turns a bright fuchsia color. They really are beautiful.

 Violet Jelly Recipe:

The basic recipe is all over the internet-

2 cups violet blossoms, stems removed.
2 cups boiling water
juice of one lemon
1 package pectin (I used sure-jel for these)
4 cups sugar

Steep blossoms in water overnight. Strain. Add water if needed to make 2 cups. Add lemon juice. Follow directions for your pectin--mine were: Add pectin to juice. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve. Add sugar, return to rolling boil, and boil for one minute exactly. Ladle into jars and process in water bath canner for 10 minutes. (Makes 12 4oz jars)

 : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

Violet Jelly with Honey variation:
I experimented with using honey instead of white sugar to make the jelly. I use Pomona's Pectin. I used one cup of the violet water and followed the directions in Pomona's for a basic jelly. It was 1T lemon juice; 1/4 cup honey; 1 tsp of the calcium water (that comes with the Pomona's Pectin); and 1 tsp of pectin. (Makes 3 4oz jars) Next time I will use a little bit more pectin because it was a pretty loose set, and I may add a bit more honey--it was a very mellow jelly. It definitely has some floral hints to it and I could taste the honey. Obviously the jelly was more cloudy from the honey, but all-natural instead.

Taco Seasoning

I have a few recipes that call for a packet of taco seasoning spice mix, but my conscience recognizes that individual packets of spice mixes are among some of the most overpriced things you can buy in the grocery store, so I've looked for alternatives over the years. For a while I tried the recipe from an old-school "Make-a-mix" cookbook. But the flavor wasn't quite like I wanted it to be. Then I tried Alton Brown's Taco Potion recipe and have really liked that one. It makes more than I need for one use, so I store it in a little reused glass jar.

Homemade Taco Seasoning Recipe:

2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons hot smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Put all of the ingredients in a small jar and shake to combine. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

Yield: 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons

Festive Individual Pats of Butter

Here's a last-minute trick for thanksgiving dinner.A lot of times people forget about butter for the delicious homemade rolls so they plop a stick of butter on a plate in the middle of table, unfortunately it's rock-hard an so no one is able to use it anyway.

So what you really need are those individual pats of butter like they have at hotel continental breakfasts.  Here's how to make your own--but cuter and way more festive than the little foil-wrapped things.

Take two sticks of butter and place them between two sheets of waxed paper.  Start rolling.

Roll between 1/2 and 1/4 inch thick.  Remove the top layer of wax paper. 

Cut into individual pats of butter with miniature cookie cutters. I used the fall leaves set.

You can do these a day or two in advance and keep them covered in the fridge. The good thing is if you forget to set them on the table until right before dinner they will still soften up enough to spread because they are so small.  Plus, they really are festive.

Homemade Fruit Juice Syrup

One chipper Saturday morning in college, our apartment of three girls headed over to our friends' (three boys) apartment for a waffle breakfast.  They had the table set with an assortment of toppings for the waffles.  There was maple syrup of course.  Peanut butter graced the table as well I'm sure, but the one that surprised me was corn syrup.

"You aren't seriously going to slather your waffle with that are you?" I asked the tall boy. "It's corn syrup--straight sugar."

"Of course I am." he asserted, pouring it on his waffle.  "It's the exact same thing the maple syrup is made out of anyway!"

I couldn't argue with that, but just because it was the truth about the "naturally flavored" maple syrup didn't make it right--didn't mean that I wanted to embrace that fact, and skip the maple flavor and go straight to the corn syrup.

Jeremy and I use exclusively pure maple syrup in our home.  The number one response I get to that is "But it's so much more expensive!"  Sometimes followed by, "With how much my kids use we'd go broke!"

There are a couple of reasons why this doesn't deter us.  First of all.  Real maple syrup is a lot thinner than the corn syrup based version.  So it spreads out thinner and will therefore last longer if used accordingly.  Also the higher price helps us consider exactly how much we do let our kids use.  Even the smaller containers that pure maple syrups come in from the store help give a visual reminder to use it sparingly so we teach our kids that.  Although a natural one--it is still a sugar syrup. 

Recently I've been interested in making fruit-based syrups as a way of providing for our pancake syrup "needs."  (Though one day I'd love my very own maple bush (grove) to make real maple syrup.)  I was contemplating how to get a thicker syrup rather than just adding sugar to make fruit juice more "syrupy".  Of course pectin was the answer and I don't know why I never thought of it before.  I was excited to become familiar with Pomona's Pectin which is a citrus-based pectin as opposed to the standard apple-based varieties.  Pomona's can use significantly less sugar and still "jell."  You can also use honey and other sweeteners--not just white sugar. 

The website suggested for making syrups to use 1/4 the measurements of pectin from jam recipes as a starting point.  My first try was with elderberries foraged from a couple bushes in the university gardens.  Jeremy had a large elderberry bush at his house growing up and he remembers his dad making elderberry syrup when he was a kid.
I'm excited for the potential of making more natural and lower sugar syrups for our family pancakes.  Though truth be told--maybe elderberry wasn't the best choice of fruit for trying to go low sugar!

Peach Vanilla Syrup

Peaches were on sale the other day. So I went and bought a ton to bring home and can. . . until I got home and decided that sounded really boring.

I wanted to do something fun and fulfilling.  So I made a batch of delicious fresh peach vanilla syrup for pancakes and waffles, and canned that. 

(It's also delicious on ice cream--just sayin'.)

I decided for the next batch I will use less vanilla than the original recipe.  It just had a definite boozy hint to it--which I'm sure some people love- but we'd rather let more of the peach flavor shine through. 

This can be frozen, or canned in a waterbath if you are familiar with that process.

Peach-Vanilla Syrup



5 cups peach puree (peeled, pitted, and whirred with a blender)
2 cups sugar
2 Tbls lemon juice (this is important for the acidity and color)
1 tsp vanilla

Yield = 3 pints

Over medium heat in a heavy pot, combine the peach puree, sugar, and lemon juice. Heat to boiling then reduce to a simmer. Simmer, stirring frequently for five minutes. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla.

Pour into the sterilized jars, leaving 1/4″ headspace at the top of each jar. Wipe all the rims with a clean cloth and center the lids. Add the bands and tighten to finger tight

Process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes. Remove the jars and allow to cool undisturbed for 24 hours. Check seal before storing.

Mayonnaise Recipe

Homemade Mayonnaise may just be too "out there" for some people. But I really love that feeling of knowing how to do something myself--even if I don't always choose to actually do it myself.

When you make this yourself you can control the type of oil you are using--that's a big bonus.

Homemade mayonnaise would be necessary for making the homemade ranch dressing entirely from scratch. We've also been making a homemade tartar sauce from scratch using mayonnaise--yumm!

This is a Martha recipe and she says:Note: Raw eggs should not be used in food prepared for pregnant women, babies, young children, the elderly, or anyone whose health is compromised.

Alton Brown would say: If you are worried about it just buy pasteurized eggs.

Homemade Mayonnaise Recipe

Makes 1 cup

1 large egg, room temperature
Salt
1/4 cup mild-tasting oil
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon


Wrap the outside and bottom of a 1-quart bowl in a damp towel to secure it in place on the work surface. Combine egg and salt with a large balloon whisk, mixing until foamy and pale. (Or do it in a mixer with the whisk attachment.) Whisking constantly, add oils a few drops at a time, and then in a steady stream as the mixture emulsifies. Add lemon juice; blend briefly. Add additional salt and lemon juice to taste. Store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.

Homemade Ranch Dressing

Do you have any bottles of salad dressing in your fridge? How long have they been there? Can't remember?

In my personal food journey I set out to identify what the most processed and preservative-filled foods I ate were. We really eat well for the most part, but I decided salad dressings (along with other condiments) and crackers were probably the biggest offenders on my list. What exactly is salad dressing made of that allows it to sit in the fridge for 6 months without going bad?

Ranch is like the all-American salad dressing. Adults like it, kids love it. Its great on a chef salad--better on a taco salad. And my boys love dipping carrot sticks in it.

This recipe makes a thinner-than-store-bought dressing. That is a good thing. It coats your salad more evenly and means that you use less dressing to get your salad lightly coated.

Ranch Salad Dressing Recipe

1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes
1/4 tsp dried minced onion
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
1 pinch dried dill weed
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup buttermilk

In a bowl whisk all ingredients together. Add more buttermilk or milk to reach desired consistency. Pour into a dressing cruet. (Alternately--combine all ingredients in a salad dressing shaker. Shake to combine.) Refrigerate until serving. Makes one cup.

I love the little one on the left. $5 and preservative free.

Grape Jelly

Home canning is becoming a lost art. I think it's really sad, because there's nothing quite like the feeling of looking at something you've created with your own hands--particularly something that will provide for the physical well being of your family.

I was asked to teach the teenage girls in our congregation how to can homemade jelly tonight. I've never actually done this (unless you count canning apricot jam at my grandma's house when I was 12) but as I said--lost art--they were unable to find anyone who did have experience except for ladies who claimed they hadn't canned "in 20 years!"

So I decided I needed a test run so I would have a better idea of what I was "teaching" the girls. The girls meet for only an hour so I used a shortcut method for making jelly by purchasing bottled juice. Super easy!

So you need only 100% grape juice (Concord--purple-- is what I saw was recommended, but it might be fun to try a white grape sometime as well), sugar, and pectin.

Pectin is a substance that occurs naturally in many fruits and is what makes the jelly "jell". Powdered pectin is a natural product made from apples and provides enough pectin to help homemade jellies reach the desired consistency.

Follow the recipe in the pectin you buy to measure juice, then add pectin and bring to a boil.

Add sugar and bring back to a hard boil.

Boil 1 minute stirring constantly.

Ladle in to clean jars. Wipe the rims and top with lids and rings.

Submerge in waterbath canner and process for time alloted by your altitude in the instructions.

Remove to a towel to cool. Let sit undisturbed overnight. Mark contents and date on lid (Lids aren't reusable, the rings are. )

Then sit back and admire your beautiful jewel-toned jelly jars!