Holiday Baking

With the holidays quickly approaching, we decided to take a little break from the house projects.

Here's what we've been up to insead, in this old kitchen. 

I wasn't feeling quite up to baking a bunch of cookies, so opted for some easy & less-messy holiday recipes this year.

Spiced Pecans

These are incredibly easy, and my boys LOVE them.  In fact, I baked them on Saturday & they were almost gone by Sunday morning.  So I'll be making more this weekend!

 Ingredients-
1 lb pecans, halved
1 Tbsp water
1 egg white

1 cup sugar
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp coriander

1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Whip egg white with water until fluffy.  Coat Pecans with mixture.
Combine rest of ingredients together.
Pour over Pecans & stir until fully coated.
Spread Pecans on baking sheet in a single layer.

Bake for 30 minutes, turning/stirring Pecans every 10 minutes.

Then it's just a matter of putting them in a pretty jar/container. 
I opted for old fashioned glass-lid canning jars.  They can't be used for real canning, so I've been using them for all kinds of stuff (one for old buttons, another for spare change, and now two for storing snacks!)





I used 4 oz. jars for gift baskets that
I'm making with other canned items.

Sparkling Holiday JamHere's another recipe I tried for the first time- SO easy.
The kids enjoyed it as a warm sauce on top of vanilla ice cream.

I got the recipe from here.  The only modification made was adding the lemon juice for a little tartness &  it supposedly makes a brighter red.  Judging by the comments on allrecipe.com, it's very forgiving/ tweakable!

 

Ingredients-This recipe makes 12- 8 ounce jars

• 2.5 quarts of strawberries, coarsely chopped (or if buying frozen, get ~54 ounces)
• 1 (12 ounce) package fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped
• 4 ounces powdered fruit pectin
• 1 teaspoon margarine
• 5 pounds white sugar
• 1/2 cup lemon juice

-Prepare jars & lids by boiling in water for at least 10 min.

-In large saucepan, combine strawberries, cranberries, pectin, margarine & lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Stir in sugar, and return to a boil. Cook for 1 min, then remove from heat.

-Fill jars to within 1/2 inch from top. Wipe rims clean, and put on lids.
-Process in a boiling water bath for 5 min.

Canning

We weren't able to plant a veggie garden this year (too busy unpacking from our big move!)

So, we decided to sign up for a CSA. 

I was a little hesitant... I've looked into CSAs in the past & they often included lots of veggies that I wouldn't even know how to begin cooking!

What I love about the one we selected is that in addition to corn, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, & string beans, they include lots of fruit in the weekly pick-up.  We're talking BAGS of peaches, pears, nectarines, apples... and now that it's fall, a gallon of Apple Cider is included each week too!

It's been wonderful!

The only struggle we have had is eating it all before the next week's pick-up!  That's when I decided to try out some canning. 





My Mom gave me two dozen (at least!) of her canning jars.  I just had to pick up some new lids for them.

She also gave me an old cookbook on canning called "Sweetmeats" which was published in 1935. 

Check out some of the words of wisdom it includes:

"Surely, no housewife need be told the value of fruit in the diet- it has laxative values and is an excellent regulator..."

"It is better to do the preparatory work, such as getting out needed kettles, examining and cleaning jars, and similar matters the day before, so that early the following morning one may start in at the real work while still free from fatigue."

"One of the refreshing things a housewife can do is to keep a cold drink on hand and when tasks become tiresome, take a few minutes to rest and sip a refreshing drink."

HA!  I found it quite amusing!

For more practical (and modern) advice, I found this website really helpful: http://www.simplycanning.com/

I prepped my peppers, cucumbers & peaches.  Since I didn't have a very big cooking pot, I could only process two large jars at a time (or three small jars).  So, it took a little longer than it would otherwise, but it was a success!

Here's a pic of my peppers and soon-to-be pickles:


I definitely could have packed the cukes in there even tighter...

good to know for next time!

 

And I'm in love with how pretty the peaches look!

Realizing this is something I can actually do... I started the search for one of those really big cooking pots- but they were over $50 at Walmart! 

Then we went to a flea market and I found one for $5- WooHoo!

I tried doing a second batch in the new pot, but our stinkin' old stove takes FOREVER to bring that much water to a boil. So, I'll have to wait until we get the new stove to try it out.

  

Over the snowy Halloween weekend, we made a big batch of Apple Butter.  While we ate some of it right away, I also canned a couple of jars to have later this winter (SO yummy on toast or warmed on top of vanilla ice cream)!

I absolutely can't wait until the kitchen is done and I have a nice place to display our pretty, filled jars!