Yup. You read that right. It's just like Apple sauce....only with pears. It's very good & very easy & needs very little (if any) sugar added.
Take 3-5 pounds of pears (I think I did about 15 pears yesterday), peel, core, and cut them into eighths. As I'm cutting the up, I soak the pear slices in cold water with about a 1/4 cup of lemon juice. Put pear slices in your crock-pot with abut 2/3 cup water (I use the water they're soaking in, so there's a little lemon juice in it as well), cover and cook on high until pears are very soft. Depending on how ripe they are it can take from 3 to 6 hours.
Cool pears off then run them through a food mill or food processor until they're consistency you want. I added about a teaspoon of cinnamon to the entire batch and one or two tablespoons of sugar if it's needed. Then you can either divide it up & freeze it or can it.
I processed mine in a hot water canner for about 30 minutes.
If anyone's interested, let me know & I'll post the recipe for Pear Butter (think Apple butter) that you can make from this point. I've not made it yet, but I plan on trying it soon.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Mama F's Squash Casserole
This is for Kork & anyone else with a surplus of squash. Mama F is mother to Did (my best friend from high school). Her house is where I learned to not only eat, but love vegetables. I was a seriously picky eater. I emailed her today & she graciously shared this with me....so I pass it on to you with love.
SQUASH CASSEROLE
8 medium squash* 1 cup grated cheese
1 medium onion* 2 TBSP. Mayonnaise
1 tsp. Salt 2 or 3 TBSP cream
[I use Coffeemate]
1 TBSP sugar ½ cup bread crumbs
¼ stick butter
Combine cooked drained squash and onion with all ingredients except ¼ cup of crumbs. Mix well. Sprinkle crumbs on top, dot with butter. Bake 350 degrees 30 to 40 minutes.
*Cover with water and cook till tender
She also added this, "When my squash plants used to survive, I'd slice and barely steam the surplus, drain, cool, then freeze it in really full quart bags, and have the casserole in wintertime if I remembered to think ahead for thawing." She has groundhogs......
SQUASH CASSEROLE
8 medium squash* 1 cup grated cheese
1 medium onion* 2 TBSP. Mayonnaise
1 tsp. Salt 2 or 3 TBSP cream
[I use Coffeemate]
1 TBSP sugar ½ cup bread crumbs
¼ stick butter
Combine cooked drained squash and onion with all ingredients except ¼ cup of crumbs. Mix well. Sprinkle crumbs on top, dot with butter. Bake 350 degrees 30 to 40 minutes.
*Cover with water and cook till tender
She also added this, "When my squash plants used to survive, I'd slice and barely steam the surplus, drain, cool, then freeze it in really full quart bags, and have the casserole in wintertime if I remembered to think ahead for thawing." She has groundhogs......
Mama F'
SQUASH CASSEROLE
8 medium squash* 1 cup grated cheese
1 medium onion* 2 TBSP. Mayonnaise
1 tsp. Salt 2 or 3 TBSP cream
[I use Coffeemate]
1 TBSP sugar ½ cup bread crumbs
¼ stick butter
Combine cooked drained squash and onion with all ingredients except ¼ cup of crumbs. Mix well. Sprinkle crumbs on top, dot with butter. Bake 350 degrees 30 to 40 minutes.
*Cover with water and cook till tender
8 medium squash* 1 cup grated cheese
1 medium onion* 2 TBSP. Mayonnaise
1 tsp. Salt 2 or 3 TBSP cream
[I use Coffeemate]
1 TBSP sugar ½ cup bread crumbs
¼ stick butter
Combine cooked drained squash and onion with all ingredients except ¼ cup of crumbs. Mix well. Sprinkle crumbs on top, dot with butter. Bake 350 degrees 30 to 40 minutes.
*Cover with water and cook till tender
Thursday, July 17, 2008
My Favorite Show...Ever...
OK -
Seriously y'all...I have fallen completely head over heels, infatuated, all I can think about, in LUV with "America's Test Kitchen".
It airs on my local PBS station (yes, I enjoy public broadcasting. So there!) every day, and is totally amazing.
Basically, they take a recipe go through every possible variation of technique, advice, and make all the mistakes, and find all the best ways to do things!
Last time I watched it all the way through, they were doing pepperoni pizza...not a difficult thing to make right?
Did you know that to cut down on the grease from things like sausage, pepperoni, or any other meat that you can cook it on a paper towel, in your microwave for about 1 minute? That cooks it enough to release most of the grease, absorb it in the paper towel, and it cuts your cooking time down, making sure your crust isn't too crunchy?
To check it out... go to America's Test Kitchen
Seriously y'all...I have fallen completely head over heels, infatuated, all I can think about, in LUV with "America's Test Kitchen".
It airs on my local PBS station (yes, I enjoy public broadcasting. So there!) every day, and is totally amazing.
Basically, they take a recipe go through every possible variation of technique, advice, and make all the mistakes, and find all the best ways to do things!
Last time I watched it all the way through, they were doing pepperoni pizza...not a difficult thing to make right?
Did you know that to cut down on the grease from things like sausage, pepperoni, or any other meat that you can cook it on a paper towel, in your microwave for about 1 minute? That cooks it enough to release most of the grease, absorb it in the paper towel, and it cuts your cooking time down, making sure your crust isn't too crunchy?
To check it out... go to America's Test Kitchen
Hint for Putting up Sweet Corn
I was watching the Today show this week & they had a guest chef. He was cutting fresh corn off the cob. He took a Bundt pan, stood the corn cob up on the hole in the middle of the pan, and cut the corn off into the pan. The hole keeps the cob from slipping around & the pan catches all the corn to keep it from rolling off on the floor.
I thought this was brilliant & fully plan on trying it out in a few weeks when the 8,000,000 stalks of corn my husband planted start coming in! Maybe I can use it as an excuse to get a new fancy Bundt pan (No, honey, I can't use the corn pan to bake cakes in for pot-lucks! What are you, some kind of barbarian?!).
Toffee Crunch Cookies
Yield: 3 Dozen (see hint below)
1 1/2 Cups sifted flour
1/2 Tsp baking soda
1/2 Tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 Tsp vanilla
1 cup finely chopped Heath Bars (Heath Bits 'o Brickle may be substituted, but you lose the chocolate flavor from the candy bars)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Combine flour, soda, salt
Cream butter, ad sugar, egg, and vanilla; mix until creamy
Stir in dry ingredients, blend in chopped candy bars and pecans.
Drop tablespoons full 2" apart on greased baking sheet
Bake in 350 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes
Hint: If you promised to supply 2 dozen cookies for an event, you should double this recipe to make up for what you eat while baking them.
~Inkling, these are the cookies my dad made for G'ma & G'pa M&M's anniversary party last summer.
1 1/2 Cups sifted flour
1/2 Tsp baking soda
1/2 Tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 Tsp vanilla
1 cup finely chopped Heath Bars (Heath Bits 'o Brickle may be substituted, but you lose the chocolate flavor from the candy bars)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Combine flour, soda, salt
Cream butter, ad sugar, egg, and vanilla; mix until creamy
Stir in dry ingredients, blend in chopped candy bars and pecans.
Drop tablespoons full 2" apart on greased baking sheet
Bake in 350 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes
Hint: If you promised to supply 2 dozen cookies for an event, you should double this recipe to make up for what you eat while baking them.
~Inkling, these are the cookies my dad made for G'ma & G'pa M&M's anniversary party last summer.
Potato Pizza
5 C. peeled & thinly sliced potatoes (I used my slicing blade on my food processor for this)
Pepper
1 1/2 lbs. hamburger
1/2 small onion chopped
1 can (10 3/4 oz) Cheddar Cheese Soup
1 C. milk
4 oz melted cheddar cheese (OK, so in reality I use 2 full cups....there is no such thing as too much cheese)
1 can (10 3/4 oz) tomato soup
1 C. shredded mozzarella cheese.
Grease 9x13 glass Pyrex dish. Lay potatoes out flat in pan in layers. Sprinkle generously with pepper. Brown ground beef and onion. Drain. Stir cheese soup, milk, and melted cheddar cheese together until smooth (works best if cheese and soup are warm. In fact, I do this in a sauce pan over heat as I melt the cheddar cheese). Mix ground beef and cheese mix, spread over potatoes. Bake @ 350 for 1 hour or until potatoes are done.
Top with tomato soup and mozzarella cheese. Bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted.
Pepper
1 1/2 lbs. hamburger
1/2 small onion chopped
1 can (10 3/4 oz) Cheddar Cheese Soup
1 C. milk
4 oz melted cheddar cheese (OK, so in reality I use 2 full cups....there is no such thing as too much cheese)
1 can (10 3/4 oz) tomato soup
1 C. shredded mozzarella cheese.
Grease 9x13 glass Pyrex dish. Lay potatoes out flat in pan in layers. Sprinkle generously with pepper. Brown ground beef and onion. Drain. Stir cheese soup, milk, and melted cheddar cheese together until smooth (works best if cheese and soup are warm. In fact, I do this in a sauce pan over heat as I melt the cheddar cheese). Mix ground beef and cheese mix, spread over potatoes. Bake @ 350 for 1 hour or until potatoes are done.
Top with tomato soup and mozzarella cheese. Bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted.
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