Please follow me over to my current blog....

I started a new blog in August of 2010. It's called "Learn to Preserve" and it's devoted to showing people how fun and easy preserving can be!

Going green never tasted so good.

A summer afternoon, spent making tomatillo salsa, is sometimes full of pleasant surprises...like the photo below. (I always roast the chiles I add to my salsa; it gives the blend another layer of flavor.)

Am I the only one who sees the Happy Dog, smiling through the smoke and steam? The image I captured in this photo looks like a lucky dog to me, a guarantee that my salsa would be a winner.

Details (recipe and step-by-step photos) for making Tomatillo Salsa can be found in the links in the right-hand column. A versatile salsa, it can be used on eggs, spooned into Posole, added to a quiche or rolled into a burrito, plus it's your favorite tortilla chip's BFF.

 

A little slice of sweet sparkly sunshine...

 ...on an otherwise gray December day.

What you might not know about me is, my favorite color is orange. O-R-A-N-G-E. My wallet is orange. My purse is orange. My toenails are always OPI "Atomic Orange". The most beautiful goose down comforter I ever $aved up for? Orange, of course. And you should see my orange Tivoli iPal radio. It positively glows.

I adore a few other wonderful things, too, that just happen to be orange: Seattle sunsets. Tequila sunrises. Kumquats. Jack-o-lanterns. Carrot juice. Tobiko & Ikura. French marigolds. Tang. But what I really love are Candied Orange Peels.  I love them "plain", though they are far from plain, or dipped in some kind of chocolate...bittersweet, milk, white...sigh...

Some people call them Orangettes. They somehow sound more fun that way, and a tad retro, like one of my other favorite things, Raisinettes.

I've been candying orange peels for many many years, and every batch is different. One of my best batches was made with organic Cara Cara oranges. You can experiment with different types of oranges, but organic is preferred or you'll have a nasty waxy residue to contend with. On the peels and the pans you use. Maybe in your tummy too.

You can also candy other citrus peels, like grapefruit, pomelo, Meyer lemon, and lime, although I've never chocolate-dipped any citrus peels except orange ones.

Please find a link to my recipe for Candied Orange Peels, a.k.a. "Orangettes" by scrolling through the column on the right.

#10 tin of Roasted Diced Tomatoes = 1 year's supply of salsa

       

     I love Grocery Outlet. I've loved Grocery Outlet since the first time I set foot in one of their stores. That was about 20 years ago, in Wenatchee, and it was called Canned Food Outlet back then. I spent a lot of time (but not much money) buying cold cereal with typos on the box, soups with a regional flair (that didn't seem to sell well to the general public) or things that were just plain weird.  To this day, I still slip up and refer to it -- sentimentally -- as Canned Food Outlet, which draws blank stares from anyone within earshot. Whatever you call it, and which ever store you go to, you're sure to find treasures galore. It's Filene's Basement for foodies!

     Last Sunday, I broke a promise to myself. I vowed "No More Canning" until after we move into our new house. I have too many things to do to be canning. Not just packing and sorting and making those piles of "Am I really moving this stuff?" and "This needs to go to Goodwill!", but calling the cable company, setting up a land line for the phone/fax, and all those other things that involve being on hold for long periods of time. I've got plenty to do, but I can't help myself. I need to can something. I crave the satisfaction I get from planning the recipe, setting out the equipment, prepping the ingredients, photographing the process, taking notes. The biggest pay-off of all? Seeing those shiny jars on the counter, their seals safely intact and their contents sometimes looking a little like art.

     It's November. It's cold and rainy in Seattle. My garden has been cleaned out and composted, the local Farmer's Markets are down to root veggies, and I am regretting not making salsa. I remember that some of the best salsa I ever made was from canned tomatoes. I am not kidding. Tasty. People loved it.

    

     I head off to Grocery Outlet, in search of a bargain. Cheap diced tomatoes, here I come. If I could have one wish, it would be to find a big display of Muir Glen Organic diced tomatoes, right inside the door. It's not such a crazy wish. I've found them there before. At a third the price you'd see them anywhere else.

     I park right up front, which is getting tougher there days. Oh no...people are discovering my secret! (I'm sure that's what most of the other regulars think too.) I walk in with one purpose, and one purpose only. To Buy Canned Tomatoes. Must keep focused. I find myself beginning to weaken. First thing I see are plastic baskets of fresh blackberries. They're huge. And they're only 99 cents for 8 oz.  Then it's Terra "Blues" Chips. And Guinness Stout bottles. Guinness? Hmmm....Terra Chips + Guinness Stout....mmmm....

     I detour straight to the canned vegetables. I clearly don't have the will power to make the entire circuit.

     I find some canned tomatoes. Different brands. Whole. Diced. Stewed. With green peppers and onions. But then I see potential in a big red & green can. BIG can. "California's Healthy Harvest" Premium Quality ROASTED DICED TOMATOES Net Weight 102 OZ. (6 LB 6 OZ.) 2.89 kg. Best part? Price: $2.99  

     I didn't hesitate. I grabbed one can, and turned around, and grabbed a couple 28 oz cans of organic whole tomatoes (99 cents each) in case the roasted factor of the other tomatoes was TOO roast-y, and I needed to dilute my salsa. Also bought a few 6 oz cans of Del Monte Organic Tomato Paste (50 cents each). Turns out I only needed to add one can of regular tomatoes and one can of paste to the BIG can of Roasted Diced Tomatoes; their quality was amazing and they could stand on their own. But I thought I should try to use up some of the cans I just purchased. After all, I am moving in 2 days, and using those 2 extra cans means 2 less cans to pack.

 

The recipe for the Roasted Tomato Salsa can be found by clicking on the link on the right side of the page...you'll need to scroll back up. Other ingredients I used in this recipe that were purchased at Grocery Outlet:

• 3 onions (75 cents)

• fresh garlic (25 cents worth)

• one bunch of cilantro (50 cents)

• 1 green pepper (50 cents)

• 3 juiced limes (60 cents)

• (I didn't use the jalapeno in the photo)

• (I only used 3 of the 5 limes; had to save the other 2 for Margaritas!)

     You'll find my complete list of ingredients, along with directions to make the salsa, in the link to the right, but this recipe made 22 half-pints of salsa, for less than $8.00* That works out to about 35 cents per 8 ounce jar of wonderful homemade preservative-free salsa.   And it is DEEE-LICIOUS!

*This includes the cost of the seals, which aren't reusable, but it doesn't count the cost of the jars. When I don't buy jars new at a retailer, I like, even prefer, to buy jars at Goodwill and Garage sales, for 10-20 cents each. When buying used jars, check them carefully for cracks and/or tiny chips on the rims of the jars. Jars will NOT seal if there are chips on the rim, and they might explode during processing if they have cracks. That being said, I have purchased hundreds of used jars and have only had 2 bad experiences...and honestly, they weren't THAT bad. Both times the jars broke during a Boiling Water Bath, and I just waited until the time was up for the process, fished out the good jars, set them aside on a towel to cool, and cleaned them off before storing them. As for the messy mixture of hot water + the contents of the jar that exploded? I carefully disposed of the pieces of broken glass jar after dumping the water-y mess into the sink. A bump in the road.

I'll still choose used jars any day. Reduce > Reuse  > Recycle > Repeat.

 

 

50 pounds of pickling cukes. (Or: How my quest for 25 pounds of cucumbers ended up being a ton of fun.)

     How did I end up with 50 pounds of pickling cucumbers, when I (thought I) really only needed 25?

     There's a simple explanation. The first week of August, I started doing a bit of research for the freshest/cheapest pickling cucumbers around. I soon found an ad on Craigslist for "Pickling cukes -- 99 cents a lb. -- picked fresh every morning" at a place called Stocking's Garden on Fern Bluff Road in Monroe, about 30 miles from my home in Seattle.  I stopped there a few days later, on my way back home after a quick trip over the Cascade mountains to see my family.

    

     At the produce stand I talked to the first person I encountered; a bundle of energy with tanned skin & toned biceps, named Vicky Stocking, who happened to be one of the owners. My 13 year old niece was with me and she pointed out that Vicky also happened to have most enchanting topaz-colored eyes either of us had ever seen. Vicky & I discussed the cukes, and pricing, and when I told her I thought I needed about 30 pounds, she said "Put in an order for 35 pounds, and I'll give you 5 pounds for free..."

     "Okay" I said, thinking to myself "what's another 5 pounds?"

     Vicky countered immediately with "If you order 40, I'll give you 10 pounds for free!" Had this been a phone conversation, I never would have gone for it, but I was standing in the aisles of her produce stand, surrounded by a plethora of incredibly fresh fruits and vegetables, and I knew that her proposition was a win/win.

     As luck would have it, I already had plans in place to be in the area the next day (to pick blueberries at a charming U-Pick farm, located within a few minutes of Stocking's Garden.) Perfect.  Vicky would have my cukes (assorted sizes) picked at sun-up the next morning and placed in the walk-in cooler, awaiting my arrival.

     The next morning, my friend Lynn stopped by to pick me and my niece Shaylee up. I actually had butterflies in my stomach I was so excited for our big day!

First, we stopped and picked 12 pounds of blueberries. The U-Pick farm was straight out of a picture postcard. Several different structures; adorable barns and sheds, plus a well-designed chicken coop, complete with loudly clucking hens. (A sure sign they were laying eggs.) Bountiful gardens, with vegetables being grown in raised beds and on trellises.

    Did I mention the friendly goats grazing in the lush pasture, who scampered over to the fence railing, beckoning us to pet them?  Everywhere we looked, something to see.

     The best part? I bet there were a hundred blueberry bushes, each branch overloaded with beautiful plump blueberries..one of my very favorite things. Good thing they didn't weigh us before AND AFTER we picked!

     I wanted to stay forever, but we had places to go. We might have stayed much longer and picked a lot more blueberries, but it was overcast, misting and a little chilly.   It's still August, right?

 

    Next, we made an impromptu stop at a place called Sky River Mead....where we sampled a couple of their deee-licious bottlings. Lynn bought some to take home. I was much too focused on picking up my cukes to decide which flavor of mead to buy. 

 

     On to Sultan Bakery, home of the Bigfoot (as in Sasquatch) Maple Bar. One is enough for 3 people. Good thing they were sold out. My belly really just needed a bowl of their hot homemade soup after all that tramping around in the rain.

                                                           After lunch, we were headed to pick up the cukes, but as we were approaching a well-known local attraction, The Reptile Zoo, my niece Shaylee told my friend Lynn (who was driving) that she had "ALWAYS wanted to visit the Reptile Zoo", but her mom would always "forget to stop". (Shaylee was visiting for a week; she lives 150 miles away in my hometown of Wenatchee.)  Lynn surprised me by practically slamming on the brakes and swerving in to the parking lot, gravel flying. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but it sort of felt like a Nascar Pit stop :)

     The zoo turned out to be very entertaining, and I was glad that Lynn made the decision to stop. Shaylee seemed pretty happy about it too.

       45 minutes later, we were back on the road. We eventually made it  to Stocking's Garden, our last stop on the way home. I was delighted to see my pickling cukes, waiting for me. Wonderfully fresh and quite an assortment of sizes, just like Vicky had promised me.

     I felt smug driving home, my head swimming with ideas and my car loaded down with blueberries, mead, pickling cukes, and fresh dill (also from Stocking's Garden.) I had some big plans and I could hardly wait to get started. I had already looked through several pickling books, and found 7 recipes that I wanted to try. TRY. All of the recipes were new to me, and I can honestly say, after it was all said and done, we deemed 6 of them winners, and the 7th was a respectable runner-up.

 

     Since I can't easily condense 20 hours of pickling on this page, I will post one photo of each different pickle recipe, taken during the pickle production process. I've also added a link to each fully detailed recipe on the right, and more random photos can be found by clicking on the header marked "Photos".

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 "Fresh" Pickles with Black Currant Leaves and Horseradish Root.  Jars just need to be filled with cold (pre-boiled) water, sealed, and set aside to "sour".

The BEST Bread & Butter Pickles , being ladled into jars.

An Arbol chile, a sprig of fresh dill, and a couple cloves of peeled garlic...a good foundation for my Blue Ribbon Dills .

Curry Pickle Slices blend, after being salted...next they're covered with ice + water...

Quick & Easy Mustard Pickle Chunks , pictured here in the middle, get their bright color from prepared mustard...yes...the kind you put on your corn dog.

The end of a long day, we put the leftover Ragin' Cajun brine in a gallon jug, threw in a few more various-sized pickling cukes, and called it good.

Crunchy Crock Pickles , the seeded spears packed tightly into quart jars.

      With special heartfelt thanks to my friend Debbie Lantzy and my niece Shaylee Hurst, for their undying enthusiasm when they were washing, scrubbing, rinsing, slicing, dicing, measuring, stirring, sterilizing, packing, ladling, sealing and stove tending, and for having the extra patience required when I would make everyone stop mid-motion, as in "WAIT! I NEED TO TAKE A PHOTO!" so I could document our project. They were my Pickle Princesses to the end.