Monday, August 31, 2009

Canning and Strawberry Jam-Part 2

Here is The Pioneer Woman's follow up to her basic canning and jam post.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/08/strawberry-jam-part-ii/

Saturday, August 29, 2009

The Basics of Canning

Howdy all....Life has been busy....I mean really busy...busier than I normally am and normally I am really busy. So, here is the rundown....

At work we are closing a major building for reconstruction...I mean major, like over 300,000 square feet. And to do so, we have to take out every picture, every chair, every, table, everything. This has been a HUGE undertaking and we have finally finished but it took months!

Also, in the midst of it all, I pulled my Achilles! So, I have been walking around with a boot air cast thingy on my foot for a few weeks. It is tiring and quite frankly there are times my foot just hurts! So, when I get home after a long day of standing and such, I just sit on the couch and relax and try to recoup from the day....hence...me being even further more no posting!

So, I have been slacking in the blog department...forgive me people, the guilt is killing me! :)

So, I found this basic information and I thought I would pass it on. Its about canning and has great info there. Its from one of my favorite websites, The Pioneer Woman, and the link to the canning info is here http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/08/canning-101-and-strawberry-jam-part-1/

I would swear to you that I will post more often but I have to be frank here....football season is about to start which is a terribly busy time for us, my husband and I both have jobs that deal with football at the university and we work a lot....so I cannot make promises that I will post more, but I can promise that I will feel guilty when I do not! Does that help any?

Be beautiful!
Heather

Monday, August 17, 2009

Survivor Enrichment Night

Howdy Friends....

Life has been busy and I have been booted....literally! I have pulled my Achilles heel so I am in one of those boot casts temporarily so I am hobbling around here and there. I should only have to wear it about 2 weeks but it sure does get in the way!

Anyway, we had an Enrichment Night this week that was really fun and hopefully educational. We were big meanies and did not tell them what was happening, we called it a "Mystery Night".

We did a mock hurricane drill and taught people about first aid, building a shelter, surviving without electricity and water, and food storage. Everyone I heard from thought it was really educational!

Hurricane season has started for us, so we chose that as our disaster, but I am sure you could modify yours to whatever might happen in your area. Here is a link to the source we used. We did not have the sisters bring their 72 hour kits, since ours was a surprise!

http://www.sugardoodle.net/Home_Family_and_Personal_Enrichment/SurvivorEN.shtml

Last year, with Hurricane Ike, we had people in our region who were without electricity and water for more than 2 weeks, so we are trying to help people prepare for the worst with the Hurricane Season underway this season already.

Recipe:Sweetened Condensed Milk

I got this recipe from a food blogger friend and this to me sounds so handy to have around. I too have been plagued by that sweet tooth on Sunday night only to find I am out of sweetened condensed milk and cannot make a fun dessert! And it sounds economical!

This is a great alternative!

Alternative to Sweetened Condensed Milk

3/4 C powdered milk
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C HOT tap water
Put hot water in blender. With blender going, add sugar and dry milk. Blend until smooth. Makes about 1 can of Sweetened condensed milk.

Friday, August 7, 2009

The Cuban Sandwich

I was watching an episode of Diners. Drive Ins, and Dives and they made what they called a Cuban Sandwich and I thought.....hey, I could make that!

This is what they did....

First, you take a pork butt (which is actually a bone in pork shoulder, in case you were wondering.) and you jab it with a knife and stuff the holes with minced garlic and then smear the outside with garlic. Then salt all over liberally. Then, you cook it for 7.5 hours at 250 degrees. I have a giant roaster that I put it in.

Once its done cooking, allow it to cool for a bit and then tear it all apart with your hands into small pieces so you have a huge pile of pulled pork.

Next, take a loaf of French Bread or a baguette and slice it horizontally. Cover the bottom slice completely with mustard. Then cover that with full layer of hamburger sliced pickles. Then a slice of ham, then the pulled pork, then a slice of cheese. The joint on the show used mozzarella but traditionally Swiss is used. I used Swiss and Havarti. Then on top of that you sprinkle garlic salt and top with the other part of the bread.

So, here are the layers in the order if you were looking at the sandwich:


Bread
Garlic Salt
Cheese
Pulled Pork
Ham Slices
Pickles
Mustard
Bread

Then, slather on a little melted butter and if you have a panini press, you can press it in there and toast it up. If you do not, then I took my cast iron griddle and warmed it up, then put the sandwich down on it and topped it with a cast iron pan and put a can of soup on top for weight so it really smushes the sandwich down. I cut my big French loaves into 3s to make this easier. You toast it until it is crispy brown and then flip over and do again. Then, cut them into triangles about the size of a normal sandwich cut into two vertically.

These were great! I made 2 French breads and a small baguette and had plenty for 6 adults plus enough for almost everyone to take a sandwich and eat for lunch the next day.

I hope you try this! It was relatively simple and the flavor was great!

Have a great Friday!
Heather

Beautiful Basics

Life is about a journey, and you are the only one who can make yours... So, embrace life: the good, the bad, and the ugly...it is the only one you've got.

Here's to being Beautiful, inside and out!