Wednesday, October 28, 2009

My Canning Adventure

I spent yesterday canning....quite an adventure! My friend Erin and I were able to can 33 pints of pears (6 of which were pearsauce, like applesauce but with pears) and 36 pints of raspberry loganberry jam. It was quite an undertaking but rewarding and I feel like I really accomplished something. I have pictures of the final product, so I will post that in a minute, its on my phone so its not the best but it makes me smile to look at all we were able to do.

We have set a goal to do a day of canning every other month at least. Our next time we are going to do ham....I hear its easy and really good, so off to a ham adventure! Plus, it is currently pork slaughter season, so pork is cheaper than normal and I can just put it in my freezer.

The weather here is cooling off....I love this weather.

I will try to post some holiday recipes and other stuff over the next few weeks.

Take Care,
Heather

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Howdy Mr. President

Well,

As you can see my blog has been neglected over the past week. We had a huge event in our area, and me being the leader over the Event Managers in my part of the world, meant that we were up to our eyeballs in all sorts of preparations for the President, yes, THE PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES, President Obama.....along with President George H. Bush and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Can you say security with a little more security and a little dash of security on top of that? Really, there were 6 security check points you had to go through before you ever got into the actual event.

Anyway, it is done, it went great, and I was totally exhausted! But, we are off and running in another week, so I hope to get back in the groove and post some more.

I hope all is well in your part of the world! Its cool and a little crisp here today....YEA FOR AUTUMN!

Heather

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

This is by far the best banana bread I have ever had....really...and its made from whole wheat!

I got the recipe from kneadfulthingsnow.com

I have been to 2 of Karen's seminars in the last month, one on bread making and one on food storage and bother were awesome. She really is a fountain of knowledge on this stuff.

Anyway, I decided to try out this recipe and I have already made it twice! So yum!


Banana Nut Bread with Streusel Topping
Bake at 350
50-55 minutes
Makes 1 large loaf—enough to share if you are forced into it.

Pre-heat oven to 350
Lightly butter a 4X9 loaf pan and set aside

Nuts
Spread out 1 1/3 Cup Walnuts on a cookie sheet. Roast in 350 oven for five minutes. Stir and roast an additional 3-5 minutes. The walnuts will quickly begin to smell very sweet and nutty. Oooo so delicious. Allow to cool.

Meanwhile Combine
2 Cup mashed well ripened banana
1Cup Dark Brown Sugar

The juice from the bananas will melt the brown sugar making a very soupy mixture, don't be alarmed. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients:
2 Cup freshly ground whole wheat flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt

Set aside.

Nuts
Coarsely chop your walnuts. Measure out 1 cup and add to the banana mixture. Finely chop the remaining nuts. These will be used for the struesel.

Struesel Topping
1/4 Cup freshly ground whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp Dark Brown Sugar
1/3 Cup Roasted Walnuts Finely Chopped
2 Tbsp Butter

Combine flour and sugar, mix well working out any lumps of sugar. Add nuts and mix. Using a pastry cutter, or your fingers (my technique), cut in the butter until the mixture is thoroughly combined and has a variety of crumble sizes. Set aside.

To the banana mixture add:
3/4 Cup Coarsely Chopped Walnuts
2 tsp Vanilla
2 Large Well-beaten Eggs
1/4 Cup Melted Butter

Stir until well combined.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients all at once and stir gently just till thoroughly combined. Working quickly, dump the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Spread all of the streusel topping evenly over the top of the loaf and very gently press the topping slightly into the batter.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Cover loaf with a foil tent. Continue baking an additional 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.

Allow the loaf to cool completely. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate overnight. You're gonna love it.

Enjoy!

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!