I Can Can

This year we did a little more unusual canning than usual. We often make some jam or apple butter, but this year we were just trying to preserve the harvest without too much fuss.

While much of the harvest ended up in the freezer, a few things found their way into jars and hopped into the canner while we weren't watching.

Above, French Onion Soup. We used six pounds of yellow and white onions from our garden and simmered them in a homemade beef stock with some dried herbs vaguely resembling a bouquet garni.

Sideways sliced dill pickles from the last cucumbers of the year. These pickling cucumbers were a bit overgrown (think two pound torpedoes), but they sliced up fine.

The long-sliced dills are identical except for shape. In the past we've made bread and butter pickles but we really like dills. These are sort of a mix between the two. The kids love them and I think they're pretty good.

What canning blog post would be complete without dilly beans? Sorry, Ben - no hot pepper variety this time.







Beets made for beautiful canning creations. We topped the beets and sautéed some of the greens. I think I was the only fan of the greens - we'll see if the kids go for the beets.
































The Mehu Maija rests after steaming apples for juice and apple puree.

Name That Dish

See if you can come up with the most delicious name for this dish. You may want to spin it like you're trying to sell something in one of those gourmet holiday catalogs.


Have fun with it and when the comments are in, I'll let you know exactly what it is.

Young Chefs

Here are the youngest Barnhart chefs in the Hancock household. They're posing with their latest creations - lunch today. :) It was a pretty tasty lunch, if I do say so myself.


Ella made a heart-shaped pizza.

Elisabeth made a rectangle pizza.



Peter made a circle pizza.
And I made a regular, much larger pizza to share with anyone who needed a little more (and to have leftovers for tomorrow). No photo documentation there, but there's about 3/4 of it cooling off in our "extra" cold storage. Hope everyone has tasty meals like this at their own places.

The sourest of sourdoughs

Some of you may remember (especially if your name is Steve) that Steve started a sourdough culture a couple years ago, which I was lucky enough to receive a bit of. Well, that sourdough starter gifted me with many fine sourdough pancakes, some pizza dough, and a rather lackluster loaf of bread before eventually going on to die and become the most horrible smelling thing in my entire house (honestly, I almost vomited when I eventually got rid of it). So the lesson is if you don't feed your sourdough starter, but instead leave it on the kitchen counter when you go away for a week, it will figure out how to get even with you.

Earlier this fall I followed Steve's technique for starting a sourdough culture and used some apple peels, flour, and water to get one going. After about a month of feeding it and making sure it's happy (I sing it to sleep every night before tucking it into the fridge), I thought it was ready to go into a loaf of bread.

I've been intrigued by the no-knead sourdough recipes that are popping up everywhere, and I ended up using this one (mostly because it's simple and he has a very informative video on the process of making this bread).

After one failed attempt (which I did not photograph for obvious reasons), here are a couple photos of my first successful loaf of sourdough bread made from a sourdough starter. It may be a little hard to tell from the pictures, but I'm pleased to report that the crust is nice and tough, and the bread itself is very chewy and airy. It's got a bit of a sourdough tang, though it's not too sour (you can fault me for the misleading post title). All around, a pretty enjoyable loaf of bread.

I've read that refrigerating the bread overnight (after letting it rise for 5 to 8 hours) also results in a pretty good bread. So I'll give that a shot next time.

The Pumpkin and the Pie

Said the pumpkin to the pie,
"I'm a pumpkin for a pie,
Not the kind to carve a face,
But the kind that you can taste!"

Then the pie said to the pumpkin,
"Why, indeed, I'm not a bumpkin!
For I'm filled with one like you,
And am yummy through and through!"

And the two became good friends,
For they realized in the end,
That to team up with each other,
Made a treat to beat all others!

Pumpkin puree, courtesy of Daniel,
and the pie was made by Janell. : )

Summer Harvest

Earlier this summer we started pulling a few root vegetables and a portion of the abundant cucumber crop. We're sharing a little of the harvest joy with you.

New potatoes for oven stew or colcannon, beets for apple and beet salad (with walnuts and banana), and carrots for munching.

Beet greens (the kids were not big fans), and the ubiquitous cucumber.

Cucumbers put to good use.

The girls had a great time rolling summer squash in flour. Now where are those squash, girls?

There they are.

Fry them up. Yum!

Earlier this year we found out that radishes can be grill-roasted. Toss them with a little oil, sea salt, pepper, and minced garlic to make a tasty treat. I'd post a picture but I couldn't get the camera out before they were devoured by the kids. They ate 'em like french fries.

We're working on the fall harvest. In the meantime, go pick the nearest fruit or vegetable and post its mug here.

A New Foodie is Born

Considering the method by which this baby was announced, it is fitting to welcome the birth of little Andrew with a food post. And so, we give you his first meal. He promptly turned up his nose at it, demanding only pre-warmed organic milk! That's ok - Rachel was hungry too, so she enjoyed a chicken caesar wrap, mashed potatoes, and a brownie.

Simplest Corn Pudding

There's been a dearth of posts on these blogs as of late, though I have heard legends about a heaping mound of sausages and gallons of Kool-Aid that were consumed at the McCann clan in a matter of seconds. Would that we could have seen some photos of that carnage...

Well, it's hot and it's not the time of year where I usually try out new recipes. But I just stumbled across a recipe for "Simplest Corn Pudding," and I think I may be a sucker for anything with "simplest" in the title. True to its name, this one is incredibly easy to make, absolutely delicious, and a great way to get through a huge pile of fresh sweet corn (if you find yourself facing such a problem).

I found the recipe on nytimes.com, and you can find the full write-up here. But if you want just the recipe, here it is:

Ingredients

• 8 ears of corn, husked
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Salt
• Cayenne pepper
• Half a lime.

Method

• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• 2. Place a box grater on a medium cast-iron pan, and finely grate each ear of corn directly into the pan. Discard the cobs.
• 3. Spread the milky corn evenly across the pan, and bake until the edges and top are golden brown and the corn milk has thickened, 20 to 30 minutes.
• 4. Remove from heat, and transfer corn and any liquid to a bowl. Add butter, and season to taste with salt, cayenne pepper, and a squeeze of lime juice. Mix well.

And here are some delicious photos.

Happy Patriotic Food Day

What could be more patriotic than a stack of buttermilk pancakes topped with maple syrup and fresh berries on the 4th of July? Maybe raspberries and blueberries would have been a little more patriotic, but the blackberries look sort of blue. And I was going to top it with a burst of whipped cream but due to some young connoisseurs in our house we ran out this morning. A dash of powdered sugar would do, but... after all this monkeying around taking pictures, I just had to eat it!

I hope you're all enjoying the day off - taking every opportunity not only to celebrate our country and the many ways we are blessed, but especially God's faithfulness to us and His sovereignty even with nations and powers.

Beef Stew for You

When we were in Muskegon to visit over Christmas, Mom made an excellent beef stew. Since then we've added this to our menu and have enjoyed it each time. We had a little trouble adapting the tapioca levels since we were using flour instead of pearls (let's just say we didn't need spoons the first time). We also decided to serve it in bread bowls, which was a hit.

So thanks, Mom, for the meal and the inspiration.

Baking =

Bonding

James stays with us almost every weekend. For the most part he's all boy. He loves sports, video games, pranks, eating, more sports, more video games...in short, we have almost nothing in common. Except for that eating part. :) We both love food - eating it, talking about it, and now making it. I try to set aside time for us to make something together each time he is with us. Usually he acts a bit impatient with how long the process takes or how many steps it involves, but he's always very proud of the finished product.

Math Lessons

I always thought I wouldn't do what mom and dad (wisely) did and turn every day moments into little lessons, but today I found myself giving a mini math lesson in the middle of making a loaf of bread. Hey, what better time to prove you really do need math? :)

An Inexpensive Activity

As a super-intelligent person, I have quickly come to a new and startling revelation...kids are expensive! But a little flour, butter and eggs make for a pretty inexpensive way to spend our Saturday morning.

Delicious Bread

I hope. Waiting for it to cool.

Happy Irish Food Day

Here's hoping your St. Patrick's day has been green and pinch-free. And if you weren't able to enjoy a special meal, you can join us virtually for Colcannon and Irish Soda Bread. There's plenty to go around.

We actually eat colcannon regularly but this was Rachel's first attempt at Irish Soda Bread. It was excellent - nothing like the dry crumbly biscuit that I made on my first attempt!

For those not in the know, colcannon is made with mashed potatoes, bacon, and cabbage sautéed in said bacon drippings. Onions can also be sautéed with the cabbage but we leave them out. Mix it all together and season with salt/pepper, then pour melted butter on top. When you serve it, feel free to add more pepper (the photo is pre-pepper).

Another Food Challenge

For all of you riddle-solvers out there who just didn't get enough mental work-out with Ben's last blog post, Steve and I have been working on our own food challenge for you to solve. We've been processing this one for a while, and finally have enough details worked out to be able to share it with you. If the puzzle is still unsolved after a week, we'll add more details (following Ben's lead). So, here goes....

A king and queen decided to give a banquet, because they greatly enjoy being hospitable and sharing their time and resources with others. Their "super chef" was given free reign over menu planning and also determining when to hold the banquet and the theme of the party. They (the king and queen) just needed to show up when directed.

The "super chef" provided the royal couple with a multi-course menu plan. It was as follows:
1st Course: lasagna and yogurt
2nd Course: toasted bagel sandwiches with cheddar cheese and fresh tomatoes, seasoned with salt and freshly ground pepper
3rd Course: cheese sandwiches with mayonnaise and dill pickle slices
4th Course: fried chicken, cole slaw, baked beans, homestyle macaroni & cheese and biscuits and gravy

The king and queen have been notified of the theme of the party and it's timing. Your challenge is to determine what specific occasion this menu would be appropriate for. The royal couple will assess the results and (after the correct response has been given) provide more details regarding the timing of the event.

Don't judge a dish by its appearance (unless you're a judge on a cooking show, then by all means, judge away)

Well, thank you Ben for making me feel more confused than usual last week. I think this proves that I need to solve more riddles so I can be in good mental shape when another one comes my way.

Last week when I was snowed in during the winter blizzard of 2011, it seemed like the perfect time to try out a new recipe. I leafed through my Cuisine at Home Magazine and was immediately drawn to the Pork and Mushroom Stew because:

A) It's winter and that's when you eat stew
B) There was a pretty picture next to the recipe


Thanks to David, I had state of the art cookware to use : ) Browning the pork

"Ooooo, Lisa! Please put us in the pot so we can be Pork and Mushroom Stew!"

Although this finished product may bear a striking resemblance to dog poop sauce, I assure you it tasted amazing. I followed the recipe's suggestion and made apple-potato mash; boiling a granny smith apple with the potatoes and mashing it all together. It was surprisingly good! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go check my koolaid brussel sprouts.

A Little Food Challenge

The long, dark January nights have left me thinking about food challenges, and I think I've come up with a pretty good food riddle.

Guess the food or beverage whose name consists of two words where neither word is actually in the food or beverage. So, it's a thing that has two food/drink words in its name, but neither word is in the thing itself. Give up? If people haven't guessed it in a week, I'll update with a hint.

Frutti Tutti

In an unprecedented show of pizzaz, I am offering back-to-back posts on your favorite subject...food! Enjoy.

Just Another Pizza Pie