Meanwhile, on the homesteading front… I’ve started a few garden plants inside and will start planting cold weather crops in my garden space soon.  The meat chickens at my parent’s are almost ready to be harvested & our meat cows are busy eating grass and will have a nice long summer ahead of them to fatten up. 

This coming weekend I’m hosting another Food Swap in Bozeman so I decided to make some tasty mustard to trade.  I’m sure I’ll bring a few other items but my jam and dried goods supply from last year is starting to run low.

Mustard Fixings

{Recipe} Honey-Dijon Mustard
(Adapted from ‘The Art of Preserving’)
2 cups mustard powder
3/4 cup filtered water
1 bottle dry white wine
1 onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
3 tsp sea salt
3 Tbsp honey
3+ Tbsp whole mustard seeds, optional

Whisk mustard powder and water together in a bowl.  In a saucepan combine the wine, onion & garlic.  Bring to a boil over high heat, add the sea salt, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Put a strainer over the mustard mixture and add in the flavored wine.  Compost the onion/garlic or add to a pot of soup.

Whisk the mustard mixture well and add the honey.  Put the mustard back into the saucepan and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until it reaches your desired consistency, stirring frequently.  If adding the mustard seeds, put them in for the last 5 minutes of cooking.  Ladle into jars and store in the fridge.  The mustard is best after sitting for a couple weeks and will last a year.

A Couple Batches of Dijon-Style Mustard

Have you ever made mustard?  I’m looking forward to experimenting with this recipe later this year to make a fruit mustard… huckleberry or rose hip perhaps?

Salsa, hummus, pesto, pate, dips… are all great to pair with one of my other favorite items, crunchy food!  Chips, crackers, pretzels, raw veggies… oh my!  With the Super Bowl last weekend and a WAPF potluck I had some great opportunities to get a few recipes off my “to make” list.  I didn’t have my camera with me so I only got a few pictures of the pate while I was making it, sorry!  Everything turned out delicious so I wanted to share links to the recipes I used.  They are definitely going into my pile of keeper recipes.

* Beer-Cheese Dip – I made this with raw sharp cheddar but it didn’t look as cool because the cheddar wasn’t dyed.  It was great with some thick pretzels dipped in and I’m going to put some of the leftover dip on burgers later this week, yum!

* Moroccan Carrot Dip - this was really good!  Even though the carrots are cooked they stay a really bright color and don’t have that gross cooked carrot taste.  I let it cool and then put it in my food processor so the texture was a little more fluffy then their picture.

* Chicken Liver Pate – I’m still trying really hard to eat liver on a regular basis.  So far I’ve been able to handle swallowing frozen, raw elk liver “pills” but most of the other dishes I’ve made are hard for me to swallow.  I’ve liked a few purchased liver mousses so this recipe with awesome ingredients like bacon and apples made me give it a go.  It was very mild and I’m actually excited that there are still 2 small bowls in the freezer that my husband and I can enjoy later.  When we do I’ll try and get some better pictures.

Did you make any delicious apps for Super Bowl that I should put on my “to make” list? 

Made early in the week & stored in a tin.

To make it a little healthier I used sucanat (evaporated cane juice) as the sugar and a local, whole white wheat pastry flour.  It ended up not rising as high but it was still awesome.  The molasses flavor of the sucanat came through and the darker flavor of the whole wheat was really nice.  Topped with a ginger-berry compote & whipped cream made it Thanksgiving worthy (I wasn’t suppose to eat any of the cake but I had to try it)!  Later in the evening on Thanksgiving my parent’s had the leftovers without any of the toppings, they just wanted to taste the cake.  It really was delicious!

I wish I had a piece right now!

{Recipe} Angel Food Cake
(adapted from Martha Stewart)
1 cup whole white wheat pastry flour
1.5 cups sucanat, ground fine in food processor
1-3/4 cups egg whites, room temp
1 Tbsp warm water
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350*.  Sift flour, salt and half the sugar together.  In a mixer beat the egg whites and warm water until foamy; add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form.  Gradually add in the other half of the sugar and vanilla.  Beat until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold the flour mixture into the egg whites in 6 batches.  Gently spoon the cake batter into an ungreased angel food pan.  Run a knife through the batter to break up any air bubbles and smooth the top.  Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and the cake springs back.  Invert on pan’s legs or a bottle for an hour to cool.  Run a knife around the pan to remove it and let cool completely.  Store in a tin.
*** Note: the cake was a little moist so I didn’t cover it tightly for the few days it hung out until Thanksgiving.

Having a freezer full of local fruit comes in handy!

{Recipe} Ginger-Berry Compote
(adapted from Martha Stewart)
1.5 pounds frozen berries (I used: cranberries, sour cherries, huckleberries, blueberries & strawberries)
4 Tbsp sucanat
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tsp grated fresh ginger

Place everything in a saucepan and cook until the berries are soft, about 10 minutes.  Cool and store in fridge until ready to serve on cake.

The tomato leather smells so good!  It will be fun to pull a piece off, add hot water & use for any number of things.

I used this recipe from Better Homes & Gardens because the brown sugar & balsamic vinegar will really help take the bite out of the amount of lemon juice you have to add to each jar.  Plus the fresh herbs (basil, rosemary, parsley, lemon thyme & marjoram) will really make this a bright & summery sauce to enjoy when the snow starts to pile up!

Bring on the pasta!

♦ 2011 Pantry Round Up ♦

It’s that time of year again!  Please e-mail me pictures of your pantry/freezer/dry goods/etc so we all can swoon over the food you’ve preserved this summer.

If you’d like to contribute, please e-mail: nicholeati (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Please include: pictures, your name, blog/website if you have one & what’s in the pictures! I’ll compile them all and show them off here and on my Facebook page.

Check out last year’s album is here: 2011 Pantry Round Up

I picked a large bucketful on Monday and half of it went into my steam juicer.  I cut off the blossom end, stem and cut them in half.  I used my knife tip to remove all the large seeds because I knew I wanted to use the mash that was left over.  I let the steamer go until I had 7 cups of juice and I put it into the fridge because I’m not a fan of canning into the wee hours of the morning

I love the beautiful color!

{Recipe} Crab Apple Jelly
(full USDA directions here)
7 cups crab apple juice
7 cups organic sugar

Start to heat up the juice and slowly stir in all the sugar to dissolve it.  Bring the mixture up to a boil.  Use a candy thermometer to watch when it’s at a full boil and let it go until the mixture is 8 degrees F above that temperature.  Remove from heat, quickly skim off foam, and ladle into sterile, hot canning jars.  Put on lids & rings and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes (for 5k’ elevation).  Let cool and check seals.

A nice fruit butter with a little zing!

The steam juicer basket was full of beautifully mashed crab apples so I decided to make some crab apple butter with the remains.  I ran the mash through my chinois to remove the skins and core pieces.  Making 2 quarts of puree was enough of an arm workout so I stopped there

{Recipe} Crab Apple Butter
(adapted from Preserving in Today’s Kitchen)
2 quarts crab apple puree
4 Tbsp sucanat or organic sugar (add more if you want it sweeter)
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground coriander

Put all of the ingredients into a dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot and heat to a boil.  Simmer until you reach your desired consistency.  Put into jars, cool and freeze for later use.
* Note: I’m sure you could can this but I didn’t feel like it.

I plan on drying a few batches of crab apples again, I love snacking on them.  If I get really motivated I might make a crab apple marmalade that was also in the Preserving book linked to above & some pancake syrup.

How do you put up crab apples?

My Grandma’s house is full of antiques and she loved to collect items from an early age.  Her parents and grandparents came to the US from Holland with a few material possessions so the history and story behind items was very special to my Grandma.  She was given items to keep in her hope chest as a young lady and she never stopped collecting.

Estate auctions and antique stores were a couple of the ways my Grandma collected her prize possessions.  When I was over the other day giving her some beets from my garden she got very excited when I told her of the treasures I got at an auction last weekend.  She is almost 90 and her eyesight is not the best so she can no longer enjoy going to auctions.  But she does get a kick out of me taking after her in that way.  But the main difference between my Grandma and I?  I like to get items that I can use, not just pretty items to collect.  At least that’s what I tell my husband, but I do have a few collections that are just for looks: orange carnival glass and silver on crystal come to mind.

The auction I went to over the weekend was an estate sale of a family who has lived in Livingston, MT for 150+ years.  There were many beautiful pieces of history that were in great condition.  I bid on a lot of items but since my Mom said I can’t store anything else at her house (I’m still living in an apartment until my husband & I get our dream farmhouse) I didn’t go too crazy.  I picked up some cute colored plates, two sauerkraut slicers, a 3 gal crock, a few cast iron pans that need some work, a skinny wood door, and 10 boxes of glass jars/bottles.  The last item made me smile for a couple days straight!  It was like Christmas when I unwrapped all of them.  Most exciting for me was the Kerr jars from 1915; there are enough of them that they will be perfect for storing dry goods in my future pantry.

My Dad also got some beautiful items for my Mom!  A crock bowl that is extremely light so it’s probably 100 years older than the other ones she’s collected, a nesting bowl set that came to Montana in a covered wagon and was in The River Runs Through It, and some crock handles to replace lost handles on their crocks.  I’m glad my Dad went during the day when I couldn’t be there as he was there when they auctioned off the crock I wanted

Over the winter I’m going to have to organize all of my collections.  I have boxes and boxes of items that I’ve gotten at auctions over the years.  It’s time for me to clear out some items that don’t interest me anymore and get a better inventory of all that I have.  That should be a fun wintertime project!

Do you collect anything?

Bozeman Food Swap

My friend and I hosted our 4th Food Swap and there was a great selection of goodies to trade.  Above is a grouping of pictures from the swap and here’s a blog post from a first time attender: Food Swap.  If you live in or near Bozeman please join our Facebook Page to learn about upcoming events: BZN Swappers.

A harvest from my small garden.

It’s amazing how much food comes out of a small garden, for my first one it’s been going really well.  I harvest once or twice a week and if anything is super ready my Dad picks it for me and sends it with my Mom to our store.  We’ve mostly been eating the produce fresh but I’ve also froze and dehydrated some.  Coming up I’ll have lots of tomatoes, peppers, carrots, beets, sugar beets, brussels sprouts, leeks, kale, cannellini beans and popcorn.

Smore Party!

And last but not least, it’s been my birthday month (what fun to be born at the end of the month and celebrate all month long)!  I received a beautiful steam juicer early in the month and then this last week has been a full on celebration.  I had a smore party in the mountains for my family and friends, my husband has been showering me with presents each morning, I’ll be going out to dinner on my actual birthday, and then we’re going on a quick road trip over Labor Day weekend with my parents.  I have to say my 30th Birthday has been grand and I’m sure each year after this will only get better

I hope you all are having a wonderful summer!

It gets most of the seeds out.

{Recipe} Seedless Raspberry Jam
(Yield: 6 jelly jars)
3 lbs raspberries
2 lbs organic sugar

Run the raspberries through a chinois to remove the seeds or mash and push thorough a fine mesh strainer.  The chinois gets most of the seeds out but I also ran the puree through a strainer to get it even more velvety smooth.  Place the puree in a big pot, add the sugar, and stir to dissolve (you can put this mixture in the fridge if you run out of time).  Bring to a rapid boil over medium high heat, stirring continuously.  The mixture will foam up high so make sure your pot has high sides.  Turn down the heat and boil for 10 minutes.

Test the set of the jam by placing a spoonful on a frozen saucer, put back into the freezer for 4 minutes and then remove and tip the saucer.  It should slowly slide down the saucer in a glob when it’s set.  If it runs quickly keep cooking the jam and test again.

When done to your liking, ladle into sterile, hot canning jars.  Put on lids & rings and process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes (for 5k’ elevation).  Let cool and check seals.

It turned out beautiful!