How to Roast Chestnuts

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...", you know how it goes, we've all heard the song. How many of us have actually roasted chestnuts - forget the "over an open fire" part..?
Well, roasting chestnuts is super easy and boy are they delicious!

First things first, you have to buy chestnuts.
A good chestnut should be heavy for it's size, shinny, and hard. If you shake it, you shouldn't hear or feel anything move around inside it - if you do, it means the chestnut has dried up, so don't buy it. Also be sure that there isn't any mould on it.

To roast chestnuts you first have to carefully cut either an 'X' along the flat side of the chestnut or slice open the edge where the flat side of the chestnut meets the round side (you'll end up with a crescent shaped cut along the edge of the chestnut. I find this easier than the 'X' method).

Stick them in the oven at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. You'll see some of the shell start to peel back - perfectly normal. I also like to add 1-2 tablespoons of water mid roast. I just sprinkle this around on top. I find it helps keep them nice and moist. Be careful when you take them out they are obviously very hot. Put them in a tea towel and give them a semi-firm push or massage-like movement. This helps separate the shell and skin from the chestnut. When they're cool enough to handle start to peel and dig in. Once peeled they should be a gold-light-brown-ish colour. Don't eat any black or blemished parts if there are any.

Enjoy!

Homemade Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Why not make your own cranberry sauce? They're in season, the process is simple and surely it must be better than that weird gelatinous stuff that goes "shkkhhk" when it  plops out of the can! Here's what you need...

Ingredients:

8 cups fresh cranberries

2 cups water

2 cups orange juice

4 cups granulated sugar

2 cinnamon sticks

5-7 all spice

1 teaspoon of freshly ground ginger
1 teaspoon orange zest

      Makes approximately 10-12 x 250 or 6 X 500 ml jars

Directions:

-Place your jars on a rack in a boiling water canner; cover jars with water and heat to a simmer. Set screw bands aside. Heat SNAP LID® sealing discs in hot water, not boiling (if boiling, the friction can scratch the enamel and then you won't get a nice seal). Keep jars and sealing discs hot until ready to use.

-Wash cranberries; drain. Pick out the bad ones, anything mushy, or the predominantly white cranberries.

-Combine sugar, water and orange juice in a large stainless steel saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil; add cinnamon, all spice, orange zest and ginger. Boil 5 minutes (not too high/hot, orange juice likes to foam!). Add cranberries. Return mixture to a boil; continue cooking without stirring until skins burst. You'll hear lovely bursting sounds, careful you don't get sprayed!!

-Ladle hot sauce into a hot jar to within 1/2 inch (1 cm) of top of jar (headspace). Using nonmetallic utensil, remove air bubbles and adjust headspace.

-Wipe jar rim removing any food residue. Centre hot sealing disc on clean jar rim. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight. Return filled jar to rack in canner.

-When canner is filled, ensure that all jars are covered by at least one inch (2.5 cm) of water. Cover canner and bring water to full rolling boil before starting to count processing time. Boil/process filled jars; 250 ml jars= 10 minutes; 500 ml jars = 15 minutes.

-When processing time is complete, remove canner lid, wait 5 minutes, then remove jars without tilting and place them upright on a protected work surface. Cool upright, undisturbed 24 hours; no need to retighten screw bands.

-After cooling, check jars are sealed. Sealed discs curve downward and do not move when pressed. Remove screw bands; wipe and dry bands and jars. Label and store jars in a cool, dark place.

Canned goods generally keep for one year.

I'll be bringing this to thanksgiving, and I'll let the family judge if it's any good!! 

I also did a second batch that basically followed the same process as above using the following ingredients/measurements.

-4 cups cranberries

-3/4 cup orange juice

-1 cup water

-1 cup sugar

-1/2 cup dark rum
-1 teaspoon orange zest

I don't know if the rum flavour will come through - first time making this recipe... once again, I'll let the family judge!

Tomatoes are Easy!

It’s the end of the growing season, harvest is upon us and surely there is, has been, or will be an abundance of tomatoes. If you can’t eat them all, and you’ve already shared them with your neighbour(s) and your local food bank, you’ve only got one option left – can those suckers!! It’s easy.

CRUSHED TOMATOES

Ingredients:
Tomatoes (prepared, i.e., skinned if you don’t want the skin, and quartered)

Lemon juice

Salt

Directions:

• Place the required number of clean 500 ml or 1 L mason jars on a rack in a boiling water canner (i.e., a very large pot); cover jars with at least 1 inch of water and heat to a simmer. Set screw bands aside. Heat SNAP LID® sealing discs in hot water, not boiling. Keep jars and sealing discs hot until ready to use.

• Blanch, peel, core and quarter tomatoes removing bruised or discoloured portions. Drop tomatoes into boiling water for a few seconds to remove the skin.

• Place 2 cups (500 ml) of tomato quarters in a large stainless steel pot. Bring to a boil while crushing and stirring to extract juice. Boil gently, stirring constantly; add remaining tomato quarters, 2 cups (500 ml) at a time. DO NOT crush tomatoes, as they will soften with heating and stirring. When all tomatoes are added, boil gently for 5 minutes.

• Place 1 tbsp (15 ml) of lemon juice and 1/2 tsp (2 ml) salt for 500 ml jars, or 2 tbsp (30 ml) lemon juice and 1.5 tsp salt, if using, 1 L jar. 

•Using a protected work surface (because HOT jars and COLD counter tops do not go well together), ladle tomatoes into a hot jar to 1/2 inch (1 cm) of top rim (headspace). Using a non-metallic utensil, remove the air bubbles and adjust headspace (space between the top of your liquid and the top of the jar), if required, by adding more tomatoes. Wipe the jar rim clean, removing any food residue. Centre hot sealing disc on clean jar rim. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight. Return filled jar to rack in canner. Repeat for remaining tomatoes.

• When canner is filled, ensure that all jars are covered by at least one inch (2.5 cm) of water. Cover canner and bring water to full rolling boil before starting to count processing time. At altitudes up to 1000 ft (305 m), process –boil filled jars – 35 minutes* for 500 ml; 45 minutes* for 1 L.

• When processing time is complete, remove canner lid, wait 5 minutes, then remove jars without tilting and place them upright on a protected work surface. Cool upright, undisturbed 24 hours; DO NOT RETIGHTEN screw bands.

• After cooling check jar seals. Sealed discs curve downward and do not move when pressed. Remove screw bands; wipe and dry bands and jars. Store screw bands separately or replace loosely on jars, as desired. Label and store jars

It’s that easy folks!

Check out www.relishyomama.org for more recipes!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Here's some photos documenting garden growth throughout the summer from the first day when the soil was tilled and seedlings were given a home to the beginning of harvest (now).

 

Growing tomatoes on my balcony

 Baby Eggplants

 

    Borlotti Beans (Cranberry Beans)

Raspberry Anise Freezer Jam

There are quite a few different freezer jam recipes out there, some that have the usual jam proportions (i.e., way more sugar than fruit, Certo's freezer jam recipe for example). I prefer the following recipe because it doesn't use so much sugar, and ends up being super tasty no matter what fruit I use.

The Basic Freezer Jam Recipe Proportions are

-4 cups of crushed fruit

-1 to 1.5 cups of sugar

-1 pouch of Bernardin Freezer Jam Pectin

-Lemon/Lime juice and zest

Fortunately, I had four cups of raspberries fall into my lap, so - Raspberry Anise Freezer Jam! I added a teaspoon of anise to the raspberries, and three crushed pink peppercorns, but you could add any herb or spice you think pairs well with whatever 4 cups of fruit you're working with.

Strawberry Lime Freezer Jam

For some, making homemade jam can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be.

Probably the easiest way to make jam is to make a freezer jam (I like to call it Lazy [wo]man’s Jam) otherwise known as ‘raw food jam’. This type of jam involves crushing fruit and mixing it with sugar and pectin (or just the fruit and pectin if you buy the "no sugar pectin"). From there, you put it into containers and into your freezer for up to one year, or in your fridge for about a month.

This is a convenient way to have ‘fresh’ fruit during the dreary winter months.

Freezer jams have less sugar than regular cooked jams, so don’t expect that crazy sweet jam taste, but you get FULL fruit flavour, and because the fruit is not cooked/boiled it probably keeps more of its good stuff, i.e., vitamins, etc…

So here’s my Strawberry Lime Freezer Jam Recipe (i LoVe it!)

Ingredients: 

-4 cups of crushed strawberries

-1.5 cups of white sugar

-1 45g pouch of Bernardin's Freezer Jam Pectin

-lime zest and lime juice

-Rinse your fresh, ripe, local strawberry

-Hull the strawberries

-In a bowl mix the sugar and pectin

-In a separate bowl crush your strawberries

          -Add a teaspoon of lime zest and squeeze the juice of 1/2 of the lime (or the whole lime if you're big on lime!)

-Pour the crushed strawberries and lime mixture into the bowl containing the sugar and pectin.

-Stir well for 3 minutes

-Ladle the jam into containers being sure to leave around 1cm of headspace (the space between the top of the jam and the top of the container). Put into the fridge (up to one month) or in the freezer (up to a year).  

You can use this as you would a regular jam, on bread/toast, in yogurt, on your ice cream, etc...

You could also add any other herb or flavour you think pairs well with strawberries, maybe some chopped mint, or perhaps lemon instead of lime - as long as the fruit to sugar to pectin ratios are correct (follow this recipe or whatever is on your pectin package). Check out www.relishyomama.org or Bernardin.ca for more jam recipes.

Hand Exfoliation and Moisturizer

Got Dry Hands? Gardener’s hands? Want soft hands?

I recently came home from a wonderful week in Cuba. Maybe it was the salt water and/or the chlorinated pool, and/or being in the water a bit too long (wrinkly-soggy hands) that made my hands super dry, peeling and not so nice to the touch.

No, no, I didn’t catch a weird fungus or anything! This odd occurrence usually happens to my hands once a year or so.

My super clever co-worker whose hands also occasionally do this gave me some advice to exfoliate and moisturize my hands, and, yes, I’m about to share… excited?

She suggested to take some hand lotion, spread it on your hands and then grab a tablespoon of sugar and vigorously rub your hands together.

Here’s what I did:

-1 teaspoon of coconut oil (only 1 tsp because I have small hands, if you’ve got big man hands, go ahead and use more)

-1 heaping teaspoon of brown sugar

-Roughly rub – rub – rub for 1-2 mins.

-Gently rinse your hands.

-Gently pat or let them air dry…

                I did this once and it fixed 95% of the problem, did it a second time and my hands are back to normal! If your hands need a buff and a little moisture, give it a whirl!

Hats off to my coworker - super clever!

Easy Homemade Popsicles

Here's another healthy summer snack idea. Make your own popsicles!

There's a couple ways you can go about it...

-Brew a fruity herbal tea (without "real" tea in it, i.e., no black or green tea as the tea base). Try hibiscus, rosehip, berries, citrus, etc. Brew a large batch of tea, however strong or weak you want. You can sweeten your tea (soon to be popsicles) with honey.

-If you really don't like tea you can try to find some low sugar juice instead, or juice your own fresh fruit and use that instead of buying bottled juice.

-Or for a "heartier" popsicle, blend some fruit and yogurt together (morning smoothie style), banana, strawberry, and berries work well.

Once you've chosen one of these options the next step is it into an ice cube tray or popsicle molds. If you don't have a mold which usually has sticks to hold your frozen popsicle then you're going to need some 'popsicle sticks'. I encourage you to steal these little wooden stir-sticks from your local Starbucks, or you can use your imagination and find something else that is suitable.


Pop them in the freezer and you're done... tasty, and high-fructose corn syrup free!
For a little info on high-fructose corn syrup check out http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-fructose-corn-syrup/AN01588
and http://www.mcvitamins.com/high-fructose-corn-syrup.htm.
Enjoy!

***If something needs sweetening try honey a local honey or raw sugar (no, we can't get that local in Canada).

Chive Blossom and White Wine Vinegar

Spice up your vinegar!!

A co-worker who is always sharing her homemade recipes with me told me about this easy white wine vinegar and chive recipe, and I thought to myself, “I've got tons of chive blossoms on my balcony! Why not put them to good use!?”

HOW TO:

-Pick enough chive blossoms (not wilting or fading blossoms) to fill 2/3 of your jar.

-Rinse them in cool water to making sure you get the little bugs that like to hide in them out – otherwise you're making Chive Blossom and Bug Vinegar! 

-Gently pat them dry.

-Put the blossoms in your jar.

-Fill 2/3 of the jar with white wine vinegar.

-With the remaining 1/3 of the space you have left, fill half of it with regular white vinegar and the other remaining half with white wine.

-Put a lid on your jar and let it sit for 2-3 weeks.

-DAY 1                                                                                      -DAY 2














I'll post again in 2 weeks to give an update on the results.

 

This also makes a nice decoration to have around the house to add some colour.

Frozen Chocolate-Covered Banana Popsicles!

Alright, so summer is finally here; thus, it is time for healthy-ish summer snacks.  The best snack during the summer months is definitely fruit, but if you get all watermelon, cantaloupe, and honey-dewed out then here’s a nice cool treat you can try.

Ingredients:

Banana

Chocolate

Coconut Oil

Popsicle Sticks/Stir Sticks

Directions:

-Melt ¾ chocolate to ¼ coconut oil via double boiler method...

-Peel bananas then put a popsicle stick in it (you can also cut the banana in half if wanted)

-Either dip banana in the chocolate or drizzle chocolate over the banana

                -At this point you could sprinkle the chocolate with shredded coconut (or sprinkles so the kiddies think it’s cool).

-Lay the bananas down on a baking sheet and pop it in the freezer for an hour.

-Don’t try to lift the banana from the sheet by the stick – you’ll probably just crack your frozen banana, instead gently scrape the chocolate on the sheet around the banana until it is no longer stuck, or let it thaw for a few minutes then remove from the sheet.

These are definitely healthier than those freeze-ez or popsicles that are LOADED with sugar, and a tad more filling! They were a hit in my house, gobbled down as soon as they came out of the freezer.

Enjoy!

DIY Citrus Spray Deodorant

Now that summer is here, I can't carry around my coconut oil based deodorant because it's too warm out for the coconut oil to stay solid. So, this is my solution. Spray on deodorant that I can carry around to refresh my pits as needed.

So here it is, homemade spray on deodorant. Yes, I am knocking off Weleda Citrus Spray on deodorant. I love the stuff, but it's a bit pricey and this recipe comes pretty close.


Ingredients:

2/3 Cup of Vodka (or Gin)
1/3 Cup of Water
Approx. 30 drops of Essential Oils (lemon, lime, orange, bergamot, whatever you like)
Glass bottle with spray pump

Directions:

-Pour vodka into bottle.
-Add essential oils (I put 12 drops of lemon, 12 of lime, 4 of bergamot, 2 of orange)
-Shake to mix oil into alcohol.
-Add water (*N.B. This ingredient is to 'water down' the alcohol. If you find that this recipe is not strong enough for you, just use straight alcohol without the water.)
-Shake bottle before each use as some of the oils will not have mixed into the alcohol.

This recipe works because the alcohol kills the bacteria which is what causes the odour, and the essential oils give your pits a non-pitty smell (and the oils are also anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, etc...).

Like the original (Weleda), this might not last all day if you're sweaty like me, or out gardening, or running around all day in the sun during the summer months, but it's cheap enough to make that you shouldn't mind using it as often as needed. I plan to use the coconut oil in the mornings before I leave the house, and carry this spray on deodorant as a backup!

Happy spraying!

Chocolate Covered ... Anything

Everything tastes better when covered in chocolate, right? So why not make your own chocolate covered treats.

Get some delicious (organic) dark chocolate... toss it along with some coconut oil into a pyrex measuring cup in a pot of boiling water and stir. The amount of coconut oil you add seems to change with the type of chocolate and how dark the chocolate is... on average try 1.5 Tbsps to one normal sized chocolate bar.

Melt this down, and then either dip strawberries, bananas, etc into the chocolate or drizzle the chocolate over your fruit... with this you can easily make

-chocolate covered strawberries

-chocolate covered bananas

-chocolate covered any dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, blueberries, cherries)

Once you've covered whatever it is you're making in chocolate put it in the fridge for the chocolate to harden and voila!

If you love all things coconut, and I do, then you can also make a healthier, knock off version of a bounty bar...

-make simple syrup (equal parts of raw sugar and water over heat)

-add shredded unsweetened coconut until 95% of the sugar is absorbed

-let cool a bit

(If you have molds to pour into this would help though I managed without)

-scoop out a tablespoon of coconut and place on a plate, drizzle chocolate over

-optionally add an almond on top

-Pop it into the fridge for the chocolate to harden and voila!

Easy and Delicious Mixed Fruit Jam Recipe

Shared By: Visions of Utopia - Relish Yo’ Mama (www.relishyomama.org)

Embarking on a mission to “Preserve to Conserve,” the staff at Visions of Utopia thought it best to give jam making a try. We followed some general guidelines given by the Fallen Fruit Collective for their Public Fruit Jam and the instructions on the Bernardin pectin package. The goal of the Public Fruit Jam is to bring people together to create good food through sustainable practices, and foster a sense of community. We certainly had a great time! With no set recipe, just a mixture of fruit brought by different people, here is what we created.

Ingredients:

-2 cups mixed berries (we used frozen)

-1½ cups mango

-1½ cups apple

-1 package powdered pectin

-7 cups sugar

-¼ cup lemon juice

-1 tsp lemon zest

Directions:

-Peel apples and mangoes and cut into small pieces

-In a bowl pour lemon juice and zest onto fruit and stir, then let stand for 1 minute.

-Using a potato masher or back of ladle gently mash fruit.

-Place fruit, lemon juice, zest and pectin into pot and bring to boil over medium-high heat

-Gradually add sugar, making sure that it dissolves

-After all the sugar has been added, bring to boil again, stirring constantly and rapidly boil for 1 minute.

-Pour into sterilized jars and process for 10 minutes in a hot-water bath

Yield: approx. 8 cups

You can check out www.relishyomama.org for more awesome jam and relish recipes. You can also add your own and share the wealth!