Candied Jalapeños, Pumpkin and a few other things

Our daughter came up today to see us and to do her laundry, so I needed to get out of the living room (we have limited seating). So first, I spent a little time in the kitchen making Cowboy Candy.  If you've never heard of it, it's candied jalapeños.  I ordered a canning pot, rack, and tools while I was in Colorado, and this was my first time to use it.  (I've made jelly and jam before, but this was the first "canning.")

I saw this recipe on SBCanning, and was intrigued.  I love spicy and sweet combined, so I'm looking forward to trying some of these. It's suggested that these are good on hamburgers, and on cream cheese atop crackers. We'll see!

Cowboy Candy
from SBCanning

1 lb. fresh jalapenos
⅔ cup cider vinegar
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons mustard seed
¼ teaspoon tumeric
¼ teaspoon celery seed
1 tablespoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Slice jalapenos. Mix cider vinegar, sugar, tumeric, celery seed, garlic, and cayenne to boil. Reduce for 5 minutes to a simmer. Add jalapenos at the simmer for 5 minutes more. Load sterilized jars with jalapenos first and add liquid filling the jars leaving a 1/4 headspace. Process in a water bath for 15 minutes. Makes 2 pints (I made 4 half pints).

Next, I went down the mountain to pick up some things at Cost Plus (wine and beer), Trader Joe's, Vons, and the Ranch Market (I have to have their tortilla chips).   When I came back, T was sleeping in her father's recliner, and her father was finished with his painting on the deck and was watching the Ryder Cup (go USA!!!!).  So I went downstairs and grabbed the two pumpkins I bought yesterday at the pumpkin patch.  I was given a pretty good deal - they weren't open for business until today, but forgot to close the gate. The guy said he'd be glad to sell me some pumpkins as long as I had cash, so I got two white ones that are great for making pureé. The larger one would have been $10, and the smaller one $8, but he gave me both for $10.

I cooked these two ways.  One was done in the microwave and the other in my 2-tier vegetable steamer. To microwave:  Cut pumpkin in large chunks, scoop out the seeds and junk, and put in a bowl with about an inch of water. Cover the bowl loosely, and microwave on HIGH 20-25 minutes. Check after 15 and then just add 5 minutes at a time until the flesh is soft.

After the chunks have cooled enough to handle, scrape the flesh in to a bowl.  Pureé in a blender in batches, and place in freezer bags.  I did two cups in each quart-sized bag so it's the equivalent of a can of pumpkin.

After setting aside two cups for pumpkin butter, I ended up with 7 bags of pureé.





While I was bagging the pureé, I started the pumpkin butter.  It takes about an hour to cook it down

Pumpkin Butter
by Kevin of Closet Cooking

2 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup apple cider
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves

Simmer everything in a pot until most of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce has thickened.  Makes 2 cups.

This took about an hour, and after the first 10 minutes I had to use a spatter screen to keep it from splattering all over the stove. 

You can't can this for safety reasons, but you can store it in your fridge for a few weeks (if it lasts that long) or for 3-4 months in your freezer. The batch only makes about 2 cups, so we should be able to eat it up!

I also managed to freeze and bag a pound of strawberries and a big basket of raspberries.  I just rinse, hull and slice the strawberries, and do nothing with the raspberries. I spread both fruits on a large cookie sheet and flash freeze. Then when they're solid, I put them in ziploc bags and put them back in the freezer. They're now ready for smoothies and desserts.

Dinner was Kung Pao Pork - and I forgot the peanuts again!  It still tasted good, but I missed the peanuts.  My daughter had never had it, and she gobbled it up. She says she won't have to eat during work tonight (she works midnight to 8 am).

Secret Recipe Club - Rocks!

My assigned blog this month in the Secret Recipe Club was Kudos Kitchen by Renee. In addition to making tasty, healthy food, Renee has a special talent of painting. She does fabulous decorative tiles, bowls, and glassware.  You really should go check out her work - and maybe even visit her Etsy shop. There's a lot of eye candy there!

But on to the food.  I found all kinds of things I will be making on Renee's blog. But the recipe I made almost immediately was Rocks.  Yes, Rocks. Renee had been given a vintage cookbook from the 1930s, and found a handwritten recipe for these cookies inside. Don and I had been wanting some cookies, and these came together quickly.  The dough is similar to that for chocolate chip cookies, but with a little cinnamon thrown in.

My cookies came out looking different from Renee's - mine flattened out while hers retained some height to them. Maybe it's the altitude, or it might have been the fact that I used a silpat while Renee used parchment paper. No matter.  The taste was wonderful, and these are definitely on our "do again" list!

Rocks

1-1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter (softened to room temperature)
3 well beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup of raisins
1 cup of walnuts

Preheat oven to 350˚. Cream together butter and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add gradually to sugar/egg mixture.  Stir in raisins and walnuts. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a baking sheet topped with parchment paper or a silpat.  Bake 9-12 minutes or until lightly browned. (Renee's recipe called for 15 minutes - but in my oven that was way too long.)  Makes 3 1/2 dozen.

Even the cookies that I thought were a bit overdone really weren't.  These stayed chewy even after they'd cooled completely. That's the way I LOVE my cookies.

Secret Recipe Club - Flapjacks the British way

Here in the USA, flapjacks are pancakes. I was looking through my assigned blog (The more than occasional baker) for this month's Secret Recipe Club, hoping to find some good recipes for breakfast.  Among the categories listed on the side was the heading "flapjacks."  "Oh, goody!" I thought, "pancakes."  I clicked on it, and was taken to two recipes for some bars made of oats with some added sweeteners. "Huh?"  To Google I went, where I learned that in the United Kingdom, "a flapjack is a sweet tray-baked oat bar made from rolled oats, butter, brown sugar and golden syrup."

Okay. That part's easy.  Now, what's golden syrup?  Back to Google. Golden syrup is a light form of treacle, which is a by-product of refining sugar.  It's similar to molasses - and as a matter of fact, several different sites told me I could combine molasses and corn syrup to make a fairly decent substitute for golden syrup.  So that's what I did!

I decided to follow Ros's idea of adding chocolate chips. Ros says it's important to make sure the oat mixture is cooled before adding them so that they hold their shape while cooking. Otherwise they'll just melt into the mixture.

The verdict:  These remind me of chewy granola bars - but better. Don and I really like these - and since they're so simple to make, we'll be trying a couple of variations - peanut butter chips or  raisins and cinnamon are two combinations that come to mind.

Go here for Ros's original recipe. 

Chocolate Chip Flapjacks

2 sticks butter (1 cup)
1 tablespoon molasses
2 tablespoons Karo corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups rolled oats (not steel-cut)
1 cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease a 13 x 9" baking pan. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the molasses, corn syrup, and brown sugar. Put the oats in a large bowl and add the butter mixture. Stir to combine, and let cool. Add the chocolate chips and press the mixture into the baking pan. Bake about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool in pan, and cut into squares.

3-2-1 Mug Cake

In my previous post, I extolled the virtues of homemade brownie mix. I have jars of it waiting to be cooked, in between the other various desserts that are my downfall.

But there IS a good use for packaged mixes!  This one's going around the internet - I've seen it on at least 5 blogs the past week - so I just had to try it.

Take one box, any flavor, of cake mix, and put it in a gallon-sized zip storage bag. Add one box angel food cake mix (the size that makes a tube/bundt cake, not the small one that makes only a loaf pan). Seal the bag and shake to combine.

Put 3 tablespoons of the mix in a microwave-safe mug. Add 2 tablespoons of water and stir to combine. Cook on HIGH in the microwave 1 minute. Eat.

I made my first mix using German chocolate, and opened up the can of coconut-pecan frosting I've had in the pantry for months and put a spoonful on top. You could also try Hershey's syrup, or whipped cream, or ice cream.  If you use other flavors of cake mix, you could try berries, or caramel sauce, or lemon curd - the possibilities are endless.

What do I like best about this?

Portion control.  It's "just right."

A simple, quick, delicious "candy"

I guess you call this candy - it's not cookies or cake or pie.  And it definitely tastes like candy.  It has only 4 ingredients, too. I don't know where I got the recipe - I've been making these since my college days. (So that's at least 35 years ago!)

Chinese Chewies 

1 6-oz. can chow mein noodles
2 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 16-oz. bag butterscotch chips
3/4 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)


Place chow mein noodles and marshmallows in a large bowl. In a small saucepan, melt the butterscotch chips and peanut butter over low heat until runny.  Pour over noodles and marshmallows; stir to combine. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto wax paper. Chill until hard.

See?  Simple. Quick.  My daughter's favorite treat - so I have to be sure to save her some for when she comes up on Saturday.

Update on that "heck of a week" post:
- My hip quit hurting. I still go to water aerobics and have had no problems other than just getting plain old tired.
- My daughter does NOT have Crohn's Disease. She has some dietary issues, and nothing more than that. Hooray!
- Don's truck is fine.
- Theresa's truck is finer than fine, now that it has a brand new transmission.

I will survive the mini-crises along with major ones. Life is still good. : )

Cocoa Krispies Treats

I've been making these for years, and have no idea where I got the recipe. It may have come off the back of a Cocoa Krispies box.  But we like these better than regular Rice Krispies Treats. The addition of peanut butter makes them a little better, in my opinion.

Cocoa Krispies Treats

1 small box Cocoa Krispies (store brands work fine, too)
1 small bag miniature marshmallows
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/3 cup peanut butter

Pour the Cocoa Krispies into a large bowl. Lightly butter a 13" x 9" pan. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt together the marshmallows, butter, and peanut butter.  When all the marshmallows have melted, pour the mixture over the Cocoa Krispies. Stir quickly to combine; pour out into buttered pan. Get your hands damp with water, and press the mixture down into the pan to even it all out.  Let cool and then cut into bars.