Cranberry-Apple Preserves

I made my second batch of preserves last night - all by myself! That is, I didn't have to ask Mom to stay up way too late to teach me how to can orange marmalade. =)

My inaugural batch was cranberry-apple preserves from the Ball Blue Book. The Blue Book doesn't have the same robust directions that Alton Brown provides, but this recipe was fairly straightforward. A couple of notes: Be sure to chop the apples to a small dice, or about 1/3-inch cubes; otherwise, they take a long time to break down. I peeled the orange and chopped the segments; I did not bother to cut supremes.

Cranberry-Apple Preserves
Ball Blue Book, pg 39

Yield: 9 half-pints (and some change)

2 pounds cranberries
3 green apples, cored, peeled, chopped
1 orange, seeded and chopped
3 cups sugar
2 cups water
1/2 cup honey

Combine all ingredients into a large saucepot. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil gently almost to gelling point. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot preserves into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process in boiling water canner 15 minutes.

It tasted like a richer, sweeter version of the cooked cranberries we always have at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love cranberry sauce anyway, but these sweet preserves were an even better way to keep the Christmas-sy feeling all year.

This was a great recipe. Delicious on an English muffin!

Orange Marmalade

On Wednesday, I made two batches of orange marmalade to give away as Christmas gifts. Mom helped me to keep the "candy" from burning all over the stove and to make sure I canned it all correctly. We started with Alton Brown's recipe, but lacking a good scale and a lemon zester, we had to make a couple of changes.

Orange Marmalade
by Alton Brown, tweaked by Erin Handberg

1 3/4 lbs oranges, 3 large or 4-5 medium
1 lemon
6 c. water
3 lbs + 12 oz sugar

10 (8 oz) canning jars with lids and rings
Canner
8 quart stainless steel pot

Wash the oranges and lemon thoroughly. (I used warm soapy water and scrubbed them with a vegetable brush.) Cut the oranges and lemon with a mandolin, removing seeds as you go. Stack the slices and cut into quarters (I preferred pieces smaller than quarters.) Place the oranges and lemons into an 8-quart stainless steel pot. Set over high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to maintain a rapid simmer and cook, stirring frequently, for 40 minutes or until the fruit is very soft.

Sterilize the jars and rings, canning funnel, ladle and tongs using a boiling water bath or the hot cycle on the dishwasher. Use a small saucepan for sterilizing the lids - they cannot be boiled as long as the other tools or they won't seal.

Place two small plates in the freezer. Increase the heat under the orange mixture until it returns to a full boil. Add the sugar and stir the mixture continually until it reaches 222 F or 223 F on a candy thermometer, and darkens in color, approximately 15 to 20 minutes. You may need to adjust the heat in order to prevent boil over. (This is important - especially if you're using a glass cooktop!) Test the readiness of the marmalade by placing a teaspoon of the mixture on to the chilled plate and allowing it to sit for 30 seconds. Tilt the plate. The mixture should be a soft gel that moves slightly. If the mixture is thin and runs easily, it is not ready. (We ended up heating until about 225 F before the marmalade set on the plate correctly.)

Once marmalade is ready, remove from heat and place next to filling station. Place a canning funnel onto a hot, sterilized jar. Fill with marmalade to just below the threads on the jar (or leave about 1/4" headspace). Repeat until all mixture has been used. Wipe the rims and threads of the jars with a moist towel and top each with a lid. Place a ring on each jar and tighten thoroughly.

Process jars for 10 minutes in a water bath canner.

Our first batch yielded 9 jars and the last batch was an even 10. We got 19 jars of preserves in about 4 hours... not bad for an evening's work!

Cutie Count

We're now up to 15 lbs of cuties!

Cutie Count

Last year, Rob and I ate a ridiculous amount of mandarin oranges (cuties). This year, I decided we should keep track how many pounds of them we eat... Yesterday, we purchased our 4th bag... bringing us up to a 12 lb total so far. Hey, at least we get our Vitamin C for the year!

World's Easiest and Tastiest Swedish Meatballs

We went to a poker party at the Byram's (quite a while ago now), and Crystal had Swedish meatballs on the app menu, along with a bunch of other tasty snacks. They were absolutely delicious! It turns out that they are also ridiculously easy. Before I forget, I thought I would post the recipe on the blog:

Swedish Meatballs
from Crystal Byram

McCormick Swedish Meatballs seasoning packet
McCormick Beef Stroganoff seasoning packet
1 cup sour cream
1 cup water
2 cups milk
2 lbs frozen meatballs
4-8 oz sliced cremini mushrooms

Mix all ingredients in a 4 quart crockpot. Cook on high for 3 hours, stirring occasionally to distribute the sauce.

Eggs Over ... Anything

I must confess that I haven't always been a fan of eggs. When I was a kid, I ate them scrambled - only. Then for several years, I avoided eggs like the plague. I don't know what changed my mind, exactly, but after I got to college, I decided eggs were okay. Now I can't get enough of them!

I love eggs in any style (as long as the white is set - no sunny side up eggs for me!) ... but lately I've developed a huge love for eggs over easy. I'm sure it helps that all of my eggs lately come from a farm where I've been able to meet the chickens. There's no worrying about eating "undercooked" eggs in this house! I get a dozen eggs once a week, and sometimes have to scramble (no pun intended) to figure out what to do with them all.

A couple of weeks ago, Rob and I went to Tally's for breakfast. They had a breakfast BLT that I just had to try. It was all I'd hoped for... a toasty piece of sourdough bread, mayo, arugula, farm-fresh tomatoes, smoked gouda, crispy bacon, and to top it all off, an egg over easy. Delicious as it was, I couldn't help but think that I could make this at home for a fraction of the cost.... and with tastier eggs.

My breakfasts this past week have been a riff on that theme. An open-faced sandwich with meat, cheese and an over-easy egg. I've been lazy and skipped the veggies, but it's still tasty. So, today, I have two variations on the theme to share with you.

Open-Face Breakfast Ham and Cheese Sandwich
Serves 1

1 slice good wheat or multi-grain bread
1 Tbsp. whipped jalapeno cream cheese (we get ours from B&L Bagels)
3 slices (about 2 oz) deli ham
1 farm-fresh egg

Heat an 8-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Start toasting the bread. Spread the deli ham across the bottom of the skillet, turning occasionally until it's hot and lightly browned. When the bread is ready, spread with cream cheese. Pile the hot ham on top of the cream cheese, and let it rest while you prepare your egg. Spray some cooking spray in the skillet (the ham is not fatty enough to skip this step!), and cook your egg. I think over-easy is best for this, but over-medium or even a fried egg would work. Transfer the egg to the pile of ham and toast, and enjoy!

The second variation seems to stray pretty far from the theme, but it was a great way to use up leftovers. Besides, it's the same basic formula: carb + protein + cheese + egg. (Yes, I'm a physicist.)

Two days ago, I had sauteed pinto beans with Montreal Steak Seasoning and chipotle chili powder. I still had about a half-cup of beans leftover. I think this recipe would work with any leftover beans, regardless of the seasoning, but these were particularly good because they were spicy and went great with salsa!

Tex-Mex Eggs and Beans
Serves 1

1/2 c. cooked beans (refried, tex-mex seasoned, whatever)
1/4 c. mozzarella or colby jack
2-3 Tbsp. salsa
1 farm-fresh egg

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Spread the beans on a plate and top with cheese. Spray the pan with cooking spray and cook your egg as desired (I prefer over-easy). Meanwhile, microwave the beans and cheese until the cheese is melted (about 1 minute). Top the hot beans and cheese with salsa and the cooked egg. Enjoy!

Back to bento

School starts officially today, so I've decided to get back on the bento making wagon. Or somethin'

On Monday, I took some chickpeas, some Steamfresh butter-herb pasta, and diced deli turkey. The combination seemed a little odd, but it's what we had in the fridge/freezer. It actually tasted really good once I stirred it all together.

Tuesday's bento was curried chickpeas with a spring mix salad and salami with a Laughing Cow cheese wedge. I ate the cheese and salami together, picked the majority of the salad off the top of my bento box with my fingers, and stirred the rest of the salad into the chickpeas. It was delicious! I really love curried chickpeas.

Today's bento is partly a leftover bento. I cooked sausages, onions and peppers in beer and sauteed some kale for supper last night. I sliced up 1 1/2 sausage links, tossed in a few sauteed onions, and some kale. To round out the carb portion, I cooked some pinto beans with spicy Montreal steak seasoning and chipotle chili powder, and tossed about a half cup of them on top of the sausage and onions. I ate some of the beans for a snack with the leftover half link of sausage, and holy cow were they spicy! Lunch should be interesting later today....

Anyway, I'm glad to be back to making lunches for myself again. Rob will be going down to USD soon, so I'll be on my own for a few days. Hopefully my lunches will be a bit more creative for the rest of the week!