Strawberry Rhubarb Crunch

I picked strawberries with the girls this last week and we had a lot of fun.  We ate a whole bunch fresh, but I wanted to make something with them too.  I used a recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Crunch, and I only changed it a little bit.  I used 1/2 a cup of butter instead of a whole cup.  I use organic butter, and that isn't cheap, plus I knew that 1/2 a cup would work since this recipe is very similar to my Apple Crisp recipe. 

Strawberry (or insert fruit of choice here) Syrup

I am always looking for fun alternatives for our weekly pancake/waffle fests around here.  Even though we live in Wisconsin and maple syrup is local, it still isn't exactly cheap.  Don't get me wrong, we love it and use it a lot, I just like something a little different and a little less expensive every once in a while.  I have been meaning to try making strawberry syrup for a while now, but the recipes I have seen always call for corn syrup or waaaaaay more sugar than I am comfortable with.  So, I decided to wing it.  I make a bunch of strawberry juice every summer with my steam juicer.  This is not a cheap kitchen toy, but I make gallons and gallons of juice every summer and we drink it all year.  It is super easy to use and my friends love it too.  In fact, if I had to buy one again - which I won't because it is extremely sturdy, I would split the cost with my friends and we would rotate it.  It already makes the rounds anyway!   The strawberry juice is too concentrated for us to drink straight, but it is wonderful mixed with lemonade.  We also add vodka sometimes for a drink we call a "Bloodshot", but that is a different story.  :o)  Anyway, here is the recipe that I came up with:

1 cup strawberry juice to 1 cup sugar.  Cook at a good simmer until thickened. I think that I cooked mine for 45 minutes or so.  Keep in mind that it will thicken up a good deal when it cools down.  You basically just want it to be noticeably thicker than it was when you first started cooking it.

Pretty difficult huh?  The family gave it a thumbs up - whoo-hoo!

You could use any juice for this - some may require more or less sugar.  I initially used a little more sugar in mine and then had to dilute it with more strawberry juice because it got too thick.  Let it cool in the bottle at room temperature before refrigerating in order to check its viscosity.

The juice is very local, the sugar...not so much.

PS- This is also a great way to spread your wine-making out over the year - if you are into that kind of thing.  I am.  Maybe I will do a post on that sometime.  :o)

Good luck!

Apple Crisp

My parents were here over the weekend, and I made apple crisp. This is one of my absolute favorite desserts. I got the recipe from a friend many years ago and have tweaked it just a bit. I meant to take a picture when it got out of the oven, but Jake and I were bringing supper to some friends, then I forgot, and now it is gone (inhaled would be more accurate). I needed to use up some apples anyway (they are starting to look a little wrinkly aren't they?) These are windfall apples, so they are great for baking, but they shouldn't be eaten raw because of E. coli concerns. Here is the recipe:

Fill a 9x9 pan with sliced apples almost to the top. Sprinkle with:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

In a medium bowl cut 1 stick butter into:

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup whole wheat flour

with a pastry knife until it forms coarse crumbs. You could use a food processor too, it would probably be easier. Mix in 1 cup regular oatmeal. Sprinkle on top of apples. Bake at 325 for one hour.

Eat and Enjoy!

NOTE:  I messed up once and forgot to sprinkle the 1/2 cup of sugar over the apples, and it was still very tasty, so skip that 1/2 cup of sugar! 

Pancakes verses Waffles

Every weekend my five year old and my husband argue about what is better. Pancakes or waffles. Both contest that their favorite absorbs more syrup and is therefore superior. This weekend was Waffle Weekend, much to my husband's delight. This is a great way to make the weekend a little more special, without going out to eat. Every few weekends we eat half a pack of bacon from our pig. This bacon is fantastic and is still meaty and wonderful after it has been cooked. I like to put apple butter on mine - it is less expensive, tasty and something I can easily make myself.  This Apple butter recipe is close to what I make, but you really don't need Jonathon apples and you could just chop up the peeled and cored raw apples in your food processor before adding directly to the crock pot and enjoy a chunky apple butter or blend afterward to make it smooth.

Anyway, here is my go-to waffle recipe from the Joy of Cooking:

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl:

1 3/4 cup flour (I use 1 cup wheat and 3/4 cup white)
1 TBL baking powder
1 TBL sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Mix in another bowl:

3 large eggs, well beaten
4-16 TBL butter, melted
1 1/2 cups milk

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix only until just blended (should look like muffin batter - pebbled). Pour into the center of a heated waffle iron (yours may need to be greased or sprayed with cooking spray. You will need to pour in less than you think - the batter rises quite a bit while cooking. It usually takes about 4-5 minutes to cook. If your iron does not open easily after this amount of time - give the waffle more time to cook. If you force it the waffle will come apart and you will have a big mess on your hands.

Waffles. Thrifty and fun!

Thrifty Snacks

I have to admit to some snacking. I try not to do it too often, but I have small children who are always hungry and it is hard not to snack along with them. However, I used to buy crackers and chips, and while we have those things around sometimes, we really don't eat them very quickly anymore. For one thing, they are expensive, for another, well...have you looked at most of the ingredient lists? Yuck. Anyway, one of my all-time favorite thrifty snacks is popcorn. I can buy gourmet popcorn from a local farmer around here for $1/lb. I usually buy 20 lbs in the fall, and that makes a LOT of popcorn. Between eating it and sharing it that usually lasts us all year, sometimes I get carried away and give too much of it away, but generally we don't end up short. It is yummy and thrifty and the kids love it. Our favorite is a blend of black popcorn and baby rice. It may take a bit of searching to find it for a good price, but it is possible. We buy ours from a stand out in the boonies - basically all of their business is word of mouth.

Another favorite snack around here is peanut butter. I usually buy this, but when I went shopping the other day they were out of the kind that is just peanuts and salt (what else do you need in peanut butter?). So...I have been meaning to try this for a while - I made my own. This is NOT complicated. I bought some unsalted dry roasted peanuts, put them in my food processor with some salt and pressed ON. That was about it. At first I took out a couple handfuls, when they were just lightly chopped, because I like crunchy peanut butter, and I intended to put them back in at the end, but my husband announced that it wasn't creamy enough... so I ended up making the whole batch creamy. Oh well. This was, by the way much cheaper than buying the peanut butter that I usually get, and I was able to adjust the saltiness and creaminess to what I like. That reminds me - I once heard someone say that the only right taste is the one you like. There is a lot of truth to that. There are many experts telling us what wines, foods, cheese etc are the best, but if you don't like it, it doesn't matter. Trust yourself.

Another great snack is dried fruit (or fresh fruit - in season - or stored - such as apples), I dry a lot of the fruit that I get for free, and we eat it all winter. I dry strawberries (slicing these with an egg slicer works great), apples, pears, and anything else I can get my hands on. I keep some with me in my purse for when hunger suddenly strikes the kids...or me. Healthy, yummy and very thrifty!

Bread is a fantastic snack. I love to make bread. I use the No-knead or the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day method. Usually the former, just to conserve space in my fridge. Caution: if you are using whole wheat flour, use gluten to insure a good rise. I have found 1 TBL/cup of flour to work well for me. Bread gives you a few snack options: slice and eat with butter, jam, peanut butter or whatever floats your boat. Toast. Or, one of my favorite things to do when the bread is starting to get a little stale: slice very thinly, place on a baking sheet and spray both sides with olive oil, sprinkle a little garlic salt on, bake at 350 until browned and you have little snack crackers. These are great with cheese, salsa, or even on their own. I sometimes like to break up a couple and use them like salad croutons.

There are many snack possibilities that are thrifty, local, sometimes organic and best of all - you know exactly what the ingredients are. Use your imagination!