Since we’re spending, ah, a lot of time at home these days, we may as well make the best of things. Here’s a warm and savory treat to enjoy with crackers or crostini while watching a movie in your living room, pretending you’re at the theater. Stay safe, friends.
Ingredients (Makes 1 cup; recipe doubles easily)
1/2 pound bacon, diced Continue reading
Easter Bread is a rich, dark, hearty bread just perfect served with an exuberant Easter dinner. Bold flavors of rye and whole wheat are tempered with a bit of milk and the soothing, subtle sweetness of molasses. Including rye flour means this bread will take a bit longer to rise, but the flavors are worth the wait. Let’s play with flour!
Ingredients (makes one large loaf)
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup dry milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup rye flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1 egg yolk
Directions
Step 1) Combine yeast, warm water, and sugar in a large bowl. Stir and let the yeast bloom for 1 or 2 minutes, until the surface looks creamy.
Step 2) Add dry milk, salt, molasses, and butter. Mix well. A small electric mixer (on low…
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Happy Socially Distant Easter, Everyone!
Hop. Hop. Hippidy Hop. That bunny is heading our way, and wouldn’t it be nice if he arrived with a basket of homemade Easter candy? Jelly Bean Brittle is awesome for so many reasons… it’s super easy (Can you boil water? That’s about the only skill you need!), doesn’t require any expensive ingredients, and unlike peanut brittle, is completely free of common allergens. This recipe makes a great big pan (about 2 1/2 pounds’ worth) – perfect for an office or a classroom!
The only special item you will need is a candy thermometer. Now, don’t panic – a candy thermometer looks like any other thermometer, and just clips right onto your pot. All you need to do is READ it, and if you are reading this blog post, you’ve got that skill locked. Here is a link to the simple candy thermometer that I use:
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Biezpiena Cepumi
Happy Holidays, friends! Here at Crowded Earth Kitchen we’ve been traveling, homeschooling, and collecting amazing recipes from around the world to share with you. Today’s gem is Biezpiena Cepumi, beautiful Latvian cookies that are delicious with coffee on cold winter days. These treats aren’t overly sweet; if you like lemon cookies or windmill cookies, give these a try. Biezpiena Cepumi are nut-free and egg-free, as well.
Ingredients (Makes 36 cookies)
1 cup plus Continue reading
It’s salsa time again! Enjoy!
I look forward to canning salsa every spring and well into summer… often, I can be found daydreaming of this salsa recipe when I am planting seedlings in my garden soon after the snow melts! I can several dozen jars of this salsa every August, to enjoy throughout the winter. It’s delicious with tortilla chips, of course, but also useful for main dish slow cooker meals. One quart of this salsa, combined with a few pounds of spare ribs, chicken pieces, or a beef roast makes a fantastic winter meal after about 8 hours in a slow cooker set to “low.”
The mildness or spiciness of this recipe is entirely up to you. If you want mild salsa, stick with mild bell peppers. For just a bit of heat, add one or two jalapeno peppers with the seeds removed (wear gloves!). To really knock your socks off, add several jalapenos, habaneros, or…
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Everyone on my Christmas list is getting a jar this December… this recipe is that fabulous. Before we get to the recipe, I should explain a few things. First, I am a big believer in letting my lawn grow au naturel. Rain from the sky and an occasional mow pretty much sum up my approach to lawn care, to the chagrin of a few of my neighbors. This means, of course, that I am blessed with a brilliant display of yellow dandelions this time a year. Weeds, did you say? No Way!
Dandelions were imported into the US hundreds of years ago as a nutritious food source. Dandelions are wildly good for you, rivaling carrots and spinach in their Vitamin A, Vitamin B12, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, and Phosphorus. The entire plant is edible, but today we are focusing on the pretty yellow flower heads. A quick web search will reveal how dandelion flowers are valued for their antioxidants, their diuretic and antibacterial properties, and their use by herbalists in treating everything from headaches and depression to stomach and menstrual cramps. Dandelions aren’t weeds… they’re nature’s own grocery store and pharmacy!
Today we are making dandelion “honey.” The taste is spot-on identical to wild honey, without the hefty price tag. At about 50 cents a pint (for the sugar and pectin), this “honey” is a real bargain. It’s vegan, has practically the same glycemic index as honey, and contains pollen (which is where many of the purported health benefits of bee honey originate). Make sure you pick dandelions from an unsprayed location! Allow yourself about an hour in the sunshine to harvest enough flower heads for this recipe.
Ingredients (makes 9 half-pint jars)
8 cups dandelion flower heads (cut just above the base of the flower head, to get all of the yellow and almost none of the green)
8 cups boiling water
6 cups white sugar
Juice from 1/2 large lemon OR Juice from 1 whole, large orange
4 tablespoons pectin powder
Directions
Step 1) Cover dandelion flower heads with boiling water. Cover and set aside for at least three hours or overnight.
Step 2) Carefully pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve, saving the “tea” and discarding the flower petals.
Step 3) Bring 6 cups of dandelion tea to a boil in a large pot (if you have more than 6 cups of tea, you can freeze the excess).
Step 4) Stir pectin into sugar (the pectin will dissolve more readily this way). Add pectin/sugar mixture all at once to pot of boiling tea. Add lemon juice or orange juice as well.
Step 5) Stir thoroughly until sugar is completely dissolved.
Step 6) Bring mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil for 3 minutes with stirring, then turn off heat.
Step 7) Follow canning instructions to preserve your dandelion “honey.” Leave 1/2 inch headspace, and process jars in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
Enjoy!
Popcorn for troops! Popcorn for you!
One of the pint-size chefs here at Crowded Earth Kitchen is working hard to make a good first impression on his new Scout troop. This weekend is the popcorn sale kick-off, and he is collecting donations to send popcorn treats to deployed military members. He has a web link to make donating (or purchasing for yourself) very simple. Thank you for considering a donation!
Please go to: www.prpopcornstore.com. His Scout Seller ID is Q6KKZB.
