This is an Algerian breakfast cereal, and it is delicious. It is also super easy and quick to make. Traditionally, you should steam the cous cous in a couscoussière, but we don't have one, so we use a saucepan.

4 cups water
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 whole cinnamon sticks, broken, or 1 tablespoon of Three C Spice Mix (whole cloves, whole cardamom, and broken cinnamon sticks) in a large teaball
1 1/4 cups sultanas
2 1/4 cups cous cous
cream or buttermilk, to serve
sugar, to serve

Bring water, butter, salt and whole spices to a boil in a saucepan over high heat.

Add raisins and cous cous, cover and turn heat off and allow to absorb liquid, undisturbed, for about 8 minutes. Remove lid, fluff with a fork, and serve in cereal bowls with cream or buttermilk and sugar.

Cinnamon Nut Raisin Bread

This recipe began with the one in my book Rustic European Breads from Your Bread Machine. However, I wanted to add cinnamon and nuts, and I changed some of the ratios of the ingredients, and baked it a little differently. Here is the result of those modifications.

Sponge:
1/4 teaspoon yeast (I use SAF)
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup bread flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour

Dough:
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1 1/2 cups sultanas
3/4 cup walnut pieces

Make sponge: Add yeast, water, and both flours to bread machine pan. Process on the dough cycle, and allow to sit overnight, or 10 hours.

When you are ready to make the dough, soak the raisins in water, and set aside.

Add bread flour, whole wheat flour, buttermilk, water, honey, cinnamon, salt and yeast to the bread pan and process again on the dough cycle. When the cycle is completed, drain the raisins (you may save the liquid to use in other sweet bread doughs) and add to the pan, along with the walnut pieces, and process on dough cycle one more time.

While the dough rises, sprinkle a peel or a rimless pan with semolina, and grease a baking sheet well with butter, or set aside a baking stone.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and work, with wet hands, to press out air bubbles and divide dough in half. Shape each half into a flat rectangle, about 12 X 6 inches, patting flat with your hands. Starting with the long side, roll each rectangle into a cyclinder, press the dough lengthwise down the middle with your hand, pinch the seam closed and turn over. Pinch ends to make tapered points. Place both loaves on the prepared peel or pan, sprinkle with a few tablespoons of flour over the top and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

Remove the plastic wrap and slash with a lamé or sharp knife, straight down the middle of the loaf, going no deeper than 1/2 inch. Cover with plastic wrap again, and allow to rise in a warm place for about an hour. Preheat the oven to 400˚F in the last 30 minutes of this last rising time, placing the baking stone in the oven, if you are using it.

Dampen the tops of the loaves with wet hands. Giving a quick jerk to the peel or baking sheet, slide the breads onto the prepared baking pan or baking stone. If you are using the baking pan, place it into the oven now. Quickly spray the oven floor with several squirts of water. Close the oven door immediately. Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375˚F and bake for an additional 20 minutes. The breads should sound hollow when struck with your knuckle on the bottom. If not, continue baking another 5 minutes.

Remove breads to a rack to cool.

Labels: Homemaking, Recipes, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 1:25 PM 0 comments

It is back to reality this week. We have lots of catching up and lots of trying to do our normal routine. We will begin schoolwork for real, dance has been going for a couple weeks, co-op started last week, we are back on track for the fall. This past week, Rich and I were up in British Columbia, in Kelowna, and the fires seemed under control, the smoke was not too bad, and we enjoyed a beautiful and relaxing time while there. Our church family is really caring for us by providing dinner tonight, so all we have to do is bring fruit to share.

Produce is still coming in well, both from our gleaning group and our garden and fruit trees. We will be harvesting turkeys, geese, and some roosters for our freezer in a few weeks. In the meantime, we are eating a lot out of our freezers to make room, and have some rather large roasts and birds planned for church dinners and family meals to make the room we need in there. Because of the abundance of produce, really we are trying to stay on top of all the good things we have right now. There is so much in our refrigerators and pantries that we want to use or preserve before it has to go to the poultry, and I'm keeping a pretty good list of all of the produce to help me with meal planning. This helps me with our annual shelf cooking period, too.

We are drying plums from our trees, and will be canning peaches soon. There is some cherry juice in the freezer that I think needs to become jelly, and we have some sweet cherries in there from a couple years ago that I am thinking of experimenting with to see if my technique for butters and jellies will work with them. That may be a game changer for us.

Autumn has technically begun. It began here in the last week of August, but now the calendar agrees. The mornings are quite cool, but we haven't had any below freezing mornings or evenings yet, which is a good sign. We have already had more than a month of autumn, which is better than the two or three weeks we usually get before we see below freezing temperatures at our house. I will take it. My hope is that we have watered our maple tree enough for it to change color, and that it changes color before the hard freeze comes to kill all the leaves.

We had quite a bit of pumpkin purée leftover from last week, so we are using the last of it in an autumnal breakfast of pumpkin pancakes this morning, and we also are trying the cherry cake recipe I made a few weeks ago, to see if I can improve on it a little. Unfortunately, a lot of kids got a cold that was going around last week, so we had to postpone a birthday party that was already later than the birthday. We also had tons of leftovers from the week, because appetites were low, even in the people who weren't really showing as ill. So Saturday's dinner has been pushed to another week this next month. I am mostly in denial about this cold which certainly did not start making itself be felt and known yesterday. We are taking loads of vitamins, drinking gallons of herbal tea, and resting a bit this weekend.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Pumpkin Pancakes with Maple Syrup, Home Cured Bacon, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Soup and Bread, Chicken, Salad, Fruit Plate
• Monday
  Breakfast: Battatas ou Bayd, Toast, Sliced Pears, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: One Pan Autumn Chicken Dinner, Sautéed Mushrooms, Green Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette, Rolls, Sliced Peaches
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Fried Egg, Sausage and Cheese Sandwiches, Sliced Apples, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Fassoulia and Beef, Duqqus, Rice, Salad/Fruit/Dessert brought by Bible study members
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Raisins and Brown Sugar, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Vegan Egyptian Mahshi, Turmeric Rice, Duqqus, Beet and Herb Salad with Grapefruit and Lemon Dressing
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Leftover Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins, Sausage Patties, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Bacon Cheeseburgers on Light Bread Buns, Tatertots, Fried Peppers and Yellow Crookneck Squash, Pickles, Sliced Oranges
• Friday - Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels
  Breakfast: Peanut Butter Toast, Sliced Apples, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Mediterranean Braised Vegetables, Arabic Style Rice Pilaf (made with oil and water), Nectarine and Blackberry Filled Dragon Bread
• Saturday - Feast of Saint Jerome
  Breakfast: Cherry Coffee Cake to break the fast after Liturgy
  Dinner: Penne Gorgonzola with Chicken and Broccoli, Fried Olive Bites, Green Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette, Lion Cupcakes

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world -- he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. -- Revelation 12:7-9

Labels: Church Year, Faith and Morality, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Homeschooling, Homesteading, Menu Plans, Michaelmas, Prayer Requests, Shelftember, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 3:04 AM 0 comments

This is a recipe I found in one of my happy little murders. However, though I liked the idea, there was no actual pumpkin in it, and I thought the technique could use a little help. So, after a couple experiments, this is what I have come up with for our family. This makes just enough for eight people to eat with some breakfast meat, a cup of milk and/or coffee. I would make double this if I were serving more people.

2 cups pastry flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into small pieces.
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, separated
3/4 cup pumpkin purée
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin spice

Grease a 10 inch round pan or 9 X 9 X 2 inch pan and set aside. Preheat oven to 350˚ F.

In a large bowl, mix the flour and sugar. Cut or rub the butter pieces through the mixture to coat the flour, so it has a texture of coarse sand with a few larger pieces of butter throughout the mix. Set aside 1/2 cup of this mixture for the topping. Add baking powder and salt to large bowl of flour mixture and whisk to blend.

Whip egg whites until they form soft peaks and set aside.

Beat egg yolks until they are lemon colored. Blend the pumpkin purée in with the egg yolks.

Add the egg yolk mixture to the crumb mixture in the large bowl. Stir to moisten. Fold in the whipped egg whites. The batter will be a little stiff, and might be lumpy, this is just fine.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan.

Add pumpkin spice to reserved crumb topping. Sprinkle evenly over top of batter in the pan. Pat down the crumb mixture with the back of a spoon or spatula.

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes. Check for doneness with a wooden pick, which should come out cleanly.

Let crumb cake cool. Cut into eight generous pieces and serve.

Pumpkin Spice

4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Mix thoroughly and store in a jar.

Potato Sauerkraut Salad with Peas and Carrots

So, I found a Russian recipe for this salad on Pinterest, and then it went away. However, I was able to find it again on the internet archive, translate it, and adjust it for our tastes. This is a pretty simple recipe, but great to make in the fall and early winter. If you cannot find fresh dill, you can use about one to two teaspoons of dried dill weed, and it will taste fine, but I would add it to the warm vegetables and let it blend while the salad cools.

1 3/4 cups sauerkraut, drained
1 pound boiled potatoes, peeled (warm)
3/4 pound peeled and boiled carrots (warm)
1 3/4 cups fresh or frozen green peas
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup sunflower oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1 bunch fresh dill

Put sauerkraut into a large bowl. Dice hot carrot and add to bowl. Dice hot potatoes and add to bowl. Add chopped onion.

Dress vegetables with sunflower oil, salt and pepper, and set aside to cool.

Finely mince the fresh dill and toss with the salad and serve.

Labels: Homemaking, Recipes, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 3:10 PM 0 comments

We are in week two of three for our busy, busy time. Next week is also busy, but slightly less. This is the busiest week. Please pray for us.

On the plus side, we are doing amazingly well on our shelf cooking. We are not spending much (except for a planned trip to the Middle Eastern markets and Trader Joe's) and are eating some really delicious meals. The mesfouf last week was definitely a winner. It is a breakfast cereal made with cous cous, spices, sultanas, sugar, and buttermilk or cream. It is definitely a keeper. The bean soup we made was also quite good. I'm not sure I'd say it was the best bean soup in the world, as claimed, but it was exceptional.

Last week, we were able to visit a Sudanese church a couple hours away and worship with them as they had two deacons ordained. The service was mostly in Arabic and it was joyous and beautiful. They served a feast afterward, all delicious foods. What a treat for us! We made some friends, who immediately invited us over to their home, and now we can visit with them.

This week, we are eating a lot of things from our freezer, making space for butchering, and to make our challenging week a little simpler. We are blessed to have so much available to us. We have a ton of tomatoes, both from our garden and from our gleaning club, and are using them as much as we can. I may be able to make some more salsa with them, and Rich has put a tray of them in the smoker, too.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Pumpkin Spice Crumb Cake*, Sausage Patties, Fruit Plate, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Red Beans and Rice, Hot Pepper Sauce, Scallions, Fruit Plate
• Monday
  Breakfast: Shakshouka, Toast, Sliced Oranges and Grapefruit Halves, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Herb Roasted Green Lamb, Potatoes Au Gratin, Banadora Maghlieh, Plums
• Tuesday - Feast of Saint Theodore
  Breakfast: Spinach and Cheese Strata, Sliced Tomatoes, Sliced Pears, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Chile Verde, Quick and Dirty Mexican Rice, Warmed Corn Tortillas, Plums
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Tomato Toast, Fruit Plate, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Tomato and Eggplant Sauce, Salad, Fruit Plate
• Thursday - Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Cheese, Toast, Fruit, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Broiled Bierwurst and Bratwurst, Mashed Potatoes from Freezer, Sauerkraut and Green Bean Salad, Fruit Plate
• Friday
  Breakfast: Peanut Butter Toast, Sliced Apples, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Rice Stuffed Tomatoes, Sautéed Peppers and Onions with Garlic, Bread, Fruit Plate
• Saturday
  Breakfast: Fried Eggs with Sausage, Pepper, Tomato and Onion Skillet, Fruit Plate, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Thai Style Ginger Chicken with Eggplant, Jasmine Rice, Plums

Labels: Church Year, Faith and Morality, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Homesteading, Menu Plans, Shelftember, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 4:44 AM 0 comments

We had a short trip this week and I was able to make a little more progress while we were gone. In the near future, we have a longer trip, and I am hoping to not only have this back finished before we go and the front started, but maybe even finish the front on that trip (though it is a big goal).

On our trip, I was able to read some more in Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages, but I have struck out on several other books I've tried. I just didn't find them interesting or well written, and that has been disappointing. I may have to go back to a happy, little murder. Rich suggested one set in a bread bakery this time.

Linking to Unraveled Wednesday.

If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

Labels: Books, Design, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Knitting, WIP, Yarn Along

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 1:25 PM 0 comments

This is the first of three super busy weeks this month. It's a little easier than the others, though, glory to God.

I don't think we have any repeats from last week, but we might make another go at the pumpkin spice crumb cake. It was good, but didn't actually have any pumpkin in it, and the crumb topping was a little dry, so I'm going to try a couple modifications.

We are still being blessed by the good produce from our garden amd others. Other than that, I'm cooking from our freezers and pantry and minimal shopping. We are doing well on the shelftember challenge.

Our family could use prayer in all the bustling we are doing. There are many things to attend to and lots of plates spinning right now.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Mixed Garden Vegetable Scramble with Eggs and Cheese, Toast, Sliced Peaches, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Dinner Provided by Church
• Monday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Egg and Cheese Burritos with Green Salsa and Sour Cream, Sliced Pears, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Corned Beef, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Parmesan Roasted Green Beans, Fruit Plate
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Fried Eggs, Ham, Potato and Vegetable Hash, Grapefruit Halves, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Broiled Italian Sausages, Cheese Tortellini, Butter Tomato Sauce, Fruit Plate
• Wednesday - Feast of Saint Cyprian of Carthage
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Raisins, Chopped Apples and Coconut Milk, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: El Bulli Bean Soup, Bread, Fruit Plate
• Thursday - Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross
  Breakfast: Mesfouf with Cream, Sliced Oranges, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Japanese Mum’s Chicken Drumsticks, Jasmine Rice, Sesame Green Beans, Mandarin Orange Slices
• Friday
  Breakfast: Apple Coconut Breakfast Bowls with Almond Butter Drizzle, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Falafel, Toum, Harissa, Taratoor, Veggies, Olives, Khoubz Araby, Fruit Plate
• Saturday
  Breakfast: Halloum Pie to break the fast after Liturgy
  Dinner: Persian Chicken Tah-Chin, Persian Chopped Salad, Fruit Plate

Labels: Church Year, Faith and Morality, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Homesteading, Menu Plans, Shelftember, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 8:23 AM 0 comments

So, I have less than a month to finish this. I'm not stressed about this at all. Really, though, I think I have almost all the bugs in the pattern figured out, so it is just a matter of getting the sample finished. The good news is that over the next month, I have many opportunities to knit on long car rides, and stripes are fun to knit, so I hope to make enough progress quickly.

This is the last of the five pattern collection, which is themed on the incense route. I love using these bright colors, because people think of the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia, as a place of black and white and sand. The truth is that it is a place with a riot of color. This sweater is named after a fortified city that was the last stop to the north on the incense route before heading out to open desert. I modeled the colors and stitch patterns on textiles of that area, and I am particularly proud of the boxed corrugated ribbing. The boxes are a nod to the mud bricks of the city walls themselves.

The sweaters are both named after cities on the route, as is a stole, there is a shawl and a pair of mitts named after a tribe and ancient civilization from the route, respectively. I'm looking forward to sharing all of them with you soon.

I've made a little more progress in Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages and I finished Knit of the Living Dead. Our library does not have the rest of the series yet, so I have to wait on those.

There was another book I started, that I don't even want to share here, because it was such trash. I had seen the movie which had a lot of gratuitous violence and sex, and some unexplained events, and I thought the book might be better and explain some of that. Well, although there was more to the characters, I felt like I was having to skip half of the story because of how much explicit material was in it, so finally, after my complaints about it, Rich asked why I was still reading it, and I realized I should just stop. Honestly, I wish the author had left all the garbage out of it. There really was something to the story and characters, and he didn't have to make them all little saints for him to have a good novel, but it was like he could not figure out how to show their complexity without making it explicit and just gross. It got worse each time, too. Anyway, that was a disappointment. So, I will focus on my book about milk and wait for a happy, little murder instead.

Linking to Unraveled Wednesday.

If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

Labels: Books, Design, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Knitting, WIP, Yarn Along

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 9:02 AM 0 comments

September is always a super busy month for us, but this September is even busier than normal. It is good, and we are excited, but it is a lot. The kids have some wonderful opportunities coming up for them, and Rich and I will be doing some fun work together, but it adds to the regular work that we already have.

Last week I mentioned how I was hoping for peaches. Well, ask and you shall receive. We now have more peaches than we have time. We will get to them, probably canning halves in syrup, because that is fast and simple and we enjoy them in the winter and spring. We are getting pears, too, but not quite in the huge quantities that lend themselves to sauce and canning. We are eating them and baking with them, but mostly eating fresh.

This week, we get to eat some of our home cured bacon, and we are so excited. The cure was started at the pig butchering demonstration when we went to the homesteading conference and we brought it home to finish curing, then dried it and smoked it, and the little bit we tasted was wonderful.

We are cooking mostly out of our freezers and pantries as it is September, and we try to do that to rotate through our stores and to cut our budget at a more expensive time of year with all the activities starting up again for fall. And it is most definitely fall now. No false summer temperatures, even for a couple days like we had last week. It is pleasant, though, I only wish it lasted longer. Even the apple pie and beef pot pies are using pie crusts I made before and were in the freezer and the last of the apple pie filling we froze two summers ago. In September, I take our grocery budget down to about a quarter of what we normally spend. Our garden is providing quite a bit for it, as it treats us better than we have treated it. There are still some raspberries to eat, and our yellow crookneck is going gangbusters. We are hoping that the kousa summer squash will take off before the hard freezes set in here. Since it is fully fall here, I'm making a pumpkin spice crumb cake for a breakfast this week. I don't generally care for pumpkin spice except in baked goods, so that is how we have it here.

Although our weekdays this week are not too full, our weekend has people going multiple directions, so we have some pretty easy to make dishes for Saturday. Monday is not only Labor Day (so Rich gets the day off of work!), but also the anniversary of our coming to agreement on getting engaged. We took about a month to renegotiate the timing of our engagement and marriage, and went from planning to wait for about three and a half years to getting married four and a half months later. It is one of the best decisions we've ever made. Friday is the feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos, so it is a fish day, which we will most definitely enjoy.

Aside from all the activities and schedule changes, we also are dealing with some things that need repairs around the house, including two of our stove burners. Please pray. It is harder and harder to use those burners, and because it is a glass top, we are concerned that we will have to replace the top entirely. Not what we need at this point.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Cheese, Refried Beans, Toast, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Italian Beef Sandwiches on Herb Bread, Olive Salad, Sliced Tomatoes and Lettuce
• Monday
  Breakfast: Blueberry Pancakes with Buttermilk Syrup, Home Cured Bacon, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Grilled Buffalo Chicken "Burgers" with Bleu Cheese Dressing, Crudités, Fruit Plate
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Ham, Potato and Vegetable Hash, Grapefruit Halves, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Beef and Vegetable Pot Pies, Salad/Side Dish brought by Bible study members, Apple Pie
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Raisins, Chopped Apples and Coconut Milk, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Vegan Egyptian Mahshi, Turmeric Rice, Harissa, Green Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Pumpkin Spice Crumb Cake, Sausage Links, Fruit Plate, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Baked Potatoes with Butter, Sour Cream, Scallions, Bacon, Cheese, Fruit Plate
• Friday - Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
  Breakfast: Almond Butter Toast with Honey, Sliced Oranges, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Stir Fried Mixed Seafood and Broccoli, Jasmine Rice, Mandarin Oranges
• Saturday - Feast of the Parents of the Blessed Virgin, Joachim and Anna
  Breakfast: Granola Bars, Fruit, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Dinner with friends, Honey Cake

Labels: Church Year, Faith and Morality, Fasting as a Family, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Homesteading, Menu Plans, Romance and Relationship, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 1:49 PM 0 comments

Corn Relish with Sweet and Hot Peppers

This is a recipe that began with Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking and More Home Cooking, and brought me to Helen Witty's fantastic preserving book Fancy Pantry (there is an updated version, called The Good Stuff Cookbook, as well). I have reduced the sugar, increased the vinegar, added hot peppers to the mix, and eliminated the celery. This is a delicious relish on hot dogs, hamburgers, cold cut sandwiches, if you add some cooked beans to it, it makes a lovely side salad or summer main dish, as well. It is quite fine mixed with mayonnaise and sour cream and chopped, cooked, meat to make a salad (to fill sandwiches or tomatoes or avocados). You can eat it with any roasted meat, like a chutney, and it makes a wonderful addition to the relish tray for Thanksgiving or New Year's Day. We usually make double this amount for our yearly supply. If you want to reduce the hot peppers, you can increase the sweet peppers instead.

6 cups cooked corn kernels (from about 10 to 12 ears)
2 cups diced onions (red are pleasant)
1 cup cored and seeded sweet peppers, chopped
3/4 cup finely diced hot peppers
4 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons fine non-iodized salt
2 tablespoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons celery seed

Combine all ingredients in a heavy bottomed preserving pan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Lower heat and simmer, partly covered, until it has thickened slightly, about 20 - 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Ladle the boiling relish into hot, sterilized pint canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rims, and place a new lid on the jar, holding in place with a clean ring, tightened to finger tightness. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Let the relish mellow about three weeks before serving. These jars will last for years.

Labels: Homemaking, Preserving the Harvest, Recipes, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 7:41 AM 0 comments