Last weekend Kristin, Kyle Jason & I had a family trip to the Leslieville Farmers Market.  We got lots of fresh, local produce, eggs, a baguette and a tasty gluten free peanut butter nanaimo bar.  I was pretty excited to get home and start cooking.

 

I turned this mix of fruit & vegetables into a delicious soup (veggie & meatatarian versions) and jam!

You may have seen on my Twitter feed at the beginning of August I won a Bernardin Home Canning Starter Kit from Now Magazine.  I finally picked it up at the end of August and with my trip to the farmer’s market I was finally ready to test my jamming skills.

 

The boys favourite joke this week… “Do you know the difference between jam and jelly?”

Please note that I used 2 small jars (= to 1 large mason jar) for this jam.

STRAWBERRY BLUEBERRY JAM

 

 

 

INGREDIENTS

1 qt strawberries

1 qt blueberries

1/4 bag of pectin

1/2 cup white sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut stems off strawberries and mash them with a potato masher
2. Make sure all stems are removed and mash blueberries
3. Add berry mix to stainless steel pot
4. Stir in sugar & pectin and bring to a boil.
5. Cook on high heat for 10 minutes
6. Follow directions for home canning starter kit
1. Wash & clean jars
2. Submerge glass jar in Canner (or large pot)
3. Boil for 10 minutes
4. Heat lid in hot water for 2 minutes – NOT BOILING
5. Empty water out of glass jar
7. Add jam to glass jar = about 1/4″ from top of jar
8. Put on lid
9. Submerge in Canner (or large pot)
1. Repeat per jar
10. Boil on high for 10 minutes
11. Remove from water and cool for 24 hours – keep jar steady, do not shake
12. With the leftover jam mixture I made Sundaes for Jason and I.  SOOO GOOD

I love making jam and it is so good on toast, pancakes, crackers or ice cream.  I’ve got some grapes leftover and am going to make some grape jelly this week!

 

I was recently turned on to beets by Aime, when I helped her make a delicious salad for a family BBQ this summer.  I’ve been perfecting my own recipe and last night I think I did it.

BEET SALAD WITH GOAT CHEESE AND BALSAMIC REDUCTION

 

INGREDIENTS

Balsamic Reduction

1/2 cup balsamic vinegrette

1 clove garlic, chopped

Beet Salad

3 fresh beets

1/4 cup herbed goat cheese

2 leaves fresh basil

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

 

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut stalks off of beets and put in pot whole.  Cover beets with water and bring to a rolling boil.  Boil beets for 1 hour or until soft, you may have to add water to keep them covered.
2. In another pot add 1/2 cup balsamic vinagrette & chopped garlic.  Bring to boil and then reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently until mixture is a little syrupy (very technical terms, I know!)
3. Once beets are done, remove skin – it should peel right off like a soft onion skin
   NOTE: If you are using bare hands wash them between beets or you’ll be stained red!
4. Chop beets into even pieces and put in bowl
5. Add olive oil & balsamic reduction and mix well
6. Add fresh, chopped basil leaves and mix well
7. Top with herbed goat cheese (President’s Choice Herbed Goat Cheese is my favourite)
8. Serve warm or chill in refrigerator over night

The best part about this salad is that it is great served fresh & warm or chilled.  I brought some for my lunch today and it was DELICIOUS!

Please let me know if you try this recipe or make any variations.

 

 

When I was living in Florida, ordering a tea meant a cold Sweet Tea and it is the perfect drink on a hot summer day.  My Southern boy helped with this recipe and it’s super easy to make.  I used my all-time favourite tea, good, old fashioned Tetley Tea (orange pekoe) but you can use your favourite type of tea.

 

SWEET TEA

INGREDIENTS

4 cups boiling water

3 cups cool water

6 Tetley tea bags

3/4 cup white sugar

2 L juice container

DIRECTIONS

 

1. Boil 4 cups of water
2. Put tea bags and sugar into container stir in boiling water and continue stirring until sugar has dissolved.
3. Cover and let steep for 15 minutes
4. Stir in 3 cups of cool water and refrigerate until cold
5. Add ice cubes and serve.

*You can garnish with lemon wedges, berries, or other fruit.  My Southern boy wanted none of that so it’s a plain sweet tea recipe.

**Please note that the photo is not mine.  I forgot to take a picture before the tea was guzzled down!  I’ll replace it with my own when I make the next batch

I’ve been cooking a lot more, now that I’m settled into the new place and my kitchen is fully unpacked, and I decided to introduce a new weekly post on the carlyanne.com blog called  “Monday Munchies”.  The recipes will be mostly vegetarian, but please note that I do eat dairy & eggs.  I’ll make sure to tag which ones are completely Vegan.

You may have noticed that some of my older blog posts are MIA, this includes some of the yummy veggie recipes I shared.  I’ll be re-creating the recipe posts and they will be included in future Monday Munchies posts.

To start us off I’ve made a Southern Style Potato Salad, approved by a real Florida boy

I based my recipe on Southern Potato Salad By: S0NGLADY and made it my own.

SOUTHERN STYLE POTATO SALAD

INGREDIENTS

• 2 large potatoes (makes 4 servings)
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise or Veganaise
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tbsp sweet relish
• 1 tbsp President’s Choice Dijon Mayo
• 2 tbsp yellow mustard
• 2 tbsp Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
• 1/2 clove of garlic, diced
• salt & pepper to taste
• paprika to garnish

 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Chop potatoes into similarly sized pieces.  Bring a pot of water to a boil and add salt, pepper and potatoes and cook for approx 10 minutes until tender, but firm.  Strain and place in glass bowl
2. In another pot, hard boil eggs for 10 minutes, drain and fill pot with cold water.  Leave eggs in here to cool while making your sauce.
3. In a large bowl, combine the mayo, sour cream, sweet relish, dijon mayo, mustard, Frank’s, garlic and salt and pepper.
4. Gently fold potatoes into mixture
5. Chop eggs and toss into salad
6. Serve warm or refrigerate for 1 hour and serve cold.