I still smell like garlic...

Well, I posted about this last year, but here we are again!  I reminded/nagged Christa earlier in the summer, that I definitely wanted to make salsa with her again this year.  This weekend we put Saturday aside and made salsa. All. Day.  Phew, it was a long day, but we have lots to show for it!  We each made 35(ish) jars of salsa to show for it!  Christa was on veggie/spice duty, and I was on tomato duty.  It was a 'fruitful' day in many ways.

I almost cried when my hubby brought me 2 huge buckets of plums home yesterday.  Guess I know what I"ll be doing this weekend...

The peelings....

Out with the Old, In with the New...

Ok, so I wasn't exactly referring to the New Year specifically, but while we're on the topic, Happy New Year!!!  2010 was a year full of changes, some good, some not so good, but what year isn't like that?  I am looking forward to a fresh new year.  I'm not a big goal setter for the New Year.  I love goal setting, just not the whole hoopla of goal setting on a particular date.  Anyway, a few of my (ongoing) goals:  continuing to become more secure in who I am and who I want to be.  Focusing time and energy on friendships that are worthwhile, friendships that give and take, not just take.  Letting the 'little stuff' roll off my back.  Becoming more accepting of others, less judgemental.  Walking closer to my Heavenly Father who will make all these goals worthwhile and fruitful if I seek Him first in all of them.

So, what WAS I referring to in terms of out with the old, in with the new?  Are you ready?  Drumroll please...POTS & PANS!!!  Yes, I know, it's so exciting!!!  For me. 

The truth is that it was time.  My faithful pots and pans that we used wedding money to buy, over 15 years ago, needed to be laid to rest.  It's been bugging me in the back of my mind for a couple of years now.  I took an informal cooking seminar thingy a few years back and our lovely instructor, Mrs. Marilyn, taught me a few things about my kitchen.  I'm such a keener when it comes to domestic stuff..I LOVE it!  Anyway, one of the first things she said in her class was this:  "please tell me none of you are using T-Fal, or nonstick, cookware!  Right???  NONE of you...because if you are you're slowly poisoning your family!"  My keener, nerdy smile quickly disappeared and I was thinking everyone must be cringing inside because we ALL use it right?  RIGHT?  crap, nope, we don't all use it, just me.  In my defense, I follow the instructions (as any good keener shoud) and only ever turned my pots up to medium heat, never max, and I always hand wash them.  But the reality is, my finishes were starting to come off, and I couldn't fool myself into thinking that the finish was only coming off when I was washing them.  Anyway, long story longer, I took Marilyn's advice and decided to slowly start replacing my cookware with something good quality and safe.  Marilyn recommended Paderno cookware.  It's a high end cookware, but it goes on sale every now and then.  I watched for the sales and over the past 2 years had slowly started buying one piece at a time.  Ouch, hate spending that kind of money on pots and pans.  I had 3 pieces of this beautiful cookware, and I was too scared to use it.  I only pulled it out when I ran out of pots while I was cooking a large meal.   Pathetic, I know.  But, BUT, I'm happy to announce that thanks to my parents' generosity this Christmas I am the new owner of a beautiful set of Paderno cookware!  (Applause here, ok, nevermind, I'll do it for both of us)  My parents are incredibly generous people, and I was totally fooled when I opened this heavy wrapped box.  Even after I tore the paper off I still thought it was something else in the box because I was thinking my mom had taken my advice and bought herself a great set of pots and pans earlier this year.  Sneaky woman, she is.  Anyway, when the lightbulb finally came on, I realized that I was the lucky owner of this stellar cookware.  I took it home, put it on the floor and just stared at it for the first few days.  What would the implications be of opening these up and putting them in my drawer?  Well, caution to the wind, I did it.  I DID IT!  I carefully took my old faithful, pathetic, poisoning pots and pans out of the drawer, cleaned the drawer (new pots and pans deserve a clean drawer) and replaced with my new ones.  I had a moment with the old ones, thanked them for our years together.  Kidding, I didn't, that would be lame.  The only thought I gave the to the old ones was, 'what do I do with these, can they be recylced?...ah, I'll let hubby decide'.  So yes, my friends, not only are those pots and pans sitting pretty in my drawer, but I've used them.  Multiple times.  And, I LOVE them. 
Ok, insanely long post for a new set of pots and pans, but I pride myself in the fact that the little things in life still excite me.  Thanks Dad and Mom, for the pots and pans, and for my love of exciting 'little' things.
So, goodbye to these guys:

And Hello to these babies...

 
Editor's Note:  I thought it would humorous to add that I met Mrs.Marilyn for lunch yesterday, after I'd already pre-scheduled this blog post, and she handed me a Christmas  present.  It was heavy, and shiny.  Guess what it was?  A kick butt frying pan.  Marilyn says she can still recall the look on my face when she gave her talk about using non stick cookware.  And as fate would have it, she gave me the one size pan that I didn't have.  Yeah...my life is complete.  That is, the pots and pans portion of my life.  Thanks Mrs. Marilyn.  You rock.

Cranberry Bliss...

Baking is one of my favourite hobbies, period.  But, Christmas baking is even MORE fun!  I already posted about our big bake-fest, but I decided to do a few other recipes just for fun.  This one was a first for me.  I googled 'Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars' and came up with a whole realm of suggestions, but this is the one I singled out.  I have to give bragger rights to top secret chef Todd Wilbur for his version of this creation. 

Cake:
1 cup butter at room temp.
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups diced, dried cranberries ( I chopped mine up fine in my mini food processor)
6 ounces (squares) of while chocolate, cut up


Frosting:
4 ounces (1/2 block) cream cheese softened
3 cups icing sugar
4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup diced, dried cranberries


Drizzled Icing:
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tbsp milk
2 tsp vegetable shortening


Preheat oven to 350*F
To make cake:  Beat butter and sugar together until smooth. 
Add eggs, vanilla, ginger and salt, beat well.
Gradually mix in flour until smooth.
Mix 3/4 cup cranberries and chopped chocolate into batter by hand
Pour batter into greased 9x13" pan.  Spread evenly across pan
Bake 35-40 minutes or until cake is light brown on edges
Let cool


Frosting: combine cream cheese, 3 cups powdered sugar, lemon juice and vanilla with electric mixer until smooth.  Once cake is cooled, spread over top of cake.
Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup cranberries over the frosting.


Drizzle:  whisk together 1/2 cup icing sugar, milk and shortening.  Drizzle over the cranberries in sweeping motion.  ( I used piping bag with small round tip)


Once the cake has set/cooled for several hours, slice once, lengthwise down the centre, then 3 more times width-wise.  This makes 8 large squares.  Then, I cut each of these squares into 3 finger length slices.  You could also slice them the 'starbucks' way and cut each square diagonally creating 16 triangular slices.

A Spot of Cider...

So I'll admit it.  I actually don't really care for apple cider.  I don't detest it, I just don't love it.  Same with apple juice...hmmm, I see a pattern here.  But, this time of year it is so nice to have a pot of cider on to welcome guests in from the cold.  It seems kind of ironic that I buy supplies regularly this time of year to make it, but maybe partake in only 1 or 2 cups during the whole season.  I've had a few requests lately for my 'recipe' for cider, so here's my 'secret'.  For the past 5 years or so I've use the Epicure Cider Mulling Spices, but I didn't have any at the start of this season so I went hunting.  I discovered a local tea shop in our mall.  The store sells loose leaf teas in hundreds of blends.  When I asked about a mulling spice they showed me their 'Yoga' Blend.  Hmmm...not sure where the yoga inspiration came from, but it was just what I was looking for.
It's a blend of: cinnamon, cardanon, ginger, cloves and black pepper. 
In your crockpot:  I do 2 parts apple juice to 1 part cranberry/cranberry blend juice
Add approx 1 tsp of mulling spices for every litre of liquid.  If you like, you can float a few orange slices and cinnamon sticks on top.  I set my crockpot on low and let it simmer for 4-6 hours before I need it.  The house smells wonderful!  Don't forget to have a strainer handy for when it's time to serve!

Crockpot Comfort...

I 'love' my crockpot!  I've done everything from soup to apple cider in it. I use it year round, but this is the time of year that I go back to my guaranteed comfort food recipes!  Olivia knows me so well that she bought me a special recipe book last year that's full of just crockpot recipes.  I tend to use it most on days that are busy, or days that I have to work. One of the recipes I make the most is Chunky Chicken Corn Chowder.  I start it off on the stove, and then let it sit and simmer and finish off all day in the crockpot.  It's a favourite around here.  Whip up a batch of biscuits and call it dinner.  If you're in the market for a new crockpot you may want to head on over to CSN Stores...they sell everything from crockpots to flat screen TV stands!

Here's my Chicken Corn Chowder Recipe:

6 slices of bacon (optional)
1 medium onion
3 tbsp flour
4 cups chicken broth
6-8 cubed red potatoes (with skin)
1 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp pepper
3-4 cups cubed, cooked chicken breast (I have substituted with cooked farmer sausage in the past - but then omit the bacon)
3 cups milk (I use 2% for creamier soup)
1 package frozen peaches & cream corn

In dutch oven cook bacon. Using slotted spoon remove bacon and set aside.  Add onion to bacon drippings and cook, stirring occasionally until tender.  Stir in flour until smooth (will be thick).  Stir in chicken broth, potatoes, sage and pepper.  If you are going to put your crockpot on high, then you can transfer it all over to the crockpot now, but if you want to leave it on low for the day I would suggest continuing to cook on stove top until potatoes are fork tender (approx 20 min).  Add all remaining ingredients.  Let simmer in crockpot until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Let's Salsa...

So I have this sweetheart of a friend, one of many really.  This particular sweetheart and I have known each other for a long time now.  We've snuggled each other's babies, we've been in care group together, we've been in moms groups together, we've cried together, but we've mosty laughed together!  Christa is a wonderful friend.  She's brought much richness into my life, whether she's aware of it or not.  Christa has a heart of gold.  She loves all people, especially babies, but most of all she loves God.  Christa sets a beautiful example of Christ's love.  Well, before she starts blushing I'll move this along.  Christa is a domestic diva and one of the many things she does well is salsa!  I love salsa, there are a few name brands that I'm partial to, but I especially enjoy Christa's salsa.  This year I dropped a hint and she picked it up quickly and we made a date.  So, here's the 'fruits' of our labour.  So, thanks Christa..I'll think of you everytime I pop a top...of salsa!  P.S....next time I promise to remember to have gloves on hand for chopping the jalapeno's. Lesson learned.  The hard way.