THE INGREDIENTS for HOME CANNING

• Curiosity about the process of preserving specialty foods
• Appreciation for interesting relishes, jams and preserves
• A cheap streak that makes the exorbitant prices at specialty food shops totally unacceptable!

STUDYING UP

• Try homecanning.com for good basic instructions.
• Check the library or bookstore for basic instructions and recipes.
• Take good notes. Most of us don’t can that often so good notes really help from year to year, especially the personal ones.
  ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT
• A large “hot water bath” pot that includes:
• • a metal insert that keeps the jars upright during processing
  • a jar lifter
  • a magnetized lid/band lifter
  • a poker to release air bubbles
• Glass measuring cups (1cup, 2cup, 4cup) are useful
• Multiple stacking colanders.
• A food processor for chopping in large quantities.
• A wide-mouthed funnel for filling jars without getting gunk on the lips.
• A “jar lifter” to remove jars from the hot water bath
• A “lid wand” with a magnet on one end to lift sterilized lids and bands from boiling water.

JARS

• Canning jars are made from specially-tempered glass.
  • Canning jars are readily available by the case though not cheap.
  • In the U.S. anyway, cases include twelve glass jars, twelve metal lids with rubber seals along the edge and twelve metal bands for sealing the rubberized lids onto the jars.
    • Rubberized metal lids may be an American-style product.
    • European lids seem to be made from glass. They include a metal aparatus that, with a separate rubber ring, preserves the food inside.
  • Save the cardboard cases. They’re great for storing and transporting filled jars.
  • Check with friends Don’t use leftover spaghetti jars, etc. for canning that requires hot-water processing.

In the U.S., canning jars come in quart, pint and half-pint sizes.

• • Quarts are typically used for “big quantity” things like tomatoes, beans, peaches, tomato sauce, etc.
  • Smaller jars are better for foods used in smaller bits, jams and jellies, for example.
  • For gift-giving, the pint and half-pint jars are perfect. If you’re canning “food for the table” or for a large family, you may prefer pints and quarts.
• In the U.S., canning jars come with wide mouths and standard mouths. Wide mouths are slightly more expensive but I have to to prefer them.
  • Wide mouths are easier to fill and easier to clean, especially important if reusing jars. Plus, to my eyes, they just look cooler.

GETTING READY

• Have supper already made or be prepared to go out, especially if you’re planning an all-day canning marathon.
• Do consider a marathon: getting set up is half the work.
• Turn down the air conditioning, it’s going to get hot.
• Clear the kitchen counters of anything extraneous.
• Empty the dishwasher.
  • Fill the bottom with already clean jars and nothing else.
  • Run the dishwasher with soap to clean the jars again.
  • If you time it right, the jars will still be hot when it’s time to fill them.
  • If not, you can run the rinse cycle again to reheat them.
  • Remember, the point is to place hot food (usually although some are cold packed) in hot jars which will then be immersed in hot water: temperature equilibrium prevents breakage.
• Sharpen your knives.
• Put a quart pan filled with water on the back burner. Use this to sterilize lids and bands.

Asian bbq chicken thighs & broccoli slaw

1/4 cup ketchup

2 T hoisin sauce

2 T low-sodium soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 1/4 pounds bone-in, skinless chicken thighs

1 12 oz bag broccoli slaw

2 T rice wine vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1.  Heat gas grill to med-high or prepare charcoal grill with medium hot coals.

2.  In a small saucepan, stir together ketchup, hoisin, soy sauce and sesame oil.  Cook over medium-high heat until bubbling, about 5 minutes.  Remove 3 T sauce from pot and set aside.

3.  Lightly coat grill with nonstick cooking spray or oil.  Place chicken thighs on grill bottom-side up and baste with sauce.  Close grill cover and cook 5 minutes.  Remove cover and flip thighs, basting generously with sauce.  Continue brushing with sauce every 5 minutes for about 20 minutes or until internal temperature reaching 60 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.

4.  While chicken is cooking, stir together reserved sauce, broccoli slaw, vinegar and salt and pepper.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Share your love of cooking with friends!

Great Guacamole

2 ripe avocados

3 T diced red onion

1 jalapeno pepper, stems and seeds removed, finely diced (optional)

3 T cilantro leaves, finely chopped

Juice from half a lime

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced

Using a fork or potato masher, mash the avocados.  Add remaining ingredients.  Add more salt if needed.  Serve right away with tortilla chips.  You really can’t make this ahead of time.  Make it and eat it right away!

My daughter and I in our matching mother daughter aprons.

Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies

5 C Flour      

1 T Baking Soda

1 ½ t Salt

1 C Butter

1 C Crisco

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Cream together the butter, Crisco, and sugar. Add the vanilla and almond flavoring. Beat in the eggs and add the dry ingredients. Refrigerate for about an hour. If it is dry add 2 T milk. Roll into balls and drop on greased cookie sheet. Flatten with a glass. Bake 10 minutes at 375. This dough makes excellent cutout cookies!

Decorator Icing

½ C Butter, softened

¼ C Vegetable Shortening

3 C Sifted Powdered Sugar

2 T Corn Syrup

2 t Milk

Cream butter and shortening together with electric mixer. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add corn syrup and milk, and beat until smooth.

Yield: 2 cups

We make aprons for children who want to wear them to cook and play. Children can come home in their school clothes and wrap an apron around them and help you with dinner (not to mention making cookies).  These aprons will prevent your child from staining their most loved clothes.  Aprons for children are not expensive at all.  Our children’s aprons are of great quality which will deter the food your child will come in contact with.   ]]> http://taygaaprons.com/blog/2010/10/aprons-for-kids/feed/ 0 http://taygaaprons.com/blog/2010/10/feminine-aprons/ http://taygaaprons.com/blog/2010/10/feminine-aprons/#comments Fri, 15 Oct 2010 14:06:19 +0000 taygalo1 http://taygaaprons.com/blog/?p=410 One way to look like a better cook is to wear a feminine apron!  Shouldn’t you look your very best when you are cooking for your loved ones in the kitchen?  Feminine aprons are a new trend.  Don’t tie on an apron that won’t flatter your figure.  We have aprons for every body type and you will be sure to find an apron that looks great on you!

Please look through our cute cooking aprons in the photos section of our facebook page.

Mexican Cream Cheese Rollups

8 servings

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 2/3 cup pitted green olives, chopped
• 1 (2.25 ounce) can black olives, chopped
• 6 green onions, chopped
• 8 (10 inch) flour tortillas -green will add great color!
• 1/2 cup salsa

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, mayonnaise, green olives, black olives and green onions.
2. Spread cream cheese mixture in a thin layer onto each tortilla. Roll up tortillas. Chill about 1 hour, or until the filling is firm.
3. Slice chilled rollups into 1 inch pieces. Serve with salsa for dipping.