Honey Syrup Peaches: trying two new "flavors" this year along with plain peaches in honey (One Pint Cardamom & Black Peppercorn; Two Pints Cinnamon Stick)
Honey Syrup Peach Slices Ingredients: 7 pounds peaches: blanched,peeled sliced Fruit Fresh, slices placed into fruit fresh in water Syrup: 2 Tbs fresh lemon juice 5 cups water 1 cup honey 1 cup sugar Directions: Prepare peaches by washing, blanching and peeling and set aside in a bowl of water with fruit fresh sprinkled into it (prevents browning) Prepare syrup by bringing ingredients to a boil and adding in drained peach slices. Return to a boil and reduce to simmer 5 mins. Pack hot peaches into hot pint jars, and either waterbath can OR pressure can (see link below) If you want to try any spices - its best to add them to the clean, hot jars before adding in peaches and syrup. I placed a small cinnamon stick in the bottom of two pints, I placed crushed cardamom pods and some black peppercorns in the bottom of one pint and left two pints plain (no spices added) NCHFP Canning Times and Methods (click here) Yield; Approx 5 pints Photos & Recipe by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home
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Orange Chicken Ingredients: 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks 2 Tbs vegetable oil, for frying cooked rice or cooked lo mein noodles, optional - to serve with chicken. toasted sesame seeds & sliced green onions for garnish, optional Marinade: 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup cornstarch 2 Tbs orange juice Orange Sauce: 1 Tbs vegetable oil 3/4 cup orange juice zest of half the orange, optional 2 Tbs barbecue sauce 1 Tbs honey sriracha or red hot chili oil, optional Directions: Mix together soy sauce, cornstarch and orange juice. Add the chicken and stir to coat. Allow the chicken to marinate for 5 minutes. Do not over-marinate. While chicken is marinating, prepare the orange sauce. Mix together oil, orange juice, orange zest, barbecue sauce and honey. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet. Remove the chicken from the marinade with a slotted spoon and carefully add it to the skillet. Stir-fry the chicken, over medium-high heat, for 5-7 minutes until golden and cooked through. Add the orange sauce to the chicken and cook for 4-6 minutes, stirring constantly until the sauce has thickened. Top with sesame seeds and sliced green onions, if desired. Serve over rice or noodles. Note: You can add in Sriracha or Red Hot Chili oil at any time in the cooking process, perfarably when adding sauce to chicken in skillet - or serve sriracha or red hot chili oil on the side at the table so people can add their own amount of heat. Serving size: 4 Recipe Adapted from: The Gunny Sack Photos by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home Small batch jams yield greater results - try my Strawberry-Honey Jam. It's a favorite of ours and such a great treat. We love this not only topping toast but, I use as a filling to layered cakes, thumbprint cookie filling, swirl into your morning smoothie or oatmeal... even topping off cottage cheese. Enjoy! Diane
Diane's Strawberry-Honey Jam Ingredients: 4 Cups cleaned and stemmed strawberries Juice of half a lemon, about 2 Tbs Lemon zest from one lemon 1/2 pkg. powdered fruit pectin (pink box low sugar surejel) 1 1/2 Cups honey 1 3/4 Cups sugar 2 tsp vanilla bean paste, divided (or 2-3 vanilla beans, scraped) Directions: Combine cleaned, cored strawberries and 1/2 cup of the sugar in non-reactive container and let sit covered & refrigerated overnight. The next day, place berries with juices & sugar that are in bowl into deep stockpot and add lemon zest, juice and 1/2 the vanilla bean paste. Cook over medium heat so berries have time to cook down. Mash berries down and mix *sugar and honey into fruit. (*save 1/4 cup of sugar to mix with pectin to prevent lumps of pectin in jam) Bring to a medium boil, skim off any foam. Stir in *sugar/pectin mixture and bring to a full rolling boil until mixture has thickened (skim off any foam again if needed). When ready, jam will feel thick and sticky when stirred. The color will become a deep red, Stir in other 1/2 of vanilla bean paste. Ladle into hot, sterile half-pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch of head space. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes or according to local regulations. Makes 4-5 half-pints. Recipe & Photos by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home This recipe is excellent. Another "Freezer to Slow Cooker Meal" that wins - hands down! This reminded me of a chicken dish we had at a great local restaurant a few years back...They called it 'Asian Barbecue Chicken'. There are a few ways you can serve this dish. One way is to leave the chicken breast meat whole and thicken the sauce near the end of cook time and serve on the side with the whole pieces of chicken, or you can shred the chicken near the end of cook time, and return the chicken to the sauce that is in the slow cooker (with or without thickening that sauce upon serving) It's great any way you prefer!! In this recipe, you get the sweetness from the honey and depth of flavor from the blackberry jam with a little kick of heat from the sweet chili garlic sauce...the key really is in the 'sauce'...I can't wait to make this using chicken wings next! ~Enjoy! Diane
Honey Soy Chicken Ingredients: 1 lbs Chicken Breasts 2 tsp Olive Oil 1/4 Cup Soy Sauce 1/4 Cup Honey 1/2 Cup Blackberry Jam/Preserves 1 Tbs Asian Sweet Chili Garlic Sauce *or sriracha sauce 1 Tbs Hoisin Sauce 1 Tbs Rice Wine Vinegar 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder 1/4 tsp Ginger Powder 1/4 tsp Onion Powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/8 tsp pepper Directions: Combine all ingredients; except chicken in large bowl, Whisk until mixed, Place in Ziploc Freezer Bag with chicken breast meat. Seal and Freeze. When ready to cook, Defrost overnight in fridge, Cook low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours. Near the end of cook time, make a 'cold water:1 Tbs corn starch' slurry and mix into sauce to thicken. Remove Chicken and shred chicken using two forks. Return to sauce, Serve hot over cooked rice. This recipe serves 2-3 Adults. This recipe can be doubled. Recipe by: adapted from Allrecipes Photos by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home This is a nice slow-cooker recipe. I say nice because it's not completely JUST cooked in the slow-cooker. The taste is amazing but, there are extra 'steps' that are needed to complete the recipe - if I told you it was 'solely' slow-cooker recipe, you'd be sad in the end that you had a bunch of chicken thighs floating around in a 'soupy-sauce'. Here is what I did: I let my chicken cook (from fresh) on HIGH for one hour and then switch to Medium (which is more like Low on other models) for the final 4 hours. About one hour before slow-cooker time ended, I placed in large slices of onion. At the end of slow-cooker cook time, I removed all the thighs to a foil lined baking sheet and proceeded to 'thicken up' the soupy sauce...all the taste is in there - it just needs a little help getting to 'sauce' stage! I added a cornstarch/slurry mix to thicken the sauce in the slow-cooker. I then basted the chicken thighs with the sauce and popped it into the oven for 10 minutes, letting the chicken brown up and 'marry' to the sauce. I served the remaining sauce/onion mix separate and the baked thighs in sauce over steamed rice. We LOVED the taste of the meal. ~Enjoy! Diane
Honey-Garlic Chicken Thighs Ingredients 6-8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs 1/2 cup soy sauce 1 Tbs ketchup 1/2 cup tomato sauce 1 large onion, sliced 1/3 cup honey 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 teaspoon dried basil 1 Tbs hot chili oil, optional 2 Tbs cornstarch for slurry at end Directions Lay chicken thighs into the bottom of a 4-6 quart slow cooker. Whisk soy sauce, ketchup, tomato sauce, honey, garlic, and basil together in a bowl; pour over the chicken. Add sliced onion into slow-cooker one hour before end of cook time. There are some 'final' prep steps that are needed with this recipe. I use about 2 Tbs cornstarch and a bit of cold water added to make a paste (slurry) that is added to the sauce to thicken. I remove my chicken to a foil lined baking sheet, heat my oven to 375 and thicken the sauce and onion mixture that is in my slow-cooker. Once the sauce is thickened, I baste the chicken that is on the baking sheet and pop into the oven for 10 minutes. Serve chicken over steamed rice. Serve the extra sauce/onions on the side. Cook on Low in slow-cooker for 5 hours - Finish in oven 10 minutes (check chicken with an instant read meat thermometer to ensure it's done) Recipe & Photos by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home |