Year Two

Ryan and I have come upon and passed a milestone in our relationship - our first anniversary.  1.21.13 marked the beginning of Year Two for us.  We watched our wedding video, reliving our nuptials, and basked in the glow of our love.  It was lovely.  

Remembering the 1st Anniversary tradition, my sister asked me if we ate our cake top.  I told her, "You can't have your cake and eat it, too."  
Perplexed, she didn't say much.  
Then I clarified - We had already eaten the cake.  
Yes, that's right.  These two last-borns decided to go ahead and enjoy the cake last year when it was fresh rather than wait for its flavor to be enhanced by freezer burn and time.  

So, about a week later, a church event gave us a good excuse to make some cookies Ryan and I would both enjoy.  

Enter the easiest peanut butter cookies...ever.

All you need is 1 yellow cake mix, 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup peanut butter, and 2 eggs.  
Mix all together.  I rolled them into balls, flattened them slightly, put them on a cookie sheet, refrigerated them until they were firm, and baked them at 350 for 12 minutes.


We happened to have a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup hearts. :)  

So, why not try putting them together???  

So if you're looking for a good substitution for your first anniversary when you've already eaten your cake...or just in the market for an easy cookie...you can give it a try. :)

The Things Girls Do

What's a girl to do on a rainy, windy fall day?  Curl up next to the fireplace.
But if she's got no fireplace?  Well, the next obvious choice is to bake.  Throw together some tasty treat and curl up next to that warm oven.  

Let's be honest...It's really not the same.  Fireplaces, preferably wood-burning, are in a league of their own in terms of providing warmth (both in temperature and in ambiance) to a home.  But I truly enjoy baking and Ryan enjoys the fruits of my baking.  And as far as it being a thing girls do...many men enjoy baking, and I hope they enjoy the luscious morsel I'm going to share with you today.  

Say "hello" to Pumpkin Cream Cheese Crumble Muffins.  

This combination came to me over the course of the last week.  Our dear friend from church, Janet, made this recipe from Country Living - Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Muffins - for our small group.  I ate two at small group and took two more home for breakfast the next day.   Seriously...they were delicious.  

Then yesterday my co-worker told me about a pumpkin streusel muffin that she got from a local bakery.  With topping like an apple pie, but on a pumpkin muffin.  That got my wheels a-turnin'.  

Could the rich creaminess of the cream cheese muffin be paired with the crumbly sugary 
streusel goodness?? This could go down in history along with a long line of famous duos - 

Lavern and Shirley
Lucy and Desi
Jack and Jill (haven't you heard?? They went up the hill)
Kermit and Miss Piggy
Scrambled eggs and cheese
Case and IH
Peanut Butter and M&Ms (now what we call Peanut Butter M&Ms)
  
Oh yes.  This could be monumental.  This could be providential.  This could be epic.  
It is MTB - Meant to Be.  

A disclaimer - This is a multi-bowl recipe.  I know. I know.  My heart sank, too, when I thought about the clean up of multiple bowls.  But it's worth it.  That's all I'm sayin'.  

Below is the recipe I used.  It is tweaked from the Country Living recipe.  (I should mention that the CL recipe does include a small crumb topping, but not enough in my opinion.)  

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Crumble Muffins (AKA Sweet Nectar of Heaven)
(Makes 24 muffins)

Ingredients:


Muffin-
8 oz cream cheese (softened)
3 eggs
2 cups + 3 Tbsp. white sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cups solid-packed pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Crumb Topping -
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup. whole oats
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
5 Tbsp. butter
Pecan pieces to taste (optional)

Here we go...
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly grease muffin tins (I substituted an angel food cake pan for one of the muffin tins to make a coffee cake) with oil.  
       
In a small bowl beat the cream cheese, one egg, and 3 Tbsp. sugar until smooth. Set aside.  In a large bowl combine the white sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and 2 tsp. cinnamon.  In a separate bowl (this is the multi-bowl part I was talking about) beat 2 eggs with the pumpkin, oil, and vanilla.  Pour the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture and mix with a fork until moistened.  

Fill each muffin cup using half of the pumpkin batter.  Then spoon a dollop (that's exact) of the cream cheese mixture into each muffin cup.  Use a knife or toothpick to swirl the pumpkin and cream cheese briefly...no mixin' here.  We just want to swwwiiiirrrllll... 

Top with the remaining pumpkin mixture.  

Next combine the flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon for the crumb topping.  Using a pastry blender (or fork or potato masher or your chewed-off finger nails...basically, whatever you've got) cut in the butter.  Add pecans if desired.  

Add crumb topping to the muffins...

Throw 'em in the prepared oven for about 15 minutes.  The original recipe said 20-25.  I took mine out at 17 minutes and they were a bit more done than I'd like.  I would check them at least at 13 minutes just to ensure these precious gems don't get too done.  

And Wha-La! 

Pour yourself some cider and savor a taste of autumn...all baked right into the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Crumble Muffins. 

I Can Can!

If visions of french saloon girls doing high kicks in black stockings have entered your mind - 

Forgive me.  This is a farm life blog.  

I am not about to do the Cancan. Nor should anyone with the limited flexibility and balance that I experience.  

No, I mean, I can can. And so can you! 

Not I cancan.  

In fact, my sweet friend (and lucky for me, my sister-in-law) Sara came over on Friday to do some canning.   Neither of us had formerly done any canning.  But we decided it was for us.  I have an abundance of tomatoes and have always wanted to try my hand at making strawberry preserves.  Now, after having finished two rounds of canning, I am definitely a fan!  And I wanted to share the general process for those of you who also might be interested in partaking in this centuries-old practice.  

The general process is as follows - 

• Clean/sterilize jars and lids
• Prepare food to be canned
• Fill jars and cover with lids
• Process in boiling water bath
• Cool and test lids

Here are the ingredients for the strawberry preserves (aka strawberry jam).  Get yourself some jars (we used Ball and Kerr) with lids, strawberries, fruit pectin (I used Sure-Jell), and sugar....LOTS of sugar.  Actually, copious amounts of sugar.  

Wash and rinse the jars thoroughly.  This recipe calls for processing jars in the boiling water bath for 10 minutes once filled, so there is no need to sterilize them ahead of time.  However, if you are using another recipe where the jars are not processed for 10 minutes or more, you will need to sterilize the jars and lids ahead of time.  You can do this by boiling them in water (water needs to be an inch above jar tops) for 10 minutes.  Regardless, once the jars and lids/bands are clean, throw the lids and bands in a pot of boiling water to keep them hot until you're ready to use them. 

Prep strawberries by washing and stemming them.  Crush berries one cup at a time, leaving bits of fruit intact.  I used a pastry blender instead of a potato masher - just personal preference.  I stole a few bites of the strawberries because they were just too good to pass up...but that isn't a required step.   

Unless you're in the Wood household.  Then...it is.  

All for the sake of quality control, of course.

Meanwhile, get water simmering in a large pot (like the one below, right) so it's ready to go when the jars are filled.  

Just FYI - in order to use quart jars (we used them for other produce), you will need a very tall pot.  I borrowed this one from my aunt and uncle, because my regular stock pot wasn't tall enough to accommodate the jars plus the required 1" covering of water.  

Once berries are mashed and ready to go, throw them into a stockpot and stir in one box of pectin.  I also added 1/2 teaspoon of butter to minimize foaming.  I'm not quite sure it worked, but how could butter be wrong?? Really?!?  

Bring the fruit mixture to a full rolling boil - keep stirring, too!!  

While the fruit mixture is getting to the rolling boil, measure out all seven cups of sugar.  (In the Bible doesn't the number 7 represent completion or perfection?!?!...hmmm???).  

Once the fruit mixture is at a rolling boil, stir in the sugar quickly.  Here's what the fullness of goodness looked like...

Stir that puppy all up!!  And return to a full rolling boil.  

And here's where things get a bit tricky... Ready?!?!

Once at a full rolling boil, boil for exactly one minute...that's uno minuto.  (How to know when you've entered the realm of "rolling boil" and then to calculate exactly one minute...I'm not sure.  Just do your best.  That's what Mom always said!)

Oh yes...and KEEP STIRRING FOR GOODNESS SAKE!

Once the minute is up, remove from the heat and skim off any foam.  (Again, this was a little difficult to do because I had more foam than I anticipated, since I had added the butter to reduce it...but you get the idea).

Now to filling the jars.  Fill your jars (I used a variety of pint jars) up to within 1/8 inch of the top (for those of you who may one day be serious canners - this is called the "head space").  

Wipe the jar rims and threads.  You can see Sara doing that to her tomatoes here...

Here the jam jars are without their lids...

Pull your lids and bands from the hot water and apply them to the jars, screwing the lids on tightly.  

Then lower them into the large stockpot of boiling water you have ready.   Here's sweet Sara - they're ready to go! Make sure the lids are covered with 1-2 inches of water.  

Now they stay in there for 10 minutes.  If your water isn't boiling when you put them in, start the time once the water is boiling.  Also, for higher elevations, the time needs to be adjusted.  

Pull out the jars and allow them to cool upright.  This may take quite some time.  

Once your jars are cooled, test their seals by pressing the middle of the lid.  If it springs back, then it didn't seal.  While disappointing, it's not a complete loss.  You can refrigerate the jar and use it right away.  This happened to me.  My oldest jar (one I believe my grandmother used) that is tinted blue didn't seal completely.  I think it's because the rim or threads of the jar weren't completely clean before I placed the lids on.  Oh well...I'm eager to try the jam anyway!

Who knew canning is so much fun!?!?  Do it with a friend and the pleasure is doubled!  

Ryan and the chickens came to offer encouragement...

And here are the fruits (pun intended) of our labor...

Now go can.  Because you can can, too! 

Sure-Jell Cooked Strawberry Jam Recipe

5 cups crushed strawberries (this was about 3 1/2 lbs for me)

7 cups sugar

1 box Sure-Jell Fruit Pectin

1/2 tsp. butter *optional*

Helpful canning websites:

www.freshpreserving.com - the Ball website for preserving with good recipes!

nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_home.html - National Center for Home Food Preservation