Saskatoon and Raspberry Freezer Jam

 Saskatoon Berries....they kind of resemble small blueberries, and taste fairly alike. I remember viviting the old homestead, when I was little, and my mother telling me stories about Grandmother picking Saskatoons in the summer to make preserves. They grew along sloughs  near Bethune, Saskatchewan, and the few summers that we went I was able to pick the small berries near the wheat fields, and the marshland.
   First thing you need to do to make freezer jam is wash a whole ton of small plastic containers, like you see in the picture. They do not have to be boiled in hot water, nor do they have to be all the same. Nice if they are fairly small. That way when you take a container out of the freezer, you are not thawing a huge amount at one time. ( Of course, the jam will not last long.....) This freezer jam is also good on frozen yogurt, ice cream, on your fingers, on a spoon, on toast, on muffins..........yum.

SASKATOON FREEZER JAM: Smash  about 7 cups of berries, then add 5 cups of sugar, stir and let stand for about 10 minutes.Squirt into the mixture, 2 tbsp lemon juice, add 1 pouch of liquid certo ( not dry), stir about 3 minutes. Then ladle into small clean plastic containers. Place in freezer.

RAPBERRY FREEZERJAM: Smoosh up 7 cups of berries, add 4 cups granulated sugar, let stand 10 minutes. Squirt in 2 tbsp lemon juice and two pouches of liquid certo. Stir well. Ladle into clean containers.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

RED VELVET CUPCAKES (2011)

1 ¾ cups flour

1 ¼ tsp baking soda

Pinch salt

1 ¼ tsp cocoa powder

1 ½ veggie oil

 1 2/3 cups white sugar

1 ¼ cup buttermilk ( the real thing, not milk with lemon juice in it)

3 eggs

2 tbsp red food colouring ( if you wish)

1 ¼ tsp red wine vinegar

1/8 cup water

1 ¼ tsp vanilla extract

1.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2.      Sift flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa in small bowl.

3.      Beat oil, sugar, buttermilk. Add eggs, food colouring, vinegar, vanilla, water and mix well.

4.      Add dry ingredients a little at a time, mixing till just comvbined. Do NOT over mix, or batter will come out tough.

5.      Line cupcake pan with paper liners, scoop batter into lines and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes till sharp knife inserted into centres comes out clean.

6.      Frost with any white frosting or cream cheese frosting. If using cream cheese the cupcakes will have to be refrigerate

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:  1 ½ pounds cream cheese, 1 pound butter, 2 pounds icing sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla. Beat till smooth. MUST BE KEPT IN FRIDGE.

Red Velvet Cake

RED VELVET CAKE ( From Bobby Flay Food Network) 2011

This is a moist, tender, delicious cake. I generally do not like cake, especially homemade, as they tend to be tough and stale…..but this one takes the cake, as they say. I think it is because of the buttermilk and vinegar ……wonderful unfrosted as well, or you could slather a slice with ice cream, instead of the cream cheese frosting.  Would be good as a special occasion cake, or as a wedding cake. I like it plain………….yummy.

3 ¾ cups all purpose flour

3 heaping tablespoons cocoa

1 ½ tsp baking soda

Pinch salt

12 tablespoons softened butter

2 ¼ cups white sugar

¾ cup veggie oil

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ tsps. Red wine vinegar ( a must)

1 tablespoon red food colouring ( I only put in about ¾ of a tsp….)

1 ½ cups buttermilk, at room temperature. ( Real buttermilk, not milk with lemon juice)

(Cream Cheese frosting ( recipe following), or a nice white Buttercream Frosting, if you wish.  I like it plain with whipping cream dripped over all.)

1.      Heat Oven to 350 and butter and flour 2( 9 inch) cake pans. Line bottoms with a circle of parchment paper.

2.      Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in small bowl.

3.      Cream butter, sugar and oil in mixer, till light and fluffy.

4.      Add eggs, one at a time. Beat well after each.

5.      Beat in vanilla, vinegar and food colouring.

6.      Add flour mixture to the batter in 3 batches alternating with the buttermilk. Beat.

7.      Divide batter between the two pans. Bake for about 35 minutes or until a sharp knife comes out clean after being tested.

8.      Cool. Strip off parchment paper. Slice each segment in half. Slather with cream cheese frosting, and serve to some very nice people.

9.      Also can be served as plain cake, with ice cream or liquid cream. Wonderful.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING: A block of cream cheese at room temperature, a cup of butter, and enough icing sugar to bind together. If you use Cream Cheese you will have to refrigerate it. Since I am a lazy cook, I prefer to use a frosting that does not have cream cheese in it.  Therefore, my vote is for a plain cake with ice cream or the cream……………too easy.

                                              Step 2. plus buttermilk at room temperature

Reduced red food colouring to 3/4 tsp. ( Or you can just leave it out and use beet juice.........)

                                                Step 3 and 4....beating well is the answer....

 Step 5............. adding food colouring will turn  it all pink,

 Step 7. Dividing into pans.........

 Makes nicely shaped cakes. You could even freeze one for later use.

 I frosted it here....but doesn't need it..........yummy on its own.

Pineapple Tropical Salad

PINEAPPLE TROPICAL SALAD
Cook 1 1/4 cups of rice in  veggie broth to cover, with 1/2 tsp of tumeric. Cool. I cooked double the amount to freeze half the rice to use at a later date. Toss all ingredients together, keep in fridge. Do not mix dressing with ingredients. Keep dressing separate. Can serve this as a side, or as a main meal and add a protein of your choosing. Very pretty. Very different.

1 cup pineapple, canned or fresh, chopped
3/4 cup mango or peaches, if you wish
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup english cucumber in chunks
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 chopped pecans or other nuts

PINEAPPLE DRESSING ( shake all together, store in fridge till serving time)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 liquid honey
pineapple juice, about 1/2 cup or a little more
1 garlic clove, minced, dried works just as well.
sprinkle of kosher salt
grind of good pepper

Apple Oil Change Cake

 APPLE OIL CHANGE COFEE CAKE.............................tart-sweet buttery thing that is perfec on a gloomy, rainy day like this.

 Ingredients...simple....everyone has them.

 Topping...not with the original recipe......adds a nice hat to the cake.

Was waiting at the dealership for my car to get an oil change, bored , bored, bored. Started rifling through the magazines that abound at these places and came across this recipe. Seems so cliche , but couldn't resist it......Nothing to write on, so grabbed some industrial strength paper towel, a pen, and scribbled it down as fast as possible. Simple ingredients. End result is something buttery, without being buttery, with the tart-sweet of the Granny Smith Apples. More like a coffee cake, than anything else. Added a crumbly  misture to pretty up the top ......IF you wanted this as a dessert, you could add whip cream or ice cream. But this is great, on its own. Does not make a big "cake", which is nice....disappears faster.....

APPLE Oil Change CAKE (2011)

¾ cup flour
¾ tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
4 large apples cut up into small chunks
2 eggs
¾ cup sugar
Splash vanilla
½ cup butter, melted and cooled

1.    Line 9 inch springform pan with foil and spray with veggie oil
2.   Put on cookie sheet
3.   Whisk flour/baking powder/salt
4.   Peel apples and toss in lemon juice, set aside
5.   Beat eggs/sugar/vanilla
6.   Whisk in flour , alternating with melted butter, till smooth and thick batter forms.
7.   Fold in apples to the batter.
8.   Scrape into prepared pan.
9.   TOPPING ( optional): Combine ¼ cup softened butter with a small handful of brown sugar, and a small handful of flour, pinch of cinnamon.  Combine till crumbly and toss over top of batter.
10.Bake about 50 minutes. Check at 35 to see how far along it is. Knife inserted into cake should come out clean.
11. Remove from springform pan when done.

Lemon Company Cake

Lemon Cake frosted with a buttercream frosting, dripping with chocolate pieces and raspberries. Good enough for company............In the background Sweet peas and bamboo growing out of a beta fish bowl.