Grandma’s Peach Canning Recipe
Grandma loved to bake peach pies or top pancakes with peaches instead of syrup. During the summer months, she would buy baskets of seconds and freeze them. Freezing peaches was much easier and faster than canning them, so she rarely bothered with canned fruit. Since she didn’t have a vacuum sealer, she used containers to hold her peaches. However, Nan, my mother, and I all use a vacuum sealer to prevent freezer burn. I really recommend this recipe over the more traditional peach canning recipe, because it is so simple to do and is not as dangerous as using a pressure canner. (Those things make me nervous.)
Ingredients:
Fresh peaches
3 cups of sugar
4 cups of water
Directions:
1. Wash peaches thoroughly.
2. Cut the fruit in half and remove the pit.
3. Peel the skin from the peaches.
4. Bring water to a boil.
5. Add your sugar to the boiling water and stir it in until it is thoroughly dissolved.
6. Let the syrup cool. Grandma put hers in the fridge for an hour.
7. Put three to four peaches into your container. Add enough syrup to thoroughly cover your peaches, but be sure to leave about an inch of room if you are using traditional containers. (You should use approximately 1/2 cup of syrup for each pound of peaches.)
8. Seal and label your container and place it in the freezer. (If you use a vacuum sealer, freeze the fruit and syrup for an hour or so before sealing or the syrup may get sucked out.)
Your peaches should last for a year, but if you are anything like my family, you will run out before next spring.
Grandma always had a bit of advice, a recipe, or a quick tip to help her family get things done. Grandma’s wisdom has been passed down through several generations in my family and now you too can step into Grandma’s kitchen to find a piece of advice, a recipe, or just a quick cleaning tip.
Visit http://wisdom-from-grandma.com for more of Grandma’s great recipes.
Copy Cat Appetizer Favorites - The Easy Way To Impress Your Guests
Have you ever wondered if there is an easy way to createdazzling appetizers that will go over well with your weekendguests?
Some people spend hours creating fancy appetizers that theymay find quite tantalizing. The trick is this, will your weekendguess find your appetizers as mouth watering as you do? Howcan you be sure that your guess will like the fancy appetizersthat you’re preparing?
One sure fire way to find appetizers that will get the job doneis to use copycat restaurant recipes. These recipes have beendeveloped by skilled chefs that mimic some of the best entrees,appetizers and desserts from America’s most popular restaurants.
This is always a great way to insure that the appetizers thatyou prepare will appeal to the greatest number of your guests.Most people have several appetizer dishes that they order whenthey frequent their favorite restaurants. As you read this article,a few appetizers that you enjoy may come to mind.
Many copycat appetizer recipes are quite easy to follow, and usecommon ingredients that may be purchased from any local grocerystore. Instructions for creating these scrumptious appetizers areusually very straightforward and easy to follow.
You’ll find everything form unique chips and salsa recipes to themore elaborate appetizers that can lend themselves to combinationappetizer platters. Many of these recipes also include a wide rangeof supplemental sauces and dips that accompany these recipesthat can add additional taste and savor to the recipe. You canalso augment these recipes with your own dips and sauce recipes to further spice things up.
Many of these recipes can be whipped up in less that an hour and augmented with attractive garnishments that will dazzle your guests and appeal to their taste buds. Simply choose a few appetizers that cover a wide range of tastes and you’re in business.
Bottom line; don’t spend hours and hours developing appetizer items that may not appeal to your guest. Simply copy recipes that are proven winners as well as time savers and feel confident that you’re serving appetizers that are solid winners.
William Lockhart is founder of The Secret Inside Scoop and SuperNetSecrets.com His site and ezine focuses on unique and useful
resources, products and services that are difficult to find on the
Internet.
William Lockhart is founder of The Secret Inside Scoop and SuperNetSecrets.com His site and ezine focuses on unique and useful
resources, products and services that are difficult to find on the
Internet.
www.supernetsecres.com/greatfood.htm
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An Angel of an Ice Cream Cake
Ice Cream cakes are always something special. They are a perfect
blend of rich and creamy ice cream with moist cake and smooth
frosting. These dessert delights are easy to make when you
utilize store bought ingredients and a bit of imagination.
First things first write out your shopping list. You will need;
1. Angel Food Cake 2. Your Favorite Flavor of Ice Cream 3.
Frozen Whipped Topping 4. Fresh fruit or chocolate as garnish
When you bring home all your ingredients place the cake and the
ice cream in the freezer for about one hour. Allow the frozen
whipped topping to thaw on the counter and slice the fresh fruit
or chocolate into decorative piceces to garnish the top of the
cake.
After about an hour remove the ice cream and allow it to thaw
for about 20 minutes. Then remove the cake from the freezer and
cut into three horizontal layers.
Mix the ice cream with a wooden spoon until it is smooth and
creamy then frost between the layers of cake with your favorite
flavor of ice cream. Once the cake is assembled frost the
outside with the thawed frozen whipped topping. You can then
garnish the cake with fruit or chocolate.
Place the cake back into the freezer until ready to serve.
Which Should You Choose?
I recently went to the grocery store to pick up some ground beef and found four different types to choose from - regular ground, ground chuck, ground round and ground sirloin… But what do these really mean? What is the difference? After talking with the butcher, the difference became very apparent and I learned the clear distinctions between each.
First, you have regular ground which commonly comes from the plate (underbelly) and breast of the cow. This is not the choicest of meats and tends to be very fatty, grisly and, in lesser grades, can contain some bone chips. Regular ground beef is the least purchased ground simply because Americans are becoming more health conscience and don’t mind paying an extra 50 cents per pound for better quality. This area on the cow is also where corned beef and brisket come from. Usually, when your butcher or their packager is processing regular ground beef, they will add in fat found from other parts of the cow. This gives the percentage of fat figure that is seen on your ground beef packaging (i.e. 75-80% lean means that 20-25% of the package is really fat, also known as suet).
Secondly, you can purchase ground chuck. This is the most popular ground on the market. Ground chuck comes from the shoulder and neck area of the cow and is usually very fatty but also has an immense amount of flavoring. This is why such cuts of meat as a chuck roast are favored for a hearty winter meal. Served with potatoes and gravy, this cut can be especially delicious but has a downside of too many fat calories. Sometimes, when processing ground chuck, the butcher will blend a better grade of fat (if necessary) in with the meat. This fat comes from other “chuck type” cuts of meat such as rib-eye steaks. Ground chuck is great for a juicy burgers and mouth watering meatloaf.
Your third choice is ground round. The “round” area is actually the rear or rump of the cow. This is the area where a rump roast, round steaks and round roasts come from. This meat is high in flavor, very lean and also a tad bit chewy. Perfect for a slow cooked pot roast that won’t accelerate your fat intake. Ground round is an ideal choice for tacos, lean meatloaf and sloppy joes. It also works well with most Hamburger Helpers since it requires little draining due to the lack of fat content.
Lastly, ground sirloin is approaching almost a cult-type status among the very health conscience who don’t want to sacrifice on taste. Generally, a good sirloin cut of meat will have a marbling texture of fat throughout the meat that is completely different from the chunks found in a chuck. This gives an almost angelic blend of fat and flavor for burgers that will truly out of this world.
Next time you go to the grocery store to grab some ground for your next meal, you won’t have to scratch your head and wonder which to choose. Just follow this little guide and you will have the perfect cut of meat for every meal you fix!
Hong Kong Street Food
Hong Kong Street Food
If you have visited Hong Kong in the past, you should have tried the typical HK street food stalls and had a taste of the famous curry fish balls there. If you haven’t, then you must make sure you will try it the next time you are there.
What is so special about it? Standing in front of a food stall like this, you will be able to see a wide selection of food choices. My favourite would be the curry fish balls and the pig intestines. Of course these may not sound mouth-watering to some of you but I am sure you will be able to find something which you fancy eating. Octopus balls, beef balls, minced pork balls, octopus, squids, chilli wrapped with fish meat, chicken wings or tips, fish balls and lettuce in soup, fake shark fin soup, cow tripe and many others are all available.
Just go to Mong Kok, you can easily find one at each street corner. Then of course, these types of stalls are everywhere in HK.
Most of these stalls do not provide seating but some do. With those few which provide seating, very often you will also find noodles available. When I was small, I used to enjoy a bowl of these noodles for lunch. At that time, it did not cost me more than HK$1 per bowl. These days, you will not be able to enjoy one bowl of such noodles for at least HK$15.
You can combine as many ingredients as possible in one of these bowls of noodles. The only difference is that the more ingredients the more expensive your bowl of noodles will be. There are already at least four types of noodles which you can choose from - greasy noodles, flat noodles, thin noodles or rice noodles. If you want you can have some vegetables. Apart from some Chinese noodles, you can also have the western choice of lettuce. Then there are the meat options. The most popular would be pig’s intestines, pig’s blood and pig’s skin. However, if these sound revolting to you, then you can choose some more common ones such as fish balls, chicken wings, meat balls, pork belly meat, fish dumplings, pork dumplings etc.
There is one thing to remember. One may not find these places very hygienic. I am not saying that you should refrain from trying any of these places since it is one of the specialties in HK. The food on offer is generally very well cooked, so you should not have any problems. What you need to do is just to be careful. If you are already having difficulty acclimatizing to the new environment, then I would advise you to leave these eating places until another time.
Gather your courage and I am sure the food from such stalls will not disappoint you!
About the Author
This article was produced by Asia Dragon. Visit us at www.asiadragon.co.uk where you will find authentic oriental fashion & accessories, stylish home furnishings & furniture, beautiful ornaments, Chinese calligraphy plus much, much more!
Secret of Light and Fluffy Biscuits and Pancakes
Would you like to lose some weight — in your baking, that is? This one secret ingredient (that you likely already have in your kitchen) is not only inexpensive and healthy, it’ll also add a bit of “cloud” to your biscuits and pancakes!
And that ingredient is … Oatmeal!
Yep, I know what you’re thinking … just give me a moment and trust me on this.
For instance, to make super light pancakes, I’ll use normal, non-instant, oatmeal. I’ll prepare a 1 to 1 1/2 serving size portion, usually in the microwave.
Next, add your normal pancake ingredients to the oatmeal. I normally add the milk first to cool down the oatmeal (don’t want the eggs to cook!). You may notice that the batter is a little frothy — especially if you let it sit a bit. That’s oatmeals extra viscosity coming into play.
Cook the pancakes just like you normally do. They’ll look the same and taste the same (no oatmeal taste). However, they’ll rise up nice, light, and fluffy!
To make super light biscuits, you’ll alter your normal biscuit recipt just a tiny bit. Prepare the oatmeal as usual — but, since the prepared oatmeal is fairly liquid, it’ll make your biscuit dough into a batter … IF you add the normal amount of milk!
So … cut down on your milk portion. Add a little milk to the oatmeal, then add your dry ingredients, then slowly mix, adding more milk a little bit at a time as necessary.
One other change — since you’ll be using less milk, the baking powder in your mix won’t have as much acid to react to. This means your biscuits won’t rise like they normally do unless you give them a little bit of help. I like to toss a squeeze of lemon juice into the mix. You won’t taste the lemon, but it’ll supercharge your baking powder.
Again, your dough will be a little frothy. You’ll use less milk and the dough will not be as dense as usual. If you’re rolling the dough and using a biscuit cutter, roll your dough a little thicker than normal before cutting.
That’s all — bake as normal and your result will be biscuits light enough to float off the pan!
About the Author
Joey Robichaux rides the weekly consultant road warrior circuit. He speaks at management conferences and maintains dozens of web sites, including Your Cooking Tips at http://www.your-cooking-tips.com .