Investment Cooking

Instant Pot Applesauce

September 27, 2018 by mamakay Leave a Comment

We had an abundant harvest of apples this year. Our young orchard (planted 7 years ago) produced the best apples we have ever had in addition to our more mature tree. Every year I can as much applesauce as I can depending on the harvest. I think it is safe to say that this year’s harvest exceeds every year since we have been here. Our family loves applesauce and can easily finish a quart off in one meal. I have learned some tricks to make this an easier process over the years and this year decided to engage my instant pot (and my mother-in-laws’) to speed up the process even more!

Our first batch was quite a mess as I worked to figure out the best way to use the Instant Pot. I literally had applesauce spraying out the vent when I released the pressure! OOPS! Don’t do it that way!

You should know I like my applesauce super simple. It truly is pureed cooked apples. So this post is more about technique than a recipe. I love to use a combination of varieties of apples for the best flavor. Our trees are mostly McIntosh which are wonderful for applesauce. I usually add in some golden varieties and some Jonagolds.

There are two different approaches I like to use. You can do it either on the stove or in the Instant Pot.

Stove method:

We chop the apples into 1-2″ chunks removing any bad spots as we go. Cut enough to fill up a big pot and add 1 cup of water. Simmer on the stove, stirring occasionally until the apples are soft. This takes about two hours.

Instant Pot Version:

Add 1/2 cup of water to the instant pot and fill the pot with cut apples to just below the max line. Close the lid and vent and set to steam for 2 minutes. After it finishes cooking let the pressure release naturally for 20 minutes. (My 8 quart pot took about 40 minutes to come to pressure, cook and release using this method.) Besides the quicker cooking, I love that I don’t have to worry about the apples scorching in the instant pot!

Once the apples are soft we feed them through my food mill that separates the peels and seeds from the applesauce. The boys love helping with this job!

If you do not have a food mill before cooking the apples peel and core them. Then after they are doing cooking use an immersion blender to blend until smooth.

Then scoop the applesauce into one quart jars, put canning lids and rings on them and process them in the canner filled with boiling water for 20 minutes to preserve them for the coming year.

Please let me know if you have any questions! I would be glad to help!

Enjoy!

MamaKay

Canning Peaches

September 14, 2017 by mamakay Leave a Comment

I just love canning! There is something so wonderful about seeing jars of fruits, jams, jellies and broth lining my shelf and it gives me such a sense of accomplishment! So much of my daily work is undone so quickly: laundry, cleaning and cooking meals that it can get discouraging but with canning a couple hours of work can be seen for months!

Fall is a time to preserve the harvest (even if its not from your own land), stock the freezer with good meat and the woodshed with lots of wood for winter. The temperatures are starting to cool off which makes it so much nicer for canning (or chopping wood).

I am so blessed that every year in September a family brings a trailer of fruit from their orchard in Washington. I get to buy directly from the farmer so the prices are amazing! This year I bought 160 pounds of different kinds of apples and 40 pounds of peaches for a grand total of $202! (And that includes some Honeycrisp apples that are more expensive.) We also have apple trees on our property that produce some fruit.

Now my family can eat fruit pretty quickly but I try to get as much put up as I can. Peaches are so easy to can. I put up 14 quarts of peach slices in about 3 hours with help from my Grandma and my 2 and 4 year olds. Having a few extra hands is so nice when canning but you can do it by yourself it will just take longer.

I start by heating my big canning pot full of water. I put the jars in to heat and sanitize while I prepare the fruit. Then I put a big pot of water on to boil for blanching the peaches. Next I mix up some simple syrup and get it heating to dissolve the sugar. I like a light to medium syrup so I mix 1 part sugar to 2 parts water. (Can you see why its best to do this on a cool day?) Finally, I fill up one side of the sink with ice cold water.

Now I am ready to start the peaches! I put several whole peaches in the boiling pot of water and let them blanch for 2-3 minutes. Then a quick dunk in the ice cold water makes it so the skins peel right off. It is so easy that my 4 year old son did this job this time. Continue until all the peaches are peeled.

We had another station set up at the table. It has a bowl for the pits, a bowl filled with Vitamin C powder sprinkled in water (to prevent browning), a knife, a cutting board and a towel. The people at the table cut the peaches into slices and place them in the bowl of Vitamin C water.

Next I remove the jars from the hot water and place another set in. I fill the hot jars with as many peach slices as I can fit (they will shrink down). Then I pour the syrup to cover the peaches making sure to leave at least a half inch gap. I then take a knife and run it around the edges so that any trapped air bubbles can be released. After I am done with that I use a damp washcloth to wipe off the rim of the jars to make sure nothing interferes with the lid sealing. I place the lids on the jars and then tighten the rings.

Quarts of peaches take 20 minutes to process in the boiling water. Make sure water covers the tops of the lids. After the time is up I remove the jars of peaches to a towel on a counter (in a spot they won’t get bumped). And then the most beautiful sound comes of the jars sealing, “Pop!”

I always check the lids later on to make sure they are tight. If any don’t seal I either process them again with a new lid or stick them in the refrigerator to eat in the next couple of days.

I like to label my jars using a Sharpie to write the date and what the contents are if necessary. (It’s pretty obvious these jars are filled with peaches so I only wrote the date.)

I hope you found this explanation helpful! Do you like to can? What are your favorites?

Next time…. Apples!

MamaKay

Instant Pot

January 23, 2016 by mamakay Leave a Comment

Have you heard of the lastest craze in the appliance arena? Instant Pots! It is like having 6 appliances in one! It can Saute, Steam, Cook Rice, Slow Cook, Pressure Cook, Make Yogurt with just the touch of a couple buttons! It even has a delay setting and a keep warm setting. I purchased an Instant Pot nearly 2 years ago with my birthday money and I am ever so glad I did!

Many of my friends raved about pressure cookers but I have always been scared of them! When I was young, my grandma was using a pressure cooker to make jam and her cooker exploded knocking out a tooth and covering the ceiling with jam! I decided then and there I wasn’t going to risk using one myself!

But then I started reading more and more about how much time pressure cookers could save and how delicious the food turned out. And then one fateful day I read about the new instant pots. Not only could they do just about anything, they had built in safety features that prevented them from exploding! I was sold!

Now I have found that it has a learning curve (as do most worth while things) and I am still working towards perfecting my technique. But the more I use it the better I get at it. One of the biggest things I learned was that just because a recipe says it takes “20 minutes” to cook doesn’t mean that is a real “20 minutes.” It takes time for it to come up to pressure and then you have to wait for the pressure to release at the end. I generally plan for 30 minutes more than the cooking time to account for the getting it assembled and the extra time it needs for those steps.

I regularly make yogurt, cook roasts, whole chickens, beans, “baked” potatoes and broth in it. The 6 quart stainless steel insert makes it super easy to clean and impermeable to absorbing the smells of the different foods I cook in it. It has earned a permanent spot on my kitchen counter.

I love how easy it is to make yogurt! You just pour in the milk and push the yogurt button until it reads boil. After it beeps you open the lid and let it cool down to 115 degrees, add the yogurt culture, put the lid back on and push the yogurt button again setting the timer for at least 8 hours (more if you like it tarter) and leave it until it beeps again! It maintains the temperature at the perfect temperature creating wonderful creamy yogurt for 1/3 the price at the store.

So if you are looking for a workhorse in your kitchen for just over $100 I would highly recommend an Instant Pot! I bought mine at Amazon and the link will take you there.

Let me know if you have any specific questions I can answer!

MamaKay

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade

January 30, 2014 by mamakay 1 Comment

We love REAL lemonade! No powder substitute for me. Please give me the real stuff! And if you are looking for an alternative to gatorade just add a little salt and some calcium powder and you can be refreshed with electrolytes without any corn syrup or other nasty chemicals!

To make fresh lemonade you start by making a simple syrup. Basically dissolve equals parts of sugar and water. We do this one of two ways. You can put the sugar in a pan with the water on medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved or put the sugar in the bottom of your glass jar or pitcher and add hot water to it whisking it until it dissolves.

Then add your lemon juice and dilute with water to your desired tastes.

We like a ratio of 1 part sugar, 1 part water, 1 part lemon juice and then dilute with 4 parts water.

Homemade Lemonade

Makes 1 gallon

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

2 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice

8 cups water

Dissolve 2 cups of sugar with 2 cups of water.

Add lemon juice and mix well.

Dilute with water until you achieve your perfect balance.

Serve and Enjoy!

MamaKay

Lemon Curd

January 29, 2014 by mamakay Leave a Comment

What is lemon curd? Think of a lemon meringue pie. The lemony part at the bottom is very much like lemon curd except that you can spread it on piece of toast, serve it on pancakes, mix into some yogurt, or top ice cream with it. In the store a little 4-6 ounce jar costs around $4. At home you can enjoy 16 ounces for considerably less (especially if you have access to lemons).

My 10 year old daughter helped me make our lemon curd this time around.

Fill a double boiler with water to about an inch below the top pan and bring it to a boil. Then add the sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and egg yolks to the pan.

Cook for 10-15 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken and can coat a spoon.

Remove the mixture from the heat and then 1 tablespoon a time melt the butter into the mixture before adding the nest tablespoon.

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Transfer to a bowl or jar and refrigerate.

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The lemon curd will thicken as it chills. It keeps in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks if it lasts that long.

The Recipe:

Lemon Curd

Makes 1 pint

5 egg yolks

2 cups sugar

1 cup lemon juice

Finely grated zest of 4 lemons

1/2 cup butter cut into pats

Fill a double boiler with water to about an inch below the top pan and bring it to a boil.

Then add the sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and egg yolks to the pan. Cook for 10-15 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken and can coat a spoon.

Remove the mixture from the heat and then 1 tablespoon a time melt the butter into the mixture before adding the nest tablespoon.

Transfer to a bowl or jar and refrigerate.

The lemon curd will thicken as it chills.

MamaKay

Processing Lemons: Finding Some Sunshine in January!

January 27, 2014 by mamakay Leave a Comment

When we lived in Arizona we had a wonderful lemon tree in our backyard as did my husband’ parents. Although I absolutely love living in Montana I do miss our lemons! Thankfully my in-laws are so generous that every year they send us lemons in a flat rate box! And they often juice several lemons and freeze it to bring when they come up in the summer.

This year my 4 year old son was my big helper when we got our lovely box of sunshine!

We love our juicer (and we have used a lot of different ones). This one gets the most juice out of any manual juicer I have used. They have them at Amazon and we have found a couple at thrift stores.

From our box of lemons we were able to squeeze a little over a quart of juice. Lemon juice goes a long ways! We were able to make a gallon of lemonade, a pint of lemon curd, a lemon coconut impossible pie, a batch of lemon coconut power balls and had a little more left over besides.

I also used my microplaner to grate the zest from the lemons and got about a cup of zest. I will freeze that and be able to add some lemony goodness to foods throughout the year.

I will be posting our lemony recipes through out the week. What is your favorite lemon dish?