Make your own beautiful jam

Strawberry Jam (with Grand Marnier, optional)

 

To every cup of crushed fruit, add 2/3 cup sugar.

 

Grand Marnier Strawberry Jam:

 

4 ½ cup fresh strawberries, crushed

3 cups sugar

¼ cup Grand Marnier

 

Place strawberries and sugar in large heavy saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to boil, stirring constantly.  Raise heat and cook about 30 minutes (more time may be required for more fruit), or until mixture reaches jam like consistency.  Remove from heat, stir in Grand Marnier (optional).  Immediately pour into hot, clean jars and attach hot, sterilized lids.  Process in boiling water bath (to cover by at least 2 inches water) or steam kettle.  Process 15 minutes, remove from water and cool.  Lids should all be vacuum tight.  If lid is not sucked tight when pressed  (it will not move or jiggle), store jam in frig.

 

How to know jam is right consistency:  Put small plate in freezer – when jam seems thickened a little, place spoonful of jam on cold plate and put back in freezer.  In five minutes check plate – jam should not have water around the edges and should have a slightly wrinkled appearance when you tip the plate.  Jam will not be final consistency – it will be more runny than you want for final product, because it is hot.  Once it cools completely, it should have soft, spoonable consistency.  You don’t want it to be rigid and jello like.

 

Apricot Jam:

 

To every 1 cup crushed fruit add 4/5 cup sugar and ½ T lemon juice.

 

 

Same directions as above.

Minty, Yummy, Easy Breakfast

The credit goes to grandpa for this one.

Ingredients:

• Egg(s)
• Feta cheese
• Parsley
• Mint
• Bread

Directions:

Crumble the feta and mix it with parsley and mint. Add one or two eggs depending on the number of people. For five people, I did it with two eggs.  Spread the mixture on slightly toasted bread so that the bread wouldn't get soggy. Put it in the oven and broil it for 2-3 minutes (they get ready super fast). Aaaaand voilá! Minty, yummy, easy  breakfast is ready!

Don't toast the bread too much beforehand, otherwise they'll get burned while broiling. 

I'm gonna add some ricotta cheese to the mixture next time

-Big D 

Orzo - Rice Pilaf

This is a recipe from my grandmother - one of the most adorable elderly women I've ever met. The measures are not very specific. After 65 years of cooking, she doesn't really measure anymore.

You can do this as a side dish for pretty much everything. It's super yummy with veggies like eggplant or beans. I eat with yogurt, but I don't know if you guys are that much of a fan of it.

Also, last year in Turkey I got really drunk and asked the bartender to bring me some pilaf. At first he said he couldn't, but then he gave in after my friends explained him that I just came back from abroad. Delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice
  
• 1/4 cup orzo
  
• butter
  
• 1.5 cup boiled water (you can substitute with chicken broth or half cb half water, yumm)
  
• salt
  

Directions

The best way to cook rice is to wash the rice with warm-hot water a couple of times, then fill the cup of rice with warm-hot water to the top and let it sit for half an hour.

After 30 min, put the orzo in a pan and turn the heat on for those babies. Toast them till they get a bit brown, turn the heat off and let them sit for a while. You can transfer them to another pan for it to cool off faster.

Once cool enough not to burn the butter quickly, turn on the heat again. Put the butter in and mix. Drain the rice and put that in as well. Mix it a little bit and add the boiled water. For every cup of rice, add 1.5 cups of water. Add salt and cook covered on medium heat till the water is gone (for basmati rice and alike, it doesn't usually take longer than 10 min).

Once cooked, turn the heat off. Put a paper towel between the lid and the pot. This so that the vapor from the pot wouldn't get the rice wet. Let it sit for 5-10 min and serve.

ps. If you substitute water with chicken broth, put less salt.

Bon appetite and you're welcome!

-Big D

Pickled Red Onions- for fish tacos

These are so so good on fish tacos. Very much a necessity.

1 red onion, cut in half and sliced thinly
1 bottle red wine vinegar
about 3 T salt
diced or whole hot pepper(s)
1-2 lemons, juiced

Combine all in a medium dish, so that the onions are covered. Let marinate 30 min-1 hour. Better when served cold, on warm fish tacos.

*Each day that the onions are kept in the refrigerator (depending on how much spice is added), they will be REALLY spicy, but not so much the first day.

~Bri

Butter and Jam Thumbprint Cookies

This recipe is from FoodNetwork.com- they are aamammmaaazzziiinnnggg (I changed it a little).

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
• 2/3 cup sugar, plus more for rolling
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped from pod, or 1/8 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup raspberry, cherry or strawberry jam (use more though!)
  

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.

In another bowl, whip the butter and the sugar with a hand-held mixer until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla until just combined. Slowly beat in the dry ingredients in 2 additions, mixing just until incorporated.

Scoop the dough into 1-inch balls with a cookie or ice cream scoop and roll in sugar. Place about 2-inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Press a thumbprint into the center of each ball, about 1/2-inch deep. Fill each indentation with about 1-2 teaspoons jam.

Bake cookies until the edges are golden, about 15 minutes. (For even color, rotate the pans from top to bottom about halfway through baking.) Cool cookies on the baking sheets. Serve.

Store cookies in a tightly sealed container for up to 5 days.

~Bri