Got Blueberries? Jalapeños? Make Jam!!

I was wondering what to do with about fifteen jalapeños from our veggie garden.  I had already infused tequila, made countless jalapeño margaritas and eaten my fair share of jalapeño black beans.  I made jalapeño jam last year, but wanted to do something different.  While I was scouring the internet for ideas and came upon a posting for habanero blueberry jam.  Why not do jalapeños instead?   Switching up some of the other components in the rest of the recipe, I took a little gamble and I must say, it paid off!  I’m in love with this recipe and will definitely make it next year.

Starting out with two different mixtures one with the blueberries (blueberries, lemon juice and water) and one with the jalapeños (jalapeños, lemon juice, water and vinegar).  Boil both mixtures for 20 minutes on a medium high heat.

After the 20 minutes are up, turn heat down on the blueberry mixture and strain the jalapeño mixture into the blueberry.

Take about 1/2-3/4 cup of jalapeño and add to blueberry mixture.

Add sugar and cook on lower heat until mixture sugar is dissolved.  Add pectin and bring to a rolling boil for at least 1 minute.

Remove from heat and spoon mixture into jars (I used 1/2 pint wide mouth).

Place jars in hot water bath for 5 minutes.

Jars will take anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours to “pop” and seal.  If they do not, refrigerate or freeze those jars immediately.  I’m listening to the music of jars popping as I write this post.  Sweet success.

There was a little left over that did not warrant canning so I put it on some vanilla ice cream.  That will be happening again.  Soon.

Blueberry Jalapeño Jam

5 cups blueberries

1 cup jalapeños, chopped

1 1/2 cup water

1/2 cup vinegar

1/2 cup lemon juice (divided into (2) 1/4 cup)

5 cups sugar

1 4oz package pectin

Place jars and lids (not bands) in boiling hot water (you will also use this for your water bath after filling the jars).

In saucepan bring jalapeños, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 cup water and 1/2 cup vinegar to a boil for 20 minutes on medium high heat.

Simultaneously, bring blueberries, 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/2 cup water to a boil for 20 minutes on medium high heat (use a larger pot because you will be making the jam mixture in this).

Once mixtures are finished, bring heat to low on blueberry mixture and strain jalapeño juice into blueberry.  Spoon about 1/2-3/4 cup of cooked jalapeños into blueberry mixture.  Add sugar and leave on low heat until sugar is dissolved.  Add pectin to blueberries and bring to a rolling boil for a least one minute.

Remove blueberry mixture from heat and ladle into jars, tighten lids and place in boiling water bath for 5 minutes.  Lids should “pop” and seal anywhere from 20 minutes – 2 hours after coming out of the water bath.  Enjoy in plain yogurt, over ice cream or on Ritz crackers with cream cheese!

Who Doesn’t Like a Little Spice?

I’ve had a few spicy cocktails this summer and have been wanting to experiment with my own so I don’t have to go out to dinner just to have one.  We have a wonderful bounty of jalapeños this year in our garden so I decided to experiment with my own Jalapeño Margaritas.  This recipe is a perfect blend of sweet, salt and spice.  If you like jalapeños you will not be disappointed.

Slice the jalapeño and divide between two glasses.  If you want salt, make sure that you salt the glasses first.

 Pour a small amount of tequila in both glasses and muddle.

Once jalapeño is fairly well crushed, add ice and desired amount of tequila

Add two teaspoons Minute Maid frozen concentrate (or whatever brand you prefer) to each glass and then top with sparkling water.  This time I did not have the limeade on hand but had some pink lemonade so I used that instead (it was surprisingly tasty!)

Stir and enjoy!!!

Jalapeño Margaritas

Serves 2

1 Jalapeño

Tequila to taste

8 ice cubes

4 tsp minute maid concentrate, divided (Limeade preferably)

Sparkling water

Margarita salt for rim (optional of course)

2 straws (highly recommended if you’re having more than one – your lips may burn off even tho the drink isn’t that spicy)

Salt rims of glasses.  Slice jalapeño and divide between both glasses with a small amount of tequila and muddle.  Add ice and desired amount of tequila.  Two teaspons of frozen juice concentrate per glass and top with sparkling water.  Stir and serve.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!  Cheers!!

Abalone to Dive for

Admittedly, this was my very first experience with Abalone.  I’ve always wanted to try Abalone, but it’s not always available and is normally very expensive.  So, when a friend brought over Abalone that he dove for himself I was ecstatic.  He had already kindly cleaned it, so it was ready to slice, pound out & fry!

Pounding out the Abalone until tender.  It’s surprisingly tough!

The assembly line before the frying pan!  Abalone (of course), Flour, Eggs and Seasoned Breadcrumbs.

Heat up a heaping pan of vegetable oil and fry away!  Disclaimer: this is not a healthy meal.

The HUGE pile of Abalone.  We ended up with almost 3lbs of meat!  It was one of the most amazing fried experiences of my life!

Fried Abalone

Abalone, sliced in 1/4 inch thick slices and pounded

Flour

Eggs, beaten

Seasoned Breadcrumbs

Vegetable Oil

Since the size of the Abalone really dictates how much of the other ingredients you’ll have to use, so your best judgement is necessary.  Heat a frying pan with oil and get nice and hot, but not smoking.  Adjust temperature as needed while cooking the Abalone.  First cover both sides of Abalone in flour, then the beaten egg, then bread crumbs and lastly place gently* in the hot oil. 

*Please do not drop the abalone in the pan, this will result in spatter that can badly burn you.

Old Habits Die Hard

 I have found that when in doubt, I revert back to my usual meal suspects.  Soup and beans.  Lets face it, when you’re strapped for time and you don’t feel like being creative what better solution than to fall into that comfort zone?  We were doing so well, sigh. Then fun travel stuff happened and the grocery store/planning spun down the drain like old dishwater.

A few GOOD things have happened; Quiche keeps! Quiche will not be too often used, as its chalked full of eggs, milk and cheese but, its pretty easy to make and the ingredients can be switched up to avoid boring monotony (which I am quite good at).  However, it did get rave reviews and will most definitely make it into rotation.  I found that it stays fresh, is easily heated up and accompanies a nice salad for dinner – my husband likes it for lunch too!

This weekend I will try my hand at risotto as a side dish to an enormous salad (to negate all the cheesy goodness, mind you).  I want to test and see how long it actually takes to make it and if I have all the ingredients prepped/in the pantry how long will my weeknight cooking be? 

Next week old habits will die.  Hard.

Fail

I’ve totally failed the past few weeks. We’ve been in and out of town and there has been zero cooking in our household. I hope that this week we have at least three homecooked meals – I must get back into it slowly… I digress. Spinach soup, black beans and risotto. Fail.

At least its food at home.

Teamwork

Sunday was a late night and nothing happened in the kitchen except for a hasty dish to whip up and mad dash to the neighbor’s house to watch the game.  We came home stuffed and exhausted not wanting to even think about cooking.  So Monday night was the night that everything had to get done or by Wednesday I would be undone.

In the spirit of the Superbowl I enlisted my husbands help in the kitchen.  Past efforts have shown that we’re not that great of a team in the kitchen.  I’ve been informed that I’m too bossy whilst my husband, I feel, doesn’t communicate enough.  So this is not an attempt made very often and when it does, it becomes a WWIII zone. 

I asked my husband if he would help and he actually said, “sure”.  🙂  Trying not to be bossy while I walked him through the dough for the quiche , I chopped onions and bell peppers and prepped black beans for fajita/burritos.  Then while the dough was in the freezer, he sautéed the mushrooms and onions (I did have to chop the onions – what a wimp!) and made the cheese & egg mixture. 

We cleaned the kitchen and poof!  Done!  In about half the time it would have taken me by myself.  We have quiche, fajita stuffs and soup (yes, my failsafe).  I must say, that teamwork totally saved the day on this one.  One point for the home team.

Normalcy?

Like every “young professional” household, my husband and I both work full-time.  I commute almost an hour and a half each way everyday to work and back home again.  The major challenge for us has been, what to make for dinner?  It’s the only time of the day we can sit down together and have time for each other – with each other.  Do I really want to come home, from a twelve – thirteen hour day and COOK?!?  Hell no.  I want to sit like a lump on the couch with a glass of wine, decompress and watch bad television.

My quest is simple: create a few dishes on a Sunday evening so that we have meals throughout the week.  Being a creature of habit, I’m afraid my repertoire is limited to black beans,  soup and salad.  In order to keep peace in our household, I must be more creative or succumb to the old ways of restaurants and pre-packaged foods (ick).    I will not surrender to bad habits and ways.  I refuse! 

So as I ponder what soup to reheat tonight, I will promise myself that next week I will try something new.  Something daring.  Something that will not expire by Thursday.