"Brown Grammies" (Frances Mower) Lake Arrowhead Cheese Dip...

Frances has made this every Christmas for as long as I have known her and it's soooo yummy! Everyone eats it up quick & there's usually fighting over who gets the bread bowl when the dips gone!!!

You will need:

2 bricks of cream cheese (8 oz each)
1 16oz tub sour cream
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
3-4 tsp. worchestershire sauce
6-8 chopped green onion
1 jar Armour dried beef, cut or torn into pieces

DIRECTIONS:

Melt all of the ingredients together in a large saucepan, slowly over low heat. Constantly stir to avoid burning.

Presentation:

Pour the dip into a hallowed out sheppards bread bowl with torn pieces of the bread all around for dipping. You can also cut up or tear pieces of french bread or sourdough for dipping.

Homemade Chex Mix...

This is a great treat for the summer! This is also a recipe from Christy, but Kaitlin and I customized it, so I'll put what we did and you can make it your own too...

You will need:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups corn syrup or honey ( I used half of each)
2 tablespoons coconut flavoring
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter
1 box of rice chex
1 small bag of coconut
1 small bag of chopped pecans
1 cup of powdered sugar
2 cups shaved chocolate (or choc chips)

DIRECTIONS:

Mix chex mix, coconut, nuts, and chocolate in a bowl. Boil sugar, corn syrup/honey, coconut flavoring and butter for 5 minutes. Pour over chex mix. Put wax paper oover a cookie sheet and then spread the chex mixture on top of wax paper. Sprinkle with the powdered sugar and let cool. YUMMMMM!

Christy's Chicken & Spinach w/ Cheese...

You will need:
1 piece of chicken per person
1 bag of stick pretzels (for crushing)
2 eggs
2 cups mozzarella cheese with sun dried tomotoes & basil
2 big bunches of spinach
2 Tablespoons Flour
2 Tablespoons butter
2 cups milk

DIRECTIONS:

Put the pretzels into a ziploc bag and crush with a rolling pin. Put the pretzels into a shallow bowl. Crack the eggs into a bowl; dip the chicken into the eggs and then into the pretzel mixture, covering completely. Put onto a greased baking sheet/pan. Cook at 350 degrees for about 35-45 minutes.

Sauce: Melt butter in medium saucepan, add flour and stir. Slowly add in milk while always stirring, so no lumps. Add cheese and keep stirring until it bubbles and gets thicker, then take off of the burner.

Spinach: Put some butter in a pan and add spinach, stirring until all cooked.

Presentation: Put spinach on a plate, then chicken, then sauce on the top!

We Be Jammin'

I am getting requests from people wanting to know about the how to's for strawberry jam, so decided to post. I want to thank Tracy for getting me started with this, I have had a lot of fun putting up jam for the fam. I also have a pdf version if anyone is interested, just leave a comment and I will email you a copy. I have also made the recipe on the back of the SureGel pectin box and it works out just fine. It was just a little more “solid” than the recipe Tracy had me do, and I like the consistency of her recipe better. I did add a little more pectin to it, but it is still a nice, kind of loose jam that spreads really well. Tracy and I canned my first attempt at her house and it was so much fun I decided to try some more on my own. 252 (or so) pints later I am still loving the whole thing. Tawna, Taya, and Jade now have the “fruits” of their labor on their shelves and I have enough for a year also. Here is the recipe I did:

I doubled Tracy's recipe, and used a bigger stockpot to cook in so I could do bigger batches and cut out some of the cooking time. The doubled recipe below will yield about 11 pints. As the first 8 pints process in the canner, I cook another batch and that way can have a second load ready for the canner pretty fast. This leaves about 6 jars to process in a third round for the canner and when these are processing I start cooking another batch of jam.
Use ripe fruit, not over-ripe for best results. I used a 10-12 quart stockpot. As the mixture cooks it does “grow” a bit and so the pan needs to be large enough to accommodate the process. A 6-8 quart stockpot will do a single recipe (half the one below) just fine and yields about 5 pints.

• Preparing Fruit
  
• Rinse and stem your berries. In small batches, process them in a food processor using the pulse function to the consistency you want. Most of my girls like a smooth jam, I like it slightly chunky. If you do all your fruit at once it makes it easier to just cook and process your jam one batch after the other. If you don’t have a food processor, a potato masher will work.
  
• I did about 32 lbs. of strawberries and got about 52 pints. The boxes I got were supposed to be 4 lbs, give or take and yield will depend on size and spoilage in your fruit. 52 is a jar a week for a year and that is what I like to do for my pantry.
  
• Preparing Lids
• Prepare lids by putting them into a pan of hot, simmering water (that's what the manufacturer's recommend) for 5 minutes, and use the magnetic "lid lifter wand" to pull them out.
• Cooking the Jam
  
• In your large 10-12 quart stockpot combine:
  
• 12 C. Mashed strawberries
  
• 1/2 C. Fresh squeezed lemon juice (Tracy has a lemon tree so we had lemons, and she sent me home with a bunch. Thanks Tracy.)
  
• 3 boxes of Pectin, I used the Sure Jell Brand and Ultra Gel works too. The powdered pectin is about 1/3 C. per package. I use the same measurement for the Ulra Gel. (Ultra Gel does not require cooking to thicken, so may be added after the cooking process and after the foam is skimmed off.)
  
• 1 t. butter (the sure jell package recommends this to reduce the foaming as it cooks.)
  

Place on burner and set to Hi. Stir constantly until mixture comes to a full rolling boil. (This means it still boils well even when you are stirring.)

• Add:
  
• 16 C. Sugar (I used 14 cups in mine and it seemed to work fine.)
  
• Stir constantly, sugar will dissolve and allow to return to a full rolling boil. Time for one minte (Tracy and I timed for 5 minutes and it seemed both times worked fine.)
  
  
  
  
• Remove from heat and after a minute skim foam from surface using a slotted spoon.
  
• Processing Jars
  
• Ladel into pints allowing at least a 1/4” headspace. Wipe rims and threads clean and place prepared lids on top. Fasten bands and place into steam canner. (Prepare steam canner according to manufacturer’s directions.) Most steam canners will take 8 pints at a time.
  
• Steam Canner Method (May also use a Water Bath Method to process)
  
• Turn steam canner to Hi on burner and wait for steam to stream from side holes in a steady plume. This plume is usually about 8” out from the side and is sort of a soft plume. Time for 5 minutes and remove from heat. Remove lid taking care to open away from you as the steam can burn you. Using a jar lifter, remove jars onto a kitchen towel a few inches apart and allow to cool. Jars will probably “ping” as you are removing them from the canner. In the event you have one that doesn’t ping, refridgerate and use, or reprocess the jar using a new lid. 
  
  
  
  
• Label and date lids on jars and store in a cool, dry place. Once opened, keep in fridge and jam should be used in about 3 weeks or so. 
  

* If jam is a little on the thin side as will sometimes happen, it makes great syrup for pancakes, topping for ice cream, etc.



Cost of course depends on the price per pound, but in our calculations this was a thrifty way to supply our pantries with jam. The taste is great, and is so much fresher than the commercially produced jars. I love it. I can't wait to try peach, apricot and maybe even some green grape.

Cool Veggie Pizza

Sorry Folks! This was all that was left by the time I remembered to take a picture! This is a really great dinner on a hot Arizona night, as well as an awesome appetizer for parties!

1 Package Of Crescent Rolls
1 Softened Package Of Cream Cheese
Seasonings
Various Cut Up Veggies (tomatoes, shredded carrots, green onions,broccoli, cucumbers)
Shredded Cheese

Take out the rolls and press the seams together, roll out flat
Put onto desired pan to bake
Bake as directed on the package
Cool

Mix together the cream cheese and any seasonings you desire (ranch, italian, etc)
Top with shredded cheese and veggies

Cut and enjoy! YUM!

The Most Incredible Asparagus!

Borrowed this recipe from the girl's at Becoming Betty and am so glad I tried it!

Asparagus
Olive Oil
Italian Dressing Seasoning Packet

Wash the asparagus and cut off the ends, as desired. Spread out in a single layer on a cookie sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Sprinkle with the italian dressing seasoning and broil on HI for 5-6 minutes. Soooooo gooooood!

p.s. Even my kids ate this like it was a treat!

Chili

Chili is one of my all time favorites! Nate, not so much...but I make it anyway! Here's the latest...

1 large can of pinto beans
1 regular can of white beans
1 large can of kidney beans
1 regular can of stewed tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
1 1/2 TBS chili powder
1 large sauteed onion
1 large sauteed green pepper
1 lb. of ground beef
garlic (or garlic salt/powder) to your preference
1/2 bag frozen corn (or canned if you like it)
sour cream
shredded cheese
diced onions
fritos corn chips

Sautee the onions, peppers and garlic. Add in the ground beef, salt and pepper while cooking. Add in the chili powder (I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons) Add the pinto beans, kidney beans and white beans, as well as the tomatoes, tomato paste and corn. Let simmer for about 30 minutes. Top with the shredded cheese, sour cream, onions and fritos! Soooooo Good! Would post a picture but we ate it all up!

Robert's Mexican Lasagna

So I got creative the other day and decided to make dinner for the family. I have eaten Mexican Lasagna at Jennifer's house, so decided to give it a try. Everyone seemed to like it, and it turned out to be a collaborative effort, so here is what we did.

For a pan size of 12 x 16 (lasagna size)

Meat sauce:
4 lbs. lean ground beef
2 cloves garlic
1 large onion
2 packages of McCormick's taco seasoning
2-10 oz. cans Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chiles)
Brown meat with onion and garlic. When good and brown, drain about half the grease and add taco seasoning. When well mixed, add Rotel, or diced tomatoes and green chiles. Turn down to low heat, cover and simmer.

flour tortillas (corn is optional) Tear into strips to cover pan.

Bean Mix:
3-14 oz cans refried beans
1 C. shredded cheese
splash of milk
1 sm. can diced green chiles
Combine all ingredients into mixing bowl. Adjust quantities to taste.

Cheese Mix:
1 1/2 C. ricotta cheese
1 1/2 C. cottege cheese
1 1/2 C. Pace Picante Medium Salsa
1/4 C. Parmesan
2 eggs (beaten)
Combine all ingredients into mixing bowl. Adjust quantities to taste. Salt and pepper to taste.

Layer into pan:
Tortillas to cover pan
Layer cheese mixture
Layer of meat mixture
Layer of bean mixture

Repeat Layers one more time
Add a sprinkling of grated cheese on top
Add 1 can sliced black olives



Bake at 350º for 30 minutes
Remove and top with
1 C. crushed corn chips
Place oven rack one step up and turn oven to broil.
Place pan back into oven and broil until the chips begin to brown.
Remove and serve with:

shredded lettuce
diced tomatoes
sour cream
guacamole
salsa
or whatever else you may like

Nana's Very Secret and Most Delicious BBQ Sauce

As the story goes…
Many years ago this recipe was pirated by Papa Kanaga’s brother, Lavern. He was a cook in the Army and enjoyed putting a recipe together for people to enjoy. Lavern ate at a certain restaurant once and fell in love with their BBQ sauce. He asked the chef if he would consider giving him the recipe, to which the chef declined. No matter what Lavern said, the chef would not part with his recipe. Lavern was not to be denied. He would watch the back access to the kitchen where they took out their garbage. When the trash contained things that looked like BBQ sauce ingredients, he wrote down what he thought was in the sauce. I’m sure he had to work out the quantities, but eventually came up with a really good rendition of his favorite sauce.
When Nana tried it, she loved it. After telling her how he came by the recipe Lavern gave it to her after she promised she would never give it out to anyone. She did let me have it after I came back from Okinawa, but told me I couldn’t give it out. After many years of keeping it secret, I think it's time to share it, so use it in good health and think about Uncle Lavern skulking around the alley in search of his treasure. I wish we had video of that!

In a stock pot combine:
1/2 Gallon vegetable or canola oil
(reserve about 2 cups)
1-1/2 Gallon Ketchup
2 Qts. Mustard
4 Ozs. Tobasco sauce
8 Ozs. Liquid smoke
1/2 C. (or 1 sm. can) Paprika
1/2 C. Brown sugar
1/2 C. Apple cider vinegar

In a large skillet:
Pour in the 2 cups of reserved oil
3 Cloves Garlic minced fine
(or 1t. garlic powder)
6 Medium Onions minced fine
1 t. Salt
1 t. Pepper
If you have a food processor, it is the best for mincing. With the chopping blade, turn on and drop the garlic down the feeding tube, this minces quite well. Open and put the peeled, quartered onions in and pulse several time to get all the chunks. Process just a few seconds for a fine mince.
Cook the onions and garlic until done. Add to stock pot and simmer for about an hour.

This sauce is good on all meats and is a unique addition to chili beans, sloppy joes, etc. Serve warm or cold - I know people who like it by the spoonful.
(not me of course, no not ever…!)


If you want to bottle this sauce:
Just simmer long enough to heat through. Ladle into jars leaving 1/2-3/4 inch headspace. Close with prepared lids and place into pressure canner.
Follow manufacturer’s instructions for exhausting air in canner. When weight is in place bring up to 10 lbs. pressure and process for 15 minutes. If you are doing quarts, process at 10 lbs. for 25 minutes.


Sherry Kanaga Harmon
“Granny”

Beef Pot Pie!

Talk about comfort food! This was so yummy and it gave me a reason to try making pie crust again! Successfully, I might add!!! I will put the recipe for the crust and what I did for the filling, but you could fill it with whatever!
Nana's Pie Crust
(Recipe for 2 full crusts, top and bottom)
4 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups of cold shortening
1 cup of cold butter
1 tsp of salt
3 TBS of sugar
1 cup of ice water
Mix all ingredients together, using dough hook, just until "balled up" or to where it will stay in a ball if you form one. Divide into 4 pieces, 2 larger for the bottom crusts and 2 slightly smaller for the top crusts. Roll out on floured surface. Place bottom crust into pie dish. Add filling. Add top crust and crimp the edges together to seal. Brush the top crust with evaporated milk and sprinkle with sugar (if making a sweet pie) if not just the evaporated milk. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes until golden brown. Cover the edges with foil if beginning to burn before done baking.
Filling:
1 lb of beef, cubed (roast, leftover steak, etc)
1 cup of baby peeled carrots
4 large red potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup of frozen peas
Salt, pepper, garlic, lipton onion soup mix
3-cups of water
1/2 cup of flour
Cook the beef in a skillet, seasoning with salt, pepper, garlic, lipton onion soup mix, or whatever you like. Reserve the drippings to make a quick brown gravy by mixing 3-4 cups of water and 1/2 of flour, then add the mixture into the drippings and stir often while bringing to a boil. Add beef along with the remaining ingredients into the gravy and stew on med-low heat until the veggies are almost tender. Pour into pie crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Best Ever Spinach Dip

1 package (10 oz) of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 package (8 oz) of cream cheese
3/4 cup of mayonaise
1 to 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese
1 package (1/4 oz) of Knorr vegetable recipe mix
1 can (8 oz) of water chestnuts, drained and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients except for 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese. Spoon into a 2 quart casserole dish and then top with the remaining shredded cheese. Bake for 35 minutes. Serve with Tortilla Chips, Crusty breads or whatever you like!

*This is seriously so good that whenever I make it I end up eating the left overs for breakfast, lunch and dinner until it is gone! So...make sure you have lots of people to share it with!

Individual Pineapple Upside Down Cakes

2-20 oz. cans of pineapple slices or chunks
1/3 cup of melted butter
2/3 cup of brown sugar
1 yellow cake mix

Drain pineapple slices, reserving juice. Grease well 24 muffin cups. Stir butter and brown sugar together and spoon the mixture evenly into the bottom of the muffin cups. Place the pinapple over the sugar mixture. Prepare cake mix according to the package directions, replacing water with reserved pineapple juice. Pour batter evenly into the cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Cool for a few minutes and then invert onto cooling rack to cool further.

**These are really good! Great for parties because you don't have to have forks! Enjoy!

Classic Creme Brulee

2 Cups Of Heavy Cream
4 Egg Yolks
1/4 Cup Of Sugar
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
8 tsp Fine Raw Sugar or Granulated Sugar (for carmelizing)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and have a pot of hot water ready. In a saucepan, over medium heat, combine cream and 1/4 cup of sugar. Cook, stirring, until steam rises, about 4-5 minutes.

In a bowl, beat egg yolks and vanilla until blended. Gradually pour hot cream into the yolk/sugar mixture, stirring constantly.

Divide mixture between 4-7 oz. ramekins or small oven safe dishes.

Line a 3'" deep baking dish with a clean kitchen towel. Fill the dish 1/2 way up with the hot water. Place the ramekins into the baking dish (water should be 1/2 way up on the outsides of the ramekins). Cover the baking dish loosely with foil.

Bake until set, 30-35 minutes, until the centers of the custards shake gently when the pan is moved or shifted.

Remove the pan from the oven and let cool slightly. Remove the ramekins from the pan and let cool to room temperature. Then move the ramekins to the refrigerator overnight (or at least 4 hours).

Just before serving, sprinkle the custards with 2 tsp of sugar each adn carmelize the tops with a kitchen torch or place the ramekins under the broiler, 2-3 inches away from the heat source, for 3-4 minutes. Watch carefully.

Top with berries, chocolate or whatever you like!

Quick Sweet and Sour Sauce

When we were living in Okinawa, Japan I met a wonderful lady (and cook), Hilda Toguchi. She hosted a cooking class in her home for all of us who were dying to learn her recipes and this sweet and sour sauce is hers. It is not the very best one out there, but it is fast and easy. We used it at the dinner party Tawna hosted for all her siblings and us. She did a marvelous job and I'm so glad she has decided to make it an annual tradition. We had a blast. I'm hoping she will post her other recipes as everything was so delicious. Meanwhile, for a fast sweet and sour…

In a saucepan combine:

1/13 C. water

2/3 C. Apple Cider Vinegar

1 C. Sugar

1/4 C. Cornstarch (or Ultra Gel)

Stir constantly over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. 

Add 2/3 C. Ketchup and stir well.

Remove from heat and serve warm or cool.

For a sweeter sauce, replace half the water with pineapple juice.

We did meat and vegetable (tempura) fondue and this sauce was so good on green or red peppers, the chicken (tempura'd or not) and shrimp. The list of great things to dip in it goes on and on. 

The above picture was taken the night of the party and you can see how much fun the food was. I know Nana is pleased that food and fun are still traditions we are building. She would have loved this party.

Creamy Cucumber-Dill Sauce

This recipe is very similar to the dipping sauce you get at Black Angus when you order fried zuchini. A favorite of ours to the dismay of our waiter's when we go there. We are always asking for more.

• 1 lg. cucumber, or 2 sm. ones
  
• 2 C. sour cream
  
• 1 C. mayonnaise
  
• 1 1/2 t. seasoned salt
  
• 4 t. finely chopped green onions
  
• 4 t. dried dill weed
  
• dash of granulated garlic
  

Peel cucumber, cut in half and scoop out the seeds. Coarsely grate and drain. Combine all other ingredients in a mixing bowl, stir with a wire whip.  Add cucumber. Cover and refrigerate a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. 

Yields about 3 C. of sauce.

This is also excellent with fried fish or any kind of seafood. 

Basic Dessert Crepes

Really thin, rich pancakes better known as crepes…

4 eggs (room temperature is best)
1 C. flour
1/2 C. milk
1/2 C. water
1/2 t. salt
2 T. melted butter
2 t. sugar
1 t. vanilla
Measure all ingredients except flour into mixing bowl. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed and gradually add the flour. Beat until smooth. If there are any small lumps, pour batter through a strainer into a 9 inch pie pan.
I am not a french chef, so I cheat and use a crepe maker to actually make them up. It takes all the hard work out of crepes, so follow the directions for your crepe maker amd have fun. This much batter will make about 12-14 crepes.
For a Chocolate Crepe add 2 T. chocolate sauce to this recipe.

I made these crepes for my ward mid-week activity since we were doing Valentine things. I love crepes and have made them for large groups as they can be made ahead of time, served them off the tailgate for breakfast on lake trips and for small elegant dinner parties. Of course the crepe maker I use makes all that feasible since the process is so simple. I have given crepe makers to several of my children and so am fairly sure they can be found for around 30.00 at places like Bed, Bath and Beyond and Shar's Kitchen to name a couple. Have fun with them. 

The filling is 2 parts creme cheese to 1 part cottege cheese. Sweeten with powdered sugar to taste and put in a little vanilla too. I mixed mine in a food processor so it would be really smooth and I colored it pink.

The toppings are fresh cut strawberries on one crepe, roasted raspberry chipotle from costco on the other crepe and whipped cream in the middle of them finished off with a drizzle of chocolate sauce. We enjoyed them and some of us enjoyed seconds because we have no will power. Oh well, we can walk another mile to compensate, right? You can top them with anything that sounds good. Fruit is always good - ice cream even.

You can make many variations of crepes including Entree crepes for chicken dishes, etc., Cornmeal crepes for mexican dishes, and even Whole Wheat crepes for a healthier dish.

Enjoy them on Valentine's Day as a special dessert or make them for breakfast. Kids love them.

Butter

Yes. Butter. I was thrilled to learn I could bottle butter. My kids all think I have a butter fetish because I buy lots of butter. I don’t like to be out, so I usually prepare very well in the butter department. Now I can really prepare. This is actually kind of fun. The information below was taken from the following website: www.endtimesreport.com/canning_butter . There is other information both pro and con about this subject, so if you are curious google “canning butter” and you can research all you wish. I made the choice to can butter as there are people who have had good success. I am just happy there is a choice and a way to store butter other than powdered or frozen. All good methods, so variety couldn't hurt.



One pound of butter slightly more than fills one pint jar, so if you are doing 12 jars, melt 11 pounds of butter. If you are doing 1/2 pints, you will need 5-1/2 pounds of butter. The better quality the butter, the less shaking will be required during the process. The lesser quality brands will still work for the same results. I buy my butter at Costco, and I get the salted kind.
Preparing Jars and Lids
Turn your oven to 350º. Place 1/2 pint, or pint jars on 12”x18” baking sheet, or in a large flat roaster pan. Put them in the oven for at least 20 minutes without lids or bands.


Prepare lids by putting them into a pan of hot, simmering water (that's what the manufacturer's recommend) for 5 minutes, and use the magnetic "lid lifter wand" to pull them out.



Preparing butter
In at least a 6 quart stock pot, melt butter slowly until it comes to a slow boil (butter will “grow” as it heats through so pot should be large enough to allow this), stirring constantly along the bottom of the pot to keep the butter from scorching. Reduce heat and simmer for at least 5 minutes.* A good simmer time will lessen the amount of shaking required later.
Remove the jars from the oven. Stirring the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a soup ladle, fill heated jars carefully leaving 3/4” headspace. You need this room for the shaking process.



Thoroughly wipe clean jar rims, attach lids and bands. Lids will seal as the jars cool. Once a few of the lids “ping”, and when jars are still warm, but cool enough to handle, gently shake the jars to keep the butter from separating. You may need to do this several times until the butter retains the same consistency throughout the jar. Sometimes the lids will pop back up, but they should “ping” again and will stay sealed as jar cools. If you have lids that don’t seal, re-heat the jars after washing and repeat process.



While butter jars are still slightly warm, put the jars on a tray and put into refrigerator. While cooling and hardening, shake again and the melted butter will then look like butter and become firm. This final shaking is very important. Check every five minutes and give the jars a shake until they are hardened in the jar. Leave in refrigerator for an hour.
Storing Your Jars
After removing from the refrigerator, place on a cool, dark shelf. Canned butter should store for 3 years or longer.

* If butter separates during cooking, you can still can it. It just won’t have the creamy texture of butter, but can be used on everything except maybe spreading on bread. If you only use the darker yellow clear liquid that floats to the top, and not get any of the lighter yellow milk fat into your jars, you would have “clarified” butter. It is better for you as there is less fat, and better that it is a natural product in your body. Margarine and other diet spreads are just chemicals and don’t assimilate into your body the same.

Apple Pie a la Nana

I remember Nana making her famous apple pie and knowing how much Richard loved it and had a non-pie-making wife, she would think of ways to send it to us when we lived in California. Papa flew for a corporation that came to Cali often, so when she baked a couple of pies, she would send one with Papa for us. I would drive to little executive airports many times to pick up a delicious pie. What a wonderful memory to cherish now.

–Sherry Kanaga Harmon

Deep Dish Double Crust
Ingredients
2 1/2 C. Flour
2 T. Sugar
1 t. Salt
1/2 C. Cold Shortening
1/2 C. Cold Butter (diced)
3 T. Apple Juice
3 T. Cold water (more if needed)
 
Directions
In a food processor with the chopping blade on, combine flour, sugar and salt.
Cut in the shortening with 7-8 pluses and add the butter. About 4- 5 more pulses should produce a pea like texture. Add the water and juice mixture and do a few short pulses, just until it starts to come together. Turn onto a bread board and push it into a ball.Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 15 minutes. It can stay in the fridge longer if you don’t get to it right away.

Apple Filling
Ingredients
8-9 mixed variety apples
For a mix of naturally sweet and tart varieties, try these: Bramley, Cox, Pippin, Fuji, McIntosh, Stayman Winesap, Jonagold, Rome, Cameo, Jonathon, Honeycrisp and Pink Lady. If unavailable, try Red Delicious or Gala. Granny Smith were Nana’s favorite to mix in as she liked a tart apple pie. You want flavorful, aromatic and firm apples. Always use a mixture - never just one type. The Fuji's and Gala's give it an aromatic flavor!

1/4 C. Apple juice (or balsamic vinegar)
3 T. Butter
2 t. Vanilla
1-2 C. Sugar (1 part can be brown)
2 T. Cinnamon

Optional additional spices to add are:
1/4 t. Nutmeg
1/4 t. Ground cloves
1/4 t. Ginger
1/4 t. Allspice

Nana was not a fan of ginger or allspice for sure, only sometimes would add a little nutmeg and maybe a dash of cloves if she were in the mood. Experiment and decide what combinations you like.

3-4 T. Ultra Gel (can use flour or cornstarch for substitution)
2 T. Butter (to dot top of apple filling in the pie)

Directions
Peel, core and wedge the apples. Place into a large frying pan with butter and juice on medium heat. Cover for about 8 minutes, or until just barely tender. Remove from heat, add vanilla and allow to cool. Mix Ultra Gel, sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over cooled apples and toss. Place apples into bottom crust in a deep pie dish. Dot with butter and cover with top crust. Cut a few slashes in top crust to allow steam to escape while cooking. Trim edges to 1/2” bigger than the pie dish, fold excess under itself and crimp edge down to seal in the filling. Paint top crust with cream and sprinkle sugar over top. Egg wash can be used, but doesn’t brown as well.

Bake at 375º for 20 minutes in lower half of oven. Then reduce heat to 350º and move to center of the oven. Bake another 30-40 minutes. This will insure the bottom crust gets nice and done for a flaky melt in your mouth crust and should keep the crust edges from getting too brown.

When pie is nice and golden brown, remove and cool on wire rack.

Tip: Sometimes I use foil to make little shields for the crimped edge of pie. Keep in place for first
30 minutes of bake time and then remove. This will keep the crimped edge from getting too brown.
 
Tip: Sprinkle 1 T. of lemon gelati over apples before adding the top crust. Flavor is delicious and gelatin helps to prevent spillovers.

A apple a day, or 10 boxes in a month!

It seems like Jade, Tawna, Tracy and I have been doing apples for a month. Wait, we have been doing apples for a month! Not every day. We did 10 boxes of apples this year in our family and I lost count how many Tracy ended up doing. The squeezo was a great investment and I highly recommend it. The pie apples are much better this year and are prettier too. We opted for wedged sliced instead of the easier spiral slices we did last year. Jade and I made our rebellious non-sealing 7 quarts (out of 55 quarts) into apple pie. I think I may have made an apple pie like 20 years ago, so I'm going to say this was my first attempt at doing apple pie. Jade remembered lots of Nana's little tips, so she was a better student than me by a long shot. I found a good recipe online for pie apples, so used it to can our pie apples. I'm posting it here for anyone who wants to try it. It's been fun.

Choosing your apples
Select apples depending on how tart you like your apple pie. The more tart varieties like Granny Smith result in a tart pie unless you add more sugar.

For a mix of naturally sweet and tart varieties, use from these groups: Bramley, Cox Pippin, Fuji, McIntosh, Stayman Winesap, Jonagold, Rome, Cameo, Jonathon. If you can't get any of these, then try Red Delicious, Honeycrisp, etc. You want a flavorful, aromatic and firm apple (Golden Delicious and Galas are too soft, for example). Always use a mixture - never just one type. The Fuji's and Gala's give it an aromatic flavor! Honeycrisp and Pink Lady are also excellent, sweet, flavorful apples.

Preparing Jars and Lids
Now's a good time to get the jars ready, so you won't be rushed later. The dishwasher is fine for the jars or you can wash the containers in hot, soapy water and rinse, keep the jars hot until they are used. Leave the jars in the dishwasher on "heated dry" until you are ready to use them. Keeping them hot will prevent the jars from breaking when you fill them with the hot apple pie filling.

Put the lids into a pan of hot, but not quite boiling water (that's what the manufacturer's recommend) for 5 minutes, and use the magnetic "lid lifter wand" to pull them out.

Preparing the apples

Fill your sink or a large container with water to wash the apples. The fastest way to peel the apples is an “apple, peeler, corer, slicer” (but with the corer/slicer function off). With firm apples, it takes about 20 seconds per apple. These apple peelers don't work well on soft, mushy apples or apples with soft spots on them. In that case your stuck with a hand peeler!

Once they're peeled, remove any remaining brown spots. These apple peelers work absolutely great on firm apples, pears and potatoes. They don't work so well on apples that are mush or have soft spots. There are 2 types of peelers: those that have a suction base and those that clamp on to the edge of a table. I prefer the suction type as you can use it more places.
Slicing and coring the apples is next.

You can use a knife, but the $5 corer/slicer you see in the photo is the easiest way to do it. The apple corer/slicer, available at almost any large grocery store, kitchen store, Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, Wal-Mart, etc. With this or an ordinary knife, any slices that are between ¼-inch and 1/2 inch thick will do.

Remove seeds, stems, any hard parts near the seeds and brown or soft spots. Now you are ready to blanch the apples. Place sliced apples a batch at a time in a large pot with at least 1 gallon of boiling water - the larger the pot and the greater the volume of water, the better! Boil each batch 1 minute after the water returns to a boil. You're not really "cooking" the apples - just blanching them. Blanching means heating them at high temperature for a brief time to stop the enzymes that can cause the flavor to degrade during storage.

Drain and keep the hot fruit in a covered bowl or pot.

Pie Filling

In a large pot combine:
7 1/2 C. cold water (or 2 1/2 C. water and 5 C. apple juice for more flavor)
3 C. granulated sugar (Yes, you can vary the amount of sugar. You could use organic sugar or honey (about 3/4 cup of honey to replace each cup of sugar)
1 T. Cinnamon
1 t. Nutmeg
1 t. Cloves ( I use half this amount because I'm not a big cloves fan.)
Optional additional spices you could add are 1 t. each of Ginger and Allspice.

Stir almost constantly while cooking on medium high heat until the mixture begins to bubble.

Mix 1 1/2 C. Ultra Gel
with 3/4 C. Bottled Lemon Juice and add this to the juice in the pot. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly, until it starts to thicken. Then remove from the heat./ It ought to be pretty thick, but still able to drip.

(I buy Ultra Gel at Shar's Kitchen) or you can use a product called ClearJel. You can also use cornstarch but know the following: According to the USDA's National Home Food Preservation Center at the University of Georgia, ClearJel® is a corn starch that has been modified to give it special and unique characteristics when used in food products. It is recommended by the USDA for making pie fillings because it does not break down in the acid food mixtures and does not thicken enough during heat processing to interfere with the intended effect of the heat on killing bacteria during canning. In other words it reduces spoilage and is safer than corn starch. It is preferred for thickening canned pie fillings as well as other foods over other corn starches because it has less or no aftertaste, the thickened juices are smooth and clear, and foods thickened with ClearJel® may be frozen.

Filling Your Jars
The best way to fill the jars is pictured here. Because the filling is on the thick side, layering is preferred so the filling is present through the jar. Fill to 1/2" minimum headspace. I like about 1" better. A thin spatula down the sides of the filled jar will release any air pockets present. Prepare lids and bands and close the jars.


Water Bath Method
Put them in the canner and keep them cover with at least 1 inch of water and boiling. For our altitude here in Arizona, boil pint and/or quart jars for 30 minutes. After processing time is achieved, remove jars to a draft-free counter and allow to cool, usually overnight without disturbing. If all goes will you will hear the lids ping, or pop down to form the desired seal. If they don't seal, refrigerate and use, or apply a new prepared lid and reprocess.

Steam Canner Method
Follow manufacturer's directions to prepare the canner and water level. Place jars on rack and close canner. Once the steam is a steady 8" or so plume from both sides of canner start timing for 30 minutes. At the end of 30 minutes, turn off burner and allow to sit 3 minutes. Remove jars to a draft-free counter and allow to cool, usually overnight without disturbing. If all goes will you will hear the lids ping, or pop down to form the desired seal. If they don't seal, refrigerate and use, or apply a new prepared lid and reprocess.

Pressure Canner Method
Follow manufacturer's directions to prepare canner and water level. After jars are placed in canner and the lid secured, again follow the direction's for exhausting the air from the canner. After the weight is placed, allow the pressure to build to 6 pounds. Reduce heat to maintain pressure at 6 pounds for 8 minutes. Remove from heat and allow pressure to fall on it's own. At that point, remove weight and lid and allow the jars to stay in the canner 5-10 minutes. Remove from canner to a draft-free counter and allow to cool, usually overnight without disturbing. If all goes will you will hear the lids ping, or pop down to form the desired seal. If they don't seal, refrigerate and use, or apply a new prepared lid and reprocess.
You can use your pressure canner as a water bath also. Follow manufacturer's directions for this process.

Finishing
Now your jars are all done, cooled and hopefully all sealed. Remove the bands and put them in hot soapy water. Take each jars and gently wash the band threads to remove and sticky residue from the canning process. Set them on a towel to dry or wipe dry and date the lids and label if you need to. I reapply the clean, dry bands for storage, but you don't have to.
Apple pie, apple crisp, over ice cream, there are many ways to use this wonderful filling.

Corn & Potato Chowder...

Ingredients:

2-3 cans sweet cream corn
1 yellow onion chopped
1 clove minced garlic
1 cube butter (1/2 cup)
1 large carrot
2 cups potato flakes
4-6 cups milk
2-3 cups chicken broth
3-4 TBLS parsley flakes
1 jar Hormel "REAL" bacon bits (or crumbled)
Salt & pepper to taste















Melt your butter in a non-stick frying pan and add in your chopped onions and minced garlic. Then take a potato peeler and with short strokes peel the carrot into the mixture and saute all of it together. Add your parsley to the mixture.

Transfer this mixture to a stock pot and turn the heat to high. Add your chicken broth and milk and bring to a boil. When boiling turn down to low heat and add in your potato flakes and stir well. Bring the soup to the consistency that you wish by using milk to thin out or a few more potato flakes to thicken. When the consistency is of your liking then add your corn and then the jar of bacon bits or crumbled bacon last.


Stir well and serve.

I served with garnish of cheese croutons and it was yummy!!!
















Side note: You can choose to use real potatoes in the soup rather than the flakes. If this is your choice then use 4-6 medium potatoes cubed, and saute in with the onions, garlic, carrots and parsley. Saute until the potatoes are tender.
Once tender transfer to stock pot and add the chicken broth the recipe calls for. Then you'll need to make a white sauce to use for the soup base. To do this, in a medium mixing bowl whisk together 4 cups of milk and 3/4 cup flour and blend well. Add to stock pot and continue on with the above directions from there. Either way it is yummy!