Chile Pepper Pear Preserves

Hot Chile Pepper Pear Preserves

Make this using the crunchy pears that are like apples.

Ingredients:

Pears

Sugar

Hot Chile Peppers

Gran Gala Liqueur

10 cups peeled, cored, coarsely chopped hard pears

1¼ cup water

Bring to boil with cover on, reduce heat and cook 20-30 minutes, stirring often to soften pears.  Drain excess water.

*1 cup roasted hot Chile peppers, de-seeded and cored and finely chopped.

7 cups sugar

Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer stirring often 1½ - 2 hours to further soften pears.  Return heat to medium-high and cook stirring often 45 minutes longer or until it reaches the **gel stage (220°). 

Remove from heat and stir in ¼ cup Gran Gala Liqueur, continue to stir 2-3 minutes longer to prevent the fruit from floating to the top; spoon into hot sterilized jars and process in boiling water bath 10 minutes. 

Yield 5 pints.

• To roast peppers, preheat oven to 450°.  Spread peppers on cookie sheet; roast 4-5 minutes until skins blister.  Place in zip lock bag to sweat in their skins for 10-15 minutes.  Once this is done it is easy to slide the tip of a spoon or butter knife in and slip out the seeds and white core.  WEAR GLOVES WHEN WORKING WITH HOT PEPPERS.

• The gel stage is reached at 220°.  Another way to test the gel stage is to place a small plate in the freezer.  Towards the end of cooking time, place a spoonful of the hot mixture on the plate, and return it to the freezer for two minutes.  Check to see if the mixture has gelled.

© Crackerberries 2012

Chicken and Herbs

Four+ Herbs Chicken

1½ -2 lbs chicken leg quarters

3-4 cloves garlic, sliced

Fresh basil leaves

Fresh oregano leaves

Fresh lemon balm leaves

1 tbsp tarragon leaves

Sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper

Olive oil

Wash chicken.  Preheat oven to 350°

Place chicken in cast iron skillet.

Finely chop basil, oregano, and lemon balm leaves and combine with tarragon leaves.  Slide pieces of garlic underneath the skin of the chicken with 1 tsp of the herbs. 

Rub the outside skin generously with extra virgin olive oil.  Salt and pepper and sprinkle with remaining herbs. 

Bake 50 minutes at 350°.  Flip chicken and increase heat to 400° and cook 10-15 minutes longer. 

© Crackerberries 2012

Pear Pie

Harvest Time Pear Pie

1 9-inch pie crust

10 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced

1 cup fig conserves

¾ cup sugar

2 Tbsp whole wheat flour

Pinch of salt

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp cardamom

1-2 tbsp butter or margarine

Preheat oven 400°.

Combine sugar, flour, and spices together.  Add to pears, and mix well.  Fold in conserves. 

Spoon mixture into pie crust, and dot with 1-2 tbsp butter or margarine; lay top pastry over top.  Pinch edges all the way around, and crimp to seal.  Cut air vents in top of crust.  (Use a festive cookie cutter before putting top pie crust on — be sure not to cut all the way through.)

Bake at 400° for 50 minutes, reduce heat to 350° to cook an additional 10-15 minutes, sliding a sharp knife in one of the air vents to check tenderness of pears.  You may need to tent aluminum foil around the edges if they start to get too brown. 

Serve warm with ice cream if desired.

© Crackerberries 2012

Parmesan Crusted Burgers

Parmesan Crusted Burgers

1 lb ground beef

½ cup Italian style bread crumbs

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp onion powder

1 egg

¼ cup parmesan cheese

¼ cup finely shredded mozzarella cheese

½ tsp garlic salt

1 tsp fresh coarsely ground pepper

½ tsp BBQ spice

Combine ground beef, bread crumbs, 1 tsp garlic salt, onion powder, and egg and mix well.  Shape into four patties. 

In small bowl combine parmesan cheese, garlic salt, pepper and BBQ spice and mix well.  Roll outside edges of patties in mixture, shake off excess.  Add mozzarella cheese and mix well.

Place patties in preheated cast iron skillet on medium heat and cook for 7 minutes.  Flip and cook an additional 4-5 minutes.  In the meantime, preheat broiler.  

Divide parmesan mixture over each patty.  Place under broiler for 2-3 minutes or until cheese is slightly golden and bubbly.  Remove from skillet and serve on buns or alone with favorite sides.

© Crackerberries 2012

Peanut Butter Crunch Buns

Peanut Butter Yeast Buns

(Bread machine)

Yeast Bun Dough

1 egg

¾ cup water (70°-80°)

¼ cup butter flavored Crisco

¼ cup dry milk powder

¾ tsp salt

1½ cup all purpose flour

1½ cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup sugar

2¼ tsp yeast

Combine all ingredients (starting with wet items first and ending with yeast last) in bread machine.  Make a small well in the top of the dry ingredients for the yeast.  Select the dough setting (this typically takes an hour and 20 minutes so plan accordingly). 

Turn out dough on lightly floured surface.  Divide dough in half.  (I freeze one for later).  Roll each into 10x15 inch rectangles.  Let rest and make filling.  (Each half will make 12 buns).

Peanut Butter Filling

¾ cup brown sugar

¼ cup flour

¾ cup crunchy peanut butter

3 Tbsp margarine

Combine in bowl and mix well.  Divide in half and spread over each rectangle.  Roll up the long side of the dough and pinch along the sides to seal.  Slice into twelve rolls.

Place on lightly greased cookie sheet and cover with dish towel to let rise 30-45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375°.  Bake 20 minutes.  Remove from cookie sheet and place on wire racks to cool slightly.  Drizzle with orange glace if desired.

Orange Glaze

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

2-3 Tbsp orange juice

Combine in bowl and mix to desired spreading consistency.  Drizzle over each bun and serve immediately.  Store leftovers in air tight container.

© Crackerberries 2012

Pizza Burgers

Pizza Burgers

1 lb ground beef

12 slices pepperoni

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

½ cup pizza sauce

4 hamburger buns

Condiments

Shape hamburger into 4 1 inch thick patties.  Place in freezer for about an hour to slightly freeze. 

Preheat oven to 375°

Remove from freezer and slice each burger through the center.  Press down gently with thumb on bottom patty creating a small well in each burger.  Add 1 tablespoon of pizza sauce to each well, top with chopped pepperoni and mozzarella cheese.  Place tops of burgers back on top and squeeze to seal sides. 

Place on rack on cookie sheet.  Cook at 375°for 20 minutes; flip and cook an additional 10 minutes.  Serve on toasted buns with more pizza sauce or other favorite condiments.       

© Crackerberries 2012

Homemade Shake N Bake Chicken

Chicken

 1 lb chicken leg/thigh pieces

2 Tbsp teriyaki sauce

1 tsp Sriracha hot chili sauce (A.K.A. Rooster Sauce)

½ cup Italian style bread crumbs

½ cup whole wheat flour                    

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp ground black pepper

2 tsp BBQ spice

1½ tsp coarse sea salt

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

 

Combine teriyaki sauce and Sriracha sauce in zip lock bag.  Add chicken and let stand for 30 minutes on counter top, flipping over often.  Remove from bag and discard marinade.

In another zip lock bag combine bread crumbs, flour, onion powder, pepper, BBQ spice and salt.  Shake well to combine.  Add chicken pieces a couple at a time and shake well to coat. 

Place vegetable oil in cast iron skillet and swirl around to cover bottom.  Place chicken in skillet.  Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, flip chicken and bake 20 more minutes.  Remove from skillet immediately.

© Crackerberries 2012

Rice Globs

Rice Globs

Rice itself needs to be doctored up to taste good the first time, let alone eating leftovers.  Here’s an idea to use up leftover rice and they won’t even know it’s made out of leftovers.

3 cups leftover cooked rice (I used 1 cup white and 2 cups fried)

1 large egg, well beaten

¼ cup margarine (softened)

¼ cup parmesan cheese

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp dried chopped onion

Preheat oven to 350°.

Mix all ingredients together in large bowl.  (Note:  if you are using plain white rice add in 1/2 cup chopped deli meat, green peppers, onions, or bacon bits or a combination.)  Roll into balls or use small ice cream scoop and place on lightly greased cookie sheet.  Bake 30 minutes until firm.  Serve with duck sauce, ketchup or marinara sauce.

© Crackerberries 2012

Cereal Muffins

Fiber One Marmalade Muffins

“There’s no fiber in this, it tastes too good.”

1½ cups flour

1 cup quick cooking oats

¼ cup brown sugar

1½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

2 eggs, slightly beaten  

¾ cup milk

¾ cup orange marmalade

¼ cup finely chopped pears

½ cup crushed Fiber One cereal (I suppose any cereal will work)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400°.  Lightly grease muffin pan, or spray with cooking oil.

In medium bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

Combine eggs, milk, marmalade and vegetable oil and pour all at once in the center of the dry ingredients.  Mix just until moistened.  Batter will be lumpy.  Fold in pears.

Spoon into muffin tins; I use a large ice cream scoop to make all tins consistent.  Sprinkle cereal over top of each muffin and bake 15-18 minutes or until golden.  Cool on wire rack 5 minutes and remove from tins.

© Crackerberries 2012

Gingered Pear Butter

Gingered Pear Butter

2 3-inch cinnamon sticks

2 tsp whole cloves

12 cups pears (peeled, cored and coarsely chopped)

½ cup lemon juice

¼ cup orange juice (more or less)

9 cups sugar

2 tsp ground ginger

Prepare the preserving jars.  Put cinnamon and cloves in cheese cloth and tie top with string.  Place pears and lemon juice in preserving pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and cover, stirring frequently, for 20 minutes. 

Add sugar, cheese cloth of spices, and ground ginger.  Turn heat up to medium high and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Once mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook for 45 minutes or until mixture is thickened. 

Remove from heat and discard spice bag; skim of foam if necessary and stir 2-3 minutes.  Ladle jam into hot sterilized jars and seal according to manufacturers instructions.  Process jars in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Yield: 4 ½ pints (72 oz)

© Crackerberries 2012

Homemade Tater Tots

Homemade Tater Tots

If you want to feel like a kid in an adult way, make this recipe.  These were so yummy and they don’t leave that greasy after-taste in your mouth like the store bought tater tots.

1 egg

¼ cup margarine

3 cups mashed potatoes

½ tsp Lawry’s seasoning salt

¼ tsp celery salt

½ tsp onion powder

¼ cup self-rising buttermilk corn meal

Beat egg and margarine together in mixing bowl.  (I used the tub margarine as it’s already soft).  This is great for leftover mashed potatoes.  I used leftover garlic potatoes and carrots.  Add potatoes and spices and mix just until combined.  Fold in corn meal (do not beat).  Using small ice cream scoop, drop on lightly greased cookie sheet.  Slightly flatten with fork.  Bake at 400° for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and flip all tots, reduce oven to 375° and bake 15 minutes longer.

© Crackerberries 2012

Salisbury Steaks

Salisbury Steaks

Are you tired of hamburgers and meatloaf?  Try this ground beef recipe.  It is great with noodles, mashed potatoes, French fries, rice or whatever your favorite starch-side might be.

1 lb ground beef

1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup

1 egg

½ cup Italian style bread crumbs

3 tbsp flour

2-3 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 cup water

1 green pepper

1 onion

Salt and pepper (optional)

Slice onions and separate rings; slice green peppers.

Preheat oven to 350°

Mix beef, 1 tablespoon of onion soup mix, egg, bread crumbs, slat, pepper and 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce.  Shape into 4 oval patties, and arrange in 8x8 baking dish.  Cover with onions and green peppers.

Combine remaining onion soup with flour, water and 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce and pour over steaks.  Cover and bake for 45-50 minutes.  Remove from oven and slightly stir gravy mixture before serving.

© Crackerberries 2012

                                                                                                    

Chili Biscuit Sandwiches

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

¾ cup corn meal

1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp chopped jalapenos

½ tsp salt

¾ tsp cream of tartar

½ cup butter flavored Crisco

¼ cup half and half

¾ cup milk

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

24 oz Homemade Chili Beans

Preheat oven to 400º.  Combine flour, baking powder, cornmeal, cream of tartar, jalapenos, sugar and salt in bowl.  Cut in Crisco until crumbly and create well in center of mixture.  Add ½ cup cheese and pour milk and half and half in all at once.  Stir with fork just to moisten and combine. 

Using one third of biscuit mix spread in lightly greased 10x10 baking dish.  Place in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, just until mixture turns slightly golden and puffy.

Remove from oven and spoon chili beans over mixture; sprinkle with remaining ½ cup cheddar cheese. 

Drop biscuits on top of chili mixture and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes until golden brown.  Let cool and cut into sandwiches.

© Crackerberries 2012