Putting Food By: Pickled Beets

July 2, 2012June 29, 2012 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

Despite the extreme heat we have had the past several days, our beets seem to be absolutely thriving. In fact, they seem to be the only thing in our garden these days that are not being absolutely devoured by Japanese beetles. Ug.

But enough of the negative and on to the positive…these beets. Yum. We pulled up our first round of beets this week and we were thrilled to find they had filled out nicely beneath the thick layer of soil. My favorite way to eat beets is to pickle them, so I used a very easy pickling recipe from Putting Food By (listed below with a link), and before I knew it we had jars full of tart and scrumptious pickled beets.

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Some of our favorite home preservation books are:

Putting Food By by Janet Greene, Ruth Hertzberg and Beatrice Vaughan

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (There are some great canning recipes scattered throughout the piece.)

The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest by Carol W. Costenbader

Fresh

June 28, 2012June 26, 2012 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

Each morning I make a lovely cup of piping hot coffee and stand at my kitchen window overlooking my garden. Even in the dead of winter, when the garden is buried beneath layer upon layer of snow, I do this. It allows me to view one area of the earth, each day, and observe all of the changes that take place and often go unnoticed.

Yesterday, as I was conducting this every day task, I noticed that the mint in my herb garden had reached an all-time-out-of-control-I’m-goiing-to-take-over-everything state. I now had more mint than any human could ever even dream of consuming. I twiddled my thumbs for a bit, trying to think of what in the world to do with even a small bit of this mint. Then it came to me. On our trip to Champaign this past weekend I indulged in this exquisite homemade, flourless cake that was served with fresh mint ice cream. Yummy. So, that was it…fresh mint ice cream!

I used my normal ice cream recipe, but this time I added fresh, finely chopped mint at the stage when I add the vanilla. I covered the pan with a ceramic plate and allowed the mint to steep in the mixture until completely cool. This allowed the lovely, fresh flavor of the mint to infuse into the ice cream.

Enjoy!

Family

June 27, 2012June 26, 2012 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

When we moved back to Rockford (the hometown of both myself and my husband) four years ago this July, we pledged to make the move “worth it.” You see, we adored living in Champaign. We loved living in a city that is home to a major university, and all that comes with it. We loved our teaching jobs, our students and our co-workers. We loved our home, our neighbors and our neighborhood. But the longing we both felt for our families far outweighed all of that.

We told ourselves that if we moved away from this fabulous city in order to be closer to our families, we must make every attempt to see our families, and see them often. Although all of us have busy schedules, and it can often feel overwhelming to squeeze in time with everyone, we are so, so, so happy to be home.

Our summer “Tuesday Night Dinner” tradition is one we truly love and it makes us so very thankful for how full our lives are. Full of family. Full of love. And always full of laughter 🙂

Recharge

June 26, 2012 / makingofahome / 2 Comments

Sorry for being away for a few days longer than normal this weekend, but my hubby and I took a long weekend to relax, recharge and reconnect. Despite the fact it didn’t seem like the trip was needed, once we got on the road and the distance between us and our home lengthened, we realized that indeed this trip was necessary. It is so easy to get caught up (and let’s face it, sometimes bogged down) by the day to day. It was extremely refreshing to take a break from the normal hum drum of our daily lives and just be at peace for a bit.

Now, when normal people go to exotic places to get away, my hubby and I went back to Champaign, Illinois…the place where we went to school, the place we lived and worked for five years of our adult lives, and the place where we started our family. There was a lot of walking, dining and just plain hanging out. It was divine 🙂

Wishing you all a lovely week!

Putting Food By: Black Raspberry Jam

June 21, 2012June 21, 2012 / makingofahome / Leave a comment

Is there anything better than homemade bread smothered in freshly made jam? I really cannot think of a single thing that sounds better than that at this moment.

I have been eating freezer jam from as far back as I can remember. Each and every time I went to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Dietmeier, I could be assured that there would be a fresh jar of homemade jam in the fridge just waiting for me to dig in. My all time favorite treat was when my Grandpa Dit would give me a scoop of butter pecan ice cream with homemade jam on top. Oh my. My mouth is watering right now at the simple thought of it!

I want to be sure my girls have these same fond memories of delicious home-preserved food as I do, so I have been making freezer jam for the past four years. I normally make my jam from strawberries I buy at the farmers market, but this year I whipped up a batch with the black raspberries we picked this past weekend. It seemed to make the entire process so much more invigorating to know that we picked all of the berries with our own hands, and then made the jam as well. Yummy!

Another first this year is that I switched away from the pectin I was using in years past and moved to Pomona’s Universal Pectin. And let me tell you, I loved it! I ended up using 6 cups less sugar than I would have to make the same amount of jam with the other pectin! The taste was amazing because you could taste the tartness of the berries so much more than you could when all of that sugar is in there to cover up the natural flavor of the fruit. I would recommend Pomona’s to anyone thinking of making jam this year.

Berry Pickin’

June 19, 2012June 18, 2012 / makingofahome / Leave a comment

This past weekend the whole Fagan crew was out in full force, making our way through the wild black raspberry brambles. There was picking’, snacking’ and laughin’ going on all afternoon. It was perfect.

The little ones really got into the entire process this year and picked for quite a while before they retired to the cool pool that awaited them just a hop, skip and a jump away. So while the little ones swam with Grandma, the rest of us slowly made our way up the property line, continuously amazed by what the earth was providing for us. These brambles were not planted here, but rather sprung up from the earth as a form of nourishment to those animals and people in the vicinity.

The day was of course an absolute blast, but I found myself often pausing to think of all that the earth continues to provide for us. It is a true miracle that so often times is overlooked because of our fast paced lives and our constant desire for more. This day gave me a chance to just sit back and marvel, to not be overcome with the craziness of our world, and just enjoy some good ole berry picking’ 🙂

At This Moment

June 18, 2012June 18, 2012 / makingofahome / Leave a comment

At this moment I am…

~preparing a list of supplies to make black raspberry jam.

~reminiscing upon the fun times had this weekend celebrating Daddy.

~contemplating a multitude of ideas floating about in my head involving a potential new project that could impact my children, as well as my community, in a positive way.

~mulling over the powerful words and ideas contained in Will Allen’s book The Good Food Revolution.

~trusting that rain drops will fall from the sky today to give our garden some desperately needed hydration.

~thanking God for my wonderful family. I am so truly blessed.

~wishing you all a wonderful week filled with fabulous memories!

Louder Than Words

June 14, 2012June 13, 2012 / makingofahome / 2 Comments

A Summer Tradition

June 13, 2012June 13, 2012 / makingofahome / 3 Comments

Yesterday evening marked the beginning of a great summer tradition at the Fagan abode…Tuesday Night Dinner. Our entire family gathers on our back deck for food, drinks, and lots of fun and laughs. While talking last night, I think we all agreed that Tuesday Night Dinners are our favorite activities of the summer months, and we were all thrilled that it is that time of year again.

Last night’s theme was Mexican fiesta, and it was fabulous. My hubby and I prepared some Rick Bayless recipes from this cookbook and this cookbook, while other family members brought other scrumptious dishes for all to share.

Here is a glimpse into the fun that was had by all last evening…