Pickled Foods (from Judy N.)

PICKLED BEETS

Select small, young beets, cook until tender, dip into cold water.  Peel off skins.  Make the following syrup:

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
2 cups strong white vinegar
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon allspice
1 TABLESPOON cinnamon

Pour over beets and boil 10 minutes  Pack into sterilized canning jars and seal at once.

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PICKLED CARROTS (SWEET)

1 quart white vinegar
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1 tablespoon whole allspice
1 tablespoon mace
1 quart sugar
Stick of cinnamon

Boil young carrots until skins slip.  Remove skins, slice or leave whole.

Combine the spices in a little cheesecloth bag.   Heat the "pickling mixture" until boiling hot.

Pour boiling hot syrup made of vinegar, sugar and "bagged" spices over the carrots.  Let stand overnight, then bring to boil and boil for 5 minutes.  Remove sp;ices and pack carrots into clean canning jars.  Fill to within 1/2 inch of top of jar with the hot spiced syrup.  Put on cap, screwing the band "firmly tight".  Process 10 minutes in water bath. 

PICKLED CRAB APPLES

Choose sound crab apples uniform in size.  Do not peel them.  Make a spiced syrup by heating together:

1 quart white vinegar.
3 cups water.
4 cups sugar.
1 tablespoon EACH of cinnamon, and cloves.
1 teaspoon EACH of mace and allspice.
Crab apples.

DIRECTIONS:
Tie spices loosely in cheesecloth bag.  This is enough syrup for about 5 pints.  When cool, add crab apples, and heat slowly, being careful not to burst the fruit.  Let stand in syrup overnight.  Next morning remove spice bag and pack apples without reheating into clean canning jars, and fill to within 1/2 inch of top of jar with syrup.  Put on cap, screwing the band "firmly tight" .  Process in water bath at simmering temperature (180-degrees) for 20 minutes.

'tis this time of the year...

Yes!, ...'tis that time of the year to find out what's been happening UNDERground since planting time!   Of all the "findings", this one was the most "affectionate"...

Below:  The hugger from one side...

...and from the other side.

The smaller carrot being "hugged" was just "in there", 

loose and independent.  Was the "hugging" to save the 

"hugged" from being thinned?  

P.S.  The "digger of the carrots" said there were ALSO some 

carrots that looked "too naughty" to be photographed!   

Below:  On the back left, there are quart jars of canned peach halves that came FRESH (directly delivered) from GEORGIA by one of my sister's sons.  In fact, when my husband and I came back from our vacation,  my sister had these canned up for me-- in addition to that, she made those 4 pints of peach jam for us.

In comparison to the "home canner" my mother was, and in comparison to some other "home canners" I know these days, I do NOT consider myself to be any kind of MARATHON CANNER.  But!, there comes a time when an abundant yield of produce must be shared with friends,  OR it comes down to "do THIS" with the extras, OR ... heaven forbid, let 'em go to waste.

Other than the peaches and the peach jam in the above photo, there are pickled beets, and a whole lot of carrots.  Three varieties of carrots... the carrots along the front/left grew in the garden as PURPLE-colored carrots.  But, the purple color went away as I lightly pared (scraped?) them.  Canned up, they look just a little different in the jar.

Carrot - Pecan - Chocolate Chip Cookies

Get some eggs, get some butter...get started!

Time to to use up

some more CARROTS!!!

I took a pumpkin cookie recipe and 

converted the pumpkin to... CARROT!

Ingredients:

2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
....
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
*15 oz. puree'd carrots (probably 2 cups raw carrot slices to begin with?).  I can't believe I actually WEIGHED this!
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
....
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (or chopped walnuts)

* If you want to save time and do NOT want to start out with RAW carrots, I'm sure you could open some canned carrots, drain and puree them.

Directions:  

Preheat oven to 360-degrees.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  (The original recipe called for a 375-degree oven-- that's not okay with my oven!)

In a flour sifter, or a "screen sifter" like this,...

  

• Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Shake it through the sifter to remove any lumps.  Set aside.
• Beat butter and sugar together (until creamy) in a large mixer bowl.  Add puree'd carrots, eggs and vanilla extract.  Gradually, but thoroughly, mix in the flour mixture.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.  Drop by rounded tablespoonsful of dough unto a cookie sheet that's lined with parchment paper.  Because they did NOT "spread out" during baking like I expected they would, I got away with baking 12 on a sheet!
• Bake for 15-20 minutes OR until edges are just lightly browned.  (My 360-degree oven needed about 19 minutes)  Cool on baking sheets for about 2 minutes before sliding parchment paper w/hot cookies onto table top to cool completely.  
• Eat as is, OR drizzle tops with the frosting/glaze of your choice.  My favorite to put on top is this....

BROWNED BUTTER FROSTING:

Heat ½ (or 1/3?) stick of butter in pan only until golden brown in color (stirring all the while)-- this does NOT take long.  Quickly add about two Tbsp. milk to quickly stop the browning, and then add some SIFTED powdered sugar till you have the amount and consistency of frosting you need. You do not want this to be thick!   It may be necessary to add tiny amounts of more milk to get a smooth texture.   I drizzle this over the bars.  (You have to drizzle this on the cookies quickly before it thickens-- that's why I just line up the baked cookies and go 'back and forth' over their tops.)

The original recipe for these cookies came from the web address at the bottom of this posting, but, I substituted puree'd carrots for the can of pumpkin and then drizzled my favorite "browned butter" frosting on them...
http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/12833/pumpkin-spiced-and-iced-cookies/detail.aspx

Pecan-Topped Carrot Pie (Yes, CARROT!)

So, what do you do when you have about two laundry baskets of carrots, with a good number of them being MONSTERS?!?!  Do what I did?  Google "CARROT RECIPES"!!!!!!  

In my opinion, this pie ends up being a good "MOCK pumpkin pie"!!!

Check these out:

 The largest (the 10" x 4.5")

weighed 2.5 pounds!  Yes, POUNDS!
Thank YOU, Pam!!!!!!!!!!

Besides the "usual" uses for carrots (freezing, and canning), I found a variety of other recipes for carrots, some of which were very familiar-- soups, juice recipes, cookies, bars, cakes, etc.  And, then,... I found recipes for CARROT PIE!   I might have been "under a rock" too long--  but, I'd never heard of these!

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups cooked and then pureed carrots (maybe about 4 cups of slices to start with?)
1 of 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 and 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Dash of salt (1/8 tsp.?)
1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches)
.......................
Personal note:  I think(?) using just 1/2 of the following three ingredient amounts would also work to top the pie!
1 cup of chopped pecans 
1/2 cup packed brown sugar 
3 tablespoons butter, melted 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Add 1 inch of water to a large saucepan; add carrots.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and cook for 9-11 minutes OR until tender.  Drain.  Cool.
2. Puree the carrots in a food processor or blender.  When you think they are smooth enough, run them through a potato ricer or Foley food mill to make sure any lumps are removed.
3. In large mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer), beat together the pureed carrots, milk, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and salt until well-mixed.
4. Pour into unbaked pastry shell.
5. Combine the pecans, brown sugar and melted butter.  Sprinkle over the pie filling.
6. Bake at 375-degrees for 45-55 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean and edges are browned.  (Right from the start, I make a ring of aluminum foil and cover the top edges of the crust to prevent overbrowning.) 
7. Cool on a wire rack.  Refrigerate leftovers. 

The original recipe for the above pie came from:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/pecan-topped-carrot-pie

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P.S.  Below:  The recipe for the "bare-topped" Carrot Pie that can be seen in the background may be my husband's favorite of the two:

The recipe for the "bare-topped" carrot pie is made by pretty much following the same "directions" as for the pecan-topped pie, but the ingredients listed were: 

• 2 cups cooked and then pureed (pulp-free, and lump-free) carrots (about 4 cups of raw carrot slices to begin with?).
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 2 cups evaporated milk
• 1 dash salt

Original submitter's note:  If you double the recipe, you may be able to fill 3 of the 9" deep dish frozen pie crusts.   This original pie recipe came from Karla at:  http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/pie/grandma-roses-carrot-pie.html