Jam

With the freezer full of half loaves of recent bread bakes we had time to do some other cooking and grilling.  We ran across these great apricots.  Never seen anything like them - just beautiful color - inside and out.  Almost too good to eat!

So some apricot, nectarine and ginger jam was soon to follow.

A nice salad with 3 kinds of lettuce, green onion, criminis, carrot, queso fresco, tomatoe, corn, brocolli, squash, red pepper...

Indian Chicken with grilled, eggplant, grey squash and pak choy.

My daughter said this is her favorite of all the bread we have made.  Her tastes have come a long way.  50% whole grain SD combo with sprouts, scald and 2 nuts found here  http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/28591/multigrain-sd-w-multi-sprouts-2-nuts-and-seeds-somewhere

A smoked sausage, green onion, red pepper, chipotle aioli and queso fresco sammy.

With berries, grey squash, corn, brocolli, salad Thai red chili mac and cheese and pickles.

Apple granola crisp with bourbon, sans dried fruit.

Grilled peppers, grey squash, onions for some; chickan tacos, Pico de Brownman, Mexican green dirty rice and some 3 beans Baja style with pork jowl.

Tequila, Mojo de Ajo, multi dried peppers and lime Baja Chicken.

Is that a piece of chocolate pudding cake hiding under the ice cream w/ chocolate sauce and Apple Granola Crisp? 

A tuckered out apprentice chillin' in her favorite spot on the back of the sofa.  Do you think she is getting a little cubby?

I've been making as many things as I can with oranges to try to use up this past years crop before donating the rest to the food bank.  So I've been  making orange marmalade.  Several years ago I forgot that I had marmalade on the stove and it nearly burned but it was just darkly caramelized like a flan.  So marmalade in this house now comes light, medium and dark just like the bread crust and crumb does.  No wonder jam and bread go so well together.  I think it was MiniOven that said when you think the bread is done, leave it in the oven 5 more minutes - same goes for jam - let it cook 5 more minutes or even 10 or 15.  I've now carmelized strawberry, apple,  pear. prickly pear tuna, raspberry and blackberry jams too.  Changes them completely.

I got to playing with pepper jelly. 

Ingredients:  gelatin, sugar, one orange habanero, assorted sweet garden peppers, one garlic clove, water, and one glass 250ml.   Method: slice everything colorful and thin and mix with sugar, gelatin and a little water to let all the vegetables shrink and curl up for about 6-10 hours.  Amazing how they do that!  Bring to a light boil until passing the gel test on a cold plate.  (about 10-15 minutes)  Pour into hot sterilized jar and cap, let cool. 

The color of the jelly is not as dark as this picture, it barely has color at all, a light clear hint of orange with red, green, yellow and orange squiggles.

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