Monday, September 04, 2006

Canning hotline, quote, and pizza

I just realized that blogger no longer allows readers to search a blogs and get previous entries. It looks like readers have a ten post window to read it or that's it - no more access to it anymore. There is a search feature on the new beta blogger dashboard that allows me to search former posts to bring them up for reference though. Speaking of the new beta blogger... I can no longer comment on your blog if you have not upgraded, however I just finished catching up reading all I usually read. Nice nails Tanya. The soy whipped cream looks gorgeous on that pumpkin smoothie Laura. Kate, sorry your apple dish tasted bad, it sure looked pretty.

OUR FAVORITE AT HOME EASY MEAL - PITA PIZZA:
My pita pizza plate. I took a New Jerusalem organic whole grain pita and topped it with some tasty yums including some leftover white chedda' and broiled.... a fast fix and one of our family favorites. I quartered my pizza, placed a salad with Balsamic dressing in the center, and garnished with dried currants. The yums this time included 1/2 a Lightlife zesty Italian s'sage thinly sliced into rounds and canned sliced mushrooms.

LUNCHBOX (pita pizza round 2): For the lunch box I cut a pita in half and wrapped it separate. The sliced s'sage, sauce, and cheez were put into a container to be heated, stirred and added to the inside of the pita. The currants (like little raisins) were in a separate small container and the salad was sprinkled with sunflower seeds in a slightly larger round container. The sauce gets a small container of it's own so it can be dipped or added right before eating, soggy salad greens are yucky. My favorite dressing is a balsamic vinegrette (like Newman's lite brand, but I make my own). Dave and the kids like a Ranch style dressing best ... have both and each family member will feel like you love them best. :)

I also found another great lunchbox tool. They are bendable ice blankets to fit in your box any way you need them to. Here is a LINK TO AMAZON so you can see them, but I got mine at a grocery store for 99 cents a blanket.

FAMILY LIFE RESOURCE:
Professional consumer and family scientists answer questions about child development, cleaning, consumer management, food preparation, food preservation, food safety, home environment, household equipment, nutrition, textiles and laundry.
CANNING:
That would include canning. I am canning salsa today.

I called the hot line listed above today and asked about which method of canning would be required to process apple pie filling using wheat flour. I discovered wheat flour is not recommended because it will break down and not maintain it's thickness. WOW! Glad I called I had two jars with lots of work in dicing apples ready to go - what a waste of work that would have been. CLEAR JEL is recommended for canning. Freeze your favorite apple pie filling recipe if you must use wheat.... okay, I know and now you know too.

Here's a canning idea of a different color:











On the left is TVP chucks/ strips (chik'n style and B*fy strips). On the right.... gourmet rice blend and black eyed peas... both fully cooked in the jar, I added the grains and peas raw, salt, and hot water. I cooked all 1 hour 30 minutes just to be VERY safe, a pint with legumes usually requires 1 hr 15 minutes. The rice was sticky, but very edible. I like the B**fy strips. I get them from Country Life Natural Foods, see link at my side bar. I want to try their soy curls sometime, I've seen others rave about them, but that will wait until I need to place another order.
USES:
Here I added b**fy strips and the canned gourmet rice to a lettuce and cabbage salad drizzled with balsamic dressing. I like that all I had to do was open the jar. I was also thinking the strips would make some great fajitas as well as a good stir-frt with broccoli.

I wouldn't rate my salad wonderful, but for a change and the ability to try something new ... it worked! It could use a little shredded carrot and sliced black olives for color. :)

A QUOTE TODAY: To cook is to create create and to create , well .... is an act of integrity and faith. I think I read this on some monk bread baking site a few years ago, the author was unknown. I like it, thanks unknown author!

10 comments:

Kuntal Joisher said...

that pita pizza looks absolutely yummmmyy.. and hey thanks for the quote.. totally totally love it!!

Carrie™ said...

Blogger is really ticking me off. I haven't had a beta invite yet. So I guess people with beta can't comment on my blog. Grrr!
Anyhow, pizza....'nuff said. Any pizza is tops in my book (meatless variety of course) and you're making salsa? Oooo Dori. Yummy!
BTW, good luck in the tart contest!

madeinalaska said...

aren't you the most awesome girl ever! and resourceful calling the canning hotline! learn something new every day! Love the lunch boxes! I really don't know how you do it all but, you do! you go girl!
I am beta now.. just so ya know
Julee

Anonymous said...

Hi Dori,

I canned salsa today also. My first experience!! Now I am getting ready to can some tomato sauce. This is fun!!!

I cannot wait to try my salsa to see how it turned out. I pressure canned it for 35 min at 11 pds... got the recipe off a website..

Thank you for getting me inspired again to try canning.

Rochelle

KleoPatra said...

Dori, glad you have BETA so i can leave messages here. This in-between period for peeps who do and those who do not is not fun. I miss being able to post no matter...

Anyway, i'm thankful we HAVE blogger, otherwise i would not "know" you, y'know?

Can can can you do the can can? Those were some interesting canning photos there. Country Life Natural Foods... will have to Czech that link out. Any place that makes "soy curls" sounds goooooooooooood to me!

I had not seen the balsamic dressing recipe. I would like to try that sometime...

Wow, Whatta lovely pita pizza. This is usually how i "do 'em" as well. Much easier than doing the whole "crust thing" although i am a "breadie" who eats all her crust. I know a lot of folks who won't eat the ends once the sauce and fixin's are a'goner.

Anyway, this looks great! Nice way to add it to the lunch box and what a great idea to put the sauce aside to save it from sogging the pita.

I had never heard of bendable ice blankets! Super neat idea.

That's a nice quote from the unknown author. Thanks for sharing that... and all the other words of wisdom!

Anonymous said...

The pita pizzas look so good. I always enjoy your posts about canning - full of helpful information from the home canning queen :)

Anonymous said...

Hi, Dori! Bryanna here....great idea about canning the TVP strips!

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Anonymous said...

I would like to can TVP/TSP. However, my local extension office Dietitian said it is not a tested process. I'm glad you are having success utilizing the TVP. JW

Anonymous said...

Can someone give me some direction on canning tvp, what about amounts, is it rehydrated, do you add broth and tvp at the same time?