My Kitchen Clatter

Real Food - Real Life

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

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I’m excited about this recipe. This is a case where I had a pretty good recipe that I had no plans to improve upon, but a missing ingredient forced a substitution. After crossing my fingers and making a change, I’m pretty sure the change may end up being permenant.

My go-to double chocolate muffins are a take on the Chocolate Ricotta Muffin from Mollie Katzen’s Sunlight Cafe cookbook. Today I had a child requesting his favorite after-school snack of chocolate muffins, but I was out of ricotta but . Soooo… after unsuccessfully searching my freezer for that hidden ball of ricotta (it’s still in there somewhere, I know), I decided I’d better make do with things I have on hand. Two brown bananas were calling me to take them out of their misery. Add some peanut butter and I was ready to give a new recipe a try.

I keep the sugar pretty low on this recipe and I also use freshly ground, soft, white, whole wheat flour. The peanut butter also helps bump up the protein. I used natural peanut butter, but if your peanut butter has added sugar, you can reduce the granulated sugar by a couple teaspoons. And, as always, if you don’t have good whole flour around, just substitute it with white flour. You won’t get the fiber and flavor from the whole wheat flour, but it will taste better than most store bought whole wheat flours.

All in all, I think these are a pretty healthy snack for the kids. The recipe makes about 18 regular sized muffins. If you don’t eat them all right away, you can freeze any extras so the kids can grab them out whenever they want.

Enjoy!

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Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
Author: 
Cuisine: snacks
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 18
 
My kids love the chocolatey flavor and I love that these muffins are low in sugar and high in protein and fiber from the peanut butter and whole wheat flour.
Ingredients
  • 2⅓ cups (10.4 oz) freshly ground, soft white wheat flour (or substitute with white flour)
  • ¾ t salt
  • 2 t baking powder
  • 6 T unsweetened cocoa (I use Dutch process cocoa)
  • ½ c granulated sugar
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 2 soft, brown bananas
  • ½ cup of natural peanut butter
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1⅓ cups milk
  • 1 T vanilla extract
  • 4 T (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray 18 standard (2½-inch-diameter) muffin cups with non-stick spray.
  2. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, cocoa, sugar, and chocolate chips in a medium-sized bowl.
  3. Place the bananas in a separate bowl and mash. I use a potato masher to mash them. Add the peanut butter and stir. Then add each egg, one at a time, and combine with a whisk after each addition. Add the milk and vanilla, and whisk until blended. Add the butter, and whisk again.
  4. Pour the banana - peanut butter mixture into the dry ingredients and fold with a rubber spatula until just combined and the dry ingredients are moistened. Don't overtax - a few lumps are okay.
  5. Use a large spoon or a scoop and scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups. I usually like smaller muffins, so I fill them up about ¾ full. You can fill to the top for larger muffins.
  6. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes until they are pulling away from the edge of the tin and the tops don't collapse if you lightly press the top with a finger. You can also use the toothpick test to check doneness, but this is sometimes a tough check because of the chocolate chips. (A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean).
  7. When the muffins are done, remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool 3-5 minutes. Use a knife of spatula to remove the muffins from the pan and place on a rack to cool.

Pumpkin Sourdough Yeast Bread

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This bread is one I came across in an old cookbook years ago. Over the years, I’ve adjusted it to my preferences. The bread seems a little unique because it combines pumpkin into a yeast bread, but the combination works really well. It’s one of my favorite breads to make in the fall. You can think of it like a fancy sort of cinnamon raisin bread.

I usually make a big batch of this bread in my Bosch Universal and I share extra loaves with my favorite neighbors. But in the interest of normality, I’ve broken the recipe down here so it will make one large loaf or two smaller loaves. The final batch size may be dependent on your hydration of your sourdough starter and on the moisture content of your pumpkin puree. To adjust for this, you may need to flexible with the amount of flour added at the end – which is just a good practice with bread making anyway. If you end up with extra dough – and I hope you do – shape it into a tiny loaf of bread or make a couple quick cinnamon rolls with it.

And a quick note on the sourdough. IF you don’t have sourdough starter on hand, then you can skip that ingredient and move on with baking this bread. BUT, you should consider getting yourself going with sourdough. It may be Covid trendy, but it is still a wonderfully pleasant kitchen activity. If you need more info on sourdough, reach out to me and I’ll see what I can do to get you started.

This bread is excellent toasted with butter, cream cheese, or apple or pumpkin butter.

I hope you enjoy it!

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Pumpkin Sourdough Yeast Bread
Author: 
Recipe type: bread
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2
 
This a great bread for those fall days. It is wonderful toasted with butter or cream cheese.
Ingredients
  • ½ c sourdough starter
  • ½ c pumpkin puree
  • 1 cup of hot water (110 degrees, or baby bath temperature)
  • ¼ c oil (I like sunflower or something with a light flavor)
  • ¼ c brown sugar
  • ½ t cloves, ground
  • 1 t ginger
  • 2 t cinnamon
  • 1 T dough enhancer (optional, if you have it - otherwise substitute apple cider vinegar)
  • 1 cup white flour (King Arthur all purpose in the red bag is great)
  • 4-5 cups of freshly ground hard white wheat flour (if you don't have freshly ground, substitute white flour)
  • 1 T SAF or other instant yeast
  • 1 t salt
  • ½ cup dried cranberries
  • ⅓ cup pepitas
Instructions
  1. Combine sourdough starter, pumpkin puree, hot water, oil, sugar, clovers, ginger, cinnamon, dough enhancer, white flour, and ½ of the whole wheat flour into the bowl of your mixer. Add the yeast on top of the flour. Stir until it is just combined. It should be the thickness of pancake batter.
  2. Allow the batter to rest 10-30 minutes. This lets the gluten in the flour relax and creates a better dough structure.
  3. Add another cup of flour and the salt to the dough and mixer.
  4. With the mixer running, add remaining flour ½ a cup at a time until the dough has formed. If you are using a Bosch mixer, this will be when the dough cleans the sides of the bowl. If you are using an Ankersrum mixer, the dough will quickly form around the kneading arm when you move the arm to the center of the mixer. It's okay if the dough is a little soft at this stage.
  5. Add the cranberries and pepitas to the dough.
  6. Knead for 6-10 minutes until the dough has formed a good gluten structure. Knead at the number 2 on a Bosch and at about 2:00 or 3:00 with an Ank. The dough should be soft and smooth. If you are using a machine other than a Bosch or Ank, you will probably need to knead several extra minutes to obtain a good dough structure, possibly up to 20 minutes. At this point, my dough is usually very soft to the point that it makes me nervous, but it always seems to turn out fine.
  7. Turn the dough into an oiled bowl. Cover and let rise in a draft free, warm location until almost double - about 30 minutes.
  8. Turn the dough out onto an oiled board, shape into loaves and place in oiled pans. You can also free form loaves or use this dough for cinnamon rolls. I like to use about 1 pound 8 ounce of dough per 4.5 x 8 inch loaf.
  9. Let rise until the dough is about an inch over the edge of your pans. Meanwhile preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  10. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the loaves are golden and brown.

 

Pumpkin Butter Recipe

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Pumpkin butter is one of my favorite things to do with pumpkin during “the pumpkin season”. I love it on my waffles in the morning with pecans and maple syrup. I was searching for my recipe this year and realized that I haven’t shared it with the world. So here we are.

If you’d like to make this a little more challenging, you can make this with homemade puree. Here’s how to make your own, but really you can do this with canned pumpkin and it will turn out lovely. No one will know the difference and they will still be amazed that you pulled off making your own pumpkin butter. You don’t have to tell them how easy it was to make.

One more note, this recipe should not be canned. The butter gets too thick for water bath canning to heat it through safely. I just jar mine up and freeze the jars with lids on them. The toughest part is remembering to pull it out of the fridge to thaw before you want to use it – but a couple seconds in the microwave does the trick also.

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Pumpkin Butter Recipe
Author: 
Recipe type: preserving
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
This is a classic fall preserve. It is great on oatmeal or on waffles.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups of pumpkin puree (canned or homemade)
  • ¼ cup of brown sugar
  • ¼ cup of maple syrup
  • 1 t molasses
  • 1 t cinnamon
  • ½ t ginger
  • ¼ t cloves
  • ¼ t nutmeg, ground
  • ¾ cup of apple cider
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan.
  2. Bring to boil, reduce heat to a simmer.
  3. Stir often and let simmer for about 20 minutes until the butter is thick and shiny. It should mound up on a spoon.
  4. Transfer into clean jars.
  5. The jars can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks or frozen for a few months. If freezing, leave a little extra space at the top for expansion

 

Pumpkin Leather

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The whole idea of making fruit leather out of pumpkin sounds crazy, but it tastes like pumpkin pie without the trouble of making a pie. This recipe is based off one I found in the University of Georgia’s So Easy to Preserve book.

Here are a couple tips for dehydrating and making fruit leather:

  • If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can use a low oven as a substitute. This is a good alternative if you aren’t ready to invest in a dehydrator.
  • If you are ready for a dehydrator, they range from $35 for the round Nesco brand that you find at places like Farm & Fleet. Middle of the road dehydrators cost about $125, such as the L’Equip Filter Pro that I carry and use. High end dehydrators include the 9 tray Exclaiburs that cost around $250. Things to look for include temperature control, timing, number of trays that can be stacked, air flow, and noise. My first dehydrator was the Nesco brand, and I found it to be very noisy and I didn’t like that I couldn’t set the temperature. I’m happy with the Filter Pro that I have now. I haven’t upgraded to an Exclaibur because I don’t have the space for it and also because I honestly don’t use a dehydrator that often.
  • When making fruit leather, I like to spread the puree about 1/8 inch thick on a parchment that I’ve laid in the dehydrator tray. Someday, I plan to cut some silicon sheets to fit as a replacement for the parchment, but in the meantime, parchment makes it easy to pull the finished leather off.
  • For more tips, check out the University of Georgias’ fact sheet. This is taken from So Easy to Preserve.

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Pumpkin Leather
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Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Pumpkin leather ends up tasting like pumpkin pie. It's a little weird, but also kind of a fun treat!
Ingredients
  • 2 cups of pureed pumpkin (either cooked homemade or from a can)
  • ¼ cup of applesauce
  • ¼ cup of honey
  • ½ t cinnamon
  • ⅛ t ground cloves (or less, to taste)
  • ⅛ t ground nutmeg
Instructions
  1. Combine all the ingredients. Spread onto parchment or fruit leather trays in your dehydrator. Dehydrate at 140 degrees for about 10-12 hours until the top is dry to the touch (not sticky). Add time as necessary. This will make about four 4 by 6 inch fruit leathers.

 

Flatbread Crackers

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Crackers for Lent and Other Times

We are heading into lent while under coronavirus lockdown. My church (yes, Raechel – you represent the ENTIRE church) has asked me to teach the congregation how to make their own bread for our virtual Maundy Thursday service. Somewhere there is a very strange video of me making these crackers – I hope everyone who sees it gets a good laugh. It seemed like crackers would be a natural fit – they are quick, relatively easy, and taste great.

Homemade crackers are a special sort of thing in our house – they honestly don’t happen very often. Under normal circumstances, we totally support whoever makes Triskets and Wheat Things.  But we aren’t under normal circumstances, and these crackers are kind of nice to make when you have a little extra time and want something special. If you are making them for this Thursday’s service, I hope you find some extra love in your heart knowing that a few other people may be doing the same thing.

Some Cracker Tips

  • Make them your own – these crackers are not meant to be perfect. If you don’t have an ingredient – substitute and use whatever you have around the kitchen. No olive oil? Melted butter or canola oil will be fine. No rolling pin? Use a wine bottle, you get the idea.
  • You can use any kind of flour you have around. Whole wheat flour works great. Throw a couple tablespoons of rye in there if you have it.
    • I’ll even attempt to give a gluten free alternative: substitute the white flour with a gluten free flour mix – if you have xanthin gum around, add 1/2 t if it isn’t already in your flour mix. Instead of kneading the dough, you’ll add just enough water to pat the dough into a ball with your hands. You probably won’t be able to knead your dough. And you may need to roll your dough between parchment paper.
  • Don’t be intimidated by kneading the bread dough. If you have never kneaded dough before, all you have to do is gather the dough into a ball, take the end of the ball that is farther from you, pull it over the dough, and gently push with the heel of your hand, then give the ball a quarter of a turn and repeat. In this recipe, the point of the kneading is simply to give the dough a better elasticity and cohesiveness.  If you are still nervous about kneading, check out this video.
  • I wrote this recipe based on doing the mixing and kneading by hand. This works well for this dough, but if you have a mixer or food processor, you can adapt the recipe to your tools.
  • You may find that your dough shrinks back when you roll it out. In this case, the gluten needs to relax a bit – so let the dough rest a few minutes longer.
  • If you wonder if your dough is rolled thin enough, then it probably isn’t thin enough. If you have a few holes from being rolled too thin, that’s okay. Think of these crackers as rustic.
  • I like to cut the dough into long strips before I bake it. The strips can be as thin or thick as you like. The strips allow the centers to get crispy without the edges getting too brown. I also like how the crackers break from the strips, they have a little consistency of width, but still have some rough edges. However, if you don’t want to cut the dough, you can cook the rolled dough in one big piece and see what you think. On the other end of the spectrum, if you want more consistently shaped and browned crackers, you can cut them all into even squares – just be aware that moving the crackers from the cutting board to the baking sheet can be time consuming. The easiest way to do this is by rolling and cutting the crackers on parchment and then moving the parchment and crackers to the baking tray in one big motion.
  • Finally, for the sourdough lovers out there, use 200 grams of sourdough starter (unfed is fine), and reduce your flour down to about 1 cup plus 2 T (132 grams). I’m assuming your starter is at 100% hydration, meaning for every gram of flour you feed it one gram of water. I suppose that making these with sourdough starter technically no longer makes these flatbread crackers. You can keep this in mind, if you are really looking for unleavened bread for lent.

 

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Flatbread Crackers
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1½ cup flour (use your favorite - I like 1 cup of white, ½ cup of whole wheat, but add in 2 T of rye for fun)
  • 2 t fresh herbs or ½ t dried herbs (rosemary, thyme, herbs de Provence)
  • ½ - 1 t coarsely ground black pepper
  • 1-3 t seeds (optional - sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds)
  • ½ c, finely shredded Parmesan (optional)
  • ¾ t fine salt
  • 1 t sugar
  • 2 T olive oil
  • ½ c cold water
  • Optional Toppings
  • sesame seeds
  • poppy seeds
  • garlic flakes
  • course sea salt
  • seed mix (such as Everything Bagel seasoning)
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees
  2. Combine the flour, herbs, black pepper, seeds, cheese (if using) salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Stir with a spoon to combine.
  3. Add oil to bowl and stir.
  4. Add all but 2 T of water to bowl to combine. Add remaining water 1 T at a time until the dough just forms a shaggy ball.
  5. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 2-4 minutes until it is smooth. Add flour just so the dough doesn't stick to your hands.
  6. Let the dough rest, covered with a towel, on the counter or in the bowl for 10 minutes.
  7. Divide the dough into 4 smaller balls.
  8. One at a time, roll each ball as thin as possible. If the dough shrinks back as you roll it, then allow to rest a few more minutes before continuing to roll it out.
  9. If you are adding a topping, sprinkle the topping on the dough and use the rolling pin to lightly roll the topping in place.
  10. Using a fork, poke the dough all over to prevent large air bubbles from forming.
  11. Cut the dough into 3-4 strips, place strips onto a baking sheet, and bake for 4 minutes. At four minutes, check the crackers, you can turn the strips over at this point to help them crisp or just leave them to cook on the first side. Either way, check every 2 minutes until they are crispy and lightly browned.
  12. When the cracker strips are crisp and slightly golden on the edges, remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack.
  13. Repeat rolling and baking process with remaining dough.
  14. Snap into smaller pieces.

 

Whole Wheat Bread – Single Loaf

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This is my go-to daily sandwich bread recipe. I normally make it in a large batch so I only have to bake bread once a week, but I know that approach isn’t necessary for everyone. Over the years of baking this bread, my technique has slowly morphed into the recipe that follows. If you’ve taken a class with me in the past, you may notice a few small differences between this recipe and the one you learned in class, but the essentials are the same. Likewise, I suspect that many of you have modified that first recipe to make it fit your kitchen and needs. The search for perfect bread is a long one, but this loaf comes pretty darn close, in my book.

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Whole Wheat Bread - Single Loaf
Author: 
Recipe type: bread
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 1 loaf
 
This recipe is my basic go-to sandwich bread in a single loaf recipe size. Search my site for a 2-loaf recipe and a 6-loaf recipe. The flavor and taste of this bread depend greatly on the quality of the whole wheat flour - use freshly ground if you can find it.
Ingredients
  • 1 cup of warm water (baby bath temperature)
  • 2 T oil (I like coconut oil or olive oil)
  • 2 T sugar (I use honey)
  • .5 cups of high protein white flour (such as King Arthur flour - red bag)
  • 2.5 cups of freshly milled whole wheat flour - divided (If you can't find freshly ground, use 1 cup of bagged whole wheat flour)
  • 2 t instant yeast
  • 2 t salt (fine texture - if you only have course salt, dissolve it into a small bit of the water before adding it to the dough)
Instructions
  1. With the dough hook in your mixer, combine the warm water, honey and oil in the base of your mixer. Add 2 cups of the whole wheat flour and stir until combined. Let rest for 10-30 minutes. This will help strengthen the protein and gluten in the whole wheat flour.
  2. Add the instant yeast to the mixer bowl and pulse to combine.
  3. Add the white flour and the salt to the mixer. Turn the mixer to low speed and let combine. Add enough of the remaining whole wheat flour to the dough until it clears the sides of the bowl and forms a ball. You may not need all of the whole wheat flour. Turn the mixer to low-medium speed and allow it to knead for 6-8 minutes until the dough is soft and pliable.
  4. Roll the dough it a little olive oil (or other cooking oil) and allow to rise in a large, covered bowl in a warm spot for about 45 minutes until it is just doubled in size. You should be able to poke the dough and it will feel soft and you're finger will leave a slight indent.
  5. Oil your bread pan. Whole wheat breads do best in smaller pans - this loaf should fit nicely in a 4"x6.5" pan, and weigh about 1 pound 6 ounces uncooked.
  6. Gently deflate the dough and shape it for your loaf pan. Shape by gently patting into a rectangle slightly wider than your pan. Roll the dough along the long length and gently pinch and seal the seam. Tuck the edges under towards the seam and place the loaf, seam side down, into your oiled bread pan.
  7. Oil the top of the loaf. Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm spot for about 30-45 minutes until the top of the dough is about 1 inch above the edge of the pan.
  8. While the dough is rising, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
  9. When the dough has risen, gently move the pan into the oven and reduce the oven temp to 350. Cook for 30 minutes, until it is golden and sounds hollow when tapped on the outside.

 

Recipe for Holiday Jam

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First off, if anyone can come up with a better name than Holiday Jam, please let me know. At any rate, this is a little bit strawberry, a little bit cranberry, some spice, some sweet, and some tang. It pretty much has it all.

The original recipe that I based this on was a Ball Recipe that called for 5 lbs of sugar and powdered pectin. At that level of sugar, I’m not sure how you even taste anything else. I’ve cut the recipe in half to make it a small batch, and I’ve cut the sugar way down and taken out the powdered pectin. I don’t like the taste of powdered pectin and it isn’t necessary anyway, because cranberries are so high in natural pectin.

I’m pretty darn happy with the end result on this jam. It would be great as a hostess gift over the holidays. We are planning to use it over cream cheese or goat cheese on a cheese plate. I think it would also be great on turkey sandwiches. Honestly, this one, I’ve just been eating straight up on crackers. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am!

5.0 from 2 reviews
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Holiday Jam
Author: 
Recipe type: Preserves
 
This is a bright jam that combines strawberries and cranberries. It is perfect for canning in small jars for holiday gift giving. It goes well over cream cheese or goat cheese, on sandwiches, or crackers.
Ingredients
  • 4 cups frozen strawberries, slightly thawed
  • 2 cups fresh cranberries
  • 1 orange, peeled and seeded
  • zest of one orange (from above), finely shredded or chopped
  • ½ t cinnamon
  • ½ t fresh ginger
  • ¼ t nutmeg
  • ⅛ t cloves
  • 3 cups of granulated sugar
Instructions
  1. Prepare a boiling water bath and 5 half-pint (8 oz) jars or 10 4-oz jelly jars. A boiling water bath can be done in any stock pot that allows for water to cover the jars by at least 1-inch. A tall stock pot is fine to use, just place a towel or rack in the bottom so the jars don't sit directly on the heat source. If your stock pot doesn't fit all of your jelly jars (it may not if you are doing 4-oz jars), only jar up the ones that will fit in the pot, keeping the rest of the jam warm on the stove while the first batch of jars processes. Once the first jars are done processing, jar the remaining jam and process in a second batch. Alternately, you can just jar any extra jam to eat right away or freeze.
  2. Wash and prepare lids and rings, according to the package directions.
  3. Place strawberries, cranberries and peeled orange in food processor and pulse to medium to finely chopped, but not pureed. It will break down some as it cooks, so it is better to go with larger pieces than too small.
  4. Combine the fruit mixture in a large skillet or dutch oven. The skillet allows for more moisture loss over the surface, which reduces cooking time and maintains the fresh fruit flavor. Stir the fruit over medium-high heat until they are combined, about 2 minutes.
  5. Add the spices and sugar.
  6. Stirring regularly over high heat, bring the fruit to a boil and cook until it bubbles and looks quite thick.
  7. This will take about 15-20 minutes. It's done when you pull a spatula through the jam and it doesn't immediately run back into the cleared space. You can also check the temperature with a candy thermometer - it's done when it hits 220 F.
  8. When the jam is done cooking, remove the pot from heat and allow to rest 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Skim any foam off the surface and reserve. Ladle the de-foamed jam into the prepared jars leaving ¼ inch headspace. Wipe the rims with a wet paper towel, remove air bubbles, if necessary.
  9. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
  10. After the processing time is complete, remove the jars from the water bath and place on a towel on the counter to cool. Allow to cool, untouched, for 24 hours and then check seals.
  11. If you don't want to process this recipe (or if you have a jar that doesn't seal) - just jar the jams up to step 8 and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks. It will also freeze well.

Easy Homemade Fruit Leather

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Fruit leathers are homemade fruit rolls and they are very popular in our house. I love them because they are a great way to use up leftover fruit, don’t contain any added sugar, and the kids gobble them up.

You’ll need a couple special kitchen tools for this recipe. The first is a blender. I use my immersion blender to keep the clean up simple, but any good blender will do.

This batch of fruit includes blueberries and mangos.

The second tool is a dehydrator. A decent dehydrator runs about $100 and can be used for other preservation projects. If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can try to do these on a very low oven – they will take about 18 hours in an oven. You can also dry them in the hot sun – it will take about 1 to 2 days to dry in the sun.

Fruit leathers ready to go in the dehydrator.

For the diabetics out there, make these without added sugar and they should contain the amount of fruit allowed for a fruit exchange.

This recipe is written for 2 cups of fruit, but it can be multiplied to accommodate as much fruit and drying space as you have.

Enjoy!

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Easy Homemade Fruit Leathers
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Recipe type: snack
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 13" x 15" leather
 
These homemade fruit roll-ups are a great way to use up extra fruit that isn't getting eaten quick enough. They are also an awesome low-sugar snack.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups of any combination of ripe or slightly overripe fruit - blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, banana, kiwi, mango
  • ¼ cup of applesauce (optional, to help thicken the fruit)
  • 2 t of lemon juice or ⅛ t ascorbic acid for light colored fruit to prevent darkening (optional)
  • 1-2 T of honey, to taste (optional)
Instructions
  1. Prepare dehydrator trays by lining them with parchment paper over the surface of the tray. I cut out the center hole on my paper to help it fit better. Edges of the parchment paper can be folded up at the edge of the tray. Depending on the size of your dehydrator trays, you will need one or two trays for 2 cups of fruit.
  2. Wash fruit or berries in cool water. Remove peel, seeds, and stems.
  3. Using a blender or immersion blender, puree the fruit.
  4. The pureed fruit should be slightly thick so that it doesn't run apart when poured onto the dehydrator trays. If it seems too runny, add a little applesauce to thicken it up. The applesauce will also help decrease tartness and make the leather smoother and more pliable. If the fruit seems to thick, add liquid, such as orange or apple juice, to thicken.
  5. Taste and add honey, if needed. I rarely add any honey at all.
  6. Pour the pureed fruit mixture onto the prepared tray. Avoid the edges of the tray. Spread it out to about ⅛ inch thick. Thicker spreads will take longer to dehydrate. Spread into any shape you like. I usually do about 2" x 8" rectangles. Larger shapes can be cut smaller later, but will take longer to dry.
  7. Dry the leather at 140 degrees F. The leather will dry from the edges to the center.
  8. After about 4 hours, test for dryness by touching the center of the leather - your finger should not leave an indent.
  9. While warm, you can peel from the parchment and roll. Allow to cool and rewrap in plastic. I usually let mine cool flat and then bag it and freeze.
  10. The leather usually will get eaten pretty quickly. But it will last about a month at room temp or it can be frozen up to a year.
Notes
This recipe can be multiplied based on how much fruit and dehydrating space you have.

 

 

Blueberry Lime Jam

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Blueberries are a very versatile fruit for jam and it is easy to create a simple classic blueberry jam. But if you want to add a little interest to your jam, you can add basil, ginger, or lime. With this recipe, we are going to add lime juice and zest. I find this jam is great on toast or spread on goat cheese with crackers. It’s also great in oatmeal, on ice cream, on vanilla pudding… you get the idea.

All of that being said, if you don’t want to mix it up – just swap out the lime juice with lemon juice and eliminate the lime zest.

This is a small batch of jam and I cook it in a large sauté pan. This allows for more surface area on the jam, which helps it set up quickly. This means that your jam will taste more like fresh blueberries than cooked blueberries.

This is the beginning of the cooking process – the jam has not thickened and is a little foamy.

This blueberry jam relies on the natural pectin levels in blueberries for thickening the jam. If you have some slightly underripe blueberries, they will help with the set of the final jam as they have a higher pectin level that the full on totally blue blueberries. Because there is not added pectin in this recipe, you’ll want to check that the jam reaches 220 F to make sure it sets. You can also go by eye – it’s done when a spoon pulled along the bottom of the pan leaves a clear zone.

The jam has set and a spoon pulled along the bottom leaves a path on the bottom of the pan.

Because this is a small batch of jam – you can use any large stock pot to water process the jars of jam. You just need to make sure that the water depth in the pan is high enough to cover the tops of your jars by at least an inch. Place a trivet or a towel on the bottom of the pot so the jars aren’t directly on the heat source. You’ll also want to make sure that the jars have enough space in your pan so that they don’t touch and water can move around all sides of the jars.

Five jars fit nicely in a large stock pot and a sixth could fit into the center.

Here is the recipe. Enjoy!

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Blueberry Lime Jam
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Recipe type: preserving
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 20-24 oz
 
This blueberry jam relies on natural pectin for thickening - the lime brightens the blueberry taste and makes for an interesting, yet classic, jam. Without traditional pectin, this jam is lower in sugar and actually tastes of the blueberries.
Ingredients
  • 4 cups blueberries, with some slightly underripe, if possible
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 T bottled lime juice
  • zest from one lime
Instructions
  1. Prepare a boiling water bath and 3 half-pint (8 oz) jars or 6 4-oz jars. A boiling water bath can be done in any stock pot that allows for water to cover the jars by at least 1-inch.
  2. Wash and prepare lids and rings, according to the package directions.
  3. Combine the blueberries and a splash pf water in a large skillet. The skillet allows for more moisture loss over the surface, which reduces cooking time and maintains the fresh blueberry flavor. Stir and crush the berries over high or medium-high heat until they begin to break down.
  4. Add the sugar, lemon juice and zest.
  5. Stirring regularly, bring the fruit to a boil and cook until it bubbles and looks quite thick.
  6. This will take about 10-12 minutes. It's done when you pull a spatula through the jam and it doesn't immediately run back into the cleared space. You can also check the temperature with a candy thermometer - it's done when it hits 220 F.
  7. When the jam is done cooking, remove the pot from heat and allow to rest 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Skim any foam off the surface. Ladle into the prepared jars leaving ¼ inch headspace. Wipe the rims, remove air bubbles, if necessary, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
  8. If you don't want to process this recipe (or if you have a jar that doesn't seal), you can jar the jams and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks. It will also freeze well.

 

 

 

Lentil Soup in the Pressure Cooker

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This is a super straightforward recipe for lentil soup. Pair it with some crusty bread and you’ve got a comfort food perfect for cool evenings. I’ve also been known to make a batch during warmer weather, since the leftovers make a super easy and healthy lunch.

If you want to mix the flavors up a bit, you can swap out the thyme and Italian seasoning with cumin and smoked paprika. Turmeric, red pepper flakes and curry powder also make a nice spice combination.

I used green lentils in this recipe – Trader Joe’s carries them. If you only have yellow or red lentils, that’s fine also – just change the cooking time to 8 minutes.

I will note – the lentils are a good source of protein and fiber. Lots of good things going on with lentils, but if you miss the meat, feel free to add in some cooked chicken or sausage at the end. Pop the lid back on for a few minutes (no heat) to let everything get warm.

Enjoy!

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Lentil Soup in the Pressure Cooker
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Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1 T olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 large carrots, chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, chopped
  • 2 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 t Italian seasoning
  • ½ t freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1½ cup of green lentils
  • 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
  • 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, fire roasted
  • 4 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
  • ½ t sea salt, or to taste
  • freshly grated parmesan, for serving
Instructions
  1. Preheat the base of an electric pressure cooker on the brown or sauté setting.
  2. In the preheated base, add olive oil and allow to heat for a minute. Add onion, carrots, celery and sauté until onions are translucent and a little soft - not brown.
  3. Add thyme, Italian seasoning, and pepper and stir into onion mixture. Add garlic and sauté another minute.
  4. Add green lentils, tomatoes, and broth. Stir.
  5. Close and lock lid on the pressure cooker. Check that the valve is set to sealing and turn keep warm setting off. Set to cook at high pressure for 12 minutes.
  6. When the cooking time is up, release the pressure using the quick release method.

 

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