Note: Make a day ahead

Ingredients
• 8 ears or 1 pint corn
• 2-3 (red) peppers
• 1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 (red) onion
• 1/4 Cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 Cup Olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon (spicey) mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoion salt
• Optional: hot sauce or pepper flakes
• 2 cups cooked pasta
• thyme (fresh if possible)
• oregano (fresh if possible)

Instructions
• Coat ears with oil and grill until mostly brown – or fry corn in skillet.
• Grill or fry onions and peppers.
• Marinate onions in Balsamic vinegar
• Whisk dressing (vinegar, oil, mustard, salt and pepper) and add corn and peppers.
• Marinate overnight in frig
• Next day: Cook pasta and cool.
• Add fresh oregano and thyme 2-3 hours before serving.
• Just before serving, add onions.
• Serve room temperature or cold – either way is delicious.

Adapted from The Way We Cook by Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven

We purchased chorizo sausage one time when we noticed it in the local upscale grocery store. Then we had to figure out what to do with it. A web search yielded this recipe, which turned out to be most delicious and simple to make. The only drawback: it is a rich dish – not one that you should have every day.

Makes four filling servings

Ingredients
• 8 oz chorizo sausage, thinly sliced
• 6 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 Cup roasted cornmeal
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 3/4-2 Cups canned corn (one jar canned )
• 1 1/2 Cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 6 green onions, sliced (or onion, minced)
• (Jalapeno) pepper, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Instructions
1. Cook sausage in skillet over medium heat until golden.
2. In a bowl, mix cream chesse, cornmeal and sugar until smooth.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
4. Stir in corn, 1 Cup of cheese, onions, pepper, oregano, salt and pepper.
5. Pour half the mixture into greased casserole.
6. Cover with 3/4 of sausage.
7. Pour rest of mixture over top. Sprinkle with remaining sausage and cheese.
8. Bake 30-45 minutes @375º until set. Cool for 5 minutes.

Original Recipe

Juices from fresh or frozen blueberries, cherries, grapes, raspberries (black or red), and strawberries may be made into toppings for use on more berries (instead of sugar), ice cream, pastries or pound cakes.

Ingredients

• 3 (generous) quarts fruit
• sugar – 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups per cup of juice

Yield: hopefully a canner load

Instructions

Wash/cap/stem/pit fruit and crush in saucepan. Heat fruit to boiling and simmer until soft (5 to 10 minutes). Strain through hot colander and drain until cool enough to handle.* Strain the collected juice through a jelly bag. Discard dry pulp. The yield should be 4-5 cups of juice.

Combine juice with appropriate amount of sugar in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer one minute. Remove from heat, skim off foam, ladle into half pint jars, leaving 1/2 headspace. Adjust lids and process for 10 minutes (15 minutes over 1000 feet) in a boiling water canner.

To make a syrup with whole fruit pieces, add 1-2 cups fruit with the sugar. However I have found the fruit disintegrates…

The only fruit (that we tried) that did not work for me was cherries – the syrup is thin.

*Or put directly into jelly bag and strain – this will yield a bit more juice.

Source: National Center for Home Food Preservation/USDA Publications

Fresh Cherry Pie

Ingredients

• 1 quart (approximately 1.75 pounds) sour cherries, pitted and allowed to drain
• 1 to 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 t almond extract (optional)
• 1/2 t cinnamon (optional)
• Pastry for two crust pie

Mix dry ingredients, then add to cherries. Mix well. Pour into pie crust. Cover with lattice, cut-outs or complete vented crust. Bake @ 425º for 35 – 45 minutes.

This recipe is from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook (New and Revised Edition) ©1978 page 296

Or, use home canned cherry pie filling- it’s even simpler, and almost as good. Just put the pie filling in the pie crust and bake!

Cherry Pie Filling

• 6-8 quarts sour cherries
• 7 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups Clearjel®
• 9 1/3 cups cold water
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 2 teaspoons almond extract (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon red food coloring (optional)

The yield is circa 6 quarts. The directions say it yields 7 quarts, but even though I increased the amount of cherries this year, I still did not get 7 quarts.

Pit 8 quarts sour cherries. Blanch – in batches – in water for 1 minute, after it returns to a boil. Drain fruit, but keep warm. Combine sugar and Clearjel® in large saucepan. Add water, cinammon, almond extract, food coloring (or replace portion of water with saved (and cooled) cherry juice). Cook and stir over medium high heat until mixture thickens and bubbles. Add lemon juice and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Fold in drained cherries. Immediately pack into jars and leave generous 1 inch headspace! Remove air bubbles. Process in boiling water bath for 35 minutes.

Recipe from Penn State University, College of Agricultural Sciences, Let’s Preserve: Fruit Pie Fillings.

We saw a recipe for yeast tortillas in King Arthur Flour catalog, tried it, really liked it, modified it, and now have our version that suits us.

Ingredients

• Roasted Cornmeal 1/2 cup
• AP Flour (King Arthur, of course) 1 1/2 cups
• Graham/entire wheat flour (soft or hard) 1 cup
• Wheat Gluten 2 tablespoons
• Oil (olive) 2 tablespoons
• Dry Milk 2 tablespoons
• Salt 1 1/2 teaspoons
• Instant yeast 1 1/2 teaspoons

Instructions

Put cornmeal in mixing bowl. Pour 1 1/2 cups boiling water over cornmeal. Stir well. Allow to cool to acceptable yeast temperature (circa 110º). Add remaining ingredients, mix until dough comes together in a ball. Dough will be soft. Cover and let rise 1-2 hours.

Divide dough into 8-10 balls. Keep covered. Roll each ball into 6-7″ circles. Dry fry on hot griddle (4-5 setting on stove)

We absolutely love this corn bread recipe…makes me slobber just thinking about it!

Ingredients

• Cornmeal 3/4 Cup coarsely ground and roasted (our own roast of course)
• Flour – 1/4 Cup – it can be white, or whole wheat or graham flour (our choice as long as I’m not in a rush!)
• Baking Powder – 1 teaspoon
• Salt – 1/2 teaspoon
• Sugar (Raw if available) – 1 1/2 tablespoons
• Baking Soda – 1/4 teaspoon
• Ground Red pepper – 1/4 teaspoon
• Butter – 1 tablespoon unsalted
• Onion – smallish (but more is tasty), finely diced
• Lard – 2 1/2 teaspoons
• Buttermilk – 3/4 Cup (Cultured, if using ‘real’ buttermilk, use slightly less than 3/4 cup)
• Egg – one small – or whatever size you have
• Optional: Green chilies, chipotle chilies or peppers

Instructions

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Melt butter in 6″ cast iron skillet, add finely chopped onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 teaspoons lard to the dry ingredients and blend until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the onion mixture.

Heat oven to 450º. Put 1 teaspoon lard in cast iron skillet and insert into oven while it is heating. Wipe out any onion “crumbs” beforehand.

When oven is almost to temperature, add egg to ingredients and mix, and last the buttermilk. Do not over mix. Remove hot skillet from oven and pour batter into skillet. Insert in oven – strategically placing under a broiler element – and bake for 12 minutes. Turn oven off and broiler on. Broil until top is nicely browned – about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Watch carefully! Remove from oven and dump onto cooling rack. Enjoy the best corn bread you’ve ever tasted.

Chilies/peppers are optional. (Add with onion!)

Having some leftover turkey/chicken stock, it seemed time to make one of our favorite soups – Chipotle Black Bean. This makes a good 10 cups of soup. We like beans, so I like to add an extra cup of dry beans.

Based on a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated.

Beans
Place all ingredients in large saucepan. (Soup will be finished in another pan.) Bring to a boil over medium high heat, skim scum as needed. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook one – two hours until beans are tender. Add water if necessary. Remove ham bone and bay leaves. Do NOT drain. When bone is cool, remove meat and put in with beans.

• Black beans: 1 pound + or 2 Cups + dried
• Ham bone – the tastier the better – Honey Baked Ham is great
• Bay Leaves – 2-3
• Water – 5 Cups+
• Baking Soda – 1/8 teaspoon (optional)
• Salt – 1 teaspoon

Soup
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven until shimmering. Add onions, celery (celeriac), carrot and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft, about 10-15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low, add garlic and cumin. Cook three minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in beans, bean liquid, chipotle peppers, and chicken broth. Increase heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Using a potato masher, mash the soup until you have desired consistency. Add lime juice and fresh chopped cilantro if desired.

• Olive Oil - 3 Tablespoons
• Onions – 3 Cups chopped fine
• Carrot – 1 large chopped fine
• Celery or Celeriac – 1 Cup chopped fine
• Salt 1/2 teaspoon
• Garlic – 6 cloves, minced
• Cumin – 2 Tablespoons
• Chipotle peppers with Adobo sauce – 2 Tablespoons, chopped fine
• Chicken Stock – 6 Cups

This is the best fruit pie recipe because you do not cook the majority of the fruit.

Ingredients

• 1 baked piecrust
• 1 quart fruit (strawberries or peaches work well)
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 T Corn starch
• 1 t butter
• 1 pinch salt

Instructions

Cut up one cup fruit and put in saucepan with 3/4 Cup water. Bring to a boil and simmer five minutes. Mix cornstarch with sugar and add to cooked fruit. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and clears. Remove from stove and add butter and salt. Cool.

Cut up/slice rest of fruit and drain well. When both piecrust and glaze are cool, put fruit in bottom of piecrust and pour glaze over, covering all fruit. Chill. Eat.