Monday, January 18, 2016

Guess the Favorite

So which of this week's culinary experiments were the favorites, the ones I'll be making again?
Was it this apple thyme jelly, thyme courtesy of Kahuna's garden?
Or maybe this baked oatmeal, made with last summer's apricots retrieved from the freezer?
Or how about this homemade cranberry juice?

Do you have your pick ready?  You sure?  You want to call a friend to confer? 
Okay.  Here goes.
I can tell you straight off the apple thyme jelly was a big fat fail.  I followed instructions to the letter, but this still turned out verrrrry gummy and not at all what a jelly should be.  Someone more experienced at making jelly without adding pectin probably could have made this work.  But me?  All I can say is errrgh.  Not good.
The baked oatmeal was promising.  But the recipe I followed was too sweet, and it had 1/4 c. of oil in it to boot, so not as healthy as I'd like for a breakfast food.  I won't be making that one again, either. 
The homemade cranberry juice?  We have our winner!  It was easy and tasty and just plain fun to turn November's unused frozen cranberries into juice concocted by my very own self.  The juice made with these directions is a tad on the sweet side, so think of it as a lightly concentrated version and add plenty of ice and a bit more water when you serve it.  The recipe is from Drinks Without Alcohol by Jane Brandt.

HOMEMADE CRANBERRY JUICE

1 lb. fresh cranberries (mine were frozen), rinsed and stemmed
  (NOTE:  when you rinse frozen cranberries they will stick together in a lump and will not want to be corralled into your pot without at least a few skittering onto the floor.  Heads up.)
2 c. sugar
6 c. water
 
Put all the ingredients into a large pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for five minutes, until cranberries have burst.
Spoon into a sieve that you have lined with cheesecloth, set over a bowl to collect the juice.
 Smash cranberries against the side of the cheesecloth to extract all the liquid you can.
Cool and drink over ice, or put into straight-sided jars to freeze, making sure to leave enough room at the top for it to expand (about 3/4-inch should be plenty).
 
Happy day from our home to yours.

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7 Comments:

Blogger Brenda@CoffeeTeaBooks said...

I had to tweak our baked oatmeal recipe, too. Since I have to be careful about sugar, it was just too sweet.

I think of you so often, I have your cross stitch gift on the bulletin board over my desk. :)

January 19, 2016 at 8:22 AM  
Blogger Farm Girl said...

Well all of the recipes sound interesting. I do like how pretty the cranberry juice looks. I didn't freeze as many this year as I do in a normal year.
I hope all is going well,with you. Have you got lots of rain? We have and it has been so nice.

January 19, 2016 at 4:15 PM  
Blogger Lynn said...

Brenda, how fun to hear from you! I'm glad you're still enjoying the cross stitch, I had fun making it. And if you have a great baked oatmeal recipe, please share! I would love to have it.

Farm girl, we are getting some rain here :) Two inches in the last day or so. Making these Californians very happy! Glad to hear you are getting rain, too.

January 20, 2016 at 12:04 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Thanks for stopping by my bloggy, Lynn! That cranberry juice sounds so good! :)

January 22, 2016 at 11:09 AM  
Blogger tainterturtles said...

I just found your blog and I'd have to say all your recipes look amazing. We love cranberries at our house, especially since we buy fresh cranberries from our home state of Wisconsin. I'll have to try the juice recipe.

January 22, 2016 at 6:21 PM  
Blogger Lynn said...

Tainterturtles, I popped over to your blog. How fun that you and your hubby are finding the time to bike all over. Sounds like a wonderful hobby. Congratulations on your recent retirement, too. It sounds like you are having no trouble keeping busy with your new-found hours. Enjoy!

January 23, 2016 at 12:11 PM  
Blogger ~~louise~~ said...

Hi Lynn!!!
It's always such a delight to see a post from you:) It sure looks like you've been keeping yourself busy with these recipes.

I would have chosen the Apple Thyme Jelly because, I stink at making jellies of any kind. Discovering a new recipe that I could actually do would be wishful thinking, lol...not gummy, no, no, no...As for the oatmeal, I find overnight oatmeal cooked in the crock works for me. I can't attest to the sweetness though, I like mine fairly sweet. Irish oats work the best!

Now, fresh cranberry juice would not have been one of my choices. Why oh why??? I usually put a handful of cranberries in my smoothies so, the thought of drinking cranberry juice just doesn't do it for me. However, it really is such a glowing red color, I may not be able to resist, lol...

Lynn, thank you so much for your sweet encouraging words on my blog. Your visits always bring a smile to my face and sometimes, a smile is all I need. Thank YOU!!! Hope to "see" you soon with some more experiments:)

February 9, 2016 at 6:46 PM  

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