what do you do with ____________?

[Deerslayer]

ok--so i am going through my canning books and trying to decide what to plant this year and i have a few questions...

 

what do you do with the seasoned hamburger meat??

 

what in the world do you do with a chutney? i have never even heard of it

 

how do you eat some of those "strange" jellies--like pepper jelly or watermelon jelly--i am assuming these don't go on a biscuit

 

what about all those relishes--i get it about the relish that goes on hot dogs--but not the other ones

 

 

 

i know these sound crazy--but we are trying really hard to eat more out of the garden and i can't figure out what you do with these things...

[Dee]

Let me tell you about pepper jelly. I'd never had it until last summer when a friend at farmer's market said, "take this home and try it". My word but it was good. I won't have it in the house because I can't leave it alone but when I have company or need to take something to a potluck I buy some of her pepper jelly, just a small 4 oz. jar and put it on top of an 8 oz. package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese and have a basket of crackers, like Ritz, set out. It's gone in a flash.

 

 

My friend said it's good on pork too but I've only used it with the cream cheese.

[Ambergris]

A chutney is like a sweet salsa. Most recipes calling for chutney would be good with pepper jelly and vice versa.

 

I love pepper jelly with cream cheese on crackers or bagels or English muffins. I also love to glaze a bird with it, or paint it on some thick pork chops I'm fixing to bake; poke the pork a few times with a toothpick or icepick to let the jelly in. You can slather it over egg rolls or spring rolls. It's good on a ham sandwich, too.

 

Pepper jelly and chutney are really good to add to catchup and mustard if you need to whip up a quick barbecue sauce.

[Stephanie]

Okay...let me address the seasoned ground beef. I use it to do a LOT!!

 

I use it with my home canned pintos and make chili. I put it in vegetable soup. I make spaghetti meat sauce out of it. Pot pies? Hamburger Helper type stuff? On and on.

 

And here's the thing about it. I don't really like ground beef, but when you pressure can it!! Wow! Totally changes the texture and taste. Highly recommend it!

[themartianchick]

Thanks for posing these questions, Deer! With the exception of seasoned burger, I've never tried chutney or oddly named jellies. We will be going to the local farmer's market on Saturday to stock up on honey. I might just take a moment or two to look around for some interesting sounding jellies.

 

Not knowing what canning book you're looking at, I'm not sure if you're talking about burger that has been seasoned in a particular way or not. While I don't tend to can meat often, I do like to pre-cook and season burger and freeze it. I cook it with some onions, garlic and/or peppers. Then I have a good start on dinner when I come home from work. I can use the meat in a pot of beans and rice, or I can use season some up with taco seasoning (as I did tonight) or I can open a jar of spaghetti sauce and have a meal on the table in 20 minutes or so. There is a cheese sauce that I haven't made in a while that uses ground beef and is then poured over noodles. Having pre-cooked and seasoned ground beef makes it all come together faster. If I were to cook the ground beef without the seasonings, the burger can sometimes be a bit bland and I end up using a lot more seasonings to make it taste "right" for my family.

[Annarchy]

Oh, you all make me hungry.

 

Jellies and salsas also make great dipping dishes with crackers, chips, nachos, ritz, etc. They can be used as spreads, garnishes and condiments on breads, pancakes, tortillas, and salads.

[Amishway Homesteaders]

Good question!

Like the other answers we too like them all and can some of this and some of that from yea to year.

It is alway fun to 'try' new things - and keep good records of how you did it so next year when you want to make more you will know : what did I add to recipe, add more of less of this next time, not HOT enough, TOO HOT - cut done on spices, etc.

Also it is good to know from year to year how much of the main vegetable(s) did it take to make up a batch. There is no need to but a bushel of something if all you need is a peck?

[zophiel]

Last year from our local CSA, my mom and I ended up with a little over a pound of habernero peppers. These peppers are so hot it's very hard to use that many before they go bad, since for any given recipie, you're only using a little bit. But, mom had gotten me the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, which had a recipie for "habenero gold." This was a jam made with habenero, dried apricots, onions, and sweet peppers.

 

Well, after making 4 batches (or maybe 3. It was a lot!), I now have quite a store of this jam. It's sweet, has only a little heat, but mom loves to put it on biscuits. I prefer to use it on things like chicken thighs-- a dollop before popping them in the oven, and the jam melts and cooks with the chicken, and the result is simply scrumptious! A little savory, a little sweet, so good!

[ScrubbieLady]

I agree with the above recommendations. I use relish as in sweet pickle relish when I make potato, chicken or tuna salad. We don't eat whole pickles so I use it instead of dicing up pickles to make the salad. I also had a customer from the Farmer's Market last summer get some to put on purple hull peas instead of chowchow

[Trudy]

Last year from our local CSA, my mom and I ended up with a little over a pound of habernero peppers. These peppers are so hot it's very hard to use that many before they go bad, since for any given recipie, you're only using a little bit. But, mom had gotten me the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, which had a recipie for "habenero gold." This was a jam made with habenero, dried apricots, onions, and sweet peppers.

 

Well, after making 4 batches (or maybe 3. It was a lot!), I now have quite a store of this jam. It's sweet, has only a little heat, but mom loves to put it on biscuits. I prefer to use it on things like chicken thighs-- a dollop before popping them in the oven, and the jam melts and cooks with the chicken, and the result is simply scrumptious! A little savory, a little sweet, so good!

 

 

I always wanted to try the habenero gold, but I have read about how hot the peppers are, so was afraid it would be too hot for me. I love jalapeno jelly though. I just learned last year that if I take the seeds out, it is just right for me. Did you make yours right by the recipe on page131, or did you cut down on the amount of peppers?

[Trudy]

Ditto what Dee said about the jalapeno jelly! It is my favorite. Never had chutney, but I do plan to try some this year. I want to try the seasoned ground beef also. We like Violets zucclini relish and canned nerds cucumber relish with dried (or fresh) beans and peas. I also made the Grandmothers Golden Relish on page 220 of Ball Complete and it is exelent!! It's the only relish recipe that I can remember seeing, that has been tested using clear jel. It has 2 T. of dry mustard and 1 1/2 t. mustard seeds, and it is really good in potato salad. I wish you lived close to me so you could taste test some of them all to see which ones you like!!

[zophiel]

Last year from our local CSA, my mom and I ended up with a little over a pound of habernero peppers. These peppers are so hot it's very hard to use that many before they go bad, since for any given recipie, you're only using a little bit. But, mom had gotten me the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, which had a recipie for "habenero gold." This was a jam made with habenero, dried apricots, onions, and sweet peppers.

 

Well, after making 4 batches (or maybe 3. It was a lot!), I now have quite a store of this jam. It's sweet, has only a little heat, but mom loves to put it on biscuits. I prefer to use it on things like chicken thighs-- a dollop before popping them in the oven, and the jam melts and cooks with the chicken, and the result is simply scrumptious! A little savory, a little sweet, so good!

 

 

I always wanted to try the habenero gold, but I have read about how hot the peppers are, so was afraid it would be too hot for me. I love jalapeno jelly though. I just learned last year that if I take the seeds out, it is just right for me. Did you make yours right by the recipe on page131, or did you cut down on the amount of peppers?

 

To my recollection, I followed the recipe. I removed most of the seeds, as I intended to save them. And most importantly, wore gloves the whole time! I may have thrown in a few extra dried apricots (b/c I love dried apricots!).

[Ambergris]

What do you do with instant white rice?

[Andrea]

Seasoned ground beef is probably our most used home canned food item after salsa! I use it weekly in chili, spaghetti, tacos, taco salad, etc. LOVE the stuff and it makes for dinner cooked in under 30 minutes!

 

Pepper jelly is unfortunately as several have pointed out, terribly addicting. Sooooo good! I make it every year and give it as Christmas gifts. Everyone seems to really appreciate it.

 

The chutneys, I've never tried. I'm not sure that we would eat them. But I have been looking through my Ball book and the Tomatillo/Chipotle salsa sounds very interesting. I'm going to track down some tomatillo seeds (they grow really well here) and give the recipe a try.

 

Whenever someone gives me a large amount of something that my family isn't overly fond of - like a box of kiwi's or pears - I tend to "jam" it up and give it away as gifts. People seem to like the unusual jams.

 

Instant white rice? Wow, I haven't used that stuff in decades! But, you can use it just like you use regular rice. Dump a protein over a cooked portion of rice and call it dinner! Or, throw a handful in a cup of broth and call it lunch!

[Annarchy]

What do you do with instant white rice?

 

Brown a couple of hand fulls in a frying pan.

 

Add: Minced onion, tsp of tomato bullion and water; call it Mexican rice. Serve with refried beans & cheese enchaladas.

 

Add: Minced onion, drizzle a stirred egg over the hot rice, then some water and soy sauce; call it fried rice. Serve with stir fried veggies & meat.

 

Make a cup or two of rice, add sugar, cinnamon and milk; call it Arroz con Leche- A Mexican Rice Pudding Breakfast or desert.

 

Add a cup to basic chicken soup.

 

You all are still making me hungry.

[Annarchy]

I removed most of the seeds, as I intended to save them.

A general rule of thumb I was taught years ago. If it is a chili pepper, jalapeno, green chili, etc., the more seeds you add in the recipe the hotter the finished product will be.

 

I'm still trying to get my dried ancho chili seeds to grow. Ancho chili is the main ingredient in red enchilada sauce. I made the mistake of making it from scratch and now my DH will not let me use the canned version any more.

[gofish]

Here are some ideas on how to use chutney.

 

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/harvest/msg0417231231301.html

 

 

I had a friend that used chutney in a recipe called snow on the mountain that she got when she was in Africa.She helped them make American pizza and they showed her how to make curry.I have the recipe around here some where if I find it I will post it.

 

 

 

 

Cat if you have a cookbook from the christian radio station from about 17 years ago it's in there.

[Cat]

Cat if you have a cookbook from the christian radio station from about 17 years ago it's in there.

 

 

Well, SHEESH... I thought I had every local recipe book ever printed! Nope, don't have that one.

[Deerslayer]

wow--i am loving all these answers.. keep em coming