Homemade Marshmallows!!!!!

Holy cow I can't believe I haven't done a post on how to make marshmallows!!  I took pictures when I was making them this summer and I guess I never got around to blogging about it (tornado kind of distracted me I guess).  So here you go....

You will need a candy thermometer and a stand mixer.

Ingredients:
powdered sugar for dusting
2 tablespoons gelatin (equals 2 envelopes)
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup hot water
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Line an 8 x 11.5  pan with foil, butter it and then dust it with powdered sugar. Set aside.  (This is important because the marshmallow will never come out of the pan if it is not prepped properly.)

2. In a mixing bowl, soak gelatin and 1/2 cup of cold water. Set aside.

3. Combine granulated sugar and 1 cup of hot water in a large heavy saucepan.

4. Cook and stir over medium heat until dissolved. Bring to soft ball stage (236 -238 degrees).

5.  Slowly add to the gelatin and start mixing.  Mix on high speed until it doubles in size and the bowl is no longer hot.  It is going to take awhile and there is no set length of time.  I have had it take 20 minutes.

6. Add the vanilla extract and beat until incorporated.

7. Pour into the prepared pan.

8. Allow it to stand until it is stiff enough to hold its own shape.  I like to wait a few hours at least.

9. Cut in 1 1/2 inch pieces and roll in powdered sugar.  Don't over crowd them when you store them.  You want the outsides to develop a crusty texture it.

10.  If I want mini marshmallows I prep cookie sheets and pipe the marshmallows in long strips. 

I then cut them up and toss in icing sugar.

Other ideas:

I have piped the marshmallows out into snowman shapes and used melted chocolate to add the eyes, mouth & buttons.

I have also tinted them pink with raspberry juice and then cut them out with a heart cookie cutter.

Instead of vanilla you could use peppermint extract or lemon extract.

If you want to roast them over the campfire double the amount of gelatin.  That will make them firmer and then they won't fall off of the stick when they roast.

I make my marshmallows square because it is easier but if you want round ones you can use a cookie cutter and use the scraps as mini marshmallows.

Don't make these on a really humid day.  It just won't work.

Looking back on 2011

What a year it was!  It started off slow.  We moved into Goderich in November of 2010 so this time last year we were just settling in.  January, February and March were spent redecorating and organizing the house and just loving living in town.  It was great not to have to worry about what the weather was going to be like.  Living in town means that even if there were roads closed in the country we could still walk to the library or go visit friends.
Spring brought the construction of Rob's workshop in the backyard. 

Before

During

Almost done, needs a few finishing touches.

The start of the summer meant lots of:

swimming

beautiful sunsets

and fun times camping (I guess from Nick's face even dishes are fun when you are camping).

In August the boys went to spend a week at Nana & Papa's in Guelph while Rob and I went on a vacation by ourselves.  Rob and I were off to Mackinac Island, Michigan.  We spent Sunday August 21st getting to our destination.  In total we were on the road 12 hours (including our horrible ferry ride to the island).  We checked into our hotel, I had a brief nap (because I was so sea sick from the ferry ride) and we decided that we would go for supper.  Before we left I thought I had better email Dad and let everyone know that we made it to our destination safely.  I opened up the computer and on the front page of Yahoo it said "SW Ontario Town Destoyed by Storm," I clicked on it and it was Goderich that was destroyed. 

A tornado had ripped through Goderich around 4:00pm.  It had come off of Lake Huron, went right through the centre of town and out the other side.  One person died.  After numerous attempts to contact people in Goderich we finally found out our house was okay but many friends had lost their homes.

We wanted to turn around and head straight home again but the last ferry for the day had already left.  On Monday morning we found out that the police weren't letting people into town even if you lived there so there was no sense going home then.  We stayed and tried to see some of the island. 

No motorized vehicles are allowed on the island.  You travel by foot, bike or horse.

Mackinac Bridge - from shore line to shore line it is 8 km (5 miles) long.

We headed home on Tuesday morning.  We stopped in Flint Michigan for lunch and felt an earthquake while we were there!  We spent the rest of our holiday helping friends and neighbours clean up.  It was hot, tiring and overwhelming but we couldn't continue on our holiday while there was so much going on at home. 

Later that week we got great news though...Daco and Jen had a beautiful baby boy!

Nana & Jack Carlo Zoethout

September came and the boys went back to school, Jake in Grade 5 French and Nick in Grade 2 French.  Rob spent a lot of weekends helping friends repair their houses and yards from the tornado damage.  The Courthouse was damaged in the tornado so my office was relocated to the Auburn Patrol Yard.  (Yes, I know, ironic.)  We stayed there until mid December, luckily the weather held out and it was a nice drive all but one day.

The tornado has left a lasting effect on all of us.  Everyone is on edge when the winds get high, tornados have worked their way into the kids play and it will be years until the downtown will be normal again.  A lot of businesses have relocated but not all and we are missing them.  Some days it is really depressing to drive around and see all of the buildings that are just shells waiting to come down.  Other days you drive around and see all of the new construction going on and everything feels good.  How you view the town just depends on the day I guess.



All in all it was a relatively good year for our family and we look forward to a great 2012!

Ninja's in the Kitchen - Bits & Bites

Nick loves Ninja's and their weapons and outfits.  It is not unusual to see him fully decked out as a Ninja. 

This particular day he wasn't dressed up as one but was practicing his weapon skills.  I asked Nick if he wanted to help me make Bits and Bites and he thought that was a great idea. 

He went and washed up and came back and wondered "Where do Ninja's put there weapons when they cook?"  Um, I am not sure... 

He ended up putting his Ninja knives in his waisteband of his pants.  That way if we were attacked while making our snack he would be able to quickly defend us.  Good thing he is around, I feel very safe.

The boys have always helped me make Bits & Bites.  It is a very kid friendly recipe.

Bits & Bites
3 cups Cheerios
3 cups Shreddies
2 cups pretzels
1 cup mixed nuts
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp celery salt
2 tbsp worcestersauce

Have your Ninja accomplice measure and pour all the cereal and nuts into a roasting pan and mix them all up.  Mix the melted butter and spices and worcestersauce and then pour over the cereal mixture and toss it all together to coat it all.  Bake it in a 350 degree oven for about 30 - 40 minutes stirring it every 10 minutes.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Apple Soup

We got a pie pumpkin in our CSA share a few weeks ago.  I used it as decoration for awhile and then decided that I should make something out of it before it went bad.  When I asked the boys what we should make with the pie pumpkin I did not get the obvious answer.  Nick wanted Pumpkin Apple Soup and Jake wanted Pumpkin cookies.  I started with the soup because it has been a rainy cold week.

Ingredients:
2 cups finely chopped tart apple
1 small onion chopped
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
4 cups chicken broth
3 cups pumpkin
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg
1 cup unsweetened apple juice
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:
Saute the apples and onions in the butter until tender.  When tender add the flour and stir until blended.  Slowly whisk in the chicken broth. Add the pumpkin, brown sugar and spices.  Bring to a boil and let simmer for 25 minutes.  Use a stick blender (or a regular blender) and bizz it up so that it is smooth. (If you are making this to be served later, this is where you stop and refridgerate.)

Just before serving add the apple juice, milk and salt & pepper. 

Makes about 2 quarts.

Nick loves this soup served with cheddar biscuits.  Yum.

Vanilla Extract

Pure Vanilla Extract is really expensive to buy.  For the amount of baking that I do it would cost me a fortune every year so I make my own.  It is so simple I can't believe that everyone doesn't do it!

All it takes is a bottle of vodka and 10 vanilla beans.

I split the vanilla beans down the centre so that the vodka can penetrate the fragrant seeds that are in the inside quicker.  Somebody told me that this will speed up the process but I don't know if it actually does.  (If you split the beans you will have little black floaties in the finished vanilla but that doesn't bother me.  I think that this shows that you used real vanilla.)

Pour an ounce out of the vodka bottle, add some orange juice and drink it.  You need to make room for the vanilla beans and you don't want to waste it.

Put the split vanilla beans into the vodka bottle. 

And you are done!

Put it on a shelf in a dark cupboard and shake it once a week or so.  In six week it will be ready to use.  The longer you let it sit the stronger it will be.  I always have one that I am using and one that is steeping in the cupboard.

The finished product!  I started this one about 6 months ago.

Questions & Answers (because I know you have them).

Q.  What size bottle of vodka did you use?

A,  This is a 750ml bottle.

Q.  Can you use a different sized bottle of vodka?

A.  Yes, I use this one because the bigger one doesn't fit on my pantry shelf.  The bigger the bottle you use the more beans you should use.

Q.  Does it have to be vodka?

A.  No.  My dad uses rum and it turns out great.

Q.  Where do you get the vanilla beans?

A.  I order them from Top Vanilla.com.  They have some good quality beans for a good price.

Fall Cooking

Summer is definately over now and it is time to move on from salads and fresh veggies onto soups, stews and baked goods.

Today was an extremely productive day in the kitchen!  I did tomato butter, granola, potato soup, ribs, breaded chicken breasts and apple crisp. 

The tomato butter will be frozen in small portions to be used with pork roasts or pork chops through out the winter. 

Granola is for breakfast, served with yogurt and a touch of honey. 

Potato soup is for lunches this week. 

Ribs are for supper and maybe one lunch this week.  (Not enough for lunches, Nick found the ones that were left over while I was typing and ate them as an after dinner snack.)

The chicken breast will be made into Chicken Parmesean Monday night for supper.  All I will have to do is warm them in the oven and add my home made pasta sauce and some cheese.

My kitchen smells awesome.

Here are a few of the recipes that I used today.

Tomato Butter
5 lbs of roma tomatos, skinned and chopped
3 cups of sugar
1 cup of vinegar
1 red onion finely chopped
a shake of ground cloves
a few shakes of ground cinnamon

Wash and de-stem the tomatoes.  Score an X in the skin at the bottom of the tomato.  Put on a large pot of water so that you can blanch the tomatoes.

While you are waiting for the water too boil put the vinegar, sugar, oil and spices in a large pot.  Stir to combine.

In batches put the tomatoes in the boiling water and leave them there for about a minute.  You will be able to see when the skin loosens on them and that is when you have to get them out of the water.

Take the skins off the tomatoes and roughly chop them. Add them into the pot with the other ingredients.  Put it on the stove and let it summer until it reduces by at least half.  It took about an hour and a half to two hours for that to happen today.

It was hard to get a good picture but you are looking for a thick pudding like texture.

I then put it in jars, labeled it and let it cool.  When it was cool I froze them.  (I could have canned them and made it shelf stable but really didn't feel like it.)



Sunflower Cupcakes

We had our year end garden potluck last week.  Which had me thinking - What should I contribute?  Then I decided on cupcakes decorated like sunflowers!

Rob made a batch of our favourite chocolate cupcakes. 

I made a vanilla icing that I tinted yellow with a couple shakes of tumeric.  You don't need a lot of tumeric a little bit will do it.  The tinted icing will initially be a pale yellow colour but as it sits it will deepen.  If you plan ahead you can let it sit over night for a beautiful yellow colour.  I never plan that far ahead though.

I also made a chocolate icing.  I put it in a piping bag and used a star tip.  I put one chocolate dolop in the centre of each cupcake.  I then put the yellow in another piping bag and using the same tip, I did the circle around the chocolate one.

Easy peasy and they tasted pretty good.