Jalapeno Jelly

 The growing season starts early here in Texas (I planted in February) so everything is really setting on.  We have one jalapeno plant which is very ambitious.  Sent the kids out yesterday and there were 20 peppers ready to be picked!  So I decided to make some jalapeno jelly.  My husband likes to dip his jalapeno poppers in it. I like it when you thaw a brick of cream cheese and smother in the jelly, then eat with crackers.

 First de-seed and de-vein about 12 jalapenos.  Please wear gloves and don't touch your face. Ouch! My method is to cut the top of, cut in half and use my thumb to just push the seeds out.

 Throw the peppers in a food processor or blender with 1 cup of cider vinegar.  Give it a whirl and make a puree.

At this point, I washed all the jars and lids in the sink and then put them in the canner (with the burner on, covered in hot water) to keep warm until they were used.

Pour the puree into a deep stainless steel pot (it will grow at least double in volume) and add another cup of cider vinegar and 6 cups of sugar.  Get this to a rolling boil and boil 10 minutes.  Add 2 packages of pectin and boil another minute.

Take off heat and add food coloring (optional). Skim foam off top.

Ladle jelly into hot jars.  I love my funnel that came with my set of canning accessories.  If fits perfect! Make sure to leave a little room at the top of the jar (unlike the jar in the front of the picture below).  I had to take a little out of that one.

The jars are ready for lids now.  Place lids and rings.  Put in canner.  Cover completely in water and process 10 minutes.

Tada! Jalapeno jelly

Recipe:

Jalapeno Jelly

12 oz. jalapenos (about 12 medium)

2 cups cider vinegar (divided)

6 cups sugar

2 packages pectin

jars, lids, etc.

My favorite canning book

A Good Loaf of Bread

This is my go-to bread recipe. The loaves always turn out moist and beautiful.

Bread

1/4 cup warm water
1/2 TBSP sugar
1 TBSP yeast

Combine above ingredients in bowl and set aside
Scald 2 cups of milk (I do this by microwaving about 3-4 minutes in a large glass measuring cup). Let milk cool.

In large bowl, combine (I use my Kitchen-Aid):
3/4 cup honey
1/2 TBSP salt
1/4 cup oil
1 egg

Add yeast mixture to mixing bowl, then scalded milk.
Add 2 cups wheat flour and combine well. Now add white flour 1/2 cup at a time until you get the desired consistency. My bread usually takes about 5 total cups. Mix well.

Grease a large bowl and turn dough into it. Cover with towel and let rise until doubled. Grease 2 bread loaf pans. Punch down dough and split into two loaves. Let rise in pans until doubled. Cook at 325 for 25-30 minutes.

Slow Cooker Potato Soup

It is officially fall which is soup time. Here is a great potato soup that we had tonight. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture.

Slow Cooker Potato Soup

6 slices of bacon, cooked
1 small/medium onion, chopped
2 cans chicken broth
5-6 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 cup flour
1 pint half and half
1 can evaporated milk

Cook bacon and set aside (refrigerate). Cook onion in a little bacon grease. Place onion in crock pot. Put potatoes on top and cover with chicken broth. If needed, add enough water to cover potatoes. Cook on low 6-7 hours, or high for about 4-5 hours. 1/2 hour before serving, use a potato masher to mash up about 1/4 of potatoes in soup. Whisk together half and half and flour then add to slow cooker. Pour in evaporated milk and add bacon that has been cut into pieces. After 1/2 hour it will be thick and yummy! Serve with shredded cheese on top and a hot loaf of bread.

DIY Laundry and Dish Detergent

I know this isn't a yummy food recipe, but it is one of my favorite recipes....

Have you ever wanted to make your own laundry soap and dish detergent? There are several benefits of DIY. First, homemade detergent is inexpensive... I mean REALLY inexpensive. Pennies a load. Second, when you make it yourself, you know every ingredient that goes into the detergent. Just Borax, washing powder, and soap. No strange chemicals that are unpronounceable. Third, it is great to have knowledge of how things are made and feel confident in your ability to do it yourself.... even if you have no intention of doing it yourself right now. Knowledge is power.
Of course, I take no credit for this recipe. There are so many wonderful money saving sites that share homemade recipes such as this.

Laundry Soap (Duggars Recipe)

Ingredients:
1 five gallon bucket with lid
1/2 cup Borax
1 cup Washing soda (not baking soda)
1 bar Fels-Naptha soap. Other natural soaps can be used too such as Ivory.

I picked these ingredients up at Wal-mart for a grand total of $7.19. The Fels-Naptha (97 cents) was all used up but the Borax and soda will do MANY more batches.First heat 4 cups of water in a pot on the stove and grate the soap. It looks like yummy cheese, so watch your kids. Seriously, I had little hands trying to snitch it, LOL. Put the grated soap in the pot and heat until melted. When the water and soap is melted, fill a 5 gallon bucket halfway with warm water. Pour the melted soap in and add the Borax and Washing soda. Stir.
Fill the bucket the rest of the way with warm water. At this point, I do add some lavender essential oil (about 20 drops), but that is totally optional. Let stand overnight. When you are ready to use, fill an old laundry soap bottle halfway with the detergent. Fill the rest of the way with water. Use about 5/8 cup per load (top loading) or 1/4 cup (front loading).

I have used the laundry soap and it works great.
Dishwasher detergent:

Ingredients:
1 cup Borax,
1 cup Washing soda
1/4 cup LemiShine (on the dish soap aisle) Can also use citric acid which is supposed to be better but harder to find.
1/2 cup Kosher salt

Mix in container. Use 1 TBSP per load. Using too much will leave residue. Also, for a more natural alternative, use white vinegar in the dishwasher's rinse agent spot.

I just mixed this up and have not personally tried it. I'm crossing my fingers that it works. I'll edit the post later (after a week or two) and update on the effectiveness. We have really hard water here and white streaks are a problem.

Please share your experiences (and recipe tweaks) in the comments.

Frog Eye Salad

It's time for summer picnics and potlucks. Here is one of our family's favorite side salads to bring. It is cool and delicious. Don't let the funny looking "frog eyes" scare you. Yum.

Frog Eye Salad

Ingredients:
1 (1 lb) pkg. acini de pepe pasta
1 can pineapple tidbits
1 can crushed pineapple
1 small can mandarin oranges
4 c. mini marshmallows
1 c. sugar
2 T. flour
Container of Cool Whip
1/4 tsp. salt
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
shredded coconut, optional

Directions:
Cook acini de pepe in salted water for 12 minutes. Drain and set aside. Open pineapple cans and drain their juice into a small saucepan. Save fruit in fridge for later. Add sugar, flour and salt to pineapple juice and bring to a boil. In large bowl, pour hot liquid over the slightly beaten egg yolks. Let cool a little and then add the pasta. Stir and store in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, break up the pasta (it will be stuck in clumps) add reserved fruit, drained mandarin oranges, Cool Whip, coconut (optional) and marshmallows.

Note: This recipe makes a very large amount. I use my largest Tupperware bowl.

May's Author of the Month: Alison L.

Alison L.

Texas

Saltbox House Author since 2009

Read Her Bio (Click Here)

Favorite Restaurant(s):
We don't go out to eat much, but my favorite restaurant in Utah was Bajio Grill. It served the same type of food as Cafe Rio but I like their tortillas better and never stood in a long line<-- major bonus points there. I haven't found a new favorite place yet here in Texas.

Favorite Foods: 
I would say my favorite food is anything I didn't cook. Isn't that awful? While I enjoy recipes and making new foods, the ultimate tasting experience is trying something fabulous that I didn't prepare and, best of all, something I won't have to clean up! But to be specific, I like home-style food. Breads (I know, carbs!), yummy potatoes (carbs!), and pasta (carbs, again!) dominate my recipe box. I am not a sweet tooth and rarely makes desserts.

Inspiration to Cook:With young kids, we are kind of hampered by their undeveloped tastes. I get tired of the same old thing and so I take two approaches 1. having the same old things be fast and easy or 2. trying new dishes that are familiar but different enough to be a little exciting to the grown ups in this house.

Feelings about New Foods:I love, love, love to collect new recipes. Even if the new recipe is for something I regularly cook. Just a little change makes the familiar a lot more fun.

At the Table:I don't really enjoy cooking for others, but that is due to insecurity. I have known so many wonderful cooks (my mother being the best) that I'm a little shy about sharing my skills. Which is probably why I don't post here enough.

Here at Saltbox House Cooking Exchange, we have been inspired by Alison and chose her as May's author of the month because of her hard work as a mother and creative blog designer. She has been our technical support for Saltbox House since the beginning of our expansion and has helped make this blog what it is today! In recognition of Mother's Day this month, we believe that cooking can be a big demand in your household, but we should explore and discover all that food can offer at the family table. To view all of Alison L.'s current posts such as delicious recipes, cooking creations, and other food topics see link list below:

Cheesy Broccoli Bean Soup

Five Minute Caramel Corn

Puppy Chow

Three Bean Soup (Crock Pot)

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

Irish Soda Bread

Gingerbread Cookies

Moist Applesauce Fruitcake

Stuffed Mushrooms

Easy Peasy Pumpkin Cookies

Apple-Walnut Loaf

Game Day Salsa 

*Most Popular Post

Cheesy Broccoli Soup with Basic Bread

Food Challenge- Soup and Chili Cookoff
Cheesy Broccoli Soup

Ingredients
3-4 potatoes, peeled and diced
2-3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 small onion, diced
3-4 cups fresh broccoli (can replace with zucchini, celery, peppers, etc.)
water to cover
1-2 Tbsp. chicken bouillon
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup flour
pinch of salt and pepper
4 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar is good)

Place vegetables in large pot and just cover with water. Stir in bouillon. Simmer until veggies are soft (30 min to an hour). When veggies are cooked through, mash with potato masher (do not drain).
In saucepan, melt 1 stick butter. Add flour, salt and pepper, and cook into a paste (medium heat). Slowly whisk in milk. Heat over medium heat, stirring often, until thick and creamy. Do not boil. Stir in cheese until well blended.
Add cheese mixture to the mashed vegetable stock. Stir and heat through.

Basic Bread

2 1/2 cups HOT water
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup sugar/honey
1 TBSP salt
1/2 cup flour
1 and a 1/2 TBSP yeast
4-6 cup flour

•In mixing bowl, combine HOT water, oil, honey and salt. Add 1/2 cup flour and quickly mix, add yeast and mix. Slowly add 4 to 6 cups flour until dough is soft but not too sticky. I usually replace a cup or two of white flour with wheat flour. This may decrease the total amount of flour you need. Knead dough for 5-8 minutes. I use the dough hook on my mixer (5 or so minutes).
•Turn dough out into large greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or clean towel. Allow to rise until doubled. Usually 30 minutes.
•Turn on oven to 175 degrees. Grease counter or table with spray oil. Flour rolling pin and table. Divide dough into thirds (for average size bread pans). Take each piece and roll out with rolling pin into oblong shape about 7-8 inches wide. Be sure all the air bubbles are popped. Roll into tight cylinder (width-wise, so cylinder is about 7-8 inches wide) and place in greased bread pan with ends tucked under. Repeat with other pieces and put all bread pans in warmed oven.
•Let rise again until doubled (about 1/2 hour).
•Turn up heat on oven to 350 and bake about 30 minutes (until loaf sounds hollow when thumped). If the tops are getting too dark before the center is done, cover with tin foil.
•Remove bread from oven and cool completely on wire rack. Slice and enjoy.

Five Minute Caramel Corn

Did you know October is national Caramel month and Popcorn Poppin' month? Why not combine the two and make this easy treat?

Five Minute Caramel Corn

1/2 cup unpopped popcorn
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 bag marshmallows

Air-pop popcorn into large bowl and set aside. Melt butter in microwave. Stir in brown sugar. Add marshmallows to sugar/ butter mix and microwave one minute. Stir. Microwave another 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave another 30 seconds if needed. Pour over popcorn and stir until evenly coated.

Puppy Chow

Challenge: make a treat with a food staple item

Rachael's Gooey Chex Mix from the last post looks so good, doesn't it? It reminded me of my kids' absolute FAVORITE treat: Puppy Chow (also known as Muddy Buddies). Which are well known, but are good enough for a repeat. Sorry about no picture, but we had birthday cake last night so I get no sweets for a week!

RECIPE:
9 cup Chex
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Put cereal in large bowl. Melt chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.Pour over Chex cereal, put into a large plastic bag with powdered sugar and shake well to coat. (Got a huge Tupperware bowl? You can shake the powdered sugar on in that, too.)

Spread mixture evenly on wax paper and allow to cool. Hungry little bellies can't wait? Put it in the freezer for 20 minutes.

**Ok, wanna make it ten times better? Mix in mini pretzels!

**Want it fifty times better? Skip the Chex altogether and make it pure pretzels. So, so, so good.

Three Bean Soup (Crock Pot)

This month's challenge is to take something your kids will eat and hide some good stuff in it. I don't know if this really qualifies, but soup is one of the foods my kids will eat and not be too concerned about what's in it (as long as I chop the objectionable things, like onions, small enough). This particular soup is a favorite because my kids love beans and the recipe is so versatile. You can just throw in what you've got. We really like black beans and black-eyed peas (sometimes chickpeas) in this soup also, so be creative.

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 medium carrots, sliced
1 box chicken broth (32 oz)
water to cover
1-2 tsp Italian seasoning (or oregano, basil, parsley)
1 garlic clove, minced (dried is fine)
1/2 tsp pepper
1 can great northern beans, rinsed and drained
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 package cooked sausage (like Eckrich), cut into pieces
3 cups fresh spinach
corn starch

1. Place potatoes, onions, garlic and carrots in crock pot. Sprinkle seasonings on top. Pour chicken broth over veggies and add water to cover by an inch or so. If you don't have that much broth, don't worry.... I just use whatever I've got leftover from other recipes with extra water or even bouillon cubes. Cook on low until potatoes are soft.

2. Add beans and meat (sometimes I use cooked hamburger or ham or no meat). Heat through (1-2 hour or so).

3.Tear spinach into pieces and stir into soup--the smaller the pieces, the more picky kids will accidentally ingest. But if you want it pretty, leave the spinach leaves whole. For a thicker broth, stir 1 part cornstarch into 2 parts cold water until smooth and add that to soup here. Heat another 30 minutes or so.

4. Enjoy! We love ours with cornbread.

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

It seems like summer has just been whizzing by this year. At our house, we like to cook on the grill and enjoy lazy evenings listening to the crickets. One of our family's favorite Saturday afternoon treats is ice cream sandwiches. We whip up a batch of sugar cookies (not the Christmas kind), pull out our favorite ice cream and enjoy the sunny weather.

Sugar Cookies
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar, for rolling cookies

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time then beat in vanilla extract.

Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the butter and egg mixture.

Form dough into about 1 inch balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place on a cookie sheet and bake until the edges are just slightly brown, about 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool, but not too much because the sandwich part is easier if they are still a little warm.

Now for the fun. . . . .
Turn one cookie upside down and put a scoop of your favorite ice cream on top. Enlist the help of a cute kid and smash another cookie on top.
There you have it. Yummy ice cream sandwiches. If you're not eating them right away, simply wrap and freeze. We only had chocolate ice cream today, but these are really really good with creamy sherbet (like orange). Think dreamsicles. Yum!

Irish Soda Bread

I was looking for some "Irish" recipes to try this month and decided to start with this bread. It was easy and turned out good. My outside was lumpier than desired, but I think maybe a little better dough shaping on my part would have solved that. I was sad because I like pretty loaves. Anyway, it tasted really good. The kids sure liked it.
Irish Soda Bread

4 cups all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp white sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 butter or margarine, softened
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a large baking sheet.

2. In a large bowl, mix first six ingredients (to softened butter). Sitr in 1 cup buttermilk and egg. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. Form dough into a round and place on prepared baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine melted butter with 1/4 cup buttermilk. Brush loaf with mixture. Use a sharp knife to cut an 'x' into the top of the loaf.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. While baking brush loaf a few times with the butter/buttermilk mixture.

Gingerbread Cookies

This is a super easy recipe that is sooo yummy and fun.


Ingredients:

2/3 cup shortening
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. molasses
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. each ground cinnamon, cloves, and ginger

In a mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Beat in egg and molasses. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. REFRIGERATE OVERNIGHT.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4 in. thickness. Cut into desired shapes. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Cool on wire rack.

Decorate. We like royal icing on ours (powdered sugar and milk with a smidge of butter and vanilla).

Moist Applesauce Fruitcake

I know that fruitcake gets a bad rap these days, but Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without my mom making a batch of grandma's famous fruitcake. My grandfather loved this so much, that it's all he took with him on the deer hunt. Feeling nostalgic, I made my first batch today and it turned out pretty well. The first loaf is gone already!

1 cup shortening
2 cup sugar
4 eggs
3 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 cup raisins (boiled, cooled and drained)
1 lb walnuts (or pecans)
1lb. fruitcake mix
1 lb gumdrops
1 T. vanilla

Sift together:
4 1/2 cup flour
4 t. soda
1 t. nutmeg
2 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves
1 t. salt
2 T. cocoa (optional)


Cream shortening and sugar. Add slightly beaten eggs. Add alternately the applesauce and flour combination and mix. Add vanilla, gumdrops, fruitcake mix, nuts and raisins and mix well. Pour into greased and floured loaf pans and bake at 325 for 1 hour. Makes 3 loaves.

Note: Also makes great cupcakes. And my mother has successfully substituted whole wheat flour for 1/2 of the white.

Stuffed Mushrooms

These mushrooms are one of the things I brought for Thanksgiving dinner this year and they turned out really well. Sorry I don't have a picture, but this year's craft was really fun and cute. I can't take credit-- my sister-in-law thought this one up. It's just crackers, pretzels, olives, triangular cheddar cheese all held together with spray cheese.


Ingredients:

At least 20 whole mushrooms
1/4 lb sausage
1-2 green onions
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray. Clean mushroom and carefully break off stems. Chop stems fine, discarding the tough end.

Cook sausage in skillet. Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems. Fry until no moisture remains. Set aside to cool.

When the garlic mixture is no longer hot, stir in cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, onions (finely chopped), black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Mixture should be very thick. Using a little spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing. Arrange the mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the mushroom are hot and liquid starts to form under caps.

(Adapted from a recipe from Allrecipes)

Easy Peasy Pumpkin Cookies

These are the best cookies ever. Once fall hits I bring them everywhere. They are not pretty cookies but soooo yummy.

Ingredients:
1 box spice cake mix
1 16 oz can canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
Some chocolate chips or nuts, whatever you want

Mix, shape into cookies, bake 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees. And voila! So good.

If you want to double it use 2 cake mixes and the big (29oz) can of pumpkin.

Apple-Walnut Loaf

Autumn means fresh apples. Yum! I got some apple trees for Mother's day a few years back and this is the first year I've gotten a real crop. Don't they look beautiful?

I still don't have quite enough to be worth preserving, so we've been enjoying fresh apple recipes. Here's a good bread that we had the other night.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp active dry yeast
2 Tbsp light brown sugar
1 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups flour (it can all be white, but I do 2 cups whole wheat)
2 medium-large tart cooking apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (2-3 cups)
1/2 cup dried fruit (I use craisins)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 Tbsp oil (walnut is fantastic, but other kinds are fine)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground mace
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 Tbsp salt

1. In large bowl using whisk (or a heavy duty mixer) combine the yeast, brown sugar, warm water, warm milk, and 1 cup white and 1 cup wheat flour. Beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 1 hour.

2. Add the apples, craisins, walnuts, oil, eggs, cinnamon, mace, allspice, salt, and 1 cup wheat flour. Beat until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft dough is formed. It will be difficult to stir, but needs to remain "sticky". The trick to good bread is to keep the dough slightly stickier than you think it should be. Using wheat will decrease the flour by just a little. I used about 5 3/4 cups.

3. turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and springy yet firm, dusting with small amounts of flour as necessary.

4. Place the dough in a greased deep container. Turn the dough once to coat the top and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until doubled (1 1/2 to 2 hours)

5. Gently deflate dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Grease two 9x5 loaf pans. Shape into loaves. Let rise in pans until tops are an inch above rim of pan (about 45 minutes).

6. Bake at 350 for 45- 50 minutes.

Original recipe from The Fresh Loaf

Game Day Salsa

Football season is big at our house and this is our favorite treat. Our kids even love it! Lately, I have started to bring this salsa with a bag of chips to summer potlucks and it is always well received. I get lots of requests for the recipe and everyone is always so amazed at how easy it is.

The ingredients:

2 cans beans (I always use 1 black and 1 black-eye pea)
1/2 to 3/4 cup frozen corn (thawed)
1 onion
2 smallish tomatoes
2 avocados
1 pepper (whatever kind I have on hand)
1 bunch cilantro
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp water
1 package "Italian" dressing seasoning

Cut up all the veggies and mix in bowl. Make the Italian dressing using the balsamic vinegar and water. Mix, chill, and enjoy!

Hello

Hi, I'm Alison and I'm happy to be a contributor on this blog. I've been reading it from the beginning and am always amazed. Not just with the fabulous recipes, but the beautiful pictures and presentation. I always think "I want to be cool like that."

I am a mom of four little kids who won't eat anything that looks remotely like real food. It gets pretty monotonous sometimes. I think that's why I'm fascinated with delicious-looking recipes!

I grow my own garden, try to keep up with my food storage, and have recently delved into the world of bread making. I can't say I'm a great success at any of these endeavors, but I'm working on it.