Tag Archives: fruit

Canning: Pear Slices

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I am overwhelmed with fruit! lol I have so much free fruit in the house that has to be processed before it goes bad and I can only eat so much! Today was pear slices. ;)

I know I will appreciate all my hard work this winter but so far I have had scalding plum butter explode out of the blender and just missed covering my bare shoulder…a bit did land on my foot though and that hurt. I was so grateful it didn’t land on my shoulder at this point. Then today as I was filling the pear jars with a very light syrup, I absent-mindedly grabbed the pot handle and scalded my finger! I should have a warning label by my stove: “Canning can be dangerous…use caution!”

Anyways…pears…peeling, halving, removing the seeds, then slicing. Repeat until pears are done. lol Simple right? Yes it is! I did get a handy-dandy tip from another site somewhere, to use a melon baller to remove the seeds. OMG, that was a time saver! I am so glad I didn’t throw out that useless wonderful piece of plastic.

a timesaver for sure!

Have a bowl of water with the juice of one lemon squeezed in, to keep the pear slices from browning. Just toss them in as you prep each pear.

Meanwhile, sterilize the jars you will use to pack your pear slices.

sterilize the jars for 10 minutes

You should also prepare the syrup to add to the pears once they are packed in your jars. I use a VERY light syrup…1 cup of organic sugar to 6 cups of water. 

1 cup sugar to 6 cups water

Bring to a boil, stirring to keep the sugar from burning on the bottom of the pot. See? There is so much going on during the prepping that no wonder I am burning myself!

Fill the jars with the pear slices and pour the syrup over them, leaving 1/2 ” headroom from rim of jar. Wipe the jar rims, add the lids and rings and place in the water bath for 25 minutes.

Remove from the water-bath and let cool overnight. Check to be sure they are sealed by pressing down on the centre of the lid. If it pops back it’s not sealed. Either eat up that jar or, some people re-process the jar. Luckily I haven’t had any jars not properly seal. :) These will be perfect for a mid winter snack. The possibilities are endless…topping for ice cream, add to yogurt, use in muffins or a crisp! All I know is I will like the fact that there is a healthy snack made from free fruit that does not contain a heavy syrup made with high fructose corn syrup. All the splatters, burns and time will be well worth it!

what is your canning mishap? burns? cuts?

share your canning ideas.

 in Health

Denise ♥

 

 

Canning: Pear Sauce

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This is my second year at canning. I do enjoy it but I will admit, it is a lot of work and the yield is always smaller than what you anticipate. I know, I say that in all my canning posts but it is so true!!!

Anyhow, I decided that, since I had a bounty of free pears I may as well make pear sauce, you know, like apple sauce but with pears ;) .

I have a lot of fruit to process!

I got all my supplies ready and peeled alot of pears. There has to be an easier way…well there is and I am going to have to invest in one!

Mind you, it was such a beautiful day so I sat outside and peeled away while chatting with my husband. :) It was a nice relaxing way to connect…me working and him…NOT! lol.

Once I had my pears peeled and sliced I boiled them in water. At first I had added enough water to cover the fruit then remembered that you’re only supposed to add a cup of water, just enough to prevent scalding to the pot. I was half way through the boil at this point but I just scooped out all the water I could. I saved the juice though and I will use it in smoothies. Can’t be wasting any of that goodness!

 I like my sauce to have chunks in it, not smooth like store-bought. 

almost ready :)

Once the sauce was ready, I added a little cinnamon to it for flavour. I then ladled it into pre-sterilized jars and placed the jars into a water bath for 15 minutes. (for pint or 500ml jar size) After 15 minutes was up, I removed them from the water bath and let cool completely before storing, about 24 hours. Press on the lids to be sure there is a good seal. When the lid is depressed it should not ‘pop’ when released. If it does then you can place in the fridge and use up within 3 weeks. Some people re-process the jars but I just don’t trust it myself.

Here is the result of this batch: 4 jars plus a little one. (one is hiding)

Yummy!

I’m thinking of jarring pear halves next. I don’t buy canned fruit from the store but I know I would enjoyed these pears in the middle of the winter!

Do you make pear sauce?

What else are you canning this year?

in Health

Denise ♥

Canning: Plum Butter :)

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Jeff came home with 20 lbs of free plums this morning…like, early this morning. He went picking at 6:30 AM! I was going to make Plum Butter but not that much. lol I decided on a double batch which calls for 10 lbs of plums. We still have 10 lbs left.

I have never made a fruit butter before but it seemed pretty straight forward…boil the plums and sugar until mushy then simmer until reduced. Ok, let’s start! wash the plums and lay out to dry or pat dry.

washing all the plums!

Cut the plums in half along the ‘seam’ open and remove the pit. Cut the halves into quarters. Do this until you have 10 lbs done. Exhausting!
 

Once you have the plums chopped add 1/2 to 1 cup sugar for every pound. I used just under 3 cups for each 5 lb batch. I also added cinnamon and cloves for additional flavour.

Put the mixture into a large pot and bring to a boil…now here’s where I was thrown off. Bring just the fruit and sugar to a boil? But there’s no liquid in there! Well, be patient as there will be soon enough, lots of liquid. I was amazed at how much liquid is produced!

first pot is liquified…started 2nd pot

Here’s where things went ugly…it took FOREVER for the liquid to reduce into the ‘butter’ which should have a paste consistency. So first I am wondering where the liquid is coming from and then I was wondering why the liquid wouldn’t reduce. Can you tell this is my first attempt?

I scrolled through he blogs and web pages looking for an answer and pretty much all I got was…it takes a while for the butter to reduce. Some said an hour, some said 3-4 hours and some said it should be made in the oven! Confused by this point? YES. Frustrated? Hell yes!

I decided to strain some of the liquid out using a colander and it did lose some of the liquid but not really by much. Put it back on the burner and waited..and waited…and stirred and waited some more! After about 4 hours I did what anybody would do…I turned everything off and walked away! I was baffled so I needed a time out. After a 1/2 hour I decided I would put the pot of plum butter in the fridge over night and see what I could do in the morning!

Next Morning: Good morning :)

When I took the pot out of the fridge it was a lot thicker than last night which excited me and so I decided to puree half of the plum butter and mix it with the non pureed amount. I like to see bits of fruit in my preserves. ;) It is now thicker and I have brought the fruit to a boil, re-sterilized the jars and will fill them momentarily.

Much thicker than last night!

I filled the jars…there is never as much product as you think there will be.

ladle into jars leaving 1/2 inch head room

Once the jars were filled I placed them in the water to set for 10 minutes.

water bath

I now know for future, that it will take a long time to thicken the ‘butter’. Last night I was so frustrated that I felt I would not try making it again. Now that I am prepared for the process I will definitely make it again.

six jars plus the one on the forward left is the strained mount. :)

I now realize why people charge so much at Farmer’s Markets etc for their jams etc. It takes a lot of time and effort to bring about a small yield. I still would rather make my own than pay the price but I at least have a better understanding of their reasoning! Oh and the amount I strained last night? I pureed that too and re-boiled. It thickened up a bit so I jarred that amount too. Got 1 jar out of it. Hey, waste not want not right?!

have you made Plum Butter?

if so do you have any tricks or ideas for faster reduction?

in Health

Denise ♥

11Km Walk (with free food?) A Great Way to Welcome September First! :D

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 When my husband asked me this morning if I wanted to go for a walk I jumped at the chance…wait! like a walk walk or a go to the mailbox walk…a walk walk….I jumped at the chance! lol Most times we tend to do our own fitness and even our walking styles differ. I tend to walk with purpose and for fitness while he tends to…stroll… ;) He keeps telling me that to stroll is relaxing. OK, I’ll buy into that plus I am working on being more accommodating.  Off we went with Lily in tow.

Lily loves to walk in the woods…

This is a great time of year to walk along rural areas as there is an abundant supply of free food like blackberries:

one of the few pics of Jeff and I together lol ;)

 apples:

Mmmmm…

 and we even found plums!:

delicious plum!

 

There was a lot going on in this 11K loop! My goodness…we started out walking through a residential, then into the woods, along the beach and into farm land and bumped into some horses! I love these long walks…and it was longggggg, like two and a half hours long! haha We detoured into a bird estuary and were almost attacked by this!

he was more vicious looking than he appears!

In our defence, he did look poised to jump onto one of our faces! He had those fast twitch muscles going and quite frankly we felt threatened! lol

True energy comes out of the sun, into the trees etc and you can really feel it in the woods. So much oxygen flowing through the forest. Jeff decided to take his shoes off to ’ground’ himself to the earth’s electric energy. There is a science  behind this folks, the earth’s energy flows through your physical body to make you feel connected or ‘grounded’ and it is free and organic! ;) Just be careful where you walk!

walk barefoot to connect to the earths energy :)

We then walked along the Pacific Ocean (Georgia Strait actually)

Beautiful ♥

As we walked along the last part of the loop we went by a beautiful stable which has some gorgeous horses :) One of them was nice enough to come over to the fence to let me rub his nose.

Naturally the last part of the walk home included a hill and by this time my hip was getting cranky!!!

It was a very nice way to welcome in September and the weather couldn’t have been more pleasant. Taking time out to appreciate all that we have around us is a great way to feel grateful for where we live and what we have at our fingertips. It’s very easy to become complacent while going through our daily lives and this gave us pause to become re-aquainted with nature.

Now if you’ll excuse me…I neep a nap. ;)

do you slow down every so often to re-group?

do you feel it’s important to connect to the earth?

in health

Denise ♥

 

 

 

 

Saturday Night’s All Right…a little ramble ;)

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Another week is coming to a close. I can’t believe how fast the time is going by. Several things I would like to touch on from this past week…

>I am offering a Giveaway from Gymboss on my blog.
Go here:http://fitpsychology.com/?m=20120628 to see the rules on how to participate in this offer.

>I have PR’d on my 5K runs the past few days and am very pleased with this. My goal is to run a 5K under 30 minutes! Of course this means Lily has PR’d her runs too ;)

:) best time so far…

>I am really getting into shopping local and organic as much as I am able to. I have noticed that the food tastes better and I am much more conscious about what goes into my body. I am experiencing a real relationship with my food and appreciating how it started and how it got to my plate. It really is a wonderous journey. I still eat meat and do not see giving it up in the foreseeable future but I am now seeking out local farms that raise their livestock humanely and are grass-fed. **Please do not tell me it is inhumane to kill animals to eat…we will agree to disagree** I am grateful for the animal that nourishes me and my family.

My invaluable resource I keep one in my car too!

The above guide came in our local newspaper and list so many local farms that offer produce and meat from their farms. Sustainable farming and I had no idea there were so many so close to me! I am decreasing my footprint week by week. :)

>I have started to freeze fruit to have over the winter. We bought cherries from a local farm that were brought in from the Okanogan. The lady there said they were #2′s, meaning they were not perfect looking. We didn’t care…they were less expensive and taste the same. I’ve been chopping and pitting and my fingers are purple!

chopped and ready to freeze :)

>Lastly, I have come to realize over the week that it is only I who can make changes in my life and I must not forget that not everyone is on the same page. I have been struggling with some feelings of frustration with a few people in my life but now I am able to lay those feelings to rest. I will do what is right for me and allow others to do their thing. We must practice patience and gratitude daily to overcome our personal struggles. We must live and let live and accept others as they are. After all, we are all humans walking the same earth. Let’s share the space and get along shall we?

We all deserve a piece of it ♥

Well that’s it folks. Have yourselves a great Canada Day if you are Canadian like me. Looking forward to the week ahead with promise and hope.

how have you improved your footprint this week?

have you improved in your fitness too?

share your thoughts in the comments or on my FB page:https://www.facebook.com/fitpsychology?ref=tn_tnmn

in health

Denise ♥

 

 

 

Shop the Perimeter

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I shop the perimeter of the grocery store. Why? because that’s where all the real food is! The food we should be eating, like all the fruit and vegetables, the meat, dairy, whole grain breads…stuff that will feed your mind and body. Once you venture down the inner aisles you enter the processed food abyss. Not all but most of the food lining the aisles contains additives, preservatives and calorie laden snack foods. ‘Food’ that will make your body toxic and sluggish. ‘Food’ that causes weight gain, exacerbates ADD in kids and has names in the ingredients list that you cannot pronounce.

When you enter the store you first encounter the produce aisle. Fill your shopping cart with all the produce you can eat in a week. Enough for salads, snacks and sandwich fillers.

I then stop into the deli to buy parmesan reggiano cheese, goat cheese and feta. Small amounts of a good quality cheese add flavor to many dishes including spaghetti and salads. Also in the deli are sliced meats; you need to be very selective here. I usually stick with a store oven roasted turkey breast. Most of the other meats contain MSG and are very high in sodium.

As you move along there is the meat section. Search here for grain fed beef, free range chicken and turkey. Look for lean cuts and for a very lean meat try Bison!

Once in the dairy aisle, stock up on skim milk, greek yogurt and chocolate milk- very good for a post workout drink! Try to stay away from the ‘fruit on the bottom’ yogurts as they are filled with sugar, and high in fat and calories. Of course you can get eggs here too but I get mine from a farm so they are so fresh and delicious.

If your store has a bakery, you should buy your bread here. It probably has no more than 5 ingredients in the listed, unlike the pre-packaged breads.

So that’s the perimeter. Now what you ask? Well there are still things I buy that come in a jar or can like tomatoes, or some packaged food like real peanut butter, whole wheat spaghetti and oatmeal. You cannot totally avoid the the aisles! You should however totally avoid the 100 calorie snack foods, the pop, chips, cookies the list goes on. I do indulge my son with Dr Oetker pizza’s ;)

I also buy some frozen items like frozen berries and veggies. I make sure to check the ingredients…I found one type of frozen berries with added sugar!!! WHY? Produce is flash frozen at peak growing season so it retains the most amount of nutrients for you to enjoy. I also enjoy Nature’s Path organic waffles.

Today's produce :)

 

the other half of my cart

 

It’s not easy to only buy healthy foods when you shop but it is so much better if you do try. Never shop when you are hungry, this is a sure fire way to fill your cart with all those foods that you crave rather than the foods that will make you healthy. It has taken me a long time to commit to this way of eating/living but I can tell you I feel so much better since I have made these positive changes. I feel happy when I prepare my meals with healthy foods that I know will feed my brain and cells which in turn will fuel my workouts, keep me sated and provide me with a strong foundation of long term good health.

in food and health

Denise