Of Cougars and Marmalade....

fall is creeping in... slowly the temperatures are dropping.. still dry as a bone tho... maybe next week we'll have some rain...
my chilly morning got off to a cooking start.. mmmm marmalade!!! a friend gave me a small bag of beautiful green tomatoes and since my motto is waste not want not in the fall season... i had to come up with something different... my standard fare of green tomato relish and green tomato mincemeat is already on the shelves from last year... so i went a 'hunting' online for something different.. and found Lemon Green Tomato marmalade from the NY Times website... was a hit in my books.... so much so.. i went and picked a bowl of my own green tomatoes and made a double batch... with a twist.... the first batch was just with lemon, the second batch i made with lemon and lime, using up the limes i had in the fridge... was very good i must say!

Lemon Lime Green Tomato Marmalade

17 cups of sliced green tomatoes
3 lemons zested and juice
3 limes zested and juice
5 cups of sugar

cook all together until thick and drops hang together on a wooden spoon... mmm good

i pulled the last of purple beans and got a colander's worth of beans... bye bye for this year...

fast forward to today... well we've had our first frost, B.C. has broken temperature records again, but this time, downwards..... brrrrrrrrrrrr is all i can think of!!!

i'm trying to finish canning, got a case and 1/2 of the most perfect pears ever!!! the 1/2 case has mostly been consumed for Thanksgiving, 2 very large Pear Pies ... i made 4 batches of pastry and we had pear pie, meat pot pies, chicken pot pies and ham pot pies...
and a pear pie experiment of which i had a hearty thumbs up to from daughter... YAY... i love cooking experiments!!!...the Pear Pie was delicious and i still have a small one left, which should be dessert or maybe even a yummy breakfast!

i'm not a pastry person, so i'm very happy making deep dish pies, so after canning 6 pints of the 1/2 case of pears i had some leftover slices which cannot go to waste (obsessive??) and created this:

enough to make 1 pie:

Ginger Cranberry Pear Pie

1 cup of dried cranberries heated with
1/2 cup of water
zest from 1 lemon
1/4 cup of chopped candied ginger

simmer the cranberries, ginger and water and zest until the water was mostly gone and the cranberries plumped

mix cranberry mixture with

5 cups of sliced pears and juice from the lemon

put in a pie pan or casserole dish

sprinkle with a mixture of

1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup brown sugar ( or less )
1 tsp cinammon
1/2 tsp allspice

top with a pastry rolled out a bit thicker than for a regular pie...
bake at 400 for approximately 30 mins or golden brown...

if you've read this far down, you might be wondering why my title says Of Cougars and Marmalade... well there is an 'errant' cougar wandering in the neighbourhood, 1 dog missing and cats?? perhaps... i'm saddened by the fact that someone has called the conservation officer over the cougar and the 2 bears that found an apple orchard... we've invaded their territory and they've no place left ... our area is being overwhelmed with 5 acre plots and mcmansions... UGH... i'm praying our cougar has left and won't be shot... sad world we live in... the deer have even moved away... now when we want to go see the deer, drive INTO town... something wrong with that picture don't you think~

Flu season is upon us.......

and unfortunately 4 of us in my family have gotten it so far... 2 fairly badly, grandbaby ending up covered in one giant hive (allergic reaction to the virus according to her doctor), myself was just woozy and out of sorts for days... and now another grandbaby has come down with it...

ginger tea and more ginger tea, garlic and onions any way shape or form i say!!! i really have no idea if it helps, but i'm sure that no vampires will come a knocking on my door!!!
i've used a LOT of garlic and onion in anything i cooked.. its suprising how much i used in the last month.. i long since used up any that i'd grown... sighhhh... need a bigger garden!!!!

My one daughter has learned through me and Lades (baby grandbaby's other grandma) that sometimes traditional commercial concoctions aren't as good as old fashioned methods...

a steaming cup of ginger tea with a bit of lemon and tsp of honey are as good or better than most 'fixits' we can get from the store... most viruses aren't fooled by the pretty packaging and promises of what they can do.. most viruses simply run their course... but one can hopefully keep up the immunities in the body, soothe the throat and keep away further bacterial 'ickies'...

when i know i'm coming down with a cold or the flu if i don't already have fresh ginger i promptly go the grocer store and stock up on ginger... i grate or chop finely a pile of ginger( couple of tablespoons), toss it in a pot of boiling water and let it simmer very slowly on the stove... and drink ginger tea either plain, mixed with lemon and honey, or even toss in some black or green tea leaves if i get tired of the taste of ginger .... ginger acts as a cleanser as well, so be careful or you'll be reading old issues of Farmer's Almanac in the outhouse.... errr so to speak....

also very sadly my daughter has a very sick puppy (of nine years)... she was finally diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver... poor thing.. so we've been on the hunt for dietary changes or medications or anything that will hopefully make her life longer and more comfortable..

one such dietary change is a diet that i keep coming across online Sunny's Miracle Diet we are going to try it and hope that her edema and perhaps some toxins will abate.. will let you know how things go.. i also joined an Egroup that is for dogs with liver malfunctions, they aren't vets but are serious pet owners who have lengthened their pets lives with dietary changes... who knows, but at this point there is nothing to lose and all to gain...

so enough of gloom and doom.... remember my 'ginger boy'


i think he's been a naughty boy....
because his nose is growing!!!!

"ginocchio!!