What are you Cooking the Week of September 17, 2023?

[chocomouse]

Mike, does your relish taste like dill pickles, or like a sweet relish with lots of dill flavor? If it's sweet with dill flavor, I'd love the recipe.

[Mike Nolan]

There's no sugar in the recipe, just onions, vinegar, salt and dill. I left out the garlic and added some mustard seed. Sugar would probably improve it IMHO.

Homemade Savory Zucchini Relish

[BakerAunt]

I looked at my canned relish today. The bottom of the jar is the liquid. The vegetables are still bunched at the top. I'm not sure that this would be ok to eat, since in most canning, the liquid is supposed to cover the other contents. The recipe says to let the relish age in the jars for 4-6 weeks to develop flavor. However, I do not see the vegetables sinking down.

I'm not sure what to do with this batch. I hate throwing away food. I also do not want to get sick from my canning attempt.

[BakerAunt]

I have been using Google to try and figure out my relish issue. I found this comment at Backwoods Home Magazine:

My fruit or tomatoes are floating in liquid in the jars
This is nothing to worry about, although many beginning home canners are distressed to find this happening. The fruit crowds near the top of the jar with lots of syrup or juice below it. Raw packing the fruit is generally what causes this. If you simply heat your fruit (or tomatoes) in their syrup or juice, they won't float in the jars. Be sure to pack your fruit well without smashing it into your jars. The fruit will slightly shrink in processing.

The cooking times in the Ball recipe were short: the vinegar-sugar solution at 180F for 10 minutes, then "simmer" with added vegetables, which I took to mean another 10 minutes at 180F. Maybe I should have used a higher cooking temperature?

[Joan Simpson]

I made a pot of venison chili with black beans had it with a hot dog.I'll have plenty for a while.

[chocomouse]

The recipe I used for relish called for the brine and vegetables to be simmered together for 10 minutes. After processing (water bath, minimum 1/2 inch over top of the jars, for 10 minutes) the liquid and veggies did not separate. Years ago, when I made pickles (sliced or quartered cucumbers), sometimes the vegetables were at the top with the liquid on the bottom. They tasted fine, we ate them, we're all still alive today - so I guess they were OK to eat.

I've finished cleaning and freezing the 16 pounds of blueberries I picked last Saturday in Maine. Lots of pies and muffins and pancakes next winter!

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Chocomouse. I am thinking that it will be fine, although not very relish-like. Perhaps I will mix a jar with pasta for a salad when I open one in a few weeks.

My vegetables were floating when I put them into the canning jars, with the liquid on the bottom. Clearly, there was too much liquid and the vegetables were not soaking it up.

I roasted three bone-in chicken breasts on Wednesday that I got at a good price over the weekend. We had some of the chicken with microwaved green beans from the garden and, for my husband. leftover roasted potatoes, patty-pan squash, and carrots, and for me some of a Greek Pasta Salad I made today and will be eating into the week.

I made yogurt earlier in the day.

[navlys]

We had lamb loin chops so I got to use up some of my thyme and rosemary as they marinated in garlic, salt, spices and olive oil. I grill them on my grill pan for 3 min per side and then bake them in a 400* oven for 8-10 minutes. I can put my russet potatoes in the oven earlier and all is done a the same time. I paid only $5.99lb at Costco and they were nice and thick.

[chocomouse]

Today I made a small batch of tomato sauce from what is likely the last of this season's tomatoes. We might be able to pick a couple more for BLTs. I'll be making a pasta dish soon.

[Joan Simpson]

I had a repeat of venison chili and a hot dog.

[Mike Nolan]

My tomatoes sort of got away from me during the heavy heat. The First Ladies never really took off, I need to get a different seed supplier for them. I've been hesitant to pick more than one or two tomatoes for eating the last day or two because of the fruit flies invasion we're trying to beat down, processing them would probably attract them all. So I probably won't get as many quarts of tomato juice canned this year as I did last year.

And the Porter variety that I planted is one I won't do again. It's sort of a grape tomato for size and not the best flavor. It did do well in the hot summer, so it meets that challenge. And I did a full row of 5 of them. :sigh:

[BakerAunt]

We attended a fundraiser Trivia Night on Thursday, so we ate an early dinner of leftover roasted chicken breast, Greek pasta salad, and microwaved green beans.

[Joan Simpson]

I had a salami and tomato sandwich with fruit.

[BakerAunt]

We had more of the leftover soup from earlier this week for dinner on Friday.

I had some tomatoes that needed to be used, so I made pizza sauce on Friday and froze it.

[RiversideLen]

I made a pizza tonight.

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