Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts

PEAR HONEY RECIPE with PINEAPPLE

From as early as I can remember, August was the month mama made her pear honey recipe with pineapple. My favorite pear tree, the one that my daddy planted the day I was born, could be depended on to deliver many bushels of firm cooking pears around the first of August and this treat was just one of the many delightful dishes made from its bountiful harvest.

MAMA’S PEAR HONEY RECIPE with PINEAPPLE

12 cups of firm, peeled, sliced pears
12 cups of white sugar
1 (20 oz) can of crushed pineapple undrained
1 washed, thinly sliced lemon including the peel

After you wash the pears and cut them up, keep them covered in cold water until you have twelve cups. Drain the water from the pears and run them through the coarse blade of your food processor or thinly slice them. Put pears and sugar in a large pot and heat over very low heat (to give the juice a chance) stirring occasionally and don’t worry about crushing the pears. Simmer until the pears are cooked clear (I’m not going to put a time here because pears in different stages of ripeness take different amounts of time to get the right honey- like consistency) stir in the crushed pineapple and lemon and cook 5 to 10 minutes more. Pour the Pear Honey recipe with pineapple into hot, sterilized jars and seal. The results should be 6 to 8 pints of a delicious treat that is wonderful on a hot biscuit and makes an attractive gift.

Tips:
1. Some cooks drop a cherry in each jar for a little added color if you want to dress it up to give as a gift

2. If you have some over ripe pears. Half the amount of sugar recommended for crisp pears

3. Try using Pear Honey on your kids peanut butter sandwiches instead of jelly

Some cooks use pineapple juice instead of crushed pineapple in their recipe. But Mama’s pear honey recipe with pineapple just tasted better to me, had a better texture and was easy to make with less cooking time than when juice was substituted. There were times when frugal cooking was a necessity that the juice from a can of sliced pineapple was substituted for the crushed pineapple. Many reading this may be thinking that a can of crushed pineapple is so cheap that they could not imagine altering the taste and appearance of the pear honey recipe to save a dollar. And I pray that those ladies never have the need to watch every cent like our family had to when times were bad.

FAMILY PEAR RECIPES


pear recipes

I have more favorite pear recipes than for apple, peaches or most any other fruit. The reason for this might be that my daddy thought of an old family tradition to commemorate the birth of his baby girl. He headed right out to that pretty, field right beyond the pasture and planted a pear tree. Actually, he planted a bunch of pear trees, but I always knew which one he planted on the day I was born because he pointed it out to me regularly every time we took a walk in that direction. So, we have always had lots of canned pears on hand.

But that’s not the only reason my childhood memories are packed with every kind of pear recipe from pear cobbler to Pear Butter most of which were cooked for our family by my grandmother who says that she did her best to duplicate her mother’s recipes in spite of the fact that the only directions she was ever able to pry out of her was, "Oh, I throw in a little of this and a little of that and never have used a measuring cup or spoon".

I do not want my girls in the very distant future to have to guess at how I made their favorite old fashioned southern pear recipes like Pear Honey with Pineapple, pear preserves and mama's famous recipe for pear cobbler. My plans are to leave them with detailed recipes so that long after I’m gone they can enjoy natural goodies that they had when they were at home.

At the moment I’m looking at a bushel basket full of pears that need peeling. But right after I get through canning them I’m going to start typing out all those old fashioned, family pear recipes and if you make it back to Oh Baby Green Living, Family and Parenting Issues I'll share them with you and yours. There are lots of pear recipes on the net, but I may have a few old southern recipes that you might like better.

LEFTOVER TURKEY RECIPES - SOUTHERN TURKEY POT PIE RECIPE

For those of you left with some turkey, I thought I'd share my leftover turkey recipes. Not that I mind the occasional sliced turkey sandwich, but I have a low tolerance for one after the other. I can change the kind of bread that is used. I can substitute condiments that I would normally not reach for. But no matter how you sliced and dice it; a sandwich is a sandwich.

SOUTHERN STYLE TURKEY POT PIE RECIPE


21 and a half ounces of leftover broth right out of the turkey roaster or 2 10 3/4 oz. cans of chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1/2 half tsp. white or black pepper (southern cooks don't care)
2 cups of raw cubed potatoes (peels on or off is up to you)
1 16 ounce package of mixed vegetables or 16 ounces of leftover green peas, string beans and carrots (did you think this was a leftover turkey recipe that would leave you stuck with pans of unused vegetables?)
1 stalk of chopped celery
3 tablespoons of oleo or butter
3 tablespoons of plain, all purpose flour
3 cups of cubed, luscious leftover turkey
4 sliced hard boiled eggs
1 deep dish 9 inch pie crust

Pour broth, bay leaf and pepper into a big boiler and bring to a rolling boil. Add potatoes and allow to return to a boil before reducing heat to medium. Cook for 5 minutes. After that time, add celery and mixed vegetables (if you opted for frozen, if not you can wait 10 minutes as they are already cooked) and return to boil and cook for 10 minutes. Remove bay leaf, drain vegetables while reserving the broth.

Melt butter in dutch oven or large skillet. Add flour and stir until mix is smooth. Cook 1 minute while stirring constantly. Begin to gradually add broth stirring all the time until mixture is thickened and bubbly.

Stir in your drained vegetables, cubed turkey and sliced boiled eggs.

Put the mixture into a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish and cover it with your pie crust. Trim the edges of the crust, flute the edges and seal. To give your dish a unique and fancy look, cut the trimmed pieces of crust into leaves or shapes to make your leftover turkey recipe into something that will impress the kids.

Layer your shapes on top of the crust. Cut slits in the pastry crust and bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until the top is browned and filling is hot and bubbly.

You should be able to serve least six hungry people with this quick and easy leftover turkey recipe.



So, I came up some leftover turkey recipes like the one above that are filled with creative ways to use even the smallest pieces of breast meat that will appeal to families that are used to good, southern cooking. Some are best suited for white meat and others will give you a place to use the meat from the leg and thigh. I would advise you to use the most attractive pieces for casseroles and save the shreds for soups. I give this recommendation because of appearance, not taste. Presentation is a large part of getting the best out of the holiday bird and extending your grocery budget. Even the most attractive won't cut it as acceptable for your holiday party or mesh with the most basic baby shower recipes or decorations. But they are tasty, very cheap and easy to make as you have most of the ingrediants there and they are already cooked!

Camouflaging the turkey in your dishes may be the most crucial part of the process. The last thing you want is for your family members to get wise to your money saving, penny pinching practices and start to voice their protests. It's no fun to spend hours cooking a tasty recipe only to get comments on how they are sick of eating turkey rather than the favorable reviews that you were hoping for. Kids just don't get how important good leftover turkey recipes are or how to make good use of what you have until they are grown and faced with grocery budgets of their own.