Thank your Mrs.Cauthen!!

 Once again, I have to thank Mrs. Cauthen for all of these AMAZING pears!! Today we are going to whip up some pear chutney to have on hand for the fall and winter! I really love to serve chutney with pork chops, tenderloin, chicken, shrimp, on sandwiches, with baked brie, honestly the opportunities are ENDLESS!! Now you see why I love chutney so much!

Because Mrs. Cauthen was so generous and gave me a massive bag of pears, I have also included a super easy jalapeño pear chow chow recipe. I just had so many pears I hat to keep cooking! :) 

 Pear Chutney 

Ingredients:

This recipe makes 6 half pint jars.

Ingredients:
8 large pears
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup dried cherries
canning jars

First things first. Peel, core, and dice your pears. Refer to the pear preserves post to see the easiest way to do this!

Go ahead and dice your onion.

Add all of your ingredients into a large pot and bring to a boil.

Once it begins to boil, cover and reduce the heat. Let simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid and continue to cook for another 30 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Fill canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch room to expand on top. Cover with seal ands crew on lid.

Process in a water bath for 5 minutes.

Let sit on counter for 24 hours undisturbed. Store in a cool dark place.

Jalapeño Pear Chow Chow 

All I had on hand were larger quart sized jars, so thats what I went with. This recipe made almost 4 full quart sized jars.

Ingredients:

12 ripe pears
2 vidalia onions
3 green bell peppers
2 red bell peppers
1/2 cup jarred jalapeños
3 cups distilled white vinegar
3 cups sugar
about a tsp of salt

Peel and core your pears. In small batches, drop your pears into the food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

Cut your green bell peppers in half, removing stem and seeds.

Again in small batches, drop into food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Repeat this process with the red bell peppers, onions, and jalapeños.

Add all ingredients into a large dutch oven.

Stir to combine.

Cook over medium low heat for 45 minutes.

Pour into sterilized mason jars and add seals and screw on lids. Process in water bath for 10 minutes. Let sit on counter for 24 hours, undisturbed.

That's it! I hope you enjoy all of these wonderful pear recipes all because of the wonderful donation of pears from the Cauthen Family!

Thanks Y'all!
-Wise Wife

Pears are taking over my kitchen!

One of the many advantages of living in the south is good friends with gardens who love to share!!! Yes, we have a garden but nothing like one of our family friends. They live on land full of fruit trees and have gardens full of vegetables and herbs. This week, they harvested pears! Our friends were so nice and asked us if we would take some off their hands for them. I was MORE than thrilled!! Nothing better than fresh fruit and figuring out new things to do with it to make it last. 

So I knew I wanted to make preserves but I had WAY more pears than I knew what to do with. Then my mind went to chutney. It is such a good fall and winter condiment that will go with everything from toast to meats! So today I am going to show you how I made my preserves and tomorrow I will teach you how to make the chutney!! 

Hope you enjoy!

Maple Pear Preserves 

Ingredients: 

12 pears 

1 cup maple syrup

5 T lemon juice

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves
2 1/2 cups water

If you plan on canning the preserves, your first step is to pop those half pint jars in the dish washer and wash using your light wash setting. This is the simplest way to sterilize the jars. Leave the jars in the dish washer so they stay warm and are ready to go when you need them.

If you don't have time to run through the dish washer, just wash them with soap and HOT water. Then fill the sink up with hot water and leave the jars in there until you are ready to use them.

Wash and Peel your pears.

Here is the easiest way I know to get the pears cored. Cut in half lengthwise. 

Using a melon baller, scoop out the core and seeds. If you don't have a melon baller, you can use a spoon but it wont be quite as easy.

Yup thats it! Easy huh? Now dice up the pears into bite size pieces. As you are dicing the pears, go ahead and add the lemon juice to prevent from browning. I add the pears into my large pot as I go so there is one less pot to clean!

Add in the remaining ingredients.

Stir together.

Cover and bring to boil for 20 minutes or until the pears are slightly translucent. 

Remove the pear mixture from heat. Scoop the preserves into the canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch space in the top of the jar. I also have a funnel that fits perfectly into the jars. I bought a canning kit for a few bucks at the grocery and it has made things so much easier!

Using a non metal option. Scrape down the sides of the jars. (this was also in my canning kit)

Place the lids on and screw tightly. Process in a water bath for 5 minutes. If you have never canned before and are wondering what the heck a water bath is. Here you go! 
Fill a deep pot up with water and bring to a boil. They make special water bath pots, but I have yet to get one so I use my largest pot. I put a rag on the bottom of the pot to prevent to jars from rattling into each other.

Once the water boils, place your jars full of the pear preserves into the water.

Let boil for 5 Minutes. There must be at least 1 inch of water over the top of the jars. Carefully remove the jars. I have a hand dandy jar remover that came in my kit, but you can use tongs but be SUPER careful.

Place the jars on a rag on the counter and allow them to sit there for 24 hours undisturbed. After about a minute or so, you should start to here the tops popping. That means they are sealed! If you do not hear a pop within an hour, it is not sealed. That jar should be placed in the fridge and used within the next 6 months. 

Once you allow them to sit for 24 hours, they are good to go in your pantry for use all year long! 

Hope you enjoy!!
Thanks Y'all
- Wise Wife 

I'm Seeing GREEN...

Pesto that is. I love having a garden in my back yard full of veggies and herbs. We seem to always have an abundance of basil, so I decided to make some pesto. It is SO easy and even easier when it's dairy free. I will give you my original recipe for pesto and also the dairy free version. I always can the pesto in the summer and freeze it so we can use it all winter long. 

Pesto can be used in SO many ways! I use it for pasta, as a dipping sauce for bread, as a sauce for baked chicken, but really the possibilities are endless.  Today I am just going to show you how to prepare the pesto and later on will show you all of the yummy things you can make with your pesto!

If you don't have a garden, no worries. You can use fresh basil from the grocery, you will just need to buy a few packages. 

If you are using basil from your garden and have some stems with flowers, they are fine to use! In fact, they have a stronger flavor than the leaves. 

Also, make sure you wash EACH leaf from your garden! There are many bugs that like to hang around basil and we don't want them in your pesto!!

This recipe makes one pint of pesto, the amount you would use per pound of pasta. If you are a pesto lover like my family, we use just under a pound of pasta so we have a little more pesto than pasta. 

Deliciously Easy Dairy Free Pesto 

Ingredients:

4 Cups fresh basil

3 T toasted pine nuts

4 cloves garlic, smashed

3 T Buttery Spread, softened (I used Earth Balance)

1 1/2 t salt

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 

First and foremost, if you plan to make several batches and freeze the pesto, make sure you sterilize the glass jars before you fill them with pesto. I find the easiest way is to run them through the dishwasher. 

Preheat oven to 350°. 

Lay out your pine nuts on a parchment covered cookie sheet. 

Toast in the oven for 7 minutes or until lightly browned. DO NO OVER TOAST! If the pine nuts burn, start over. If you use the burnt pine nuts, it will ruin the taste of the pesto. 

Smash 4 cloves of garlic with the back of your knife.

Time to get out your food processor or blender because this is why this recipe is SUPER easy!

Add the 4 cups of basil to the food processor 

Then add in the pine nuts.

Then add the buttery spread, garlic, salt and olive oil. 

Pulse until smooth.

If you plan on using the pesto right away, you may now enjoy! 

If you are going to freeze for the winter,  simply pour the pesto into your sterilized pint sized canning jar. 

I do make some pesto that has cheese in it for my husband. He just loves it and I don't think he shouldn't be punished because I am allergic to dairy. The pesto is made the same way as above, I just tweak the ingredients.

Pesto with Dairy Ingredients: 

2 C fresh basil

2 T pine nuts

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 c fresh grated Parmesan

3 T fresh grated Romano Pecorino 

1/2 c olive oil

3 T Butter, softened 

Go ahead and freeze the pesto right away and you can enjoy it for months ahead. The pesto will be fine in the freezer for several years... if it lasts that long (no way in my house!)

Thanks Y'all!

-Wise Wife