Thursday, June 16, 2011

Blackberries!!!

They are coming on strong...already have 3 gallons in the freezer. I went on a kick a few days ago and made blackberry cobblers en masse. Had lots left in the freezer and needed to make room for the new. Daughter got a couple of gallons...they are Little Man's favorite.

I got disposable pans so nobody would have to bother returning....

I rinsed and picked through about 2 and 1/2 gallons of berries, sprinkled them generously with tapioca grains and let them thaw. I generally use tapioca to thicken the berries - it soaks up some of the juice and doesn't alter the flavor any. Sugar is a matter of taste. The berries are pretty tart so I double check before I assemble the cobblers.

I put the berries in my disposable pans, filling about 3/4 of the way to the top. On the two 9x9 pans I sprinkled a half box of dry white cake mix and sliced a stick of butter over each pan. I sprinkled pecans over the cake mix and butter and baked at 350 decrees until the filling was bubbling and the topping was golden brown. It takes about 45 minutes for the small pans.

In my 9x13 pan I put in the berries and sprinkled a whole box of dry cake mix, sliced 2 sticks of butter over that and sprinkled with pecans. It needs to bake close to an hour.

Sometimes these boil over, so I place the cobblers on a baking sheet.



These are absolutely wonderful while they are still warm...with whipped cream or ice cream on top. The topping is crusty, the pecans are crispy and the filling is thick. Easy, easy, easy! This is a good dessert to take to a pot luck or cookout and it can be made with about any kind of fruit. We are partial to blackberry since we grow them, but you can mix fruit too. Peaches and strawberries make a good pairing.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

What does one do...

when one is frustrated, bored, cross and just generally out of sorts? One decides to pick up where she left off and do something constructive.

I believe that I mentioned before that Hubby has a friend who loves hot salsa - the hotter the better. We made him a batch that would scorch asbestos and he said it was good, just not hot enough. SO...we decided to go for the big heat.


I used the same salsa recipe and last summer's frozen tomatoes.


I also had some habaneros in the freezer.


I chopped them up fine...note the gloves


Chopped the onions, garlic coarsly...


Out of the 3 cups of chopped peppers the recipe calls for, I use 1 and 1/2 cups of habanero. After combining the rest of the ingredients I let it simmer until the right consistency and...



had to wear a respirator mask because of the fumes. Hubby and I were afraid to taste it but I finally worked up the nerve. Less than a half teaspoon of the liquid is all I could manage. It started out with a really good salsa taste and then the heat slapped me in the face.

I canned the molton lava according to the directions and it really came out pretty. We distsributed the stuff to everybody we thought could stand it. Hubby's friend got 2 quarts.

Hubby checked on his buddy a day or so later and his buddy said "Now THAT was salsa!" Apparently he looked at the jars til he couldn't stand it any more, (he owns a convenience store and was working that day) so he got a bag of chips and opened the jar right then.

We did keep a jar and eat just a spoon full on cooked greens. It really peps things up!