Pickled Sriracha Chard Stems

If you know my husband Ryan at all, you know that he's pretty obsessed with spicy foods. And I'm not talking just a hint-of-spice kind of obsessed, but rather the let-me-douse-my-entire-meal-with-crushed-red-peppers-until-my-nose-runs kind of obsessed. Needless to say, when the great Sriracha panic happened back in May, we stocked up on the hot sauce...just in case. Thankfully, the Sriracha panic subsided and the local factory never shut down production [phew!]. All that to say, if you like spicy foods and Sriracha, you will love these pickled chard stems!

We got 2 insanely huge bunches of red chard in our CSA* this month - the leaves were bigger than my head! After using a few leaves in our breakfast smoothies, then in some lentil soup, I started researching other recipes for chard. When I came across a recipe for Sriracha fridge pickles using chard stems, I knew I had stumbled upon gold.

They were super easy to whip up, too. I made them before heading to work in the morning they were that easy and quick. And that's saying something coming from a non-morning person.

If you feel like whipping some up yourself, all you have to do is cut up the card stems in 3-4 inch lengths and put them in a jar. Then...

...start mixing up your pickling liquid.

I cut the recipe in half and skipped the onion (only because I was trying to save time).

They were so fast to make. I even made it to work early!

And check out that gorgeous color!

I'm excited to use these in tacos and salads. I might even venture to use them with eggs and toast, or perhaps even just eat them straight from the jar.

Sriracha Pickled Chard Stems

slightly adapated from Bon Apetit

Chard stems from 2 bunches of red chard

1/2 cup vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp celery seed

1.5-2 Tbl Sriracha hot sauce

Cut up your chard stems in 3-4 inch hunks and put into a mason jar. Heat your vinegar and sugar mixture slightly until sugar is dissolved. Add celery seed and Sriracha and mix. Pour over chard stems and put the lid on. Refrigerate for 2 days before eating. 

Enjoy!

* Use my code to get $10 off your first CSA box if you want to sign up for your own! KATH5242

Rhubarb Fizz

If you haven't noticed, I've been a very into making my own drinks and syrups lately. Recently, I made yet another syrup - rhubarb.

It was so simple and so delicious. I used Marissa's recipe from her blog, Food in Jars (I love her blog!). I had  frozen bag of rhubarb pieces, already chopped and everything.  I threw it in a pan with some water and sugar and let it simmer away until the rhubarb was broken down.

After straining it all, I put it in a glass bottle and tucked it into the fridge. I'm planning on mixing with some club soda for a little rhubarb fizz. Add a splash of gin or rum and you have yourself a fancy cocktail!

Update: I tried it mixed with some club soda (about a 1:3 ratio of rhubarb to soda) and a squeeze of lime and it was delicious! Be sure to stir it up - the syrup stays on the bottom if left not stirred.

Party party!

The newest member of the family is here - wooooo!!!  My sister gave birth a week ago to this beautiful new girl, my new niece, Hannah.  Doesn't she just melt your heart?  

She arrived a little early, so early that the doctor didn't have time to get to the hospital and a nurse had to deliver her.  Woah.  But I am SO glad she's finally here!  I already love her to pieces.

While nothing this summer will top the arrival of Hannah, Ryan and I have been trying to soak up the CA summer by getting to the beach more.  Here we are at Santa Monica beach in the evening awaiting the sunset.

Here is the said sunset.

And tonight I tried a new pickle recipe - pickled fennel with orange zest.  I got the recipe from my friend, Jo.  She has an awesome blog all about knitting and eating, check it out.  I love fennel and I can't wait to see how this turns out!

In other summer news, Ryan is job hunting like no one's business.  I think he applied to almost 50 jobs yesterday, no joke. So if you live in LA and happen to own a thriving company, please hire my husband.  

Happy August!

Apple Butter

Well, Fuji apples were on super sale here in California this past weekend so I bought 5 pounds with hopes of either baking or canning with them.  Canning won out.  It was a toss-up between making apple butter or Swedish apple cake (this is amazing if you have yet to try it...), and since I haven't canned anything in a while I went with making the apple butter.

I discovered apple butter later in life, I think sometime around college (back in the early 2000's), and have never looked back.  There are many variations from very basic (just apples) to very spicy.  I decided to go the spicy route this time around.  I even threw in a 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom for the heck of it.

The one drawback of making fruit butters in the amount of time it takes.  Peeling, chopping, slicing, heating, simmering, and simmering....and simmering.  It seriously feels like it simmers f-o-r-e-v-e-r.  Since you really want a thick consistency it takes quite a bit of time (especially with juicier fruits like peaches or pears) to evaporate most of the liquid until you're left with a very spreadable and edible butter.  But, it's totally worth it.

In non-butter related news, it's been a grand week thus far.  A good friend just moved closer, my pepper plants have made a triumphant return after I was certain they were dead, I finished reading the Hunger Games series (amazing!!!), and to top it all off today is Leap Day!

Homegrown happiness

Ryan and I have a lovely little patio that is perfect for a few potted plants. So far we have a rather large pot for herbs and a second, not so large, pot for our 2 pepper plants. We are growing jalepenos and habanero peppers, spicy! The first batch was finally ready to be picked and here we have it:

Since Ryan loves all things extra spicy, I made him some pepper jelly from the peppers. It was my first experience making a jelly, I've only made jams up until now. So easy! I used the recipe straight from my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook in the "preserves" section. It's sweet and spicy, I think it would actually be pretty tasty on some grilled chicken or pork.

Craft club is this week and I'm so looking forward to it! I think I will use that time to finally start me and Ryan's Christmas stockings. Hope you have a great week!

3 Citrus Marmalade

The three-citrus marmalade I attempted last night is now finished!

What started out as lemons, grapefruits and oranges turned into 5 lovely jars of the marmalade.

It took me a long time to chop all that rind off the fruit without a zester (which I have already added to my Christmas list after this). And it took quite a while to reach the 220 degree mark, about an hour. I was getting worried it would change the taste of the marmalade if it kept cooking, but it finally reached 220.

It still looked pretty syrup-y too when I poured it in the jars, then I was worried that all that hard work would be for naught if they didn't gel properly. But, rest assured, when I woke up this morning they had gelled quite nicely.

I like this picture of the morning sun shining through the jars. The jar on the right was only filled halfway since I used a small jar for the other half to give to my sister.

Overall, tastes great on toast. You can really taste the orange the most, with a hint of lemon. I found it pretty hard to taste the grapefruit at all. I might add a wee bit more in the future. If you like orange marmalade, you'll love this recipe!

Three Citrus Marmalade:

adapted from Food in Jars

3 navel oranges

2 red grapefruit (the store didn't carry any other variety so I went with red)

4 lemons (mine were very tiny)

6 cups sugar

4 cups water

Wash all your fruit thoroughly since you will be using and eating the rind. Zest your fruit in fine ribbons. I think a French zester would be ideal for this job. Add all of your zest to 4 cups of water and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

While zest cooks, finish removing all the rind, pithe (white stuff around the citrus) and seeds, and put your fruit in a bowl (I had about 4 cups of fruit). When zest has finished cooking, add the fruit along with the sugar. Bring to a boil and keep at medium-high heat until the marmalade reaches 220 degrees, it took me an hour to reach this temperature.

Pour into sterilized jars and can in a water bath for 5 minutes.

Eat it up!

Citrus marmalade in the works

Tonight I am tackling this recipe for three-citrus marmalade. I'm using grapefruit, oranges and lemons. I don't own a zester so it looks like I'm in for a long night of hand chopping these suckers...which somehow I'm actually looking forward to.

I'll post the finished product soon!