Just because I wasn't hot enough .....

So, it has been uncomfortably hot and humid for the last week or so. Yesterday was icky hot and humid, to the point where you have rivulets of sweat running down the small of your back and all you want to do is take a long cool shower. Today was more of the same, and the coming week is supposed to be worse.

So - what does a Lioness do?

Find a lake or other body of water to hang out in? - Nah.

Hunker down in front of a fan and drink your volume in water and iced tea with a good book? - No.

Perhaps hang out in my first floor studio where it is cool and dark? - Nope.

No - What I decided is that heating up my kitchen with cooking corn relish and tomato sauce then canning them.

Yeah - I am fairly certain I have lost my mind.

Yesterday I ventured out to one of the few local farms where you can still pick your own raspberries. Most of the local farms have gone to selling them only - and of course the cost is almost double that of doing it yourself. But while I was at this farm I noticed one of the girls who work there culling overly soft or older heirloom tomatoes out of the for sale baskets into a discard bucket. She said they give the old and bruised produce to some local pig farmers. I wistfully mentioned how they would make good sauce .... hearing this her manager said "She can have them if she wants for 1/2 price"

BONUS! Great tomatoes and a sale price. Was there any way I would actually turn that down? I think not.

Then on the way home I stopped by my usual farm and bought freshly picked ears of corn, sweet onions, peppers and parsley. So on today's agenda was Corn Relish and Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce.

Normally I don't do this kind of heat intensive canning until the Fall when I take an entire weekend to make my jams, compotes and applesauce using fruit I have prepped and frozen during the summer., or the apples I picked and stored for up to two weeks in the basement. However sweet summer corn has a short shelf life and the one time I tried freezing tomatoes and using them later for sauce yielded a weak and watery end product. So I have found you have to use these ingredients as you get them.

Sample of ingredients for Corn Relish

Ingredients for Tomato Sauce

Corn Relish in Process

Blending the tomatoes in bathces

One way to combat the heat is to turn down the AC then set a box fan in front of the floor vent in the kitchen to increase as much as possible the flow of cool air into the room. And it seemed to work as I did not pass out - and I actually finished the canning.

Ta Daaahhhhhhh!!!!

Blueberry Buckle

Because I am sure you ALL want to know - a little etymology for you:


Most people have heard of fruit cobblers. "Cobbler refers to a variety of dishes, particularly in the United States and United Kingdom, consisting of a fruit or savoury filling poured into a large baking dish and covered with a batter, biscuit, or pie crust before being baked. Unlike a pie, cobbler never contains a bottom crust.

In the United States, varieties of cobbler include the Betty, the Grunt, the Slump, the Buckle, and the Sonker. The Crisp or Crumble differ from the cobbler in that their top layers are generally made with oatmeal. Grunts, Pandowdy, and Slumps are a New England variety of cobbler, typically cooked on the stove-top or cooked in an iron skillet or pan with the dough on top in the shape of dumplings—they reportedly take their name from the grunting sound they make while cooking. A Buckle is made with yellow batter (like cake batter), with the filling mixed in with the batter or set atop it. Apple pan dowdy is an apple cobbler whose crust has been broken and perhaps stirred back into the filling. The Sonker is unique to North Carolina: it is a deep-dish version of the American cobbler. In the Deep South, cobblers most commonly come in single fruit varieties and are named as such, such as blackberry, blueberry, and peach cobbler. The Deep South tradition also gives the option of topping the fruit cobbler with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream."

Now that you know the difference, let me share one of my favorite recipes for Blueberry Buckle. This comes to us courtesy of the Better Homes and Gardens "New" Cook Book. The classic with the red and white plaid cover. Mine was printed in the mid 1960s and isn't ashamed of the generous calls for eggs, butter, cream and other foods some consider bad for you today.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups sifted flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup sifted flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 cup butter

 Directions:

• Thoroughly cream shortening and 3/4 cup sugar
• Add egg and beat until light and fluffy
•  Sift together 2 cups flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk.
• Spread batter into a greased 11x7 inch pan
• Top with berries. Press berries lightly into the batter.
• Place the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and with a pastry cutter cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly
• Sprinkle topping over the berries.

 Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.

 Notice how in the picture on the right I have added the amount of berries called for in the original recipe .. but what is wrong with this picture??? Hint: You can still see the batter underneath!

The picture on the left is MUCH  better ... and next to it you see the completed buckle ready for the oven.

Buckle can be served warm with ice cream or enjoyed at room temperature with a cup of coffee.