Sweet and Sour Spareribs

One of Oma's go to recipes.  Very simple to prepare, with simple ingredients and a comfort food for sure.  Great for an autumn meal and can either be finished in a crockpot or in the oven.  Oma sometimes simmered the ribs on the stovetop as well.

Ingredients

1 cup cold water
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cup vinegar (or pickle juice, sweet or sour)

ketchup (original recipe calls for 1/2 bottle so take your best guess as to amount)

1 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch

soy sauce as desired

Combine water, sugar and vinegar.  Bring to a boil.  Add ketchup. 

Mix cornstarch with a little water and add.  

Add 2 pounds browned spareribs (cut for sweet and sours) to sauce and simmer for 2 hours.

Notes: Cut for sweet and sours is generally small pieces of individual bones.

  I find that they are seldom found at the grocers these days. 

 The butcher can be asked to saw them, they can be sawed at home

 or I generally just prepare with longer ribs and they are just as yummy.

I usually double the sauce for 2 pounds of spareribs

 as we like plenty of sauce for the rice we usually serve with the ribs.

This recipe is also found in the Centennial Cookbook.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

This recipe was from our good neighbour Esther many years ago.  Not only did Esther make a great zucchini cake but she was very generous with the zucchinis she grew in the garden.

 Blend til smooth:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup oil

1 3/4 cup sugar

Add:

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup sour milk

Sift together and blend:

2 1/2 cup flour

4 tbsp. cocoa

1 tsp. soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

Stir in:

2 cups grated zucchini

Put the batter in a 19 x 13 x 2 inch pan.  Top with 

1/4 cup chocolate chips and 1/4 cup chopped nuts.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Kathy's Mustard Pickles

Thanks for the Crowsnest Mountain Cabin Getaway Gerry and Kathy.   Kathy sent us home with a jar of relish and the recipe.  

Mustard Pickles 

2 large onions, diced

5 or 6 English cucumbers, cut to desired size 

1/2 cauliflower, chopped 

1 red pepper, cut into small pieces 

1 cup sliced celery (optional)

Sauce

3 1/2 cups sugar 

1/2 cup flour 

2 tablespoons turmeric 

2 tablespoons celery seeds 

1/2 cup mustard powder 

4 cups vinegar 

4 tablespoons pickling spice for pickling bag

Make a brine of 1/2 cup coarse salt to 4 cups water to cover vegetables. Add more water if needed to just cover. Let sit 4 to 5 hours or up to overnight.

Drain vegetables.

Make a pickling bag. Put spice in 3-4 layers of cheesecloth and close tightly with string.

Boil 3 cups vinegar with 3 cups sugar with pickling bag. 

Add drained vegetables and cook until vegetables are tender crisp, 10 to 15 minutes.

Watch carefully to not overcook. Remove pickling bag.

In a small bowl, combine remaining sugar, flour, mustard powder, turmeric, celery seed  and 1 cup vinegar. 

Add to hot vegetables and stir continually until sauce is thick.

Ladle into hot sterilized jars while mixture is still hot.

Process jars.

Makes about 8 pints.

Note from Kathy: 

I forgot to add that I peel the cucumbers but I like to leave a few bits of green for colour. You don’t need to seed the cucumbers (which is why I like English cucumbers!).

GF Pie Crust

 This recipe makes 1 pie crust.  To make a 2 crust pie make two individual recipes as doubling the recipe can be tricky.  The original recipe calls for 1 egg yolk.  I used 2 egg yolks and all of the cold water/3 tbsp.

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups GF all purpose flour

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

7 tablespoons cold butter, cubed

2 tablespoons cold cream cheese, cubed

1 egg yolk (I used 2)

2 -3 tablespoons cold water

Pulse together flour, salt and powdered sugar a few times in a food processor.

Add butter and cream cheese and pulse 6 or 7 times until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Combine egg yolk and 2 tablespoons of water in a small bowl.  Sprinkle over the flour mixture and pulse a few more times to combine.

Pour mixture into a bowl and press together to form a dough.  If the mixture seems too crumbly, add the remaining tablespoon of water.

Form the dough into a flattened disc, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes (or up to 3 days) before rolling out.  It can also be frozen for up to 4 weeks.

Roll and bake according to your recipe's directions.

This is a GF apple pie made for Ethan on the Labor Day Weekend 2024. Most of the apples were from a tree in Kuusamo but I picked  7 apples from the Lakehouse Apple Tree.

• 
  

Roasted Feta Tomato Pasta with Focaccia

Sadie made this yummy Italian meal completely solo. 

 Yum!

Foccaccia

Garlic Wrapped in Foil

A Block of Feta surrounded by Grape Tomatoes 

in Olive Oil and Italian Spices

Breaking up the Clove of Garlic

Crumbling the Feta

and Tossing the Ingredients

Roasted Feta Tomato Sauce Ready for the Pasta

 Prête à manger!

Coconut Strawberry Rhubarb Oatmeal Bake

 Thanks Pat for recommending this yummy rhubarb recipe.  

I tried the version with the eggs today which is more like a cobbler 

but will be trying this combination as a crisp in the near future.  

Yummy!

Recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degree.  Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

Filling

10 cups of 1/3 inch thick rhubarb pieces

4 cups sliced strawberries

1 1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

To make the filling, in a large bowl, place all of the filling ingredients.  

Toss them together to coat the fruit evenly.  

Spoon into the prepared baking dish and spread out in an even layer.

Topping

2 cups flour

2 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

2 well beaten eggs (omit for crisp version)

1 cup melted butter

 To make the topping, in a medium bowl, mix the topping ingredients until they form a thick, slightly tacky dough.  Drop dollops of dough on top of the fruit filling until the fruit is mostly covered.  (If you wish to make a crisp, omit the eggs and combine the rest of the topping ingredients by hand until crumbly, then sprinkle over the top of the fruit evenly, covering as much of the fruit as you can.)

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the top is browned 

and the fruit has been bubbling for at least 5 minutes.  

Remove and serve warm.

Top with vanilla ice cream and enjoy.

This is best eaten fresh but it will last in the fridge up to 3 days or in your freezer up to 3 months. To warm from frozen, reheat in a 300 degree oven until heated through.

Oma's Rhubarb Square

Oma was always on the lookout for a great way to use

the bountiful spring rhubarb harvest.

 

 

Bottom  Crust

2 cups flour

1/2 cup butter

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg

Crumble the flour, butter and baking powder.  Mix in the egg with a fork.  Save 3/4 cup of this mixture for the topping.  Press the remainder in an 8 x 10 pan.

Topping

4 cups chopped rhubarb

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs beaten

extra sugar mixed with

cinnamon for sprinkling

Mix the ingredients and put mixture on the top of pressed crumbs.  Cover with remaining crumbs.  Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

I am assuming this could be made GF by substituting flour with GF flour.