Summer's End Tomato Sauce

Hi Haley,

I was sorting through my pantry cupboard and thinking of you, and of last year when you and I tackled the job of reorganizing your kitchen…I’m getting sentimental, particularly when I think of those raisins strewn throughout your pantry. Pantry cleaning is very boring without you. My pantry doesn’t have nearly as many hilarious surprises (ten bags of half-finshed oats). Although, I did find a small bag of peanut butter chips. I don’t even like peanut butter chips, but I made the mistake of undoing the twist tie and suddenly they disappeared. You know what it’s like embarking upon a distasteful task; food is such a comfort.

Anyhow, the point of this post is to pass on to you my end-of-summer tomato sauce. I know we are supposed to be posting nostalgic recipes from childhood but this recipe just couldn't wait.

Your garden is likely overrun with tomatoes, whereas Caleb and I celebrated the growing of three single tomato plants this summer. We actually were really happy because in our absence these last two months, they didn’t receive a lick of water, except for what was sent from above, yet they managed to survive and bear fruit, but not enough for a pot of sauce. So I went down to SunWing farm and picked up a giant flat.

I like to can the sauce but you can also just toss it in your freezer. I jar it because I don’t have a large freezer, and I also like to have it right on hand, no defrosting necessary, so when I’m home from work and out of ideas for dinner, I can just toss it in a pot with some veggies.

The recipe calls for 5 pounds of tomatoes. I wouldn’t attempt doubling that unless you have a very large pot. Also, don’t use an aluminum pot or a cast-iron pot or your sauce will taste funny as tomatoes don’t do well in these materials.

And I think that’s all.

Except for the Sauce.

Basil Tomato Sauce

5 pounds tomatoes
3 Tbsp olive oil
one handful fresh basil

Wash and quarter the tomatoes

Heat the oil in a large pot and add the tomatoes and basil.

Let simmer until the tomatoes are soft, about 30 min.

Pass the tomatoes through a food mill. (You can buy a food mill at any kitchen store or at a thrift shop. They have a handle that turns and pushes the food through a seive. This way, you end up with a suace and the tomato skin and seeds are left behind. You cannot use a blender in place of the food mill.)

Return the sauce to the pot, turn the heat up and reduce the sauce to the consistency of a thick juice. Voila, you are done.

If you would like to can the sauce, place clean jars in a canning pot as you make the sauce. You must boil them for 15 minutes to steralize the glass. Keep the jars hot before filling them with the sauce. Return the jars to the canner and process in boiling water for 30 minutes.

Oma's Krentenbrood Take 1

Well Rach -

In our first childhood nostalgia challenge, I'm not ready to post my final recipe for Oma's Krentenbrood (Dutch for raisin bread). The first loaf was heading in the right direction, but it's not there yet. I have a few adjustments to try in order to replicate a true Oma loaf. I carefully followed her recipe (as dictated to me post-swim over coffee last year in the Commonwealth Pool cafe), but have to do some tinkering.

For those who haven't had the pleasure of a slice of Oma Krentenbrood, I'll give you a quick run down. Oma is past her baking days, but in her prime she was the queen of several recipes that she sporadically produced from her kitchen (Oma would rather read a book or go for a swim then spend an extended amount of time in the kitchen). She was infamous for showing up with her signature dense rectangular loaf, packed full of raisins and Christmas peel. This was not a light, airy bread, but you couldn't beat anything like a toasted slice of Oma's raisin bread slathered in butter (or of course, in our childhood home that would be margarine). Looking back, I feel that Oma was somewhat smug about her grandchildren's love for this bread, and knew that part of the appeal was the scarcity of supplied goods.

My issues were along the lines of texture and shape- I feel that an unusual pan shape is key to reaching the childhood long rectangular slices (no rising dome top to this bread)- maybe you should go have a rummage through her cupboards one more time to find the necessary loaf pan - definitely bigger than your average loaf pan, but I feel like it was smaller than a 9 inch square pan. I also think that I need my dough needs to be a bit wetter. I'm going to increase the liquid next time.

That said, we are down to our last two slices, the kids and I are fully indulging in our chock full of dried fruit, white flour deliciousness.

More Cheese

Haley,
Love the camping nachos! I see great potential for our California surf/camp trip next summer, particularly as Southern Cal is the land of avocados--at farm market stands specializing in avocados,you can expect to find five or six varieties. Who knew such wonders lie south of the border? Arnold is not the the only state phenomena. (He once tried to pick up Caleb's mom, as a matter of fact. That's a little piece of Speller-family trivia for you).


Anyhow, I thought I'd better follow up on my cheese story. Otherwise, you'd think I failed miserably. When in fact, I experienced roaring success, and a small ovation from my dinner guests that evening. I ended up mixing the cheese with a little pesto and serving it as an appy. I sent my friends home with the recipe and their committed to experimenting with more cheese related products.

Okay, so I decided to make yogurt cheese because it's the easiest cheese to make. One doesn't actually have to do anything...Except buy a piece of cheese cloth, which is sold at ANY self-respecting grocery store. So, Haley, no trying to substitute a random piece of fabric you have floating around the house because you can't be bothered with going down to the store and ferreting out a proper piece of cheese cloth. Go. Buy it. No excuses.

Once you have your cheese cloth, you double it over a couple times and the place it in a colander. Then you scoop a lump of yogurt into the cheese cloth. Set the colander into a bowl. It's nice if you can get the colander to sort of hang on the edges of the bowl because the moisture from the yogurt is going to drip through the cheese cloth and the colander into the bowl, leaving you with extra thick yogurt the consistency of cream cheese. This will take six hours or more, so just pop the whole mess in your fridge and go tend to the young ones.

love,
R.

P.S. I can't wait to start our nostalgia cooking series. Readers--Haley and I will be featuring recipe favourites from our youth. Stay tuned.

Camping Nachos

Well Rach,

While you were bread and cheesing your way across Europe, we were snuggled up in our Trillium. Yes, we've kicked up our camping a bit. No more tenting for the Campbell family, no we're a yuppy RV family now.. well, about as posh as a 1970s bowler with walled-carpeting (no, not wall-to-wall, carpet ON the walls). But isn't she a beauty?

Lately I've noticed that it seems to be trendy to make lists of awesomeness. And since I'm nothing if not trendy, I'm going to provide you with my list for today:

Uninterrupted Sleep: Wistfully Awesome
Uninterrupted Meals: Elusively Awesome
Washroom Privacy: Wouldn't that be nice Awesome
Personal Space: What's not to love about 2 small bodies permanently attached to your lap, hip, neck, leg kind of Awesome
Finn smearing his whole body with Old Spice deodorant: Hilariously Awesome
Finn referring to said deodorant as 'pit stick': Inappropriately Awesome
Nap time: Blissfully Awesome
Baby slobber kisses: Heart-meltingly Awesome
Roughing it with the Trillium: Retro-y and Cozily Awesome
Camping Nachos: Awesome

While planning a camping trip with the Vermettes this past August, we hadn't yet realized the brilliance of having a personal chef and handy man a short tent trailer away. After a few nights of camping- eating gourmet meals and sleeping in the luxury that is the Trillium- staying in a hotel, or even living in our own house, now feels a bit like we're slumming it.

If you don't have your own personal Jeff, then here are his directions for making your own camping nachos:

Before you go

-buy inexpensive non-stick cookie sheet

-modify sheet with drill by drilling 1/4 inch holes at 1 inch spacings

-use Dremel to remove burrs/sharp or rough edges left by drill

-NOTE: can also buy perforated non-stick cookie sheet - in the bbq section of local big box store. saw some at canadian tire. but of course it's way more fun to make your own

Camping Nachos

-preheat BBQ on highest setting for 10 minutes

-(can also be cooked over fire, so in that case - prepare coal base in fire pit (if no fire bans))

-spread out layer of nacho chips of choice on cookie sheet

-layer nacho ingredients of choice (we had - cooked italian sausage meat, tomatoes, olives, jalapeños(?), and of course, lots of cheese)

-repeat for 2 or 3 layers

-lower BBQ to medium, and cook nachos with lid on, about 10 minutes, till hot, and cheese is melted. Bottom chips will be slightly toasted, and any cheese that falls on the pan will be crispy bits (yum!)

-if cooking over fire, try to cover with something (foil?)

-serve with salsa, gauc, and sour cream

Gauc

-avocadoes

-fresh lime juice

-tomatoes - diced really small

-ground cumin

-S&P

As far as we can remember, that was it.

Of course any ingredients people like on nachos can be used, but this is what we had on hand camping. If we were more prepared, we may have brought along: banana peppers, red or green peppers, onions... (these are mostly items Jeff would add).

Other meat ideas: Cajun flavoured chicken breast, diced up small; ground beef cooked with taco seasoning...

Well Rach, there you have it. Camping nachos. Awesome.

Brote met Kaas

Dearest sister,

Our culinary experience in Europe can be summed up quite simply by three Dutch words: 'brote met kaas.' Translation: bread with cheese. In Germany, it came on pumpkin-seed buns slathered in butter then blanketed in thick wedges of soft cheese, followed by tomatoes and leafy lettuce. We found these sandwiches in train stations, bus stations, subway stations, neighbourhood bakeries, mall food-courts, and coffee shops.

In Holland, the quality of bread slipped marginally; the vegetables disappeared, and cheese was served with or without a generous portion of ham. Here, the gouda reigned supreme. A breakfast spread was not complete without a plate of sliced gouda, both plain and spiced, snuggled up against a selection of sliced meats. (Naturally, in Holland we were also treated to the likes of liverwurst, cheese pate, frites with mayo, olibollen, panekoek, croquettes, and raw herring.).

We crossed the border into France and were promptly handed a baguette lined with cheese and our choice of veggies. We each ate one, yes, a whole baguette, in a graffitied bunker in the rain, before resuming our bike journey to Paris. We quickly learned the meaning of the word 'fromagerie.' The prices were just as wonderful as the cheeses. In the south of France we ate fresh cheve, just delivered by the farmer to the bin. We tried stinky cheese, and grey cheese, but not bright orange cheese, which Caleb balked at. In Ireland there was cheddar and squash bread and scones, and those giant, weighty loaves they call soda bread.

Yesterday I popped into the grocery store for a few necessities. I stopped at the cheese fridge and nearly cried. Little scraps and squares marked eight dollars, or blocks of Kraft, dyed bright orange, for a more reasonable price.

Tomorrow I will make a pot of spreadable cheese. If I am successful, I will post images and a recipe. If my experiment goes awry, you will hear nothing more on the topic.

Your loving sister,
Rachel

Celebratory Trifle

Rach - Welcome home! I am posting something delicious in order to celebrate your return and our newest nephew. Welcome to the newest little Reems (or not so little weighing in, 2 weeks before his due date, at over 9 pounds!) - Parker Brent Reems!

Mike and I have noticed a trifle trend in Chilliwack- trifles of various kinds seem to be the dessert of choice in this town. So who am I to stand in the way of local dessert preferences? If I'm trying to please my fellow Chilliwack-ians I guess I'll have to throw some deliciousness into a bowl, let it get nice and mushy together, and call it dessert.

Chocolate cake? Layered with chocolate pudding, whipping cream and raspberry sauce? Chocolate shavings? Well.. I guess.. if that's what everyone wants..

Oatmeal (Insert Fruit of Choice) Muffins

R-

Blogging has been sparse as of late. It feels like a chore to hunker down with my laptop when the sun is shining and there are adventures to be had. Being married to a teacher (in addition to being sister to a teacher, sister-in-law to 2 teachers, and daughter to a teacher) has kept my world revolving around the school calendar. The laundry pile has grown, carpets have gone un-vacuumed, and my tupperware drawer has been systematically giving birth (but never to a matching set- oh I have countless lids, and unlimited containers, but never the twain shall match). But alas, our holidays could not go on forever, and when Mike left for school on Monday I saw the dusty piano with all the guilt that only a Dutch descendant can truly empathize with.

We grew up in a muffin household. Joan ensured a continual flow of banana chocolate chip muffins through the Reems household, these saw us through everything from highschool basketball practices, to early morning life guarding shifts. Lately I have been on the hunt for the perfect muffin balance - a muffin healthy enough that you can grab one for breakfast, or feed to your child and not feel that nagging bad-mother-white-flour twinge (yes I have guilt issues, that have only increased exponentially by the arrival of children into my life!). I'm still on that quest - here is the King Arthur Flour oatmeal muffin recipe that I have been using lately- I would definitely put the oatmeal version in the breakfast muffin category, though a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar on top, or the addition of a bit of streusel certainly makes it a nice mid-morning coffee accompaniment.

Haley-variations and findings
I have been making the oatmeal version with the addition of rhubarb or blueberries this summer. I like to add a teaspoon or so of cinnamon and sometimes chopped pecans to the batter. I have made them with both oil and melted butter and haven't noticed a huge difference between the two. I use 1/3 cup brown sugar instead of 1/2 white. Finally, the oatmeal version tastes great fresh, but I put all the leftovers in the freezer as they tend to dry out after a day or so.

OK Rach, you are about to board a plane and wing your way back to Canada. Yippee! I'm planning a trip to the island to see you soon!