The Pig and I

Granola is always awesome, but it's very expensive to buy at the store. Making it at home is inexpensive and just takes a few minutes of active prep time, plus 80 minutes in the oven. For the blueberries, I buy fresh blueberries in massive quantities when they're in season and deeply discounted, then dry them. Typically I do this until I've got about a gallon dried total. If you don't have a dehydrator, you can either oven or sun dry them (If you've opted for sun drying, freeze them for 72 hours after they're finished to kill any possible insect eggs that may have been laid anyway and then store in the pantry). If you want some clumps, squeeze the mixture well once you've put it in the half sheet pan. Otherwise, it will be more like loose cereal. 4 cups rolled oats 1/4 cup each: wheat germ, wheat bran, flax seeds 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 cup sliced almonds 1 cup dried blueberries 1/2 cup each: vegetable oil, maple syrup  1/4 cup honey Preheat ove...

This is a two-in-one meal, as you can make the sauce and eat the remainder of it with pasta (or as sauce for pizza; you can also freeze the leftover sauce for a future meal). In general, I am not a huge fan of meatloaf. Mostly because people tend to put the onions in raw, and the flavor of ground meat and onions that cooked together icks me out. Ross, however, has been asking me for the last few weeks to make him a meatloaf. Specifically, a meatloaf topped with puttanesca sauce in lieu of the more typical ketchup or tomato sauce topping. I stalled on this, because I had some trouble figuring out how I would make this so it wouldn't seem gross to me. I needn't have worried, though: Ross ate almost the entire thing in two sittings. As it's summer here, I try to make all oven items early in the morning or later at night so it doesn't overheat out house. I made this last night for him, and we were intended to have it tonight for dinner. As soon as it came out of the oven,...

I had purchased a pound of fresh dates recently, and we ate on them a bit before realizing we all like them just a bit riper. In interest of not having them go to waste,  I decided to go on ahead and make a rice pudding. Dates are naturally high in sugar, and although these were less sweet than I prefer, I only added just a touch of sugar to compensate for that. Additionally, I made for dinner something I was fairly certain the Piggy wasn't going to enjoy, so this functioned as her dinner and our dessert, as rice is amongst her favorite foods no matter how it's prepared. Hope you enjoy! 1/2 stick butter 12 ounces fresh dates, pitted and chopped (I just cut these in quarters lengthwise, then cut them in half width-wise) 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar juice of 1 small lemon (probably 2 tablespoons) 1 cup rice 1 cup milk 1/2 cup cream Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat, then add dates, sugar, and lemon juice. Cover and let cook 20-30 minutes, or until dates are...

And, the last of the blackberry jams. Hope you enjoy! 2 pounds blackberries 2 cups sugar 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns Place peppercorns in a tea strainer or similar. Combine all ingredients in a large pot and macerate 1-2 hours. Bring to a boil and let boil for 5 minutes before removing peppercorns and vanilla pod (save the pod, rinsing it well, to toss in a jug of bourbon or to put in sugar for vanilla sugar). Finish boiling until it reaches the gel-point, then water bath process for 15 minutes. Makes 4 half-pints.

Here's the blackberry-bergamot. If you don't have access to bergamot, feel free to use a regular sour orange. It will change the flavor but will still be tasty. Hope you enjoy! 2 pounds blackberries 2 cups bergamot sugar pinch salt 2 tablespoons lemon juice 2 tablespoons bergamot juice Combine and macerate 1-2 hours. Boil to the gel-point and water bath process 15 minutes. Makes 4 half-pints.

Blackberries are deeply, deeply on sale right now, which is my cue to get ready for a lot of canning even if it's a food I'm not harvesting myself. I've purchased quite a lot of them and am doing three styles of jams: blackberry-lemon (today's post), blackberry-bergamot (tomorrow's post), and blackberry-vanilla-black pepper (Monday's post). Each one uses the same basic methodology I use for all jams, so those of you who've read other preserve posts will be familiar with this method. These are lovely as gifts, and also for eating oneself on toast, in cookies or tarts, as a pie base, or over ice cream after heated to thin. Hope you enjoy! 2 pounds blackberries 2 cups sugar juice and zest of one lemon pinch salt Put all ingredients together in a large pot and let macerate for 1-2 hours on the counter, or overnight in the fridge (covered). Bring to a boil, stirring, and remove from heat once it hits the gel-point. Water bath process 15 minutes. Makes 4 ha...

There are a million ways to make these, and I pretty much think they're all good. But I like this way for days when you're having sausage and kraut. Hope you enjoy! 8 ounces sliced button mushrooms 3-ish tablespoons finely diced red onion 1 large or two small cloves minced garlic 2-ish tablespoons white wine (I *think* this was a pinot but I froze it ages ago so can't remember for sure) 1-ish tablespoon lemon juice pinch each: salt, lemon peel, dried thyme 1-2 tablespoons olive oil Heat the olive oil in a small pan over medium to medium-high heat, then add the mushrooms, onions and spices. When they're about 3/4 of way done, add the remaining ingredients. When the liquid is gone they're done. Serves 2 if you feel like sharing.