It's harvest time!

 Yes it's that time of year again.  Our garden was overflowing and our friends generosity was too!  I received a message from a friend asking if we wanted some fresh sweet corn for free! You know we couldn't refuse that!  I was surprised when 52 ears of corn arrived on my door step, but welcomed everyone of them.  We set aside a few for dinner that night, but the rest had to go somewhere.  And the best place for it was in my freezer.  Veggies are very easy to prepare and freeze to enjoy all year long.  First take your corn and remove the husk.  Thanks to Mr. Bacon and some all too anxious to help Bacon kids this job was a breeze.



Then you need to clear some space.  Which requires me to move the fresh made danish puff that was cooling. Yes it looks yummy right?  I promise I'll post the recipe soon, it was handed down from Grandma Bacon.  

 

 Now that there is some space, take your corn and and give it a good brushing. Yes you read that right. Brush your corn.  You know all those silky hairs that get stuck in there, they don't taste all that well, so it's best to remove them now. I just take a bottle brush I use for cleaning fruit and veggies. 

Now get some water boiling.  Since we had so many cobs of corn and were a bit pressed for time this day I got two large kettles going.  Once the water is boiling, drop in a few ears of corn.  Be sure to not overcrowd the corn in the pots. I place four to six ears in each pot.  Once you put them in you want the water to return to a boil within a minute. If it doesn't boil again, you have too many in the pot.  I boiled the corn for about nine minutes. 

Once the corn is boiled, you want to let them cool in a cold water bath. Place some water and ice in your sink. Allow the corn to soak in the cold water bath for 5-10 minutes.

Now it's time to cut the corn off the cob.   I have to say I LOVE corn on the cob. I wait all winter long just to be able to bite into a cob in the summer.  However I have found through the wonderful world of internet that if you freeze the corn on the cob, when you re-heat it most times than not it turns to mush.  So we decided not to risk it and cut the corn off.  A little trick I picked up for cutting corn off the cob was a angel food pan! 

See how nice it works!  Thanks to Mr. Bacon for making sure I didn't cut my fingers off, he did all the dirty work!  Place the cob of corn over the hole in the middle of the pan and cut away, the kernels fall into the pan and not all over the counter.  A bundt pan would also work well.

 Piles of delicious corn!  It was amazing. I think we at 2 or 3 cobs of corn right as it was cut off. Even Little Miss Bacon my picky eater was sneaking some every time I turned my back!  It was nice to see her want to eat a vegetable on her own!   I placed a good meal size portion of the cut corn into our food saver bags and placed them in the freezer unsealed over night.  By doing this it froze up the liquid still in the corn.  The next morning I sealed the bags and tossed them back into the freezer.  I can't wait to pull a bag out in the middle of winter and enjoy fresh sweet corn!

Cute as pie

Last week my brother stopped by on his way across the country. It had been a long time since I saw him last (almost a year!) So I decided to make something special. Aren't they cute!

Mini pies!

I've seen them on the Internet for a while at places like HERE and HERE. And I've been wanting to try them. I've had the jars for a while too, and apples in my fridge! I guess it was the right time.

I started with a batch of the pie crust recipe below that my mom handed down to me.

Pie Crust:
4 cups flour
1 cup crisco or similar shortening
1 tsp salt
1 cup cold water
2 eggs

Beat eggs into water. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until a ball of dough forms.


I made a HALF batch of this dough and was able to get 6 jars with a little extra dough, probably could have gotten a 7th one if I wanted to. A full batch would easily get 12 jar pies.

You can roll this out to make a pie crust with top too.But for me I just needed the dough. take 1/4 of dough and set aside for tops. With the remaining dough I pulled off pieces of it and pressed it into the bottom and sides of my ungreased jars.

Next to get the filling.

NOTE that this is what I used for filling 6 jars. If doing 12 jars, double what I have here.

Apple pie filling:
4- med sized granny smith apples (any apples will work) or about 3.5 cups of diced apples
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 TBSP sugar
2 TBSP brown sugar
4 TBSP flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1.5 TBSP butter

Take cut up apples and toss with lemon juice until all apples are coated. Mix sugars, flour and spices with apples until well combined. Place in crust lined jars, Add 1/4 tbsp butter to top of apples.

Next take the remaining 1/4 of the dough we saved out and roll out to about 1/4 in thickness or so. Take a lid from the jar and use it to cut out the perfect size circle for the top of the crust. You can take a small cookie cutter and cut out a vent hole for the top of the pie or if you're not feeling so fancy, once the pie crust top is in place take a sharp knife and cut a few small slices in the top of the dough for venting.

Next take a circle top and place it on top of your apples, you can press down the edges to meet up with the crust on the sides of the jars to prevent a lot of apples leaking out.

Now they are ready for the oven. OR.... the freezer! YES you heard that, these cute pies can go in the freezer when ready. Just place the lid and ring back on the jar, and they are ready for the freezer.

When you want to have a fancy desert where others think you spent hours making, just pop some of these out of the freeze and bake them. Or how about a nice little treat for you with some ice cream while the kids are in school! Shhh.. I won't tell they you had pie while they were gone either!

When it's time to bake, you don't need to thaw these pies from the freezer since they are made in canning jars that are made to hold up to extreme temps. But if you feel more comfortable, no problem letting them warm up a bit before throwing them in the oven.

Before baking these, I brushed them with a little melted butter and sprinkled some sugar on the tops too to make them taste even better!

Here are mine all ready to get baked. I did put them on a baking sheet to handle them better and so they would sit on my oven rack. Bake at 350* for 50-60 min.

I served them with a dip of maple nut ice cream and they were fabulous! They might look like they take a long time to make, but it was about 30min from start of making the dough & chopping apples until they were ready for the oven. Not too bad.

Feel free to be creative, try your favorite crust recipe in them and your favorite pie filling. Yes canned filling works just as good and a homemade kind. With being mini pies you can make up a favorite kind of pie for everyone in the family. Enjoy!