I have a ten year old granddaughter "Lily". It seems like most of our conversations start out "back in my day ". I certainly heard that often when talking to my grandparents and parents. Well this past week we have been canning bread and butter pickles, sweet relish and beet relish. Of course I told Lily " back when I was your age" my mother had to can a lot of our garden or we wouldn't have had much to eat in the winter. We were only allowed to eat during meal time and the refrigerator was off limits to me until I was in Junior High School and started watching my younger brother as mom went to work outside the home. But canning this week has reminded me of those times and my mother and family.
We don't have that big garden now but we do have generous neighbors who have shared some of their produce. And it probably cost much more to actually put food up this way than it would be to buy it at the grocery. But I do like that we know exactly what is in our home canned produce and whether real or imagined, I believe it does taste better.
Today for lunch I made Balsamic Chicken and Pears from the Good Housekeeping cookbook Light and Healthy published in 2007. I served it
with a Quick Buttermilk Corn Bread from the Taste of Homes Fall Recipes 2017 magazine. The chicken was simply pan fried and then the pears were also fried in the same pan. This was a first for me. To actually fry the pears was really easy and they browned nicely and softened up. Next there was a simple pan sauce made from chicken broth, balsamic vinegar and corn starch. The corn bread was a straight forward recipe using buttermilk. We have a lot left over so tonight it will be served with butter and then maple syrup poured over. This is something I learned when I first started dating my wife. Her family ate their corn bread this way. I have eaten it this way ever since. It always amazes me the way foods can trigger memories from the past. I hope Lily has good memories of her "papa" when she grows up!
We don't have that big garden now but we do have generous neighbors who have shared some of their produce. And it probably cost much more to actually put food up this way than it would be to buy it at the grocery. But I do like that we know exactly what is in our home canned produce and whether real or imagined, I believe it does taste better.
Today for lunch I made Balsamic Chicken and Pears from the Good Housekeeping cookbook Light and Healthy published in 2007. I served itwith a Quick Buttermilk Corn Bread from the Taste of Homes Fall Recipes 2017 magazine. The chicken was simply pan fried and then the pears were also fried in the same pan. This was a first for me. To actually fry the pears was really easy and they browned nicely and softened up. Next there was a simple pan sauce made from chicken broth, balsamic vinegar and corn starch. The corn bread was a straight forward recipe using buttermilk. We have a lot left over so tonight it will be served with butter and then maple syrup poured over. This is something I learned when I first started dating my wife. Her family ate their corn bread this way. I have eaten it this way ever since. It always amazes me the way foods can trigger memories from the past. I hope Lily has good memories of her "papa" when she grows up!
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