I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit this, but I’ve had two copies of this book in a pile on my desk for nearly a year and a half. I’m not sure what kept me from looking at it more closely, but those two copies got shuffled to the very bottom of a large stack and there they stayed. It wasn’t until Scott and I decided to do a bit of cleaning out recently that I finally sat down and took a look at The Fresh Girl’s Guide to Easy Canning and Preserving by Ana Micka.

Once I sat down with it, I was annoyed. With myself. I’d had this terrific book sitting around my apartment since September 2010 and hadn’t made anything from it or shared it with you guys.

The primary reason I’m so delighted to have this book in my canning library is for its pressure canning section. There are a number of books out there that will help you invent delicious jams, jellies, pickles, chutneys and other high acid preserves. These are useful books and I reference a great number of them regularly. However, the thing so many canning books seem to leave out is an in-depth section on pressure canning.

This book is different. It includes a substantial pressure canning section. You’ll find recipes for things like roasted tomato sauce, chicken and corn stew, borscht, minestrone and even ropa vieja. If you want to start filling your pantry with pressure canned, shelf stable soups, stews and sauces, this is a book you should check out.

It also comes with a DVD, should you be the type who learns best by watching. I’ve not viewed it myself, but I’m sure it might be helpful to some.

At the beginning of this post, I mentioned that I had two copies of this book. That’s because I was sent one to keep and one to give away to a Food in Jars reader. So let’s do that. Here’s what to do for a chance to win.

1. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post and share your favorite wintertime meal. Whether you cook breakfast for dinner, pull homemade soup from the freezer or have the wherewithal to make a meat sauce from scratch on a Wednesday, I want to hear about it.
2. Comments will close at 11:59 pm eastern time on Friday, February 3, 2012. Winner will be chosen at random (using random.org) and will be posted to the blog on Saturday, February 4, 2012.
3. Giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian residents.
4. One entry/comment per person, please.

Disclosure: As stated before, I was sent two copies of this book, one to review and one to give away. All opinions remain my own. 

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I’ve never been the type of person who handles big changes well, particularly if they include a great deal of pre-planning and anticipation. For this reason, I’m not particularly good at grand resolutions for the new year. Don’t get me wrong, I can list my goals like a champ, but even as I write them down, there’s a part of me that knows that I’ll only be able to manage them for a day or before sliding into my old ways.

This doesn’t mean that I lead an entirely static life. Just that I’ve had to develop ways to work around my innate desire to resist change. For example, during the holidays, my eating habits started to slide a little bit (I can’t imagine I’m the only one who experienced this). I went from a girl who drank green smoothies for breakfast to someone who started her day with two cups of homemade Chex Mix (what? It contains cereal!). Something had to be done!

Instead of resolving to change everything on January first (that would have been asking for dramatic and immediate failure), I started with just entertaining the idea of finding ways to get more vegetables into my life. By getting my brain on board first and approaching it with thoughts of addition instead of subtraction (and thankfully, the Chex Mix is all gone), I’ve been able to make the shift.

The other thing that has helped this ‘more vegetable’ habit is cookbook that showed up in my mailbox back in November. Called the Candle 79 Cookbook (published by Ten Speed Press), it is bursting with gorgeous, appealing vegetable-focused recipes. It’s written by Joy Pierson, Angel Ramos, and Jorge Pineda of New York’s Candle 79 and Candle Cafe. Both are vegan restaurants that stress the importance of organic, farm-fresh vegetables.

A tip! Never use your rubber, silicone or plastic utensils to scrape out your food processor. The blade will chew them up. Stick with durable wooden utensils.

And though I’m no vegan (and have not even the most latent desires to give up meat and dairy), I do have a highly developed appreciation for the kind well-conceived veg-focused recipe that this book features. I’ve earmarked at least 12 recipes and have added ingredients for Granny Smith Coleslaw, Spinach-Mushroom Pate and Butternut Squash and Chestnut Soup to my shopping list.

Earlier today, I whirred up a batch of the Smoked Paprika Hummus found on page 17 of the book. While it’s not exactly a vegetable, have such things around encourage me to eat more veg, which is also a big help. I used canned garbanzo beans (the book also gives instruction for making it from dried beans, but alas, I did not plan that far in advance), a bit less cayenne than called for (I wanted to ensure that my spice-averse husband would be able to eat it) and cilantro in place of the flat leaf parsley (it’s what I had in the fridge).

As so often happens to me when I make hummus, I was astounded at how fast it came together (you’d think I’d have learned this lesson by now) and how cheaply too. The recipe made a scant quart for right around $3. Best of all, it tastes wonderful. I ate it with the remains of a bag of baby carrots and, when they were all gone, I ate it by the fingerful. Truly, delicious. If you want to try it, the official, straight-from-the-book recipe is after the jump.

Smoked Paprika Hummus

1 cup dried chickpeas, or 2 (15.5-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons smoked paprika, plus more for garnish
1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt
1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1⁄3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish
1⁄3 cup tahini
Optional garnishes: roasted red bell peppers, roasted garlic, lemon slices, olives, mint or parsley sprigs

Makes about 3 cups

If using dried chickpeas, put them in a saucepan or bowl and add cold water to cover by about 2 inches. Soak in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight. Drain and rinse.

Put the chickpeas in a saucepan and add cold water to cover by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil, decrease the heat, cover, and simmer until the chickpeas are tender, 50 to 60 minutes. Drain and let cool, reserving 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 cup of the cooking water.

Combine the chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, cayenne, paprika, salt, pepper, parsley, olive oil, and tahini in a bowl and stir to mix well. Transfer the mixture to a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process until well mixed. Add 1⁄4 cup of the reserved cooking liquid (or water or vegetable stock if using canned chickpeas) and process until smooth and almost fluffy. Add more liquid if necessary. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Transfer to a serving bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (The hummus can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Return to room temperature before serving.)

To serve, drizzle a bit of olive oil over the hummus and sprinkle a bit of paprika. Serve with desired garnishes.

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this cookbook. However, my opinions are all my own.

Recipe reprinted with permission from Candle 79 Cookbook: Modern Vegan Classics from New York’s Premier Sustainable Restaurant. Copyright © 2011 by Joy Pierson, Angel Ramos, and Jorge Pineda. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, Berkeley, CA.

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• Cookbooks: Bi-Rite Market’s Eat Good Food

Okay kids, I have some fun news. The Food in Jars cookbook(subtitled Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round) is available for pre-order! Obviously, it won’t be shipping before you give gifts this week (expect to see physical copies of it around May or June), but if you have a bit of extra holiday budget burning a hole in your pocket, pre-ordering a copy from your favorite bookseller.

Get it from a local-to-you bookseller.
Get it from Powell’s.
Get it from Amazon.
Get it here from Barnes and Noble.
Get it here from Chapters (for you Canadian folks).

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Yesterday afternoon, I met a friend for tea at a local coffee shop. It had been weeks since we’d seen each other and so carved out a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon to reconnect and catch each other up on the happenings in our lives.

By the time we parted, the sun was long since set. The streets were dark and all throughout my neighborhood, living room lamps were turned on. These are the perfect conditions for an inveterate peeper such as myself. I just love catching little glimpses of the lives of others.

I think that’s why blogs with beautiful, intimate photography are so darn popular, they allow us all regular peeks into the homes, kitchens and tables of strangers. One of the first photography websites that captured my attention in this way was 3191 Miles Apart. It’s a partnership between Maria Alexandra Vettese (MAV) and Stephanie Congdon Barnes (SCB). The name comes from the fact that one lives in Portland, ME and the other lives in Portland, OR. There are exactly 3191 miles between the two Portlands.

It’s a project that’s transitioned through several incarnations, from years of daily posts that documented mornings and evenings, to weekly posts and a quarterly magazine. It’s the most recent edition (#5) of the 3191 Quarterly that I want to feature here. It’s been bringing me a great deal of joy.

Not only are the pictures lovely snippets of life, this issue features two recipes that are perfectly aligned with aesthetics of this website. Cucumber dill pickles and homemade yogurt cheese. When the issue arrived, I wished fervently to be able to climb straight into those scenes.

This quarterly is a bit pricier than your standard magazine subscription, but to my mind, totally worth the cost. Until December 11, you can subscribe to issues 5-8 for $99. After that, they’ll only be available individually for $28 an issue.

Disclosure: I paid for my subscription with my limited freelancer funds. No one asked me to write this post, I did it simply because I like the 3191 Quarterly and everything it embodies.

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• Cookbooks: Bi-Rite Market’s Eat Good Food

I have never been to Bi-Rite Market, but now that I have this book in my possession, I do not know why it hasn’t been top of my list when in the Bay Area. If that sounds at all silly to you, understand that while on vacation, I visit independently owned grocery stores the way other people explore national parks.

When in Portland, I stop in to New Seasons, Pastaworks, Food Front and People’s. Last weekend while in Western Massachusetts, I dashed in to the River Valley Market and the Berkshire Co-op Market. I’ve been to the Brattleboro Food Co-op in Vermont, New Pioneer Co-op in Iowa City and Wheatsfield Grocery in Ames, Iowa.

It’s a funny little habit, but I’m fascinated with how different regions of the country do their grocery shop, particularly when freed from the homogenous grocery store chains that dominate so much of our food buying.

What’s all that have to do with this new, lovely book? Well, other than planting a seed that I must visit Bi-Rite someday, flipping through this volume has reminded me why I like these small markets so much and why I’ve chosen to do the bulk of my shopping the way I do (from farmers’ markets and small produce stores and through CSA shares and buying clubs). I’ve always been a believer in the necessity and importance of community, and there’s no better way to nurture that human connection than over food. Bi-Rite owner Sam Mogannam and his staff get that in a deep and true way.

Here in Philly, there’s an urban farm in the Kensington neighborhood called Greensgrow (I taught a canning class in their community kitchen last weekend and have another one coming up in November). Their slogan is “Growers of food, flowers and neighborhoods.” It’s just different verses of the same song.

Still, you might wonder why I think you should carve out some space on your shelf for Eat Good Food. In addition to the fact that it sent me running to the kitchen within the first few days of ownership, consider it a working manual for your grocery store. The sections are divided by grocery aisle, so that you can easily find resources by genre. In the chapter devoted to the produce section, it’s further divided by season, making it easy to browse for inspiration depending on what time of year it is.

What’s more, you won’t just find recipes and essays from farmers and chefs. You’ll also find information on how to buy, store and use foods. Helpful, particularly for those of you who recently got your first head of escarole or frisee in your CSA box and don’t know how to approach it.

As I get to the bottom of this post, I’m a little bit concerned that I’ve made Eat Good Food sound highfalutin or elitist. Truly, it’s anything but. Yes, the book features essays about farmers and sometimes waxes poetic about the perfection of seasonal fruit. But essentially, it’s a user’s guide to food shopping, with beautiful pictures and approachable, delicious-sound recipes. How could you not want that kind of book within easy reach?

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I am a little bit obsessed with the new Bi-Rite Market cookbook. A review copy arrived last week and I haven’t been able to keep my hands off it. I get a lot of cookbooks, so for one to capture my attention so thoroughly is a sure sign that it is an absolute winner.

I plan on showing you more photos from this magical volume in my weekly cookbook post tomorrow, but earlier today I made a pear chutney inspired by it and I just couldn’t wait to tell you all about it. Made from fresh fall pears, dried cherries, freshly grated ginger and a pinch of ground cardamom, this chutney is heady and intensely flavored. As it was cooking, I couldn’t keep myself from nipping small spoonfuls from the pot. I’ve been craving fall in the worst way and it tasted so deeply autumnal. It was just what I needed.

Now, I say that this chutney is inspired by the Bi-Rite Market cookbook because while there is a chutney recipe in there that calls for these same main ingredients, halfway through cooking, I veered fairly wildly off course.

I like my chutneys to be a little bit sweet, strongly flavored and quite acidic. As it’s written, the Bi-Rite version just didn’t give quite me what I want from a chutney (though I adored their choices in fruits and flavors). I pumped up the amount of vinegar, sugar and grated ginger, added quite a bit more liquid and quadrupled the cooking time, so that it could simmer, thicken and soften without running dry.

As you can see from these final pictures, my finished chutney is deep and dark. The pears give it clean, fruity base. The cherries (as well as a splash of apply brandy) add a boozy element. The pinch of cardamom makes for good fragrance. And the ginger, mustard seeds and vinegar lend edge and pucker. It has a lovely texture that is spreadable without being runny (I cannot abide a watery chutney).

Please don’t judge it by its tar-like appearance. I promise, when it’s inspected in light slightly more friendly then the overhead fluorescent bulbs in my kitchen, it is nuanced and appealing to the eye. Had I not finished it moments before dinnertime, I would have unearthed the hunk of fancypants clothbound Cabot cheddar we bought this weekend and gone to town with cheese and chutney.

Truly, I am so pleased with how this chutney ended up. I’ve been feeling uninspired by the kitchen lately and so it was such a joy to find a recipe that captured my attention and motivated me to chop, cook and improvise. Any cookbook that can motivate me to gather ingredients and dash to the stove is one that is worth its space on the shelf. Don’t you agree?

Pear Chutney with Dried Cherries and Ginger
adapted wildly from the Bi-Rite Market cookbook

makes 3 half pint jars

3/4 cup dried cherries, chopped roughly
1 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons apple brandy
4 cups roughly chopped Bartlett pears (4-5 medium pears)
2/3 cup sugar

Place dried cherries in a heat-proof bowl or measuring cup and pour boiling water over top. Set aside.

Heat a large, non-reactive pot or skillet over medium heat. Add oil and heat until it shimmers. Add onion and sea salt and cook until the onion softened and develops a bit of color. Add ginger, mustard seeds and cardamom and cook until spices are fragrant and the mustard seeds begin to pop.

Add vinegar and brand to pan and use a wooden spoon to work up any bits of fond on the bottom of the pan. Add dried cherries and their liquid. Add chopped pears and sugar and stir to combine.

Reduce heat to low, put a lid on the pan and let pears simmer gently for 30-35 minutes so that they soften.

When the pears can be crushed with the back of a wooden spoon, remove the lid from the pot. Increase the heat to high and cook quickly, stirring regularly, to help reduce any remaining liquid.

When chutney is no longer at all watery and looks deeply colored, take a taste. Should it need it, add a splash more vinegar, a pinch more salt or a spoonful more sugar. Do make sure to taste for adjustments before canning, as ingredients can vary from kitchen to kitchen and it’s the only way to ensure that you’ll wind up with a product that you like.

When chutney is fully cooked down and tastes good to you, ladle it into three prepared half pint jars. Wipe rims, apply lids and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

When time is up, remove jars from canning pot and let them cool on a folded kitchen towel. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and eaten within a week. Sealed jars can be kept in the pantry for up to one year.

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In the last few years, a wave of new canning books have been published and each has its individual charms.  Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It is an amazing resource for fun, DIY foods (like homemade corn flakes!). Putting Up More is just the thing for the home canner who wants to move beyond the standard array of preserves. Tart and Sweet is perfect for creative folks who want to impress at the holidays or at their local food swap.

Like these other volumes, Sarah B. Hood’s new book, We Sure Can! also has a very distinct reason for being. Part cookbook, part story of this most recent food preservation movement, it will lend confidence to new canners and remind seasoned preservers that they are not alone out there.

One of the most glorious things about We Sure Can! is that it is written from a place of sharing and generosity. So many new cookbooks seem to be crafted in isolation, without acknowledgement of the community from which they draw inspiration. Sarah’s book is a celebration of the many chefs, cooks and bloggers who have played roles in the energy that has gathered around canning in the last few years.

Bloggers like Audra Wolfe from Doris and Jilly Cook and Joel McCharles from Well Preserved are featured prominently. Images from Shae Irving of Hitchhiking to Heaven and Leann Locher of Lelo in Nopo are included in the many gorgeous photography spreads.

And the recipes! Tucked among Sarah’s many prize-winner recipes are preserves from Gloria Nicol (author of the blog Laundry Etc. and the book Fruits of the Earth) and pickles from Julia Sforza (she writes What Julia Ate) to name just a couple of the contributors.

For those of you who like a bit of dependability in your recipes, this book should go on your shelves. There’s not a single preserve in this book that isn’t tested and beloved by the recipe contributor. If you’re a regular reader of canning blogs, you’ll be happy to see many of your favorite bloggers have offered up their best preserves for inclusion.

If you’re looking for a book to give to a friend to help then on the path towards home food preservation, this is one you should most certainly consider. In addition to all the things I’ve gushed about already, you should also know that the front section of this book is an approachable, unfussy introduction to everything you need to learn before firing up your canning pot.

I am so delighted to add this volume to my collection of canning books (you should know, I did receive a free review copy, but I’d have gladly paid for it). Well done, Sarah!

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If I’d been really on top of my game, I would have written about this book back in June, when summer was full of possibility and there were still plenty of long, warm evenings ahead for sipping cool drinks. Instead, it’s late September. October will be here in a blink. What on earth makes me think it’s a good time to feature a book about Homemade Soda?

Well, for one thing, the holidays are starting to loom. If you’ve got a devoted DIY-er on your list, this might just be the perfect book to wrap for them this year (paired with a soda siphon if you’re feeling really generous). What’s more, there are plenty of recipes that work all year round, like the Vanilla Pear Sparkler (page 158) or the Effervescent Jasmine Honey Tea (page 191).

What makes this book so cool is that there are a number of ways you can use it. Many of the recipes can be made as syrups that you can stir into sparkling water. If you want to take it up a notch, there are also instructions on how to charge the entire concoction with bubbles for a more authentic flavor. There are also recipes for naturally fermented sodas tucked into the book, for those of you who want your carbonation to come the old fashioned way.

The other thing that makes Homemade Soda stand out from other books about infused syrups and home brewed soft drinks is the third part of the book, which is devoted to recipes that incorporate sodas into the ingredient list. From Ginger Beer Chicken Curry (page 272) to Chocolate Root Beer Cheesecake (page 292), these recipes will have you on your feet and headed to the kitchen in no time.

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My cookbook collection is out of control. Just like the jars, they are in every room of our apartment (oddly, except the kitchen. There’s no room in there for anything other than food, cookware and me). I’ve tried to go cold turkey and abstain from new books entirely, but occasionally, there’s one that is so beautiful and alluring that I can’t resist giving it a permanent place on the shelves. Home Made by Yvette Von Boven is one such book.

Yvette Von Boven is a European food stylist, freelance writer and restaurant-owner who’s work regularly appears in a variety of magazines and other publications. Home Made was published first in Dutch and was named the Dutch cookbook of the year in 2010.

One of the things that most charmed me about this book right off the bat was the tone it takes. Chatty and confidence-inspiring, after reading her instructions, you’ll feel like you can take on any one of these projects. However, before you dive in to any of her preserving project, I would recommend that you also acquaint yourself with current USDA standards. This book recommends the inversion method for sealing jams and also gives instruction on how to reuse canning jar lids, both ill-advised according US standards.

The pages are filled with lovely, useful illustrations like the ones you see above. I love a recipe that’s written with drawings instead of simply typed in the conventional fashion. There are also a number of recipes I’ve bookmarked, like the butternut pickles (a refrigerator pickle, not a processed one) on page 162 and the rose tea marshmallows you see below.

And just so I don’t give you the impression that this book is only a preserving and food crafting one, you should know that the pages are also bursting with recipes for delicious-sounding things like Chicken Kebabs with Honey, Prunes and Walnuts (page 253), Salad with Celeriac, Goat Cheese, Pomegranate & Tarragon (page 176) and the Vanilla Fritters with Zabaglione (page 330). Who’s ready to eat?

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this book. However, my thoughts and opinions are, as always, entirely my own.

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It is stunning to me how much the world of information around canning, preserving and  DIY food arts has expanded in the last couple of years. When I first started this blog in early 2009, it was so easy to be familiar with the canon of books on the topic. I had them all and they took up about 18 inches of space on the bookshelf.

Then suddenly, a new wave of books started to flow onto the market. One of the best of this first round was Karen Solomon’s Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It. It offered instruction on canning, easy home dairy items and a variety of other projects that were universally welcomed by home cooks who wanted slightly more control over their food.

Karen recently published a follow-up volume called Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It that is just as delightful as her first book. It includes a handful traditional preserves, as well as instructions for homemade cereals (cornflakes! puffed rice!), miso, rice milk, smoked nuts  and so much more.

For those of you who were intrigued but overwhelmed by Charcutepalooza and its many meaty challenges, you’re going to want to take a peek at the Hunt It section of the book. Karen has included a series of accessible, easy to follow recipes for corned beef, pastrami and hot dogs (as well as instructions for how to transform those hot dogs into corn dogs.

Every time I sit down with this book for more than a few minutes, I start to itch for the kitchen. The urge to cook become irresistible. My apartment has seen her Sesame Rosemary Granola, the Basic Barbecue Sauce and the Pickled Grapes (so good).

Last fall when I was in San Francisco, I got to meet Karen. We were both judges at the Good Food Awards and during a break in the tasting, she bought me a cup of coffee and we shared tales of obsessive preserving and cookbook writing. Somehow, that led to a request that I write a blurb for the book’s back cover. Entirely flattered, I was thrilled to do it.

All that said, here’s the point I really want to make. Even if I’d never known the first book, never met Karen and never spent hours pouring over a xeroxed galley copy trying to concisely say why I thought it was so good, I would still like this book. The recipes are super solid. The head notes are full of personality. And the pictures are pretty. It’s definitely a buy it, use it, love it book.

So, all that said, let’s get to the good part. I have a copy of Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It to give away to a Food in Jars reader. Here are the details…

1. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post and share a kitchen project that you’ve been wanting to tackle.
2. Comments will close at 11:59 pm eastern time on Tuesday, August 9.
3. Giveaway is open to U.S. residents only (apologies to my more far-flung readers).
4. One entry per person, please.

Disclosure: I received two copies of this book for free. I’m keeping one in the hopes that I can get Karen to sign it for me someday. The other I’m offering up here. However, despite the copies, that cup of coffee and my unconcealed admiration for Karen and her writing, my opinions are still all my own.

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