Orange Marmalade Part Deux

Did you know you can make marmalade out of any citrus? Yes! Grapefruit, lemon, tangerine, you name it! And it's really not too hard. It's cheaper than regular jam because you don't have to buy pectin because there is so much pectin in the fruit rind.

About a month ago, my friend Danielle and I made orange marmalade at her house. We use a difficult recipe (that says it's easy!) and it took us about 5 hrs to make 7 pints. There was the peeling, the slicing, the double batch, the boiling, the sugar, the boiling again (2 hrs!), then the attempt at canning with a pressure canner. So much work! So when my mom gave me 3 bags of oranges I decided to try a new, faster recipe.

So the faster recipe did have it's drawbacks. I had to stir a pot of volcanic marmalade for 20 in. Even reaching as far as I could and wearing an oven mitt, the hot jam splattered all over me. It was messy and dangerous. But, the results were delicious!

I've also found I like marmalade with brie on crackers. You should try it sometime!

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Here's a picture of the first recipe vs the second recipe. The first recipe cooked a lot longer and has a darker color, plus more pieces of orange rind because I peeled and julienned all the rinds instead of using the blender.

It's hard to pour the marmalade after it's cooked, so I cut out part of an apple container and cut a hole in the top. It worked better than my funnel which was too narrow. Necessity is the mother of invention?

Here's the place I cut out to make the plastic funnel.

Easy Yummy Recipes

I'd like to post a few of my favorite easy recipes in hopes that some of you will share yours!
I also use mealsmatter.org for menu ideas, meal planning, and shopping list.

1. Hawaiian Chicken Sandwiches
Teriyaki marinated grilled chicken breasts, a slice of your favorite cheese, red onion, fresh spinach, and tomato with mayo on a toasted whole wheat bun. I copied this from Rumbi Grill. (The one in the picture is from Hardee's).


2. Swiss Steak
I made this one tonight. Super easy and my kids love it! (that's saying something)

2 lb Round or Chuck Steak
2 cans Tomato Soup

Cook in Crockpot for 4 hr on high (in the summer I plug my crockpot in on my back porch)

Serve with mashed potatoes and use the tomato sauce in crockpot as gravy.


3. Chicken Bryan (copycat from Carrabba's)

Chicken Breasts (one per person)
Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
Goat Cheese

Coat chicken with olive oil and grill (I use chicken breasts/tenders frozen individually in a bag, and I cook them from frozen). I use a Foreman grill, but any kind will work.
Warm Sundried tomato pesto. Spread room temp goat cheese on grilled chicken, then top with pesto.
Carrabba's serves theirs with Garlic Mashed potatoes, or pasta. Yummy.

4. Multi-Purpose Shredded Beef/Pork
Got this recipe from a great caterer.

Any size, type roast
2-4 T Montreal Steak Seasoning
NO LIQUID

Cook in crockpot for a long time. Low 10 hrs, High 5-7 hrs. It is done when you put a fork in and twist and the meat falls apart.
Take it out and shred it with a fork. (I should be super easy to shred, if it's not, it's not done)
Stir it in a bowl and it should break apart even more.

Then you can do lots of things: add BBQ sauce (I like Bill Johnson's) for BBQ beef sandwiches, or add green chile sauce (the best is from Trader Joes) for burritos/enchiladas/taquitos. I'm sure there are more, but this is all I've tried. You can freeze the extra and it goes a long way.