Posted on 07/16/2015 12:36:56 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
Some time ago, I found a book about 'Gifts from a Jar' in the thrift store. Though I've never given a gift like this, one of the recipes has become a staple side dish for us.
I sometimes use 1/2 cup of Golden Raisins that I've soaked in boiled water for a few minutes, instead of the cranberries and currants; and I rarely add the vegetable flakes because I don't usually have them around. Also, I frequently use toasted pine nuts instead of the almonds - they toast up very quickly in a small pan on top of the stove.
This comes from 'Gifts from a Jar', by Andra Chase. The book appears to be out of print, but you can still obtain it:
http://www.amazon.com/Gifts-From-Jar-Soups-Chilis/dp/0785378022
Quick and Easy Couscous
1 C. uncooked Couscous*
1/4 C. dried Cranberries
1/4 C. Currants
2 T. dried Vegetable Flakes
1 T. dried minced Onion
1 T. dried Parsley flakes
1 tsp. Chicken Bouillon granules
1/4 tsp. Curry powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
1/4 tsp. Turmeric
1/4 cup slivered Almonds
To make the gift jar:
Layer 1/2 cup Couscous, cranberries, currants, vegetable flakes, onion, parsley, bouillon granules, curry powder, salt, pepper, turmeric, and remaining 1/2 cup couscous in a 1-pint storage jar with a tight fitting lid. Place the almonds in a small food storage bag and close with a twist tie, and cut off the top of the bag. Place the bag on top of the couscous, and close the jar.
To cook:
Remove the almond packet from the jar and set aside.
Place 1-1/2 C. water, 1 T. butter, and the contents of the jar in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, remove pan from heat ; cover and let stand 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Toast the almonds, spread on a shallow baking pan, in the pre-heated oven for 5 to 8 minutes, or until nuts are golden brown. Fluff the couscous with a fork; stir in the almonds.
*I have tried the Israeli type couscous that looks like tiny pearled barley; but I didn't think it did well in this recipe. You want the finer-grained stuff, like the product that 'Near East' sells.
*****************************************************
A gift I used to receive at Christmas from a cousin, is one that has also become a staple. You can make this easily, and with different herbs added, it's a very good substitute for the expensive Boursin spreads that you find in the supermarket.
(This is not very good with dried chives and dried parsley; parsley is always in the stores, and usually in all of our refrigerators. But growing chives on a windowsill is very easy, and depending on your location, a little bit grown in the garden can last until Thanksgiving or later).
Linda’s Boursin Cheese Spread
Mix together until fluffy, and then chill at least 24 hrs.:
8 oz. softened cream cheese
2 cloves minced garlic
2 T. Light Cream
Pinch of Thyme
2 T. Chives
1/2 tsp. Lemon Juice
1 T. Parsley, minced
Salt to taste
Bring to room temp. before serving.
For gift-giving, just scoop it into a little jelly jar. Along with a package of nice crackers, this makes a good addition to a holiday gift basket.
A standard gift in a jar that my mother and father always get requests for is my father’s homemade mustard. It seems like the mustard only gets made when I am home to strain it with a large spoon and a wire mesh collander. The ingredients (I think) are whole mustard seeds soaked over night in water, white wine vinegar, white wine, mustard flour and a little salt (I think). It’s a fairly standard recipe... the only “trick” is that it gets combined in a blender, in a standard batch and tge blender is ran for 4 minutes, which pulverizes the hulls and heats the mustard up. I strain it into a huge bowl while the next batch is running in the blender... and when it’s all done it is ladled into jelly jars.
Everyone loves the kick this stuff naturally has... it gets hotter the next day after sitting in the fridge.
Good stuff.
THE 3 2 1 PICKLE
Boil/dissolve mixture of 3 c water, 2 c vinegar, cup
sugar....add 1/2 c salt. Submerge whatever vegetable
you want to pickle. Seal tight and steep.
TIPS Use any kind of vinegar. Any kind of salt.
Add herbs, bay leaf, spices, to suit your tastes.
I do freezer jams with less sugar than most recipes call for (you can find directions on the internet - it’s easy to do). I do figs and strawberries from the garden.
With the fig freezer jam I use the spices you use for apple pie filling. Heat it up for serving over ice cream. Great for gifts. They have a wide variety of cute containers.
What kind of figs do you use?
-JT
Oh man, I don’t know. My husband planted the tree. They are great figs and produce abundantly - enough to share with the rascally squirrels.
SALAD Toss Vinaigrette w/ 1/2 head red lettuce torn bite-size, 1/2 small tuscan melon cubes or slices, 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced.
Vinaigrette
whisk/combine 2 tb lemon juice, 3 Tb Olive oil, tea honey, tsp champagne vinegar, Tb heavy cream, Salt and lots of pepper.
ASSEMBLY Plate dressed greens; finish w/ 5-7 fresh, ripe fig quarters, crumbled feta. SERVE.
Sugar shapes; sweet bites for tea table, birthdays,
baby or bridal showers, or holidays. Easy to make:
just color and flavor sugar, then shape in shallow candy molds
METHOD Stir/moisten cup sugar, tb water; add/stir in bit color/flavor. Adding small amt color in increments. Should have texture of wet sand/clumps when squeezed in palm. If too dry, add small spoonfuls water til workable.
W/ spoon heap sugar into c/starch dusted mold; firmly press; compact well to hold together; take form of mold. brush or pastry scraper excess from tops. Dry completely at room temp, might take an hour to overnight to set—--depends on consistency of sugar, humidity, and depth/size of molds.
Alternately, micro 25-30 sec to speed dry. cool briefly, then gently flip out; set at room temp to dry.
Will keep indefinitely airtight at room temp. careful when packaging, they are brittle and can be scuffed or broken.
Variation: For an additional treat, omit flavoring; make with pre-flavored Vanilla Sugar, Lavender Sugar, or Lemon Sugar.
Seashells made in molds w/ pastel sugar
I’ve made cookie mixes in a jar and soup mixes. They look pretty with alternating colors. The soups looked best using orange lentils and yellow and green peas. The cookie mixes looked a little bland, unless I put a lot of m&m’s in the jar - mire than really works in a cookie, plus they got smashed in the mixing, even the miniature ones.
The cheese spread sounds delicious. And what a nice way to give a little gift that looks fancy.
What are you looking for, mire specifically?
I can give you recipes for meatballs and sauce, Alfredo or Cajun Alfredo pasta (guests love the Cajun version), gnocchi, homemade pasta and ravioli, lasagna or manicotti, polenta, sauces like pesto, bechamel, meat sauce- a combination on a plate or in a polenta casserole are striking, chicken parmesan or cacciatore or one with lemon and capers that I can’t remember the name of right now, pork chops with peppers in a red sauce, tons of risotto recipes with any vegetable or meat you have, hazelnut pasta, lemon and garlic shrimp,...
I have one recipe box devoted entirely to Italian recipes so I can probably find something I’ve made that you’re looking for ;) - I wouldn’t want to provide a recipe I haven’t tried!
The Cajun Alfredo is popular with my friends, easy, quick, and versatile. I add either chicken, shrimp, pork, or crawfish depending on guests’ preferences. You can make it as mild or hot as you like.
cutest thing ever!
Looks yummy. Thanks.
Gifts in a jar -
Thus far the only gift made was the instant lemon tea. Simple but cool and refreshing on a summer day. The soups in a jar have been very good.
For this Christmas this recipe has popped up on radar and might be attempted.
CUSTARD IN A JAR
http://www.partybluprintsblog.com/the-menu/dessert/homemade-custard-recipe/
Clotted Cream - a few years ago actually attempted to make this using instructions on the net. From sour cream? to clotted cream in a short time. Not bad. It was eaten with crepes filled with strawberry jam and a light sprinkle of confection sugar.
Weird thinking of Christmas in July. Busy little elves!
Colorful bottles of "giardeniera" (means garden in
Italian) are ln the supermarket pickles/olives section.
A wonderful addition to antipasto platters.
Another jar gift which is not too often mentioned is homemade horseradish. If there is access to a garden growing horseradish, a jar of fresh would be very appreciated by a good many persons. My grandmother, a German from Russia had this growing in her garden and would make the best. As a child this was unappreciated by a naive tongue, but as age catches up...find that it is certainly remembered and thoroughly missed.
BETTER WITH BACON
CREAMY CORN AND BACON DIP
http://www.savoryexperiments.com/creamy-corn-and-bacon-dip/
The Boyajian company's Citrus Oils, are remarkably intense essences squeezed from the rind of fresh fruit; there's no oil added, just all-natural fruit flavor. Oils are available in a set of three 1-ounce bottles (orange, lemon and lime).
===============================================
An unusual use that saves tons of money---is flavoring vodka---to get elegant flavored liqueurs that cost an arm an a leg at the liquor store.
Buy the best vodka you can afford then decant into smaller bottles, Add 1-2 droplets citrus oil to your taste --- and make sure you label the bottles. Now you're ready to make this.
RITZ CARLTON MARGARITA / serves 4
Ritz-Carlton Cancun chef devised this for the luxury Mexican resort guests.
METHOD Blender 1 3/4 c Tequila Reposado, 1/4 c orange liqueur (your homemade brew), 3/4 c ea water, lime juice, tb lime zest, 2/3-cup sugar. Fill salted-rim glasses.
SERVE garnished w/ lime wedge.
SALTED RIMS Rub rims of 4 glasses w/ lime wedge, then dip in coarse sea salt spread out on on saucer. Shake off excess.
NOTE: Tequila Reposado is one of the most expensive tequilas on the market--but a cheaper brand would be OK.
What a beautiful, tiny little melon :-)
-JT
Not exactly a jar gift, but one the children seem to love. Make popcorn balls in colors using any Jell-o flavor, tho for Christmas you might rethink that into any green and red flavor. These were made one year and the little tykes really liked them. Wrap in plastic wrap with a bow string and they can then be tied on a tree or eaten outright. And off food over to personal care. There are recipes for bath salts, bubble baths, bath oils etc which can be home made and given as gifts. These are a pleasant surprise, too. There are a number of sites that have a large selection of ideas for gifts in jars..even recipes for kids like Play Doh, finger paints Lots of creative ideas found by searching.
And the jam...umm yummy. Hand raised for orange marmalade!!!
FOUND: A food site that lists LOTS of sites/recipes for all types of food...
FOODERIFIC
http://www.fooderific.com/
A few of these sites
TEXAN SMOKING BBQ
http://www.texansmokingbbq.com
THAI FOODIE
http://thai-foodie.com
THAI FOOD MASTER
http://www.thaifoodmaster.com/
CANDIED CHICKEN
http://www.tasteandtellblog.com/candied-chicken-recipe/
CHEDDAR CHICKEN BROCCOLI RICE CASSEROLE
http://terrellfamilyfun.com/2014/12/cheddar-chicken-and-rice-casserole-recipe
The Candied Chicken seems to be very easy, fast, and tasty
The cheddar chickn casserole has been made in the family for many years, just not exactly by this recipe
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.