Ice cream pails sure aren’t like they used to be. What happened to those old pails made with heavy, strong plastic and well-secured metal handles? The few still around here are precious.
This week I spent half a day picking, washing and boiling chokecherries to make jelly. I put them in a jelly bag, on top of a colander, on top of an ice cream pail, all sitting in the kitchen sink. While squeezing the bag to hurry the process, I put pressure on the colander, which split open the flimsy ice cream pail underneath, and most of the juice ran down the drain. All that work for naught.
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I’ve also had the handle come off these flimsy pails while carrying cat food. Then the lovely smelling cat food was all over me.
Manufacturers don’t intend these pails to be used for carrying cat food or for jelly making, but I wish those old sturdy pails were back.
Cucumber-dill salad
Do you need a jellied salad recipe for an upcoming fowl supper? You might like this recipe that uses sour cream and cucumber with a touch of dill. It’s tasty and a great way to use fresh crisp cucumbers from the garden. I found this recipe several years ago in a Jell-O Light Recipe Booklet from General Foods.
1 package Jell-O lime powder
(four-serving size)
1/4 teaspoon salt 1 mL
3/4 cup boiling water 175 mL
1 tablespoon lemon juice 15 mL
1/2 cup cold water 125 mL
ice cubes
1/2 cup sour cream 125 mL
1 cup cucumber peeled, 250 mL
chopped, seeded
1 tablespoon onion, grated 15 mL
1 teaspoon dill weed 5 mL
Dissolve jelly powder and salt in boiling water. Add lemon juice. Combine cold water and ice cubes to make 11/4 cups (310 mL). Add to jelly and stir until slightly thickened; remove any unmelted ice. Blend in sour cream; add remaining ingredients. Pour into bowl. Chill until firm, about two hours. Makes six 1/2 cup (125 mL) servings.
Salad recipe wanted
Dear TEAM: I would like a recipe that I think is called frog eyes. It is made from sago tapioca. I also think it is a salad. – B.Y., Viscount, Sask.
Dear B.Y.: Frog eyes salad uses a tiny round pasta called acini de pepe, which gives it an interesting texture similar to tapioca. This old-time favorite is delicious as a salad or
dessert. All the recipes I could find for frog eyes salad used the acini di pepe pasta, which is like orzo pasta, but round. You could substitute orzo if acini di pepe isn’t available where you live.
Al dente is an Italian expression applied to pasta cooked just until enough resistance is left in it to be felt “by the tooth.” Fresh pasta can never be cooked al dente because it is too soft.
Frog eyes salad
1 cup acini di pepe pasta 250 mL
1 can (19 oz.) crushed pineapple,
drained, with juice reserved 540 mL
2 cans (10 oz.) mandarin 284 mL
oranges, drained, with liquid reserved 1 cup white sugar 250 mL
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt 2 mL
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 45 mL
2 cups frozen whipped 500 mL
topping, thawed
4 cups miniature marshmallows 1 L
maraschino cherries, drained (optional)
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook about 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain.
In medium saucepan, combine reserved liquids from pineapple and oranges (equals about 11/2 cups/375 mL), sugar, eggs, salt and flour. Cook until thick, stirring constantly.
When mixture becomes thick, add cooked pasta and refrigerate overnight. The next day, add pineapple and oranges, whipped topping and marshmallows. Mix together and top with cherries, if desired. Keep chilled until served.
Adapted from allrecipes.com.
Barley flour
Dear TEAM: I recently read your article about barley flour in The Western Producer. To moderate my blood sugar levels I try to eat a diet that is rich in fibre, particularly soluble fibre. Am I right in assuming that barley flour is made from hulless barley? I have a flour mill and would like to know where I can obtain this barley. Also, a nutritional analysis identifying the soluble versus insoluble fibre content would be helpful. – S. W., Altona, Man.
Dear S.W.: Yes, hulless barley is used for making barley flour. There isn’t as much hulless barley grown as other barley so you may have trouble finding it close by. Some farmers grow it for the feed industry, especially hogs, and may have it in their bins. You would want it to be cleaned. You could also try a grain company such as Agricore United or a health food store.
Several grocers and health food stores sell barley flour, which might be an easier option. The Alberta Barley Commission said barley is high in soluble and insoluble fibre, with about 13.5 percent total dietary fibre in whole barley flour. This compares to nine percent total dietary fibre in whole wheat flour. Of the 13.5 percent dietary fibre in whole barley flour, about 4.5 percent is soluble, and nine percent insoluble. Barley has more soluble fibre than oats and wheat.
Experimental pudding
Dear TEAM: In the Sept. 2, 2004, edition of The Western Producer you commented about cooking large tapioca. Many years ago my mother and I experimented with our favourite oven-baked tapioca pudding recipe, which dated back to the days of the coal and wood stove. We discovered that the tapioca pearls required somewhat longer soaking when cooked faster and we had better results with the smaller sago tapioca pearls, although the large ones make the pudding more like that of old.
Some time after that someone sent a request for a quicker method of preparing an old-fashioned pudding using large pearl tapioca. I sent in the recipe my mother and I developed and Emmie Oddie published it in her column. The recipe follows:
Microwave tapioca pudding
Soak 1/3 cup (75 mL) large pearl tapioca in water for six hours or overnight. When ready, drain off the water carefully and put pearls in large microwavable casserole.
Add:
13/4 cups milk 425 mL
1/3 cup sugar 75 mL
1/4 teaspoon salt 1 mL
Stir and heat in microwave for three minutes. Stir. Continue heating and stirring every few minutes until the top develops a thick foamy scum, approximately 11/2 to two minutes. Heat milk carefully as it boils over quickly in the microwave.
While waiting for the milk mixture to heat, beat together:
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla 5 mL
1/2 cup cold milk 125 mL
When the milk mixture has heated sufficiently, slowly stir the egg-milk mixture into the hot milk mixture. Heat this in the microwave for another 11/2 minutes. The mixture should look somewhat cooked around the outside of the casserole. Stir well, then cover with a paper towel and set aside to cool. The pudding thickens as it cools. It can be served warm or cold.
The times will vary depending on the wattage of your microwave.
My family have grown and left home but my husband continues to enjoy the pudding. He often got tired of waiting for me to make it and eventually began making it himself. He soaks the pearls overnight and makes it while eating breakfast. He prefers to use the larger pearls and reduces the sugar, then tops his serving with some maple syrup. He often shares “his recipe” with others who like the old-time favourite but had quit making it because of the time it took. – H. M., Lacadena, Sask.
Alma Copeland is a home economist from Elrose, Sask., and one of four columnists comprising Team Resources. Send correspondence in care of this newspaper, Box 2500, Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2C4 or contact them at team@producer.com.
