Making Tzit Tzit

If you have questions; we will try to answer them. However, we want to encourage all maidens to ask their parents for guidance in this matter. We hope this isn't too controversial.

Pinapple Tips

How to cut a pineapple:

First you want to select a knife that is bigger than your pineapple is wide. It will be very hard to cut if it is smaller. The wrong knife increases the risk of cutting yourself.

You also want to be sure your knife is sharp.

Start by cutting the top of the pinapple off.

Than cut the bottom off. Try to cut it straight, because this will be your base for cutting the sides.

Now we slice the sides down, as close to the skin as possible.

*Special note: If you get a lot of "knots" when you slice the sides of the pineapple, you can use the tip of a vegetable peeler to scoop them out, or the tip of a pearing knife. This wastes less pineapple then slicing off the whole side again, but it takes a little longer.

This is what it looks like from the top.

Then we cut around the core. Depending on the pineapple's ripeness and sweetness, and what you are are using it for, will determine whether or not you use the core. The core is usually woody textured and not as sweet. We often discard the core; but if your are cooking with it or being very frugal, you may use it.

Now we lay the pineapple flat side down and slice it in 3 or 4 long strips, keeping them together.

Next, we turn the strips around and slice accross the long strips making the chunk size of your choice.

That is how we cut a pinapple!

How to pick a pineapple:

Depending on how ripe you want it (how fast you are going to use it) will determine how you want to pick a pineapple. The leaves will be green and succulent and hard to pull out.

If its has green it means it is not ripe yet. It will ripen on the counter in a few days (depending on HOW MUCH green there is and how warm it is. So you want to watch it; If you wait too long, it will turn brown inside, or the fruit flies or ants might beat you to their sweet goodness! If it ripens before you are ready, you can refridgerate it for a day or two.

It is ripe when the outside skin turns brown or golden. The leaves on top will start to dry, turn brown and can easily be plucked. Now it will be sweet and juicy!

Fresh pineapple is much better than canned. We hope you will try it!

TKM in Training,

Lattice Top Pie Crust

This video is where I learned to make a Lattice Top Pie crust, I
used this recipe to make the crust,



Below, I made the bottom pastry crust, filled it with Mulberries,

and have started the lattice,

now, I am weaving pastry strips to create the lattice,

I'm finished with weaving the lattice, and am
turning under the edges,

almost finished, I'm fluting the edges,
it was easier than I thought... so pretty!

I covered the edge with foil, so the it wouldn't burn,

Tada! How beautiful and tasty too!

Mulberry Pie

We found a mulberry tree the other day and we've been
waiting for some of the berries to ripen.
Today we grabbed our harvesting
buckets and picked berries, three cups full.

YahChanna~
I mixed the flour, salt, and sugar

to make the pie crust,

then I cut the Crisco in to the flour mixture,

it should look like this, ground corn meal

I put the ice water in next,

then mixed it into dough

mama rolled it out from me,

then I laid it in the pan,

I trimmed the excess dough off the sides.

AbbiYah~
I mixed the sugar & flour,


Then sprinkled the mixture on top of the Mulberries,


Then I mixed the mulberries with the sugar mixture,

OOPS!
I forgot to mix the spices with the sugar, oh well I'll just

sprinkle them on top!

give one more good mix,

I poured the filling in the pie crust,

Then I sliced the butter in tiny pieces,

And I dotted the pie with the butter!

YahChanna~

here I am putting the crust on top,

then I trim the excess off

I'm pressing the crust together

mama cut the dough like leaves

and I put the leaves on the pie.

AbbiYah~

I did such hard work on cutting out the TKM initials,

but I thought it would be worth it since this was a TKM project.

YahChanna~

Here's the cooked pie with the TKM on it,

now here is the complete cooked pie, we made ourselves!

And here we both are holding the pie together

we were so excited, it tasted really good!

get the recipe here

Homemade Strawberry Jam

Today I helped my mom can homemade Strawberry Jam.

 
We picked up a flat of strawberries from our local produce, for just $7.99. Talk about a bargain! Mom hasn't had enough strawberries to can this year, so we have enjoyed fresh strawberries from the garden! Mmm-mmm good.

 

First I started by cutting away all the soft spots.
This was a little hard at first, but I got the hang of it.

I had (8) quart mason jars boiling in water to sterilize them while 

my mom and I prepared the strawberries.

Next we washed and cut up the strawberries so they can be pureed.

During this time my mom pureed the strawberries and put them on the stove.

While waiting for it to come to a boil, I skimmed off the top of the foam.

We waited for a boil, then added the sugar, juice and pectin. 

We had 12 cups of strawberries, so we used 3 boxes of pectin,
3 cups of unsweetened apple juice
and 9.5 cups of sugar.

The strawberries boiled about 20 min.
I got burned trying to get the jars out of the boiling water, so mom did it =)
Then we the jam in the jars.

WHOA, we got 9.5 quarts! We had to boil more jars!

Then the jars go back in the canning bath for another 20 minutes.

We took them out and let them cool. Checking the seal after an hour.

This was fun, I hope we can "can" something else soon!