Preserving the Harvest: Raisin Making

Extended Shelf Life: Grapes

One of the greatest joys of returning to our dumpster-diving Laramie life is the promise of home-dried raisins. When we discover grapes in abundance, our favorite thing to do is to wash and prepare them for the dehydrator and letting them go for 3-4 days until they are perfectly dried, juicy and fantastically delicious.

If you have an abundance of grapes and a dehydrator, you will not regret home-drying your own raisins.

Morrocan Couscous

Extended Life for: Orange Juice and Raisins

Having spent a short amount of time in Morocco, I have a special place in my culinary heart for her foods. Couscous is one of the dishes that takes me back to those impactful days I spent meandering the streets of Fes and riding a camel through the Sahara. However, I cannot take credit for this dish as I simply followed these directions from Allrecipes.com and only chose to leave out the zucchini as I did not have any on hand. The dish is delicious and full of flavor. Great with a tangine of any kind, we served ours with Lamb Tangine.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls + Big Batch Cinnamon Rolls

Extended Life for: Whole Milk (Whey), and Grapes (Raisins)

While at the Allen's for our first Christmas of 2010 (celebrating the New Year in Deadwood, followed by a warm Christmas by the fireplace with my dear family, after the new year began) I of course felt the need to send my parents to the grocery store so that I could prepare them mass amounts of Cinnamon Rolls. Many may be surprised to learn that my very own mother was a great baker of cinnamon rolls while I was in my youth. Often for Christmas we would enjoy warm, sticky cinnamon rolls during our easy days at home. Being the lover of food that I am and a sucker for memories, I was fully inspired to bring back the tradition of cinnamon rolls for Christmas.

I experimented with a couple recipes, the first one can be found at Allrecipes.com. The only adjustment I made was to use whey (from Mike's cheese-making) rather than milk. The other recipe is from a Mennonite Cook-book I received from my dear sister-in-law. The recipe made an uncanny amount of cinnamon rolls. As any sane person would do, I simply rolled out multiple batches, added the cinnamon sugar, rolled and froze for another day. Here then is the Giant Batch Cinnamon Roll recipe...(P.S. The greatest attraction of this recipe is it is a no knead dough, but a huge batch!)

Ingredients/Directions:

1 cup warm Water

4 pks. dry Yeast

1 tsp. Sugar

Mix these three ingredients in a very large bowl until dissolved. Set aside.

3 1/2 cups hot Water or Whey

1 cup Margarine

1 cup Sugar

4 tsp. Salt

Combine and stir until melted. Cool to lukewarm and add to yeast mixture.

10-12 cups All-Purpose Flour

Beat in flour until the dough is thick but still sticky, not stiff enough for kneading. Place in another large greased bowl, grease top of dough and let rise until double in size. Sprinkle flour on counter and roll dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick (May do this in multiple small batches or go for the whole thing at once).

2 1/2 cups Brown Sugar

1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

3/4 cups Nuts, Raisins or Chocolate Chips (optional)

Mix and sprinkle over dough. Roll dough up like a jelly roll and cut into about 1-inch slices...NOW: either don't cut through to the bottom and just wrap 6-8 rolls in wax paper and saran wrap to freeze OR place in greased pans, let rise until double again. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned. If you are preparing from frozen, remove from freezer night before, finish the cut and place in greased pans in the fridge until morning then prepare as directed.

Crab Apple Coleslaw

Extended Life for: Grapes (raisins) and Soy Nuts

Unfortunately, I do not have a photo to accompany this recipe, nor do I have very specific directions. However, I can testify to the delicious nature of this dish!

Ingredients:

Shredded Cabbage
Handful or two Raisins
Soy nuts
1 recipe Crab Apple Vinaigrette - from October 2009 post

Directions:

Place cabbage, raisins and nuts in a bowl. Pour dressing over top, let set for a couple hours or overnight. Enjoy with fish tacos or as a delectable side dish.

Zucchini Sauted with Pine Nuts and Raisins

Extended Life for: Grapes and Zucchini

This is yet another great recipe from Vegetarian Times. However, I did not make match-stick zucchini slices and our raisins were home-made. Having discovered an abundance of grapes late this summer, we placed them in the dehydrator and now have some of the worlds most rich and delicious grapes, they complimented this dish beautifully!

Ingredients:

2 medium zucchini (or 1/3 of a GIANT zucchini)
2 Tbs. olive oil, divided
2 Tbs. pine nuts
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbs. plus a little extra, balsamic vinegar
3-4 Tbs. raisins
1 tbs. capers - plus a little "juice"

Directions:

Slice zucchini into bite size pieces. Have nuts, garlic, capers and raisins ready to add as the dish will now come together pretty quickly. Heat 1 Tbs. oil in a skillet or wok, add zucchini, season with salt, saute for about 2 minutes, until zucchini are tender. Remove zucchini. Heat another last Tbs. of oil, add pine nuts and garlic, saute about a minute. Add vinegar, raisins and capers, cook 30 seconds. Add zucchini and heat entire mixture through. Serve over rice or alone and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Rice with Apples and Raisins

Extended Life for: Apples and Raisins

In the midst of preparing crab apple butter I developed this quick dish that was sweet, healthy and completely satisfying. I don't generally use the microwave to prepare a meal, but this day, I made an exception as I was desperately hungry.

Ingredients:

2 Green Apples, chopped
1/4 cup Raisins
1 Cup uncooked Instant Brown Rice
(plus required ingredients for cooking)
1/2 Cup Nutcracker Sweet Tea or any chai
3 Tbsp. Peanut Butter
2 Tbsp. Honey
Cinnamon to taste

Directions:

Prepare instant rice as per box directions for microwave. Prepare 1/2 cup tea, add peanut butter and honey, mix until smooth. Mix apples and raisins in a bowl. Let rice and peanut butter sauce cool slightly. Mix rice in with apples and raisins then stir in peanut butter sauce. Season with cinnamon as desired.
May be enjoyed warm or you may chill for a couple hours before enjoying!

Spelt Zucchini-Nut-Rasin Pancakes

Extended Life for: Raisins, Nut Mix and Garden Zucchini

My first issue of Vegetarian Times housed 5 great recipes for zucchini. I have already prepared the Zucchini-Tomato Gratin as published but took some liberty with the Sweet Zucchini-Ricotta Pancakes with Raisins and Walnuts which brings us to this gem of a recipe. Using some raisins we salvaged last spring and the nut mix from an abundance of salads we had late this summer I made these pancakes my very own!

Ingredients:

4 cups grated zucchini

1 tsp. salt

4 large eggs

1 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup spelt flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup nut of choice

Butter or oil for cooking

Directions:

Sprinkle zucchini with salt, stir to combine and let sit while you prepare the rest of the batter.

In seperate bowl, whisk eggs until frothy. Whisk in ricotta and sugar. Stir in spelt, cinnamon and baking powder. Squeeze excess liquid from zuchinni. Fold in raisins, nuts, and zucchini.

Spray pan with oil or add butter. Place desired amount of batter in pan, let mix cook for about 3 minutes, flip and cook for another minute or two until both sides are crisp and golden.

Serve topped with favorite pancake topping or try vanilla yogurt with cinnamon sprinkled on top. Delicious, vegetarian and easy! Enjoy!