Sunday, February 5, 2012

Making Orange Marmalade

It's been kinda boring around here, so I thought I'd kill some time by making a batch of Orange marmalade. I was already busy in the basement kitchen making my traditional batch of chili for Super Bowl Sunday, so as long as I had a mess to clean up, I thought I'd try something new. I like orange marmalade, and I thought it was worth a try.
 I started out thinking I would use the recipe from Pickyourown.org (they have lots of good recipes there) but their recipe wasn't clear on what the final yield would be or the total amount of pectin I would need to use. So instead I went to the webpage for the pectin I was using, Surejell.com and used their recipe. I like bits of orange peel in my marmalade so I peeled one orange using a peeler and then chopped the pieces up and then used a zester on three more to add to the marmalade. The first method gives you some larger pieces and the second, finer pieces. I like some of each.
 I'll need to allow these to set for about two weeks to thicken up, so it will be a while before I know if I have had success. I did hear all 7 lids pop on the jars yesterday, so at least I got the canning part right. (I gave them a boiling water bath for 15 minutes).

 As I mentioned, I also made some chili. I had some last night for dinner, and I'll have some tonight while watching the football game. The rest I freeze in individual serving bags (I am the only one who eats chili in our household) and put in the freezer in the garage for some night when the DW out of the house.

 My chili recipe is as follows:

1 pound lean ground beef
1 green pepper (chopped)
1 yellow onion (chopped)
4 jalapeno peppers (chopped)
4 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 large can (28oz) of crushed or diced tomatoes
2 cans dark red kidney beans
1 can tomato paste
21/2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon crushed red peppers
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste (I give my grinder about 20 twists)

 Chop all the veggies, removing the seeds and pith from the peppers.  If you like hot chili, leave the jalapeno pepper seeds in.
 I beak up the ground beef and put it, and all the chopped veggies into a large pot. Turn the heat on high,  add 1 tablespoon of chili powder and stir it all until the meat is browned. Add the canned tomatoes, the tomato paste and one can (28oz) of water and the remaining spices, stir and bring to a low boil. While this is happening, rinse the brine off the beans then add them in.  Allow to simmer for about 30 minutes and enjoy!

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