Cranberry Orange Bread

This year there seems to be an overabundance of little ruby red cranberries in the muskegs around Petersburg.  I have spent a few hours in the cranberry 'hot spots' and have left many more on the ground than I have picked.  

There are two kinds of cranberries I enjoy picking, one is the bog cranberry.  This little berry grows on a thread-thin branch and sits in the mossy muskeg.  It can be overlooked because the the moss is turning a lovely red this time of year, so the berries are a little camouflaged.  

The second berry I pick is called the lingonberry.  It grows in a cluster on a little green bush.  Sometimes the two are found together on the muskeg floor, but more often, the lingonberry is found closer to the edge of a stand of trees, a little away from the wet, wet moss.

These lovely red berries can be used for all kinds of delicious treats.  Click Here to get my favorite lingonberry sauce recipe.

Cranberries and oranges go together like peanut butter and jelly.  This delicious bread recipe incorporates the sweet taste of orange with the tart taste of the cranberry.  

2 cups flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 t salt

1-1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1 cup cranberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 T orange zest

2 T vegetable oil

1 egg

1/2 cup + 2 T orange juice

2 T Contreau or Triple Sec

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray a 9" X 5" loaf pan with non-stick vegetable spray.  Mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.  Stir in cranberries and walnuts and orange zest.

Mixt together oil, egg, orange juice and Contreau or Triple Sec.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just moistened.  Pour into the loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  

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Red Huckleberry Jelly

Red Huckleberries (Vaccinium parvifolium) are found in Southeast Alaska.  These berries ripen in the late summer, to early fall.  They are a tart little berry.  While there aren't a lot of recipes written for red huckleberries, I have found that you can use in recipes that call for blueberries.  While they are not as sweet as blueberries, they are also not as wormy.

Huckleberry Jelly

Important Tips for Jelly Making

Cook your berries down and pour them and their juice into a jelly bag or cheesecloth.  Let it hang until the juice has drained out of the berries.  

Always measure sugar into a bowl and then use the measuring cup to measure it again into the jelly pot.  It is easy to miscount the cups of sugar, so...measure twice.

 Cut the tops off of the Certo packs and put them in something so they don't fall over and spill.  You want the tops off so they are ready to pour when the jelly mixture comes to a full rolling boil.

 Boil your lids for 20 minutes so they are sure to be sterilized.

 You can sterilize your jars by baking them in a 350F oven for 20 minutes.

Turn your jars over after you put the lids on.  Set the timer for 5 minutes and then turn them right side up when the timer rings.  Listen to the lids pop.

Huckleberry Jelly

4-1/2 cups huckleberry or blueberry juices

7 cups sugar

2 pouches Certo pectin

2 Tbs fresh lemon juice (I use 1/2 Tbs concentrate if I don't have fresh)

1/2 tsp butter, optional

I follow the blueberry jam recipe in the Certo Pectin box when I make blueberry or huckleberry jelly.  The recipe calls for crushed berries, but I use berry juice.  Huckleberries and blueberries don't have a lot of pectin so you do need two pouches of pectin.  If you add unripe berries to your mix, you get more pectin in your juice but you still need the two pouches.

Place the exact amount of juice and sugar into a 6-8 quart pot.  Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil on a higher heat, stirring constantly.  Add the butter when the mixture warms up.  When the mixture boils so hard you can't stir it down, add the pectin.  Return the mixture to a rolling boil and boil for exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Remove the mixture from heat and skim off the foam with a metal spoon.

Quickly ladle the jelly into prepared jars, leaving 1/8" at the top of each jar.  Wipe any excess jelly off of the rims.  Cover the jar with the two piece lids.  Screw bands tight.  Turn the jars upside-down for 5 minutes.  Then turn the jars right side up and let cool.

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Alaska Wild Berries Wall Hanging

It's time to pick cranberries, which means it's near the end of berry picking season in Petersburg, Alaska.  To celebrate, I finished my Alaska berries wall hanging and put it up on the wall.  I had thought I'd put a border on it, but I like the way it turned out with just a binding. 

Blueberries

Cranberries

Salmon Berries

Watermelon Berries

Wild Raspberries

CLICK HERE to see my first post about this wall hanging and to learn about the pattern.

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Point Agassiz

Point Agassiz was a little town, located about 12 miles North of Petersburg, across Fredrick Sound.  In 1931 there were 16 students enrolled in this little red schoolhouse in Point Agassiz.  There were 8 families living in the small town, and two of the families lived across a river and the kids had to row to school every day.  All of the children studied together with one teacher in the little red schoolhouse.  The the chief industry in Point Agassiz during this time was dairy farming and fur farming.  The small community thrived during the first part of the 20th century, but the families were forced by economic conditions to move to Petersburg in the early '50's.  Many of the families of the original homesteaders continue to maintain cabins on the family land in Point Agassiz .

The students attended school downstairs and the teacher lived upstairs.

(Picture and information from Pioneer Profiles, A History of Petersburg Settlers 1898-1959)

From Left to Right

Front:  Milton Ramstead, Dorothy Israelson (White), Arnold Isrealson, Elmer Swanson, Leif Loseth and Raymond Swanson.

Middle:  Mildred Israelson (Massy), Brita Ask (Bland), Delores Ramstead (Lund), teacher Honey Kelly (Archbold) and Dagney Loseth (Norman).

Back Row: Roy Swanson, Marvin Israelson, Spencer Israelson, Arne Ramstead and Verner Israelson.

This is the school house today.  It has been moved from it's original spot.  It is one of only about 2 original buildings still standing in Point Agassiz.  A Petersburg family owns it now.

 When we visited Point Agassiz, we anchored our boat just off of this beach.  It is like a 'down south' beach with warm, white sand.  It was a lovely place for a picnic lunch and a good book.

If you collect drift wood, you can see there is lot of it here. 

 There is nothing more beautiful than Southeast Alaska views on a sunny autumn day.

Mystery Block of the Month

I've just joined my first blog BOM.  It's called Quilter's Garden.  It's been fun to meet the participants and see their lovely blocks.  You can view the progress, meet the participants and still join this fun party just CLICK HERE.  

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Mooseburger Pie

In honor of the first day of moose hunting season in our region of Alaska, I am posting a yummy dinner recipe made with mooseburger. 

Ingredients

1-1/2 pounds ground moose or any other meat you choose

1 can Rotel 

1 cup Panko bread crumbs

1 can black beans

1 cup small red, yellow and orange peppers, chopped

1 cup cheddar cheese

1 tsp ground cumin

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 Tbs baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Mix the burger, bread crumbs and Rotel together in a bowl.  Press into a pie pan like a crust.  

Top with a mixture of beans, peppers and cheese and cumin.  (You can add whatever veggies and cheese you like to the top of this meat crust.)   

Mix together the cornmeal, flour sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  In another bowl, mix together cup milk, vegetable oil and the egg.  Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing until the dry ingredients are just moist.  Spread the cornbread mixture over the top of the pie.  Bake for 1 hour.  

Serve warm with a dollop of sour cream on top.

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Summer 2014

Summertime in Petersburg always passes so quickly.  During the rainy week that followed the first day of school this year, I pursued my photos and found some that I thought would be fun to share.  

Early in the Summer, I wandered around the boat harbor when the fishermen were preparing for the upcoming salmon season.  

When the sun was out, I enjoyed looking at the lovely gardens in town.  The gardeners in Petersburg have found a way to bring lots of color to our rainy town in the summer.

 So long Summer of 2014.