Wine not Vinegar

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‘Last year I took it upon myself to learn how to make wine. Personally am not much a wine drinker, so am shooting form the hip as it were. First, in the recipe book was apple juice wine, ( from canned apple juice) then raspberry, sweet apple wine, raspberry current ( had a bag of extra currents in the freezer) and more adventurous Cranberry wine. This summer was able to grab the chokecherries before the birds and made wine from them. Well the first wine had been sitting in my closest and to tell the truth was not very nice to them. But the other day racked them ( change containers) and whala, I have wine! this week hope to bottle them up and make pretty labels. ( the towels are to keep it dark and preserve the color.) You can see the airlock on each one, that is to keep out outside ( hence bad) air, but also let the wine breath.

 

Tomato & Cucumber Salad

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 I found this recipe ( and modified it a bit) while trying to use up alot of Cucumbers and Tomatoes! Very Good!

1/2 C extra virgin olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 T red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sea or kosher salt
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
fresh basil leaves
fresh oregano leaves
2 cucumbers
2-3 tomatoes
1/2 C Olives
1/4 C Feta Cheese

Mince  or press garlic through a garlic press. Let stand in both vinegars while preparing the other ingredients   Chop basil and oregano leaves and add to  olive oil and allow to stand in oil while garlic marinates.Meanwhile, prepare salad ingredients. Wash cucumbers and tomatoes. Peel cucumbers, leaving a scant amount of peel (helps with digestion). Slice cucumbers into 14 inch coins (circles). Slice tomatoes into wedges, being careful not to crush and lose juice. Place tomatoes, olives and cucumbers in salad bowl and sprinkle with sea salt or kosher salt.Whisk dressing well and pour over vegetables\

Cranberry Sauce

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I have had this recipe for about 15 years, taken out of a newspaper. It originates from a restaurant called Pasta &  Co, and they sell it by the pound! I have made some modifications over the years

1 12 oz bag of Cranberries, ( sorted, washed, picked over )
3/4 c Dried Sour Cherries ( Sometimes these are very hard to find and I have used Crasins 
1/3 c Sugar
2/3 c Red Current Jelly ( this can be hard to find if you don ‘t make your own, I have used several types of  “red ” jellies with great results )
2/3 c Water
1/4 Dark Rum

In a large sauce pan place cranberries, sour cherries, sugar, jelly and water. Over low heat simmer stirring occasionally about 15 minutes until the berries have popped. Remove from heat stir in Rum.  Refrigerate over night and serve at room temperature. Excellent over ice cream, crepes and waffles!\ I can this in a water bath canner according to the blue ball book recipe