Yelton Manor Boutique Hotel B&B

Cranberry Chutney

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This luscious sweet-tart chutney is served at YMBB’s Beach Break Snacks with cream cheese and crackers. It’s yummy poured over baked Brie too. Meat eaters love it on roast pork, chicken and, of course, turkey sandwiches. Cranberries are in season October through the holidays and we get ours locally at DeGrandchamps Blueberry and Cranberry Farm.

I make both pint jars (gifts) and quart jars (family size). Because I serve so many I make this recipe X 6 with no degradation of flavor or texture; so double or triple as you wish.

YMBB Recipe

 

Ingredients:

4 cups fresh cranberries

2 cups orange juice (organic)

1 cup apple cider  (organic)

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/4 cup cider vinegar

2 cinnamon sticks

12 mint leaves

1 T grounds coriander

Combine all ingredients in large pan(s) over medium heat. Stir frequently. Cook until thick and reduced, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

 

 

If canning: img_1576Ladle into sterilized jars, seal, process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

 

 

Mixed Pickling Spice and Yelton Manor Bed and Breakfast “Breakfast Pickle”

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Yelton Manor Bed and Breakfast pickles are the highlight of our afternoon Beach Break Snacks, 3PM-6PM every day. I make at least 12 different kinds, preserving the ongoing summer harvest of fresh vegetables from early spring asparagus to late season brussel sprouts. I use our many different herbs and spices, and I use fresh dill and other herbs from the garden. I make a tarragon brine, a cumin pickle (very Indian flavor) and a star anise (very Asian flavor). When I discovered this mixed pickling spice I was very intrigued to try the amazing combination of flavors. As it turns out, the clove, cinnamon and allspice overtones give this mixed spice an aroma reminiscent of Christmas, so it’s ideal for the holidays. Now we have also added it to our breakfast buffet just for the heck of it. I tried it with many vegetables, from summer squash to beans, yet plain old pickling cucumbers won the taste test for me. You can experiment with it any way you please. I buy organic spices from Penzies or Amazon.

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Mix in a jar:

3 T crushed bay leaf

3 T black peppercorns

3 T whole allspice

3 T coriander seeds

3 T mustard seed

# T juniper berries

1 T whole clove

1 T dill seed

1 cinnamon stick, crushed into small pieces

Place all in the jar and shake to combine.  Isn’t it gorgeous??!!! Just the mixed spice alone makes a lovely gift!

IMG_9237Here’s my favorite way to use this spice mix:  Obtain small Kirby pickles from your local farmer, freshly picked. Cut the blossom end to keep the pickle crunchy.  Leave whole…. or cut into spears or rounds, your choice.

Increase this recipe as you need to, this is for 4 pints.  For the brine: 3 cups apple cider vinegar mixed with 3 cups water and 3 T pickling salt, heated to boiling. Put a slice of lemon and a one tablespoon of the mixed spice in the bottom of sterilized jars. Pack in the pickles. Nestle in some garlic cloves too.  Slowly pour the brine into each jar, wipe the rims and cover with lids and rings, process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Yum!  See the lemon slice in there? You can increase that to two slices if you like the extra zing it brings to the brine.

Mark these for your Christmas holidays, they make great hostess gifts if you are invited to dinner! But eat them any time when you want a very unusual and zesty pickle.

 

Tarragon Pickles

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IMG_8936It’s a happy day when the farmer’s market has a half bushel of perfectly small and crisp Kirby pickle cukes! I have been wanting to try a new taste and my French tarragon just happened to be in full summer bushiness. I researched and found this simple refrigerator pickle based on a Martha Stewart recipe.

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I multiplied the recipe by 9 in order to make a big batch.

Here is the original recipe:

4 Kirby pickles, washed, dried and quartered lengthwise. Trim the blossom end for a crispy pickle result.

2-3 springs fresh tarragon

1 3/4 cups distilled white vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

Place cukes and tarragon in sterilized pint jars.

Heat vinegar sugar, red pepper and salt in a pan, stirring until all is dissolved. Pour into jars. Let cool, cover.  Refrigerate overnight and up to 6 weeks before serving.

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Light and Lazy Lasagna

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Light Lasanga This is a simple recipe that makes it easy to feed a crowd or make enough to have leftovers all week.  Meatless and very light (uses wontons instead of noodles), this recipe will become a family favorite!

Basic recipe for 4 stacks, then multiply by the amount you are making (I have made X5 here):

3/4 cup whole milk ricotta cheese

IMG_44411/4 cup Parmesan Reggiano cheese, grated

12 wontons

Homemade tomato sauce

Mix the cheeses in a bowl. Preheat over to 400.

 

Butter baking dishes and coat with sauce.  IMG_4445Blanch the wontons individually, dipping them with perforated spatula in hot water, lift out and lay on towels to dry.  Lay one layer of wontons in dishes. Top each wonton with a dollop of cheese mixture, flatten cheese to edges.  Top with 2nd wonton. Top with another layer of cheese mixture. Top with final wonton and a dollop of sauce.

IMG_4444Bake for 15 minutes or so.  These are perfectly nice reheated in the microwave the next day.  These also freeze easily after baking and reheat nicely weeks later.  Easy, light, delicious!

 

 

 

 

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Minted Cranberry Coriander Chutney

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IMG_7596  Yelton Manor Bed and Breakfast”s afternoon “Beach Break” snack buffet features this wonderful, savory/sweet chutney, perfect on a cracker with a smear of cream cheese!  Cranberries come into season over the winter holidays, of course, so that’s when I preserve it for enjoying later in the summer.  I also give it away for holiday gifts!

Before we became Vegetarians we loved this chutney as a side to pork roast!

I triple this batch when I make it and there is no decrease in quality.  Gather together in a big pot:

IMG_75994 cups cranberries

2 cups orange juice

1 cup apple cider

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cider vinegar

2 cinnamon sticks

12 fresh mint leaves

1 T ground coriander

 

Cook about an hour and 1/2, stirring frequently, until berries are popped and chutney is reduced and thick. Cool, discard cinnamon sticks.

Keeps a week in the fridge or process 15 minutes in hot water bath for canning/preserving.

#best #food #bedandbreakfast #SouthHaven #Michigan #YeltonManorBB

 

 

Snacks!!!

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Ask anyone who knows me: I eat *continuously*. I graze, nonstop, all day, from waking until (preferably early) dinner.  I find that my energy level and blood sugar stay optimally even by eating this way, and I avert suffering the painful urgency of a hunger headache. Some studies say that by the time you experience a stomach growl you are already releasing cortisol and adrenaline and that’s not good. So I just don’t get hungry!  Besides a standard breakfast of green smoothie (fruit and greens), a lunch of yogurt and Manor Seed Mix, and a varying healthy dinner, I rely on SNACKS. 

The trick is to BE PREPARED.

Keeping fresh fruit at hand, front and center, is key. Our kitchen island is always set with the essentials of a day of fruit grazing. I slice strawberries, or set out raspberries, blueberries or blackberries (preferably from the freezer’s offerings of last summer’s organic local fruit), slice wedges of citrus, sometimes ripe pears or mango, or feature a melon of some kind. Kiwi and apples are always in the fridge. Almond butter and crackers are Robert’s favorite nosh. Hummus is always in the fridge too, for stuffing a pita pocket along with sprouts.

I keep a ready supply of dun pea sprouts, mixed color lentil sprouts, and a salad sprout mix of alfalfa, radish, clover and fenegreek seeds.  Easy to sprout, serious nutrition and fiber, absolutely delicious. (I will blog that process soon.)

 

Here’s my other concoction, a trail mix that travels with me everywhere.  The base is a wonderful organic gluten free cereal flake called Mesa Sunrise, I like to get the variety with the organic raisins. It’s made from corn, buckwheat, flax, quinoa and amaranth. It is SO delicious!  Then I mix in more goodness: goji berries, dried mulberries, golden raisins, dried cherries, dried cranberries, almonds, prunes, dried mango slices, whatever I’m in the mood for.  Handfuls or small bowls of this mix are my mainstay.

Sometimes the bulk bins at Whole Foods or other health food stores will have varieties of locally made alternative cereals too.  This week I found a chocolate flavored healthy nosh and added it to my mix. Having bars of 80%+ dark chocolate handy is always a healthy snack too. In moderation, of course.

  By making all this yummy snack food accessible every day I can rest assured that I am getting my share of the greens, fruits, fibers, protein, and super foods that are so important for optimum health. I carry the Ziplock bag with me on any overnight trips too.

SNACKS! Make them!

 

PS: Stay hydrated too! I purposefully make sure that I drink 60 oz of water every day.  The conventional wisdom is that you can calculate the water you need daily simply by dividing your weight by 2. The resulting number is the amount, in ounces, of water you need every day. I like to spruce up my H2O by treating myself to bubbly, fizzy mineral water (i.e., Pellegrino) for promoting bone density. I add freshly squeezed lime, lemon or grapefruit juice for alkalizing my system. I hydrate, all day, every day.

Pumpkin Pear Bread

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  Here it is, at last, Yelton Manor B&B’s Pumpkin Pear Bread! In the fall we double down on it’s lusciousness by roasting a whole pumpkin for the puree and also using *fresh from the local orchard* pears!  But other times of the year we use canned pears and canned unsweetened pumpkin puree.  The spices make it marvelous too, so use freshly ground if you can.

This recipe will work in a loaf pan, muffin pan or, as we do, in a bundt pan.  Your cooking time will vary depending on your choice.

Ingredients: 1 1/4 cup sugar, 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp baking soda, 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1 large egg, 1/2 cup lowfat milk, 3/4 cup pumpkin puree (about half a can), 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 15 oz can pears, drained and diced.

Preheat oven to 350. Coat whatever baking pan you are using with non-stick spray.

Whisk together sugar, flours, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

Whisk together oil and egg in a separate bowl until smooth. Whisk in milk, then pumpkin and vanilla. Stir flour mixture into oil-egg mixture until just combined, do not over mix. Fold the pears in gently.

Spread batter in prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Our experience is that a loaf pan takes 45-55 minutes, but a bundt pan only about 40.  Muffins will be more like 30 minutes.

 

And it’s not just for breakfast!  This marvelous savory AND sweet quick bread is wonderful as a dinner dessert paired with a tart goat cheese!  YUM!

Egg Clouds

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There are many versions of this lovely and simple dish on the internet, so we played around with it and came up with our own version!

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Line a sturdy, heat resistant cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Separate 4 eggs, being careful to keep yolks intact. Place egg whites in a large, preferably chilled, aluminum bowl. Add a pinch of salt and then beat the whites until stiff.

We used a hand mixer, starting on low speed and gradually increasing until peaks form.

Very gently, so that you do not deflate the whites, fold in 1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese.  You can also use Fontina or any cheese you like.

Form the egg whites into four separate mounds on the parchment paper with a small divet in the center, which forms the “nest” for the yolks.

Bake the egg whites for 3 minutes until set.

Place a yolk in the center of each mound and return to oven for 3 more minutes or until the whites are toasty brown.

Serve hot.  We garnished with fresh chives and nasturtiums from The Manor’s herb garden.

 

 

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

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  Did I roast a big, round, intact pumpkin?  Yes I did!  At 425 degrees for about 40 minutes to an hour, look for browning skin and that it’s tender to an inserted fork.

Cool it, cut it up, the peel should easily peel off.

I must say that even we Vegans can feel like butchers sometimes!  Here’s the beauty when I cut into it!

 

Scoop out seeds and place them on a cookie sheet, cover them in turmeric, sea salt and red pepper flakes and bake at 400 for about 20 minutes, until they are toasted.

 

Chop a single white onion and saute it in some olive oil until tender, about 5 minutes over medium heat. Add pumpkin dice to the pan. Add 6 cups of water, season, bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Add 2 cups of coconut milk, stir and simmer 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and fully mix using an immersion blender or transfer to a blender to puree.

 

 

 

Serve it up warm and topped with the toasted pepitas and WHAM!  Delicious, Vegan, lactose and gluten free!  Of course, topping with a little sour cream wouldn’t be a crime either.  Absolutely wonderful!

 

 

Jalapeno Jelly

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Yelton Manor B&B is dedicated to bringing you the best of South Haven, MI’s farm to table, fresh food goodness! This marvelous, savory jelly is an afternoon delight every summer day on The Manor’s “Beach Break” snack table. We serve with light crackers and some cream cheese.

This jelly does NOT need to be hot. If you leave all the seeds out it will simply have it’s unique, almost sweet, taste. If you prefer some heat, add the seeds of the peppers to your taste.

Use just jalapeno peppers to retain the pale green color, but any hot peppers from the farm market will do.  Be sure to core and seed carefully, wearing rubber gloves, and keep your hands away from skin and eyes, ouch!

This is easy and so very delicious.  It makes a delightful hostess or holiday gift when put up in small jelly jars.

 

 

Jalapeno Jelly

12 large peppers cored and seeded

2 cups cider vinegar, divided

6 cups sugar

2 pouches liquid pectin

Pulse peppers with one cup of cider vinegar in food processer or blender.

Combine peppers, sugar and remaining vinegar in large cooking pot, bring to a boil, stirring constantly until the sugar is melted, about 10 minutes.

Add pectin, return to boil, keep at rolling boil for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat, skim foam if necessary. Process according to instructions with jars, generally a water bath for 10-20 minutes.

#best #bedandbreakfast #SouthHaven #Michigan #YeltonManorBB

 

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