Giving Wanda Pankratz a run for her money

I wish I could freeze this time of year. Bottle it for those blank, bland, and oh-so-face-numbing January days when you can't even remember what it was like to see dry ground or a single leafy green. Today, a rainy, dreary (but cozy, especially for footed pajama-d babies!) almost fall day is a bit of an exception for what I mean - but all in all, the end of summer is one of my favorite times of the year. The skies and trees are blanketed in warm, inviting colours. The air is a little cooler but pleasant, pumpkin flavoured everything starts to make it's appearance (which is exceptionally exciting for Starbucks-goers), and a warm cup of Earl Grey hits the proverbial spot in a way that even an ice cold banana slushie on a boiling summer day never quite could.
It is also a time of year that is slowly bringing me back to my roots - those good old Mennonite ones that follow me wherever I go (okay, and I suppose marrying a good Mennonite boy and moving to the Mennonite capital of Canada immediately halted any thoughts of not embracing my heritage!). My Irish roots? Ask me about embracing those when I'm belting out "Tell My Ma" and swinging around a pint of green beer at the Blarney Stone next St.Patty's Day (I kid, I kid). Anyways, the harvest season, especially around these parts, seems to put everyone into a canning frenzy, buying boxes and bushels of fruits and veggies, lovingly laying down fleecy blankets over the last of the tomato plants at night time, and keeping the Bernardin glass jar company's stock flying high down on Wall Street. Before this year, I had never canned a single pear or peach, namely because when I was growing up, my grandma's cellar always boasted shelves and shelves of all the goodies we would need for an after school snack. And now, since Ty's mom is a seasoned canner, and also has jars of pickles, tomato sauce, pears, peaches and salsa all year round for us to enjoy, there has never been a need. But this year when Lill offered to buy some extra pears and peaches for me to can if I wanted to have my own stock in the pantry, I decided it was time to give it a shot. So, last week I went over to her house, and did my very own canning! Now, I should explain that all the prep work was done for me - jars were sterilized, lids were cleaned, and pots of water were bubbling on the stove by the time I arrived. Basically, my biggest job was peeling, chopping, and stuffing jars, but most importantly, learning the tips and tricks of proper canning techniques for future years. It was great!

Also, it gave me inspiration to try a few other things. For example, when I first got my bread maker, I saw that it had a "preserves" feature on it. I thought..."Really? This thing cranks out loaves of bread and the jam on which to spread on top of it?" And it's true!  I found a recipe in the bread maker manual for strawberry-kiwi jam, but alas, I had no kiwis. What I did have were a few soft, sweet, delicious nectarines though, so I tried those with the same recipe, added some Certo light pectin, and voila! Strawberry-nectarine jam, more tart than sweet (just how I like it), and the perfect consistency (which I was unsure of, due to the fact that I used the light pectin, but didn't increase the sugar).
Then after seeing the multitude of fresh produce in Lill's fridge, I wanted to attempt a recipe that I've shied away from for a couple of years, but have always desired to have in my house: Cabbage borsht. Dilly, peppery borsht, just like the stuff we grew up on at my grandma Pankratz's home. So, Lill graciously gave me a large cabbage, tomatoes from her garden, onions, and homemade tomato soup for to make said borsht, and I made a stop on Saturday at Crampton's market in Winnipeg to get the soup bones (from grass fed beef - amazing!) and fresh dill. Then yesterday was the day it all came to fruition! Recipe to follow!

Then while the short ribs were simmering, I decided to break out the crock pot too and celebrate apple season with homemade applesauce, which is not traditionally Mennonite, but is something else we kids grew up on. Again, recipe to follow!
I love making meals from whole foods. In my opinion, the simpler, the better. Better tasting, and better for you!I did not always think that way, but a few years ago, I read a book by Jordan Rubin, the same author as The Maker's Diet, and I changed alot of my opinions on health and what we are putting into our bodies.
I have distanced myself from traditional Mennonite meals in the past because, as you may have notice, so many of the recipes call for cream, butter, or a hefty portion of both. We don't call it a Menno booty for nothing. This day in age, we're not shivering in the outskirts of a frigid Russian village, where an extra layer of adipose tissue is a must for survival - thus, some of those key ingredients just aren't serving the purpose they once did. But I'm also realizing that alot of recipes are also made from whole, nutritious foods, which would have come straight from the gardens of our Russian and German ancestors, to the cookbooks and blogs of today. Therefore, there are certain things that are worth giving a try - but perhaps just tweaked. For example, instead of the heap of sour cream served with the borsht, try mixing a little milk in, like we did at my grandma's. Not saying that sour cream or butter in and of themselves are bad for you, but making small changes really adds up. And really, moderation also makes a difference - I don't know a single person that doesn't enjoy a plate full of rollkuchen, syrup, icing sugar, and watermelon in the summertime!
Anyways, to sum up, I am happy to have learned some new skills in a field that I did not know too much about before last week. And I am super happy to be making things that are uniquely a part of my background, things that my grandma, great grandma, and great great great - you get the picture - grandma made, just adapted to our tastes and current way of life.