Cornabys

Blog Moved

2010-06-29T09:22:00.001-07:00

Hey folks,

We've decided to move our blog over to http://cornabys.wordpress.com. It's a better interface for us. So this blog will remain here for a bit, but all new content will be at the other site. Remember to update your RSS feeds and come join us.

Thanks,
Jana Brown

Pictures from the SLC Farmer's Market

2010-06-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

Pictures from the SLC Farmers markets! Aren't we cute?

Jana Brown

Tuesday (Wednesday) Tips: Fudge

2010-06-16T07:35:00.000-07:00

Happy National Fudge day, folks! Yes...it actually is an American food holiday. This fact cracks me up and meant that I had to make fudge and bring it into work. Then I realized that it was Wednesday and I hadn't put up a Tuesday Tip! So our tip is a day late, but goes with the holiday.

Candy making is one of those things which a lot of people shy away from, but in the back of most good recipe books there are a few favorite sweets recipes. One of my favorite candies to make is fudge. Decadent, chocolatey, rich...yummy, and also prone to sugaring failure. Sugaring is the process where the crystal structure of the fudge is large and grainy instead of being fine and smooth and happens if you beat your fudge too soon or if you get a sugar crystal into the mix when the structure is forming. Ultra Gel helps with avoiding sugaring and you only need about a teaspoon in a batch to do the job. In this case the Ultra gel goes in with the sugar mixture to be brought to a boil. The starch binds with the water molecules and when the crystal structure forms keeps it fine, even if you beat the fudge warm or have minor contaminants.

Tomorrow I'll share one of my favorite fudge recipes. I need to grab grandma's recipe book for it. :)

So...what's your favorite flavor?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Jana Brown

Upcoming Events: SLC Farmer's Market

2010-06-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hey folks. If you live in the Salt Lake City area there's a great downtown farmers market and this year Cornaby's will be in one of the booths selling our mixes, jams and, as soon as Mother Nature tells us they're ready, berries! We'd love to see you!

We'll be on the East side and there every week from June 12th to October 16th.

Jana Brown

Tuesday Tips: Scrambled Eggs

2010-06-08T11:48:00.000-07:00

Where do the days go? It seems like I blink and my day is over and I'm getting started on the next one.

Today I'm pondering our Tuesday Tip and had breakfast foods in mind, which brought me to scrambled eggs. I love scrambled eggs in all their varieties, whether plain, cheesy, herbed or with veggies. The best scrambled eggs inhabit a status of doneness which is pale, fluffy and creamy not raw but not rubbery either. The problem with this state of eggs is that it's very fragile and if not consumed immediately these eggs begin leaking all over the plate and all the lovely moisture ends up on the plate instead of in my mouth!

This is where UltraGel comes in. As we've talked about before UltraGel is water obsessive. It loves water and wants to hold it close. In the case of scrambled eggs I sprinkle about a teaspoon of UltraGel per two whole eggs into the scramble. This can take place at the beginning when you're first mixing the eggs or about half way through the scramble if you forget. Too far through and there isn't enough water for the UltraGel to bond with to get the result we're hoping for. Cook eggs as normal and serve. If the UltraGel has anything to say about it there will be plenty of creamy goodness in the scramble and nothing but a few shreds of cheese left on the plate!

Jana Brown

Tuesday Tips: Meatballs

2010-06-01T07:36:00.001-07:00

Happy day after Memorial Day, folks. I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend and took some time out to remember the reason for the day beyond a chance to grill and be away from work! Though speaking of the grill...I'm going to move right into today's Tuesday Tip. As promised last week we're talking meatballs...and meat patties...and meat loaf...and whatever shaped meat product you want to apply things to.

There are many recipes out there for meat patties and mom's meatloaf. Most will contain ingredients such as eggs, bread crumbs, vegetables and sometimes even textured proteins, all looking for a way to make meat stick together and hold the shape it's given. Ultra Gel is a great way to do this without affecting flavor profiles or adding any gumminess or additional fat to the product. My general rule of thumb is 1 Tablespoon of Ultra Gel per pound of meat then I move forward with any add ins that I want for flavor or texture. As in last week's discussion the addition of the Ultra Gel means the meat patty or meatball remains moist as the Ultra Gel clings to the water when the product is cooking and lets the grease cook out. This also allows for making meatballs that you can either freeze uncooked or partially cooked and are easily then added to dishes at the last minute with a minimum fuss. These methods work for ground beef, pork, chicken and likely for lamb and other meats, though I haven't specifically tried others yet.

Quick MeatBalls
1 pound ground beef
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 egg
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon Ultra Gel
1 Tablespoon fresh herbs (optional)
1/2 cup shredded cheese (optional)

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Form into patties or meatballs and freeze, or panfry for immediate serving. I also like dropping the uncooked meatballs into stews and soups for a slow cook, or pan frying and finishing with other sauce applications.

Jana Brown

Chewy Ginger Cookies

2010-05-30T17:23:00.001-07:00

I've been doing the dieting thing and found that I was craving something sweet and spicy all at once. After a little puttering around in my recipe books I settled on making ginger cookies. I love the dark flavor of these cookies and the rich spice, but they're still chewy.

Chewy Ginger Cookies

1 cup butter
2 cups dark brown sugar
3/4 cup molasses
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 1/2 cups wheat flour
2 T Ultra Gel
2 T water
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

Cream butter, sugar and molasses. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Combine dry ingredients and work into creamed mixture, adding water as needed to create a soft dough. Scoop out onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 8-12 minutes. Cool and serve! These make a great crumble to go with ice cream or on top apple cobbler too!

Now I'm off to make more since my first batch got devoured by hungry friends and husband.

Jana Brown

Tuesday Tips: Browning beef with Ultra Gel

2010-05-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

I've had one of those mornings that's just wild. Exploding shower heads, responding to an accident scene, friends with hawks caught in their window screens...one of those kinds of mornings. So I decided to keep the blog easy and useful for today. As we've talked about before we're big fans of Ultra Gel, so much so that we merged companies some time back. Ultra Gel is a modified food starch, which boils down to meaning it's a really cool thickener. It's a corn based product, so safe for people who are gluten intolerant and works with any liquid no matter the temperature, acid level, or proposed storage method. Yeah, I'm a fan if you can't tell. I use around 25-30 pounds of the stuff per year and I lurve it.

Making the above statement always gets folks blinking at me and asking exactly how I end up using that much, and the truth is that I use Ultra Gel in a lot of applications, not just the ones which can be found in the cook book. (There's one cookbook in our store already and we're working on others, but not the point. :) ) Pondering this tendency I decided to create a blog feature of Tuesday Tips, where I can share some of the things I use Ultra Gel or other products for that might be a little off the beaten path.

Today's Tip is using Ultra Gel when browning ground meats.

Many recipes have a base of ground meat which is browned either alone, or with aromatics like onions. In the browning process there is a good opportunity to scoop off grease and if you're cooking ahead, it's effective to brown all of the meat and then split and package for freezing and fast meals later. The problem comes in that there is a lot of water which comes with the browning as well. Water is good...water makes for moist meats and helps protect cooked meats from freezer burn, but water and grease can be hard to separate when you're trying to scoop out the later with a spoon. This is where Ultra Gel comes into play. Adding a tablespoon of Ultra Gel per pound of ground meat works a little bit of water magic. The Ultra Gel binds to the water and keeps it firmly attached to the meat, while the grease will continue to gather in the bottom of the pan. So when you're scooping it out you're getting almost all grease, which is easy to then dispose of. If the meat goes on to an immediate use it's moist and tasty and if it goes into the freezer the moisture is held against the meat, helping to protect against freezer burn, meat break down and loss of flavor. It's a win either direction and so easy just to toss in a little and stir. Last night I made spaghetti and ended up with enough spaghetti sauce for the hubby and I for dinner and a bag left over which I'll freeze for making pizza, and a second serving of beef which is all browned and ready to become taco filling tonight!

This works as well with ground pork, chicken and turkey and I suspect would work on ground lamb or other meats, but I haven't had them in my kitchen lately to experiment.

Next week...meatballs!

Jana Brown

Food Wisdom from my Husband

2010-05-20T18:59:00.000-07:00

From my husband the difference between intelligence and wisdom:

Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit.

Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Bean and Beef Falafel

2010-05-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

Like a lot of people my sweet husband and I are trying really hard to reign in our weight a little. It's not like we have an amorphous blob thing going on, but we both have a few pounds we'd like to say goodbye to. As part of this we've been looking for dishes where we can work a little more fiber into our diets without giving up flavors that we love. Last night a combination of hunting around for something new I could do with beans and a left over hamburger patty lead me to a falafel which I'm happy to share. Though to be technical falafel is usually a vegetarian dish a patty made of mushed chickpeas and deep fried, ours is based on small red beans and a little bit of beef and pan fried. I loved the result. Falafel is often served in a pita with cucumber sauce. We had lovely cucumbers from our last Bountiful Basket, so made the cucumber sauce and then served sauce, falafel and some nice tomatoes and greens wrap style in a warm whole wheat tortilla. It was killer. I'd definitely make this one again, and it features Ultra Gel since that was a great way to keep the patty together during cooking!

We were anxious to eat so I forgot pictures last night, but I'll take some of the leftovers a little later and toss them up here. :)

Beef and Red Bean Falafel
1/4 lb ground beef
15 ounces small red beans
1/2 cup cheese (I used Montery Jack)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tablespoons chopped green onion (About one good stalk)
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tablespoons Ultra Gel
1 egg

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and take for a whirl until the beans are smushed and all herbs and spices well mixed. Form into six oblong patties. Pan fry in olive oil, about 3-4 minutes per side until golden brown and cooked all the way through.

Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
8 ounce plain yogurt - greek style is best
1 medium cucumber seeded and diced
juice of one medium lemon
1/2 small red or white onion
1/2 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon Ultra Gel

Everything goes in the food processor until well mixed. How smooth it is is upto you. I like mine a little chunky so tend to use little pulses versus just turning on the machine and letting it go. Serve with falafel or other savory dishes. Cover and refrigerate to store.

Yummy!

Jana Brown

Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op

2010-05-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

I've been interested in the idea of food co-ops for some time. For those who aren't aware the idea of a food co-op is a bunch of people who purchase food products together so they can buy in bulk and share the reduced cost. So it's a good way to get inexpensive produce, but even more importantly they buy from local growers and the produce travels no further than your direct region. I'm a big fan of eating as local as possible both because I like supporting local growers and, even more importantly, because the food tastes better! I don't think it's the case with some things, for instance I have no idea where my baking powder is produced and I don't think being shipped hurts it, but when it comes to fruits and veggies I like to start in the back yard and work my way out.

All of that is a long introduction to my experience this last weekend with the Bountiful Baskets co-op which serves Utah, Arizona, Texas, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada and Washington. The system is pretty easy. They list what's available where and collect donations on Monday and Tuesday of any given week. Then on Saturday of that week you show up at your location with a big box and collect your produce. The basic basket can be organic or non organic and is half fruit and half veggies. Then there are additional add ons like bales of carrots, breads or other weekly specials. I found the whole thing simple and for my $25 donation (prices are $15 for non organic and $25 for organic) I got a grundle of stuff:

cherry tomatoes
strawberries
oranges
apples
pineapple
2 heads lettuce
celery
2 bunch radishes
2 cucumbers
fennel
broccoli
5 pounds of garnet yams

And I'm likely missing more. My basket runneth over and everything has been so yummy. I'm pretty sure we're going to try again next week. Maybe this time we'll add bread to the list and dump strawberry mango jam on it. :)

Here's contact information if you want to give it a whirl:

Bountiful Baskets Webpage - For ordering and seeing what's available week to week.
Bountiful Baskets Facebook page - They have some fun recipes here.

Jana Brown

Raspberry Pie using Tapioca versus Thick Gel

2010-05-05T14:12:00.000-07:00

Raspberry Pie using Tapioca versus Thick Gel

As Told by Heidi Stocks

I recently took on the task of discovering for myself which starch was better for Raspberry Pie, Tapioca or Thick Gel. Before this event I was a diehard tapioca fan for making pies. However, I decided to open my mind to the possibilities of other options for making a thicker, juicier pie.

Here is what I discovered.

Raspberry pie made with tapioca

Pros:

The pie set up quicker from baking. If you are making a pie with the intention of serving within a few hours, tapioca is a won derful option.
The pie is juicy and has great texture. You can’t tell that there is tapioca added because the tapioca softens with baking.
It looks amazing! The tapioca does not change the way the pie looks.

Cons:

I cut a piece of pie the following day and found that the pie was not as juicy as it was when it was fresh out of the oven. It sets up quite a bit more ov er time and becomes probably too thick for most people’s preferences.
The individual berries do not seem to hold their shape and become more mashed together. While it doesn’t really affect the tast e of the pie, it might be a negative for some people.

Raspberry pie made with thick gel

Pros:

The berries hold their shape amazingly well, even a few days after the pie has been made. The most likely re ason for this is that a pie made with thick gel does not have to cook as long.
It is even juicier than the pie with tapioca creating the perfect blend of berries and juice. This texture lasts lo nger than the pie with tapioca does. I served the pie four days after baking and it still had that delicious, juicy taste.
It tastes sweeter than the pie made with tapioca. I am not sure why. A possibility might be from the juice hitt ing the taste buds first, creating a different reaction and opening the taste buds to let in the s weet taste.

Cons:

I tried cutting the pie an hour after it was baked. I t was a little too runny. It had not set up yet. If you are not worried about how your pie looks, then thi s is a small problem. It does not affect the way it tastes, but it did mak e the piece loose its shape. Also, if you are not planning on serving the pie for a while, then it will be fine. I cut a piece t he following day and it had set up to a perfect consistency.

From this experiment I am still unsure of which pie I would prefer. If you were looking to make a pie that is served immediately, I would recommend using tapioca. However, if you want to savor the raspberry goodness for a few days thick gel is absolutely amazing. Overall, thick gel is better for a juicy pie and keeps a better consistency longer. As far as flavor goes, they both make succulent pies. It must be the delicious raspberries!

The photo evidence:

Pie Crust (this recipe makes two 9 inch pies with a top crust)

4 cups flour

1 T sugar

2 tsp salt

1½ cups shortening

1 T vinegar

1 egg

½ cup water

Blend together the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in shortening. In a separate bowl mix vinegar, egg, water. Add to flour mixture. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Roll out dough.

Recipe with tapioca (makes one pie)

4 c fresh raspberries

1 c sugar

¼ c tapioca

1 T lemon juice

Mix berries, tapioca, and juice together. Pour berries into pie dish. Bake pie for 20 minutes at 425, then bake at 350 for another 20-25 minutes or until pie begins to bubble and the crust is a golden brown.

**The crust browns nicely if you brush an egg over the top of the crust before baking. Another way to make your crust brown perfectly put tinfoil around the edges for the first 20 minutes and then remove for the last 20 minutes.

Recipe with thick gel (makes one pie)

4 c fresh raspberries

1 c sugar

1 c juice concentrate

1 c water

¼ c thick gel (I would actually recommend 5 tablespoons of thick gel or 10 tablespoons ultra gel, but when I made the recipe I used ¼ cup thick gel)

Mix sugar, juice concentrate, water, and thick gel. Bring to a boil. Pour over the raspberries and mix. Pour berries into pie dish. Bake pie for 20 minutes at 425.

Stormtroopers love Raspberries too!

2010-05-03T08:52:00.000-07:00

I was out surfing the internet when I stumbled upon the Stormtroopers 365 project. It's an amusing project where every day there's a picture of what the minions of the Evil Empire are doing on a given day.

The site is a hoot, but I think this is my favorite picture. Even Stormtroopers know they need their antioxidants!

Swedish Pancakes

2010-04-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

Julie Barnson is a good friend and a local Utah Storyteller. I've eaten Swedish pancakes with her family twice a year for the last umm...almost two decades. That's a lot of pancakes, but it's an event and an experience well worth sharing. So much so that I'll let her tell the story and share the recipe at this link.

She lists some of her favorite flavors. I personally love berries and whipped cream, and peanut butter with chocolate sauce.

Jana Brown

Cloudy Day Pick me up

2010-04-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

So I'm working on updating the Cornaby's websites and today I get sent an absolutely beautiful picture of a summer beauty in the sun.

Almost worthy of framing...just so I can drool. It's a beautiful thing on a cloudy spring day in Utah.

Don't you think?

I can't wait for summer!

Jana Brown
Raspberry eater

How Do You Know the Recipe is Right...

2010-04-27T07:26:00.000-07:00

When it comes to creating new Cornaby's recipes there are a lot of things that go into the process. There are pieces of scientific equipment to measure acid and bricks and give us back numbers which guarantee that everything will seal, but this isn't the most important part of our recipe development. For that we hire a line up of discerning tastebuds...everyone in our family. From Reed Cornaby, our proud patriarch who can find the ripest most beautiful raspberry in the entire field just by looking at it, to the youngest grandchild we're happy eaters and our recipes have to run the gauntlet.
One particular story to share is that of Ryan Dawson, age two, who was found with a jar of test jam stolen from one of the fridges. He was found sitting on the floor with the jam between his legs and a spicy Doritos in each hand, dipping the chips into the jam and licking it off.

I don't think we're on our way to a spicy cheese and raspberry jam, but we take a smiling jam smeared face from two to one hundred and two as our greatest sign of success!

Farm pictures

2010-04-23T12:39:00.001-07:00

As promised I have pictures of the raspberry fields in all their spring glory. From here on it's nothing but up and up and up! Looking closely you can see the beginning poles and the trellis work which will support the canes as they grow. And look at that lack of weeds!

Jana

Back fields

Front fields

Growing Like Weeds

2010-04-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

The spring has truly hit in Utah with trees blooming and the weather finally warming up...even with the snow in the forecast today...and the farm is awake and definitely alive. Reports from the fields say you can almost sit and watch the raspberry canes growing! Everything looks good for a happy and productive year!

Pictures coming soon.

Jana Brown

Come and See us!

2010-03-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

Too long no blog. I got Disney fever and before I knew it it's almost April. So hopefully you'll forgive us.

In fact, hopefully you'll come see us. Cornaby's will be demonstrating our newest products and showing the new packaging for our jams on Saturday April 3, 2010 at the Quilted Bear in Midvale, Utah. We'd love to see you!

Jana Brown

Food Grade Machine Grease

2010-02-01T10:47:00.000-08:00

It's one of those mornings where I'm not entirely sure what to blog. So I turn to my husband and my children for stories of food and things to share. What we came down to was...Food grade machine grease.

This comes because my brilliant husband fixed my Kitchen Aid stand mixer when one of the gears was stripped. I am fortunate to have a husband man who is also an engineer and likes figuring out how things go together. Once he put the machine back together we noticed it still ran a little ragged and decided it needed to be greased up a bit. This was a great idea except it takes specific types of grease and oil when you're working on a machine which will be used around food. So we bought a tub of the stuff, since it only comes in size huge. Upon opening it we found that food grade machine grease is dark brown and looks like...well...less than appetizing things. However, it works like a charm.

I now have enough food grade machine grease to last a lifetime.

But my Kitchen Aid purrs.

Jana

Shall we SunDance?

2010-01-22T11:36:00.000-08:00

Cornaby's is proud to announce that Cornaby's jams can now be found in the gift shop and the restaurant at Sundance! Sundance has long been a supporter of local businesses and shares the same commitment we have to providing the best quality product along with a fabulous flavor.

Look us up if you're visiting. :)

Jana Brown

Chocolate!

2010-01-20T09:30:00.000-08:00

Chocolate!!

Several years ago, I took a summer trip to Paris, France. The food was amazing. Mont blanc, oysters, escargot (of course), and the list goes on. I could never hope to replicate most of these foods, but I couldn't help myself in one instance: the hot chocolate.

There was a little store in the bottom of our hotel that sold cups of this extremely rich, thick, decadent indulgence. Considering chocolate sits so well with raspberries, I'll post my copycat recipe here.

Chocolat

2/3 c. evaporated milk
1/3 c. water
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
¼ c. sugar
dash salt
splash vanilla (opt.)
whipped cream (opt.)

Cook (and whisk) evaporated milk and water over low heat until hot.
Add and whisk the chocolate, sugar, and salt.
Boil for 30-45 seconds.
Remove from heat; add a splash of vanilla if desired.
Allow to cool and thicken slightly.
Serve warm, with whipped cream if desired.
Note: forms a skin if left alone very long.

Carolyn

Heartfelt to Haiti

2010-01-18T10:21:00.000-08:00

Like everyone else we've watched the news from Haiti with grief and concern and a great respect for the human spirit. It's humbling to think that a disaster like that can strike anywhere and anywhen. At least for me the thought makes me want to spend every day to the fullest. Love my husband more, praise my kids more, eat the things I should, but also take a break for the things I just plain like. Be a better person and a kinder person.

We highly encourage getting involved in your own community to help relief efforts. Be aware there are a lot of scams out there right now. It's best to donate right to official organizations such as UNICEF or the Red Cross to make sure the maximum amount of your donation gets right to the source.

We'll be back to talking food later.

Jana

Frozen Raspberry goodness

2010-01-11T08:32:00.000-08:00

One of the things I did last year with my raspberries was to freeze them. Even though my children did their best to eat through every crate I brought home we did have a few berries left and those went into zip lock bags. This year my husband and I have been on the 'get in better shape' bandwagon and one of the things we've been playing with are really good smoothies. So here's sharing one of my favorites, something to do with those frozen berries until the plants come out of hibernation and you can use fresh ones!

Easy Fruit Smoothie

4 ounces cran raspberry juice - I like the Ocean Spray Light variety myself
4 ounce light soy milk - Good protein source and adds creaminess
1 medium banana - This can be fresh or frozen
4 ounce frozen raspberries
4 ounces frozen peaches

Everything goes into the blender for a ride until the desired consistency is reached. A little bit of water is an option if it's too thick for your blender or a bit of ice if it's too thin. Pour into a cup and drink or freeze for later. This is a fun recipe that gives a good punch in potassium, fiber, vitamin A and C and protein. Alton Brown, who is a Food Network favorite, suggests putting together smoothie ingredients the night before in your blender carafe so all you have to do in the morning is grab and blend, instead of trying to measure and think about it before you're completely awake. I haven't tried that yet, but I'm thinking I might.

Jana Brown
Smoothies good

Eat Less of More and Shake it

2010-01-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

It's January.

January is the universal month of holiday guilt. Doesn't matter who you are or what holidays you celebrated or didn't there was generally an abundance of food to be partaken of, and in general, particularly in the US, we partake. Then in January we feel guilty about the holiday poundage and we resolve to get in better shape and work off what we ate. It's not a system without checks and balances. I admit to being part of it and wondering why my scale lies to me.

So, like everyone else on the internet, I actually have some advice for ways to begin this bright new year when it comes to eating habits. I'm not going to list superfoods, though dark berries like raspberries are on nearly every list. What I am going to offer is a three part concept.

Here it is: Eat Less of More and Shake It.

Broken up it works like this:

Eat Less - Smaller portions and no snitching when you're putting away the leftovers. Just because there's one brownie left doesn't mean you have to eat it and just because the plate is ten inches in diameter doesn't mean you have to fill it. Use smaller dishes if you need to and measuring cups to keep track of just how much is going in.

of More - Variety is the spice of life and definitely of cooking and the happy stomach. If you've always been a meat and potatoes type, it's time to try rice pilaf and salmon or a greek salad or skirt steak and a pile of veggies. Check out ethnic dishes and pull out recipes that have been sitting in the back of that cookbook and give them a try. Eating different flavors keeps our mouths interested. Yeah, this can backfire if you taste the entire buffet, but particularly when you're cooking at home variety will broaden your taste profiles and possibilities. Use fresh food as much as possible and do interesting things with it. Come check out our recipes on the Cornabys site and see if we can inspire you!

and Shake it - Get up and get moving. I am NOT a gym rat. I work a full time job, take care of a full time house and a full time husband and two lovely children and two other jobs poke at me, etc. Everyone has a list of stuff that pulls at their time. Best is if you can get that solid 30 minute work out 3-5 times a week, but even if you can't, you can still do small things to shake that body: take the stairs, pace while you talk on the phone, vacuum the living room with a cat chasing you, build a snow fort with the kids, dance in your own living room, make out with your sweetheart until the windows steam! It may not give you six pack abs, but every bit of movement helps get the heart pumping and not only burns calories, but makes you feel better.

So there's my theory for kicking off the year and my health goals... Add to that picking several ton of raspberries and hauling cases of jam and I think I'm on track.

Jana Brown

Happy New Year

2010-01-02T22:05:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year from the folks here at Cornabys.

We're looking forward to an exciting year and hope you'll come along with us. We've been making changes to the webpage to make it more userfriendly and we've got a new jam flavor tested and available.

We're going to work on beefing up content here too, featuring favorite recipes, facts, stories and whatever else crosses our foodie brains.

It'll be a fun ride!

Jana Brown

Cornaby's Products

2009-12-07T07:37:00.000-08:00

Heya there gentle readers,

Today is a shameless promotion post. I have to do those sometimes. :)

We've made huge strides in the last week and have many jars of jam in need of a good home. As well we've added gift bags and goodies to our list of offerings. This will all show up on our website a little later this afternoon, but here's a sneak peak.

Gourmet Jams - Available in 8.3 ounce and 1.5 ounce containers.

The little 1.5s are ADORABLE and make great stocking stuffers for the foodie in your world, to go with Christmas morning toast. They only cost a buck!

Raspberry
Blackberry Raspberry
Raspberry Peach
Holiday Mix - Raspberry and Cranberry!
Raspberry Blueberry

Our jams are always low in sugar and high in fruit and quality!

Cornaby's Kitchen Specialties
Roasted Cinnamon Almonds
Nut Clusters
Dipped Marshmallows
Hot chocolate on a stick
Homemade Fudge
Chocolate Almond Popcorn
Caramel Popcorn
Cereal Goop - Sweet and salty cereals in a sweet, slightly sticky, mix.

There are more exciting things happening in the kitchens, but those are hush hush for now...however I can confirm that there are jalapenos in them there hills and rumors of a jalapeno raspberry sauce coming soon!

Orders can be placed through our website over at www.cornabys.com or give us a call. (Call Dave Cornaby at (801) 489-7497)

Come and See us!

2009-12-02T06:48:00.000-08:00

The crew from Just Berrys/Cornabys will be in Payson at the Here Comes Santa Claus festival on Friday December 5th.

We'll be showcasing some new products and giving out information about our new Spanish Fork located retail shop.

Come and see us!

Jana Brown

Thankful

2009-11-30T10:27:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays around the Cornaby Farm. We have a very large extended family and this year almost 50 of us gathered to the farm house to share our love of food and of each other. Turkey, ham, potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls and veggies and pies...so many pies. It was, as always, a meal to remember, but more important was the chance to get together and remember where it all started.

Some 64 years ago, J. Reed Cornaby asked Lucy Taylor to be his wife. Fortunately for all of us she said yes. When asked about all the time together, Grandpa Cornaby said that he loved her more than ever now. Something for all of us to aspire to. To love each other more than ever each day.

So from our family to yours, thank you and we look forward to a fantastic 2010. Our processing plant in Spanish Fork, Utah opens this week. The raspberries are put to bed for their long winter nap and we're grateful for the opportunities.

The best is yet to come.

Jana Brown

The Great Pie Quest Begins

2009-11-11T07:03:00.000-08:00

I love November. Falling leaves, chill in the air, a good time for hot chocolate and it's the month where in I get to stretch my pie baking muscles. Each year I make 25-30 pies which are then consumed at a variety of events through the holiday. This, of course, is a set up for December when the candy making and big baking begins, but that's a post for another time.

One of the things my husband and I try to do every year, a carry over from my single days, is to try a type of pie that we've never made before. Last year I did a pear cranberry pie which was pretty good but would have been better as a double crust pie instead of a single crust.

This year we've begun to ponder, but haven't reached a conclusion.

Personally I'm thinking I may try the elusive wonder that is a mince pie. I've only ever had it once and it was foul and loathsome, but my English friends tell me it can be delightful.

How about the rest of you? What pies are on your lists?

Jana Brown
Pie maker

Happy November!

2009-11-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone out there had a very good Halloween weekend. Around my house it was a time for candy and costumes and pumpkin cake and a long nap.

The Wednesday before Halloween we performed the annual pumpkin labotomy, but this year we kept the carved out pieces and the seeds. The seeds became salted cinnamon roasted seeds, a new thing for this year which went over very well (Instructions below). And the pumpkin itself along with two sugar pumpkins were boiled down and mashed for cakes and pies. I learned in that process that you either need to peel the pumpkin first or, as I did, run the boiled pumpkin through a strainer masher. I have one of these that I use for apple sauce and it did a great job with pumpkin.

The other thing I hadn't realized is that there is no recommendation for canning pumpkin mash. It's so low acid and the amount of acid changes so much from squash to squash that the extension service of both Utah and Georgia say only freeze it. Not a big deal since I just layered it flat into quart bags, froze it hard and away you go. I love the flavor of the fresh mash and it was a LOT cheaper to deal with boiling down 19 cent a pound pumpkins than 2.00 a can purchased pumpkin!

Next year I think we'll grow our own.

Jana Brown

Dark Berries as a SuperFood

2009-10-28T07:36:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from our friends over at Fox News!

"5. Dark Berries

Main vitamin or nutrient: Antioxidants

One benefit of consuming dark berries — such as blueberries, cranberries, blackberries, and raspberries — is that they keep your body clean by eliminating toxins and pollutants. The dark pigments in these super foods have a more powerful amount of antioxidants than any other produce offered at the supermarket.Antioxidants in your food can save you from almost anything when it comes to your health, and this includes slowing down the aging process. The dye that is released from the skin of this fruit is the most nutritious part because it is the richest in these age-defying, disease-fighting antioxidants.

Aside from keeping you looking and feeling young, antioxidants prevent illnesses and ailments that come with age. For one, dark berries lower bad cholesterol and they are more cardio-protective than wine — so eat your heart out, and your heart will thank you later. Another way they slow age-related diseases is by protecting your brain from memory-related problems, such as Alzheimer’s or loss of memory after a stroke.You can eat your way out of cancer, viruses and memory loss, and you can seriously slow the aging process with these dark spurts of goodness, so add them to your power shakes or your cereal in the morning."

The whole article is well worth reading. There are so many foods which are so good for us!

Jana Brown

Caroline Raspberry Files

2009-10-12T07:33:00.000-07:00

From the raspberry files a little about Caroline Raspberries...one of our favorites.

FLAVORFUL & HEALTHY TOO

A highly flavored, heavy yielding red primocane raspberry ripening in late August and lots of delicious fruit until fall. It has proven successful from the East to the West Coast. Caroline responds to warmer summer temperatures with earlier ripening. Fruit is large, red and firm and vines have a vigorous growth habit.

Caroline (PP10412) is the highest in levels of nutrients and anti-oxidents of several Raspberry varieties tested. Caroline was found to be 20-44% higher in beta cartene, 27 to 43% higher in vitamin A, 16 to 77% higher in vitamin E and 25 to 48% higher in vitamin C. "We are finding some excellent results with berries and we are slowly realizing they can be a part of the diet with people with specific health needs," said Dick Funt, an Ohio State small fruit specialist. "If a person, say, needs more vitamin A or vitamin E, berries with high levels of these vitamins can be a part of their diet and it's a more organic way of staying healthy, rather than taking supplements."

Researchers also compared the Oxygen Radical Absorbency Capacity (ORAC) levels among the four cultivars. ORAC is a system of measuring the level of antioxidants, or cancer-fighting agents, in food and is recognized by scientists and nutritionists as the main method for determining overall antioxidant potential. The higher the ORAC number, the greater number of antioxidants present. Black Currants, Blueberries and Black Raspberries have shown especially high levels of anti oxidents. National research suggests that the consumption of fruits and vegetables with a high ORAC -- 1,600 to 5,000 units per 100 grams, or 3.5 ounces -- may slow the aging process in both the body and the brain and has a significant impact on plasma and tissue antioxidant capacity.

In preliminary Ohio State studies, the Caroline cultivar had 47 percent more ORAC units than Lauren or Killarney, and 65 percent more ORAC units than the average of two Heritage fall red raspberry samples. The Caroline cultivar contains 2,130 ORAC units/100g. By comparison, blueberries contain 2,400 ORAC units and strawberries contain 1,540 ORAC units. Research suggests that consuming 10 grams of freeze-dried Caroline red raspberries may provide 40 percent to 66 percent of the 3,000-5,000 recommended daily ORAC units.

What a super fruit!

Jana Brown

Apple Butter

2009-10-05T11:24:00.001-07:00

It was a rainy fall weekend around these parts, which means I had to cook. I don't know what it is about this kind of weather but it triggers some part of my brain which desires warm comforting foods, and spices which fill up the whole house.

So the big project was a large batch of apple butter. This is, at the most basic, an apple jam. It goes very nicely on quick breads and stirred into breakfast foods like oatmeal.

Apple Butter
5 1/2 pounds Apples, peeled and diced
3 cups sugar
1 cup apple cider
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Everything goes into a large crock pot. Mix well and cook on high setting for one hour. Turn down to low and leave for 10-12 hours until the mixture has reduced by at least half and is dark brown and the apples broken down. Can be frozen or sealed in half pint jars following the manufacturer (or Ball Blue book) recommendations.

Yummmmmmy!

So yummy it may even become a Cornabys product one day. But let's not count our chickens just yet. :)

Jana Brown

Goodbye Summer

2009-09-28T06:47:00.000-07:00

Here in Utah we're down to the last days of what's been a pleasant summer. A late summer with all the crops slightly behind schedule, but na bad all in all. The weather forecast calls for snow in the upper elevations as of Wednesday and rain down here. For the raspberries it's the end of the season, though not nearly the end of the work ahead of us. Now we hit jam production full on, and this year there will be new flavors and new options to continue to enjoy the peak of the harvest all year long.

Watch this space in the next few days and I'll give you the run down of what jams are selling this year and how you can get your preorders in. Christmas is coming and beautiful bottles of summer goodness make great gifts. I know it's what my relatives are already asking for. :)

Jana Brown

Fall in the Rockies

2009-09-21T12:55:00.000-07:00

The first day of fall and you can definitely feel it in the air. I had to remake my bed with a thicker blanket so my darling husband wouldn't freeze. It's a good time for the harvest with peaches, pears, squash, tomatoes and all kinds of other stuff in season. This last week I bottled up salsa using UltraGel for thickener, and did three big batches of peach strawberry jam with the Jam in a Jiffy. My children are so happy...and have eaten two bottles of jam already. I like seeing them choose a low sugar jam and bread for a midday snack instead of other less healthy options.

Just to keep folks in the loop, we still have fresh raspberries as we move into fall. Once the fields freeze hard we'll have a limited time to harvest whatever is left and put the plants to bed for the winter. Our contact information is on the website or you can email justberrys@gmail.com and put in your order.

Next post...pondering porcupine meatballs. A new recipe to share.

Jana Brown

A Salsa Tale

2009-09-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

Every now and again we all make tragic kitchen mistakes. Here's one of mine...

I have been cooking since I was about 3... My mother would let me sit on the counter and help dip chicken to be fried, or roll out pie dough. I love cooking and I am generally NOT a kitchen idiot. Well...last night I was.

It seemed like such a good idea at the time. Come home from work, make a batch of salsa and start using up the bushel of tomatoes I bought. I had some mild peppers from the store, mild peppers from my best friend and a bag of jalepenos. My culinary know how instructed me to be careful about the pepper juice, cause I know it burns. I had gloves and figured I'd pop them on for the hot jalepenos and just quickly seed and toss the rest into the food processor sans gloves. This worked fine for the peppers from the store. However the home grown peppers had been sitting for a while, and in the sitting had built up heat something my brain didn't consider until I felt the first burning in my fingertips. No problem thinks I, just a good scrub in baking soda and it will be fine. So I finished getting the batch on the stove and scrubbed my hands down. No relief. Soaked in milk. Nothing. Butter. Ouch. Peanut butter. Sticky. Held ice cubes and watched them melt...relief.

Sitting there rubbing ice cubes I figured out that I'd made some critical mistakes.

Mistake the first was that I'd been processing peaches for two days before doing the salsa, this work had stripped away the top layers of skin and natural oils which usually give me hands of steel.

Mistake the second was underestimating the peppers. I know home grown peppers are often hotter, particularly here in Utah where the watering isn't always what it should be.

Mistake the third was waiting until I'd finished the salsa to start rinsing.

I sat and rubbed ice for 8 hours while pondering these mistakes.

Gloves...wear gloves...

At least the salsa tasted good and all the jars sealed.

Jana Brown

Turkey in Raspberry Sauce

2009-09-09T07:20:00.000-07:00

There was some leftover turkey in my fridge which really needed to have something done with it. A little bit of experimenting and we have today’s recipe.

Onion Thyme Raspberry Turkey

2 turkey breast

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp salt

2 tsp butter

1 small onion, sliced (white or red is best)

½ cup Just Berrys Spreadable Fruit – Raspberry

2 TBL Balsamic Vinegar

1/8 tsp pepper

½ tsp oregano

¼ cup water

1-2 tsp sugar – to taste

Cut turkey into pieces and rub with thyme and salt. (I used full breasts in the pictures, but found it increased the cooking time too much, pieces is better.)

In a heavy sauté pan sauté the onion and the butter until the onion is translucent.

Add turkey to the pan and cook until done through. Remove turkey and onions.

Add Fruit spread, vinegar, pepper, oregano, water and sugar to the pain and cook for 2-3 minutes until warmed through. Taste and add sugar as needed. Return onions to the sauce.

Serve on a bed of rice, placing the rice down, then the turkey then the sauce.

Yum!

Jana

Banana bread and Raspberry spread

2009-08-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

Today was my telework day. I love having a chance to do the day job from home as it means I can do things like having laundry run in the background. However, today's background work came about because of a bunch of six bananas which had been left past their time. They were a beautiful shade of brown and squished right out of their skins nicely. So much like lemons to lemonade when life hands you bananas...you make banana bread. Then you cover it in raspberry spread and enjoy. :)

So today I'm sharing a recipe for a higher altitude bread. It's adjusted from another recipe I found online in order to create a bread which is a little more healthy and holds moisture better.

High Altitude Banana Bread

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 egg
2 Tbl Ultra Gel
1/4 cup milk
1 cup mashed bananas
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat over to 350 F.

Combine sugar, oil, egg, Ultra Gel, milk and banana. Mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix to moisten. Like all quick breads you don't want to over mix this or the product will be gummy and tough.

Pour into one large or two medium greased and floured loaf pans, filling no more than 2/3rds. Cook 50-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

If you are using darker non stick pans, I have a few that I love, turn the temperature down to 325F.

Let cool in pans for 10 minutes then flip out onto a clean surface. Let cool, cut and serve with Just Berrys raspberry spreads or your own Jam in a Jiffy masterpieces. Consume!

Jana Brown
Banana bread good

Dealing with the seeds

2009-08-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

Some folks really don't like seeds in their raspberry preserves. I personally like a balance. Enough seed to make it interesting, but not so much that I need a dentist's assistance after eating a sammich. So for today's blog, it's short but to the point, here are two suggestions for a less seedy raspberry preserve.

1 - Add other fruit or fruit juice. Adding other fruits such as peaches, blueberries, strawberries and other non seedy fruit helps to create more mass and spreads out the raspberry seeds so your ratio in each jar is lower. In the same way fruit juices, particularly white grape juice, can help provide the same increase of mass. It may mean that you have to back off a little on your fruit to thickener so you still get a good set, but the quality is often better.

2 - Run the berries through a grinder which spits out the seeds. A Victorio Food S trainer or the like is a good option. This will give you a lot of juice and pulp and you can then decide exactly how much seed to add back in and the rest of the seed works well as garden mulch!

Any other suggestions?

Jana Brown
Sammich Maker

Record Harvest

2009-08-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

If you've been waiting to call and get your fresh berries wait no more! The month of August has been kind to the raspberry fields with some cooler weather and a little extra moisture and boy have the fields responded. We've had record harvest lately taking around 700 lbs of berries in some of our pickings! The self appointed taste testers, and our scientific equipment, tell us these are some of the biggest, sweetest berries we've seen all year!

You can place an order at justberrys@gmail.com or through the order page on the website.

Raspberries - Antioxidants in a tasty berry package!

Jana Brown

Raspberry pancakes with Raspberry Butter

2009-08-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

From the home of the Rawlinsons, yet another branch of the Cornaby tree.

Recipe for Rasp. Pancakes

Pancake Mix (our family likes the Honeyville Brand the best)

Mix as directed for desired amount

add one, or two or three handfulls of Raspberries depending on batch size

We tried this with a whole bunch of toppings and our favorite was to sprinkle the pancakes with sugar and then drizzling it with lemon juice. Very light and refreshing!

Raspberry Butter

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup marshmallow cream

1 tbsp sugar (optional)

1/2 c. raspberries

Mix with a blender until fluffy and well blended. Delicious on scones, or any fresh bread!

Hope this was enlightening

*Ness

Raspberry pudding cake

2009-08-17T10:24:00.001-07:00

I have promises of blogs to come from some of the other raspberry addicted worker bees around here, but haven't gathered everything yet...sooo...you're still stuck with me.

Right now the berries at the farm are lovely. The weather here has cooled down just a little and the plants are loving it. We have very little sunburn and a lot of crop. I don't think any of us realized what twenty acres of raspberries really looked like until now when everything is full and heavy. We're eating raspberries with just about everything as we move forward with recipe development and testing. Last night I made a pudding cake for a birthday party and we topped the whole thing with a little raspberry sauce. It was killer, so here's the recipe to share:

1 baked cake - I wimped out and just did a box cake mix.
1 large package chocolate pudding - prepared
1 large package vanilla pudding - prepared
1 pint whipping cream - wipped
1 cup raspberry sauce
2-3 bananas - sliced - optional

Layer in a glass bowl in the following order: Cake, chocolate pudding, cake, vanilla pudding, bananas, whipping cream, swirls of raspberry sauce.

YUM!

Jana Brown

Salem Days and Raspberry Lemonade

2009-08-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

Salem Days concluded on Saturday and we'd like to give a big hooray to everyone who came by for a visit. We had a good time. This year we decorated the raspberry picker and rode it in the parade. It's a fun thing to see a 15 foot picker coming down the road festooned with silver and read banners and edging. Then we had a booth in the local Fair in the Square and sold raspberry lemonade to the masses. The raspberry syrup for the drink comes from juicing the berries which have a touch of sunburn or other minor flaws which don't affect the taste but make the appearance less than perfect. This is mixed with a little citric acid and just enough sugar to take the edge off of the tartness while preserving the natural flavor and health benefits of our berries. So 6 ounce of syrup, one quarter of a lemon and ice and water to fill makes for a dang good drink!

Pictures coming soon!

Jana Brown

Salem Days reminder - AUGUST 8

2009-08-05T07:06:00.000-07:00

I know I've mentioned this before, but I'm mentioning it again. :) We'll be at Salem Days on August 8th. Come on down and celebrate Pond Town and visit our booth. We've been working up a new raspberry lemon drink which we're looking forward to sharing!

Jana Brown

Raspberry Drink

2009-08-03T09:32:00.001-07:00

This weekend my mother-in-law came over for dinner. My husband made a wonderful garlic rubbed roast with veggies, there was angel food cake and ice cream for dessert and for a drink we pulled out our crate of berries. We wanted something refreshing and not too sugary... So what we came up with was the following:

In a glass picture combine:

1 can of light white grape juice concentrate + two cans of cold water
2 cans of gingerale soda
1 half a large lemon, cut into rings
1 cup raspberries
crushed ice to fill the container

In the glasses for service:
1 lemon ring
1 scoop raspberry puree - we just crushed the berries with a spoon and added about 1/8th cup sugar to bring out some of the juice.

The glasses we used were clear and it made a lovely table presentation, then as you pour the drink into the glass the puree colors everything from pale gold to pale pink. My eight year old drank three glasses and thought it was such a fancy drink!

Then again, between the children they ate almost 5 pounds of berries this weekend. They kept telling us it was their healthy treat and better than candy bars. Who can argue that?

Jana Brown

Salem Days

2009-07-31T09:57:00.000-07:00

How time flies. It doesn't seem like it's been that long since the last time we were posting about Salem Days, but it's already right around the corner. So just to let folks know we'll be there, maybe even with bells on!

As for the Italian Ice recipe I've been looking for...

We'll...I'm close to a breakthrough.

I think.

I'll share soon.

I'm also pondering raspberry gelato, but I think I need to make a trip to the farm before I work on that. I'm almost out of raspberry goodness. The fact my sons eat berries as fast as they come in may have something to do with it. I'm just glad they like a snack which is good for them!

Jana Brown

Fresh off the Vine

2009-07-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

Raspberry picking season is in full swing! We're getting lovely berries and lots of them. We'll be at the Salt Lake City famers market, Salem Days and we always have berries available right on the farm.

Give us a call or an email to reserve your fruit now!

Call Dave Cornaby at (801) 489-7497

or e-mail us: justberrys@q.com or justberrys@gmail.com

Jana Brown

Recipe Search: Raspberry Italian Ice

2009-06-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

Recently I attended an art festival at a local park. While there I indulged in a cup of Italian ice, which was rather fantastic. With summer settling in for a long stay I've decided to begin a search for the best recipe for Raspberry Italian Ice. I'll let you know how it goes and publish the final recipe here and in our recipe file at JustBerrys.com. Wish me luck!

Jana Brown

April showers bring May Raspberries...

2009-06-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

Well, not exactly raspberries, but raspberry blossoms are popping up all over. This means we have about a three week window before the first pickings. Head over to our main page to call in your order for fresh berries and keep watching this window for more information about new products coming to a grocery store or internet shop near you!

Jana Brown

Fun Food Fact

2009-05-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

Today's fun food fact is about raspberries:

Legend holds that raspberries were originally white. The legend states that the nymph Ida pricked her finger while picking berries for the infant Jupiter, and raspberries have since been red with her blood.

An Ode to Oven Ready Noodles

2009-05-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, it was going to be an ode, but I couldn't think of much that rhymes with lasagna, soo...we'll just talk about my new found love of Oven ready noodles. For those of you who haven't encountered this phenomenon these are lasagna (There are other types too but these are my favorites.) noddles which have gone through a process so they will take up water from the surrounding materials during baking and do not have to be precooked. This makes for the best make ahead lasagna ever because you do not have to dirty a big pan and spend the time boiling the noodles, nor do you have to handle slimy noodles and try to get them to slide in place. Instead you start a layer with meat sauce which has a bit of extra juice to it and then just layer the hard oven ready noodles over it, then cheese layer, lather rinse repeat, and into the fridge or freezer until you're ready to bake. Baking takes about an hour (for a 9x13 pan) and came out beautiful!

Costwise the oven ready noodles were exactly the same as the non oven ready so I can't see any reason I wouldn't use these almost exclusively.

Now I have to see if I can find manicotti!

Jana Brown
Lasagna Lover

I Love Leftovers

2009-04-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

It's true. I love leftovers. My husband and I are both lunch packers, better on budget and waistline, and we depend on leftovers to keep us safe from a dreary world in which there would only be peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Not that there is anything wrong with a good PB&J, but sometimes the call of some warm taco soup or a bowl of chicken divan is just too tantalizing.

Last night we went one step better and made dinner out of leftovers to serve both that meal and create yet more leftovers. How we got there was a matter of checking out the fridge and finding that we had cooked rice, half a bag of frozen peas, a scoop of mayo in the bottom of a jar and a couple of pieces of baked chicken. Tossed all together with some cheese and a couple cans of cream of chicken soup we had chicken divan for dinner and again for lunch. Lots of items cleared out of the fridge, low waste from those earlier meetings and it felt pretty good to be munching on my divan while my coworkers ate hamburgers.

So here's the recipe for my leftover chicken divan:

3-4 cups cooked rice - brown rice works well in this
1-2 cups chopped chicken
1/2 bag frozen peas
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1 cup cheese - cheddar is my favorite

Layer chicken and rice in the bottom of a 9x9 pan. Combine all other ingredients in a bowl and spice to taste, I like it light so just use a little salt and peper, though paprika is pretty good too. Pour soup mix over rice and chicken. This can be topped with bread crumbs for extra texture, or left as is. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes until the cheese bubbles and it's warm all the way through.

Enjoy.

Jana Brown
Leftover Lover

Tasting tonight

2009-04-22T11:46:00.001-07:00

Come and visit with the crew at the West Jordan Maceys tonight from 5-7 pm. We'll be making blackberry jam and showing the wonder of Jam In a Jiffy. As well they'll be BBQing out front!

Maceys of West Jordan
7859 S 3200 W
West Jordan, (801) 984-8226

Jana Brown
Demonstrator of Jammy things

Rainy Weather Food

2009-04-15T08:38:00.000-07:00

When I walked into work today I grumbled about the weather, it's raining cats, dogs, horses and other barnyard animals. My perky co-worker immediately started quoting "April showers bring May flowers." She was banished to her cube before she could get all the words out. So much for April perkiness.

So I flumped in my cube and pondered the day and how much I wanted chicken soup and scones with honeybutter and raspberry jam. For me the rainy weather and low key day just beg for comfort foods, and I have lots of long memories of soup bubbling all day.

In celebration of rainy April weather I'm going to dig my soup pot out and we'll share some favorite recipes for soup.

Any requests?

Jana Brown
Soup maker

Taking the Cake

2009-04-13T08:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome back from holiday everyone. I'm not sure how everyone else spent their Easter weekend but my husband and I took our children to Saint George (Southern Utah) to visit grandma and grandpa. As part of our time spent with family we celebrated my husband's birthday with a lovely devil's food cake. On a whim I plopped spoonfuls of Just Berrys Fruit spread on top of the cake just before it went into the oven. The spread sank into the middle of the cake and made for a fun surprise for everyone when we were cutting and we had a rich chocolate cake with raspberry pockets! This works well for just about any cake where the batter is a medium to thick consistency. The only draw back we discovered was that if the cake wasn't refrigerated after a few days the berries got a little bubbly! They still tasted good, but it was a little weird. I'll toss the recipes for our cake up over at the main site.

I think the biggest draw back to the holiday was that I didn't get to eat some of the traditional foods I associate with Easter. All my single life getting together for Easter Saturday meant deviled eggs, potato salad, pasta salad, some meat - often bbq hamburgers - a veggie tray, and a ginormous pan of rice krispie treats. The food at the in-laws was definitely yummy, but I think next time I'm going to have to introduce them to some of our traditions, cause I sure missed that potato salad.

Hrm...maybe I'll make some for dinner. :)

Jana Brown
Potato Salad Maker

What day does Spring start?

2009-04-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

I don't know about everyone out there, but I am personally ready for spring to be sprung. Here in Utah it's been a lovely springy season of snow. My daffodils are trying valiantly to push their way up and some even sport blossoms, but they're snow covered blossoms and kinda sad looking. The best part is that the cold hasn't seemed to have bothered the raspberries much, just giving them some more moisture to get going with. Hopefully that will continue to be the case, though I think the plants are looking forward to the warm almost as much as the people.

If you're in the Utah area we're making plans to demonstrate our Jam in a Jiffy products in your local Utah Maceys and Reams stores. In particular this weekend Reams in Springville is having a strawberry sale and we'll be right there with out berry buddies. We'd love to have you come by for a visit.

We have lift off...

2009-03-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

We also have lots of raspberries in the ground. The planting of the raspberry crop for this year has been completed. Rows and rows of delicate starts settling in to do their thing. The weather here has been cold, but a little bit of extra moisture and increasing heat looks to do our bushes well.

In other news the Jam in a Jiffy packets are invading stores around Utah and finding a lot of strawberries which are anxious to be made into jam. We'll have an updated list on the webpage showing what stores are carrying Just Berrys Farms products.

And the final news for today. The recipe section of the website is working. We'll be adding our favorite recipes to share through out the week. If you have a favorite recipe which you think could use the Just Berrys touch send it our way. We can help revamp your favorites to be more health conscience without losing any of the flavor you love.

Introducing Jam in a Jiffy!

2009-03-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

TADA!

We are product launching our freezer jam mix just in time for strawberry season.

The mix retails for $5 from the order page of our website and can be found in Utah Maceys stores, Spanish Fork Reams and Orem Bosch. More stores are joining our list every day and we'll do our best to keep you updated of product coming to a store near you!

Our fabulous Jam in a Jiffy mix requires only fruit and stirring power and comes with a lot of benefits!

One fourth the sugar of regular freezer jam
No cook -- ready in about 5 minutes (or sooner if you have great fruit-mashin' muscles)
Pick out the best fruit for your jam (defect free, ripe, flavorful, yummy)
All natural -- no cooking means that all the phytonutrients of the fruit are still there
Kids love it -- grandkid tested, grownup consumed!
Containers are included -- everything you need is in the bag!

We're excited about it!

The Just Berrys crew

Ah Spring...

2009-03-10T07:07:00.000-07:00

Despite the local snowstorms there is proof that spring is upon us. Daffodils are pushing their heads up, the sun is gracing us with more heat and daylight savings has deprived us of extra hours of sleep! On the farm it's a busy time and today we have an update from our berry farmers as to what it takes to put in 18 acres of crop.

Take it away David:

In the fall after harvest was over, we formed raised beds to use for the 2009 berry plantings. These beds are about 18 inches wide at the top, about 3 feet wide at the bottom, and about 12 inches high. Forming raised beds helps prevent root diseases and forms a bounded region for our sub-surface drip irrigation to keep moist. When we form raised beds, we deposit the bed topsoil over the normal topsoil, thus creating a substantially deeper topsoil layer for our berries.

Snow covered the ground continuously from early December to late February. When the earth was dry enough to work with the tractor, we laid drip tape about 4 inches below the top of the beds and formed a furrow the right depth for the berry plants. We got about half of the planting area done before a snow storm deposited 4-5 inches of the white stuff over the fields.

Our berry plants arrived March 6 in a refrigerated cargo van. There are about 33,000 of them. They were immediately put into our neighbor's cold storage area, so they would maintain dormancy.

We plan on laying the rest of the drip tape as soon as the ground is dry enough to work. Then planting can begin!

Pizza Sauce

2009-03-04T12:08:00.000-08:00

Due to a few requests I'm going to talk about the white sauce which I used for the weekend pizza today. I'm a big fan of getting extra fruits and veggies into the food I feed my kids and a sauce can be a good carrier of nutrition and flavor. In this case the sauce contains onions, garlic and summer squash as well as the milk base.

Pizza White Sauce
2 Tablespoons butter or olive oil
1 medium sweet onion
2 cloves garlic - chopped into 3-4 pieces
1 medium summer squash (mexican grey squash are also excellent)
1 can evaporated milk
1 cup milk or cream depending on how rich you want your sauce
1 tsp salt
1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 tsp sweet basil
Ultra Gel to thicken - Corn Starch can also be used, but doesn't store nearly as well

Sautee veggies in butter or oil until onions are transparent and squash soft. Add liquids, spices and thickener and stir well. Transfer sauce to a blender and blend smooth. Spread on pizza crust and top with desired toppings!

This was a great recipe to make with my son who was old enough to do almost everything with a little supervision. It's good on pizza or pasta.

Jana Brown

Weekend pizza

2009-03-02T08:15:00.000-08:00

I've been pondering and decided we may have been a little too raspberry focused on the Just Berrys blog, so while we'll continue to feature discussions and recipes based on our favorite fruit we're also going to break out and just flat talk cooking. It's one of my favorite things to do so talking about it is pretty easy.

One of the things we do with the joyful children in our lives is to have the kids help plan and create menus and meals, particularly over the weekend. This weekend the big meal my boys wanted was pizza. Pizza is a great meal to share with the kids because there is so much which can be done to personalize the results without it being costly.

We made crust which used half bread flour and half wheat flour. Then we made both a tomato based sauce and an Alfredo which contained summer squash, garlic, onions. Each child was encouraged to roll out their own personal pizza and select toppings. They had so much fun, and it was a great chance to talk about what flavors go together. I think the favorite of the night was the alfredo pizza with chicken, red peppers, tomatoes and a combination of three cheeses.

For your recipe files here's the crust recipe we used:

1/2 Tablespoon Yeast
2 cups water
1 teaspoon sugar (Ultra Gel works even better!)
2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups bread flour
2 1/2 cups wheat flour

Combine yeast, sugar and water and allow to foam. Add salt and 2 cups flour and mix well. Continue to add in flour kneading until a stiff dough is formed. (Kneading bread is great shoulder exercise, but you may need to adjust the height of your working surface with additional breadboards. You should always be able to stand up at your working surface and have your hands rest easily on it.) Allow to rise 2 hours or until double. Roll out into rounds and place on greased pizza stone or pan. Top and bake at 375 for approximately 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cooked through!

Jana Stocks Brown

Upbeat in Down times

2009-02-24T08:51:00.000-08:00

It's a scary time for everyone out there, but here at the Just Berrys Farm it's also a time of a lot of excitement. The seasons are turning and the warmth of the sun finding raspberry bushes which have been just waiting for a chance to grow. It's a good time to be grateful for all the things we have and hopeful for the future. The earth is good with green and growing things and as we turn our attention to the land around us and tending to our gardens there's a lot of joy to be found. Using the best know how we're growing lovely berries and turning them into products for our family and our friends. It's a good place to be in the world when you're providing good things for people.

We're gonna get the blog kicking again, sorry for the long hiatus, and start by chatting about the things Just Berrys Farms does to help preserve the land we grow on and provide green, (well, in the environmental sense of the word. Our berries are about the brightest richest red you've ever seen) solutions to bringing berries to market. As well we have the launch of our Jam in a Jiffy mixes and will be putting up a video tutorial for making jam from your favorite fruits.

As well Just Berrys now has a group over on facebook! Come and join us for chats, product annoucments and the occassional contest give away.

Jana Stocks Brown
Hopeful Raspberry Enthusiast

A word from Operations!

2008-09-24T13:26:00.001-07:00

So I have been told that as a part of Just Berry's that I need to add to this blog. Being that I am the fun part of the operation I guess it makes sense. We are working hard and have had alot of success this summer with our raspberry production. I am a raspberry quality inspector (self appointed, thank you very much) and I can say that our berries are definitely up to specs. Over the next few weeks we'll get our shelf stable recipe ready to go and out to our wonderful customers. There are great things to come. But beware, once you have tried our home produced quality products, you may never eat generic, dull foods again.

Chris Stocks
(Handsome by association to his lively wife!)

FRESH BERRIES MAKE STUFF EASY

2008-09-16T15:05:00.000-07:00

Berries are easy to add to all types of things but if they aren't very fresh they have a tendency to run when you mix them into batters. I've made muffins any number of time using frozen berries of all types and there is always a smear of color around the berry in the finished product.

But when you have something fresh from the field, like the raspberries we just got, you don't have that kind of problem. Take this for example.

The other morning I added fresh raspberries to our morning pancakes. Make your pancake batter as normal. Then just when you are done mixing ever-so-gently fold in a handful or two of clean fresh raspberries. Then pour your batter into the hot and greased pan just like normal.

You have to be careful or you will over cook the pancakes. When the berries are added you have less visual cues that it's time to flip the cakes over because the raspberries change the texture. I burned my first two before I figured it out. The trick was to watch for very small bubbles to form on the topside of the batter, but nowhere near as many bubbles as for plain pancakes. Flip them over and brown the top side as well until both are done the way you like it.

Once I got the hang of things I was turning out delicious and steaming hot raspberry pancakes faster than I could plate and eat them.

The pancakes were delicious and the raspberries gave little taste explosions when each berry was eaten. I tried it with syrup and with more raspberry jam on top and both was delicious. To present it pretty stack up a few cakes add a dollop of butter and throw on a few more raspberries. Enjoy.

Bryan R Brown
Purveyor of Pancakes!

And Ode to Freeze Jam Packets...

2008-09-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's not so much an ode as a declaration of undying lurve.

The most recent product to join the Just Berry's family is a packet for making freezer jam. It's such an innocent looking little packet. A bag all full of powders and 6 cup containers.

The directions are simple: Smush 6 cups of fruit. Add the mix 1/3 at a time, stirring in between. Put in containers and freeze...or eat. It's so easy and has worked on every fruit I've put in it's way thus far. I'm a full time working woman before I even start on the work for the farm and I loooved this mix. The powder dispersed easily and there were nooo lumps.

Of note it also came off of the inside of the microwave easily after I exploded one of my containers when thawing it. There is a difference between the 'thaw' button and the 'nuclear cook out' button...just in case you wanted to know.

Our berry season is still going strong but will end after the first frost, so if you've been considering getting berries but undecided this is the time to jump on the band wagon! Speaking from personal eating experience they taste wonderful!

Jana Brown
Raspberry eater

Raspberry Pancakes!

2008-09-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

So last week my sweet husband decided to make breakfast for me. We had fresh raspberries in the fridge and he happily mixed them into the pancake batter. Holy yummy batman! It made for kinda chunky pancakes, but the chunks were full of warm raspberry goodness! A little syrup and butter and I was a very happy woman.

Mmm....raspberries. They go with everything!

Picture to come later tonight.

Jana Brown
Raspberry Pancakes Good

Ferti-What?

2008-08-27T09:45:00.000-07:00

Being involved in a new company and a new crop has introduced me to many words. Accounting terms, food terms, and raspberry varieties have all thrown me for a loop. But my favorite, by far, is an agricultural term: "fertigation." Let it roll off your tongue a few times: "Fertigation. Fertigation."

When you break it down, all the mystery disappears: Fertilizer Irrigation. Colorado State University Extension defines it here by explaining, "The application of nutrients through irrigation systems is called 'fertigation,' a contraction of fertilization and irrigation." So, instead of sprinkling fertilizer on the ground, we let the water carry nutrients through the irrigation system. Ingenious.

On the farm, we take it a step further and use underground fertigation. I am completely sold on this idea after seeing the nice, weed-free rows of raspberry plants. Weeds are starved of water unless they are right next to the berry plants. A few weeds in a few acres isn't so bad. It's no wonder they are taking this idea into home landscaping.

Carolyn Christiansen

A Word from the Farmer

2008-08-21T20:13:00.000-07:00

A Word from the Farmer

I'm not sure if we'll ever see a blog entry from "The Farmer." He
seems to be busy all the time, running the farm. That's
understandable, but I have to throw in a quick quote to give him a
presence here.

"Man cannot live by bread alone. He also needs raspberry jam." ~ Dave Cornaby

We all Love Ice Cream

2008-08-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone that stopped by the Just Berry's Ice Cream booth at Salem Days. It was good to meet a lot of people who were just as excited about good food, and raspberry sauce, as we are!

Hopefully we'll be able to do this again because personally I fell in love with pralines and cream ice cream topped with raspberry sauce! Though it was pretty good slathered on zucchini bread too.

Our berries are still coming on strong, in fact we're heading into what we feel will be the heaviest part of our harvest over the next few weeks, so get orders turned in to Dave - click the orders button and all the information about pricing and who to call is right there!

Jana Brown
Maker of zucchini bread

Carolyn' First Picking

2008-08-08T06:48:00.000-07:00

So, last Saturday was my first picking.

It was an early morning, but the family company is great. The berries are really starting to turn on now, and it's quite inspiring. Farm raspberries are much taller and more orderly than home raspberries. The berries themselves are HUGE, and varieties differ in size of berry and how easily they pull off the plant.

However, I'm going to wander away from berries and talk about the bugs. I will start with a disclaimer. I am the first generation raised off the farm. So you must excuse me for some agricultural naivete. The benefit, though, is that many of you readers have been raised off the farm, and you can share my discoveries. Now, back to the berries and bugs.

While picking raspberries, I was introduced to some of the "livestock"out in the field. They are the good, the bad, and the untouchables. The "good" honeybees are our friends. We have been advised by the beekeeper to wear light-colored clothing so they won't confuse us with bears. No, I'm not kidding. Sometimes, Mom will sing when she gets near the hive to further distinguish herself from large furry forest carnivores. Bees are remarkable animals (that make excellent honey!), but they could be a stinging problem!

The "bad" news are the stinkbugs. Every few berries, you'll find some white segments of the berry, which are probably damage from these little guys. They must be thrown on the ground to be squashed (the bugs not the berries!).

The berries with too many damaged "drupelets" are used for r&d testing. More on raspberry damage can be found here. The "untouchables" are the ones that get away too fast. Like the grasshoppers. We are training the cats to eat them. There aren't too many, but they like to taunt us. I understand why the early Utah pioneers loved the seagulls... they ate the grasshoppers!

That's it for me and the bugs. Salem Days, here we come!

Carolyn Christiansen

Bug hunter!

Salem Days Reminder

2008-08-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

Reminder! Just Berrys Farms will be at Salem Days serving ice cream sundaes with fresh raspberry sauce on August 8 and 9th, that's THIS Friday and Saturday!

Come on down and pay us a visit!

Just follow your nose!

Jana Brown

Coming Soon to a Salem Days Near You!

2008-07-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

SALEM DAYS AUGUST 8 - 9

We'd like to encourage everyone to come to Salem Days! In addition to the greats events and feeling of community, we will be giving Salem a "taste" of JustBerrys on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. BYU dairy ice cream... raspberry topping... hot fudge... you can't go wrong! Come visit our booth! We'd love to talk to you!

For more information about Salem Days, we invite you to visit http://www.pondtown.org/ and look at the links on the lower lefthand, under "Salem Days."

Carolyn Christiansen
Who likes raspberries on ice cream

So here we are

2008-07-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome and hello from the Cornaby Farmers here at Just Berrys Farms. We're glad you found us! As you can see our webpage is in process of being perfected and just about the time we get it how we like it we'll likely change it all over again! Such is the way of the internet world, but it keeps us busy. Well, that and tending the raspberry plants and taming wild farm kittens, like the one in this picture.

We're not sure who's the cutest, the kitten or the one holding it. His wife assures us it's the man involved. :)

Anyway, the Just Berry's blog is intended to do several things. First of all it's a place for us to share a little bit about ourselves and the farm we run. This is a family business started up by brother and sister Dave Cornaby and Janet Stocks, and their various children and grandchildren. Mostly the grandchildren are the chief taste testers of all things raspberries, but it's an important job and they're so darn cute!

The Cornaby's come from generations worth of farmer stock and we're dedicated to taking care of the land that we live on, as well as producing the best raspberries in the state of Utah. We work hard to keep abreast of the best farming techniques and may occasionally talk about those here.

In addition we're a family dedicated to making food which is both nutritious and absolutely delicious. So we'll share facts about raspberries in specific, cooking in general, and have plans to demonstrate some of our favorite recipes with pictures and instructions so you can follow along!

If you have specific questions that you'd like answered please email us at justberrys@gmail.com and we'll do our best to make sure you're taken care of.

Finally we'll post up information about how the season is going and where you can find or order raspberry products to bring into your own home. There are links on the main page for most of this, but we'll post reminders here.

So there you have it. Our first blog post. :) Stay tuned for more. We'll be coming to you two to three times a week and you can always toss us on your RSS feed.

Jana Brown
She who likes raspberries on warm wheat bread!