Shareholders in Shalom

For the last several years our meeting for worship has handed out $10 bills to be invested in something that would raise money for peace work. Last year we sent several hundred dollars to a “Seeds for Peace” project in Bosnia. (I will find out the exact amount later..) Our offering went to buy seeds for Bosnian refugee farmers (Catholic and Muslim) to return to their villages and to begin growing food again…..together. This year our offerings will be sent to Kenya to finance an extra year of Alternatives to Violence training at the Friends Theological College.

Nancy B. and I used our money this year to use jalapenos from the Compassion Garden (see July Archives) to make Jalapeno Jelly. Thus far our $10 worth of sugar has profited close to $40 for this project. There is still more jelly available and more peppers for us to use to make more jelly. We are looking forward to reporting on the outcome of this year’s Shareholders project.

Below is the pepper jelly recipe and several ideas of how to use the jelly, including our favorite…..corn and cheese biscuits.

JALAPENO JELLY
14 hot peppers (jalapeno)
4 sweet peppers (red)
3 c. white vinegar
10 c. sugar
2 packages pectin
2 tsp. red or green food coloring
Cut peppers. Discard seeds and stems. Use rubber gloves to handle peppers and please do not touch your eyes while handling peppers. Grind peppers in blender with vinegar. Move this mixture to a large pan and place on the stove burner. Add sugar, and bring to a boil. Boil for a full 5 minutes. Remove from heat and skim. Add 2 packages of pectin and food coloring and return to boil and boil hard for one minute. Pour into jars with canning lids while hot and seal while jelly is hot.

For an easy treat, try a combination of Wheat Thins(TM), cream cheese and jalapeno jelly. The cream cheese and crackers are there to calm the nerve endings in your tongue so you can enjoy the blend of flavors and the spicy jelly. Just place a block of cream cheese on a festive plate and pour the jelly over it. Put the crackers within reaching range, but not close enough that they get soggy from the jelly. In addition to being great for dipping with crackers, it's great on toast, bagels and cream cheese, or as a ham or chicken glaze. A real luxury is serving coconut shrimp with the pepper jelly.

CORN AND CHEESE BISCUITS
3 c. flour
1 c. corn meal
4 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. soda
½ tsp. salt
1 c. butter or margarine
1 c. shredded cheese
2- 12 oz. cans of whole corn, drained or 10 oz. pkg of frozen corn
1 c. buttermilk or sour cream

In medium bowl stir together flour, corn meal, baking powder, soda and salt. Cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles course crumbs. Stir in cheese. Mix and set aside. Stir buttermilk and corn together. Add corn mix all at once to flour mix. Stir until just moistened, turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Quickly knead gently for 10-12 strokes. Pat out into a smooth circle about ¾ inch thick. Cut with biscuit cutter. Can be frozen at this point. Place biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet and bake in 450 degree oven for 12-15 minutes (15 minutes if frozen). Serve hot with pepper jelly.