Home Garden Pasta Sauce

Pasta Sauce

This recipe is based on a full stock pot, ( pot size approx: 9”tall by 11” diameter) if you only have enough tomatoes for half a pot you will need to adjust your spices & cut in half the bell pepper and onion amount also.

Ingredients:

Roma tomatoes (you will need enough to fill a stock pot to within 3 inches from the top of pot.) You can mix tomato varieties if you do not have all Roma tomatoes. Ramos are best.

6-7 green bell peppers

2-3 large onions

Dehydrated garlic slices or roasted garlic (add to your liking.)

Spices include:

Dried Oregano 3 Tbsp.

Garlic salt 1 Tbsp. & Course salt 1 Tbsp.

Granulated sugar 2-3 Tbsp.

Ground cumin 2 Tbsp.

Chili powder 2 Tbsp.

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

Keep in mind that these spices are a beginning balance; you can add or take away the amounts listed according to your liking. You can also add other spices that are not on this list if you wish. It’s all according to your taste.

Directions:

Wash all vegetables thoroughly. Chop vegetables into smaller pieces, then using a food processor, process tomatoes (I do not skin my tomatoes), bell peppers, and onions till vegetables are almost minced. Place processed vegetables in the stock pot, add all spices and place stock pot on medium high heat. Let sauce cook and come to a simmer, not a hard boil. When sauce is simmering taste to see if you want to add any more spices, or salt or sugar. When sauce is to your liking, continue to simmer for about 10 min.

Place sauce in hot sterilized jars, place clean sterilized lids and rings on and hand tighten, but do not over tighten. Process jars in water bath canner for approx. 20-30 min. according to altitude for your area.

Dinner Rolls

Yum, Yum, Good! these dinner rolls are soft and delicious. You can find the recipe on Eat Cake for Dinner blog. Click the link for this blog on my blog list.

Button Cookies

I love shortbread cookies and sugar cookies, there are many ways to decorate them and many extra ingredients to add to the dough. But here is a cute gift for the seamstress or tailor in your life. "Button Cookies" how clever. These would be nice wrapped up in one of those charming sewing baskets along with some sewing notions.

Delicious Halloween Cake

This is a gorgeous cake! It looks easy to do, I'm assuming that you could use boxed cake mix, and cream cheese frosting with orange food coloring, and a chocolate drizzle style frosting to drizzle over the top.

Going Classy with Salad

This is a neat way to take a salad to a potluck dinner or picnic. You can make your own fancy label to place around the container as you see here.

Squaghetti

This is Squaghetti and it is very tasty. If you like spaghetti but shouldn't be eating pasta, just substitute yellow summer squash or italian zucchini or even eggplant cut julienne style.
Make your favorite spaghetti sauce or open a jar of your favorite sauce add meat if you like and top with some Parmesan cheese.
here is the recipe:



Squaghetti
summer squash cut julienne style
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
olive oil
Spaghetti sauce, with/or without meat
Parmesan cheese
Sautee' squash in skillet with olive oil and minced garlic until crisp tender aprox. 3-4 min.
Place squash on dinner plate and top with sauce and cheese.
Serve with bread, and salad.

Red Pepper Jelly

Wow! Wow! Wow!
This is incredible tasting. Get your favorite cracker, I like Ritz, put some cream cheese on the cracker and a dollop of the red pepper jelly and Wow! This makes a great snack or appetizer before dinner. After you make the jelly pour into sterilized pint size jars or half pint size and seal them by using the water bath canner or steam canner method and process for about 7-8 minutes.
Each batch makes aprox 6 / 80z. jars.
This also makes a good Christmas gift. Place a pkg of cream cheese and a pkg of crackers in a cute basket along with a jar or two of the red pepper jelly.
Red Pepper Jelly
3 large red bell peppers
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
5 cups sugar
1 pkg. liquid Certo
Directions: Chop red peppers in a food processor or vita mix. In large cooking pot place two cups of the chopped red peppers and all the juice, add the vinegar and salt and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 10 min.
Stir in the 5 cups of sugar, return to a rolling boil uncovered and stir for 1 min. Remove from heat and immediately stir in the liquid certo, stir 5 more minutes to blend.
Pour jelly into sterilized jars wipe rim clean and seal in a water bath canner for aprox 7-8 min.
Enjoy!

Pumpkin Crunch

This is a quick holiday recipe that's really good for a crowd pleaser.
1 box yellow cake mix
1- 15oz. can of pumpkin
1- 12oz. can evaporated milk
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsps salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350*
Grease a 13x9 dish
Combine pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, & salt in large bowl. Pour into bottom of baking dish. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over top of pumpkin mixture and top with chopped pecans. Drizzle melted butter over top, this makes the top crunchy. Bake 50-55 min. or until golden brown. Top with whipped cream.

Sana Anna Salsa

This is my homemade salsa concoction I canned 15 pint jars today. I'm planning on doing 15 more jars tomorrow. I made this salsa to not only eat with chips but to use in soup, chili, stew, pouring over rice and as a topping on fish and chicken.
The reason I call this Sana Anna Salsa, is because that was a nick name my mom use to call me when I was little.
Here is the recipe:
This amount makes 15-18 pint jars.
Process each batch in a water bath canner for 15 min. You should be able to get 5 to 6 jars per canner load depending on the size of your canner.
and leave a 1/2" head space in each jar.
20 Large Tomatoes aprox. 12 lbs.
2-3 Jumbo size Sweet yellow onions like (Walla Walla)
7 Large Green Bell Peppers
two 6oz. cans of Hunt's 100% natural tomato paste
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsps. granulated sugar
4 tsps. garlic Salt
5 tsps. ground cumin
6 Tbsps. chile powder
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 Tbsps. course salt
1 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 lime (squeeze it and use all the juice and the zest. the zest is the outer peel shredded finely. Shred first then squeeze.)
2 fat bunches of fresh cilantro, washed and spun dry in a salad spinner, then chopped.
Directions:
Wash all produce well. Process tomato's, onion's and bell peppers in a vita mix on low speed or in a food processor until vegetables are finely chopped.
In a very large enamel pot, place chopped veggies, and all the rest of the ingredients (except cilantro, which will be added last) mix well and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for about 2 min. Take pot off burner and add chopped cilantro. Stir well. Then fill jars with salsa within 1/2" from rim. Place hot lids on jars and screw down the lids (hand tighten.) Do not over tighten. Process in water bath canner for 15 min. per batch.

Cherry Jam

Today Greg and I canned 12 jars of cherry jam. We bought 25 pounds of bing cherries at a dollar a pound. We froze 4 quart bags, saved about 10 pounds to eat fresh, and made jam out of the rest.
The ingredients are simple, for each batch you need 4 cups of pitted, chopped cherries, 1/4 cup lemon juice, one box of pectin and 5 cups of sugar.
When you buy the box of pectin the recipe is in the box and the instructions. You water bath the jam for 5 minutes, remove from canner and let jars cool. While one batch is in the canner you can be getting the next batch ready.
It's satisfying to see the fruits of our labors.

Baked Halibut with Spinach and Wild Rice

I love fish, like this delicately light tender halibut on a bed of warmed spinach with wild rice.
I purchased this wild, fresh halibut at Costco. Halibut seems to be a little pricey compared to Salmon. But when the price is right it is so worth the "Melt in your Mouth" experience.
Here is what you will need:
Halibut steaks or filets enough to feed your family.
Fresh Spinach enough to make a salad bed under each steak/filet.
Fresh Tomatoes, sliced
1 bottle of creamy vidalia Onion Vinaigrette salad dressing. (Oak Hill Farms brand, available at Costco.) or any similar type dressing.
Salt for seasoning
Mixed herb seasoning blend that would include: dried onion, garlic, basil, Thyme, pepper, Red bell pepper, orange peel, lemon peel. If you cannot find a pre-blended mix like this, find something close, or get them individually. The brand I use is: "Aromatica Organics" I have found this at Costco before, or visit their website: http://www.aromaticaorganics.com/ to find a retailer close to you.
1 TBsp. Olive oil
butter
Wild Rice
Directions: Line a shallow pan with foil. Place halibut on the pan and place several slices of butter on top the steaks/filets. Sprinkle salt and herb blend over top of halibut. Pour three to four tablespoons of water into the pan around the fish and then cover with foil. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 1 hour.
While halibut is baking, prepare your favorite wild rice (I use the "Near East" Brand).
Then sort and clean the fresh spinach using a salad spinner. Set aside.
Slice the tomatoes and set aside. Remove foil from halibut about 8 minutes before end of baking.
As soon as halibut comes out of the oven, heat the olive oil on med-high in a non-stick skillet. Place fresh spinach in skillet and toss to coat with oil, warm the spinach for aprox. 15 seconds tossing constantly. Do Not Wilt the Spinach. Transfer spinach from pan immediately onto plates. Place the halibut steaks/filets on top spinach. Place sliced tomatoes on top halibut and drizzle the vidalia Onion dressing over the top of the halibut and spinach. Place wild rice on the side. Enjoy! This is a mild tasting dish, it is not overly seasoned, if you wish more seasoning or salt then add accordingly.

Gourmet Chocolate Mint Cookies

These cookies are sooooooo goooood!

With a true gourment taste.

Here is the recipe:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup unsweetened Hershey's Cocoa

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

4 oz. bar of German Chocolate for baking

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup mint chips

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In medium size bowl stir together the flour, cocoa, soda, salt, set aside.

Melt the German Chocolate with butter in the microwave in 30 sec. intervals and stir each time until all is melted and mixed well (break chocolate up into small pieces first) set aside.

In large bowl mix: sugar, eggs and vanilla together then slowly add the chocolate mixture and stir well. Slowly add the flour mixture and then fold in the mint chips.

Using a cookie scoop or small ice cream scoop drop onto ungreased teflon type cookie sheet or use parchment paper on your cookie sheet and bake about 12-14 minutes. Let cool on sheet slightly before transfering to cooling rack.

Makes aprox. 2 1/2 dozen.

Potato & Broccoli, Cheese Soup

This is my own concoction, and has a very gourmet taste. It's great served with homeade rolls or bread. For a nice slow simmering soup with great flavor, cook soup in an 8 qt. dutch oven, such as "Le Creuset" (shown above) This recipie serves 6-8 people, and tastes wonderful the next day too.

3 quarts chicken broth (12 cups)

3 quarts cubed potatoes (about 9 med-large size)

3 cups chopped fresh broccoli

1/2 tsp. Garlic Pepper

1 tsp. Garlic salt

1 tsp. Salt

3/4 cup Sour cream

1 cup shredded fresh parmesan cheese

Directions:

Place broth in dutch oven. Place peeled and cubed potatoes and chopped broccoli in dutch oven. Sprinkle in the garlic pepper, garlic salt, and salt. Place dutch oven on stove top and turn heat to med-high stirring all ingredients well, until soup comes to a gently boil. Reduce heat to low and let soup simmer until potatoes are tender, about 45 min. to 1 hour. When potatoes are tender, add the sour cream and cheese and stir well till melted into soup. Cook an additional 2 to 3 min. and turn heat off under dutch oven. Serve hot in large soup bowls.

Pennsylvania Dutch Cinnamon Rolls

This recipie was altered from a recipe in the book titled "America's Bread Book" by: Mary Gubser (which by the way is a great bread book, with 300 recipies collected on a 65,000 mile journey by Mary through all 50 states) Her recipie was for sticky buns, I changed it to cinnamon rolls, and used fresh ground white wheat. If you do not have access to a grain grinder just use all purpose flour.
Dough
1 c warm water
2 pkgs. active dry yeast = 4 1/2 tsps.
1 c warm milk, can use evaporated milk mixed with a little water
1/2 c melted butter or vegetable shortening
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsps. salt
2 eggs beaten
7 cups of freshly ground white wheat (aproximately) this will vary depending on elevation, and individual batches.

Combine water sugar and yeast in large mixing bowl, stirring until dissolved. Add milk, butter, salt and eggs and blend well. Stir in 3 cups of flour to make a smooth batter. Gradually add enough flour to form a soft workable dough that is not too sticky. Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 min. (If dough seems to sticky add small amounts of flour at a time while kneading.) Add only enough flour as needed, this may or may not require all 7 cups, and it could require more than 7 cups.
Round dough into a ball and place in a large greased bowl covered with a kitchen towel and let rise for 1 hour till doubled in size.
While dough is rising, prepare the following:
Cinnamon Sugar mixture
Mix 2 tsps. of cinnamon with 1 cup of granulated sugar.
In a small microwavable dish melt 1 cube of butter.
Making the rolls
When dough has risen till doubled, punch down and place dough ball on lightly floured surface.
knead 2 to 3 min. and let rest for 10 min. While dough is resting, lightly grease a large jelly roll pan and set aside.
Divide dough in half and with rolling pin roll dough out on a lightly floured surface rolling dough into a rectangle aproximately 10"x 18". Using a pastry brush, brush a generous amount of melted butter over the surface of the dough, then sprinkle generously with cinnamon/sugar mixture. Start rolling dough from long side of rectangle and roll to the other long edge.
With a serated knife slice through the roll every 2"inches to create individual rolls and place rolls on greased jelly roll pan. Repeat the same process with other section of dough.
Place pan, filled with rolls, in a warm dry place and let rise till doubled in size. Place in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for 25 to 30 min. or until tops of rolls are medium golden brown.
While rolls are hot drizzle a generous amount of glaze over the tops of rolls.
Glaze
Mix 2 cups of powdered sugar with small amounts of water, added a little at a time, until glaze is at a consistency to drizzle (not frost) over rolls.

Vegetable Skillet Spaghetti

I developed this recipie after I realized that I had a problem with acidic foods, like cooked spaghetti sauce. This is my rendition of "Spaghetti"
and has now been a big hit with my family and friends.
1 lb pkg. Spaghetti
1 red bell pepper choped
1 orange bell pepper choped
1 yellow bell pepper choped
7 cups chopped broccoli
6 cloves of fresh garlic chopped
2 c. Precooked chicken strips, cubed
1/2 c. Olive oil
Garlic Pepper (McCormicks California Style)
Salt
1 cup shredded fresh parmesan cheese
Directions:
Precook spaghetti and set aside, or cook the night before and refrigerate till needed.
chop broccoli, bell peppers, garlic and chicken. Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet.
Saute' bell peppers and broccoli in olive oil with about 1/2 tsp. of salt. When vegetables
are crisp/tender add chopped garlic and 1 tsp. garlic pepper and saute' for 1 to 2 min.
Add chicken and saute' 1 to 2 min. more.
Add cooked spaghetti, 1/2 tsp. more of salt, 1 tsp. more of garlic pepper, and a little more olive oil if mixture seems too dry.
Toss mixture thoroughly and continue to toss and mix for 1 to 2 min. At this point you can add more salt or garlic pepper to your likeing, but don't overdue it.
Turn heat off under skillet and toss in the shredded cheese and again mix well.
Serve hot in wide shallow pasta dishes.
I will try to submit a photo of this dish later.

Popcorn Corn Bread

I've had several request for this recipe that is made with freshly
ground popcorn so here it is:

1/2 C. butter
2/3 C. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 C. freshly ground popcorn
1 C. all purpose flour
1 C. buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and set aside. In large mixing bowl mix sugar, eggs, and melted butter. Mix dry ingredients together and add to sugar and egg mixture adding the buttermilk and mix well, but do not overmix. Grease a 9x13 pan and pour batter in pan. Bake for aprox. 25 to 30 min.
Popcorn can be ground in a vitamix (dry container) 1/2 cup at a time, or in an electric grain grinder. If you do not have a grinder just use cornmeal from the grocery store.
This recipe can be doubled and baked in a large jelly roll pan.