PASTA SAUCE

I am so thankful to be blessed with a bountiful garden this year. We have been gathering fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions, green beans  and more! There is nothing better than the taste of a tomato fresh off the vine still warm from the sun! But even I can't eat all those tomatoes! How wonderful to be able to make something we need and want from that bounty - pasta sauce! 

Use fresh ingredients

If you want to put up some of your own sauce, first make sure all your vegetables are clean. Then cut out any bad spots and the stems of course. I use a food processor for the chopping. I have a pulse option and that helps a lot.  

Chop and measure

After two hours of simmering  and stirring, followed by 40 minutes of a boiling water bath, we have the finished product! The recipe made six quarts of really delicious pasta sauce! Of course I've already given a jar to my Dahling Daughter Dayna.  But have no fear. You too may enjoy this delicacy.  I am sharing the recipe here so you may try your hand at this too! If you don't have a garden, surely you can find a farmer's market for the best ingredients! Or...make a midnight run on my garden.  Ha! Ha! Ha!

The finished product waiting for my next meal!

I have to thank my sister-in-law Lynn for her authentic Italian family recipe! Here is the recipe if you would like to make some of your own!

Lynn's Family Recipe

If you can't read the fine print, let me know and I'll email the recipe to you.  Always follow safe food handling precautions when canning. Note that her recipe says you can freeze this sauce if you don't have a pot for processing your jars.

SALSA!

Homemade salsa is a labor of love…and I enjoy sharing my labors – for a fee of course! My fee varies depending on who is asking. ;-) 

We are so blessed that our garden has produced plenty of ripe tomatoes already! We dug up our onions and even picked jalapenos.  Fortunately, I had too many bell peppers at the end of last season and had those chopped up and frozen.  It’s so nice to know where and how my salsa was grown – in my own back yard!

The first step of canning is to make sure everything is clean.  Wash and sterilize the jars you will be using. Place the jar lids and rings in boiling water just before you are ready to fill the jars.

SALSA
Thanks for this recipe goes to Joni my long, lost neighbor and friend!

4-5 onions
2 bell peppers
9-11 jalapeno peppers with seeds
¾ cup sugar
1 cup white vinegar
3 tablespoons salt
8 to 12-oz tomato paste (depending on your preference for thick salsa)
Approximately 22 medium tomatoes un-peeled
Chop in food processor until chunky.

I put all these ingredients in a 6-quart pan and put the tomatoes in last to fill the pan.

Bring to a boil and gently simmer 30-40 minutes stirring occasionally.

Fill jars to within 1/2 inch. Clean the jar rims and then place lids and rings on just finger tight.

Process filled jars in boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

If you would like more detailed information on canning, the Internet is full of helpful tips.

GROSS!

Did the previous owners of this house use the Jacuzzi tub as an aquarium?  Or had the house sat vacant so long the residual water in the tub’s pipes just mildewed? Or what? Maybe I don’t want to know! 

What I do know, is that we emptied our hot water heater into that tub six times trying to clean it! I followed directions of using Cascade and bleach mixed in the water as I ran the jets to clean out the pipes.  

Running jets with Cascade to clean out the pipes

We finally decided that the gunk was being re-circulated and deposited in the pump and pipes each time.  But, there were fewer gunk particles each time I cleaned it, especially after I started using a fine mesh dip net to scoop out that "stuff".  

Thin cloth to cover filter.

But the real brainstorm came when JoPapa thought about covering the water intake with a filter! So…using a piece of tea towel and a rubber band to hold it in place, the particles are finally got filtered out of the water!  

Captured particles.

So, I let it rest a bit before adding the bleach to sanitize it for the last time, I hope!  We are looking forward to enjoying the hot water and jets on those poor sore muscles! Now, if you've seen all the projects JoPapa has finished around here, you know he has earned a nice soak!

One more thing... I know I promised to write about all fun things, and for me, the sense of accomplishment in cleaning is fun! 

Now you know way too much about me, right? My hope is that if you are having trouble cleaning your jetted tub, JoPapa's idea of putting a filter over the intake will make your cleaning more fun too!

BOOK READING FUN TURNS INTO COOKIES

Me and My Shadow have been enjoying our volunteer time at the middle school.  JoPapa was able to start volunteering weeks ago.  I had been delayed in joining this worthy cause due to my fall from Grace (my pet name for my step ladder).  But now that I’m recovered enough to sit for an hour or so with my foot on the ground, I get to join the fun of listening to these students read to us. Sharon Fairlie from Smithville United Methodist Church asked for volunteers from the church and we accepted the invitation.  That was about the time I fell from Grace. In the past weeks, the volunteers who have been there every day have made believers of the administrators there. The reading tests showed the 6th grade students’ reading skills have improved.  So the program was expanded to also include the 7th grade reading class. 

So here’s where reading turns into cookies. One of  the students I have been reading with did not grasp the significance of the passage in Touching Spirit Bear, the book we were reading.  The parole officer in this story had the adolescent taste flour, salt, soda, molasses, egg, and water.  Each ingredient was not especially tasty but some were even down right bitter tasting. But when combined…a delicious molasses cake resulted.  It was a metaphor for life! We have to take the bitter with the sweet. When I explained it like that, her “light bulb” came on and she comprehended.  Which bitter ingredient should we leave out? Each ingredient is a necessary component to making the end product - even a fall from Grace!

This story  inspired me to make these molasses cookies. 


MOLASSES COOKIES

1/3 cup Crisco
½ cup sugar
1 egg
½ cup molasses
½ cup water
1 tsp. ginger
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. soda
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. cloves
½ tsp. cinnamon

Beat shortening, sugar, egg, molasses and water. Blend in dry ingredients. Chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheet. Bake 8 minutes or until almost no imprint remains when touched with finger.

Almost no imprint remains

Remove from cookie sheet and cool. When cookies are completely cool frost each cookie with:

Butter Cream Frosting

3 Tbl. soft butter
1 ½ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
about 1 ½ Tbl. milk

Blend powdered sugar and butter. Stir in vanilla and milk. Beat until frosting is smooth.

Cooled cookies with butter cream frosting

I don't think these cookies will ship very well with the frosting, but I could be convinced to ship some sans frosting. Or maybe you'll make some for your family tonight? They are light, cake like, sweet and spicy! 

Enjoy!

POTATO CASSEROLE

I am able to stand! I can be in the kitchen preparing dishes for my family and friends to enjoy! I get to do fun stuff and blog again! Lucky you! You get to read what’s going on in Peg’s Pantry!

This potato casserole is a favorite dish that is often requested for family gatherings.  We crave this cheesy potato casserole every holiday and of course this Easter was no exception.  I tasted this dish for the first time at a Dinner-for-Eight get together more than 20 years ago and it made a lasting impression. (Interesting side note, these hash browns used to come in a 32 oz bag. So depending on the crowd I'm expecting, I either use just 28 ounces or I buy two bags and add more potatoes.  Either way, I don't alter the rest of the recipe.) This is a wonderful side dish that can be prepared ahead of time and then baked when needed. It feeds a crowd and for that reason I don’t make it when it is just for Me and My Shadow.  

You'll notice that I substituted crushed Corn Chex for the cornflake topping.  That's due to poor planning on my part for not having the listed ingredients on hand, but it was very tasty and crunchy. I think I'll make it with Corn Chex next time too. We eat Corn Chex, especially when I make it in Puppy Chow, but that's another day's blog!


POTATO CASSEROLE

28 oz bag hash browns (potatoes O’Brian already have the onion included)
½ cup melted butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
12 oz. grated cheddar
8 oz sour cream
1 tsp salt
½ small onion diced (skip if using O’Brian style)

Topping – mix together
2 cups crushed corn flake crumbs
¼  cup melted butter

Place thawed potatoes in 9 x 13 baking dish. Mix other ingredients except topping and pour over potatoes. Cover with corn flake crumb topping.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until heated through

Maybe next fall, I will experiment by putting this casserole up in several smaller containers to freeze for the future so we can take out just what we need instead of freezing the leftovers. To make it in smaller portions, I won’t thaw the potatoes, instead I’ll pour the toppings over the frozen hash browns, seal each baking dish tightly and freeze.  I would then need to thaw it in the refrigerator before baking. I’ll let you know if I follow through on that project.  Or maybe you will try this recipe and let me know if it works to put it in smaller portions.

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

I discovered the most delicious and simple way to make muffins! Sunday morning, I often bake something special for breakfast.  This week, I decided to experiment with my blueberry yogurt. I think I get a bit more protein and calcium in the end product by using yogurt instead of milk.

So here’s what I did:  I mixed two cups of Bisquick, one egg, and two 6 ounce containers of yogurt together, stirred in about a cup of frozen blueberries (no, I didn't wait for them to thaw), and made the best tasting, lovely textured muffins!  I am already missing my blueberry bushes.  Maybe we'll plant new ones here so I can have blueberries on hand next year too?


BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

2 cups Bisquick baking mix
2 6 oz. Containers of blueberry yogurt
1 egg
1 cup blueberries

Mix all ingredients together.  Spoon into paper-lined muffin tins. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.  Serve hot with butter! 

These have tasted very good frozen and reheated too.

Last week, I mixed blueberry yogurt and Bisquick together and made drop biscuits. They were really tasty too! By adding the egg, the texture changes into muffins!

Let me know if you try either of these experiments too.  I imagine any flavor or even non-flavored yogurt would be good! 

WHY ME LORD?

I am so blessed! Why me Lord? I ask that all the time.  I have so much and am so grateful! Days like yesterday, give me pause to give thanks! We are settling into our new home, we have all we need, and the sun is shining! Thank you, Lord!

It was so much fun to enjoy cooking dinner with Dayna last night too! She can easily get here after work and we chatted the hours away! Then she took a plate of food for Travis’ dinner too! 

Yesterday, I saw a FB post about baking garlic biscuits in a ring and they looked like the perfect accompaniment for our baked chicken, potato casserole and green bean dinner (aren't you hungry now?)  The recipe I saw called for canned biscuits and a bundt cake pan, but since I didn't have access to either of those (I don’t keep canned biscuits around and the bundt cake pan is still in a box), we improvised!  I do keep Bisquick baking mix, and Dayna showed me how to use a round cake pan with an inverted bowl in the center for a make-do bundt-ish type pan.  The results were just great!  Next time, I think we'll also mix in a cup of grated cheddar cheese. I need the calcium!

Mixing ingredients

We used the Bisquick recipe for family-sized biscuits, rolled that into a log, and sliced eight biscuits. Then we melted 4 tablespoons of butter and mixed in 1 teaspoon of onion powder, and 1 teaspoon of chopped garlic. She used Pam to spray the baking dish, then dipped each biscuit, and placed them in the pan. 

Clever use of inverted bowl inside the pan to make a ring of biscuits!

 Then she scooped the rest of the garlic and butter over the top of the biscuits.  She put the pan in the oven to bake for 15 minutes and came out beautifully delicious! 

Golden and delicious!

See what I mean? Why me Lord? I get to enjoy dinner while watching the sunset in my new house with my sweet hubby and my dahling daughter, Dayna.  A perfect way to end the day. Thank you Lord!