Marinara Sauce

My friend Heather M. gave me this recipe because I have SOO many tomatoes from the garden this year and I am sick of making salsa so . . . . ya.  I haven't yet used it for anything, but it tastes amazing!!!  She says you can use it for spaghetti, stuffed shells, lasagna, any pasta really.  I am going to try it with meatballs and stuffed peppers later this week.  She also says you can either bottle it or freeze it.  I will be freezing because that is how I roll.  ha ha.

In a large stockpot, saute:
4 med. onions, diced really small (about 3 cups)
4 cloves of garlic
2 T olive oil (she said any cooking oil will work as well)

Once onions are soft add:
10-16 C diced tomatoes (I did 12 because that is what I had)
1 T oregano
1 T basil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Let come to a boil reduce heat and simmer for 3 hours.  The longer the better.  Before you store and cool, take a emulsion blender and make everything nice and smooth!  Once cool, store and freeze! 

When ready to use just use as is or add ground beef or Italian sausage!  Yummy!  I am wishing I had even more tomatoes so I could make a whole freezer full!

Chicken Stock

Ps. With my leftover chicken carcass (ha ha), drippings, and etc I made a chicken stock.

I boiled all the leftovers in a stockpot for about 3-4 hours, drained it, and put all the extra chicken back in for a yummy chicken noodle soup. Season accordingly!

How's that for directions?

Fruit Pizza

Crust:
1/4 C shortening
1/4 C sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

Mix shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Blend well. Add flour, vaking powder, and salt. Cover and chill in freezer 10-15 minutes. Press onto greased pizza pan. Roll or cul up the edges of the crust like a pizza to prevent edges from burning. Bake at 375 F for 10 minutes. Watch carefully so it doesn't burn!


Cream Cheese Topping:
4 oz. cream cheese
1/4 C sugar
Blend well

Lemon Sauce Topping:
1 TB cornstarch
1/2 C sugar
pinch of salt
2 TB lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
1 drop yellow food coloring

Thoroughly mix the cornstarch, sugar and salt. Stir in 1 C boiling water. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring constantly, then simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add lemon juice, rind, and food coloring. Makes about 1 cup.

Fruit Pizza:
Spread cream cheese on cooled crust, then spread lemon sauce over the cream cheese. Then add your favorite fruit to make it beautiful and delicious. Apples, mango, strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, mandarin oranges, etc. Be creative!

Jam!!!

I am always so proud of myself after I have made jam, I must admit it. :) With this special pectin it makes it soooo easy! You don't have to cook anything or wait for jars to be sealed at all! Soooo easy.

I can't exactly remember all the directions, because I threw the package away, but you can double check the back of the pectin package to be sure.

4 cups crushed, blended fruit of choice
1 1/2 C sugar
1 package Ball Freezer Jam Pectin

Combine sugar and pectin first. Then add crushed/blended fruit. We used strawberry and raspberry for this batch. Stir for 3 minutes then ladle into jars. Let sit for 30 minutes and it is ready to serve or freeze!

It made 6 jars shown above.

Salsa

I have never made salsa before this and I have to say this stuff was DANG good! All we used was this:

Plus a couple of other things like:
1 lb Roma tomatoes
1/2 red onion, diced
1 jalapeno (seeds optional, we used them)
1/4 C fresh, diced cilantro

We diced tomatoes and then put them in the processor to finish up. Then in a medium sized bowl add remaining ingredients + seasoning packet. Give it a stir and voila it's ready to serve. I thought that it got better overnight in the fridge.

Won Tons w/Sweet and Sour Sauce

This goes awesome with Thai Omelets!! My entire family loves these. All the kids too!! Too bad they don't know its really hamburger! This recipe is my in-famous won -ton recipe, which everyone loves and requests. :)

Sweet and Sour Sauce:
1 C sugar
1/4 C vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/2 C water
1 T ketchup
2 T cornstarch, mixed with a little water

In small pot add water, sugar, salt, and vinegar. On medium heat, slowly bring to boil. Once boiling, add ketchup and stir. Add cornstarch mixture gradually, stirring constantly until it thickens.
Remove from heat and let cool. Best served cold.

1 lb ground beef
1 tsp salt
2 T minced onion
1 tsp fish sauce
1 egg
3 T+ coriander (I like it so I usually use almost 4 T)
dash of pepper
1 package won ton skins

Mix all ingredients with the raw hamburger. Place 1 tsp and ONLY 1 tsp of meat mixture on the center of won ton skin. Dip your finger in warm water and rub on two of the outside edges of the won ton. Like this:
Then fold the won ton in half diagonally. The water will be like glue and hold the two sides together. Gently make sure all air bubbles are gone inside.
(Sorry these two pics are blurry - my hands were messy and I didn't take as much time with it) Then grab both lower ends of triangle and crunch up like this:Deep fry in oil for about 3-5 minutes or until golden brown. It's always a good idea to cut one in half and make sure the hamburger is cooked through. ENJOY!!!! So yummy!!

Chocolate Chocolatey Frosting

Chocolate Frosting
1 softened stick of butter
4 T cocoa
5 T milk
3 C powdered sugar

Mix well. If too runny, add more powdered sugar. If to thick add a little milk.

Buttermilk Syrup

This goes great with the Huffy Puffy listed below :) Just ignore the ingredients called "sugar and fat" and enjoy.

1 1/2 C sugar
3/4 C buttermilk*
1/2 C butter
2 T corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract

In saucepan, combine sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup, and soda. Bring to boil and let boil for 7 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Serve warm.

*buttermilk substitute = 1 T lemon juice for every cup of milk