Tomato Butter

5 quarts (20 cups) peeled, seeded tomatoes
3 medium onions
2 cups vinegar
3 cups brown sugar
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp allspice
1 tbl salt

Grind tomatoes and onions.  Combine vinegar, sugars, spices, and salt in heavy stainless or enameled pan; bring to a boil, stirring until sugars dissolve.  Add tomatoes and onions and simmer over low heat until thick, stirring frequently to prevent sticking or burning.  Volume will reduce significantly as the mixture cooks and thickens.  Ladle into prepared canning jars, cap, and boiling water bathe for 20 minutes.  Makes about 5 pints.

Serve with the cracker of your choice; ours is Club Crackers.

______________________________

Apricot Sauce (for meats)

A sweet and sour sauce to serve with rice over chicken tenders, popcorn chicken, or meatballs

Makes approximately six pints

10 cups fresh apricots, pitted and sliced or diced
¼ cup lemon juice
Juice of 1 lime (approx 1/8 cup)
½ can pineapple tidbits, or hand-sliced chunks
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
1 large green pepper, seeded and diced
1 large onion, or 2 small to medium, diced or quartered and sliced
2 large, or 3 small, Roma tomatoes, diced
5 - 7 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbl chopped cilantro
1 tsp cumin
1 box regular pectin
1 cup brown sugar
4 to 5 cups granulated sugar (according to taste)
1 heaping tsp butter

(Note: Eliminate, increase, or decrease ingredients to suit your personal taste.)

Prepare canning jars.

No need to remove the tender skins of the apricots; pit and slice or dice.  Stir lemon and lime juices into the fruits to preserve color while you prepare the vegetables.  Place in stainless or enamel pot.

Add pineapple, jalapenos, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, and cumin.  Stir 1/4 cup granulated sugar into pectin, then add the pectin mixture to the pot.  Stir well.  Cook over medium-high heat to boiling, stirring frequently to avoid scorching.

Add remainder of sugars, granulated and brown, and butter.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Boil for 3 minutes, continuing to stir.  Remove from range top.

Ladle into jars, cap, and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
______________________________

Candied Dill Pickles

1 quart dill pickles (hamburger sliced, or you-slice whole)
1 tbl pickling spice
2 cups sugar
¼ cup vinegar

Drain pickles (slice, if you're using whole), then cover with cold water and soak for 10 minutes; drain again.

Put pickling spice in a triple layer of cheesecloth or a square of sturdy paper towel and bind with kitchen twine or a new rubber band.

Place pickles in a jar with a tight fitting lid, nestling the spice parcel in amongst them.  If you remove a few pickle slices (store separately for burgers), you can re-use the original jar.  You want enough space within the jar to allow for movement of the contents.

Pour sugar into the jar.  Pour vinegar over all.

Cap the jar and gently shake and roll to distribute the sugar and vinegar.

The sugar won't dissolve at this point, and there will be crystals stuck to the sides of the jar.  This is fine for now. 

Refrigerate.

At least once-a-day, gently shake and roll the jar to redistribute the undissolved sugar.  I recommend the shake-and-roll be done at least 3 times per day until all of the sugar is dissolved.  The original recipe for these candied dills suggests they are ready to eat on the 11th day, but we've eaten them on the 5th with no discernible difference.

Notes:  I usually make a double batch, because we're pickle pigs.  These photos result from using ¾ of a gallon of pickles, packed into two 2-quart pickle jars.  The original recipe called for 3 cups of sugar per batch, but I make it with 2 cups, and the only difference is in the amount of juice the pickles produce.  This requires that I do the shake-and-roll more than once daily, for a few pickle chips are above the liquid line, but saving a cup of sugar is, to me, worth the extra tending.  I use apple cider vinegar, because it's more healthful than white — not so much as to offset that dump truck full of sugar, but there you have it. Ü  These are no-fail pickles.

______________________________

Springerles

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsps anise extract

In a large bowl, beat eggs with sugar until fluffy-light and thick, about 5 minutes.

Stir in flour, soda, and anise extract, blending well to form a stiff dough.

Roll out, a half at a time, to about 1/4" (or less) thick. Cut with cookie cutter.

Bake on greased cookie sheet, 15 minutes in 300º oven. Immediately and carefully remove to racks to cool.

Notes: This is Grandma Boo's recipe, slightly amended. Hers were white, wonderful, and authentic, as she had a springerle rolling pin. Just as tasty, though, with dough colored according to one's whim and cut with cookie cutters of choice. These don't spread much on the sheet, tending to rise more than spreading. The thicker you roll your dough, the softer will be the cookies at the end of the baking time. A toothpick or blade can be used to mark unbaked cookies (veins on leaves, faces on people-shapes, feathers on turkeys), and markings will remain during baking.
______________________________

Oatmeal Cake

1½ cups water
1 cup quick oats
½ cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt

In large saucepan, bring water to boil. Remove from heat. Add oats and butter. Cover and let stand 15 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour thin batter into greased and floured 9-cup bundt pan or 9" tube pan. Bake at 350º for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out on serving plate.

Prick hot cake with fork and pour hot topping (recipe follows) over cake. Serve hot or cold.

Topping: ¼ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup butter, 1 tablespoon water, 1 teaspoon vanilla. Combine all ingredients in small saucepan; heat until butter is melted and sugar dissolved. Pour over hot cake.
______________________________

Cabbage Salad

1 bag shredded cabbage and carrots (cole slaw mix)
1 cucumber, peeled, quartered and sliced (opt)
1 tomato, diced (opt)
1 can corn, drained (opt)
3/4 cup (approx) bottled Italian salad dressing
1/3 cup (approx) granulated sugar

Mix and refrigerate; stir well and serve. The sugar will pull moisture, so the measure of "dressing" will increase. [We serve this salad in ramikens, so the dressing won't run all over our plates. ºÜº]

Since this came out of my head and into a bowl one day, I've never measured ingredients, and it should lend itself well to whatever additions, deletions, or adjustments may sound good to you and yours.
______________________________

Rat on a Stick

Marinate in teriyaki sauce for a few hours boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Thread each thigh lengthwise onto a water-soaked (so they won't catch fire), wooden skewer. Cook on the barbecue grill. Moist, tasty, tender and can be served and eaten on the skewer.

You can eliminate the skewers, in which case I guess they're just grilled rats.
______________________________

Taco Trick

If you'd like your taco meat to be like that of a Mexican fast food restaurant chain, after your meat is cooked and seasoned, run it through the food processor. Pulse until you get the consistency you want.

______________________________

Mother's Walnut Fudge Brownies

½ cup butter (1 stick)
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
½ tsp vanilla
¾ cup flour
¼ tsp salt
½ cup broken walnuts
Fudge Frosting

Melt butter and chocolate over low heat; cool slightly. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Bake in 8" x 8" greased pan at 375º, 25-30 minutes. Cool and frost.

Fudge Frosting: 3 cups powdered sugar, 1/8 tsp salt, 4½ tbls each of cocoa, very soft butter, and warm, strong coffee. Mix well. Spread over brownies and top with ¼ cup chopped walnuts.

Note: I double the brownie recipe and use one batch of frosting to frost both pans of brownies. There's plenty 'nough, and the brownies then aren't quite so gucky.

______________________________

Mock Mushrooms

1 sleeve saltines, coarsely crushed
1 can cream of mushroom soup (undiluted)
2 beaten eggs
1 small can mushroom pieces, drained
1 stick butter, divided

Mix together crushed crackers, soup, eggs, and mushroom pieces. Melt half stick of butter in non-stick skillet over medium heat. Drop mushroom mixture from well rounded tablespoon into skillet, spreading a tad to form patties. Brown on both sides. Remove. Wipe skillet with paper towel to remove remnant of butter and/or bits. Add other half stick of butter to skillet and repeat frying. (Or man two skillets at once. ºÜº)

______________________________

Cream Cheese Chicken

Pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts with a meat tenderizer to flatten.

Spread each breast piece with about 1½ tsps of softened butter and 2-3 tbls of softened cream cheese (enough to make a moderate coating on entire breast piece)

Sprinkle with thinly sliced green onions or with onion powder.

Roll breast pieces like jelly roll, beginning, though, at narrow end; wrap/wind a slice of raw bacon around each roll; secure with toothpicks.

Place bacon-wrapped chicken rolls in baking dish and bake uncovered in 350º oven about 35-40 minutes, or until done.

Chicken and bacon will give up some juices/fats, and cream cheese and butter will melt forth a bit from the rolls. Pour these drippings into a bowl and offer at the table with the chicken rolls.

______________________________

Chicken Casserole

1 chicken
2 tbls chopped onion
¼ cup chopped green pepper
¼ cup (½ stick) butter
1# Velveeta or 1 small jar Cheez Whiz
½ cup milk
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 small can mushrooms, drained (opt.)
1 small jar pimientos (opt.)
1 pkg. vermicelli or thin spaghetti, broken in thirds or fourths (bite-size pieces)

Boil chicken. Remove from water (do not dump water--leave in pot); debone; cut in bite-size pieces; set aside.

Melt butter in skillet. Add onions and green peppers; saute. Lower heat. Add cheese and milk to skillet and stir until cheese is melted and combined with milk. Add cream of mushroom soup. Stir to mix. (Opt.: Add drained mushrooms and pimientos.) Add chicken.

Leave over very low heat, stirring occasionally. Return to boil the water in which you cooked the chicken. Add broken vermicelli to boiling water. Cook; drain; return pasta to pot. Pour heated chicken-cheese sauce from skillet over pasta and stir to mix. Serve.

Note: Our family likes this dish prepared as above, however, you can increase milk and after all the ingredients are combined, bake it in a 350º oven in a casserole dish for 30 minutes if you like. In recent years, I've been making this casserole with American cheese and increasing the milk in a measure to create a creamy sauce. Leftovers reheat well in the microwave.

______________________________

Seafood Pasta Salad

½ cup mayonnaise (not salad dressing)
¼ cup ranch dressing
2 tbls parmesan cheese
2 cups (8 oz) rotini (corkscrew noodles)
1½ cups (8 oz) chopped imitation crabmeat
1 cup broccoli florets
½ cup chopped tomato
¼ cup green onion slices

Combine dressings and cheese; mix well. Cook broccoli in boiling water 3 minutes; drain and rinse in cold water to halt cooking. Combine all ingredients and toss with dressing.

Note: If salad seems too dry (pasta will absorb dressing), add more ranch dressing. I usually quadruple dressing, parmesan, broccoli; double rotini, crab, tomato, green onion. Make it to suit your taste.

______________________________

Dinner

"So what are you fixing for dinner tonight?" asked Mrs. Piecrust.

"Oh, I'm thinking about doing some lasagne sort of thing that isn't really lasagne."

"Ohh," she remarked, when I would have said something pretty offensive, like, "What!? What's that supposed to mean?" But Mrs. Piecrust has much better manners than I.

There's no recipe for the food items I slopped together ... mangled ... abused ... lovingly blended for dinner last night. Neither was there a good explanation for dinner being 45 minutes late (again).

Tip: When planning what time to begin preparing a meal, consider the bake time required after assembling ingredients. (I'm such a smart cook. I'm really on the ball in the kitchen.)

Before long, I'll be posting the recipe for Spasagne, which may help explain what happens in my kitchen. For now, I can tell you that last night's lasagne-sort-of-thing developed from a very large jar of Ragu that I'd opened and out of which I'd used what looked like maybe a cup of sauce? Hmm, I better be using the rest of that before it grows a salad in the jar or something.

So I browned some ground beef and glopped in a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic. I emptied that huge jar of Ragu into the skillet and set the heat to low. I dumped a container of cottage cheese in a bowl, took the lid off the parmesan cheese and got sort of carried away, throwing it all over the bowl, then added a couple of eggs. Liar. I didn't add the eggs. Son4 added the eggs. But I snatched the errant piece of egg shell which was about to become lasagne surprise on someone's dinner plate. And I set a package of noodles a-boil: noodle noodles. You know, those thin, skinny, curvy little things about 2" long.

['Xcuse me here, while I have a little hysterical breakdown over what happens in my kitchen. Moments ago, as I sat typing, there came repeated knocking and thumping sounds from the vicinity of the kitchen. I finally decided I should investigate. Maybe the cat was closed in the abyss (don't even ask). Maybe he'd gotten into my closet (which is in the kitchen). Maybe the bread machine was walking off the counter as it kneaded. (We'll visit the bread machine again momentarily.) So I checked the abyss -- no cat. My closet -- no cat. Bread machine -- firmly planted on the countertop, and working like a dawg. I glanced around the kitchen and had a sudden, overwhelming fear that I'd closed the cat in the dishwasher...which was surely into the rinse cycle by now. I raced to the dishwasher, yanked open the door, and peered inside. Dishes. Lots and lots of dishes. No room for a fat cat. I don't know what was making the sounds, but it didn't matter after I was sure I hadn't killed the cat...and began laughing hysterically at myself.]

Where were we? We were throwing things into a bowl with cottage cheese. ...I thawed some spinach, then smashed the dickens out of it with paper towels. (What is dickens, and why would it be in spinach? -- I'm sure I got it out, so don't worry.) Threw the spinach in with the cottage cheese. Parsley is green, and spinach is green -- stay with me here.

Then I layered noodles, cottage cheese glop, many fistfuls of mozzarella cheese, and meat sauce into a very large baking pan. Twice.

Then Charles walked in the door, ready for dinner ... which I slid into the oven, hoping that action would go unnoticed. It didn't. Thank the Lord for a patient, understanding, LONGSUFFERING husband, who knows his wife utterly stinks at all things mathematic, including approximations and time management. That "E" (yes, I'm that old -- E, S, M, I, F) in algebra hasn't done diddly for me -- EVER. Pi never helped with a pie, and that's just not right.

So I was going to do better today. We managed to close the textbooks before 3:00 p.m., having begun our studies early and worked with only a lunch break. I set the bread machine on the counter at 2:48, knowing I could measure and toss ingredients inside of 12 minutes and have hot bread at 6:00. French bread. Nice, hot French bread with warmed, leftover lasagne-sort-of. White bread is ready to eat in 3 hours. Potato bread is ready to eat in 3 hours. Pumpernickel bread is ready to eat in 3 hours. French bread ... French bread ... is ready to eat in 3 hours and 40 minutes!? Could ya just spit? *thwphfiiiit*

"Hi Honey, are you home? Would you like a little appetizer before dinner? ... What was that? Potato chips aren't appetizers? Want a graham cracker? How about a fistful of Cap'n Crunch? Know what? I didn't kill the cat today."

Almond Puff

½ cup butter, softened
1 cup flour
2 tbls water
-----
½ cup butter
1 cup water
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup flour
3 eggs
-----
glaze & sliced almonds, partly crushed

Cut ½ cup butter into 1 cup flour. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons water over mixture; mix with fork. Divide in half and use your hands to form cylindrical shapes with each half. On ungreased baking sheet, press and pat each half into a strip, 12" x 3". Strips should be about 3" apart on the baking sheet.

Heat oven to 350º.

In a medium saucepan, heat ½ cup butter and 1 cup water to rolling boil. Remove from heat and quickly stir in almond extract and 1 cup flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Beat in eggs, all at one time, until smooth. Divide in half; spread each half evenly over strips, covering completely.

Bake about 60 minutes or until topping is crisp and brown. Cool. Frost with glaze and sprinkle generously with part sliced and part crushed almonds. To serve, cut 1" slices and arrange on serving dish.

Glaze: Stir togeher 1½ cups powdered sugar, 2 tbls butter, softened, 1 to 1½ tsps almond extract, and 1 to 2 tbls warm water until smooth.

This presents well and is simpler to prepare than the directions might lead one to believe.

_______________________________

Cranberry Relish

4 cups fresh cranberries
1 orange, with peel
2 cups sugar
¼ tsp salt

Grind cranberries and orange. Add sugar and salt. Refrigerate and allow to meld overnight. This keeps very well over time.

______________________________

Cranberry Salad

2 cups fresh cranberries, ground
3 cups miniature marshmallows
¾ cup sugar
2 cups diced apples, do not peel
½ cup chopped walnuts
¼ tsp salt
1 cup whipping cream, whipped

Combine cranberries, marshmallows, and sugar. Cover and chill overnight. To serve, add apples, walnuts, and salt. Fold in whipped cream.

______________________________

Transparency

It has occurred to me that I'd said over at NottaLotta Acres that I would launch this blog by first posting our Thanksgiving feast recipes, and while I made a respectable beginning with Cream Cheese Corn, I also wasted no time at all switching to desserts. Can you tell what foods I deem important, what came to mind first?

Yes, we do have the thusfar posted pies, pastries, cookies, and candies during our annual, several-day feast. We also, though, have a mealtime spread which includes foods that aren't screaming CARBOHYDRATE. We sneak a little protein onto the table with a honkin' big turkey (or two) and even flick a green veggie into the mix. Will I get to claim the apples and cranberries as fruits, even after I've mixed them with marshmallows, sugar, and whipped cream?

When I realized the sweets were stacking high in the sidebar, it mildly cracked me up. And I thought I should just go ahead and put my own words to the obvious: she's a carb junkie. There will, however, come recipes which can make a respectable stand on the dinner table. Don't be surprised, though, if the number of them pales in comparison with the sweets.

Cinnamon Popcorn

Pop 3 bags of microwave popcorn.

Put 12 ozs cinnamon imperials (little, round, red hot candies) in 2-cup measuring cup, and fill the rest with granulated sugar.*

Pour into saucepan with 2 sticks of butter and ½ cup light corn syrup. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes, stirring often until candies dissolve, then stir occasionally.

Remove from heat. Stir in ½ tsp baking soda and 1 tsp vanilla.

Pour over popcorn and mix well. Bake 1 hour at 250º, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container.

*The sugar measuring instructions do seem strange and imprecise, but this is another never-fail popcorn recipe. I pour the sugar over the candies to the 2-cup measure mark, give a very gentle shake, and add more sugar, if necessary, to reach the mark again. For years, I've not been able to find 12 oz packages of red hots, so I buy in whatever quantity they're packaged and divide bags. Most often, I've found them in 9 oz packages, so I use 1 bag + 1/3 of another.

______________________________

Caramel Popcorn

6 quarts popped corn (3 bags microwave)
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
½ cup corn syrup (light or dark)
1 tsp salt (omit with microwave popcorn)
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 250º. Butter bottom and sides of roasting pan or another type of pan with equal capacity. In a heavy saucepan, slowly melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring for five minutes. (Original recipe gives this no-stirring instruction, but I usually stir it at least 3 times during the 5-minute boil, feeling better assured it won't develop a burnt taste.)

Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour over popcorn and mix well. Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Turn out onto waxed paper and shove it around to separate. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

This has been a never-fail, simple (no candy thermometer) recipe and creates a very crisp and tasty caramel corn.

______________________________