On Top of Spaghetti

 I've been making spaghetti sauce for over 10 years b/c my family doesn't like jarred pre-made sauce. I've tried many recipes and have mastered what my family likes, not that there isn't room for improvement, there always is room for something better.

I've always hated the recipes that didn't give exact quantities, so I'll try to be clear, though my recipe has become sloppy in that regard.

side-note:When trying to get measurements for a recipe from an elderly person you might try to ask how much they pour in their hand for dry ingredients, or how much in a coffee cup for wet... or some other measuring implement they may use.

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic
 1 T olive oil
29-oz can of Hunts Tomato Sauce
12-oz can Hunts Tomato Paste
1 beef bone
1 t dried basil
1/2 t dried oregano
1 t salt & pepper

1 1/2 lb ground beef
small bits of pork meat (from a roast or chops)

French or Italian Bread
or Nation Bakery anything b/c they are the bomb

 Angel Hair Pasta

The secret to the sauce is to cook it all day. I mean start this baby after breakfast and cook it for at least 5 hours.

Basically it goes like this:
Saute garlic and 1 medium onion in the olive oil. I didn't list onion above b/c one of my family member is allergic to onions. When onions are clear or garlic begins to tan, then add sauce and paste. Use the 29-oz can to measure water and use it to rinse both cans and add to sauce. Add the bone and spices. When it comes to a low boil add the meat balls a few at a time. When the sauce is at a low bubbly boil again, I turn it down as low as I can on the stove.

If using a crock pot, you can add everything to the crock after your onion and garlic is sauteed. Use hot water. Keep the crock pot on high until everything is at a low boil, then set it to low. If possible take your meat balls out of freezer and have them in the fridge overnight to defrost.

I make my meatballs another day ahead of time. When ever I have a lil left over ground beef I'll make a few meat balls, put them on a cookie sheet and place in freezer. After a few hours I put them in a freezer bag. I make mine compact and small. Before typically rolling a meatball, I squeeze the meat in my hand. I call this making turtles, b/c that is sort of what they look like when you squeeze the meat in your hand. LOL My girls think it is gross to call them turtles, I'll have to show you in another post :P I add the bits of pork meat to my meatball freezer bag that can't be used for chops b/c they are so small. This will sweeten your sauce. (The beef bone will give your sauce a rich dark color as will simmering it all day.

Getting back to the sauce... When you see some of the meatballs getting dark, then you can stir it, before that if you stir you might mess up some of your meatballs. I don't brown my meatball ahead of time, they cook in the sauce and are less tough than if they are browned in a skillet or in the oven. I got alot of tips for my sauce from my Italian mother-in-law and sister-in-law. They tasted it for the first time over this past winter and said it was very good. So, now I think it's safe to say its good enough to try :)

Please let me know if you tried it :) If you have any advice or questions please let me know.

Chicken Capri

I love this dinner!

I love making Chicken Capri. It's an easy dinner to make too.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup low-fat ricotta cheese (Part Skim)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 4 slices reduced-fat mozzarella cheese 

Directions

1 In a small bowl mash Ricotta Cheese, Parmesan Cheese, Salt, Pepper, Oregano& Parsley together until well blended.
2 Toss the chicken with the garlic powder and brown in the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat for 10 minutes per side.
3 When done remove to a shallow casserole dish to cool slightly.
4 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5 Spoon 1 Heaping serving spoon of Ricotta mixture onto each chicken breast and top with 1 tablespoons of Crushed Tomatoes.
6 Place one slice of mozzarella cheese on each one and place in the top rack of the oven.
7 Bake for 20 minutes until a meat thermometer registers 170 deg. farenheit
 

Homemade Salad Dressing

I started making everything in our house onion free. We had to do this after realizing my husband's sensitivity to onions. Salad dressing is easier to make than I thought. I guess I came from the generation that that everything came out of a package or box. I'm glad I'm not passing that down to my girls. :)

If you check out All Recipes you will see there are plenty of things you can add to an Italian Dressing. The basics are this:
3parts oil to 1 part vinegar, a little less water than vinegar and spices.
For ours we use apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and the spices you can see above with a little crushed red pepper that isn't labeled.
Enjoy :)

Morning Breakfast

These french toast slices were made another day and then frozen. This is a great way to use up stale bread. It's great to have some things prepared! :)

Calzones

A weekly meal in our house are calzones made from whole wheat pizza dough. We fill ours with ricotta (re-goat-ta) cheese and mozzarella cheese, served with marinara sauce on the side. Sometimes it is great to have a special tool to make your food pretty.... but sometimes it is great when you already have something to do the job just as well. Calzones need to have their edges sealed. I've done it with my fingers and with a fork. If I had a fork that was bent to fit my pan I wouldn't have looked farther, but on a cookie sheet with a lip a normal fork doesn't now work well. So... I opened my utensil drawer all the way and looked and looked and then tried a beater... I think I like the look <3
For a nicer presentation you can brush off the cornmeal and brush milk on before it is baked.

 

Popcorn

With the age of microwaves I didn't know how to make popcorn for a long time until my husband showed me. It is ridiculously simple and yet it can burn easily. LOL,,, but don't be discouraged, it's not hard.

First I start with 2 T. (tablespoons) of cooking oil. I do not use a pan with a copper bottom because it heats slowly and I always end up cooking it too long in that pan and then some of it burns. I would suggest using a "cheaper pan" and please let me suggest to use the same pan always b/c you'll get to know how it cooks time wise in that pan. If you make it regularly you will perfect it in that one pan, but if you use different pans you need again to watch and listen carefully.

I use 1/4 c of popping kernels, so it's double of how much oil you use. (I've tried to use butter but it usually burns).
Pretty simple right.
Cover pan.
Heat on medium.
Shake pan about every minute until you hear the 1st kernel pop. Then shake every 20 - 30 seconds after that 1st piece pops. Don't peek because you could get burned.
At some point it will slow down. Watch for the next stage when it is only popping about every 3 or more seconds. It's done by then. Don't try to pop every piece.

Dump in a big bowl and add your favorite topping or eat it as is :) If you are daring, try ScooterMcGee's Kettle Corn. If you love Roba's Kettle Corn, you may want to try and make some. Or are you they type of person who only likes kettle corn in the autumn with your candy apples and pumpkin pie?

Real Tacos

Remembering my garden, I came across a picture of one of our dinners. Simply tacos.... maybe not "real" it was not from scratch, but it had garden tomatoes in it, yum. I have been hungry for a real tomato and also have been trying to push healthier snacks on my family. We grew yellow, pink, and red tomatoes. Every meal looked delicious with them in it!

Roma Tomato
Cherry Yellow Tomato
Yellow Cherry Tomato
German Pink Tomato

The roma tomatoes keep coming back every year. I do not have to buy them. Last year was my first year buying yellow and I do hope the cherry yellow comes back, otherwise I will be looking for them at Home Depot again.
The German Pink I received from a friend. I can't say enough how nice it was to receive that tomato plant. If I have extra I will do the same for her and other garden friends.

Ruby Red Corn

We had a crazy garden this year. We bought Ruby Red corn and it was gorgeous. The stalks were reddish topped with red silks.
I should have planted yellow corn with it to make the corn sweeter, but I must say it was sweet and yummy without crossbreeding. For some reason we did get 1 yellow ear.

When it was cooked it lost it's red color. It was a fun colorful treat. We hung a few ears to dry and used stalks for decorations too.

Chicken & Stewed Tomatoes

My girls and I enjoyed watching the Food Revolution and trying to make food from the show. We didn't have the right ingredients for a certain recipe; I don't even remember what it was exactly. But ours was yumo! I really like this recipe b/c you can very easily substitute an ingredient for something else.

My 8 year old had a great time cutting vegetables with me! I've got to do this more often!

Olive Oil
about 4 Chicken Breasts (boneless/skinless if possible)
3 Cloves of Garlic
Small Onion
1 Bell Pepper
Mushrooms
15-oz can Stewed Tomatoes
4-oz can Tomato Paste

1. Brown Chicken in olive (or grill) just a few minutes to give golden brown. Set aside

2. Saute garlic, onion, then pepper, & mushrooms.

3. Drain oil & put previous & rest of ingredients in a frying pan with lid. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Serve over rice or noodles :)

Eggs

I love farm eggs. Before I started getting eggs from a farm I didn't see the point. I couldn't have been more wrong. They look beautiful compared to store bought eggs outside and inside. A farm egg has a beautiful bright yellow color. It will make a store egg look sickly by comparison :)

Homemade Yogurt

Yogurt is very easy to make and you probably already have everything you need. I've been looking though many tutorials and blogs on how to make yogurt. The reason I am recommending Michael Reep's website is because you'll find it's simple to follow and he tests things before he writes about them or he will say so. The website is simply: http://www.makeyourownyogurt.com/ :) The tutorial begins with What You'll Need.

I made my first batch with a little more than a quart of milk, I didn't have alot of confidence it would turn out well. I'm glad to say everyone likes it alot. I've flavored half with Strawberry flavoring and the other half with French Vanilla flavoring (and sugar). Three tablespoons are reserved for my next batch. We added a drop of red food coloring to strawberry yogurt, but of course this isn't necessary.

We used 4-oz glass canning jars with plasic Ball lids, but you can use anything to include gladware. As long as it has a lid.

At Pleasantville Schoolhouse, Anna cultured her yogurt by her wood stove instead of using a heating pad. She writes how she mades her yogurt here and adds how she thickens it with out adding powdered milk or other things at the end of her recipe. I may try culturing my yogurt in the crock pot next time, like she does when her wood stove isn't on: what a cool idea :)

Update: I made yogurt now 2 times (04Apr09). The second time the yogurt was cultured from the first batch and it turned out great.

I drained mine the way Anna does here, but I drained it over night and now have very, very thick yogurt... not the best. I couldn't use my crockpot to keep the yogurt warm, mine is too small, but the heating pad worked terrific.

Potato Pancakes

Every time I make Stuffed Shells I have extra potato/cheese mixture left over. I thought I'd try and make potato pancakes but because there is cheese in them they sort of melted in the pan. This last time I made the pancakes I rolled them in corn meal and froze them. A few days later I put them on a cookie sheet and baked them. My family really loved them. I didn't use any butter or spray, but they are fattening because of the cheese.

Peanut Lover's Blondies

Preheat Oven 350
Ingredients:
· 1 stick (1/2 c) butter
· ¾ c packed brown sugar
· 1 large egg
· 1 t vanilla extract
· 1 c plus 2 T all-purpose flour
· 1 t baking powder
· ¼ c plus 2 T chopped unsalted peanuts
· ¼ c plus 2 T peanut butter chips
· 16 mini Reese’s peanut butter cups
Directions:
HEAT oven. Line an 8-in square baking pan with foil. Coat with nonstick spray.

MELT butter in medium saucepan. Stir in br sugar & stir 1 min or until mixture bubbles. Remove from heat; let cool 20 min or until luke warm. Stir in egg and vanilla, then flour and baking powder until blended. Stir in 1/4c each of nuts & chips. Distribute the 16 mini cups over top, then press gently until level with top of batter. Sprinkle with remaining 2 T each of the nuts & chips.

SPREAD in prepared pan. Bake 23 to 25 min until a wooden pick inserted in center of batter comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

LIFT foil by ends onto cutting board. Cut into 16 squares.

It's been very cold in the northeast!

Brrrrr! It's been chilly here in the northeast. Nothing is better than a stew on a day like today, unless you ask the kids; they will say nothing warms better than hot cocoa! I found many recipes for stew over the years. I find they best stew is when the meat is cooked very slowly, in a crock, on the stove, or in the oven for many hours. This one should have been cooked longer, but we couldn't wait. Just like chili, it is better the next day,,, but needs more time on the stove, cooked very slowly. We like it when the meat starts to fall apart.

Cast Iron Delight

I have exciting news! I won a cast iron skillet from Black Iron Dude. I am so excited. I found his website because I have 3 cast iron skillets that I would love to use regularly. I've had them for maybe 5 years and have used them maybe 3 times a year because I have never learned how to care for them properly.
After reading his blog and taking notes I seasoned my skillets again and started using them a lot. As you can see, I can finally make eggs in my medium sized pan and the pan is finally totally black! Check out those eggs and that black pan! Yay!!
You can see where I won the skillet here. If you have a cast iron skillet and don't use it, I hope you are inspired to take it out and start using it. Here is a delicious recipe for Apple Pancake. Do not make it in anything except cast iron or you may regret it :)
10" cast iron skillet
4 T Butter
1/4 c Brown Sugar
1 large Apple, cored & sliced 1/8"
5 large Eggs
1 c Flour
1 c Milk
1/2 t ground Cinnamon
Pinch of Salt
Confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 400. In a 10" skillet, melt butter & 3 T brown sugar. Add apples, and cook 5 minutes, stir occasionally.

In med bowl, whisk eggs, flour, milk, cinnamon, salt, & remaining sugar. Pour batter slowly over cooked apple mixture. Transfer to oven til golden brown, set in center, and puffed around edges, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar and serve hot.

Cheese and Potato Shells

Cheese and Potato Shells

Box of large shells
3 pounds of potatoes
Velveeta Cheese
1 medium onion
butter for sauteing

My husband's family has been making these for years and they are so yummy. I didn't think I could make them, but my husband convinced me to try and I am so glad I did. They turned out really delicious! It is really easy to make too. They taste a little like a perogie but like homemade. My family has a variety of tastes, and so I am thinking of making a few with different things in them like roasted garlic and onion inside.