An Apple A Day

Recently I was gifted with a huge canner-full of "harvest" apples. I don't know what kind those are, but boy-howdy, they are tart!

You can see in the photo how they were not the prettiest apples in the world, and in truth, I did have to discard several whole fruits along with major pieces of many others. In the interest of "waste not", I did take the time to dig out bad spots and save as much as possible. I am, after all, Elsie's granddaughter. (I remember trying to toss out a very ripe strawberry once. Hoo! Never tried that again!)

Anyway, insects and spoilage aside, I got 8 1/2 cups of applesauce, to which was added about 1/4 cup of sugar to make it palatable. This will mostly be used to replace part of the oil in some baking recipe. (Note: Food mill = good investment)

I also got 14 cups of sliced apples to make into pies. Those are in bags in the freezer. The apples, not the pies.

But I will make pies with them.

Someday.

In the future.

More Zucchini Love

Last night I made lasagna, but instead of pasta noodles I used strips of zucchini. It'd been quite a long time since I did this last, so I worried if Greg would remember he'd liked it before. Guess so - he had two helpings. :o)
This is not so much a recipe as a technique for using the zucchini in place of noodles. Here's how it went: First, a giant zucchini. I've placed the regular-sized jar of spaghetti sauce next to it so you can see how bit the monster is. To the left you can see a little bit of the biggest knife I own. It, too, is huge.

Ah, the giant knife and a strainer-full of zucchini "noodles". If you click on the photo to enlarge you'll see the kosher salt I sprinkled liberally all over them. This draws out the water, thus the strainer. I only left these about 15 minutes - next time I'll prepare them earlier in the day and let them drain lots longer. The finished product was still a bet wet.

Here I have rinsed the salt from the noodles and am patting them dry. See how perfectly sliced they are? No? Well, neither are my fingers, which is what would have happened had I striven for perfection. Believe me. I have scars to prove it.

Ah, the final layer. Here is where you just use your favorite lasagna recipe and assemble as instructed, though obviously using the zucchini instead of pasta.

(Have I mentioned often enough so far that we're using the zucchini in place of noodles?)

And here it is, folks! It was yummy and juicy and I really liked the texture of the noodles, but it didn't have a "squashy" taste.

Let me know if you try it - I'd be interested to hear what you think.

Holy Mexican Caviar, Batman!

This post was written in August 2008 and never published. I must've been wanting a photo of the finished product. Here you go anyway - put this on your list of stuff to make next summer! (Feb. 1, 2011)

With all the rain we had in the Spring (and my procrastination), the tomatoes and jalapenos were planted a bit late and are just now, today, giving forth of their fruits. And look how many fruits they put forth!

I've been patiently waiting for these lovelies and I know just what I'm doing with part of this first batch. Wanna hear? Yes? Good - because I'm telling you. :o)

When our families were here for supper one Saturday night a few weeks ago, I made a new-to-me recipe that was a huge hit, and I'm making it again.

It's called "Mexican Caviar" and it is deee-licious:



Prep Time: 10 Minutes


Ready In: 6 Hours 10 Minutes


Yields: 32 servings


INGREDIENTS:

2 large tomatoes, finely chopped

5 green onions, chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 1/2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers

1 (2.25 ounce) can chopped black olives

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS: In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate 6 hours or overnight before serving. Serve with tortilla chips.

Light Supper

It's been so hot here that it's tough to think about cooking in the late afternoon. Last week I came across this recipe and thought it'd make a nice light supper. The only change I made was to use some leftover pork meat instead of the ground turkey. Next time I'll leave out the salt - didn't need it with the teryaki sauce.
(I'm not able to load the photo right now - I'll try again tomorrow...)

Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Cup finely chopped onion
1 lb ground turkey breast
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic salt
1 12 oz bag of broccoli slaw
1 small can drained water chestnuts
½ Cup Yoshida's Teriyaki Sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Approximately 15 Butter Lettuce leaves (you can also use iceberg lettuce leaves)
Directions:
1. Place oil into a large 5 qt skillet or other large pan over medium heat. When hot, add onion and cook for 5 minutes to soften. Add ground turkey, salt, pepper and garlic salt. Brown and crumble until cooked through.
2. When turkey is cooked, stir in broccoli slaw, water chestnuts, teriyaki sauce and sesame oil. Cook for another 10-15 minutes or until heated through. Reduce heat to low until ready to serve. Serve spoonfuls inside lettuce leaves. Enjoy!