Breakfast Hash

I had some potatoes turning soft and cilantro that needed used up. So I married the two last night for dinner! Enjoy!

Cut up finely:

5 cups potatoes
1/4 cup onion
1 clove garlic

In a large pot on the stove heat:

1/4 cup butter

Throw the potatoes, onion and garlic into the melted butter. Saute for 25 minutes. Towards the end you may need to add 1/2 cup water like I did.

Now in a bowl whisk:

6 eggs
4 T milk

Now throw this egg mixture over your cooking potatoes. Use a large spoon to scrape the bottom. Keep it moving until the eggs are all cooked.

add:

1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups grated Cheddar
3 TBL Cilantro (or more!)
bacon bits

Bottling Peaches- Step by Step!

Pick peaches off your Mother's Peach trees! ;)In clean jars poor 1/2 cup sugar

Add about 3/4 cup boiling water. Just enough to be able to stir and dissolve the sugar. This was Little Miss's job!

Put the peaches in a huge pot of simmering water. Let sit in the hot water for 30 seconds. (This is called blanching.)



Remove the peaches and put in ice water in your sink.

Cut the peaches in half and remove pits.

Skin the peaches


Place the peaches in a the jar. Try to put the pretty side of the peach facing toward you.

Once you have filled the jars with peaches top off the jars with boiling hot water. About 1/2 inch from the top.


Wipe down the jar and put a lid and jar ring onto jar.


Place the jars of peaches into boiling water that cover jars. Let cook for 30 minutes. (This is called processing)

When the 30 minutes is over remove the peach jars with jar tongs. Place jars on counter lined with towels. Let sit for 24 hours. Place on shelves and don't eat until "after Thanksgiving" as my Mother says.
*Tip* Process your jars in a garage over a camp stove!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Make sure you've got milk for these!

Cream for 2 minutes:

3/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
1 cup butter

Now add:

3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Now add:

2, 2/3 cups flour (I use 2 cups white flour, 1/3 cup wheat, 1/3 cup oat flour)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup baking cocoa

Now mix in:

1, 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken pot pie is a great fall meal. It will use up your wonderful garden carrots!


Dump into a greased 9x13:

4 cups shredded cooked chicken (or left over turkey)
1 cup peas frozen
2 potatoes, cooked and diced
3 carrots, cooked and diced

Now for the Sauce!

Saute in a large pot:

4 T butter
1 small onion

After about 4 minutes whisk in quickly:

1/2 cup flour
4 cups chicken stock

Whisk this until hot, bubbly and thick.

Take sauce off stove and add:

1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Now poor sauce over your vegies in the 9x13 pan.


For the biscuit topping

mix in a bowl:

2 cups flour
2 T sugar
1 T baking powder
1 tsp salt

cut into the flour mixture:

6 T shortening

Now add and mix quickly:

1 cup milk

Spoon biscuit batter over your soup mixture. Bake at 400 for 25 minutes

Salisbury Steaks

I am not usually picky about side dishes. But with these steaks it is a must to have mashed potatoes!

In a bowl dump and mix with your hands:

2 lbs high quality lean ground beef
1/4 cups onion, chopped
1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped
2 eggs
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup old-fashioned oats (weird. I know. Just go with it)
1/4 tsp pepper
1, 1/2 tsp salt

shape the meat mixture into patties and place on tin foil lined baking sheets. Pour sauce over steaks.

Sauce

3 T Worcestershire sauce
3 T sugar (white or brown)
4 T vinegar
3/4 cup beef broth
1, 1/2 cups katsup

Cover steaks with foil and bake at 325 for 35 minutes. Remove foil last 5 minutes.


When you clean up dinner just throw together in a baking dish : mashed potatoes, left-over patties, green beans or corn or vegie, mashed potatoes. Wala! Dinner for tomorrow. Just shred some cheese on the Shepherd's pie and cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

In your mixer or stainless steal bowl dump the following ingredients in order:

4 TB SAF instant yeast (Macy's and Bosche stores carry this)
2 cups hot water (think steamy bath!)
6 TB sugar
2 TB salt
1 cup oil
2 cups wheat flour
1 cup oat flour
7 cups white flour
2 TB vital wheat gluten (can be found at Walmart by the baking powder

Now mix by hand for 15 minutes or turn on your mixer on low for 10 minutes

Now let the dough rise in the bowl for 60 minutes. Punch it down every 10 minutes. I like to set my timer so I don't forget. ;)

Divide into 4 pieces. Roll each piece out in a 7x12 inch rectangle. Butter with 1 T butter. Sprinkle 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup raisins.


Now fold the outer edges in 2 inches, long ways.


Now roll up the rectangle like a sleeping bag.


When you get to the end pull the edge up and pinch to seal.




Lie the loaf in your greased pan. Let rise for 30 minutes. Then bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Let cool for at least 1 hour.

Chicken Enchiladas

Fall is here and I have less natural light flowing into my kitchen. I'm afraid my pictures are getting a bit darker. If only I had a professional camera...'sigh'...oh well. We will manage!

Ok, here is a great recipe for fall. I like to be real organized with this recipe so it runs like an assembly line. Have all your cheese grated, chicken cooked and cut up, sour cream measured and ready to go and lots of room to work with.

Butter 10 tortillas with refried beans.
Dip each buttered tortilla into a pie dish filled with a large can of enchilada sauce.
Fill the wet tortilla with a hand full of cooked shredded chicken and cheddar cheese.
Roll up the tortilla and place seem side down into greased 9x13 pan.

When you are done assembling your tortillas you will have leftover sauce in your pie dish. whisk 1/2 cup sour cream into the pie dish with the sauce. Then drizzle this over the enchiladas. Top with cheddar cheese.

Cover with foil and bake at 400 for 25 minutes. Remove the tin foil and cook for another 5 minutes.

Cornbread

Here is a cornbread you can feel good about eating the second day! The secret is creaming the butter and sugar. Most cornbread recipes call for oil.

Cream for 2 minutes:

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar

add the following:

2 eggs
1, 1/2 cup milk

add the following and mix quickly:

1, 1/2 cup white flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt

Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes in greased 9x9

One Pot- Pot Roast Stew

I came up with this recipe last winter when I was sick of dirtying 3 pots just to make a simple stew. The secret to this stew is using left over pot roast and sun dried tomatoes!

Heat up 4 T oil in large soup pot and saute:

1 small onion, chopped

While the onion is cooking, cut up:

2 carrots (no need to peel)

Dump the carrots in with the onions. Now cut up:

3 red potatoes (no need to peel)

Dump the potatoes in with carrots and onions. Now add:

1 can beef broth
1 jar bottled tomatoes (or large can)
cut up leftover pot roast (about 2 cups or whatever you have)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 T sun dried tomatoes in oil

simmer everything on low with the lid on for 50 minutes.

I added one small zucchini the last 10 minutes. If you add a zucchini do it at the very end. Otherwise, it will be mushy.

Freezing Peppers

These peppers from Dad's garden are beautiful! I helped Dad freeze peppers this year. I'm using the term "helped" very loosely!!

Here's what you do.

First - Slice your peppers
Second - Place your pepper strips into rapidly boiling water for 30 seconds.
Third - Remove peppers from boiling water and place directly into ice water (just fill the sink or a big bowl with ice and water)
Fourth - Dry the peppers on towels. Let them air dry for about 30 minutes
Fifth - Place pepper strips onto cookie sheets and place into freezer for an hour
Sixth- Fill up a Ziploc freezer bag with frozen pepper strips. Seal and label.


You can enjoy your homegrown peppers all year round. Pull out a few for Philly cheese steak sandwitches or a big pot of chili!

Zucchini Bread

Mix in a large bowl:

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
2 heaping cups zucchini shredded
1TBLvanilla

Now add to the mix and whisk quickly:

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 T cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp

Now add:

1 cup chocolate chips

grease bottom only of 2 bread tins. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Cool in tins for 10 minutes. Remove bread.

Hot Potato Salad with Bacon

Potato salad is something nobody can agree on. Some like mustard. Some like goopy, some don't. I don't like the salads that are so goopy you can't see what it is your eating. I "made up" this recipe. In my experiment I found that the salad is best eaten hot. You can, however, serve this cold the next day!

Boil for 12 minutes:

10 red potatoes, cut up

cut up into small pieces and cook:

5 strips of bacon

after you have removed bacon onto paper towels cook the following in the bacon grease for 5 minutes:

3 celery sticks, cut up
1/2 cup red onion, cut up

for the dressing mix the following:

1/4 cup olive oil
2 TBL mayo (not miracle whip)
2 TBL red wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dry dill weed

Toss all very gently. Serve on a bed of lettuce.

Tip: If you serve this cold, don't add the bacon. The bacon seems to get soggy. I added bacon bits right before serving.

Whole Wheat Bread

This recipe is my staple. It came with my Nutrimill Grain Mill.

In your mixer or in a large bowl combine and let sit for 15 minutes:

2, 1/2 cups warm water
1, 1/2 TBL SAF instant yeast
2 cups wheat

After 15 minutes dump into the bowl:

1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey
1, 1/2 TBL Vital Wheat Gluten (found by the baking powder in Walmart)
2, 1/2 tsp salt
4 cups wheat

knead for 10 minutes. If you are mixing by hand mix for two 15 minute increments.

No need to let the dough rise. Just form 2 loaves in greased bread tins. Let the loaf rise for an hour. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Remove hot bread from tins immediately. Allow to cool at least one hour. I don't recommend serving wheat bread hot. The gluten strands are very fragile because of the weight of the wheat. Your bread will be mushy and taste undercooked. Serve the loaf bread cooled. Soft and moist!