Mincemeat

I have tomatoes coming out the ying-yang.  Even though I only planted 6 plants (4 regular and 2 cherry type) I have boxes of green tomatoes in the garage.  I picked and pulled out my tomatoes yesterday because they have been threatening frost for the last few days.  It went down to +3°C last night but since I am going visiting over the next few weeks, I decided it is time to put my yard and garden to bed.

So back to the tomatoes.  I have made spaghetti sauce and canned a number of red tomatoes but wanted to get rid of some of the green ones.

My sister-in-law, Barb sent me her recipe for mincemeat since I have an abundance of green tomatoes and apples.  I decided to give it a whirl since I love her mincemeat.  (I was lucky enough to have received a few jars from her last year.)

Ingredients

6 c chopped green tomatoes
6 c chopped apples (cored and peeled)
3 c raisins
1 c suet or butter
3/4 c vinegar
1 c mixed peel
4 c brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
3/4 tsp allspice
2 tsp salt

Core and chop tomatoes.  I used my food processor on pulse.

Place tomatoes in a large pot and cover with hot water.  Bring to a boil and the drain thoroughly.

Do that 3 times.

Add the rest of the ingredients.

Mix well and cook for an hour.

Fill sealers and process in hot water bath for  25 minutes.

I got 5 quarts of mincemeat.  Barb's was slightly browner in colour but I added a bit more tomatoes and apples since I had lots. 

 

Store until needed for pie, tarts or squares.  Last year I made some squares similar to matrimonial cake but used mincemeat instead of the date mixture.  They were very yummy.  ;)

 

Baked Eggs With Potato, Bacon & Tomato

The original recipe was from Sobey's and it sounded interesting.  I made a few changes since I was using my own produce.

Ingredients
5 strips thick bacon, cut into 1" pieces
2 potatoes, baked
1 tsp paprika
1/2 to 1 cup chopped onion
1/2 quart of canned tomatoes
sprinkle of cayenne pepper
4 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Fry bacon slightly until some of the fat is released.

 



Cut up the potatoes into bite sized pieces.  I made baked potatoes the night before and just cooked a couple extra.  If you don't have any on hand, you can quickly partially bake a couple in the microwave.

Add the potatoes to the bacon and sprinkle on the paprika.  Cook until bacon is crisp and potatoes are browning.  Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.

Drain some of the bacon grease if it is too much.  My bacon wasn't too fatty so I didn't need to.  Fry onions in pan until translucent.

Add tomatoes and cayenne pepper and cook until most of the liquid is gone.

Put potatoes and bacon in a casserole dish.  Add tomato mixture.

Mix well. 

Make 4 hollows and break an egg in each.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Bake at 375°F for 22 to 25 minutes.  Enjoy!

It was very tasty and we could see ways to make it even more so.  Next time, I would either fry some mushrooms with the onions, or add some peppers and salsa.  You could also add some cheddar cheese chunks to the mixture or sprinkle on cheese during the last few minutes of cooking.  :)

Lazy Man Cabbage Rolls

 

Since I blanched and froze quite a bit chopped cabbage (I had trouble with the heads splitting this summer), I decided to make some Lazy Man Cabbage Rolls.  You can make this recipe in your crockpot but I left mine in the trailer with Barry so I made them in the oven.  I had never used frozen cabbage for this and was interested to see how they would turn out. 

 

I brought the cabbage out several days early and thawed it in a container in the fridge.  You need to drain the cabbage before you can use it.

 

 

I mix together about 1 - 1 1/2 pounds of hamburger and 1 - 1 1/2 cups rice.  I add salt and pepper to this.  You could also add chopped onion if you wish. 

 

I then mix in a quart sealer of canned tomatoes.  I break the tomatoes up so the chunks are small. 

 

Put half the cabbage in the bottom of a roaster or casserole dish.  I almost always use a roaster so I have less chance of my casseroles boiling over. 

 

Place hamburger - rice mixture onto cabbage. 

 

Sprinkle on the rest of the cabbage. 

 

Mix a can of tomato soup with 3/4 can of water and pour it on top. 

 

Cook at 350°F for about 1 hour.  You can eat it as is or you can serve it with some sour cream.   

 

 

 I was very pleased with the taste and texture of the cabbage.  I would be hard pressed to tell the difference in taste between fresh and frozen. 



Focaccia Bread

I decided to try my hand at Focaccia Bread.  I found three recipes that I combined to make my own. http://annastable.blogspot.ca/2011/01/no-knead-tomato-focaccia.html   &
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/focaccia_bread_with_rosemary/   &  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/focaccia-bread/


Ingredients
1/2 c warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp yeast

1 1/2 c water
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
4+ c flour
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
pinch pepper

1 c mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 c parmesan cheese, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
sundried tomatoes
olive oil


I had never used sundried tomatoes in my cooking.  So last year I decided to dehydrate some Roma tomatoes.  After they were dried, I froze them.

For this recipe, I decided to try two methods of using the tomatoes.  The first was to rehydrate in water.

The second was to rehydrate in olive oil.

I also minced some garlic for the recipe as well.

To make the dough:  Stir the sugar into the warm water and add yeast.  Set aside for about 10 minutes so yeast can start to work.  Mix the spices into a couple cups flour.  Mix the water, oil, salt and yeast and add spiced flour.  Different spices can be used - some use rosemary, etc. but I am partial to oregano.  Add rest of flour, mixing until you have a soft dough.  Knead until smooth and elastic.  Grease bowl with olive oil and roll dough around until coated.  Cover and let rise until double.

Grate mozzarella cheese and set aside.

Divide dough in half and press each onto a well oiled cookie sheet.  Press out dough until it fills the sheet.  Set aside to rise for about 30 minutes.

Use your thumb or finger to press indentations into the dough in rows.

Drizzle on some olive oil making sure it fills many of the indentations.

For one pan, I sprinkled mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.

For the second, I sprinkled on the minced garlic.

Then I added the two types of tomatoes to see which were better.  On the left are the oil ones and on the right the ones soaked in water.  Then sprinkle with the two cheeses.

Bake at 425°F for about 15 minutes or until nicely browned.  This was the cheese focaccia.

This was the garlic sundried tomato one.  Again the oil tomatoes are on the left and the water rehydrated ones on the right.

Remove them from the pan.  Cut into squares and enjoy.

The cheesy focaccia was very tasty with the herbs and cheese combination.  It was good the second, even cold.  The tomato one would have been a great addition to a spaghetti dinner.  The water dehydrated tomatoes turned out to be similar in taste to using fresh tomatoes.  The ones I soaked in oil tasted better but burned more easily because they weren't so moist.  So I have a dilemma next time I try it in how to do the tomatoes. 

Cabbage Rolls

Cabbage rolls can be finicky to make.  Instead of making them each time we want to eat some, I make up a bunch at once and freeze them.  Then it is easy to have cabbage rolls whenever the mood strikes you.

I prepare the cabbage in the fall when I have a crop ready.  First you pick nice firm heads, remove the outer damaged leaves, cut out the core and wash.  I blanch the whole head and then immerse it in icy cold water.  Drain well before freezing until needed.

When I am making cabbage rolls, I usually bring out a number of heads at once.  Thaw completely and drain.

I find this works best for having pliable leaves.  I've tried freshly blanched leaves but they are easier to tear and not as nice to work with.  The freezing process seems to do something to the cabbage so the leaves are bendable and not too fragile.

For the filling I cook 2 to 3 cups of rice and fry several pounds of hamburger before mixing together.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Amounts don't matter as leftovers can be used later.

I peel apart the heads of cabbage and use the smaller or torn pieces for the bottom of the container. 

To make the cabbage roll, place a leaf in your cupped hand.

Place a spoonful of filling near the end closest to your wrist.

Cup your hand and shape the filling into a nice mound.

Roll leaf over filling, tucking in sides as you roll.  Don't be too gentle because if you tuck it too loosely it may fall apart during cooking.

Roll top of leaf over to finish off.  Practice makes perfect but unperfect cabbage rolls still taste great.  :)

I freeze the cabbage rolls in ice cream pails or larger plastic containers.  Since I usually cook the cabbage rolls in my crock pot, I find a container that fits nicely in the crockpot.

Pack the cabbage rolls close together with rolled side down. 

When I have enough for a meal I layer on several pieces of wax paper as a divider so I can pry it apart when frozen.  That way I can freeze several meals in one container.

Continue filling and end with broken pieces again.  This way, you flip it to the bottom of the crockpot when frozen and have a layer of leaves on the bottom.

If you are cooking them fresh, you can cook them in a roaster instead of a crockpot.  Fill the roaster as above without the wax paper.  You can use crushed canned tomatoes or partially diluted tomato soup (I mix a can of soup with 1/2 can of water).

Cook at 350°F for 1 to 2 hours.  Cabbage should cut easily with a fork.

When I bring the frozen cabbage rolls out to cook, I place them cabbage pieces side down in a crockpot.  I add 1 to 2 cans of tomato soup depending on the amount of cabbage rolls I am cooking.  I again dilute it with 1/2 can water per can of soup.  I then cook on high all day until supper.  If you cook fresh cabbage rolls in the crockpot, it doesn't take as long since they don't have to thaw.

If I have rice-hamburger filling left, I mix in a can of tomato soup and top with cheddar cheese.  Bake at 350°F for about 3/4 hour until heated through and cheese is melted and browned. 

My mom does her cabbage rolls differently.  She uses raw rice and raw hamburger in hers.  She also often buys sour cabbage to roll them in.  She cooks hers on the top of the stove in a large pot.  She puts an old plate on the bottom of the pot so the cabbage rolls don't stick and burn.  Then mom covers them with tomato juice and boils them slowly for several hours.  I don't use this method because: 1. they may boil over (big mess), 2. I don't use enough juice so they are dry, 3. I don't cook them long enough so they are partially raw.  Mom has perfected this method over the years and hers are always tasty but I prefer my method.

Enjoy one or more of these ideas.  ;)