Now, I’m looking for recipes for pizza sauce that will freeze well.

What you see here are green bell peppers, some sweet Hungarian peppers, a couple jalapenos (hiding in there somewhere), along with a bunch of basil.

We planted nine tomato plants – six good for sauces and three for slicing tomatoes. The tomatoes in the bowl are sauce tomatoes. I’m going to blanch them quickly so I can remove the skins, then get rid of the seeds and much of the liquid, then throw them into the freezer. Once they’re all ripe (and the weather is cooler) I’m going to make a huge batch of tomato sauce and can it. Most of it will be for pasta, though part of it will be seasoned for pizza sauce and stored separately. I’m not sure if I’ll can the pizza sauce or put it in the freezer in the Bell freezer containers.

I made this for breakfast this morning, and served it along with spiffy scrambled eggs (scrambled eggs that I add stuff to, such as shredded cheese; today’s add-in was real bacon bits). It takes less than an hour to make, from the time I turned the oven on to when it graced my table.

Ari’s Favorite Blueberry Cobbler

 
Serves 4
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Baking Time: 45 minutes

4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar substitute (feel free to use sugar if you wish)
3/4 cup milk, 1% lowfat
3/4 cup self-rising flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups blueberries, frozen — thawed
butter flavored cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 1/2 quart or 8″x8″ pan with non-stick cooking spray. Melt butter in baking dish.

Mix other ingredients, except fruit.

Add batter to melted butter; DON’T STIR.

Add fruit; DON’T STIR. Spray the top of everything with the butter flavored cooking spray.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 291 Calories; 13g Fat (39.3% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 40g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 33mg Cholesterol; 565mg Sodium.

Exchanges: 1 Grain (Starch); 1/2 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 2 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

Notes: If using sugar, you can omit the baking soda and spraying the top of the batter and fruit with the cooking spray. Those things needed to be done to help the batter rise as it bakes, and to help the top of it brown. You can substitute any unsweetened fruit you wish in this dish; if you use frozen fruit, thaw them before using them.

My recipe is based on Granny’s Quick Cobbler at SparkRecipes.

Speedy Supper Skillet

Serves 4

1 cup diced onion
16 ounces ground turkey
1 1/2 cups cooked whole wheat pasta
1 cup peas and carrots, frozen
16 ounces tomato sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
salt & pepper to taste

Cook the onions in a pan spray with butter-flavored cooking spray until soft, about 10 minutes. Add ground turkey and garlic, and cook until there’s no visible pink left in the meat. Add the remaining ingredients, stir well and let simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, or until everything is hot.

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 377 Calories; 10g Fat (23.8% calories from fat); 29g Protein; 46g Carbohydrate; 7g Dietary Fiber; 90mg Cholesterol; 825mg Sodium.

Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 2 1/2 Lean Meat; 2 Vegetable; 0 Fat.

I started with Bruce Moffitt’s recipe, but made some minor changes. They’re listed below:

Crystallized Ginger

a 9 to 10 oz piece of fresh ginger (try to find a piece that’s pretty straight, and without a bunch of small knobs)
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp water

Peel the ginger using your favorite method (the easiest is with a spoon), and cut out any discolored spots, as well as the dried up ends. Cut the ginger up into 1/8″ dice, then combine in a bowl with the sugar. Stir it up really well.

Put the water into a heavy bottomed saucepan (something non-stick would probably work well, if you’ve got it, but the bottom has to be heavy). Add in the sugar and ginger and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar’s melted and it’s formed a syrup.

Reduce the heat to as low as it will go, Cook for about half an hour. If the mixture’s foaming, don’t worry – mine did that too. After that half hour, don’t stray too far from the stove. Keep an eye on it, still stirring occasionally, watching for signs of crystallization. You’ll see it start around the edges of the pot. Mine started to turn after about a total of 50 minutes of cooking time. When you can move the crystals into the middle of the pan and there’s hardly any syrup left at the bottom of the pot, you’re done! Remove it from the heat immediately, pour it onto a silpat or some other surface that you’ll be able to get cooled sugar off of easily and let cool.

When it’s cooled down, put it into an air tight container and store in a cool, dark (and dry) place.

I ended up with about half ginger pieces, ginger-flavored sugar crystal chunks. And oh, is it good! Matt says the sugar tastes just like ginger Altoids, but a tiny bit sweeter.

All I can say is oh my god, it’s good! I could easily have devoured the entire pot myself, it was so yummy. It got Ari’s seal of approval too – she gobbled up everything in her bowl. Definitely being added to the list of family favorites.

Sausage & Cabbage Soup

Serves 4

3 slices bacon — diced small
12 ounces polish sausage — sliced
1 cup sliced red onion
8 ounces shredded cabbage
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons spicy mustard
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Put the bacon in a cold dutch oven and turn the heat on to medium to medium high. Stir occaisionally until the bacon is crispy.

Add the sausage and onion and cook, stirring once in a while, until the onion is starting to get tender.

Put the cabbage in the pot, stir it up well, and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the chicken broth, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the cabbage is tender.

Just before serving, stir in the mustard and red wine vinegar.

Source: “http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-index/dinner-recipes/Sausage–Potato-and-Cabbage-Stew”

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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 388 Calories; 28g Fat (63.3% calories from fat); 26g Protein; 10g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 64mg Cholesterol; 1452mg Sodium.

Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 3 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 4 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

A “boring” week this week, as I’m focusing on Christmas cookies and food gifts. I’ll post more about that later.

Saturday Breakfast: self-serve
Saturday Lunch: ate out
Saturday Supper: Chicken Tortilla Bake

Sunday Breakfast: biscuit crusted sausage pie
Sunday Lunch: self-serve
Sunday Supper: cheeseburgers & fries (used my grill pan and baked the fries)

Monday Breakfast: scrambled eggs & cinnamon toast
Monday Lunch: Lisa – roasted veggie lasagna; Ari – hot lunch; Don – hot lunch
Monday Supper: spaghetti

Tuesday Breakfast: pancakes
Tuesday Lunch: Lisa – leftover spaghetti & veggies; Ari – home lunch; Don – home lunch
Tuesday Supper: Jerked Pork Pizza (home made everything)

Wednesday Breakfast: french toast
Wednesday Lunch: Lisa – sandwich & veggies; Ari – school lunch; Don – school lunch
Wednesday Supper: Sausage & Cabbage Soup

Thursday Breakfast: birds in a nest, fruit
Thursday Lunch: Lisa – ham & cheese melt; Ari – home lunch; Don – home lunch
Thursday Supper: Sausage & Pepper Burritos

Friday Breakfast: cereal
Friday Lunch: Lisa – ham & cheese melt; Ari – home lunch; Don – home lunch
Friday Supper: eat out

Update (12/17/09): Changed the menu around a bit to reflect what we actually ate, and added in the link for the Sausage & Cabbage Soup.

Biscuit Crusted Sausage Pie

non-stick cooking spray
1/2 lb bulk pork sausage with sage
1/2 recipe of your favorite biscuit recipe
1/2 red onion, sliced very thin
2 oz diced farmer’s cheese
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks
1/2 c milk
salt & pepper

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. In a non-stick skillet, cook sausage, crumbling it as it cooks, until browned and cooked through. Drain and set aside to cool.

Grease a 9″ round pie place. Press the biscuit dough into the pie plate so it’s even all the way around, and comes up to the top of the pan. (If you’re using a rolled biscuit dough recipe, roll the dough out into a circle that will fit the pie plate.)

In a medium bowl, combine cooked sausage, red onion slices and diced cheese, then spread evenly over the crust. In the same bowl, beat eggs, egg yolks, milk, and salt and pepper. Pour the egg mixture over the sausage mixture. Bake until the middle is set, about 25 to 35 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

If you’re making this ahead, reheat in a 350 degree oven for about 15 to 20 minutes. If you’ve frozen the baked pie, thaw it in the fridge before reheating.

It’s been added to the “yes, we’d love to eat it again” list. I’ve included the nutrition information for the soup, but you need to be aware the fat count is way off. Yes, there’s half a pound of bacon, but all the fat that came out when it was cooked was drained off, so it’s not as bad as it looks.

Bacon Cheeseburger Soup

 
Serves 6

1/2 pound bacon — chopped
1 medium onion — diced
2 medium carrots — sliced thin
1 pound ground round
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 cups chicken broth
2 medium potatoes — peeled and diced
2 cups milk, 1% lowfat
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese — cubed or shredded

Put bacon into a cold, large heavy bottomed Dutch oven. Turn heat onto medium to medium high and cook until the bacon starts to get crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan and put onto a paper-towel lined plate to drain. Pour the bacon fat out of the pot and into a mug or something that can handle really hot stuff, leaving only what covers the bottom of the pot.

Add onion, carrots, ground round, garlic powder, salt and pepper to the pot and cook until the meat is browned. Drain off any liquid.

Add chicken broth and potatoes and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

Add milk, and cook 5 minutes. Smash a bunch of the potatoes up to help thicken the soup.

Remove the pot from the heat. Add cheese to soup and stir until melted. Serve immediately.

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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 658 Calories; 46g Fat (63.6% calories from fat); 42g Protein; 17g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 127mg Cholesterol; 1805mg Sodium.

Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 5 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 1/2 Non-Fat Milk; 6 Fat.

NOTE: The fat count is *way* off, as most of the bacon fat is rendered out and drained off.