Pistachio Salad
1 ( 3.4 oz.) package instant pistachio pudding
2 (8 oz.) fat-free Cool Whip
1 (8 oz.) cans crushed pineapple
2 cups mini marshmallows
Mix pudding with crushed pineapple until pudding is dissolved.
Add Cool Whip and then marshmallows.
Chill.
Makes approximately 4 1/2 cups
Recipe without pictures:
PISTACHIO SALAD
1 ( 3.4 oz.) package instant pistachio pudding
2 (8 oz.) fat-free Cool Whip
1 (8 oz.) cans crushed pineapple
2 cups mini marshmallows
Mix pudding with crushed pineapple until pudding is dissolved.
Add Cool Whip and then marshmallows.
Chill.
Makes approximately 4 1/2 cups
Tomatoes – Canning
I love it when our garden does well and I can bottle tomatoes to use during the year for spaghetti sauce, chili, soups and anything that requires tomatoes.
Wash tomatoes to remove any garden dirt.
Bring a large pot of water to boiling. Add whole tomatoes. Blanch for about 30 seconds.
Remove tomatoes to a sink full of cold water.
Blanching will help remove the skins very easily. After skinning, remove the core with a knife.
I like to skin all the tomatoes first, and then cut them up.
After washing your jars in the dishwasher, add 2 T. of lemon and 1 tsp. of salt to each jar.
Add diced tomatoes.
Boil the lids in a small pan of water.
Wipe edge of jar with a hot towel.
Place lid on jar. Secure the ring.
WATER BATH CANNER – Fill half way with water and bring to a boil. Lower jars into the rack, making sure that the water covers the jars. Return to a boil, and keep it a boil for 95 minutes.
STEAM CANNER – Fill lower pan with water. Place jars on rack. Bring water to a boil and start timing when steam comes out the hole at least 8 inches. Since there is only a few inches of water in the pan, replace with boiling water as needed. Steam for 95 minutes.
Place jars on a thick towel to allow them to cool. Once they are cool, remove the bands, wash the jars and mark with the year.
Corn on the Cob – Freezing
Nothing tastes better than sweet corn in the middle of the winter – especially if you grew that corn in your own backyard. Freezing corn is very simple and worth the little time that it takes. You will thank yourself in the middle of the winter. This corn will taste much better than anything you’ve ever had from a store.
NOTE: Read all instructions before starting so you can have everything ready.
Start with fresh corn on the cob – as fresh as you can get. Harvest corn in the early morning, especially if the weather is hot. Harvest the corn at its peak maturity. Immature corn is watery when cooked and over-ripe corn is chewy and doughy. If there is a delay between harvesting and freezing, put it in the refrigerator or put it on ice. The sugars break down quickly at room temperature.
Use a large pot, filled 3/4 full with hot water, put it on your largest burner. Bring water to a full rolling boil. I add about a teaspoon of sugar to the water to retain the sweetness of the corn.
All fruits and vegetables contain enzymes that, over time, break down and destroy nutrients – changing the color, flavor and texture of food during frozen storage. Corn requires blanching to destroy the enzymes before freezing.
Begin counting the blanching time as soon as you place the corn in the boiling water. The water should return to a boil in a minute or less. If it takes several minutes or more to return to a boil, you are using too small a pot or adding too much corn at one time.
I put about 6 corn cobs in the pot at one time, cover the pot and cook corn for 4 minutes.
Get a large bowl filled with ice and cold water. After the corn is blanched, immediately put it in the cold ice water to prevent it from overcooking. Keep adding more ice each time, to keep the water very cold. Cool corn for the same amount of time as blanching (4 minutes). Since corn on the cob floats, stir it around so the top can cool off too.
If your bag of ice has a large chunk in it, use this. It lasts a lot longer than the smaller pieces.
Using a bundt pan when cutting the corn off the cob is a genius idea. Put the pointed end of the ear into the hole in the middle of the bundt pan. As you cut the corn off of the cob, it will fall into the pan. I found it easiest to just cut it off with a sharp knife. Some people like using an electric knife.
I bought one of these gadgets at Bed, Bath and Beyond but found it very hard to use. It took a lot of muscle and it kind of chewed up the corn. Glad I only paid $2.99 for it.
I had two bowls on the counter – one to put the cooled corn in and one for the cut corn.
Close up, the corn comes off in strips. As you put these in the bags, they will easily separate into separate kernels.
Fresh corn is very juicy, which makes it hard to seal in freezer bags using a FoodSaver. When the air is being sucked out, the juice also comes out, preventing the bag from sealing. I put the corn in larger zip lock bags and put it in the freezer to freeze the kernels before bagging it in individual bags. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you shake the bags every couple of hours, otherwise you will end up with one big block of corn. (I know this from personal experience and it wasn’t pretty!) If you are going to eat the corn within three months, it is just fine to leave the corn in these larger bags. Leaving it like this for an extended period of time will cause freezer burn to the kernels.
Once the corn is frozen, measure and divide into individual bags and seal in your FoodSaver.
When you are ready to serve the corn, it just takes about 3 – 4 minutes in the microwave, from frozen. It doesn’t need to be cooked, just heated up.
Banana Chocolate Chip Bread
This banana bread can be made in just a few minutes and is SO good! It is a great thing to do with those bananas that go ripe too fast. And – only 3 -4 ingredients! Put your bananas in the freezer, peel and all, until you have enough bananas to make this recipe. You will never want to throw old bananas away again…. or, you will purposely let them go bad just so you can make this delicious bread!
3 – 4 over ripe bananas
2 eggs
1 yellow cake mix
1 cup chocolate chips – I like using the mini chocolate chips but the regular ones work fine too.
1) Beat bananas
2) Add eggs
3) Add cake mix
4) Add chocolate chips
5) Grease and flour a large loaf pan or spray with a baking spray with flour.
6) Bake at 350 degrees for 55 – 60 minutes or longer. It is very important to insert a toothpick in the middle of the loaf, in several places, to check to make sure it is done. If it is at all sticky or even damp, continue baking for a few more minutes. If you take it out too early, it will sink and be gooey in the middle.
This batter can also be made into cupcakes. I baked them at 350 degrees for 17 minutes.
Or, this can be made into 4 small loaves.
Loaf and cupcakes freeze well.
Recipe Source: Artsy Fartsy Mama (found on Pinterest)
FULL RECIPE WITHOUT PICTURES —
BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP BREAD
3 – 4 over ripe bananas
2 eggs
1 yellow cake mix
1 cup chocolate chips – I like using the mini chocolate chips but the regular ones work fine too.
1) Beat bananas
2) Add eggs
3) Add cake mix
4) Add chocolate chips
5) Grease and flour a large loaf pan or spray with a baking spray with flour.
6) Bake at 350 degrees for 40 – 45 minutes or longer. It is very important to insert a toothpick in the middle of the loaf, in several places, to check to make sure it is done. If it is at all sticky, continue baking for a few more minutes. If you take it out too early, it will sink in the middle.
This batter can also be made into cupcakes. I baked them at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
Or, this can be made into 4 small loaves.
Loaf and cupcakes freeze well.
Recipe Source: Artsy Fartsy Mama (found on Pinterest)
Veggie Pizza
This was such a great little pizza! I loved it! This really isn’t a “recipe” but just a great idea for a quick meal. Use any veggies that you have in your frig – plus I added a little pineapple. Delicious and very filling!
These are the ingredients that I used – spinach, pineapple, mushrooms, zucchini, and cheese – although I forgot to add the cheese to the picture. I used mozzarella, but any would do.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
I smeared 2 T. of pizza sauce on a Boboli pizza crust.
Then I added my chopped veggies and fruit.
Then I sprinkled the cheese on top. Putting the cheese on the top, rather than the bottom, allows the cheese to melt down around the veggies and hold them in place.
Bake at 425 degrees for 8 – 10 minutes.
NOTE: The first time I made this pizza, I baked it on a baking sheet. The result was a more doughy bread-like crust. The next time I made one, I put my pizza on a wire rack. The result was a crispier crust. The instructions on the Boboli package say to just put it on the rack in your oven. My oven has really wide spaces and I was afraid that I would lose my pizza so I used a flat wire rack as shown below. I preferred the crispy crust.
Gazpacho
Gazpacho is a cold fresh vegetable soup. So delicious on a hot summer day.
All of these ingredients are approximate. You can just throw in whatever you like and whatever you have.
6 – 10 tomatoes – diced
1 pkg. Good Seasonings Italian dry dressing mix
Stir seasoning into diced tomatoes.
2 large cucumbers – diced
4-5 green onions – chopped very small
1/2 bunch cilantro – diced very small
OPTIONAL:
2 medium green peppers – diced
1 medium red onion – diced
Mix all vegetables together.
Add:
6 T. vinegar
1 tsp. pepper
Cover with half tomato juice or V8 juice and half Clamato juice.
We just pour the juice over the vegetables to the desired thickness.
Chill for about 4 hours or best to chill overnight for flavors to blend.
For an extra zip, add a few drops of your favorite hot sauce.
FULL RECIPE WITHOUT PICTURES
GAZPACHO
6 – 10 tomatoes – diced
2 large cucumbers – diced
4-5 green onions – chopped very small
half bunch cilantro – diced very small
OPTIONAL:
2 medium green peppers – diced
1 medium red onion – diced
Mix all vegetables together.
Add:
6 T. vinegar
1 tsp. pepper
1 pkg. Good Seasonings Italian dry dressing mix
Tomatoe juice *
Clamato juice *
Cover with half tomato juice or V8 juice and half Clamato juice.
We just pour the juice over the vegetables to the desired thickness.
Chill for about 4 hours or best to chill overnight for flavors to blend.
For an extra zip, add a few drops of your favorite hot sauce.
Fruit and Vegetable Bags
Have you ever tried these? I won’t go without them! When these first came out in the store I questioned them and really wondered if they really worked. One day I saw them at the “Dollar” store and figured I would try them. They are wonderful! I have found that fruits and vegetables stored in these bags stay fresh about 3 times longer than in a regular plastic bag. As soon as I get home from the grocery store, I pack the fruit s and vegetables in these bags and I have stopped throwing away old wilted produce – totally worth the dollar I spend on them!
How they work: Always Fresh bags remove ethylene gas to prolong the life and freshness of the produce. Most fruit and vegetables release ethylene gas after harvest. Exposure to the gas accelerates aging in fruits and vegetables. Unlike ordinary plastic bags, Always Fresh bags breathe so that damaging gases produced by the fresh produce are removed. Bags minimize moisture formation and inhibit bacteria growth, maintain fruits and vegetables at their peak.
I buy this brand because they are available st our Dollar store. I am sure any brand of this type of product would work the same.
Sour Cream Marinated Cucumbers
I LOVE these marinated cucumbers! If you like marinated vegetables, you will love these too. They are a great compliment to any summer dish and on Weight Watchers – they are virtually no points.
1 cup fat-free sour cream
2 T. vinegar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. sugar (* see note below)
Mix sour cream, vinegar, salt and sugar together in an air tight container.
2 T. chopped green onion
Chop green onions and add to sour cream mixture.
2 large cucumbers, peeled and thinly sliced
When using cucumbers in a recipe or salad, I always cut a slice out of the middle and taste it. Some cucumbers can be bitter. You would hate to ruin an entire recipe with a bitter cucumber.
Add sliced cucumbers to the sour cream mixture and stir them as best you can. As they marinate, they will soften and be easier to stir.
Refrigerate several hours.
* Note: I tried using Slenda in this recipe and it just didn’t taste the same.
FULL RECIPE WITHOUT THE PICTURES
SOUR CREAM CUCUMBERS
2 T. vinegar
1 cup fat-free sour cream
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. sugar (* see note below)
2 T. chopped green onion
2 large cucumbers, peeled and thinly sliced
Mix all ingredient except cucumbers. Add cucumbers.
Refrigerate several hours.
* Note: I tried using Slenda in this recipe and it just didn’t taste the same.
Composting ? or not
Do you have a composting bin? I have tried to do this in the past, but I am just not diligent enough to stir the mess. I don’t like how it smells either….. I also can’t bring myself to throw all those peeling down the garbage disposal.
Solution – I save the peelings in a bowl and just sprinkle them around the garden. They dry up and then when we till again in the fall, they will add to the richness of the soil.
Banana Bread
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
5 over-ripe bananas – approximately (they have to be very ripe, otherwise they don’t puree well and it just doesn’t taste right)
Beat bananas and measure out 2 1/4 cups. Set aside.
Beat together:
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/8 cups shortening
Add:
5 eggs
2 1/4 cups mashed banana
Add:
4 1/2 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
2 1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/8 tsp. soda
Grease and flour 2 large loaf pans.
Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 60 mins. Insert toothpick to check if it is done. If bread is not done but getting dark on the top, lay a piece of tin foil lightly over the top of bread.
SMALL LOAF PANS: This recipe makes 6 small/medium loaves. Bake 45 mins. at 325 degrees.
FULL RECIPE WITHOUT PICTURES
BANANA BREAD
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Beat bananas and measure out 2 1/4 cups. Set aside
Beat together:
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/8 cups shortening
Add:
5 eggs
2 1/4 cups mashed banana
Add:
4 1/2 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
2 1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/8 tsp. soda
Grease and flour 2 large loaf pans.
Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 60 mins. Insert toothpick to check if it is done. If bread is not done but getting dark on the top, lay a piece of tin foil lightly over the top of bread.
This recipe makes 6 small/medium loaves. Bake 45 mins. at 325 degrees.
No Meals on Wheels 