Canned Roasted Green Tomato Salsa

We had our first frosty nights last weekend, but knew about it ahead of time and picked all of our tomatoes, both red and green.

Many of the larger green ones are being ripened in the basement (more on that later), but there were still many small green tomatoes to deal with.  I decided to make green tomato salsa with them.

I scoured the internet for green tomato and/or tomatillo recipes suitable for canning, then true to my style, I tweaked a couple of them to come up with my own.  Because I only tweaked spices a bit, and used fewer bell peppers and onions instead of more, but left the vinegar and lemon or lime juice amounts the same (and added some citric acid for good measure) I'm confident this recipe is still safe for water bath canning.  But here's my disclaimer.  If you are uncomfortable with this recipe for any reason, don't make it.  Use one from the Ball Blue Book or your local university extension office.

Anyway, back to the recipe.  This stuff's good.  It's tart, tangy, fresh-tasting and not very hot.  Hot can be good, but sometimes I just want the flavor without the heat.  If you want more heat, you can add more jalapenos or some cayenne pepper to the mix.

Annie's Roasted Green Tomato Salsa

6 to 8 pounds of green tomatoes, stemmed and cut into large chunks
drizzle of olive oil
sea salt and pepper
1 cup chopped bell pepper (any color)
2 large onions, diced
1 4-ounce can diced mild green chiles (or the equivalent fresh)
8 slices of pickled jalapeno (or use fresh - to your own taste)
1 cup fresh lemon or lime juice
1 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons chicken base or chicken bouillon (optional, but it does add to the flavor)
2 Tablespoons sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon citric acid (to increase acidity)

Heat oven to 325°F.  Prepare jars for canning following the directions in the Ball Blue Book or from your local university extension office.

Brush a large baking pan with sides (like a steam table pan or a roaster) with a drizzle of olive oil.  Place tomato chunks in pan.  Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and sea salt.  Place pan in oven and roast for 60-90 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare water bath canner for use per manufacturer's directions.

Remove tomatoes from oven and spoon tomatoes and any liquid into a large stock pot.  Add all remaining ingredients and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Mixture will probably still be chunky, so blend to desired consistency using a handheld immersion blender or by blending in batches in a blender or food processor.  Continue to simmer while assembling jars, lids and rings for canning.

Fill hot pint jars with hot salsa mixture, leaving 1/2-inch head space.  Wipe rims with a clean damp cloth, adjust two piece lids and rings, and place in canner of rapidly boiling water.  Once water returns to a full boil, process for 20 minutes.  Remove jars from canner and place on a folded kitchen towel in a draft-free area of your kitchen.  Listen for jars to seal.  Store any jars that fail to seal in the refrigerator for immediate use.

Makes 7 to 8 pints. 

Apple and Ground Cherry Gallette

This is another dish I made last week.  It may not be a traditional galette, since I used a basic pie crust instead of puff pastry or a crepe, but it's close enough for me.  We like galettes because they suit the smaller size of our family, and also because we enjoy the higher crust to fruit ratio than we'd get with a fully-filled double-crust pie. 

Do all of you know what ground cherries are?  I didn't until last spring, when we decided to grow some.  Also known as cape gooseberries and husk tomatoes, they are members of the nightshade family (as are potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, etc.)  The plants bear small yellow fruits that grow in paper husks similar to those on tomatillos.  The flavor is unique.  They are sweet, and have been described as tasting a little like pineapple and a little like Froot Loops.  Believe me, they taste better than Froot Loops.  The are commonly used to make jelly, jam, sauces and pie fillings, but there are many other ways to serve them.

Note: I combined them with some of the spiced apple slices I canned earlier this fall.  The spices and sugar in the apples' syrup was just right to season and sweeten the ground cherries.  If you don't have canned apples, try using two apples, peeled and sliced, a bit of ground cinnamon and ground cloves, a half cup of water and sugar to taste.  Cook the apples with the ground cherries until thick, then proceed from there.


Apple and Ground Cherry Galette

1 pint canned spiced apple slices with syrup (see note above for substitution)
1 cup fresh or frozen ground cherries, husks removed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 homemade or prepared crust for a 9-inch pie

Heat oven to 375°F.

Combine apples with syrup and ground cherries in a medium saucepan.  Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes or until mixture is thick and no longer watery.  Remove from heat, then stir in vanilla.  Set mixture aside.

Roll pie crust to a 12-inch diameter.  Place on a pizza stone or large baking sheet.

Spoon apple-ground cherry filling in center of crust, spreading to within 2 inches of outer edges.  Fold edges of dough up and over filling, overlapping as shown and leaving a circle of filling uncovered.

Lightly brush crust with water and sprinkle with coarse sugar if desired (I did not do so this time).  Bake at 375°F for about 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  Cut into wedges to serve.

Makes 6 servings.

Ham and Potato Casserole

Last week I baked a half-ham and with some of the leftovers, I made this tasty casserole.  It's basically a gratin or scallop, with ham, potatoes, onions and the very flavorful broth from cooking the ham.

Ham and Potato Casserole

2 Tablespoons fat of choice (I used the fat from baking the ham)
1/4 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
1 cup ham broth (could use just water or chicken broth)
1 cup half-and-half (could use evaporated milk)
1/2 cup water
pepper to taste
6 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 cups diced cooked ham
1 cup shredded cheese of choice (I used mozzarella)

Heat oven to 350°F.  Spray a 9x13 baking dish with pan spray and set aside.

Melt fat in a large saucepan or Dutch oven.  Stir in flour and cook until bubbly and thick, about 2 minutes.  Whisk in ham broth and half-and-half.  Consistency should be that of heavy cream; add small amount of water to thin if necessary.  Stir in black pepper to taste.

Stir in sliced potatoes, sliced onions and diced ham.  Stir to coat all, then pour into prepared baking dish.  Top with shredded cheese.

Cover baking dish with foil and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  Remove foil and continue to bake another 10-15 minutes or until top of casserole is golden brown.

Makes 6-8 servings.

The Measure of a Marriage

Her measuring cups and spoons. This makes perfect sense to me.  I cook a lot.  It's good to always have a clean, dry measuring utensil within reach.

His tape measures.  Seven in this picture.  I could put my hands on at least two more within seconds, and I'm sure he has at least one in his truck.  These belong to a man who can routinely hang something on a wall just by eyeballing it and be within a quarter-inch of dead center.  I know he's a construction worker, but I still don't get it.

I guess there are just some things I'm not meant to understand.

October Spending Challenge - Week 1

I mentioned Monday that I was joining Erica at Northwest Edible Life in her No-Spend Month of October by challenging myself to spend zero money going out to eat and as little as possible on food at the grocery store.  Kat requests the school's hot lunch a few times a month, so I'm including that spending as well.  I don't consider it to be groceries or a meal out, so it gets its own category.

This week of 10/1 to 10/5 was a success:

Restaurant spending:  $0
School lunch spending: $2.15 (1 lunch)
Grocery store spending:  $8.55 (includes sales tax)

At the store I bought:  10 pounds russet potatoes, 1 large head of lettuce, 1 small head of cabbage, and a 1-pound bag of tortilla chips.

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Just for fun, here's what we ate this past week from what was already in the freezer, fridge and pantry:


Breakfasts: 

• Shane doesn't eat breakfast during the week. 
• If I do, it's usually just toast and coffee. 
• Kat ate a scrambled egg with toast (2 days), a waffle with butter - she doesn't like syrup (1 day), toast with almond butter (1 day), and oatmeal (1 day).

Lunches: 

• Shane takes supper leftovers or other pantry items for his lunch nearly every day. 
• I ate enchiladas left over from camping (3 days), miscellaneous leftovers (1 day), and stuffed cheeseburger buns (1 day). 
• Kat ate stuffed cheeseburger buns (2 days), leftover ham and potato casserole (2 days) with yogurt, string cheese, peaches, tortilla chips and/or peanuts as side items all week.  She requested the school lunch for today:  turkey and gravy, whole grain roll, and two or more of applesauce, apple wedges, banana, corn or celery sticks.

Suppers: (I baked a half ham that has stretched all week and will make some future meals as well.) 

• Baked ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, sauteed cabbage, fermented cherry tomatoes, whole wheat rolls with butter.
• Ham-potato-onion casserole, peas, home-canned peaches, cottage cheese, fermented cherry tomatoes, whole wheat rolls with butter.
• Fried ham slices, eggs (fried or scrambled as desired), whole wheat toast with butter, cottage cheese, sliced tomato, apple-ground cherry galette.
• Potato soup with ham, cheese and broccoli (per Shane's request); fried egg sandwiches
• Tonight we will have a homemade version of a Primanti Bros. Sandwich that we saw TV once time.  Ours will have ham, cooked chicken, cheddar, French fries, slaw and tomatoes on homemade bread.  No side dishes will be needed with this sandwich!

Drinks and Snacks:
Drinks this week were water, coffee, iced tea, hot tea, hot chocolate, half of a 2-liter bottle of ginger ale left from camping, and beer.  Snacks were dry roasted peanuts, toast with apple butter, tortilla chips, string cheese, and apples.

Easy Cheese Stick "Eggrolls"

It's getting to be that time of year when lots of parties and gatherings are planned, whether for holidays, ball games, or just for fun.  Here is a quick appetizer to make when you're hosting, or when you are going somewhere where you'll have the use of an oven to crisp these back up just before serving.

The appetizers can be deep-fried as I did these, or they can be baked.  For larger appetizers, use full sticks of string cheese and egg roll wrappers.  For smaller bites, you can use wonton wrappers and cut the string cheese sticks into thirds.  That's what I did with these.  They are good served plain (my favorite), or with ranch dressing and/or sweet and sour sauce for dipping.

Easy Cheese Stick "Eggrolls"
1 package string cheese (16 oz. = 16 pieces, usually)
1 package wonton or egg roll wrappers
Peanut oil or other oil for deep frying

Heat oil in a deep fryer to 375°F.

While oil is heating, remove wrapper from string cheese pieces.  If using egg roll wrappers, you will need one wrapper per piece of cheese.  If using wonton wrappers, you will need to cut each cheese stick into thirds crosswise and use three wrappers.

Wrap each piece of cheese "burrito-style" by placing a single wrapper in front of you with a point toward you.  Place piece of cheese across the wrapper near the center.  Fold the point nearest you up and over the cheese, but a 1/2-inch or so below the top point.  Brush exposed edges of wrapper with water.  Fold in side points, then roll cheese toward top point, pressing to seal all edges.  Set aside and cover with a barely-damp paper towel while rolling remaining cheese sticks.

Deep fry appetizers in batches in hot oil until wrappers are golden brown and bubbly.  Drain on paper towels and cool slightly before serving.

Alternately, place rolled appetizers on a lined baking sheet and bake 375°F degrees until golden brown, turning once to brown on all sides.  Let cool slightly before serving.



(BTW, I think I first saw this recipe somewhere on Pinterest, but I don't see it on my boards now, so I don't know who should get credit.)

Changing Seasons

The 2012 camping season is over for us.  You can read a couple of new posts about our last camping weekend of the year at Haphazard Homestead on the Road.

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With camping season over, summer is "officially" over for us, too.  As we move into fall and look ahead toward holidays and cooler weather, I've decided to take on two challenges for October.

The first is that I'm going to join in with Erica at Northwest Edible Life in an October No-Spend Month.  I think Erica is attempting an across-the-board reduction, but I've decided that I want to limit my challenge to grocery and restaurant spending.  Those of you who were readers of my old blog know that I can get a little carried away with numbers, but I promise not to do that this time.  My goal is to spend as little as possible at the grocery store and for us to not go out to eat at all in October.  I'll post my updates on Fridays and keep them simple. 

One exemptions right off the bat:  We will be paying the meat processor for pork already butchered and waiting for us to pick up as soon as the cured cuts are ready. 

If you'd like to join in, please do.  It's my understanding that this challenge is less about austerity and more about being mindful of and deliberate in your spending habits, whatever they may be.

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The second challenge I'm going to join is "All Done by December 1" at Happy Simple Living.  According to the Happy Simple Living blog, "The idea is to do some advance planning about the aspects of Christmas that are most important to you and your family, followed by some easy tasks and organization. The goal? To have every do-ahead task done by December 1, leaving you three glorious weeks to have the best celebration ever."

If you'd like to join in, click over and sign up for the e-mail updates.