Barbeque Baked Beans

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. We went to a cookout at a friend's house. Good food and good friends make for a wonderfull afternoon!

I signed up to bring the baked beans. I thought that I would share the recipe. There will be plenty more opportunities this summer to use this recipe. I will admit that I don't make my everyday baked beans as rich as these are. This is my "party hearty" recipe.

A long time ago I decided that the short cut of using canned pork and beans as a base for these worked just fine. It cuts down on the work and time.

Barbeque Baked Beans

1 2lb can pork and beans. I use whatever is the cheapest. When I'm cooking for a big crowd I use the 7 lb can of Showboat beans and increase the other ingredients accordingly.

1 cup brown sugar ( more or less to taste. More in my case! )

1 cup ketchup

1-2 tablespoons mustard

1 onion chopped

optional: bacon, at least 3 pieces, fried and chopped, or pieces of ham.

molasses, to drizzle over the top. I have used maple syrup with very good results.

Mix all ingredients, except molasses. Place in a pan, drizzle molasses over the top and bake 325 degrees for 1 and 1/2 - 2 hours. I usually cook mine in a 9x13 glass or metal pan which I have lined with foil to make the clean up easier.

I haven't met anybody yet who doesn't love these beans. They taste like you put lots of effort into them but they are really very easy.

Recipes: Camp Stew and Country Eggplant Casserole

I've been very scarce around here lately. I think I needed a break from blogging. But I'm back for now and I thought I would share a couple of recipes. They are simple to prepare and some of our favorites; just plain and simple down-home cooking.

Randy and I had lunch with his mother many years ago and she served this dish. We both loved it and she was gracious enough to share the recipe with me. Delicious.

Eggplant: Country Supper Style

1 medium or large eggplant, pared and cubed

butter or oil

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

1 large can diced tomatoes

1 Tablespoon finely chopped parsley

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Bread crumbs

Grated Cheese

Saute eggplant in butter (preferred) or oil for around 5 minutes or until it begins to look transparent.

Pour the eggplant into a buttered 9X13 casserole dish.

Saute onion in 2 tablespoons butter until it begins to turn yellow, add can diced tomatoes, parsley, sugar, chili powder, salt and pepper.

Sir and let come to a boil Pour over eggplant. Top with crumbs, dot with butter, and sprinkle cheese over all.

Bake 350 for 35 minutes or until bubbly.

Good served with a salad in the summer or with rolls or cornbread in the winter but either way, you need a gallon or so of Sweet Tea. Hmmmm...good.

Another favorite is Camp Stew. It is a dish that I believe originated in the south.

When I was growing up some of the churches in our area would sell Camp Stew as a fund raiser.

Brunswick Stew is a name I have heard used interchangeably but there are some differences. I think the main difference may be the addition of butter beans (Baby Limas) in some cases barbecue sauce is used instead of catsup.

The original recipes that I have found included such meats as rabbit, squirrel or even bear. Even though the recipe calls for beef and chicken.

I have substituted ground pork,turkey and even vegetarian meat substitutes. All have been well received. It is also just as good with only one type of meat instead of two.

We eat this several times a month during the winter. It is best served with a pan of hot cornbread.

Crock Pot Camp Stew

1 lb. ground beef

1 c. boiled or baked chicken, chopped.

1 medium chopped onion

2 cans cream style corn. ( I often just substitute a bag of frozen corn)

2 cans tomatoes, diced

1 can Baby Lima beans, optional

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 cup catsup

1 teaspoon hot sauce, optional

Brown and drain ground meat. Put everything in crock pot.

Stir and cook : High for 3 hours or Low for 6 hours

Recipe: Crumb Topped Fruit Pie

This pie is so easy . It is great warm or cold, topped with whipped cream or ice cream. You can make it out of any fruit, but my favorite is apple.

For apple pie filling your need:

6 cups of peeled, cored and thinly sliced apples,

1/2/ to 3/4 cup sugar,

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

cinnamon or other preferred spices to taste

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour.

In a large mixing bowl stir all dry ingredients together. Add the fruit and toss till the fruit is coated. Place in pie crust (I just use a deep dish, frozen crust) place a few dollops of butter or margarine ( I only use real butter) here and there on top of the filling. Top with crumb topping.

Crumb topping:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter

salt to taste

cinnamon and nutmeg to taste.

Combine flour and brown sugar. cut in butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs; sprinkle over filling. Cover edge with foil. Bake at 350 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake 20-25 minutes more or till top is golden and fruit is tender.

After the pie cools some you can knock it up a notch by drizzling powdered sugar icing over the top. The ingredients are so easy:

1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

milk or orange juice, about 2 teaspoons.

Mix the sugar, vanilla and mix in milk or juice 1 teaspoon at a time, adding a little more if necessary, till you get a drizzling consistency.

Drizzle across the pie. Serves 8. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to go to all the work to make 1 pie! I always double the recipe.

My oven is temperamental. I tend to leave the foil on for the full cooking time to prevent the crust from being over browned. This is a great fall dessert

Summer Days: Recipes

I've been a very bad blogger. I haven't been posting regularly enough to even justify doing this. My days have been filled with working in our business, working in my garden and working in my kitchen putting all the things from my garden away. I will go 4 or 5 days in a row without leaving our property. Even though I feel like I'm very busy it's been nice; life seems much simpler in someways.

I had a wonderful visit with Jesse last week. He helped us pick out a new computer . Our old one is close to 8 years old and I have resuscitated it several times. It has been relegated to a school computer and once I get a router an additional internet surfer.

I've been busy making Jams and Jellies and I thought I would share the two I like the best.

First there is Jalapeno jelly, one of our favorites. I decided to grow Jalapenos this year because my youngest son loves hot peppers. I haven't tried any other hot peppers fresh from the garden so I have nothing to compare them to, but these babies I'm growing are HOT! When I sliced them up I started coughing and my throat burned! I was concerned that the jelly would be too hot to eat. It was too late to turn back so I just had to take the chance. I will say that the jelly is perfect. Not too hot but with a bite at the end.

My favorite way to serve Pepper jelly is over cream cheese. At Christmas I have a tree shaped platter that I spread my cream cheese in. I then spread a layer of Pepper jelly over the cream cheese and serve with crackers. It is something that is easy to keep on hand in case unexpected guest drop by. Easy and delicious.

Also a note: The recipe called for 2 packs of pectin. I think next time I may try it with only 1 and see how it works. You might want to check it for yourself before you add the second pack.

Jalapeno Jelly: From the Ball Blue Book.

Makes 6 jelly jars.

3/4 lb Jalapeno peppers ( I used about 1/2 lb)

2 cups cider vinegar

6 cups sugar

2 pouches liquid pectin

Green food coloring, ( this is optional)

Be sure to wear gloves when handling the peppers. They will burn your skin. DO NOT touch your face or believe me you will be sorry.

Wash peppers and drain. Remove stems and seeds. Puree the peppers and a little of the vinegar in a blender or food processor . If I use the food processor I only put in about a tablespoon of vinegar.

Combine the rest of vinegar, peppers and sugar in large saucepot. Bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes, stir constantly.

Stir in pectin. Return to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and skim foam if necessary. If you like ad a few drops of food coloring. I added 4 drops to mine because I like it to look festive at Christmas.

Ladle into hot, sterilized jars, leave 1/4 space at jar top. Process 10 minutes in water bath canner.

The second recipe is for Tomato Jam. This is another family favorite and works great for tomatoes that are just a little too ripe to can or freeze.

This is delicious served with butter over hot homemade biscuits. Oh my! My mouth is watering!

Tomato Jam

Makes 6 Jelly Jars.

2 and 1/2 lbs tomatoes. About 5 cups.

2 lbs sugar

dash of salt (to taste)

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 box of Sure Jell

Peel and cut tomatoes into small pieces. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Add lemon juice and Sure Jell. Bring to a full rolling boil, stir constantly. Add sugar and again bring to a full boil while stirring. Remove from heat, skim and place in sterilized jars. Process for 10 minutes in water bath.

Note: I meant to try this with liquid pectin and forgot to pick up an extra pack. I think it might work better. I used a product called Dutch Jell that I picked up at the Mennonite community. It is supposed to be a natural substitute for Sure Jell.

If you try these out be sure to let me know how you like them.

To Do List: Try New Things: Violet Jelly and Dandelion Syrup

Patty at Morning Ramble has a recipe for Dandelion syrup on her blog. I have plenty of Dandelions so I thought I would give it a try. The soaking Dandelions didn't look so appetizing. I wasn't too confident about how it was going to turn out. I kept a positive attitude and continued on.

After following the directions I had a nice thick golden colored syrup. That taste like...well...syrup. I can't say that I taste something that taste like Dandelion. All I know is that it is good.

After success with the Dandelions I was fired up to try something else. I have been wanting to try Violet Jelly for a couple of years. I found a great recipe and tutorial at Prairieland Herbs.

I picked Violets out of our yard. It took about 20 minutes or so. I just plopped down in the middle of a patch and cleared them out. I followed the recipe and because it was late after I soaked the flowers, I refrigerated the liquid from the violets overnight. Making the jelly only took about 45 minutes total. I think it is delicious. It has a light floral taste to it. It is delicious on toast with butter. Here are the results. Isn't it beautiful? I love the lavender color. The tall bottle is the Dandelion Syrup.

Finally, inspired by my success I decided to use some fruit I had that I was afraid would spoil. So I made some Pear and Pecan Conserve and Plum preserves. I just had enough for a jar or two so I just threw them in the water bath with the jelly.

I put some extra in a decorative jar I had and we have been enjoying it with some buttered biscuits.

This has been fun. Who would have thought weeds from my yard would taste so good!

Technorati tags: violet, jelly, frugal living, homemaking, violet jelly<

Practical Recipes For The Housewife

Surfing the web I came across this old recipe book online. It is so interesting to see these older recipes, many of them very usable, and tips for the Housewife of days gone by. I thought I would share them with you. Let me know if you try any of the recipes and how they turn out.

Edit: You will see a blank page when you get to the site. Move over to the right side and you will see arrows to turn the pages with.

Need A New Recipe?

I promised my friend Angie I would post a link to a recipe for Taco seasoning mix. Frugal Families has a great page with recipes for everything from Apple pie to Granola to fun Halloween party recipes to Taco seasoning mix.

A Favorite Family Recipe: Tomato Gravy

Sometimes you just want something comforting to eat. Something that reminds you of when you were a little kid and your mom, or in my case grandmother, used to make you something yummy to eat that was filled with not only good taste but lots of love.

One of my very favorite meals growing up was also one of the easiest to prepare. Old fashioned tomato gravy.

I didn't realize growing up that tomato gravy must be a regional food, at least the way we ate it. All the tomato gravy I ate growing up was served over homemade buttermilk biscuits fresh and hot from the oven. Another peculiarity in our family was sprinkling a teaspoon of sugar over the gravy. My husband, who also ate tomato gravy growing up, would never do that. He just doesn't know what's good!

Before posting this recipe I did a quick Google search to check other recipes. I found many different recipes that included items such as garlic, onions and herbs or spices.

Those recipes are better suited to being served over a meat or pasta. This recipe I'm posting could be served over grits or maybe mashed potatoes, but my serving suggestion is the traditional way we served it, over biscuits.

Carrie's Tomato Gravy.

Ingredients:.

3-4 tablespoons oil (butter, cooking oil of choice, or bacon fat, which is what Grannie used).

About 4 tablespoons flour.

One 28 ounce can diced tomatoes (no spices added, plain tomatoes).

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat, add the flour 1 tablespoon at a time until all is mixed in. Lower heat until mixture is just simmering. This forms a roux that you cook, stirring constantly, until it is the color of milk chocolate.

If you haven't made a roux before the main thing to remember is watch it very carefully so it doesn't burn. Stir constantly and as soon as it reaches the correct color remove from the heat.

Add your can of tomatoes to the roux and stir well. Return the mixture to heat and continuing to stir well, cook until thickened. About 3-5 minutes. At this point taste for seasoning. I usually add about a half teaspoon of salt. It really depends on your tomatoes. Also a small amount of sugar(also about a half teaspoon) added compliments the tomatoes well.

This gravy served over biscuits can be served for any meal. We have had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but most often serve it as an evening meal. If you try it be sure to let me know what you think.

Plum good

I bought a bag of plums at Sam's Club last week . They turned out to be more ripe than I thought. I realized that they were going to go bad and as part of my new effort to find a ways to avoid waste in our food budget I realized that I needed to do something with them. I decided to cook them into a sauce. I don't have any Sure-Jel on hand so I couldn't make jelly. I used : 2 1/2 c. sliced plums, 1 Tab lemon juice, 1/2 cup water ( I think grape or apple juice would be good) and 3/4 cup sugar. I brought them to a boil, lowered heat to medium and cooked until the fruit was cooked through and the liquid thickened. I ended up with a great sauce that we used over French toast. It thickened after it was refrigerated and works great on toast. I can't wait to try it on some hot buttered biscuits. Oh, and if your not from the South, you might not get the title. Plum is used sometimes as a adjective that means really or completely. It's not bad grammar, I promise.

Somethings (People) Are Hard To Change

I love my husband. He is a wonderful husband and has worked really hard to give his family everything he can. He is a great guy!

Just wanted to make that very clear before I tell you he was raised in a family that worships at the altar of food. Food is at every event, birth, death, wedding, Easter, and Christmas, and Thanksgiving of course. Also every just for the fun of it get together. Getting together means FOOD and lots of it and most of it full of fat and sugar. That is the way he was raised.

I went shopping yesterday at Sam's club. There are certain things I always buy. Lots of fruit and veggies. Lots of healthy choices IMO. I try really hard to feed my family healthy food. This is what I bought.

I am like most middle aged women, always struggling with my weight. I love a good brownie. What can I say? But if sweets aren't in my house. I won't eat them. I will say that truly it can take me months to eat a bag of M and M's.

When I was growing up sweets were a treat. Most sweets were homemade. We had wonderful cobblers from fresh fruit, the occasional homemade cake or Egg Custard pie. My grandmother made delicious fried apple pies and cookies that she called Tea Cakes. Obviously we had sweets enough I have very good memories of them. But not everyday and not JUNK.

My son is having a friend over for the night. The other adult that grocery shops in my home went out this morning to pick up some TP, bread and cereal. This is what he came home with.

This junk came along with a heartfelt explanation that it was snack food for the "kids" and that everything was on sale, so he hmmm.....this person, saved lots of money.

HOW? By buying enough sugar to ensure triple by pass and maybe a life of dependence on insulin? How is that cost effective?

Tell me people. How am I supposed to deal with this one? I can't spank a grown man. Person.

Not to mention the fact that I'm really wanting one of those chocolate chip cookies right now!