“Rough and Quick” Roasted Tomato Sauce (makes about 1 ½ cups of sauce)

I found myself at the end of last summer with an abudance of local tomatoes which were not of the Roma or Italian Plum variety. The thought of making slow roast tomatoes crossed my mind followed by the thought of making a roasted tomato sauce which would take far less time, under 2 hours from start to finish, and could be portioned out and frozen for later use. Only the third batch made it to the freezer. The first batch was completely consumed within an hour of coming out of the oven, the second lasted one week in the refrigerator and its remainder was consumed while the third batch was being cooked being the reason why the third batch made it to the freezer. 

This recipe uses all of the tomato,--skin, seeds, etc. If this is not your idea of tomato sauce feel free to stop reading here and go to the National Center for Home Food Preservation and check out their tomato sauce recipes. 

If you're planning to consume this sauce 1-2 weeks from making I recommend storing in an appropriate container in the back of the refrigerator. If you're planning to consume this sauce several months from making I recommend portioning out the batch to size(s) which work for your meal planning, place in freezer-safe bags or containers and freeze. To thaw, let sauce sit on the on the counter top for a few minutes if portion is small enough or place in luke warm water to thaw slowly. If you end up consuming this as soon as it comes out of the oven I recommend waiting at least 10-15 minutes for sauce to cool before eating. This is good as is, on homemade foccia bread or added to pasta. 

“Rough and Quick” Roasted Tomato Sauce (makes about 1 ½ cups of sauce) 

4 cups diced tomatoes (about 4 large or 6 medium size tomatoes) 

¼ cup olive or canola oil 

1 – 1 ½ teaspoons minced garlic or 1 – 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced 

1 ¼ teaspoons dried italian seasoning 

1) Place oven rack on middle rung. 

2) Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees farenheit. 

3) Wash and dry tomatoes. Dice and place in 13-inch by 9-inch baking dish. 

4) Add oil, garlic and italian seasoning to baking dish. 

5) Stir all ingredients in baking dish two to five times or until coarsely mixed. 

6) Place in oven and cook 35 minutes – 1 hour until sauce is desired consistency, checking every 20 minutes and turning dish as needed to get an even roast.  

7) Remove sauce from oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes if serving immediately. Otherwise, let sauce cool completely, about 1-3 hours, store in refrigerator for 1-2 weeks or portion out to freezer-safe bags or containers and freeze for later use.

The portion of the second batch which made 

it to the refrigerator and lasted for one week

Three Ingredient Lemonade for One (makes approximately 2 cups)

Since trying mediterranean chickpea salad, on demand blueberry jam, and making strawberry jam every June there's always a bottle of lemon juice in my refrigerator. With summer in full gear here in New England, I decided to try my hand at homemade lemonade using my recipes for cold brew iced tea and homemade sports drink as guidelines. This is the result. 

1 cup water at room temperature 

1 cup cold water 

1 tablespoon lemon juice 

1/8 – ¼ teaspoon sweetener such as sugar or stevia 

Pinch of salt (optional) 

Using container which can hold 2 or more cups of liquid, like a quart-size mason jar, pour room temperature water and lemon juice into container. Add salt, if using. Stir. Add cold water. Stir again. Serve.

Turkey Chili for a crowd (12 servings)

In a recent perusal through my recipes, I came across this one which was hand copied from a Betty Crocker slow-cooker recipe cookbook one of my friends had purchased. Having inherited my mother's 1970ish hand wash only vintage Rival crockpot and preferring to use as few pots and pans as possible, I chose to copy this recipe as it was quick to make and one of the few in the book which used one 6 quart pot on stove top. Where this recipe makes a good amount of chili, leftovers can be frozen then thawed and eaten within three months. 

Turkey Chili 

2 pounds ground turkey 

2 cups chopped onions 

3 28 ounce cans whole tomatoes, undrained 

3 16 – 15 ounce cans kidney, lima, black or chili beans 

1 15 ounce can tomato sauce 

¼ cup chili powder 

1 tablespoon ground cumin 

½ teaspoon black pepper 

Using a 6 quart dutch oven or 8 quart stockpot, cook turkey and onions over medium heat for 15 minutes or until turkey appears to be cooked through. Stir in remaining ingredients, breaking up whole tomatoes. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat. Simmer uncovered for 1 ¼ hours.

Peas with Onion and Soy Sauce (serves 1)

This recipe was inspired by a copy of a “Peas and Shell Macaroni” recipe from Jeanne Ambutter of “Heritage Cooking”, a Boston, MA based test kitchen and food demonstration business from the mid-twentieth centry, from a “Buttery Peas and Shallot” recipe from America's Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook and the need to use up a onion. 

 

This is a relatively quick recipe and paired with a hard boiled egg, 1 – 2 slices of toast, left over rice or chicken makes a meal for one. 

 

Peas with Onion and Soy Sauce for one 

 

1 tablespoon canola oil 

¾ cup onion, diced 

1 ¼ cup frozen peas 

1 tablespoon soy sauce (optional) 

 

1) In 3 quart pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. 

2) Add onion and cook until lightly browned, about 2 – 5 minutes. 

3) Stir in peas and cook 2 – 5 minutes or until peas can be pieced with fork. 

4) Remove from heat and stir in soy sauce. 

5) Serve. 

6) Store any leftovers in airtight container in refrigerator. 

 

 

 

Peas with Onion 

and Soy Sauce ready to eat

Oatmeal peanut butter cookies (makes 30 cookies)

This is a quick drop cookie recipe which can be easily doubled and freezes well. If planning to freeze these cookies after making them, I recommend making the cookies on the small size as they'll thaw faster.

Oatmeal peanut butter cookies 

1 egg 

¼ cup (or ½ stick) butter or margarine 

½ cup white sugar 

½ cup brown sugar 

½ teaspoon vanilla extract  

1 tablespoon canola oil 

1 tablespoon water 

2 ¼ cups oatmeal 

1 ¼ cups peanut butter 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1) Place oven rack on middle rung and pre-heat oven to 375 degrees farneheit. 

2) In a large mixing bowl combine eggs, butter, sugars, vanilla extract, oil and water. 

3) Add peanut butter. Mix. 

4) Add oatmeal and baking soda. Mix. 

5) Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto non-stick cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake in oven for 6 – 12 minutes. Do not over bake. Cool cookies on wire rack.

6) Repeat step 5 as many times as needed. 

Serve or store cooled cookies in airtight container.  If freezing, place cookies in freezer safe container and thaw on counter top prior to serving.  

Small Batch Blueberry Jam (makes about 5 ounces)

While making strawberry jam, I would wonder how difficult it would be to make a low sugar blueberry jam. In search for such a recipe, I located a Pectin free, low sugar blueberry jam recipe on the Mother Earth News website which allows use of either fresh or frozen blueberries. This Mother Earth News recipe makes 4 pints or about 8 jelly jars worth of jam and gives instruction on how to can/preserve the jam using either hot water bath or atmospheric steam canner. 

Being more interested in using blueberries I froze when in season and not having 12 cups (6 pints) in my freezer, I adjusted this recipe for 1 pint of blueberries and skipped the canning process. The end result is about 5 ounces or ¼ pint of jam which takes under an hour to make and will keep in refrigerator for 2-3 weeks. I recommend letting the jam completely cool before serving to get the full flavor of the blueberries.  

Small Batch Blueberry Jam 

1 pint or about 2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen 

2 teaspoons lemon juice 

¼ cup to ¼ cup plus 4 teaspoons sugar, maple syrup, honey or agave nectar 

1) Place a small plate in the freezer for testing the set. 

2) Combine the blueberries and lemon juice in heavy saucepan over low heat. 

3) Let the berries cook for a few minutes over low heat (about 10 minutes for frozen), until they begin to break down, and then crush them with a potato masher. 

4) After the mixture is juicy with crushed fruit, increase heat to high and add 1⁄4 cup of sugar, maple syrup, honey or agave nectar and bring to a boil. 

5) Boil vigorously and stir continuously until the mixture is fairly thick, about 6-15 minutes. You’ll have reached the jam stage when a spoonful of jam dropped onto a cold plate holds its shape and you can leave a clean trail by passing your finger through the mixture. 

6) Remove from the heat and skim off any foam. 

7) Taste the jam and add the additional sweetener, 1 teaspoon at a time, if desired 

8) Ladle the hot jam into heat proof container with a lid. 

9) Allow jam to cool uncovered for 1-2 hours. 

10) Cover jam, store jam in refrigerator and use within 3 weeks. 

Small batch of Blueberry Jam cooling on counter top

Mediterranean Chicken for a crowd (14 servings)

In thinking of one dish meals which I've made, I remembered this one. It was hand copied from a Betty Crocker slow-cooker recipe cookbook one of my friends had purchased. While the original recipe calls for cooking this in crockpot or slow-cooker I chose to use a 3-inch deep 13-inch by 9-inch baking dish and bake in the oven. 

Mediterranean Chicken 

 

1 medium butternut squash, cut into 2-inch pieces 

1 cup chopped bell pepper 

12 chicken breast tenders or 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts each cut into 3 pieces 

1 14 ounce can stewed or diced tomatoes 

½ cup salsa 

¼ cup raisins 

¼ teaspoon cinnamon 

¼ teaspoon cumin 

Non-stick cooking spray 

 

1) Place oven rack on middle rung. 

2) Pre-heat oven temperature to 350 degrees farenheit. 

3) If baking dish isn't non-stick spray inside of 3-inch deep 13-inch by 9-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

 

4) Layer squash, pepper and chicken in baking dish. Pour tomatoes and salsa over chicken, squash and pepper and then evenly sprinkle raisins, cinnamon and cumin on top. 

5) Cover loosely with aluminum foil. 

 

6) Place in oven and cook 45 minutes – 1 1/2 hours or until chicken pieces in the center of the baking dish are no longer pink when cut in half. 

7) Remove from oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving. 

 

8) Store any leftovers in airtight container in refrigerator.