Homemade Tomato Sauce

September 2, 2016 by Margaret Leave a Comment

Homemade Tomato Sauce really is easier than it sounds. Like anything else it takes a little time, but really your stove and freezer will do the hard work.

I don’t like to eat tomatoes and neither does my husband so I’m really not sure why we planted tomatoes. We must be crazy! So I ended up with all these tomatoes no one was eating – now what? Tomato sauce! – we love to eat that. I cook with Tomato Sauce all the time, yah whoo! lets save some money.

Now our recipes will have Homemade Tomato Sauce.

Porcupine Balls

Tacos

Spaghetti

Sloppy Joes

Chili

Pizza

– and so many others.

Now really it’s so easy.

Rinse tomatoes
With a sharp knife make a little X on each tomato
Boil tomatoes for 1 minute
Place tomatoes in ice water (I fill up my sink)
Peal tomatoes (the skins will slide right off)
Add a 15oz. can of Tomato Sauce to a large pot
Cut tomatoes in half and squeeze out all excess water and seeds
Place tomatoes in the large pot
Add seasoning now or wait and add later to your recipe
Simmer 2 hours (stir occasionally)
Optional: Place in blender for desired texture.
Freeze

See I told you it was easy. Enjoy!

Meatballs in BBQ Sauce

May 16, 2016 by Mary Catherine Scott Leave a Comment

I am constantly relearning the fact that my children are picky eaters. If it is something they have never seen before it is automatically “yucky” in their eyes. For my daughter, if there is green bits on it of any kind she will not go near it. There are a few things however that they will both eat with gusto. Meatballs is one of them. My children actually love meatballs. We do not eat them a lot, but I do try to keep some in the freezer. Yes, these freeze well and are easily re-heated in the microwave. As my entire family eats them they do not stay in the freezer for very long.

I was getting a little tired of meatballs in marinara sauce, and I was not sure if the kids would eat just plain old gravy. I did not have any BBQ sauce on hand, but it sounded good. So, after searching the internet for ideas (there were a lot…) I decided to just start throwing things in until it tasted good. It was a success, the sauce was great and the kids still ate it. This is really the most important part, having food the kids will eat is what is really important these days.

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Mint Ice Cream Cake

April 5, 2016 by Mary Ellen Stringham Leave a Comment

I was in charge of making a co-worker’s birthday treat. She chose Ice Cream Cake. I thought Mint Ice Cream Cake sounded good. I asked her if she liked mint, she said she did so “Mint Ice Cream Cake” it was to be. This was a new experience for me, I had never made or even thought about making Ice Cream Cake. It sounded fun.

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Orange Rolls

February 16, 2016 by Mary Ellen Stringham 2 Comments

Orange Rolls became a family dinner tradition more than 40 years ago. My mother found them at a local bakery when I was growing up. They were purchased only on special occasions and holidays. When my husband and I moved our family away we were too far away to attend most of those family dinners. A few years ago we took our family and Thanksgiving dinner to my mother’s house. We purchased the orange rolls from the same bakery and somehow they were not as good.

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Chocolate Madeleines

February 3, 2016 by Mary Ellen Stringham Leave a Comment

Many years ago my husband introduced us to these fun French shell shaped sponge cakes called “Madeleines”. There are lots of recipes for different flavors but you just can’t go wrong with Chocolate Madeleines.

It always amazes me how as time passes and we try new recipes we have a tendency to forget some of our old favorite. I love making new things but when we made Madeleines not long ago I remembered, as did my children, how much we love them.

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