Red Pepper and Onion Relish

2 red bell peppers, chopped
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 T crushed red pepper flakes

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to boil, and reduce to simmer.  Cook 30 minutes, uncovered.  Stir occasionally.  Chill at least 4 hours before using.

I went in search of this recipe after buying something similar in a jar at a schmanzty cooking store.  I was reading the ingredients on the jar ($5 for 6 ounces!) and thought it must be simple and cheaper to just make.  This makes a smidge over a pint for probably the same or a little less money. 

This is good on top of chicken.  Usually I pan fry chicken with salt and pepper, then remove it from the pan and deglaze it with the relish - just long enough to heat through - and spoon over each piece of chicken.  Lately we've been using with mayo or italian dressing with chicken and cucumber in sandwich wraps.  It also goes nice on a Triscuit with some mozzerella and heated under the broiler until the cheese just melts.

This freezes nicely, although I've yet to see it go bad in the fridge - possibly due to the high acidity from the vinegar.

Chicken Soup with Lentils and Barley

1 cup sliced leeks
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T butter
2 14.5 oz cans chicken broth
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup dry lentils, rinsed
1/2 t basil
1/4 t oregano
1/4 t rosemary
1/4 t black pepper
1 1/2 cup chopped cooked chicken
1 1/2  cup sliced carrots (about 3 medium)
1/2 cup quick-cook barley
1 14.5 oz can tomatoes, cut up

In stockpot cook leeks, bell pepper and garlic in melted butter until tender.  Stir in broth, water, lentils, herbs and black pepper.  Bring to boil; simmer covered 20 minutes.  Stir in chicken, carrots and uncooked barley.  Cover and simmer another 20 minutes or until carrots are tender.  Stir in undrained tomatoes and heat through.


Instead of using water, I had about a cup of home made chicken stock and completed the rest of the water.  Also I think that using a can of diced tomatoes instead of cutting up whole canned tomatoes would be better.  On the whole this is a hearty soup, not very brothy. 

Also, when making anything that requires cooked chicken I buy a rotisserie cooked chicken.  It costs the same around here as buying a raw roaster, and it has a better texture than poached chicken.

Fennel and Celery Salad

2 fennel bulbs
3 celery ribs
1/4 cup olive oil
3 T lemon juice
salt/pepper

Cut fennel in quarters - use mandoline to slice thinly.  Slice celery in the same thickness. Chop small handful of fennel fronds.  Toss all together.  In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, then combine with vegetable. 


The original recipe called for freshly shaved parmesan cheese.  I find shaving parm to be tedious, and I don't think I can taste it in this salad.  Also, if you are going to make this salad ahead of time and eat over the course of a week (which I do) I recommend leaving out the salt and just adding some on and tossing it in just before eating.  Otherwise it leaches out all the water from the vegetables and the dressing becomes very runny.  If serving right away though it's fine. 

I tried this the first time with skepticism.  I don't generally like fennel; I'm not a big fan of licorice.  Even when I make this I can't snack on the fennel shavings.  Something about the lemon juice mixes with the slight licorice flavor and somehow makes it acceptable to me.  This last time I made this, I used 1 fennel bulb and julienned a jicama for a little variety. 

Also regarding the mandoline - use the slicing guard or get a fancy cut-proof glove.  I have a nice oval scar on the very tip of my middle finger where I took a slice off while not using one.  Thankfully, I was slicing things very thin and my blade was sharp, so the damage wasn't too bad.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

2 cup crushed strawberries (or any berry)
4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
1 3 oz liquid pectin pouch
2 T lemon juice


Combine crushed strawberries, lemon peel and sugar; let sit for 10 minutes.  Add pectin and lemon juice and stir for 3 minutes.  Ladle into 1/2 pint containers, leaving 1/2" head space.  Seal and label.  Let sit at room temperature until set - usually 24 hours or less.  Lasts 3 weeks in the fridge or 1 year in the freezer.

Peach Jam: replace with 1 1/2 cup crushed peaches, reduce sugar to 3 1/4 cup, increase lemon juice to 2 1/2 T.


I just finished the last of my freezer jam two sandwiches ago and I miss it already!  I made 2 batches of each.  It lasted as long as it did because the second batch of each I crushed ahead of time, and it didn't set as well.  I'm not really sure about the science, but if I had to guess (and I have already) the water needs to be drawn out by the sugar to enhance the fruit's natural pectin, instead of just seeping out from the cellular damage caused by the crushing.  The batch set, but was kind of liquidy - Ian didn't like it so I was forced to eat it myself.  Mostly set jam does make a good ice cream topper though.

This recipe was part of our starting effort to try to eat locally and seasonally whenever possible.  Since this is a cold climate, in order to eat a nutritional variety in the winter you have to preserve.  The strawberries and peaches were purchased from our local farmer's market.  The peaches were incredibly cheap because I bought up their batch of "seconds" which means they were on the ground instead of the tree and would bruise up fast, but since I was crushing them I didn't care.


This coming summer we might step into canning, which besides jam, I'm looking forward to pickling.  Not only cukes, but I have developed a great fondness for pickled green beans.  Certainly I'll continue to freeze - I've already frozen green and jalepeno peppers - by chopping and laying out on a cookie sheet on wax paper.  Good enough for cooking, at any rate.  If I keep freezing stuff I'm going to need a basement freezer.

Baked Burgers

6 hamburger buns
1 lb ground beef
2 T finely chopped onion
1 t salt
1/8 t pepper
2 cans (8oz?) tomato sauce

Hollow out centers of bun tops.  Crumble removed bread and mix with beef, onion, salt, pepper and 1 1/2 cans of sauce.  Place bun tops on bottoms and fill hollowed cavity with beef mix.  Bake on sheet pan 375 degrees for 20 minutes.  Spoon remaining sauce on top of beef and bake another 5 minutes.

This recipe came from an old 1950's magazine; Time or Life or something like that.  It was one of those recipe ads.  The size of the can for tomato sauce was not specified....I can only imagine they probably only sold one size at the time.   Most of the recipes in the magazine in general seemed very....bleeech.  This I thought might have some potential, so decided to give it a whirl.

It wasn't awful.  While mixing the beef, I could tell then that there was too much liquid.   One can of sauce would probably have been plenty.  The texture was generally mushy.  I imagine this is what happens to meatloaf if you forget to put an egg in it.  At the outset, I had been afraid the buns would burn, but really what happened is they toasted and got really hard.  I can be kind and say that it was a texture contrast.

I won't be keeping this recipe card.  I suppose with some tinkering it could be something different, but for my trouble I'd rather just make Sloppy Joes.

Black Bean Lime Chili w/ Couscous

Couscous:
1 cup water
2/3 cup couscous

Chili:
3 T olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 T chili powder
1 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes (undrained)
1 14.5 oz can black beans (undrained)
1 10 oz can or 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1/2 cup lime juices (approx 3 limes)
1/4 chopped fresh cilantro

Bring water to boil - pour in couscous; stir in and cover.  Remove from heat and allow to sit, covered 15 minutes.  Heat oil in stockpot or dutch oven over medium heat.  Cook onion until soft.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute.  Add peppers and chili powder and cook another minute.  Stir in tomatoes and beans; bring to a simmer and hold 5 minutes.  Add chicken and stir in, until heated.  Turn off heat and stir in lime juice and cilantro.  Fluff couscous with a fork and mix with chili.  Makes 4-6 servings.


Another old favorite.  This was originally a recipe from a show called Calorie Commando, which took favorite but fattening meals and cut down the fat and calories while still keeping them yummy.  Sometimes the recipes were kind of meh, but there was always a neat tip.  One tip that isn't used here (or in any of my current stash) is to use low-fat dairy products instead of fat-free.  The reasoning, according to the host, is that there isn't much of a caloric difference but fat carries flavor, and the whole point is eating tasty food.  

The original recipe called for serving the chili over the couscous, but I like it mixed in.  It makes it easier to put in a container to heat later for lunch, and I also think the couscous gets a better chance to absorb the flavors.

Green Beans with Mushrooms and Crisp Onion Crumbs

2 T unsalted butter, divided
3/4 cup panko
2 T dehydrated minced onion
3/4 t salt, divided
2 sprays cooking spray
1 1/2 lb uncooked green fresh green beans, trimmed and cut in half
1 lb button mushrooms, thinly sliced

In a large, deep, non-stick skillet, over medium-low heat melt 1 T butter; add panko, minced onion and 1/4 t salt.  Increase heat to medium - stir often until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes.  Remove from skillet and set aside - wipe skillet clean. 

Coat skillet with cooking spray; place over high heat.  Add beans and mushrooms.  Saute until lightly golden and tender, about 6 minutes.  Add remaining T of butter and salt and stir until melted.  Place in serving dish and coat with crumble topping.     


For more tender beans, blanch first.


The original recipe looked as though it was intended to be a make-ahead recipe.  There was a line that stated to put "beans and remaining butter and salt in a skillet until mixture is heated through".  After much puzzling I determined that it was intended to be made ahead of time up to the point before adding the remaining butter and salt.    Also 6 minutes doesn't seem to be enough time to cook beans.  I did blanch and shock mine, and after the cooking they were just al dente, so I think without that step they would have been too crisp. 

That said, it was pretty darn tasty.  We added an extra 1/2 lb of beans because the recipe says it serves 8, and we had 12 for Thanksgiving.