Boring post about Saturdays

Don't you love having a relatively free Saturday? Twin #2 had her dance recital which was fabulous! Our arts guild runs a wonderful dance program that's all about the art, and not dressing little girls up in ridiculous costumes and prancing them around like little Britney Spears wanna-bes. Twin #2 has been taking modern dance and I must say she's quite good.

Anyway - above we have the deck Johnny C is remodeling single-handedly.

Here's our firepit, again hand made by Johnny C. We had a campfire last night.

DINNER~paninis and burgers. Using the cast iron cookware on the grill is my favorite. Tonight's paninis were turkey, pesto, roasted red peppers, and provolone.

My frozen burgers. I've discovered that if I freeze burger patties, they still cook up just fine - first I defrost them a bit in the micro. I like to make mine with chopped garlic and parsley. And freezing them lets me load up when ground beef is on sale.

And no, I didn't use that much oil. It just likes to pool in the front of that pan.

Unauthorized cooking with my unauthorized co-blogger!

Today we'll be cooking with my pal Mama in Wonderland and using her posted recipe for Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce. Her instructions are in black, my comments are in red. Why didn't I have this recipe earlier I ask you? This is WAAAAAY easier than the old boiling water/ice water peeling method.

First, we'll start with today's garden bounty: piles of tomatoes both plum and regular, four weird cukes, lots of little onions, two yellow peppers, and one red pepper. I will never grow these onions again. Too small, and too time consuming to peel.

Easy & Delicious Roasted Tomato Sauce
makes approximately 4 cups, depending on size/amount of tomatoes

3-4 lbs. fresh tomatoes, stems removed (I had so many tomatoes, I just kept slicing and seeding until I had filled a jelly roll pan)
1 medium onion, sliced (again, I followed the "fill the jelly roll pan" method)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed (I used 7-8)
1/4 cup olive oil (Enough to drizzle over the whole pan full)
1 tsp. salt (I was more liberal)
1 tsp. sugar (I used more like 2t.)
ground black pepper (to taste, optional) (Oh Yeah!)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Slice tomatoes lengthwise and place cut-side down on a large rimmed baking sheet. (I lined the pan with parchment because I hate scraping off burned bits) (You may also double the recipe, use 2 baking sheets, and switch the pans around halfway through cooking time for even roasting.) If using cherry tomatoes, no need to slice; just spread in single layer on pan, as many as will fit. (Using my fingers, I seeded them after slicing. I'm weird and don't like seeds in there)

Scatter onion slices and minced garlic over the top of the tomatoes, then drizzle with oil. Sprinkle with salt, sugar, and pepper.

Place in oven and roast approximately 1-1/2 hours (Mine took longer - my oven is slow) for large tomatoes and perhaps 45 minutes for cherry tomatoes, or until tomatoes have collapsed and are browned in some places. (You may need to check occasionally to get the timing right; it varies, but do not let it worry you too much. Just don't let it all burn into a black mass.) Do not be concerned if partway through this cooking time you see the pan fill up with juices; this will cook down.


When roasted, carefully spoon/pour contents of pan(s) into blender (or food processor, if you have one, but I don't, so bear with me), including all juices. (I also added a handful of my basil, and some more garlic salt. Hmmmmmm this is so stinkin good you'll want some soon!)


Puree until smooth. Taste and add more salt and/or sugar if needed. Either use immediately for pasta or pizza, or let cool completely and then spoon into 1-cup containers to freeze. When frozen solid, you may turn out the blocks of sauce and place together in a labeled Ziploc freezer bag, which saves space in the freezer and frees up your containers again. (We're a hungry family of five, and that will perfectly dress a pound of pasta for Tuesday night's supper!)

Thanks Mama,
you are one awesome cook!

More things to ponder

1. What are the callouses on my feet made from?! Titanium?! Next step is the belt sander.

2. How can a man who was tortured as a POW support torturing POW's?

3. What is that old person smell anyway?

4. Why does chocolate give me heartburn? Why can't green beans give me heartburn?

5. Why is it that my most expensive hanging basket of flowers is the first to give up the ghost?

6. Why can't I cook anything without making such a #&#^$ mess?

7. Why, when I say "put it in the refrigerator" does my husband hear "freezer"?

8. Why do I keep waking up at night?

9. What's the point of that one annoying bead of sweat that runs smack down the middle of your back? I'm ready to install a sweat band there.

10. Why can't my kids put their dirty dishes INSIDE the mostly empty dishwasher?

11. Why does my office smell of dog poo?

12. Why do I bother with makeup when it's 95 degrees outside?

13. What did I ever do to warrant such amazing friends?

14. Would my house be cleaner if I stopped blogging?

First Night on the Screened Porch

We got all crazed with Spring Fever tonight and had supper on the screened porch. Ours is rather like the one pictured only older, more worn down, and dirtier. But the siding and sliding glass door are remarkably similar.
It was warm and humid in Minnesota all day due to the oncoming rain, and we soaked up every single minute. First we washed the thick winter dust layer off the table and chairs. Then quickly set the table with pasta, salad, bread, wine, strawberries, and brownies. We wolfed down the last bite just before the cold front blew in in a big way. We were wrapped in sweatshirts and holding down the tablecloth by the brownie course but by golly, WE ATE ON THE SCREENED PORCH!! Sometimes you just have to FORCE Spring to arrive here.

Getting Old Ain't For Sissies

Have I ever mentioned I get heartburn? Only about five time you say? Well here is #6. Seems the older I get the longer the list of forbidden foods. I sound just like my Dad.

Last night I made a batch of Heavenly Sauce - a decadent chocolate sauce that is KILLER over ice cream. We only make it about once a year - no kidding - because it's that rich. As a kid I'd eat two bowls with minimal ice cream and maximum Heavenly Sauce. Ice cream is merely a vehicle for the toppings in my opinion.

Suffice it to say I was up all night with crazy-bad heartburn and finished off my bottle of nasty chalky Mylanta. So now Heavenly Sauce is banished to the nether regions of gastronomic Hell along with most other things chocolate, red licorice, cucumbers, watermelon, onions, fresh garlic, etc. So I give you the recipe so that the magic of Heavenly Sauce can live on elsewhere.


HEAVENLY SAUCE
In a double boiler, melt 2 sticks of butter with 4ozs good quality unsweetened chocolate.
When thoroughly melted, stir in 3 cups of sugar
Slowly add, while stirring, a can of evaporated milk and a pinch of salt
Keep stirring until all the sugar is dissolved.
Keep in a glass container in the frig - we always used a Miracle Whip jar.

Aren't we wonderful???

Seems like everyone is blogging about their cooking skills these days, so I thougt I'd chime in. This is our Saturday here in Minnesota, and our cooking endeavors. First off, it's butt-numbing cold again. The wind is shrieking around the house like agitated abortion clinic protestors. Looks like a snow-globe out there. This photo depicts our fire pit with cooking irons.

So since it's so cold, we made a pan of baked beans with bacon on top. When survival is paramount, we go straight for the high fat foods. Yes, of course we have good central heat but you just never know up here so you'd better fatten up good. You know what happened to the Donner party.


Next we decided that fattening up meant sugar cookies. And in honor of Valentine's day they'd better be heart-shaped.


While the kids continued to roll out dough, I checked on the food supply in the garage. While there I made sure the van was still as dirty as could be - yep! Still dirty as hell and covered in road salt. You can hear the rust laughing at me if you listen really close.


See the piles of mud, crud, road salt, and snow on the garage floor? Here in the frozen tundra we call that car poop. It's a pain to sweep and shovel out. It turns black and slick, like oil but with absolutely no value on the export market. This photo is a mild pile of car poop - it's usually about 6 inches deep.


Finally the cookies were done. In my younger days, I would have fussed over them and created little creative marvels. But I have kids and hence many of my standards are in the toilet. So I just quickly frosted them and let the 8-year-old do the sprinkles. Third graders are much too liberal with embellishments - those sugary bb's are now all over my floor.


That's pretty much our Saturday. I also dyed my hair and we watched Urban Cowboy on TV in between cookie batches. Aren't we just something special????