Frugal Tips: Make a Meal Plan and Stick to it.

If you want to save money and save yourself a lot of stress make a meal plan for the week and try to stick to it.

I know. Too anal. Too restricting. Too much work. Too Boring!!

But believe me it will work.

This was my routine before making shopping lists and meal plans.

"OMG I'm out of cream and onions for the casserole that I just decided that I want to make tonight." Run to the store and "Oh...look they are having a sale on Cheeze-its, strawberry ice cream and oooooh don't those olives look good. Maybe I should pick up some of these pork chops" So, in addition to spending more money than I needed, I came home with a bunch of stuff that I didn't need and some pork chops for which I have no real plan. This means that I have to go back and get more ingredients later for the surprise pork chop meal. Rinse and repeat.

The result is wasted food. Wasted time. Wasted MONEY. The result of haphazard planning is meals that are boring, meals that are not creative and which are repetitive. It is too easy to go with the good old standards, until you and your family are sick of spaghetti, tacos or whatever your go-to standard is.

For me, part of the joy of cooking, to steal a phrase, is to make new meals. Different dishes. Experiment. Sometimes it works and you have what we call "a keeper". Other times it is a total failure....we won't do that again.

Over many years I have come up with a system that works for me. I ask myself these questions in no particular order.

What do I have on hand?
What is on sale in the store now?
What seasonal foods are available?
How long will these items last in the refrigerator or before they begin to 'turn'?
What does my family really like to eat?
When was the last time we had these particular meals?
What would I like to try to experiment on?
How can I make the best use of my time and money by using leftovers?
Can I combine ingredients to make different and exciting meals and save money by buying in bulk or using things I already own?

Then: I make a rough list of meals for the next week or for at least several days. Thinking of the main dish and side dishes that would go nicely. Also trying to create a variety of meals. After all.....even if chicken IS on sale, we don't want it every freaking night!! While Chinese or Mexican food is great....I don't want it all the time. Mix it up and create variety or your family might rise up in revolt against the same food all the time.

Consider the nutritional value of your meal plan as well. You need, throughout the week, a good mix of protein, fats, vegetables and grains. So, while I love Fettuccini Alfredo, every meal can't be carb loaded pasta. Indulge yourself: make a dessert or some sweet treat for the week.

I also leave myself some flexibility so that if we decide to go out for the evening or we just decide that we are really really not in the mood for Pastisto or Arroz con Pollo or Clam Chowder we can move that meal to another night or just do something else with the ingredients. A meal plan doesn't mean you are stuck, like in a straight jacket, and must adhere to the plan. Be flexible within your plan and realize that YES, you will have to go back to the store for some things, especially those items that you can't buy in bulk or that have short shelf lives......lettuce anyone?

So in this and in the next few posts I will cover a few of my questions at a time and give some examples of meal planning.

Frugal Cooking Tips: Buy in Bulk or On Sale

There are many ways to cut down on the cost of cooking. Over the course of these next posts I'll try to highlight some of the frugal cooking techniques that I used.

You might find by following a few of these your costs will go down AND the quality of your meals will go up.

BUY IN BULK and WHEN ON SALE: Whenever possible, buy in larger quantities. Of course you have to be able to store the extras. It does you no good to buy mass quantities that then go stale, spoil or have to be thrown out.

My husband is always reminding me that the freezer or the pantry isn't a savings account!!

Our local market had these beef chuck roasts on sale. Buy one get one free!! How can I resist? . I purchased two 3 pound roasts. So...... priced at 5.19 a pound my actual cost per pound is 2.59 per pound. Now THAT'S more like it. Freezing one today and cooking the other as an oven pot roast with separately roasted, carrots, potatoes, onions and home made rolls.

This is an easy peasy recipe and when you are done there will be ample left over meat for another meal, like a beef enchilada casserole, minestrone soup or pot roast sandwiches.

(I need to note here that I am cooking for two adults. If you have more in your family, then you should adjust accordingly. We two adults will be able to get 2 to 3 meals from this recipe.)

BEEF POT ROAST

• 3 lb beef chuck roast
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup flour
• 4 tbsp or so of oil
• one small onion chopped
• 2 bay leaves (if you have some otherwise...no big deal)
• 4 to 5 cloves garlic coarsely chopped
• 2 stalks celery chopped in 2 inch pieces leaves included

Pre Heat the oven to 325.

Salt and pepper the roast on all sides. Roll the roast in the flour In a dutch oven heat some of the oil and sear the roast on all sides, about 3 minutes to a side. Remove the roast and make a bed of the onion, celery and bay leaf. Put the roast back onto the pan, cover and roast for about 30 minutes. Turn the heat down to 300 and roast for another hour or hour and half.

ROASTED VEGETABLES

• 5 or 6 medium sized red potatoes cut into eights
• 3 large carrots peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 red onion peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks
• any other root type vegetable or winter squash that you may have hand cut into similar size pieces
• garlic salt
• cracked pepper
• spices that you may have like parsley, basil, tarragon..whatever
• olive oil, about 1/4 cup or less

During the last half hour, on a separate sheet pan or shallow roasting pan, drizzle the vegetables with the olive oil and toss well to coat. Sprinkle with garlic salt, pepper and the spices that you desire. Roast along side the pot roast, stirring the vegetables a couple of times with a spatula.

Remove the pot roast and let set for 10 to 15 minutes. In the meantime if the vegetables are not done or you would like them a bit crisper, crank up the heat and stir them again to ensure even cooking.

If you would like, make some gravy with the drippings in the pot roast pan.

Pot roast can be as simple as you want it to be, like this recipe, or you can jazz it up. The trick is long slow cooking of an inexpensive cut of meat to create a tender and juicy roast.

Hard Times and Cheap Eats: Red Beans and Rice

Times are hard and get ready people.....it may just get worse.

Food prices are climbing. Our government is encouraging the use of food (corn) as fuel for vehicles. We are burning up our food instead of using it to feed ourselves and the livestock that provides us with meat, eggs, cheese, butter. Everything is going to cost more and more. If the cost isn't going up, the size of the package is getting smaller. We are paying more and getting less.

Energy is getting more expensive due to regulations that make it harder to produce oil and gas. Regulations that put burdens on our ability to use even renewable sources of energy such as hydro, wind or solar. We are being taxed to the nth degree all along the chain for energy.

More people are now unemployed than were out of work during the Great Depression. You know the BIG ONE that your Grandparents or even your Parents may have experienced or remember.

We haven't had real hard times in our fortunate and blessed country since World War II. Sure, we had somewhat of a major self inflicted recession during the Carter years, but all in all, we have been living in a land of plenty. Actually, we STILL are living in a land of plenty, when even our poorest can sport cell phones, flat screen televisions, computers at home and have ample access to food through charity and government food stamp programs.

So while we are going to be experiencing hard times, it is nothing in comparison to the experiences of our ancestors. Our problem now, is that we have forgotten how to cope, how to save, how to make do and we need to relearn all the lessons that our parents taught us or that we just refused to learn.

I'm not going to enumerate the ways that people suffered or the ways that they coped here on this blog. There are many blogs out there that give tips and examples. This blog is about cooking and household tips, so this is what I will focus on when I write about Frugal Food or Cheap Eats.

Many young people have never learned to cook or to master even the most basic of household economics. Why should they, they think, when you can just buy a pre packaged frozen dinner, order a pizza, run to McDonald's. Who needs to learn to cook? Well... guess what. YOU DO!

It is just too much bother to cook and even if you do, leftovers are not left...over.... but often just thrown away. You probably just rolled your eyes at the "There are children starving in India" lecture we all received when we didn't want to eat the spinach or Brussels sprouts. However, everyday throughout this country, we are wasting food. Waste of food that people in other countries would be grateful for, food that might mean the difference between life and death.

SO.....lecture over. Let's move on to how can we eat well, eat cheaply and use recipes that even those who have rudimentary cooking skills can prepare and can be proud to serve.

RED BEANS AND RICE

Red Beans and Rice are a cheap, tasty meal and are a complete protein even without any meat added to the pot.

• One cup of dried Red Beans or Red Kidney Beans
• 3 cups of water
• 1 cup of chopped onion, approximately one small onion
• 3/4 cup chopped celery, 2 stalks
• 5 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Optional: 3 sausages
• Optional: 1/2 tsp liquid smoke

Wash the beans and sort to remove bad ones. Put all of the ingredients except the sausages in a small/medium crockpot and cook on medium for 5 to 6 hours or until the beans are getting tender. Stir occasionally to make sure the beans are getting evenly done.

Slice or cut up the sausages. Stir into the beans and continue to cook for about another half hour or longer.

Serve over white rice.

How easy is this?!?

Note: I used Italian Sausages, because I had them handy. You can use any other kind of sausage like a smoked linguica. You can also use left over pork roast. Anything will do. The recipe also calls for Green Peppers diced and tossed in in the begining. I don't like them and didn't have one.....so....I didn't use it.

Costs:

Onion at .89 a pound. One onion = .25
Red Beans 1.69 for 2 lb. One cup is 1/4 of the package. = .45
Garlic .50 a head. 5 cloves = .15
Sausage 4.99 lb. 3 sausages = 2.50
Water free! (sort of)
Spices. Hard to say, since I already own them and grow my own Thyme, but let's guess at 1.50.
Rice. 1 1/2 cup of dried long grain rice will yield about 3 cups cooked. = .75

Total Cost approx 6.10. Serves 4. Cost per serving about $1.52

How cheap is that!. Come on now. No excuses. Get cooking.

Caraway Leek Potato Latkes

Leeks and caraway give a really tasty spin to this version of the simple and easy potato latke.

This basic recipe was torn from a Cooking Light magazine and has been stored in a file for several years and resurected when I was looking for something different to accompany some BBQ steaks and use up some ingredients left over from making Potato Leek soup a few days ago.

Naturally, I altered the original recipe to suit what ingredients I have on hand and just because.....that's the way I am.

Had 3 extra large baking potatoes...check
2 leeks.....check
sour cream.....check

OK...let's go.....

CARAWAY LEEK POTATO LATKES

• 1/4 cup flour
• 4 cups shredded peeled baking potatoes
• 2 cups chopped leeks
• 1 tsp caraway seeds
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp coarse ground pepper
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 or two large eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 cup chopped fresh parsley

Mix together the sour cream, garlic powder and herbs and let set aside. (When I do this again, I will probably substitute fresh minced garlic for the garlic powder). My sour cream was rather thick so I thinned it with some whipping cream that I had on hand

Grate the potatoes. If you don't have a food processor......get one. It will save you time, protect your knuckles and save your guests from eating parts of your fingers. Toss the potatoes into a medium bowl.

Press some of the potato liquid out of the grated potatoes to keep them from being too wet. I just smoosh the grated potato mass against the side the bowl that I'm using and pour off the liquid. Toss the grated potatoes with the lemon juice. This will keep them from turning orange or rusty brown. Add the chopped leeks.....green tops and all and mix together.

Note: If you have never used leeks before: they are grown in loose sandy soil and will have sand and grit in their layers as they grow. Just a fact of life. Our food is dirty. Be sure to split them in half lengthwise and under running cold water fan out the layers to remove the sandy soil: otherwise you will have grit in your latkes. Cut off the root end. Start slicing thinly crossways from the bottom to the top Coarsly chop. Be sure to use as much of the green tops of the leeks as you can for color and taste. They get tougher at the top end of the leek so I usually discard the top 3 to 5 inches depending on how large the leek is.

Mix in the flour and spices and toss with a fork or fingers. Beat one egg and mix into the potatoes to create a batter. If it seems too dry you can beat the other eggs and add some a little bit at a time. You just want the potatoes to cling together and be bound by the flour but not a wet sloppy mess.

Pre heat oven to 350. Lightly grease or spray with cooking oil a baking sheet and set aside.

Heat up a skillet or griddle with a few tablespoons of oil until it is quite hot. Drop the batter by 1/4 cup amounts or several mounded tablespoons onto the griddle. Level the pancakes/lates out with the back of a spoon if necessary. Cook until golden on one side. Flip and do the same on the other side. Add more oil as necessary.

As the latkes are browned on each side, arrange on the baking sheet.

Bake at 350 for 10 to 15 minutes until crisp and cooked through.

The normal way to cook latkes is to just fry them in oil until done. By using this recipe method, quick browning and baking, you have a lot less grease because the potatoes will absorb the oil like little sponges. Because this is a Cooking Light recipe, they are always trying to cut down on the fat. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. I actually prefer the latkes done this way.

Serve warm with the sour cream.

Leftover latkes are good sauteed in butter and served as a side for eggs over easy for breakfast.

When Life Gives You Lemons

The possibilities are endless.

A few days before Christmas, the Dumbplumber and I were driving around the 'big city' that is closest to us in the Sacramento Valley below our home in our Mountainous Valley Paradise. We were there to do our last minute shopping. Because of the difference in elevation (3400 ft where we are and about 400 ft in the valley) it always feels like we have migrated into another climate, spring like instead of snow and ice....even in December.

On the AM radio, there is a Swap and Sell channel. Very cool. People can call in and describe items they want to buy, items they want to sell, stuff they are giving away for free. One guy was giving away a piano because he was moving. Suddenly, my ears prick up. A quavery little old lady voice says she has fresh lemons from her tree at 50 cents a dozen. 50 CENTS A DOZEN. Just come by her place and take some, put money in the tip jar.

"Did you hear THAT!!" I say. "Do you know where Shady Lane is? OMG we have to get some lemons!!"

"Why can't you buy lemons in the store?" replies The Dumbplumber grumpily, because he is on a man's Christmas shopping mission. Get the stuff and get the hell out of town.

"Yes. BUT...at 50 cents EACH. Not 50 cents a dozen." Says I.

Soooooo....we go get lemons. I was now on a mission too. And surprise surprise, they are Meyer Lemons. You would think that I had found gold nuggets.

So....when life gives you lemons and not just any old lemons.....COOK....make

Buttery Lemon Squares, Lemon Curd, Lemon Creme Brulee Tart, Candied Lemon Zests.

BUTTERY LEMON SQUARES

• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 1/3 cups flour
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest
• 6 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp baking powder

Make Crust: Cream butter and powdered sugar. Add in 2 cups of flour (reserve the other 1/3 xup) and beat until blended. A food processor works well for this. Pulse on and off to process. Spread and pat firmly into a greased 9 x 13 metal pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes until starting to brown at the edges. You are basically making a shortbread crust.

Filling: Meanwhile beat eggs until light. Gradually add the sugar. Beat until thick. Add zest, juice, remaining 1/3 cup flour and baking powder and blend. Pour over baked crust. Cook at 350 for 20 minutes until golden on top.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar and let cool completely before cutting into squares.

Should equal about 20 squares.

Snow Day: Time to Bake Yeast Raised Corn Bread

I love snow days!! They present the excuse to do things in the house, to cocoon, to relax and in the spirit of this recipe blog.....to bake something.

Having been a recipe junkie for years, I have clipped and hoarded recipes. Consequently there is a huge pile of recipies that have have put into the "it might be good, I think I'll try it someday" category. There is a great software program Living Cookbook, that I use to organize and sort recipies and to turn them from scraps of paper into electronic files. This helps to to keep my office from looking like something on the Hoarders television show. If I didn't keep myself organized, my husband says they will someday find my withered body covered in old cook book magazines,craft magazines and clippings....along with a collection of art deco pottery, fiestaware and kitchen wares.

So.....snow day. Time to test out a new recipe on my ever lovin' patient hubby. Who knows how it will turn out, but you won't know until you try. If it is good, the recipe moves from the "it might be good" file into the "my favories" category.

We are using the last of the Thanksgiving ham, bones and meat that was frozen to make bean soup which is usually accompanied by cornbread. Today, something different.

Yeast Raised Corn Bread

• 2 cups warm water
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 pkg yeast
• 4 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 cup forzen corn kernels thawed

1. Mix 2 cups warm water, sugar and yeast in large bowl of heavy duty electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes

2. Add 2 1/2 cups of flour to yeast mixture an beat on low speed until well blended, about 5 minutes. Cover bowl with plastic and clean kitchen towel. Let rise in warm area until doubled in volume. Mixture will be very spongy. About 45 minutes

3. Stir down yeast and flour mixture. Stir in 1 1/4 cups flour and 1 cup cornmeal and salt. Turn dough out onto generously floured surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, adding more flour if dough is sticky about 5 minutes. Knead in corn. Lightly oil large bowl. Add dough to bowl and turn to coat in the oil. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

4. Punch down dough. Turn onto floured surface and knead briefly until smooth. Divide dough in half. Roll each piece between palms and work surface into 10 to 11 inch long by 2 1/2 inch wide log.

5. Sprinkle large baking sheet with some cornmeal. Transfer loaves to baking sheet. Using small sharp knife, cut 4 diagonal slashes about 1/2 inch apart. Cover and let rise until almost doubled about 45 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 350. Bake until crust is very crisp and loaves sound hollow when tapped on bottom. About 50 minutes. Cool on racks.

Source: Bon Appetite February 1997

See....told you I was hoarding recipies. 13 year old recipe and today is the first time I'm trying it!! About time, doncha think?

If this works out, I might try to put some cheese in the mix. Romano or Parmesan sounds good.

Sweet and Sour Pork

I love a good sweet and sour pork dish. Sweet and sour chicken or even shrimp. Unfortunately, often restaurants will smother the ingredients of the stir fry in a super sweet, sticky, bright red food colored sauce. All you can taste is the sauce which oozes all over the place and covers anything else on your plate with sweet and sour sauce.

The sauce in this recipe is sweet and sour without being gloppy. You don't want to drown the ingredients: just lightly coating them in the sauce is best.

This is a recipe that was given to me about 25 years ago by my Aunt Rachel. Her huband was a Colonel in the Air Force and they spent quite some time stationed in the Orient. Japan, Guam, Phillipines. As the wife of an officer, she had quite some time to be a dillitante. The other bored out of their minds women would take classes to while away the time and to learn new and exciting skills, like silk flower making and arranging (seriously......they did). She also, to my great benefit, spent some time in each location learning the local cuisine. Consequently, I have some awesome and authentic recipies.

Stir frying is not hard as long as you realize that preparation is key.

Slicing the ingredients and sorting into piles according to cooking times. (See below in the instructions)

The meat and sauce are prepared ahead of time.

The final cooking takes place in a very few short minutes in a spectacular fashion when you begin tossing into the sizzling wok the ingredients. Tossing and turning with abandon. This is a great meal for a party because it can almost all be prepared in advance and your cooking technique will impress your guests.


SWEET AND SOUR STIR FRY PORK

Batter1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 Tbs beaten egg
1/2 cup water

Sweet and Sour Sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup pineapple juice
4 Tbs catsup
4 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp sesame oil


1/2 lb pork, cubed
1 small red pepper, cut in 1" cubes
1 small onion, cut into 1" cubes
1 large carrot, sliced
1 cup pineapple chunks (completely drained if using canned)

1. BATTER for pork: Mix the dry ingredients together and gradually add the water and beaten egg until it reaches the desired thickness. It should be thicker than pancake batter but not as thick as a dough batter. Set aside until ready to fry the pork.

2. SWEET AND SOUR: Add all ingredients together in a small sauce pan and stir constantly over medium heat until the sauce is clear and thick should take approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Keep stirring and be patient the sauce will suddenly become translucent. Set aside in the pan. If you are making the sauce a day ahead: cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate and bring back to a warm temperature before using. You don't want to put cold sauce into your HOT wok.

3. VEGETABLES: Have pre prepared various vegetables cut into approximately equal sizes. This is a very free form type of cooking. You can use many different types of vegetables, but the most common are listed in the ingredients above. You can also use mushrooms halved. Bok Choy, Red Pepper, Green Pepper, Carrots or what ever you would like. The sizes should be the same to ensure even cooking. Segregate the vegetables into piles according to hardness or how quickly they will cook. For instance the mushrooms and the tops of Bok Choy will cook quickly the bottoms of the Bok Choy, onion, etc will take a longer time to stir fry.

4. Heat oil to a depth of 1 inch in a fry pan or wok (preferred). Dip the pork cubes into the batter and deep fry in small batches for 3 to 5 minutes or until the pork is cooked through and the batter is crispy. Turn the cubes over with chopsticks or a fork to make sure they get crispy on all sides. Drain on paper towels. In the same wok, drain most of the oil. Begin stir frying the vegetables beginning with the hardest or longest cooking. When the vegetables are crisp/tender add back the fried pork cubes. Stir fry until they are warm. Add the pineapple and toss briefly. Add the sauce and stir fry and toss until heated through. This should only take a minute or so.

Served with a side of steamed rice. Serves 6 people.

Notes: I don't care for green peppers so I will substitute red peppers. Pretty much any firm types of vegetables you like can be used. Do not use summer squash, they will turn to mush. If you do want to experiment with mushrooms just add them at the very last, with the meat and before adding the sauce. The catsup isn't exactly a traditional Chinese ingredient, but it works well in this sauce.

Finally Fall: Bean Soup

The weather has finally turned from hot to a more normal fall. Crisp cool mornings and evenings with still some lingering warm afternoons. We even had some rain early this morning so I decided to make a meal that my husband has been craving.

Frugal, filling, satisfying and ever so easy. Ham hocks and bean soup with cornbread.


Ham Hocks and Bean Soup

2 cups Great Northern Beans
3 large meaty ham hocks
one large onion
3 stalks of celery (with leaves)
3 stalks of celery
2 carrots
1/2 scant tsp pepper
1/8 tsp or less red pepper flakes
kosher salt

Rinse sort and soak the beans either overnight or quick method. I generally use the quick method. Put the beans in cold water, bring to a boil. Then turn off the heat and let the beans sit for several hours.

Add the ham hocks and add enough water to cover. Cut the onion into large chunks, about 1 inch and toss into the pot. Toss in the whole stalks of celery with leaves. If they are too big to fit into the pot, cut them in half. The celery with leaves can even be old and wilted. They are just to give flavor to the broth and you will remove them later. Crush the garlic cloves and toss into the pot. Season with pepper. Don't salt at this time. The ham hocks may be salty enough.

Bring the soup to a low simmer and cook covered for several hours, adding more water if needed. Check the beans occaisonally for tenderness. You don't want to cook them until they are mush, but you also don't want hard undercooked beans. Remove from the heat. Remove the ham hocks and let cool enough so that you can handle them. Remove the celery stalks.

Separate the meat from the bones and put the meat back into the pot. I often also add back the bones from the hocks to continue to give flavor to the broth.

If you want a more spicy soup, you can add a small amount of hot pepper flakes. Be sparing with this as the longer you cook it the hotter they will get. Simmer until the beans are tender. Keep checking the water level. If it seems that the bean soup is getting dry.....add more water. Taste and if needed add salt. Peel and chop carrots into a rough dice about 1/2 inch. Cut the remaining celery into 1/2 inch chunks. Toss the carrots and celery into the pot. Add some parsely if you feel like it. Simmer until the vegetables are tender.

As you can see....I'm not very precise with my recipes. I tend to wing it with this soup. If I have a left over meaty ham bone I will use that. I like my bean soup a bit more on the soupy side and not cooked to a paste. I also like the vegetables to be on the more crisp side, rather than cooked to a pulp.

Bean soup is a great pantry or survivalist meal, meaning almost all the ingredients can come from your pantry. Dried beans. Dried onions. Canned carrots. Canned ham or spam. Celery salt if you can't get fresh celery.

I'm Jammin'....Hope You Like Jammin' Too.

You can feel Fall in the air. The mornings are crisp, cool and clear. Some of the trees have even begun to turn color. The fruit trees are loaded and people who have gardens are desperate to unload their excess onto anyone who will take squash, zucchini or anything else.

After our war with the robins and race to see who would get the cherries from the sour cherry tree....we won by the way.... we have been inundated with wild plums and peaches. Hating to see this bounty go to waste, I've been canning and jammin' (Bob Marley reference here)

Wild plums are something that you have to experience and are hard to explain just how fablulous they are.



Slightly smaller than ping pong balls, they are sour. Pucker your face sour. However, once made into a jam or jelly. They turn from reddish yellow sour balls into the best sweet and tart reddish orange jam. Some years we have a lot. Some years, not so much. It even varies from tree to tree. One tree will bloom and bear fruit, while the tree right next to it will be just a week behind or ahead on the blossom schedule and be barren. Timing is everything.

This year I made two batches of wild plum jam. We gave most of last years batch away as gifts and ate it all up before winter was over.

Peaches Galore

My husband oversees some properties that are owned by absentee landlords. This year one of the peach trees was loaded, almost to the breaking point, with small peaches. Since no one is going to be coming up to use the fruit, we get to harvest it when we can. From the peaches I made Peach Jam, Sour Cherry Peach Jam and Peach Barbeque Sauce. There were so many peaches we gave over half of them away to other ladies (gluttons for punishment) who also like to cook and can.

These are just a few of the jars of the different jams. All in all about 4 dozen jars.


I love the jewel tones they have when the light shines through. Almost like a stained glass window in a church. The miracle of being able to preserve the bounty of summer and fall and enjoy throughout the cold winters.

In the freezer are still more peaches and sour cherries.

As if this all wasn't enough. I have a friend who's husband made a huge and I mean huge over an acre garden. She has loaded me up with green beans. So.....spicy garlic dilled beans.



The recipies for jams are easily made from the pectin package recipies. For the peach and sour cherry jam, I just substituted 2 cups of chopped cherries for two cups of chopped peaches.

Quest for Grandma's Chili Powder

Going through my spices it dawned on me that I was getting low on Grandma's Chili Powder. When we had the deli business we would buy this by the case and to keep it fresh shrink wrapped and froze the extras. It is the best chili powder ever with a wonderful smokey and slightly sweet flavor. Nothing compares.

So.....I toodle off to the store to buy some and find out to my absolute HORROR that they don't make the product any more. OMG!! Now what!!! This is what I get for not buying a replacement supply sooner.

After searching on line I find that Grandma's now deceased chili powder has other fans and desperate foodies looking for a substitute. Lawmama did the heavy lifting and found out what happened to Grandma.

Fortunately she also obtained a recipe that may replicate the spice. Forthwith...I'm sharing as well. I haven't made it yet and hope that it is as good as Grandma's. It looks like fun and I'm looking forward to experimenting with the formula. Time will tell.


Shamelessly copied directly from Texas Cooking

For mildness and flavor:
•4 Ancho chiles (dried poblanos) [see Chile Primer]
•3 Dried New Mexico chiles
For heat:
•3 to 5 Dried Chiles de Arbol or Cayenne
For flavor:
•2 tablespoons cumin seeds, toasted
•2 tablespoons garlic powder
•2 teaspoons ground oregano (Mexican oregano, if you can get it)

1 Preheat your oven to 300F.

2 Remove stems and seeds from all the chiles. Cut each chile in half with scissors and flatten the pieces. Incidentally, good dried chiles will still have some moisture in them and be fairly pliable. Don't use dried chiles that are so dry and fragile that they shatter when touched. Chile ristras and wreaths are wonderful decorative accents, but the chiles dry out and lose their flavor.

3 Put the chiles in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 4 or 5 minutes. Remove the pan and check the chiles (they cool almost immediately). The smaller chiles will be toasted first, so remove them and set aside. Bake the larger pieces another 4 minutes and check again. The poblanos will be done last, but as portions of them toast, break them off and set aside returning the pan to the oven if necessary.

4 When all chiles are toasted and crispy, break each piece into two or three pieces and place in a blender. Pulse briefly until you have powder.

5 Toast the cumin seeds by placing them in a dry skillet over medium heat. Stir the seeds constantly being very careful not to let them scorch. When they are a few shades darker than the untoasted seeds, they are ready. Grind the toasted seeds with a mortar and pestle or with a rolling pin between two sheets of waxed paper.

6 Add the ground cumin, garlic powder and oregano to the ground chiles in the blender. Pulse a few more times to thoroughly mix the powder, and youre through. You should have about 1 cup of chili powder, depending upon the size of your chiles.

7 You have created your own custom blend of chili powder. If you compare what you have just made with the store-bought variety, you will find it to be much darker in color with a deeper, richer aroma and taste. Naturally, you will want to test your creation, and an excellent recipe for doing so is the Brazos River Chili in Grandmas Cookbook, or any good recipe that relies heavily on chili powder.

8 This recipe makes very good chili powder, but is by no means written in stone. The chiles and other ingredients can be varied according to your taste. To add the smoky heat of chipoltes (smoked jalapeos), for instance, substitute a chipolte for one of the chiles de arbol. Or better yet, toast some chipoltes and make a pure chipolte powder from them. A teaspoon of chipolte powder is the rough equivalent of one chipolte chile.

9 Store your chili powder in a small, airtight container like a glass jar with a lid that can be tightened. If you make more chili powder than you will be using in the immediate future, triple bag it in plastic bags and put it in the freezer.

10 With this knowledge, you are limited only by your imagination and your taste.

Procrastination

Wow. I haven't blogged on my food blog for so long.

Poor neglected blog. Well, I also haven't put much on my other blog either.

What kind of excuses can I make? Lots!!! I'm good at excuses and procrastination.

• I've been busy with work. No really I have.
  
• I've been wasting time on line reading blogs and playing on line games. Yes. Really.
  
• I've been spending a lot of frustrating time being involved as a Board member on a Community Services District. Don't ever do it. Thankless and frustrating job.
  
• My computer crashed and it took a week to get all of my valuable stuff off of the dead computer to the new computer. Talk about panic. I thought I lost my cookbook program and all of the recipies that I had typed in and have procrastinated about printing out. Told you I was good at that.

So while I am attempting to get my act together, I'll try to put some more recipies on the blog and quit fooling around.

Apple Butter

More apples. We are down to two ice chests full. One consists of the smaller and more tart apples from one tree and the other is STILL full of the Red Delicious. We can only stomach so many cakes. I made two more cakes today and froze one of them.

In a desperate attempt to use these apples before they go bad, I decided to make chunky apple butter. So simple and a great thing to do with fruit that is not perfect.

APPLE BUTTER

• 4 or more pounds of apples
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 2 cups sugar
• dash of salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• juice and zest of one lemon.

Peel, core and coarsley chop up the apples. Cut out the bad or brown spots first. The best way I've found to do this is to use a potato peeler to take off the skins. Then just set the apple bottom down on the cutting board and make a cut vertically down one side of the apple close to the core. Turn the apple, make another cut......repeat until you have left the core of the apple. It will look like a square or pentagon, depending on how big your apple is. Don't worry if there is some skin still left on the apple, because you are going to cook it into a mush and the skins contain pectin.

Put the apple chunks in a large stew pan with the 1 cup of cider vinegar. Stew over low heat until they are soft. Mash with a potato masher or put through the sieve of a food mill if you want a smoother apple butter.

Add the sugar, lemon, salt and spices. Simmer and stir frequently until it is very thick or until when you put a glop of apple butter on a saucer there is no liquid leaking out around the edges.

Spoon into sterilized half pint jars and put on the sterilized lids and screw bands. Put into a water bath and process at boiling for 10 minutes.

If you have never canned before, there are some good sites on the net that will give you a basic tutorial. I highly recommend getting the book "Putting Food By". It will walk you through the process. This has been my canning Bible for years and years.

Chunky Apple Cake

Its fall and the crops from the raised bed garden are long gone. We picked the last of the tomatoes and peppers a month ago. Yellow tomatoes, Romas, Beefsteak and sweet Italian.

Now, it is apple time. We picked the apples from our 5 trees. At least 50 pounds, mostly Red Delicious and Yellow Delicious, stored in open ice chests in the pump house for preservation over winter.

When we bought this property 8 years ago, most of the trees were already mature and needed pruning and now really have begun producing. Depending on what kind of spring: whether we get an early frost that kills the blossoms before they set or if we have a lingeringly warm spring where the bees and the blossoms make sweet harmony, we will have some apples or lots of apples. We had the latter spring this season.

Once again, we didn't spray the trees. It wasn't for any greenie organic reasons that did we not spray. As Steve Martin says...."I forgot". Ah well. Give me spots on my apples and leave me the birds and the bees. As a result we have 50 pounds of apples that taste great......look bad. What to do? What to do?

I know!!! Make Chunky Apple Cake. You're going to peel and chop the apples anyway....so who is to know that you also cut off a few brown or icky spots. It isn't like you need neat perfect slices like you would for an open face tort. Chop
away!

This is a wonderful, EASY, dense and flavorful cake. You just can't miss. Served warm with some whipped cream or dusted with powdered sugar and served at room temperature.

Chunky Apple Cake

• 6 large apples
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 5 tbsp sugar
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a tube pan. Peel and core and chop the apples into chunks a little less than one inch. Toss the apple with the 5 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp cinnamon and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon and salt in a large mixing bowl. (I use the bowl of my Kitchen Aid mixer so I can add the next step)

In a separate bowl mix the sugar, oil, juice and vanilla. It will look totally disgusting. Don't worry about it. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones. Then add the eggs one at a time. Scrape down the side of the bowl. Don't lick the spatula.....OK....go ahead lick the spatula.

Pour half of the batter into the tube pan. Top with half of the apples and some of the nuts. Cover with the rest of batter and top with the rest of the apples and nuts.

Bake for about 1 1/2 hours or until wooden skewer comes out clean.

I have to give away half of this cake or else eat it ourselves. Believe me, my hubby and I do NOT need to eat an entire cake.

This month we took generous slices to some of our older friends and our clients, most of whom are in their 80's and one is a Pearl Harbor survivor and who don't cook so much for themselves anymore. It is like stepping back into a gentler and kinder age. We have a cocktail...or two.... and as was usual in the cocktail era of the 40's and 50's our friends insist on making a production. Frosty cocktail glasses from the freezer, a full bar, hors d'ourves, salted nuts, napkins, coasters the works. We sip and gossip about locals, about politics, their children, my children, movies and anything else. We listen to stories from their past, and I marvel at what fine good people we will lose as a Country when this generation is gone. Sometimes it makes me very sad......have another piece of cake ......please.

Roasted Butternut Squash Pasta

Roasted Butternut Squash Pasta

1 peeled and cubed butternut squash
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cracked Pepper
1 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary

On a baking sheet toss the squash and seasonings together. Bake at 300 for about 1/2 hour or until the squash is tender, stirring it up once or twice with a spatula.

While the squash is cooking, saute slowly 1 large onion, sliced, in olive oil (or butter) until it becomes soft and translucent. Then add the mushrooms and sautee at a little bit higher heat until done and slightly browned. Salt and pepper and set aside. If the squash is done, throw it into the sautee pan and cover or put back into the oven that has been turned off. Just to keep the veggies warm

Boil the pasta in well salted water. If you can get whole wheat bow ties even better. Drain and add to the sautee pan. Toss until well blended and top with toasted pine nuts and fresh parsley.

Add some grated Parmesan or Romano cheese if you like at this point and serve with crusty french bread, fresh green salad and white wine.

Fava Beans Redux

Having used up the last of the fava beans on a delicious and pretty Shrimp and Fava Sautee over Couscous, I am definietly going to grow some more of them next year.

Growing a garden is a learning experience and here are the things I learned about Fava Beans.

1. They are really TALL. So don't plant them in front of other plants. My poor pepper plants that were behing the wall of favas didn't get the sun they needed so as a result, I am nursing two Italian Sweet Pepper plants that have a total of 3 peppers.
2. They are really TALL. You'd better plan on staking them up before they get too and flop over because
3. The bean pods are HUGE.

Everything I read talked about the tedious process of shelling and preparing the beans. Really? It wasn't that bad. Sure, it takes some time, but then again so does anything worthwhile. And believe me they are definitely worthwhile.

Fava Beans and Shrimp over Couscous

• Poached Shrimp
• 2 Cups Prepared Favas
• Roma Tomatoes Chopped
• French Shallots Chopped
• Garlic Cloves Minced
• Fresh Tarragon Minced
• Romano or Parmesan Cheese
• Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper

You might notice, there are not any actual ingredient measurements? Wing it!

Prepare the couscous according to package directions. This will take hardly any time and while the pasta is sitting covered you can whip up the following.

Sautee the garlic and shallots over low heat in a bit of olive oil until they become limp and translucent. Turn up the heat at bit and toss in the favas and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle on the minced tarragon and add the tomatoes. Continue to stir and toss in the sautee pan until the tomatoes begin to become slightly limp. Add the shrimp and continue just until they become warm. Do not over cook.

Top the dish with some shaved slivers of cheese and add more salt and pepper to taste.

Fava Beans Sautee

Fava Beans are a success. See my posting below:

It is so satisfying to be able to create a meal or side dish with fresh ingredients that you have grown yourself. With the exception of the tomatoes, which are not yet ripe and the olive oil which I conveniently buy at Costo and didn't press myself or the Asiago Romano Cheese from Costco (the best I have ever found), the ingredients come from my own garden.

/pats self on the back

FAVA BEAN SAUTEE

• 3 cups of prepared fava beans (I tell you how below)
• 1 whole large french shallot, chopped (not minced)
• 3 coarsely chopped roma tomatoes
• 1 tbsp fresh minced tarragon
• 2 cloves minced elephant garlic
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• shaved slivers of Asiago/Romano cheese

To prepare the beans: Plan on this taking some time. First pour yourself a glass of wine to sip on while shelling the bean pods. A nice Chianti? Or in my case a chilled Gewürztraminer. Split the bean pods apart and place the beans in a large bowl. This is actually kind of neat. The insides of the bean pods are fuzzy and white, almost like the beans have been lovingly encased in soft cotton.

Meanwhile start a pot of water, liberally salted with Kosher salt to boil. Once you have shell the beans put them into the boiling water and simmer at a low boil for about 4 to 5 minutes. Scoop the beans out of the boiling water and dump them into a large bowl full of ice water. This will shock the beans and stop the cooking. Let the beans cool.

Fava beans have a very tough skin covering the delicate green bean inside. To shell them, just pinch off a section of the tough sking and gently squeeze the inside bean into a bowl. They should just slip right out. If you moosh a bean or two. No problem......eat them while you are shelling the rest.

At this point, you can freeze the beans like Lima Beans are done in the grocery store or set aside covered in plastic wrap for maybe a day in the fridge. But the best way is to cook them immediately.

Preparing the dish: This part goes really fast. Coat a small sautee pan with a tbsp or so of olive oil and over medium low heat slowly cook the shallots and garlic until it is soft and slightly caramelized. Turn the heat up a bit and toss in the beans and tarragon. Toss them around in the pan. Maybe do a few Emeril Lagasse flips of the pan and contents to show off. Season with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Throw in the chopped tomatoes and stir/flip the contents of the pan over medium heat until the tomatoes start to wilt.

Serve with some shaved slivers of cheese on top of the warm beans.

Very pretty with the red and green coloring. Tasty. I served these as a side dish to some sauteed Red Snapper with a fresh green salad and warm french bread.

Growing Fava Beans

• This year we really got cracking on our vegetable garden. The Dumbplumber, at my constant urging or nagging as he would say, put in some great raised beds. 6 beds that are 4 feet by 8 feet by 24 inches high and spaced just wide enough to run the wheel barrow through. We lined them with chicken wire on the bottoms and up the sides and then installed 1 inch PVC pipe at intervals along the sides before filling with dirt. This was so that I could use smaller size PVC and make hoops over the beds.
  
  Because it is cold here in the spring time due to the elevation, it is very hard to plant early. With the hoops running the length of the bed and covered with plastic it creates a tunnel/greenhouse to get an early start on planting. The other advantage is that to discourage the birds and deer, we covered the hoops with deer netting to keep the critters from gobbling up all of the young shoots.
  
  
  

There is no point in planting things that you can easily and cheaply get at the local grocery store. So, I try to plant things that are unusual or that are good trading stock with other local gardeners. This year I had a great crop of French Shallots (which are very expensive) and Elephant garlic. I'm trading with a friend who has a lot of Torpedo and Sweet Walla Walla onions. Yum Yum.

This was the first year that I had grown Fava Beans, so I didn't plant to many, as I wasn't sure if we were even going to like them. Picking the last of the crop today at lunch, we are planning to have them with dinner tonight.



Probably something with Garlic, Shallots, Lemon, Thyme (which I also grew) and shaved Assiago Cheese. If they are a success, next year I'll plant a LOT more as they were probably the easiest thing I have ever grown in the garden.

Next year I will be urging (nagging) my husband to put ground cloth and gravel between the planting beds to keep the mud and weeds down. I'm sure he is really looking forward to it. :-D

Peach BBQ Sauce

Have too many peaches? Peaches that are on the too ripe side and starting to get gooshey? Never fear. Peach Barbeque Sauce is here. This is a delicious sauce and is especially good on pork. It seems to last forever in the refrigerator and freezes well.

PEACH BBQ SAUCE

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 3 cups chopped peaches
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups beer
• 1 cup catsup
• 1 cup mustard
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 tbs cider vinegar
• 2 tbs worchestershire sauce
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp hot pepper sauce
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the peaches, pepper, salt and garlic. Cook for a minute stirring frequently. Add the beer and the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Drink the rest of the beer while stirring as it comes to a boil....oh heck...drink another one too. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes

Cool the mixture until it is just warm. Place half of the sauce in a blender. Remove the center piece of the blender lid so the steam can get out. You don't want your sauce and blender to explode. *Puree until smooth. Repeat with the rest of the sauce. Refrigerate for up to 10 days or freeze.

Notes:

*I use a hand held immersion blender , as long as it is just a single recipe. If our peach trees are especially generous, I will make a double batch for the freezer.

Leave the skin on the peaches. Don't waste your time trying to peel them. You are just going to puree them anyway.

Generally, I despise "Ball Park" type mustard and substitute Dijon whenever possible, but in this case you should use the inexpensive French's or other yellow mustard. You really want that harsher mustard flavor and will be wasting your money if you use Dijon. I haven't tried it yet, but adding whole mustard seeds to the mix or using a grainy brown mustard might be good here if a bit more expensive.

For a BBQ pork butt, roast or chops, I will marinate my meat in this sauce for a few hours before cooking. Discard the marinade and use fresh sauce for basting during the last part of the cooking process.

How to Organize a Zillion Recipies Without Going Nuts

Being an admitted Recipe Junkie and not about to reform or repent, the other option is to try to get organized.

You know what I mean.... don't you, you other Recipe Junkies. First we start out with a few cook books, some clippings and a couple of recipes that Grandma or Mom was good enough to let go of, written on 3 x 5 cards. A nice little index box with some tabs. A shelf on the book shelf or maybe even a spot in the kitchen for those few books.

Soon, we are browsing magazines for more good sounding recipes that we will certainly make in the near future. (uh huh...sure) Garage sales have lots of great old recipe books that are well used, cheap and absolutely must be saved. Goodwill, Salvation Army, Antique Stores: all treasure troves of fabulous recipes, cooking history, memorabilia and books. The really bad news is when your inner Recipe Junkie merges with your book collecting mania.

Now, instead of a few books and small recipe box, you have a whole book CASE devoted to cook books, Bon Appetite, Gourmet and a lateral file cabinet full of files containing recipes optimistically torn out of magazines.......even magazines while waiting in the doctor's office. /Embarrassed

So, smartie, how are you going to actually find a recipe that you want to try or that you really would like to make again in this clutter? You have some peaches and you remember (vaguely) that there is a recipe you read (somewhere) for a peach flavored barbeque sauce. Where IS IT and I want to find it before I am completely out of the mood and just eat the damned peaches.

Here is what I have done and I now use the world's best cook book software. Living Cook Book by Radium Technologies. If anyone else has other ideas, I'm all ears.

Clippings: I read the magazine first. Put pencil checks or dog-ear the page where the recipes sound good. THEN....put....the ....magazine.....down. Come back later read again and see if it still sounds interesting. Often a recipe that sounds good at first glance isn't so great or I realize, I already have several just like it. If I still think the recipe (or decorating or gardening idea) is interesting, tear it out of the magazine and throw the magazine away, and get rid of the clutter. Then it either goes into the files that are categorized by type or directly into my software program.

Books: First I read and browse the new or new/old cook book from cover to cover and use post its to mark the most interesting places for later data entry.

Living Cook Book is the best program that I have ever used!!! You can sort and print and more importantly FIND what you want. It can copy from the internet. So many great features. Check it out.



I have several virtual cookbooks

• My Favorites: recipes that I have made, will make again and really like. Those are printed out on 4 x 6 cards and kept in a file or can be printed out in cookbook form and put into a binder


• Untested #1: those that sounded good from the clippings or books and that I might want to make soon.


• Untested #2: sound interesting, might be a bit complicated or unusual but worth consideration if I have some time to really experiment

Once I make an 'untested' it either goes into the virtual trash can or into My Favorites and printed on the card.

SO .....when I want to find my Peach BBQ Sauce recipe, I merely search for the ingredients and ta dah: PEACH BBQ SAUCE

Pasta Puttanesca

Wow. Where does the time go? I haven't posted here in months. I can make the excuse that I've been busy. Busy with non fun things like work. Preparing for an office audit that is required by the SEC once a year. Non fun things like being in the middle of a power struggle on the Water District Board of which I am a member. I won, by the way. We have a new board and fired the manager, but man was that stressful and scary. I even began packing at work and my husband acted as body guard a few times at meetings. We are still in the middle of a LOT of work reconstituting the District and trying to save it from bankruptcy.....but that is a story for my other blog.

Busy with fun things. My hubby made some wonderful raised garden beds for me out in the orchard area. Since he did such a great job, I had better grow something. Soon I will be harvesting French Shallots and Elephant Garlic. There is no point in growing things you can get in the grocery store, so I also planted Fava beans and Endame and some interesting varieties of tomatoes.

Busy entertaining/distracting myself on the Blogs arguing with the trolls on one particular blog and realizing that is a colossal waste of time. Also realizing that there are much more entertaining and friendly places to visit like Trooper York's blog. where they talk about among other things FOOD.

Trooper has requested a pasta recipe and so...in line with my burgeoning tomato crop that I expect to have soon. Here is an easy easy, cheap, fast and fool proof pasta dish.


PASTA PUTTANESCA

• 2 or 3 large tomatoes *seeded and coarsly chopped
• 2 tbsp capers crushed
• 1/2 tsp crushed red chili flakes
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh italian parsley
• 1/2 cup chopped calamata olives
• 1 small tin of anchovies in oil
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 pound linguini
• fresh parmesan or asiago cheese

In a medium sauce pan over low heat saute the garlic anchovies in the olive oil. Don't over cook, just smoosh the ancovies and garlic and oil around to make a paste and to release all the yummy flavors. Add the chopped tomatoes, capers, chili flakes, olives and simmer on low for about 10 to 15 minutes, stiring occaisonally.

Meanwhile. Cook the linguini to al dente in a large pan that has been salted with about 1 tbsp kosher salt.

Drain the pasta. Pour the sauce over the pasta and toss in the Italian Parsley (bet you thought I forgot about it, didn't you?). Mix the linguini with the sauce and parsley.

Top each serving with a bit of shaved Parmesan or Asiago cheese.

Serve with a green salad, fruit (cantelopes are really good right now), crusty french bread .....oh and of course a good wine.

My husband hated the Kalamata Olives. He thought they were too salty with the anchovies so you might substitute milder ripe olives. For those of you who don't like hot/spicy dishes you can also lighten up on the chili flakes (weenies). I also like this sauce over Farfalle pasta. Soon, I plan to try it with a mixture of yellow and red tomatoes from my garden.

* to seed tomatoes: cut the tomato in half crossways and simply squeeze the seeds and juices into a bowl. You want as much of the juice removed from the tomatoes or else your sauce will be watery and you will have to cook it much longer which will ruin the delicate flavor of the capers.