SQUASH RELISH

MMMMM......if you have never had homemade squash relish you just don't know what you are missing!!  A few years ago my younger son sampled some squash relish from our local farmers market.  He really, really liked the flavor of it and polished off the entire jar with a bag of tortilla chips.  Last year I had a bumper crop of yellow squash and decided to make my own.  I couldn't find a recipe that looked like what we had sampled at the farmers market, so I ended up taking my sweet cucumber relish recipe and substituting yellow squash where it called for cucumbers.....it turned out PERFECT!!!  The first time I took some of this relish to a potluck at church a few people looked at me like I was crazy....but the end result was an empty jar!!  My Moma likes to add it to her salad instead of salad dressing.  I love it with tortilla chips just like my son!!  Because this is a cooked recipe you can eat it pretty much as soon as it's cool enough that it won't burn your tongue.  ENJOY!!

Because this disappears so quickly I pack mine in pint sized jars instead of the half pint recommended by the recipe.  Of course the half pint make great gifts!!!  Maybe I'll do that with my next batch!

SQUASH RELISH
Yield: about 8 half pints

1 quart chopped yellow squash2 cups chopped onions (about 2 medium)
1 cup chopped sweet green pepper (about 1 medium)
1 cup chopped sweet red pepper (about 1 medium)
1/4 cup salt
3 1/2 cups sugar
1 TBSP celery seed
1 TBSP mustard seed
2 cups cider vinegar

Combine squash, onions, green and red peppers in a large bowl; sprinkle with salt and cover with cold water. Let stand 2 hours. Drain; rinse and drain thoroughly. Combine sugar, spices and vinegar in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil. Add drained vegetables; simmer 10 minutes. Pack hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.  

AMY'S FROZEN FRUIT SMOOTHIE

Smoothies are so yummy...but can be VERY expensive to buy and who knows HOW MANY calories and fat!!! So......I came up with this recipe to satisfy that craving without having to empty my wallet or worry about my waistline expanding.  Sometimes I will add a tablespoon or two of peanut butter to give it some lasting power.  I had one for breakfast just this morning and I was barely hungry at lunch time! 

I buy the single serve portions of pineapple tidbits in a plastic container and just pop them in the freezer until I need one.  You could also buy a larger can and divide them into ice cube trays or small plastic freezer containers.

 

AMY’S FROZEN FRUIT SMOOTHIE

1/2 cup frozen pineapple tidbits in juice
2 strawberries, unsweetened & frozen
4 TBSP Dannon Light and Fit Nonfat Vanilla Yogurt
1/2 cup 2% milk

Directions

Run container of frozen pineapple tidbits under warm water to thaw slightly. Remove plastic lid and pop out of container like you would an ice cube. Place all ingredients into blender and blend until desired consistency. Place in large frosted mug and enjoy!

Nutritional Info

Servings Per Recipe: 1

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 133.4

Total Fat: 2.4 g

Cholesterol: 9.8 mg

Sodium: 80.4 mg

Total Carbs: 25.1 g

Dietary Fiber: 0.4 g

Protein: 5.4 g

GRILLED GARLIC LEMON CHICKEN AND CREAMY COLESLAW

Do you ever get in a dinner rut???  You've got chicken in the freezer, but just don't know what to do with it.  Last night I was dealing with that same dillema.  DH is not a big fan of chicken....but I really like it.  So when I make it...it's GOTTA be good!!  Last night when he came home from work and stepped out onto the back patio he was like "whatcha cooking???  It smells GOOOOOOD!!!"   YAY!!!  Lucky for me it tasted just as good as it smelled!  I paired it with some CREAMY COLESLAW (recipe below), a squash salad (will get a recipe and pic next time I get more squash) and some garlic bread.

If you are not handy with a knife, you can actually buy half a chicken cut up like this at some grocery stores. 

GRILLED GARLIC LEMON CHICKEN

1 whole chicken, cut in half

1/4 cup olive oil

3 garlic cloves, crushed

Kosher salt

juice of 1 lemon

pepper

Preheat gas grill to medium heat.  Pour olive oil into a small bowl and stir in crushed garlic; set aside.  Thoroughly wash and dry chicken and place on metal cookie sheet or any pan that has sides.  Cut a small slit in the skin of each breast, brush  entire chicken with garlic/oil mixture. With remaining mixture use fingers to rub into the slit (under the skin) of each breast.  Sprinkle with lemon juice, then salt and pepper.  Place chicken (inside down) on a piece of foil on the grill (this helps to prevent burning from fat dripping off of the skin, but BE CAREFUL, the fat will pool and it WILL ignite if it flows off of the foil).  When the inside of the chicken is browned turn over to brown the skin (you can remove the foil at this time if you want a little more crunch to the skin).  When the chicken reaches 180 degrees internal temp or when cut there is no visible pink, it is done (approx 45 mins)

A food processor makes this recipe come together quickly!!



CREAMY COLESLAW

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4-1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing

1 TBSP sugar

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 tsp celery seed

1/4 tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients in a large glass or plastic bowl. 

1/2 medium head cabbage, finely shredded or chopped (4 cups)

1 small carrot, shredded (1/2 cup)

1 small onion, chopped (1/4 cup)

Add remaining igredients; toss until evenly coated. 

Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour to blend flavors. 

Quick Treats

One of my co-workers, Kelly, told me about this quick tasty treat that she makes for her family. It only has 5 ingredients most you probably already have. Now I'm silly and didn't ask what this was called but it reminds me of rugelach.

Cast of Characters:
1 pie crust - either homemade or refrigerated (not frozen)
cinnamon (approximately 2 tablespoons)
sugar (approximately 2 tablespoons)
jam (I used seedless blackberry but any would do)
chopped nuts (I used pecans because I love them!)

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. I lined my baking sheet with parchment because I'm lazy and don't want to wash dishes. On a clean surface, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar about the size of a pie crust and then press your pie crust into the cinnamon sugar. Spread a thin layer of jam on the pie crust and sprinkle the nuts over the jam. Now roll that pie crust up! Place it on the cookie sheet and bake f0r 12 - 14 minutes. At least until golden. Let cool (if you can resist) and then cut into pieces. I think I got 12 pieces out of the one I made.

Enjoy!

BRITTANY'S WHITE CHICKEN CHILI

Brittany's White Chicken Chili  posted by Jenny Spencer

*Ingredients

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 medium onion-chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
2 cans (15 1/2 oz each) great northern beans, mostly drained
1 can chicken broth 14 1/2 oz
2 cans chopped green chilies 4 oz each
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 8oz sour cream

*Directions:
In a large pot sauté chicken, onion, garlic powder and oil until chicken is all white and no longer pink. Add the beans, broth, chilies, and all seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream.

MEATBALLS

Today I had a hankering for meatball subs.  Saucy with my favorite marinara and lots of melty cheese.  MMMMMMMM.....unfortunately when I went to the cupboard to get out the seasonings I realized I was totally out of dried Italian Seasoning. ARGH!!!! So I went to my handy dandy New Betty Crocker cookbook and looked for a recipe using the individual seasonings.  I found a list...really....just a list of the herbs used for Italian cooking.  Lucky for me I had 3 of those herbs growing in my planter garden outside the back door.  So I've revamped one of my old meatball recipes using fresh instead of dried herbs.  If you don't have the fresh herbs at hand feel free to substitute 2 TBSP of dried Italian Seasoning in it's place.  Right now half of the meatballs are simmering in the sauce while the other half are cooling to prep for the freezer to be used later. 

MEATBALLS

Makes approx 5 dozen meatballs

Prep: 30 mins

Baking: 30 mins

Additional baking in sauce: minimum 1 hour

3 lbs 80% lean ground beef

3 eggs

1-1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1/4 cup loosely packed fresh Basil leaves, chopped

4 sprigs fresh Oregano, chopped (about 1 TBSP)

2 sprigs fresh Rosemary, chopped (about 1 TBSP)

1/2 tsp ground red pepper

1 TBSP Garlic powder
1 TBSP Kosher Salt
1 Onion, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)

Mix all ingredients by hand in large bowl until combined.  Using a medium sized scoop, form meatballs and place evenly spaced on a baking pan.  Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, or until browned.   Remove from oven and drain off fat.  At this time you can either add them to your favorite marinara sauce and simmer for an hour.  OR you can cool completely and place in freezer bags for later use.



portioned meatballs ready to go into the oven....I got 57!!



Meatballs fresh from the oven

Layering the meatballs in marinara to simmer.

Cooling the rest of the meatballs on a lined rack to get ready for the freezer

here's one on a fork that I am going to eat RIGHT AWAY!!!  YUM!!!

Rice Playdough Recipe for Wheat and Gluten Allergy

I have recently discovered that children who have wheat and gluten allergies cannot play with regular play dough!!  Since I have just become acquainted with one of these children I was delighted to find this recipe.  While waiting for my enchiladas to bake today I decided to give this recipe a try.  As you can see I had some help playing with it to test it out and while it is not edible...it is FUN!!!  It was a free recipe that I found on http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/  The link for the recipe is attached below.  Even if you don't know anyone with allergies, it is a fun project and works up really quick.

Rice Playdough Recipe for Wheat and Gluten Allergy