Chocolate Covered Hazelnut Brittle

After transplanting all my seedlings to the garden, I feel rather good. While patiently awaiting the veggies in my garden to mature, I made some hazelnut brittle. The recipe is easy and it is delicious, a great treat to share with my gardening friends as I couldn't possibly eat it all by myself. Here's how:
Combine: 2 C. sugar, 1/2 C. light corn syrup and a ash of salt in a heavy bottomed stainless steel pot. Cook on low heat until the sugar melts and the syrup turns to a brown caramel (5-10 minutes, depending on the heat). The Add 3 C. hazelnuts, stir and cook for another minute or two. Then add 4 T. butter, 1 t. baking soda and 2 t. vanilla extract. Be careful the content in the pot is VERY HOT, use a stiff spoon such as a bamboo spoon to stir. A silicon spatula can flex and you can burn yourself (I did). Remove from the heat. Stir until everything is incorporated. Pour the content out on an oiled cookie sheet. Spread as thin as you can. Sprinkle 1 C. chocolate chips on top. The heat from the candy will melt the chips, when that happens, spread the chocolate evenly over the surface. Wait till the hazelnut cools completely, break it apart. Keep the pieces in an air-tight container. Enjoy!

Basic Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

Cinnamon rolls/Sticky buns are my favorite dessert to make. You may double the recipe for a bigger batch. It is easy once you master the basic dough recipe. You can make changes to the filling and gooey pan sauce, with or without nuts, raisin, and frosting. My basic dough recipe goes like this:
Dough:
1 C. warm liquid (water, milk, half-and-half or a combination of the above);
3 C. four (all white or part white, part rye);
2 t. dry yeast;
2 t. sugar;
2 eggs,
pinch of salt;
Filling: 1/2  C. margarine, 2 T. cinnamon and 1 C. granulated sugar.
Gooey pan sauce: 1 C. brown sugar, 1/2 C. corn syrup, 2 T. butter, 1 T. water. Cook in a sauce pan on medium heat until sugar melts and simmer for 3 minutes. Pour on the bottom of the pan.
Frosting: 1 8oz. pack of cream cheese, 4 T. butter, 2 C. powered sugar. Optional.

Combine liquid, yeast and sugar, let set for 5 min. or until yeast become bubbly. Add all other ingredients to make a soft dough. Stand mixer with dough hook is ideal for the job. Keep the dough in the bowl covered until it doubles in size.

Roll out the dough on a well floured surface. Spread the filling evenly on the rolled out dough. Roll up the dough. Cut into small piece to your liking. Arrange cinnamon rolls on pan with gooey pan sauce. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap. Let stand for 20 minutes. Bake in a pre-heated 400 F oven in the middle rack for 20 minutes.

Meatball Sub and Netflix for Dinner

Tonight I am having meatball sub on a homemade bread, it goes perfectly with the Neflix movie I just received in the mail-Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. On first look, this meatball sub didn't seemed all that "garden" intensive, but upon a closer exams, it is filled with the delicious flavors preserved from the summer garden. The sauce is my homemade tomato sauce. I am almost running out of the tomato sauce I canned last year. Thank goodness I just planted this years crop.

The meatball is filled with flavors from the herbs I dried last summer. This is when the work you do in the summers paying big dividend. I can't imagine living without them. The spring is chugging along, fresh lettuce is all the rage at the moment. My new discovery this year is a lettuce called "Prize Head". It is a small butter head type lettuce, fast mature and very crunchy with great flavors. Before long, the garden should be in full production again...

Sue’s Homemade Salsa

 Sue’s Homemade Salsa
Ingredients: Homemade tomato sauce,
tomatoes, onions, vinegar, jalapeno peppers,
garlic, cilantro, salt, cayenne pepper and cumin.

I used my 12Q stock pot. To the thickened tomato sauce, I added: cumin, cayenne peppers, fresh garlic, fresh cilantro, fresh jalapeno peppers. I also added white vinegar and juice from one lime. I added the salt to the tomato sauce and let it devolve thoroughly before adding the other ingredients, and adjusted the salt later. Bring the pot to a boil, and pack hot salsa in sterilized pint jars, cap and process in hot water bath for 20 minutes. Makes 15 pints.

Per Elaine:  when I make salsa I cut up everythin, than I put a half a cup of salt on top, let it sit overnight and than drain, Than I add my vinager and add the juice back as I need it, to make the thickness I like, this method works reat, than I use the left over juice, cooked down a little for blody Mary mix

Sue's Homemade Taco Sauce

Sue's Homemade Taco Sauce:
15 lb. tomatoes
3 T. salt
2 large onions, finely chopped
Cayenne pepper power (1 T. for mild, 2 T. for medium, 3 T. for hot_VERY!)
1 T. garlic powder
1 t. cumin powder
1/2 t. coriander powder
1/2 t. Mexican oregano leaves (do not substitute with regular oregano)
1/4 C. lemon juice
1 C. white distilled vinegar

Cook tomatoes in a large stock pot until tomatoes turn soft. Run tomatoes through a colander. Add all other ingredients. Cook until it reaches taco sauce consistency. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. Pack in sterilized pint jars. Add lids, process in hot water bath for 15 minutes.


Note:
My first batch I used a jar of red enchilada sauce. I deconstructed the enchilada sauce and used original ingredients in later batches. Also, you might want to adjust the salt level, as each batch of tomatoes are different depending on what varieties you are using...


Sue's Homemade Taco Sauce :
15 lb. tomatoes
3 T. salt
2 large onions, finely chopped (with more info)
Cayenne pepper power (1 T. for mild, 2 T. for medium, 3 T. for hot)
1 T. garlic powder
1 t. cumin powder
1/2 t. coriander powder
1/2 t. Mexican oregano leaves (do not substitute with regular oregano)
1/4 C. lemon juice
1 C. white distilled vinegar

Cook tomatoes in a large stock pot until tomatoes turn soft. Run tomatoes through a colander. Add all other ingredients. Cook until it reaches taco sauce consistency. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. Pack in sterilized pint jars. Add lids, process in hot water bath for 15 minutes.

Sue's Homemade Taco Sauce

Sue's Homemade Taco Sauce:
15 lb. tomatoes
3 T. salt
2 large onions, finely chopped
Cayenne pepper power (1 T. for mild, 2 T. for medium, 3 T. for hot_VERY!)
1 T. garlic powder
1 t. cumin powder
1/2 t. coriander powder
1/2 t. Mexican oregano leaves (do not substitute with regular oregano)
1/4 C. lemon juice
1 C. white distilled vinegar

Cook tomatoes in a large stock pot until tomatoes turn soft. Run tomatoes through a colander. Add all other ingredients. Cook until it reaches taco sauce consistency. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. Pack in sterilized pint jars. Add lids, process in hot water bath for 15 minutes.

Baked Salmon 2.0

Salmon Patties Served with
Home Grown Prize Head Lettuce

There is nothing better than fresh spring salmon from the Pacific Northwest. There are many ways to enjoy this spring delicacy.  Yesterday's baked fish become today's salmon patties. The dried or fresh herbs bring out the savory flavor of the salmon. It turns your leftover into another delicious meal...

The recipe is as follow:
1 C. baked salmon, break into small pieces,
1/2 C. finely chopped onion,
1 T. dried herbs (basil, parsley and oregano) or 3 T. fresh chopped herbs,

Baked Salmon

1 large egg,
1 T. Dijon mustard,
2 slices of bread, crumbled,
1/4 C. mayo, 2 T. vegetable oil, garlic salt and pepper to taste.
Mix the above ingredients together, stir until well blended. Shape into patties. Coat each patty with Panco bread crumbs and pan fry until golden brown.
(Prize Head Lettuce is an early maturing lettuce with red ruffles, it is delicious and beautiful)

Fresh Caught Spring Chnook Salmon