Peppered squash chutney

Great way to use the last of the summer squash. So good on hot dogs.
This is the real recipe but I only made like a quarter batch.
Ingredients 3 pounds yellow summer squash, finely chopped 3 pounds zucchini, finely chopped 6 large onions, finely chopped 3 medium green peppers, finely chopped 3 medium sweet red peppers, finely chopped 1/4 cup salt 2 cups sugar 2 cups packed brown sugar 2 cups white vinegar 4 teaspoons celery seed 1 teaspoon ground turmeric 1 teaspoon ground mustard Directions In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Drain vegetable mixture. Rinse in cold water and drain again. Place vegetables in a Dutch oven. Add the sugars, vinegar, celery seed, turmeric and mustard. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes or until liquid is clear. Remove from the heat; cool. Spoon into containers. Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks. Yield: 4 quarts.

flour tortillas

This is really flatbread because it puffs up pretty thick. For tortillas use 1/2 to 2/3 t baking powder instead. I make it both ways and it is SO good. Its a major improvement from the store bought stuff. Just put it in a big ziplock bag and it keeps in the refridgerator really well. I loke to add a little garlic to the flatbread dough and use as pizza crust when I dont want to wait for the yeast to do the rising. Texas Flour Tortillas Ingredients:
2 cups of all-purpose flour (can make them whole wheat by substituting one cup of whole-wheat flour for white flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
3/4 cups of warm milk

Method:
Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oil.
Slowly add the warm milk.
Stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed.
Knead for two minutes on a floured surface. Dough should be firm and soft.
Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes.
After the dough has rested, break off eight sections, roll them into balls in your hands, place on a plate (make sure they aren’t touching) and then cover balls with damp cloth or plastic wrap for 10 minutes. (It’s very important to let the dough rest, otherwise it will be like elastic and won’t roll out to a proper thickness and shape.)
After dough has rested, one at a time place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until it’s thin and about eight inches in diameter. (If you roll out pie crusts you’ll have no problem with this.) Don’t over work the dough, or it’ll be stiff. Keep rolled-out tortillas covered until ready to cook.
In a dry iron skillet or comal heated on high, cook the tortilla about thirty seconds on each side. It should start to puff a bit when it’s done.
Keep cooked tortillas covered wrapped in a napkin until ready to eat.
Can be reheated in a dry iron skillet, over your gas-burner flame or in the oven wrapped in foil.

Makes eight tortillas.

I made grape Jam!!!

So I saw this 3lb box of black grapes at kents for 99cents! Talk about cheap! So I grabbed one up with my chicken and headed home. Now personally I've never been a big fan of grape jelly (or any jelly) im more of a berry jam kind of gal, but a certain someone I know just loves him some pb and grape jelly. So I decided to try a grape jam (made with pieces of friut instead of just juices) and see what happens.

I pulled all the grapes off the vine and gave them a wash, them I just threw them in the blender to puree (it made about 4 cups 'juice'  cuz there were some bad ones and I ate some too). I put it in a pot and mixed it with a box of pectin, bring to a full boil (while during constantly) and add 1, thats right 1!, cup of sugar. Boil for about 10 minutes (spooning out a little onto a chilled plate to test that if it is thinkening how you want) then pour into 4, sanatized, half pint mason jars and let cool completely. If you want to store them in the pantry you need to do a water bath immediatly after filling the jars. so put the jars in your canner covered by 2 inches of water and boil for 15 minutes.

I gotta say; black grape jam is WAY better than super sugary concord grape jelly!!

'they' say that you dont want the skins of grapes in your jelly because they get tuff when cooked. I didnt have this problem, there was also no way I was going to take the extra time skinning the grapes or trying to juice them without my moms old juicer thing. I dont know if its because I pureed them instead of just smashing them or if concord grapes are different somehow but it worked out well for me. Check out my Etsy shop for lots of amazing jam flavors. All the flavor non of the work http://www.etsy.com/shop/MummyMaid?ref=si_shop

Cauliflour soup

I really need to take more pictures of this delicious food for you to see but we just gobble it up to quick!
I'd be wanting to make some cauliflower soup for a long time because a guy I used to work with talked about how excited he was to go back to Wisconsin for Christmas to have it. Apparently it's another thing Wisconsin is famous for....and here I thought it was all about cheese, beer and Green Bay.
Anyway here's the recipe. It was smooth and creamy and delicious. We ate it with whole wheat salteens (which taste the same as regular salteens by the way) but it would be even better with a loaf of sour dough or french bread to dip it in. Yumm...

1 head cauliflower

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 quart low-sodium chicken stock

1 Tbsp parsley

1/3 cup milk

Salt (1tsp?) and Pepper (2tsp?)

Optional additions 3-4 sticks of celery (i didnt have any in the fridge so i left this out), water to help with softening the veggies and thining the soup (if you use too much water just add some cornstarch mixed in cold water to thicken it back up), and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (not my favorite kind of cheese so i dont keep it in the house either)

Remove the leaves and thick core from the cauliflower the chop coarsely.
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or soup pot over medium heat and add the onion and garlic. Cook until softened, but not browned, about 5 minutes.
Add the cauliflower and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until the cauliflower is very soft and falling apart, about 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and, using whatever blender you have (immersion or standard), puree the soup and return it to the pot.
Season, to taste, with salt and black pepper and parsley Add  milk (and cheese) Keep warm until ready to serve.

Green Beans with biscuits and gravy

I hate canned green beans. Seriously we got like 12 cans from the hubby's grandma years ago and every time he would open a can i literally had to CHOKE them down UGH :P So when we got like a gallon size bag of them from Bountiful Baskets I was NOT looking forward to eating them. But hubby sauteed them with olive oil and salt and they were nice and edible so long as they were still hot. Then I made a casserole with them and can I just tell you that green beans have never tasted so good! I was surprised! Plus it was super easy.


Here's what you need :

1 can cream of mushroom
a splash of milk (maybe 1/4 cup)
three big handful of great big green beans
Onion powder (maybe 1 Tbsp)
1 batch of buttermilk biscuit dough (or a tube of refrigerator stuff if you have to)

First trim grab your kitchen sheers and trim the ends off and cut into 1 inch strips and put in a 8inch square dish
sprinkle with onion powder (i sauteed mine for a minute or two but it was probably unnecessary)
then add the cream of mushroom and milk and mix it all together
 Bake at 425 for 15 minutes to get it all heated up (you could even microwave it for like 7 or 8 minutes instead of baking it for this part)
Top the heated mixture with biscuit dough and bake for another 15-18 minutes. Just till the biscuits are nice and golden brown on top.

scoop it out and enjoy!

PS this reheated really well also.