Zucchini baked in the oven

It's that time of year-- when these yellow (and green) little guys are all over in the garden.  We like zucchini, but I am always looking for new ways to cook it. Here's the latest recipe- and it's a good one

Wash & Slice your zucchini

then spread them on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive or grapeseed oil.   Sprinkle with a little bit of garlic, salt & ground pepper and top with fresh grated parmesan cheese or fresh basil-- or both!   Bake @350 for 20 minutes and then ENJOY!!
I think you're going to love this- it cooks up so tender and yummy.  

How to soften Brown Sugar

I made granola last week and when I went to get the brown sugar, it was as hard as a rock!! Have you ever had that happen?  Well, if you look really close at this picture you will see those two little white thngs in the bag.-- They are the secret to keeping your brown sugar SOFT.  Yep MARSHMALLOWS.  I had the flat square kind, so thats what I used- but you can use any kind.  Just put one in with your sugar and it will keep it soft, and if you have some that is already hard-- put one in and it will soften it up!! Amazing... There's your tip for Tuesday!

Dried Apricots

I am still swimming in Apricots.... so the other night one of my sons friends was here, and I asked him how his Mom dried Apricots- She is famous for her amazing apricots, she dips them into jell-o.  Here's what Max told me to do....

 first wash & split open the apricots, remove the seed



then turn them inside out like this



dip them into any flavor of Jell-o



and layer them on the dehydrator racks. He didn't know exactly how long they took before they were done, so I'm on my own there.  I figure at least 10 hrs. rotate the racks as they start to dry. 

I found it was easier to half & pit a few apricots all at once & then it went faster to flip them inside out & dip them into the Jell-o.  I used cherry, but I really want to try Orange.  :) YUM!

Cooking Bacon

I'm back with another tip for our tip Tuesday!

So I love bacon anything, but cooking it is not my favorite at all. I hate getting splattered and having to clean up all ov that grease. So I recently discovered that you can cook bacon in your oven! Hallelujah! Now when I am making a nice breakfast everything can be ready at once!

*First we like to cut our bacon in half. To make it a little easier on the kids to eat.

*Second line a baking sheet with a couple of sheets of tinfoil.

*Third place the bacon on and put it in a 375 degree oven.

*Fourth check on it in about 4 min and once it has reached your desired doneness. take it out and place on paper towels. (we like ours crispy)

*Fifth, let the grease cool on the foil and when it hardens just take off the foil and throw it away for easy clean up!

Chocolate covered Raspberries

Well, here is another post about FOOD!!!  I am starting to wonder if we should change the name of our blog to They are HUNGRY!!!  LOL  It seems like I am always talking about food- or eating, or baking... YES I do love food-- and I am learning that  it doesn't love me as much as it used to-- or at least: gone are the days when I could eat it today & not worry about wearing it tomorrow! haha  But hey as long as I can still fit into my clothes I'm alright--

We have been getting a lot of Raspberries from our garden, so here's what I whipped up the other night for a midnight snack



First wash your Raspberries & put 3-4 of them in your MINI muffin tin.
you can do this with fresh Blueberries too!

 

then melt some chocolate and put it in a disposable pastry bag- (like I showed you in the dipped strawberries tutorial)
and drizzle the chocolate onto the Raspberries-- no need to be careful--

set them in the fridge for 2-3 minutes to harden the chocolate and you have a WONDERFUL treat.  Put them inside these cute paper liners to serve -- who could resist??   Not me, I ate almost ALL of them.  I took 2  to my husband and he loved them too... then he came in the kitchen 1/2 hr. later and wondered who ate all of them.  I confessed it was me- but I felt so guilty that I said "a muffin pan only makes 12"  What I didn't tell him is you use a MINI pan which holds 24!!!!  So he had 2 I had 22 - Yep just as it should be!!  :)   

Apricot Nectar

I'm not a big fan of Apricots, but I do like to make Apricot Nectar.  It's really good mixed with sprite, or I prefer to just mix it with other juices- like orange or apple juice.  In fact we had some this morning with apple juice & oh my... I had forgot how yummy it is.  I hadn't made it for a while, since the boys were young and all I could remember was that I used to add a can of pineapple to it.  So I decided since Jamie had given me some Apricots- I would give it a go.  It's easy here's all you need.

29 heaping cups of fruit- that has been washed, pitted, and cut in half.  I leave the peeling on, just cut out any bad spots.

Open one lrg. can of pineapple and blend it until it is liquid-
then pour it into a large pot on the stove.
Next take your Apricots and blend them up really well too......

stir the apricots with the pineapple and add 3 cups of sugar to the mixture- it will be a little thick
Bring everything to a boil.   I boiled it for a minute at a low rolling boil to make sure all the sugar gets dissolved.

pour in into your washed jars and put your boiled lids & rings on them... process them for 20 minutes-- and thats it!  You will get 5 quarts per batch.  It is so good added to sprite or juices for a quick yummy drink.
* Note:  I have canned for a long time & after reading this post- I realize that if you don't can very much - I haven't given very detailed instructions. I'm sorry, so I thought I would add a couple of things-  after filling your jars always wipe the top of the jar (the part where the lid goes) so that they are clean or the lids wont seal.  Fill a sm. pan with a little bit of water, place the canning lids into the water and boil them for a minute or so before putting them on the jars & tightening them with the rings. This will help to get a good seal on the jar.  Also a note- I did another batch this morning & didn't measure the Apricots I just filled a large tupperware bowl brimming full.  I ended up getting 6 1/2 quarts, it tastes sweet enough still and so you can add a few more apricots if you have them & it will still be fine.  I hope that helps. 

Growing and Freezing Basil

First let me just say that I am NOT a master gardener... but I have learned a few things over the years, and that is all I am sharing with you today-- some tips that work for me.  So with that being said- here are some things that have helped me when it comes to growing Basil.

I LOVE to use basil in my cooking, nothing tastes better than fresh basil.  I went out to the garden a few nights ago, and one of my plants was going crazy.  This is what it looked like--- I will show you in these pictures how to prune a Basil plant so that it continues to produce for you the whole summer.

I know it is hard to use that much basil everyday.. but you want to prune the plant because then it will keep producing more. (for every leaf you cut- 2 more will grow)  So I am also going to show you how to freeze it so that you can use it all year.

you don't want to let flowers grow on the plant, because then the flavor isn't as strong- so clip them off before they bloom.

the plants have a lot of stems, that look like this- you want to always keep at least 2-3 leaves on each stem.  Just grab a leaf and cut it off- continue doing this on the whole plant

see this is where I had cut a leaf off before and now you can see that there are 2 growing back.  By pruning  you will cause the plant to bush out instead of growing straight up.

and this is a picture of the same plant after I had pruned it back... I could still cut a few more off, but I like to keep some on there so I can cut fresh off to use in between cuttings.  I wish I knew how to post the first picture & this one side by side so that you can see the difference- sorry you're going to have to just scroll up to see the before and after effect.

 After you have pruned the plant, wash the leaves and cut the stems off of them- you can see I haven't done that yet in this picture, the stems are still quite long.    Once you have done that you can either use them now or put a few in a container in the fridge to use in the next few days.   
If you want to freeze the basil, this is the best way I have found to do it.  I know there are a few different ways to freeze basil, this way just works for me.

First take 20 leaves ( I figure lrg. leaves, so if there are a few smaller ones count 2 as 1 leaf)  I have always done 20 leaves because that's the amount I use for my Tomatoe Basil Soup and it's a good amount to add to sauces and things when your're cooking.  Put the basil leaves into your food processor and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, chop it up

then scoop it into a snack size baggie-- it fits perfect!  I have sealed them in my food saver bags before, but I couldn't tell a difference - so now I just use the baggies, try to squeeze out as much air as you can.



Then I put the bags of basil into one of these plastic containers in the freezer- they are the ones you can get for $ 1.00 at the dollar store or walmart.  And yes it looks like I need to defrost the freezer-- it's the job I dislike the most, so it's not happening today!!  :)   Put a label on you boxes so you know what is in each one.

I wanted to show you how beautiful it looks after being in the freezer for a year.... the one on the top is a bag from last year, and the one on the bottom is the one I did today.   The olive oil helps it keep it's vibrant green color -- You can make the best basil pesto ever!!  I hope this has been helpful, and if you've never tried to freeze herbs I hope you will give it a shot!!  You'll be surprised how easy it is.   



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