What I bought at the Dallas Farmer's Market, + recipe

Farmer's Market veggies

 

OK, so I didn't go straight to the sewing machine yesterday.

Instead, I decided to use some of what I bought at the farmer's market.

I purchased,

 1 big bag of spinach $2.00

(shared about half with daughter #2)

1 bunch celery $2.00

1 basket (4) bell peppers $3.00

1 green, 2 red, 1 yellow

(gave daughter #2 1 red)

medium bag brussels sprouts $2.00

 

I made up a couple of "salads" using some of the spinach and peppers, 

for the hubby's lunch.

Sautéed the sprouts in olive oil and fresh squeezed lemon juice,

also for the hubby's lunch.

(Thank you daughter #1 for the fresh lemons).

 

Then I made a casserole/savory bread pudding,

that I adapted from all recipes.com

Here's the recipe if you're interested.



Ingredients:

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 small chopped onion

½ each, chopped green, red, yellow bell peppers

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 or 3 handfuls of spinach, chopped

2 tbsp. crushed dried rosemary

1# sausage (I used hubby's homemade chicken sausage)

9 slices cubed bread

5 oz. hard cheese, shredded (I used Colby jack)

4 eggs

1 cup milk

 

Method:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add the chopped onion, peppers, celery, spinach, rosemary and sausage.

(Hubby's sausage is on the lean side, if you're using purchased sausage you might want to cook it first, drain some of the fat and then add your veggies).

 

  

 

Saute until meat is cooked and veggies are tender. Take off heat.

Mix in the bread cubes.

Spoon into a lightly oiled casserole dish, mix in ½ the cheese.

In a large measuring cup, measure out your 1 cup milk, add the 4 eggs and whisk.

Pour into the casserole dish and top with remaining cheese.

Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes at 350°

Unfortunately I let mine bake at 375° for 40 minutes, (forgot my oven runs hot).

Still tasty though......

 



 

Next time I'll use homemade bread and be more mindful

of the timer:-)

 

 Till next time, happy cooking.

Bonjour



Jalapeno, Paprika, Sea Salt, White Chocolate Candy Recipe

Jalaoeno white chocolate candy

 

~~~~SO~~~~

 

We're making candy for Christmas....

 

~Again~

 

We did the normal menu of flavors and threw in a few oddballs too.

 

Chocolate covered cherries/peanut butter cups

Pretzel letters/jalapeno white chocolate

Red hots

 

Melting chocolate/crushed candy canes

 

I use my electric skillet as a double boiler, (just add water to the skillet, and pop in your jars). I put the chocolate in wide mouth mason jars and got started. (When I have chocolate left over I just cool, cap and it's ready for the next candy making session. No muss, no fuss, plus this way I'm more apt to make candy at non-holiday times)!

 

The jalapeno thing just hit me, sounded good so I went with it.

 

If you're adventurous here's the recipe.

 

Ingredients:

4 or 5 finely diced jalapenos, depending on size, mine were BIG

½ block or so of roughly chopped white almond bark

a Tsp. or 2 of vegetable shortening

Paprika

Sea salt

 

Baking sheet

Parchment or wax paper

 

Method:

Put some water in your electric skillet and turn her on.

Roughly chop up the almond bark,  put it in the mason jar and set the jar into the simmering water to melt.

 

Meanwhile.....

 

Wash the jalapenos and drain well.

Remove the stem end from the jalapenos, slice, and then finely dice. I didn't de-vein or seed mine. I wanted all the fiery goodness! Set aside.

 

 

Check on the consistently of the white chocolate, I wanted a wafer type candy so I added veggie shortening to thin it out.

Once you have the white chocolate to your desired consistently, spoon rounds onto the parchment lined baking sheet.

Sprinkle/spoon on the jalapenos, a little paprika and sea salt.

Set in the freezer or fridge to chill.

Once set, place in plastic bags to give as gifts/ or eat them all yourself.

Continue on, making as many or as few as you desire.

 

I wasn't sure how these would turn out,

but,

me being me, I had to try.

 

They are super yummy!!!!!

 

The flavors work very well together, they're not overwhelming hot, I would say rather medium-mild.

The addition of the paprika and sea salt brought the whole recipe together.

If you decide to give these a try, please let me know what you think.

 

Till next time, happy cooking,
Bonjour





 

 

Here's the link to the peanut butter cup recipe.





Homemade Peanut Butter Cups Recipe

So…

Are you past the Mouse Quest, post yet?

Good, cause I have a recipe.

No, not the jello!

This one is for homemade peanut butter cups.

I wanted to make the hubby some sweets for his lunch pail,

something that didn’t require turning on the oven.

So I started rummaging around in my “CLEAN” cabinets.

I found almond bark, marshmallow cream, toffee crumbles,
colored sugar sprinkles,

mini baking cups, most of which were left over from the
Christmas candy making frenzy.

Peanut butter, powdered sugar salted peanuts and raisins.

That’s a start!

I know, peanut butter cups are just that, peanut butter.

But what fun is that, good yes, but could be better with a

little extra goodies thrown in.

I tried to come up with more goodies for the inside besides
creamed peanut butter, peanuts and raisins….

But canned tuna or salmon, or dried beans just didn’t sound good,

although, if I would have had bacon, I would have fried it up,
crumbled it, and put it in too.

Everything’s better with bacon, Target has a t-shirt that says so!!!

Anyway here’s the recipe.

Peanut Butter Cups Ala Terry

Ingredients:
Inside
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp. salt
4 ½ tsp. Butter, softened
¼ cup marshmallow cream (optional)

Cream these together in a bowl.

Outside
1 cup creamy peanut butter
A handful of toffee bits (optional)
About 14 oz. almond bark (7 squares)
(I had the white almond bark, chocolate colored looks better).

Melt these in a double boiler, stir to incorporate.

Method:

1. Line your mini muffin pan with the mini baking cups.
2. Drop a teaspoon or so (the kind you stir your coffee with) of the
chocolate mixture into the cups, add a slight teaspoon of the creamed peanut butter mixture.
Here you can add a few raisins, peanuts, almonds, bacon, whatever.

(Probably not canned tuna or salmon or dried beans though).

3. Top off with another teaspoon or so of the chocolate, add some sprinkles and your almost done.
I put a raisin on top of the ones with raisins inside, a peanut on the ones with peanuts inside.

I sprinkled toffee bits on the ones with no bonus ingredients.

4. Set in fridge to harden up, and now you’re done.

Makes about 48

There you have it, easy munchies, no oven involved!

Better go wash my face, I feel something sticky on my chin.

Marshmallow cream I bet!

Till next time, happy cooking,

Bonjour

Canning Plum Jam and Making Plum Liquor from "FREE" Plums

I never turn down free food!

The outlaws gave me three sacks, full of red plums Friday,

today I made plum jam, plum liquor and plum cordial.

My plum trees are producing but ther're still young,

the outlaws have a gigantor tree!!!

I did a traditional plum jam recipe "twice" and still had plums
left over. Nineteen jars of jam later I had to get creative.

There's only so much jam a person needs so...

I was "forced" to make other stuff.

Who doesn't enjoy a cordial every once in awhile?

This isn't the first time I've made spirits and I'm sure it wont be the last!

I have a vintage cookbook that covers cordials, brandy, wines, weird pickles,

and all kinds of old school recipes, it's pretty cool!





The old school cookbook had me layering 

sugar and plums (stones too) starting and ending with the sugar. (first jar)

I cut the plums in half just to get more surface area exposed to the sugar.

Six months from now I shall have plum cordial.

Second and third jars are the rum plum.

Second jar is a half gallon, second hand store score!

Plum brandy in my sun tea jar



Googled plum liquor and got this recipe.

Plum Liquor

Ingredients

16 cups plums

4 cups sugar

3 cups dark rum

Instructions

Wash and quarter plums and place in a mason jar.

Add the rum and sugar, turn once a day to dissolve the sugar.

Filter out the fruit after 15 days and enjoy.

I halved the recipe, had a bit of dark and light rum so I mixed them.

Did a quarter batch with brandy.
The rums and brandy have been sitting around for awhile so what better way to move them out?
I did save the bottles to decant into though.

Old school cookbook!

I love this cookbook, there's even a recipe for watermelon rind, sweet pickles.

Pretty tasty!

Are you getting creative with your canning?

If so please share:-)

Till next time,

Bonjour