Fresh Veggies

Fresh Veggies
great produce=Great eating

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Fresh tomato sauce. Banana, bread, jam and sauce EASY RECIPES/ SHORTCUTS Plus Monday's menu








As I write this I am half way through making my now famous sourdough whole wheat flax seed banana pecan waffles, I am making 6 dozen today all for orders.
I wanted just to post some ideas for shortcuts in making delicious food without having to be in the kitchen all day..right now I have been prepping tomorrow's delivery for 4 hours.

To make  agreat and quick pasta sauce or sauce for any "Mexican" dish:

makes enough for 4 servings:

4 large ripe tomatoes about 1 pound

1 cup chopped onion, scallions are fine

1 whole jalapeno pepper or 1 tsp crushed chili flakes

2 cloves garlic smashed

3 tbsp chopped herb  ( for Spanish style use oregano, thyme; for Italian use basil and rosemary)

1 sweet bell pepper chopped ( optional)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 cup vegetable stock

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

salt & pepper


In a large skillet saute the tomatoes whole, as they begin to break down, add the onions and garlic, and the chili.
Cook on high simmer squashing the tomatoes down ( be careful they may splatter).
remove from heat and when cool enough place in blender with herbs and cinnamon.

Blend adding stock until everything is smooth, return to pan, bring to boil and simmer for 5 mins.
Check seasonings and serve.

Sauteing the tomatoes whole allows the skin to caramelize and add more sweetness to the sauce.

Bananas

They always seem to ripen very quickly and in the heat of the summer months they are always attracting fruit flies, here's a trick to produce the best flavored banana anything...also some markets actually sell their ripe bananas half price so they can be a bargain in the making too.


When any banana is ripe peel and place in a freezer bag..whole, as the month progresses, just add more.

To use defrost: place the bagful, overnight in the fridge in the bowl, to catch any condensation.

Next day, empty the defrosted bananas into a bowl they will be packed with the most intense, dark brown banana juice, and the flesh will be soft..just mash and them measure out for any recipe

This makes the BEST banana bread as the juice is so very flavorful

I use it for my waffles..as the fruit is broken down ( from defrosting the ice crystals) the starches and sugars are also breaking down making for a much sweeter, natural product.

Easy banana Jam...this is never sold in stores yet if they did they would fly off the shelves

2 cups defrosted bananas
1 1/2  cups orange juice ( fresh, bottled or frozen is fine)
juice of 2 lemons (4 tbsp)
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar packed

place in a heavy bottomed sauce pan, slowly bring to boil, stirring then turn down to medium simmer and cook until thickened and it has turned a rich red color.
Stir well to prevent scorching on bottom.

When nice and thick remove from heat and stir in 1 tbsp unsalted butter..then can or place in sterilized pots

This is wonderful on any pancakes, scones, biscuits, waffles, filing for cakes..

No need for variations as the flavor is so intense on it's own

Great with chocolate cake

the menu for tomorrow's delivery is the following:

I have made a fabulous chickpea and nutritional yeast pesto for some Portobello mushrooms,  to be baked at the client's home..tastes wonderful, it would be great on baked potatoes too








apple and beet soup..the recipe is on this blog site


Topped with live yogurt


A smooth honey-butternut squash soup


I am preparing a "moo shu" type dish, with lettuce wraps and a stir fried/steamed vegetable, tempeh and blackbean sauce


 The Moo Shu Veggies before cooking



Vegetable and cheese pot pies



The filling for the pot pies


The the waffles and some oatmeal cookies


No comments:

Post a Comment