Tomato Pizza

It's the time of year when tomato plants are laden with ripening fruit.

I love pizza with fresh tomatoes on top.

Start with your favourite crust, drizzle on some tomato sauce (canned or homemade), layer a little cheese (whatever you like), add slices of tomato, sprinkle with sliced garlic cloves, parsley or basil. Drizzle a little olive oil over it all. Bake at 450F for about 10 minutes, or until the crust is crisp and the cheese is melted.

Looking for other delicious ideas on how to use tomatoes? I suggest you pop over to Lorrie's for some very tasty ideas. My mouth was watering as I read her posting.

Cherry Crunch

We tried a new cherry recipe last night from Joy of Cooking. It was yumyum!!

In my usual cooking style, I sorta followed the recipe but not totally. I didn't have tapioca on hand, so I thickened the cherries and juice with corn starch. So here's my version of..........

Cherry Crunch

Serves 4

Preheat oven to 350F

Part 1:

In a saucepan, begin cooking

2 cups of sour cherries
1/2 cup sugar (approx, enough for your taste)

As they cook, they make a lot of juice, so when they are almost done, I added

1 - 2 tsp cornstarch (approx) and cooked until thickened. Set aside.

Part 2:

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup flour
1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients until crumbly. In a 9x9 baking pan, put half of this mix on the bottom. Spread the cherry mixture on top. Sprinkle remaining crumble over cherries.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until brown.

Serve with low fat vanilla yogurt ice cream (well, you gotta cut back somewhere)!

Cherry Compote

Cherry Compote
(from my ancient Purity Cookbook)

2 quarts sour cherries, pitted, set aside

In a saucepan,

combine and boil for 5 minutes:

2 cups dry red wine
1 cup white sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon rind

Add cherries, cook until syrup is reduced to 2/3 of original volume.

Combine and blend into syrup:

1 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp cold water

Simmer 5 minutes and flavour with:

2 Tbsp Kirsch or cherry brandy.

Can replace with Almond Extract, but use less

Pour syrup over cherries.

Ladle into sterilized jars. Makes 6 6-oz jars.

Very nice over ice cream or pancakes.

Fresh Cherry Pie

Fresh Cherry Pie
(from The Joy of Cooking )Preheat oven to 450 F

One 9-inch double-crust pie

4 cups fresh sour cherries, washed, drained, pitted

Combine, then mix gently with cherries:

2 2/3 Tbsp quick-cooking tapioca
1  1/3 cups sugar
2 drops almond flavouring or 2Tbsp Kirsch

Let fruit mix stand 15 minutes.

Then pour fruit into pie shell and dot with

2 Tbsp butter

Cover with a well-pricked top or lattice. Bake 10 minutes at 450F, then reduce heat to 350F and bake about 40 minutes longer until nicely brown.

Sour Cream Cherry Pie

Sour Cream Cherry Pie
(from The Joy of Cooking)

Preheat oven to 325F

1 9-inch single-crust pie or 4 tarts

Fill shell with the following cherry custard:

3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup cultured sour cream (I use no fat kind -- it works)
2 cups fresh cherries, pitted

Bake until the custard is firm, about 1 hour.

Serve very hot or very cold.

Alberta's Little Cherry Miracle

Photo taken in my backyard, 2009

Check out this link for information about the Evans cherry tree.

Alberta's little cherry miracle 
Shared via AddThis

Sweet and Tangy Chicken with Rice

Sweet and Tangy Chicken with Rice
serves 4 -6

8 to 12 boneless chicken thighs
(I also use chicken breast cut in small pieces)

Sauce:
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup chunky salsa (I've also used BBQ sauce)
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (I've used a dash of hot sauce)

Rice:
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups white rice (I use mostly brown these days)

Preheat oven to 350F. Place chicken in baking dish. Mix sauce ingredients and pour over chicken.

Mix rice and water in separate ovenproof dish and cover with lid.

Put both dishes in oven and bake for 50 minutes.

This recipe comes from my dad family

Fandrich Family Heritage Cookbook.

Moroccan Chicken Vegetable Soup

This is a family favourite soup.  It smells so fragrant and delicious as it simmers away. Tea Biscuits are a nice accompaniment to this rich and flavourful soup. The original recipe was found years ago in The Best of Bridge: The Best of the Best cookbook.

Eat Your Vegetables

 
Vegetables are a must on a diet.

I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread,

and pumpkin pie.
~ Jim Davis

Welcome

WELCOME to my recipe blog.

It was time to put my recipes in some kind of order. Why? Because I've got recipes in files, binders and shelves of cookbooks, and it's getting more cumbersome to find a recipe when I want it. Mmm... now which cookbook was that one in?

So, this blog is my way of sorting through the maze, and if you decide to stand over my shoulder as we shift through our family favourites, you are more than welcome!

After all, we always seem to be looking for new ideas to inspire us at meal times!

Won't you stay for lunch?

Brenda