Recipe for Tomato Pie

 Hello friends.  I thought I'd share a recipe with you today.  I first tasted tomato pie at the "Tomato Pie Cafe" in Lititz, Pennsylvania when we visited in September.  It was so delicious, I just had to make one. 

I used the last of the fresh tomatoes from the garden and fresh basil.  This pie is made with fresh chopped tomatoes, basil and onions, topped with a mixture of shredded cheese and mayonnaise, baked in a pie shell.  

The recipe I used was from Simply Recipes.  

Tomato Pie ~

• 1 9-inch pie shell
• 1/2 yellow or red onion, chopped
• 3-4 tomatoes, cut in half horizontally, squeezed to remove excess juice, roughly chopped, to yield approximately 3 cups chopped tomatoes
• 1/4 cup sliced basil (about 8 leaves)
• 2 cups grated cheese (combination of sharp cheddar and Monterey Jack, or Gruyere or Mozarella)
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce (Tabasco)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Pre-bake the pie shell in the oven for about 8 to 10 minutes until lightly browned.  

2.  Lightly salt the chopped tomatoes and set them in a colander over a bowl to drain while you are pre-baking the crust.  Squeeze as much moisture as you can out of the chopped tomatoes.

3.  Sprinkle a layer of chopped onion over the bottom of your pre-baked pie crust shell.   Spread the drained chopped tomatoes over the onions.  Sprinkle the sliced basil over the tomatoes.

4.  In a medium bowl, mix together the grated cheese, mayonnaise, Tabasco, a sprinkling of salt and freshly ground pepper.  The mixture should be the consistency of a gooey snow ball.  Spread the cheese mixture over the tomatoes.

5.  Place in oven and bake until browned and bubbly, about 45 minutes.  

A savory pie that is absolutely yummy!   

Green is good

 

 Do you like kale?  The green leafy vegetable that is so nutritious and good for us.  I must admit I haven't eaten kale in the past, but since I've discovered "kale chips", I'm hooked.  

A simple recipe.  

Tear about 1/2 pound of washed, dried curly kale (ribs removed) into 2-inch pieces.  Toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt (or seasoned salt), then spread in a single layer on a wire rack placed atop a cookie sheet.  Bake at 250 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, removing when leaves are crisp but still bright green.  

A crispy salty treat that is so addicting!

Just thought I'd share.

Enjoy your day!

Delicious Eggplant Gratin

I picked another eggplant from the garden yesterday, a few more tomatoes, and some fresh basil. This is an eggplant gratin recipe.  We loved it!  

Eggplant Gratin 

2 Tbs. pine nuts, toasted
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese
1 C chopped fresh basil
1 tsp. lemon juice
S&P
1 large eggplant, sliced lengthwise into 1/4" slices, salted and drained, and patted dry
olive oil
6 plum tomatoes (I used tomatoes from the garden)
2 balls fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced  (I used shredded)

To make pesto, puree in a blender pine nuts, garlic, Parmesan, basil, lemon juice and a bit of olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.

Heat ~2 Tbs. olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat.  Brown eggplant slices on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side, and drain.

Grease a 2-quart baking dish with olive oil.  Arrange half the eggplant in the bottom, top with half of the tomato slices, then spread with half of the pesto and mozzarella slices.  Repeat

Bake 400 degrees 30 to 35 minutes.

SO good!

Bon Appetit!  

Fried eggplant for dinner, and other veggies from the garden

I love being able to go to the garden and pick fresh veggies for dinner.  Last nights menu was fried eggplant, sliced tomatoes with basil and cucumber salad.  

Here is the recipe I used for the fried eggplant:  One large eggplant, 3 eggs, 2 cups bread crumbs, salt and pepper, olive oil.  Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in crumbs, and place in hot oil, S&P.  Fry about 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown.  Drain on paper towels.  

I sliced up some juicy tomatoes and sprinkled with fresh basil.  

And the cucumber salad is simple:  thinly slice cucumbers in a bowl, add salt and pepper, and Rice Vinegar.   

So good, so fresh, and so simple!  

Mom's pumpkin pie

Mmmmm, right out of the oven.....

I've been baking Mom's pumpkin pie recipe as long as I can remember.  In fact, I probably wrote this recipe card when I was first married.  

My mother loved to bake, so this time of year I pull out all of her pies and cakes and cookie recipes.  

I love the aroma that fills the house.  

This pumpkin pie won't last very long, that's for sure!  

Apple season

Apple season is upon us!

I love apples and I love any kind of apple dessert. I made a yummy apple crisp yesterday and the recipe is so easy, I thought I'd share it with you.

Apple Crisp

8-10 McIntosh apples, pared and sliced (I used Gala, any kind will do)
1 C flour
1 C sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick butter
cinnamon to taste (I use lots of cinnamon because I love it)

Pare and slice apples in a pie plate. In another bowl mix all other ingredients. Sprinkle this mixture over the apples making sure all apples are covered. Bake 400 degrees for 40 min. Serve warm or cold.

Easy and delish!

A cooking helper

How many times have you had your cookbook laying open on your kitchen counter turned to a certain page trying to follow a recipe and your pages flip over or the cookbook closes altogether so you try to prop it open with a cup or a can or a plate....something heavy. Well, today I found a cookbook holder at Goodwill, and the price.....$1.79.

This will make following a recipe from my cookbook much easier. And isn't it great looking? It's made of black metal, looks like wrought iron, with a rooster on top. Lots of swirls and a lattice back.

I still can't believe it was only $1.79. My thrifty find of the week!

Inspired by....Lavender

What's not to love about lavender.....

.....when I saw this lavender cake recipe in one of my English Home magazines, I had to make it. Doesn't it look wonderful in the magazine ~ and I have lavender growing in my garden.

I got busy right away and started mixing. As the cake was baking you could smell the aroma of lavender.

I watched through my oven window.....and, hmmmmm, why isn't the cake rising? What did I do wrong? Was it in the conversion of the recipe?

~

Well ~ this is how my cake turned out. It looks like a flat pastry, not at all like the magazine.

So, want to know what I did wrong?

I used regular flour instead of self-rising flour. Silly me. I was so worried about the conversion, I skimmed right over the flour.

It's still very delicious!

If you would like to try it, here is the recipe. It's a wonderful cake and would probably taste even better if it was made the right way!

Lavender Cake
175g/ 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
175g/ 3/4 cup caster sugar
3 eggs lightly beaten
175g/ 1-1/2 cups self-rising flour, sifted
1 tbsp. fresh lavender florets
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp milk
50g/ 1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp water
a few fresh lavender florets for decoration

Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F. Grease a ring tin or a deep 20cm/8in round cake tin. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg gradually, beating between each addition until the mixture is glossy. Fold in the flour, lavender, vanilla and milk. Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for an hour. Leave to stand for five minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack. Mix the icing sugar with the water until smooth. Pour over the cake and decorate.

Enjoy!

A preserved recipe

How many of you have old recipes that were handwritten by a loved one....your mother or great grandmother maybe, and now those recipes are just laying around in boxes or stuck in between the pages of your cook books?

Here's an idea for you. Why not preserve one of these very special handwritten recipes?

I just finished one for my cousin ~ it was handwritten by our grandmother. As you can see it is old and stained and torn around the edges.

I used a 5 x7 canvas and painted it to look old. I used white, tan, and gold paint. After it dried I brushed on a layer of mod podge. Then I carefully placed the recipe on the canvas. Once you have it centered all you do is put on a few more coats of mod podge and it's finished.

I did one of these for myself last year. It was my grandmother's sugar cookie recipe. I loved those cookies, and now the recipe is preserved forever and displayed on the cupboard in our dining room, and whenever I look at it I think of my dear sweet grandmother.

It's an easy project.

Go ahead and try it and save one of those very old special recipes!

Lemons

Yesterday, my neighbor gave me some lemons from her lemon tree. (Yes, she has a lemon tree, a pear tree, and a peach tree in her back yard). I brought the lemons home and thought I'd like to make some kind of lemon cake. I pulled out my old Betty Crocker Cook Book and found a recipe.

A Lemon Loaf Cake.

It's like a pound cake.

I had to have a piece while it was still warm. Oh, so good.

Here is the recipe.

Lemon Loaf Cake

1-3/4 cup Gold Medal Flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup shortening (half butter)

1 tsp. vanilla

5 egg yolks

grated rind of 1 lemon (about 1 tbsp.)

3/4 cup milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line with paper a loaf pan, 9x5". Measure flour by dip-level-pour method. Blend dry ingredients in bowl. Add shortening, vanilla, egg yolks, lemon rind and milk. Beat 4 min. med. speed scraping bowl frequently. Spoon batter into pan. Bake 60 to 70 min. Cool 10 min. Remove from pan and punch holes on top surface with fork. Pour Lemon Glaze a little at a time over top.

Lemon Glaze

Blend 1-1/4 cups confectioners sugar with 2 tbsp. lemon juice and 1 tsp. lemon rind. (I added a little more lemon juice).

Bon Apetit!

I'm thinking I just might have to plant a lemon tree now.

A yummy dessert

I made this apple crisp after seeing it on Sherri's blog the other day. It looked sooooo good. The recipe called for McIntosh apples but I used what I had on hand....some Granny Smith and Gala apples.





Here's the recipe:
Apple Crisp
8-10 McIntosh apples, pared and sliced
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick butter
cinnamon to taste
Pare and slice apples and scatter in a pie plate. In another bowl mix all other ingredients. Sprinkle this mixture over the apples making sure all apples are covered. Cook 400 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

Really easy.

Warm apple crisp with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.......oh, it was sooooooo good.

Simply delicious

Here is a very easy recipe for a delicious meal. I made this last evening and it was so good.

"Creamy Chicken Enchiladas"

To make the recipe even simpler, I used canned chicken.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
Prep: 15 min. Cook: 25 min.

2-1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup (10-3/4oz.)
1 cup sour cream (divided)
2 cups shredded colby & monterey jack cheese (divided)
1/4 cup chopped cilantra (divided)
12 (8-inch) flour tortilllas
1-1/2 cups salsa

Mix chicken, soup, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 cup cheese, and 3 tbsp. cilantra. Spoon about 1/4 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place seam side down in greased 13x9 inch baking dish. Top with salsa and remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 min. Sprinkle with remaining cilantro, top with remaining sour cream. Makes 6 servings.

I cut the recipe in half, but I added a bit more cheese and sour cream.

I added a chopped lettuce salad on the side with a dab of sour cream and chopped cilantro on top.

And for dessert........

J-e-l-l-o

How simple can that be?

Jello brings back wonderful memories of my childhood. My mom and I would make jello and a cake every Saturday. That way we would have jello for dessert on Saturday and a cake for dessert on Sunday.

I still have one of the old jello paperback cookbooks. Jello is such a fun dessert and it's light, plain and simple.

Simply delicious!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And I also want to add that I received an award from Deb at Posted from Home. Thank you, Deb, for thinking of me. You're one of my best blogging buddies too!

Enjoy your day everyone!

A craft and a tag

I have this old hand written cookie recipe of my grandmother's that I kept through the years in a cookbook, and I decided to preserve it in a way that I could display it and look at it as often as I wanted to. My grandmother was very, very special to me and I love seeing her handwriting. I remember when we baked these cookies, many times, how much fun it was to mix the ingredients, the wonderful aroma of them baking, and what a treat it was to eat them. But most of all just the warm, loving, caring feeling of being with her.

So what I did was paint a small canvas with a creamy colored paint.




Next, I mod podged the recipe on to the canvas, and put several coats on top, left it dry, and that's it ~ a little piece of art!


Now I have her cookie recipe displayed where I can look at it often, and remember what a sweet lady she was.

I've also been tagged!

by sweet Donna at madeinheaven.

I have to list lots of things about me. Here goes.

7 Things I plan to do before I die.

~watch my granddaughter grow up

~take a road trip cross country

~travel to Italy

~take a cruise

~win the lottery

~renovate another house

~watch another sunrise at the beach

7 Things I do now.

~paint

~garden

~read

~thrift shop

~take walks

~blog

~get up at 5:00am

7 Things I can't do.

~sleep through the night

~open packaging

~have a day without hot flashes

~read when tv is on

~public speaking

~algebra

~edging

7 Things that attract me to the opposite sex.

~a man in a uniform

~nice smile

~honesty

~good manners

~loves dogs

~dark hair

~tall

7 Things I say most.

~I wonder...

~luv ya

~are you kidding

~where are my glasses?

~oh my gosh

~I need a cup of coffee

~where's my makeup bag?

7 Celebraties that I admire.

~Martha Stewart

~Princess Diane

~Beatrix Potter

~Jackie Kennedy

~Charles Faudree

~Anthony Hopkins

7 Favorite foods.

~caesar salad

~peach pie

~mashed potatoes

~broiled scallops

~mac and cheese

~chocolate

~coconut cream pie

Now I'm supposed to tag 7 people. I'm going to tag everyone who reads this, so if you've read this, you're tagged! Have fun and play along.

Herb Quiche

I got my new (old) recipe book out (the one that I found at Goodwill) that I showed in a previous post "Green Thumbs and Golden Spoons" and decided to make the Herb Quiche on the weekend. It turned out so good!



Here's the recipe:

4 large eggs
1 T flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t powdered mustard
1 T chopped chives
1/4 c chopped parsley
1 1/2 t melted butter
2 c cream or sour cream (or 1 c milk and 1 c cream)
6 strips bacon, fried crisp
1 c grated swiss cheese (or 12 thin slices)
1 9-inch unbaked pie shell


Beat eggs and add flour and seasonings and herbs. Then add the melted butter and the cream or milk. Place bacon and cheese in the unbaked pie shell. Pour the egg mixture into the shell. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until set.

Bon Appetit!