FRESH PICKED PEACH SALSA

 Watch out this has a sweet hot kick.  If you like a kick this is idea for you, but if you don't don't add the hotter peppers, substitute red bell pepper or a poblano pepper.

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 White onion
1 Serrano pepper
1 Anaheim pepper
1 Jalapeno pepper.
2 Very ripe peaches.

Dice all really fine and mix if you don't have a little food proccessor.   And if you do chop all and add and pules until it's chunky and not pureed.

These are peaches off the tree.
Peaches are like bananas, if you see dark spot, this does not mean bad this means sugar.   If the dark spots are really dark brown to black then cut it away.  The dark spots in this picture are fine.


This make awesome chip dip.  

BASIC: EASY CHERRIE SYRUP

 Cherries!!!!! Yummy.  
When I was 12 years old I went to visit family in Germany and my mom's brother lived next to a Cherry farm.  Well guess who was eatting the cherries?  Me and my cousins that who.  Yummy.
I really want to say fresh picked, but no their fresh store bought. 

WARNING THIS WILL STAIN YOUR CLOTH
 When making cherry syrup you can make as much as you want or a little as you want.    And keep in mind this is not going to be a thick syrup.  

INGREDIENTS:
 2 cups Cherries
1/2 cup water
 1 or 2 Table spoons sugar.  If their really sweet less sugar, not so sweet more sugar.

Here is how I cut the cherries.  Of course I use two hands. Cut into the cherry until the knife hits the pit.  Turn the cherry and cut as close as you can around the pit.  And you should be left with the pit.  Watch out some times a little cherry flesh is left either on top or bottom, be sure to cut that off.

 Now that all the cherries are pitted, put all into a small pot.

 Add 1/2 cup water and sugar according to sweetness or sourness.
I added 2 tablespoons.
Turn to Medium High heat.

 Bring mixture to a boil, turn down to Medium low and let simmer for about 2 minutes. 

Here we have the Cherry flavored syrup and cooked cherries. 

This is excellent on oat meal or top on cold Sushi rice. 
Oh and this freezes well.

:)

MY SHOPPING LIST TO SAVING MONEY

One of the many things you hear people say is make a shopping list and stick to it.  But what most people don't tell you is to keep your shopping list simple.    The more complicated your shopping list, the more money you are going to watch go right out the door.  Keeping it simple means sticking to the basics, Fruit, Veggies, Meats,  Beans, Pasta, Flour and a few canned goods.  

Making a shopping list does not necessarily save you money, but instead make you spend more money.   This is why you find shopping list inside Foodie magazines, and all the items are not money saving or stuff that can be made into left overs. They usually consist of small things that have to be use in one day.    If you want to save money stick to the basics, and keep it plain. 

 As with any food store prices with fluctuate, so you buy according to what is lower.  For instance cauliflower at Winco rose to $5.00 a head.  Um....yeah... no!   So for a while we bought from the frozen section.   
Their were scenes in my videos were I used lot of extras, that we, no longer buy.  Balsamic vinegar...too much sugar.  We cut bread out completely, except for the bagel.  And so on.
Here is what we and buy. 

 X - when times are hard we don't buy.
 / - Depending.

FRUIT:

Apples from store. 
Apples off tree Pick seasonally (FREE)
Grapes  / Not all the time.
Avocado.  /
Oranges
Bananas
Strawberries. X   
Blue Berries  X This is considered a treat. They are $3.00, so we don't buy these often.
Mangos. X
Cherries X   
Frozen Blue Berries /
Black Berries picked seasonally (FREE)
FIGS  Picked seasonally (FREE)
Plumbs picked seasonally (FREE)
White Elderberries picked seasonlly (FREE)
Tangerines picked seasonally (FREE)
Peaches Picked seasonally (FREE) coming soon. 
Persimmons seasonally (FREE)  

VEGGIES:

Broccoli
Caluliflower X
Celery
Kale /
Chard Greens /
Cabbage 
Carrots
Yellow squash X
Mexican squash X
PotatosX
Yam /
Yukon Potatoes X
Red Potatoes X
Sweet Potatoes /
Romain Lettus /
Spinach X
Cherry Tomatoes X
Tomatoes seasonally picked.
White Onions
Squash  X
Garlic
Jalapenos /
Anaheim pepper /
Poblano pepper /
Bell Peppers X
Artichoke X  When they look good and the price is good.  So not very often
Mallow seasonal (Free)

GRAINS & NOODLES

2 Bagels  Only when we do a 50 mile bike ride.
Cereal X
Oats    (in 15lb bags) Not from Winco
 Brown Rice.  (in 25lb bags)
Sushi Rice small bag. X   But a small bag goes a long way.

Spaghetti
Elbow Macaronie
Shells
Chuka Soba noddles X

LEGUMES:  Note: I have a nice back stock of these, so I don't need to buy then every time I go shopping.
 Bulk bins from winco.

Lentils
Cobra Beans
Wheat Berrie
Groats
Pinto Beans
Navy beans
Kindney beans.

BAKING GOODES

Flour 25lb bag
Brown Sugar 
White Sugar
Baking Soda
Baking Powder
Chocolate chips /
Hershey's Cocoa powder X

 DAIRY

Butter /
Milk  /
Cheese X  This is a real treat.
MEATS:

Chicken Flats 
Turkey ground 1lb size
Turkey Sausage X
Fryers
2 slices of low sodium turkey from the deli.  To go with the bagel.  (not joking)

FISH:

Salmon  Caught fresh by my step dad.  :)
Shrimp X


CANNED:

Pineapple X
Tuna X /
Refried Beans.  X /
Olives X
Tomato paste
Stewed tomatoes X
Garbanzo Beans 

DRINKS:

Coffee  Home made and purchased X
Tea
Water

CONDIMENTS OR...

Olive oil  X
Rice Vinegar  I use rice vinegar to replace the oive oil.  X   can just use broth of Stock.
NORI Seaweed. X
Honey X

SPICES & HERB

Cilantro
Cumin
Cinnamon
Sage
Pepper
Turmeric
Paprika
Thyme
Rose Mary
any thing I can get my hands one that isn't over 65 cents.

GOODIES:
We normally do not buy goodies to bring home in big sizes bags.   They usually consumed on a outing.  And purchased in the serving size amount, to make sure when it's gone, their no more calories to be consumed.   I don't plan to gain my weight back.   Oh when you buy in serving size your total come out to 20 cents and some time lower.

Seaweed snacks
Peach rings  Serving size
Chocolate mix Serving size
Turmeric Coconut Cashew nuts serving size

Ice cream  as a treat every 6 to 8 month.   I'm serious I write in on the calender.
Pizza  as a treat once a month.  


This is pretty much it.  If I left any thing out I add it later.
And from this is what I make all of my meal from.

Hope you found this amusing. ;)

 

BASIC: LEFT OVER GRAVY

       Left over gravy can make some of the best comfort food.  To me this is the best thing about having left overs.   It's simple to make and so easy to eat.  

Weather you have a lot of left over gravy or just a little.   KEEP IT!

In the picture above I had  4oz of sausage I have left in the freezer, added some green beans and added a packet of frozen rice I already had in the freezer. You can not get any easier than this.  And you can any thing else you want.  Corn, peas, chicken, make it your own.   If you keep it simple to three ingredients then it will always be easy and fast.

Note: This is not going to be a thick soup, it going to be creamy, but not sticking to the spoon thick.
But then again it up to you.  
And this is a very lose base recipe, use what you have, so the recipe is just a guide.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Gravy Ice cubes. 
2 Broth Ice cubes or Stock Ice cubes.
4 oz Turkey sausage, dices.
1 1/2 cup frozen green beans.
1/2 cup water. Optional
 1/2 cup of precooked rice.

 METHOD OF PREPARATION: 

If you want you can add the green beans, and precooked sausage at any time, it will all cook.

 If you put your gravy cubes into a pan and turn in on medium, it will burn. So if you have broth cubes melt them first on medium low and then add the gravy cube.  If you do not have any broth cubes add a 1/2 cup of water.  
 When mixing soup cubes and gravy cubes, it will look a bit weird as the two things mix together, but when their all mix up and heated up it will be so yummy you won't even notice.  Turn burner to medium low and cover with lid.   Depending how thick or thin you made your gravy it will take a little longer for those cubes to melt.  After all the broth is melted and you have a good amount of liquid in the pot, turn burner to high and bring to a boil, then turn to low.  That's it your done.
Add your rice to your bowl and spoon in soup.  Mmmmmm.       

  Note:  I use to use 3 oz of butter, but I found that olive oil provides a even deeper richer flavor.  I use 3 to 4 table spoons depending on how much I make. 

IMPORTANT:  THE OLIVE OIL VERSION NEED A LITTLE MORE TLC, SO A LITTLE MORE STIRRING.  

Here is the gravy recipe just incase you need it.  

FIRST: 
Have two cups of broth or stock in a pot simmering. Ready to use.  If you decide later on you want to use more that is perfectly fine.

SECOND:
Cut 3 oz butter in to small chunks and melt on low. Watch it so it does not burn. Towards the end  I turn off the burner, lift the pan off the burner and swish it around. 

THIRD:
 Keep your eye on the consitency of the mixture. 
Keep burner on low. Add one tablespoon of flour whisk away, does it look like small dough balls or wet.  If it looks wet add another table spoon of flour and whisk away. Keep doing this until flour is soaked up and you get a bunch of small looking dough balls.

NOTE: OKAY This is the part where you got to trust your self, when you add the hot liquid to the small buttery dough balls it is going to go thought a transformation that going to look like you ruined it.  All you have to do is keep whisking until it look like mash potatoes.  :)

CAUTION: THIS WILL SPIT AND SPAT, AND TAKE CARE WHEN YOUR WHISKING.  

FOURTH: Turn up the heat to Medium.
Now add two ladle fulls to the butter mixture, it will sear in the hot pan. Whisk away and keep whisking until it looks smooth and creamy mash potatoes.  When it looks like creamy mash potatoes, add to more ladle fulls.  Whisk, whisk ,whisk and be careful.  Keep whisking until it has the consistency of creamy mash potatoes.  Then add your soup again.
When you are finished adding the amount of soup you want keep the burner on med low or low and stir about 4 to 3 minutes more.  

FIFTH: 
Now like I said above you are in control of your cream soup/gravy.   If you like super thick gravy stop.  If you like your gravy a little bit runnier add more soup, but in batches like I stated above.   

SIXTH: TIPS:  Oh the possibilities!
Whether it's thick or really thin, this  really is a comfort food.  Have veggies left over with rice or noodles you have an instant meal. And keep in mind no (NO SOUP of GRAVY left behind) no matter how small, even if it one table spoon full it can be frozen.  Here is what I do. Instead of adding all the fixing to the pot. I add the fixing to the soup bowls and then pour the creamy goodness over the yumminess. :)   Have a ice cube tray handy and if there is any left over gravy or soup, use a spatula and scrape out as much of the gravy as possible, even if it make just fills one cube.  Freeze and then plop then into a freezer bag.  After a while you will have a bag full of gravy and soup ice cubes that can either be used as more gravy or soup.

Gravy and broth cubes can be mix together to make new amazing soup or gravy  and they're great when you get home and don't want to cook.  Throw the cubes in the pot melt, add veggies and instant fast food.
CHEERS & HAVE A GRAVY OF A DAY. :)

BASIC: HOW TO PROCCESS A COOKED WHOLE CHICKEN

 I really like to proportion things out for meals and the Ziplok snack bags make it perfect for this.   A while back I posted rice packed in snack size zip lock bags, that go into the freezer.   So were going to do the same thing with the cooked chicken, but it's a tad different. 

Here is a whole chicken that I cooked for about 4 hours with all the fixings.  Removed all the bone that are nicely saved in the freezer and discarded all the fat.  

What you will need.
1. A Cooked whole chicken.
2. Ziploc bags snack size.
3. Soup Broth.
4. Small bowl
5. Scale.  (optional) but it come in really handy.

Here is some of the soup broth I left in the refrigerator, the
rest is frozen in the freezer.













Work in batches, take a few piece of meat and dice it up small, as shown in the pictuer below.

 Put the bowl on top of the scale. This is just incase some of the broth spills. Put the ziploc baggie in side the bowl.

 Fill the bag with chopped chicken until the scale reads 5 oz.  Being exacting is not important.  But make sure the baggie is upright and the chicken is evenly dispersed.  And now carefully pour one lade of soup in.  The soup should not cover up the chicken.












This is what it should look like.  The chicken is not submerged.

When you close the bag the liquid covers up the chicken.  If a little soup broth spills out that ok. 

 8 bags ready to go into the freezer.

Put then all up right in a container and stick in the freezer and your ready to go. 

After they are frozen all you have to do it is two things.

1. Put it in a pot with a 1/2 cup water or less and turn the burner to either low or medium low.

2. Put into a bowl, put in microwave. Sense each microwave is very different. You might want to pules it at 35 seconds until it is thawed.  

And very important do not discard the broth, try to incorporate it into the dish you are making or save it. 

Have fun coming up with yummy ideas. 

SALMON SALSA QUESADILLA

 This is so easy, so yummy and yes their is cheese on it.  Lovely lovely cheese.   We use a nutmeg grater to make the cheese last longer.
 INGREDIENTS:
Cheese
Salmon
Fresh Tortillas
Christine Garden Fresh Salsa.
Avocado

Here are the recipe you are going to need.
And remember type them into the search bar in the upper left hand corner.

1. TORTILLAS
Note: I just realized I don't have a stand alone how to cook salmon video, it will be coming soon.  So if you use the recipe below, the first part will guide you how to cook salmon.
2.SALMON, CAULIFLOWER & AVOCADO BALLS WITH PASTA
3. CHRISTINE'S GARDEN FRESH SALSA

Turn burner on Medium, add cheese.  When it is a little melted add flakes of salmon and salsa.

Cover with another tortilla of equal size and flip to cook on both side.   Until tortilla is nice and warm and the spots on it are a little browner and the cheese is melted all the way.

Cut into four parts and top off with fresh avocado.   mmmmmmm

Sit back and savor every bite.  
Enjoy.  

BASIC: TUNA WRAPS WITH FRESH SALSA

BASIC:  TUNA WRAPS WITH FRESH SALSA

Easy, easy and did I mention easy.

Ingredients:
Tortillas  Home made are excellect.
Avocado
CHRISTINE'S GARDEN FRESH SALSA.
2 Table spoon mayonnaise
1 can of Tuna.

If you want to try making homemade. Type in TORTILLA into the search bar located in the upper left hand corner of the screen, you will also find CHRISTINE'S GARDEN FRESH SALSA recipe their too.

METHOD OF PREPARATION:

Mix mayonnaise with tuna.  Add two table spoons of tuna to a tortilla, add two slices of avocado and one tablespoon of salsa.     That's it. 

This makes for a fast and really yummy lunch.  

MMMmmmmm  

CHRISTINE'S GARDEN FRESH SALSA

CHRISTINE'S GARDEN FRESH SALSA

My mother in law made this super easy and super yummy salsa fresh from her little garden.  

INGREDIENTS:

2 Medium green tomatoes.
3 Small Jalapenos.
2 Medium red tomatoes.
1/2 of a white onion
Cilantro (optional)

METHOD OF PREPARATION;

1st.  Chop & Add to food proccessor and pulse, until you have desired chunkiness.

2nd. No food proccessor, no problem.    Take each item and dice up with a knife add to bowl.  Remember no rhyme no reason, you don't have to be prefect.  chop chop chop.


YUMMY!  ENJOY.

FREEZING APPLES OFF THE TREE

 APPLES YAY!!!!
Pick lot of apples over at my mother in-laws home and the tree is hanging over it's so loaded.  So time to start freezing them for apple pies, apple sauce and cinnamon and apple turnovers.

You will need apples any amount is good.  And their is no cooking involved.

In a separate pot filled with cold water add 1/4 cup salt.  Stir in set aside.

 Now fill another bowl full of water.  Apples like these tarnish amazingly fast, unlike the one you find in the store.   So the reason were doing it this way is to keep them from tarnishing and turning brown.  I like to work with four apples at a time.  Cut them in half on the cutting board and toss them into the water. As you cut the seeds out keep the slices wet.

 I added some ice cubes to the salt water to cool the tepid water down more.   So their the little apple above, cored and cut into 5 piece.  When coring and cutting don't worry about perfection, but make sure the seed and hard parts are goine.

 Here is a whole bunch sliced and cored in the salt water.   Let them rest in the salt water for about 15 to 20 minutes and mind you they will tarnish a little bit, but no were near if you left them out.  

 Make sure you have freezer bags.   Any size or brand will do.

 Write the date on the freezer bag, or at least try to.   I might have to get a sticker.

After the 15 to 20 minutes use a sieve to drain the apples and rinse them off really good and then put into a freezer bag.  Press out the air as much as possible.  Put in freezer.   No this bag is not full, I will do another batch and will fill up this bag.    


If you want to know how to make apple turn over please type

APPLE & CINNAMON TURN OVER

 in the top upper left hand corner search bar, next to the B. Or  copy and paste.  


Your apples in the freezer will last 10 to 12 months.  


Enjoy making your own creations.

BASIC: MEAT BALLS & SPAGHETTI

BASIC: MEAT BALLS & SPAGHETTI

This recipe is supper easy.  A little mixing, a little cooking and you have a meal with left overs.  Now this is a very basic recipe with no bells and whistles, so if you are a advanced cook do not hesitate to add extra things.
  

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound of ground turkey, beef or chicken.
1/2 package of spaghetti noodles
1 Tablespoon of each, Cinnamon, Paprika, Thyme, Tarragon.
1 Teaspoon of Black pepper.
1 Tablespoon of Mayonnaise.
1 Cup of Bread Crumbs. (Panko is the brand I like)
14 oz  Can Stewed Tomatoes.
6 oz Can Tomato paste
2 cups water or broth.  Broth is better.
Cheese (optional)

Put your meat in a bowl, add spices.  Yes I love my spices.  And as you can see I put the thyme back in the cupboard and it fell back out, and decided to spill out all the way.  So I probably have two table spoons or thyme.  No big deal.  
One time I had the pepper shaker lid pop off and I had 1 cup of pepper on the meat.  Yeah way too much pepper.    When dealing with raw meat I will scrape off and toss as much as possible.  But if their no meat involved I will try to save it, but keep it in a different container and use it first.  

After mixing in all the spices, add 1 table spoon of mayonnaise and mix in.    I use mayo as a substitute for eggs and it helps bind the mixture and make it moist.  And it has a lot less cholesterol.

Add one cup of bread crumbs and mix in.

All mixed in.

Now use a table spoon and make little meat balls all of equal size.  The picture is a little further down.  Instead I fighting the computer I, let it win this time.

Place the cans in the pan and turn on, high and roll them back and forth until the paper burns off.    No just kidding.  
Open and add to pan. 













Here we go.  Add more spices.
Tarragon, And Cinnamon. About a Tablespoon each.  And add one cup of water, but broth is best.  Turn on medium high.  

Cook until the liquid is absorbed into the tomato paste, then add another cup of broth or water. 











Now turn on high and stir until the mixture starts to boil really good and you see little bubbles all over the place.  This is when you want to add all the meat balls.  When their all in, turn the stove down to low and cover with a lid.

MEAT BALLS

Yummy.   These should cook about 35 to 45 minutes on low.   

Lid on.   This is my versatile pancake pan, that I don't use for pancakes.   I use it for tortillas, mandarin pancakes, I use it for a lid, for several of my bigger pots and pans. 

Now for the Noodles. 
Put water in a deep pot.  And turn stove on high, when you see lot's of little bubbles forming on the bottom of the pan, break the noodles in half and put them in.  

Push all the noddles below the water, if a few stick out that ok.   And you can already see the starch starting to leach from the noodles.

Now look at all the starch, and it's really boiling.  Now there is one more little tip to see when the noddles are done, but out of a gazzillion pictures of boiling water my camera will not pick it up.   So when your looking at the raft of starch as it builds up you will see little white lines, this is because the starch is building layers. This is the time to try the noddle.    Noddle should not be chewy, they should be soft.

Do not cool these noodle underwater, drain off hot water and leave in pot and cover. They will be fine until you need them.

Here is the finish product.  Add some noodles a few meat balls and sprinkle with cheese. And you in business.   These also freeze wonderfully.
How to reheat your frozen meal.
Take out pan and put frozen meal in pan, add 1 cup of broth or water.  Turn stove top on low.  Check often. It should take a half hour to be ready.    And here is something to keep in mind.  Nuking it in the Microwave is faster, but doing it on the stove top you will save the flavor.   That is why you never see me cooking with the microwave. 

So make up some garlic bread, add your cheese and dig in.