YES.......I am still here!!!!!!

Well, here I am at last. I realize I haven't been around for a while and I am sure most people thought I was probably dead!!!!



No...No....I have had a lot of excitement around the house mostly excitement I can live without. Since my last entry I have had two house sales fall through (same house) The realtor I had didn't prequalify the prospects and they couldn't come up with a mortgage, then they come to me to try to get me to rent....not a possibility but I ended up trying to get a mortgage for one couple (which looked pretty good) I also had to pack and look for alternate accomodation, then after I looked at a whole bunch of extremely expensive rubbish, I started praying for another failure so I don't have to sell and move. My prayers were answered with remarkable speed!!!!! Then I had to unpack ( a task I'm still working on) I then hurt my back and I also landed myself in hospital twice. I also have to do the usual household chores etc. I also decided to do a few things I had put off doing and I had to wait for people to decide to come to do them, most of whom just say they'll come and never show up.



The house is getting too big for my needs, I must admit and it is not suitable for sharing but going by the apartments I saw they can keep them. I do understand that landlords are reluctant to spend money on their properties as most tenants are very careless with the units (I did have tenants a while back and they were awful) but we are not all like that. OH well!!!







Wow, I will now go straight to my recipe for this time just in case something else calls me away.

My apologies for the rush but I am absolutely determined to get this done today.....right now in fact.



So here goes. This is quite in keeping with the title and intention of this blog as well as being one of my favourite recipes. It's inexpensive, healthy and delicious.....what more could one ask for?

Wholewheat Spaghetti with Lentil Sauce

You will need:

1 chopped onion

2 garlic cloves (or to taste) minced

1/8 cup olive oil

11/2 cups dried lentils, washed

1 dried hot pepper, crumbled

1 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

4 cups beef stock or water with 2 beef boullion cubes

1/2 teaspoon (each) basil and oregano

1 can (19 oz) tomatoes

1 (6oz can) tomato paste

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

12oz cooked wholewheat spaghetti

grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

To make sauce

Cook onion and garlic in olive oil for about 5 minutes. add next 5 ingredients and beef stock or water and boullion cubes. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except the spaghetti and cheese and simmer uncovered for an hour. Stir occasionally. Serve on cooked spaghetti and sprinkle with the cheese.

The spaghetti should be cooked according to package directions while the sauce is cooking so it is hot when the sauce is done. Enjoy.

Well, I hope everybody likes this recipe and as you can see it's pretty easy and quick. So until next time back to painting.

Recession Proof Gourmet

Hi Everybody

Time for another recipe and a few words from yours truly, words not neccessarily of wisdom.

In the long and distant past when I was still young, (greener than the main ingredient of our recipe today) just moving into my new home as a newly wed. I was faced with a large......no....no make that huge new backyard where some sod had been laid but moles invaded it and now it was a patch of green with numerous black eruptions. I now realize that black soil is good and well it should have been since this housing project was built on a former orchard.

Well, after we got the mole problem solved (I don't remember how but I do remember it was long and hard as they were determined) I was still faced with this new back yard and I having never even grown one of those beans that the kindergarten kids get to grow in half eggshells (I think that's how it went with my kids) I need to populate this outdoor space. We, of course have no money to buy plants since we had sunk everything we owned into this new house, luckily we had a relative who was a seasoned gardener, a market gardener in fact who supplied us with several rose bushes, the roses on them would be a beautiful pink and they were very fragrant. I planted rose bushes all along the perimeter of the yard saving several feet for what would become a patio eventually. I was still left with several feet along the back fence which I had decided would be a vegetable garden. Needless to say everbody laughed. Why I do not know.....had I not planted the rose bushes?, they may not have been perfect but I didn't hear or see anyone else offering help so I did what had to be done. To put everyone out of their misery with curiosity, the rose bushes thrived and grew to about eight feet tall, the flowers were gorgeous but few but hey.....this is a first attempt.

Unfortunatly at some point during the first spring I was in that house, I got into a heated discussion with market gardener relative who was bewailing the fact that he absolutely couldn't get tomatoes or cucumbers to grow, he had tried for years to no avail. This is where I come in with my big mouth and said I bet you I can grow them here, you should have heard the laughter!!!!

I'll show them, but how? I had to do something quick now that I had put both feet in my mouth, my answer I bought a book and I followed directions and yes, we had tomatoes like crazy, cucumbers were a little less prolific but I had enough to give away.

Now after all the nonsense about "he wouldn't have believed it had he not seen it with his own eyes" I was still left with loads of green tomatoes. I didn't know what to do with them and green tomato chutney didn't sound appetizing and besides too much work.

That was then and how I wish I had this recipe then!!!! Of course my family would have turned up their noses at it but I didn't tell them until they had finished their seconds and licking the plates. So Here it is:

MUCH BETTER THAN APPLEPIE---GREEN TOMATO PIE

TRULY DELICIOUS

6 to 8 medium sized green tomatoes

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon grated lemon or orange rind

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon butter or margerine

Pastry for two crust 9-inch pie

Wash the tomatoes, peel and slice them. Combine with next four ingredients in saucepan and cook for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Mix sugar with cornstarch, add to the tomato mixture and cook until clear, stirring constantly. Add butter and cool slightly. Line piepan with pastry and pour in the mixture. Cover with pastry, seal edges and cut several gashes in top to allow steam to escape. Bake in preheated hot oven (425f) 40 to 50 minutes. Serve slightly warm or cool. Good with a dollop of whipped cream.

This is not recommended if you are trying to lose weight but for what it's worth it is really a great pie.

Until next time. Bye everybody.