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.

The Recession Proof Gourmet

Hi Everybody;

Well, today is my day off sort of. I like to sleep in since this is the only day I get to do that all week. I'm sure that was very informative but anyway, there you have it!!!!!



I was awakened by the phone...........a wrong number. Oh well may as well stay up now. Just puttering around in a coma though as I'm still really sleepy.



Time to rustle up some lunch....Oh nuts, fridge almost empty. Let's have a closer look, rummage around deeper. There must be something, I don't want to go downstairs to the freezer.



Let's see here.........aha, we have here about eight ounces of sirloin steak, three peppers...yellow,orange and red but they are only half each as I have used the other halves since for something else earlier this week. OK.....I have onions and garlic but what to do?



I could grill the steak and the veggies and serve them on top of the steak with a baked potato and another veggie.......Oh that's too ordinary besides it still requires a trip to the basement for veggies. Grill everything anyway and while they're cooking, maybe I'll get inspired. Boy I'm feeling really lazy today!!!!!!



Everything is finished cooking, I guess it's going to have to be what I said earlier except that I will cut the steak in half, I don't eat all that meat. My cat won't touch steak but there are some trimmings for her........what's that? the doorbell?



One of my friends drops in (why is it most people visit you at mealtimes?) I ask her if she had lunch, she said no and she didn't come to eat.......well, I know that but I'm hungry and it's not polite to eat in front of people without offering them. She is skinny as a toothpick anyway so I don't feel bad pressing her. I tell her she could use the weight and I keep offering her my extra!!!! Oh yes back to the food nuts and double chocolate covered nuts!!!!!!!



Well this is what I came up with, I hope you like it.

GRILLED STEAK AND ROASTED PEPPERS

eight ounces of grilling steak

three sweet peppers

one large onion

garlic

olive oil

salad dressing

1 cup brown rice

Wash and dry the peppers (colours of your choice) cut them in half and take out the seeds and cut off all the stem, peel the onion and slice in four thick slices and peel the garlic as many as you like or none if you don't like it.

You should drizzle the peppers, onion and garlic with a tiny bit of olive oil when you place them on the grill.

Put the peppers on the grill to roast until they are a bit charred, remove from the grill and wrap in a clean teatowel and grill the steak for about seven to eight minutes, then add the onion slices and the whole garlic and grill until the steak is cooked to your liking and the garlic and onion are a bit soft. Peel the skin off the peppers (should be easy now) and slice in thin slices, slice the steak across the grain and toss the steak, peppers, onion, garlic and salad dressing together in a bowl.

Serve over hot brown rice. You can also serve with noodles, I love soba noodles or you can toss with salad greens.

This way I found that my eight ounces of steak made three servings or two servings if larger appetites.

Well, that's all for today. I hope you enjoy the recipe and I am going to continue the visit with my friend as I don't get to see her too often. Bye for now.