Sfinconi

Sfincioni is like a cold Italian pizza. There is really no other way to describe it. I’m not exactly sure how my grandmother made it, as I never actually saw her, but this is my best guess based on how it looked and tasted.

Pizza Dough (I make pizza dough using the dough cycle on my bread maker.)
1 Can of Tomato Paste
Sliced Onion (sweet yellow or red onion)
1 Can of Anchovies (optional)
Olive Oil
Dried Basil and Dried Oregano (or Italian Seasoning)
Grated Parmesan, Romano or Pecorino Cheese
Cornmeal (for dusting the pan)

The dough is baked on cookie sheets (or baking pans of similar size). I make a pizza dough in my bread machine. (I have also in years past used the boxed pizza dough or the Pillsbury.)

Olive oil is drizzled on the cookie sheet and cornmeal sprinkled, before putting the pizza dough on the cookie sheet. The dough is pricked with a fork so that you don’t get large air bubbles when baking.

Brush the top of the dough lightly with tomato paste (not a lot, I think this was another way of being frugal, just a bit brushed on for flavor).

Sprinkle with dried basil and oregano.
Place slices of onion on top.
For those who like anchovies, add some anchovies over the top.
Grate a good quality parmesan or romano or pecorino cheese over the top.
Lightly drizzle olive oil over the top.
Bake at 400 degrees until done. (In a stove that would be probably 20 minutes.)
This is served cold or at room temperature.

It’s perfect for Christmas Eve because it can be made a day or 2 in advance. It gives the hostess the opportunity to join in the fun or go sneak off upstairs to wrap a few gifts.
It looks so good I want to make some today, but you have no idea how much time it takes to cook in a Nesco Roaster. I think 2 trays, cooking 1 at a time took almost 3 hours. We still don't have our stove hooked up. Between the holidays and the snow it's impossible to get a hold of a handyman around here.

Lola's Victory Garden
©2009

Superb Cowboy Stew

Now that the garden is on hiatus, I thought I would start posting some frugal recipes. I've reserved several books from the library on Depression era cooking and I can't wait for them to arrive at my library so I can check them out, try out some recipes and share them with you.

This recipe I got from Stephanie @ A Year Of Slow Cooking, which by the way is an awesome site for crockpot recipes. Stephanie got it from The Adventures Of The Headless Family.

I've made this several times and it's always a hit with our kids. In fact the other night night when I made this our daughter said it was 'great'. Then our son said "No, it's superb. That's better than excellent."
I made several modifications based on what I had on hand. First off, I was dividing a 5 pound package of ground meat. To stretch it further, I took about 3/4 of a pound and added about a 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of Oatmeal. Threw it in my KitchenAid mixer with the mixing blade on a low speed to combine it. (I then browned the meat/oatmeal mixture as usual. No one could tell I did this and it did not affect the flavor.) Then I mixed the rest of the meat in 3 batches with 2 Eggs, Oatmeal, Worchestershire Sauce, a bit of Catsup, Onion Powder and Garlic Powder and formed part of the meat into 1/3 pound Hamburger Patties using a Hamburger Press. I made 5 1/3 pound burgers and the rest of the meat went into a very large loaf pan for meatloaf.

I only had Diced Tomatoes with Onion and Peppers, so I used that.
No stores near me carry Ranch Beans, so I substituted Chili Beans. (Use the beans and the sauce.)
I used a 4 ounce can of El Zapato Tomato Sauce.
1 can of Butter Beans, drained.
1 Can of Garbanzo Beans.
A sprinkle of Cayenne Pepper Powder (about a 1/4 teaspoon.).
Instead of adding water I used the liquid from 1 can of Potatoes.
I was out of corn, so I skipped it.

Here is the recipe from A Year Of Slow Cooking:

Cowboy Stew

1 pound browned hamburger (can use turkey)

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 can tomato sauce

1 can diced Italian seasoned tomatoes

1 can corn, drained

2 cans whole baby potatoes, drained

1 can tomatoes with green chilies

1 can Ranch Style beans (with the baked beans in the grocery store)

1 cup water

sliced jalapeno peppers for garnish (optional)

This makes a lot. Make sure that your crockpot is at least 5qts.

Brown the hamburger with the chopped garlic cloves on the stove top. Drain the fat. Let sit in the pan for a bit to cool.

Open all of you cans, and dump them into the crockpot. Drain the corn and the potatoes, but add the rest of the can liquid to the crockpot.

After adding all of the can contents, add the browned meat and a cup of water. Stir with a spoon to mix a bit.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or on high for 4-5. Soup and stew tastes better the longer you cook it, so opt for the longer cooking time if you can.

Garnish with sliced jalapeno peppers, if desired. (Both the kids and I added lots of jalapeno peppers, but that photo didn't turn out.)

You can serve this with homemade biscuits or even better...cornbread.

Lola's Victory Garden
©2009

Tomatillo Salsa

Tomatillo Salsa Verde II
From The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest.

Ingredients:
2 lbs about 8 cups tomatillos
2 cups chopped onions
1-4 hot pepper, seeded and chopped
1 cup fresh cilantro, minced
4-8 garlic cloves
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup lime juice

Directions
After removing husks, halve and then coarsely chop the tomatillos.

Lightly coat the bottom of a large pot with oil, turn the burner on high, and add all the ingredients. Stir frequently and bring to a boil.

Lower the temperature and let the salsa simmer for about 20 minutes.

Other recipes call for cumin, oregano, water, oil, lemon thyme, salt, pepper, tarragon, cognac, sugar, tart apples, vinegar, and sweet red peppers. Feel free to add a bit of any or all of these to your salsa according to your likes before you bring it to a boil.

Carefully fill sterilized pint or half-pint jars and process them for 20 minutes using the boiling-water-bath method.

Note: As the Salsa "ages" in the jar, the heat of the Hot Peppers (I use Jalapenos) intensifies. If you like your salsa only slightly spicey, you're going to want to make sure that you remove all or nearly all the seeds and membranes from the peppers. Also, remember when prepping Hot Peppers to wear gloves because they can cause skin irritation.

Lola's Victory Garden
©2009

Coming soon...Tomatillo Salsa

I've been saying I needed to stop by the Mexican grocery to get some tomatillos. Actually it's the place to go after the Farmer's Markets close to get the best deals on produce.

And did I get the best deal! Last year I paid $0.99 and $0.89 a pound for tomatillos. I paid $0.49 a pound! I bought almost 10 pounds. That should translate to about 3 batches of salsa. I also got cilantro, 2 bunches for $1.00 which is pretty good. I forgot garlic cloves, so I've got to run to the store before I begin my first batch.

According to eHow.com, this is how to select tomatillos:

1. Locate the tomatillos in the supermarket. They are now found in most U.S. grocery stores, and usually located next to the hot peppers.
2. Select a tomatillo and pick it up. Most of the tomatillos will still have the papery husk attached. This papery husk should be in tact and relatively crispy and free from moisture or mold.
3. Peel the husk back slightly and examine the color of the tomatillo. It should be bright green and evenly colored. Avoid selecting tomatillos having black or brown spots, which can be an indication of spoilage.
4. Squeeze the tomatillo. It should be quite firm and will not yield much to pressure from your hands. Soft tomatillos may be spoiled and should be avoided.

Stay tuned for the recipe.

Please check out my post at Lola's Diner. I need to raise $250 to avoid foreclosure on my house. I'm selling Ad Space as well as Guest Blog Posts. I am also taking donations. Please check out my post and if you can help, I would be very grateful. Prayers are also welcome.

Lola's Victory Garden
©2009

It's Been Awhile...

Remember this?


Now it looks like this:


It's so sad. I haven't been able to bring myself to buy salad fixin's since we ate the last tomato from our garden. We didn't have a very good harvest. We didn't even have enough left to can any spaghetti sauce. Very disappointing harvest.

So it's on to other things. I'm going to be stopping by the mexican grocery the next time I'm in the neighborhood to see if I can get a good price on some Tomatillos for salsa. We're down to just 1 jar and we love the stuff. I'm also going to be canning some jams. I froze the fruit because I didn't have time to can when I purchased them at their peak of flavor and at the best price. I'll also be making a pepper jelly for serving over cream cheese with crackers. It's perfect for serving during the holidays. Watch for these and other posts coming up because Lola's Victory Garden is not shutting down for the season. I will be continuing to post canning recipes and frugal tips until I begin work on next years garden, so be sure to continue to stop by to see what's new.

Lola's Victory Garden
©2009

What's For Lunch From The Garden?

I'm home alone now for the most part during the day so lunch is lazy. Yes, I said it, lazy. I'm not cooking anything, I'm not using more than 3 ingredients and I'm not Mickey D'ing it.

So lunch is from the garden.

Last week we had cucumbers, so cucumber, tuna and mayonnaise sandwiches were my thing. Slice the cucumber super thin and layer on top of toast spread with a thin layer of mayo. Add a little mayo to the tuna, spoon it on top of the cucumber slices, then layer more cucumber slices on top of the tuna and top it with a slice of toast with a little mayo. Season with salt if you like, but I skip it because salt is not my friend.

This week, :( no cucumber. What to do? BLT sounds good, but I'm not frying bacon. Too much mess and then what happens with the rest of the package? Do I fry it and save it for another day. (Hello! I have a teenage boy, if he sees bacon already cooked, he thinks delicious snack!) Do I put the package away with just 2 strips missing? No, then that means I have to use it within x number of days. (Solve for x? Not me, I don't do algebra.) Solution? Baconnaise!

Behold: The Tomato and Baconnaise Sandwich:
No lettuce? Well, we did have some, but that would be a bother to find it in the fridge because the kids have yet to learn that lettuce is a vegetable and it belongs in the Vegetable Bin. Besides, this is so good just as it is.

Home grown tomato + Baconnaise + Toast = bliss!

Disclosure: This is not a paid ad, but if the Baconnaise people would like to reward me with some bacony goodness, I would be happy to take it.

PS: Baconnaise is available at Jewel Foods in the same aisle as regular mayonnaise.

Lola's Victory Garden
©2009

Our Weekend Garden Harvest

These are part of our take from our garden from Friday and today. We also ate a cucumber about that size and had about 1/2 that bowl full of cherry tomatoes that we used in a wonderful salad yesterday.

All I did was slice the cucumber thin, arrange on a plate, then quarter some of those cherry tomatoes. Then sprinkle on some Feta Cheese crumbles. The sweetness of those cherry tomatoes combined with the taste of the Feta Cheese was just fantastic.

Still no zucchini (I'm betting they all come at once.) And no broccoli yet, but that should be ready soon. The tomatillos are looking good, I'm thinking the papery skin has to be...well, papery before they are ready to be picked. (At least that's the way they are in the store when I've bought them to can Tomatillo Salsa.)

Our Sunflowers are growing like crazy. I wish I had a photo for you, but I'm taking it easy today and trying to recuperate from all the crazy running around and driving I've been doing. My bad back hasn't appreciated all that and it's been letting me know, so today I'm just taking it easy. Our daughter was nice enough to go pick those veggies, she's a good helper.

I have a question for anyone who has grown sunflowers before. Are all the seeds good for eating, or does it depend on the variety? Also, do you pick them and dry them, bake them, ???? Has anyone used the seeds from the sunflowers they've grown for eating or store them for use later in their bird feeders?

Lola's Victory Garden
©2009