Homemade enchilada sauce

¼ cup tomato paste 
1 teaspoon ground cumin 
1 teaspoon dried oregano 
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed  
¼ teaspoon kosher salt 
¼ teaspoon black pepper 
3 Tablespoons olive oil 
¼ cup whole wheat flour 
2 Tablespoons mild chili powder
3½ cups low sodium vegetable broth,    warmed 

 In a small bowl, mix tomato paste, cumin, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper; stir to combine and set aside.
Heat a large, nonstick sauté pan over medium heat; add 3 Tablespoons oil, whole wheat flour, and chili powder. Stir to combine until it becomes a thick paste; add in tomato paste mixture and stir to combine.
Slowly add in hot broth while whisking to dissolve the flour mixture.  Continue whisking while adding in all the broth.
Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Hoffmeister House Salad Dressing

This dressing is kind of like a homemade honey-mustard.  It's light and refreshing and great for any salad!

1 cup oil (half olive, half canola)

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup honey

1 t ground mustard

1 t celery seed

1 t salt

Mix well and toss with green salad.

Hoffmeister House dressing

Hoffmeister House salad dressing (it's like a honey mustard)

1 cup oil (we use 1/2 olive and 1/2 canola)

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp celery seed

*Place contents in a jar and shake well!

Slow Cooker Marinara

Have I really not posted new recipes since the summer?  This made me ponder if I had made anything new since the summer.  The answer was yes, but honestly, there have been quite a few "cereal for dinner!" nights in there, too.  I cracked open a few cookbooks this last week when I was *gasp* menu planning, and thought I'd share those recipes along with a few I've stashed away the last few months, as well.

This recipe for slow cooker marinara came from a new blog I've been following called Budget Bytes.  Here is the original post on her site.  This made enough for 3 meals.  We ate one right away, and I froze the other two.  I think the only thing I did differently was to make it smooth with my stick blender when it was done, to please my "no chunk" eaters.  The sauce is so very rich and "real" tasting, compared to many jars and cans, and it made the house smell remarkable all day long!

Ingredients

• 2 (28 oz.) cans crushed tomatoes 
• 1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste 
• 1 medium yellow onion 
• ½ Tbsp minced garlic 
• 2 whole bay leaves 
• 1 Tbsp dried basil
• ½ Tbsp dried oregano 
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar 
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• to taste salt & pepper 

Instructions

1. Cut the onion into a small dice and mince the garlic. Place both in the slow cooker. Also add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, bay leaves, basil, oregano, and freshly cracked pepper. Stir well to combine. If your slow cooker tends to lose moisture and dry things out, add ½ to 1 cup of water as well.
2. Secure the lid on your slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hrs.
3. Remove the lid on the slow cooker, stir the sauce, and remove the bay leaves. Season with salt to taste (I added about 1 tsp). Enjoy over your favorite pasta!

Ranch dressing powder

I had a giant container of Dan's Ranch from Costco that I really liked, and finally finished it.  I used it for ranch chicken, and recently I've been adding some to taco soup for extra fun flavor.  It is great stirred into some greek yogurt for a veggie dip.  I'm sure there are plenty of good uses for ranch!  Costco doesn't carry it anymore, so I looked up a recipe to make my own.  Ingredients cost barely over $1, and made about 25 servings.

10 saltines
3/4 cup dried parsley flakes
1/4 dried onion
1/4 cup onion powder
1/4 cup garlic powder
1 T dried dillweed

Pules saltines in the food processor until a powder.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until blended.  Keep in an airtight container.  1 tablespoon = 1 packet of ranch powder.

(This recipe isn't salted, and ranch seasoning is usually pretty salty, so salt recipes as needed.)

Tuna Patty Melts

Pictured - 2 tuna patties, each on 1/2 a bun, topped with 'surprise sauce.'

From www.cooks.com. Adapted by Jill

1 lg. can tuna, flaked (or 2 small cans)
2 beaten eggs
1/2 c. milk
3/4 c. bread or cracker crumbs
1/2 tsp. salt
Dash of pepper
6 slices cheese
6 hamburger buns
1 tbsp. grated onion (I didn't have any, so I put in dill weed)

Mix all ingredients except cheese. Make 6 patties. Place on well greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Place baked patties on toasted buns (the toastier the better), top with cheese and place in greased pan. Cover with foil. Heat for 5 minutes.

From another recipe at www.cooks.com, I topped with . . .

SURPRISE SAUCE:

Cook 2 tablespoons chopped onion in 3 tablespoons butter until tender, but not brown. Blend in: 1 tsp. mustard 1/2 tsp. salt Dash of pepper

Add 1 1/4 cups milk and 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens and bubbles. (Mine didn't thicken, so I added a bit of corn starch)

Serve Surprise Sauce over cooked patties for a delicious taste surprise - no tuna taste. (I'd argue there was still tuna taste, but it was kind of like adding a hollandaise sauce to the melt - and made it even yummier.)

Homemade BBQ Sauce

This is the BBQ sauce my mom always made for us:

1 cup ketchup

1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. salt (or less)

2 dashes Tabasco sauce

1 ½ cups water (or beef broth)

Green Herb Sauce

This sauce is SO good, and much healthier than regular pesto. The only trouble is one ingredient, but if you just get past that and make it, it is SO delicious!

1 cup fresh basil leaves
2/3 cup soft tofu (find it in the produce section)
1/3 cup chopped chives
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped (or two big spoonfuls of the pre-minced jar stuff)
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 tsp salt

Put everything into a food processor and blend it up. You'll have to stop a time or two to scrape down the edges, and then just keep blending until smooth.

Serve within an hour, or keeps in the fridge for 2 days.

Vanilla pancake syrup

I just realize I haven't posted anything here since the 4th of July! I attribute half to a busy summer, but half to just being lazy in the kitchen, I guess. But school is starting next week, so I hope to crack open a few cookbooks and try some new things.

This one is so simple to make, and just tastes yummier than store bought syrup. I found the recipe in "Family Feasts for $75 a Week," by Mary Ostyn. I would recommend this cookbook highly to anyone trying to stretch a budget by making more things homemade instead of buying costlier store bought versions.

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a saucepan, combine sugars, water, and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil until slightly thickened, about 7 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in salt and vanilla.

Cool for 15 minutes before using.

Store in a tightly covered bottle in the cupboard.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Break out the Australian Toaster Biscuits, it is jam season!

The directions are from the pectin box, so it isn't exactly a secret recipe. But it is very simple and yummy!

• Wash and stem strawberries. Mash up enough for 2 cups of fruit. I used the food processor and made it rather smooth, lest my kids realize that there is fruit in jam.
• Measure exactly 4 cups of sugar into a large bowl. Add strawberries and mix well. Let stand 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Stir pectin (I had liquid, but I'm sure the powder has a similar recipe) and 2 tbl lemon juice together in another bowl.
• Stir pectin mixture into fruit mixture. Stir constantly until sugar is completely dissolved, about 3 minutes.
• Pour into freezable containers.
• Let stand at room temperature 24 hours, or until set.
• Refrigerate up to 3 weeks, or freeze up to 1 year.
• Yields 4 cups. (Picture is 2 batches.)

Chicken Quesedillas with Aunt Dorothy's famous guacamole

This is a tasty meal and a favorite in our house.

Cube skinless boneless chicken thighs and brown with margarine in a frying pan. Season with the following: garlic powder, chili powder, and cumin. (By the way, the cumin is the secret ingredient in this and in the guacamole so don't skimp on it.)

Spread out cooked chicken on full or half flour tortilla. Cover entire surface with slices of cheddar. Spread margarine on the outside of both sides of the tortilla and fry both sides.

Top with sour cream and Aunt Dorothy's famous guacamole, crack open a mountain dew, and enjoy!

Aunt Dorothy's Famous Guacamole (a secret family recipe, but I'll blab!)

You will need: 4 ripe avocados, 1 small tomato, 1/2 sweet onion, lemon juice, salt, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salsa.

Dice avocados, onion, and tomato. Place in a mixing bowl. Season GENEROUSLY with seasonings and add salt to taste. Add in a splash of lemon juice, and two spoonfulls of salsa. I use a hand mixer to blend, Aunt Dorothy does it by hand with a fork or a potato masher.

Hint: if you do all of this and taste it, and you think it's too bland then you have not added NEARLY ENOUGH seasoning and need to add quite a bit more to get it where it needs to be.

My cousins and I can polish off a bowl of this in about 30 minutes!

Sour Cream and Dijon

I've been experimenting with different sauces and dressings of my own creation. So I decided to begin a new category.

Tonight, on top of baked fish (mahi mahi to be exact), I put the following sauce.

1/4 cup light sour cream
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp pepper

Combine and apply. A nice amout of zing.