Sweet Potato and Pear Gorgonzola Gratin

1 sweet potato
1 pear

1 c soy milk
1/2 crumbled gorgonzola or other bleu cheese
1 generous tbsp rosemary
1 tsp garlic
some freshly ground pepper and salt

Bread crumbs




Slice potato and pear thinly and layer in a pan.  Mix slightly warmed soy milk and cheese and spices together.  Pour mixure over layered potato/pear.  Top with bread crumbs and bake at 375 for 45 minutes or so until tender.  This was enough for one person, so next time I'll double the recipe.

Green Tomatoes

It's the end of the season and my tomato vines were still dripping with green tomatoes.  I decided to make 2 different types of green tomato preserves:

Smoky Paprika Green Tomato Pickles


4 c green tomatoes, chopped in large chunks
1 small white onion
2 cloves of  garlic per jar
1/2 green chile per jar
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp paprika per jar
2 c white vinegar
2 c water
2 tbsp kosher salt



Boil salt and vinegar mixture.  Layer tomatoes, onion, garlic, chiles in sterilized jars.  Add spices to each jar and cover with brine.  Process for 10 minutes in water bath.






Green Tomato and Apple Chutney


6 c chopped green tomatoes
3 c chopped apples
1 small chopped onion
1 chopped lemon (rind included)
several green chiles
1 tsp chopped ginger
1 c raisins
several cloves of garlic
1 c cider vinegar
1.5c light brown sugar
1 tsp mustard powder

Mix all the ingredients together in a pan.  Boil for 30-60 min to get to a syrupy consistency.  Process in water bath for 10 minutes.

Baked Chicken and cornmeal dumplings

I cut up a chicken, but you can use any pieces you have -

2 breasts, 2 legs, the back

A thin layer of olive oil with salt and herbs di Provence (any herb combination can be used).  I dredge the chicken and then turn them over.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes and then turn down to 350.  I added the cornmeal dumplings at 30 minutes, but next time I'll add it at 15 minutes.

1/3 c corn meal

2/3 c flour

1 egg

1/3 c milk

1 tsp baking soda

Bake for a total of about 1 hour until internal temp of the chicken is 160 degrees.

With the drippings, I added 1/4 c flour and 1c of chicken broth to make chicken gravy

Ro-tel style tomatoes

I love Rotel. I eat it in everything.  Since I've decided not to eat tomatoes out of a can anymore, I figured I'd need some homemade rotel as well.  Luckily, my tomato plants don't know winter is just around the corner.

I used about 3 lbs of tomatoes in this recipe:

3 lbs of peeled and chopped tomatoes
6 green chiles
2 tbsp salt









Combine and cook for about 45 minutes (until it boils down a bit).  It made only 2 pints. I canned it like regular tomatoes for 30 minutes in a water bath




 I have to get to the market to get some more tomatoes for this.  I tasted some before I canned it and it was yummy but very hot, so cut down the number of chiles if your tastes are milder.

Mint Jalapeno Lemon Marmalade

Several bunches of fresh mint from the garden - chopped to be 1.5 cups
Boiled with 1 3/4c water.  Let steep for 30 minutes.  Drain the mint tea mixture.

3 c sugar

3/4 c cider vinegar
1/2 c lemon juice + lemon zest
several jalapeno peppers
1/2 pouch of sure gel

Boil everything together and add the sure gel while the mixture is cool.  Bring to a rolling boil for 5 - 10 minutes.

The first time, this didn't set up, so I had to reboil and add a bit more sure gel.  Now it looks great.  And tastes awesome

Marinated Sweet and Bell Pepper

I picked up a bag of little sweet peppers from the grocery store and, with winter coming, have to use up all the green bell peppers coming out of my garden.

The peppers were blistered under a high broiler.  It took a couple times before I got this step right, but I think it will only take about 5-10 minutes under a high broiler.  I peeled the peppers after they cooled, but the little peppers were difficult to peel.  I canned them anyway.

The peppers were layered into sterilized jars.  I stuck a few jalapenos in as well.  The peppers were covered with hot marinade made of:

1 c lemon juice

1 c olive oil

2 c white vinegar

2 tbsp oregeno

Processed in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.  We'll see how they taste in a few weeks!