Ending of the Summer Garden & RECIPES

Son-in-law has taken up gardening as a hobby not an occupation raising 4 kids in the 50's & 60's and all the planting, hoeing, picking, {peas, beans, etc. -popping}-cleaning, canning or freezing them. Fun!! Fun!! Anyway, he is loaded with Tomatoes & Sweet Banana Peppers, etc. He makes his own HOT Salsa and I'll compare his effort to do that, to mine any day!!! Anyway after I helped peel them (after scalding) he gave me some. I went out on the Internet to find recipes and found 100's and the 4 I found I thought I'd like best and are good so I'll share the recipes, with a little Jeanette's touch. Now don't go begging him for vegetables because he'll put you to work. If you didn't raise them yourself go to the Farmer's Market. Here in Topeka the BIG one is on Saturday 7:30am to 11:00am in the parking lot behind the Judicial Bldg. on 10th st. between Kansas Ave. and Topeka Blvd. Parking in the State Office Building parking lot south on 10th and the Blvd. Park and walk east across the street and there it all is. Have fun!!

THE BEST CHUNKY HOMEMADE TOMATO SAUCE

3 1/2 cups {28 ounces} or 9 tomatoes 2" the size of golf balls
5 Tab. melted BUTTER (not substitute)
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste
Put the tomatoes, (dropped in boiling water removed from heat, till a crack shows on a tomato skin) remove carefully and put them in cold water and slide the skins off) cut into chunks, add onion, and butter in a heavy saucepan (it fits fine in a 3 quart) over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow steady simmer for about 45 minutes. Stir, occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, take out onion and keep, add salt to taste and set aside while you prepare your Marinara sauce. Can store the unused in refrigerator or freeze for later use.


CHUNKY MARINARA SAUCE
1 Tab. olive oil
1 onion (chopped) {I used the one I took out of the sauce}
1 clove (or 1/8 tsp. powder) Garlic
14 1/2 oz (1 3/4 cups) diced tomatoes (peeled)
8 oz. (1 cup) your new Tomato Sauce
1 tsp. white sugar or (1/4 cup white wine) I used both.
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
Heat olive oil in the saucepan over med. heat. Add onion & garlic. cook 2 to 4 minutes until crisp and tender. Stirring frequently (don't we always?)
Mix in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, sugar, salt and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 to 20 minutes.

Use on pasta. I fried 1/2 lb. hamburger yesterday, added it to the Marinara Sauce and poured over my cooked spagetti and it was good. I like a little grated Parmesan cheese on it when I eat it. Good eating!!! If you like mild food like I do. (No Jalepeno for me)

I'll be back. Gotta go fix breakfast. Beef Steak Cornbread and gravy. Of course, I found my Cornbread for $1.49 -16oz. on the day old area of Dillon's in the back of the store. The beef steak was a thin slice of top round steak I found in the raw meat dept. Dad hung a beef on a hook that they butchered in the back yard when it got cold enough. Remember we didn't have a freezer at each house in those days. Mom would go out in the back porch where the beef hung and slice off a big thin slice and bring it in and fry it in the old iron skillet. Then make gravy in the drippings. We put the gravy on the cornbread and Dad and I would put a drop of Catsup on each bite we were going to eat. Now you would cut a piece of steak & eat with your bite of cornbread gravy. Yum!!! Dad ate catsup on about everything. Especially green beans which he didn't like and when you had a row in the garden you would have beans all summer. Not like peas, radishes. carrotts . They would only produce once.
When I grew up my mom fixed about 25 different breakfasts always different (never the same old thing everyday). I remember waking up to her frying something and in my mind trying to guess what she was fixing today. Sometimes I thought it was one of my favorites and I got out to the kitchen and it wasn't. But whatever it was it was always good. My mom was an excellent cook. Dad said, he had salesmen & local farmers that would always come to our house right before lunch time (in those days there was no lunch it was dinner & supper) because they knew Dad always invited anyone arriving at meal time to eat. Mom could always open another canned jar of something to stretch the meal. When I would give a recipe to someone in my married life I suppose they think it's a Brose recipe. I don't remember many recipes I got from my mother-in-law so I think most of what I cook were things I grew up eating which would be my mother's (Oswald) and if it was her mother's it would be Salfrank. I hadn't thought much about it but I bet most cooks, cook like their mother. What they grew up eating. With a history of Great Grandpa Oswald coming from Germany to America as a teenager leaving his mom & dad and 11 siblings & know he will probably never see them again. Getting on a boat for America not knowing what was going to happen. Courage!!! I'm German/English and we eat blan {no HOT spicy food for me}.

DEEP FRIED SWEET BANANA PEPPERS RECIPE

1 cup self-rising flour (checking with the computer for a substitue) I used 1 cup All-Purpose.
1 egg, well beaten 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk 1/2 tsp. salt

Sweet Banana Peppers, washed, dried, seeded with pulp removed, sliced in half lengthwise.
2 inches of cooking oil in pan on stove or deep fryer. I use Peanut Oil. Nothing better to fry in, my southern friend taught me in 1958 when the men were all in the Air Force at Shaw Air Force Base - Sumter, South Carolina.
In a large bowl combine flour, egg, milk& vegetable oil. Stir completely or mix with mixer. Have your banana peppers dry and prepared for cooking. Heat the oil for frying somewhere between 345 and 375 (medium on stove in pan). With tongs, dip pepper halves in batter allowing excess batter to drip in the bowl, then transfer to hot oil. You can fry several pieces at the same time, fry till golden brown on bothsides. Remove and place on paper toweling to drain.
The recipe says," you may dip in cocktail sauce". I just like the wonderful crisp fried pepper chips with salt on them like onion rings & french fries. These are really good. I have served to 7 people so far and they loved them. Happy Cooking.