Recipes
Zucchini Relish
5 cups finely chopped zucchini
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onions (3 medium)
1/4 cup finely chopped green sweet peppers (1 medium)
1/4 cups finely chopped red sweet peppers (1 medium)
1/4 cup pickling salt
Cold water
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 t. celery seeds
1 t. ground tumeric (optional)
1/2 t. mustard seeds
1 or 2 drops green food coloring (optional)
In a large non-reactive bowl combine zucchini, onions, and sweet peppers. Sprinkle with salt, toss gently to coat. Add enough cold water to cover vegetables. Cover and allow to stand at room temperature for 3 hours. Transfer vegetables mixture to a large colander set in sink. Rinse with cold water; drain. In a 8 quart stainless steel, enamel or nonstick heavy pot combine sugar vinegar, the 1/4 cup water, celery seeds, turmeric, and mustard seeds. Bring to boiling, stirring until sugar dissolves, reduce heat. Simmer uncovered for 3 minutes. Add drained vegetables mixture and if desired green food coloring. Return to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Ladle hot relish into hot, sterilized half-pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe jar rims, adjust lids. Process in boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes (starting with the canner water returns to a full rolling boil) Remove jars from canner. Makes 5 half pints.
Easy Baked Rotini
Even though its March and that means warmer weather for a lot of us, its still pretty chilly here in Wisconsin. So this evening I was wanting to make something warm and delicious. This is how the baked rotini happened. I tend to watch a lot of cooking shows in my free time, so I have picked up a few things watching the celebrity chefs make delicious food, and one is when making baked pasta don’t over cook your pasta. Get it to al dente, and then be done with it. If you don’t know what that is, its basically to the point where you check it, and you think, this needs about 3 more minutes, but instead of letting it cook for 3 more minutes you take it off the stove and drain it. Also, when it comes to the cheese, use full fat, reduced fat…whatever you would like. And one more thing…Joey and I like a lot of garlic, so I used 3 cloves, but thats at your discretion.
What you need:
1 lb ground meat (you can use beef, chicken, turkey, italian sausage, venison – use what you have- I used grass fed beef)
32 oz of pasta sauce (we make and can ours from tomatoes in our garden so thats what I used)
1 13 oz box of rotini
1-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 of medium size onion, diced
1 tablespoon dried italian seasoning
1 egg
1 16 oz container ricotta cheese
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
some additional vegetable options to add in:
spinach, mushrooms, cabbage, kale, bell pepper, more tomatoes…. I had some cabbage that was getting close to going bad so I used about a cup of that finely chopped along with about a cup of mushrooms finely chopped as well.
Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Get your water started for cooking pasta and cook pasta to al dente.
Brown ground meat, drain.
While this is all cooking you can chop the onion, garlic and any additional vegetables.
Mix ricotta with egg in small bowl
Drain pasta, mix in sauce, ground meat, onion, garlic, italian seasoning and any other vegetables you may be adding in.
In 9×13 casserole dish take half of pasta & meat mixture and smooth into one layer.
Then layer ricotta cheese mixture.
Sprinkle a handful of mozzarella cheese over that.
Top with the rest of pasta and meat.
Evenly spread the rest of the shredded cheese over top.
Cover with tinfoil and bake 40-45 minutes until cheese is all bubbly and melty (yes, melty is a word)
Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
You can make this ahead of time, just let it cool before you put it in the fridge and cover it tightly. I would then take it out of the fridge about 30 minutes before baking.
I hope you enjoy, if you make it, let me know how you like it!
Easy Homemade Crackers
This is a super simple recipe that can be made very flavorful with adding a few spices, herbs or seeds. It is great on its own. I will list the base recipe first and then list some suggested ideas for different flavors.
Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (gluten free a/p flour would work well here also)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup warm water
1/3 cup olive oil
butter or coconut oil to grease the pan
Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Put the flour, salt, warm water, and olive oil in a bowl, and stir until all the flour is absorbed. It will be very doughy, stir by hand untill it is just all combinded (don’t over-mix, should take less than a minute.
3. Take a cookie sheet, the largest one you have, and grease with butter or coconut oil.
4. Put the dough on the tray and smooth it out to a even layer. I used a rolling pin with some oil on it, then some flour, whatever works for you. Don’t worry about having perfect edges, rustic is good.
5. Take a knife and cut the dough into rectangles or squares…whatever makes you happy. Sprinkle the top with a bit more salt (optional)
(You could also roll these out onto some parchment paper and use cookie cutters to create shapes…would be a fun project if you have little ones around)
7. Bake 15 minutes, or until golden. The crackers will become more crispy after they cool a bit
The potential variations for this recipe are endless: cheese, herbs, nuts and seeds, spices. You could add about a tablespoon of sugar or stevia and a teaspoon of cinnamon and I bet that would be good. In the picture we added a teaspoon of onion powder, a tablespoon of chia seeds and a tablespoon of sesame seeds.
If you end up with a fantastic combo please let me know!
The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener 