Happy's Tomato Sauce ☺

Happy's Tomato Sauce is a thick, chunky sauce that's great for pizza and pasta. If it is too chunky for your taste, just run it through your food processor or blender for a few seconds.

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
3 large cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
3 celery stalks, diced
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and diced
28 oz can San Marzano whole tomatoes in juice
28 oz can puréed tomatoes
2 14-oz cans diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves, broken in half
1 tsp black pepper, ground
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, to taste
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried oregano
1/4 cup sugar

Instructions

In a large soup pot, sauté the onions in the olive oil over medium high heat until the onions begin to brown. Add the garlic, and cook for another minute or so. Stir in the celery and green pepper, and sauté until the vegetables are limp, but brightly colored.

Drain the can of San Marzano tomatoes into the soup pot. Working quickly, crush each tomato between your fingers into the pot. Add the other cans of tomatoes (do not drain the diced tomatoes) to the soup pot. Bring the pot back to a bubbling boil.

Stir in all of the remaining ingredients. Reduce the heat so that the pot is bubbling, but not quite boiling. Leave the pot uncovered and continue cooking for 3 - 4 hours until it is as thick as you want. Stir the sauce every 15 minutes or so, more often as the sauce thickens.

Yield: 1 quart (8 servings)

Prep Time: 1 hrs. 00 mins.

Cook time: 4 hrs. 00 mins.

Total time: 5 hrs. 0 mins.

Chili Spice Rub ☺

By Happy, February 27, 2013.

This is a spice rub for roast chicken or pork ribs.

Yield: 3 Tbsp

Prep Time: 00:10

1 guajillo pepper
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 bay leaves
4 whole cloves
1 tsp black peppercorns
2 tsp kosher salt
2 large cloves garlic

In a spice grinder, grind together the guajillo pepper, cumin seeds, bay leaves, and cloves. Pulverize the peppercorns with a mortar and pestle. Mash the garlic with a garlic press. Mix everything together in a small bowl. For a roast chicken, place the rub under the chicken skin, next to the flesh. For ribs or roasts, rub directly on the meat.

Nutrition

Calories: 0
Sodium: 3500 mg

Green Salsa

6 tomatillos
1 green pepper
1 jalapeño pepper
1/4 medium onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t kosher salt, or to taste

Turn on your oven broiler. Line the broiler pan with aluminium foil. Place a rack in the bottom of the broiler pan.

Remove the husks from the tomatillos, and rinse. Cut the green pepper in half, and remove the seeds and white membrane. Place the pepper halves skin side up on the rack in the broiler pan. Arrange the tomatillos and the jalapeño pepper on the rack, too, and place under the broiler element.

Let the vegetables brown and char a little under the element, turning them as necessary. You may need to rearrange items while they are broiling. The pepper skins will blister and char. The tomatillos may split and sizzle, and they will also brown.

Remove the vegetables from the oven. Place the green pepper halves and the jalapeño pepper in a covered dish or a paper bag, and cover, or tightly close the bag.

Chop the onion in a food processor until finely chopped. Put the chopped onion in a mixing bowl. With a paring knife, remove the stem from each tomatillo. Chop the tomatillos in two batches in the food processor. Add them to the chopped onion.

Peel the blistered skin from the green pepper halves. Peel the jalapeño pepper. Slice it lengthwise and remove the seeds. Finely chop the jalapeño with a knife. Add the pepper halves and the chopped jalapeño to the food processor, and chop finely. Add the chopped pepper to the bowl with the onion and tomatillo mixture.

Stir in the minced garlic and taste the salsa. Add up to 1/2 t kosher salt.

Serve with chicken or pork. Use as a dip for corn chips. Tastes great with scrambled eggs.

Taco Seasoning ☺

This is just plain good Taco Seasoning for tacos, chilis, chicken, or breakfast cereal. You'll love it! This amount is the equivalent of two commercial packages of taco seasoning mix.

Combine in a spice grinder, and grind together:

2 large dried guajillo chili
1 T cumin seeds
1/2 t black peppercorns
1/2 t chopped dried garlic
1/2 t chopped dried onion
1/2 t red pepper flakes

Put the ground mixture in a small bowl, and mix in:

1/2 t sweet paprika
1/2 t smoked Spanish paprika
2 t kosher salt

Store tightly covered.

Maraschino Cherries

4-1/2 lb royal ann or bing cherries. Soak over night in solution of 1 T salt, 1 t alum to one qt water. In morning drain & wash. Pit. Make syrup of 4-1/2 lb sugar, 3 c. water, 1 oz red coloring, add cherries & bring slowly to boil. Remove & cover over night. Bring to boil next morning & cover again. Third morning add juice 1 lemon & 1 oz almond extract. Bring to boil & seal.

Cooked Salad Dressing

4H

Mix:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp mustard
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp flour

Beat:
3 egg yolks or 2 eggs

Add:
3/4 c water
1/2 c mild vinegar

Combine with dry ingred. and beat. Cook over hot water until thick and smooth. Add 2 tbsp butter and cool.

Mincement

Norma Dobler

2 pounds lean meat
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 pound suet ground
1 tablespoon nutmeg
2 cups meat stock
1 tablespoon cinnamon
4 pounds apples
1 teaspoon mace
2-1/2 pounds raisins (grind 1/2 of them)
1 tablespoon salt
1 pound currants
4 cups cider
3 lemons
1 cup vinegar
3 cups sugar (half brown)
1 cup molasses
1/3 pound citron peel
1/4 pound lemon or orange peel

Boil meat till tender. Grind meat, suet, and half the raisins. Add to other ingredients and simmer on low heat for 1-1/2 hours. Pour into sterilized jars and seal. Makes 5 quarts.

Meat Relish

Dorothy Clanton

50 medium ripe tomatoes
1 tablespoon whole allspice
10 medium sized onions
1 tablespoon whole cloves
4 red peppers, seeds removed
1 tablespoon whole cinnamon
1 large bunch celery
3 cups sugar
3/4 quart of vinegar
2 tablespoons salt
1 grated teaspoon nutmeg

Scald tomatoes, peel, chop into container. Grind rest of vegetables. Mix with tomatoes, vinegar, sugar and salt and bring to a boil. Keep mixture simmering for 2-1/2 hours. Tie spices together in a bag, drop bag into mixture and boil 15 minutes more. Remove bag of spices and place relish into jars immediately. Seal while hot.