Copyright ©2007- 2020 Donna Goff

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Donna's Apricot Leather

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups pureed Apricots
1/2 cup Applesauce ( I use unsweetened home canned Jonathan applesauce)
1/4 cup Honey
1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Directions:
Rinse but do not peel apricots. Cut apricots in half and remove pits. Drop apricots with skins on them, into the blender and puree them. Pour puree into stock pot and heat thoroughly, stirring constantly. This step destroys enzymes that otherwise could blacken the puree. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Ladle onto lightly oiled (with vegetable oil) dehydrator leather making trays. Dry until the surface is lightly tacky to the touch. Gently remove from dehydrator sheet while still warm, cut with oiled kitchen sheers, and roll up on a strip of saran wrap. Store in a ziplock bag, large lidded jar, or other kind of air tight kitchen container to store.

Do not own a dehydrator?

Oven method: Dry on lined cookie sheets in the oven on warm. Ovens warm around 180 degrees, and that is about 35 degrees hotter than a dehydrator. Check every few hours.


Sun method: Get a 12 inch wide wood plank.  Place board on two saw horses and place the saw horse feet in cans of water so ants do not crawl up the legs. Place in an area that will get sun all day.  Wrap a wire around the wood so it only touches the edges. of the wood, only.   Make a bug shield. Cut a length of mosquito netting four feet longer than the board. The length should be wide enough to sew a seam and make a long tube that will slip over the board when the wire encircling the board. Tie one end of the tube closed. Cover plank with a long strip of saran wrap. Make leather mixture and pour along the saran wrap covered plank.  If drying fruit or veggies, place on saran wrap or wax paper covered plank. Start at one end and slowly slip the netting tube around the end of the plank and over the top of the wire. The wire should keep the netting off the leather, and the netting should keep the bugs off. the food. Pull tube so netting is not touching food and tie off other end. In the afternoon, untie one end and check the food for doneness. When done, either roll up one long piece, saran wrap/wax paper and all, or cut into desired lengths and wrap and store.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Pork Won Ton

Ingredients
1 lb. Ground Pork
2 Scallions (green onion) Finely Chopped
8 Water Chestnuts Finely Chopped
1 Chopped Garlic Clove
1/2 Teaspoon Fresh Ground Ginger Root
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 packages of Won Ton Wrappers

Directions

Thoroughly mix all ingredients except the won ton wrappers. Place 1/4 teaspoon of filling in each wrapper.  Follow directions on wrappers for filling, folding, and frying wonton. Makes about 200.

Freeze for Later
These can be fried until almost light golden. Then dried on a paper towel then frozen for future use.
Place in Ziplock bag or freezable container. When ready to cook, place on a cookie sheet (I line mine with cooking parchment paper) and bake at 350 until a rich golden brown.  Serve and Enjoy !!!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Easy Baked Beans

Ingredients:
2 lb. cans pork and beans
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 Teaspoon prepared mustard
4 slices bacon cooked till crisp and crumbled
1/2 cup sauted diced onion

Directions:
Cook bacon until crisp, cool, and crumble. Reserve a few tablespoons of bacon drippings. Saute diced onion in bacon drippings until translucent, drain. Combine all ingredients in a 1 1/2 quart baking dish and mix well. Bake in 325 degree oven for 90 minutes.

Leftover idea: Spoon beans on 1/2 hamburger bun, top with a slice of American or Cheddar cheese. Broil until cheese melts and bubbles. Serve with a tossed salad on the side.