Homemade A1 steak sauce

Homemade A.1. Steak Sauce... from the Duchess of cansalot

1/2 c. cold water
1/4 c. golden raisins
1/2 c. aged balsamic vinegar
1/4 c. worcestershire sauce
1/4 c. ketchup
1/4 c. dijon mustard (don’t substitute or you won’t get the same product)
a pinch of cayenne for some heat
1/4 t. black pepper
1 garlic clove, cut in half
1/2 t. celery seed
1/4 t. salt
1 large orange...Cut the orange in half and cut one of the halves into quarters.
Add all ingredients (except orange) to a medium saucepan. Add two orange segments, squeezing the juices into the pan first. Mix it well.
On low heat simmer sauce for about 15 minutes. You want bubbles just breaking the surface, not a rolling boil or it will get too thick.
After 15 minutes, strain this through a fine mesh strainer. Squeeze out all the juices.
Before you adjust the seasoning, you have to let this cool completely. If you season this hot, it will taste different when it’s cold.
Once it’s cooled, then taste for salt and pepper adjustments.
Makes about 1 3/4 cups

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Homemade Nutella~ yes please

Chocolate Almond Butter


adapted from Silvia's Cucina

1/3 heaping cup of slivered almonds

3 tablespoons oil, I used vegetable

1/2 cup cocoa-I used Hershey's both regular and special dark

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon instant coffee granules (optional but really good in it)

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk



In a food processor or grinder, I have a handy dandy chopper, ground almond slivers to a fine grain. You want it to almost be like a powder. The first batch I made, I didn't grind my almonds fine enough and you could feel the almond granules on your tongue, still tasted good but not smooth.

source:  http://www.chocolatechocolateandmore.com/2012/08/chocolate-almond-butter-or-homemade.html

General Tsao's Sauce

The General sauce is super easy and cheap - just take one cup vegetable or chicken broth, one half cup water, a little ginger, onion, and peppers, and about 6 tbsp soy sauce, mix together, and thicken with cornstarch.
The spicy kind. You can either put whole ones in and let it think about itself in the fridge overnight, or sprinkle in spicy red pepper flakes, or use some cayenne! The nice thing about making it at home is that you can choose how spicy or mild it is. I also use a little more soy sauce than the traditional recipes call for, so you might want to start with 3-4 tbsp of it instead of 6.
Recipe from Allyson Waller

Tammy's enchalada sauce

Homemade Enchilada Sauce
Thu, 2011-12-01 13:25 by Tammy Tags:MiscellaneousRecipe Name:
Homemade Enchilada Sauce
Description:
A smooth, red enchilada sauce that's easy to make and so delicious!

Yield:
5 cups

Ingredients:
3 cups chicken broth, vegetable broth, or even just water
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes*
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/3 cup chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Optional: Cayenne pepper added (to taste) at the end, if you like hot enchilada sauce

Instructions:
1. Place all ingredients into blender** and blend on high until smooth. Pour into a 3- or 4-quart sauce pan. Or, place ingredients into a 4-quart sauce pan (no heat) and blend with an immersion blender (stick blender) until smooth.

2. Heat mixture in sauce pan over medium heat, whisking frequently, until mixture thickens and boils. Let boil for 30 seconds, then remove from heat. Cool. Taste, and whisk in some cayenne pepper if you want a hotter sauce.

Use in any recipe calling for enchilada sauce.

Beef Enchiladas with homemade enchilada sauce

Additional Notes:
*You can use 8 ounces of tomato sauce + 1 cup water instead of the can of diced tomatoes. In that case, skip Step 1, put all ingredients into a 3- or 4-quart pan, and whisk briskly (no heat) until smooth. Then, proceed with Step 2.

**If you have a high-powered blender, like a Vitamix, this recipe can be made start-to-finish in the blender. Just put ingredients in the blender and blend on high until very hot and thick (7-8 minutes).

Preparation Time:
5 minutes

Cooking Time:
15 minutes

Tammy's Review:
This recipe makes a delicious, mild enchilada sauce. (Just add cayenne if you want it hot!) So easy and so much better than canned enchilada sauce from the store.

source: http://tammysrecipes.com/homemade_enchilada_sauce

Apricot Salsa

This is a recipe I got from Debbie Brock. The taste reminded me of mango salsa.

Fresh apricots (chopped fine)
4 oz. red onion
1 oz. olive oil
1 oz. cilantro chopped
1 oz. lime juice
1 oz. lemon juice
2 T. white vinegar
Jalapeno pepper ( seeded and chopped)
1/2 t. lime peel zest
1/2 t. cumin
White pepper to taste. Salt to taste. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir gently. Cover and refrigerate. This sauce is tasty on a grilled chicken breast.

Pizza sauce recipe

I saw on Candy's blog at keeping the home that she did a post on the best pizza ever. I noticed she said she just put pizza seasonings in some tomato sauce for the pizza sauce. I used to do that until a friend gave me this easy recipe. I thought I would share the recipe I now use.
1 small can tomato sauce or tomato paste (if you use paste add a couple of cans of water)
1 T. basil
2 T. Italian seasoning
1 t. beef bullion
1 t. sugar
garlic salt (to taste) we like it so we use more than some will
Place ingredients into a small sauce pan and warm just a bit. Be careful because anything that has tomatoes in it will pop and make a mess.
This recipe is easily doubled, tripled or whatever.

Honey Mustard Recipe

1 C Yellow Mustard
1/2 C Honey (Local Preffered)
1/3 C Garlic in Olive Oil
1 Tsp Sesame Oil
Lagre pinch Salt
1 Tablespoon Grains of Paradise (a fruits peppery like herb )
1 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Chili Pepper
1 1/2 Brown Cane Sugar
1 Tablespoon Onion Flake
Heat and garlic in oil , crush garlic , heat again , strain out garlic (can be kept for-another meal if desires) , that leaves the essence of garlic in the oil , which is what you want. (I do the oil process IN the bowl I will mix the mustard so as to loose as little oil as possible and preserve the flavor. , Mix heat lightly (i microwave) to break up and mix honey and sugar evenly , taste , add honey to desired taste
This recipe was from the Happy Hermit blog, Thanks Happy Hermit.
http://happy-hermit.blogspot.com/2009/12/hermit-honey-mustard.html

Oh wow, make my own honey mustard?

I got a comment from Happy Hermit and so I was at her blog looking around and I came across this recipe. Make your own honey mustard. I am so excited. I just need to figure out what some of the ingredients are, ie grains of Paradise.
http://happy-hermit.blogspot.com/2009/12/hermit-honey-mustard.html
Jeff loves honey mustard so as soon as I figure out what it is and where to get it I will make some. Yumm.

Progress

The turkey and pies are in the ovens. The dressing, sweet potatoes and white potatoes are cooking in crock pots. Mollie is making cheese cake. She needed a can of sweetened condensed milk and we didn't have any because its so expensive. I just made my own. Here's how
In blender.
1/2 c. hot water
1 c. non instant powdered milk or 2 c. powdered milk
1 c. sugar
1 T. butter
Mix in blender, scrape down as needed.
Looks and smells just like the canned, bet it tastes better though.
I have been making my own creamed soups and such and they are so much better.
I make up a batch of magic mix and when I need a cream soup I use that for the base. Its basically a white sauce. I then add celery salt, mushrooms or whatever. Its so much better for you than canned and fresher and yummy to boot. Oh and of course so much cheaper.