A few of the onions are purchased, but everything else is home grown.  Isn't that awesome?  All the fixings for salsa, right in the backyard. (Well, my aunt's backyard...)

Printable Recipe

4-5 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite-size chunks
1-2 pkgs frozen broccoli/cauliflower blend, parboil for 1 minute and drain
3 cans cream of chicken soup
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3/4 t. curry

Mix vegetables with soup, mayonnaise, and curry. Add chicken pieces, mix well. Dump into a 9 x 13 pan.

Top with the following:
1/2 c. melted butter
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
2 c. bread crumbs

Mix together and spread over the top of the casserole. Bake at 350 for about 35-40 minutes or until bubbly.

Printable Recipe

4 qts. tomatoes, skinned
2 1/2 cups chopped onions
1 1/2 cups chopped green peppers
3/4 cup chopped green Anaheim chiles (I use a mix of Anaheim/Poblano/those skinny ones)
2 t. salt (be cautious)
2 T. paprika
2 T. garlic powder
5 T. lemon juice
2 T. seasoned salt
jalapeno peppers, chopped to taste (remove seeds, if desired)

Mix it together and cook for ~2 hours at a low boil. Stir to prevent scalding.

Prepare pint jars for canning. Ladle hot salsa into jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Process in boiling water canner for 15 minutes.

Makes 8 to 10 pints of salsa.

Holly's Note:
Obviously you need to adjust this to your own personal tastes.  I've gotten to the point where I don't really measure spices or peppers any more.  I don't even take out a lot of seeds.  If I'm making it for my aunt and uncle, I leave in every last seed and put in every possible pepper!

Add some tomato paste if you think it's too spicy. 

I'm not going to do a canning tutorial here. Check out this site or others for information on how to can.

Printable Recipe

2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
2 cups of frozen veggies (whatever you like, broccoli, corn, peas, carrots, mix them all together), parboiled for one minute
1 cup of cooked noodles
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of mayonnaise
2 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 can mushrooms, drained
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 t. season salt
2 eggs, beaten
4 t. minced onion

Mix it all together and put in a 9 x 13 pan. Top with crumbled crackers (any kind will do, we like Ritz). Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Holly’s Note:
This is one recipe that a dear friend brought to us when I was on bed rest during one of my pregnancies. It’s good, easy and freezes well.

Printable Recipe

1 1/2 lb. pork tenderloin
6-8 carrots
16-20 new potatoes, cut in half
1 medium onion, cut into wedges
1 T. olive oil
2 t. rosemary
1 t. sage

Place pork and vegetables in a greased pan. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with herbs and some pepper.

Bake at 450 for 30-40 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 165.

One of my favorite things to do is freeze food: especially vegetables. I use celery in cooking, but a full bunch of celery will go bad in my fridge before it gets used. I bought celery on sale the other day at Albertsons: 10 for $10. I chopped up every bunch of celery, very fine, and put it in freezer bags. I flatten the bags as I lay them in my freezer. Once they are frozen, I can just go in and break off pieces of celery. You can thaw them for about 30 seconds in the microwave if you want, or they can be added to your dish as is.

I do the same thing for onions and carrots. Not having to chop something is a big time saver. And, if they are flat and thin, breaking off chunks is easy.

And, while I always have an onion or two on hand, I usually chop up an entire bag at one time. If I'm going to cry and smell like onion, I might as well do it all at once.

I use a mixture of celery, onion and carrots in several of my recipes. We call it the Holy Trinity of cooking. Having it all already chopped up saves so much time while cooking.

I also do this for bacon. I use bacon in my cooking, and so I'll buy 2 or 3 packages of bacon at once, while it's on sale. I chop it into pieces and then cook it all. After I drain it, I put it in freezer bags and freeze. When I need some bacon, I can just pull out what I need and put the rest back. Again, not having to fry up some bacon is a real time saver.

You can use a foodsaver, which I recommend for the bacon, but for the veggies, I've found that freezer bags work just as well. If a little ice develops on them, it hasn't affected the flavor.

Printable Recipe

2 bunches broccoli (parboiled for 1 minute)
1 small red onion, chopped
1 c. sunflower seeds
½ c. raisins
12 slices bacon, cooked and diced

Mix together:
1 c. mayonnaise
½ c. sugar
2 T. white vinegar

Toss the sauce with the rest of the salad. Chill and serve.

Holly’s Note:
I hate this salad. It absolutely repulses me. But, Alan loves it and so does much of the rest of the extended family. Somehow it fell to me to be the one to always make it. This and the baked beans. They are the recipes that I am asked to bring to family gatherings. The beans I can handle. The salad I do because I love everyone else!

I love the vibrant colors that we find in nature, and in cooking.

I was chopping peppers for Teriyaki Chicken and Sauteed Pepper and Mushrooms and they were just so pretty, I had to take a photo!

1 cup soy sauce (I use low sodium)
1 cup water
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 2-inch piece of ginger root, scored
4 Tablespoons Mirin (cooking rice wine)
2 lbs chicken thighs (or cut up breasts, whatever, it works better with smaller pieces)

Mix everything together except chicken. Bring it to a boil. Add chicken pieces. Turn down the heat and simmer for ~30-45 minutes (or until chicken is done). Serve over steamed rice, with the following:

Sauteed Peppers and Mushrooms

Slice up some red, yellow, green and orange peppers.
Slice up a bunch of fresh mushrooms.
Saute them in some olive oil, with a minced garlic clove until tender, but still slightly crisp.

Holly’s Note:
We serve this often. It's super easy (especially with a rice cooker) and I always have the ingredients on hand. The vegetables really make the meal. The sauce can be frozen, and it's great as leftovers. It works well in the crock pot too.

2 1/4 pounds red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), peeled, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces (about 7 cups)
6 T (3/4 stick) butter
3 T honey
1 t. fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Arrange sweet potatoes in 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish. Melt butter, honey, and lemon juice together over medium heat until smooth. Pour butter mixture over sweet potatoes; toss to coat. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Bake sweet potatoes until tender when pierced with skewer, stirring and turning occasionally, about 50 minutes.

Holly's Note:
My girlfriend sent me this recipe from Epicurious. Normally I hate mushy sweet potato casserole like you get at Christmas and Thanksgiving. But, she swears by this way of cooking sweet potatoes, and as I'm really wanting to venture out in my vegetable cooking, I am going to try this. Perhaps putting it on my blog will push me to actually do so. If you try it first, leave a comment!