Frugal Gravy

First Time Making Hot Sauce out of Dried Chile’s

leasmom — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:53:05 +0000

The other day I was watching the Food Network with the show Heat Seekers and I was thinking, I haven’t made hot sauce in absolute years. I used to collect hot sauces. The ones I remember the best were Dave’s Insanity Sauce when it had just come out after being banned from the hot sauce competition, one called Liquid Stoopid and this Jamacian Hot Sauce that was made with Scotch Bonnett peppers. I ended up having my gall bladder taken out because of it and I still ate it-LOL. Well, not since I grew some Cayenne’s and Habanero’s which was absolutely years ago did I attempt to make hot sauce, so I decided to try it-lol.

So, I had pickled Serrano’s from my garden and dried ones and so with the dried ones I soaked them and I didn’t realize at first that I would have to soak them for hours. The pickled ones in my fridge of course were easier but I removed them from the brine and took off the tops. I saved all of the tops from both dried and fresh and then dried them in the oven for a few hours on low to use as a natural dog barrier with my neighbor this spring/summer. Anyway, after finally soaking them overnight, I used a hand blender and added a little vinegar, a little water, some garlic/onion powder and bottled mustard because the Jamacian one I had made with Scotch Bonnett’s had mustard in it and I thought it would add a little more flavor to it. This wasn’t a recipe, I just added a little of this and that. And what I have after grinding it down is a nice hot sauce with still tiny chunks of peppers and good flavor. I can add it to anything and that’s great.

After looking at the seed catalogs that have been sent to me, I think I’m gonna invest in the ghost pepper and a few other peppers and experiment on making some hot sauces again. I was disappointed that most of my neighbor’s and other’s I knew did not like hot peppers. I LOVE THEM and so this will be a way for me to use them and I will still dry some. But next time you have some hot peppers, think about making your own hot sauce too.

Pork with leftover Tomato Gravy over Rice

leasmom — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 22:59:02 +0000

Well, that Southern tomato Gravy worked out perfectly for both my daughter Lea and myself and solved our problem of both needing something different to go over meatloaf. Because there’s only two of us, I had leftover gravy and so what I did was pulled out some leftover cooked pork-(the pernil from Christmas)-and cut it into slices. I then added a little water and some other spices to the gravy and let it cook down. I then served it over rice. Lea got 2 helpings!!!

Meatloaf with a Southern Style Rich Tomato Gravy

leasmom — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:07:51 +0000

You can tell the difference between myself and my two neighbor’s who are both in their 60′s. Not only is there an age difference but there’s a cultural difference as well. They are very much into soups during the winter, while for me it’s meat, beans and rice dishes. Even as a kid the few dishes we ate that were soups were homemade or canned chicken and noodle soup and Chili during the winter. The rest of time we had beans, meat…lots of cornbread patties and lots of rice dishes.

So, with winter here my tastes of course go to those type of dishes. Winter as a kid would mean that my mom would make these mini meatloaf-patties that she would cook down in a gravy. The rest of the time she made meatloaf using ketchup. I absolutely love meatloaf with gravy but my now 15 yr old daughter Lea loves it with ketchup and so for a few years I’ve made it just with ketchup though I personally am not that fond of ketchup on it. So, I saw something on t.v. the other day that has gotten my mind swirling a bit and that was a Brown Gravy using tomato sauce.

Now, I’ve heard of Tomato Gravy but I’ve never tasted or seen it in person before making this recipe. I know it’s a southern staple and a lot of people eat it quite frequently. I’ve lived in Tennessee and traveled throughout the south and every cookbook I’ve ever read on southern food always talks about Tomato Gravy. What I saw was the show Diner’s, Drive-In’s and Dives with host Guy Fieri on The Food Network, which is a show I love, was a guy taking chicken bones and placing it into a pan with water and baking it in the oven. Then he added tomato sauce, and let it cook down even further and then he strained all the bones off and what he had been a rich dark stock. Then he heated it up on the stove and added a slurry-(flour and water mixture mixed together until smooth to thicken up the gravy) and when it was nice and boiling, he added the slurry and thickened it up. He didn’t use any other spices and he used this gravy for EVERYTHING…meatloaf, chicken etc.

Well, I figured this would be my solution to our meatloaf problem, my need for gravy and my daughter’s tomato ketchup need. But I needed to do it where it was quick and it would be something I would repeat because lord knows roasting bones for hours is NOT something I would do every time to make gravy for meatloaf. So, I have to go back to making a roux…and using the tomato sauce with seasonings to make the gravy, but I want a richer looking gravy than the usual pasty tomato gravies I’ve seen online which are a sickly red. I want it like in that episode in which it was rich and colorful. The tomato was an accent flavor but still having a good gravy taste and consistency. I also don’t want it thick either, I wanted it thinner and smoother than the recipes I’ve found which means it will need more water than other gravy recipes. And so after looking up recipes and comparing them, I now know two things…It needs to be a really good gravy and it needs to have a mild tomato flavor. So, here’s my recipe:

Southern Style Tomato Gravy

Meat Drippings-bacon, chicken, beef, sausage etc.

Onions, chopped small

4 cups of water

4 to 5 tablespoons of flour

1/4 cup butter

1 cup of tomato sauce

Onion Powder, to taste

Garlic Powder, to taste

Salt/Pepper, to taste

In a pan, saute onion in pan with meat drippings and butter. Add 4 to 5 tbsp’s of flour and fry until brown. Add a small amount of the water and stir and let fry some more. Add rest of water, stirring constantly so there’s no clumps. Add 1 cup of tomato sauce and stir. It will look like tomato soup. Add some of the spices to taste. Bring to boil, stirring constantly and then turn down to simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust the seasonings and let sit to rest. It will be a thinner gravy just like brown gravy. Serve over your favorite meatloaf…Enjoy!!!

Happy New Years!

leasmom — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:29:35 +0000

I hope the new year will bring joy and prosperity to all! So, I’m bringing in the new year with a new look for the blog. Hope you like it. Happy New Years!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

leasmom — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 18:49:26 +0000

Hope everyone is having a Wonderful Holiday!!!!

From Scratch Cinnamon Rolls for Christmas Morning…Its a caramel and walnut cinnamon roll with a caramel glaze.

Fresh from the oven, homemade Christmas Day cinnamon rolls…

My Photo of My Version of Dorcas Fruitcake. I made one for us and one for a neighbor.

Chocolate Mint Cookies.

My version of Dorcas Annette Walker’s Ole Fashion Fruit Cake

leasmom — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 01:01:01 +0000

I’ve made this fruitcake the last few years and it has to be the best recipe I’ve come across thats why I keep recommending it. Its from Creative Tennessee Mountain Cooking from Dorcas Annette Walker:

http://dorcasannettewalker.blogspot.com/2008/12/ole-fashion-fruit-cake.html

Ole Fashion Fruit Cake

In a large mixing bowl cream together:

1 c shortening
1 c brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tb vanilla

Add:

2 lb candied mixed fruit
1 lb candied cherries
½ lb chopped pecans or walnuts

Soaked fruit and nuts into 1 cup brandy/bourbon/rum overnight.

Then stir in 2 c self-rising flour and mix until all the ingredients are blended. Pour batter into a 9 x 12 baking dish lined with wax paper. Bake at 350º for one hour. While still hot prepare glaze and pour over cake. Cool and store in an enclosed container!

Glaze:

Bourbon, Brandy or Rum

Corn Syrup

I glazed it with a mixture of corn syrup and a tiny amount of (bourbon/rum/or brandy) after it had cooled.

Dorcas recipe has no alcohol but my version does. You can use orange juice like she originally does instead.

This year is going to be interesting because I used brandy and mixed it with white rum so this should be interesting-lol.

Quickest Potluck Potatoes Ever

leasmom — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:23:14 +0000

I can’t believe its been since before Thanksgiving since I posted. I have been busy with my art work. I have several pieces at a downtown gallery, I have one in the museum on temporary exhibit starting tomorrow, and I just had two in another gallery and I had a failed Craft Fair I was preparing for.

But I have to tell this story in order to pass on the simplest potato recipe ever…you probably know it, done it, but I never have. So I had in my mine for a potluck that I had to attend for Lea’s cross country event, to bring a Green Pea Salad…now its something I’ve only seen down south. Its so good…Typically you use Frozen Green Pea’s, mixed with mayo, ranch dressing, bacon bits and shredded cheddar and chill. Well, when I whipped it up, it did not look so good…maybe it was because I used canned peas. But it looked really…ugh. So, I had to come up with something fast…so having some cheese left, and bacon bits, I decided to make potatoes. I boiled them and then drained and cut them into halves, taking off most of the skins. I then tossed it with oil and a little Lawrey’s seasoning salt, and roasted it for 20 minutes and then I put cheese on it and bacon bits, then mixed it up and topped it with more cheese and bacon bits. One of the fellow parents’ kid got 2 helpings…it was like eating a baked potato.

Well, since its almost Christmas and my Art insanity is almost done… until after the holidays…I’m gonna concentrate on baking. I have the Fruitcake recipe that I used for two years from a woman in Tennessee’s blog, and something new since I no longer do the whole cookie insanity, I will have to make a few cookies for Lea because cookies or homemade baked goods are what she uses for gifts. So, my neighbor gave me some Creme de Mint liquor and we have some chocolate candy so I’m gonna make some Mint Chocolate cookies. I also need to get ready for our Cinnamon Rolls for Christmas morning and like last year, I’m making a traditional Puerto Rican Christmas dinner but this year I’m doing something new…I’m making Pasteles which are traditionally served for Christmas. There’s several versions of Pasteles but the one I’m making is gonna have rice in it and chicken. So, all of that is to come…

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

leasmom — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:36:26 +0000

I have taken several days to break up my Thanksgiving work. Sunday I made the sweet potato pies, the fried apples, cooked and separated the ham into freezer bags, made the cornbread and crumbled it for the dressing and sauteed the veggies for the dressing which I froze along with the apples, pies and ham. Yesterday I unthawed the turkey and seasoned it so its marinating with sage, poultry seasoning, celery seed, salt and pepper and oil. I also made the Coquito so it could get nice and cold. Today I made the mac-n-cheese, the dressing, and the cranberry sauce. All I have left to do tomorrow is bake the turkey, dress up the ham with mustard, nutmeg and brown sugar, and reheat that and make the green beans and warm up the rolls and everything else is done.

I hope everyone has a great holiday!!!

Peach Breakfast Crumble Recipe

leasmom — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:29:31 +0000

Lea’s band season is over. Last night was the Banquet for all the kids and parents and while sitting down a parent gave me a great compliment on a dish that I whipped up so quickly like at 11 pm so that Lea could take it the next morning to a breakfast for the band. Well, the person that was supposed to host the breakfast decided last minute that they weren’t gonna do it so this parent was going to feed her own daughter before they went off on a trip and so our banana bread and this peach crumble was added to this parent’s breakfast, of course with them feeding Lea as well. She said that it was so delicious and it had to be memorable because that was like a month before. I asked Lea about the dish and she said that she ate so much of it that morning that she had to push herself from the table.

And what it was…is that I had made the banana bread and I looked at it and thought, this isn’t enough for all the people I was supposed to feed, so I looked around and couldn’t find anything to make something interesting except one thing…something I normally avoid like the plague…canned peach fruit pie topping. You know the stuff with so much corn starch in it and no flavor or taste. When I opened the can, I was horrified at the taste, but I decided to fix it up. I found a crumb recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks and when it came out, it was so good, I couldn’t believe it myself. So here’s the recipe that I almost forgot about but this parent reminded me of it last night:

Peach Breakfast Crumble

1 can of Peach Pie Filling without most of the cornstarch filling

1 cup or more White Sugar to taste

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp. vanilla

Ground Ginger to taste

CRUMBLE:

1/2 cup white or brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup whole or old fashioned oats

1/2 melted stick of margarine or butter

Pour pie filling into a bowl and try to separate most of the filling from the fruit.Discard excessive filling. Chop up the fruit into small pieces. In a saucepan, melt butter, add fruit, vanilla and a few sprinkles of ginger. Stir and let simmer until mixture is hot and slightly thickened about 10 minutes. Pour into a buttered pie pan. In a bowl, mix together the crumble and sprinkle generously over the top of the peach mixture. Bake in oven until its brown and bubbly about 30 to 45 minutes. Can be served hot or cold.

Needed a quick bread pudding recipe

leasmom — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 20:07:55 +0000

I had surgery nearly a week ago, it was two surgeries in one and so I’ve been trying to heal. Fortunately my mother and neighbor’s made enough food so I don’t have to cook but then I found out that Lea’s school band reception was coming up and its a potluck. Well, I am not in the mood to cook really. But I don’t want to show up with something store-bought, and with all the bread I have in my freezer, a bread pudding is the logical solution. Of course it has to be extremely simple. So I found this recipe that Id like to share…

Bread Pudding II

found on Allrecipes.com

Rated:

Submitted By: ELLENMARIE

Photo By: raha

Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Cook Time: 45 Minutes

Ready In: 1 Hour 15 Minutes

Servings: 12

“This lightly spiced, extra thick bread pudding really hits home. We suggest using a rich egg bread or a moist white loaf in this recipe”

Ingredients:

6 slices day-old bread

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups milk

3/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.	Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. If desired, sprinkle with raisins.
3.	In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.
4.	Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.***UPDATE: I made this yesterday and it came out so well that I made one for Lea and myself. It was really good. This is the first time I’ve liked bread pudding. Lea unknowingly got some at the potluck we were going too. And she ate it first and didn’t realize it until we got home and I showed her the bread pudding. Other than that, she had no clue. I did one thing different than the recipe, and that’s when it came out. I poured more melted butter on top and added a sprinkle more of sugar. I also added almost 2 tsp’s of vanilla to the milk/egg mixture instead of the 1 tsp. it asked for. But this was excellent!!!!