The Phoenix Rises

After over two years, I have returned.

Squash and Celery Slaw

 Fresh vegetables  are good for you but it's not good to leave them  too long.

This all began when I was baffled as to what to do with leftover celery and squash. Once again, stalking the NET, I came across celery slaw. Since I didn't follow their recipe exactly, I won't put a link to it. I'm  not sure what defines a dish as slaw or salad but I'm  guessing the slaw is shredded.

Sure I could look it up but I'd rather fly by the seat of my pants.
I washed and  scooped out the seeds of  four squash.

Seeded raw squash



Pulp/seeds from squash that I'll use in something else.
 HEY! I had to pay for it. Nothing's going to waste.



Here I've julienned the squash into fine slices.

The Loosely Pulled Together Recipe

Combined  about two cups of  julienned squash with one cup of chopped celery.

Mixed in  two tablespoons of  dried cranberries and two tablespoons of sour cream, salt and pepper to taste. 

NOTE: Since I failed to take a photo of celery and squash slaw, this photo is of  one I did without the celery.

All in all it was refreshing, different and tasty.

But Wait---There's More...

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Celery for Fun

I'd read  somewhere that celery could be regrown from  it's base by putting it in water and then soil, allowing it to resprout from the center into a new stalk.

Here We Go Again- More TOMATOES

TOMATOES JAMMIN'

There's nothing like the taste of fresh produce.  I usually get mine at markets that cater to fresh, usually a local Farmer's Market .


 My neighbor gave me a bag of  fresh yellow squash. Also in the bag was a large green tomato. Since my experience cooking fried green tomatoes has not been to my liking I searched for another use for the green tomato. Since I like to try the strange and quirky (tomato ice cream * see post below this one) I found a recipe for Easy Green Tomato Jam.  Easy  was the deciding feature for me.

After chopping and measuring my tomato, I was ¾ of a cup shy of the two cups called for in the recipe. I searched online again to see if there was a recipe that encompassed red and green tomatoes. I came across another recipe for Red Tomato Jam that was almost identical the Green Tomato Jam recipe.
I found my recipes at  Cooks.com


Easy Green Tomato Jam


2 cups chopped green tomatoes and juice (I used a mixture of red and green tomatoes)

2 cups sugar

1 (3oz.) box strawberry jello ( I used mango flavored Jello)

Boil tomatoes and sugar about 12 minutes.

Remove from heat and add Jello. Mix well, untill Jello is melted. Put in ½ pint jars and refrigerate.

One of the good things about this recipe is that it's refrigerated and since I'm making a small quantity there's no need to sterilize the jars nor process the jars in a water bath after they've been filled. Other recipes however did indicate taking the product through the canning method if you're planning to store them for a time.

Tomatoes and sugar cooking.

Adding the mango Jello to tomatoes and sugar mixture.

Sterilized pint jars filled with tomato jam. Leave some head space.

Jarred tomato jam  with lids. Will place in fridge to set/congeal. Since this is a refrigerator jam  and there are only two pints a water bath to seal is not necessary.

The final product after a short period of allowing it to congeal a little. (I was anxious to taste it) I have it paired with toasted tortillas that I have broken  into manageable pieces.   I rarely eat sliced bread and cornbread and the tortillas were in the freezer left from an earlier cooking project.
It was very sweet. Too sweet for my taste. The jam  became firmer by the next day. I have paired the jam  with cooked greens and some baked  meats.    The sweetness wasn't as evident this way and was more palatable.
THAT'S  IT***