Cheesey Scalloped Potatoes

 

 

 

 

I put some mild blue cheese, about a quarter cup, along with a half cup of smoked gouda cheese, and one cup regular gouda cheese in with the white sauce.  I have to say that this was one of the best batches of scalloped potatoes we've made ever!

 

Dinner 031112

Cuban Black Beans and Rice served with Lime Roasted Pork Loin and Roasted Hatch Chili Pepper and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.

Roasted Lime Pork Loin Roast - seasoned, after searing, with cumin, salt, pepper, and 2 limes.  Roasted in a dutch oven for two hours.

Lime Sauce from the roast.

Roasted Hatch Chili Pepper and Roasted Red Pepper salsa that also has cilantro, sauted onion, garlic and my home canned tomatoes.

Dyeing with Onion Skins

I take my skins cover with water bring to a simmer for about 15 minutes and then allow to sit overnight. Next day I bring to a simmer and let simmer for about an hour before adding my fabrics, fibers, etc. I allow the fibers to simmer for an hour, shut off the heat and allow the dyebath and fabric to sit overnight. This has yeilded me the best color to date that has been quite lightfast.

French Onion Soup

I forgot to put the sherry in the soup - oh well makes it less calories this way ;-) It doesn't look all that appetizing in the pan this way does it? Good thing it tastes much better than it looks.

French Onion Soup

We didn't have any of the fancy cheese so we used the three cheese pizza cheese on top of the soup - it turned out to be a most excellent choice! That's a slice of toasted whole wheat baguette you seen in my bowl.

A close up.

Six pints of French Onion Soup for future dinners~!

Bean Soup

Dh and I made Bean Soup tonight, canned up 14 quarts to be exact. I'm anxious for it to be done as I hear something cracking inside of the canner and I'm worried one of the jars has broke, this could be interesting.
One third cup of beans in the bottom of the jars.

A mix of red beans and kidney beans - I mixed together one pound of each type in a large bowl.

I chopped up two larger onions, they were the size of a large orange.

Place a handful of chopped onion on top of the beans - about a half cups worth.

Looking good!

Cubed pork butt roast and juice.

One half cup of cubed pork plus a little bit extra to make a hearty soup.

Pork, onions, beans , now the jars are ready for the broth.

Plenty of pork juice/broth left over to top off the pork and beans - added flavor.

Jars topped off with broth water mixture the yellowis color is from the ham broth concentrate we added to the jars.

The jars are filled, cleaned, and the lids put in place and are ready to be pressured canned - 10 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes.

Layered Chicken Vegetable Soup

1 Cup Chopped Potato - we used Russets

Fresh Chicken Broth made from cooking the chicken hind quarters.

1/4 Cup Cooked Chicken

1 Cup chopped Carrot.

2/3 Cup. Corn

2 T. Chopped Roma Tomatoes

2/3 Cup Chopped Green Beans

A tablespoon of chopped onion is added to each jar. Dh wanted to know where the garlic was???

Each jar gets half chicken bullion cube which is placed in the jar first on the bottom.

We experimented with the layering trying to find one that was visually pleasing.

In the AA and ready to be pressure canned - 90 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.

Layered Chicken Vegetable Soup Recipe

Wow this is very popular so here is the recipe and the next post will be pics of what we did.

The potatos, carrots, tomatoes, and onions were raw (I soaked the cubed potatoes for four hours with a bit of vinegar) The corn and green beans were frozen.

Amounts are approximations for a quart jar:

1c cubed potatoes
1c sliced/cubed carrot (depended on the diameter of the carrot most ended up cubed)
2/3c corn
2/3c green beans
1/4c cooked chicken meat
T Onion
2T chopped fresh roma tomatoes
1/2 Chicken bullion Cube

Cover with the broth you made when you cooked the chicken meat. PC 90 minutes.

I arranged it in layers so that it would be pretty!Potato, carrot, green bean, chicken, corn, tomato, onion.

Cucumber Salad

Cut one peeled cucumber into quarters and slice thin. Add sliced/minced onion. Mix together with one eight cup of red wine vinegar. Season with salt and pepper mix well and enjoy!