Roasted Vegetable Sauce {Fresh from the Garden}

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If your garden is overflowing or your neighbors are begging you to take their extras, then you need to make a batch of Roasted Vegetable Sauce.

It is super easy, unbelievably delicious, yet incredibly cheap if everything is from your garden. You can use tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, onions, celery, carrots, and/or eggplant and fresh herbs. Every tray that you roast will taste different, depending on what vegetables you use. Any combination will do, but I recommend that half of the tray is tomatoes.

This sauce freezes really well in reusable containers. Even if you don't have a garden, take advantage of the local summer produce and MAKE THIS SAUCE!

Roasted Vegetable Sauce

Ingredients

• Assorted fresh summer vegetables, cleaned and roughly chopped (You can use tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, onions, celery, carrots, and/or eggplant. Any combination will do, but I recommend that half of the tray is tomatoes)
• 3 garlic whole cloves
• handful of fresh herbs, such as basil, oregano, thyme
• olive oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Lay the fresh vegetables, garlic, and herbs flat on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill up the baking sheet with the vegetables.

3. Drizzle olive oil to coat all of the vegetables and herbs. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

4. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked through. Carefully remove the pan from the oven because the vegetables get juicy.

One tip for roasting tomatoes: I leave the skins on the tomatoes and I just slice them in half and place on the sheet, cut side down. After roasting, use tongs to peel the skins off easily (see below).

5. Allow the vegetables & herbs to cool completely. Once cool, blend in a food processor. This will take several batches to complete. Place each batch in one large bowl and stir well to combine.

6. Stir the blended tomato sauce well. You might need to add additional salt and pepper to your taste.

7. You can use immediately or freeze in containers. One baking sheet will yield about 5 cups, depending on the vegetables that you use. Use the sauce with your favorite pasta dishes. My kids love it as a dip for bread.

Print recipe for Roasted Vegetable Sauce.

This post is linked to Thrifty Thursday and Fabulously Frugal Thursday.

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How to Make Simple Syrup

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My husband and I drink a lot of iced tea in the summer. I brew tea in the sun several times a week during the hot months, so we always have it on hand.

To sweeten our tea, I make a simple syrup. I like my iced tea a little sweeter and with simple syrup we can each sweeten our tea to our taste.

To add some flavor, I infuse the syrup with herbs from my garden--pineapple sage, lemon verbena, and lavender. The herbal syrup makes iced tea incredibly flavorful and it's so easy to make. My favorite is the lavender.

Use 1-3 teaspoons of the basic recipe or the herbal version per single serving. The syrup is a delicious way to sweeten tea, lemonade, mojitos, and other summertime drinks.

How to Make Simple Syrup (Basic Recipe)

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water

Over medium heat, stir and dissolve sugar in the water in a small saucepan. Once sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and cool. Once cooled, store in the refrigerator. This recipe stores well in an 8 oz jelly jar. You can increase the volume of the syrup, just keep the 1:1 ratio.

How to Make Herbal Simple Syrup

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup packed fresh herb - mint, lavender, lemon verbena, or pineapple sage

Over medium heat on the stove, stir together the water, sugar, and herb in a small saucepan. Once sugar is dissolved, place a lid on the pan and remove from heat to steep for an hour. Allow the syrup to cool and pour through a sieve into the storage container. Store in the refrigerator. This recipe stores well in an 8 oz jelly jar.

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Peach BBQ Sauce

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I like to add in-season fruit to my summer meals, so I added some fresh, ripened peaches to this BBQ sauce and it turned out delicious. This sauce is very versatile--I slathered it on grilled pork chops and chicken and I'm going to make it again for pulled chicken sandwiches.

Peach BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

• ¼ cup molasses
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 cup ketchup
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup mustard
• 2 tablespoons Worcester sauce
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 ripe peaches, peeled & pitted

Instructions

1. Using a food processor, blend all of the ingredients until smooth.

2. Pour into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

Yields about 2 ½ cups.


No HFCS Ketchup! We're big fans of Heinz ketchup...and no, this in not a paid endorsement...we just like it. It's a non-negotiable at our house. Either it's Heinz or the family isn't eating it.

Anyway, did you know Heinz makes a variety that is free of high fructose corn syrup? Look for Simply Heinz in the ketchup aisle.

It still has sugar though, but I can't tell a difference in taste.

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Homemade Taco Seasoning

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Recently, I had a hankering for some tacos. I had all of the ingredients for leftover pork tacos, except for the taco seasoning, a crucial ingredient. What I didn't have a hankering for was to drive to the grocery store for one item.

So I did a quick search and discovered that taco seasoning is really easy to make at home, because the ingredients are most likely staples in your spice cabinet. It's also easy to adapt to your family's taste, heat tolerance, and what you have on hand. Try this recipe and once you have perfected it to your family's taste, make it in bulk and store in a air tight container.

Store bought taco seasoning isn't too outrageously priced at .50 - $1, but I made this recipe in bulk for zero cents, because I had all of the ingredients on hand. Another reason to make your own blend is that you are avoiding the fillers and preservatives found in store bought versions.

Homemade Taco Seasoning

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon sea or kosher salt - Use ⅛ teaspoon if using table salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ - ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes - optional, depending on your heat tolerance

Mix together and use in place of store bought taco seasoning with 1 pound of meat and ⅔ cup of water or stock.

You may add 1 teaspoon corn starch or flour to thicken the dish, but it’s not necessary.

If making in bulk, use 3 tablespoons per 1 pound of meat.

Print recipe for Homemade Taco Seasoning. Also, try my Homemade Fajita Seasoning.

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This post is linked to Saturday Sharefest.

Homemade Fajita Seasoning

We love chicken fajitas. In fact we order them quite a bit when we are dining out at our favorite Mexican restaurant. As I was planning some grilling recipes for the summer, I came up with the idea of making Grilled Chicken Fajitas. We can now eat fajitas in the summer at home and I don't have to stand by my hot stove to do so.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a fajita seasoning packet on hand, so I searched online and found a homemade recipe at Food.com that I used as a guide. I altered it a bit, because there were some ingredients that I didn't have any on hand. The result--my family loved it.

Homemade Fajita Seasoning
makes approximately 2 tablespoon or 1 packet

• 2 teaspoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne (optional)

This recipe is very easy to double, triple, or quadruple so that you have it on hand when you need it. Reuse an empty seasoning or herb container for storage. Remove the old label and clean and dry the container well.


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Fresh Basil Walnut Pesto

My basil plant was beginning to get out of hand.


I needed to get cracking on using it up. I knew the pesto would do the trick. It takes a lot of basil leaves to pack into 2 cups.

I mixed this pesto in with some pasta and served with grilled chicken. It was a wonderful summertime meal. The pesto would also go well with a round of homemade artisan bread. Just me, the bread and the pesto, but I think my family would get upset if I didn't share.

Fresh Basil Walnut Pesto

• 2 cups packed fresh basil
• 3 garlic cloves
• ⅓ cup walnuts
• ⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp each of salt and ground pepper, or to your taste
• ½ cup 3 cheese blend of Parmesan, Asiago and Romano. I like to buy the blend that my store offers, but you could also just use any one of these cheeses.

Place basil, garlic, walnuts, salt and pepper in a food processor. Turn on your food processor and start to slowly stream in the olive oil, stopping periodically to scrape the pesto down from the sides of the processor.

Add cheese and pulse a few times to mix well.

I used this entire batch right away by mixing in to pasta. If you want to freeze the pesto for future use, omit the cheese and place in freezer container. When ready to use, thaw the pesto and mix cheese in to the pesto.

Print recipe for Basil Walnut Pesto.

Have you made anything from your herb garden yet this year? Let us know in the comments.


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This post is linked to Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

Roasted Red Plum Tomato Sauce ~ Great Freezer Recipe

What does a girl do with 19 pounds of organic plum tomatoes that she bought for $6?

Make sauce!

Two weeks ago, at the picnic/potluck that our CSA hosts annually, they offered boxes of organic plum tomatoes for $6. I couldn't pass it up and next year I will buy two boxes.

Roasted Red Plum Tomato Sauce

1. I sliced the tomatoes in half lengthwise and laid them flat, filling a rimmed baking sheet. I only have 2 baking sheets and I had to do this in two batches.

You don't need 19 lbs of tomatoes to make this sauce, just enough to fill a tray or two.

2. On each sheet I added:

• 1/4 C fresh oregano leaves
• 1/4 C fresh basil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cracked pepper
• 2-3 garlic cloves

3. Coat the tomatoes generously with olive oil.


4. Roast two trays at a time at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Shift the trays. Move the top tray to the bottom and bottom tray to top. Roast another 30 minutes.

5. Carefully remove from the oven, because the tomatoes get juicy. Allow the tomatoes to cool slightly. With a pair of tongs, you should be able to remove the skins. Get as much as you can, but it is okay if some skins remain.

6. Once completely cool, blend the tomatoes, herbs and oil from the trays in the food processor. This will definitely take several batches to do. Place each batch in a big bowl to combine.

7. Stir the blended tomato sauce well. You might need to add additional salt and pepper to your taste.

8. You can use immediately or freeze in containers. I was able to make between 7-8 quarts from that 19 lb. box.

Did you make tomato sauce this season?

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This post is linked to:

• $5 Dinner Challenge
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
• Frugal Friday at Life as MOM