Zucchini Relish

From Darlene Fuhriman, my Mother-in-Law


5 large zucchini
3 red peppers
3 green peppers
5 large onions
1/2 cup salt
1 tsp alum

Grind or shred the vegetables. Add the salt and alum. Cover and let set over night.

5 cups vinegar
5 cups sugar
2 tbls each mustard seed and celery seed
1 tbls tumeric

Mix in a large pot and bring to a boil. Squeeze the water out of the shredded vegetables. Add them to the liquid. Simmer for 20 minutes. Pour in hot jars and process (at sea level) for 10 minutes. Adjust for your altitude.

Notes: I have a large, fine mesh bag to hold my shredded veggies in. You can use a cheesecloth lined colander (or two) and use the cheesecloth to squeeze the liquid out. If you have a grinder or shredder attachment to a mixer, it works quite well for this recipe.

If you are wondering, "What will I use this on?" you are not alone. It is a phenomenal relish for burgers and hot dogs. It's even better with grilled steak and chicken. Just a blop on the side of roast beef is great, too.

But my absolute favorite use? Take a couple good quality hot dogs. Split them open and pan fry. Put them on a good toasted wheat bread with mayo, mustard, ketchup and zucchini relish. This is an amazing hot dog sandwich. If I ever opened a restaurant, I would put this on the menu. It is that good.

Enjoy!

Mushroom/Onion Soup

onion

garlic

mushrooms

Slice the onions (I used 1 HUGE onion), saute with olive oil and garlic (a few cloves). Make sure to cook the onions well. Too little sauteeing equals almost crunchy soup.

Chop mushrooms. I used baby portabello and white button. Pictured below isn't even half of what went in the pot. Probably a pound and a half total. I bought the mushrooms at Costco and they come in about 24 oz containers I think. Over half of each kind went in.

Add mushrooms to onion and garlic and cook until you just want to eat it all right now.

Now for the soup part. I use beef base. 4 tbs for 1 quartish of water (or there abouts). You can use beef bouillion or beef stock. The beef base stinks but ends up making everything taste great.

Let cook. If you use a crock pot, low 5-6 hours. On the stove top, maybe an hour. It does need some time to let all the flavors come together completely.

I have found having a good ciabatta bread sliced or diced in the freezer makes croutons and crisps dang easy. Top slices with provolone cheese. Pop in oven at 400 degrees and bake until cheese starts to bubble and brown.

This is an amazing soup. Hearty and with a very meaty, toothsome quality that I love. I didn't even miss chunks or slabs of meat. The mushrooms give a great texture. Hubby thinks it tastes like French Onion Soup with mushrooms. Sonny thinks it much better than French Onion Soup. I just love it.

(The recipe this came from is as follows: 2 tbl olive oil, 2 large vidalia onions chopped, 1 pack each-10 oz each- cremini and button mushrooms, salt and pepper, 2 tbl butter, 6-10 cloves garlic chopped, 2 tbl sherry, 4 c beef stock)

(original recipe from Crock-Pot Slow Cooker Recipes)

Jiffy Lemon Cake

from my Grandma Carter

1 pkg cake mix, white or yellow
3 oz lemon jello
3/4 c oil
3/4 c hot water
4 eggs

Combine and mix first four ingredients. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Bake 350 for 35-40 minutes.Remove from oven and with dinner fork punch holes in cake approx. 1 1/2 inches apart over entire surface. Then with spoon, spread glaze over entire surface of cake. By not pouring on too much at a time, the cake will absorb the entire frosting. Serve warm or cold, with or without whipped cream.

Glaze

6 tbs lemon juice
1 1/2 c powdered sugar

Mix well.


~notes~
From Grandma- I prefer to add at least 2 tbs grated lemon rind to the frosting. I also add fresh grated lemon rind at the very end of the cake mixing and fold it in before pouring batter into pan, about 2 tbs. I also add a dash of mace to this batter.

From Janelle- This is a very quick a easy cake. I serve cold and without whipped cream. Very tasty and fairly impressive in its simplicity.