Home Cooking Gourmet

I was making zucchini bread last night when I discovered there was no applesauce in the house. Luckily, a few days before, my sister in law brought over a bag of freshly picked apples. I’m not sure of the type but they looked liked Granny Smith but were not tart. Apples + cook = homemade applesauce.

The applesauce turned out better than I expected. And it was so easy to make. If we decide to pick apples this fall you can bet I’ll can several in the form of applesauce.

dougthecook

In the spirit of finding the best pizza sauce I tried adding a Rotel tomato look-alike to the sauce. The results were not as good as I expected. The extra heat was pleasant but the pizza-like taste was thrown off. Oh well, it took Edison a long time of experimentation to create the light bulb.

Doug

I made Salmon with Tomatoes and Capers last night using tomatoes (Big Boy) out of our garden. The tomato skin was removed along with the core. Tasted much better than using canned tomatoes. The simmering took almost 30 minutes to complete.

We had two fillets of salmon: one farm-raised and one wild. The farm-raised salmon lacked in taste…dramatically. I highly recommend wild salmon over farm-raised. Wild salmon has much more omega 3 fatty acids which are very good for you.

doug the cook

I added zucchini to the fruits and vegetables: pick, ripen, store web page. Zucchini is coming in from our garden and showing up in the grocery stores so this is a timely addition.

Doug

We had a very tasty salmon dinner last night. A nice Italian Chianti paired well with the salmon. The acidity of the sauce is muted by a touch of sugar (or sugar substitute). Capers go well with salmon, too, so they were included in the sauce. Overall, a very enjoyable night.

Doug

The other day we purchased several nectarines from our local grocer. Never being much of a fruit eater, I was skeptical; probably a bad childhood experience. Anyway, after washing them and cutting them up it was time to eat them (it is ok to eat the skin but not the seed). All I can say is…delicious! They were heavenly.

I tried them in cereal and vanilla yogurt. A nice and healthy enhancement. Here is how to pick out summer fruits like nectarines.

Having a lot of V8 juice sitting around, I added 1/2 cup to the already great tasting pizza sauce recipe. The V8 juice added a nice dimension to the sauce. This addition is worth pursuing.

Doug

I am always reluctant to put the word “healthy” in a title because it turns so many people off. It congers up tasteless, weird-looking stuff. So be it. I manage to cook for a wide variety of tastes, including the ones that sneer at health nut food (but they like the meal). So, while my meals are healthy, or at least not detrimental, I do not generally include THE word in the recipe. Today is an exception because it involves yogurt.

Today’s tasty snack is vanilla (or your favorite flavor) yogurt sprinkled with flax seeds. The seeds add a nutty taste and the yogurt adds a digestive aid wonder…and tastes good, too.

Doug

I started to put together the dougthecook homemade pizza sauce when it came to me. The sauce is slightly tangy so I added 1/4 of a carrot, minced. The improvement was pleasant indeed. The carrot adds a slight sweetness but does not have any carrot taste whatsoever. Secret ingredient?

dtc

I just made another batch of vegetable-beef soup. This time I had extra V8 juice and added 1/4 cup. This was just the right mix. Too much and the soup would have been overpowered by it.

I also added 3/4 cup of quick barley about 20 minutes before the soup was done. This brings out the meat flavor of the soup. Definitely a keeper.

I ate 5 cups of soup right after it was done. Yumm.

dtc