Journal Entry 172

Hey Jessi, I found a really easy cream soup recipe. It tends to be a little thicker than canned soup. It is 2 Tbsp. butter, 2 Tbsp. flour, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1 cup milk. Melt butter. Sprinkle flour over it and stir. Cook over medium heat for two minutes stirring constantly. Slowly whisk in milk. Then, for the different types of cream soup, you can add to that basic recipe. For cream of chicken, use half chicken broth and half milk. For cream of mushroom, saute 1/4 c. mushrooms in butter before adding flour.

I tried making mayonnaise, but it didn't turn out right. I think I added the oil too fast or something.

As far as the tomato sauce goes, I just use canned tomatoes when I can't find the sauce. I puree it and cook it down a little. I have a big pressure cooker. I found recipes for canned tomato sauce and salsa, but I have not tried them yet. I canned tomatoes once. The tomatoes are so small here that it took a lot of tomatoes just to get enough for eight quart jars! That discouraged me from trying anything else with tomatoes. But, next time, we are going to buy a whole box of tomatoes from the market. I will have plenty for experimenting!

I do have a recipe for Taco Bell Sauce that I use instead of salsa sometimes. I usually freeze some of it because it makes quite a bit.
6 oz. tomato paste
3 c. water
2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
2 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cornstarch
2 tsp. white vinegar
1 Tbsp. minced dried onion
2 Tbsp. canned jalapeno slices
(I am more of a mild sauce person; I usually don't use as much chili powder as it calls for, and you can do it without the jalapeno slices if they are not available.)
Combine tomato paste and water over medium heat until smooth. Add seasonings and onion. Chop the jalapeno slices very fine and add to mixture. Heat to boiling. Continue to stir for three minutes. Remove from heat. Let the sauce stand until cool. Then, put in a tightly sealed container and refrigerate (or freeze). It will keep in the refrigerator for one month.

I have also made salsa in the food processor with fresh vegetables.

We keep the bulk dry goods in large air-tight plastic containers. We found the containers at the market; they originally contained pickled pigs' feet. : ) Sometimes there are bugs in the flour toward the end of the batch. If you have room in your freezer, you can put the flour in ziploc bags and freeze it for 24 hours. That is supposed to kill any bugs. Then, make sure it has thawed well before dumping the flour in the air-tight container.