It all started last summer when my sister-in-law brought me some little pears from a neighbor's yard. I promised the Lord, I would try to use them up because it was such a shame to waste them.
Well, I decided to make pear butter because they were tiny, hard and full of gritty spots. but they made the most wonderful pear butter. I washed, cut and cooked them in my crock pot over night, then put them through the food mill to remove the gritty spots, seeds and skins.
That left a wonderful sauce which I returned to the crock pot with brown sugar, cinnamon and a touch of ginger. It cooked all night long with the lid off to thicken it and then I canned it. I got about 2 pints from each crock pot load after it cooked down. Everyone has commented on how good it is!
Now each time I receive a food "blessing" the Lord challenges me to use it up!
Yesterday I cooked a turkey and of course, there were giblets in that little paper sack in the bird's neck. No one eats the liver, heart, neck and gizzard here at my house so I was set to throw them away.
"Why not try a recipe for dog cookies," the Lord suggested. "That way you won't waste them."
Groan. "Well, I did say I'd try not to waste things." So I put the giblets and neck into my little 1 quart crock pot and let them simmer away. By this morning, they were well done and cool enough to chop up. But I didn't want to heat the oven just to bake dog biscuits - that's not very frugal! So I decided to make my dessert for the meal we're having at church on Sunday afternoon. And, oh yes I almost forgot - I needed to make some cornbread for the soup I was supposed to make.
Ok! This was beginning to look like an all day affair. I got my recipes ready and put them in order - the chocolate zucchini bread first because the oven needs to be at 350 degrees.
This is a great Spark People recipe which has only 114 calories per slice so I know I can enjoy it on Sunday.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
3 eggs or 3/4 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups packed, grated zucchini (if you use frozen zucchini-thaw and drain well first)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 loaf plans with nonstick spray.
In large bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, egg, applesauce, oil and vanilla. Stir in zucchini.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir until just moistened. Fold in Chocolate chips. Spread batter evenly in prepared pans.
Bake for 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.
Cool in pans for 5 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool on wire rack before serving.
Number of Servings: 24
Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user RAMZEE.
Number of Servings: 24
After the chocolate zucchini bread finished, I turned the oven up to 400 degrees and started on the doggie cookies. I couldn't find a recipe that matched my ingredients, so I improvised and created my own.
Turkey Giblet Treats
2 cups of flour
1 cup bran
Then mix in:
3 Tablespoons of oil
1 egg
The broth from the turkey neck and giblets (About 1/2 cup)
I chopped up the giblets and neck meat in my food processor which came to about a cup and added that to the rest of the ingredients. It made a stiff dough. I used a teaspoon for each biscuit and rolled it into a log shape, flattening it slightly, then baked it for about 15 minutes until lightly browned.
Oreo must have known they were for him because he plopped down in the kitchen and didn't move the whole time they were baking.
While the doggie cookies baked, I mixed up a double batch of cornbread using the recipe on the back of the package. The oven temp had to go up to 425 for the cornbread. Soon that was in the oven, making my mouth water!
Oh well - I might have been frugal, not wasting the giblets and about making several things in the oven at one time, but now I have a mound of dishes to finish up.
I'm so glad God loves to surprise us!We got an unexpected invitation to dinner tonight so I didn't have to cook after my baking marathon. I guess it does pay to listen when He suggeste we do something!
No comments:
Post a Comment