Summer Squash and Sausage Casserole

With tomatoes, squash and onions all now available, they are the basis of my favorite summer casserole.  This recipe makes plenty, is easily reheated in the microwave, and is definitely in the new triangle of foods that are good for you.  It also has lots of cheesy goodness.

Ingredients: as many and as much as you like of....

1. tomatoes in thick slices
2. yellow and green squashes, any varieties are fine, cut in thick slices
3. onions, yellow or white, cut in pieces
4. a pound of Italian sausage, browned in a skillet with the grease discarded
5. cheese, yellow and grated

Preparation consists of layering all the vegetables, browned sausage and grated cheese a couple of times with lots of pepper, a bit of salt, and maybe some spices you like.  Cover and cook in a 350 degree oven for an hour or until the vegetables are no longer crunchy.

So there you have a complete meal if you add just a slice of bread, a beverage, and a dessert if you are feeling indulgent.

Cornices with Fabric Coverings the Easy Way

After more than a few years, our dining area windows needed a decorative face lift, not to mention a good vacuuming of the blinds.

The husband cut some foam core board that came in a sheet that was 8 feet long and 48 inches wide.  The width of the foam board was one inch; our supplier was the local Home Depot.

After measuring the windows, four lengths of foam core board were required for placement over the windows.  We cut them in 12" x 48" pieces.

Knowing that my two finished oil paintings of birds were ready to hang, I bought coordinating fabric in a teal color, cut the fabric into pieces roughly 16" x 55" in size and pinned the fabric to the foam board backing.

The  original smaller version of those "Angry Birds" was given to our local hospice for a fund raiser, but I painted two more similar ones on gallery wrapped canvases that were 12" x 36".
 
So now there are four cornice boards covered in fabric over each of the four windows in the dining area.  Each is secured to the wall above the windows with a single nail that was driven through the fabric covered foam board cornice.

And then the Angry Birds were hung above the cornices.

Voila! (pictures pan from left to right)

It was an easy way to bring more color into this area by using a tiny flowered teal print fabric under the pictures and covering the cornice boards.  It also gave a more finished look to those windows without obstructing the view of the back yard foliage.

Mint and Jalapeno Jelly the Quick Way

Mint grows like crazy in our back yard.

Mint jelly with lamb is OK, but how about a sweet jelly with a little more kick?  Maybe adding a jalapeno would bring up the heat and tone down the sugar.  It would be tasty with meat entrees, and a kick over a block of cream cheese. (My husband remembers pouring a jar of salsa over a block of cream cheese, but he is much older than I, so I don't recall that particular little party treat.)
   
A Google search for mint and jalapeno jelly came up quickly.  Here it is:

2 cups spearmint leaves, chopped fine, divided
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded, diced
3/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 Tbs lemon juice
3 1/2 cups sugar
4 Tbsp. freezer pectin (this is my variation on the original recipe since it called for regular pectin) 

In a small saucepan, heat 1 3/4 cups mint leaves with 1 1/2 cups water, bring to boil, shut off heat and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain mint infusion into large saucepan, squeezing out mint leaves to extract as much mint as possible (I used a coffee filter in a small colander for straining). Discard boiled leaves.

...(recipe continues for Hot Water Bath canning)

Here is what I did to make it a quick freezer jam:

Instead of boiling it all together for what would have taken forever, I just stirred it all for three minutes, added about 7 drops of green food coloring, added a few cleaned mint sprigs to each container, then ladled it into the plastic freezer containers.  Done.  -- It has not been thawed yet, so perhaps the mint leaves might wither.

This is my third recipe for making freezer jams this spring.  We have strawberry, blueberry and now mint jelly in our freezer.  The first batch with strawberries was too sweet, so I cut down the sugar when I made the blueberry jam, and also cut down the sugar on this mint/pepper jelly.  We liked them all.

And here, in all its glory, is a picture of the mint jelly slathered over a block of cream cheese.  It tasted surprisingly refreshing with just a little bite to it.

Does that picture above remind you of James Lilek's Gallery of Regrettable Foods?

Says Lileks:

Freud never had to ask what men want. Men want liquor. They want a pistachio cordial that matches their ties, matches the coffee cups, and matches the salad and the relish. AVOCADO GREEN, the rutting stags demand.

To remind them they're men, make sure to embed a batch of wriggling, erect wieners in a sea of beans.

James Lileks has so many funny stories and books.  Take a look.  He makes our childhood foods look downright...well, unappealing. His Gallery of Regrettable Foods is here.