All American Pot Pie

I have to admit that I just plain cut and pasted this recipe, including the pictures, from a different blog. I wanted to use this recipe for this week's post, but didn't want to type it all out. A wee google search led me to this fabulous entry. However, the other blog didn't credit the author of the recipe. I will. I will also include my notes in italics. It's a mighty tasty way to use a ton 'o veggies and have a really filling meal. There's no reason why this has to stay vegetarian, cooked chicken chunks would be a wonderful addition. I like to make the dough ahead of time so it can chill while I'm making the filling.

All American Pot Pie from Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons.

Filling:
1/2 T butter
4 C total of any of the following veggies: corn, carrot, red bell pepper, zucchini, spinach leaves (firmly packed), sliced onions, potato...(left over roasted winter squash chunks, mushrooms, summer squash, parsnips from last week's share, even beets would be tasty).
1 small garlic clove, minced
3 T flour
1 C warm milk
1 pinch fresh or dried thyme
3/4 t salt
black pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a skillet. Saute the vegetables for five minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic, saute for five minutes more. Sprinkle three tablespoons flour over the veggies and stir over the heat for two more minutes. Add the warm milk slowly, stirring all the while to avoid lumps. Stir in the thyme. Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook it until the it thickens. Continue to cook until the vegetables are tender. Add one-fourth teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper. Put into a 9 or 10 inch casserole or deep pie dish. (At this point you can cover the dish and chill it for up to 2 days, if you'd like to bake it later).

The Dough:

(the recipe originally calls for twice as much dough as is written here. I have to agree that it was too much, so I'll leave the modified amounts here).
1/4 Cup (1/2 stick) cold butter
3/4 cups flour
1/4 t salt

Cut a half-stick of cold butter into three-fourths cups of flour and one-fourth teaspoon of salt (cut the butter until the pieces are no larger than a pea). Add two tablespoons of ice water and stir to incorporate all the flour. Add more water or flour as necessary to make a soft moist dough. Work it in the palm of your hand on a hard surface. Form it into a flattened ball. Chill the dough for thirty minutes.

Roll the dough into a circle slightly larger than the diameter of the casserole dish. Place it on top and pinch the rim so it clings to the dish. Cut four one-inch long slits in the dough.

Bake at 400 degrees for about twenty minutes, or until the filling is bubbling and the crust golden. (I like to bake it on top of a cookie sheet to catch any spills. ..and there will be spills). Serve and enjoy!

For those of you who are members of the Salt Creek Farm CSA: Don't forget to comment to this entry so I can do a drawing for an end of the season gift. Sorry to all of you who aren't here in Port Angeles, the prize is a huge book and I can't mail it. . . so just locals this time!

Sneaky Food

So, it's a month or so into school. I imagine that some of you are starting to lose that feeling of excitement and new-ness in packing lunch every day. Last fall, I did a little musing about how to pack more healthy lunches. You can find it here. This fall, I'm thinking a few words on getting kids to eat the good stuff are in order. A farm member family I know talks about "strong food" to their son. I thought this was a good description of all the stuff I'm trying to get my kiddo to eat and started using this term too. It didn't take long before Abby started saying, "no strong food mama, I want snack food." So, we struggle along, trying to get the kid to eat something other than cheese, whole wheat tortillas and peanut butter (not necessarily together).
There's a new-ish book on the market called The Sneaky Chef. The basic premise of the book is to sneak "strong food" into foods your kids will eat. There's a lot of puree-ing involved and making sure you don't put green food in something that's not green (like, no spinach in macaroni and cheese, they'll find it and refuse to eat it) and the like. I'm torn about this idea. I want Abby to know what spinach is, what it looks like, how and where it's grown. I also want her to eat it. Right now, unless it's drown in ranch dressing or hidden in a smoothie, she's just not that into spinach. . .or lots of other strong foods. So, I'm sneaking it into the raviolis that she likes or dicing it into meatballs.
Abby's much more likely to eat something if she helped prepare it or helped put the vegetable into the bag at the farm share drop site. She's learning what kale is and that cauliflower and potatoes can come in a purple variety. Someday we'll get her to appreciate eating the good stuff on it's own, but in the mean time, a little sneaky food will get us through! If you have hot tips on getting kids to eat "strong food" drop me a line and I'll include it in next week's cropsheet.
Here's a not so sneaky food recipe that Abby digs. As always, I threw in some extra veggies and reduced the spice by about half so Abby would eat it. Corn, zucchini, fresh tomatoes and homemade broth made the refrigerator emptier and me happier. I didn't bother blending this one and it made a hearty stew that's good with quesadillas or plain tortillas. Warning: this is one of those soup recipes that takes half a day to make. Don't start it at 4pm hoping to eat by 5:30. . . not that I have any personal experience in this or anything. . .
Smokey Black Bean and Vegetable Soup
1 (7 ounce) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (you only use part of this can and you can freeze the rest to use later)
Cooking spray (or some olive oil)
2 cups coarsely chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrot
3/4/ cup thinly sliced celery
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 bay leaves
2 cups water
3 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 (14.5 ounce) cans vegetable broth
2 (14.5 ounce) cans no-salt added plum tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
8 lime wedges

1. Remove 2 chiles from can; reserve remaining chiles and sauce for another use. Finely chop chiles. Heat a large Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, celery, and garlic; saute 8 minutes or until onion and carrot are tender. Stir in chiles, cumin, basil, oregano, chili powder, and bay leaves; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in water, beans, broth and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Partially cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove from heat; discard bay leaves. Place 3 cups of soup mixture in a blender. Let stand 5 minutes; process until smooth. Return pureed mixture to pan, stirring to combine. Ladle 1 1/4 cups soup into each of 8 bowls; top each serving with 1 tablespoon yogurt and 1 1/2 teaspoons cilantro. Serve with lime wedges. Yield: 8 servings

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 162(6% from fat); FAT 1g (sat 0.1g,mono 0.1g,poly 0.1g); PROTEIN 10.1g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 145mg; SODIUM 740mg; FIBER 10.9g; IRON 3.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 36.9g

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2003

Zucchini Pie

(Image courtesy of: Scripps Howard News Service).

I do my best to try all of the recipes before I post them here, and I try to offer recipes that are a little more "fresh" than this one. This week, I'm just plain slammed. So, here then, a zucchini recipe I have not tried. It's a very popular American way to use up a lot of Zucchini. If you're interested in how to make your own "bisquick", check out the recipe below. Some time, I'll experiment with making a baking mix that does not have hydrogenated fats in it. If anyone makes "bisquick" using a shortening that is non-hydrogenated, I'd be curious how it goes.
Happy Zucchini!
Edited to include Lee's comments from the paper cropsheet:
(Lee's two cents: I have made biscuit mix by following a baking powder biscuit recipe and just leaving out the eggs and milk. I used canola oil, which I crumbled into the dry ingredients using my hands. It worked fine, but the refrigerator might be the best bet for long term storage. Be aware that you can chop almost any of the veggies in your crate, especially the greens, into the biscuit dough and a simple biscuit can seem like a gourmet treat! Grate some cheese in, and it almost becomes a meal in itself. ) Lee
Zucchini Pie Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 medium zucchini, diced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup baking mix (such as Bisquick)
• 1/2 cup + 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup mozarella cheese, grated
• 1 tsp marjoram (1/3 tsp dried marjoram)
• 1 tsp basil (1/3 tsp dried basil)
• black pepper, freshly ground

Directions

1. Heat 1 Tbs olive oil over medium high heat in a medium size skillet.
2. Cook the onion until it just turns gold.
3. In a bowl combine the zucchini, onion, eggs, baking mix, olive oil, cheese, marjoram, basil, and pepper.
4. Coat a 10x6" pan or a 12" pie pan with oil.
5. Spread the zucchini mixture into the baking dish.
6. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, or until lightly brown.

Make your Own "Bisquick"

4 ½ c sifted flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp + 1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 c shortening

½ tsp salt

2/3 c powdered milk

Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Sift together 2-3 times in a large bowl. Cut in shortening with pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is similar to cornmeal. Add dry milk. Use in recipes that call for Bisquick or all-purpose mix.

Summer Minestrone Soup

I love this soup. It's a great way to empty the refrigerator at this time of year and it's super tasty too. I used this recipe as a starting point, but added lots more stock and veggies. I put in a can of organic garbanzos and a can of kidney beans for some added protein. It made about 5 quarts, plus a bit. Give some to your neighbors.

Summer Minestrone – Recipe Page 123

Adapted from The Tomato Festival Cookbook, by Lawrence Davis-Hollander (Storey Books, 2004).

Simple Solution
Ah, the bounty of summer! Gardens overflow with tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, peppers, and dark leafy greens. Who can resist them? But sometimes it can be hard to figure out what to do with all of them! Well, this lovely soup is a perfect way to use those lively colors, flavors, and textures.

Fragrant with herbs and bursting with nourishment from the good earth, you can make this one-pot meal in advance (during those cooler morning hours) or even freeze it. Either way, Summer Minestrone is a favorite with both kids and adults, a key player in the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle.

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 or 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/2-inch rounds
1 10-inch stalk celery, coarsely chopped
4 cups (about 12 to 15 large) chopped ripe plum tomatoes
4 to 6 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 stem basil, plus extra sprigs for garnish
salt and freshly-ground black pepper
1 cup (4 ounces) penne, elbow macaroni, small shells, or other medium-sized pasta
12 green beans, washed, trimmed, and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium green or yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 2-inch by 1/4-inch strips
1 medium leek, washed, white and tender green parts cut into 1/2-inch pieces
8 stems Swiss chard, stalks and leaves cut into 1-inch strips
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 medium yellow summer squash, sliced

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, warm the oil and stir in the garlic. Let it soften for a couple of minutes, then stir in the carrot and celery. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, 4 cups of the broth, oregano, thyme, basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir. Cover the pan, bring to a simmer, and simmer for 10 minutes.

2. Increase the heat and bring the soup to a brisk boil over high heat. Stir in the pasta, followed by the green beans, bell pepper, and leek. Cook briskly, stirring often, for 3 minutes.

3. Reduce the heat so the soup is simmering and add the chard, zucchini, and summer squash. If the mixture is very thick, or if you would simply like it thinner, add some or all of the remaining broth. Return to a simmer and cover the pan. Continue cooking the soup for 5 minutes, or until the pasta and the vegetables are tender. Serve immediately, or cool and reheat as needed. Garnish with basil leaves. Check for seasoning before serving and add more salt and pepper to taste if necessary.
Serves 4 to 8.

Musings:
The fullness of my fridge at this time of year makes me both wonder and panic. How amazing to have such great bounty right here in our little town. How the heck do I use it all up!? Right now, my family is not eating a ton of food, so trying to figure out how to make it through the share each week has sent me whirling. I stumbled upon this great article in the Oregonian online that got me working on small batch preserving. I get overwhelmed when I think about doing a big canning day. It's a lot to manage by yourself. Especially with a little one running around. So, one option is to can with friends, or you can take on a couple of different tactics.

• Freeze stuff. Right now, I have a ton of summer squash that I plan to grate and freeze. Later in the winter, I can add it to soups or thaw it, squeeze it dry and make bread with it. I also make a lot of soups and freeze them too.
  
• Pickle stuff. I do refrigerator pickles, because we eat them fast enough that I can keep adding cucumbers to the brine for a month or so (recipe follows).
• Small batch canning. Put a pot of water on while you're cooking dinner and can a couple of jars of jam or tomatoes while the stove top's on and you're in the kitchen anyway.
• Dehydrate. I love to do apples this way and then we can crunch our way through the crop from our apple tree all year! Abby loves to crank the apple machine (it peels, cores and slices as you turn the crank). We found ours at goodwill for $4 and it's been worth it, plus it's fun.
  

Last year, I did an entry about canning here on the blog. You can check it out here. It has more information on how to be safe with your canning.
Lee's resource for canning from last week's farm news is great too. You can get to it here.

I love the idea of doing a dinner or soup swap. Maybe someone will organize one for us here (not it!). The jist is this: A bunch of people gather and bring 6 or so quarts of frozen soup or frozen containers of dinner or whatever. Then, you all draw numbers and pick items so that you go home with 6 items. That way you can make a whole lot of one thing and then not have to eat it for 2 weeks

Mom's Fridge Pickles
Makes about 1 quart

1 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 TBS sea salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
6 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp. dill seed
4 to 5 small kirby cucumbers, peeled in stripes and cut into 1/8 inch thick slices
1 small white onion, thinly sliced into rounds

1. Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper flakes, and dill seed in a quart jar. Place the lid on the jar and shake until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Layer the cucumbers and the onions in the jar using a wooden spoon to press them tightly into the jar, shake it well, and refrigerate it at least 4 hours, shaking the jar occasionally to keep the ingredients mixed. These pickles will keep in the refrigerator for at least 1 month.
From Fresh Every Day by Sara Foster

Simple Late Summer Meal

Cook some pasta.
Melt some butter in a pan.
Add chopped garlic, leek and bell pepper.
Add a chopped tomato once the other stuff is a bit soft.
Add chopped summer squash.
Salt and pepper the bad boy.
Once it's all juicy and squishy.
Pour it over some pasta.
Top with parm.
Yum.

I've been thinking a whole lot about local food lately. There are lots of books out these days about the idea of eating food grown right close to where you live. I just read the book Plenty.
Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon
It was a great read about a couple who live off of food grown and processed within 100 miles of their Vancouver B.C. home. They did it for a year. It was hard. They didn't find wheat until the very end. They lost weight. They are idealistic way beyond anything I am capable of. I applaud their effort. They have a cool website about the 100 mile diet. It's definitely gotten me thinking about eating locally. I've always bristled at eating an organic apple from New Zealand, when we have such fine apples right here in our own state. Heck, right in my own back yard. I've tried to buy produce that was locally grown, but haven't worked very hard with the other stuff. It's a complex issue, because even if you do find local items, who knows how far it's been shipped for processing and packaging. In Plenty, they state that Dungeness Crab is routinely sent to China to be picked apart and processed and then sent back here to sell. That is staggering to me. . . though not entirely surprising. All the more reason to support our local farms and feel darn good about it.
A few other books about local eats to ponder:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets by Deborah Madison

Lunch Time Yummies

Recipe Maven Musings:

I've been thinking a lot about school lunches. I imagine folks have gotten a bit bored of the usual lunch fixings and are looking for a few good ideas.
I recently was in Portland and went to one of their fancy upscale natural food markets called New Seasons. They had a handout on healthy school lunches that had some great ideas. I don't neccessarily believe all of what they have to say, but I'll quote it here the way they wrote it. Here's what it had to say:

Build a Better Lunch Box
A healthy lunch box will have 5 main components:
1. A whole grain food
2. A lean protein
3. A whole fruit (not juice, fruit snacks, or fruit rolls)
4. A vegetable
5. A low-sugar beverage such as water, plain cow's milk, rice milk, almond milk or soy milk. Be sure that non-dairy milks are calcium fortified.

Nutrient Dense Lunch Ingredients:
Whole Grain Foods: whole wheat or sprouted grain bread, whole grain crackers, whole wheat or sprouted grain tortillas, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, quinoa, rolled oats, low sugar granola

Lean Proteins: hummus, bean dip, deli turkey, fruit juice sweetened yogurt, string cheese, cottage cheese, cheese cubes, peanut butter, almond butter, beans and rice, leftover roast chicken or meat loaf, chunk lite tuna, egg salad or a hard cooked egg

Fruit: Orange slices, mango chunks, grapes, frozen blueberries (a good stir-in for plain yogurt), apples, pears, cherries, melon, peaches, nectarines, plums, small bananas, pineapple chunks, kiwi slices

Vegetables: snap peas, bell pepper strips, fennel chips, carrot sticks, yam or sweet potato oven fries, broccoli trees (steam, then chill), cauliflower (steam then chill), celery, cherry or grape tomatoes, radishes, corn onthe cob, lightly salted edamame (soy beans, find them in the freezer) in the pod.

Healthy Fats: walnuts, mixed nuts (raw, not "roasted" from a can- these are usually fried in oil), almonds, peanuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds.

Lunch Time Favorites

Jicama, Carrot and Cucumber Sticks with Lime and Chili Powder
Slice jicama, carrots and cucumber into sticks, sprinkle lightly with chili powder and throw it all in a baggie with a wedge of lime to squeeze on later.

Whole Wheat Pita Wedges with Hummus
Slice one whole wheat pita round into 4 to 8 wedges and store in a baggie. Spoon about 1/3 cup of your child's favorite hummus into a small portable container for dipping in the lunch room.

Fruit Kabobs: spear cubes of cheese, rolled up deli turkey, grapes, strawberries, melon chunks, or apple and pear chunks (soak for a minute in a little lemon water to prevent browning) on bamboo skewers.

Hummus Dippers: Send hummus with carrots chips, fennel chips, and bell pepper strips for a fun way to get some vegetables.

Cinn-nutty Apple Dippers: Mix peanut butter with a little plain low-fat yogurt and a sprinkle of cinnamon served with apple or pear slices to dip.

Ants on a log: smear celery sticks with natural peanut butter or almond butter and put raisin ants on top.

Crunch-factor Yogurt Send an 8 ounce cup of low sugar, fruit juice sweetened, or plain low fat yogurt in the lunch box. In a zip-top bag, combine some low sugar granola, nuts and sunflower seeds to stir into the yogurt at lunch time. Add some frozen, organic blueberries for a boost of antioxidants.

Just in Quesadillas: Make this ahead of time. Warm a whole wheat or sprouted grain tortilla with cheese and low fat refried black beans in the middle. Wrap with foil and refrigerate until lunch time.

Recipes:

We had a whole lot of summer squash at our house last week. Here are a few ideas for eating it up. I made up a random saute with summer squash, tomatoes, garlic and butter all cut up and sauted together. I added the juice of one lime, some salt and pepper and served it over gnocci that we had around. You could use lemon juice or change the flavor by adding some balsamic vinegar and serve it over pasta or rice and add tofu to round it out. Yummy.

Zucchini chocolate bread

Makes 2 loaves

1 3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups grated zucchini
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Set the oven at 350 degrees. Lightly grease 2 9-by-5-inch loaf pans.

2. In a bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, and oil. Beat until well blended. Stir in the zucchini and vanilla.

3. Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the zucchini mixture. Stir just until blended.

4. Stir in the chips and nuts and divide the batter between the pans.

5. Bake the loaves for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the loaves cool in the pans for 20 minutes. Turn them out onto wire racks and set them right side up to cool.

from ''The Classic Zucchini Cookbook''

Summer Minestrone and Spinach ravings!

Recipe Maven's Musings

Okay, I’ve done a little reading on the e coli outbreak, but I’m definitely not an expert. I am, however, opinionated. Just in case you haven’t heard, here’s a little review. Some spinach distributed by Natural Selection Foods in California has been contaminated with e coli. At this point, They, can’t figure out exactly where the contaminated spinach is coming from because it’s grown in such high quantity and is also bought from lots of smaller farms in California. Once they get all of the greens, it’s mixed together, triple washed, cut up and packaged in bags or plastic boxes and sent out all over the country for consumption. They package for Trader Joe’s, Safeway organics, Costco and under other names too. They also haven’t determined if it’s the organic or conventionally grown spinach that’s the culprit. The best guess at this point is that the e coli came from cow manure used for fertilizing, but it will be very difficult to determine exactly where it came from, given that it’s such a huge industry. 100 people have contracted e coli and 1 person has died. Spinach farmers all over the country are destroying their crops. So, I guess there’s another really good reason to buy your food locally. Organic is great, but huge corporate organic? I’m not so sure. Read the article I read here.

Recipe:

I used beet greens and collards instead of chard. Yummy comfort food for the colder weather!

Summer Minestrone
Adapted from The Tomato Festival Cookbook, by Lawrence Davis-Hollander (Storey Books, 2004).

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 or 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/2-inch rounds
1 10-inch stalk celery, coarsely chopped
4 cups (about 12 to 15 large) chopped ripe plum tomatoes
4 to 6 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 stem basil, plus extra sprigs for garnish
salt and freshly-ground black pepper
1 cup (4 ounces) penne, elbow macaroni, small shells,

12 green beans, washed, trimmed, and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 green or yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into bite-size strips
1 leek, washed, white and tender green parts cut into 1/2-inch pieces
8 stems Swiss chard, stalks and leaves cut into 1-inch strips
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 medium yellow summer squash, sliced

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, warm the oil and stir in the garlic. Let it soften for a couple of minutes, then stir in the carrot and celery. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, 4 cups of the broth, oregano, thyme, basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir. Cover the pan, bring to a simmer, and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Increase the heat and bring the soup to a brisk boil over high heat. Stir in the pasta, followed by the green beans, bell pepper, and leek. Cook briskly, stirring often, for 3 minutes.
3. Reduce the heat so the soup is simmering and add the chard, zucchini, and summer squash. If the mixture is very thick, or if you would simply like it thinner, add some or all of the remaining broth. Return to a simmer and cover the pan. Continue cooking the soup for 5 minutes, or until the pasta and the vegetables are tender. Serve immediately, or cool and reheat as needed. Garnish with basil leaves

Tomato and Zucchini Tart

Recipe Maven's Musings:

I’ve stumbled upon a few facts as I learn to can that I think would be good to share. Of course, it might just be a reminder to those veteran home preservers out there!

In 1989, the USDA revamped it’s safety regulations regarding home preserving, as too many people were getting sick from home canned goods.

Low acid foods (red meats, seafood, poultry, milk and all fresh vegetables except for most tomatoes) need to be processed in a pressure canner.

Acid foods (fruits, pickles, sauerkraut, jams, jellies, marmalades, and fruit butters) can be processed in a boiling-water canner.

Steam canners (the ones where you put the jars upside down in the water bath and then steam circulates around them) are NOT safe.

Don’t use any recipes published before 1989, as some of them don’t follow the newer processing times and guidelines. Also, the USDA recommends never to revise or improvise recipes because it’s easy to throw the pH level off.

The library has several good, up to date books: The USDA’s Complete Guide to Canning (also available online), The Ball Blue Book, Preserving the Harvest (also has great info on freezing, drying and cold storage).

Happy Canning!

This Week's Recipe:
I’ve never tried the canned pizza dough. I make my own, but you could also try a boboli. This is a favorite for us this time of year.

Fresh Tomato and Zucchini Tart with Mozzarella and Basil
1 (10-ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough (can sprinkle with Italian seasoning if desired)
1 cup (1/8-inch-thick) diagonally sliced zucchini
4 plum tomatoes, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 1/2 pound)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup torn fresh basil leaves

Unroll dough onto lightly sprayed baking pan; let stand 5 minutes. Pat dough into a 12-inch square. Arrange zucchini and tomato over the dough, leaving a 1-inch border. Sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper and Ital. seasoning (if desired). Fold edges of dough over zucchini and tomato (dough won't completely cover the zucchini and tomato).

Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until the dough is lightly browned. Top with cheese; bake 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Drizzle with oil; sprinkle with basil. Cool on baking sheet 10 minutes on a wire rack.

Yield: 4 servings CALORIES 304(30% from fat); FAT 10.1g (sat 4.3g,mono 3.8g,poly 1.4g); PROTEIN 12.9g; CHOLESTEROL 22mg; CALCIUM 164mg; SODIUM 702mg; FIBER 2.5g; IRON 2.5mg; CARBOHYDRATE 40.1g Cooking Light Magazine, MAY 2003