Slow-Baked Caramelized Tomatoes

This is a great, easy thing to do if you've got extra tomatoes lying around.  It's best with fresh-from-the-garden summertime tomatoes, but it also is a nice thing to do if you end up with some less-than-stellar tomatoes that you don't know what else to do with.  They keep well in the fridge, so if you don't eat them all, you can chop some up and add them to some hot pasta and toss with a little fresh basil, parsley, olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic...you get the picture.

4 large tomatoes, halved
3 cloves garlic, minced (not pressed)
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Place tomato halves cut-side up in a large non-stick baking dish in a single layer, with plenty of space around each one.  Bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Combine all ingredients in small bowl; remove dish from oven, and using a spoon or pastry brush, coat tomatoes with mixture.  Return to oven and bake until very soft and caramelized, almost collapsed--approx. 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Credit: Crescent Dragonwagon's "Passionate Vegetarian" cookbook, page 816-817

Vegetarian Chili

Here, as requested, is the low-fat vegetarian chili I made recently, as well as I can recall.

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 med onion, diced

1 lg green bell pepper

4 small anaheim peppers

2 cans black beans

1 can red beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can tomato sauce

2 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 qt bottled tomatoes

Salt and pepper to taste

Using a 6 qt pot, saute onion in olive oil until translucent. Dice peppers and add to onions. When peppers are softened, add drained and rinsed beans, tomato sauce, chili powder, and garlic powder. Add bottled tomatoes, and turn up the heat until bubbly. Turn down and simmer for a while. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Notes:

I use Sherol's home bottled tomatoes. They are like crushed tomatoes and are very, very liquidy. So I didn't add any additional liquid. If you don't have bottled tomatoes, then use two cans of diced or crushed tomatoes and add liquid as necessary. I would use tomato juice, chicken broth, or water.

I also use peppers from Sherol's garden. They have been preserved by blackening the skin (propane torch or broiler oven) on all sides, then put in a plastic bag while hot to sweat off the skins. Remove the skins, roll individually in saran wrap, and freeze. If you want the nice smokiness that this adds, you can blacken and skin your peppers before adding them to your chili. If you don't want to go to all that effort, then try a little liquid smoke. Or use store-bought canned green chilies. A nice way to add smokey flavor and some heat is to use a canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced.

Sugar Cookies

These are the sugar cookies we make for Christmas each year. I believe Mom got the recipe from Doris Hodgkinson a million years ago.


Ingredients

3 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream


Directions

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Set aside. Beat butter and sugar together. Add egg, vanilla, and sour cream. Mix in dry ingredients. Chill dough for 2 hours.

Flour your counter, rolling pin, and cookie cutters sufficiently to prevent the dough from sticking. Roll the dough out to an approximate 1/4 inch thickness. Use a sparingly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-12 minutes.


Whenever I make these, I always hear Mom's warning in my head, "Don't roll them too thin!" I prefer them thick and soft, myself.

Scotcheroos

1 c corn syrup

1 c granulated sugar

1 c peanut butter

6 c rice crispy cereal

1/2 pkg chocolate chips

1/2 pkg butterscotch chips

Combine corn syrup, sugar, and peanut butter in a sauce pan over medium low heat. Once peanut butter is melted and sugar is dissolved into a homogenous mixture, pour over rice crispies in a large mixing bowl. Spray a 9x13 pan with Pam. Put crispy mixture in pan and press down lightly. Using your melting method of choice (double boiler, microwave, etc.) melt your chocolate chips and butter scotch chips together and combine until smooth. Spread over the crispies. Let chocolate mixture cool until set before you cut out your bars.

Note: I actually prefer to use a large baking sheet w/ a lip instead of a 9x13 pan. It makes a thinner bar, and I like the ratio of less crispy to the chocolate topping better. The only tweak you have to make is use a full bag of chocolate chips and a full bag of butterscotch chips, or you won't have enough to cover the entire top.