Rachel’s Home Grown Strawberry Jam

Ingredients:

2 pounds fresh strawberries, hulled
3 ½ cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice 

Preparation:

Sterilize jars and lids, place them in a large pot, cover with hot water and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes, then turn off heat and leave jars and lids in water until ready for use.
Wash and hull berries.
In a large bowl, crush berries in batches with a fork  until you have four cups of mashed berries. In a heavy saucepan, combine berries, sugar and lemon juice. Stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved; then increase heat and bring mixture to a rolling boil. Hook candy thermometer to side of pan so that tip sits well into mixture. Continue boiling the mixture, stirring often, until temperature on thermometer reads 220 degrees F.
Fill hot, sterilized jars with berry mixture to within 1/4- to 1/2-inch of top.
Add lids and screw tops, and seal tightly. Tip jars upside down so that hot berry mixture coats inside of lid to seal
Enjoy

Christina’s Tomato Basil Sauce

Ingredients:

6 spring onions
1 garlic clove
1lb tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2oz fresh basil
½ teaspoon sugar
¼ cup red  wine
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Heat Oil
Add chopped onions and crushed garlic, cook for 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes to the pan, mix well, stir in the basil, sugar, red wine, salt and pepper and mix well.
Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, Your sauce is ready.
Enjoy

Susan’s Gazpacho

Ingredients:

1/2 cup water
4 tablespoons virgin olive
4 large fresh ripe tomatoes
1 avocado, halved
1 medium red peppers
2 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 medium cucumber, halved
4 stalks celery
½ small onion
3 tablespoons fresh basil
1 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

Preparation:

Combine the water, oil, tomatoes, half the avocado, 1 red pepper, garlic lemon juice, ½ the cucumber, and basil in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
Finely chop the remaining avocado, cucumber, onion, and stalks of celery.
Mix these into the soup, season to taste, and sprinkle with parsley.
Enjoy

Jill’s Tarragon Lettuce Soup

Ingredients:

3/4  iceberg lettuce, finely shredded ( use mandolin)
1 onion, finely chopped
50 g butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
25 g  plain flour
2 ½ cups chicken stock
150 ml (1/4 pt) skimmed milk
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon
salt and pepper
150 ml (1/4 pt) natural yogurt
tarragon leaves to garnish

Preparation:

Fry the onion gently in the butter for 3-4 minutes, add the garlic and flour and stir over the heat.
Gradually stir in the chicken stock and milk and bring to the boil.
Add most of the lettuce and the tarragon, and salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer for 20 minutes.
Blend the soup in a blender until smooth.
Return to a clean pan and heat; add the yoghurt and remaining lettuce and continue to heat through, stirring.
Serve piping hot with tarragon leaves as a garnish
Enjoy

Leslie's Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole

Ingredients:

2 large onions, diced
2 green peppers cut into chunks
oil for frying (olive oil is nice)
2 medium peeled eggplants, cubed
8 small zucchini, cubed
8 tomatoes cubed
1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup brown sugar
salt and pepper

Topping:

1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup butter or margarine melted
2 cloves of crushed garlic
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preparation:

fry onions, green peppers, eggplant and zucchini until transparent, add tomatoes, water, salt and pepper and brown sugar, cover and simmer until vegetables are tender and any liquid has disappeared--
approximately 30 minutes, but check 10 minutes into the simmering process. Place in oiled 9 x 12 dish. Preheat oven to 350 degrees then combine all the topping ingredients and place over vegetables and bake until bubbly approximately 30 minutes.
Enjoy!