Creamy Horseradish Sauce

So many people tell me they don't like horseradish, but I haven't had a single person say they didn't like this sauce. It's delicious to serve with roast beef dinner. In fact, I prefer making this sauce to making gravy for my beef roasts.

1 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp prepared horseradish
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Combine all ingredients in small bowl. You can make it up to two days ahead of time and keep it in the fridge until serving.

Happy Apple Salsa

1 Tbsp jam
1 apple, diced
1 Tbsp finely diced celery
1 Tbsp finely diced carrot
1 Tbsp raisins
1 tsp lemon juice

Put jam in microwave for 10 seconds. Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl. Pour warmed jam over mixture and mix well.

Serve with Cinnamon Baked Pita Chips and milk or yogurt.

Pasta Sauce

1-1/2lb. ground beef
1 large onion, finely chopped
12oz. tomato paste
28oz. can crushed tomatoes or 2 15oz. cans tomato sauce
2 cups water
4 cloves garlic, chopped
4 bay leaves
2 Tbsp sugar
4 tsp basil
2 tsp. oregano
4 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp salt, or to taste

Brown the beef with the onion. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer, partly covered, for 2 hours. You can do this in your crockpot, if you wish. Freeze in ziplock bags, or use immediately.

I use this recipe for plain ol’ spaghetti and meat sauce, but I also use it in place of pizza sauce and pepperoni for pizza. Or, we make Pizza Bread by spreading this on a loaf of French Bread, sliced lengthwise, and sprinkling with mozzarella cheese. The possibilities for this sauce are quite limitless!

Economy Pancake Syrup

I used this in a pinch. Certainly not as good as the real thing, but it's cheap and it works. 

1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
3 cups water
5 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp maple flavoring

Combine all except the maple flavoring in a saucepan. Cook until slightly thickened. Add maple flavoring. Serve immediately and store remaining sauce in fridge.

Basic Red Sauce

This is an all-purpose tomato sauce that you can use for pasta, pizza, and various other dishes that require a tomato base (anywhere a red sauce is needed). The great thing is you don't have to cook it, and you can freeze it in small portions. I like to freeze mine in large ziploc bags in portions of about 6-8 cups, as well as in 2-cup size reusable plastic containers.

4 12-oz. cans tomato paste
8 cups hot water
1/2 cup dried parsley
1/2 cup minced onion
1/4 cup minced garlic (about 36 cloves
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp salt
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried thyme
4 28oz. cans tomato sauce
4 28-oz. cans diced tomatoes

Mix tomato paste and hot water in a large stockpot until smooth. Stir in parsley, onion, garlic, sugar, salt, basil, oregano, and thyme.

Add tomato sauce and diced tomatoes; mix well. Do not cook.

Measure sauce into appropriate portions for immediate use. Divide remaining sauce evenly among freezer bags and/or containers for later use.

Seal and label each bag/container with amount of sauce inside. Freeze.