Here's one of our favorites made with purple plums. The recipe is very forgiving, but if you're canning you must keep the vinegar in it. It also works to pit plums and freeze to make later in winter. Works fine with frozen jalapenos, too. Depending on your heat tolerance you can make it more spicy using hotter peppers. As our children grew their taste for spicy increased, so we made it hotter in later years; however, we don't prefer it that hot. This is the original recipe with just a hint of spice & not a hot sauce. Asian Plum Sauce Combine: 2 cups brown sugar 1 cup white sugar 1 cup apple cider vinegar 3/4 cup finely chopped onion 2 T. mustard seeds 2 T. green chili peppers, finely chopped 1 T. sea salt 1-2 cloves garlic, minced 1-2 pieces ginger root, 1/4" x 1" Add and bring to boil: 10 cups prepared plums (washed, pitted, chopped) Boil gently for 1 - 1 3/4 hours. Puree with a handheld blender. Can or freeze. Can with 1/4" head space & process for 20 minutes. Makes 4 pints. Enjoy it on meats, in stir fry and as a dipping sauce for egg rolls. Corrine

AM we don't have Stew Leonard's here so I don't know how this will compare. I have this in my to try file and others have certainly liked it a lot. It was posted on the Mushroom thread. Don't be put off by the length of the post, I included the comments that were on the original post. Lee RE: Cookalong #18----------------MUSHROOMS clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings * Posted by dishesdone (My Page) on Tue, Dec 29, 09 at 10:32 Renee, this has no cream and it's a fabulous soup. Delicious. It has butter, but I suppose you can use a nice olive oil! Mushroom Soup (posted SusanQ at GB's ~ I found this on Epicurious and posted some of the reader's comments as well. One comment suggests making parmesan croutons which I used and were a wonderful addition) Makes 4 servings. By Anthony Bourdain with Jose de Meirelles and Philippe Lajaunie Bloomsbury 6 tablespoons butter 1 small onion, thinly sliced 12 ounces button mushrooms 4 cups light chicken stock or broth 1 sprig of flat parsley Salt and pepper 2 ounces high-quality sherry (don't use the cheap grocery-store variety; it's salty and unappetizing and will ruin your soup) Equipment Medium saucepan Wooden spoon Blender (I used an immersion blender) In the medium saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons/28 g of the butter over medium heat and add the onion. Cook until the onion is soft and translucent, then add the mushrooms and the remaining butter. Let the mixture sweat for about 8 minutes, taking care that the onion doesn't take on any brown color. Stir in the chicken stock and the parsley and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat and simmer for about an hour. After an hour, remove the parsley and discard. Let the soup cool for a few minutes, then transfer to the blender and carefully blend at high speed until smooth. Do I have to remind you to do this in stages, with the blender's lid firmly held down, and with the weight of your body keeping that thing from flying off and allowing boiling hot mushroom purée to erupt all over your kitchen? When blended, return the mix to the pot, season with salt and pepper, and bring up to a simmer again. Add the sherry, mix well, and serve immediately. To astound your guests with a Wild Mushroom Soup, simply replace some of those button mushrooms with a few dried cèpes or morels, which have been soaked until soft, drained, and squeezed. Not too many; the dried mushrooms will have a much stronger taste, and you don't want to overwhelm the soup. Pan sear, on high heat, a single small, pretty, fresh chanterelle or morel for each portion, and then slice into a cute fan and float on top in each bowl. And if you really want to ratchet your soup into pretentious (but delicious), drizzle a few tiny drops of truffle oil over the surface just before serving. Why the hell not? Everybody else is doing it. reviews cookykamp on 12/06/06 This soup was an awesome surprise. Imagine, a mushroom soup with no cream that is absolutely to die for! And so easy too. I topped mine with home-made garlic roasted croutons and fresh grated parmesan. Can't wait to try this with Portobellas and beef broth. YUM-O! akalish from New York, NY on 10/30/06 This recipe is amazing, but a few changes are imperative. I used portobello mushrooms because I had them on hand, and I allowed the onions to brown to deepen the flavor (and because I knew the portobellos would darken the soup anyway). I did not bother with the sherry since I didn't have any on hand, nor the parsley because my chicken broth was already quite flavorful. I used a hand blender to make the process a bit easier, and allow it to cool so I could de-fat it the next day since my guests prefer lighter foods. Most importantly(!!!), I finished the soup with a few drops of black truffle oil, which was pungently delicious. I also took a baguette, sliced it and topped each slice with some freshly grated parmesean. I melted them in the oven, inevitably making frico alongside the croutons, until the bread was nice and crusty. I put a crouton in each soup (serving as a garnish) and served a plate of extra croutons and frico on the table alongside the soup. The black truffle oil and the parmesean-croutons MADE this soup. It was phenomenal. This is at the top of my list for my next dinner party. Delicious! And FYI: when I say crouton, I do mean baguette slices, not cubes--more like crostini but without brushing them with oil and baking them first. A Cook from Palo Alto, CA on 10/27/06 wonderful flavor! I doubled the recipe and added one half ounce dried porcini mushrooms, soaked and added the strained mushroom liquid to the broth. I was very glad I doubled the recipe! malby from NYC on 01/16/06 Made this for my second Christmas in a row--guests actually requested it before RSVPing! We loved it again, and I played with it this year by picking up a dried wild mushroom stir-fry mix. Re-moistened the mushrooms as the package instructed and used the reserved water in addition to the chicken stock. Wow! Adina A from Philadelphia, PA on 11/13/05 A very simple yet elegant and complex soup. One way to make it even easier to make is to put the mushrooms and onions in the cuisinart before you fry them. That way you don't have to whiz them after the sou

Pollo Ezechiele (Ezekiel's Chicken) from "Cucina Ebraica - Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen" by Joyce Goldstein Serves 4 1 small fryer chicken, 2 1/2 to 3 lbs., cut into serving pieces Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 4 TBLSP olive oil 1/3 cup pitted Mediterranean-style black olives, coarsely chopped 3 cloves garlic 1 TBLSP chopped fresh sage 1 TBLSP chopped fresh rosemary 1 TBLSP chopped fresh basil (extra fresh herbs to garnish, optional) 2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped 1/2 cup dry red wine Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Warm the olive oil in a large saute pan over high heat. Add the chicken pieces and saute until golden on all sides. Add the olives, garlic, herbs, and tomatoes. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook, until the chicken is tender, about 25 minutes. Uncover the pan and add the red wine. Raise the heat to high and cook rapidly to reduce the pan juices. Adjust the seasonings. Transfer to a warmed platter and sprinkle with more fresh herbs, if desired. Serve at once. Can add a sliced onion to the initial saute and sub tomato paste instead of tomatoes. OK, that's Joyce's recipe. Here's how I adapt it for my budget and slow cooker. Do the saute part to brown the chicken, onion and garlic. Then transfer to the crockpot and add a can of whole tomatoes, chopped, and the olives and herbs. I use dried herbs, subbing 1 tsp. dried for 1 TBLSP fresh. Cook in the crockpot on low for 4 hours. When the chicken is done, take it out and transfer it to a serving dish. Dump the juices into a saute pan, add the wine and reduce/thicken the sauce. Can add a cornstarch slurry and some tomato paste to make the sauce even richer, and freshen with additional herbs if necessary. Pour the sauce over the chicken and garnish with fresh or frozen chopped parsley. The key is to brown the chicken before putting it in the crockpot, to use smaller pieces, (some folks only do thighs, which supposedly turn out best in the crockpot, but I think all the parts are OK if you don't overcook and don't use boneless and don't use huge pieces.) For dessert I may just serve my warmed up applesauce with yogurt and toasted almonds in the cut glass cups, I have done that before. Or I may use my homeade strawberry or strawberry rhubarb sauce over angelfood cake, store bought. I have served the applesauce dessert before to good effect. That is one big plus to canning, you can pull out homeade stuff at the last minute. I'd like to do something with those apricots, but this is why the dang things have been sitting in the fridge in brandy for almost a year! I just never get around to messing with them! We'll see how it goes. As Jessy said, I may get tired and want to take the easiest possible route. Back in the day when I had more free time, I always enjoyed making something kind of fancy when I had folks over for dinner, stuff single-me would never bother fussing with by myself. Especially desserts--I'd make pies, cakes or cobblers, or one of my favorites--blackberry shortbread! Oh well, like you all said, the most important thing is the guests/company, fussing over the food should not be the main focus of a get together! But I would still like it to be homey. The best dinner parties I've been to have been the ones where the food was not fussy, but still delicious, not too many dishes and overdone. The hosts could serve it in a relaxed manner. I think I have not yet quite mastered that art. Alexa sure managed that art at our little get-together! My aunt, who is in her mid 80's has always managed to do that, pull incredibly delicious stuff out of her kitchen with mysteriously little fanfare. But I know she has a lifetime of little tricks up her sleeve! Just her little special touches and recipes. A lot of it is her knowledge of quality ingredients, and how she always has a little something going in the kitchen, so that when the final dish comes out we don't notice that the process took two days of manging the various parts bit by bit. I get so tired of restaurant or pre-made stuff from the store. Not that it isn't nice, but there's just something about it. It isn't the same as homeade, even a homeade tuna fish sandwich carries that special something. I'm trying to focus these days on simple, simple yet homeade foods. It makes a huge difference to me not to be eating out. I can't totally describe the effect, it's just something a bit spiritual I think.

Here's one from the low Glycemic Index Recipe Book: GRANOLA BARS - Makes 16 bars 1 1/3 cups wholewheat flour sweetener - equivalent to 1/3 cup sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 cup wheat bran 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp allspice 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1/2 tsp salt (optional) 1 1/2 cups rolled oats 1 cup apricots - finely chopped 1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce 1/2 cup apple juice 3 low-cholesterol (omega 3) eggs 2 tsp vegetable oil 1. Line a shallow 8 x 12 inch baking dish with parchment paper. 2. Mix the flour, sweetener, baking powder, bran and spices in a large bowl. Stir in the oats, apricots and sunflower seeds. 3. Mix the applesauce, apple juice, eggs and oil, and add to the flour mixture. 4. Pour into the baking dish and spread evenly. 5. Bake at 400F for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let cool and cut into bars. Source: The Glycemic Index Diet - The Easy, Healthy Way to Permanent Weight Loss. Rick Gallop 2002 My Comments: I haven't yet made these but will be doing so in the next weeks. I use granulated white fructose in place of white sugar as it is rated as low GI. I have made several of Rick Gallop's recipes and find them to be very good, helping me lose 25 lbs in 3 months. ********************************* Here's his recipe for Granola Cereal: GI GRANOLA 1 1/2 cups (7 oz) jumbo porridge oats 1 x 40 oz pack of dried apple rings, chopped OR 2/3 cup (3 oz) dried cranberries or 1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup (2 1/2 oz) unsalted sunflower seeds 1/3 cup (2 oz) sesame seeds 1/3 cup (2 1/2 oz) chopped almonds 1/4 cup (2 oz) ground flaxseeds or linseeds 1 TBS ground cinnamon 2 teasp grated orange zest 1/2 teasp sea salt 1 large egg white 1 TBS vegetable oil 1 TBS clear honey 2 teasp frozen orange juice concentrate 1 teasp vanilla essence 1. Preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Mix together in a large bowl the oats, apple, sunflower seeds,sesame seeds, almonds, flaxseeds or linseeds,cinnamon, orange zest and salt. 2. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg white, oil, honey, orange juice concentrate and vanilla essence. Pour this into the oat mixture and toss until thoroughly coated. Turn out onto a shallow baking tray lined with nonstick parchment and spread evenly. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, turning the mixture once with a spatula halfway through baking time, or until mixture is golden brown. Store in an airtight container for 2 days at room temperature or freeze for up to one month. Source: Adapted from Rick Gallop's GI Diet Green-Light Cookbook My Comments: I still haven't made this yet as we don't see dried cranberries or frozen orange juice concentrate here but I hope to make substitutes. My friend Lynne made this with dried cranberries she brought back from England. She says it's delicious! *PS January 2007 .....I just found some dried cranberries in a supermarket so will be trying this soon with fresh orange juice. SharonCb