Diva's Tamales

Diva’s Memories of Recipes Title: Diva's Tamales
Ingredients (using 6 pounds of meat = 10 dozen tamales) 3 pounds pork roast 3 pounds beef roast 2 large onions 4 cloves garlic 1/4 to 1 cup chili powder or more (depends on heat of chili powder and spice tolerance) salt and pepper cumin 8 cups masa harina 2 cups shortening or lard Corn husks (2-3 packages for full recipe) Day 1: Cook meat pork or beef, or both cooked separate in a large slow-cooker filled with water, an onion, 2 garlic cloves, 1/4 cup chili powder, salt and pepper. Cook for the day, I do 12 hours on low. After the meat is cooked (so that it shreds easily), remove from pot, set aside meat and liquid to cool separately. Season broth mixture to taste with chili powder, cumin and salt. Shred meat finely with two forks (you can even chop it after shredding), and store covered in refrigerator separately from broth. Soak corn husks in water overnight. Day 2: Rinse & clean corn husks thoroughly then rain well and pat dry. Remove meat and liquids from refrigerator and add a small amount of broth to moisten meat, but it should not be runny. For every 2 cups of masa harina (meal), add 1/2 cup of shortening or lard, 1 tsp. of salt, and enough chili powder to make a pretty pink dough. Add the broth mixture a little at a time to masa and mix with your hands to get a smooth, spreadable consistency.  Assemble the tamales: spread masa about 1/8 inch thick on corn husk with fingers, leaving about 1/2 inch border along the sides and 2 inch border along the top and bottom of husk. Use about 2 Tbsp. of shredded meat to fill the tamale. Fold masa sides until they overlap. Fold bottom of husk up, left side in, top side down and right side in tie top and bottom with string or a thin slice of corn husk. Place them top side up in a steam tightly and steam fresh tamales for 15-20 minutes or until masa is no longer sticky. You can store in freezer then steam frozen tamales for 20 minutes as needed.
Variation: Serve with Diva's Pork Chili.  Can also make with either all beef or all pork.

Breakfast Tater Tot Casserole

Diva’s Memories of Recipes Breakfast Tater Tot Casserole
Inspiration:  My nephew and I found a similar recipe to this and modified it to our liking.  It must have been good... because it got demolished before I could take a picture.
Ingredients: frozen bag of tater tots or shredded hash browns 2 cups milk 8 eggs 1 lb pork sausage 2 cups shredded cheese of your choice veggies of your choice (optional)	Instructions:  Brown pork sausage and put to the side.  Put taters in bottom of greased 9x13 pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk eggs and milk together and pour over the top of the taters. Add pork sausage and veggies of your choice. Bake 30 mins and add shredded cheese. Bake another 15 mins. Let cool 5-10 mins.
Variation: could add cooked bacon to the top with the cheese.  We also tried salsa with it:)

Preserving Tomatoes

Diva’s Memories of Recipes   Preserving & Canning Tomatoes
Inspiration: I have been canning since 1981 when I was carrying my first child.  It's totally rewarding.  I canned 118 jars of tomatoes that year.
Ingredients: Tomatoes Lemon Juice or Vinegar Canning salt (if you want to freeze your tomatoes, use the peeling process in the instructions and put in ziplock bags, remove air and freeze. Some people do not slip the skins off, but I do.) You can also add onions and bell peppers to make stewed tomatoes.	Instructions:  Prepare Tomatoes as follows: Bring a large kettle of water to boil.  Have a large basin close by with cold water.  Add tomatoes to boiling water (I usually count to 60 while I am doing other things) Remove tomatoes to cold water basin with a slotted spoon.  Once they are cool to handle, remove the stem and slip the skins off.  Boil jars for about 10 mins to sterilize or put them in the dishwasher. Remember to do the lids also to soften the sealant.  You can either slice the tomato in half or quarters or leave them whole. Stuff the tomatoes in the jars.  (*I get 8 halved/quart and 8 quarters/pint jar) Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar with a pinch of salt.  Leave 1/2 inch head space to top of jar. Wipe the edge of the jar top and put lids & bands on.  Lower the jars carefully into large canning kettle of boiling water and boil about 25 mins.  Remove jars carefully to a heat resistance surface and listen for the lids to pop and seal.  Store jars in cool dry place.
Variation:  My Grandma use to add a carrot to the jar to lower the acid:)

Diva's Tomato Pasta Sauce

Diva’s Memories of Recipes Tomato Pasta Sauce
Inspiration:  This is my basic pasta sauce I use for everything.  I will double or triple the recipe and freeze quart size bags for future use too.  I also use this sauce for my casseroles and chili.
Ingredients: 2 lbs ground beef 1/2 TB basil 1/2 TB oregano 1/2 TB thyme 1/2 TB parsley salt & pepper to taste 1 28oz can crushed tomatoes, undrained 1 28oz can tomato sauce 1 6oz can tomato paste 1 TB minced garlic 1/2 cup onion, chopped	Instructions:  Brown ground beef, onions and garlic in large stock pot. Add remaining ingredients and simmer 2 hours.
Variation:  1 recipe will serve 6 sometimes I add green peppers, black olives, sweet wine or mushrooms as well.  Depends on who I am cooking for.   One 28-ounce can of tomatoes equals about 10 to 12 whole tomatoes, peeled (or about 2 pounds) One 14-1/2-ounce can of tomatoes equals 5 to 6 whole tomatoes, peeled (or about 1 pound) If you want to substitute whole tomatoes for tomato sauce, puree 10 tomatoes, peeled will equal One 28-ounce can.  And for homemade Tomato paste, add an additional 3 tomatoes to the puree.