That yummy kale salad from GAW

Ok I need this here because yum and then I don’t have to worry about losing the photo Cheese Pusher sent me again...

To try to type it out... with a couple of notes...

4 c kale [washed, ribbed, and torn into bite-size pieces]

4 Tbl olive oil [thats a quarter cup, people]

1/2 Tbl sesame oil

1 Tbl liquid aminos [I subbed in soy sauce after K couldn’t find this at the store]

1 Tbl rice wine vinegar 

1 Tbl lemon juice

4 tsp fresh ginger

Sprinkle salt and pepper 

To paraphrase: Prep kale. Mix rest. Rub liquid into kale. Delicious. 

Frost Pumpkin Pie

For Pumpkin & Other Hard/Winter Squash month, I'm pleased to share with you another one of my mother's recipes. It's refreshing and unusual and a great way to have "pumpkin pie" on Thanksgiving if your oven is just too dang full, but your freezer's got some room. Or maybe if you're living in a warmer climate than Wisconsin and Minnesota! Basically, it's pumpkin pie filling swirled with softened vanilla ice cream, refrozen into a graham-cracker pie crust. Yum!!!! Thanks, Mom, for a delicious recipe!

Frost Pumpkin Pie

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Beat the above together until smooth, then stir in
1 quart softened vanilla ice cream.

Pour into a 9-inch graham cracker crust.*

Freeze 8 hrs or more.

Remove from freezer 15 min before serving.

Optional: sweetened whipped cream, walnut halves or candy corn for garnish.

* To make your own graham cracker crust:

1 and 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 Tbsp sugar

1/3 cup melted butter or margarine

Combine and press into 9-inch pie pan.

Optional: bake for 10 min at 350, then cool before filling.

Maple Dressing and Poppy Seed Dressing

Ok, this doesn't fit the theme this month or last month or really anything, other than I was typing these up for someone else and I thought, "Hey! I could post these recipes too!" And you know, it's summer now, you might want to eat a salad. :)

Maple Dressing

1/4 C. Mayonnaise (do not use miracle whip*)

1/4 C. Pure Maple syrup

3 Tbs. White Wine Vinegar

3 Tbs. Sugar

1/2 C. Vegetable oil

+ Salt & Pepper to taste

Blend first 4 ingredients. Then slowly whisk in the vegetable oil last, then season to taste. Keep in a container you can shake to mix before using. Makes 6 servings.

Poppy Seed Dressing

1/2 C. Sugar

1 Tsp Salt

1/4 C. White Wine Vinegar

1 Tsp. Dry mustard

1/2 C. Olive Oil

1/2 C. Canola Oil

3 Tbs. Mayonnaise

41/2 Tsp. Poppy Seeds

1 Tbs. Onion Juice

Mix: Sugar, Salt, Mustard, and Vinegar until blended

Add: Olive oil, Canola oil and onion juice mix until blended

Add Mayonnaise & Poppy seeds last - you will have to stir a bit to incorporate the mayo

Throw in some cooked chicken and grapes and the Poppy seed dressing makes for an interesting sort of chicken salad as well.

Cous cous salad

1 box whole wheat cous cous
1 15 oz. can of kidney beans
2 medium scallions
1 cup fresh broccoli
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/3 c. tomato juice
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp olive oil

Prepare cous cous per instructions. When cous cous has cooled to room temperature, mix with beans (strained), scallions, and broccoli. In a separate bowl, mix remaining ingredients. Pour over salad and toss lightly.

The vegetables and beans can be varied for different flavors.

Guacamole with mango and pomegranate

Yeti made this last week for Wednesday dinner, and it was awesome. I'm glad I hadn't read the recipe before I ate some, because I probably would have been scared away by the raw onion. But I don't even remember tasting it. Good stuff!

4 ripe avocados (about 2 lbs.)
1 cup finely chopped white onion
2 fresh serrano chiles, finely chopped (2 tablespoons), including seeds
1/4 cup fresh lime juice, or to taste
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup pomegranate seeds (from 1 pomegranate)
3/4 cup diced peeled mango
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Lime wedges to garnish

Halve, pit, and peel avocados. Coarsely mash in a bowl. Stir in onion, chiles, 1/4 cup lime juice, and 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, then fold in pomegranate seeds, mango, and cilantro. Season with salt and additional lime juice. Garnish with lime wedges.

(Recipe is from Epicurious.)

Cream Cheese Chutney Dip

I am ashamed to even try to call this a recipe, but it's good and fits the theme.

4-8 oz of cream cheese on a plate (spread it around if you want it to look pretty)
spoon Major Grey Mango Chutney on top (use less if you don't want it too sweet)

Spread this on crackers. I find water crackers and Wheat Thins work well. Delicious!

Margarita Pie

Margarita Pie

This is one of those recipes that gets slightly altered each time I make it, so I've included some of the variations.

For Crust: 

• 2 cups  crushed pretzels 
  
• 1/4 cup  sugar 
  
• 2/3 cup melted butter 

Pulse pretzels and sugar in food processor (or blender) until fine crumbs. Add butter, process to blend. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and sides of pie plate. Freeze while preparing filling. 

Note: Personally, I like the salty crust, it's unusual though. Some people prefer to use a standard graham cracker crust, still good, just makes it sweeter. 

For Filling: 

• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
  
• 1 tbsp. grated lime peel
  
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
  
• 1/4 cup tequila (if you use this amount you will taste it a bit.  You can cut back to 2 tbsp. or eliminate) 
  
• 1/4 cup Cointreau (or other orange liqueur, you can cut back to 2 tbsp. or use orange juice)
• 2 cups  heavy whipping cream (you can use cool whip if you want, but it will be sweeter)
  
• 4 drops green + 2 drops yellow food coloring (optional)
  
• Garnish: lime slices
  

Procedure: 

Stir condensed milk, lime peel, juice, tequila, Cointreau, and food coloring in a small bowl. Beat cream with mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually fold in the lime mixture until well blended. 

Pour into crust, freeze 4-6 hours or overnight. To serve, let pie sit at room temp for 10 minutes, or refrigerate for 20 min.  Re-freeze any remaining pie. 

Variations: 

• Strawberry- omit lime peel, add 1 cup fresh sliced strawberries, use red food coloring 
  
• Virgin- omit tequila, add an extra 1 tbsp. lime juice, use 1/4 cup of orange juice in place of liqueur.
  

Ok, that is not as many different ways as I thought! Oh, I think I did use Triple Sec one time too, but I can't remember if that was in addition to the Cointreau or replaced it...

Ranch Crackers

2 bags small oyster crackers
1 cup vegetable oil
1 double packet Hidden Valley Ranch
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon dill weed
1 Tablespoon parsley flakes

In a doubled brown paper bag, add crackers. Mix remaining ingrediants in a small bowl. Add mix to bag. Shake for 2 minutes. Wait 2 hours. Store in an ice cream bucket or similar.

Variations: Add oregano or other herbs that you think will go well with the mix.

Greek Salad

3-4 Roma Tomatoes

1/2 Red Onion

1-2 Green Peppers

2+ Cucumbers

Feta Cheese (we like lots)

Kraft Greek Salad Dressing



Chop into bite size pieces. Pour the Greek Salad Dressing over and mix.



Enjoy! I meant to post this in August and it did not happen.

Tomato not really recipes

Most of the things I make with tomatoes aren't recipes.

Case in point: last night for supper, we grabbed some tomatoes, cucumber and basil from the garden, cut them up with cubes of fresh mozzarella and drizzled a little 18-year balsamic vinegar over the lot of it.

Or cutting a tomato in half, topping it with mozzarella and throwing it on the grill or under the broiler until the cheese is melty and starting to brown. Maybe sprinkling it with oregano or pressing a fresh basil leaf into the top before you serve it.

Puck's mom is in town, and on hearing me wax rhapsodic about both garden tomatoes and Colorado peaches, sent me this New York Times link, which includes the following:

"Mix wedges of tomatoes and peaches, add slivers of red onion, a few red-pepper flakes and cilantro. Dress with olive oil and lime or lemon juice. Astonishing."

I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds really good and like something I would never think to try on my own.

(Those of you who don't like tomatoes, follow the link anyway -- it's 101 summer salads, many of which have no tomato at all. I think I need to make the walnut, bleu cheese and raspberry one too.)

And we have all tried BLTs with avocado, right?

Temp's Refreshing Summer Salad

I may be hopeless at putting my own recipes up, but damn it, I can cut and paste for others. :-) Here's the zucchini salad Temp brought to mai tai, as posted on her blog.

Temp's Refreshing Summer Salad

Take 4 or 5 Zucchini and peel them, and then keep using the peeler to make ribbons into a bowl until you get down to the seeds.

Open up a jar of sun-dried tomatoes in oil and chop some of those up and toss into the zucchini until you have a good ratio. Pour about a tablespoon of the oil in there too.

Take a lemon and shave about a tablespoon of zest off it into the zucchini. Squeeze about a tablespoon of lemon juice in there too (This is less than when I served it this weekend, and much less than the 2 tablespoons I recall the original recipe asking for).

Season with coarse salt and ground pepper.

This would probably also be good with artichokes, but I like the color of the tomatoes in there. It's also a little soppy, so you can let the zucchini sweat a little before putting the other stuff in there.

Taco Salad Dip

This isn't really a salad, but the salad theme made me remember this. It always goes over very well at pot lucks, etc. Hope I'm remembering quantities right.

Mix together:
8 oz cream cheese
5-8 oz (small container or a bit less) sour cream
1/2 - 1 package taco seasoning (try using 1/2 the package first and add more if you think the flavor is too weak)

Place on bottom of 9" pie plate.

On top place aprox:
1 c. shredded lettuce
1/2 c shredded cheese (or to taste)
and about 1/4c-1/2 c salsa, scattered along the top.

Enjoy with tortilla chips.

Quick Pickles

I meant to post this back in January. Sorry. Anyway, this is a wonderful summer treat as it's nice and cool, but really is good any time. You can adjust this to add or subtract anything you like.

1 c. white vinegar

3/4 -1c. sugar (I prefer 3/4)

Mix these two together in a casserole dish or any other container that can hold the rest of the ingredients. It will take a bit of stirring.

1-2 regular cucumbers, sliced, or 1-3 Chinese or English cucumbers, chopped (depending on size) (see pictures)

Layer the cucumbers in any dish with a layer of salt in between each layer of cucumber. Let the cucumbers "sweat" for 1-2 hours. (Will need less time if using Chinese or English cucumbers). Rinse.

Put cucumbers in the vinegar/sugar mixture. Also add (at any time):

1/2 - 1 onion, sliced and cut in half (easy to eat slices)

3-4 red chilis (optional) de-seeded and sliced (They will not be spicy after soaking, but add a good flavor.)

1/2 - 1 red or yellow bell pepper (optional)

Put this all in the fridge and chill for at least 1 + hours. Enjoy! Will keep in the fridge for 3+ days.

*if the cucumbers taste at all salty after marinating for an hour, don't worry. The longer they soak, the less salty they will taste, until there is no salt taste.

Turkey Cookies

Turkey Cookies -

I made these 3 years ago and thought you all might like to try. They are made with striped cookies (bought). The round chocolate ball is a peanut butter ball but you can use chocolate covered cherries (store bought). I made the peanut butter balls as I do not like chocolate covered cherries. Candy corn head. Use melted chocolate to get everything to stick together. Enjoy!!

Have also made Marshmallo Pilgrim Hats but could not find a picture.

We have also had something like Sugar-Cone Cornucopia.

Winter Salad

This was not the salad I was looking for and I have to admit I have not made this one. My mother had it at a potluck and said it was wonderful so it was on my computer. It looks good and something different. I might try making it for my cooking club next Thursday as we are doing Thanksgiving Sides. I will post all the good things people bring for all of you next weekend.

Winter Salad
1 1/2 head romaine lettuce
1 C. shredded swiss cheese
1/2 cup craisins
1 cup cashews
1 apple cubed
1 pear cubed
grapes to taste
Dressing: 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 t salt
1 t. dijon mustard
1 T poppy seed
1 T grated onion
1/3 c lemon juice
2/3 c oil

Simple Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Open Face Sandwiches

I just posted this over at Musings & Mutterings, but I just know if I want to remember how I did them, I'm going to be looking over here, so I figured I might as well double-post these. Fun, and not as time-consuming as I thought they'd be.

Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Open Face Sandwiches

First, we used a pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the cheese. I used American slices (NOT individually wrapped!) and did three at a time. Peeling the outside edges before taking off the cutter works well.


After cutting out ALL the cheese slices, I cut out the jack-o-lantern faces. Again, keeping them together as the three-at-a-time I did before worked well, except that last one was always a little tricky to get the eyes and nose out. Still, MUCH better than one at a time!


Then it was time to cut out the bread. Unfortunately, that was one slice at a time, but it didn't go too badly. Pushing the cutter down and then wiggling the whole thing around on the cutting board for a little bit helps get through the last bit cleanly. Again, peeling off the outer edges first makes it easier.

Then I buttered the breads and we put a cheese pumpkin face on each.



Done!

(Aren't they cute?!)

(And all the leftover cheese and bread bits were used up in an egg bake for supper that night! Brilliant, if I do say so myself!)

Miso & Cucumber

Sorry I don't post much anymore. Lack of food stuffs that are safe or that you know and lack of appliances make it hard. But, here's a snack you might enjoy - and it's healthy.

Miso (soybean paste) and cucumbers. You should be able to buy miso at any Asian grocery store or maybe even Trader Joes. This is a popular Japanese snack food, especially with beer. I suggest using the miso that isn't totally paste yet, but has some bean left in it.

Use large chunks of peeled cucumber, about 1" or more in length, add a small drop of miso on top (about 1/2 to 1 tsp) and enjoy. It is crunchy, salty, and very good on the health scale (except for the salt content.)

Next time I go to our favorite Japanese place, I'll try to remember to take a picture for you so you can see the pretty presentation.

Separate note: some friends also like to use the miso as a dip for carrots etc. However, I think the water content of the cucumber is better suited with miso.

Tomato Bruschetta

Yesterday I was SO HUNGRY for tomato-covered bruschetta. The tomatoes, and basil, and garlic....yum! We'd gotten a large bunch of basil from our CSA the week before, so I'd thought to pick up some tomatoes...

I sort of made this recipe, which I'd gotten at a cooking class (with Chef Jeff). Didn't measure a thing, used regular tomatoes instead of Roma and a fresh CSA onion instead of the red onion, didn't toast the bread....

But it didn't matter. Because what I ended up with was absolutely, positively what I was hungry for. I'd made some dough from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day earlier in the afternoon, so I baked up a loaf of that, and for supper, all I had was fresh, homemade bread mounded with tomato-y goodness.

It was summertime heaven.


Tomato Bruschetta
(makes 3-4 appetizer servings)

6 Roma tomatoes
1/4 c. diced red onion
1-2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp. fresh chopped basil (oh, just use LOTS)
3 Tbl. olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
3-4 1/2"-1" slices of fresh Boule bread (French bread may be substituted)

1. Remove the stem ends of the tomatoes; cut them in half lengthwise and remove the seeds.
2. Dice the tomatoes and place them in a 3-quart mixing bowl. (I'd only use pottery or other non-reactive material because I think the acidic tomato tastes funny otherwise.)
3. Add onions, garlic, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper; mix well.
4. Serve at room temperature.
5. Brush both sides of the bread lightly with olive oil and place on a 1/2 size sheet tray (or cookie sheet.)
6. Broil for 2-3 minutes or until slightly golden in color. Repeat procedure so that both sides are lightly toasted.
7. Remove from broiler, top with tomato mixture and serve.

Salad - easy no prep

Just wanted to share a great salad we have been making this summer.

Buy a bag of Broccoli Slaw - Poppy Seed Dressing - Gorp (mix of dried fruits and nuts- no chocolate) - Mayo of your choice (I like Miracle Whip)

Mix together - eat!!

Tastes good the next day also.

Garlic scape pesto

Ms. Huis Herself's CSA boxes made me remember and dig up this recipe I found a while back online. It's from Greensgal at The Omnivore's Solution. I went ahead and posted her comments at the top. This may be horrible Internet etiquette...



One of the most fantastic uses I know is in Garlic Scape Pesto. Our very favorite omelet is folded over a ribbon of this pesto – yum! We also eat it plain as a spread on crunchy bread or crackers. It can be used to season steamed vegetables, a topping for brown rice, or as an addition to potato salad for a mild garlic flavor. Stir some into vegetable soups as a garnish and flavor enhancer. This freezes amazingly well and keeps many months in the freezer.

GARLIC SCAPE PESTO

1/2 lb. organic scapes, top bulbs removed (chopped into 1" sections)
1/2 C pine nuts
2 c. grated parmesan cheese (substitute romano or asiago)
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil (to achieve the correct texture)

Use only the tender parts of the scapes, peeling bottom ends if tough.
In a food processor, combine the scapes and pine nuts, pulse to chop into a rough paste. Add cheese and pulse. With processor running, drizzle in just enough olive oil to achieve a moist spreading consistency. Taste for salt and add some sea salt if necessary. It depends on the saltiness of the cheese.

Note: I substitute a “lesser” parmesan for economy sake. Using the finest parmesan doesn’t make a tremendous difference because of the strength of the garlic taste.

Possible additions: 1/2 C fresh herbs – parsley, dill, or cilantro
Place in processor with scapes and pine nuts.