Salsa

10 cups chopped tomatoes
2 cups chopped yellow and green onions
3 cups chopped green, yellow, jalapeno peppers. You can also use Anaheim, habanero, etc., according to your personal hotness meter.
½ bunch chopped fresh cilantro
(All but the tomatoes can be chopped in a food processor)

1 cup vinegar
1/3 cup lime juice
2 TB minced garlic
2 tsp salt
4 tsp cumin
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
2 tsp oregano

Mix together; bring to boil. Simmer 5 minutes. Process pints in boiling water bath 15 minutes. Makes 7-8 pints. I often keep a quart of un-processed salsa in my fridge—it doesn’t stick around long enough to go bad.

Spatezle/Knopfle

• 1.5 cups flour
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup milk
• dash nutmeg
• season with salt and pepper

• butter
• grated Gruyere cheese (4 oz)
• 1/4 cup cream
• dash paprika

Set water to boil.

Mix the first set of ingredients together into a loose dough.

When the water is boiling,  use a spaetzle maker or a colander with large holes and put 1/3 of the dough in and push or scrape it through the holes to form little dumplings.

After it the dough rises to the top, cook for 2-3 minutes then use a slotted spoon to scoop out all the spaetzle and put it in a clean colander and rinse with cold water. Repeat twice with the remaining dough.

 

Then heat a pan and melt some butter in it. Just as the butter starts to sizzle toss in the spaezle and brown lightly, stirring often. Turn off the heat and stir in the cheese, cream and paprika. Serve.

Artichoke dip

8 oz cream cheese-softened
3 cups mayo
2 cans artichoke
2 cup Parmesan
2 cups mozzarella
dash of Worcestershire sauce


Mix together, bake at 350 for 40 minutes, then 5 minutes on low broil till the top just browns and everything is bubbly and delicious. eat with bread, crackers, or tortilla chips.

Arugula Salad

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 6-8 cups washed arugula leaves
• sea salt

Mix together the olive oil, lemon juice and sugar well. Toss with arugula. Just after serving, grind fresh sea salt over the top. 

This makes a great salad, good with breakfast quiche, and great on pizza. 

You get salty, sour and bitter from this salad.

scalloped potatoes

• 1 sweet potato, 
• 6-8 medium golden potatoes
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1.5 cups milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1.5 cups grated cheese plus 1/2 cup

Slice potatoes thinly.

Melt butter in a medium size pot.Add in the flour and whisk till smooth. Slowly stir in milk, still whisking. Add in salt and cayenne. Slowly add in cheese till melted and smooth sauce. 

Put half the potatoes in flat layers in a greased 9x9 pan. Pour half the sauce over it. Layer the remaining potatoes and pour remaining sauce over the top. Sprinkle the leftover cheese and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour or till potatoes are cooked through. You may need a cookie sheet underneath to catch drips if your pan is very full. 

This is a pretty classic scalloped potatoes recipe but the mix of sweet and golden potatoes give it a slight twist. 

Quick radish pickle

• Equal parts red wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. sugar per cup of vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• diced radishes and or cucumber.

Mix together enough liquid/sugar to just cover the vegetables. Add in veggies and let sit for at least 30 minutes. Serve up to 3 days later.

Deviled Eggs

• 6 hard boiled eggs
• mayo about 3/4 cups
• mustard-1 squirt
• paprika- 1 shake plus garnish
• onion powder- about a teaspoon
• cayenne pepper (just a dash)

Slice the eggs in half lengthwise and remove the yolk. 

Mash the yolks then add in the remaining ingredients. Spoon the mixture into the holes int he eggs where the yolks were. Sprinkle paprika over the top. 

Rolls

• 1 1.2 cups warm water
• 1.5 Tbsp. yeast
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 Tbsp oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 cups flour

Mix the water, sugar, and yeast together and let sit for 10 minutes. Then slowly add in the remaining ingredients in your mixer using the bread hook attachment. Once it is mixed, knead for 5 minutes on a floured surface then put the dough in a greased bowl in a warm area. Let it rise for at least and hour then divide into rolls and put on a grease cookie sheet and let rise for another hour. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Lettuce wraps

• 1 tsp oil
• 1/4 chopped onion
• 8 oz diced mushroom (optional)
• 1 bunch green onion- chopped and separate green parts from light green and white parts. 
• 1 lb. ground pork
• 3 tbs. soy sauce
• 2-3 tbs. hoisin sauce
• 1/4 cup chicken or pork stick
• 1 tsp corn starch
• 1 tsp chopped basil (optional)
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1 head lettuce

Start by heating the oil in a pan and cooking the onion, mushroom, and white part of green onion till softened. Then add in the pork and make sure to break up the chunks into small pieces. Add in half the soy sauce and hoisin in the middle of cooking the pork and then when the pork is cooked through, add in the remainder and the broth with corn starch mixed in. Cook just long enough for the sauce to thicken. Take off the heat. Then add in the basil, cilantro, and remaining green onion and stir well.  Serve on a lettuce leaf. 

Roasted Red pepper hummus

• 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans are the same thing)
• 2 roasted red peppers (see this recipe to make your own)
• 1-2 TBS. sesame oil or about 1/4 cup tahini
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 1 tsp, chopped garlic

Drain off but same the liquid from the beans. Put all the other ingredients into a food processor or blender. Mix until smooth. If it is too thick, slowly add in some of the liquid from the beans until it reached the desired consistency.

You can also make this without the roasted red peppers and do it with roasted garlic, plain, sun-dried tomatoes, or many other options.

Roasted Red Peppers

Roasted red peppers make a great ingredient in a lot of dishes. You can make soup, sauces, serve it as a side, blend it into hummus, top pizza or salad, or many other options. This coming week I will post two recipes using roasted red peppers.

To make,

Preheat the oven to 400
 Grease a baking sheet and place your peppers on it.
Put in the oven and bake until the skins blacken. Make sure to turn them onto a different side every 10 minutes or so.

As soon as they are mostly black, take them out of the oven and put the peppers in a paper bag and fold down the top. Let sit until the peppers cool enough to handle.

Then you can take them out and peel off the skin and pull out all the seeds.

Lavender Lemon Curd

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (a little over 1 lemon)
• lemon peel (use a peeler to take the peel off without getting the white part)
• 1 tbs. lavender blossoms
• 1/4 cup butter

Mix together the eggs, sugar, lemon juice, peel, and lavender in a small pot. Use that pot in a double boiler over gently simmering water and whisk often for about 10-15 minutes. It should just start to thicken. Take off the heat. Add in the butter and mix till incorporated. Strain the peel and blossoms out. Chill for at least 4 hours.

The lavender is entirely optional but adds a nice flavor.

This makes a great substitute for syrups or jams on breakfasts and sandwiches.

Spring rolls

• 2 cups Shredded chicken
• 2 cups thin rice noodles-cooked according to package directions
• 1/4 cup basil
• 2 cups broccoli slaw or diced cabbage
• rice paper wrappers

Sauce-whisk together

• 4 tbs. soy sauce
• 1 tbs. rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbs. sesame oil
• 1 tbs. basil oil
• 1.5 tbs. hoisin sauce

Mix together all the ingredients except the rice paper wrappers. 

Soften the wrappers in water until pliable. Fill will the pasta mixture. Fold up like a burrito.

yorkshire pudding

• 4 eggs in a measuring cup
• Equivalent amount of milk
• Pinch of sugar
• Equivalent amount of flour
• 2 tbsp water
• Grease from a meat roast or shortening or butter

Break the eggs into a measuring cup and see how much it makes-remember this amount. Then mix in that same amount of milk and a pinch of sugar. Beat together. Rest for 20 minutes. 

Mix in the same amount of flour as there was eggs. Beat till smooth. Sit at room temp for 1/2 hour

Spray a muffin tin tin put tsp of fat in each tin in a 450 degree oven till it sizzles. 

Beat in 2 tbsp water into mixture. Pour in some of the mixture into the muffin tins until each muffin hole is about 1/2 full. Bake at 450 for about 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cilantro Lime Rice

• 1 c. uncooked rice 
• 1 tsp. butter or margarine
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tsp. lime juice
• 1 can chicken broth
• 1 cup water

• 1 Tbsp. lime juice
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

Put the rice, butter, garlic, tsp. of lime juice, chicken stock and water in a rice cooker and turn it on or put them in a pot and bring to a boil then cover and cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes or until cooked.  

Mix the final 3 ingredients together in a bowl and pour over the hot just cooked rice and mix in.

Sweet Potato Puree with bacon

• 6 sweet potatoes or yams-cubed
• water
• salt and pepper
• 6 tbs maple syrup
• 3/4 cup of  orange juice
• 1 stick of Butter
• 1/2 cup of cream
• one package of bacon-cut into small chunks and cooked till crispy

Place the sweet potato (or yam) cubes in seasoned water (salt and pepper) with just enough water to cover the pieces. Add in the maple syrup. Simmer over medium heat until the potatoes are soft and the water has reduced. Then drain the potatoes but reserve the liquid. Put the potatoes, butter, and cream in a blender or food processor and blend till smooth. If it ends up a little thicker than you like, add in some of the reserved liquid. Pour this mixture into a baking dish and top with the crispy bacon. To make this more like your traditional Thanksgiving sweet potato dish, you can top with marshmallows and bake at 350 till the marshmallows puff up and brown a bit on top.


The salt from the bacon works really well with the sweet from the potato cooked with that little bit of syrup. 

If you want to make it more of a soup to make into a main dish, add more of the reserved liquid or cream in and serve with rolls or crackers. 

Cranberry Apple Salad-AKA the Pink Stuff

• 5-6  granny smith apples-grated
• 1 bag frozen cranberries, chopped finely in a food processor or blender
• 1/2-1 bag mini marshmallows
•  1 pint of cream-whipped with 4 tablespoons of sugar

Start by whipping the cream and sugar in a mixer on high. Once it has thickened to whipped cream, add in the apples, cranberry and marshmallow. Stir well and serve. 

If you want this dish a little sweeter, ad more marshmallows and more sugar to the cream. 

This dish freezes well and is also quite delicious slightly frozen. We serve it at Thanksgiving as a fruit salad but it would do for a dessert item as well. 

Oven Roasted Asparagus

Start by trimming the ends off  a bunch on thin asparagus. Line a pan with tinfoil and spray it with pan spray. Then drizzle a little olive oil over them and sprinkle some slat and pepper. Roll them around until they are evenly coated. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until the tops are just starting to get crisp. This makes a great side dish. If you use thicker asparagus, you might want to peel some of the outer layer off the bottom of the stem, it tends to get a little woody. Also, the cooking time may take longer. 

Fresh Corn

This is going to be a combination of two recipes to make using fresh corn on the cob

First is a corn salsa

• 4 ears corn on the cob-corn kernels sliced off (or 1 lb frozen corn)
• 3 small avocados-diced
• 3 diced tomato-chopped
• 1 bunch of green onion-chopped
• 1 bunch of cilantro-chopped
• 2 can black beans
• 4 lime-juiced
• 3 tbs apple cider vinegar
• salt and pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 red onion-diced
• 1/2 jalapeno diced (more if you want it spicier)
• 1 bell pepper-diced

Mix everything together in a bowl and serve as a salsa with chips or a side salad.

Recipe number 2- Taco Soup

• 1 lbs. ground beef
• 2 ears corn-corn kernels sliced off
• 1/2 can black beans
• reserved green onion
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 avocado, diced
• reserved cilantro
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Start by taking the corn cobs (without the corn) and simmer them in a pot of water just big enough to hold them all. After about 30-45 minutes, you can throw away the cobs. Keep the corn broth.

Brown the ground beef. in a pot.

 Drain the fat then put the meat back in the pot. Add in the corn broth, corn, green onions, black beans, and taco seasoning. If there isn't enough liquid, add in a can of broth.

Simmer together for about 1/2 an hour. 

Serve up and top with fresh cilantro and avocado and fresh squeezed lime. 

The corn broth adds the flavor of corn throughout the soup. This method also provides a great base for a corn chowder.