Fennel and Orange Slaw with Mint

We ate at the Chinese Restaurant last week, and they had a Cambodian coleslaw type salad on the buffet.  It had leaves of mint in it, and was surprisingly delicious.  I had never thought to pair cabbage with mint before.
We have been eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables lately.  We adore fennel, and when we can get good fresh fennel, we buy it up to make poached fish, or to put into soups.
If you have never had fresh fennel bulb, you are in for a treat.  It is similar to celery in texture, but has a mild licorice flavor to it.  It is great fresh, or roasted, or in soups.  The fronds are pretty, and although I doubt that they add much in the way of nutrition, I always chop up a few and add them in any fennel dish.
We are avid participators in the Bountiful Basket program.  It is a volunteer food cooperative, and offers fresh food at low prices.  We just got our Bountiful Basket for the week, so I needed to make room for all the new fresh goodies that came in our basket, I scoured through my full bins for things to use up, and this is the salad that was created, in honor of that delicious Cambodian slaw.

Fennel and Orange Slaw

3 fennel bulbs, cored and sliced thinly
3 oranges, royaled*
1 English cucumber sliced
1/4 C fresh mint leaves
reserved orange juice
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
fennel fronds for garnish

Cut the fronds and core end off of the fennel bulb, and cut it in half lengthwise.  Cut out the tough core, and slice in half moon shaped thin slices, and place in a large salad bowl.  Add all remaining ingredients and toss to coat.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  This is great served with roasted pork, or would be an awesome picnic salad.  It's very fresh, and low calorie.
*A royaled orange:  Cut both ends off of an unpeeled orange.  Then standing the orange on the cut surface, you can remove the peel and pith from the orange.  With a paring knife, cut the orange slices out keeping close to the membranes.  When all the slices are liberated, squeeze the orange juice out of the orange "guts" and into a bowl to use for the dressing.
Royaling fruit is a great method.  I use it to add citrus to salads. If the citrus in my fruit bowl on the kitchen table starts to look a little soft, I will royal all the fruit, and put it and the juice into a canning jars to put in the fridge.  It's amazing how quickly that cold fruit gets used up once I do that!

Snap Pea Salad
Snap Peas were a good value at the store this week. Also vine ripened tomatoes, so I made this fresh salad for lunch today:
1 C Snap Peas cut in half
3 vine ripened tomatoes cut in wedges
1 C Carrots peeled and sliced on the mandolin 
1/2 Red Onion sliced thin
1/2 C Feta Cheese
1/4 C Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 t Mrs. Dash onion and herb seasoning
1/8 t tajin seasoning
drizzle olive oil
you can find tajin seasoning in the produce section, it is a latin flavoring for fruit, and adds a tangy citrus flavor.

Turkey International: Hungarian Turkey and Cabbage Casserole, Dutch Turkey Waldorf Salad

It is a challenge to come up with new recipes for turkey, as we eat it often due to my dietary restrictions.  You can only eat so many plain turkey sandwiches before it becomes boring.  If it were colder out, I would get out a whole turkey from the freezer.  I stockpiled several last Thanksgiving time.  The thought of roasting a whole bird for most of a morning in my already hot kitchen is almost more than I can stand.  So, I rely on the roasted turkey breast that they sell in our local grocery store.  I carefully pull the whole breast off the bones, and put the bones and bits of meat still clinging on,  along with the skin, in a stockpot to boil away while I finish the rest of my turbo cooking for the week. 
I deli slice half of one whole breast for sandwiches, and put it in a tupperware in the meat drawer.  I will add a couple teaspoons of the broth made from the bones to the meat to make sure it makes a moist  and tender meat sandwich.  This is a good tip for any kind of roasted meat that you are going to use for sandwiches.  The other half gets diced for the Hungarian Turkey and Cabbage Casserole.  The other breast gets divided: 4 cups get diced for the Waldorf Salad, and the rest shredded to make homemade turkey and noodles on Thursday.
So, for my twelve dollars of already prepared meat, I have four meals plus leftovers.  Three dollars a meal!  Not a bad meat choice for our tight budget.
We love cabbage in any preparation in our house, either cooked or raw, or as sauerkraut.  This is a variation on a traditional Hungarian side dish.  It is simply shredded cabbage cooked in butter and added to cooked noodles.  I have adapted it to include mushrooms and onions and leftover meat.  It is good with turkey, but you could also use diced beef roast, or pork.

Hungarian Turkey and Cabbage Casserole
6 T butter divided
1 diced onion
2 C mushrooms sliced
1/2 head shredded cabbage
1 qt/box chicken or turkey stock
1 C diced turkey
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 C milk
2 T cornstarch
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 box cooked and drained short cut pasta like shells

In a large dutch oven or chicken cooker skillet, sweat the onion and mushrooms until onions are translucent in 3 T butter.  Add shredded cabbage, and stir until it starts to wilt.  Add caraway and stock.  Bring to a boil.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  In a measuring cup blend the milk with the cornstarch until it is dissolved.  Stir into boiling stock until it thickens.  Stir in the remaining 3 T butter to finish the sauce, and pour over cooked pasta.
At this point, you can cool and store it to heat in the oven later in the week at 350*F until bubbly. 

Turkey makes a wonderful Waldorf type salad.  I use apples and dried fruits and toasted nuts in it.  My daycare kids love it.

Turkey Waldorf Salad
4 C diced turkey
1/2 minced onion
1 C celery diced
1/2 C chopped dried cherries
2 apples cored and chopped (anything you like, I used a tart pink lady apple)
1/4 C chopped toasted nuts

Toss all ingredients in a large bowl, and top with dressing:
juice and zest from 1 lemon
1/2 C Greek yogurt
1/4 C orange juice
1/2 T orange zest
1 tsp sugar or stevia, or to taste
1/2 tsp cardamom

Greek Pasta Salad with Lemon Yogurt Dressing

Pasta salad often lives in our fridge.  It comes in handy for Don's lunches, to take to the barn when we are training, or for feeding toddlers.  Babies love anything with noodles. 
My little ones love this pasta.  It's tangy and creamy, and it has rotini, the toddler's pick for noodles.

Greek Pasta Salad with Lemon Yogurt Dressing

1 box rotini, cooked, drained and cooled
1 carton of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 C sliced drained black olives
1 C Feta Cheese
1 onion chopped
1/2 peeled and chopped cucumber

Dressing:
juice and zest of 2 lemons
1/3 C Greek plain yogurt
1/2 tsp marjoram
2 T fresh chopped parsley
1/8 tsp white pepper
1/4 C olive oil

In a large bowl, combine salad ingredients.  In a canning jar, add all dressing ingredients, put on the lid and shake to combine.  Because of the salty feta and olives, I dress the salad first, and then adjust the salt level.  Most of the time I don't add any salt.  Cover salad and refridgerate for a couple hours before serving.  Lasts in the fridge all week for lunches!

Mandarin Chicken Salad

The last of this week's rotisserie chicken chopped and made into a low fat salad with fresh Cuties (that needed used up) some celery(also needed used) and other ingredients to make a delicious meal for lunchtime.
I always have a pot of stock going it seems.  I save the carcass when I buy rotisserie chickens, or turkey breasts from our grocery store's deli.  I happen to have a whole turkey carcass this time, because I cooked turkey for the holidays, so I have that cooling, ready to be picked, and soup made for supper, plus several quarts of stock for the freezer, or to be pressure canned if I have time. 
In another stock pot, is the carcass of the chicken mentioned above.  I gleaned all I could from the chicken, and put all the skin and bones, along with a couple bay leaves, and a handful of peppercorns in and covered it with water. I have a simmer burner on my stove, and it's bubbling away back there while life happens, and I don't have to worry about it.
The best part of making your own stock is that it makes your house smell like you are busy cooking, even if you are not! 

Anyway, I made this salad for me, because I love Mandarin Chicken Salad.  I may hide it in the back so Don doesn't take it in his lunch. 

Mandarin Chicken Salad

2 C cooked diced chicken
1 C diced celery
1 bunch scallions diced
1 T roasted black sesame seeds
3 Mandarin oranges (Cuties) peeled and broke up into sections
a handful of chopped almonds

Asian Dressing
1/4 C Low Sodium Soy Sauce
Juice of 2 Meyer lemons
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 T sugar or splenda
pinch of red pepper flake
2 dashes of sesame oil

Note:  sesame oil can be overpowering.  Use sparingly
Mix all salad ingredients.  Pour on dressing, and toss to coat.  Store in an airtight container.

Making Candied Orange Peel, and Orange and Beet Salad

I made candied orange peel for the first time yesterday.  It's a pretty long process.  You have to boil the peels in water and let them simmer for ten minutes, pour the oranges and water into a strainer, and start over again three times. Then, you make a syrup from 2 1/2 C sugar and water (for the peel from six oranges).  Bring that to a boil, and let it simmer until almost all the syrup is gone.  The peel goes on a rack inside of a baking pan to get cool, and become sticky, and then you roll them in sugar.  The longer you cook the peel in the syrup, the stiffer and more chewy it will become.  I'll dip the bottom ends of the candied orange strips into melted chocolate, sprinkle a litte colored sugar on, and enclude a little bag of them in my gifts this year.

That leaves me with six oranges that are now peeled to use up.  So, I made this orange and beet salad with walnuts.  It used up four, and we ate the other two for snack time.

Orange Beet Salad

3 peeled oranges sliced into 1/4" rounds
1 can/pint of sliced beets drained
Red leaf lettuce
1 chopped shallot
Tajin Seasoning
1/2 C toasted walnuts

Dressing
1/4 C italian dressing (I used leftover mushroom marinade)
juice from 1 orange
Tajin seasoning

This is an arranged salad.  Greens on the bottom, then the beets, then the sliced oranges.  Toast walnuts in a dry skillet, or in the oven at 400*F just until you can smell the nuts.  Sprinkle nuts and diced shallot over salad and season with a little Tajin.  If you don't have tajin, you could use the juice of one lime, and a little cayenne pepper and salt.

Salads for the Brown Bag

With my husband commuting to work, and working out of town every week, we make lots of cold lunches.  On days when he is in his office, I can send leftover foods, as he has access to a microwave oven.  On the days when he is in the oilfields, he has to have foods that are good cold.  There are no cafe`s or mini marts in the remote areas where he goes.  I have to have salads and deli type foods on hand to send with him. 
Being Polish, my husband loves kraut, so I am making this salad to send with him.  It is a very old fashioned one, and often served at branding or picnic meals as it stands the heat well, and has no mayo. 

Kraut Salad

2 C sugar
1 t caraway seed
1 t salt
1  quart/jar sauerkraut drained and rinsed
1 red pepper chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1/2 onion chopped or grated

In a saucepan, heat sugar celery seed and salt over medium high heat until it boils.  Boil for 2 minutes and then remove from heat.  The sugar will melt, and make it's own liquid.  Cool before adding it to remaining ingredients.  Best if refridgerated overnight, or at least a couple hours. (Can't be made with splenda, it gets bitter when you cook it too long)

This carrot salad is an old time favorite also.  You can keep this in the refridgerator for up to two or three weeks.  I haven't made it in a long time, so it will be a welcome substitute for the same old same old.

Copper Penny Salad

2 # peeled and sliced carrots
1 large green pepper seeded and chopped
1 onion grated
1 small can Campbells Tomato Soup
1/4 C olive oil
1/2 C sugar or splenda
1/2 C red wine vinegar
1 t Worchestershire
1 t stone ground mustard
1/2 t dried thyme
salt and white pepper to taste

Cook carrots in water to cover and a pinch of salt until tender crisp.  Drain and rinse.  In a large bowl combine cooked carrots with green pepper and onion.  In the same saucepan now empty, combine remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Stir until thoroughly combined.  Pour soup over vegetables and refridgerate for at least 24 hours. 



Don likes potato salad, so I often make my mother's salad

Mother's Potato Salad

6-8 potatoes, peeled and diced
4 eggs
1/2 onion grated
2 whole dill pickles diced finely
3 T yellow mustard
3/4 C mayonnaise
salt and white pepper to taste
dust top of finished salad with sweet paprika

Cover peeled and diced potatoes with cold water, and nestle in eggs in the top of the pan.  They will get hard boiled while the potatoes cook. Cover and bring to a boil.  Potatoes are done when the fall easily when stabbed with a fork.  Drain and remove boiled eggs to a bowl of cold water. 
In a large bowl mix cooled, peeled and crumbled eggs with drained potatoes and remaining ingredients.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and top with a dusting of paprika. 
My mother always uses white pepper in cold salads.  It makes a prettier dish without the black flakes of pepper. 

I don't make jello often, but this old fashioned jello is so tasty,  I remember eating this when I was little.  It was originally made with red hot candies, but I am not able to find them anymore.  I use hot tamale candies instead.
 
Red Hot Apple Salad

1 C hot tamale candies chopped
1 C boiling water
1 3 oz package of sugar free cherry jello
1 C unsweetened applesauce
pinch of cayenne pepper

Add candies to boiling water and stir until they dissolve.  You may need to nuke them for a minute to get all to melt.  Strain out any unmelted bits if you like. Stir in gelatin until it dissolves, and then add applesauce.  Pour into a square baking dish, and chill until set. 

Pulled Pork and Black Bean and Tomato Salad, Homemade BBQ Sauce and Caprese Pasta Salad

I love Independence Day.  We always have family here from out of town, and Lander is quite possibly the best place in America to celebrate.  We have a parade, a buffalo barbecue, the oldest paid rodeo in the world, and a local dentist puts on a patriotic fireworks display that is amazing. 
They broadcast the fireworks program over the radio, and the fireworks are choreographed to the music and the story.  We always drive up on the hill by the rodeo grounds, and sit in lawn chairs with the radio cranked and enjoy the show. Dr. Bills pasture where he shoots off the display is directly across the valley from it.. 
The computer equipment that he uses for the show is so complex only Disney and another company in Japan have it.  It is a world class fireworks display.  I always get so choked up over the story that goes with it.  It definitely makes you think how lucky we are that people sacrificed and stuck to their ideals to create our nation.
My son Ryan was born on the second of July, so I am planning a family party.  I have been busy the last couple days making Cowboy Beans to serve at the party.  It is a recipe that uses dried pinto beans, so it takes two days to make:  one to soak the beans, and one whole day to cook it in the crockpot.
Today, I am making pickled vegetables, and some jelly to go along with the meal.  I had some plums that got a little soft, so I cooked them down and strained the juice through a cheesecloth.  This beautiful pink juice will get enough apple cider added to it to make 5 cups of juice necessary for the recipe for jelly.  I'll be making some giardinera, or pickled mixed vegetables, and some pickled beans for the party.  They only need twenty four hours to be ready.
I'll be partially putting together my Crunchy Asian Coleslaw today, too. I'll not put in the ramen noodles until right before the party so they will still have a little crunch to them.  
On Saturday, I'll be roasting a whole pork loin to serve along with the beans, and we'll have some southwest corn bread to round out the meal.  It will be delicious with butter and a little of the plum jelly I'm making today. 
Ryan is partial to German chocolate cake, so I'll be baking that as well. If I can find my recipe for Aunt Grace's chocolate cake, I'll use that.  Otherwise, it will be a box mix.  I use applesauce in the box mix to replace the oil, and make homemade frosting. 
I always make up big batches of deli style salads to have during the holiday weekend, and that will happen tomorrow.  I have a spare fridge in our garage we use for soda and overflow, so I can pack it full, and then when family is here, I can actually enjoy the company instead of living in the kitchen the whole time.
I have a meat slicer, and I'll cook some beef and slice it thin, along with some cheese to have for sandwiches.  I can thinly slice tomato and onion to keep in a tupperware for salads, too.  I love my meat slicer!
Yesterday, while the beans were cooking, I put a whole pork shoulder roast in my second crockpot.  I don't season my pulled pork until I add the barbecue sauce, as I think the salt draws out too much moisture from the meat, and is a much moister meat if it slow cooks without any seasoning.  Once it gets to the stage where it will fall apart, I pull it out onto a baking sheet and with two forks, I shred the meat.  I then add the hot homemade barbecue sauce.  We will be able to heat this up for sandwiches, or will serve it over hot rice.
Even though I don't add liquid to the roast as it slow cooks, there is always almost a quart of pork juice left after cooking.  I don't throw this away, but keep it and freeze it if neccesary to add to beans or collard greens, or to use to make pork gravy.  After it cools, I'll skim all the congealed pork fat off and throw it away. 

Homemade Barbecue Sauce
1/3 C tomato sauce, or ketchup
2 T yellow mustard
1 T minced garlic
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1/3 C cider vinegar
1 T splenda brown sugar
1 T dark agave nectar
1/2 tsp tajin seasoning
In a small saucepan, heat the above ingredients until they are bubbly hot.  Combine with pulled pork, and serve on a bun or over rice. Extra sauce keeps well in the refrigerator. 

Cowboy Beans
2 lbs dry pinto beans
enough water to cover
In a large bowl, soak the beans in cold water the day before cooking them.  I like to change the water once, usually at bed time.  The next morning, I rinse the beans again until the water runs clear, and they go into the crockpot with enough water to just cover them again.  To that I add:
1 quart/box chicken stock
1 cup tomato based salsa, or tomato sauce
1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2 T minced garlic
3 bay leaves
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 heaping T ham soup base
2 chipotle peppers ( I put them in whole and then remove them before serving)
2 C chopped celery
4 large carrots peeled and sliced
2 onions chopped
Because of the salty ham soup base, I don't add extra salt
Pepper to taste
Cook on high for twelve to fourteen hours.  You want the beans to be tender but not mushy.  Once it was cooled, I put it in the fridge for the party.  On Saturday, I'll pull it out an hour before the party, and put it back in the crockpot on high.

I had a big bowl of tomatoes, and a large cucumber that needed used up, so I made a big batch of this black bean salad.  We will enjoy it with burgers and sandwiches over the holiday weekend.


Southwest Black Bean Salad

5 vine ripe tomatoes chopped
2 jalapeno peppers seeded and chopped fine
1/2 red onion chopped
1 can black beans that have been drained and rinsed
1 can corn drained
1 cucumber peeled and sliced in half moons
Combine all ingredients and dress with Lime Cumin Dressing.  Refrigerate overnight in a covered container.  Serve cold or at room temperature. 

Lime Cumin Dressing


juice and zest from one lime
1/3 C red wine vinegar
2 heaping T cilantro (either fresh, or from a tube)
1 C salsa verde (tomatillo salsa)
1 tsp ground cumin 
2 T olive oil
2 T splenda
1 t minced garlic

Another of my favorite salads is a cold pasta salad with tomatoes, fresh basil and boccaccini (small balls of fresh mozzarella cheese.  I love Caprese Salad, which is an arranged salad of alternating slices of ripe tomato with rounds of fresh mozzarella.  It is served with fresh torn basil, and drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  It's not complete without a sprinkle of coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper.  I have adapted it to add whole wheat pasta. 

Caprese Pasta Salad
3 ripe tomatoes diced
1 C fresh basil torn into little pieces
1 pkg short cut whole grain pasta cooked and drained
1 shallot diced
1 carton fresh boccaccini balls drained and cut into halves
drizzle with oil and balsamic vinegar and coarse salt and pepper to taste.  Better after it sits covered in the fridge for a while. 
It is great served with grilled chickena or fish, or as a lunch on it's own, with a crusty piece of bread.

German Style Buttermilk Potato Salad

I use buttermilk often in my cooking.  It is very low in fat, so I use it to make salad dressings, for baking, in cream soups, and to make the creamiest mashed potatoes without using lots of butter.
My husband is a big meat and tater kind of guy.
Since it was Father's Day yesterday, we had a cookout:  burgers, a pasta salad with lots of vegetables, and this German style potato salad.  Although we love the mustard kind of potato salad, this is a new family favorite.  It's made with new red potatoes with the skins still on, and the dressing is loaded with chives and dill.  Very fresh, and different from the same old.
Of course, when I went to the store, I forgot the fresh buttermilk.  I keep buttermilk powder on hand, so I substituted regular milk and added 2 tsp of buttermilk powder to the dressing.  It doesn't mix in easily, so I blended it with the milk before adding it to the dressing.  

German Style Buttermilk Potato Salad
2 lb baby red potatoes
1/3 C low fat Miracle Whip
1/3 C red wine vinegar
1 1/2 C buttermilk
2 tsp lemon juice
3 heaping T chopped chives
1/4 C finely chopped dill
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
In a large pot, cover the washed potatoes with cold water and put them on to boil.  In a quart jar with a lid, add the dressing ingredients, and shake until well combined.  When the potatoes test done by slipping easily from a knife, drain and slightly mash with a potato masher to break the baby potatoes up in smaller pieces.  Dress with the whole jar of dressing and cover the bowl with foil, or a dinner plate to keep the salad warm until serving time.  It was even better for lunch today!

Sides for Grilling: My Not Really Recipes Recipes

I had plans that we would grill for supper tonight.  After looking outside, I see I may have been optimistic in my planning.  It has been cold and rainy, and we've even had snow.  It finally dried out enough I could get the arena worked so we can train, but it might get muddy again today.  Worst case scenario, I'll get out my broiler pan, and cook inside. 
I have several standby recipes that I use for grilling side dishes.  Food that just tastes good with good ole beef on the barbecue, or lamb or whatever. Actually, there not really even recipes, but more like food combinations.
Potatoes and Chard
Don's favorite is potatoes and swiss chard.  You just add in the diced stalks and leaves of chard when you boil up cubed potatoes.  Put the potatoes and chard in a pot, and cover with cold water.  Add a sprinkle of mustard seed, and a pinch of red pepper flake.  The two vegetables have similar cooking times, and since it is a somewhat bitter green, the water gives that bitter some place to go.  I've tried it with other greens, but it isn't as tasty.  It sounds very simplistic, but after they are drained, and with a tiny bit of butter and cracked pepper on top, it is a delicious combination.

Corn and Zucchini Salad
Corn that you cooked on the grill (on the cob and cut off), or frozen corn (that's been defrosted in a colander) you dry roast in a skillet until it's lightly charred mixed with diced zucchini that has been grilled.  I cut the zucchini into 1/4 inch planks, and drizzle with a little oil, salt and pepper.  Then I grill them until they are just starting to get grill marks on each side before dicing them up; it only takes a couple minutes each side.  Fresh parsley can be used as an ingredient in this recipe, and I'd add about 1/4 cup chopped before tossing it with the dressing.  Dress the salad with oil and red wine vinegar and salt and pepper. Served with sliced ripe tomatoes and some creamy cottage cheese, it's perfect with grilled chicken.
If you aren't a fan of parsley, the salad is good without it.  I always have plenty in the garden in the summer that needs used up, and it is a mineral rich herb that's really good for you.

New Potatoes with Herb Butter
The third is a boiled new potatoes with an herb butter sauce. I use either red or white new potatoes, and just scrub them and cut the bigger ones in half, so they all cook at the same time, then into the pot with cold water covering them.  Once they are boiled, and they slip easily off a knife when pierced, I drain them and put them back in the hot pot.  Add four tablespoons of butter, and a big bunch of fresh minced dill and cook on medium high heat until the butter is melted.  The hot potatoes kind of drink in the butter, and that little cooking makes the dill bright green and smell amazing.  Top with coarse sea salt and cracked pepper.  Great served with grilled steak or lamb chops, and steamed broccoli.

Brussels in Horseradish Sauce
1 lb of fresh or frozen brussels, just halved, and boiled in water until they are tender,  then drained.  In a small saucepan, combine a heaping T of grated horseradish (not sauce, but plain horseradish) and 4 T butter.  Add a pinch of red pepper and salt and pepper.  Once the butter melts and bubbles for a couple minutes with the grated horseradish, pour it over the drained brussels.  This is great served with grilled chops or barbecued ribs and Rice Pilaf.  The bold flavor of brussels matches well with tangy pork.

Rice Pilaf, or Homemade Rice a Roni
1/3 C broken spaghetti pieces
1 C white long grain rice rinsed in a sieve to remove excess starch
1 T butter
Stock in a box, beef or chicken or vegetable
1 T fresh or 1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 C fresh or defrosted frozen peas (optional)
In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium high heat.  Add broken spaghetti pieces and well drained raw rice.  Stir until the spaghetti gets toasty brown, and most of the rice turns opaque.  Add in about 2 cups stock, or enough that it covers the rice by 1 inch (from the tip of your thumb to the first joint is 1 inch).  Add thyme, salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil, and cover and simmer until rice is done, and most of the liquid is absorbed. If the rice doesn't test done, and the liquid is almost gone, add a splash more until it tests done.  Add in fresh or defrosted frozen peas and cover and remove from the heat.  After a few minutes, fluff rice and serve.   


Wedge Salad
Awesome with steak, this is a classic steakhouse recipe.  Just cut a head of iceberg lettuce in half through the middle of the core, and then cut into wedges.  I usually can get six out of a good sized head.  Remove the core from the pieces, and plate individually, or plate on a huge platter, and dress each wedge. You can top it with bacon, or smoked dried tomatoes that are finely diced. 
Top with dressing:
Try making your own dressings rather than buying store bought.  It really only takes a couple minutes to make them, and they last just as long in the fridge as store bought, and taste so much better.
Basic Creamy Dressing:
1/3 cup low fat mayo and enough buttermilk and other ingredients to fill a quart jar 2/3 full.  That is my basic measure for creamy dressing. You need to add the buttermilk last to make sure there is enough room in the jar to shake it, or blend it to combine the ingredients, so the amount is going to vary depending on what kind of dressing you make.  I have an immersion blender, and I use it all the time to blend dressings etc...instead of shaking them up.  I would not use it on the blue cheese, or thousand island, however.  We like it chunky.  Below are the ingredients I would add in to the basic creamy dressing mix.
For Thousand Island:  add in a whole diced dill pickle, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1/3 C ketchup, steak seasoning, and a whole boiled egg that you've crumbled to bits with your hand.  Adjust the thickness of this dressing by the addition of more buttermilk if necessary.
For Blue Cheese Dressing:  add to basic recipe: 1/3 C crumbled blue cheese, steak seasoning, 1 tsp garlic powder, and the zest and juice from 1 lemon.
For Ranch:  Add 1/3 C chopped fresh chives, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1/4 C red wine vinegar, 1 T agave nectar, steak seasoning, and 1 tsp Mrs. Dash garlic and herb mix. Add to basic creamy dressing.
For French Dressing:  I do not use the basic creamy dressing recipe, but instead use:  1/4 can condensed tomato soup.  1/4 C red wine vinegar, 2 T sugar or splenda,  3 T olive oil, 1 tsp garlic powder, salt and white pepper. Shake until combined, or blend with an immersion blender. 

Potato Tomato and Bacon Salad, Some Homemade Dressings, Homemade Custard and a Hamburger Potato Casserole

We got home late last evening from a wonderful weekend away.  I had figured that we might be home late, and knew we would be too tired to really cook, so I had ready a package of minute sirlion steaks, and had my son bake a bunch of potatoes in the oven earlier in the week.  It took no time to grill the steak, and put together this tasty salad.  I used feta cheese, but I think it would be delicious with gorganzola or some other kind of bleu cheese also.

Baked Potato, Tomato and Bacon Salad
4 slices cooked bacon (I used turkey bacon left over) diced in small squares
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
4-5 potatoes that have been scrubbed, greased with Crisco and baked in foil for 1 hour.  Cool and dice
4 fresh tomatoes cut in wedges
1/4 C feta cheese crumbled
In a large bowl place salad ingredients.  Top with dressing and toss.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
Mustard Viniagrette
2 T Mustard
1/3 C red wine vinegar
3 T olive oil
2 tsp grill seasoning
1 tsp dried basil
Whisk together until emulsified, and pour over above ingredients.

I am totally out of dressing for salads, so that is my restocking task today.  Often I make a quick oil and vinegar based dressing right before the meal, but I do like to put salad in Don's lunch, and so I need to have something on hand for that.  If you put the salad dressing in the bottom of the tupperware, a salad stored for lunch will stay fairly crisp, instead of putting the dressing on the top, and having the lettuce wilt. 

Ruby Dressing
1/4 C sugar or splenda
1/4 C cider vinegar
3 T catsup
1 T Worcestershire Sauce
1 medium onion
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
Chunk up the onion, and in a blender or with an immersion blender, combine the above ingredients.  Stream in 1/2 C oil and blend until smooth. 
This dressing is bold enough to serve with a steak salad.  It is also good served over spinach topped with hard boiled eggs and crumbled bacon. This also makes a good dipping sauce for kebabs. 


Orange Avocado Dressing
1/4 C red wine vinegar
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
juice from one lemon
juice from one medium orange
1 whole avocado chunked
1/4 C plain yogurt
1/8 tsp dry mustard
pinch of salt and ground pepper
In the blender, or a quart jar with an immersion blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth.  Store covered in the refrigerator with a tight lid.  You can substitute mayo for the yogurt, and if you don't have, or like avocado, you could use zucchini, spinach or even cucumber. 

Tequila Lime Dressing for Fruit Salad
2 T good Tequila
juice from 2 limes and their zest
1 C fresh mint leaves chopped
1/4 C fresh basil (optional)
1/4 C agave nectar, or honey

Mix together dressing and top a salad of watermelon, honeydew melon, or cantaloupe.  You can make it with watermelon, and jicama peeled and cut into small dice.

I need to make snacks for Don's lunch and for the babies during the week.  This is one of my snacks for this week's lunches:

Vanilla Custard
1/4 C sugar or splenda
2 T cornstarch
1/4 T salt
1 raw egg
Mix together in a double boiler.  If you don't have one, place a glass or stainless steel bowl over your saucepan that you have 1 inch of water simmering in.    Gradually stir in 2 C of whole or 2 % milk with a whisk.  Cook over medium heat until mixture boils.  Let it boil 1 minute, and then add 1 T butter, and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and remove from the heat.  Let cool and cover top with a piece of saran right on the custard.  This keeps it from developing a pudding skin.

I lack any real motivation to cook today, as I am tired from my trip.  I love this easy casserole.  I have leftover mushroom gravy, so I will use that, but you could use a can of store bought mushroom soup instead.  I love that you don't have to brown the meat ahead of time in this casserole!

Hamburger Potato Casserole 
1 pound ground meat
1 large onion sliced
1 can/pint of green beans drained of their liquid
2 large potatoes scrubbed and sliced in thin slices
1 1/2 C gravy (I have mushroom) or 1 can cream of mushroom soup
salt and pepper to taste.

In the bottom of a 9x13 pan, or covered casserole, crumble raw burger and season with salt and pepper. Layer green beans, sliced potatoes and onion slices over the beef.  Top with mushroom gravy, and cover.  Bake at 375*F for one hour.   
You could make this with diced butternut squash, sliced eggplant, frozen peas and carrots, or a can of drained stewed tomatoes in place of the green beans. 


 

My Week at a Glance: Orange and Beet Salad, Carrot Cheese Raisin Slaw, Asian Coleslaw with Pickled Ginger, 1000 Island Dressing

 My week at a glance, fresh salads and dressing recipes. 
Orange and beet salad is one of my favorites, it is a pretty arranged salad.

Orange and Beet Salad
1 can of drained whole beets, sliced
2 Oranges
1/2 Red onion sliced thinly
1/4 C Red wine vinegar
2 T olive oil
Salt and pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil, crushed
Arrange sliced drained beets on serving plate.  Mix together vinegar, oil and basil.  Pour most of it on the beets, and then salt and pepper.  Cut both ends off of unpeeled oranges, and standing them on the flat end, peel off the peel and pith with a small knife.  Cut into rounds and arrange on top of the beets.  Sprinkle with onion, and drizzle on the rest of the dressing.

Raisin Cheese and Carrot Slaw 
3 C grated carrots 
1 large can pineapple chunks, drained (reserve juice in a quart jar), cut into smaller pieces 
1 C dark or golden raisins
1 C shredded white cheese 
1 C real mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip) 
1/2 C plain yogurt 
1/2 C Splenda or sugar
In a quart jar, place reserved pineapple juice, mayo, yogurt and splenda or sugar. Screw on lid and shake until well combined. In a large bowl, put the carrots, pineapple, raisins and cheese.  Top with the dressing, and toss well to combine.  Cover and refrigerate before serving.  Better if made a day ahead. 

Avocado Tomato and Onion Salad
3 Avocados, cut in wedges
3 large fresh tomatoes, cut in wedges
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
Cumin Vinaigrette:
Juice from 1 lime
2 T cider vinegar
2 tsp splenda or sugar
2 tsp cumin seeds
3 T canola oil
salt and pepper to taste
Make vinaigrette earlier in the day, and let it sit at room temp. to combine flavors.  Toss with vegetables right before serving.  

1000 Island Dressing

1/3 C mayonnaise
1/3 C catsup
1 hard boiled egg grated
1/2 yellow onion grated
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp steak seasoning, or seasoning blend of your choice, we like Montreal Steak
In a quart jar, place above ingredients, and add enough buttermilk to fill the jar.  Cover and shake to combine.  Better if made a day ahead, and refrigerated. 

Asian Style Coleslaw
 In a large bowl combine:
1 head of Napa cabbage thinly shredded
2 carrots, grated
2 T chopped pickled ginger
Just before serving, top with dressing and toss.
Asian Dressing:
1 T pickled ginger liquid
2 T rice wine vinegar
3 T low salt soy sauce
1 T sugar or splenda
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 T canola oil
1 clove minced garlic, or 1 T garlic powder

Greek Salad with Olive and Feta

1 bag mixed greens
1/2 C chopped greek olives
1/2 C crumbled feta cheese
3 chopped scallions
1 C Cherry tomatoes sliced thinly
Vinaigrette:
1/4 C wine vinegar
3 T olive oil
juice from one lemon
1/2 tsp oregano crush in your palm to release the oils
1/2 tsp marjoram
coarse salt and pepper to taste

The Day Before Shopping Day Turbo Cook

They say that life is what happens when you are making other plans.  This is so true of our busy hectic life.  I don't always get to stay true to my menu plans, and often improvise and make a quicker, simpler meal than the one I planned for.
If items are on sale, I will stock up on them, and that changes my menu dynamic also.  For instance, ground chuck was on sale the last time I shopped as a buy one package, get one free.  That made it cost about a dollar and change per pound, so I bought two of the largest packages.  One whole package got divided, and placed in plastic, and wrapped for the freezer.  Half of the other package went into the making of the Beef Ancho Chili for Joel's birthday party.  (See recipe on Spaghetti Western post) That leaves me with a pound of beef that needs used up.
I overestimated amounts for fresh vegetables like celery and zucchini.  They need to be used or figured into the plan for this next week to come.  I have sweet onions that are starting to soften a bit, and they need to be used up also.  I had planned on using leftover meat from the taco bar to make a stir fry of broccoli and cauliflower, but there was none left over, so I will need to use those up also. I prep the broccoli and cauliflower for quick cooking by cutting it up and putting it into tupperware containers.  The head of red cabbage left in the crisper also gets shredded for use as either coleslaw, or cooked sweet and sour cabbage for this next week.  I have found that if I ready these things, I am more apt to use them at the end of a long busy day than if I have to prep them at meal time.  
So yesterday, we spent the day making room for fresh by using up the produce from our last shopping trip.
I often do what I call turbo cooking.  I plan one large span of time, a whole morning, or sometimes most of one day, to make ahead and use up what I have.  It seems like a big commitment when you first start doing so, but the savings in time and money more than make up for it in the long run.
Here is the products of our morning of turbo cooking:

French Onion Soup
4 large sweet onions sliced thinly
2 T butter
6 C beef stock
pinch of red pepper flake

In a large skillet or dutch oven, saute the onions and butter over medium heat until they are brown and carmelized in flavor.  Add beef stock and red pepper, and bring to a boil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
At this point, I cool this and pack it into canning jars leaving 1 inch headspace.  I use plastic lids you can buy for canning jar storage, and either store it in the refrigerator for use in the next week, or freeze it.
To serve, heat the onion soup to a boil.  Pour into large ramekins, or soup bowls and top with a crusty piece of sliced bread, and some sliced swiss cheese.  Place bowls on a cookie sheet, and put under the broiler until cheese is bubbly and melted.

Hamburg Stew - A family favorite using up my leftover hamburger, zucchini, and celery.  This can be made with any kind of vegetable, and I have made it often using up leftover spaghetti sauce in place of the hamburger and canned tomatoes.  Most of the time the vegetables consist of carrots, onions and potatoes, but we have vegetables that need used this time.


Hamburg Stew
1 pound browned burger
1/2 onion diced
4 small zucchinis diced
4 carrots peeled and diced
1 C celery
1 can low salt corn and it's liquid
1 small can fire roasted tomatoes
1 large can/quart of tomatoes
1 C red wine (party leftovers)
2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
1 tsp italian herb seasoning
2 C v-8 or tomato juice
In a skillet, brown meat and remove to stock pot.  Add in onion, carrot and celery in the skillet, and cook until they are translucent.  Add wine and scrape up bits from the pan.  Add to stockpot along with all the other ingredients.  Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer, and cook for two hours or longer to develop a rich flavor.

I have about a cup and a half of Pico de Gallo left from Joel's birthday party, so I used it to make a spicy, creamy dressing for this cold pasta salad.  We are going out of town tomorrow, to rope in Thermopolis, so I will take this along in the cooler for our lunch.
When I use canned chipotle peppers in a recipe, I never use more than ONE pepper.  They are fiery hot, so I usually have them on hand in a glass refrigerator container.  If they start to get a little dry, I add some vinegar to keep them moist.  The liquid they are packed in is very good for seasoning things you wouldn't want pieces of pepper in, and it gives a smoky heat to the dressing for this salad.

Southwestern Pasta Salad

1C pico de gallo, or jarred salsa
1 C buttermilk ranch dressing
1/2 C mayonnaise
1/2 tsp sauce from canned chipotle peppers
1 can whole corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 container of cherry tomatoes halved
1/2 C sliced black olives
1/2 red onion sliced thinly
1 C shredded mexican blend cheese (leftover from Joel's party)
1/2 tsp tajin seasoning, or a pinch of chili powder, and some lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
1 box short cut whole grain pasta cooked and drained
In the bottom of a large tupperware, mix the buttermilk ranch, pico de gallo, mayo and chipotle sauce until well blended.  Add the remaining ingredients, and keep cool until serving.

I have two quarts of enchilada sauce left from my party last weekend, so I soaked a pound of dry beans overnight and made this dish in the slow cooker.  The pork is a lean pork loin that I had in the freezer, and I will pull it out when it tests done,  to cool and slice thinly for sandwiches this weekend.  It will give pork flavor to my beans, and since it is still frozen, will be moist and flavored by the enchilada sauce also.   I could also cook the meat longer, and shred it for chalupas or a big pan of enchiladas for the coming week if I liked.  The idea is that I am getting double duty from my one use of the slow cooker.  I will have Chili Beans for a side dish for several meals, or as a base for a chili, and also get the meat cooked at the same time.  It saves on dishes, which tickles me to no end!

Pork and Beans (kind of) or Chili Beans and Braised Pork Loin
1 pound of white or pinto beans, soaked overnight in double the amount of cold water, and rinsed
2 diced carrots
3 stalks celery
1/2 diced onion
1 chipotle pepper diced
6 C red enchilada sauce
2 C tomato juice or V-8
3 stalks of fresh thyme (leftover from making pickles)  I just put these in whole, and retrieve the stems after cooking.  The little leaves fall off in the liquid.
2 bay leaves
1 pound pork loin seasoned with salt and pepper
In a large slow cooker, place all ingredients, making sure the pork loin is on top.  I didn't brown this loin, nor did I even defrost it, I just put it in frozen.  It will absorb the liquid and be moist and flavored.  Cook on high heat until the pork tests done (165 F) with probe, and then continue cooking the beans on low heat for 10-12 hours. 
These freeze well, and are good as a side dish for grilled meat, or as a meal with boiled rice.

Happy Birthday Joel, Ole`!

Joel's birthday was earlier this month, but we finally got around to having his party yesterday.  He picked Mexican food as his theme, and I will be sharing the dishes we prepared this week.  It was a big success, and we have lots of yummy leftovers for the week's lunches!
I love to use Mexican food to entertain, as it often is make ahead, and there aren't a fussy lot of ingredients in the dishes.  I am still kind of slow moving, and have to rest often, so I made most of the dishes the day before.
We had a taco bar set up, and served a marinated slaw salad, and a fruit and panela salad, but the main dish was the beef ancho chile (see earlier post for the recipe for Spaghetti Western).  My good friend Mel brought a crock pot of green chile from the Laredo in Rawlins (YUM!) so people had a choice between the spicy green and the milder red.
At Joel's favorite Mexican restaurant, they always serve a marinated cabbage slaw as a condiment.  We all really love it, and I think I've finally nailed down the recipe.  It is definitely a make ahead, as it needs to develop in flavor, as does the fruit and panela salad.

El Sol Slaw

1/2 head green cabbage, thinly shredded
3 large grated carrots
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/3 C rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Combine all the ingredients, and put in a sealed container to store in the refrigerator.  Much better the second day, so make ahead!

Panela is a hard white cheese with a very mellow flavor.  It pairs really well with fruit, and with the color contrast of mango and honeydew melon, it was a pretty addition to our buffet.
Tajin seasoning can be found in your grocer's fresh produce section.  It is a blend of chile, lime and salt.  If you can't find Tajin, you could substitute a sprinkle of chile pepper, and salt.
Agave nectar is a syrup that has a low glycemic index, so doesn't cause the spike of blood sugar common to other sweeteners.  It could be replaced with sugar or splenda. 

Mango, Melon and Panela Salad
4 ripe mangos peeled and diced
1 honeydew melon peeled and diced
1 pkg panela cheese diced
zest from one lime
juice from 2 limes
3 T agave nectar
1/2 tsp tajin seasoning
In a large salad bowl, add all ingredients and toss.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Toss again before serving.   

Jalapenos can be very mild and tasty if roasted in the oven.  I stuff mine with Queso Fresco cheese mixed with Neufchatel cheese,  but we have also made them with cream cheese mixed with parmesan.
The hardest part of making these healthier version of Jalapeno Poppers is splitting and cleaning the chiles.  You need to split them length ways and cut out the white membrane and remove the seeds for stuffing.  We have family that shy away from anything spicy, so I also stuffed smaller sweet orange and red chiles.
These poppers are an easy do ahead recipe, and can be either served hot from the oven, or at room temperature.

Jalapeno Poppers

6 large firm jalapenos
2 pkgs small sweet red and orange peppers
1 pkg Queso Fresco cheese crumbled by hand
2 pkg Neufchatel cheese softened
1 tsp garlic Mrs. Dash seasoning
Split chiles and remove membranes and seeds.  In a medium bowl, mix together remaining ingredients, and stuff into chiles.  Place on baking sheets and bake in 350 F oven for twenty to thirty minutes, or until peppers have softened, and cheese is slightly brown.  Serve either hot or at room temperature.

Spaghetti Western

Today's pantry star is spaghetti squash.  I love them for the fact they keep so long.  I grow enough in our garden to last all year long, and keep them in the cool lower shelf in my under the stairs pantry.  Spaghetti squash is a nutrition powerhouse:  low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol, a good source of Niacin, Vitamin B6, Pantothenic Acid, Potassium and Manganese, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber and Vitamin C.
There are several recipes I make regularly with spaghetti squash.  There are two preparations I use for spaghetti and other hard skinned squash to use in recipes.
Oven baking:
Split the squash lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds with a metal spoon.  Drizzle with oil or a pat of butter and cracked pepper, and place cut side up in a baking dish that has an inch of water in the bottom.  (It keeps the squash from getting over browned).  Bake at 350 F for one hour, or until the squash "squashes" when you squeeze it together.  For spaghetti squash, I let it cool and shred the fibers with a fork, making it look like a pile of pasta.
Microwave steaming:
Place cut and cleaned squash half into a large zip lock bag with a couple of T of water.  Poke the top of the bag to vent steam, and microwave 3-4 minutes until the squash gives to pressure.  Cool and shred with a fork.
I have a few favorite recipes I use:  in a cold salad, to make a vegetarian spaghetti using buttered squash in place of noodles, and our new favorite is a slow cooker chili over the top of the baked spaghetti squash.

Spaghetti Squash Salad
Cooked and cooled squash pulp
2 diced green peppers
1/2 diced red onion
1/4 C cider vinegar
2 T sugar or splenda
2 T corn oil
salt and pepper to taste 
Combine all ingredients, and chill before serving.  Better if made a day before using!

*This next recipe uses enchilada red sauce, made from dried Ancho chiles.  To make the sauce, combine 1 quart/box of low salt chicken stock with 6-8 dried anchos that you have cut in half with scissors, and removed the seeds and stems.  Bring to a boil in a saucepan, and reduce the heat and simmer covered for 20 minutes.  Blend until smooth.  This makes the richest, mild chili with a lot of spice, but not so much heat.  
Spaghetti Western
1 # ground beef
2 cans mexican stewed tomatoes 
1 40 oz. can of pinto beans with jalapenos and it's liquid
1/2 grated yellow onion
homemade enchilada sauce* (above)
Place raw hamburger in the bottom of the slow cooker, and break up with a spoon.  Top with the remaining ingredients and cook on high for 8-10 hours. About an hour before serving, add 1 C salsa (I used tomatillo, as I have homemade on hand). This adds a fresh tang. 
An hour before supper, I put the spaghetti squash in the oven to bake.  I serve a bed of spaghetti squash topped with the chunky beef chili in large soup bowls, with lime and hot sauce.