Vegetable Samosas with Cilantro Basil sauce

I have an abundance of potatoes from the garden right now, I also have a lot of mashed potatoes in the fridge. This inspires new creative ways to use them, so any recipes appreciated!

Vegetable Samosas with leftover garlic and cheese mashed potatoes

1/4c + very finely diced onion
1c shredded carrot
1/4c shredded zucchini (you could add more or sub for some of the carrot)
3/4c frozen peas
1 1/2c + mashed potatoes
1tsp mustard seeds
1/2tsp mustard powder
2tsp Graham Marsala
2 TBS apple cider vinegar
1/2 + tsp salt
1pkg Fillo dough

Brown onion in a little olive oil add carrot and zucchini and cook 2 mins more add frozen peas and spices stir then add the mashed potatoes and cider vinegar. Stir and adjust seasoning to your taste adding more of anything you desire. Preheat the oven to 350. Cut the fillo sheets in 3 inch by 14 inch strips, the fillo is kind of hard to work with as it is very thin and delicate try to keep it covered so it doesn't dry out otherwise it crumbles. One at a time spray sheet with oil and put a Tbs or so of filling in one corner. Fold it triangular all the way down the strip of fillo. This takes a little practice and they don't all look perfectly uniform but they still taste yummy. Continue with the rest of the fillo and filling and place them on cookie sheets brush with oil and bake in the oven 23 mins. Spread or dip into Basil Cilantro sauce when eating.

*I did not add garlic to the potato mixture because my potatoes had garlic in them however I would have put it in with the onion otherwise.

Cilantro Basil Sauce

Big handful of Cilantro leaves
Big handful of Basil leaves
1 Jalapeno
1/2tsp salt
Juice of one lime
1tsp grated fresh ginger
1tbs water
2 cloves garlic

Put all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until smooth! Refrigerate until ready to use. If you don't do spicy you may remove the rib and seeds from the jalapeno for less heat.

Shane Gobbled these up, and they were relatively easy and quick the hardest part was working with the Fillo.

Next I will attemt some scalloped or Au gratin potatoes.....

Turkey and Sweet Potato Soup

As Ive noted once before I love soup! I could eat it pretty much every night of the week. Last week I made traditional leftover Turkey, Mushroom and Barley soup and this week I wanted some different flavors so I whipped up some Turkey and Sweet Potato soup or chili. It came out a lot like a family favorite of ours called Chili Chicken soup.

Turkey Sweet Potato Soup

11/2 to 2 cups leftover chopped turkey
half a large onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 ribs of celery chopped
1 cup of corn (use any kind you have fresh, frozen or canned)
1 can of beans or 15 oz frozen (you could use white, black or kidney and it would be good with 2 cans but I only had one can of white beans)
1 large sweet potato chopped
1 can of diced green chilis
1/2 to 1 smallish delicata squash puree (this can be left out I just had half on hand and thought it would thicken the soup nicely!)
1 very small chipotle chili and about a tsp of the adobo sauce (skip this if you do not like spicy!)
1 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder
Juice of one lime
1 Tbs of Apple cider Vinegar (the good stuff)
salt to taste

Saute the onion then add the garlic and celery saute for another minute or two then add the remainder of the ingredients bring to a boil and then lower heat to simmer for at least a half hour until sweet potato is soft. Add Salt to taste and enjoy with three cheese quesadillas!

Hope everyone had a YUMMY Thanksgiving!

We celebrated turkey day last Saturday, so that Shane could have homemade food. Lucky me I then got to eat at both my dad's and mom's houses on Thursday (guess I better hit the hills!) Lucky for me every meal was vastly different. We had a low key, more traditional  meal with all of Shane's favorites. Included in that was our traditional smoked turkey. I am a turkey snob. This is the only way I will eat thanksgiving turkey. My Dad taught me how to make the brine but I have also added a little like fresh garlic and then we smoke/bbq the turkey on our Traeger. Lets just say yum!

Turkey Brine

1 bottle of sherry
1 bottle of white wine
1/2 c. salt
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
1/4 c. cumin
1 tbs garlic powder
3 cloves smashed garlic
2 bay leaves
maple extract or maple syrup
water to cover the turkey.

Mix all ingredients in a large bucket/container, put the turkey in the brine add enough water to cover the turkey and soak overnight- 24hours.

When ready to cook either use your smoker to smoke it or on our bbq which does both we cook on medium for about 2 hours switch to smoke for another 2 hours and then turn back up to med. until turkey is done. This is for a 12-14 lb. turkey otherwise cooking times can very. The result usually leaves us with a turkey that we can barely take off the bbq because it is falling into pieces, plus it always has great flavor because of the brine! I have tried some variations on the brine but this one with the sherry and wine seems to bring out the most flavor in my opinion. Plus the leftovers make great soup (usually mushroom barley here) and even better enchiladas. I really don't usually like turkey but I sometimes do another just to have the leftovers for other recipes.

Dad's Jalepeno Relish

I can not take credit for this recipe as it is my dads. He likes hot stuff! I guess I inherited that gene because I like spicy too and even have to be careful cooking for others because I like it so much I don't realize that everything I make is spicy! Obviously Shane likes it too!

While we have never actually tried canning a jar of this I don't think it would be hard to figure out, instead I just make it a batch at a time and keep it in the fridge.

Dad's Jalapeno Relish

1lb Jalapenos
3 large cloves of garlic
1/2 to 3/4 of a large onion
1/2 - 1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 tsp of cumin powder
 a swirl of oil
a couple glugs of cider vinegar

Put the Jalapeno, garlic and onion in a food processor and pulse until you have fine chunks. If you would like the relish to be less hot then remove the seeds and membrane of the peppers or some of them before putting them into the food processor. Put a swirl of oil in the pan and add the pepper mix put on medium to medium high heat to soften. Add salt and cumin and mix in well, once the peppers start softening add the cider vinegar.  Cool and store in the refrigerator in an airtight container, I like to use a mason jar or one of the new plastic ball jars.

You may ask what to use this on? Well I use it on anything and everything but my favorites are on morning eggs and potatoes and inside quesadillas. It is also good on soup. Beware though every batch has a different amount of heat due to the inconsistency of the peppers it can be quite hot and sometimes builds heat the longer it is in the refrigerator, so I suggest using it sparingly!

So I have a picture for this post but it wont upload! Guess I will try later!

Sausage and Winter Squash Cassoulet

This recipe really deserves a photo and I know I should get back to practicing my food photos, but its so much easier to post without taking pictures.

I came up with this recipe last year in one of my periods of being determined to find a recipe with squash that my hubby will eat. This one was not just ok it was a definite keeper and one of my favorite recipes I have ever come up with. It is also the epitome of comfort food while being surprisingly healthy.

Sausage and Winter Squash Cassoulet

1 1/2 cups chopped onion
3 cloves garlic chopped
2-3 celery stalks chopped
2 carrots chopped
1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped herbs (Thyme, sage, parsley, basil)
1 acorn or other winter squash cooked, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 to 1 1/2 lbs Italian sausage
3-5 slices bacon chopped
30 ounces cooked or canned white beans (half of them mashed)
1 large can stewed tomatoes
1/4 cup Marsala wine
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Cook sausage and bacon in a dutch oven drain grease add in veggies and cook until soft. Add herbs, salt and pepper Marsala wine, cider vinegar and tomatoes bring to a boil then simmer for 10 mins. Add squash and beans (half of the beans should be mashed with a potato masher) cover and simmer 30 mins. Cook covered in a 325 degree oven for 1 hour. Uncover sprinkle with breadcrumbs and cook an additional 30mins.

This dish is rich and creamy, we like to enjoy it with some nice crusty bread. It would also be good with a sprinkle of cheese on top but it is really not needed. While this dish does take a while to cook traditional cassoulet's take much longer and this one is well worth it!

Stuffed Pork Chops with Roasted Tomatoes

I have a favorite manicotti/shell stuffing that I make in the fall and freeze in batches. I make it in the fall because one of the ingredients is chard and I have an abundance of that this time a year. Also basil but my basil this year is already done with. I had one last batch in the freezer from last year and decided that I could do other things with it then just stuffed manicotti. So I decided to try stuffing pork chops.

Now I didn't do this recipe exactly as I had planned. I have been very busy lately and loving my crock pot so I put this all in the crock pot and cooked on low all day. I had planned to put it in the oven and while it was fine and good in the crock pot I think the oven would have been a little closer to what I was thinking as it turned out instead of like pork chops a little more like a pork pot roast!

Swiss Chard filling:

2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup shredded/chopped swiss chard
1/4 cup shredded basil
1/4 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup Parmesan
1 cup Cottage Cheese
Salt and pepper

Cook garlic and onion in a pan until translucent then combine all ingredients in a food processor and mix/incorporate thoroughly.

Roasted Tomatoes:
Fill a pan with chopped tomatoes, garlic, onion and toss in olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in a 400 oven until bubbly and caramelized.  For this recipe I then lightly pureed it.

I make this and freeze it to add to well whatever, soups sauce etc. You can puree it or leave it as is but it really brings out the flavor in tomatoes especially if they are not perfect ripe off the garden vine.

4 thick cut Pork chops.

Cut a slit in the pork chops and spoon in cheese mixture, salt and pepper both sides. Put in a single layer in the crock pot pour over the tomato puree, cover and cook on low all day. I was going to sprinkle with some cheese at the end but forgot! Cheese makes everything better but it was still yummy.

I am going to be using my crock pot a lot in the near future maybe all winter. It is so great for busy days like yesterday, I had to leave the house at 9am and had a late lesson at 5 meaning i wasn't back in the house until 7pm. But dinner was pretty much ready when I came in so no complaining about  eating at 9!

Easy Yummy Baked Oatmeal

Shane and I had a fun but very long day yesterday. We not only left in the wee hours of the morning we returned well... almost in the wee hours of the morning! After a day of long travel and eating out we both craved something simple and comforting for breakfast this am.

So I set out to make a batch of baked oatmeal and this is what I came up with. It is quite good!

Baked Oatmeal

2cups oats
1/4 Brown Sugar (or a little less)
1tsp + Cinnamon
1/3 c dried cranberries
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 Tbs ground flax
2-3 Tbs wheat germ

1 1/2 cups milk
2-3 Tbs apple butter
3 tbs agave nectar
1 egg
2 tbs melted butter cooled

Combine dry ingredients and mix well. Whisk the wet ingredients together and then mix well with the oat mix making sure to coat everything. Pour into a sprayed 8x8 baking pan and bake at 375 for 20 mins.

A different Zucchini Bread

Today I made zucchini bread with almost the last of the squash out of my garden. I wanted to try a recipe that was a little different, and going of the lemon zucchini blueberry muffins I made last week I decided to stay with the lemon theme. This bread doesn't have any cinnamon in it and also I used a very small amount of sugar so it has just a tiny hint of sweetness, you could certainly use more but it came out batter like and once cooked stayed almost cake like and very tender.

Zucchini Bread

2cups shredded zucchini

2 Tbs sugar
1/3cup sugar
1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
2 eggs
juice from half a lemon (this was all I had otherwise I might have done a whole lemon)
6Tbs Butter melted and cooled or very soft
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1cup whole wheat flour
1cup white flour

After shredding zucchini place in a colander and sprinkle with 1-2tbs sugar let sit 30 mins to drain, then gently push down on the zucchini to get any excess moisture out. In your mixer or by hand beat 1/3 cup sugar, eggs, butter, yogurt and lemon juice until combined, fold in the zucchini. Mixing thoroughly after each addition add in baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour last one cup at a time. Pour into a greased and floured bread pan bake at 375 for 55-60 mins.

Baked Potato and Squash?

Ok so I know I have not been on here in forever! The worst part about that is being able to remember the recipes you wanted to share. I meant to post this recipe for for a potato bake that I came up with weeks ago but it has seemingly escaped me. Sorry I was never able to catch any photos of this dish either. Food photography seems to be one of the bigger challenges for me, not only taking the pictures but taking good ones! Who has time to stop and take pics while they are cooking anyway and I would usually rather taste my food warm then spend an hour trying to stage it and make it look pretty!

I made this dish twice and changed it a little the second time because I had different ingredients on hand.

Thin baked potato and squash casserole

2small to medium summer squash sliced very thinly (if you have a mandolin use it)
3-4 medium waxy type potatoes very thinly sliced(you could use any but I think those are best)
1/2 a brick of cream cheese cut into chunks
1/3cup of feta or goat cheese
1/3cup grated cheddar
1/3cup milk
Parmesan
salt and pepper
generous handful of basil shredded or you can use dried

Layer 1/3 of the potatoes and squash in the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper dollop with half of the cream cheese and feta sprinkle on some Parmesan and basil repeating with another layer. Then put on the last layer of potatoes and squash, salt and pepper, basil, cheddar and Parmesan, pour milk over the dish cover with foil and bake at 400 for 25-30 mins then remove foil and bake an additional 15 mins to make the cheese bubbly and crispy.

I have also just made this with plain cheddar and Parmesan and it was just as good. Shane gobbled it up and even had seconds not complaining about the squash!

Zucchini Cake

This must have been good because Shane and I have eaten almost an entire 9x13 pan in 2 days, normally when I bake sweets I have to throw the last piece out. This is partially out of self preservation, (I would eat it all) and usually because Shane only eats a couple of pieces and then no more. When I came back in from riding last night I discovered he had eaten a piece and a half and then had another after dinner. Eeeks we better get running!

It closely follows my carrot cake recipe with just a few tweaks.

Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

4 eggs
3 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 -2/3 cup olive oil or any other oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3 tsp. vanilla
2 c flour (I used 1 c. white and 1 c. wheat)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
lemon rind from about half or a little more of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 grease and flour a 9x13 pan (when making carrot cake I have used 2 round pans so this should work if you want to build a layer cake instead)
Beat eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla mix in flour and other dry ingredients and lemon rind stir in zucchini. Pour into prepared pan and bake 40-50mins. Let cool at least 10 mins before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely or if you are lazy like I was just let cool in pan!

Cream cheese frosting

1 stick of butter at room temp
1 8oz pkg of cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
squeeze of half lemon

Beat butter, cream cheese and sugar together on med high speed until thoroughly incorporated and smooth and creamy looking. Taste test to make sure it is sweet enough to your liking (I do a lot less sugar then most recipes.) Add the juice from half a lemon and continue mixing once your cake is cooled you can spread it on the top! If you are doing a layer cake you may need to double the recipe. The result was a very light and tangy frosting almost like a cream cheese sour cream frosting if there is such a thing!

Garden Pasta Salad

Recently I was at my brother in-laws wedding, there was a wonderful pasta salad there. It just so happens that many of the veggies in it I have to use from my garden and I am always trying to figure out meals based on what is available to me outside in the summer. For some reason I have had a particularly hard time with that this summer. We have lots of everything aside from maybe tomatoes and they are trying (I get a fair amount just not enough to can)! This has been one of our best gardens ever I love it even though the weeds torment me and I have been truly overwhelmed with the abundance even after giving what seems like most of it away!

Back to the PASTA!

This was quick, easy and filling. I made if for company with some maple mustard grilled chicken.

Garden Pasta Salad

1 box of whole wheat Rotelle or Fusilli shaped pasta
1-2 cups broccoli florets
1-2 cups cauliflower florets
2 small to medium squash halved
1/2 can olives halved
about a pint of cherry tomatoes
1/3 cup mozzarella pearls
1/4 cup parmesan
handful of ribboned basil
Your favorite good quality Italian dressing or you can make your own (I usually make my own but was lazy!)
I would say you need at least a cup but taste the pasta after you mix it up and allow it to sit a few minutes.

Cook pasta as directed during the last 3-4 minutes put broccoli and cauliflower in to cook until crisp tender then drain. On a grill cook squash halves until caramelized ( about 5-6 minutes) remove and slice into bite size pieces. In a large bowl toss pasta, broccoli, cauliflower, Italian dressing and Parmesan cheese then lightly toss in squash, olives,  mozzarella and basil season with salt and pepper.

I made this pasta according to my guests tastes! I may have added different veggies otherwise some grilled peppers and red onion would have been a very good addition and of course Shane would have loved if I left out the squash but as you can see above it is going into everything we eat as of late. I chopped it up into tiny bits in the food processor and added it to our garden spaghetti sauce the other night and last night we had a very yummy zucchini cake (similar to carrot cake) after dinner that I will post later!

Finally a consistent bread recipe!

Most anyone who knows me, knows I am a bread maker. Or at least that I attempt to make a lot of bread. I make a mean jalapeno cheddar bread and a  favorite herb and cheese bread that pretty much always comes out good but for the last year I have been looking for a recipe that I can add stuff too, and change up every time but that gives me not just tasty bread but a bread with that rich chewy rustic crust! I have finally found a recipe I am in love with! I have made it several times and every time it comes out with a nice crust, good crumb and lots of flavor even when I didn't add anything!

Beware it does require some time but you just have to be around you don't have to be watching it the whole time!

Basic Bread Recipe

3 1/2 cups flour (I think the quality of flour is everything for baked goods, and swear is the secret to my cookies. I use Montana Wheat but King Arthur is also good)
2 1/2 TSP yeast
2 1/4 TSP salt
1 1/3 cup cold water plus 1/3 additional

Optional healthy add ins: I pretty much always use at least half wheat flour when I bake. If you do it is good to also add vital wheat gluten since it is lower in gluten it doesn't always rise as well. I also usually always add in a 1/4 - 1/3 cup of ground flax as well as wheat germ.

So you may start this bread in two different ways. I usually mix all the dry ingredients including the yeast in my mixer then make a well and pour in the 1 1/3 cups cold water with the dough hook mixing at speed 1. You could also dissolve the yeast in the water first and then put in the dry ingredients. This is a multiple rise/slow rise recipe that is why the cold water works. I mix in the mixer until the dough gets cleaned off the sides and starts to have an elastic texture. It is ok if it is still sticky as long as you can handle it. If it is too sticky and does not clean the sides of the mixing bowl then add flour a Tbs at a time. If it is too dry and never incorporates all the flour into a nice wet elastic ball add a little of the extra water again only a Tbs at a time. I then pick up the ball spray the sides of the bowl with a little spray gently turn the dough in it once so it won't stick to the sides so bad and cover and allow to rise for usually about 2 hours the dough should be double in size.  Then take the bread and put it on a work surface with a good dusting of flour, flatten it by patting and lightly stretching into a rectangle then fold it into thirds long ways and then take each end and fold it under. This helps distribute the yeast even more. Put it back in the bowl, cover and let rise until it has doubled in size again. This rise is usually a little quicker. Once it has risen I split the dough in half and gently pull the sides under to form a round ball and put in a sprayed cake pan. Bake in an oven preheated to 400 for 15 minutes then turn down the oven to 375 and bake an additional 20-30 mins. Now to achieve that crust I described put a tray/bowl etc. on the wrack below the bread and throw in a couple of ice cubes when you put the bread in the oven refresh with a couple of more ice cubes every 10-15 mins. When the bread is out of the oven it is delicious hot but it is always best to allow the bread to cool all the way first before cutting into it so all the steam doesn't escape.

This loaf came out slightly low probably because I didn't allow it to rise all the way the first time. It still had all the good bread properties though. Also I find that usually when I shape my bread round it holds its shape better and rises better then when I do it long like french bread.

Now as I mentioned above I like to add stuff! The possibilities are wonderfully endless! This batch is a Parmesan, basil, sun dried tomato bread.

Cheese - it makes everything better

Nuts

Herbs (I like to use fresh but dried could work too)

Jalapenos

Apples

Cinnamon

Raisins

Most of these things I add when mixing in the mixer however when you flatten out the bread and fold it is also a good time to put add ins on especially jalapenos, apples, cinnamon sugar etc.

Grilled squash and cherry tomatoe salad

Yet another squash recipe, I know I will try and lay off after this it just that I have so many different varieties that I have been trying to figure out how to use. This recipe was ready in 15 minutes and made for  a great light dinner after a hot day outside.

1 crookneck squash split lengthwise
1 zucchini split in half and then lengthwise
1 thick slice of onion rings
a handful or more of cherry tomatoes
butter lettuce
1/3 cup Parmesan
handful of shredded basil
salt and pepper
olive oil
balsamic vinegar

Heat the grill and brush squash halves and onion with olive oil, grill until there is nice grill marks on them. In a large bowl  put cherry tomatoes ( I also quartered a couple of other golf ball sized varieties with a handful of cherry tomatoes) Parmesan, basil, salt and pepper and when the squash has nice grill marks slice into chunks and mix with tomatoes serve over a bed of lettuce (I used butter lettuce) drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

This was so easy I actually had time to post it tonight! Really yummy too but if you don't like squash you could probably substitute some other veggies like peppers and mushrooms maybe. 

Blogging is work!

I don't know how all these accomplished bloggers find the time to post everyday! It seems that lately I barely have the time to post a couple of times per week let alone daily!!

As promised more zucchini/squash recipes! Today is zucchini pickles, I did try some last night at dinner and they needed a little more time to soak up all the flavor but otherwise seemed pretty good. There are lots of different recipes out there most of them similar to regular cucumber pickles.  Shane doesn't like sweet pickles so I tried to make these a little different and may play with the vinegars next time if I can get him to try them.

Zucchini Pickles

3 med zucchini sliced thin
1/2 a large onion
1 1/2 tbs canning salt ( I used sea salt)

1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1/2 tbs mustard seeds
1/4 c sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 - 1 tsp dry dill or you could put a sprig of fresh in the jar.
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 hot pepper thinly sliced

Put the zucchini and onion slices in a colander and sprinkle with the salt mix and let sit over a bowl in the fridge for a few hours to drain liquids tossing occasionally. When ready to use put in a salad spinner to get excess liquids off and pack into a quart jar or other container with a tight lid.

To make brine combine the vinegar, sugar and spices (unless you are using fresh dill) on stove top and bring to a boil, simmer a few minutes. Pack the chili pepper with the zucchini and then pour the hot brine over the top cool, seal and refrigerate for a week or so.

Zucchini Noodles!

So I have an over abundance of squash! Our daily food has been consisting of all things squash, unfortunately for Shane since he is not a fan..... I have been waiting for him to be gone to try a few recipes. The first is spaghetti with normal sauce but the noodles are instead shaved zucchini!

My review, I like it! I used a vegetable peeler to shave thin slices of zucchini onto my plate and made a normal marinara loaded with veggies- onion, garlic, peppers, mushrooms oh and some yellow squash I left meat out tonight I didn't have any thawed and I don't usually cook it when Shane is gone. I loaded the zucchini ribbons with marinara and topped with Parmesan. It was not quite the same as regular spaghetti noodles but good none the less. Next up to try is a zucchini angel hair pancake or zucchini pickles. If you have any ideas or yummy bread recipes please share!

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

I have been trying to post this recipe for days! I have literally not been in the house so it had to wait:)

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

2 grilled chicken breasts
half a sliced green pepper
half a sliced red pepper
sliced jalapeno or other spicy pepper
half sliced onion
small can of pineapple chunks or fresh if you have it
Arugula
Crusty buns or rolls
swiss or provolone cheese

Sauce
1/2 c BBQ Sauce
hot sauce to taste I recommend Franks Red Hot wing sauce or cholulas.

One of the breasts was the cats!

Mix sauce and set aside. Saute peppers and onions in a pan until soft. Slice chicken breast and add to peppers add in pineapple pour on sauce and mix. Portion out on crusty rolls  or buns lined with arugula and melt swiss or provolone cheese over the top.

The Best Broccoli Salad!

I was wanting to put this recipe up before our family camping trip but of course ran out of time. I took this to the BBQ as my potluck dish and got rave reviews.  I have never cared much for broccoli salad but I love curry and cashews and had an over abundance of broccoli from the garden that I needed to figure out how to use since Shane does not eat it cooked.

Broccoli Salad

6-8 cups broccoli in bite size pieces
1 cup shredded carrot
1-2 ribs celery chopped
1/2 cup red onion chopped
1/2 cup raisins

Dressing
1/2 cup mayo
2-3 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2 Tbs agave or honey
2 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs hot curry powder
3-4 Tbs sesame seeds
Dash of red pepper
Hot sauce and Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk ingredients for dressing in a bowl adding pepper sauce, red pepper and salt and pepper in the end to taste. Mix all the veggies and raisins together in a big bowl then stir in the dressing and sprinkle with cashews when ready to serve.

This was prep for the BBQ, I don't have a finished picture but there wasn't a tidbit left!

Newbie!

Ok so as if I wasn't busy enough I have decided to start blogging! My decision to blog has mostly stemmed from my addiction to all the other wonderful food blogs out there. Since I am constantly being asked for recipes, and I am a FB geek always posting what I am eating and cooking I have decided to try my hand at the blog....... if nothing else I suppose all of my favorite recipes, and pictures etc. will all be in one place :)


Since I am starting this blog at an extra busy time in my lil' farm life (horse shopping, trying to get a new business going and packing for this weekends annual Harvey family BBQ) I am going to start off with a very simple salsa I made today for lunch. I will post pictures at a later date.....

Quick Garden Salsa

4 small to med. Garden Tomatoes ( yes they were fresh from the garden, Manitoba's and supice I think.)
1 lemon cucumber
2 cloves of garlic
1 garden salsa pepper, jalapeno would also work
1/4 or a little more of a med. sized onion
a small handful of cilantro
lime juice
salt

Cut the tomatoes and cucumber in to chunks set aside. In a food processor combine the rest of the ingredients and pulse until desired consistency. Stir contents of food processor into tomatoes and cucumber squeeze with half a lime or more if desired add more salt if needed and scoop up with some chips! I recommend yummy blue corn tortilla chips!