Miscellaneous
I made this guacamole for a potluck lunch I went to for Cinco De Mayo today. This recipe comes from Alton Brown.
Ingredients:
3 avocados
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 clove garlic, finely grated
Scoop the avocados out of their skin and place in a large bowl. Add the lime juice and toss to coat. Drain out the extra lime juice from the bowl and reserve.
Add the salt, cumin and cayenne pepper and mash with a potato masher. Mash to desired consistency. I like to leave it a little chunky.
Fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, garlic and 1 Tablespoon of the reserved lime juice.
Enjoy!
Tags: Avocado, Dip, Gluten Free, Guacamole, Red Onion, Tomatoes
This salsa is amazing! I brought it to my Tuesday night Bible study instead of a salad last week. Everyone loved it and ate every last bite! This recipe came from a Sandra Lee magazine, but I did made a couple small changes.
Ingredients:
4 Avocados, chopped
3 Small Tomatoes, chopped
Juice of 1 Lemon
Handful of Cilantro, chopped
Salt & Pepper, to taste
2 Bacon Sliced, cooked and crumbled
Tortilla Chips, for serving
Gently stir together all ingredients, except for the tortilla chips. Cover and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes.
Serve with tortilla chips.
Tags: Avocado, Bacon, Cilantro, Gluten Free, Paleo, Salsa, Tomato
Don’t have dry onion soup mix? Here is a way to make your own! I’m always using it in dinners that I make, but I don’t always have a packet on hand.
Ingredients:
4 teaspoons Beef Bouillon Granules
8 teaspoons Dried Onion Flakes
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
Combine all ingredients together in a small bowl.
Yield: 1 packet of dry onion soup mix
Tags: dry onion soup mix, Gluten Free
Yum! Soft pretzels! This recipe comes from Alton Brown.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115°F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
4 ½ cups all-purpose flour, approximately
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Canola oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel or Kosher salt
In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together the water, sugar and salt. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let sit for 5 minutes until it starts to foam. Add the flour and butter and mix on low speed with the dough hook until combined. Turn the mixer to medium speed and mix until the dough forms a ball. Wash out the bowl, coat with oil and place the dough ball inside. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 450°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Combine 10 cups of water with the baking soda in an 8 quart pot and bring to a boil.
Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and roll each out into 24 inch long ropes. Make into a pretzel shape by forming a U with the rope, cross the ends and press them into the bottom of the U.
Boil the pretzels one at a time for 30 seconds each and place them on the baking sheets. A large spatula works well for this. Brush with the beaten egg and sprinkle with salt. Bake until browned, about 12-14 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes.
Yield: 8 Pretzels
This is a delicious salad brought to you by Guy Fieri.
Ingredients:
For the dressing:
2 cups loosely packed basil leaves
¾ cup balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, grated
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
For the salad:
3 slices bacon, roughly chopped
¼ Cup pine nuts
1 (10-12 ounce) package mixed baby salad greens
1 small cucumber, halved, diced 1/2-inch pieces
1 large tomato, diced in 1/2-inch pieces
12 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced in 1/2 vertically
¼ Cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
Freshly cracked black pepper
Prepare the dressing by combining the basil, vinegar, garlic and salt in a blender. Pulse until chopped and combined. Turn the blender on and stream in the olive oil. Refrigerate until ready to use.
For the salad: Heat a skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until crispy. Drain on paper towels. Wipe the pan with a paper towel and return it to the stove over medium heat. Toast the pine nuts lightly.
Pour the salad greens into a large serving bowl. Toss with the cucumber, tomato and just enough dressing to lightly coat. Top with the bacon, pine nuts, olives, Gorgonzola and freshly ground pepper.
Serve with the remaining dressing if desired.
Serves: 6
Tags: Bacon, Basil, Gluten Free, Gorgonzola Cheese, Olives, Paleo, Salad, Side Dish
Recently we have been getting a lot of tomatoes in our Bountiful Baskets, but we don’t typically eat a lot of raw tomatoes. So, I decided to make my own crushed tomatoes with them. This is the second time I’ve done this with the tomatoes and it’s worked out really well.
Ingredients:
Tomatoes (I used 7 large tomatoes to make 4 cups of crushed tomatoes)
Italian Seasoning (1 Tablespoon for the 7 tomatoes) – optional
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Have a large bowl of ice water next to the stove. Cut a small X on the bottom of the tomatoes and cut off the hard spot on the top where the stem was. Place the tomatoes in the boiling water until the skin starts to separate, about 30 seconds. Remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and place in the ice water. Peel the tomatoes. The skin will just fall off.
Empty the large pot and place it back on the stove over medium heat. Put the peeled tomatoes in the empty pot and crush with a potato masher. Add the Italian seasonings. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Use right away, freeze in zip top bags or can the crushed tomatoes.
Tags: Gluten Free, Tomatoes
I got three pomegranates in my co-op basket this week. Never having cut one open before, I consulted Google and this is what I found that worked really well.
Place the pomegranate on a couple paper towels on your cutting board. The juice will stain pretty much anything. Cut off the top and bottom.
Score the sides in four places. Just cut the red skin.
Place the pomegranate in a bowl of water. Separate the pomegranate into four sections along the slits that you made. Doing this underwater will help prevent the juice from squirting you.
Gently remove the seeds from the pith by peeling back the red skin. The pith will float while the seeds sink to the bottom. Remove all the pith from the water. A small strainer works well for this.
Pour the seeds and water into a colander to drain out the water.
Now to figure out what to do with the seeds. They are pretty good to just eat plain. Chloe likes them too. I made a tuna salad sandwich with a bunch of the seeds mixed in. Very tasty!
Tags: Gluten Free, How To, Pomegranate
These are just like the store bought apple chips! Don’t you love those!?! I sure do. I found this recipe in a Women’s Day magazine. Although they were delicious as is, I think next time I will try adding cinnamon to the sugar syrup.
Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 large apples
Preheat oven to 225°F. Set a cooling rack on top of a foil lined baking sheet. Coat with non-stick cooking spray.
Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan. Keep at a rolling boil until a light syrup is formed, about 5 minutes.
While the sugar syrup is working, quarter and core the apples. Cut the apples into thin slices, about 10-12 per apple quarter. Once the syrup is done, remove from heat and stir in the apples.
Using tongs, lay the apple slices on the cooling rack. Make sure they are not overlapping. Replace the foil with a new piece of foil since it will have a lot of syrup drippings on it.
Bake for 2 ½ hours. Loosen the chips so they don’t stick and let them cool on the rack. Store in an airtight container.
Tags: Apples, Gluten Free, Snacks
I made these zucchini muffins for Chloe so she will eat more veggies. She loves them! Just so you know before you start baking, this made 56 mini muffins. I froze a bunch of them since it was so many. I had adapted this recipe to make more since I had 2 very large zucchinis that needed to be eaten. Hope you enjoy!
Ingredients:
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
4 cups shredded zucchini (packed into a measuring cup)
2/3 cup canola oil
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 2 mini muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. Stir in the zucchini and canola oil. Add the zucchini mixture to the flour mixture. Stir to combine.
Fold in the raisins and walnuts.
Scoop a heaping tablespoon of muffin batter into the prepared muffin tins. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
These are super simple to make and are a great use for too many bananas. I always seem to have too many bananas at my house. The only hard part was slicing the ripe banana. Although with a little patience, I managed to slice them up. These tasted even better the next day since they softened up a bit. I found this recipe on Weelicious, which is a great website that has recipes for babies and toddlers.
Ingredients:
Bananas! As many as you like
Preheat oven to 250°F.
Slice bananas to 1/8 inch thick and place them on parchment paper.
Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Tags: Banana, Gluten Free, Snacks