Avocado Bean and Corn Salsa

We're having a 'celebrate Spring's arrival' neighborhood get together at a neighbor's home across the street tonight. I originally said I'd bring Tabouli, but when I shopped, somehow a couple necessary ingredients slipped my mind. . .so I decided on a guac-type salsa instead.

Mash 2 ripe avocados in a bowl, add the seasonings you like.

Today I used about 1T of this guacamole seasoning containing lots of the usual dried vegetables and a drizzle of lemon juice. 

When I tasted it at the end, it seemed good, so I stopped with just that.

I poured in about 10oz. of the salsa, some finely chopped purple onion, a celery heart and tops, a can of drained and well rinsed black beans and then decided it also needed a can of corn, well drained and rinsed. 

It went together fast and I'm hoping the super thin and crispy chips will hold up to such a chunky 'salsa.' Happy Spring Everyone! . . .Lin

Colorful Coleslaw w/ Honey-Mustard-Lemon-EVOO Vinaigrette

1/3 lg. head of cabbage

several leaves of kale

3 red mini peppers

3 sm.-med. carrots

1/3 med. purple onion

Wash the kale well, remove the rib. Thin slice the cabbage and all the ingredients shown into a big glass bowl.

Poppy seed dressing is usually my go-to for coleslaw, but this time I made a honey-mustard type variation of my Lemon-EVOO Salad Dressing adding some Maple syrup, stone-ground mustard and substituting Italian seasoning for the rosemary.

This is always a good choice for a salad. It can be made a day or two in advance and keeps well for 4-5 days in a covered container in the refrigerator. . .Lin

A Fresh Lettuce Mix

Celebrate The First Official Day of Summer! . . . Make A Lettuce Mix!

Keep it in your spinner container in the refrigerator. It will stay fresh at least 5 days, ready for your additions for all sorts of healthy salads.

Chop or slice the Romaine into your salad spinner. Wash and spin it dry, then add the remaining sliced or chopped vegetables:

2 Romaine hearts

purple cabbage

green cabbage

1 carrot

1/2 lg. purple onion

Serve this as is, for a simple green salad, or add whatever you'd like to make it a side salad, or a whole meal. Shown here with leftover taco type beef, corn and beans. I also added 1/2 an avocado and a drizzle of mayonaise-sour cream-Greek yogurt dressing with pepper, garlic salt and dill. 

It's salad season!

Make a lettuce mix, then be creative! . .Lin

Fruity Broccoli Salad

Whisk together this dressing in a medium bowl or casserole dish:

2/3c olive oil mayonnaise

1/4c white Balsamic vinegar

a big sprinkle of black pepper

a small sprinkle of garlic salt

1T honey

Add the the broccoli and apple, cut into bite size pieces, then sliced-chopped onion. Stir in the pecans and craisins and fold together with a silicone spatula.

8-10oz. broccoli florets

1/2 lg. purple onion

1 Envy apple

1/2c craisins

3/4c chopped pecans

Refrigerate this before serving. Leftovers, if there are any, will keep several days, covered, in the refrigerator. This salad is great with anything, or just by itself. You could also add a cup or so of roasted, cut up chicken if you'd like. . .Lin

Roasted Tomato Vegetable Soup II

This has been sounding really good to me lately. Finally it seems life has slowed down, for the next few hours at least, so I can cut, drizzle, season and roast! Wash, dry and rough cut the following vegetables onto one or two baking sheets.

2¾# tomatoes

2 big carrot

1 lg. yellow bell pepper

2 lg. stalks celery

1 lg. purple onion

LOTS of peeled garlic cloves

Greek Kalamata Olive EVOO

Lowry's Garlic Salt w/ Parsley

Italian Seasoning

black pepper

Drizzle the olive oil over everything. Season, then roast in a preheated 400° oven for 20-30 minutes. Everything but the tomatoes was done in

When they're browned or charred the way you want, let them cool a bit, then pull the tomato skins off, if they slip off easily. Put all the vegetables in a big stock pot.

1/3c ± dark, aged Balsamic vinegar
2-3T Better Than Bouillon-chicken

Drizzle the vinegar over them and put the pot on medium heat. When the vegetables heat, to just barely simmering, stir, then add enough chicken or vegetable broth-stock, 1-2 quarts or so.

Bring this up to a low-bubbly simmer. Cover and continue to simmer a half hour.

Take off the heat and let cool a bit before blending it with a standard, or immersion blender. Check the seasonings and make any additions or corrections.

If you want to add half and half, heavy cream or sour cream, do this when the soup has cooled to body or room temperature. Whisk it in and heat again.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream, a sprinkle of dill, grated flavorful cheese, some nuts or seeds sprinkled on top - any or all of these. Obviously this would pair great with a grilled cheese sandwich or some crusty garlic bread. 

Chill or freeze for later. . .Lin

Tuna Pasta Salad

I get to see my Granddaughter and her two little boys tonight!

I'm out of chicken, so I decided to make this for our dinner together and bring them some muffins. My oldest Great Grandson is almost 4 and the little guy isn't eating big people food yet, so I wanted to keep this flavor palette on the simple side, but you can jazz it up any way you like. Some horseradish added to the dressing would be good!

Cook 6oz. colorful pasta to al dente stage, drain, rinse and let it stand in a bowl or pan of ice water. Get it as cold as you can, before draining, to convert the starch into Resistant Starch which is a much healthier way to eat potatoes, rice and pasta.

In a big bowl, whisk together the dressing:

3/4c-1c real mayonnaise

1/3c brown deli mustard

2-3T fresh lemon juice

a shake of garlic salt

1/2t± finely ground black pepper

Next, chop and add the vegetables shown and also 3/4c of chopped sweet pickle 
-or dill- not shown.

3-4 stalks of celery heart + greens

1 or more, colorful mini peppers

1/2 to a whole med. purple onion

1 8oz. can diced, drained, water chestnuts

10-12oz. drained canned tuna

 ~ if your tuna is packed in EVOO, add the oil to the dressing

Add the chopped vegetables and tuna to the dressing bowl and mix well. Next, carefully fold in the pasta and mix gently until everything is well combined.

This goes together quick and is a nice lunch or dinner option for a hot day. If you want to eliminate the pasta, you could use 6c of chopped Iceberg or Romaine lettuce instead. .Lin

Roasted Vegetable Soup

Scrub then cut all the vegetables into 1" to 1-1/2" chunks. Put in a gallon size plastic bag, add oil and seasonings. Shake then pour everything onto a parchment paper lined baking pan.

1 lg. cauliflower
2-3 med. carrots
3 stalks of celery
1 med.-lg. purple onion
2-3T single source EVOO
fresh ground black pepper
garlic chipolte seasoning
parsley garlic salt

Bake in preheated 400° oven 30-40 minutes, moving or tossing once while baking. Roast until just barely soft and fork tender. Transfer to a 4 quart pot, add 3-4c water and 2T Better Than Bouillon - vegetable or chicken flavor and a couple bay leaves. Simmer 15-20 minutes. Remove bay leaves, then blend with an immersion blender. Check flavors, making any adjustments you'd like.

If you're using coconut milk, add it now. I decided to omit that this time. Serve with a drizzle of seasoned sour cream and a sprinkle of dry dill. . .Lin

Meatloaf-Meatball Stroganoff

Meatballs

In a big bowl mix:

1# ground elk

1# ground bison

1# turkey sausage

8oz. crushed crisps

2 lg. pasture raised eggs

1c - 1-1/2c beef broth

Chop the following and add to the bowl:

2 stalks celery

1 med. purple onion

2/3c green part of aSt leek

1 med. carrot - grated

Mix well with a heavy wooden spoon or clean hands. Form into meatballs, place on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake until nicely browned, 30-40 minutes. I made these ahead and froze in a gallon zip-type bag.

Stroganoff

Bring 2-3 quarts of water to a boil then add 1# thin spaghetti. Once the pasta boils a few minutes, add 1-2oz. finely chopped curly kale. When the pasta is al denté, drain then put it back into the pot. Add 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup, stirring gently to coat the pasta. Add 2# of frozen meatballs, also stirring them in.

Chop the vegetables:

1/2 lg. purple onion

1/3 green bell pepper

1/3 orange bell pepper

8-10oz. small mushrooms

1oz. EVOO roasted garlic

Sauté these until crisp tender, in 4T of butter, adding the chopped garlic at the very end, then stir them into the pot of pasta and meatballs.

Stir 2c beef broth into 12oz. sour cream and pour over all these ingredients, then toss to mix and coat everything.

Chill several hours, then warm it up again. This changes the pasta making it a resistant starch. This will improve the flavors and also reduces the glycogen level of the pasta making it much healthier than eating it right after the initial cooking. . .Lin

Crunchy Cowboy Caviar Salad

Dressing:

1/2c white balsamic vinegar

1c single source EVOO

juice of 1/2 lemon 

1t pure cane sugar

1/2t each: salt and pepper

Combine these in a jar with a top and shake well.

Salad:

1 15oz. can black beans

1 15oz. can corn

Drain both cans. Rinse the beans well, drain again, then combine with the following chopped vegetables in a medium size bowl.

2 peeled Bay Produce tomatoes

1/4 lg. orange pepper

1/4 lg. green pepper

2 stalks celery

1/2c-2/3c purple onion

1 lg. clove crushed, minced garlic

1/2 bunch Italian flat leaf parsley

6-8oz. Manchego cheese cut in small cubes

Toss, pour on enough dressing to coat everything well. I used a little less than half of the bottle. Cover the bowl and chill a couple hours.  This will keep well for several
days in the 'fridge. Toss again before serving. . .Lin

Colorful Roasted Vegetable Soup

Scrub all the vegetables well, then cut away any bad spots.

In a large bowl, combine 5-6T coconut oil, several grinds of fresh black pepper and about 1t of parsley-garlic salt. Microwave this until the oil is liquified, then stir together, dissolving the salt.

Brush this inside a kabocha squash, also known as a Japanese pumpkin, that's been cut open with the seeds and membranes scraped out. Toss those, compost them, or throw them outside for the bunnies, birds and squirrels. Cut the rest of the vegetables (see list at the bottom of this post) into big chunks. Stir them around in the seasoned coconut oil, to coat all the surfaces.

Preheat your oven to 375°

Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper and arrange the vegetables on the sheets. The oranges, celery tops and garlic go in later (don't roast those) Roast the vegetables about 50 minutes, longer if needed, until the carrots are tender. They'll take the longest, so by then everything else will be done.

Use the parchment paper to transfer the vegetables to a 5 quart pot by sort of creating a tube of the paper, and letting them just slide off into the pan - with any seasoned oil, the vegetables didn't absorb, left on the paper.

Add the cut up tiny mandarins - including the peel, 12-15 cloves of roasted garlic, 1-2t pumpkin pie spice, a little pinch of cayenne pepper, half a bunch of Italian flat leaf parsley and a cup or two of vegetable or chicken broth. Stir and bring this to a simmer. Let it cook like this, at a very low bubble for 10-15 minutes giving the oranges and parsley a chance to warm up and blend with the vegetable flavors. Remove from the heat and chill in the fridge or out on your chilly deck if you live in the crisp-cold northern region.

It's been around 30°F here all day. Perfect temperature out there to utilize it as added food cold-storage 😉

After about an hour, blend the soup with an immersion blender, adding more broth if needed. Now would be a good time to add some sour cream if you'd like. For a pot this size I'd recommend starting with 6-8oz. If that's not enough you can always add more. I decided to stick with just vegetables this time.

This recipe made about 4 quarts of really flavorful soup! Now it will chill on my deck until Sunday and be part of an Easter Family Dinner. Serve garnished with (a dollop of sour cream) a sprinkle of dill, and thin slivers of orange peel. . .Happy Easter Everyone. .✞. .Lin

South Of The Border Egg Bowl

1 hard boiled egg

2 stalks celery

1/2 purple onion

2T EVOO

1-2c cooked beans

1c medium salsa

Peel and slice the egg into a bowl. Chop and sauté the celery and onion in EVOO in a nonstick pan. When half way done, add the salsa, cover and simmer on low until the celery is cooked the way you like it. Stir in the beans, bring back to a simmer then serve with the egg. A well-balance anytime meal with lots of flavor, fiber and protein. . .Lin

A BIG Allium Adventure!!

I didn't know onions were in the Lily family!  They're also known as alliums!
I've become sort of compulsive with certain cooking and kitchen related things in the past few years.  You know how people collect things. . .well, I have quite the collection of Hall's Superior Kitchenware bowls and covered casserole dishes.  They're useful and so beautiful!  More recently, I've been buying onions, a variety of them, different colors and flavors for different recipes.  I finally decided I need to do something with them since I have so many.  Especially since a couple days ago, a friend and I made tacos for 110 people, and we chopped WAY too many onions. 😜 I split them with another kitchen worker, but we still each had 4c of finely chopped Vidalia onions!!  Oh my!

So today's the day!
I was going to make all these ingredients into a nice pot of soup. Well, problem is, I don't have anyone to share this with right now. I chopped and chopped, then mixed them all together, then realized this is WAY too much onion for a little 3 quart pot of soup! Yup, I was right, it's 12 cups of assorted chopped alliums. Garlic, Purple Shallot, Yellow Onion, Purple Onion, and of course, those Vidalias! 😄

Purple Onion, Vidalias, Shallots, Yellow Onions, Garlic in the center

The greens in the little vase, are mostly for garnish.  Garlic shoots from some cloves I planted, as well as some lovely chives I have in my yard.

I'm using 4 cups of the mixed onions for this recipe, but freezing the remainder in four 2-cup packages for future soups, stews or chili.  

4c mixed, chopped alliums

3-4T butter

2c of filtered, cold water

1t-1T Rosemary Seasoning *

2 sm.-med. new red potatoes

1-2T Chicken Better Than Bouillon

2-4 additional cups of filtered, cold water

½-1c sour cream - optional

'Sweat' the onions and butter over low heat, in a heavy-bottomed, covered pot for about 10 minutes, before adding the next group.  I decided to use a couple scrubbed, finely cubed potatoes to thicken the soup, rather than four, keeping it gluten-free.  Simmer all this together, covered, for another 20 minutes or so, adding more water as needed.

When the potato cubes are soft it's ready to be blended.  An immersion blender is wonderful for this, but you can also use a regular blender.

After blending, check flavors and make any adjustments needed.  Cool for 10 minutes before stirring in the sour cream.  Serve with minced chives, a dab of sour cream and croutons if you want. . .Lin