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In , , on September 13, 2015 with No Comments

Italian Pasta Salad and Watermelon Peach Salsa

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful fall day here in Iowa. The sky was a gorgeous blue, the humdity was low (finally!), and the bugs were nowhere in sight. Kevin wanted to grill some burgers, so I thought I’d whip up a couple side dishes to go along with.

The boys love my Italian Pasta Salad and tell me I need to make it more often. It’s an easy peasy recipe that’s great to take to potlucks and family reunions. I eyeballed the amount of each ingredient, so you can add more or less to your family’s taste.

I also decided to make a Watermelon Peach Salsa. We have four peach trees, the kind that has the little white peaches, and they are huge this year. I’ve already canned two lugs of peaches, so this was a great way to use up a few more. The recipe called for cilantro, but my family’s not a huge fan, so I omitted it.

 

Italian Pasta Salad

1 package rotini pasta noodles, cooked per package directions and cooled
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 a medium red onion, diced
1/2 a red bell pepper, diced
1/2 a green bell pepper, diced
1 3.8 ounce can sliced black olives
Half a package of turkey pepperoni (or regular if you prefer), sliced into strips
1 bottle zesty Italian dressing

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Set aside until cool.

In a large bowl, combine the diced onion, diced peppers, black olives and sliced pepperoni. Add the cooled pasta. Pour the Italian dressing over the pasta, and mix until well combined. Refrigerate for several hours to let the flavors meld together.

 

 

Watermelon Peach Salsa

2 cups diced watermelon
2 cups diced fresh peaches
1/2 small red onion, diced
1/2 a green bell pepper, diced
1/2 a red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
Juice of 1 lime
Fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)
Salt to taste

Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl, and mix well. Refrigerate for several hours to let the flavors marinade together.

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In , on April 13, 2015 with No Comments

Days of Casseroles: Day 10 – Loaded Mashed Potato Bake

I found today’s recipe at Mom on Timeout, and I’m using the picture from that website as well, mostly because I mixed everything in with the mashed potatoes, and her picture is so much prettier than mine! No matter the looks, it tastes wonderful and pairs nicely with the roast beef we had with it.

 

This is mine 🙂

 

Loaded Mashed Potato Bake

9 or 10 medium-sized potatoes
8 slices of bacon
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Cook or bake bacon, and chop into small pieces.

Peel and cube potatoes. Place potatoes in a large pot, and fill with cold water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and let simmer for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Drain the water, and return the potatoes to the pot. Mash potatoes with butter, cream cheese, sour cream, milk, onion powder and garlic powder.

Stir in 1 cup of cheese and half of the bacon pieces.

Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray. Transfer mashed potato mixture to the dish. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and bacon.

Place dish in a preheated oven, and bake for 15 minutes, or until the cheese on top is melted. Sprinkle with chives before serving.

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In , on April 13, 2015 with No Comments

Days of Casseroles: Day 9 – Pineapple Casserole

We’ve gotten a bit more garden put in the past few days. Kevin already had lettuce, radishes and peas in, and I planted 2 short rows of spinach yesterday. I’m starving for fresh greens for salads, so hopefully we can get a little rain this week to help these seeds pop out of the ground. In about a week or so we can hopefully put out our plants. We’ve started cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, ground cherries, peppers and tomato plants. I still need to find some Brussels sprouts, but then it will be the end of May for the rest of the garden. I discovered that my 3 granddaughters loved the mock zucchini pineapple I made last year, so I need to save room in the lower garden for another zucchini patch….so good to see them enjoying a healthy snack 🙂

Today’s casserole is a side dish, as the guys wanted brats, and I needed something that would complement them. I found this pineapple casserole on Tasty Kitchen. I’d tasted something similar at a family potluck, so I thought I’d give this recipe a whirl.

 

 

Pineapple Casserole

1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
20 ounces crushed pineapple, drained
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
12 tablespoons Ritz crackers
8 tablespoons butter

Mix sugar and flour in a mixing bowl. Add the pineapple and cheddar cheese. Mix thoroughly. Pour into a greased 2-quart baking dish. Crush the Ritz crackers, and add the melted butter to them. Sprinkle this mixture over the pineapple and cheese mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

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In , on April 8, 2015 with No Comments

Days of Casseroles: Day 5 – Cheesy Broccoli Casserole

Since the family wanted a main dish other than “casserole” today, I decided to make a broccoli casserole to go along side the shrimp scampi they were screaming for. We all love broccoli, even the kids, so this is a favorite side dish for us any time of the year.

 

Cheesy Broccoli Casserole

2 10-ounce packages frozen broccoli (I used 2 frozen quart bags I had from our garden last summer)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups crackers, crushed (can substitute Panko bread crumbs)
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the broccoli, mayonnaise, cream of mushroom soup, cheddar cheese and beaten eggs until well combined. Pour mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle crushed crackers or Panko bread crumbs over the top of the casserole, and evenly drizzle the melted butter over the topping.

Bake for 35 minutes or until set and bubbly.

Since I mentioned it, here’s my recipe for shrimp scampi. I’ve made it for years, and while we don’t have it often, it’s a treat when we do and really very easy to make. The ingredients are in approximate measurements, as I really just eyeball it when making this.

Shrimp Scampi

2 pounds fresh or frozen shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 teaspoons Wildtree shrimp scampi seasoning, optional
1 stick butter
1 small onion, finely diced
2 to 3 cloves freshly minced garlic
1/3 cup dry white wine
Fresh parsley, chopped
Hot cooked rice or noodles

If using scampi seasoning, combine prepared shrimp and seasoning in a large bowl to completely coat the shrimp. Set aside.

Melt butter in a large skillet. Add onion and garlic to the pan, and saute until translucent but not browned. Add shrimp to the pan, and cook just until the shrimp turn pink. Don’t cook longer as this toughens the shrimp.

To serve, place cooked shrimp and some of the butter sauce over hot cooked rice or noodles. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley, if desired.

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In , , on September 13, 2014 with No Comments

Canning 101: Pork and Beans

I’ve always wanted to try a homemade pork and beans recipe to can, and I found several on Pinterest. Kevin and the boys love baked beans, complete with tons of bacon on top, so I thought it made sense to try and make my own version to have on hand whenever the need for a quick side dish arose.

This recipe was found on sbcanning.com, and there are tons of delicious canning recipes there that are on my to-do list for someday. I had leftover sauce from today’s canning session (I doubled the recipe for canning), so I got more beans ready to eat for supper tonight as well. I do think I’ll cut back just a little bit on the amount of vinegar next time, but I’ll wait to see how everything tastes straight from the jar in a few weeks before I decide for sure. The recipe claims to be a clone for one of the Bush’s baked bean recipes, and so far, I think it’s pretty close.

 

 

Cloned Bush’s Maple Baked Beans

1 pound navy beans, rinsed and picked over
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1-1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups ketchup (I used Heinz but homemade would be great too)
1 cup pure maple syrup
2 cups water
1/2 cup vinegar, either cider or white (I used cider)
Salt pork, cubed in 1-inch pieces (one piece per canning jar)

Add dry beans to a Dutch oven and add 8 cups of water to cover the beans. Cook on high until the beans come to a boil, for about 2 minutes, and turn off the heat. Cover and let the beans sit in the pot covered for 30 to 45 minutes. The beans will soak up quite a bit of the water during this time.

Drain the beans and add 8 cups of fresh water to the pot along with the chopped onion. Cook the beans and onions for 15 minutes at a full boil.

In another saucepan, combine the brown sugar, molasses, mustard powder, salt, black pepper, ketchup, maple syrup, water, and vinegar. Cook to get a slow boil. It will be sweet but not thick.

Prepare 6 pint jars. Fill each pint jar with 1 cup of the bean/onion mixture. Add 1 piece of salt pork. Add more beans until the jar is about 3/4 full. Ladle hot sauce over the beans, leaving 1-inch headspace. Seal.

Pressure can pints for 75 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.

Yield:  Approximately 6 pints

I did double the recipe and ended up with 9 pints. I used navy beans that were small, so I’m sure if you use a larger white bean, the yield will be higher.

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In , , on June 22, 2014 with No Comments

Roasted Beet and Kale Salad…and Late Night Single-Serve Chocolate Cake

We picked the first few beets today, and aside from the usual canned beets and pickled beets that I plan to make, I wanted to try roasting a few of the beets. I’ve never tried them roasted and had been looking forward to it if we had extra…and we do. 🙂

Adding to the fun of cooking, this past week we had a wind/electrical storm that took out the electronic motherboard on my kitchen stove…..so as we await the arrival of a replacement board, we are minus a stove. The burners still work (gas stove), but no oven. So…roasting these beets would mean using my microwave.

Four years ago when we remodeled our kitchen, I bought a Sharp Carousel Convention microwave. The intent of this purchase was that I would use the microwave to bake, roast, etc., during the summer so as not to heat up the kitchen when it was so hot. Of course, convention would take hold, and I’d use the oven and heat up the house. But with no oven available, it was time to test out this convection microwave.

I trimmed the beets and scrubbed them as usual. Then I found a glass pie pan and placed the beets in it along with about 2 Tablespoons of water. I microwaved the beets at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes until they tested soft when pierced with a knife. I let them them cool until I was able to peel them and proceeded with the roasted beet and kale salad recipe.

 

 

Roasted Beet and Kale Salad

6 medium-sized beets, trimmed and roasted
2 cups kale, washed and trimmed
1 tablespoon honey mustard
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Combine roasted beets and kale in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Combine apple cider vinegar, honey mustard, honey, and olive oil in a small bowl. Whisk until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste. Adjust flavors if needed.

Pour dressing over beets and kale and stir to coat vegetables completely. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to let flavors meld together.

After dinner, the boys decided to go fishing, and Kevin and I sat down to watch a movie. As is usually the case, my sweet tooth went into overdrive. I searched through my Pinterest recipes and came across a single-serve microwavable chocolate cake recipe. I’ve never baked a cake in a microwave before, but as the oven was out of commission, I decided to give it a whirl. Wouldn’t you know….as soon as I’d pulled out my cake from the microwave, the boys returned home from fishing! And I had 2 more cakes to make  lol…..but they were definitely worth it. I found the recipe on www.chocolatecoveredkatie.com

 

One-Minute Chocolate Cake

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 stevia packet (or 1 tablespoon more sugar)
2 to 3 teaspoons coconut oil or vegetable oil
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla

Combine dry ingredients and mix very, very well. Add liquid; stir. Transfer to a little disk, ramekin, or coffee mug. Microwave 35-40 seconds (center will be soft like a lava cake center). If you don’t want to eat your cake straight from the cup, be sure to spray your dish first (and then cool before trying to remove it).  Edit:  If you want a more cake-like texture, microwave each cake for 1 minute.

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