Creamy Tomato Basil Pasta

Ingredients:

2 Large, ripe tomato (4 cups roughly chopped)
1 Cup Raw Cashews
2 Tbs Tomato Paste
1/2 Cup Water
3 Tbs Olive Oil
2 to 4 Cloves Garlic, minced, optional
12 oz Spaghetti
1 tsp Salt (or to taste)
3 to 4 Tbs Wine or Water
1 tsp Freshly Cracked, Coarse Black Pepper
1 to 2 Large Handful Fresh Basil Leaves, chopped

Directions:

1. Put a large pot of salted water on to boil, and cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Core the tomato, then roughly chop it. Add it to your blender, seeds, skin and all. Add cashews, tomato paste, and water. Blend until very smooth.
3. Add olive oil to a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and saute until golden, being careful not to burn.  Pour sauce from the blender into the saute pan and bring to a simmer. Add salt and let cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. If desired add wine/water or pasta cooking water to thin out the sauce. Taste and season more if necessary. Let simmer until pasta is finished cooking. Once pasta is cooked, drain. Add pasta to the saute pan with black pepper and freshly chopped basil leaves. Toss to coat. Serve immediately, garnishing with more pepper and basil

Cheesy Potatoes

This makes more than the average recipe. great for a large get together!

Ingredients:

• 1 can (10.75 Oz. Can) Cream Of Chicken Soup
• 1 can (10.75 Oz. Can) Cream Of Onion Soup
• 2-½ cups Milk
• 6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• 2 bags (about 2-lb. Bag) Ore-Ida Southern Style Hashbrowns, Frozen
• 1 whole Large Onion, Chopped
• 3 cloves Garlic, Finely Chopped
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
• 1 whole Jalapeno, Seeded And Chopped
• 1 cup French Fried Onions
• 1 Tablespoon Salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon Cracked Black Pepper
• 4 cups Finely Shredded Four Cheese Blend

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter a large casserole dish
2. In a large pot, add the cream of soups and milk, and slowly whisk to bring it together. Continue cooking on medium heat, and add the butter.
3. In a large bowl combine everything(except a cup or so of cheese) before transferring it to your large casserole dish. 
4. Cover with tinfoil and cook for roughly 2 hours.  Add the remaining cheese to the top, and place under the broiler to crisp up the cheese and potatoes for a few minutes.
5. Remove from the oven, and let cool for about 10 minutes before eating. 

Slow Cooker Stuffing

Ingredients:

1 cup butter or margarine 2 cups chopped onion 2 cups chopped celery 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley 12 ounces sliced mushrooms 12 cups dry bread cubes (store bought) 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage 1 teaspoon dried thyme 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 to 4 1/2 cups chicken broth, or as needed 2 eggs, beaten

Directions:

1. Melt butter or margarine in a skillet over medium heat. Cook onion, celery, mushroom, and parsley in butter, stirring frequently. 
2. Spoon cooked vegetables over bread cubes in a very large mixing bowl. Season with poultry seasoning, sage, thyme, marjoram, and salt and pepper. Pour in enough broth to moisten, and mix in eggs. Transfer mixture to slow cooker, and cover. 
3. Cook on low for 4 to 8 hours (check occasionally for moistness, add broth as needed)

7 Layered Jello

It's a tradition.

Ingredients:

4 jellos (4 different flavors/colors)
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
2 packages unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
1 pint sour cream
2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Mix 1 packages of jello with 1 cup boiling water, stir until dissolved.  Then stir in 1/2 cup cold or ice water.  Pour this into the bottom of a 13x9 inch casserole dish.  (the final jello will fill an entire 13x9 inch pan)
2.  For the white layers:
      Bring 2 cups of milk to boil.
      Dissolve the 1 cup of sugar into the hot milk.
      Dissolve 2 packages of gelatin in 1/2 cup cold water and let sit for a couple of minutes.
      To the gelatin mixture whisk in the sour cram and vanilla.
      In a large boil combine the sour cream mixture with the hot milk/sugar.
      Leave this white mixture covered on the counter.
3.  After 1st jello layer is set, poor 1 1/2 cups of the white mixture over the jello and refrigerate.
4.  Repeat layers of jello and white ending with a jello. 

Each layer should take 30-60 minutes to set.  But you want to work as fast as you can, because the white mixture will start to set as it sits out on the counter and cools.

Green Rice

This is a recipe I have used regularly over the past few years.  It is an easy and healthy rice dish with Mexican flavors. It is full of spinach, but you can't taste it.  The kids eat this one up. The recipe is from Rachel Ray.  The only change I usually make, is to use brown rice instead of  white (and increase the cooking time for that).

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeds and ribs removed and finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups rice
• 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock, divided
• 3/4 pound baby spinach
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves

Directions:

1. Place a medium pot over medium-high heat with 1 turn of the pan of EVOO, about 1 tablespoon.
 2. Toss the jalapeños into the pan and cook until tender, 3-4 minutes.
3. Add in the rice and cook about a minute (you're toasting it, so it's ready when it starts to smell nutty). 4.Add in 2 1/2 cups stock and bring up to a bubble. Turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer the rice until tender, about 20 minutes.

5.Make the "green" part of the rice by pureeing together the baby spinach, cilantro and remaining stock (about 1/2 cup) in a food processor. Dump the mixture into a dish and reserve it until the rice is finished cooking. When the rice has finished cooking, stir in the green sauce and transfer the rice to a serving bowl or platter

Raw Cauliflower Salad

I was hesitant to make this salad, because I didn't think the kids would like it.  Boy was I wrong!  They either loved it, or were just starving to death.  The ate home made pitas stuffed full of this salad.  Tyson and I loved it as well, and it keeps good in the fridge for a few days.

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower, chopped
2 handfuls of parsley, coarsely chopped
1/2 white onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, diced
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, chopped
1/2 - 1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cups olive oil
the juice of 2 lemons
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Directions:

1. Place the cauliflower, parsley, onion and garlic in a food processor and pulse until the cauliflower are the size of a small grain.  You will probably have to do this in batches.  Ada was my button pusher, so one batch was over processed and the other one was still pretty chunky...
2. Put the cauliflower mixture into a big bowl, and toss in the tomatoes and olives.
3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, turmeric, salt and pepper.
4. Toss the dressing into the salad.  Store covered in the fridges for up to one weeks.  This can be eaten cold or at room temperature.

*if the cauliflower is huge, add more ingredients to your own liking.

Salt Potatoes

I have never heard of Salt Potatoes.  At least not until recently when we moved to NY.  Apparently Salt Potatoes are the regional dish of Syracuse, NY.  And are very popular in all of the central NY region.   They actually sell bags of salt potatoes at the store, the bags include potatoes and 12 oz of salt. The recipe seemed odd, and I was sceptical.  But these are really so good.  I'm going to be making these often.  The potatoes end up with a different extra creamy texture inside and the salt forms a crust on the skin that is so good!

Ingredients: 

4 1/4 pounds small potatoes, scrubbed.  (small, bites sized young white potatoes.  the "proper" size are Size B, US Grade No. 2.......  really any small one or 2 bite potatoes will be good.  Do not cut the potatoes, leave them whole)
12 oz or 1 1/2 cups salt
3 quarts water

butter and herbs (parsley, chives, rosemary) optional.

Directions

Bring the water to a boil.
Stir in the salt and dissolve.
Add the potatoes to the boiling water and boil until tender, 15-30 minutes, depending on the size.
Drain the potatoes to a colander and let them sit for 5-10 minutes.

Serve warm with a little butter.

Asparagus wrapped in Prosciutto

I look forward to this side dish every Easter.  I should make it more often, we all love it so much.  But some how it has become exclusively an Easter dinner tradition.

Ingredients:

Asparagus
Cream cheese (softened)
Prosciutto (thinly sliced)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Trim off end of Asparagus - Bend the asparagus (holding towards the end of the asparagus) until is breaks,   use the broken asparagus to know how much to cut off from the rest of the bunch.

Blanch Asparagus in boiling water for 1-3 minutes, depending on thickness of asparagus.  Put Asparagus in ice water to immediately stop cooking.

To assemble:   Spread about 1 teaspoon of cream cheese onto 1 piece of prosciutto.
Wrap the prosciutto around a few asparagus (2-4, depending on the size of the asparagus).

Place bundles on a lightly oiled pan and cook for 10-15 minutes.

Blackened Tomato Salsa

My sister in law asked if I knew of any good salsa recipes. Well this is it. I could not just give her the recipe, it was too hard to just think about it, so I had to make some too. It is a recipe my dad makes every time I see them, and I love it so much, I could eat it with a spoon.

Ingredients:

8 roma tomatoes, cut in half
1 jalapeno, seeded and cut in half. (leave seeds in if you want more heat)
1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
A few squirts of lime juice
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cumin
a pinch of mexican oregano
1/4 cup white onion, finely diced
1 roma tomato diced small
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions:

Place 8 tomatoes and jalapeno on a rimmed baking sheet, cut side down. Cook under a broiler until skins are blackened. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.

Put blackened tomatoes and jalapeno (black skins and all) into a blender, poor any juices that are on the pan too. Add salt, cumin, mexican oregano, garlic and and lime juice and blend until mostly smooth. Add a little water if needed.

Poor pureed mixture into a large bowl and combine with the diced tomato, onion and cilantro. Add water needed. Taste test with a chip to make sure you have enough salt, add if needed.

This salsa is awesome fresh but gets even better as it sits for a few hours and is amazing the next day.

Hummus

We love hummus. When we moved to Pennsylvania, Tyson bought me a food processor and some Tupperware. The food processor I have been wanting for a lot of years, and I had been telling him that I could make homemade hummus if I had one. The Tupperware we desperately needed. Now I make homemade hummus all the time and put it in the same Tupperware container every time..... I wonder who Tyson really bought those gifts for?


Ingredients:

3 cups cooked chickpeas, or 2 15 ounce cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained and warmed in the microwave
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup tahini

salt and pepper if desired

Directions:

Puree warm chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic and 2/3 cup water in food processor for 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl when necessary. Add tahini and puree 2 more minutes, or until the mixture has the consistency of soft cream cheese. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water if needed.

Directions on how to cook dried chickpeas:

(hummus has the best flavor and texture if you use dried chickpeas. Any leftover chickpeas can be frozen)

Rinse and Drain 1 pound dried chickpeas. Place in a large bowl with 10 cups water and soak overnight.
Drain chickpeas and rinse and drain again. Bring chickpeas to boil with 10 cups of water in large pot. Reduce heat and simmer partially covered for 90 minutes. After the first hour stir in 1 teaspoon baking soda. Remove from heat, cover pot and let stand for 30 minutes. Drain well.

Cilantro Lime (brown or white) Rice

This rice is a great addition to burritos or use it as a side dish instead of Spanish rice. If you don't do brown rice, it will still be delicious and yummy!!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups water or vegetable stock
1 cup brown rice
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
2 large handfuls of cilantro
1 lime, juiced
1/2 - 1 jalapeno, seeded and roughly chopped
1-2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Instructions:

1.Cook rice according to package instructions ( using the rice, water or vegetable stock and the butter ).
2. Meanwhile, in a food processor, process the cilantro, lime juice, jalapeno and salt until finely minced.
3. Cool cooked rice to room temperature then add in the cilantro mixture and toss until rice is completely coated.


*You don't have to wait until the rice is cool to add the cilantro mixture, but it will taste better and look better. The hot rice tends to cook the cilantro and lime a bit. In my picture, we were hungry so I did not wait to cool the rice. It was still good, but not the best.!

Bacon and Brown Sugar Smokies

Or Meat Candie, as I think of them....

Ingredients:

2 packages beef cocktail wieners

1 pound bacon, cut into 1 1/2 to 2 inch pieces

1 cup (as least) brown sugar

Directions:

1. Wrap wieners in bacon (you may secure each one with a tooth pick, or or use a skewer and put a few on each skewer, but i don't usually do this anymore, the bacon seems to stay on for the most part just fine).

2. Cover pan with tin foil.

3. Put wieners on the pan and generously sprinkle with brown sugar.

4. Cook at 350 degrees until bacon is crisp about 45 minutes, watch carefully so they don't burn and turn half way through, add more brown sugar as needed. Turn on the broiler at the very end to really crisp them up.

Alternate 4. Cook wieners in microwave on a paper towel lined sheet for about 4 minutes, turning once, then finish them up in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes or until bacon is crisp. I prefer doing this because is faster and because the paper towel soaks up a bunch of the grease, and it makes me happy to throw away the grease, instead of eating it.

5. serve, or put in a warm crock pot with all the juices and extra sugar and they will be good for the whole party..... that is if they last that long.

Southwestern Quinoa Salad

We can't get enough Quinoa! This recipe I am espeially happy about because it is a cold salad perfect for the summer time picnics. Or for when I need a quick snack during the day, I can just open up the fridge and take a few spoonfuls. :)

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup diced bell pepper
1/2 diced red onion
1 cup corn
1 can black beans, drained
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 large tomato diced
the juice of 1-2 limes
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon adobo seasoning
1/2 cup feta cheese (optional)
salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:
Mix quinoa under cold water and drain. Melt butter in pot over medium heat and cook and stir the quinoa until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes. Poor in the vegetable broth and bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the liquid is gone, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile in a large bowl mix together the remaining ingredients. After the quinoa is done cooking let it cool for a few minutes in the fridge, then mix everything together and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before eating. This is served cold.

* try adding garlic, jalapeno or avacado

Black Eyed Pea Salsa

1 can each of:
black eye peas
black beans
corn
diced tomatoes (or use fresh)
diced jalapeno (4oz, or to taste, or use fresh)


1/2 onion diced
1/2 bell pepper diced
1 cup zesty Italian dressing
1/2 tsp garlic salt
pepper

mix together and refrigerate for an hour or two.

Serve with tortilla chips

Probably my most requested recipe. !!

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

This doesn't really seem like a recipe it is so simple.......

2 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed or peeled
1 Tablspoon extra virgin olive oil
salt
1/2 tsp paprika

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Slice the potatoes lengthwise into at least 8 pieces. Toss with salt, oil and paprika. Spread on a baking sheet and bake until lightly browned on the bottom, about 15 minutes. Turn the slices and bake about another 10-15 minutes, or until soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.

Spring Rolls

Sauce:
1/2 cup mayonaise
Asian chili sauce (to taste, it is spicy, i do about 1 tblsp)
1 tblsp fresh lemon juice
1 tblsp fish sauce (by asian food)
1 tbls (or less) brown sugar
1-2 garlic cloves chopped

Vege Rolls:
Rice paper rounds
Cellophane noodles or bean thread noodles (follow package directions)
Fresh basil
Fresh mint
Any vegies that seem right ie: (cut into match sticks)
red and yellow bellpepper
shredded carrots
Avacado
Butter lettuce leaves or Boston lettuce ribs removed (use a soft lettuce so it wont break through the rice paper)

Lay a damp kitchen or paper towel on a work surface. Soak a rice paper round in warm water for 20 to 30 seconds until softened. Place the rice paper on the damp towel. Lay a lettuce leaf in the middle of the rice paper and add vegetables and (just cut off a chunk)and sauce. roll tightly. can be stored in damp paper towls in fridge for 6-8 hours.

*shrimp can be added
*use extra sauce for dipping.

Soybean salad

OK, how cute is Ada's little finger trying to grab another bite? Apparently she was hungry while I was cooking dinner and managed to eat her whole dinner while helping me cook. At least it was healthy!

5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 limes, juiced
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (1 pound) package frozen shelled edamame (green soybeans)
1-2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
pepper to taste


In a large serving bowl, whisk together the red wine vinegar, olive oil, cilantro, lime juice, salt and garlic. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the soybeans and boil for 3 minutes. Add corn to the boiling water and continue cooking for 1 more minute. Drain very well, and pour into the bowl with the dressing. Gently mix in the cherry tomatoes, green onions and black beans. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving to chill and blend the flavors.

Quinoa with Black Beans and Corn

1 teaspoon vegetable or olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa (rinsed)
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

a squeeze of fresh lime juice

Directions:

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,
Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

*can be eaten hot or cold
*can add a chopped red bell pepper with onion and garlic