Tossed Salad

Ok so there's nothing like a good, cold, fresh salad for lunch in the middle of summer. Something cool to help you chill and relax in the heat. Am I right? Besides it's a good way to get your veggies in too at the same time. Personally, if the salad is good enough? I don't even need any dressing on it, clouding the flavors and adding the calories....

For this salad all I have used is 4 ingredients. That's it. A head of lettuce, a red onion, half a head of red cabbage and a small bundle of carrots. I'm one of those people that likes to wash everything or at least rinse it good. So I rinse the cabbage and onion since they can be peeled back a layer before cutting it up. I slice the cabbage, lay the slices flat and quarter those. Then I peel the layers apart as I drop the pieces into the bowl. Rinse, peel a layer off the onion, slice, quarter and seperate as I drop the pieces in the bowl. Next I wash my carrots, scrubbing them a little with my hand. Once washed I grate them and dump that into the bowl.

The lettuce is next and I like to rinse it as I peel it. The first leaf or two on the outside get tossed. If you hold the head of lettuce under the faucet and let the water slowly fill each leaf, it almost peels each layer back on its own. As each leaf comes off tear it off at the base, let the water run off and set it aside on a towel to finish drying a little. As the base of the head becomes more apparent sticking out, you can break it off and toss it, using the hole inside to fill the remaining leaves and let them peel back.

Once the lettuce leaves are all rinsed and peeled off, you can start tearing them into smaller pieces for your salad. Now it would be much quicker and easier to get out a knife and start chopping, but lettuce is touchy that way. If you tear it, the edges don't turn brown like they seem to do right away when you cut it. Tearing the lettuce means it will keep in the fridge for about a week before the lettuce starts to lose its look.

After tearing up all the leaves from the whole head of lettuce and tossing them into the bowl, my bowl was pretty full and there wasn't much room for tossing anything without it going everywhere. What to do? What to do? Hahaha....

I reached under the counter and grabbed the big pot I use for making soup. These are good for cooking a lot of things, but now it will come in really handy and useful for tossing the salad. I dumped my big, full bowl of salad into the pot and since it only filled the pot about 2/3 of the way, there was plenty of room for things to mix around in there. Put the lid on the pot, grab the handles while holding the lid on with your thumbs and shake. Kids love to do things like this and why not let them. They have plenty of energy and mine like to help out, so they got to shake the pot, tossing the salad inside.

When its mixed up, just dump the salad back into the big bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to chill for a while until you're ready to serve it. Since some of us like some things and others like other things, this is a good base to which we can each add what else we like later on. I love black olives and can sit and eat a whole can with a fork. The kids used to like them too, so they are a great adition to salad, as are radish slices, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, cucumber slices and tomatoes.

You can also add grated cheese and croutons as well as meats to your salad. Fresh cooked shrimp, cubed roasted chicken, chunks of ham, any of this left over from dinner the night before can turn your salad into more of a chef's salad and add protien to your meal. Some people like to add hard boiled eggs to their salad and if you like them, why not? Its your salad. Have fun with it and enjoy what you eat.

Margarita Pizza

This one has been a long time in the making.... Since September of last year. At least that was the last time I looked at this post and considered sharing this one. It's one of those recipes that comes from the heart thru someone I love.

If you've made the pizza crust I previously posted about here, you're half way there. Make the crust and then instead of using typical pizza sauce, use olive oil to cover the crust. Slice some Roma tomatos and fresh mozerella and place them on your dough. Next place some sweet basil leaves on the pizza. Salt it to taste and put it in the oven to cook.

Thats it. Easy peasy and yet the post took me so long to write. No, I have no idea why. The difference in this pizza when compared to normal pizza with sauce? This pizza seems 'lighter' and after a couple of slices, it doesnt leave me feeling groggy and stuffed. Which may not be a good thing if I eat more of it.

Chocolate Cinnamon Coffee Cake

I don't normally like coffee cake. Good coffee cake yes. But let's face it, not all coffee cake is good. The stuff with the brown sugary looking crumbles on top? While it's just not my personal taste, although I have had some that were really good, I usually will pass on it. Mention 'coffee cake' and I'm out.


This one caught my attention though as it doesn't have the crumbles on top. It has chuncks of chocolate and nuts instead. It was featured on the homepage of Yahoo! and linked to the page for it on Bon Appetit.


I haven't tried it yet, but I will soon. It looks too good to pass up.


Chocolate Cinnamon Coffee Cake


If you like, serve this with whipped cream or an extra dollop of yogurt. Servings: 12 


INGREDIENTS
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan 
½ cup blanched hazelnuts, chopped 
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped  
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1 cup sugar, divided
2 cups all-purpose flour 
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup plain whole Greek yogurt 


PREPARATION
8" square baking pan


Preheat oven to 350°. Butter 8” square baking pan; set aside. Toss hazelnuts, chocolate, cinnamon, and ¼ cup sugar in a bowl. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter and remaining ¾ cup sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend between additions and occasionally scraping down sides of bowl. With mixer on low speed, add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with yogurt in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.


Pour half of batter into prepared pan and smooth top; top with half of hazelnut mixture. Spoon remaining batter over and smooth top; top with remaining hazelnut mixture. Bake cake until top is golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 40–45 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack; let cake cool in pan before turning out.


DO AHEAD: Cake can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.
Recipe by Duane Sorenson

Finding new things

Potica, or for those who know it's correct Slovenia pronounciation Po-teet-sah, looks like a tasty treat.  I found the following link for Potica for sale on the Gourmet Slueth website on the side of the recipe for the Vietnamese Salad Rolls.  I had a look, thought it looks tasty and went in search of a recipe.

Part of the problem with finding new things as stated when I found one for this, is the correct spelling and the pronounciations of the word(s). Sort of like another dish I will be trying for the first time and posting here too.  Once you know the spelling, looking it up is easy. 
From the AllRecipes.com website-

I give you Potica

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup milk, lukewarm
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup honey
• 1 1/2 cups raisins
• 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. In a small mixing bowl, dissolve yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 3 tablespoons of the flour in warm milk. Mix well, and let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large mixing bowl cream the butter with the remaining sugar. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the yeast mixture, remaining milk, 4 cups of flour and the salt; mix well. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
3. Lightly grease one or two cookie sheets. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and roll Out to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. Spread each piece with melted butter, honey, raisins, walnuts and cinnamon. Roll each piece up like a jelly roll and pinch the ends. Place seam side down onto the prepared baking sheets. Let rise until double in volume. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 60 minutes or until the top is golden brown.               

Pink Fudge

This was a Valentines Day thing that I found and since I LUV some good fudge, 2 ingredients and taa-daa, you're done? What's not to love?

Obviously you may not find the red and white, heart shaped sprinkles the rest of the year, but a different flavor of icing, different color and you can adapt this to each month if you are so inclined.


I found this on Crafty Staci, who found it on another blog Cookies & Cups

Two Ingredient Fudge-

1 package of white chocolate chips
1 can of strawberry frosting with sprinkles

Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave or on the stove and then stir in the frosting. Put the mixture into a lightly greased or lined 9X9 pan, pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes or so. Cut it into squares, hearts or whatever shape you like. Store in the fridge and enjoy.

This is one of the easiest fudge recipes I have made and it was good even though I bought pink colored vanilla icing instead of strawberry. I guess I need to read the labels a little more closely from now on.

Juice!

Recently a friend of mine turned me on to the documentary film, Fat Sick & Nearly Dead. Joe Cross was on the fast track in life and living it large, Literally, when he got sick. He traveled to the US and came here with the intent of finding a new way to live. "I'm here in the US, but I'm not going to eat your food."

He goes on to help a few people out with changing their eating habits. One person in particular is Phil, a truck driver he met in Winslow, AZ. Phil had the same autoimmune disease that Joe had. Yes, Had. Through consuming fruits and vegetables made into juice, Joe has changed not only his own life, but also Phil's and Phil went on to help out his brother and several other people too. What happened is that more people have joined in and they have a website, blog and post recipes... And int he recipe section, it is not just juice, but salads, soups, snacks and smoothies.

I had printed out a few of them and really wanted to try this one-

Joes favorite- watermelon, pineapple, ginger.

And if the link didn't come up, here it is below-

Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin

2.0

 

This week’s recipe shines a spotlight on one of Joe’s personal favorite juice creations in honor of the “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead” launch in Australia. Even if it’s not summer where you live, this light juice is simple to make and refreshing all year round.

Nutritionally speaking, these ingredients offer many anti inflammatory compounds.

Watermelons are rich in lycopene- a member of the carotene family. Carotenes exert both anti inflammatory and anti oxidant activity in the human body.
Pineapple contains a phytonutrient called bromelain that is well known for its ability to help reduce inflammation.
Ginger root reduces inflammation as well as nausea, pain and provides heartburn relief. It also aids digestion and can help to encourage thermogenesis in the body which may boost metabolism.

This juice is perfect for active Rebooters. It is rich in electrolytes and anti oxidant nutrients like potassium, magnesium, Vitamin C (140% of your daily value), beta-carotene and contains some sodium. These nutrients are important before, during and after exercise. Rather than reaching for a commercial sports drink, you can make your own that’s even healthier!

Ingredients

• 1/3 pineapple, cored and skin removed
• 2 large watermelon slices
• 1 inch ginger root

Directions

1. Cut pineapple away from core and rind
2. Wash watermelon well and cut 2 large slices. You can juice the rind as well as the flesh of the watermelon
3. Wash ginger root and cut a 1 inch piece to juice
4. Place all ingredients into juicer
5. Juice
6. Pour over ice
7. Enjoy!

It was really good! I do not suggest eating a meal with the juice. The juice is enough to fill you up and adding a meal on top of it, I felt like I had eaten waaaay too much. Not good. I won't be doing that again! Lol Off to print out a few more to try later.

Rocky Road Pudding

I don't often do desserts. I have a sweet tooth now and then, but I just for whatever reason, don't make them all that often. Yesterday the girls wanted cake. Out of the blue they decided they wanted cake.  The closest I could come- was still not cake. But they love it anyways, because it is chocolate!

For a 9 X 13 pan-
2 boxes of instant chocolate pudding
4 cups of milk as directed on the package of pudding
2 packages of graham crackers- crushed
1 stick of butter melted
marshmellows and nuts (optional but then it wouldn't be rocky road)

For a 9X9 pan-
1 box instant chocolate pudding
2 cups milk as directed on the package of pudding
1 package of graham crackers- crushed
1/2 stick of butter melted
marshmellows and nuts (optional)

Start with smashing the graham crackers- now is a good time to get all of your pent up anger, frustration or aggression out. Use a rolling pin to smash it into fine bits in the package- then use a large ziploc to finish the job.



Dump the mashed graham crackers into the pan. melt the butter in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds. Pour over graham crackers, mix well to moisten and press cracker crumbs evenly across the bottom and up onto the sides of the pan. 



In a large bowl, mix the instant pudding and milk. I used a wire whisk. When mixed, you can add the marshmellows and nuts to your liking.



Pour into the pan on top of your graham cracker crust. I threw a few marshmellows on top to cover a few spots where it didn't look like there were many in the pudding.



Let chill in the fridge for a 1/2 hour or even overnight.
Enjoy!