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Since we're currently luxuriating in an abundance of lovely, crisp, crunchy, fresh cucs, I went looking for a new recipe in which to use them with dinner last night. And I found a real winner.
Have you ever come across that one special cook book in which you find a kajillion recipes that are so, so good? Well, this one is like that for me. Seems that reaching for this blue and white check book can't help but yield another great tasting recipe. It's put out by Taste of Home books and I took the following recipe for Sesame Cucumber Salad directly from it. Didn't make many any changes at all except that I didn't have green onions so substituted red onion rings instead.
SESAME CUCUMBER SALAD
8 cups thinly sliced cucumbers
1 tablespoon salt
2 green onions, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 to 3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Place cucumbers in a colander. Set the colander on a plate; sprinkle cucumbers with salt and toss. Let stand for 30 minutes. Rinse and drain well. In a bowl, combine the onions, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, oil, sesame seeds and cayenne. Add cucumbers and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate until serving. Yield: 8-10 servings.
I did toss and stir the cuc slices in the marinade a couple/few times in the four hours I had it in the refrigerator before dinner.
What to do with more cucs today? Today's going to be an easy day on the cook. Leftovers from last night and lots of fresh veggies from the garden (including cucs, of course) with a good dip.
Happy Sunday to you all!
Here's the recipe for the broccoli salad I mentioned in my last post that a couple of you said you were interested in having. I got it from my mom many long years ago and make it often when I can get my hands on fresh broccoli.
BROCCOLI-RAISIN SALAD
2 large stalks broccoli, wash and use tender flowerettes only
10 strips bacon, fried and crumbled
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup slivered almonds
Dressing:
2/3 cup Miracle Whip
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar
Put first four ingredients in a bowl. Mix together the dressing ingredients and pour over salad and toss. Is best made the night before serving or at least 3-4 hours ahead of time.
Okay, now I'll tell you how I deviate from the recipe and I'm sure you can, too, and still get a yummy-good salad to serve.
I use thinly sliced pieces of the broccoli stalks along with the flowerettes. (Just can't waste those nutritious, crunchy morsels.)
TEN strips of bacon?? Gee, that has always seemed like a lot to me. I keep fried and diced bacon in a container in my freezer for convenience and use some of it in recipes like this. How much do I toss in this salad? Oh, gosh. Less than a quarter cup probably. You, obviously, can put in as much or as little as your little heart desires.
My mom always said Miracle Whip made the best tasting dressing which I've used, but I've also used mayonnaise, both store bought and homemade.
Sometimes I don't have as much broccoli as other times. Because of this I drizzle some of the prepared dressing over the other ingredients and mix it up. If that doesn't make it moist enough, I add more. What I'm trying to say is you may not want to use the whole amount of dressing that the recipe makes. Use your own judgment on this.
I made my salad yesterday morning for last night's dinner. The above picture is what we had leftover to eat with our scrambled eggs this morning.
My mom was a good cook and I have many recipes on cards in her handwriting which I treasure. Thanks for this one, Mom!
A light rain was still coming down this morning when we got up. Now at 4:45 p.m. the temp has risen all the way up to 38 degrees. A combination of another day of light drizzle and the slightly warmer temps has just about taken care of our recent 2+" snowfall.
It's been a perfect day for being inside, doing putzy little things around the house, catching up on reading blogs, paying bills, spending a little time quilting and baking some cookies.
Although I'm not near the cookie monster that my hubby is I do like Almond Cookies, and I don't know why it's been so long since I've made them.
As a quick aside here, Papa Pea's Aunt Jo was interested in natural foods long, long before anyone else ever gave it much thought and one of the things she ate daily was three almonds. She claimed they contained some substance (I can't remember what she said) that would keep you from getting cancer. Apparently it worked because she died of natural causes when she was well into her nineties. What this reminiscing relates to is that I always think of her when I make these cookies with almonds in them. Okay, so the almonds ingested this way probably aren't as healthy as raw almonds would be, but they sure are tasty. I've already had to beat a couple of people off with a big stick so the whole batch didn't disappear by tonight.
ALMOND COOKIES
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup finely ground almonds
In a large bowl, cream softened butter and sugars. Beat in eggs and almond extract. Add the flour, soda salt and cream of tartar. Mix batter well. It will be on the dry side but get it mixed up as well as you can because you still have to add the almonds.
Dump in the ground almonds. (I grind mine in my blender. Measure your one cup of almonds after they're ground, not before. It makes a difference. You want one cup of ground almonds.) Use some elbow grease and get the almonds well mixed into the cookie dough batter.
Shape dough into balls about the size of a walnut. (Mine seem to get bigger and bigger as I work my way through the dough.) Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool on a rack. Makes approximately 60 cookies.
This is the point where I had to start whacking people so the cookies weren't all gone before I could freeze some for future use.
After I had sufficiently scared off the cookie snatchers, I got a little wild and crazy and made a little bowl of powdered sugar frosting with some almond extract and milk and fancied up the cookies a bit. They are just fine (and plenty good!) without the frosting (this is the first time I've ever thought of putting frosting on them) so don't go to this extra trouble if you aren't inclined to do so.
Hope you've had a good Saturday. I know I have!
I harvested somewhere around two quarts each of raspberries and blueberries yesterday.
Thank you, dear husband, for taking pity on me and helping with the blueberries.
Lying in bed at 3:30 this morning (thinking), I realized I had harvested only two of the three rows of raspberries. Where was my head? (Obviously, NOT thinking at that time. At least about raspberries.) Must get back out there today to finish the job.
I kept out some of each of the berries for fresh eating and froze the rest. Well, I kept out enough blueberries to make Blueberry Buckle also.
I've had this cake recipe since we were first married, I'm guessing. It probably came from a Betty Crocker cookbook as Betty was the one who taught me how to cook. (I truly did not know how when first married.)
A "buckle" (as in Blueberry Buckle) is supposedly a sweet dessert made from yellow cake batter. A filling or fruit is mixed into the batter and after being placed in a baking pan, it is topped with a crusty sugar coating. That pretty well describes this recipe.
BLUEBERRY BUCKLE
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups fresh blueberries (frozen work well, too)
Topping:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter
Thoroughly cream sugar and butter. Stir in egg and then add milk and mix. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Combine well. Batter will be stiff.
Fold in blueberries.
Spread in a greased and floured 9" square pan. Stiff batter will have to be spread out with a spatula.
Make the topping mix by combining the first four ingredients and then cutting in the butter.
Sprinkle topping over batter in pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes.
Guess what we had for breakfast this morning?
This first piece was so absolutely deliciously bursting with a wine-y blueberry flavor . . .
. . . that I had a second piece in a bowl with milk here at my desk.
Is it just me or do any of you other gardeners notice that each year there seems to be a preponderance of one specific weed that pops up everywhere? And it's not always the same weed each year either. Lamb's Quarters appears to be the weed of choice this season in and around my yard/garden and in noticing it's ample supply nearly everywhere I look, I have been reminded of a very good quiche using Lamb's Quarters that I haven't made for a couple of years.
While this thought was ruminating in my gray matter, a few days ago Jane, at
Hard Work Homestead, did a blog post about cooking with the tasty little weed. I took that as a sign that I needed to take heed, harvest some and make my Lamb's Quarters Quiche. I gathered a big bowlful of the stuff and dug out my recipe.
I clipped this recipe from our local organic food co-op newsletter many, many years ago. It was submitted by an elderly lady who was quite the colorful local character. Among some other very interesting things, she was a good cook, a great wild food forager, and someone who stretched her food budget farther than most anyone else I've ever known. The very best punch I've ever tasted was her Rhubarb Punch. (Wish I had that recipe, but I don't, darn it.)
So here's the tried-and-true, time-tested recipe for a great quiche.
LAMB'S QUARTERS QUICHE
1 unbaked pie shell in a 9" pie plate
1-1/2 cups shredded cheese (any good cooking cheese - I used mild cheddar)
1 cup cooked, well-drained, chopped Lamb's Quarters
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Dash cayenne pepper
Dash Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups milk
Sprinkle 3/4 cup of the cheese in the bottom of the pie shell, cover with the Lamb's Quarters.
Then sprinkle the remaining 3/4 cup of cheese on top of that.
Beat the remaining ingredients together and pour into the pie shell.
Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes or until firm and starting to brown. Let stand about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Serve hot or cold. (A little dab of salsa on the side is yummy.)
Mmmm-mm! This was so good when served last Sunday night that I gathered more Lamb's Quarters this afternoon and plan on making it again tomorrow.
Note: As with all greens, the Lamb's Quarters cooks down quite a bit. To get the one cup of it cooked, I started with a medium mixing bowl full of greens.
This is the very best Rhubarb Crunch (or crisp or whatever you want to call it) I've ever come across. When I went into my recipe box to find this recipe last night I was thinking I first made it last year, possibly two years ago. You see, when I first try a new recipe, I mark the date and other comments on the card. Know how old this recipe is? May 25, 2007, was when I made it for the first time. My, my, how time does fly when one is having a good time.
I've reduced the sugar ingredients quite a bit because hubby and I both like the flavor of rhubarb to come through in a dish . . . and the original really was too, too sweet. I've got it now to where I think it's dee-lish. If you try it, I hope it suits your taste.
RHUBARB CRUNCH
1 cup flour (unbleached white or whole wheat or a combination)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup melted butter
4 cups diced rhubarb
In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients except rhubarb.
When uniformly crumbly, place 1-1/2 cups of mixture in a 9" square pan and press down lightly.
Cover with the 4 cups of rhubarb.
In a small pan combine: (I think this is what makes this dessert "special.")
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch (I always use arrowroot powder in place of cornstarch in a recipe because cornstarch is made with GMO corn. I've heard there is non- GMO cornstarch but I've never found it.)
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cook this mixture on a medium/low flame until clear, stirring almost constantly.
Pour over rhubarb in dish.
Top with the remaining crumb mixture and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
Mmmm-good!
Have you ever come across that one special cook book in which you find a kajillion recipes that are so, so good? Well, this one is like that for me. Seems that reaching for this blue and white check book can't help but yield another great tasting recipe. It's put out by Taste of Home books and I took the following recipe for Sesame Cucumber Salad directly from it. Didn't make many any changes at all except that I didn't have green onions so substituted red onion rings instead.
