recipes

Ingredients:

One package rice pasta
two cans salmon (drained, bones/skin removed)
apples, diced … I think I did one whole one, use a sweeter apple
Strawberries. diced …. A good bunch… perhaps a cup, maybe more.
2 tbsp relish
lemon pepper seasoning… to taste
smokey bacon mayo, about 1 tsp perhaps a bit more
regular miracle whip, to you desire, I like a drier salad, others like LOTS of dressing.
sweet pepper, diced, I used one whole sweet pepper (not a bell) from my garden

Directions:

Cook rice pasta to just shy of done. Overcooking makes it really gross, so don’t overcook it.
Add the rest of the ingredients.
Enjoy warm if you want, though I like it better chilled.

Do you know the joy that is a mint tea on a hot summer day?  Hot, cold or sitting on the counter warm, Mint tea is a refreshing, cooling drink that is bound to make your whole day better. 

This summer I thought I would experiment and tried to make “sun warmed mint tea”.  Suggestion.. DON”T. Mint tea works best if you do the following.

One pick your tea.   I have a patch in my garden that has chocolate mint, orange mint, apple mint and I think spearmint tea.

Pick fresh leaves out of the garden.  Give them a good wash as one doesn’t need little bug bits or dirt in your tea.  Some folks like to include the flower in their tea, I don’t.  I just pull off the leaves, placing them in my tea strainer.   I fill it full up to the top, as I do so I have the kettle heating to 195.

Once your hot water has boiled, pour it over the tea leaves and then walk away.   I have a cover for my tea strainer which keeps the fruit flies and what not out.  I generally let it sit for four hours.

At the end of the four hours the water will be slightly warm yet.  Perfect for the first drink for me, the lad prefers his much cooler. 

Add the sweetener of your choice to your glass, and pour in the tea.  And voila!  Mint tea.

Occasionally the lad will ask me to heat it up again with some honey in it, but mostly we use Splenda.   Once you have used up the water, pour more hot water over and repeat.  I find the leaves are good for two doses of hot water and then they are done.

Enjoy… homemade mint is one of favourite summer.

Not sure what else to call them.  So if you have a better name feel free to tell me. 

I always always totally wing it with my smoothies, my more mathematically minded lad likes to measure. 

Therefore some aspects of this dual project are measured and others are not.

Take your blender, get it all set up.

Add FRUIT

Today we did frozen mango (two good handfuls), fresh blueberries (one full handful) and one very ripe banana.   We’ve done strawberries, kiwi, melon, currants, EXTREMELY ripe gooseberries (just the pulp), pineapple etc in the past.  We’ve even done jam smoothies but that takes taste testing so you don’t double up on the sugars too much.

Two scoops of protein powder as that helps the smoothie hold you over longer.

Two scoops splenda

Yogurt.. today we used vanilla greek yogurt (yummy yogurt if you haven’t tried it before). 

Milk 2 cups.

Let it all blend together for longer than you think necessary.  In our blender that will make the smoothie extra thick.  Have one glass each for lunch.

Then take four cups (we used styrofoam ones we had leftover from a b-day party).

Fill them full up to the top.  If you used the same amount we did, this will fill them so full you’ll have to skim some off the top). Plunk in a Popsicle stick.  Put in freezer and let them sit until frozen.  By the by… four hours in our freezer was not quite long enough.  “it’s like slightly weird ice cream mom!”  (as he scooped up the bottom half with a spoon). 

BUT it did give us the idea of making ice cream with the leftovers next time, and maybe making them smaller to sell at a yard sale sometimes.

Anyways, when they are frozen solid, you can easily peel the styrofoam cup off.

Sausage Veggie Fry is a meal I make sporadically and it’s different every time I make it.  The type of sausage used makes a bit difference in the seasonings and veggies that I toss in.  Before my body revolted against cabbage type plants I often made it with broccoli florets, now-a-days I settle for peppers, onions and celery and if I have it on hand some zucchini or mushrooms.   The sausage I used today was a new one to us, it kinda tasted like hotdog with extra garlic or something interesting in it.  Didn’t have a regular sausage taste to it. It worked well in the fry today. 

What I used and how I made it

Four sausage precooked, choose what you like – sliced then cut in half. Plop them in the fry pan with the following diced veggies.

One pepper (we did red medium)
One good sized onion
One or two stalks of celery

Let them cook for a spell, then add

1/2 can diced tomatoes
Water (just enough to have a bit of sauce) Hubby likes to have more of a sauce than I do so depends on who I am cooking for. The lad is more like me with this dish.
Seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic) your choice YOU might like other seasonings. Depends a bit on the sausage too.

If cooking for myself I’d toss in a can of mushrooms but that causes revolt in this household. 🙁

Cook through, I generally let it simmer about 15 minutes. Less if I’m in a rush.

Serve over whatever you like, today I did rotini pasta, but often will do rice, mashed tater’s, orzo, or quinoa. When serving this way I will top it with parmesan cheese. You might find you like it as a hot sandwich topping as well (I do, the lad isn’t as convinced).

Don’t you just enjoy a good shepherd’s pie? Some like a gravy with it, others don’t. Here’s my most recent rendition of this tasty dish.  For another version check out Potato Crust Shepherd’s Pie.

Ingredients and Instructions

about 2 lbs ground beef, 
add onion soup (one package), and some wonton soup base (or chicken/beef bouillon if you’d rather)
Fry in pan until browned nicely
add one can mushroom soup

put in casserole
layer with veggies of choice (I used peas, hubby requested next time add carrots and corn as well)

Cook up mashed taters (I used a mix) layer over veggies

Cook in 400 oven for 35 minutes.  I used covered bowl and removed lid last five minutes.