BLT Soup

BLT Soup

BLT sandwiches have always been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. And oh do I look forward to them come summer with fresh grown tomatoes!!!!! Well, the other night I craved this soup, and I had some tomatoes needing to get cooked.

BLT SOUP

4 slices thick bacon, or maybe 6 if regular bacon

You can fry this till crisp and crumble it back into the soup. But I typically cut the bacon into my soup pot with 1 Tb butter and let it start cooking while I chop

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped (my favorite is a poblano)

1 large stalk of celery, finely chopped

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

1-2 tomatoes, chopped (I used 3 smaller sized)

After the bacon was getting close to being cooked I'd start adding in the chopped ingredients one at a time. So I'd let the onion and pepper cook awhile with the bacon before adding the rest. Then add -

1 Qt chicken broth (mine is always homemade, as I'm always cooking up chicken and then the bones further). Simmer for about 10 minutes. With the bacon, I never add salt and pepper, but you do your own taste test.



Just before serving add some chopped romaine lettuce. You can add 1/2 C cream. I typically slice the lettuce (any kinds, including arugula, kale and spinach - whatever I've got handy) and put a helping in each soup bowl and pour the soup over, then serve with a dollop of homemade yogurt. That way, since we'll have it as a leftover, we'll add fresh lettuce the next time we eat it.



You could top it with some croutons.

Quinoa Salad

We had Easter supper at Travis and Sarah's home, along with some of their friends. Sunday evening is usually open house. We've been there many times; spending the night since Travis has Monday's off of work. Hospitality is something they truly practice. Everyone is told the meal's theme and are to bring something to share.



Sarah cooked a ham and scalloped potatoes for this meal. Emily brought a apple pie and green beans. Amy brought bread and ice cream. Stevo brought watermelon and drinks. I brought some of my homemade wine and a quinoa salad.

QUINOA SALAD

Cook and chill (like 20 minutes - and I like to toast the quinoa in the pan first) -

1/3 C quinoa

2/3 C water

Then mix in -

1 C cherry tomatoes halved or chopped tomatoes

1/2 C diced cucumber

1/4 C diced onion (I did a lot of green onions since I have them growing in my greenhouse - or use lots of chives)

2 Tb lime/ lemon juice

1/2 tsp grd cumin

salt and pepper

1 avacado

Serve over spinach



Since we were serving buffet style and extra people, I did some things different besides extra amounts. I added some balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I'd precooked the quinoa at home and added in the juice and cumin. The rest I chopped and added that afternoon before supper. I'd periodically stir it adding in some spinach, come back and stir in more spinach, then add the avacado right before supper. We did put the extra spinach to the side if anyone wanted to add more to their plate.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with fruits

Everyone raves about this brussels sprouts dish. Though I tend to make all recipes my own with my twists and variations, I rarely tweak this recipe from The Splendid Table, an NPR weekly radio show - I subscribe to their free weekly recipe email from www.splendidtable.publicradio.org/ (have gotten a lot of great recipes from them!).

 

I so crave this dish, that I make it often. We especially like it with grilled, smoked salmon. Monte dumps it on top of his salmon.

ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS

2 1/2 lbs brussels sprouts, halved if small or quartered if large

(A key when roasting vegetables is to have a lot of the ingredients chunked about the same size)

1 large onion, cut into 1-inch chunks

2 apples (any kind, I tend to use Granny Smith), cored and cut in 1-inch pieces

2 firm ripe Anjou or Comice pears, cored and cut

2-3 slices bacon, cut in pieces

1/2 tsp each thyme and sage (fresh is always best if you have it, and use more)

5-6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup good tasting extra-virgin olive oil

1/8 tsp spicy red pepper flakes

1 Tb brown sugar (I use Sucanat - unprocessed sugar cane)

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste



Toss all together. Bake in a 450 degree oven on a very large shallow pan (I line it with foil). You want the mixture to spread into a single layer. Stir it a couple times - baking about 40 minutes to an hour till nicely browned.



It, like the smoked salmon, is great leftover cold on lettuce as a salad.

Grilled Smoked Salmon (&/or Chicken)

I often grill and smoke, with wood chips, a large salmon fillet. When Monte is out of town, I always grill either salmon or chicken breasts to have leftover cold on salads. I could eat this way all the time - simple, and GOOD!



After preheating the grill and getting the soaked wood chips going, I like to grill the flesh side of fish quickly on the hot grill. Then I turn it over with the skin side down, sprinkle with pepper seasoning and spread with mayonnaise. Then turn the heat down and let slow cook with the smoke flavoring it. The skin protects the fish from burning and it gets crispy.



If the fish isn't very fresh (which is most often since we don't live near fishing areas), I always do a presoak in the sink with some salt and milk and sometimes some sugar. It seems to help draw out anything 'fishy'. Then rinse (pull out any bones with needle-nose pliers, if any) and dry.



When grilling chicken breasts, I cut them in fairly thin pieces and marinate them in an Italian salad dressing for a bit (like at least an hour, or all day, or even overnight) before grilling. And brush them with the marinade while grilling, so they don't dry out.



Like I said, I will often do this just for me, but have also done it when we've got visiting scientists here for many meals. This will be one of the lunches along with bread and sandwich makings and a large bowl of salad. We usually have most of our meals buffet style with everything around the kitchen island for people to create their own plate's meal.

COUSCOUS

Monte wanted me to share his creation. We had some couscous leftover from a supper, so the following morning he simply added some egg till it held together and then dropped spoonfuls onto a heated oiled griddle or skillet, flattening them out. Cook on both sides till golden brown.



We've tried it a few times more. He's added a no-salt seasoning full of herbs. I've added some cinnamon and vanilla, and of course topping them with maple syrup.



Love the simplicity, since couscous with added hot water is done in a minute. And love the bit of crunch!

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A salad we really like is with couscous. My taste buds were having quite a craving for it for awhile.



In a bowl put

1 cup couscous and 1 tsp salt.

Mix in 1 1/3 cups of the hottest tap water and come back and stir it occasionally while mixing up the rest of the ingredients.



Anything can be mixed in, but for starters, try this:

Chop 2 cups loose parsley

Mix with

1 Tb fresh lemon juice

1 Tb olive oil

6 green onions chopped (green tops included)

4 cups spinach cut in ribbons



Make dressing and add as much as you like:

2 Tb fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup half&half



I like to add cherry tomatoes

&/or roasted red pepper chopped

or mint, making the dressing of orange juice, zest and vinegar

. . . . . . .



I only use olive oil in all my cooking. I buy three kinds. The cheapest kind in a large container is virtually flavorless. A virgin kind I use for sauteing. Then I have a more expensive extra virgin kind for salads, and other times it's not cooked, and for dipping bread in - yum!!!! Good flavored olive oil with a seasoning and great whole grain bread--I crave! but can't eat a lot of or I'd be a fattened cow.



I always have a pretty wooden bowl or basket of lemons and limes. We use these ALL the time--whether just in water or squeezed onto salad alone with the good olive oil...



I also love green onions.



I love lots of things...

Quinoa & Buckwheat Salad (or Cereal) with Fruit and Nuts

Yummm... I am eating this salad and loving every bite! I get daily recipe emails from AllRecipes.com. I may not keep all the recipes by adding them to my recipe box at that site, but they give me lots of ideas. I got the idea for this recipe from the email that came in today. I altered it a bit and made a smaller proportion.

QUINOA SALAD with FRUIT and NUTS

They cooked 1 1/2 C quinoa with 1/4 tsp salt and 3 1/2 C water, having been brought to a boil and then simmering covered until tender, about 20-25 minutes. Then allow to cool for 20 minutes.

QUINOA & BUCKWHEAT HOT CEREAL

This reminded me of a hot cereal Monte and me often crave - Quinoa & Buckwheat with yogurt and maple syrup. It's in my Hearth & Home cookbook. Now my understanding of quinoa, besides it being a revived high protein South American grain, is it needs to either be rinsed first or toasted. Quinoa is an acquired taste. It is very unusual. And buckwheat isn't even a grain, but a vegetable, tho it falls in the grain category - probably because it's used as such. For our cereal I toast 1 C Quinoa and 1 C buckwheat, stirring occasionally (you'll hear the quinoa popping) then add a bit of salt and 4 C water, bring to a boil, and then simmer covered, cooking till tender. We store what's left in the fridge for more breakfasts.

BACK to the SALAD

So I basically made the above cereal recipe instead of their suggestion. Their mixture with the below ingredients was said to serve 10. I used 2 C of my cooked cereal for 2 servings, eating as a main dish, rather than a small side (we Americans need to think of veggie side dishes moreso as the main meal with meats as sides - I like to grill marinated meats and slice some of it to add to salads). With their quinoa proportion I'll give you the rest of the salad ingredients and you can mix what amount you want.

-1 bunch green onions, chopped (I used a bunch of chives)
-3/4 C chopped celery
-1/2 C raisins (I used craisins - and probably more)
-1 pinch cayenne pepper
-1 Tb vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
-1 Tb distilled white vinegar (I don't ever use this kind of vinegar for any cooking, only with my textile art when dyeing - I used a mixture of rice and balsamic vinegars)
-2 Tb lemon juice (I used lime, cuz that's what I already had cut. And I used less, using more of this proportion with my vinegars)
-2 Tb sesame oil (I used toasted sesame oil)
-1/3 C chopped fresh cilantro (I probably did more)
-3/4 C chopped pecans (I toasted them)
-(I added some fresh minced garlic)

Mix it all together and let set at room temp for an hour to allow the flavors to blend. I bet this would even taste better as a left over!

I get a weekly email recipe from SplendidTable.org. Our NPR radio station no longer carries this program, but I used to listen to it all the time. I've gotten great recipes from Lynne Rossetto Kasper. I also have a recipe box at FoodNetwork.com - I can add recipes to this box, which is a great place to have things organized. But now I'm doing this blog in the hopes of organizing my kitchen escapades!

Grilled Salad

I'm a gal who LOVES grilling! And I love grilled salads. Sometimes when preheating the grill, I'll often look in my fridge's veggie drawers to see what I might grill. And then too, with summer's produce, there's great fresh grilling items.

I was going to grill some ground turkey patties. I mixed in some olive oil and seasoning and shaped them into patties. What did I find to grill with them? Two portobello mushrooms, and eggplant, pepper, and onion. Sometimes I'll cut these up, using baby bella mushrooms instead of the large (the large are like "meat" and so good, like a burger themselves!). I'll marinate the cut up veggies in an italian salad dressing mixture. These are better cooked in a grill basket, and I like these served over rice.

Most times when grilling the sliced veggies, rather than messing with oil flare-ups, I grill them as is. Then put on a plate, and then drizzle them with good tasting olive oil and lemon juice and season. These, even left over, are great in sandwiches.



I put fresh picked salad greens, chives, basil, sliced tomato and avacado on my plate. I ended up cutting it all up, greens and grilled stuff, added some Newman's Italian salad dressing and feta cheese. Mmmmmm.....

And then there's my current grilling atmosphere: blooming Jackmani deep purple clematis, Salvia's May Night, baby's breath, Russian Sage, Roses, Negro hollyhocks, nasturtiums, daylilies, regular lilies, delphiniums, kiwi and grape vines. There's my bird feeders, birdbath, and if you look close on the left center, I captured a hummingbird.

Mexican Zucchini Salad

We had house guests: investors interested in Monte's swashbuckling geology. It was an all-of-a-sudden event, and one, the only one we knew, stayed the night. Our typical first meal for guests is Mexican and usually I'll grill stuffed poblanos (I'll post that recipe another time), but didn't do that this time. Since it was a quick throw-together we repeated our mexican chuck roast and radish salsa meal I recently posted about. I did a rhubarb crisp, already posted too, along with rhubarb-ade, and tea. I also made another favorite guests like - Mexican Zucchini Salad. (Monte told me I better take a picture of his plate - he always makes a great presentation of food!)



I have a cookbook from when we were first married, so thirty-five years old, that this recipe idea came from (idea... since I don't totally follow). When Travis got married, Monte and me catered the rehearsal dinner all the way to Ft Collins from our Evergreen home - a Mexican fiesta! This salad was one of the dishes well received.

MEXICAN ZUCCHINI SALAD

3 medium zucchini

1/2 tsp salt

Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and again in 1/4" slices. In a bowl, salt these with the salt, toss to mix, then spread on several layers of paper towel to sit and drain for 30 minutes. Pat dry before adding to bowl mixture.



Combine in a bowl-

5 Tb vinegar (I like to mix some balsamic, red wine vinegar and maybe brown rice, apple cider, sherry vinegar - the recipe uses all white vinegar - how boring!)

2-3 cloves minced garlic (instead of recipe's 1 - I always do more garlic in recipes)

1/4 tsp dried thyme (use more of garden fresh thyme)

1/2C good tasting olive oil

1 can drained garbanzo beans

1/2C sliced olives

1/2C+ sliced green onions (I always do more green onions and love the green tops)

1 canned chipotle chili in adobo, seeded and minced (I always keep these in a jar, once a can is opened, and when I take out a chili I make sure to shove all the chilis into the adobo for better keeping)

1/2C crumbled queso anejo (which I don't usually have, so I use cows milk feta [we don't like goat feta - fresh goat milk and cheese is good, but something happens to it in the processing and time])



I'll make this a bit ahead 30 minutes to 4 hours, and occasionally stir for the flavors to marinate.

After supper, and a rain sprinkle, we walked around the gardens, enjoying the flowers, texture, and mountain air. I had them all eat a sweet cicely seed pod - an after dinner mint. The plant is behind my tarragon plant - both a type of licorice/anise flavor. Sweet Cicely is very ferny and mine has been reseeding (I think last year's moist summer did it) so I moved them about the garden this spring.



An artist friend, Sarah, and me made my Sculpy Dough herb labels last year. They are weathering just fine - I didn't know how they'd hold up. Garden twine holds them to bamboo poles.

Couscous salad

Another salad we really like is with couscous. My taste buds were having quite a craving for it for awhile.

In a bowl put 1 cup couscous and 1 tsp salt. Mix in 1 1/3 cups of the hottest tap water and come back and stir it occasionally while mixing up the rest of the ingredients.

Here again, like with the coleslaw recipe anything can be mixed in. But for starters, try this:
Chop 2 cups loose parsley
Mix with
1 Tb fresh lemon juice
1 Tb olive oil
6 green onions chopped (green tops included)
4 cups spinach cut in ribbons

Make dressing and add as much as you like:
2 Tb fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup half&half

I like to add cherry tomatoes
&/or roasted red pepper chopped
or mint, making the dressing of orange juice, zest and vinegar
. . . . . . .

I only use olive oil in all my cooking. I buy three kinds. The cheapest kind in a large container is virtually flavorless. A virgin kind I use for sauteing. Then I have a more expensive extra virgin kind for salads, and other times it's not cooked, and for dipping bread in - yum!!!! Good flavored olive oil with a seasoning and great whole grain bread--I crave! but can't eat a lot of or I'd be a fattened cow.

I always have a pretty wooden bowl or basket of lemons and limes. We use these ALL the time--whether just in water or squeezed onto salad alone with the good olive oil...

I also love green onions.

I love lots of things...

Coleslaw recipe

I was asked to write out the coleslaw recipe. But as I said in the last post, use grated broccoli and/or cauliflower stems with or in place of the cabbage.

1 lb shredded cabbage (about 6 cups)
1-2 carrots shredded
4 scallions or some red onion, finely chopped
2 Tb fresh parsley
1 tsp fresh thyme
2 Tb lemon juice (or whole lemon)
1/2 c yogurt
2 Tb each mayo & sour cream
1/4 tsp dijon style mustard
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
(finely sliced celery)
(finely chopped green pepper)
(1/2 tsp sugar or 1 Tb maple syrup)
(cilantro and lime juice can replace the thyme and lemon)
(vinegar can replace the lemon juice)
(I like options--depending on the 'mood' of my taste buds)
(other veggies too--like radishes, turnips, cucumbers)

Mix these all together well and serve.
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I'm typing this while eating a BLT salad with spinach and fresh bread croutons. Monte actually made it for me! And we just realized, I need to make more bread.