Nectarine, Corn and Black Bean Salsa

NECTARINE, CORN AND BLACK BEAN SALSA

We fixed this yesterday, May 8, 2009 after the BG track meet and the day of 105 degree heat!!! such a cooling and pretty end to a day of 3 blue ribbons and 2 red! Way to smoke the track KGC!!! We're proud of you... let's celebrate!
Ingredients
juice of two limes
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of hot sauce (I used Tabasco)

4 ripe nectarines (or you can use mango.. Emily likes the refrigerated jarred ones)
1 -11oz. can of whole kernel sweet corn, drained
1-15 oz. can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 medium tomato, cored, seeded and finely diced (OPTIONAL in our family!)
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (OPTIONAL!)
1 small green bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped (I like to use RED)
2 bunches of green onions
freshly ground sea salt to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste
Thin lime slices and sprigs of fresh mint for garnish.
Directions
Whisk together the lime juice, cumin and hot sauce in a bowl, and set aside.
Mix all remaining ingredients (except for the salt and pepper) together in another bowl.
Pour the juice mixture over the other ingredients and gently mix with a spoon.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Chill for at least one hour.
Garnish with sprigs of fresh mint and lime slices.
Serve with organic, blue corn chips as an appetizer.

We love Julio chips even if they are a bit salty... but the blue corn is pretty with the colors of the dish...

It looks like a celebration.....Troy loves the bit of spice from the Tabasco and would add more to his individual serving!

Canadian Cheese Soup

Helen Corbitt's Canadian Cheese Soup

*this is one of Nana's best!!!

(I think she got the recipe from a cafeteria we frequented EVERY Sunday after church)

(recipe for 8 servings... so we usually doubled the recipe)

1/4 C butter

1/2 C finely diced onion

1/2 C finely diced carrots

1/2 C finely diced celery

1/4 C flour

1 1/2 T cornstarch

1 QT chicken stock (use organic free range best!.. )

1 QT milk

1/8 t soda

1 C shredded cheddar cheese (I use a bit more)

salt and pepper to taste

2 T parsley (chopped fine)

Melt butter in the pot in which you will cook soup.
(to chop veggies, I pour 1/2 stock in blender and then veggies... pulse on chop... then scoop the veggies out of stock from blender into the melted butter in pan, reserve the stock in blender)

Saute veggies in butter over low heat until soft.

Add flour and cornstarch and cook until bubbly.

Add stock and milk to make a smooth sauce.

Add soda and the grated cheese.

Season with salt and pepper.

Add parsley a few minutes before you serve.

hint: if you cook this at too high a temp, it will separate instead of being smooth.

After you've added the soda and cheese.... just let it melt into a smooth hearty soup.

*we like to serve with Sister Shubert rolls and a fruit salad.... Enjoy one of our family favorites!

Acorn Squash for Sukkot

FALL STARBURST (Parve)

*Jenn had asked me and Troy to join them in their Sukkot and would I please bring an acorn squash dish. Certainly... little did I know that the "bug" would invade my day and once again, Troy would have to finish what I began... It was a success and as requested, here is the recipe. It may look and smell like sweet potato, but it really was acorn squash... what a PAIN that squash is to cut up... so very hard, but this recipe makes it worth the effort.

1 1/2 to 2 pounds butternut (or acorn)squash, cut into halves and seeds removed
1/2 cup margarine (I NEVER use margarine.. I used organic butter)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups fresh cranberries

( I used organic dried/unsweetened, and added organic dried cherries too..

add a bit of water!!)
1/4 cup sugar
1-2 tablespoons cinnamon-sugar

(sold commercially or made at home with 1 part cinnamon to 4 parts sugar)

Boil squash in water to cover in a saucepan until tender. Cool until it can be handled.
Scoop out flesh, discarding peel.

Puree squash with margarine and brown sugar in a food processor. (Troy just mashed it)
Cook apples and 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a saucepan for 8 to 10 minutes, or until juices begin to be released and the sugar melts and coats the apples. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat cranberries with 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a saucepan until berries soften and burst, stirring often. (if you used the dried, be sure they are unsweetened,

and add a bit of water to the sugar as you rehydrate and prepare)

Arrange apples around the edge of a 9-inch French white oven-safe dish.

(I left the peels on the bright green apples for color and fiber)
Pour the squash puree in the center.
Top with the cranberries, leaving a small border of squash.

(The cranberries may bleed into the apples slightly.)
Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake for 20 minutes.
Yield: 6-8 servings

taken from: Recipes from the Kosher Palette II

author says "my experience with Sukkot is that it is a

cozy holiday filled with family, friends and fun"

Bell Peppers (stuffed) ALA Aunt Ellena

*Nana says if Aunt Ellena recommends it, it's gotta be good*

STUFFED BELL PEPPERS
(from Houston Junior League Cookbook. 1968, p. 113)

½ cup uncooked rice ½ to ¾ can Rotel tomatoes
6 large green peppers salt and pepper
1 pound ground beef 1 can condensed tomato soup
1 medium onion (chopped) 1 ½ cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup finely diced celery 1 soup-can water, or a little more
2 tablespoons bacon drippings 1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 ½ teaspoons celery seed




Cook rice until tender. Cut tops off peppers, remove seeds, and boil pepper cases for 5 minutes. Drain. Saute beef, onion and celery in bacon drippings. Add rice, 1 cup grated cheese, celery seed and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper;. Stuff pepper cases with mixture and place in greased, or foil-lined baking dish. Make a sauce by mixing soup, water, tomato sauce and remaining ½ cup grated cheese; pour over peppers. Bake uncovered, in 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Baste several times during cooking. The stuffed peppers can be frozen before cooking. Freeze separately in plastic bags with a generous amount of sauce over each pepper.

Serves 6

Post-production thoughts:

We used domestic basmati rice. Variety probably is unimportant.

We used “chunky style” Rotel tomatoes. A whole can (10 oz. probably would work.

Smaller bell peppers (about the size of a medium orange) give a more satisfactory pepper to filling ratio. This recipe would probably fill 8 or 9 peppers this size.

For future reference . . . we’ll soften (boil) a head of cabbage and try this filling, sauce and cooking time and temperature on lemon-sized stuffed cabbage rolls

Baked Potato Soup

Baked Potato Soup

heat oven to 350
using a pyrex pan (NEVER USE FOIL OR ALUMINUM COOKWARE!!)
use 1 small potato per person (do NOT peel) and place in pyrex pan
cut up onion and place around potatoes
use whole peeled garlic (or not, to taste) place in pan with onions and potatoes
Bake at 350 until potatoes are soft (about 2 hours for a full pan of vegetables)
(check doneness with fork)
cool vegetables
***********
in a blender
put cooled vegetables 1/2 to top and cover with skim (or whole) milk
blend until smooth, then pour into pot to heat through
**keep doing this until you use all the vegetables you've cooked for servings planned**
add (to preference)
low fat sour cream
crumbled bacon
chives
** when warmed through, put grated cheese on top to serve
best with a country bread and real butter as a side.......... perfect for a Winter Day in Texas
I'm cooking this right now with extra garlic because the FLU has hit our family hard and it is a really wet/icy/coooooollllld day! May we all kick this flu soon! AMEN