My Favorite Salad

Let me introduce you to my favorite salad.
She has no name that I know of other than "My Favorite Salad".....
....so I have decided to call her "Almota Roses Salad".
After eating this salad, I find all other salads rather bland.....
...I guess that's why she is my favorite.
So without further ado, here is her magic recipe.....

Almota Roses Salad
1 head romaine rinsed and chopped
1/2 c. Craisins (plain dried cranberries would work just as well)
1/2 c nuts (I like pecans or walnuts)
1/4 c Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
Balsamic vinaigrette

All of these ingredients could be adjusted to taste.
(Sometimes I splurge on a little more cheese!)
Arrange lettuce on 2 plates, sprinkle the Craisins, nuts, and cheese over the lettuce
(divide between the two plates)
((ooops! a little more cheese for me!))
Drizzle the Balsamic vinaigrette to taste.
Grab a fork and enjoy!

Mmmmm...... good.....

*****Please note: over the next week or so, I am going to be a tiny bit busy, so blogging may be a bit hit and miss....... I hope you understand*****

I hope you have a WOnDerFul WeeKenD!

Lemon Spritz Cookies

I have long wanted a vintage cookie press, so when I heard of a large estate sale last month, I went specifically in search of one. I even asked the ladies there if they had one (as I could not find one in the massive amounts of items for sale). Low and behold, they had two! I just bought one -- for $2! What a steal! It had quite a few press molds all neatly stored inside the canister. What luck!

So, for Wyatt's preschool graduation, we made Lemon Spritz Cookies. They were yummy! I made a thin lemon icing to dip or paint the cookies with and then added tiny nonpareils for a little color and pretty. I have no idea if the cookies were well loved at Wyatt's school, but here at home the leftovers disappeared like magic!

Here is the recipe I used if you are interested:

1 c. butter softened
4 oz. cream cheese softened
1 c. granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp dried lemon zest (you could also zest fresh lemon 1 Tbl)
2 3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Cream butter, sugar, cream cheese until fluffy. Add egg yolk, vanilla, lemon extract and zest -- mix well. Add flour and salt and mix until combined. Place dough in cookie press and press cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Icing:
2 c. powdered sugar
2-3 Tbl lemon juice (enough to make thin icing)

Icing can be painted on or dipped. Candy nonpareils or colored sugar can be sprinkled on or dipped on if desired.


Enjoy!!!!

Hope you have a wonderful, safe weekend!!!!

{Linked to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum}
{click to see other luscious food ideas..... mouth watering, drool descending, tummy growling....}

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

This is the first year that my rhubarb has produced enough for me to actually use in a recipe. Last year I planted a sad little rhubarb split that was mostly roots and dried up leaves, but look at them now! I'm thinking that in a couple of years I will have to split some off myself before the garden is taken over by rhubarb! Yesterday, in the wind and rain, I sent Wyatt out to cut me some rhubarb stalks. He was more than happy to comply since the "job" involved using a knife. He did a good job.


The rhubarb washed, trimmed, and chopped. Did you know that {rhubarb leaves are poisonous}? I'm sure you did. The leaves are poisonous to humans and animals if ingested (so don't feed them to your critters). As the story goes, the leaves were discovered to be poisonous during WWI, when people short on fresh vegetables, were encouraged to eat rhubarb leaves. It is a sad story, as many were sickened and some even died. The roots are also poisonous. So, wash your stalks carefully, and toss the leaves where no children or animals will munch on them.....

.... and don't use the leaves as props in your photography! (He he)
(No, these strawberries are not from my garden. If they were, they would be far tastier and juicier than these were.)

Simple ingredients

Ready for the oven.

Ready for the tastebuds....... YUM!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp Recipe

2 c. sliced strawberries
3 c. chopped rhubarb
3/4 c granulated sugar
2 Tbl. corn starch
1 3/4 c. all purpose flour
1 c. quick oats
3/4 c packed brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  
• Prepare strawberries and rhubarb. (Frozen fruit could be substituted for fresh.) Add the strawberries, rhubarb, granulated sugar, and corn starch together in a bowl, mix, and let sit until ready to use.
• Add the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, melted butter, and vanilla to another bowl. Mix together until coarse pea-sized crumbles are formed.
• Press 2/3 crumb mixture into the bottom of a greased 9 X 13 inch pan.
• Spread fruit mixture on top of the crumble layer.
• Sprinkle the remaining crumble mixture on top of the fruit.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes.
• Serve with a dollop of cream or vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!
  

My ever present happy helper gives her bite of approval.

Have a beautiful weekend!

{Linked to "I'm Lovin' it Fridays}
{Click over to see what other lovin' is goin' on!}

Cheater Black Bean Soup

Have I told you how much I LOVE Costco? I have haven't I? Well if not...... here it is .... I LOVE COSTCO. Period. No -- exclamation point. Seriously, if I haven't been to Costco in 3-4 weeks I start feeling withdrawals. It's really sad. (I know -- lots of people think Costco is not a place to save money -- but with a family the size of ours, it does save money --IF I stick to THE LIST.) Besides, I simply don't have the time (or the desire) to run all over chasing this sale and that sale to buy things cheaper. (Did you know that Costco's policy is to only mark items up 16%? Really. I think Costco should pay me for all my free advertising for them.)

Anyway.....so why am I talking about Costco? I thought this was a black bean soup recipe? Well, it is but -- I just happened to buy most of the ingredients for the soup at Costco (the salsa is home canned). I know I could probably buy the cans of tomatoes and beans cheaper somewhere else on sale.... but then I'd have to find the sale. However, the cartons of black bean soup would be very hard to find cheaper elsewhere. ( Yes, I know I could cook my own dry beans.... and yes, it would be cheaper...... and honestly, I used to cook my own beans....). But this is a recipe for "cheater" black bean soup, right? So, let's get to it already!

Cheater Black Bean Soup

1 32oz carton spicy black bean soup
1 can black beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup salsa (more or less to taste)

Add all ingredients to a soup pot and simmer until you are ready to eat. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and cheese sprinkled on top. "Souper" easy and tasty.

We ate our soup with cheese quesadillas.
(And yes, we still have a little furry mouse problem.)
Once the downstairs bathroom remodel is finished (it's a long story) and the walls are sealed up again, the mice should stay where they belong -- outside! But for now, we are resorting to multiple traps set strategically {{sorry little mice}} as we have seen too many sad decon stories at the clinic.

Bar-B-Que Baking

Yep, that's right -- baking on your Bar-B-Que.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
You see -- last weekend, our oven control board shorted out and burnt up when I was pre-heating the oven for a pie.
So, the pie was ready to bake, and I had no oven.

Plan B: the BBQ.
It's basically a gas oven, right?
What's the worse that could happen?
You really can't eat an unbaked apple-blueberry pie.
I heated up the BBQ, turned off the middle burner to make indirect heat, and let her bake.
The pie turned out OK. It might have been better if I had used my regular pie crust.
There you go -- baking on the BBQ is possible.
I think a berry crisp would have been really good on the BBQ --
I might have to try that this summer.

So, I decided to make cookies too as it had been nearly a week and our oven part was yet to arrive, and my cookie monsters didn't know what to do without cookies in the freezer.

I used my baking stone (like I always do) straight on the BBQ.
This time I left all 3 burners on because with the stone being so big, I couldn't use indirect heat.
The bottom of some of the cookies got a little brown.
It could have been because I was too cold to stand outside in the cold wind and check the cookies frequently.
Or, it could also have been because the timer on my stove doesn't work and I am so lost without it.
Anyway, they got a little overbaked.

Next try: cupcakes.
OK-- I will be the first to admit, cakes bake better in a real oven.
Although the cupcakes raised well and tasted fine, they stuck to the bottom of the cupcake liners. The kids didn't mind as 3/4 of them just eat the icing anyway.
Next time, I should just make icing and let them eat it off a spoon.

Our oven control board is supposed to arrive today.
I will be glad to get my oven back.
But, I predict that my BBQ baking days are not over -- not from necessity, but choice.
Let me know if you've ever baked anything on the BBQ -- I'd love to hear about it.

Peanut Thai Noodles

{sorry for the messy plate---see, I'm not a professional food photographer}
This recipe has officially made the list of my top ten favorite meals.
Seriously. You HAVE to try it.
Just once......and then you will be hooked.

And then you could watch Kung Fu Panda..... or not.
The picture of Reid reminded me of that movie.

Here is the recipe I follow (loosely):

• 1 Tbl oil
• 1/2 sweet onion diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper cut in 1/2" strips
• 1 head broccoli cut in small pieces
• 2 cups sugar snap peas (ends trimmed)
• 1 cup carrots julienned
• 1 lb precooked grilled chicken strips (optional)
  
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/3 c apple juice
• 1- 2lb package {yakisoba noodles}
• handful of peanuts to sprinkle over the top (optional)
  

Put the oil in a skillet or wok (I don't have one) and heat before adding the onions and bell pepper. Saute until soft and onions are translucent. Add the other vegetables and saute stirring frequently until the vegetables are cooked to your liking. I like my stir fry vegetables not soft, but not hard -- just in the middle. (While the vegetables are a cooking you can mix the peanut butter, soy sauce, cayenne pepper, ginger, garlic powder, and apple juice in a bowl.) When the vegetables are about half cooked, add the pre-cooked chicken (if using-- the recipe is just fine without the chicken). Once the vegetables are finished and the chicken heated through, add the sauce mixture and stir until well incorporated. At this point, you can either add the noodles directly to the vegetable mixture, or you can heat the noodles separately and add the vegetables on top of the noodles on each individual plate. Tastes the same either way ;). Add peanuts and enjoy! Mmmmm....... truly addicting.

{{Don't forget to enter my Ruffle pants giveaway over on my Farmhouse Blog}}

Popcorn and Apples

First, I want to thank you all for your kind words and concern for Nona. She is doing some better today. The hives she had yesterday are just purplish smudges, but she has a whole new crop this morning -- mostly on her upper torso and face. Hopefully tomorrow there will be no new spots and we will be on our way. She has slept a lot, scratched a lot, and pointed a lot to the spots on her tummy. At least I know that she is not very ill, and that as soon as the hives quit itching she will be as good as new.

Second, take a moment to zip over to my {Farmhouse blog} to see the outfit being auctioned off tomorrow at the benefit for Mr. Riebold.

Third, I thought I would try something new for Fridays called Foodie Fridays.....at least for now. So, on Friday I will introduce you to some simple foods/meals that we enjoy. Mostly, they will not be elaborate meals or recipes..... just good, family friendly foods. First on the menu (he he) is our traditional Saturday night meal. Sometimes it gets pushed back to Sunday, but usually we eat it on Saturday....

.... popcorn and.....

....apples (and cheese).

How do you pop your popcorn? I use {this little bowl in the microwave.}
It works really well, and you can pop without oil.
But then I melt butter and drizzle it over the popcorn.....so.......

Lately, we have been making two big bowls with different flavors of popcorn. The first big bowl is the regular butter and salt. But for the second bowl we have been using Johnny's Seasoning Salt plus Chipotle chili pepper (as seen in the tiny little bottle who's label is illegible). Randy and I really like it, Reid so-so, and the others won't touch it. I LOVE Johnny's. I use it on everything from potatoes, to popcorn, to BBQ. It is so easy.