Winter Fruit Salad

What a boring name for a delicious salad.

Today I had to take a salad to my son's football banquet, you know how that goes

"Freshman bring desserts, Sophmores salads etc"

and I decided to make this yummy salad because:

a. it is yummy 

b. I had all the ingredients

c. it is super easy peasy lemon squeezy and

d. it is gluten free.

I wish I had a picture of it - but use your imaginations k?

Fabulously yummy super easy Winter Fruit Salad

2 cups cubed, unpeeled red apples
2 cups cubed, unpeeled pears
3/4 cup dried cranberries
2 bananas, sliced
1 TBS lemon juice
3/4 cup of toasted walnuts

Dressing
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 TBS honey
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel (use an organic lemon if you can)
1/8 tsp allspice

In a large bowl combine the apples, pears, cranberries and lemon juice.

In a small bowl combine the dressing ingredients. Blend well and then add to the big bowl. Gently fold in the bananas and the walnuts.

Location

This was so good I will be making it for Thanksgiving instead of waldorf salad.

Potato Leek Clam Soup

I cleaned out the pantry and found a couple of things that needed using up - evaporated milk, potato flakes and a couple cans of chopped clams - and decided to make a clam chowder of sorts. I have made potato leek soup which was totally from scratch - this is more pantry style but still yummy! And the addition of clams - brilliant (or at least inspired).

Yes this is a recycled picture from this post  - but really how exciting is a picture of soup??

Potato Leek Clam Soup

 

1/2 onion chopped

1 leek white part - chopped

1 carrot diced

coconut oil - 2TBS

1TBS butter

1 quart homemade chicken stock

1 cup beans - I used chickpeas but I think white beans would have been better.

1 can evaporated milk

2 cans of water

2 cups potato flakes

1 TBS butter

1 tsp garlic powder, mustard powder, celery seed

salt and pepper

2 cans clams with juice

Saute' the veggies in the coconut oil and butter for 5 minutes or so. Add the chicken stock and cook at a slow boil until the carrots are soft. Add the chickpeas. Blend with stick blender until smooth. Add the milk and water, the potato flakes and stir. Add more water or flakes if needed. Add the spices and then add the butter and clams and taste - salt and pepper as needed. Delicious!

Italian Cube Steak

Saturday my upright freezer broke.

 Kaput.

 Unfixable.

Thankfully my husband is my hero - within 30 minutes of the discovery he was at the local appliance store buying me a replacement.

(One of the many reasons why I love him!!!)

 But there were some pieces of meat that were too thawed to put into the new one. Liver and cube steak topped the list. I have cooked it in the past with more or less success - here is a link to a cube steak stroganoff that my family really likes.
This time I wanted something a bit different and so I made it with a red gravy - I loved this. I added both rice and cooked cabbage to my bowl - kind of like a deconstructed stuffed cabbage.



Italian Cube Steak

6 cube steaks (or so) (if they are big cut in half)
g/f all purpose flour - 2 cups
1tbs garlic powder
1TBS onion powder
1 TBS Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
tallow or lard to cover bottom of pan
1 onion diced
1 red and 1 green pepper diced
2 ribs celery sliced
3 pints tomato sauce
dry red wine - splash

Combine the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning and salt and pepper in a bowl.
Melt the fat in a dutch oven.
Dredge each cube steak in the flour mixture and add to the dutch oven - brown each side. Remove to a plate. (Don't crowd the pan, brown in batches if necessary) When done add back to the pot along with onions, celery and peppers and tomato sauce. Splash a little dry red wine in the pot. Put in a 400 degree oven and cook for an hour and 10 minutes.

Serve over rice and/or chopped up cooked cabbage.

Italian Noodly Soup

Hello,
I would be surprised if anyone still reads my little blog - it is now back to its original intent - a place for me to post food that I make that my family likes and I don't want to forget how I did it.
This Italian noodly soup fits the bill - it is amazingly delicious.
And  very very simple.
If you have read this far I would really recommend you make this for yourself, today if possible!

Italian Noodly Soup

1lb Italian Sausage
1/2 medium onion diced
4 cloves garlic minced
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
either 2 TBS tomato paste or 1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 28oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
6 - 8 cups chicken broth
1 lb noodles - corkscrew or mafalda or fusilli pasta (I use gluten free for my serving) (cook in salty water)
spinach (frozen cube) or 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
salt and pepper
shredded mozzarella
grated Parmesan cheese

Heat some oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the Italian sausage and brown, breaking up. Add onion and cook until soft, add garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes cook for a minute or so. Add tomato paste and cook for several minutes until it turns a little darker. Or add spaghetti sauce. Then add tomatoes, bay leaves chicken broth and spinach. (if you use fresh basil leaves wait to add them until just before serving.) Bring to a boil and then bring down and let simmer for 30 minutes. In a separate pan boil the noodles al dente. When ready to serve put some noodles in a bowl, top with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

I linked this to Scratch Cookin' Tuesday.

Blender Salsa

We have a tradition in our home - Taco Tuesdays. 

It is a fairly new tradition about a year old or so. 

Everyone loves it. 

We often have beef/liver tacos or chicken tacos and occasionally steak tacos. 

Always with soft wheat tortillas and corn tortilla chips. 

(here is how I keep the tortillas warm)

When I get totally taco-ed out I will make chicken enchiladas or enchilada lasagna. 

And on my birthday we have spaghetti because, well, I love spaghetti. 

The one thing I always make is homemade salsa. 

It is so simple and fresh and delicious. 

In "tomato season" I use all fresh locally grown 'maters. 

In the winter I use canned fire roasted. 

I love to add tomatillos but they aren't necessary for yummy salsa. 

I add stuff until the blender is full. I always taste it before declaring "done" because it often needs a bit more of this or that.

Here is a recipe to start with - play with it and make it your own.

Blender Salsa

4 or 5 large fresh in season tomatoes OR 1 large and 1 small can fire roasted tomatoes (can use plain also)
1 small onion cut in big chunks
2 cloves garlic peeled
1 tsp salt
1 handful of cilantro (I leave the stems on - they are blended up so why waste them?)
1 green pepper cut in big chunks
1 lime squeezed
1 or more jalapenos - deseeded - be careful and use gloves, I have burnt my hands before and it is miserable.
Optional - 6 or so tomatillos - cook in simmering water until they change from a bright green to a dull green. (You know to peel the papery outside and rinse them first right?) When I do this I use a bit less of the tomatoes.
Optional - a handful of purslane - a delicious weed herb weed that adds lots of nutrients!

Put it all in a blender and blend away. Taste, adjust seasonings. Refrigerate for an hour at least to blend flavors.
Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!
I am linking this to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday  Scratch Cookin' Tuesday and the Hearth and Soul Hop!

Enjoy Eating Saturated Fats: They are good for you!

This is a bit long but very informative and worth your time; I promise. The gentleman giving the talk a Dr. Donald W. Miller Jr. is a heart surgeon and he debunks current thought that saturated fats are bad for us.

Meatballs for a Crowd

This is spaghetti with meat sauce ;o) I didn't take a picture with the meatballs. Oops.

 Do you like your spaghetti with meat sauce or with meatballs? 

I admit that I am a meat sauce fan. 

I like to get meat and sauce in every bite. 

But sometimes you just want to shake things up. 

That is what I did today. 

I made meatballs - for the very first time. 

They were really good. 

I made a ton of them because, well in order to use four different meats it needed to be tons. 

I cooked them and then froze about two third of them to use later. 

Now you don't need to use all the different types of meat.

 I am sure these would be great without the liver.

 I am just always looking for ways to feed this wonderful organ meat to my family. 

Recycled picture from spaghetti with meat sauce post - but isn't she cute?!

Also, you could just use sweet Italian sausage and I suppose they could be made with just hamburger meat but they wouldn't be anywhere near as tasty. 

Meatballs for a crowd 

(60 or so depending on size)

1 lb beef liver ground in the blender to mush (sounds gross but trust me)

1 bag spinach added to liver and blended with it (or use thawed frozen cubes)

1.5 lbs ground beef - the best you can afford and find

.5 lb Sweet Italian sausage and .5 lb spicy Italian sausage - once again the best you can find

4 large eggs - hopefully from happy free range chickens

1 sleeve of saltines (or there abouts, I had been saving the stale ones for this) blended - or use good bread crumbs just add salt then to the mix.

1 onion diced

2 TBS Italian Seasoning

2 TBS garlic seasoning

2 TBS dried parsley

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Prepare a large pan by greasing it - I used those butter wrappers from my freezer.
3. Put in a huge bowl and mix away. I put my hands in empty bread bags turned inside out to do the squishing and mixing.
4. Take a small handful of the mix and gently roll into a ball and place on your pan, repeat until your pan is full. 
5. Cook for 20 minutes and then check and make sure done by either cutting in half or using a thermometer.

 I had planned on adding Parmesan cheese but forgot to add it, I think they tasted fine without but you could certainly add it.

Linking this to Gallery of Favorites @ Premeditated Leftovers and The 21st Century Housewife. And Fight Back Friday @ Food Renegade. Miz Helen's Full Plate Thursday.