Melon Salsa

People were asking for this recipe, and I thought to myself: Gee, it would be great if I had a central location I could send people to get this recipe. Oh, wait, I had a blog once upon a time...

No pictures yet, as I was not expecting to blog. I will edit later and add pictures of the next batch.

The youngest and I love watermelon. Can't get enough! But really, we can. So every time we bought a watermelon there were too many leftovers to fit in the fridge. So a few years ago I started playing with various applications of the watermelon so that the hubby would also eat it. His favorite is when I puree it with honey and lime juice then strain it. He drinks the juice, adds it to smoothies, freezes it. But it makes a giant mess of the kitchen, so I don't do that often. 

We also love something salty and vinegary with the watermelon. A salad with arugula, watermelon, feta and vinegar (either balsamic, or sweet Italian vinegar); melon, goat cheese, mint, and a simple classic vinaigrette; or, at our friend Jayme's suggestion last summer--watermelon tossed with coconut white balsamic vinegar and Persian lime infused olive oil and topped with some lime zest. 

But here is the best way to eat melon: Melon Salsa. But be warned, if you start with whole melons, you will end up with about 147 gallons of salsa. Which is why I share. The last batch I made was a couple of weeks ago. I rushed the melon season. I really wanted it to be good but the melons weren't quite ripe. I didn't discover that until I had already delivered it to some friends. If you got a batch of said sub-par melon salsa, my apologies. You all know I can do better (watch your front door for a porch drop in the near future).

You can adjust all the amounts to your taste. Best eaten on the scoopy kind of tortilla chips, or on cold sliced chicken, or (I have heard but I don't eat it) fish. Enjoy!

Melon Salsa

1 personal size watermelon, diced

1 cantaloupe, diced

1 honeydew melon, diced

3 jalapeno peppers, ribs and seeds removed to your preference and minced

1 large red pepper, diced

1 red onion, diced

1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

juice of 2 limes

healthy pinch of salt or two...or three

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. For best flavor, refrigerate a couple of hours or overnight.

Doughnuts??

I've posted before about how much my oldest loves spinach pies. We were supposed to make some a couple of weeks ago, but I used the onion in another dish...forgot to get feta at the grocery...then the thawed spinach sat in the fridge for way too many days and I gave up. But she's been bugging me ever since.

I haven't been myself lately. I have been getting treatment for a displaced disk in my jaw, which has been giving me a near constant headache for about 5 weeks so far. So my time in the kitchen has been limited. Our nutrition (and wallet) has been suffering for it. Plus, we had the promise of ice cream cake for dessert to celebrate our first daughter's birthday-in-heaven. So without a trip to the grocery store, what to have for dinner? Big bag of meatballs, and a peck of rainbow peppers to the rescue. But Dani doesn't eat peppers, so she bugged me again about the spinach pies.

Oh, baby, I am tired. The kitchen is a mess. And spinach pies take a long time. It's already 6:00...fine. How can we do this, quick in a hurry, without adding to the mess of the kitchen? Hmmm, the doughnut maker is still on the counter from Sunday morning when we made peanut butter doughnuts with chocolate glaze (look up a cake mix doughnut recipe on Pinterest...add 1/2 cup melted peanut butter. Glaze is powdered sugar, cocoa powder, melted butter and water). What if we....?

I quickly looked on Pinterest to see if anyone has ever done this before, cooking spinach pies in a doughnut maker. Nope. Maybe in a waffle iron? Nope. I did find a recipe for spinach and feta fritters that looked similar to my spinach pie recipe with some flour added. Well, why not?

I mixed up a modified version of my Mini Spinach Pies and added a scoop of flour. Preheated the doughnut maker, sprayed it with some cooking spray and mounded the spinach mixture in the wells. The first batch, I kept peeking and poking. Dani said we should flip one out and test it so we did. It worked! I timed the second batch to see just how long it takes...8 minutes. Eight minutes! And I don't have to wash out 48 tiny muffin tin wells when we are done?? Hallelujah!!

In that 8 minutes, I whipped up a dipping sauce for me and Ken with some mayo, sour cream, lemon zest, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper. But these little "spindonuts" would be delicious with some tzatziki. The whole surface of the doughnut gets a bit of a crust on it, so it is a bit of a different texture of the mini muffin tin. I don't think I'm going back. Ken and I do try to stick to a paleo diet most of the time, so I will try these with a different flour one day. In the meantime, we aren't so strict that a tablespoon or two of flour is a deal-breaker.

Now, what is next in the doughnut maker? Any suggestions?

Thought I was a food snob before...

My wonderful husband did not get me the InstaPot I asked for at Christmas. He is usually pretty good with presents and gets me either what I ask for, or something that is life-changing for me. Past gifts: curved shower rod (I hate touching a wet shower curtain), gel mat for the kitchen (my feet hurt when I do alot of cooking), door mat that says "Door bell broken, yell "Ding Dong" really loud (I asked for that one). So when he set a pile of gifts in my lap on Christmas morning, not one of them was big enough or heavy enough to be an InstaPot.

I admit, I was a bit crestfallen, sorry honey. Then I tore into the sparkly paper. Under the packages of eight bottles of vinegar (we make vinegar sodas with flavored balsamics...delicious, gut-healing, and cholesterol lowering to boot) was a moderately heavy rectangular box. In the box was an immersion cooker. I have seen this method of cooking on television, mainly on cooking competition shows. My reaction, after the initial "This is NOT and InstaPot!!" was "this is cool, I'm looking forward to trying it."

It wasn't until Christmas night that I had a chance to surf Pinterest for ideas, where my "this is cool" tuned into "I can't wait to try this thing!!" A trip with friends and our annual New Years Day crepe fest meant I had to wait a couple of weeks. Well, I didn't have to, but it took that long to finish off all the holiday left-overs.

Still had a couple of NY strips left in the freezer from the cow we bought last year, I researched a bunch of sous vide recipes for steak and combined them for dinner last night. One of the steaks was still half frozen, but I figured (correctly as it turns out) that it wouldn't matter. Here is how the immersion cooker works: you vacuum seal (with a machine or inside a zipper seal bag) the food you are cooking and immerse it in the water. You clip the cooker to the side of the pot and set the temperature and time and it circulates the water and keeps it at a consistent temperature. It is impossible to overcook the food. I have always been intimidated by cooking meat. It is expensive if you mess up. I've gotten more confident by the addition of a good meat thermometer to my kitchen, and through practice, I can tell by feel when pork chops are done. But I have stopped using my crock pot when I am not home because I have ruined more than one pork loin (how can it be tender and dry at the same time??) and burned beef roast at least twice. Sous vide, though...I can totally see me setting that up in the morning and walking away!

Last nights experiment was NY Strip, salted and peppered and sealed in a zip-top bag with a pat of butter, a sprig of thyme and a sprig of rosemary. Two of these, actually. Sous vide-ed (not sure if you can use that as a verb) at 135 degrees for about an hour and a half. I set the timer for 2 hours, but got really hungry and pulled it out when I couldn't wait anymore. My littlest had chopped up some mushrooms before her dinner, so those were ready and waiting. I set a cast iron skillet to heat up and pulled out the steaks from the bags and patted them dry with paper towels. Into the hot skillet with some oil and flipped after about a minute. In a nook in the pan, I put a pat of butter, a squeeze of garlic from the garlic press, and a few sprigs of thyme. The intention was to spoon the butter over the steaks while they cooked, but I couldn't manage that...aww, I have to try this again (read with heavy sarcasm). Steaks out of the pan and covered to rest, mushrooms in. Some salt and pepper, a little white wine and a splash of heavy cream and the mushrooms were "kickin" (Ken's words).

Oh. My. Goodness. The steaks were perfectly medium. Pink all the way through and cut like buttah. Three bites in and I cracked open a bottle of red wine. I have never felt like more of a food snob than I did last night! But I tell you, I am never again making a steak any other way! Sous Vide is the way to go! Check out my Pinterest board "Sous Vide" if you are wondering what I'm making next.

To my Hubby: Thank you, baby, best Christmas gift ever!! Wait...you really enjoyed that steak last night...was this gift for me, or for you?

Jalapeno Popper Waffles with Chili

Sometimes, I like to take a big break...mission accomplished! It's not that I'm not cooking, it's most likely that I am either too busy to type anything or (this summer for instance) we just get too busy for anything but can-a-box dinners. Two dinners we have had recently had me thinking I should write about them, and then a request for a recipe pushed me over the edge tonight...and I'm back!

Last fall, we went in with a friend and bought a half a cow. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend it. It has been a culinary challenge for me, cooking cuts of meat I would normally avoid at the grocery store. Also challenging, we each got 65 pounds of ground beef. When we put the deposit down on the cow-half, I had thought it would probably be about 50 pounds ground--no big deal, a pound a week, that's probably what we are eating from the grocery store anyway. Nope, big deal, it's been ten and a half months and we still have more than 30 pounds left.

So today, I went shopping without a list or a menu for the week. I passed some plump jalapenos in the produce aisle and decided on chili over Jalapeno Popper Cornbread Waffles. Back at home, I pulled not one, but three packages of beef from the freezer...go big or go...still have beef in your freezer after New Years. I won't bore you with the details of the rest of my day (I did get most of my "Killer Frost" Halloween costume made), we will skip right to the recipe. I'm not including a chili recipe here, I usually follow the directions on the "ready for chili" diced tomatoes can and doctor it up till it tastes good. This afternoon, I added 2 sweet onions, chili powder, corriander, cardamom, a spoonful of brown sugar, ketchup and hot sauce to the loosely followed can label recipe.

One last note, I'm pretty proud...the littlest asked for seconds on the chili (thank goodness I used three!)

Ok, one more last note...my hubby took the picture. My pictures never look like that, and we have essentially the same phone. When I asked how he does that, what settings does he use, his only response was "Pro." Hmph!

Jalapeno Popper Cornbread Waffles
1 Box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
3 Tbs honey
1 Tbs oil
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
2 oz cream cheese, cut into small cubes
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

Mix egg, milk, honey, and oil in a medium bowl. Add the corn muffin mix and stir until just combined. Fold in cheese, cream cheese, and jalapenos. Let stand while you preheat the waffle iron. (If you use an adjustable temperature waffle iron, you may have to play with the setting to get it right, this is a pretty wet dough. I didn't feel like using the big professional waffle iron I have, so I used the "Frozen" waffle iron Santa brought the kids last year.)
Cook the waffles according to your machine's directions, but a good rule of thumb is that waffles are done when the steaming stops, so ignore the sensor / ready light and watch the steam.
To serve, we like to drizzle some honey over the hot waffle, top with a scoop of chili some shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

The Next Step Towards Total Food-Snobbery

Homemade ketchup! The thought came to me yesterday while I was showering (I get lots of thinking done in the bathroom--it's my only alone time anymore). It was Monday and we didn't have any plans--no school, no camp, no doctors. Our friends were coming for a mid-morning swim but the rest of the day was ours.  Perfect to do a bit of kitchen experimenting...hmm, what to make...how about--SPIDER ON THE CONDITIONER BOTTLE! So now I'm playing "Naked and Afraid--the Home Edition" in the shower with a spider!  Every few seconds, I'm checking on the spider to be sure he's not moving. Wet my hair...there is the spider...wash my hair...there is the spider...use a different conditioner...there is the spider...wash my face...Where. Is. The. Spider???? Now it's "Naked and Afraid--the Deluxe Home Edition!" Don't shave the legs, time to get out of the shower! The biggest child will just have to deal with my (her words) "porcupine porky thighs" when she sits on my lap.

Back to The Plan...When we planted our garden, we planted two kinds of tomatoes.  I was hopeful that if the children grew them, they might eat them.  Hubby eats tomatoes infrequently and I only like them cooked.  I also figured that if we grew enough, we'd be able to make some salsa or homemade sauce.  My business partner's father used to make homemade ketchup every summer before he passed away. Last year, she resurrected the tradition and brought me a quart of it.  When I suggested ketchup to the children, they were all over it.

First we picked the tomatoes and peppers from the garden (we already had about 10 little tomatoes on the counter getting ripe).  Next, I put sharp knives *gasp!* in the hands of my children (no worries, I have taught my children kitchen safety years ago). A moment later, I scooted the littlest away from the biggest...I had put a righty on the left side of a lefty, and the righty talks with her hands. Even if there is a sharp knife in them.

The children cut up all the tomatoes and the peppers.  I cut the onion (if you've read my book, you'll know it's from experience).

Then we put everything into the cups of my nutri-bullet.  The littlest was very excited to make ketchup smoothies!

We did it in batches, so some of the puree was greener than others because of the amount of peppers in the batch. Everything was very pink when mixed all together.  Not to fret, as the mixture cooks and reduces, it gets a beautiful brick red color.

We boiled the puree for about 30 minutes until it was reduced by half then we added garlic, vinegar, ground mustard, cinnamon, cloves, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, salt and honey, and forgot to take pictures. Then I turned the stove to low and checked on it every 10-15 minutes for about 2 hours.  It tasted great, but still had a kind of mealy texture so I ran the immersion blender through it for about 7 minutes.  It got glossy and thick.

I didn't set out to make paleo-ketchup, but it is paleo. No thickeners, no sugar, and a bonus of very little salt. One taste and the hubby said "throw out the Heinz!" So I feel like this is one more step in total food-snobbery. That's just great, (insert sarcasm here) I've ruined store-bought ketchup for my entire family!

We ate it on burgers and smiley face fries for dinner (and chicken and bratwurst...we did some cooking on the grill to stock up the freezer and you just gotta sample everything).

This jar won't last long--it was full before dinner. Next summer, more tomato plants! We already have plans for balsamic ketchup, roasted jalapeno ketchup and maybe something herbaceous like thyme and oregano...any other suggestions? I'll let you know how it goes with the next tomato harvest.


Homemade Ketchup using Fresh Tomatoes

12-15 tomatoes (I think we planted romas)
2 smallish green peppers (we actually planted red, but too impatient to let them ripen)
1/2 white onion
3/4 tsp ground mustard powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
small pinch cayenne pepper
generous pinch kosher salt
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup honey (more or less to taste)

Chop then blend tomatoes, peppers and onion in a blender and pour into saucepan.  Boil over medium-high heat until reduced by half, about 30 minutes, stirring frequently.  Reduce heat to medium and add remaining ingredients.  Bring back to boil and turn to low, simmer on low for about 2 hours or more, until mixture is thickened.  If the mixture is "loose" or mealy after 2-3 hours, use an immersion blender to blend smooth.  Store in fridge or using proper canning methods to preserve.

Breakfast Stuffed Shells

I feel like I have to apologize for my absence. Sometimes I just feel like I can't get my feet under me. Then I have a wonderful day like today...both kids with me all day, had my annual physical (which had the girls waiting an hour and a half total), lunch at a restaurant (at their request), hair cuts for both of them (I had them cut 6 inches off the littlest's hair and worried that the hubby wouldn't let me back in the house), a shopping trip to Wegmans (where the biggest asked me to make stuffed shells, who am I to argue), then back home to do some batch cooking. And we all had a great time!  Ooh, and in the middle of cooking, the littlest decided that she wanted to swim with just the kick board and no life jacket, so I jumped in the pool with her and she took off.  Just two weeks ago she wouldn't let go of the ladder!  When I get done here, I'll be looking for some swim lessons and a swim team for her--she's a natural.

Knowing that I need to stock up the freezer for my mom, who is having shoulder surgery in a few weeks (if anyone has any ideas on good foods to freeze that can be heated and eaten one handed...please let me know), I cooked the whole box of shells. I made some traditional stuffed shells. Then ran out of ricotta cheese. So I had these left.

I didn't want to throw them out, but I couldn't find inspiration in my kitchen, so I turned to Pinterest.  Know what's not on Pinterest? Breakfast stuffed shells. There should be breakfast stuffed shells on Pinterest. Ahem. Somebody needs to pin this recipe. Had to send the hubby to the store for cream cheese, but I had the bacon, mushrooms, peppers (from my first garden ever!) eggs and cheese in the fridge. I'm sure anything you'd eat in an omelette will work.  Our friends make "crack dip" with breakfast sausage and cream cheese, that would be delicious.

Chop up your veggies and have them on-deck while you cook the bacon.  

Pull the bacon out of the pan and cook your veggies in the bacon grease.

After the veggies are softened, throw a brick of cream cheese in the pan and stir until everything is melty goodness. Then stir in the cooked bacon and pour into a bowl and set aside. 

In the same pan, soft-scramble some eggs. Then mix the cream cheese goop back in to the pan and lightly mix with the eggs.

Stuff into the already cooked shells.

Oops, no pictures, but make some cheese sauce while the bacon and veg are cooking. Pour the cheese sauce over the shells and bake at 350 til bubbly, about 20 minutes.

This is a great brunch dish, but it is a bit rich and needs something acidic. We ate it with a spoon, standing in front of the stove. If I was serving it to someone, I'd top it with something tomato-y (like a tomato and roasted red pepper sauce) or on the side of an arugula or frisee salad with a really lemony vinaigrette. 

Breakfast Stuffed Shells

For the shells:

12-16 jumbo shells, cooked according to package directions

8 oz bacon, chopped

8 oz mushrooms, chopped

1 cup green pepper, chopped

8 oz cream cheese

Olive oil to coat pan

6 eggs, beaten and seasoned with salt and hot sauce to taste

For the cheese sauce:

2 Tbs butter

2 Tbs flour

1 cup milk

4 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 tsp ground mustard

hot sauce to taste

Preheat oven to 350. 

Cook bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until crispy. Remove bacon to paper towels to drain, leaving the grease in the pan.  (Meanwhile, make cheese sauce--directions below) Add veggies to bacon grease and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add cream cheese and the cooked bacon to the skillet and stir until combined. Remove from the pan to a bowl and set aside.  Wipe out skillet and add olive oil.  Over medium heat, cook eggs just until soft-set.  Add cream cheese mixture back to pan and fold into eggs lightly.  Stuff the egg mixture into shells and line up in a 9x9 greased casserole dish.  Pour cheese sauce over shells and bake 20 minutes til bubbly and golden.  Serve with something acidic (like a tomato sauce or a salad with lemony vinaigrette).

Cheese sauce

Melt butter in small saucepan over medium-high heat.  Whisk in flour and cook for about 2 minutes.  Whisk in milk, mustard and hot sauce and add cheese.  Stir frequently until thickened and cheese is melted.  Set aside until you are ready for it.

What I have learned so far...this week

Here is what I've learned so far this week (and it's only Tuesday)...

1.  Corned beef is pretty easy to make, it just takes a loooong time.
2.  When you prepare dinners ahead for the week, you get to do things like go to a free jazz concert at the library on a school night and still make it almost make it to bed on time.
3.  At a jazz concert at the library, when the adults have finished laughing at the wise-cracking guitar player, your 4-year-old will most likely say "That's HILarious" in her perfect little outside voice.
4.  Umbrellas do not make good toys on windy days.
5.  I am able to run (when my child is heart-broken...see #4), I just choose not to.
6.  When you haven't run for, well, ever, some part of your body will hurt at some point in the hours following the running event.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Paleo-style...

Reuben in a Bowl


This was my first corned beef brisket ever.  I was sharing with a friend (as I sat in her kitchen watching some ribs in her oven) that meat intimidates me.  It's getting better since I have introduced a thermometer to my kitchen, and with practice I can now tell by touch when a steak or porkchop is done to my liking.  But I am still a bit intimidated--part of it is that meat is expensive and you don't want to mess it up.  This was a pretty big gamble on my part with this $10 brisket.

I cooked the corned beef for about 4 hours on Sunday while I prepped some other dishes for this week. I baked it in the oven at 350, covered with foil for about 2 1/2 hours then uncovered for about 1 hour more.  It still wasn't tender enough so I covered it again and baked it for 30 more minutes or so.  Then I packed a layer of brown sugar on top and broiled it until the sugar got crusty.  Whew, it worked--it's tender and moist.  It is pretty salty (but okay with the dressing and cabbage, it's not overpowering).  The next time I cook corned beef, I may boil it or soak it to get some of the salt out before roasting.

In case you are curious, here is what else is on the agenda this week...
Double Pork Stuffed Apples
Sweet Pepper Poppers
Baked Chicken with Spinach and Artichokes
Whisky Glazed Carrots (this is my absolute favorite recipe right now...you HAVE to try it!)

Oh, and a few more things we've learned...
7.  My children like raw carrots, not cooked (or over-cooked as the biggest insists on telling me. Repeatedly.)
8.  We learned that there is no answer but the truth when your super-smart-and-very-literal-six-year-old asks "Well, how do the baby rabbits get out of the mother's stomach if the doctor doesn't cut them out?"

What have you learned this week?