Summer corn salad

Super-simple fresh salad.

Ingredients:
1 can of corn (or a few ears of fresh corn
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 cucumber, diced
1 bunch green onions, diced
splash of vinegar
splash of lime juice

Directions: 
Mix!

Seven layer salad

Let's take a salad.....originally healthy....add mayo, bacon and cheese to it. Delish! Crisp, refreshing....and totally not healthy.

There is something about summer that makes me crave this dish. Mine actually had eight delightful layers.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 bags of shredded lettuce (or you can chop/shred your own...I opt for the convenience of the pre-shredded)
1/2 package of frozen peas
2 cups of shredded cheese
1/2 to 1 cup of mayo
6 strips of bacon, fried and crumbled
1 bunch of scallions, sliced
1 green pepper, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced

Directions:
In a 9x13 pan, layer lettuce, peas, green pepper, celery and onion. Spread mayo on top of veggies. Sprinkle cheese and bacon on top. Chill for at least two hours so everything gets good and cold!

Fried Green Tomatoes

Great movie, great food. Yummmm.

This was always my favorite food item at the State Fair....now that I am GF I'll have to make it at home. I was sad to not see any green tomatoes at the farmer's market last weekend, so on our way out I asked a vendor and he had one basked of gorgeous green tomatoes - yesssssssss.

Ingredients:
3 large, firm green tomatoes
1 cup cornmeal
2 eggs
1/2 cup cornstarch
s/p
oil (for frying, I use vegetable oil) - cover a large frying pan in oil, about 1/2 inch high
Ranch dressing, for serving

Directions:
Wash and slice tomatoes:

In three shallow dishes, place cornstarch in first, eggs in next (cracked and yokes broken) and cornmeal with s/p in last. Pat tomato slices with cornstarch:

 

Coat in egg:

 

Dredge through seasoned cornmeal:

Fry in hot oil until crispy golden brown:

 

Serve with salt and Ranch dressing!

GF Fried Pickles

Oh. My. God.

I love fried pickles. They were my absolute favorite thing at The Chatterbox Pub.....I thought they were safe there, as they are battered in cornmeal....but when I asked the staff....they informed me they use wheat flour in the mix. Bummer. I found this recipe (I think) in Food Network Magazine. Soooo, so good. Luke and I made these the other night and I can't wait to make them again. So good.

Ingredients:
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
pinch of cayenne
3/4 cup cornstarch (divided into 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup cornmeal
dash paprika
s/p
3 dozen cold pickle slices (I used giant pickles and sliced them thick, but you could use jarred slices)
canola oil

Directions:
In a shallow dish, beat egg and milk, add pinch of cayenne. In another shallow dish, mix 1/2 cup cornstarch will 1/2 cup cornmeal, season with paprika and salt and pepper (add dill if you wish as well). Place the remaining 1/4 cup cornstarch in a third shallow dish. Heat canola oil in a large pan, should be about 2 inches deep. Heat to frying temp (about 375 degrees). 

Dip the cold pickles in plain cornstarch, then the egg wash, then the cornmeal mixture. Fry in the oil until golden. Drain on paper towels. Serve with ranch dressing.

Roasted buttercup squash

Fall is the best! I never ate squash until I was a "grown-up".....I don't recall if I ever even tried it growing up....certain I would hate it, I just didn't even try it. Boy was I an idiot. I love squash, especially buttercup squash. I simply cut it up (which is actually quite a chore), put a sprinkling of brown sugar, a pat of butter and some salt and pepper on it. Cover it with foil and bake at 425 degrees until soft (about an hour).  Yummmm!

Grilled Asparagus

 

This was a really fresh and delicious side dish to some grilled steaks. Yummmmy! I tossed the cleaned and trimmed asparagus in a garlic-infused olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. Luke grilled them to perfection and then I squeezed fresh lime juice over them. SOOO good. 

Tomato and mozzarella salad

This is a very simple and delicious side. The other night we grilled steak and I just wanted a simple dish to serve with the meat, this one is so yummy.

I sliced fresh mozzarella and baby heirloom tomatoes. I sprinkled salt and pepper over them and then drizzled on the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I chilled it for a bit and then served it cold.

Refrigerator pickles

Yummmmm. My mom always makes these in the summer, this was the first time I tried to make them. The recipe is super easy...the hard part is waiting three days for the pickles to pickle.

Ingredients:
10-15 small pickling cukes
1/2 to 1 white onion cut in small slices
2 tsp. celery seed
2 tsp. salt
1 cup vinegar
1 cup sugar

Directions:
Slice the cucumbers and onion, place in a large bowl or jar with a lid. Sprinkle the celery seed and salt over them and set aside. Pour 1 cup vinegar and 1 cup sugar in a saucepan, bring to a boil and set aside to cool. Cool completely and then pour over the cucumbers. Stir mixture and cover. Refrigerate for 3 days, enjoy!

Salsa

I love fresh tomatoes, I can't wait until local tomatoes are available in MN. Fresh salsa and bruschetta are two of my favorite things. I love to have this with chips, but it is also _really_ good on grilled chicken - yummy!

My salsa recipe is very simple. I generally use Roma tomatoes, but any variety will work, it just depends upon preference. I usually spoon out the seeds and juice, as I prefer thick and chunky salsa to the liquidy variety.

Recipe:
3 to 4 Roma tomatoes, diced (or 2 to 3 larger tomatoes)
1/4 white onion, diced
1/8 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, pressed
juice of 1/2 to 1 lime
sprinkle of cumin

Noodle Kugel

I tried out this recipe a few weeks ago at my mom's house. It was really good, and completely unique tasting.  The orange zest, cinnamon and sugar combined with cottage cheese, sour cream and noodles made for a delightful flavor.  The original recipe came from a magazine...but I've tweaked it a little.

Noodle Kugel
1/2 stick butter
1/2 white onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. plus 1/4 tsp. sugar
salt/pepper
12 oz package wide egg noodles
3 large eggs
2 cups small curd cottage cheese
2 cups sour cream
1 cup milk
pinch of cinnamon
2 tsp. grated orange zest
2 to 3 cups cornflakes, crushed

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a casserole dish with nonstick cooking spary. Melt the 1/2 stick of butter in a skillet, add onion and 1/4 tsp sugar. Saute until soft. Transfer to a big bowl. Boil noodles, drain, mix with onions in a large bowl.  Add salt and pepper and mix. Pulse eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream, milk, cinnamon, orange zest, sugar and salt in a food processor until smooth.  Add to the noodle/onion mix, stir. Transfer to casserole dish.  Top with crushed cornflakes. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Veggie pizza

I love this in the summer. As the weather gets warmer and fresh fruit and veggies become more readily available I love to make this pizza.  Luke loves this one as well, as it includes a flaky crescent crust and I love it because it involves cream cheese.

Recipe:
2 packages refrigerated crescent rolls (you could substitute GF pie crust or GF pizza crust depending on which consistency you'd prefer)
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup Hidden Valley Ranch Dip mix (for GF you could substitute garlic powder/salt and additional seasonings to desired flavor)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Assorted chopped raw veggies (broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, green onion, green pepper, carrot, black olives, etc)

Spread out crescent rolls on cookie sheet and pat together to form a crust, bake just until golden brown.  Cool completely.  Mix cream cheese and dip mix well, spread on cooled crust, top with chopped veggies.  Sprinkle shredded cheese on top, keep chilled.

Layered Taco Dip

I figured I should post an easy recipe for Superbowl Sunday...here is my favorite dip recipe.

Mmmm, taco dip

Recipe:
1 can refried beans
1/2 cup salsa (ensure that the salsa is GF)
1 small container sour cream
1 cup guacamole
1 cup shredded cheese
sliced black olives
sliced green onions

Mix the refried beans with the salsa, layer on a plate. Next layer sour cream and then guacamole. Sprinkle the cheese over the top. Top with olives and green onions. Also could layer diced tomatoes. Serve with GF tortilla chips.