Roasted Jalapeno and Lime Salsa

As a salsa-snob on a budget I could easily go broke if I didn't ration my salsa intake since I only like buying the fresh fancy stuff. So using a classic student solution, I made it myself...with great success. This will be a repeat recipe for sure!

Ingredients:

5 tomatoes

1 fresh jalapeno

1/3 cup diced red onion

2 cloves of garlic

1tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp tomato paste

Juice from 1 lime

cumin

cayenne

salt and pepper

1. Dice tomatoes, garlic, jalapenos and onion and spread on pan. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt.

2. Roast at 400C for about 20-30min.

3. Stir in tomato paste, lime juice, cumin, cayenne and s&p. Taste-test, season until you're happy.

* Next time I would add lime zest for a stronger flavour.

A.

Baked Zucchini Chips

This simple delicious recipe beats a bag of potato chips any day. The recipe below isn't an exact science and feel free to get creative with the spices and flavours in the bread crumb mixture. 

Ingredients: 

1-2 Zucchinis 

2 eggs

1/3 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and Pepper

How to Make'em:

1.  Lightly beat the eggs. Combine the bread crumbs, grated parm and s&p in a separate bowl.

2. Slice the zucchini in desired chip-sized pieces:

  

3. Dip each chip in beaten egg and then in the bread crumb mixture.

 4. Place on a tray and bake in the oven at 400C  for about 20min each side, flipping the chips over part way through. 

 5. Serve warm or cold, its all good. 

Feels good to be back at the blog. Sorry for the neglect!

A.

Party-Pleasing Dips

These two standard-but-delicious party dips are bound to wow the crowd. I recently test drove them at the little rascal's 4th birthday party and both appeared to be loved by kidlets and grown-ups alike. The recipes came from Fine Cooking, which tends to have finicky but trustfully tasty recipes.

PART I: SPINACH-ARTICHOKE DIP

Everyone loves Spinach-Artichoke Dip and when you read the recipe you'll find out why! Complete with sour cream, mayonnaise and asiago and/or parmigiano cheese, its not exactly 'light' but tastes SO GOOD. Here it goes.

10-oz. package frozen leaf spinach, thawed, squeezed dry, and chopped
6 oz. can artichoke hearts, thinly sliced and patted dry
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Asiago (I used some of both)
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup sour cream
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 425°F.

In a large bowl, mix the spinach, artichokes, 3/4 cup of the parmigiano/asiago, mayonnaise, sour cream, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 3/4 tsp. pepper. Transfer to a 1-quart (or slightly smaller) baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup parmigiano/asiago.

Bake until the top browns and the inside warms through, about 25 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve.

I made it a day ahead and then just saved the baking part for the day of. 

PART II: TZATZIKI

Another classic, but still stellar. When there's tzatziki in the house, I tend to eat it with everything... veggies, leftover meat, as a salad dressing. Not hard to make but sometimes a challenge to find Greek yogurt but high-fat plain works well also.

Kosher or sea salt
2 medium cloves garlic
1-1/2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt, preferably Greek
3/4 cup peeled, seeded, and finely chopped cucumber
1 Tbs. red-wine vinegar
2 tsp. chopped fresh mint
2 tsp. chopped fresh dill
2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Fresh mint leaves for garnish (optional)

---

Spread 3/4 tsp. salt on a cutting board. Peel the garlic and finely chop it on top of the salt. Transfer the garlic and salt to a medium bowl and stir in the yogurt.

Put the cucumber in a colander and squeeze as much liquid out of it as you can. Add the cucumber, vinegar, mint, dill, and olive oil to the yogurt mixture. Stir to blend and season to taste with salt. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

Draining the cuc's is tres important or else the tzatziki will be watery and fall off your pita into your lap.

 Happy dippin. 

A.

Fillin Goodie Bags

My task: healthily/ not so healthily create a snack to fill the 5(ish) year old party goers goodie bags. Ingredient I felt it necessary to include: Smarties.  Ingredient that caused said snacks to loose their shape: Smarties. Oh well! Kids (and Brittany... also my friend Hilary from Hilary Makes while we're here) love colours, so Smarties were indubitably kept. 


Without further adieu I give you my granola bars

"Lola Bars" (as Mathias used to call them, far before he was a whopping 4 years old)


1 and 1/4 cups crisp rice cereal (Rice Krispies were used)
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (flaxseed meal)1/4 cup finely chopped dried fruit (I used chopped prunes.. they were around)
1/4 cup.. (or way more) Smarties (or nuts, chocolate, other mix ins)
1/3 cup Agave Syrup (honey, maple, or brown rice syrup are great too)
1/2 cup nut butter (used a mix of pb and soy nut.. they were around)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Combine Rice Krispies, Oats, Flaxseed Meal, Dried Fruit, and other dry mix-ins in a large Bowl.


Heat butter and syrup until melted together.  I did this with 30 seconds in the microwave, then mixed in the vanilla.

Finally pour the wet over the dry ingredients and mix. That's right with your hands. No pansies in my kitchen. Though, my mother would have you know that pansies are one of the most durable and resilient flowers around. Back on topic. Press the mixture as firmly as possible into a pan of desired size and chill for at least a half hour.

Cut, Wrap, and Spread the Love


Recipe adapted from Enlightened Cooking


The real show stoppers are yet to come, hold onto your pants... actually you may want to preemptively loosen them.


Love from Above


B.

You'll never buy hummus again...

... when you discover how exceptionally delicious, dirt cheap and dead easy it is to make it yourself! The only strange ingredient that won't already be in your cupboard already is tahini, sesame seed butter, but its worth to buy a jar and store in the fridge because once you make hummus once, you'll turn into a regular. 

Recipe:

To be honest, I never really use a recipe so approach this as more of a guideline. Do plenty of taste-testing along the way until you have our desired consistency and flavour. 

1 (15 oz.) can of chickpeas

2 tbsp. tahini

4 tbsp. lemon juice

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. salt

- Rinse chickpeas well

- Blend all ingredients in a food processor until creamy

- That's it!

The ingredients above are just the basics but the possibilities of things to add are endless. I love using roasted garlic because it has a more gentle flavour and you can use more of it with out getting the garlic 'sting'. I also prefer soy sauce over salt and always add cumin and various other spices.

Today I added 1/4 c. sweet roasted red peppers, soy sauce, cumin, and fresh basil and oregano.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

A.