Roasted Cauliflower with Golden Beets
This was a very happy kitchen accident that came about when I had a bunch of veggies that were about to go bad and decided to roast them according to their color groups. Sometimes, my sense of rationale surprises even me. Anyway, I’ve made this two or three times since that fateful roast and am sure this will be added to my regular recipe rotation.
Roasted Cauliflower with Golden Beets
Preheat oven to 450′ and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
1 head cauliflower, chopped into florets (I slice the larger florets because it’s easier than chopping them into tiny, individual florets)
3 large golden beets, sliced and then cut into quarters
1 medium yellow onion, sliced into rings and then quartered
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced (which for me means 1 big spoonful from the jar)
olive oil
salt, pepper
dry mustard
Slice the cauliflower and beets and spread onto your foil-lined baking sheet. Slice the onions last so you cry less, add them to the veggies and sprinkle generously with garlic. Drizzle olive oil over the whole thing and season with quite a bit of salt, ground pepper and 1-2 teaspoons of dry mustard powder. Cauliflower is a lot like a potato; all that bland, white vegetable really needs a lot of salt to be palatable. If you prefer to add salt at the table, fine, but keep in mind that this needs salt to be delicious.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower starts to get roasty-brown and/or your onions start to char. Serve immediately.
Homemade Crockpot Yogurt
When I was growing up we had a yogurt maker and every week or two my Mom would fill up the little glass jars with milk, turn it on, and the next morning we’d have fresh yogurt. We’d mix in fruit or fresh strawberry jam and have it for breakfast. Over the last few months I’ve seen (ok, searched for) several different recipes to make yogurt in a Crockpot. I was intrigued, and after hearing good reviews from a few other bloggers (thank you, RA and Pink), I decided to give it a try. I read a dozen different posts about making your own Crockpot yogurt, spent an inordinate amount of time on the yogurt aisle picking out my perfect yogurt culture (any plain yogurt will do), and went to work in the kitchen. It is key that you have a food thermometer, once you know how long it takes for your Crockpot to get the milk to the appropriate temperatures you can wing it, but until then, use a thermometer. If you plan on straining your yogurt (recommended) make sure you have either cheesecloth or a couple of coffee filters. You guys, it was super easy! I think we have a winner!
Crock Pot Yogurt
1/2 gallon milk (I used 2% organic)
1/2 cup powdered milk
1/3 cup honey or agave (optional)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (optional)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
Dump milk into crock pot, whisk in powdered milk (and honey/agave and vanilla, if you’re going that route), and heat on high until milk is 180 degrees (2-3 hours). Turn off your Crockpot and let cool until it is 115 degrees (1-2 hours, if you take the lid off during this process it goes much faster). Put your oven racks as low as they will go and preheat to “warm”, or 100 degrees. Skim off any film that has formed on the top of your milk, and scoop out about 2 cups of the mixture, whisk in ½ cup plain yogurt, gently stir this yogurt-y mixture back into the rest of the milk. Put your lid back on, turn off the oven, and wrap the ceramic crock pot with a bath towel. Place it in the oven, flip on the oven light, and let it sit, undisturbed, for 8-10 hours (I let this sit overnight and it was perfect.)
After your yogurt is done you’ll want to strain it a bit to remove some of the whey. Cover the inside of a mesh strainer with a layer or two of coffee filters (or you can use a colander and cheese cloth) and scoop in the yogurt, try not to stir it too much. If you want yogurt that is sour cream consistency, you’ll want to let it drain for about 2 hours. I let mine sit for about 20 minutes (while I did my hair and makeup) and then scooped the thickened yogurt into pint sized jam jars. You can keep the whey, it’s the milky-clear liquid that you strained out. Apparently it has a lot of good qualities and is a good, protein-packed substitution for the liquid in bread or breakfast smoothies, but as I rarely make bread or breakfast smoothies, I just tossed it down the sink.
In the morning, I grab one of those little jars, scoop in a spoonful or two of raspberry freezer-jam and a handful of granola and have a perfect, portable breakfast!
Tuna and Egg-Salad Sandwich
I have never in my life made or eaten an egg-salad sandwich, so I really cannot explain why, on my way home from work, I found an inexplicable craving for egg-salad AND tuna fish. Yep, can’t explain it at all. But, after a little tinkering I came up with this mixture and it hit the spot. You can make almost any kind of adjustment you’d like with this. More pickle, cucumber instead of celery, cucumber AND celery, adding green pepper or shredded carrots or whatever else strikes your fancy. (Keep the red wine vinegar though, it cuts the fishiness of the tuna tremendously.)
Tuna & Egg-Salad Sandwich
Preheat oven to broil
2 cans tuna, drained
3 hard boiled eggs
1 stalk celery, minced
2-3 green onions, minced
1/3 cup mayo
2 tablespoons dill pickle relish
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
1 teaspoon garlic salt
ground black pepper, to taste
Dinner rolls
Pepperjack cheese
Chop the eggs and set aside, mix everything else together and then fold in the eggs so they don’t crumble into nothingness. Cut your rolls in half, sprinkle with pepperjack and broil until the roll is crispy and the cheese is all melty. Scoop tuna-egg mixture into sandwich and enjoy!
Cowboy Caviar
I have a favorite bean dip recipe, but I wanted to branch out and give something else a shot. After googling several different versions of cowboy caviar, this is what I came up with. At the first BBQ of the spring/summer this disappeared at lightning speed.
Cowboy Caviar
2 cans black beans, rinsed & drained
1 can black-eyed peas, rinsed & drained
1 can yellow corn, rinsed & drained
1/2 white onion, diced
1/2 a medium jicama, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 bell peppers, diced (any variety will do, I used red and yellow)
1 small handful cilantro, minced
For the Marinade
1/3 cup olive oil
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
juice from 1 lime
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Mix all the beans and veggies in a large bowl. Whisk together olive oil, vinegar, sugar, lime juice, salt and pepper until sugar dissolves. Pour over the salsa and stir well. You can let this marinate overnight, or you can eat it immediately. The longer it sits the more liquidy it becomes, you can keep mixing it up, or you can drain off the excess.
Broccoli-Craisen Salad
My Aunt D. used to make this delicious salad for all of our family BBQ’s and I must be craving summer because the other day this is the only thing that sounded tasty. This recipe takes only a few minutes to make, and is bursting with flavors and textures. Try it, you will like it!
Broccoli-Craisen Salad
1 lb. fresh broccoli florets, cut into small, bite-size pieces.
8 strips of bacon, cooked & crumbled
1 1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 red onion, diced
a small handful of shelled sunflower seeds
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup sugar
3 TB red wine vinegar
Cook the bacon and pat dry, crumble. Combine with broccoli, craisens & red onion. Toss in sauce, sprinkle with sunflower seeds, and serve.
Easy-peasy.
heidikins cooks 