STRAWBERRY JALAPENO SPINACH SALAD with a very special dressing too!

We can’t always explain why we are the way that we are.  We can’t usually find reasons to explain our behavior…. Some  days are good, some are not as good and some are just not good.  It happens.  Well, at least it does to me.  When I get like that it’s no ones problem but my own so I have to find a soloution.  To the kitchen we go….

Something new, summery, and delicious, found it’s way into my menu tonight.  For years I’ve enjoyed my Mommy’s awesome Spinach Salad.  I’ve made it many times and I’ve blogged it here before.  I needed some fresh basil and feta for another dish so I was racing to the grocery store for probably my 3rd trip this week (my organization skills blow chunks)  I walk in and all the fruit was glorious AND….. on sale!  Strawberries were calling my name as were the glorious BC cherries.  KIWIS!! oh and 3 bananas and seriously, these are the largest grapes I’ve seen in my life!!  How lucky to live in such a great place with so much healthy crisp produce. Woooo Hooooo.  Who wants to come visit me??  I’ll feed you!

juicy giant grapes. I am not a lion!!! Big right!

With a cart full of fruit and the rest of the stuff I needed, homeward bound.  I’ve always wanted to add strawberries to a spinach salad but never had the push to do it.  Well its go time now and I’m super excited.  Then the flavour profile I’ve been desiring came to me!  Oh but wait.  I don’t have what I need and I just got back!!!  In a grocery store, I am easily distracted.  Always sure to forget something or things, so I make lists… and even then I fail.  I’m not going back…. so after begging Hubby to go once, twice, 4 or 5 times.. pouted around for a bit…. he put down his tools and ran to the market to get me some Jalapenos.

K so maybe you know your peppers, and you’ve looked at the pics from this post and you know those are not jalapenos in my photos.  Well the little market up the street didn’t have good looking jalapenos…. they were old and wrinkled and worthy mind you but for photos… nope.    Serranos are a great sub for jalapenos but 3 times hotter FYI….

Serrano Chili Peppers are the thinner of the 2, where as a Jalapeno Pepper is the girthy one. *wink wink*

Ladies, I mean chefs…. pick your preference… haha

Photo from http://www.direct-arts.com

The idea in my head comes to life and I’m very pleased with how it turned out.  Photos by me, House Of Haley Photography

Here is my Strawberry Jalapeno Spinach Salad with a very special dressing.  Strawberry Jalapeno Balsamic Red Wine Vinegar Dressing.  Try saying that after a few glass of wine… or bottles for some of you.  Hey, I don’t judge, you do you, its cool!

I’m pretty sure I could have come up with a much more simple name but when I’m looking for a recipe or when i’m wanting to make something it frustrates me having to read through a recipe to try and figure out the flavour profile from it.  The title says it all!

And here is the dressing.  Almost as cute as Strawberry Shortcake LOL.   Seriously made him go to the store for the pepper for this shot.  Let me add in another “LOL”  OMG i’m howling, I’m sorry if that’s not as funny to any of you as it is to me!  Thanks Hubs
STRAWBERRY JALAPENO BALSAMIC RED WINE VINEGAR DRESSING

♥ 2 CLOVES GARLIC
♥ 1 C. RED WINE VINEGAR
♥ 2 T. JALAPENO WHITE BALSAMIC VINEGAR
♥ ½ C. OLIVE OIL
♥ 1 TSP. SALT
♥ 1 TSP. SUGAR
♥ 1 TSP. GRAINY MUSTARD
♥ ½ TSP. GROUND BLACK PEPPER
♥ 1 WHOLE STRAWBERRY

Combine and blend/pulse for just a few seconds till the garlic is no longer whole and vinegars and oil have blended. DO NOT OVER DO IT. Trust me….. Just for a few seconds.

The Jalapeno White Balsamic Vinegar was a Christmas gift from Sister In-Law and it’s a great addition to many meals.  I use it mostly when I do any type of roasted potatoes.  With the right seasonings, its a great way to brighten up the flavours.

I certainly don’t expect you to have this Jalapeno White Balsamic Vinegar, nor do I expect you to go out and buy some.  Althought, it’s totally recommended for your pantry fo sho!  This one is from Evoolution out of Edmonton, Alberta, CA.

Let’s get to it shall we!

Words can’t explain what it’s like to cook upstairs…. renos are coming along… thats all i can say.   So cool!  Look at the way that natural daylight casts across all that divine good-for-you food up there.  haha  It’s the simple things in life.

I’m a hardcore #clasher Clash of Clans junkie… game always on… always creepin.  LOL

Again I’m using my new immersion hand blender and the mixing vessel it came with to make this.  You can use a blender but you’ll end up with most of it on the sides.  Use a battery operated whisk or just chop up the strawberry and garlic before you make the dressing, put it all in a jar and shake the crap out of it.

I peeled 2 cloves of fresh garlic.  Its hard for me to use such a little amount, but 2 cloves is just right.

Add in the vinegar’s and then the oil.  If you find after it’s all done that it’s too thick… add in some more vinegar and whisk it up.  If you over blend this you’ll end up with a strawberry like mayonnaise.

Next add in the S+P, sugar and mustard.  The mustard is crucial to the flavour of this dressing.  I’ve used mustard powder before but I find French’s Bold & Spicy Deli Mustard to be the perfect one.  I’m actually addicted to this mustard.  So so so good I could eat it with a spoon.

Now blend.  I’m going to be straight up honest here… I bombed this the first time, hence my warnings…. DO NOT OVER BLEND hahaha.  Pulse a few times, The strawberry is obviously going to thicken it up quite a bit.  I’ve increased the amounts of vinegar to hopefully compensate.  This is why I say recipe blogging is tricky.  So as always, make it your own.  Do what you feel is right and adjust to your liking.  We are all different.

STRAWBERRY JALAPENO SPINACH SALAD

♥ 1 BAG BABY SPINACH, FRESH AND WASHED
♥ HARD BOILED EGGS, COOLED AND SLICED (1 PER PERSON)
♥ MUSHROOMS, FRESH AND SLICED
♥ STRAWBERRIES, SLICED AND SLICED
♥ BACON, COOKED AND CRUMBLED
♥ 2 T. GREEN ONIONS, FINELY CHOPPED
♥ 2 TSP. JALAPENO OR SERRANO PEPPER, FRESH AND DICED

Make this salad up just before you’re ready to eat. Plate it per person rather than in a large salad bowl. I find that the ingredients are at such different weights that you don’t get a proper serving. Person 1 will get all spinach and egg, while the last person gets all the bacon onion and pepper. LOL Just my opinion.

This is where you get to do your fancy…. BE FANCY Plate it up per person, make it pretty, show you care. Then you can give yourself those extra slices of strawberries and bacon. Haha shhhhhhhh….

Use about a handful of spinach leaves per person. Layer in individual salad bowls or plates and drizzle with a little of our Strawberry Jalapeno Dressing from up above.

It was delicious to eat.  Looks pretty cool too.  Each bite held a yummy little mouthful.

♥♥ Thanks for visiting, if you liked this blog please click LIKE below. If you want to follow my blog please scroll to the bottom, click the FOLLOW button and enter in your email address.
Love Haleykins♥♥

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Blackened Fish Tacos with Chipotle Cilantro Dressing (salmon or cod or whichever fish you want)

Finally, this post is done. I still consider myself a beginner food blogger even though this blog has recently had it’s 3rd anniversary. Blogging recipes takes work. Writing an accurate recipe takes work. It’s work but it’s work I enjoy. I just wish I could do nothing but cook, take pics, and blog… Haha True story.

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Been talking about these a lot, I know, I apologize for the redundancy. Finally got all the components together….

You’re going to need to check out my last 2 posts!

Click on the photo to the left to get this yummy Chipotle Cilantro Dressing recipe for these Blackened Fish Tacos that we’re about to make.

Click this photo to see the ingredients needed to make the Blackened Seasoning that will crispify (is that a word?)the fish to a nice golden crunch on the outside and give it a deep savory flavour.

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BLACKENED FISH TACOS
♥ 2 BAGS COLESLAW
♥ 1½ C. CORN KERNELS
♥ SALT + PEPPER
♥ FLOUR TORTILLAS
♥ 1 BIG SALMON FILET or 4 LARGE COD FILETS
♥ HIGH SMOKE POINT OIL FOR FRYING (i used Canola Oil)
♥ 1 BATCH OF BLACKENED SEASONING
♥ 1 BATCH OF CHIPOTLE CILANTRO DRESSING
♥ AVOCADO, FRESH, CHOPPED
♥ CILANTRO + LIME FOR GARNISH

Saute the coleslaw and corn with salt and pepper until just tender.
Set aside, but keep warm.
Heat oven to low temp and slowly warm the tortillas. I like em just before they get toasted.
Cut salmon or fish into large pieces suitable for frying.
Heat oil, just above medium, not too hot or the fish won’t cook thoroughly and not too cold or the fish will soak up to much oil and become soggy.
Fry till dark and golden on each side.
If you’re using salmon you may have to do the ends too. Use tongs. They work best.
When they are done gently remove from hot oil onto a papertowel lined dish to remove excess oil.
Let cool for about 5 minutes and break into good chunks.

THE ASSEMBLY
Warmed Tortilla
Sauteed slaw and corn
Blackened fish
Drizzle with some Chipotle Cilantro Dressing
Top with chopped fresh avocado, cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice

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Place the Blackened Seasoning in a shallow flat bottom container of some sort so you can press the fish into it.  Coating every inch of it.  The better it’s coated the better the crisp.

You don’t want to over cook the cabbage, or it will lose all it’s structure.  You want to saute it till it just starts to wilt.  Keeping it warm will also allow it to keep cooking so with the pan on medium heat, just keep an eye on it.
This is the cod I used last night.  Seasoned all over every surface of fish with the Blackened Seasoning.

Fried in some oil till golden and delicious. I use a large cast iron flat bottom deep dish for frying. Allows maximum room for the fish to fry properly without over crowding the pan.   The heavy duty cast iron can withstand the high temperatures and will maintain it’s heat better when you drop in the fish.

I fried the fish in 2 batches to ensure it cooked evenly and properly. Or you can use a deep fryer but I’ve only used one once and I didn’t like it…. it was too small for what I needed and I don’t want a big greasy appliance kicking around here. I fry as little as possible.
Frying foods took a lot of practice for me over the years.  So many times chicken or potatoes or whatever it was I was cooking, was either undercooked or well well well done. Practice makes perfect.

Frying can be very unhealthy if done incorrectly.  When done the right way you are using the least amount of oil to get that desired crunch and crispiness.

✰ Oil thats too hot will scortch the food on the outside while leaving it raw inside. ✰

✰ Oil that isn’t hot enough won’t seal the food as it should when you drop it in. ✰

(Rather it will sit and soak up the oil.  This results in that drippy soggy mess we’ve gagged on one too many times.

The first time I made these I used some fresh plump salmon and they were to die for! This time around i used cod. I preferred the salmon over any white fish but both were really good.

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BLACKENED SALMON TACOS

Here are some pics from the salmon ones I made last week!  These ones were my favourite!

Since the photos were taken down in my temporary basement dungeon kitchen they aren’t of the greatest quality.  We can only go up from here my friends ☺

❤️ Thanks for visiting, if you liked this blog please click LIKE below. If you want to follow my blog please scroll to the bottom, click the FOLLOW button and enter in your email address.
Love Haleykins❤️

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Blackened Seasoning

Hi guys, I posted some pics of the Blackened Salmon and Blackened Fish Tacos to my Cooking With Hay Facebook page, and the requests came in for the recipe. As well as the request for me as your personal chef. Thank you for that! It actually is much easier to make the food than to blog the recipe… just in case you were curious. LOL so much time spent running a photoshoot and a kitchen at the same time. I love it tho and anxious to spend more time doing it. The balance between stoning the front of the fireplace and installing bathroom sinks… or blogging…. its a tough one….

I’m quite pleased with the photos from recent photoshoots. I’m working partially upstairs while I can get the good natural daylight and partially still down in the dungeon, errr, I mean, basement. Natural daylight makes for much more appetizing food pics. Less shadows and more true to life colouring of these meals. After all, we taste with our eyes and our noses before the food even hits our tongue or tummies.

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I’ve laid out all the ingredients that I used to make the Blackened Seasoning, on this fancy bamboo KitchenAid cutting board that Hubby came home with for me! *SMILES* This is the seasoning for the Blackened Salmon Tacos and Blackened Fish Tacos that I’ve been mentioning. (Blog posts to follow guys!)

I pulled this from a website a while back, I haven’t altered anything except that I use whole wheat flour instead of white flour. It actually just adds to the crispy factor we’re going for here! Yummy

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Don’t confuse T (tablespoon) for TSP (teaspoon)!!

Oh come on, like you haven’t done that before.

The original image said 2 T. Chili Powder… LOL its got to be 2 TSP. Teaspoons
I made the same error when I first made Butter Chicken. That was a hot hot hot meal. Great tho. Just a real kicker that’s for sure.

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BLACKENED SEASONING

♥ 2 T. FLOUR (I use whole wheat)
♥ 2 TSP. CHILI POWDER
♥ 1 TSP. PAPRIKA
♥ 1 TSP. BROWN SUGAR
♥ ½ TSP. ONION POWDER
♥ ½ TSP. GRANULATED GARLIC
♥ ½ TSP. CUMIN
♥ ½ TSP. CAYENNE
♥ ½ TSP. SALT
♥ ½ TSP. PEPPER

Mix together well. Store in an air tight container.

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↓ This made enough to do a big slab of salmon or 4 large cod fillets. If you’re doing more you may want to double this recipe. Or to save you some prep time on the next go around, make up a big batch now.

↑ I made one batch of this seasoning and mixed it in this shallow plastic container. All ready to go so I can just lay the piece of fish or meat or whatever it is that you’re going to use, onto the seasoning.

This works great for everything, even prawns and scallops. Try it out and I hope you like it.  I’ve made it 3 times this July.  Cuz it’s that good.  LOL yum!

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Blog Post with recipe and pics COMING SOON!

Blog Post with recipe and pics COMING SOON!

Blog Post with recipe and pics COMING SOON!

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CHIPOTLE CILANTRO DRESSING or dip

Hi Guys, How is summer???  EEEEEK I’m super excited.  As many of you know my house is still under reno’s and just recently got my new Caesarstone counter-tops installed.  I’m ecstatic!  They are flawless and beautiful and exactly what i’ve wanted for oh so long now.  Now my foodblog pics have a higher quality look to them.  I’m so pleased.  Time to fine tune my Canon Rebel T3i camera and get to work!

Last week I made some Blackened Salmon Tacos.  There are no words for this easy recipe and there was also no room…. no room to eat as much as I could have, that’s for sure!  Wow, great way to enjoy some tender flaky juicy fish this summer. The recipe for the Blackening Seasoning will be my next blog post.  This is the dressing that I always make and it was great on the fish tacos.

Hope you like!

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CHIPOTLE CILANTRO DRESSING OR DIP

♥ 1½ C FAT FREE SOUR CREAM
♥ 1 T LIGHT MAYO
♥ 1 T MILK
♥ 1 T CHIPOTLE PUREE
♥ 1 TSP CUMIN
♥ ½ TSP CRUSHED BEE POLLEN
♥ HANDFUL FRESH CILANTRO
♥ JUICE OF ONE LIME

Blend together using an Immersion/Hand Blender or a Food Processor.
Chill in the fridge until its time to serve.

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↑ I love me some chipotle! I buy chipotle peppers in small cans in adobo sauce and puree them with a hand blender or food processor. Chipotles pack a punch let me tell ya. The heat from these peppers is potent and smoky and is great for everything.

**If you don’t do heat. Use a very small amount, like 1-2 teaspoons of pureed chipotle for this recipe instead of the requested amount.**

↑ If you don’t have canned chipotles in adobo sauce then you can certainly use a dry powder version, there are many out there. I have these 2 in my pantry. Remember that the longer the dressing sets for the more the flavour is enhanced, and therefore making it much much much hotter the longer it sits.

↑ My Immersion Blender came with this cool mixing vessel. What I love about this machine compared to a hand mixer or hand beater is that it will stand up inside the vessel and not topple over. Flat bottom makes it easy to leave it standing and use both hands to if you need to pause to get an ingredient or whatever. Anything to help keep the counters less messy.

↑ Bee Pollen is one of Mother Natures little goodies. I add a little to every salad dressing I make. You can add it to anything though; soups, sauces, whatever you like. The flavour is like a flower. Its got a floral taste when it hits your tongue. It comes in the natural foods section of your grocery store and looks like little gold nuggets. I grind them down with a mortar and pestle. I have a small one that I use for spices and such. Another inexpensive way to make your kitchen/cooking life a little easier.

Here’s some info on Bee Pollen I picked up from http://www.mercola.com

What Is Pollen?
Pollen is the male seed of flowers. It is required for the fertilization of the plant. The tiny particles consist of 50/1,000-millimeter corpuscles, formed at the free end of the stamen in the heart of the blossom. Every variety of flower in the universe puts forth a dusting of pollen. Many orchard fruits and agricultural food crops do, too.

Bee pollen is the food of the young bee and it is approximately 40% protein. It is considered one of nature’s most completely nourishing foods. It contains nearly all nutrients required by humans. About half of its protein is in the form of free amino acids that are ready to be used directly by the body. Such highly assimilable protein can contribute significantly to one’s protein needs.

To view the full article, please click here.

↑ Place all the ingredients into the mixing vessel and blend away. Lift the machine up and down to get it good and blended. Oh so easy I want to blend everything in sight.

↑ ❤ Immersion Hand Blender! ❤ NEW TOY! LOL ❤

↑ COMING UP NEXT → Blackened Fish Tacos, using this dressing!
Stay Tuned and if you’d like…. FOLLOW MY BLOG

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BAKED TURKEY & SPINACH MEATBALLS

Hello Everyone. Since adding a Facebook Page, Cooking With Hay, {please come by and LIKE my page} I have some more followers this time around and I just wanted to take this opportunity to say ‘Hello and Thank You’
I appreciate every single one of you, and any LIKE or SHARE that you can throw my way as well. You keep this fun for me.

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In just 10 days Hubby and I will be off to Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. If you’re on my personal FB, you’re most likely annoyed with my daily countdown photos… sorry about that. I’m just super excited! The point to this rambling… I’ve been trying to empty out the freezer before we go. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t have an answer. 😜 One of the last few things In the freezer was 2 lbs of extra lean ground turkey breast!! Awesome. I bought this for one purpose and one purpose only…. our favorite meatballs, Baked Turkey & Spinach Meatballs to be exact! So lean, so good! I will serve these with some turkey gravy, garlic mashed potatoes made with no butter or milk. {I use chicken stock, salt and garlic} and sweet corn.
You may remember an older post about these meatballs, but it didn’t contain any pictures and I’ve since jacked up the spinach and the seasonings a bit. I hope you like this new tweek!

BAKED TUREY & SPINACH MEATBALLS

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional – adjust to your preference)
• 2 x 16 oz pkg. frozen chopped spinach (defrosted, drained, and squeezed to remove excess water)
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 cup chicken broth
• 2 1/2 lbs lean ground turkey
• 1 cup bread crumbs, {I make my own from the loaf ends if my favorite 12 grain bread.
• 2 large eggs

 
INSTRUCTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a large baking sheet by spraying with cooking spray.
• In a frying pan on medium heat, heat olive oil until hot. Then add onion, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Sauté until onion is tender.
• Add spinach to pan and combine with onion mixture. Add Worcestershire sauce and chicken broth and mix well to combine. Cook until most of the liquid has cooked out. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
• In a large bowl, combine the turkey, bread crumbs, and egg. Add cooled onion/spinach mixture to the meat.
• 5. With your hands, create meatballs that are about 1 – 1 1/2 inches in diameter and place them on the baking sheet. Leave a little bit of space between each meatball. When you are done shaping your meatballs, you will probably have about 40-42 meatballs from this recipe. If you don’t need this many, you can freeze them after baking or cut this recipe in half.
• Bake until your meatballs are cooked through with an internal temperature of 160 degrees F – which was about 20 minutes for my oven. Remove from oven and serve as desired.

 
One my favourite smells is onions in a frying pan. Adding in the garlic and seasonings and you are suddenly transported to a very happy happy land. Haha. Ok it’s good, but maybe not that good… No, it IS that good!!

When they are done they are golden and smell divine. Here’s the before and after!
Ha! I’m supposed to freeze some if these. Dude, by the time we are finished with these, there won’t be enough to bother freezing!!

Like I said ,way back there up above, I served these with garlic mashed potatoes {no butter, no milk}. I put in 1 Garlic Ball {click this link to make them yourself} add in some salt. I use Sea Salt and some of that leftover chicken stock because I know what you were thinking when you had so much stock left… “What am I going to do with this leftover stock?” {Ok maybe you’re not thinking that, but I’m always trying to use everything. Waste not want not after all.}. So you should still have stock left after the meatballs, and the mashed potatoes so tomorrow morning you can add it to some fresh cut hash brown potatoes in a ‘barely’ oiled hot pan. So you don’t need as much oil! Hahaha! Oh, I got sidetracked…. I also served this with turkey gravy, spiced up with oregano and red pepper flake because I idolize red pepper flake hahaha and sweet juicy corn!

Here, I used my fork and broke one of these scrumptious meatballs open. I have doubled the amount of spinach originally called for to 2 packages. This ensures lots of Popeye strength, and so much healthy goodness and flavour! Your call. I say use 2 packages of spinach and if it’s too much for you cut it down next time but it’s not like it’s intolerable, I swear, you’ll thank me! Hehe!

I thought there would be some sort of drippings in the pan that I could use to make some good gravy but check out this cooking sheet…. Dem are some lean mean healthy machines…. Depending on how much gravy you put on! Another reason to make a shitload of gravy at Christmas time. Freeze it in portions for occasions such as this. I just said ‘shitload’ on my blog. Is that completely inappropriate, it’s just that that seemed like the most appropriate wording. I don’t know. I’m still learning…..

Seriously hearty, mostly healthy and your tummy will be forever thankful! Please hit me up with a comment below if you make these and what your thoughts were! I love feedback.

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Love Haleykins

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Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

The holidays are over. Finally!
I mean, I love the festive season, but it always seems to cause such a big blip in life. Everything gets put on hold and you forget how to get back going on as usual. Plus I feel like I need to sleep and sleep and sleep, although I’ve gotten more sleep lately than usual. Maybe that’s the problem…

Ok let’s get back to it shall we? It’s been a tad long since I’ve posted anything! {except for a Merry Christmas wish which attracted a few more followers!}

Hubby picked up the biggest tube of extra lean ground beef from Costco before Christmas and like the sweetheart he is, he divided it up in ziplock bags and froze it. Now I open up the freezer to find all the new bags and 4 from October. That’s a lot of beef! Soooooo, a ground beef, easy peasy, recipe from me to you.

MOZZARELLA STUFFED MEATBALLS
INGREDIENTS
2lbs extra lean GROUBD BEEF
1 cup BREADCRUMBS
3 EGGS
1 Tbsp ITALIAN SEASONING
1 PREMADE HOMEMADE GARLIC BALL {or 4 cloves, minced}
SALT & PEPPER
OLIVE OIL
3 sticks MOZZARELLA STRING CHEESE
PASTA SAUCE
COOKED SPAGHETTI
PARMESAN CHEESE

DIRECTIONS
1. Mix the beef, crumbs, eggs, seasoning, garlic, s&p together. Hands work best!
2. Form into 12 balls, approximately 2″
3. Cut the cheese sticks into 4 pieces each. Should have 12 cubes
4. Press a cheese cube into the middle of each meatball and seal the ball closed again. Work them good so you don’t spring a leak!
5. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and brown the balls on all sides.
6. In a separate pan heat the pasta sauce, then add in the browned meatballs.
7. Simmer the stuffed meatballs in the sauce until they are cooked through. Don’t have the heat too high. It’s hard to stir and you don’t want the sauce to burn.
8. Serve over the spaghetti and top with Parmesan cheese.

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Premade Homemade Garlic Balls

For convenience in my cooking adventures, I do this…
Start with a whole crap load of garlic.
Peel them and put them all into a food processor

Pulse until you get a fine minced consistency

Using you hands, gently create little balls, the size of the portions you would prefer.
Make some bigger and some smaller. See, convenient!!!
Put them on a cookie sheet and freeze them in the freezer.

Once frozen, put them in a labeled ziplock freezer bag and keep them in the freezer.

Thaw one in the microwave in a small dish for about 5-7 seconds, any more and they will get bitter and burn.

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Restaurant Style Salsa ~ Food Processor Recipe

INGREDIENTS:
14oz can DICED TOMATOES
10oz can ORIGINAL ROTEL (you can use diced tomatoes and canned chilies)
2 cloves GARLIC
1/2 WHITE ONION, DICED
1 or 2 JALAPEÑOS
1 t. HONEY
1/2 t. CUMIN
1/2 t. SALT
CILANTRO
JUICE OF 1 LIME

DIRECTIONS:
Now for the easy part!
1. Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse it for about 30 seconds. Not too smooth, not to chunky. Make it however you want
2. Chill it
3. Enjoy it!

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Easy Split Peasy Soup with Ham

It seems that all I do these days are cook and clean. Leaning more on the cooking side of course 🙂

So sorry that all my recent blog posts have been about food! Mmmmm food. But who doesn’t love good yummy food. Here’s a yummy liciousness soup I cooked up a few days ago.

Easy Split Peasy Soup with Ham

First, start with the ham and then the broth:
Bone In Ham
-cook the ham
-remove the meat from the bone
-boil ham bone in a stock pot with lots of water, 24 cups maybe

To make the broth I added what I had left in the fridge…

3/4 of an onion, quartered
2 carrots, chopped in 3rds
3 celery stalks cut in half, leaves still intact
4 gloves of garlic, cut in half
3 or 4 baby yellow potatoes, cut in half
4 bay leaves
some salt

bring the ham bone, water, and veggies to a boil
reduce heat and let bubble gently for a few hours
strain and save the liquid

**Careful! It’s easy to accidentally dump your hard work down the drain! This is not pasta water! Save your broth**

place liquid in the freezer over night or until the fat has settled and hardened at the top (a few hours), makes it easy to remove the fat for a healthy soup.

Let’s make soup!
Ingredients:
approx. 24 cups of vegetable broth
2 bags of green split peas
3-4 carrots, peeled & chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 russet potatoes cubed
4-5 cups ham, cooked and cubed

Directions:
bring the fat removed back to a boil
reduce heat to a gentle bubble
add the peas

cook em down 3/4 of the way, taste em, should be almost fully creamed but just a little bit hard in the centre
add the veggies

cook till the peas are smooth and no longer hard
the potatoes will have cooked down and added to the thickened soup base
add salt and pepper to taste, I only added about 2 tsps of salt

While soup is still piping hot you can put it into resealable jars with the correct lids to seal and store in the fridge.
As it starts to cool the bubble in the lid should suck down. That’s how you know it’s sealed. A friend of mine recently told me this method and she says it works for here as she never wants to freeze her stuff. If it doesn’t suck down it probably didn’t seal. Store in fridge and eat it within a few days.

I ended up making up 5 jars and then freezing the rest.

This will make nice, quick and Easy Split Peasy lunches over the next couple of weeks. 😊

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Thanks
Haley

PULLED PORK SANDWICHES

I wanted to make something easy tonight so I threw a pork roast in the slow cooker with some seasonings and such and voila…. dinner was served.  I put these ingredients together because I dislike BBQ sauce and hubby isn’t too fond of it either.   Worked out pretty perfect for me and any leftovers make for great lunch sandwiches cold too.

PULLED PORK SANDWICHES

5-6 hours in slow cooker on high

Ingredients:

Pork Butt Roast or Pork Roast

Salt & Pepper

Garlic

Chili Powder

Cumin

Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

2 cups Chicken Broth (low sodium)

1 cup Water

Dash of Worchester Sauce (optional)

Directions:

1. Season roast with Salt & Pepper, Garlic, chili powder, cumin, crushed red pepper flakes
2. Place seasoned roast in a ziplock bag and marinate overnight or for approx. 6 hours.
3. place marinated roast in slow cooker.
4. Add chicken broth, water and Worchester and cover with lid
5. Cook in Slow Cooker for about 6 hours on High
6. When roast is fully cooked and almost falling apart, remove from slow cooker place in a bowl to catch any juices, let cool and begin to pull the pork apart with your hands.
7. Place pulled pork in shallow oven safe dish with lid
8. The liquid left in slow cooker can be added to a pan and heated till most of the water evaporates and a nice dark rich glaze has formed.
9. Pour glaze over pulled pork.

Serve on toasted kaiser buns with garlic butter and mayo