My herb garden is coming in prolifically! So much so that I decided to make some seasoned oil and vinegar. These are basically oils and vinegars that are flavored with herbs, spices and/or other aromatics. They have many uses, far beyond the obvious salad dressings. They can be drizzled over vegetables, brushed on meat and added to soups and casseroles. Any place that you would like a punch of flavor, you can use seasoned oil or seasoned vinegar. I make fresh pack seasoned oil and vinegar, meaning that it is made cold, without heating the oil or vinegar. This means that they must always be kept in the refrigerator to prevent spoilage.
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My husband and I have decided to have a couple of meatless meals per week. There are several reasons for this:
I know not all people will agree with the last one, but studies have shown that a diet with less meat is good for digestive and heart health, blood sugar levels, and blood pressure. Since we are not getting any younger, we figure now is the time to make some changes in our diet. No time like the present! This has been an absolutely awful week, well actually it started last week. My computer started giving me a "not responding" message every time I wanted to work in my files. It was really maddening, so I had my husband bring my computer to a repair facility to have it looked at. I also had my back up external hard drive taken in too, to have it looked at, in case that was the problem. Long story short, both were bad and had to be replaced. :( Lipton's onion soup mix has almost too many uses to count. I used to buy it three boxes at a time. I used it for making soup, onion dip, meatloaf, roast, casseroles, chicken and rice, potatoes, oven fried chicken, frittatas, vegetable fries, and onion spread, just to name a few. One of the bad thing about this wonder mix is that buying a lot of a name brand packaged item is not exactly cheap. Another bad thing is that you are not exactly sure about what all is in it. Lipton's has many recognizable ingredients like soy sauce and corn syrup, but they also have a few that are mystery items like: maltodextrin, disodium guanylate, and disodium inosinate. Huh? I prefer not to eat this kind of stuff if I can avoid it. Luckily, it can be easily avoided by making your own onion soup mix. Then you know exactly what you are eating and feeding your family. It's easy! I love Chinese 5 spice. It has such an unusual flavor and it is so versatile. Chinese 5 spice has been around for hundreds of years. It is said that the ancient Chinese cooks were attempting to produce a spice that encompassed all five tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and spicy. Since it is kind of sweet, many people only use it as a flavoring in puddings, cakes and desserts. However, it is also really delicious on meat. It is an excellent ingredient to add to dry meat rubs and marinades on beef, pork and even fish. If you have not ever used it, then it is time that you started! It is easy to make, and the flavor is so much more pronounced when it is ground fresh. The word pickle comes from the Dutch word "pekel" or northern German "pókel," meaning salt or brine, two very important components in the pickling process. Believe it or not, people have been preserving food by pickling for over 4000 years. The first known food to be preserved in this manner was cucumbers, hence the name "pickle." Today I want to share with you a very old recipe that I discovered in my Mom's things when she passed away a few years ago. I thought it was an interesting recipe when I found it. The little paperback recipe book it was in was so old the pages were yellowed to almost brown and the writing actually looked like it came from an old fashioned ditto machine. Remember those? If not Google it! Anyway, the cover was torn off, and there is no marks on it as to where it came from. I suspect it may have been handmade, like maybe at a church or school. The recipes in this book are very old fashioned. I look forward to sharing more of them with you. I hope you enjoy! We have had such a mild winter, that the dandelions are already up and ready for harvest. There are so many things that you can do with dandelions. A couple years ago, we had a very popular post on How to Make Dandelion Soup. So today we are going to share another yummy recipe that uses dandelions, dandelion pesto. Pesto is a useful thing to have in the fridge or freezer. It can be put on pasta, or French bread. It can also be put in soups or sauces. Pesto can be made with just about any greens or herbs like spinach, basil, thyme, parsley or dandelions!. St. Patrick's Day is coming soon! Time to break out new recipes to celebrate this fun holiday. I really love trifles, but since they are usually a summer dessert, this time of year you rarely see them. I decided to make something a bit different: A St. Patrick's Day Winter Trifle! It has no fresh fruits, but it has all kinds of other yummy goodness that trifles are famous for. It's also GREEN! Perfect for the holiday!
Casserole! |
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