Salsa Bar

I realized a little while back that I have never posted the recipe to one of my favorite salsas.  

I like to think of this blog as a family recipe book also, so this recipe definitely needs to be here.
We make it often and love it.  I got the recipe from my brother and sister and law.  Thanks guys.

Tomatillo and Arbol Salsa or The Good Stuff
(I'm not really sure what the name is, so this will do)

10-15 tomatillos (husked and rinsed)
15-30 dried arbol chili (depending on how hot you want it)
2-3 garlic cloves
salt

1. Boil the tomatillos until they start changing to a pea green.

(see in the picture how the under side is a different color of green)

2. Meanwhile break stems off of chilies and toast in a pan without any oil.  Turn when they begin to blacken.  I usually throw the garlic and toast it a little also.

3. Remove about 5-6 of the tomatillos and and blend with the chilies and garlic until smooth.  

4.  Add the rest of the tomatillos and pulse leaving chunks of tomatillo for a chunky consistency.  

5.  Add salt to taste and stir with a spoon.

The last time I made this salsa was over the past weekend when it was cold and rainy so I decided to make our own little salsa bar.

Here are two of our other favorite salsas.

 (I forgot to get the avo in the picture)

This has really similar steps as the last salsa and it makes it really easy to make together.

Salsa Verde

10-15 tomatillos (husked and rinsed)

2 serrano chili

1 small bunch of cilantro (rinsed and taken off of stem)

2-3 garlic

1 avocado

salt 

1. Again boil the tomatillos until they start to change to that pea green.

2. Toast the garlic in a pan just until it starts to smell really yummy and slightly brown.

3.  Transfer 4-5 tomatillos to blender and blend with the chilies, cilantro, and garlic until well blended.

4. Add the rest of the tomatillos and the avocado and pulse leaving chunks for a chunky consistency.

5. Add salt to taste and stir with a spoon

Ok, last up.

Pico de Gallo

3 tomatoes

1/2 of an onion

1 large bunch of cilantro (rinsed)

2 serrano chilies

juice of 2 lemons

salt

1. Dice tomatoes, onions, and cilantro.

2. Mince serrano chilies.

3. Mix all in a bowl with the lemon juice.

4. Salt to taste.

This one tastes best after if it marinates for about half an hour.

That's it!  

You should have plenty for now and later.  I think chips and salsa count as a meal in itself, right? 

There are a lot of veggies in there!

Have fun mixing it up.

Potato Tacos - my pick

 Tacos, yes, I do love tacos!!  

We all love Mexican, but I think I would have to say Andy is the biggest fan.  Any time we are going out to eat, Mexican is his first choice.  Occasionally we can sneak over to get a little sushi, which we all love also, but usually it's Mexican.  I'm not objecting over here.

My go to item has always been the burrito.  I don't know, something about all of the different flavors wrapped up and melted together in a warm soft tortilla just does it for me...but lately things are shifting a little.  

Tacos.  That hard crunchy shell. YUM!! 

 Don't get me wrong, I still love my burritos, but the taco is it right now. 

 I grew up with my mom, grandmas and all of my aunts making tacos with the fried corn tortilla shell that is all crispy and crunchy.  A little greasy, but oh so good!  Those were some good tacos.  

Well, I have never made a taco shell before in my life.  There I said it.  I buy TJ's taco shells.  I don't know why.  I think part of it was because of the mess and they certainly aren't healthy, but I think mainly because burritos are just way easier.  I think I also forgot just how yummy they are. 

  These fish tacos left me craving tacos, so I decided I have lived long enough without making my own taco shells.  The kids were game and wanted to help so we made potato tacos.

This is how we made them.

 Throw diced potatoes and onions into warmed olive oil.

 Season with salt, chili powder, cumin and pepper.
(And if you accidentally add a couple of dashes of ginger because you thought it was cumin, because you were a little distracted with a question about would I want a white cat that is fluffy or a black cat that wasn't fluffy or something to that affect, don't worry, it still turns out great.)

 Get your assembly line ready.  Ella was on the cheese.

 Julian was on the tomatoes and avocado.  No not on his own.  I helped him.

 Remove potatoes when they are done and wipe out any bits because you don't want them to burn.  If you are lazy like myself and want one less dish to wash, use the potato pan to make the taco shells.

Heat some more olive oil and when it's hot start making your tacos.  I was a little skimpy on the oil only because I don't really fry things and I didn't realize just how much you need.  It made way less of a mess then I expected.  I had the kids about 15 ft away because I thought it was going to be popping all over the place.  Not so much.  OK, so this is important, make sure they get nice and crunchy.  I had to test one to make sure I had the right crunch.

Let them sit on a paper towel lined plate to remove excess grease then stuff them with all of your toppings.  I just happened to have some of the our favorite salsa on hand.  My brother and sister-in-law gave me the recipe to a tomatillo and arbol chile recipe and it is the best.  I always make a ton when I make it because I know it won't ever go bad in our house.  I thought I had posted a recipe at some point, but I guess I haven't.  Some day.  

Soap making...

 There is something about making something new for the first time that is so exciting to me.  

My friend Christy asked me if I had seen the recipe on how to make liquid hand soap...I hadn't and I was really excited to see it especially since I had just bought a new smell good liquid hand soup and my little mister Julian decided to use the whole thing to 'clean the sink' for me.

Love this little guy, but the whole thing...really?

She sent me the link that day and this past weekend we made our liquid hand soap.

We used this recipe.

I couldn't find a Mrs. Meyers bar of soup so I just picked one that was big and smelled good when I stopped at Sprouts. 

I used a South of France bar and it worked.  

 We used the food processor to grate the soap.  This is the little trick I learned when making our laundry detergent.  It is way easier and the kiddos love to grate it.

We made it in the late afternoon and in the morning it was thick.  I is use the immersion blender to kind of smooth it out.  

It worked perfectly.  

Now we have plenty of hand soap for only $3.50

Yea!!

green food...polaroids

 last week flew by just a little too fast for me.

so it's another monday and this is the second week of my polaroid monday series.  

this one again has a colored theme...green.

it started out just food themed, but as i was going through the pics i noticed that green was in every picture...so here we are with green food polaroid monday.

the colder weather always makes me want soup.  

this tortilla soup is one of my favorites.  

it usually consists of :

chicken

black beans 

rice and 

whatever veggies i have on hand 

(carrots, celery, corn, tomatoes, etc)

onions and garlic

the toppings are what really make this soup oh so yummy:

cheese

cilantro

lemon juice

chips

diced onions

and diced avocados

 a couple years back my brother gave me a salsa recipe that consisted of tomatillos.  

before that i had never seen or used tomatillos. 

 now i can't make salsa without them.  

if you have never used them you should give them a try.  they come with a thin paper like skin that is easily peeled off.  i usually put them in boiling water just long enough until they change color.  they start out green then change to a lighter yellowish green.

 andy is the real salsa king in our house but i really enjoy making salsa also...and i especially love eating it!

i never really measure or count what goes into my salsa but this is a loose recipe of this super easy salsa:

10 tomatillos

2 avocados

2 garlic cloves

1-2 serrano chiles

salt to taste

boil tomatillos.  blend all ingredients except salt in a blender.

add salt and pulse.

taste. 

then eat about half of a bag of chips with your yummy salsa.

 i told you i love me some soup.  i had never made this soup before but i will definitely be making it again.

i tried this recipe for these sticky buns.  

i grew up eating pull-aparts at my grandparent's house.  oh my!

so when i saw this recipe i wanted to give it a try.  it sounded pretty easy with the frozen dough.  mine didn't come out looking like hers...i think because my package of frozen dough came with three loaves instead of two so i made two different trays.  mine came out a little dry and just a little burnt.

still pretty yummy though...it's probably good they didn't come out like hers or else i probably would have eaten the whole tray.

i'm kind of liking this colored theme, i think i might stick with it for my polaroid mondays...we'll see.

happy monday!

julian's smoothie recipe

ella was off to school and daddy was off to work and julian had a plan.  

'can we make a smoothie?'

'oh sure, honey, we just need to go grocery shopping because we are all out of fruit.'

'ok, i will make a recipe.'

he can kind of sound out words and he can write most letters, but i know he can not write a recipe, but i thought, oh how cute, as i busied around the house unloading the dishwasher and cleaning up breakfast dishes. 

 he sat at the table so quietly working on something.

i was so busy i didn't even notice that he was still there at the table...and i had definitely forgotten all about the smoothie

'ok let's go, i have my recipe.'

ha, he did make his recipe.

the yogurt tub is the best...see the Y on the side...obviously it's yogurt.

 so off we went...recipe in hand.

so here is:

JULIAN'S SMOOTHIE RECIPE

1 banana

1 apple -cored obviously

1 cup milk (about)

1 cup yogurt - we love Brown Cow's Maple flavor

1 tsp vanilla extract

a dash of cinnamon - he insisted...we made pumpkin bread a couple of days ago

1/4 cup of crushed ice

blend

it was really good.

we faltered just a tad away from his original recipe only because i don't really like oranges in my smoothies and we didn't buy any peaches because the were super pricey and hard...so there is julian's smoothie recipe for you.

he drank his and then half of mine.

setting his mind on a smoothie was easy...

deciding which wizard of oz record to listen to was a lot tougher decision.

broccoli-cheddar soup recipe

OK let's talk about soup.

It's cold and raining today so I feel like it is officially okay to have this talk.  I started a couple of weeks ago with my soup making.  I couldn't wait.  Well, let's be honest here, I actually make soup year round sometimes even when it's hot...not too often though...but it is a lot more enjoyable when it's cold.  So now it's cold and my family can't complain.  

I tried a new recipe the other day and it was pretty tasty.

I always end up changing recipes so here is my adaptation of the recipe from here.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half
• 2 large russet potatoes, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 4-5 cups chopped broccoli florets
•  salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
• Croutons, for topping (optional)

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth, half-and-half, potatoes, carrots, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. 

Add broccoli and simmer for another 8 minutes.

When the potatoes are tender, transfer about 3/4 of the soup to a blender, this will probably have to be done in batches. Puree until smooth, leaving the filler cap slightly open to let steam escape (or puree the soup in the pot with an immersion blender).  

 Return to a simmer over medium-low heat and season with salt and pepper.

 Ladle the soup into bowls and top with cheese and croutons, if desired.

WOW, I didn't realize how much I altered that recipe.  It turned out really yummy.

A couple of reasons why I love soup...

  it's never dry...if it is, you have made a really big mistake somewhere along the way.

  it can usually be made in one pot (less dishes)

  it's usually very flavorful...i like flavor, bland is just too bland for me, haha.

  i can usually get in a lot of really yummy veggies and the kids will eat them...usually is the key word. (they weren't big fans of this recipe)

A couple of my other favorite soups are here and here.

What is your favorite soup? I need some ideas.

summer bread

 our little veggie garden is in full force right now.  our tomatoes and zucchini are the front runners with how much we have harvested.  i can always find ways to use up our tomatoes, but sometimes with zucchini i get a little stumped.  we have had many pasta dishes and zucchini soups, but we still have more zucchini.  i can't believe that i had completely forgotten about zucchini bread.  it's one of my favorites. 

 Yummers!!

 i use the martha stewart zucchini spice bread recipe and change it up just a little...a little less sugar and i add pecans

here it is:

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 large zucchini
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar (i use about 3/4 cup)
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• i love to throw in a big handful of pecan pieces

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan with cooking spray, and set aside. Grate zucchini on the large holes of a box grater (to yield 1 3/4 cups); set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together sugars, oil, vanilla, and eggs.
   
2. Into a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and salt. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, and stir to combine well. Stir in grated zucchini.
   
3. Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes; invert onto a wire rack, then reinvert, top side up. Cool completely before slicing.
   

this is a really quick recipe and oh so good.

i have already made a couple of loaves and i think i will make a couple more.

Swiss Chard Recipe :: YUM!!

It's wet and cold today.  Ella still has a hard time going to school in the morning on some days.  Taking bunny with her helps.

See!  

She looked so cute decked out with her rain coat, umbrella and bunny I just had to take these pictures.

So now we can move on to a super yummy recipe.  When I planted my little garden I picked up Swiss Chard partly because the leaves are so pretty but also because I wanted to try new things.  Now my Swiss Chard is growing like crazy and needs to be used. 

I looked up a couple of recipes and kind of adapted my own super simple one from several different ones.

Wilted Chard

*Wash 7 -10 large Swiss Chard leaves thoroughly and do not dry.

*Coarsely Chop

*Season with salt to taste and toss with a little drizzle of olive oil in a large skillet.

*Cook stirring constantly over medium heat until wilted, about 5 minutes.

*In a small bowl whisk about 2-3 Tb olive oil,  2 Tb lemon juice and ground black pepper to taste.

*Toss Swiss Chard with lemon dressing and serve warm.

YUM!!!

If you have never tried Swiss Chard before give it a try and let me know what you think.

PIZZA FOR 2!!

 what do we do when the kids spend the night at grandma's 2 nights in a row.  

yikes! 

we are not used to this... at all.  

it is ella's spring break so the were livin' it up...at papa's and grandma's.  the first night we went to sushi at almost 8 pm.  we talked and talked and talked a little more.  sometimes it's hard to start and finish a conversation in one evening with the kids around.  then we perused our local book store.  we had fun.  the next morning we slept in a little and then surfed together.  that never happens.  usually we take turns or else i wimp out because it is too cold and just andy surfs.  i love surfing with andy.  i miss the days when we didn't even have to think about who surfs first and all that.  we just went out and had fun.  speaking of missing, although we were having fun together we sure did miss our little babies.  we checked in every couple of hours..."we are feeding the horses...we are at the movies...we are eating ice cream...we are at the park"...like i said, they were livin' it up with papa and grandma.  andy wanted to go visit them...uh, no.  we did some errands and got a couple of things done before we go on a little trip all together as a family next week.

 the second night we stayed in and made these yummy pizzas together.  

we cheated a little.  we love this pizza dough from TJ's.  it is so easy and amazingly delicious.  we threw some of our favorite toppings on...or should i say, my favorite toppings.  andy likes these also, but if it were up to him he would probably vote for some sausage or something.  i like it simple...tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese. 

YUM!!!!

i didn't even get a picture of it out of the oven because we were so hungry and it was gone in a flash.  

we weren't the only ones doing a little missing.  we got a call from my mom, with julian crying in the background.  he missed his mama and his daddy.  we were there in a flash to pick him up.  ella was doing just fine without us.

what do you do when the kiddos are at grandma's?