Straight from the Garden Salsa

I was checking out all of the wonderful veggies I have been given this week and wondering what on earth I could do with them that my family would eat.  Salsa is always a winner at our house so this is what I have come up with.  My kids loved it!  If you let it sit in the fridge for a few hours before eating it the flavors really come together.  Ours didn't make it that long, we ate it right away!

Equipment:

Cutting Board

Good knife

Medium size bowl for salsa

small bowl and strainer for tomatoes

Measuring spoons

Can opener-if you add alternate items

Ingredients:
1 large tomato diced-salt it a little to help bring out some of the water.  Drain them before adding to the bowl
3 inch segment of a cucumber diced
1 small can of green chili

2 T minced onion
2 regular cloves of garlic-minced
1 tsp ground coriander or 2 T minced fresh cilantro
1-2 T lemon or lime juice or to taste
½ t salt or to taste
Optional:
1 small beet cooked and diced-the beet gives this salsa a very earthy flavor
1 can of black beans rinsed
½ cup of corn
1 jalapeno pepper diced-with our without the ribs and seeds

 

Procedure:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and enjoy with your favorite corn chips

Recipes from the Root Cellar, by Andrea Chesman

"270 Fresh Ways to Enjoy Winter Vegetables"

I found this book at the library last week and have fallen in love.  In my part of the world gardens are bursting with zucchini, yellow squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, beets, cabbages, turnips, and more.  These recipes help to break the home cook out of  the cooking ruts we sometimes find ourselves in.  You know one or two ways to prepare squash and that is what you stick with.  Squash is pretty easy to ruin.  They become runny, slimy and overcooked.  Does anyone know what to do with pumpkins except make pie or the occasional pumpkin loaf?  What do you do with a giant head of cabbage?
Andrea Chesman does a wonderful job of creating recipes that are easy to follow and the outcome is remarkable.  Her recipes are full of flavor and include easily obtained ingredients.  This book is also dedicated to the winter vegetable harvest which makes it a must have for gardeners.  I love that it allows me to feed my family foods in season and always serve them in new and interesting ways. 
I highly recommend adding this book to your cookbook collection!

Recipe Sample:
Winter Squash with Caramelized Apples
Serves 4-6
1 large buttercup, butternut, or red kuri squash, or 1/2 small baby blue Hubbard squash
4 T butter
2 large apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t freshly grated nutmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2.  cut the squash in halves if small, or into quarters if large.  Remove an discard the seeds and fibers.  Place skin-side up in a baking dish and add about 1 inch of water to the dish.
3.  Bake for 60-90 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces, until completely tender when pierced with a fork.
4.  Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Saute until the brown sugar is disolved and the apples are tender and coated in the sugar syrup, about 5 minutes.  Set aside.
5.  When the squash is done, drain off the water.  Turn the pieces flesh-side up, and allow to cool until they can be handled easily.  Scrape the flesh from the skins into a mixing bowl and discard the skins.  Mash or beat until smooth.
6.  Fold in the apples and their syrup.  Season generously with salt and pepper.
7.  If desired, reheat in a microwave or in the top of a double boiler set over boiling water.  Serve hot.

The Best of Basic Cookbooks

I have many cookbooks and enjoy some more than others.  I tend to look for cookbooks that specialize in a particular type of cooking rather than all purpose cookbooks which tend to cover a broad range of disciplines.  I find most of the recipes in those books to be easy to follow and are a great starting point for creating your own recipes that have your personal touch.  Most of us look in the fridge and try to figure out what to cook with what we have.  If you have a well stocked kitchen with the basics, having basic cookbooks makes coming up with the right recipe easier. 
There are some all purpose cookbooks that I really like and go to when I need to brush up on a cooking technique or want a beginner recipe that I can play with.  The following books I recommend having in your collection as go to multipurpose cookbooks.  They are especially helpful if you are trying to locate a particular recipe or technique and don't want to mess with the internet.
I also like to borrow books from the library before I commit to purchasing them.  Some well advertised cookbooks have fallen flat for me when I get my hands on them because there are only a few recipes in them I would make.  I have saved a ton of money by borrowing before I buy.  








1.  Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook-great all purpose cookbook and great gift for newly married people.  Each section has a great guide to whatever the food is, i.e. meat, seafood, cheese, vegetables, etc.  There is also a freezing and canning guide with beginner recipes.  Overall it is a great way to get started cooking and learning about foods.  This book is printed just about every year and has been updated since mine was published in ......1989!    









2.  America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook-really great recipes that have been tested thoroughly.  Excellent resource for techniques and they have some great product ratings too.  I have found the equipment ratings very helpful when I need to purchase a particular item for my home kitchen.  The food product ratings do not take into account organic foods or preservatives in foods.  They simply rate what their panel thought was the best tasting/texture.  I match the product ratings up to what I have learned about food quality and go from there.  I have found I rarely utilize this feature after putting the foods up against my own standards which include the food source and product ingredients.
The recipes are easy to follow and I have had great success with most of them.  They really have tested the recipes and found the best way to make my family's favorite foods.  I have found the information on the science involved in cooking to be the most helpful as I have learned to cook.  I use this cookbook quite a bit. 








3.  The Joy of Cooking-there is so much in this book it is hard to not have it on the list.  I use this when I don't know where else to look for cooking non-traditional foods or especially for how to make things that I would normally buy in the store like marshmallows.  This is not an easy read and previous cooking knowledge is helpful.  The beginning of each chapter has very good definitions and descriptions to help prepared the recipes.  There aren't very many pictures but is comprehensive.