Corn Salsa

I do not have a picture of the delecacy as I write to you from a computer that doesn't read camera chips. However, I am able to post this highly recommended recipie. I made this last Thursday and ate it for three days. I think it should be halfed for anything other than a potluck supper with many many guests. I used fresh tomatoes, only green onions not the red and no red pepper and it was AWESOME. Best recipie I have made thus far and one I will make again and again and again. Without further ado....

1 (15 ounce) can yellow corn, drained
1 (15 ounce) can white corn, drained
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, drained
1 bunch finely chopped cilantro
5 green onions, finely sliced
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup lime juice
1 avocado - peeled, pitted, and diced
2 tablespoons olive oil, or to taste

DIRECTIONS
Stir the yellow and white corn, black beans, tomatoes, cilantro, green onion, red onion, bell pepper, and garlic in a large bowl. Gently mix in the lime juice and avocado. Drizzle with olive oil to serve.

I ate it with chips one night, had it as filling for quesadillas the next and then baked it with chicken and cheese to make el ultimo nachos. This is definitly one you can alter to your own tastes... think I'd add hot sauce next time.

Until next week.....

Creamed corn but not

Well, I was searching for something simple and good and I think I found it in this recipe which is for creamed corn but not the usual type you'd think of. And although the spaghetti corn pie recipe sounded interesting, Tim gave this a 7 out of 10 and was relieved to not have to test the other.

Creamed Corn

4 oz. package of cream cheese softened

1/4 cup milk

1/2 onion minced

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 can niblets corn drained

Melt cream cheese in a pot over low heat, stir in milk, seasonings and then add corn and heat up. Serves 4.

It's hard to see in the photo as it looks just like canned cream corn but it's really rich. I used low fat cream cheese and skim milk as well to reduce the guilt factor. We ate it as a side dish to the first BBQ steaks of the season. Yum.

Zucchini!

I really like tempura zucchini at Sisho (japanese restaurant here = awesome). So when I came across this recipie I knew I had to try it out. It wasn't perfect but you can change it to your own tastes, improve as you go along. I love anything fried so I knew it was no fail :)
It was a little heavier than what I`d like for a batter but it was different and I ate it all up. I halfed the recipie as I only bought one zucchini.

INGREDIENTS
2 zucchini, quartered and sliced
1 onion, sliced into rings
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup vegetable oil for frying
DIRECTIONS
Place zucchini and onions in a medium bowl and mix together.
In a small bowl mix flour, cornmeal, salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Pour dry mixture over zucchini/onion mixture, cover bowl and shake well. Let mixture sit for about 30 minutes; a batter will form on the vegetables.
In a medium skillet heat oil over medium heat. When oil is hot add breaded vegetables and fry, turning to brown evenly.

DELISH!!
I think I will try it with different vegtables next. But I am now hooked on Zucchini! I know Mom and Dad will like this one.... even Kaleb would give it a 8.7/10.

Corny but good

Well, since I know that Koren is off to see the dinosaurs today in Drumheller and I'm not, I'll make sure at least that I'm the first one posting. Since we were using cornmeal I tried a couple of recipes (the other was an apple crisp but there wasn't enough icecream in the house to assist the dryness of the crisp) so the keeper is this one which I added blueberries to:


Susan's cornmeal pancakes
Published by Chatelaine on 1/1/1995


Cooking time 4 minutes Preparation time 10 minutes
Makes 4 to 6 servings


Ingredients
· 1 cup ( 250 mL) cornmeal
· 1/4 cup ( 50 mL) all-purpose flour
· 1-1/2 tsp ( 7 mL) baking powder
· 1 tsp ( 5 mL) sugar
· 1/2 tsp ( 2 mL) salt
· 1/2 tsp ( 2 mL) baking soda
· 3 eggs, lightly beaten
· 1-1/2 cups ( 375 mL) buttermilk
· 2 tbsp ( 30 mL) melted butter


In a large bowl, using a fork, stir cornmeal with flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. Make a well in centre of flour mixture.

In another bowl, whisk eggs with buttermilk. Pour into centre of flour mixture along with melted butter. Stir just until a smooth batter forms.

Set a large frying pan over medium heat. (We often use 2 pans simultaneously to speed up production.) Lightly brush with oil, additional melted butter or coat with cooking spray.

Pour a 1/4 cup (50 mL) measure full of batter onto a heated pan. Cook until underside is golden brown and bubbles appear on the top, about 2 minutes. Turn pancake and continue cooking until underside is golden brown, about 2 more minutes.


Keep warm, uncovered, on a buttered platter in a preheated 200F (100C) oven while continuing to make more. Serve right away.

As you can see this is one of those look bad, taste great creations. I think you could likely halve this recipe if you weren't cooking for a crowd as I've gotten at least 3 breakfasts out of them already. The only caution I have is that they are a challenge to flip (and this coming from an experienced flapjack maker) as they're softer than the usual flour pancake recipe, but by the third one I got them to at least be in one piece. I used a smaller frying pan and dropped the frozen blueberries in as soon as the bubbles started to show.

I had a real bout of nostalgia (when enjoying these with syrup all by myself this morning) for the days when Kara used to love cooked cereal such as cornmeal or cream of wheat "just like Little House on the Praire" which she was obsessed with as a little girl. Enjoy!

Mom beat me to posting today (that's an egg joke)

Today's recipe is brought to you by the letter "C". The "C" is for Columbia where this recipe was created. It doesn't seem very Colombian, I will warn you. But my roommates talk about making this all the time and I thought well it will work for this week as I have all the ingredients and its pretty easy. Annnnnnnnnd it turned out to be pretty delicious. If you are familiar with potato salad then this recipe really won't really throw you a difficult curve ball.

Colombian Potato Salad

Get your regular potato salad ingredients together... boiled eggs, potatoes and mayo.
You'll also need a can of tuna, sunflower seeds, green onions, fresh cilantro, fresh or dried parsley and you can throw some veggies in there if you like too - chopped up spinach or broccoli.


The secret ingredient is: Alex's Aioli!
(I just looked aioli up and its garlic and mayo.. but I think it sounds classy anyways)
You'll need: a bunch of fresh cilantro, a few green onions, a tomatoes, a couple cloves of garlic and olive oil.
In a food processor put everything but the olive oil. Put the ground up ingredients in a jar and add enough oil to keep the ingredients moist. Add salt to taste. Keep in fridge.

So put everything but mayo and sunflower seeds in a bowl. Spoon a couple generous tablespoons of the cilantro aioli over your ingredients, mix up and let sit in the fridge for an hour or so. Add a few tablespoons of mayo and sunflower seeds and let sit another hour or so (or until dinner's ready :) The tuna was the part that threw me for a loop but it was pretty tasty.

And voila! So, the prep and time for the aioli takes a little extra effort but since Mariluz and Alex had copious amounts already in the fridge it worked out perfectly! I now put it on everything. I am going to check with Alex to see if there is an exact recipe... although I wrote what he told me. :)

I certainly didn't use as many eggs as Mom did but I am glad I used this often-recommended-to-me recipe :) I can't get the picture from my camera as I have packed the cord and didn't have the chip in at the time. But, let's be honest you know what it looks like and it's not really a gorgeous picture.

Great to be back at the blog! Be sure to vote for next week's ingredient!

Back on track with....eggs

Well, we've had a bit of a break here in the recipe blog front as Koren had technical difficulties and I had a wonderful vacation where eating (not my own cooking) was the focus. So to start things off again we decided on cooking with eggs as this is the Easter weekend and all. I found two recipes to try (one was a dud where Kaleb - who hadn't eaten for 24 hrs and eats ANYTHING gave it only a 6/10) so I'm going to share the successful one. This was one listed by the Iowa Egg Marketing Board and since our summer neighbours come from there and are great cooks it sounded like a good place to start. That and it was listed under very easy.

Eggchilada

2 eggs
1 large flour tortilla
2 tablespoons salsa
2 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese

Beat eggs and pour into a non-stick skillet over medium heat. As eggs begin to set, gently draw a pancake turner across the bottom of the skillet forming large soft curds. Cook until eggs are thickened, but still moist. Fold in salsa and cheese. Spread egg mixture down center of tortilla. Roll tortilla around eggs. Garnish with salsa and sour cream, if desired.

This was a definite hit with the entire family and all the taste testers gave it a 10/10. I only managed to grab a photo of the ingredients (and yes they do look like an advertisement for convenience foods) and of Kara putting the last one away. Very easy, moist and tasty and includes all the food groups too. Enjoy!