Favorite Summer Salad

We love this salad!

Pasta Salad
1 # cooked pasta, don't over cook!
Fresh veggies cut into bit sized chunks
(broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions, radishes, bell peppers)
Cheese Cubes
Diced Pepperoni

Dressing:
1 cup White Wine Vinegar or Balsamic Vinegar
2 cups Olive Oil
3 T Fresh Garlic
1 T Sugar
1 tsp Oregano
1 /2 tsp Basil
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp salt

or
1+ bottle Italian Dressing

*Mix well.

Mix pasta, veggies, cheese and pepperoni. Pour 1/2 - 2/3 of dressing over the top. Chill overnight. Add more dressing before serving if it looks 'dry'.

MPM & a Yummy Lunch

Yummy, Healthy, Easy,

Chicken Stir-fry

You will need:

1 - 1/2 # chicken breasts
Italian Seasoning Spices
2 T fresh garlic
Olive Oil

1 bag frozen stir fry veggies with noodles (I found mine @ HyVee) - thawed

Better than Broth Chicken Paste
1/2 - 3/4 cup water
1 - 2 T Thickener, I used Clear Gel, cornstarch would work as well

*Cut uncooked chicken breasts into bite sized pieces, toss with Italian seasoning. Saute in a few T olive oil & 2 T fresh garlic. Add stirfry mixture and broth, already made using chicken paste, water and thickener. Stir-fry until hot and sauce has thickened.
Eat!

This week we will be grilling again!
Have I ever mention how much I love to grill ;)

On my grill you will find...

Main Dishes Dinner:
Salmon
T-bone Steaks
Chicken Breasts
Beef Kabobs
Pizza
BBQ Chicken

Sides Dinner:
Veggies
French Bread
Garlic Red Skinned Potato Chunks
**We will also be eating a fresh green salad and raw veggies & fruit at each meal.

Lunches
Will be quick!

Chicken Stir-fry
Black Bean & Chicken burritos
Nitrate Free Ham Sandwiches
Grilled Banana's & PB or Nutella
Leftovers
**We will also be eating raw veggies & fruit at lunch.


Have a great week!

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Remember our abundant crop of these?
I've found a delicious way to use them...
In Pancakes!

You will need:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 pound sweet potato, cooked, skinned & mashed ~ I weighed the mashed amount, not the raw potato
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Stir together dry ingredients. Mix remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. Stir flour mixture into sweet potato mixture. Cook on a medium/high griddle until light brown, flip once.

NOTES: I added a few extra tablespoons milk because I thought the batter was rather thick for pancakes. When I was washing the dishes I realized I forgot to add the melted butter. Hummm maybe that was why I needed the extra milk :) So, make them with out the butter if you desire, the will turn out just fine.

The recipe makes quite a few pancakes, 15- 20 depending on the size you make them.We froze our extra and either warmed them in the microwave or used them as toaster pancakes.

These are made with white flour

The second time we made them we used whole wheat flour.
A little darker, but just as good!

Just Veggies

Doing a lot of this lately...

and trying 'new' preserving techniques.
I'll let you know how they work out.
************
Have you ever watched a bouncy ball in a box before?
The ball randomly hits one side, then another, it just keeps going back and forth up and down.
These thoughts have been doing that in my brain this week.
Ponder them.

'Sometimes the Lord asks us to step out of our comfort zone for the sole purpose of blessing us.'

'The size of our prayers reflects the size of our God.'

'Get God out of the box you've put Him in.'

Just the beginning

.Lettuce.
.Apples.
.Squash.

.Grapes.
.Berries.
.Zinnias.

Corn, from field to table

I am happy it is today.

I am glad yesterday is over.
I am thankful for 50 Qt of corn for my freezer.
The Process...
My dad picked the corn from the field and my son brought it to the wash bay.

Here is our pile of corn. It was quite large!
We husked and removed the silk from the ears. This year I found it easiest to rub the ears with a clean, dry cotton cloth to remove the silk. A vegetable brush can also be used.
Then we cut the corn from the cobs.

After all of the corn was cut, we headed inside to cook and prepare the corn for freezing. There are several ways to prepare corn. Our favorite recipe is as follows.
(My kettles hold 8 times the amount of the recipe, in ( ) is the recipe x 8)
8 cups cut corn (64 cups)
2 cups water (16 cups)
1/4 - 1/2 stick butter (2 cups)
*recipe calls for 1/2 I use more like 1/4
2 T sugar (or less) (2/3 - 1 cup)
1 tsp canning salt (3 T)
*Mix all ingredients together. Bring to a boil. Boil for 5-10 minutes.

Cool, put in freezer boxes, jars or bags and freeze.

Fresh Salsa

It was a sad night last night at our house, we opened our last quart of frozen salsa from last years harvest. We eat salsa with everything! Chips, burritos, enchiladas, salad, veggies, and my children have even been found eating it by the spoonful, hummm I wonder where they learned that ;) Be sure to go to A Latta Talk for more yummy 'spice filled' recipes.


Our Favorite way to make fresh salsa...
6-8 LG Fresh Tomatoes
1 Medium Onion
3 T Fresh Garlic
1-2 T Lemon or Lime Juice
1 T Salt or to taste
1 tsp cumin
1 T dried or 1/4 cup Fresh Cilantro
2 Medium Jalapeno Peppers or to taste, remove seeds for less heat
1 - 4oz Tomato Paste, if desired

* Dice onions and tomatoes. Finely dice the peppers. Mix everything together. Let sit for 2-3 hours, drain off the water on top.

Pizza Sauce

With summer right around the corner, I am anxious to harvest produce from the garden. Pizza is a favorite food at our house. And you can't have pizza without the sauce! I previously posted my pizza crust recipe, here is how I make the sauce.

PIZZA SAUCE

55 cups peeled tomatoes; coarsely blended

1 cup dried onion

1 cup dried red and green peppers

4 onions diced

1/2 - 1 cup sugar

1/2 cup salt

1/2 cup dried pizza seasoning

1 T paprika

2 tsp red pepper

1 T cumin

3 T oregano, rounded

1/4 cup olive oil

2 T lemon juice

1/2 cup fresh garlic

2 T garlic salt

30 - 40 oz tomato paste (depending on how juicy my tomatoes are, I add more)

1/2 cup myra clear if needed

Mix all ingredients except paste and myra clear. Simmer for 2-3 hours or until thick and deep red. Add paste and simmer for about 30 more minutes. Stir frequently to prevent scorching. Add myra clear if needed to thicken. Process pints 15 minutes in a hot water bath. Yield 27 pints.