Guest Recipe - One Pan Dish - Salmon with potatoes and spinach

During this Pandemic Holiday Season, keeping in touch with family and friends is important whether by phone, video, text, email, or blog.

Exchanging recipes is one of the ways to share the holidays with family and friends.

All my family and friends are good cooks, I am the odd one out.

 

Here is the first of the Guest Recipes from my family and friends.

 

G, a friend, sent me pics and notes for the following recipe.

 

I'll guess from the pictures she sent how it was prepared.

 

One Pan Dish - Salmon with Potatoes and Spinach

Ingredients:

Leftover Bacon grease

1 Salmon piece, fresh

6 more or less, small potatoes, washed and halved

Some fresh spinach, washed and drained

2 or more Jalapeno peppers, washed, deseeded and sliced

A bit of oregano

S/P to taste

Several lemon slices

 

 

Process:

 

Add a dollop of bacon grease, or butter or oil to skillet.

Add salmon.

Top with lemon slices.

Add potatoes, spinach and peppers.

Sprinkle all with spices.

Squeeze lemon all over the ingredients.

Stir vegetables carefully to mix together.

Cover and cook on medium heat.

Stir vegetables after a few minutes.

Cover, continue cooking until vegetables are tender.

When done, you can separate the vegetables from salmon if you desire.

 

 

 

Microwave and Stovetop: Peanut Butter Popcorn

I am always amazed when I crave a snack or dessert or other food information, Spruce Eats has what I want. Plus, I like their website, it is attractive, well-organized and user friendly.

It wasn't until I searched for popcorn recipes did I realize all the ways you can "flavor" or use popcorn as a snack or dessert.

 

 

Microwave and Stovetop: Peanut Butter Popcorn

(Adapted from: https://www.thespruceeats.com/peanut-butter-popcorn-4780011)

 

1-2 Servings

 

Pre-preparation: 

Make 2-4 cups of popped popcorn.*

Ingredients:

2 Cups Popcorn, popped

2 Dollops Olive oil

2 TBspns Sugar

3 Dollops Honey

2 Dollops Vanilla flavoring

3 Heaping TBspns Creamy Peanut Butter

 

Process:

Place 2 cups of popped popcorn in a container with a lid.

Reserve any remaining popcorn for later use.

In a pan, add olive oil, sugar, honey, vanilla flavoring.

Cook on high.

Stir continually as mixture begins to boil.

Add peanut butter.

Stir thoroughly.

Reduce heat if necessary to avoid burning.

Remove from stovetop.

Spoon the amount of mixture you desire over popcorn.

Stir to coat the popcorn. It may be an uneven coating.

Reserve any remaining mixture in frig for later use.

Serve popcorn as a snack or treat.

Store any leftovers in frig.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*I made my popcorn in the microwave.

Totally Mexican Tequila Highball

It's interesting, in our lives, we are introduced to many flavors, tastes, experiences, and sights, yet sometimes, at first, we reject some of these because we think we don't like them, or they do not fit into our lifestyle. Then, at some point, we are reintroduced to these experiences and more and we have a different reaction, we like them.

I say this regarding Tamarind. When I first tasted Tamarindo juice, I thought it was a bit sour. But, in one of my grocery trips, I bought some Tamarindo juice concentrate to keep in stock for others.

I have had that Tamarindo juice for a long time. I gave away half of it and kept the rest. So, as I was cleaning the kitchen, I found the container of remaining Tamarindo juice sitting on top of a cabinet. I thought, let's get rid of this. But, before I made the decision, I decided to taste it again. Hmmm, unique flavor, a bit sweet. Commercial Tamarindo juice is pre-sweetened.

Anyway, I fly to the internet and search for Tamarindo juice recipes. Along the way, I learned a lot about Tamarind, the plant and the seeds. The tree is lovely. The seed pods fascinating and beautiful in their own way. Plus, Tamarind seeds are used in a variety of ways and often as a medicinal.

 

In Mexico, one of the things I love is that, if possible, almost every home has a garden with various fruit trees, and some have chickens. For me, that is heaven. As you walk through various colonias, besides all the trees and flowers, you can tell by some of the fallen fruit or seeds what type of fruit trees people have in their garden. Some have Tamarind trees.

As I continued my search, I found this cocktail using Tequilla and Tamarindo juice. Of course, I did not have all the ingredients listed, so I adapted the recipe and made a totally Mexican Tequilla Cocktail.

 

Totally Mexican Tequila Highball

(Adapted from: https://www.thespruceeats.com/tamarind-and-tequila-recipe-760787)

 

 

Ingredients:

 

Highball glass

Ice cubes

1 1/2 - 2 oz of Tequila reposando

1 oz Tamarindo juice concentrate

1 oz Water (optional)

A Dollop of Yucatán honey or sugar

2-3 oz Carbonated water or Ginger Ale

 

 

Process:

 

Add ice cubes to cocktail glass.

Add Tequilla.

Add Tamarindo juice concentrate.

Add water if desired.

Add honey or sugar.

Add Carbonated water or Ginger Ale

Stir to mix well.

Note: honey does not mix well but does give the cocktail a sweet flavor.

References:

Tequilla

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tequila

Tamarind

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarind

 

 

Tamarindo (Drink)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarindo_(drink)

 

Cathy's Kitchen Restaurant & Diner

Cathy's Kitchen Restaurant & Diner

 

 

From the ashes of the Ferguson, MO protests, Cathy Jenkins has found multiple ways to keep Cathy's Kitchen open and growing. In the midst of protests and a pandemic, Cathy has adapted. She also provides free meals during the pandemic, offers carryout and food delivery services.

"Her eclectic menu has now been served through protests, riots and a global pandemic." --Sauce Magazine

According to @CathysKitchens, Cathy Jenkins was inspired to open a restaurant after she took a two-month road trip around 2012.

 

Her menu is influenced by African-American recipe ideas.

 

 

Resources:

http://www.cathyskitchen.net  @CathysKitchens

https://www.saucemagazine.com/a/58855/cathys-kitchen-owner-cathy-jenkins-on-feeding-ferguson-throu

 

https://www.yellowpages.com/saint-louis-mo/mip/cathys-kitchen-475548665

 

  https://www.facebook.com/CathysKitchenrestaurant

 

Simple Turkey RollUp

After Thanksgiving, I had plenty of store bought, sliced turkey lunchmeat in the freezer. I like turkey.

 

It took a day or two to figure out that making a Turkey RollUp would be a great way to use the slices of turkey lunchmeat. I had some basic ingredients: Italian lettuce, cream cheese, shredded mixed cheese and some salsa.

 

When I like something I eat a lot of it. So, for about 3 days, I ate several Turkey RollUps and I was happy. Plus, I had to use that lettuce, quickly.

As I started to write this post, I wondered what is the difference between a RollUp and a Wrap? A quick internet search did not answer the question. But, in my mind, the ingredients in a RollUp are less than a Wrap, a Wrap is bulkier than a RollUp. Plus, with some Rollups, once you've made a RollUp, you can slice it vertically and make Pinwheel appetizers.

 

 

Simple Turkey RollUp

 

Ingredients:

 

1 Flour Tortilla

1 TBspn Cream Cheese

Add Ground black pepper, to taste

1 TBspn Mixed cheese, grated

1 Slice of Lunchmeat

1 Palmful of Italian lettuce or other greenery, shredded

1 Tspn of Canned salsa

 

 

Process:

 

Place tortilla on a plate.

Spread the cream cheese over the whole tortilla.

Sprinkle with ground black pepper.

Sprinkle on grated cheese.

Add lunchmeat.

Add lettuce.

Sprinkle salsa over the lettuce.

Pick an edge of the tortilla and roll it tightly towards the other edge.

Resource:

In my internet search regarding RollUps and Wraps, I found this recipe on one of my favorite recipe websites, SpruceEats:

Low Calorie Ham and Turkey Wrap

https://www.thespruceeats.com/low-calorie-ham-and-turkey-wrap-2246291

Faux Cottage Cheese

The cottage cheese here is a bit different from what I am used to. It’s a bit watery and the cheese seems like bits of cheese rather than curds.

So, I thought, I could probably make a similar DIY cottage cheese.

 

I concocted a recipe and it worked.

Faux Cottage Cheese
(Inspired by: https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Cottage-Cheese)

 

Ingredients:

Queso panela or a soft, light cheese, diced
Milk, lactose-free

1/4 - 1/2 Tsp Salt

White Vinegar

 

 

Process: 

 

In a small covered frig container, add diced / sliced bits of the cheese.

Add a dollop of milk, enough so the cheese bits are swimming in the milk.

Next, add salt and and a dollop of white vinegar.
Stir mixture thoroughly and refrigerate,

 

Faux Martini Mocktail

In my internet search on uses for leftover olive juice, I found this recipe for a Faux Martini and couldn't resist!

Faux Martini Mocktail

(Adapted from: https://www.thespruceeats.com/paleo-martini-4040395)

Pre-Prepration:

Put cocktail glass in freezer for a few minutes.

 

 

Ingredients:

 

Cold Carbonated water (or sparkling mineral water)

3 Tbspns Olive juice (manzanilla)

3 Olives (manzanilla)

 

 

Process:

 

Fill chilled cocktail glass with carbonated water. Save room for olive Juice and olives.

Add Olive juice.

Add Olives.

Enjoy.