Grilled Salmon and Mango Salsa

The other day, I was in the mood for some serious grilling.  I also wanted to use up some of the veggies that we got in our basket from Bountiful Baskets. If you don't know about Bountiful Baskets, they are a co-op to get produce for really cheap.  I like to use them every once and a while. It's fun to try new veggies and fruits that I normally wouldn't buy. Each week is a whole new basket.  It all depends on what is in season.  They also have great offerings like bread, tortillas, granola etc. 

In this basket we got some mangos and zucchini that went well with this meal.  There was a bunch of other things that we enjoyed, that I'll post in the upcoming days.  I decided to try a homemade mango salsa recipe.  I had to add a little bit of sugar to sweeten it up, because the mangos weren't quite at their peak of sweetness. This recipe came from All Recipes. I changed it up a little bit to match our tastes. I would also add less lime juice next time.  It was a little too much.

 Grilled Salmon

4 oz. Salmon Fillet

1-2 tbsp butter

salt

pepper



place 1-2 tbsp butter cut into pieces on a piece of tin foil. Lay salmon on top of butter and top with salt and pepper.  Grill at medium heat until desired doneness. 

Tip:  You will only want to flip the salmon once while it is cooking. If you mess with it too much, it will flake apart.

Mango Salsa



1 mango - peeled, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup  chopped tomato

1 green onion, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon lemon juice

sugar to taste (optional)

 

In a medium bowl, mix mango, tomato, green onion, cilantro,  lime juice, and lemon juice. Cover, and allow to sit at least 30 minutes before serving

English Muffin Breakfast Sandwich

This is such a quick and easy breakfast to shake up the usual, cold cereal.  You can also make up a bunch ahead of time and freeze them.  Just wrap them individually in a sandwich bag and stick them in the freezer.  Then you can microwave them for about a minute. You can add whatever kind of meat you want.  Ham, bacon, a sausage patty etc.  You can also add any type of cheese that you prefer.  I like my eggs fried. But you can easily make them scrambled, or omelet style.  This is how I like to make mine. Although I completely forgot the sliced cheese.  The best part!

English Muffin Breakfast Sandwich

4 slices of bacon

2 fried eggs

1 English muffin

sliced cheese

Layer ingredients on a toasted English muffin.  Serve immediately, or freeze for future meals.

Fluff

Here is another of my husbands favorites. This recipe is so easy to change up to what ever your favorites are.  For this one, we used orange jello and then added mandarin oranges.  You can do, strawberry, or peach and then add those fruits, or get really creative and do lime jello with something like blueberries. The key idea to this dish, is that if you want a small batch... get a small box of jello, a small tub of cool whip and a small cottage cheese. If you want to make a large batch, get the large box or tub of everything. Also its ready to serve immediately, but it does taste better when it's chilled for about 4 hours.  That allows the flavors to really incorporate well.

Fluff

8 oz cool whip
8 oz cottage cheese
small package jello mix
fruit (any)

Mix together and serve. For best results, chill for 4 hours before serving.

Buttermilk Syrup

Back when I was a teenager, we had pancakes for breakfast at Girls Camp. They were the lumpiest things I have ever tasted.  I hated pancakes ever since... until I had them with this syrup!  My sister-in-law made us breakfast for dinner one time and made this syrup.  I decided to give it a try. It was heavenly!  This is still the only way I will eat pancakes to be honest.  Give it a try. It is so delish!!!  I like mine really runny. If you like thick syrup, just boil it for about 5 minutes. This recipe is so quick and easy.  Also, I don't ever buy buttermilk... I just make my own sour milk. It works wonderfully  The recipe is below.

Buttermilk Syrup

1 cube butter (melt)
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c. buttermilk ( I make my own)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp Baking soda

Melt butter and add sugar and buttermilk.  Bring to a boil.  (If you like it runny, remove from heat just after bringing to a boil. If you like it thick, Boil 5 min.) remove from heat, add vanilla and baking soda. Stir well. 
 

Tip: The syrup will foam up to double in size, when you add the vanilla and baking soda, so make sure that you are using a bigger pot.

Homemade Buttermilk

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup milk

mix both ingredients and allow to sit for about 5 minutes.

Monkey Bread

This has got to be one of my families favorite treats.  It's so easy to make and so delicious! I found this recipe online somewhere, and then changed it to our tastes.  I've made it with refrigerated biscuits and Rhodes rolls, and the rolls are so much better! Also, you want to make sure to have a bundt pan.  It just doesn't bake evenly without one.

Monkey Bread

about 15 Rhodes rolls thawed

1 Cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 Cup)

1/2 Cup white sugar

2 tbsp cinnamon

3/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Grease bundt pan and pour half of the chopped pecans in the bottom of the pan. Mix white sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Break rolls into 1/3-or 1/4 pieces and coat with the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Place evenly in the bundt pan until it is half full. Sprinkle the rest of the pecans on top, allowing them to fall between the pieces of dough.

In a sauce pan, melt butter and add brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for one minute and pour over the layered dough.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.  Let cool for 10 minutes and turn upside down onto a plate. Pull apart and enjoy!

Bruschetta With Tomato and Basil

We have a ton of basil growing in our garden right now and I wanted to use it up before it goes to seed. Unfortunatly my tomatoes aren't totally ripe yet, so I had to buy some. I have been searching for some good basil recipes and found a few that I will try out and then post if I like them. I found this recipe on a Rachel Ray 30 minute meals video that I checked out from the library.  You can also find it here. I am not a huge fan of some of Rachels recipes.  Sometimes she adds some interesting stuff to her dishes. I like to keep my meals pretty basic and simple.  I did like this one though. It's a pretty light flavor and a very simple one for sure.  Also, I didn't add all of the basil it called for. I think I only used about 10-15 leaves. I also didn't use fresh garlic, because I didn't have any on hand.  I just rubbed a little with the prepared garlic in a jar and then baked it.

Bruschetta With Tomato and Basil

1/2 baguette or crusty long loaf bread, sliced (12 pieces)

2 large cloves garlic, cracked away from skin

Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

3 small plum tomatoes, halved and seeded

20 fresh basil leaves ( I used about 10-15)

Coarse salt

Preheat broiler to high, (if you prefer you can also grill the bread). Place bread slices on a broiler pan. Char bread on each side under hot broiler, keep an eye on it! Rub toasts with cracked garlic and drizzle with oil. Chop seeded tomatoes and place in a small bowl. Pile basil leaves on top of one another and roll into a log. Thinly slice basil into green confetti and loosely combine with tomatoes. Add a drizzle of oil and a little coarse salt to the bowl and gently toss tomatoes and basil to coat. Pile toasts around the bowl of topping. Place a spoon to scoop topping in bowl and serve.

Snickerdoodles

I have been making Snickerdoodles for as long as I can remember.  Then one day I made them and they were so hard, we would bang them on the counter and they still wouldn't break.  It made for a fun night of playing around with hard cookies, but I kind of lost my passion to make them after that.  Just recently I started making them again.  This batch was my best ever.  I didn't realize until just now, that when I made them, I forgot the shortening.  The joys of Pregnancy brain!  Anyway, If you like them to look like this, leave the shortening out and add just a tad less flour. If you like them a little flatter and gooeyer (ha, is that a word?) then add in the shortening.  Either way, yummy!  By the way, this recipe comes from my aunt. She is a fabulous cookie maker. I've got a few of her recipes to share in the future.

Snickerdoodles

1 ½ C. sugar

½ C. butter or margarine

½ C. shortening (I left this out)

2 eggs

2 ¾ C. all-purpose flour (you could do a little less (like 1/4 cup at most) if you decide to leave out the shortening.)

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. sugar

3 Tsp cinnamon

Heat oven to 400 Degrees. Mix 1 ½ Cups sugar, margarine, shortening and eggs in a large bowl. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded teaspoons into balls. Mix remaining sugar and cinnamon; roll balls in mixture. Place about 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake until set, 8-10 min. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Makes about 6 dozen.