Category: Food & Cooking

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Summer Salad part IV

This final installment of our Summer Salad Series is Salsa (try saying that five times fast).  

Considered a sauce, we’ve chosen to elevate our salsa to it’s proper status … Tomato Salad Extraordinaire. The moment summer tomatoes begin to make their appearance, our fridge always has a deli cup full of fresh salsa. It’s importance can not be underestimated .. so we’re including it.

The ingredients need to be chopped fine and we think a mince of fresh cilantro is important, however not critical, Nan. What you don’t want to omit is the jalapeño and needless to say, the quality of your tomatoes plays a huge role in the final product.

Also not a salad … the one egg omelet has become a staple breakfast at our house and salsa must always be included on the plate. This video is an experiment in food photography style, rather than thinking you need a tutorial on cooking an omelet … but we hope you enjoy.

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Super Simple Salsa

Ingredients

  • 4-5 Compari vine ripened tomatoes
  • 1/3 cup fresh cilantro or parsley, chopped
  • 1/2 cup red onion, diced
  • 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
  • 1/2 lime, freshly squeezed

Instructions

  • Chop tomatoes and fresh herbs of your choice.
  • Dice red onion.
  • Seed jalapeno and dice.
  • Squeeze 1/2 fresh lime.
  • Combine ingredients and stir. Place in container and refrigerate. Use within 2-3 days.
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Summer Salad part III

You didn’t think we’d do a series on summer salads and not cover the classic … Potato Salad … did you?

The trouble with potato salad is there are so many different kinds. From yummy, warm german style to mid-west mayo encased potato salad. It’s very much a personal choice. 

My father, Earl Schommer was a bit fanatical about recipes for pancakes (a future post) and potato salad. So we’ll include what I think was his favorite … at least it’s from the family recipe file titled “Earl’s.”

But our “go to” potato salad is a recipe JQ has fine tuned over the years. She insists this potato salad have yellow mustard (no substitutions please). Yes, French’s Yellow Mustard is in the dressing.

That said, there are plenty of options, depending on the taste profile you prefer.

We use our home canned bread and butter pickles in the recipe, but I think you could sub in a good pickle relish or sweet pickle. If you prefer more of a dill flavor, add a good dill pickle and sprinkle in some fresh dill.

Actually, this is a hard salad to ruin. So give it a try and perhaps you have some twists on the old classic you’d like to share.

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JQ's Potato Salad

Ingredients

  • 2 - 3 potatoes
  • 1/4 cup carrots, diced
  • 1/4 cup celery, diced
  • 1/2 cup pickles reserve a few tablespoons of pickle juice
  • 1/8 cup onion, diced
  • 1 - 2 tsp salt and pepper

Dressing

  • 1/4 cup mayonaise or miracle whip
  • 1 - 2 tbsp yellow mustard
  • 1 - 2 tsp pickle juice optional

Instructions

  • Boil whole potatoes until cooked.
  • Place cooked potatoes into cool water bath.
  • When potatoes are cool, peel off outer skin. Skin should peel easily.
  • Dice potatoes and place in large mixing bowl.
  • Salt and pepper to taste.

Dressing

  • Mix together mayonnaise and mustard.
  • Stir dressing into salad ingredients.
  • Potatoes may absorb dressing leaving salad a little dry. To moisten add pickle juice as needed. We like adding juice to the dressing to help add flavor.

Notes

There are many ways to vary the taste of this potato salad. We use our bread and butter pickles (which includes marinated onions) which adds a sweet taste to the salad.
Sometimes we prefer the flavor of dill, so we substitute dill pickles and add a pinch or two of fresh dill.
Experiment and make this salad your own!
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Earl’s Potato Salad

Ingredients

  • 6 - 8 large red potatoes
  • 6 large eggs 4 are hard cooked
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon dry mustard
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup water
  • ¼ cup vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon corn starch
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • ½ cup onion chopped
  • ¼ cup fresh parsely minced
  • ¼ cup celery chopped
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper

Instructions

  • Boil potatoes until tender - 20 minutes - @ 15minutes you can add 4 eggs to hard cook. Cool, peel and cut into ½ inch cubes.
  • In small bowl beat 2 raw eggs with sugar, mustard, and salt. Whisk until sugar is disolved.
  • In a 2 quart sauce pan over medium temperature, heat water and vinegar until warm. Add egg mixture and whisk in cornstarch. Increase temperature and bring mixture to a boil and stir until thickened. Cool sauce in bowl covered with plastic wrap.
  • In large bowl mix together potatoes, onion, parsley and celery. Add equal portions of mayo and sauce in ¼ cup increments, mixing after each addition until the salad is desired consistancy. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Finish by slicing hard cooked eggs over the top.

Notes

NOTE: Two things we've always done; 1) half the recipe, 3 or 4 red potatoes make the right amount for two people to share over a couple of lunches. 2) use less mayo than egg mixture, for us ¼ cup egg mixture to ⅛ cup mayo until you get a desired consistancy but these portions are changeable to suit your tastes. 
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Summer Salad part II

When you are looking at summer sides, cucumber salad is a great addition. This one is actually like a fridge pickle but with less sugar. It keeps and travels (think camp & picnic) and makes a great fresh addition to any offering.

We like to use English Cukes, as they have fewer seeds and seem to hold up better, but any cuke should work. 

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Asian Cucumber Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 english cucumber, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced and cut iinto ribbons
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Dressing

  • 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 2 1/2 tbsp Mirin
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/8-1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
  • 3/4 - 1 tsp granulated sugar

Instructions

  • Place sliced cucumbers into a fine-mesh strainer suspended inside a medium sized bowl. Season with salt. Toss thoroughly to combine.
  • Place in the refrigerator for a least 30 minutes or up to overnight to drain the cucumbers of excess moisture.
  • Remove cucumbers from fridge and transfer to a clean kitchen towel. Pat dry.
  • Add the cucumbers and red onions to a bowl. Add half of the dressing and toss to coat.
  • Place salad in refrigerator and allow flavors to develop for 30-60 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Taste and add more of the dressing as desired. Garnish with sesame seeds, peanuts and avocado.

Dressing

  • In a small bowl, combine rice vinegar, sesame oil, Mirin, garlic, red pepper flakes and sugar.
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Summer Salads, part I

Summer brings a change to our kitchen. Basically, we do a lot less oven roasting and a lot more grilling. The other change is we add several basic vegie salads to the fridge, to help make meals easier … at home or on the road.  

The next few Thursday posts will contain recipes and notes on the different salads we like. We hope you like them too and if there is a summer salad you really enjoy, please take a moment and share it in the comments. We’ll load it in the recipe page and let the other readers of the blog know.

The most basic of these salads is Chopped Salad. You’ll find a variety of recipes in any search, because it’s a basic go to recipe. Our main criteria is for the dressing to be simple, low fat, low carb. As evident in the recipe, the variety is also in vegetables used. It’s what you like and/or have on hand. This turns out ot be a great end of the week vegetable drawer emptier. 

Chopped Salad is super versatile. It is great as a side to any grill entree. Add it to a bed of greens and some protein and you have a salad entree. Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Chopped Salad

Ingredients

  • 1/4 lb green beans cut into 1/4 inch pieces
  • 1/2 cucumber, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
  • 1 small yellow or red pepper, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
  • 4-5 small tomatoes, seeded and diced into 1/4 inch pieces
  • 4-5 fresh basil leaves, chopped
  • 1/2 cup fresh parsley
  • 1/2 cup corn

Vinaigrette

  • 3-4 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp white wine vinaigrette
  • 1/2 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
  • 1 pinch salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

  • Lightly blanch green beans. Don't overcook. Cool in a bowl of cold water, then cut into 1/4 inch pieces.
  • Peel cucumber. Seed and cut into 1/4 inch pieces.
  • Seed and cut yellow or red pepper into 1/4 inch pieces.
  • Seed and dice tomatoes into 1/4 inch pieces.
  • Chop fresh basil leaves.
  • Chop fresh parsley.
  • Toss in corn and gently mix ingredients together.

Vinaigrette

  • Mix olive oil, white wine vinegar, garlic, dijon mustard and salt and pepper. Stir vigorously until well incorporated.
  • Add vinaigrette to chopped salad and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate.
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Picnic Treat

We always called it camping cake and for as long as I can remember, it was a part of Sunday fishing trips.

Not sure whose recipe it was, but this date rich cake, topped with walnuts and chocolate chips, is the perfect sheet cake for summer outings.

The start of summer seemed like a good time to pull out the recipe along with the green cookie bowl … nostalgia for Schommer kids. In case you’re one of the unlucky few who don’t have the recipe, it’s included at the end of the post.

The recipe uses dates to sweeten the cake. This also means the cake stays moist for much longer. When you include the ‘frosting,’ nuts and chocolate chips. this is really the perfect summer picnic treat.

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Camping Cake

Sheet cake that is perfect for picnic baskets

Ingredients

  • 1 cup chopped dates
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup shortening
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 ¾ cup flour
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa
  • 10 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup walnuts coarsely chopped

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 x 13 cake pan.
  • Mix together dates, boiling water and soda, set aside.
  • Cream shortening with sugar and then add eggs.
  • Sift together flour and cocoa, blend all ingredients together and spread evenly in cake pan.
  • Top with walnuts and chocolate chips.
  • Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
  • Allow to cool, then cut into 2 inch squares. Cake keeps well in closed container for 4 or 5 days, but also freezes well.